“If a man is proud and turbulent in his carriage, by that you may know the devil is rather in the will than in the conscience. Though an erroneous conscience may cause one to hold fast an error, yet it does not cause proud, scornful, turbulent behavior” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 45).
The Sabbath Mind and the Tithe
We have seen that we are not to twist and distort God’s sabbath kindness—we are not to boil a kid in the mother’s milk. And throughout this section of Deuteronomy, although we may not be addressing the weekly sabbath directly, we are still concerned to cultivate what may be called the sabbath mind. “Thou shalt …
More On Louisiana Presbytery
I am grateful to be able to announce that Steve Wilkins has been cleared (for a second time) by his presbytery. “Louisiana Presbytery, after thorough examination and investigation of TE Steve Wilkins as per the SJC directives regarding allegations made in the Central Carolina Presbytery Memorial, finds no strong presumption of guilt in any of …
Westminster XXX: Of Church Censures
1. The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His Church, hath therein appointed a government, in the hand of Church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate (Isa. 9:6–7; 1 Tim. 5:17; 1 Thess. 5:12; Acts 20:17–18; Heb. 13:7, 17, 24; 1 Cor. 12:28; Matt. 28:18–20). The Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church, …
Teaching Children to Come
As you know, we gladly welcome little children to the Table here. All baptized children are welcome to partake, with this proviso. What we require is that they have the capacity to be taught what we are doing through the doing of it, and that their parents faithfully instruct them every week as they partake …
Gearing Up for Mother’s Day
One of our cultural customs honors our mothers once a year on Mother’s Day. There is no divine sanction for the particular day chosen, but the theme of the observance is required in the Ten Commandments, and Paul tells us that this is the first commandment with a promise—that your life may be long in …
The Christian Protection of Women
“The difference in the position of women was indeed one of the most striking contrasts between Christian and Muslim practice, and is mentioned by almost all travelers in both directions. Christianity, of all churches and denominations, prohibits polygamy and concubinage. Islam, like most other non-Christian communities, permits both . . . The status of women, …
The Reformation As Imaginative Triumph
“What were the hidden springs of imagination, high up in the hills, that were to feed the broad river of the Reformation?” (Peter Matheson, The Imaginative World of the Reformation, p. 4).
Don’t Staple the Moral Onto the Last Paragraph
“Anyone who can write a children’s story without a moral, had better do so: that is, if he is going to write children’s stories at all. The only moral that is of any value is that which arises inevitably from the whole cast of the author’s mind” (C.S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds, p. 33).
Tradition As Servant
[Speaking of tradition as servant] “But notice how this leaves us with room for a necessary doctrine of subordinate spiritual authorities. The elders of a local church, Christian parents bringing up children in the fear of the Lord, and convocations of theologians three centuries ago are all lawful authorities, deputized as such in Scripture. They …