Let the whole creation cry

by Stopford A. Brooke, 1832-1916
Let the whole creation cry,
“Glory to the Lord on high!”
Heav’n and earth awake and sing,
“God is good and therefore King!”
Praise him, all ye hosts above,
Ever bright and fair in love;
Sun and moon, uplift your voice,
Night and stars, in God rejoice!
Warriors fighting for the Lord,
Prophets burning with his word,
Those to whom the [...]

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Baptists and the ordinances, part 1

A while back I read John Gill’s Body of Practical Divinity and discovered that he believed that the church observed more than two ordinances. This struck me, since I had been reared to hold to only two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Gill seemed to be defining ordinance as activities ordained by Christ in [...]

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The church assembles for worship, part 1

For millennia, the church understood the purpose of its gathering to be for worship. Today some scholars argue that “Christians worship everywhere,” that there “was no chapter and verse” (so to speak) that indicated that the early church thought of its assembly as a time for worship.
This should be a warning to us on the [...]

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Observations on a growing and influential cult

Since moving out to Central Seminary for graduate and then post-graduate work, I have always had “secular” jobs, jobs outside the scheme of church and para-church organizations. Working closely with many non-Christians on a daily basis, I have been able to observe closely an interesting religion to which my co-workers adhere. I speak, of [...]

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Murray on Jonathan Edwards’ study

In his Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Carlisle, Penn.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1987), Iain Murray describes some of Edwards’ study habits as a pastor, which Edwards’ first biographer Samuel Hopkins famously described as “thirteen hours, every day”:
“It is a further reminder that Edwards’ time in his study was not spent in self-centered interests that [...]

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Observation

It seems that the pagan King Darius was able to recognize what many contemporary evangelicals deny.
Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: “Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the [...]

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Before you go and leave fundamentalism . . .

Before you go and leave fundamentalism, or if there is some other entity or cradle belief from which you are considering departing, consider the advice of Jonathan Edwards, who wrote in his personal diary,
If ever I am inclined to turn to the opinion of any other sect: Resolved beside the most deliberate consideration, earnest prayer, [...]

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