Dr Paul Allen

Titlepage of the New Testament section of a German Luther Bible, printed in 1769. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Sin is the great spoiler. It spoils our relation to God, each other, ourselves, and our environment. Not only is sin the great spoiler but also we need to know how to understand sin biblically and to face the temptation that comes with it. Without this dark backdrop, the coming and cross of Christ make little sense.  Sin is serious.  But in our postmodern society where there are no absolutes, and in an effort not to offend anyone concerning the issue of sin, we sometimes use other language: ‘done wrong,’ ‘erred,’ or ‘made a mistake.’ But the Bible encourages us not to be afraid to talk, preach, or teach concerning the Bible’s understanding of sin and its effects both personally and societally. The Puritans were right—it is only when we have first grasped the depravity of the human heart that can we ever fully appreciate the greatness of the love of God in salvation.

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592–1628), by Peter Paul Rubens, 1625 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The greatest danger to persistent, effective prayer is the habit of performance without passion. Seventeenth-century Puritan pastor John Preston captures the essence of this danger in these words: If it is performed in a formal or customary and overly manner, you would be as good to omit it altogether; for the Lord takes our prayers not by number but by weight. When it is an outward picture, a dead carcass of prayer, when there is no life, no fervency in it, God does not regard it.  Do not be deceived in this, it is a very common deception. It may be a man’s conscience would be upon him, if he should omit it altogether.  Therefore, when he does something, his heart is satisfied, and so he grows worse and worse. Therefore, consider that the very doing of the duty is not that which the Lord heeds, but He will have it so performed that the end may be obtained and tha

In 1603 James VI and I became the first monarch to rule over England, Scotland, and Ireland together. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Have you ever attended a frustrating meeting where nothing much seems to get done? The Hampton Court conference , held in 1604, was like that. When James VI of Scotland rode south to London on the way to the coronation that would make him James I of England, Puritans presented him with a petition, pleading for freedom from man-made rites and ceremonies in worship. Since over 1,000 leaders of these reform-minded Christians signed the petition, James could not ignore it. He called for a conference of churchmen and theologians to be held at Hampton Court , one of the royal palaces. But his attitude toward the event was signalled by the wording of the summons, "for the hearing, and for the determining, things pretended to be amiss in the Church." [our italics] The Puritans thought that the Church of England had kept too many Catholic practices.

Unknown man, formerly known as Matthew Henry, by unknown artist. See source website for additional information. This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch are listed as "unknown author" by the NPG, who is diligent in researching authors, and was donated to the NPG before 1939 according to their website. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew Henry was born in 1662, the same year that the Act of Uniformity barred his father, Phillip, and 2000 other pastors (including Thomas Brooks ) from official ministry in the Church of England. Henry was raised by godly parents in the Puritan way (daily Bible reading , prayer, self-examination, etc.) and always wanted to be a pastor. However, believing there was little chance of ever becoming one, he decided to study law and pursue theological study only on the side. Before long he began preaching on the side as well. This led to him

English: The Apostle Paul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Geoffery Thomas on the Call of God.  Who will possibly stay in a relationship with a girlfriend or boyfriend “until death us do part” unless there is a deep devotion to that one person above all others, a commitment that is based on comprehensive knowledge and respect? That is the essence of marriage, leaving all others and cleaving to one until God shall separate by death. Who will stay in the Christian ministry for one’s entire working life unless one loves this work above all others, being unable to do anything else than preach the gospel and pastor the people of God to whom he preaches week by week?  The Apostle Paul writes about a man who “sets his heart” on this work ( 1 Tim. 3:1 ). He is stretching out to make this his life’s supreme calling. He is not talking about selfish ambition for prestige and power but for the high privilege of caring for the people whom the Son of God loved and for whom He suffered the

John Owen, by John Greenhill (died 1676). See source website for additional information. This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have been confirmed as author died before 1939 according to the official death date listed by the NPG. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) If you had the choice between private Bible reading and prayer, or going to church, which would you choose? The Puritans would choose church. We all know the Puritans ’ welcome emphasis on private devotion and personal godliness. But they actually rated public worship even higher. For example, David Clarkson , colleague and successor to John Owen , preached a sermon on Psalm 87v2 entitled Public worship to be preferred before private , and gave 12 reasons why: 1. The Lord is more glorified by public worship than private. God is glorified by us when we acknowledge that He is glorious, and He is most glorified when t

John Owen (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) This is my once-monthly post on the Puritan John Owen . In this series of posts I am sharing some of what John Owen says about putting sin to death, or what he calls mortification. I have been going through his book  Overcoming Sin and Temptation  and trying to distill each chapter to its essence—to a few choice quotes that capture the flavor of what Owen is trying to communicate. So far we’ve looked at  The Foundation of Mortification , we’ve been encouraged to  Daily Put Sin to Death , to understand that  It Is the Holy Spirit Who Puts Sin to Death  and to acknowledge that  Your Spiritual Life Depends Upon Killing Sin . Then we saw  What It Is  Not  to Put Sin to Death  and  What It Is to Put Sin to Death . Then, at least, he began to move to the actual instruction on putting sin to death. First he dealt with  a couple of foundational issues  and then with dangerous sin symptoms . Last month he told us that when you identify a sin in you

Unknown man, formerly known as Matthew Henry, by unknown artist. See source website for additional information. This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch are listed as "unknown author" by the NPG, who is diligent in researching authors, and was donated to the NPG before 1939 according to their website. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The Puritan writer Matthew Henry had an amazing ability to grab ahold of a great Bible text and reduce it to a few sentences. He never intended this world for our rest, and therefore never appointed us to take our ease in it. This travail is given to us to make us weary of the world and desirous of the remaining rest. It is given to us that we may be kept in action, and may always have something to do; for we were none of us sent into the world to be idle. Every change cuts us out some new work, which we should be more solicitous about, tha

Isaac Feels Jacob as Rebekah Looks On, watercolor by James Tissot (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Jeremiah Burrough’s  The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment  is one of the most important Puritan works.Let me give you just a taste of what Burroughs has to say about contentment. Here he shares eight things that will be opposed by a true, biblical contentment. It is opposed to  murmuring and repining  at the hand of God , as the discontented Israelites often did. If we cannot bear this either in our children or servants, much less can God bear it in us.  To  vexing and fretting , which is a degree beyond murmuring.  To  tumultuousness of spirit , when the thoughts run distractingly and work in a confused manner, so that the affections are like the unruly multitude in the Acts , who did not know for what purpose they had come together. The Lord expects you to be silent under His rod, and, as was said in Acts 19:36, “Ye ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly.” It is opp

Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Tim Challies on John Owen and Sin.  So far we’ve looked at  The Foundation of Mortification , we’ve been encouraged to  Daily Put Sin to Death , to understand that  It Is the Holy Spirit Who Puts Sin to Death  and to acknowledge that  Your Spiritual Life Depends Upon Killing Sin . Then we saw  What It Is  Not  to Put Sin to Death  and  What It Is to Put Sin to Death . He now moves on to the actual directions for how to put sin to death; first he deals with a couple of foundational issue (which is what I’m looking at today) and in the months that follow he’ll move on to very specific instructions. #1 - There Will Be No Mortification Unless a Man Be a Believer Unless a man be a believer—that is, one that is truly ingrafted into Christ —he can never mortify any one sin; I do not say, unless he know himself to be so, but unless indeed he be so. … There is no death of sin without the death of Christ . There’s