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Grotius and Cocceius

From Spurgeon’s Treasury of David on Psalm 33:

Ver. 6. By the word of the Lord. May be understood of the hypostatic Word, as John teaches us. Joh 1:1. (John Cocceius), 1603-1669. This is an illustration of the old saying, that while Grotius finds Christ nowhere, Cocceius finds Christ everywhere.

Grotius

Cocceius

In another place, Charles Spurgeon tells this story:

A young man had been preaching in the presence of a venerable divine, and after he had done he went to the old minister, and said, “What do you think of my sermon?” “A very poor sermon indeed,” said he. “A poor sermon?” said the young man, “it took me a long time to study it.” “Ay, no doubt of it.” “Why, did you not think my explanation of the text a very good one?” “Oh, yes,” said the old preacher, “very good indeed.” “Well, then, why do you say it is a poor sermon? Didn’t you think the metaphors were appropriate and the arguments conclusive?” “Yes, they were very good as far as that goes, but still it was a very poor sermon.” “Will you tell me why you think it a poor sermon?” “Because,” said he, “there was no Christ in it.” “Well,” said the young man, “Christ was not in the text; we are not to be preaching Christ always, we must preach what is in the text.” So the old man said, “Don’t you know young man that from every town, and every village, and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London?” “Yes,” said the young man. “Ah!” said the old divine “and so from every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is Christ. And my dear brother, your business in when you get to a text, to say, ‘Now what is the road to Christ?’ and then preach a sermon, running along the road towards the great metropolis—Christ. And,” said he, “I have never yet found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if I ever do find one that has not a road to Christ in it, I will make one; I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savour of Christ in it.”

There is a Kind of Reading that is Not Reading At All

Is all reading just that – reading? Is there good reading and bad reading? Can you be a bad reader? Think about these words:

The most prevalent mistake that people make about both listening and reading is to regard them as passively receiving rather than as actively participating…

The first lesson to be learned about reading – with the mind, not just with the eye – must be every bit as active as writing. Passive reading, which is almost always with the eyes in motion but with the mind not engaged, is not reading at all.

That kind of reading is on a level with watching television for the sake of relaxation or just to fill some empty time, letting the images that pass across the screen flit before one’s eyes. The habit of watching television in this way, endemic among the young who spend hours before the screen in a state of intellectual somnolence, turns them into passive readers who flip the pages of a book with little or no attention to the meaning of the words on the page or the structure and direction of the discourse that the book contains.

-Mortimer Adler, How to Speak, How to Listen, p. 86

Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon from Matthew 12 on how this same principle applies to the reading of the Bible. As a matter of fact, that sermon is the best short instruction on Bible reading that I have ever encountered. Here’s a taste of the introduction:

Yet our Lord proceeds to put the question a second time—”Have ye not read?” as if they had not read after all, though they were the greatest readers of the law then living. He insinuates that they have not read at all; and then he gives them, incidentally, the reason why he had asked them whether they had read. He says, “If ye had known what this meaneth,” as much as to say, “Ye have not read, because ye have not understood.” Your eyes have gone over the words, and you have counted the letters, and you have marked the position of each verse and word, and you have said learned things about all the books, and yet you are not even readers of the sacred volume, for you have not acquired the true art of reading; you do not understand, and therefore you do not truly read it. You are mere skimmers and glancers at the Word: you have not read it, for you do not understand it…

Read the whole thing HERE. And you can read what Martyn Lloyd-Jones taught me about this HERE.

A Few Resources I Recommend

It dawned on me today that, since I devote most of my posts on the blog to particular things I’m reading, I don’t actually share links and resources that often. I thought I would post links to a few resources that you may find helpful (or at least that I’ve found helpful).

AUDIO BIBLES

First, I’ve meant to share this before, but my absolute favorite audio recording of the Bible is available HERE. The translation is actually the World English Bible, which isn’t too bad and is available for free because it’s in the public domain. The only downside with this site is that you have to listen to each chapter of the Bible individually and click a link for each new chapter. But I actually like that feature until you get to Psalms. I use this audio Bible literally every day.

If you don’t care for that one, you can use my number two choice HERE. You can pick the translation and from various readers. I like to listen to Max McLean personally. The reason I prefer the David Field audio to this one is the speed. Field reads a bit faster. I generally use this version for the psalms and if I want to hear how McLean pronounces a word.t

PRAYER

Next, I want to recommend (again) a recording of some of the pastoral prayers of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. While we have many of the great sermons of the great preachers left in print, we do not have many of their prayers. Here we have the blessing of hearing the Doctor pray in his own voice. You can listen to them HERE.

You can also read a good number of Charles Spurgeon’s prayers HERE. I also have a little book of prayers by John Calvin that I read fairly regularly, and have for years. The closest thing to it I’ve found online is HERE. A great overall site for prayer, based on Matthew Henry’s Method for Prayer, can be found HERE.

COMMENTARIES

As far as commentaries, I have Calvin’s commentaries in my library, but I often use the easily accessible online version found HERE. I also frequent the online version of Matthew Henry’s commentary HERE (you can choose from a number of classic commentaries on the page).

SERMONS

As far as reading sermons, for printed sermons I usually go HERE for Spurgeon and HERE for others. The second site linked here is Monergism, which I highly recommend. Another great resource is Yale’s Jonathan Edwards page HERE.

For audio sermons I frequent the MLJ Trust (Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ audio sermon archive) HERE, Redeemer’s free audio page HERE (sermons by Tim Keller), and Desiring God (John Piper) HERE. I also occasionally visit HERE to search for audio readings of the sermons of Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and others.

BOOKS

Finally, for free audio books I frequent Books Should Be Free, which can be found HERE. I’ve listened to several G.K. Chesterton books via this site, as well as some John Owen and John Calvin. In addition to that, I have listened to several fairy story books with my children.

AUDIO JOURNALS

I highly recommend Mars Hill Audio. I can’t imagine what my life would be like had I never been introduced to their audio reports and conversations. There is some free content on the site, but most of it isn’t free. Everything I have ever purchased from them has been well worth the price. Ken Myers is about as thoughtful a Christian as we have these days, and he speaks with people who have thought deeply about the various topics they discuss. There are many great resources available on C.S. Lewis, reading, philosophy, culture, and all sorts of other things. You can create an account to get a free sample of their audio journal HERE.

POETRY

I usually read poetry from a few massive volumes I have bought at library book sales. There is, however, a great online source HERE.

A WORD ON BOOK SALES

Speaking of library book sales, let me encourage avid readers to find out if their libraries have such sales. Our local library has one the first weekend of every month, and other libraries in our area have similar sales from time to time. You can usually get paperbacks for a quarter. If you live in a metropolitan area, thrift stores like Goodwill or Salvation Army are a great resource for cheap books. I have found some of the greatest books that I’ve every read at so-called junk stores.

As a matter of fact, just a couple of months ago I was at one such store and discovered that, apparently, a large chunk of a minister’s library had been donated. There were books on Hebrew and Greek and all sorts of other books on sale for a quarter each. I bought a whole collection (8 volumes) of G. Campell Morgan sermons, two Francis Schaeffer books, some C.S. Lewis, and several other books as well, for less than 5 dollars.

That’s all for now, happy reading.

Recent Reading: Death by Living, by N.D. Wilson (The Blessed Lash of Time)

I don’t do reviews, only reflections. So here’s my shot at it:

It is our duty and our privilege to exhaust our lives for Jesus. We are not to be living specimens of men in fine preservation, but living sacrifices, whose lot is to be consumed; we are to spend and to be spent, not to lay ourselves up in lavender, and nurse our flesh. Such soul-travail as that of a faithful minister will bring on occasional seasons of exhaustion, when heart and flesh will fail. Moses’ hands grew heavy in intercession, and Paul cried out, “Who is sufficient for these things?”

-Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, pp. 156-157.

I read that line by Spurgeon years ago and it has always stuck with me. Our goal should not be preservation, but sacrifice. That theme is woven into the heart of the narrative of N.D. Wilson’s new book, Death by Living: Life is Meant to be Spent.

Wilson sees life, all life, not just his own, as a part of God’s story. We are all characters with our own little parts. How will we be involved in the plot? How will we exit the stage?

Chapter 8, ‘The (Blessed) Lash of Time,’ is the gem of the book from my perspective.  Wilson compellingly makes the case that death is a blessing, if we have eyes to see it as such. Revelation 14:13 records God’s declaration that those who die in the Lord are blessed:

  • Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write: The dead who die in the Lord from now on are blessed.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘let them rest from their labors, for their works follow them!’

We spend our lives fearing death, while, for the Christian, death is the final whistle, the buzz of the clock, that tells us our labors are over. He writes,

Time motivates us. Sure, time counts up, but it is also a game clock, counting down. It is urgent. It makes now matter.

‘Oh, we’ve got all the time in the world,’ says the man preparing to do nothing.

‘This is due tomorrow!’ says the woman suddenly finding focus.

Time is a kindness. We need it. We need loss to appreciate gift. We need the world chanting at us like a crowd counting down seconds at the end of a shot clock. Every day brings its own urgency. Every day has periods that expire, things that count down, and breaks to collect our thoughts, sip Gatorade, and draw up plays.

The sun is up! Get up, get up! Eat. Go, go, go! Eat again…

The grind, The wheel. The racing of rats.

Time, the ever-expiring resource. Time, the thief. Time, the motivator (p. 111).

Here is where the words started hitting me:

Imagine being your flawed self without time…Think about your temper. Your resentfulness. Your lust. Your lies. Your selfishness. Your despair. Think about all the trouble you have on the inside. Think about the weight of that burden…Now remove time.

There is no end to this race. There is no finish line. There is no final round to this brawl. There is no clock counting down.

You must struggle with your temper always. Forever. You will be seven hundred years old, sill a lusting lecher weeping with guilt. A thousand-year-old woman who can’t stop her poisonous tongue.

When young athletes train hard, a good coach is there. When they push themselves to dizziness, to vomiting, a coach is counting down.

You can do it. Just three more. Just five more minutes. Two more laps. You can do this.

And we find that we can. That we can push harder than we ever knew. Because once we have, we will be done.

Imagine running and running and running until your throat burns with welling acid from your gut and constricts with the sharp bursts of cold breaths that your screaming lungs grab an grab and grab to keep your body moving. Your coach is on the side. He shouts,

‘It won’t ever stop! You will never be done. Just keep going.’

Me? I drop right there. Without a finish line, I quit (pp. 111-113).

He continues,

Because of death, we can run the good race. We can fight the good fight. Completion exists…

Seventy years. Eighty if you’re strong. Less if you’re like the Messiah. Look to Him and receive more grace. Stagger on. You can do it. Only a decade more. Or two. Or four. But there is a finish line. There will be an end to the weight on your back and the ache in your skull…Even when we fell, when our first parents defied Him, the first thing He gave them was an end, mortality, a path to resurrection, and the promise of a Guide.

And then He clothed them (p. 113-114).

I appreciated many more things about this book, but I wanted to devote an entire post to this one. I would encourage those so inclined to pick up a copy.

We are living sacrifices whose lives are meant to be poured out. I want to die a worn out man – but a man who wore himself out for the joy set before him. She’s an unlikely source of quotations for me, but Marilyn Monroe (allegedly) once said, ‘I don’t stop when I’m tired. I only stop when I’m done.’ That’s not a bad thought. The good news is that our labors will be done, so we don’t have to stop when we’re tired. Wear yourself out for Jesus, for your husband or wife, for your children, for your church, for the poor, for whomever God puts in your path. The finish line is getting nearer. You’ll make it if you keep your eye on the prize. Your tired, but not done. You’ll be done soon enough. Keep working.

Isaac Watts offers his great paraphrase of Palm 90 in ‘O God, Our Help in Ages Past.’ He writes,

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day.

If time is like an ever-rolling stream, then Wilson says, ‘May you leave a wake’:

Drink your wine. Laugh from your gut. Burden your moments with thankfulness. Be as empty as you can be when that clock winds down. Spend your life. And if time is a river, may you leave a wake (p. 117).

This chapter, for the first time in my life, made me genuinely feel ready to die. But more than that, to live to die. I found myself praying, ‘God, thank you that death is coming. I needed to see death as a finish line. Now I know that I can keep going.’ I’ve already found such rest in Christ. I’ve found him to bear the burden of the Law, I found his yoke to be easy. Yet my body wears out. That’s just a reminder that the whistle is in sight: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on…that they may rest from their labor.’ Amen.

I started the post with Spurgeon, so let me end with him. Here’s a little quote from John Piper about Spurgeon:

He often worked 18 hours in a day. The missionary David Livingstone, asked him once, ‘How do you manage to do two men’s work in a single day?’ Spurgeon replied, ‘You have forgotten there are two of us.’ I think he meant the presence of Christ’s energizing power that we read about in Colossians 1:29. Paul says, ‘I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.’ ‘There are two of us.’

Wanderers in the Wilderness though we be…

Psalm 90 is a portion of Scripture that I return to over and over again. The inspired wisdom of Moses is distilled in this psalm to, perhaps, its most potent form. The words of verse one inspired Isaac Watts to write,

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home.

C.H. Spurgeon  comments on verse one (read the whole thing HERE):

Verse 1. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

We must consider the whole Psalm as written for the tribes in the desert, and then we shall see the primary meaning of each verse. Moses, in effect, says – wanderers though we be in the howling wilderness, yet we find a home in thee, even as our forefathers did when they came out of Ur of the Chaldees and dwelt in tents among the Canaanites.

Years ago I rearranged the words of that Spurgeon a bit and formed a sentence that I constantly repeat:

Wanderers in the wilderness though we be, yet we find a home in thee.