Archive for the ‘Practice of Piety’ Category
Family worship basics
Posted in Family & Family Issues, Family Religion, Practice of Piety, Transgenerational Faith on September 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Godward religion
Posted in Christian Life & Experience, Church of England, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Practice of Piety, Puritans & Puritanism on September 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Direct. XX. See that your religion be purely divine, and animated all by God, as the beginning, the way, and the end; and that first upon thy soul, and then upon all that thou hast or dost, there be written “HOLINESS TO THE LORD;” and that thou corrupt not all with an inordinate hypocritical respect to man.
To be holy is to be divine, or devoted to God, and appropriated to him, and his will, and use; and that our hearts and lives be not common and unclean. To be godly, is to live to God, as those that from their hearts believe that he is God indeed, and that “he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” that he is “our God all-sufficient, our shield and exceeding great reward,” Heb. xi. 6; Gen. xv. 1; xvii. 1; and that “of him, and through him, and to him are all things,” that all may give the glory for ever unto him, Rom. xi. 36. As God is infinitely above all creatures, so living upon God, and unto God, must needs advance us above the highest sensual life; and therefore religion is transcendently above all sciences or arts. So much of God as is in you and upon you, so much you are more excellent than the highest worldly perfection can advance you to. God should be the First, and Last, and All in the mind, and mouth, and life of a believer. God must be the principal matter of your religion. The understanding and will must be exercised upon him. When you awake you should be still with him, Psal. cxxxix. 8. Your meditations of him should be sweet, and you should be glad in the Lord, Psal. civ. 34. Yet creatures, under him, may be the frequent, less principal matter of your religion; but still as referred unto him. God must be the author of your religion; God must institute it, if you expect he should accept it and reward it. God must be the rule of your religion, as revealing his will concerning it in his word. God must be the ultimate end of your religion; it must be intended to please and glorify him. God must be the continual motive and reason of your religion, and of all you do: you must be able truly to fetch your reason from heaven, and to say, I do it because it is his will; I do it to please, and glorify, and enjoy him. God must be taken as the Sovereign Judge of your religion, and of you, and of all you do; and you must wholly look to his justification and approbation, and avoid whatever he condemneth. Can you take God for your Owner, your Sovereign, your Saviour, your sufficient Protector, your Portion, your All? If not, you cannot be godly, nor be saved: if his authority have not more power upon you, than the authority of the greatest upon earth, you are atheistical hypocrites, and not truly religious, whatever you pretend. If “holiness to the Lord” be written upon you, and all that is yours, you are devoted to him as his own peculiar ones. If your names be set upon your sheep, or plate, or clothes, you will say, if another should take them, They are mine; do you not see my mark upon them? Slavery to the flesh, the world, and the devil, is the mark that is written upon the ungodly (upon the foreheads of the profane, and upon the hearts of hypocrites and all); and Satan, the world, and the flesh have their service. If you are consecrated to God, and bear his name and mark upon you, tell every one that would lay claim to you, that you are his, and resolved to live to him, to love him, to trust him, and to stand or fall to him alone. Let God be the very life, and sense, and end of all you do.
Richard Baxter, Christian Directory
Only be strong and very courageous
Posted in Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Holy Scripture, Practice of Piety on December 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Binning on the hard way of sin
Posted in Church of Scotland, Covenanters, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Practice of Piety on October 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The way of the Lord on which the Christian walks “hath all the properties of a good way, none so pleasant and plain;—how sweet and pleasant sights all the way! It is an alley of delight,—the way of his commandments; it wants not accommodation in it to refresh the traveller. The most delightful company is here; the Father and the Son, who sought no other company from all eternity, but were abundantly satisfied and rejoiced in one another. This fellowship the Christian hath to solace himself with, and he is admitted to be partaker of that joy. There is nothing that doth disburden the soul so of care and anxiety, nothing doth rid a man of so many perplexities and troubles, as this way. But the way of sin in itself is most laborious, most difficult. It hath infinite by-ways that it leads a man into, and he must turn and return, and run in a circle all the day, all his time, to satisfy the infinite lusts and insatiable desires of sin. O how painful and laborious is it to fulfil the lusts of the flesh! How much service doth it impose! How serious attention! What perplexing cares and tormenting thoughts! How many sorrows and griefs are in every step of this way! Do you not perceive what drudges and slaves sin makes you,—how much labour you have to satisfy your lusts? And you are always to begin, as near that which you seek in the end of your years, as in the beginning. How thorny, how miry is the way of covetousness! Are you not always out of one thorn into another, and cut asunder, or pierced through with many sorrows? 1 Tim. vi. 10; Matt. xiii. 22. Is that a pleasant and easy way, I pray you, that makes all your sorrow and your travail grief, and suffers not your heart to take rest in the night? Eccl. ii. 22, 23. What pains of body! What plotting of mind! What labour and vexation of both must a sinner have as his constant attendance in this way! The way is intricate, deep, unpassable, that leads to that satisfaction you desire to your lusts. Your desires are impotent and impatient, the means to carry you on are weak and lame, nowise accommodated or fit for such a journey, and this puts you always, as it were, on the rack, tormented between the impatience of your lusts, and the impotency of means, and impossibility to fulfil them. Desires and disappointments, hopes and fears, divide your souls between them. Such is the way after the flesh, an endless labyrinth of woes and miseries, of pains and cares, ever while here.”
Hugh Binning, The Sinner’s Sanctuary
Pointers on preparation
Posted in Articles, Audio Resources, Christian Life & Experience, Church of Scotland, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Free Church of Scotland, Practice of Piety, Sacraments, The Lord's Supper, WPE Editor on June 5, 2025| 1 Comment »
“Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation [judgment] to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” (1 Cor. 11:27-28).
How should you prepare for the Lord’s Supper? A few thoughts for those who have come to appreciate the theology, practice, and piety of confessional Presbyterianism around the celebration Communion.
First, dedicate time ahead of time. You cannot put things off until Saturday night. Nor can you just let attendance at a midweek preparatory service ‘check the box.’ You need to begin to schedule in some meaningful time, in addition to your regular personal and family seasons of worship, to be one on one with God. Adjust your week’s schedule early, especially if you have more responsibilities surrounding the weekend, such as food preparation, etc. And husbands, be especially mindful of your wives. Help plan ahead and streamline things so that preparation doesn’t get eclipsed, helping the children step up–and even stepping up yourself!
(more…)Communion Sabbaths
Posted in Christian Life & Experience, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Practice of Piety, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Sacraments on May 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“As the Sabbath Day is the most excellent of all the Days in the week; so a Communion Sabbath is the most desireable of all the Sabbaths in the Year; for, that is a Day in God’s Courts, in an eminent Manner, and is truly better than a Thousand. . . . If ordinary Sabbaths do require great Care and Diligence in preparing for, and improving them; then much more do Communion Sabbaths, being solemn and high Days; wherein we make most near Approaches unto God, and he makes near Approaches unto us: They are Days of Heaven upon Earth, and do most eminently represent the Employments and Enjoyments of the Glorified in Heaven.”
John Willison
The preciousness of “Sabbath Time”
Posted in Practice of Piety, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar on May 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Time is one of the most precious Things in the World, and what can never be enough valued, nor be carefully improven, seeing the eternal Salvation of our precious and immortal Souls doth wholly depend thereupon. . . . But of all Time, Sabbath Time is the most precious and valuable; since, upon the Improvement ofit, the Salvation of our Souls dependeth in a special Manner. Time is fitly compared to a Ring of Gold, and the Sabbath to the sparkling Diamond in it. So that we ought to have a peculiar Esteem for the Sabbath, and reckon every Moment of Sabbath Time precious, as we do the Fylings of Gold, being careful that none of it be lost.”
John Willison, Treatise Concerning the Sanctification of the Lord’s Day
Vox Patrum: Dickson, Cotton, Burroughs
Posted in Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Practice of Piety, Redemption Accomplished, Redemption Applied, Vox Patrum on November 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Bonar, panting and pleading for prayer
Posted in Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Ordinary Means Ministry, Practice of Piety, Prayer, Prayer Meetings on October 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The following quotes are from Andrew Bonar’s (1810-1892) Diary and Letters.
“We must continue in prayer if we are to get an outpouring of the Spirit. Christ says there are some things we shall not get, unless we pray and fast, yes, ‘prayer and fasting.’ We must control the flesh and abstain from whatever hinders direct fellowship with God.”
“It is considered by most these days to be a form of legalism but fasting is a spiritual practice that God honours and is commanded in scripture. Are we desperate enough for God to move in our lives? Sometimes this requires desperate measures that might require some sort of sacrifice.”
“God will not let me get the blessing without asking. Today I am setting my face to fast and pray for enlightenment and refreshing. Until I can get up to the measure of at least two hours in pure prayer every day, I shall not be contented. Meditation and reading besides.”
“How easy it is to give up and not persevere. I believe this is a big fault in my life, having not the desire and earnestness like Jacob to grab God in a sense and not let go until He blesses me.”
“We have not been men of prayer. The spirit of prayer has slumbered among us. The closet has been too little frequented and delighted in. We have allowed business, study or active labor to interfere with our closet-hours. And the feverish atmosphere in which both the church and the nation are enveloped has found its way into our prayer closets.”
“Why is there so little forethought in the laying out of time and employment, so as secure a large portion of each day for prayer? Why is there so much speaking, yet so little prayer? Why Is there so much running to and fro to meetings, conventions, fellowship gatherings and yet so little time for prayer’? Brethren, why so many meetings with our fellow men and so few meetings with God?”
“This is such and important aspect of our relationship to God. To set aside time not to read the bible, not to sing songs. But to just quietly seek God’s face alone in the private.”
“O brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; . . . rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper – and sleep too – than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgins slumber.”