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.
Archive for the ‘Pastoral Theology’ Category
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 »
Alcuin of York on catechesis
Posted in Care for the Youth, Catechesis, Medieval Church, Missiology, Pastoral Theology, Sacraments on March 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The following selections are from Alcuin of York (c. 735-804), some of which were directed to the Emperor Charlemagne. Drawn from The History of Christian Missions, by George Frederick Maclear (1863).
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“The Apostolic Order . . . is first to teach all nations, then is to follow the administration of baptism, and further instruction in Christian duties. Therefore in teaching those of riper years, that order should be strictly maintained, which the blessed Augustine has laid down in his treatise on this special subject.
First, a man ought to be instructed in the immortality of the soul, in the future life, in its retribution of good and evil, and in the eternal duration of both conditions.
Secondly, he ought to be taught for what crimes and sins he will be condemned to suffer with the devil everlasting punishment, and for what good and beneficial actions he will enjoy eternal glory with Christ.
Thirdly, he ought most diligently to be instructed in the doctrine of the Trinity, in the advent of the Saviour for the salvation of mankind, in His life, and passion, His resurrection, ascension, and future coming to judge the world. Strengthened and thoroughly instructed in this faith, let him be baptized, and afterwards let the precepts of the Gospel be further unfolded by public preaching, till he attain to the measure of the stature of a perfect man, and become a worthy habitation of the Holy Ghost.”
Alcuin in another letter exhorts the emperor to provide competent catechists for his newly-conquered subjects: “They ought to follow the example of the apostles in preaching the Word of God; for they at the beginning were wont to feed their hearers with milk, that is, gentle precepts, even as the Apostle Paul saith, ‘And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.’ And thereby that great Apostle of the whole world, Christ speaking in him, signified that newly converted tribes ought to be nourished with mild precepts, like as children are with milk, lest if austerer precepts be taught, their weak mind should reject what it drinks. Whence also the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in the Gospel replied to those asking
Him why His disciples fasted not, ‘Men put not new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish; but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.’ For, as the blessed Jerome saith, the virgin purity of the soul which has never been contaminated with former vice is very different from that which has been long in bondage to foul lusts and passions.”
“In this sacrament . . . there are three visible and three invisible things. The visible things are the priest, the person to be baptized, and the water; the in visible are the Spirit, the soul, and faith. The three visible things effect nothing externally, if the three invisible have no internal operation. The priest washes the body with water, the Spirit justifies the soul by faith. He that will be baptized must offer his body to the mystery of the sacred washing, and his mind to the voluntary reception of the Catholic Faith. These points ought a teacher to consider most diligently if he desire the salvation of the neophyte, and he must beware of slothfully or carelessly celebrating so great a sacrament.”
“The Christian Ministry” for the time-strapped pastor [recordings updated 12/3/23]
Posted in Church of England, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Light of Eternity, Ministerial Fidelity, Ordinary Means Ministry, Pastoral Theology, Preaching, The Sacred Ministry, Visiting the Sick & Dying, Vital Godliness, WPE Audio on November 28, 2022| 1 Comment »
Ever read this classic of pastoral theology? Perhaps you should. But if you could use it in audio format, I’m making progress in recording it into mp3. Access it here (and more to follow).
Consider these contemporary endorsements from the Banner edition, then I challenge you not to ‘take up and read.’ Or, now listen, if you prefer!
“This book has been my companion for almost fifty years. First published in 1830, it is arguably more needed now than then. It is a classic, serving as a guide to all who are aware of the perils and privileges of pastoral ministry.” — Alistair Begg
“People ask me, “What’s the very best book for Ministers?” Overall for the ministry, and for passionate preaching, and how to preach to different kinds of people – there’s nothing like The Christian Ministry.” — Joel Beeke
For more titles, see my growing amateur audio library. [And if any links fail, kindly drop me a note: mjves dot refparish at gmail dot com. Thanks!]
Retaining children & aggressive missions
Posted in Audio Resources, Authored by Site Admin, Contemporary Parochialism, Covenant Theology, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Family Religion, Fatherhood, Gospel Proclamation, Gospel Tactics, John Murray, New England Puritanism, Parish in American Context, Parochial Strategy, Pastoral Theology, The Kingdom of God, Visitation Evangelism on April 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I try to avoid promoting my own sermons very often. But after giving a short series on the doctrine of hell, I continued with a second short series on the subject of biblical, Reformed church growth, something very near my heart. Specifically, I spoke from Matthew 16:18 about building up the church from within by training up, winning over, and thus retaining our baptized, covenant children. We must promote and encourage Christian child-bearing and so helping populate the (visible) Kingdom through these “federally holy” sinners, a mission field in its own right. Then, I laid out in the final messages a call and battleplan for aggressive, local and regional missions. As Prof. Murray said when personally engaging in church-planting in New England, we must “go where the people are, not where you hope they will come.”
As we are planted in southern New England and are involved in a church plant in New Jersey, I call us to pray earnestly and labor believingly for the extension of confessional Presbyterianism here in our northeastern “Samaria.” It may be spiritually ‘rocky soil,’ but God can create sons of Abraham from these stones. He did it before! If things go from bad to worse, a strategic retreat is possible. But let us not give up the Messiah’s ground without a fight! And who knows? Perhaps the Lord will make this “desert to blossom as the rose” again, and restore the pure worship of our godly Puritan forbears.
Do you live in the northeast — in New England, New York, or New Jersey? Are you committed to the old paths of the Puritans and Presbyterians? Do you long for a Third Great Awakening today? Would you be interested in hosting special meeting in your area? Please get in touch with me at 515-783-5637 or mjives dot refparish at gmail dot com.
And if you don’t live in the northeast, would you pray for us? And maybe even consider joining us, if Providence opens a door?
Beware the spell, break the spell
Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Christian Life & Experience, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Pastoral Theology on February 1, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Pastors should be servants. In the spirit of their Lord who “came not to be served, but to serve” (Matt. 20:28), they should be the transparent ministers of the Savior. They should be the selfless hands, the beautiful feet, and above all, the trustworthy mouth of the Good Shepherd. To be faithful, they must be sheep and ever remain self-consciously aware that they never graduate from ‘sheep-hood.’ They must love, because they have first been loved. They must freely give, because they have first ever so freely received! “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? …. Feed my lambs” (Jn. 21:15).
Read the full two-part article at Reformation 21: Part 1 & Part 2.
Not just any haircut
Posted in Audio Resources, Authored by Site Admin, Christian Life & Experience, Church of Scotland, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Free Church of Scotland, Ministerial Fidelity, Pastoral Theology, Practice of Piety, Preaching, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, The Lord's Supper, The Sacred Ministry, The Social Status of the Church, Visitation Evangelism, Vital Godliness on September 9, 2020| Leave a Comment »
There we were in the manse on Saturday night, in that sleepy little Canadian town. The minister’s wife was giving him a haircut before his Sabbath labors the next day. He was, well, idiosyncratic. The thin-framed parson had quite the shock of unmanageable white hair, much like Doc Brown. He sat there with some smock-like cloth draped around him, his helpmate-hairdresser poised with bowl of water and comb. Soon she set to taming the wild mane with the moistened comb. Water applied, it seemed as though his head had shrunk by half.
As she went to work with her clippers, the old minister told me about The Days of the Fathers in Ross-Shire, an old classic of the glory days of 18th and 19th century Highlands-Islands Presbyterianism. His eyes beamed, and he cackled with boyish delight as he retold his favorite story about Samsonesque Aeneas Sage and his rather unconventional missionary exploits. There was something about this all that strongly impressed me. There was something of greatness, a romance and even a mystique about that legacy that lingered about the place. The old Scots-Irish town, its church, manse, and, of course, this amusing old minister still retained something of the glow of the “years of the right hand of the Most High.”
Suffice it to say, this green goyim just had to find and read the book. And I did, again and again. And having been ‘bit,’ I’ve retold the story of Rev. Sage over and over to anyone who would listen. My children can probably repeat it verbatim … with a few eye rolls thrown in for good measure! And as an old bookish minister friend of mine would sometimes say, “And if it isn’t true, it should be!”
Just finished reading and recording it. You can access it here. I also post a wide variety of classical Reformed, Puritan, and Scottish Presbyterian sermons, articles, and books. I aim to fill gaps with relatively quality audio recordings, especially for the benefit of pastors and elders who work with thinner margins of time.
Lost & found: pastor … and parish!
Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Church of Scotland, Gospel Tactics, Ordinary Means Ministry, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, Pastoral Theology, Thomas Chalmers, Vignettes from the Old Parish Way, Visitation Evangelism, Visitation Journaling on July 28, 2020| 2 Comments »
My recent journal article, “Pastor and Parish Redux: Thomas Chalmers’s Conversion & Kilmany Ministry, 1811-1815” (submitted copy), published in the July 2020 edition of the Puritan Reformed Journal. Images used by permission. To purchase a copy, click here.
A classic of Reformed missiology
Posted in Missiology, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, Pastoral Theology, The Romance of Locality, Theology of Place, Thomas Chalmers on January 3, 2020| Leave a Comment »
Just finished a new addition to the Chalmers Audio Library, “The Right Ecclesiastical Economy of a Large Town.” (Original here.) While it is somewhat ponderous in its Victorian style and treats some antiquated matters, the core of this piece is a profoundly relevant contribution to historic, Reformed missiology. If only every Reformed and Presbyterian office-bearer would read it and process it!
Here is a little extract to give an idea of his parochial approach:
“If he go much among them through the week, the unfailing result in time will be, that they shall come much about him on the Sabbath. This is the ligament, and we know not a more important one in the whole mechanism of human society, by which to elevate a degenerate population, and again to place them on that higher moral platform from which they have descended. There is no romance, there is a sober and home-bred reality in all the steps of this operation. On the very first movements of the clergyman, he will meet with the smiles of encouragement and welcome from every quarter of his parish, with a thousand promises of attendance on his church, many of which in the first instance will not be realized; but, with every month of perseverance in the assiduities of his office, he will find a lessening reluctance on the part of his people, and that even the obstinacy of their practical heathenism is not unconquerable. It will at length give way under the power of his sustained and duteous attentions. Providence will open a door for him, even to the most ruthless of the families; and, implicating his presence with the sicknesses, and the deaths, and the funerals of every household, he will, on the sheer efficacy of his Christian worth, and with no other engine by which to make his way than Christian kindness, obtain an ascendant over the hearts of his people, only to be won by the omnipotence of charity” (Chalmers, Works 18:73-74).
For any who wants a simpler, more accessible introduction to Chalmers’ thought, you can listen to this lecture.
Reparochializing elders
Posted in Church of Scotland, Parish Theory & Practice, Parochial Strategy, Pastoral Theology, Patronage, The Gospel & the Poor, The Romance of Locality, Visitation Evangelism on June 20, 2019| Leave a Comment »
In this 1816 charge to Thomas Chalmers’ newly elected elders, he winsomely appeals to them to ‘repair the breaches’ of the old system of spiritual, district visitation. Let the elders together with the ministers be once again the friends and spiritual patrons of all men, especially the poor. Ad urbem!
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“I am well aware how widely the practice of our generation has diverged from the practice of our ancestors—how, within the limits of our Establishment, the lay office-bearers of the Church are fast renouncing the whole work of ministering from house to house in prayer and in exhortation and in the dispensation of spiritual comfort and advice among the sick or the disconsolate or the dying. On this subject I urge nothing upon you. I am aware that a reformation in this department can only be brought about by an influence of a more gentle and moral, and withal more effectual kind than that of authority; and I shall therefore only say that I know of almost nothing which would give me greater satisfaction than to see a connexion of this kind established between my elders and the population of those districts which are respectively assigned to them—that I know of nothing which would tell more effectually in the way of humanizing our families, than if so pure an intercourse were going on as an intercourse of piety between our men of reputable station on the one hand, and our men of labour and of poverty on the other,—I know of nothing which would serve more powerfully to bring and to harmonize into one firm system of social order the various classes of our community; I know not a finer exhibition, on the one hand, than the man of wealth acting the man of piety, and throwing the goodly adornment of Christian benevolence over the splendour of those civil distinctions which give a weight and a lustre to his name in society; I know not a more wholesome influence, on the other, than that which such a man must carry around him when he enters the habitations of the peasantry, and dignifies by his visits the people who occupy them, and talks with them as the heirs of one hope and of one immortality, and cheers by the united power of religion and of sympathy the very humblest of misfortune’s generation, and convinces them of a real and longing affection after their best interests, and leaves them with the impression that here at least is one man who is our friend, that here at least is one proof that we are not altogether destitute of consideration amongst our fellows, that here at least is one quarter on which our confidence may rest—ay, and amidst all the insignificance in which we lie buried from the observation of society, we are sure at least of one who, in the most exalted sense of the term, is ever ready to befriend us, and to look after us, and to care for us.”
The toil of evangelizing the dying
Posted in Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Pastoral Theology, Visitation Evangelism, Visiting the Sick & Dying on June 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »
And O what a hard matter it is to deal with people that are ready to leave the world, and step in upon eternity! when their souls do, as it were, hang on their lips, and they have one foot (as we use to say) already in the grave! The minister is seldom sent for till the physician has given the patient over, and then they beg him to dress their souls for heaven, when their winding-sheet is preparing, and their friends are almost ready to dress the body for the funeral. Now, though some of these have lived well, and, like the wise virgins, have, oil in their lamps, yet it is a great matter to calm them, and to dispose their souls for that great change they are presently to undergo. But alas! it fares otherwise with the greatest part: they are yet strangers to the ways of religion; the work of their salvation is yet to begin, and their lusts to be mortified, their corruptions subdued, the whole frame of their souls to be changed: and though they have scarce so much strength as to turn them on their beds, yet their warfare against principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness, is but newly commenced: their work is great, their disadvantages many, and the time very short that is before them. Perhaps they are dull and insensible, and we shall hardly persuade them of their danger: they will acknowledge they are sinners, and so are all others as well as they: they trust in the mercies of Christ, and have confidence enough of their salvation, and cannot be persuaded they want any thing that is necessary for the same. Others of these, again, are seized with fear, and call for the minister to comfort them: what shall he do? Shall he tell them that all their terrors are just, and it is now too late to repent? I know some divines are peremptory in this case, and think they should be left in despair: but sure it were a sad employment for a minister to go to visit a dying man, only to tell him he is damned: and withal, it is too great boldness in us to limit the grace and mercy of God. True and sincere repentance will never come too late, but certainly a death-bed repentance is seldom sincere; and it is hard either for the minister or the man himself to tell, whether it be only the fear of hell, or a true and godly sorrow that he feeleth in his soul. All that a minister can do, is to press him to all possible seriousness, and to resign himself to God for the event; or to lay before him in general, the terms and conditions of the gospel covenant: the application will be hard and uncertain. These, and many more, are the difficulties of the ministerial function.
-Henry Scougal (1650-1678)
West Port Experiment 