If you would truly profit by ordinances, after you have a fixed pastor, I think it is of moment to forget, as much as possible, the persons of men, and confider them as no more than instruments in the hand of God, for your daily instruction and comfort. The more you remember the appointment of God, and wait upon his ordinances, in the faith of his presence, and the expectation of his blessing, the more you are likely to receive both sensible and lasting benefit. I must therefore take the liberty to observe, that we have amongst us a set of wandering unsettled hearers, who run about from one congregation to another, and even from one profession to another, and are scarcely ever to be seen a whole day in one place. If they be but deliberating where to fix, we may fay of them, that they are ever learning, and never come to the knowledge of the truth. But the probability is, that they have itching and curious ears, and go about not to serve God but to hear men. If I am able at all to judge, either by reflection or observation, those are most likely to profit, who having deliberately made their choice, sit habitually and regularly under one minister. By this means they enter into his views; and as he will naturally endeavour, if any thing was wanting at one time, to complete his scheme by supplying it at another, they will thereby have a more comprehensive view of the whole counsel of God. At the fame time, not having the charm of novelty to enchant them, they will have nothing to do but to reap instruction. On the other hand, by hearing separate, detached, and independent discourses, men may please their fancy more, but they will improve their understanding less. It is also plain, that as every minister will endeavour, not only to follow an order in his discourses on one subject, but to have a respect to the connection, and relation of the subjects themselves, the more accurate and exact he is, in suiting one part to the, illustration of another, the less he will be understood by these desultory hearers, who take only a single branch, without being able to perceive its subserviency to the general design. I have many times known exceptions taken at ministers, for some parts of a discourse by such persons, when, if they had heard the whole upon the fame or corresponding subjects, they would have perceived there was no place for their objections. The great purpose, my brethren, of a serious and judicious people, in attending on ordinances, should neither be to please themselves, nor to criticise their teachers; but to hear the word of God, that they may do it. On this account it is, that humble and regular Christians are getting real advantage to their fouls, while some are only watching the opinions, or others only passing judgment on the ability, perhaps no more than the style and outward manner of the speaker.
Archive for the ‘Ordinary Means Ministry’ Category
Witherspoon on church-hopping vagrants
Posted in Church Order & Discipline, Ordinary Means Ministry, Parish in American Context, Parish Theory & Practice, Practice of Piety, Religious Marketplace, The Church in America, The Visible Church, Theology of Community, Theology of Place on March 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Un Método Sencillo de Catequizar, por Thomas Doolittle
Posted in Antigua Kirk, Care for the Youth, Catechesis, Church Order & Discipline, Diets of Catechizing, Español, Evangelistic Catechesis, Family Religion, Ordinary Means Ministry, Pastoral Theology, The Sacred Ministry on June 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Este tratado de Thomas Doolittle, escrito por el pastor de la infancia del gran comentarista de la Biblia Matthew Henry, es una obra maestra muy olvidada sobre el tema de la naturaleza, la justificación y los métodos de la catequesis. Es una lectura obligada para cualquier pastor reformado.
The efficacy of the sacraments
Posted in Catechesis, Ordinary Means Ministry, Sacraments, The Lord's Supper, The Visible Church, Theological Diagrams on August 17, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Another theological diagram as a teaching aid for my next lesson on the Westminster Shorter Catechism this Sabbath. I designed this some time back and got some feedback on it from a couple of my ministerial colleagues.
Like any diagram, it doesn’t say it all. But I think it helps distinguish the Reformed position from extremes on either side. What think ye?
‘Sorting worship’ diagram
Posted in Ordinary Means Ministry, Psalmody, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Theological Diagrams, Worship, True & False on August 11, 2020| Leave a Comment »
Designed the diagram below as an aid in teaching catechism last Sabbath. Focusing on the 2nd Commandment at the moment.
The witness of these walls
Posted in Ordinary Means Ministry, The Visible Church, Thomas Chalmers on July 28, 2020| Leave a Comment »
We often say (and rightly so) that the church building is not the church. After the advent of Christ, true worship was untethered to a sacred site. And yet, while the structure of a Christian congregation possess no inherent sacredness, it is the theater where the drama of eternal things is played out. Chalmers put it this way:
“What is to be done here may tell on the everlasting destiny not of ourselves only, but of our children’s children throughout many generations. We are sometimes told of the mighty doings which go on within the walls of an exchange, where the bargains that are made from week to week, the commercial transactions which are there settled bear on the state and fortune of whole classes of society—or within the walls of a university, where the lessons daily given are deposited (more…)
RPM: Urban Reformation
Posted in Ordinary Means Ministry, Parish in American Context, Parish Theory & Practice, Reformed Parish Mission (RPM) Posts on November 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »
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Music courtesy of Ernst Stolz, “Psalm 72 Genevan Psalter – setting by Claude Goudimel – viols & organ.” All images not my own are from the public domain (attributions here).