Veritas Pro Christo et Ecclesia

The original motto of Harvard College was Veritas Pro Christo et Ecclesia, "Truth for Christ and the Church." Its present motto is Veritas.

Don't miss Thomas Sowell's discussion of the firing of Harvard President Lawrence Summers and the repercussions far beyond Cambridge:

"Today Harvard University is renowned but it has lost the sense of dedication that built it back in 1636. The faculty run the university, as Lawrence Summers has painfully discovered, and they run it in their own narrow self-interest."

See the rest of Sowell's article here.
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God Speaks in the Thunder

Photo Courtesy of Cindy Mercer

“I used to be uncommonly terrified with thunder, and to be struck with terror when I saw a thunder storm rising; but now, on the contrary, it rejoiced me. I felt God, so to speak, at the first appearance of a thunder storm; and used to take the opportunity, at such times, to fix myself in order to view the clouds, and see the lightnings play, and hear the majestic and awful voice of God's thunder, which oftentimes was exceedingly entertaining, leading me to sweet contemplations of my great and glorious God.”

“I am not ashamed to own that I believe that the whole universe, heaven and earth, air and seas, and the divine constitution and history of the Holy Scriptures, be full of images of divine things, as full as a language is of words.”

For Jonathan Edwards, God’s end in creation is the communication of Himself and His glory to the understanding and will of His creatures. Edwards argues that all processes, inhabitants, and histories in the natural world directly correspond to unseen spiritual realities. Unlike the Romantics of the nineteenth-century, he does not embrace anything like Coleridge’s “intuition” or Emerson’s “Over Soul.” He does not appeal to mankind's natural ability to tap into spiritual forces as means for self-realization (as is blatantly popularized by Dr. Wayne Dyer in his new book, Inspiration, www.hayhouse.com/details.php?ref=89&id=2701).

Edwards argues that God is transcendent and immanent. General revelation is not equivalent to special revelation. It does not communicate the gospel or the way of salvation. But it does leave unbelievers without excuse, and it deeply enriches and moves the affections of those who are converted to Christ. Edwards’ view of general revelation, or what he called “images and shadows of divine things,” is distinctly unsentimental. For Edwards, created reality is full of bittersweet contrasts.

In my opinion, Edwards does at times allow his creative imagination to get the best of him. But his God-centered, biblical view of creation offers a welcome corrective to the currently stylish versions of panentheism (all is in God) and pantheism (all is God). Here are some examples from Edwards' "Images of the Divine Things" in Typological Writings (New Haven: Yale, 1993):

28. "As thunder, and thunder clouds, as they are vulgarly called, have a shadow of the majesty of God, so the blue sky, the green fields and trees, and pleasant flowers have a shadow of the mild attributes of the goodness, grace, and love of God, as well as the beauteous rainbow."

33. "The extreme fierceness and extraordinary power of the heat of lightening is an intimation of the exceeding power and terribleness of the wrath of God."

42. "The gradual progress we make from childhood to manhood is a type of the gradual progress of the saints in grace."

58. "Tis a sign that the beautiful variety of the colors of light was designed as a type of the various beauties and graces of the Spirit of God."

61. "Ravens that with delight feed on the carrion seem to be remarkable types of devils who with delight prey upon the souls of the dead."

64. "Hills and mountains are types of heaven, and often made use of as such in Scripture. These are difficultly ascended. To ascend them, one must go against the natural tendency of the flesh."

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Update from Al and Wini Baker

We enjoyed the fellowship with Al Baker and his wife, Wini, during our recent Missions Conference. Al is a graduate of the University of Alabama and Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS. He was recently called to Christ Community Church in Harford, CT. This part of the country, once so steeped in the Reformed Faith, presents significant challenges to those called to minister there.

Brad Smith, the minister of music, wrote today with the following update:

Please give thanks to the Lord for:

Several new people who attended our morning and evening worship services yesterday.

Continued development of our worship orchestra and handchime choir.

We are blessed with a core group of musicians who faithfully support our congregational singing most Sundays.

Please pray that the Lord will:

Bless the men and women who will participate in this new semester of Evangelism Explosion.

Bless our youth group event this coming weekend. Pray that God would deepen relationships between our young people and continue to bless Josh Strecker as he leads this ministry.

Guide our continuing search for a new facility.

With thanks,
Brad Smith
Christ Community Presbyterian Church
http://www.christcpc.org/

If you would like to add your, or someone else's, name to the list to receive this weekly update (or be removed from it), please contact us at admin@christcpc.org
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The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church

On this day in the year 203 AD, Perpetua, a Christian about 22 years old, her slave, Felicitas, and several others were martyred at the arena in Carthage. They were flogged, attacked by hungry leopards, and finally beheaded. Perpetua remains one of early Christianity's most famous martyrs. The following account records the story. Before you read it, ask yourself: “And what am I complaining about today?” And feel shame!

"The next day, the 7th of March AD 203, Perpetua, Felicitas, and the three young men, Saturus, Saturninus and Revocatus were led out into the arena—the public amphitheatre where the games and chariot races were held. They felt relief that their ordeal would soon be over, and gladness at the thought of the welcome they would soon receive in their heavenly home. They were beaten as they passed between the lines of the soldiers, and then the soldiers attempted to robe them in the ceremonial pagan garb—the men in scarlet and yellow gowns like priests of the god Saturn, and the women like those consecrated to the goddess Ceres. They protested, saying they were not idol worshippers but Christians, and eventually were allowed to go out in their own clothes. The vast crowd roared around them from the benches as they walked bravely into the open space in the middle of the amphitheatre. At last, the beasts, enraged by hunger and the goadings of their captors, were turned loose. The three men were savagely torn by leopards and bears. Perpetua and Felicitas were wrapped and tangled in nets and, as they sang psalms of joy and faith in God, they were thrown before a maddened cow which gored them and tossed them cruelly,
Perpetua fell awkwardly, and seeing her tunic torn from her side, she drew it around her, we are told, ‘more mindful of her modesty than her suffering.’ Then the attendants called her out again. She tied up her loose hair, and looked around for Felicitas. Her friend was lying on the ground. Helping her to her feet, Perpetua called out to her companions who were still struggling with the beasts in the arena, and tried to comfort and encourage them.
Already severely injured, they were taken to a small room leading off the arena. Perpetua seemed in a trance, despite her wounds, as though she had felt nothing, asking when the beasts were to come. In this moment of respite, as she regained her breath, P:erpetua’s brother and a friend called Rusticus came to see her. ‘Stay firm in the faith,’ she urged them, ‘and love one another, and may our martyrdom not be for you all a cause of shame!’ The she rose and went back into the arena. In another part of the stadium Saturna was talking to the soldier Pudens. ‘Now believe with your heart,’ he urged them. ‘Farewell, and be mindful of my faith, and let not these things disturb you but rather strengthen you.’
When the watching crowds had seen enough of the wild beasts, realizing that some of the mutilated victims were still alive, they called out for them to be dispatched. Perpetua and her friends embraced one another for the last time and limped with dignity and quiet joy to the centre of the stadium where men with swords fell upon them. The gladiator who had been appointed to kill Perpetua was little more than a youth. He fumbled nervously and stabbed her ineffectually. She took hold of his sword and steadied it against her breast with her own hand. Finally she too was set free."

This Holy Seed: Faith, Hope and Love in the Early Churches of North Africa
by Robin Daniel (Tamarisk, 1992), 34-35.

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The Heavens are Telling!

Photo Courtesy of Cindy Mercer

"The spiritual restoration of the world is compared to the renewing of the face of the earth in the spring." Jonathan Edwards

I drove through Belhaven this morning and couldn't miss the sights, sounds, and smells of spring. When I arrived in the office my Ministry Assistant, Ashley Hall, declared, "This is the weather of heaven!" Psalm 19 came to mind.

Psalm 19:1-6

The Heavens are telling the glory of God;
And their expanse in declaring the work of His hands
Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat (NASV).

Jonathan Edwards is a notable exception to the theologians who give the wonder and beauty of nature short shrift. Edwards held beauty together with truth and goodness. Edwards was a student of nature who took delight in the habits of spiders and the beauty of wildflowers. He certainly denied that general revelation is sufficient for salvation, but he affirmed with unique insight how the heavens do indeed tell of the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.

(More on Edwards' views of beauty and nature on Wednesday.)

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Mike Campbell's Evening Message

We were all blessed by Mike Campbell's powerful exposition of God's word in our Lord's Day evening service at First. Mike is the gifted pastor of Redeemer Church here in Jackson. It was also a delight to have so many members of his congregation worshiping with us tonight. Mike urged us to hunger and thirst for righteousness by longing for happiness (in the full, biblical sense), longing for holiness, and longing for heaven. It was a masterpiece of exegesis and homiletic - delivered with power and passion. Thanks dear brother.
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Resurrecting Ralph

In a sermon preached in the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica, California on November 11, 2001, the Reverend Judith E. Meyer argued that “Religious pluralism in America may well have begun in Mary Moody Emerson's parlor in Concord, Massachusetts. . . . She was the one who first introduced Ralph Waldo Emerson to the sacred scriptures of the East. And she remained throughout her life her acclaimed nephew’s spiritual director and support.”

Dr. Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale and energetic proselytizer for neo-Gnosticism, commends Emerson’s “Divinity School Address” of 1838 as the supreme “American vision of Christ.” Bloom describes what he calls the “American Religion” as “solitude, individuality and pragmatism of feelings, acts, and experiences rather than thoughts, desires, and memories.”

Emerson writes,

“That is always best which gives me to myself. . . . The Puritans in England and America . . . . Their creed is passing away, and none arises in its room. I think no man can go with his thoughts about him, into one of our churches, without feeling, that what hold the public worship had on men is gone, or going. It has lost its grasp on the affection of the good, and the fear of the bad. In the country, neighborhoods, half parishes are signing off. . . . It is already beginning to indicate character and religion to withdraw from the religious meetings. . . . Let me admonish you, first of all, to go alone. . . . Dare to love God without mediator or veil.”

“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of prophets. He saw with open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history, he estimated the greatness of man. One man was true to what is in you and me. He saw that God incarnates himself in man, and evermore goes forth anew to take possession of his world. He said, in this jubilee of sublime emotion, 'I am divine. Through me, God acts; through me, speaks.' . . . But what a distortion [of] his doctrine and memory . . . [in] the following ages!”

Emerson’s vision clearly anticipates the resurgent paganism of the 21st century, what David Wells calls the convergence of resurgent paganism and primal spirituality.
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"Take the sea! Take the sea!"

On this day in 1791, the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, died at the age of 87. During the course of his lifetime, it is said that he preached some 40,000 sermons, traveled the length and breadth of the British Isles, at first on foot, estimated at over 1,000 miles a year through the villages of Oxfordshire. He still walked five miles a day at the age of 85.

One memorable story of Wesley is told of a preaching appointment in a chapel at St. Ives, Cornwall. The story is told by our good friend, Geoff Thomas (of Aberystwyth, Wales) whom I heard deliver the finest paper on Wesley I ever heard several years ago:

When John Wesley was almost seventy years of age he was preaching in Cornwall and had an evening engagement in a chapel in St. Ives. He had lunch in the London Inn at Redruth and then got into his carriage and proceeded to the Hayle estuary to cross the ford which would take them to the evening service. The carriage was driven by a local man called Peter Martin, the hostler of the London Inn. He had put the two horses that pulled Wesley's carriage into their shafts, and then had mounted the right-hand animal to drive the carriage the twelve miles to Hayle. Wesley was inside reading and writing.

The wind blew more strongly as they reached the coast, and as the road dipped and petered out into beach and pebbles the prospect had a threatening appearance. The tide was on the turn and the shore line was growing narrower and the expanse of water steadily widening. St Ives could be seen in the northwest on its low cliff opposite them, with their road emerging from the sea. The estuary that lay between the carriage and that town was now quickly filling with a surge of rough water and powerful currents. Peter Martin stopped the carriage at the water's edge and weighed up the situation. He called back to John Wesley and advised him that this was going to be a dangerous crossing. While he was speaking to Wesley a sea captain walked up to the carriage (the man was waiting for the tide to come in for his boat to set sail) and this sailor counseled them, "Don't even consider it." Wesley listened politely to the hostler and the captain, smiled and then said loudly, "Take the sea! Take the sea!"

So the hostler cracked his whip, spurred on the lead horse on which he was seated, and the carriage splashed into the estuary. Peter Martin never forgot that crossing, describing it thus some years afterwards, "The horses were now swimming, and the carriage became nearly overwhelmed with the tide, as its hinder wheels not infrequently merged into the deep pits and hollows in the sands. I struggled hard to maintain my seat in the saddle, while the poor affrighted animals were snorting and rearing in the most terrific manner and furiously plunging through the opposing waves. I expected every moment to be swept into eternity, and the only hope of escape I then cherished was on account of my driving so holy a man."

John Wesley put his head out of the window and shouted to him above the noise, and the hostler turned with some difficulty. He saw Wesley's face, wet with the spray and waves; his hair was soaking. But the preacher was looking calmly out of the windows interested in everything that was happening, quite unperturbed by the tumult and storm. What did Wesley want?" "Driver, what is your name?" he called out. "Peter," said the hostler. "Peter, fear not," said Wesley, "thou shalt not sink," and he pulled his head in again. Peter Martin urged the horses on and indeed they crossed to the other side. "I'll always say it was a miracle," said the driver. Then he added, "Mr. Wesley's first care was to see me comfortably lodged at the tavern. He procured me warm clothes, a good fire, and excellent refreshments. Nor were the horses forgotten by him. Totally unmindful of himself, he proceeded, wet as he was, to the chapel, and preached according to the appointment."
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Thank Heaven for Brilliant Girls

In preparation for a lecture on "American Heroines" to women in the church recently, I came across this article in Christian History by Heidi Nichols. Heidi's husband, Stephen, is a first rate Jonathan Edwards scholar and author of the excellent introduction, Jonathan Edwards: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought. The faithful women in Heidi's article changed the course of American history.

http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/2003/issue77/9.23.html
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