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Advice to a Young Man

13 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Culture

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Advice, John Newton, Learning, Letter, pleasure

On August 24, 1774, John Newton gave the following advice to a young man setting out in life:

Were I more intimate with you, I could have asked the question, and perhaps received the satisfaction to know, that you have already begun to consider him in this light; that you feel a vanity in science, an emptiness in creatures, and find that you have desires which only He who gave them can satisfy. I trust it either is or will be thus. As to learning, though it is useful when we know how to make a right use of it, yet, considered as in our own power, and to those who trust to it without seeking a superior guidance, it is usually the source of perplexity, strife, scepticism, and infidelity. It is, indeed, like a sword in a madman’s hands, which gives him the more opportunity of hurting himself and others. As to what the world calls pleasure, there is so little in it, that even the philosophers of old, or many of them, though they had little of value to substitute in its room, could despise it. You will perhaps meet with some who will talk another language; who will pretend to be too wise to submit to the Bible, and too happy in worldly things to expect or desire any happiness beside; but I trust you have seen enough to enable you to treat such persons with the pity, and such pretensions with the contempt, they deserve.

Edward Taylor: The Reflexion.2

26 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Edward Taylor, Prayer, Puritan

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Biblical Counseling, Edward Taylor, God, Holiness, pleasure, poem, Poetry, Praise, Prayer, Puritan, Puritan Poetry, The Reflexion

The entire poem may be found here:

https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/edward-taylor-the-reflexion-1/

Taylor’s poem works upon a principle which runs the precise opposite of what is commonly understood about holiness and happiness and pleasure. The poem is an extended prayer for pleasure. To understand the apparent paradox of Taylor’s prayer, he must understand what he seeks, why he seeks it and how this prayer fits into the wider Puritan theology (of which Taylor shared) and biblical imagery which formed the basis for poem.

It opens with a knowledge that God is the source of actual good:

Lord, art thou at the tablehead above

Meat, medicine, sweetness, sparkling beauties to

Enamor souls with flaming flakes of love

 

 Note that Taylor speaks of the goods of God as the cause for and basis of desire.  Rather than describe the good as abstraction, Taylor uses a series of concrete nouns: Meat, medicine, sweetness. These are things which can be tasted, savored desired. In so writing, Taylor relies upon standard biblical imagery:

If you have indeed tasted that the Lord is good

1 Peter 2:3.

Interestingly, the physical become spiritual, the “sparkling beauties” act to enamor the soul. The last is brought together by means of meter and alliteration:

with flaming flakes of love

The iambs drop the accent on Flame, flakes & love.  First there is alliteration of fl in the first two words of the phrase. The final word continues on the l in love. The effect of the meter and alliteration is to set off the image and hold the thought together.

The appeal to pleasure and desire continues on through the sense. The second stanza begins:

Shall I not smell thy sweet, Oh! Sharon’s Rose

And the last stanza:

Shall not thy rose my garden fresh perfume?

Again, appeals to perfume or smell are used in the Bible to describe the desirability of Christ:

For we are the aroma of Christ to those who are being saved

2 Cor. 2:15.

There is also the appeal to sight:

 Shall not mine eye salute thy beauty?

And in the final stanza:

  Shall not thy beauty my dull heart assail?

Shall not thy golden gleams run through this gloom?

 

Indeed, the final petition of the prayer is for a sight:

                                                                                arise

            Enthrone thy rosy-self within mine eyes.

The poem is a poem to receive pleasure and joy.  This desire for pleasure is what truly lies in the heart of Christianity, of holiness, and happiness. In Psalm 16, David extolls God:

You make known to me the path of life;

 in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 (ESV)

In the next section, we will continue on with the matter of pleasure as a prod to holiness.

William Pemble, Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Ecclesiastes

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Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 9, Ecclesiastes Commentary, pleasure, William Pemble

 

            A FOURTH PARTICULAR ASPECT OF THE WISE ORDERING OF LIFE: UNDERSTANDING “CHANCE” EVENTS, PART 2: ECCLESIASTES 9:1-12

           

            In this section, Pemble finds competing arguments of the Spirit and the Flesh which seek to understand God’s actings. 

 

TEXT:

           

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.   Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

 

            The Spirit: One Cannot Tell God’s Heart by His Hand

 

            That howsoever secret and hidden the disposing of all things be, yet all men and all actions are guided by a divine providence.  The certainty of which point, with that which follows, is commended to us by Solomon’s exact observations and the final resolution of his inquiries, For all this I considered in mine heart, even to declare all this.  What?  That the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God to dispose as he sees good, how wise soever ]sic[ they be in their own contrivances, to reward when and in what manner he pleases, how righteous and well deserving they seem to be, verse 1.

            That God’s love or hatred towards men is not discernable by outward things and events, such as lie open to our view and common observation.  No man knows either love or hatred by all that is before him, by such as here befall them in the world, verse 1.

            The reason is added from the alike condition of the good and bad in all outward things: All things come alike to all, and there is not even to the righteous and to the wicked, both which are in the words following described by synonyms to the clean and unclean, the good and the sinner and properties to him that sacrifices and to him that sacrifices not, he that swears (commonly) as he that fears an oath makes conscience of it, verse 2.

 

            The Judgment of the Flesh   

 

            The judgment the Spirit thus declared, Solomon returns again to consider the judgment of the flesh which was before, verse 15.   Briefly delivered but here is more distinctly expounded.  Touching the use then that carnal men make of this point of God’s providence, we are to note:

            Their practice, whereto they fall upon this occasion, generally expressed in the 3 verse, viz a giving of themselves up to all impiety.  That is an evil among all things that are done under the Sun.  What?  That there is one event to all.  Why this evil?  Seeing God’s government may not be condemned as bad it is evil in the evil consequent and use wicked men make of it: Yea also the hearts of the sons of men is full of evil and madness in their hearts while they live they live like man men in all sinful practices and after that they go to the dead, die like beasts, and come to nothing as they imagine.  This practice of impiety is illustrated.

            By the reason that move them onto it, which is in brief an erroroneous opinion, that there is nothing to be looked and hoped for after this life, For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope, viz., of enjoying some good, not ex opposito to him that is dead, which is proverbially expressed, for a living dog, the worse man if living, is better than a dead lion, the best man that is in his grave, verse 4.                 

           

            The Arguments of the Flesh

 

            This opinion is further amplified and confirmed by sundry seeming arguments: First, the living have knowledge as of other things, so of death, and therefore study always to compass the pleasures of life, but the dead know and take care for nothing, For the living know, & c.

            Second, the living have reward of honor or profit for their doings, the dead enjoy not this benefit; who are so far from it, that the memory of them and all their works is forgotten, verse 5.

            Third, the living have a great part and portion in the things and affairs of this life, there is what they may love, and hate and envy, but th dead are deprived of the use of all things belonging to this life.  Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy & c. by which appears that these carnal wretches confine all the good that man can enjoy with the compass of this present life.

            Fourth, by one particular of their practice, viz., voluptuous living, or Epicurianism, set forth:

            In its parts:

 

                        1.         Diet and feasting without fear, in all jollity and profuse mirth, Go thy way, eat thy bread, & c.  ver. 6

 

                        2.         Apparel: Let thy garments be always white, as was and is the fashion in eastern countries, in triumphs, feasts, and other occasions of mirth and joy.

 

                        3.         Curatura corporis, by synedoche, of ointments, much used by those eastern people in banquetting, bathings and at other times: Let not oil be lacking on thy head, pamper up thy body with all delights, verse 8.

 

                        4.         Carnal pleasures: where yet the Epicure hath some regard to common honesty, shame of men, fear of law, and so restrains himself to his own wife, with whom he may enjoy voluptate tura & facile parabili, Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all & c., verse 9.

 

            In the sum and general, Whatsoever thou findest to do, in a matter of pleasure or profit, do it with all thy might, spare no pain nor cost to get all contentment to theyself whilst thou livest, verse 10.

            In this course of worldly delights the carnal man encourages himself by false persuasions and arguments misapplied:

            First, that God is well pleased with him, to whom he affords liberty and scope of pleasures and licentuousness.  Be merry.  Why?  For God now accepteth thy works, verse 7.

            Second, that in this life nothing can be further expected than the delightsome use of all things we get by our labor, which though it be good with moderation, and all that the things of this life can afford, yet it is not all whcih a man must seek after, resting herein without care of the life to come, as the carn man doth.  For that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun, verse 9.

            Third, that post mortem nihil, “Intend,” saith the Epicure, “thy pleasures, and follow thy affairs hard whilst thou livest:” Why?  “In the grave there is nothing to be done or suffered, for there is no work to be wrought, nor yet means to effect it, no device, knowledge nor wisdom, & c.” verse 10. So is the carnal man’s practice.  Next follows the

 

            The Motives of the Flesh

 

            Occasion that drives carnal men upon the former ill opinions and evil practices: And taht is, that there is no providence, but that all things are carried by chance and fortune; which conclusion they gather from a double experience:

            First, of mens’ doings and endeavors, which are often frustrated of their end and event, when there is greatest probability of success.  I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, & c. but time and chance happeneth to all, verse 11.

            Second, of mens’ sufferings in such harms and dangers as befall them.  Wherein he comares men to birds and fishes, that fall ignorantly and suddenly into the net and snare.   For man knoweth not his time, as fishes & c. so are the sons of men snared, & c. verse 12.

Ecclesiastes Comparison and Contrast.2

25 Saturday Feb 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Ecclesiastes, Luke

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Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 2, enjoyment, Gift, Luke, Luke 12, money, parable, pleasure, Rich Fool

God, pleasure and possessions.
Luke 12:

15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,
17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’
18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Ecclesiastes 2:

20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,
21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God,
25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Principal Points of Ecclesiastes

30 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Ecclesiastes, Edward Reynolds

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Ecclesiastes, Edward Reynolds, Faith, money, pleasure, power, religion, Vanity, Wisdom

Adapted from The Argument to Edward Reynolds commentary on Ecclesiastes.

First, created things are insufficient to make one truly happy: all created things are mutable and thus insufficient companions for the soul of man: we were created for something greater.

Second, examples of how things are insufficient:
Wisdom and knowledge alone only increase sorrow and grief.
Pleasure alone does not end in pleasure.
Honor and power without the fear of the Lord results in oppression of those under the power and wickedness in those who have it.
Formal religion without a true relation to God is mere mischief.
Riches rather than relieving pain create their own stress.

Since these things are true, how then should we live?

First, be humble under the Providence of God.
Second, be patient under oppression.
Third, prepare your heart to undergo trials.
Fourth, be charitable with the failings of others: they are frail after all.
Fifth, be content with your own abilities.
Sixth, live with practical prudence: recognize your world for what it actually is – not what you wish it were.
Seventh, take joy in what you have as gifts from God.
Eighth, live with moderation and sobriety.

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