PROSTRATE, DEAR JESUS, AT THY FEET

Tune: Am I A Soldier of The Cross?

Prostrate, dear Jesus, at Thy feet
A guilty rebel lies,
And upward to Thy Mercy-Seat
Presumes to lift His eyes.

If tears of sorrow would suffice
To pay the debt I owe,
Tears should from both my weeping eyes
In ceaseless torrents flow.

But no such Sacrifice I plead
To expiate my guilt;
No tears but those which Thou hast shed,
No blood but Thou has spilt.

Think of Thy Sorrows, dearest Lord!
And all my sins forgive;
Justice will well approve the word
That bids the sinner Live.

-- Samuel Stennet (1787)--

PURITAN PIETY

In recent years, there has been a revival of Puritan theology, but we bare yet to see a revival of Puritan Piety.

It was not without reason the Puritans were known to be "Biblicists," for their doctrine was a return to the principles of the Reformation, which was nothing more than a return to a strict interpretation of the Scriptures. Because they were chief among the scholars, they were theologians of the first magnitude. Their works of theology nearly exhaust the Biblical themes they handle. But their scholarship was not the secret of their strength: the Puritans were pious men—men who knew to couple learning with godliness.

In his History Of Protestantism, J.A. Wylie has written, "We are students of theology, but not of divinity." It was no accident the Puritans were called "divines" –they were men who knew God, and not merely men who studied after Him. Paul Bayne, teaching at Cambridge, warned his students: "Beware of a strong head and a cold heart."

And, would we not do well to adopt the goal of William Ames of "Less Controversy; More Piety"?

ON READING BOOKS OTHER THAN THE BIBLE

"The writing of Divines are nothing else but a preaching of the Gospel to the eye, as the voice preaches it to the ear. Vocal preaching has the pre-eminence in moving the affections, and being diversified according to the state of the congregation which attend it...But books have the advantage in many other respects: You may read an able preacher when you have but a mean one to hear. Every congregation cannot hear the most judicious or powerful preachers: but every single person may read the books of the most powerful and judicious; preachers may be silenced or banished when books are at hand: books may be kept at a smaller charge than preachers: we may choose books which treat of that very subject which we desire to hear of; but we cannot choose what subject the preacher shall treat of. Books we may have at hand every day and hour; when we can have sermons but seldom, and at set times. If sermons be forgotten, they are gone; but a book we may read over and over till we remember it: and if we forget it, may again peruse it at our pleasure, or at our leisure. So that good books are a very great mercy to the world: the Holy Spirit chose the way of writing to preserve His doctrine and laws to the church, as knowing how easy and sure a way it is of keeping it safe to all generations, in comparison of mere verbal traditions.

You have need of a judicious teacher at hand to direct you what books to use or to refuse: for among good books there are some very good that are sound and lively; and some are good, but mean and weak and somewhat dull; and some are very good in part, but have mixture of error, or else of incautious, injudicious expressions, fitter to puzzle than edify the weak."

-Richard Baxter-

NOVEMBER

1, 1716 --John Gill makes a public profession of faith in Christ. On Sunday, the fourth, he will be baptized and receive the Lord’s Supper, and in the evening he will preach his first sermon to a group assembled in a private home for prayer. His text will be the 53rd chapter of Isaiah

1770 --Alexander Cruden, the famed compiler of the Concordance, is found dead by his servant. He is in his room, on his knees, his head resting on his open Bible. He has preached each Lord’s Day to the prisoners in Newgate Jail, and he has spent his days of retirement handing out tracts and seeking to reform a nation that has been given to "Sabbath walks," Sunday feasts, card playing, dancing and swearing. Such offenders, he has publicly accosted and admonished.

2, 1560 --A Proclamation having been published and posted in the villages of Angrogna that all would be destroyed by fire and sword who did not forthwith return to the Church of Rome. The Count de la Trinite advances at the head of his army to extirpate the Waldensian "heretics." These "Vaudois" numbering only 200 men and armed only with slings and crossbows rush upon the soldiers, who for the most part are surprised and confused. Throwing away their arms, they flee down the valley. Irritated by this disgraceful retreat of some 1200 soldiers before 200 peasants, the Count again advances, and again is repulsed by this little band who charge his troops shouting "Viva Jesu Christo!" The invaders are driven down the hill in confusion.

4, 1698 --Claude Brousson, the Huguenot leader of the "Church in the Desert," dressed in the ordinary garb of a pastor, walks slowly to the scaffold. He is engaged in prayer --his eyes and hands are lifted toward Heaven. He mounts the platform and stands forth to say a few last words to the 20,000 people who have gathered to witness his martyrdom. But his voice

is stifled by the roll of 20 drums which continue to beat until the execution is over. He has been condemned to have his bones broken upon the wheel while he is yet alive, and then to be strangled; the sentence is commuted to strangulation first, and the breaking of his bones afterward.

8, 1674 --John Milton, Secretary to Oliver Cromwell, dies leaving behind him such classic works as Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Samson Agonistes, and others.

10, 1483 --John and Margaret Luther are blessed with a son. His father, a miner, names him "Martin", as it is the eve of St. Martin’s Day. The name "Luther" comes from a root word meaning "swan", and for this reason his father prays, "Lord, make my son as pure as his name." The place is Eisleben, in Saxony, Mansfield County, Germany.

11, 1572--This Tuesday, John Knox is confined to his room with a bad cold. He calls his servants and pays them their wages.

1701 --Connecticut, having decided upon the establishment of a college, the trustees today will draft the purpose of this institution: that it will be under Divine blessing to "propagate in this wilderness the blessed, reformed, protestant religion...we, their unworthy posterity, lamenting our past neglect...."

12, 1704 --Matthew Henry begins his notes on the Old Testament: the beginning of his Commentaries.

15, 1794 -- John Witherspoon dies in Princeton, New Jersey, where he has firmly established the college. In a sermon he preached on the words of Christ: "I Am the Door..." John Hancock professes faith in Christ. He is the only minister to "sign the Declaration of Independence.