Lord Jesu, When We Stand Afar

By William W. How 1854
Sung to BABYLON’S STREAMS by Thomas Campion 1613
Lord Jesu, when we stand afar
And gaze upon Thy holy cross,
In love of Thee, and scorn of self,
O may we count the world as loss!
When we behold Thy bleeding wounds,
And the rough way that Thou hast trod,
Make us to hate the load [...]

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Darwinism and Human Nature

Based on the recommendation of a friend, I have been listening to some of the lectures at the conservative organization the Philadelphia Society. I found the lecture by Dr. John West particularly interesting on the topic of ‘Science and the Future of Conservatism.”

Crucial to his argument is that mainstream Darwinism is unguided, and that this [...]

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On warring fundamentalists, or the lack thereof

Today I listened to Kevin Bauder’s June 17, 2007 sermon recently posted at Fourth Baptist church’s website. The sermon is from the epistle of Jude* on “The Warfare the New Testament Requires.” In my opinion, he provides an excellent call to the cause of fundamentalists–to defend the Gospel and to do battle against those false [...]

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Let the debate begin…

The internet has been all a-gog lately over what might be the most pressing controversy of our time. Not many have fully comprehended the depthitude of the gravity of the heightening breadth of the debate, and what it means for all doctrine, whether fundamentalistic or not so fundamentalistic. Some try to dismiss it as irrelevant, [...]

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Desiring God: all books $5

This seems to me to be a particularly good deal. For two days next week (June 27-28), all books available through the DGM on-line store are only $5.00.

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Blair on the media

Last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a speech rebuking the news media. I wonder how many believers who dabble in “news coverage” on their self-publishe web-sites have considered some of the dangers he mentioned:
The result is a media that increasingly and to a dangerous degree is driven by “impact”. Impact is what matters. [...]

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After a long delay, more hash

Bert Perry highlights an article that details the findings of children in day care.
Did you see this? S. M. Hutchens at Touchstone writes of some of the guidelines he as pastor implemented for weddings:
The wedding ceremony had to take place in the church building, the couple could not write their own vows, but had to [...]

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Andre Previn on conducting the Western classical repertoire

I thought this was a good remark by Andre Previn:
“I’ve had the healthy and sobering experience of constantly working with music that is invariably better than any performance of it can be.”

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This is the kind of DVD release that excites me

I don’t usually get too worked up about DVD releases, but this one is a definite exception.
June 26th is only 12 days away, but there’s no need to camp outside any stores because you can order it on-line (if you fish around a bit, you might find it cheaper, but if you buy it through [...]

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Augustine on authority in the church

In On Baptism, Against the Donatists, Augustine says, commenting on the words of Cyprian:
To go on to what he says, “that a bishop should be ‘teachable,’”* adding, “But he is teachable who is gentle and meek to learn; for a bishop ought not only to teach, but to learn as well, since he is indeed [...]

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Some notes on spiritual gifts and the church fathers

A friend of mine recently asked what the early church believed about spiritual gifts, and I put together the following quick response. I will attempt to add some formal source citations later today.
Justin Martyr (mid 2d century) mentions believers receiving many different gifts, but nothing, it seems, of the miraculous variety (Dial. 39).
Irenaeus (late 2d [...]

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Semi-weekly pithiness for 6/11/07

“I do not spend enough time endeavouring to affect myself with the glories of Christianity.”
- Jonathan Edwards (Diary entry for January 21, 1723; cited in Iain H. Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography [Carlisle, Penn: Banner of Truth Trust, 1987], 40) for June 11, 2007

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Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken

I love this hymn of John Newton, especially the last verse, which does not appear in many American hymnals. If you tire of the patriotic strains of AUSTRIA (Hadyn) set to this one, try it to ABBOTT’S LEIGH.
Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God!
He, whose Word cannot be broken,
Formed thee for His [...]

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“I hate that preaching which tends to make the hearers laugh”

Richard Baxter in his Reformed Pastor, writes this concerning preaching and reverence, something the evangelical night-show host-preachers–something we all–would do well to read and consider:
2.2.11. All our work must be managed reverently, as beseemeth them that believe the presence of God, and use not holy things as if they were common. Reverence is that [...]

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