Mark Noll, the Civil War, and Lessons Learned

Patton Dodd has a brief interview here with historian Mark Noll on the religious and historical lessons gleaned from the Civil War.

For more on this subject, check out Noll's book The Civil War as a Theological Crisis.

His Praise Shall Tune My Voice

Sometimes a Light Surprises
William Cowper, 1731-1800

Sometimes a light surprises
The Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord, who rises
With healing in His wings:
When comforts are declining,
He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining,
To cheer it after rain.

In holy contemplation
We sweetly then pursue
The theme of God’s salvation,
And find it ever new.
Set free from present sorrow,
We cheerfully can say,
Let the unknown tomorrow
Bring with it what it may.

It can bring with it nothing
But He will bear us through;
Who gives the lilies clothing
Will clothe His people, too;
Beneath the spreading heavens,
No creature but is fed;
And He Who feeds the ravens
Will give His children bread.

Though vine nor fig tree neither
Their wonted fruit should bear,
Though all the field should wither,
Nor flocks nor herds be there;
Yet God the same abiding,
His praise shall tune my voice,
For while in Him confiding,
I cannot but rejoice.

Parallels within the Pentateuch

There are a number of parallels that exist within the pages of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible). They go to show the consistency and unity of the Scriptures, and they also serve as a reminder to us that what happened at the beginning of human history serves as something of a pattern for the rest of human history.

This is why, for instance, there are numerous parallels between the Garden of Eden and the Land of Promise. Canaan was seen as a new Eden (and Israel was something of a new Adam). So it shouldn't surprise us to see that just as Adam was given a clear command by God in Eden, along with a reminder that disobedience to that command would bring about certain death, Israel also was given clear commands as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, as well as a reminder that certain death would be the result of their disobedience.

Notice the parallels, then, between Genesis 2:15-17 and Deuteronomy 30:15-18.

1) The presence of the LORD God - the covenant God
2) Clear command(s) - forbidden tree/the Mosaic law
3) A specific place or land - Eden/Canaan
4) A gracious warning - certain death is the result of disobedience

I have highlighted these parallels in italics below:

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:15-17)

"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess." (Deuteronomy 30:15-18)

Thinking Rightly about Evangelism

"We do not fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not subsequently converted; we fail only if we do not faithfully tell the gospel at all."

--Mark Dever, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism

Drinking from the Same Fountain

"Perhaps all that is necessary to expose the shallowness of our songs and to cause us to praise God as we ought is for pastors and poets and musicians to drink from the same fountain. Then biblical exposition will issue in song and our hymns will be full of the gospel."

--Alistair Begg

Law and Gospel Distinguished

The Law Commands and Makes Us Know
Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

The law commands, and makes us know
What duties to our God we owe;
But 'tis the gospel must reveal
Where lies our strength to do His will.

The law discovers guilt and sin,
And shows how vile our hearts have been;
Only the gospel can express
Forgiving love and cleansing grace.

What curses does the law denounce
Against the man that fails but once!
But in the gospel Christ appears,
Pard'ning the guilt of num'rous years.

My soul, no more attempt to draw
Thy life and comfort from the law;
Fly to the hope the gospel gives;
The man that trusts the promise lives.

Baptism and Church Membership - 3 Perspectives

The Gospel Coalition just finished a three-day forum in which they asked three different individuals to weigh in on the connection between baptism and church membership. In particular, they were seeking to answer the following questions:

How do baptism and church membership relate? What are the biblical bounds? Baptists debate, "Must one be baptized as a believer in order to join a church?" Meanwhile, Presbyterians and other paedobaptists consider, "Should one who'd refuse to let his children be baptized be permitted to join?"

Our hope is that this three-day forum will, by God's grace, drive us all to consider Scripture's teaching anew and disagree charitably when necessary.

• Michael Horton's article, Membership Requires Affirmation of Infant Baptism

• Jim Hamilton's article, Sometimes Obedience Results in Painful Separations

• David Mathis' article, A Happy Baptist, Happy to Welcome Others

A Poetic Prayer for Work and Rest

Sabbath Poem Number 10 (2002)
Wendell Berry

Teach me work that honors Thy work,
the true economies of goods and words,
to make my arts compatible
with the songs of the local birds.

Teach me patience beyond work
and, beyond patience, the blest
Sabbath of Thy unresting love
which lights all things and gives rest.

--from Given: Poems

The Parallels between Israel's Indwelling Enemies and Believers' Indwelling Sin

In the Old Testament, Israel was commanded to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan once they conquered the land. In the New Testament, believers are commanded to drive out the sin that still dwells within. Neither of these commands were (or are) fully obeyed. And sadly, our disobedience brings about the same consequences.

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. (Numbers 33:55)

Lord, by your grace and through your Spirit, drive out the sins that act as barbs in my eyes, thorns in my side, and trouble to my soul.

Excited by History

Peter Leithart, from the "Quodlibet" section of the March/April issue of Touchstone, on being delighted in well told history:

History is a bore to many, but history well told is as exciting as an absorbing fiction. It's like handling the gizmos of science fiction or meeting the beasts of fantasy. It's a world of delights all the more delicious because it is my world, younger.

By the way, for those of you in and around Jackson, Tennessee, Leithart will be lecturing at Union University tonight and tomorrow night at 7pm, and he will be in chapel on Wednesday at 10am. All three addresses are free and open to the public. For more information, click here.

A Hymn for Doubting Hearts

Pensive, Doubting, Fearful Heart
John Newton, 1725-1807

Based on Isaiah 41:10, 14; 54:4-11

Pensive, doubting, fearful heart,
Hear what Christ the Savior says;
Every word should joy impart,
Change thy morning into praise.
Yes, he speaks, and speaks to thee,
May he help thee to believe;
Then thou presently wilt see
Thou hast little cause to grieve:

Fear thou not, nor be ashamed;
All thy sorrows soon shall end,
I, who heaven and earth have framed,
Am thy Husband and thy Friend;
I, the High and Holy One,
Israel's God by all adored,
As thy Savior will be known,
Thy Redeemer and thy Lord.

For a moment I withdrew,
And thy heart was filled with pain;
But my mercies I'll renew;
Thou shalt soon rejoice again;
Though I seem to hide my face,
Very soon my wrath shall cease;
'Tis but for a moment's space,
Ending in eternal peace.

Though afflicted, tempest-tossed,
Comfortless awhile thou art,
Do not think thou canst be lost,
Thou art graven on my heart;
All thy wastes I will repair;
Thou shalt be rebuilt anew;
And in thee it shall apear
What the God of love can do.

The New Testament in Three Words

"Adoption through propitiation"

That's J.I. Packer's three-word summary of the New Testament from his classic work, Knowing God.

Grace Applied

Check out this very encouraging story about Germantown Baptist Church and the grace applied to their past pastors and their past congregational difficulties. Here's an excerpt:

"Since 2006, there have been several heartbreaking situations that have occurred in our church family that resulted in broken relationships, broken trust, divisions within our church family and a damaged witness in our community," Dr. Charles Fowler, the church's senior pastor, wrote to the congregation last month.

"How can a church proclaim the glories of the love of God to those who are lost when their reputation is such that they cannot get along with each other?" Fowler wrote last month.

"I could simply turn a blind eye to the implications of our painful past (but) that would be spiritually irresponsible. ... In December, God impressed with great conviction that the way forward was to confront the past by seeking and applying grace."

This story is all the more encouraging to me because I know the church's current pastor and the children's pastor very well. Not to mention, I know numerous people who grew up in that church and others who experienced some of the pain in their recent past.

May the Lord give us more and more examples of this kind of grace!

Our Church's Old Building Up in Flames

Two days after Ash Wednesday, we at First Baptist Church experienced ashes of a different sort. The old building where our church worshiped from the early 1900s until 1980 was engulfed in flames, the interior being completely burned within a matter of minutes. And though we no longer meet at that location or even own the building anymore, we are still deeply saddened by this event.

We know that the church, the body of Christ, consists of people, not buildings. And we know that the destruction of a building does nothing to destroy our faith. But we also know that some of the most significant and memorable moments in many of our church members' lives happened in that sacred space - conversions, baptisms, weddings, etc. So to see that building go up in flames was painful. And when you consider that this year marks the 175th Anniversary of our church, a time when we are especially sensitive to our history, it makes it all the more difficult to lose such an important part of that physical history.

As a church, we will remain steadfast in the goodness of Almighty God. And though we are saddened by what happened today, we remain comforted by the fact that "neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth," - nor flames nor fires - "nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39).

New Hymn on the Trinity

Praise to God, the Three in One
M. Justin Wainscott, © Copyright, 2012

Before the world was e'er designed,
Or time had yet begun;
'Twas perfect fellowship divine
Between the Three in One.
In lack of nothing, needing naught,
Yet moved by grace alone,
Redemption's plan the Godhead wrought
To make His glory known.

Yes, long before creation's days,
Or man ate of the tree;
God had ordained for Triune praise,
Salvation, full and free.
So praise to God, the Three in One,
Who 'fore the fall decreed
The saving mission of the Son
To undo Adam's deed.

In time preset, the Three in One
Fulfilled the fixed decree:
The Father sent the'ternal Son
To die on Calvary;
Then sent His Spirit to our hearts,
The Spirit from on high,
And all the blessings Christ imparts,
The Spirit does apply.

So praise to God, the Three in One,
For setting sinners free;
The curse of sin is now undone,
Sweet, Triune victory.
O Father, Spirit, Son, to Thee,
The Holy Trinity,
All glory, laud, and honor be
Throughout eternity.