Here is a prayer from that collection of Puritan prayers known as The Valley of Vision. This is a prayer of confidence--confidence in the greatness and the grace of God. It is a bold prayer made through a right apprehension of the character of God.

*****

O God, Thou art very great,

My lot is to approach thee with godly fear and humble confidence,

for thy condescension equals thy grandeur,

and thy goodness is thy glory.

I am unworthy, but thou dost welcome;

guilty, but thou art merciful;

poor, but thy riches are unsearchable.

Thou hast shown boundless compassion towards me

by not sparing thy son,

and by giving me freely all things in him;

This is the foundation of my hope,

the refuge of my safety,

the new and livnig way to thee,

the means of that conviction of sin,

brokenness of heart, and self-despair,

which will endear me to the gospel.

Happy are they who are Christ's

in him at peace with thee,

justified from all things,

delivered from coming wrath,

made heirs of future glory;

Give me such deadness to the world,

such love to the Saviour,

such attachment to his house,

such devotedness to his service,

as proves me a subject of his salvation.

May every part of my character and conduct

make a serious and amiable impression on others,

and impel them to ask the way to the Master.

Let no incident of life, pleasing or painful,

injure the prosperity of my soul,

but rather increase it.

Send me thy help,

for thine appointments are not meant

to make me independent of thee,

and the best means will be vain

without super-added blessings.

Your weekly dose of Spurgeon
posted by Phil Johnson

The PyroManiacs devote some space each weekend to highlights from The Spurgeon Archive. The following excerpt is from "How To Meet the Evils of the Age," chapter 4 in An All-Round Ministry.

A short time ago I made the decision to read through all of David McCullough’s books. He is a renown historian and a gifted author and I realized that reading his books would be both educational and enjoyable—not just to learn history from a master but to learn from his style of writing. Few men can write history with the lucidity and character of David McCullough. This is why, I’m sure, all of his books remain in print, even forty and fifty years after publication, and why he has twice received the Pulitzer Prize (not to mention multitudes of other accolades).

Intimidated by the sheer size of his biography of Truman, and having already made my way through 1776 and John Adams, I turned recently to The Johnstown Flood, one of his lesser-known works. This book, which weighs in at a “mere” 300 pages (quite short for McCullough’s standards) deals with one of the most devastating disasters in American history. On May 31, 1889, a dam burst near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, sending a massive wall of water hurtling towards the thriving town. It smashed into Johnstown, killing more than 2,000 people. But it was more than a tragedy—it was also a scandal, for the dam was privately owned and had been built to make a private lake on a summer resort property patronized by such tycoons as Andrew Mellon, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. Americans were outraged.

Though the event has been largely forgotten, at the time it was a national scandal and riveted the attention of Americans much the way Hurricane Katrina did when it devastated New Orleans a few years ago. For weeks and months it was front page news across the nation. Johnstown would never fully recover and, once a bustling town with a great future, it quickly faded in favor of other nearby towns.

While The Johnstown Flood may not be a book carrying lessons of great importance for our day (“Don’t neglect dams?”), neither does it need to be. It is a fascinating read and an interesting little slice of history. Through the pen of David McCullough the events come to life and the reader is transported a century into the past. Like all of the works of McCullough I’ve read to this point, this one is well worth the read.

The new Founders podcast has been posted online. It's about 20 minutes long.

The second part of my interview with Tom Nettles delves further into the question of Baptist identity. I ask him about Landmarkism, and learned one very good thing that J.R. Graves and the Landmarkers did for the annual meetings of the SBC. Dr. Nettles also gives a very interesting--some might even call it ironic--geographical delineation of early Landmarkism within Southern Baptist life.

The identity crisis that provoked the Landmark movement and the outcome of it are incredibly relevant to modern SBC life. Anyone who is interested in the contemporary discussions about Baptist identity should listen to Dr. Nettles' insights. He, more than any other living Baptist scholar, has explored and written about Baptist identity in helpful, historical and theological ways. His 3 volume work, The Baptists, is unparalled in our day.

Toward this end of this part of the interview, Dr. Nettles gives a wonderful argument for Baptists to stay in Baptist churches rather than joining Presbyterian churches, even when the latter may have a much healthier ministry than the former.

Available very soon is a new book by Dr. Michael Horton called "Christless Christianity." Thabiti M. Anyabwile, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman describes this new work as follows: "Horton has ably helped us see the train wreck that is so much of popular Christianity... A more important and timely volume could not have been written." Here is a 5 minute video by Dr. Horton about it...

James White

Sorry to be so slow in getting this linked. I like posting the video with the audio, and it took me all day to get around to uploading the video (I wonder how many will be able to notice why?). In any case, yesterday we had a fairly technical program. Alan Kurschner and I discussed his paper on the textual variant at Luke 23:34, "And Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'" We devoted the entire hour to the subject (as you can see from the earlier blog entry providing graphics on the subject). Here's the program (free/high quality).

What Everybody Should Know About God - ReformedMissionary.org. Gospel Presentation

Paul & Timothy Conference

The Conference is designed to help today's church catch the vision of pre-eldership ministry. From the Pastoral Epistles (particularly the book of Timothy) we will be challenging young men to preach the Word, seek ministry mentorship, and to avoid prematurely taking up the office of elder/pastor. The church as whole will be challenged to create a space for young, aspiring preachers to minister in their years before being eligible for church office. In addition to this, we are encouraging everyone that registers (men, women, young and old) to be involved in the work of evangelism, beginning now! This is inspired by Paul's charge to Timothy, (do the work of an evangelist). The Friday night portion of the conference will be free to all non-registrants, and will be an engaging evangelistic presentation. We encourage everyone who registers to bring friends, family, co-workers and neighbors who have not yet personally trusted in the work of Christ on Calvary. Also see their blog

Reformed Books

The effectuation of God's delivering his people from their bondage in Egypt, as we have often observed before, tended in many particulars to two diverse, yet complementary ends: which are the glory of his just wrath and fury, which is displayed in his fierce judgments against the Egyptian people; and the glory of his free mercy and covenant faithfulness, which is displayed in his redeeming the children of Israel, and bringing them out from the house of slavery. These two facets of God's glory, as different as they are, do not detract from each other, but rather serve to set each other off with a more distinct and brilliant luster, the severity of the judgments underscoring the depth of the calamity that awaits those who have not known mercy, and thereby magnifying the greatness of God's grace, which, when sin and wrath abounded in full measure, still abounded even more (cf. Romans 5:20-21). The stubbornness of Pharaoh, whose heart God had hardened for this purpose, brings out this various glory in greater measure; for the heavy and unyielding hand which he laid upon God's people made necessary a very strong and admirable salvation, if God were to bring them out from his cruel oppression, and at the same time provided cause for the ongoing and ever-increasing displays of God's wrath and punishment upon the land of Egypt. This twofold glory was most poignantly displayed in the first Passover, when the Angel of the Lord, who is Christ, poured out God's final cup of wrath upon his enemies, and put them all to a violent death; and yet, on the day of judgment, he mercifully passed over all those who were covered by the blood of the Passover Lamb, who underwent his bloody judgment in their place. Now, as the great and manifold glory of Christ was admirably displayed in the climax of the redemption from Egypt, that is, in the Passover celebration; so would it also be displayed in the culmination of the redemption from Egypt, in at least two marvelous ways, which are, first, the appearance of the pillar of cloud and fire; and second, the crossing of the Red Sea. And thus, in order that this diverse excellence of Christ might be brought to its final display, God hardened Pharaoh's heart yet again, so that he pursued the children of Israel into the wilderness, after he had once let them go.

For sheer entertainment value, I think American politics in general, and Presidential campaigns in particular, are about the best bang for my buck, even as a non-American. For little more than the cost of an internet connection I can spend endless hours being amused. This 2008 campaign may be the most entertaining yet. While I rarely use this blog to discuss politics (and especially when I'm as ignorant of a topic as I am with U.S. politics), today I'll make the rare exception. Over the past few days I've bookmarked a whole lot of links and today will try to tie a few of them together.

Sarah Palin is undoubtedly the most electrifying and polarizing figure we've seen in U.S. politics for a long, long time. She has completely changed the face of election. A week ago the media could not break away from Barack Obama. Today Sarah Palin is dominating the discussion. She was the perfect foil; if anyone doubts McCain's smarts, I'd say he has proven himself the wily veteran with this pick. This has become an Obama vs. Palin election. At least for now, McCain is taking a back seat in his own Presidential election campaign. It's all about Sarah. Chuck Colson's article on clashing worldviews is interesting reading. "In the life of Sarah Palin, we see the clash of worldviews playing out before our own eyes. Consider every major controversial issue in American politics and culture right now . . . and somehow, they touch her personally." Everyone can either love or hate Palin; few are ambivalent.

It's little wonder that many evangelicals are quickly learning to love her. The little boy Piper Palin spit-shined in front of the nation is living, breathing proof of Palin's commitment to life--probably the single most important issue to a vast number of Christians. In an age when 90 or 95 out of every 100 children with Down Syndrome are destroyed, Trig is, well, alive. That, in and of itself, is almost miraculous today. Asked about her brother's Syndrome, Palin's daughter Willow said, "I don't care - he's my brother and I love him." Trig is exactly who God made him to be and he is a gift to that family.

But the greatest source of Palin's appeal must be her sheer normalcy. She is exactly the kind of pit bull hockey mom you'd meet anywhere in Alaska (or Canada). She's so unlike the majority of the politicians who strive for the White House. It seems almost a mistake that she is up on that platform.

People on the Loony Left know they hate Palin but they are struggling with how to hate her. They turned first on her children, insisting that her infant son could not possibly be her own. They smeared her for having a baby in her "old age" (as if they all had their families in their prime child-bearing years) and determined that the baby must be her daughters'. The stupendous stupidity of leveling and believing such a charge showed just how far people would stoop to attempt to discredit her. Of course the controversy was quickly resolved when the McCain campaign announced that Palin's daughter was pregnant with a child of her own. Perhaps worst of all, she was going to keep the baby and will marry the father. While I read many articles assuring the American public that Palin was lying about being the mother of Trig, I don't recall reading nearly so many retractions or apologies.

Things got even weirder than this. Liberal feminists (is that redundant?) began to turn on Palin. You would think women would be thrilled to see a woman who is poised to rise higher in government than any woman before her, but this was not the case. While these feminists would have cheered Hillary Clinton as President or Vice President, Palin was not exactly the woman they had in mind. Not the hockey mom, church-going mother of five who is undoubtedly a better shot than Dick Cheney! And not the woman who is a powerful figure while remaining feminine and attractive. Stand to Reason says "One of the things that bugs me about the Feminist movement is it seems to tell women that they have to act like men to be equal to them. And in the process women are no longer feminine and instead take on some of the worst aspects of masculine nature... Gov. Palin seems to have a feminine appeal while displaying her capability and strength."

And so feminists wondered if she could possibly take care of her family while dealing with her responsibilities as Vice President. The feminists said this! Eventually there was something of a backlash and prominent feminists were forced to speak out. But the damage had already been done--we had seen another example of how far the left is willing to go to discredit this McCain/Palin ticket. They'll gladly violate their own principles to keep McCain out of the White House. It truly was a shameful week for the press.

Interestingly, while feminists have been asking whether Palin can care for her nation and her family, Christians have been wondering the same. Is it right for a woman to take on a position of such responsibility? Is it right for her to assume a position of leadership? No sooner had Palin been announced than Voddie Baucham wrote a much-publicized article in which he said this: "My point is simple. The job of a wife and mother is to be a wife and mother. Anything in addition to that must also be subservient to it. There is no higher calling. Moreover, I believe Paul's admonition [in Titus 2] should lead us to reject any notion of a wife and mother taking on the level of responsibility that Mrs. Palin is seeking." Baucham believes that the pro-life party is using Palin as a pawn in a move that is distinctly anti-family. Those who know of Baucham will know that he is very conservative when it comes to the role of women (going so far in The Return of the Daughters to suggest that women should probably not go to college).

Other more moderate conservative Christians spoke up. Writing for the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, David Kotter asked, "Does Sarah Palin Present a Dilemma for Complementarians?" He answered very well, saying, "From the outset we must remember that on November 4 the voters will not elect a national minister or pastor in chief. A president is not held to the same moral standards as an elder of a church. While it is a blessing from God to have ethical or even Christian political leaders, the Bible places no such requirements on secular governments. Even though the Bible reserves final authority in the church for men, this does not apply in the kingdom of this world." Al Mohler agrees, saying "The New Testament clearly speaks to the complementary roles of men and women in the home and in the church, but not in roles of public responsibility. I believe that women as CEOs in the business world and as officials in government are no affront to Scripture. Then again, that presupposes that women -- and men -- have first fulfilled their responsibilities within the little commonwealth of the family."

One blog I appreciated was Amy's (which has 173 comments and counting). Amy takes issue with the automatic assumption that a woman's highest calling is to be a wife and mother. "Being a wife and mother is a good and noble thing, but it is not the highest thing."

And I firmly agree with Amy and Mohler and Kotter. While Christians do want to maintain the focus on the family we have to be careful about stating categorically that a woman has no business running for Vice President. Palin's decision is one to be made with her family and with counsel from her local church. Beyond that we, as Christians, have to trust her judgment in this kind of disputable matter. Far be it from us to declare that she cannot do both and that she cannot do both with excellence.

The timing of this campaign is interesting since we are likely to be facing an election here in Canada in the weeks to come. Palin is an unique figure and for so many reasons. Her husband is a snowmobile racer, for goodness sake. I wouldn't be surprised if she gets a few write-in votes in our election.

Isn't Preaching Outdated

Irish Calvinist has a fantastic article in which he wonders what would have happened if, instead of preaching, Sarah Palin had chosen to sit on a couch or on a stool (maybe with ripped jeans and sandals) to deliver her speech. After all, isn't preaching outdated?