(This lovely picture is entitled “Alaska Moonlight” by JLS Photography.)
St. Agnes’ Eve by Tennyson forms an interesting counterpart to the Taylor’s Was There a Palace of Pure Gold (Meditation 24). Both poems are driven by the desire to be with God.
Both concern a present a present desire to be with God and the need to be fit for such a translation. But despite the similar concern the effect and content of both poems is remarkably different.
The First Stanza:
Deep on the convent-roof the snows
Are sparkling to the moon:
My breath to heaven like vapour goes;
May my soul follow soon!
The shadows of the convent-towers
Slant down the snowy sward,
Still creeping with the creeping hours
That lead me to my Lord:
Make Thou my spirit pure and clear
As are the frosty skies,
Or this first snowdrop of the year
That in my bosom lies.
Summary: The poet is perhaps a nun of some sort “the convent-roof”; or at least a deeply religious person. One a cold night, while looking over the moonlight snow, the poet’s breath fogs and lifts toward heaven. That leads to a thought of the poet’s soul likewise ascending:
My breath to heaven like vapour goes;
May my soul follow soon!
In this desire to be with God, the present time consists of “shadow” and “creeping hours”. Thus, the prayer that the poet’s spirit may ascend. Like Taylor the poet prays that the soul be purified, “Make thou my spirit pure and clear.” But unlike Taylor there is no meditation on one’s own sinfulness. In fact, the sense is different. The poet’s mediation is made a convent and the sense is a cold, chaste, unworldly desire.
There are two other marked differences between the poets. Taylor rhythm and imagery are complex, contradictory, often jarring. But Tennyson writes great polish.
The rhythm is meticulous held in check to draw attention precisely as the poet intends:
DEEP on the CONvent-ROOF the SNOWS
Are SPARKling TO the MOON:
My BREATH to HEAven like VAPour GOES;
MAY my SOUL FOLlow SOON!
The initial deep slows down the entire scene. The line break, the semicolon and the two accented syllables slow down the movement of the verse and throw the emphasis on the initial syllable of the prayer, “MAY”.
The imagery is all of a picture: nothing which is not organic to the scene intrudes. A cold night, the snow, the moon, the freezing breath are all of the same event.
Taylor by contrast would draw together images which have a certain conceptual link, even if in “nature” they would never be found together. Taylor would bring together any number of beautiful images, even if those images have no natural correspondence in the “real world.” I could image Taylor writing of moonlight and the glint of a fish’s scales and the sunshine and a white flower and a ruby, because they all flash light: eventhough sun and moon can never both shine at once.
Here is another similarity to Taylor. Tennyson’s prayer acknowledges an unfitness for heaven, robes are “soiled”, the candle is pale, earthy. Taylor would rail and bemoan his unfitness. Tennyson is more Platonic and less moral. Tennyson sees the physical body as an ontological impediment. Taylor seems the human trouble as more profound. Both speak of new clothes, but Taylor is more desperate and disgusted. Tennyson sees the current trouble being merely the need for an invitation to ascend:
As these white robes are soil’d and dark,
To yonder shining ground;
As this pale taper’s earthly spark,
To yonder argent round;
So shows my soul before the Lamb,
My spirit before Thee;
So in mine earthly house I am,
To that I hope to be.
Break up the heavens, O Lord! and far,
Thro’ all yon starlight keen,
Draw me, thy bride, a glittering star,
In raiment white and clean.
When Tennyson comes to the doors of heaven, he will be cleared of “sin”; it will be a purging at that time and place,
For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits,
To make me pure of sin.
Taylor too sees the need for the work to be on God’s side: “Oh! That my heart was made thy golden box.” And both see that they will be admitted by God’s grace. But there is one point on which they profoundly differ:
He lifts me to the golden doors;
The flashes come and go;
All heaven bursts her starry floors,
And strows her lights below,
And deepens on and up! the gates
Roll back, and far within
For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits,
To make me pure of sin.
The sabbaths of Eternity,
One sabbath deep and wide—
A light upon the shining sea—
The Bridegroom with his bride!
In Tennyson’s poem, the one who is praying has no conflict in the passions. The desire to be God is perfect and consistent: just like the flow of the poem’s language. All of is a consistent piece. The poet desires to be God. The poet trusts that God will work and raise the poet up.
Taylor too has faith in God’s work and a desire to be God. But in Taylor there is a profound sense of the conflict and inconsistency of religious desire.
Tennyson’s prayer contains no conflicting emotion. The covenant towers which reach up toward heaven cast moon-shadows upon the earth. Time on earth creeps. The breath and soul ascend to God by their own nature movement.
Taylor objectively sees how much better it is to be with God. But then he sees the conflicting desires of his heart which also seeks the earth. Taylor confesses to a desire contrary to God. Taylor is in love with the earth. The breath ascends upward from the convent. But Taylor would also be thinking of the warm bed which waits within, and of the good meal waiting in the morning.
Tennyson’s poem is the prayer of a “saint” who experiences no contrary desire. It is far more beautiful than Taylor’s conflicted mess. Tennyson’s saint would never call herself, “More blockish than a block.” She is a saint, after all.
But that I thinks makes Taylor’s poem more honest. Tennyson’s saint has achieved a sort of earthly perfection. While Taylor’s penitent is horrified at his conflicted hearts which desires those things which are at odds with his own happiness. As John writes, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
Tennyson’s saint admits to some lurking imperfect, but the poem does not express that terrified sense of sin which makes up Taylor’s meditations.
The question of why does God hear our prayers? There is obviously no obligation in God to hear prayer: God is under no duty to the creature. The creature cannot compel God to hear prayer. The prayers of human beings in the course of history have raised in number of absurd, wicked, hurtful prayers.
In Psalm 68:18, the Psalmist writes, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the lord will not hear me.” In Proverbs 1, Wisdom warns that the one who will not regard wisdom will not be heard when he prays having suffered the result of refusing wisdom:
Proverbs 1:24–33 (AV)
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
So we see that the matter of being heard is not automatic. Why then does God hear prayer?
Sibbes gives two reasons: (1) the good in our prayer has been brought about by the action of the Spirit; and (2) God receives as he has chosen us in election. It is God’s good grace toward us, to choose us and to transform us that is the basis for God hearing us.
First: the operation of God
Now God hears our prayers, First, Because the materials of these holy desires are good in themselves, and from the person from whence they come, his beloved spouse, as it is in Cant. 2:14, where Christ, desiring to hear the voice of his church, saith, ‘Let me see thy countenance, and let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.’ Thus the voice of the Spouse is sweet, because it is stirred up by his own Spirit, which burns the incense, and whence all comes which is savingly good. This offering up of our prayers in the name of Christ, is that which with his sweet odours perfumes all our sacrifices and prayers; because, being in the covenant of grace, God respects whatsoever comes from us, as we do the desires of our near friends, Rev. 8:3.
Second, God receives us in the relationship which He has chosen for us:
And then, again, God hears our prayers, because he looks upon us as we are in election, and choice of God the Father, who hath given us to him. Not only as in the near bond of marriage, husband and wife, but also as he hath given us to Christ; which is his plea unto the Father, John 17:6, ‘Thine they were, thou gavest them me,’ &c. The desires of the church please him, because they are stirred up by his Spirit, and proceed from her that is his; whose voice he delights to hear, and the prayers of others for his church are accepted, because they are for her that is his beloved.
And further:
To confirm this further, see Isa. 58:9. ‘Thou then shalt cry, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt call, and presently he shall say, Here I am,’ &c. So as soon as Daniel had ended that excellent prayer, the angel telleth him, ‘At the beginning of thy supplications the decree came forth,’ &c., Dan. 9:23. So because he knows what to put into our hearts, he knows our desires and thoughts, and therefore accepts of our prayers and hears us, because he loves the voice of his own Spirit in us. So it is said, ‘He fulfils the desires of them that fear him; and he is near to all that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth,’ Ps. 145:18. And our Saviour, he saith, ‘Ask and ye shall receive,’ &c., Mat. 7:7. So we have it, 1 John 5:14, ‘And we know if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.’
First:
Use 1. Let it therefore be a singular comfort to us, that in all wants, so in that of friends, when we have none to go to, yet we have God, to whom we may freely pour out our hearts. There being no place in the world that can restrain us from his presence, or his Spirit from us, he can hear us and help us in all places. What a blessed estate is this! None can hinder us from driving this trade with Christ in heaven.
I was told by a woman that when she was a child, she was told by an adult, I do not love you. The little girl thought to herself, that is okay. Jesus loves me.
Second, when stop realize what a privilege it is to go to God in prayer, it should stir up our hearts to make use of the privilege:
Use 2. And let us make another use of it likewise, to be a means to stir up our hearts to make use of our privileges. What a prerogative is it for a favourite to have the fare* of his prince! him we account happy. Surely he is much more happy that hath God’s care, him to be his father in the covenant of grace; him reconciled, upon all occasions, to pour out his heart before him, who is merciful and faithful, wise and most able to help us. ‘Why are we discouraged, therefore; and why are we cast down,’ Ps. 42:11, when we have such a powerful and such a gracious God to go to in all our extremities? He that can pray can never be much uncomfortable.
And three:
Use 3. So likewise, it should stir us up to keep our peace with God, that so we may always have access unto him, and communion with him.
But this is a privilege which can be lost:
What a pitiful case is it to lose other comforts, and therewith also to be in such a state, that we cannot go to God with any boldness! It is the greatest loss of all when we have lost the spirit of prayer; for, if we lose other things, we may recover them by prayer. But when we have lost this boldness to go to God, and are afraid to look him in the face, as malefactors the judge, this is a woful state.
Sibbes then considers two things which will break the fellowship with God which makes prayer possible. First, there is unrepentant sin:
Now there are diverse cases wherein the soul is not in a state fit for prayer. As that first, Ps. 66:18, ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not regard my prayer.’ If a man hath a naughty heart, that purposeth to live in any sin against God, he takes him for an enemy, and therefore will not regard his prayer. Therefore we must come with a resolute purpose to break off all sinful courses, and to give up ourselves to the guidance of God’s Spirit. And this will be a forcible reason to move us thereunto, because so long as we live in any known sin unrepented of, God neither regards us nor our prayers. What a fearful estate is this, that when we have such need of God’s favour in all estates; in sickness, the hour of death, and in spiritual temptation, to be in such a condition as that we dare not go to God! Though our lives be civil,* yet if we have false hearts that feed themselves with evil imaginations, and with a purpose of sinning, though we act it not, the Lord will not regard the prayers of such a one; they are abominable. The very ‘sacrifice of the wicked is abominable,’ Prov. 15:8.
The second is a refusal to forgive:
Another case is, when we will not forgive others. We know it is directly set down in the Lord’s prayer, ‘Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us,’ Mat. 6:14; and there is further added, ver. 15, ‘If you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you.’ If our hearts tell us we have no disposition to pardon, be at peace and agreement, then we do but take God’s name in vain when we ask him to forgive our sins, and we continue in envy and malice. In this case God will not regard our prayers, as it is said, ‘I care not for your prayers, or for any service you perform to me,’ Isa. 1:15. Why? ‘For your hands are full of blood,’ Isa. 66:1. You are unmerciful, of a cruel, fierce disposition, which cannot appear before God rightly, nor humble itself in prayer. If it doth, its own bloody and cruel disposition will be objected against the prayers, which are not mingled with faith and love, but with wrath and bitterness. Shall I look for mercy, that have no merciful heart myself? Can I hope to find that of God, that others cannot find from me? An unbroken disposition, which counts ‘pride an ornament,’ Ps. 73:6, that is cruel and fierce, it cannot go to God in prayer. For, whosoever would prevail with God in prayer must be humble; for our supplications must come from a loving, peaceable disposition, where there is a resolution against all sin, Ps. 73:1. Neither is it sufficient to avoid grudging and malice against these, but we must look that others have not cause to grudge against us, as it is commanded: ‘If thou bring thy gifts to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift,’ Mat. 5:23. So that if we do not seek reconciliation with men unto whom we have done wrong, God will not be reconciled to us, nor accept any service from us.
There is another reference to the result of a failure to forgive spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 18. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, Jesus tells of a servant who was forgiven much but he himself would not forgive another slave who owed him just a little:
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. 23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
What then was the result for the one who refused to forgive:
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Matthew 18:21–35 (AV). The man was delivered to tormentors until he would forgive. The lord would not hear the prayer of the servant who would not forgive. This is the most dreadful of states.
Sibbes then finishes with an interesting question: How do I know if God hears my prayer?
Quest. How shall I know whether God regard my prayers or not?
Ans. 1. First, When he grants the thing prayed for, or enlargeth our hearts to pray still. It is a greater gift than the thing itself we beg, to have a spirit of prayer with a heart enlarged; for, as long as the heart is enlarged to prayer, it is a sign that God hath a special regard of us, and will grant our petition in the best and fittest time.
2. When he answers us in a better and higher kind, as Paul when he prayed for the taking away of the prick of the flesh, had promises of sufficient grace, 2 Cor. 12:7–9.
3. When, again, he gives us inward peace, though he gives not the thing, as Phil. 4:6, ‘In nothing be careful, but in all things let your requests be made to God with prayer and thanksgiving.’
Obj. But sometimes he doth not answer our requests.
Ans. It is true he doth not, but ‘the peace of God which passeth all understanding guards our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God,’ Philip. 4:7. So though he answers not our prayers in particular, yet he vouchsafes inward peace unto us, assuring us that it shall go well with us, though not in that particular we beg. And thus in not hearing their prayers, yet they have their hearts’ desire when God’s will is made known. Is not this sufficient for a Christian, either to have the thing, or to have inward peace, with assurance that it shall go better with them than if they had it; with a spirit enlarged to pray, till they have the thing prayed for. If any of these be, God respects our prayers.
Having completed his consideration of Canticles 4:16, Awake, O North wind he comes to answer:
Now, upon the church’s invitation for Christ to come into his garden, follows his gracious answer unto the church’s desire, in the first verse of this fifth chapter:
‘I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved,’ Cant. 5:1.
Having made some introductory observations, Sibbes comes to his exegesis
The first point is that Christ comes into this garden. Although Sibbes does not directly address this point, he seems to have this concept in mind: What would God have to do with sinful men? As it reads in Psalm 5:4 (AV), “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.”
God loves his Church and then makes it lovely:
First of all, God makes his church lovely, planteth good things therein, and then stirs up in her good desires: both fitness to pray from an inward gracious disposition, and holy desires; after which, Christ hearing the voice of his own Spirit in her, and regarding his own preparations, he answers them graciously. Whence, in the first place, we may observe, that,
God makes us good, stirs up holy desires in us, and then answers the desires of his holy Spirit in us.
This is paralleled in Paul’s discussion of marriage in Ephesians 5:25-27:
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
The love of Christ does not leave as we were, but the relentless action of the Holy Spirit works upon us to make more lovely to Christ. Because have been redeemed we are transformed; because of his love, we are made lovely.
This incidentally, is the place upon which the Protestant and the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox differ, this matter of justification and sanctification. And while this subject is far too great to be handled in three sentences, there is a picture here of the distinction. As Thomas Brooks said, you are wise and know how to apply it.
This transformation of the heart worked by the love of God helps us to understand a wildly misapplied verse :
Psalm 37:4 (AV)
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
If I delight myself in the Lord, then he is the desire of my heart. God stirs us up to the best desire and then meets that desire.
But Sibbes takes the application in a different direction and considers the question of prayer:
A notable place for this we have, Ps. 10:17, which shews how God first prepares the heart to pray, and then hears these desires of the soul stirred up by his own Spirit, ‘Lord, thou hast heard the desires of the humble.’ None are fit to pray but the humble, such as discern their own wants: ‘Thou wilt prepare their hearts, thou wilt make thine ear to hear.’ So Rom. 8:26, it is said, ‘Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered.’ Thus the Spirit not only stirs up our heart to pray, but also prepares our hearts unto it.
God must work in our hearts to prepare and deliver our prayer, because we would not have such in ourselves.
Sibbes then turns to the matter of why God hearing our prayers. But since that is a topic onto itself, it will come next.
Collins lays down series of rules for his congregation, that they may not swerve or fail in the faith. The first rule is discussed here.
The second rule give my Collins is
Be very well rooted and established in the right that has been delivered to you.
When the roots do not go down deep, one can easily be swayed. “There are many Christians that, through their own itching ears and the heaping up of teachers to themselves, have never been root or established in the truth.”
One without depth, cannot distinguish. Without a true “sight” of Christ, one will follow after existing affections and ideas. Christianity entails an entire renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:1-2). Collins expresses it thus, “You must not only hear the things of God, but see them; the first will but blind you, or best leave you in great uncertainty; the last will settle you.” There must be renovation of one’s heart.
This will require effort — and an effort which begins by beseeching the Lord to be the teacher, “In order to have a heart established through grace, get the Lord himself by prayer to teach you every truth. What Jesus Christ teaches once is everlastingly taught; no word is abiding, but what the Lord Jesus himself teaches.”
Here we see the great duty and burden of the church. The duty of the gathered people is to create disciples: those who are rooted and grounded in the truth. The truth must shape thought, affections and action. It is the duty of leaders to lead others in the way of truth (Heb. 13:7) and then to give an account for such leadership (Heb. 13:17). The new Christian will easily wonder if left utterly alone. The church is given to bring about this depth of life.
Yes, every individual Christian has the duty to learn the things of God, to study, prayer, mediate, serve, et cetera. But God did not give his Word to be lived in isolation but in communion. This depth takes place among the gathered people of God.
In Daniel Block’s “For the Glory of God”, he asks the question as to whether we should address worship specifically and personally to the Spirit. His analysis begins with three observations:
“No one addresses the Holy Spirit in prayer, or bows to the Holy Spirit, or serves him in a liturgical gesture. Put simply, in the Bible the Spirit is never the object of worship.”
“The Spirit drives the worship of believers yet does not receive worship.”
“In true worship, the person of the Trinity may not be interchanged without changing the significance of the work.”
He notes two historical developments in the church. First, is the development of the Doxology,
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise him all creatures here below;
Praise him above you heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
He noted that it derives from Gloria Patri per Filium in Spiritu Sancto, Glory to God the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. This was changed in response to the Arians, which sought to ontologically subordinate Jesus. To avoid that movement, the connections where changed to “and” from “through” and “in”.
The second development was the Charismatic movement to single out the Spirit for particular adoration in prayer and song.
Block is reticent to make the Spirit the unique object of worship
When we read Scripture, the focus will on God the Father or Jesus Christ the Son. However, it seems that the Holy Spirit is most honored when we accept his conviction of sin, his transforming and sanctifying work within us, and his guidance in life and ministry, and when in response to his leading we prostrate ourselves before Jesus.
This emphasis on the Spirit’s work in is matched by an interesting comment from Kuyper
It appears from Scripture, more than has been emphasized, that in the holy act of prayer there is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit working both in us and with us.
Kuyper, Holy Spirit (1946), trans. de Vries, p. 618.
James Hastings has a discussion on prayer directed to the Spirit. The conclusion comes in his last paragraph:
Keeper of Your elect, It is better to take refuge in You than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in You than to trust in princes. Therefore cause my dear children to take refuge in You alone. Be their strength and their song; be their great salvation.
Let them lift up the cup of salvation and call on Your Name. Open to them the gates of righteousness, that they may enter through them and give thanks to You. Raise their eyes to the hills to see from where their help comes. For their help comes from You, who made heaven and earth. Do not let their feet be moved; keep them and do not slumber. Please keep them and neither slumber nor sleep. Keep them from all evil; keep their lives. Keep their going out and their coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
My children, do you know who keeps you? The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. Lord Jesus, keep my children. We wait eagerly for Your appearing. Hasten the wonderful day of Your return—the wedding supper of the Lamb. Amen (Psalm 118, 116, 121).
Andrew Case. Setting Their Hope in GOD (Kindle Locations 275-284). Booksurge.
He has written models of prayers for husbands, wives and parents. I wonderful resources. You will find his work here: http://hismagnificence.com/books/
[Note: A chancery bill would be a pleading in a court; a request for some redress from the court. The plaintiff begins the lawsuit by filing a bill which accuses the defendant of many wrongs. It is common for plaintiffs to accuse the defendant of many things which the plaintiff does not reasonably believe the defendant to have done. The plaintiff does this so that the plaintiff can conduct discovery [seek evidence] on the matters accused in the bill. A chancery court also permits the judge to act with “equity”; the judge can do things which are not precisely specified in the law. Here, Spurstowe uses that power to show that God may show mercy.]
One cause and original can have but one orderly and genuine birth, for else what means our Savior’s question, Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Or that of St. James, Does a fountain at the same time send forth water sweet and bitter?
May it not then justly be the opinion and mind of many, that the least fruit of any holy meditation can never grow from such a bramble of contention is a Chancery bill? And that from such a spring of march [Exodus 15:23; marah means “bitter”], a sweet and delightful stream can never issue?
Yea, who will not be ready to take up Nathanael’s question, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And then, what better answer can I return to such then Phillip’s, Come and see? [John 1:46]
And now let me say what I have often thought, that between such a bill and most men’s confession of sin in prayer, in which they implead [a legal term, state the charges, thus here, confess/accuse] themselves to God, there is too great a likeness in this respect, that the complaints in both have more of course and form than truth and reality.
In the one it is the usage in custom of the court for the plaintiff to pretend fraud, rate, combinations [conspiracy], concealments done and made to the prejudice of his right, which yet he never intends to prove against the defendant, but only to make use of it as a ground of discovery.
And is it not thus also in the other? Are there not in prayer large catalogues and enumerations of sin which many charge themselves with before God in their self condemnation? Pride, wantonness, hypocrisy, contumacy, are the black, shall I say, or scarlet sins that are among others instanced in [set forth in the prayer]?
And yet what other thing is intended by them than to make up the outside of their prayer? The sins are only placed in it, as dark shadows in a picture to set it off with more advantage, and to commend it rather to mend them to God.
In the doing of the duty they think not in the least the worst of themselves or what they say against themselves, nor would have others so say to do, else how comes it to pass that in charging themselves so deeply at God’s Tribunal, there is as little appearance of shame or sorrow in their face as there was of a cloud in the heavens
when Elijah servant returned his answer, there was nothing? [1 Kings 18:23]
Now that would be no part either of my work or purpose to justify or condemn the practices of humane judiciaries, which admit new suggestions [I am not talking about how courts conduct themselves], which admit loose suggestions, that are ours arrow shot at random, because that now and then they may serve there discovery.
Yet I cannot but condemn and abhor that the confession of sin in prayer should be as slight and overly as the complaints of a chancery bill, and that particular sins specified in it, and aggravated and heinous circumstances, should be no other than things of course, done rather to length out the duty than affect the heart? To discover quickness of parts rather than truth of grace.
What is this but to make prayer in itself, which should be as sweet as incense burning up on the golden altar, to be as an offering of sulfur? What is this but to mock God, the great searcher of the heart, with vain words, and to publish to the world how little they fear his anger or value is pardon?
For if the confession of sin be formal, how can the seeking of forgiveness be real?
O Holy lord preserve me from such hypocrisy, and remember not what in this kind I have been guilty of my desire is to judge myself, not in word, but in truth, and unfeigningly to beg, That I, who am in the court of thy justice wholly inexcusable, may in the Chancery of a mercy become altogether inaccusable.
Such is the disparity between a Lamp and a Star, as that happily it may not a little be wondered at, why I should make a joint meditation of them which are so greatly distant in respect of place, and far more in respect of quality: the one being an earthly, and the other a heavenly body?
What is a lamp or a star in regard of influence, duration or beauty? Haw it any quickening rays flowing from it? Or is its light immortal,s o as not become despised by expiring? Can it dazzle the beholder with its serene luster and leave such impressions of itself upon the eye, as may render it for a time blind to any other objects?
Alas! These are too high and noble effects for such a feeble and uncertain light to produce, and property only to those glorious bodies that sine in the firmament.
But yet this great inequality between the one and the other serves to make them both more meet emblems of the offering estate of believes in this and the other life, who is Scripture — while they are on this side of heaven — are compared to wise virgins with lamps burning; and when they come to heaven, to start shining, which endure for ever and ever.
Grace in the best of saints is not perfect, but must, like a lamp, be fed with new supplies that it go not out; and be often trimmed that it be not dim. Ordinances are as necessary to Christians in this life as manna to the Israelites in the wilderness (though in Canaan it ceased). And therefore, God appointed his Word and Sacraments to drop continually upon the hearts of his children, as the two olive trees upon the golden candlestick.
What mean then those fond conceits of perfectists, who dream of living above all subsidiary helps and judge ordinances as useless to them, as oil for a star or snuffing of the sun to make it shine more brightly [treating the stars and sun like oil burning lamps]?
It is true, when we come to heaven such things will be of no more use to our souls, than meat or drink will be to our bodies; but yet while we are earth, the body cannot live without the one, nor the soul without the other.
Do thou therefore, Holy God,
Preserve in me a due sense of my impotency and wants
Whose light is fading,
As well as borrowed;
That so I may daily suck supplies from thee
And acknowledge that I live not only by grace received
But by grace renewed
And while I am in this life
Have light only as a lamp in the Temple
Which must be fed and trimmed
And not as a star in Heaven
Since we are in this world, a constant element of life within the Church will be peacemaking, confession, forgiveness, reconciliation. Here is a form letter with some elements of one brother seeking reconciliation with another.
Dear _________:
Think of that _______: When God turns Adam and Eve from the Garden the flaming sword guards the way in. God is utterly beyond our ability to see or hear — unless God first comes to us. What if God had never spoken? What if God had left us alone? The heavens could have been bronze, metal and judgment for all time. Even now when God has spoken the majority of the world never hears a word. God spoke — even to us. God invaded His privacy, God disclosed the love of Father and Son and Spirit, God has invited us into the infinite joy of His communion. We have been invited into fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
________, stop for a moment and serious consider — God had every right to ignore you, to leave you alone to your own heart, to seal up joy and love and mercy — but it was disclosed to you and I, to those men who did not and do not deserve it. So often we are like children, fighting over toys which will soon break, angry over who gets to sit in that particular seat of the car while ignoring the trip to Disneyland. What fools we can be! We have been given infinite wealth, an unending supply of mercy and love, hope and joy: The Father is an unending fountain of love.
Ecclesiastes 1:1–11 (ESV)
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.
That is what we would have had God not spoken. Let those words sink into your consciousness. You know your body is already betraying you. You’re at retirement. All your money, your work, your reputation are less than vapor. Very soon, no one will even know your name. Your house will be gone. Given time not even Los Angeles or the United States will be easy to find. Great Babylon lies under the dirt. You are worm’s food; your work nothing; your life a mist — all of this is so if God does not speak. Do not live as the one who has not heard:
Hebrews 10:26–39 (ESV)
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, “Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Focus your heart upon the treasure which has flowed from the infinite mercy of the Father who has spoken. Stay there until your heart is raptured with joy:
Ephesians 1:3–14 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
And here then should be our prayer for one-another
Ephesians 1:15–23 (ESV)
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
____, if the eyes of your heart are enlightened, that you may know the hope of our inheritance, why will you not speak of it with me? Come bless me. If I were your enemy, it would be your duty to bless me. Exodus 23:4–5 (ESV)
4 If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.
If I have sinned against you, you are called upon to overlook by sin and forgive it. Pursue me with mercy that you may be blessed. I have offered you forgiveness and mercy. You have my blessing and love: Think of it, our forgiveness, mercy, love are all spending the love, mercy and forgiveness of Christ: God has spoken and has lavished blessing upon us. What madman would hoard such wealth which only increases as it is spent! The mercy of God is like manna, it spoils if it is not used (Matt. 6:15).
1 Peter 3:8–9 (ESV)
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
[Making peace is to pursue to a blessing. There is a holy seeking of one’s own good in peacemaking. Matt. 5:9.]
“His first prayer is one suitable for all persons and occasions, it breathes a humble spirit, indicates self knowledge, appeals to the proper attributes, and to the fitting person. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. Just as Luther used to call some texts little Bibles, so we may call this sentence a little prayer-book; for it has in it the soul and marrow at prayer. It is multum in parvo, and like the angelic sword turns every way. The ladder looks to be short, but it reaches from earth to heaven.”
