2.14.2013 HAPPY BIRTH DAY NATE!

DEAR NATE!

happy birth day! you were an great gift from God
on that 3rd valentine's day that God gave mom and I together.
what a gift you have been to us.
You are a comfort, a strength, a joy, a blessing from God...and
we are very grateful to Him for you.

may you (and I) ASAP be radiantly with Jesus!
prayer and the desire of my heart
is that we identify ourselves with Him
and suffer for His name.
Love, dad

ps. i had a bunch of insane ravings on here
but as often happens
when i read what i have written
after a day or two
i just shake my head.
only by His grace and peace
will i have peace when i look in His eyes.
until then..brokenness and agony.
i just want to be found in Him.
i reject just mental assent, 'belief'.
there must be DO,
there must be fruit.
believe obeys...
and i don't obey well.
massive failure...frail indications of having His Life
oh but He is so real
so surpassingly precious, loving, forgiving
yet also grieved, warning, gently guiding
sometimes forbidding, making impossible!
oh changeless One, please change me.

2.11.2012 HOW TO CHOOSE A CHURCH

in the moody monthly june 1986. by gene getz (additions of mine sprinkled throu

1. do the forms and structure of the church allow for a balance in
learning the word of God,
experiencing fellowship with one another
and time with God
and sharing Christ with others?
2. is the word of God taught clearly and regularly?
3. is the word taught with variety
through verse by verse, topical, biographical and dialogue etc.
or is church locked into one particular approach?
4. is there a balance in the teaching through all parts of the bible?
5. is teaching applied to right now...
is it applied to the regular life habits, the besetting sins of the listeners?
(if the 'teacher' is not regularly out in the homes
and taking an active, ongoing interest in lives of the sheep
ie.'where they are going' spiritually speaking
he won't know what needs to be spoken to,
he won't know the sins he needs to privately or publicly reprove.)
(note: those who are hireling and not true pastors (or spiritual
brothers/sisters) regularly stay away from those
who are crying out for their spiritual concern and demonstrated love.
too often it is
'i see no evil' with hands over the eyes;
i hear no evil with hands over the ears,
so i cannot speak of any evil with my mouth.')
6. does the church consistently and systematically disciple
those who are believers?
(note: this does not refer  to mental knowledge but rather to
actual obedience in the doing. (how do i actually meditate on the word,
pray, rebuke sin in another believer...in general, do what God wants.)
7. do the structures of the church allow relationships with God
to grow naturally out of relationships with people?
8. do they allow communion to be a meaningful experience,
involving deep (and godly) relationships with other believers/unbelievers.
(note: for he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself,
if he does not judge (evaluate) the body (and his relationships with it)
rightly.
for this reason many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep.
(note: if every person is not in a correct relationship with every other person
it is deadly. see Jesus' concern in matthew 5.21-6 about this.)
9. is there weekly, vital, dynamic prayer taking place among the church there?
(note: is there a weekly public meeting
dedicated to nothing but real,united prayer?
(ie. pray your requests, don't tell them...others can get in touch to
find out more info and pray with you personally at other times...unless you
are all of one mind to continue the public meeting until all is spoken and
adequately prayed for as a group.)
10. is giving spontaneous, regular and joyful
meant to meet the needs of people?
(note: in other what percentage of the group's giving
goes to themselves and what percentage goes outside the group?)
11. is the music balanced between songs and hymns that teach and admonish,
that exalt and glorify God? is there a variety of musical forms
or is it locked into a culturally conditioned style?
12. do church structures allow opportunities to share Christ with others,
or are people kept so busy in church meetings and events
that they don't have time to build bridges and witness to unbelievers
and neighbors?
13.does the church allow time for members to relate informally to one another
outside the church building
or do relationships consist of attending church meetings, sitting and listening?
14. do families have time to have regular morning and evening devotions
together?
or do the regular church structures compete with family life?
15. does the church allow for freedom in form?
(note: another way to state this:
is mostly everything that bears 'official' or 'approved'
top down,
roots up
or a spirit directed intermingling not untrue to the bible?)
16.

2.10.2013 PRACTICE RIGHTEOUSNESS

in article 'western civilization at the crossroads' by peter kreeft.
what kind of future awaits us?
what are our choices?
kreeft looks at lewis's view of the king of history we are creating..


...if the Enlightenment helped the modern world
discard notions of original sin and moral absolutes,
it also uprooted the foundations of truth and goodness.
unlike the medieval era, all we have left
are vague political and psychological notions of what works efficiently.
technology has replaced religion as our  civilization's summum bonum.
naturalism has replaced supernaturalism.
subjectivism has defined a new age of moral relativity.

'the abolition of Man' contains the most important and enlightening
single statement about our civilization that i have ever read,

'there is something which unites magic and applied science
while separating both from the 'wisdom' of earlier ages:
for the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been
how to conform the soul to reality ,
and the solution had been knowledge, self discipline and virtue;
for magic and applied science alike
the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men
and the solution is a technique.

aristotle listed technique, technical knowledge, know how,
third on the hierarchy of values after
contemplation of truth and practical knowledge or knowledge for acting.
modernity simply turns this ancient hierarchy upside down.

..spiritual and physical destruction both loom large, and only minutes away.
to those concerned with peace in our world,
with survival,
with life,
lewis would give the following advice:

'perhaps the world will turn to God.
perhaps a few abrahams will appear to intercede with God
for our modern sodoms and gomorrahs,
and perhaps God will find enough righteous men in them to spare them.
they almost made it last time-
if there had been only ten good men in them,
God would have spared two cities!
the most important thing for each of us to do to save the world...
is to practice righteousness
to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength
and our neighbor as ourself.
you the individual can make the difference.

2.9.2013 C.S. LEWIS on HAPPINESS

the last published article by lewis before his death asked:
have we no 'right' to happiness?

after all, said clare, they had a right to happiness.

we were discussing something that once happened in our own neighborhood.
mr. a had deserted mrs. a
and got his divorce
in order to marry mrs. b,
who had likewise go her divorce
in order to marry mr. a.
and there was certainly no doubt
that mr. a and mrs. b were very much in love with one another.
if they continued to be in love.
and if nothing went wrong with their health or their income,
they might reasonably expect to be very happy.

it was equally clear that they were not happy
with their old partners.
mus. b had adored her husband at the outset.
but then he got smashed up in the war.
it was though he had lost his virility,
and it was known that he had lost his job.
life with him was no longer what
mrs. b bargained for.
poor mrs. a, too.
she had lost her looks-
and all her liveliness.
it might be true, as some said,
that she consumed herself by bearing his children
and nursing him through the long illness
that overshadowed their earlier married life.

you mustn't, by the way imagine that a
was the sort of man who nonchalantly threw a wife away
like the peel of an orange he'd sucked dry.
her suicide was a terrible shock to him.
we all knew this, for he told us so himself.
but what could i do? he said.
a man has a right to happiness.
i had to take my one chance when it came.

i went away thinking about the concept of
a 'right to happiness'.

at first this sounds to me as odd as
a right to good luck.
for i believe-whatever one school of moralists may say-
that we depend for a very great deal of our happiness or misery
on circumstances outside all human control.
a right to happiness doesn't, for me,make much more sense than
a right to be 6 feet tall
or have a millionaire for your father,
or to get good weather whenever you want to have a picnic.

i can understand a right as a freedom guaranteed me
by the laws of the society i live in.
thus, i have a right to travel along the public roads
because society gives me that freedom;
that's what we mean by calling the roads 'public'.
i can also understand a right as a claim guaranteed me by the laws.
and correlative to an obligation on someone else's part.
if i have a right to receive $100 from you,
this is another way of saying that you have a duty to pay me $100.
if the laws allow mr. a to desert his wife
and seduce his neighbor's wife, then, by definition,
mr. a has a legal right to do so,
and we need bring in no talk about happiness.

but of course that was not what clare meant.
she meant that he had not only a legal
but a moral right to act as he did.
in other words, clare is, or would be if she thought it out-
a classical moralist
after the style of thomas aqinas, grotius, hooker and locke.
she believes that behind the laws of the state there is a
Natural Law.


i agree with her.
i hold this conception to be basic to all civilization.
without it, the actual laws of the state become
an absolute,
as in hegel.
they cannot be criticized
because there is no norm against which
they should be judged.

the ancestry of clare's maxim,
'they have a right to happiness',
is august.
in words that are chrished by all civilized men,
but especially by americans,
it has been laid down that one of the rights of man is
a right to 'the pursuit of happiness'.
and now we get to the real point.

what did the writers of that august declaration mena?

it is quite certain what they did not mean.
they did not mean that man was entitled to pursued happiness
by any and every means-
including, say,
murder, rape, robbery, treason and fraud.
no society could be built on such a basis.

they meant 'to pursue happiness by all lawful means';
that is, by all means which the law of nature eternally sanctions
and which the laws of the nation shall sanction.

admittedly this seems at first to reduce their maxim to the tautology
that men (in pursuit of happiness)
have a right to do.
but tautologies, seen against their proper historical context,
are not always barren tautologies.
the declaration is primarily a denial of the political principles
which long governed europe;
a challenge flung down to the austrian and russian empires,
to england before the reform bills,
to bourbon france.
it demands that whatever means of pursuing happiness are lawful for any
should be lawful for all:
that 'man', not men of some particular cast, class, status or religion,
should be free to use them.
in a century when this is being unsaid by nation after nation
and party after party,
let us not call it a barren tautology.

but the question as to what means are 'lawful'-
what methods of pursuing happiness are either morally permissible
by the law of nature
or should be declared legally permissible
by the legislature of a particular nation-
remains exactly where it did.
and on that question i disagree with clare.
i don't think it is obvious that people
have the unlimited 'right to happiness'
which she suggests.

for one thing, i believe that clare,
when she says 'happiness'
means simply and solely 'sexual happiness'.
partly because women like clare
never use the word 'happiness in any other sense. 
but also because i never heard clare
talk about the 'right' to any other kind.
she was rather leftist in her politics,
and would have been scandalized
if anyone had defended the actions of a ruthless
man eating tycoon
on the ground that his
consisted in making money and he was persuing his happiness.
she was also a rabid teetotaler;
i never heard her excuse an alcoholic
because he was happy when he  was drunk.

a dood man of clare's friends,
and especially her female friends,
often felt-i've heard them say so-
that their own happiness would be perceptibly
increased
by boxing her ears.
i very much doubt if this would have brought
her theory of a right to happiness into play.

clare, in fact, is doing what the whole western world
seems to me
to have been doing for the last 40 odd years.
when i was a youngster,
all the progressive people were saying,
why all this prudery?
let us treat sex just as we treat all our other impulses.
i was simple minded enought to believe
they meant what they said.
i have discovered that they
meant exactly the opposite.
they meant that sex was to be treated
as no other impulse
in our nature
has ever been treated by
civilized people.
all the others, we admit,
have been bridled.
absolute obedience to your instinct for self preservation
is what we call cowardice;
to your acquisitive impulse, avarice.
even sleep must be resisted if you're a sentry.
but every unkindness and breach of faith  seems to be condoned
provided that the object aimed at is
'four bare legs in a bed'.

it is like having a morality in which stealing fruit is considered wrong-
unless you steal nectarines.

and if you protest against this view
you are usually met with chatter about
the legitimacy and beauty and sanctity
of 'sex'
and accused of harboring some puritan prejudice agains it
as something disreputable or shameful.
i deny the charge.
foam born venus...
golden aphrodite...
our lady of cyprus...
i never breathed a word against you.
if i object to boys who steal my nectarines,
must i  be supposed to disapprove of nectarines in general?
or even of boys in general?
it might, you know, be stealing i disapproved of.

the real situation is skillfully concealed by saying
that the question of mr. a's 'right' to desert his wife
is one of 'sexual morality'.
robbing an orchard is not an offense against some special morality
called 'fruit morality'.
it is an offense against honesty.
mr. a's action is an offense against good faith
(to solemn promises),
against gratitude
(toward one to whom he was deeply indebted)
and against common humanity.

our sexual impulses are thus being put in a position of preposterous privilege.
the sexual motive is taken to condone all sorts of behavior which,
if it had any other end in view,
would be condemned as
merciless,
treacherous
unjust.

now though i see no good reason for giving sex this privilege,
i think i see a strong cause.
it is this.

it is part of the nature of a strong erotic passion-
as distinct from a transient fit of appetite-
that makes more towering promises than any other emotion.
no doubt all our desires makes promises,
but not so impressively.
to be in love involves the almost irresistible conviction
that one will go on being in love until one dies,
and that possession of the beloved will confer,
not merely frequent ecstasies,
but settled, fruitful, deep rooted. lifelong happiness.

hence all seems to be at stake.
if we miss this chance we shall have lived in vain.
tat the very thought of such a doom
we sink into fathomless depths of self pity.

unfortunately these promises are found often to be quite untrue.
every experienced adult knows this to be so
as regards erotic passions
(except the one he himself is feeling at the moment).
we discount the world without end pretensions of our friends' amours
easily enough.
we know that such things sometimes last-
and sometimes don't.
and when they do last,
this is not because they promised at the outset to do so.
when two people achieve lasting happiness,
this is not solely because they are great lovers
but because they are also-
i must put it crudely-
good  people;
controlled, loyal, fair minded, mutually adaptable people.

if we establish a 'right to (sexual) happiness
which supersedes all the ordinary rules of behavior,
we do so not because of what our passion
shows itself to be the experience
but because of what it professes to be while we are in the grip of it.
hence. while the bad behavior is real and works miseries and degradations,
the happiness which was the object of the behavior turns out
again and again to be illusory.
everyone (except mr. a and mrs. b)
knows that mr. a in a year or so may have the same reason
for deserting his new wife as for deserting his old.
he will see himself again as the great lover,
and his pity for himself will exclude all pity for the woman.

two further points remain.  one is this.
a society in which conjugal infidelity is tolerated
must always be in the long run a society
adverse to women.
women, whatever a few male songs and satires
may say to the contrary,
are more naturally monogamous than men;
it is a biological necessity.
where promiscuity prevails,
they will therefore  always be more often
the victims that the culprits.
also, domestic happiness is more necessary to them
than to us.
and the quality by which  they most easily hold a man,
their beauty,
decreases every year after they have come to maturity,
but this does not happen to those qualities of personality
(women don't really care two cents about our looks)
by which we hold women.\
thus in the ruthless war of promiscuity
women are at a double disadvantage.
they play for higher stakes and are also more likely to lose.
i have no sympathy with moralists
who frown at the increasing crudity of female provocativeness.
these signs of desperate competition
fill me with pity.

secondly, though the 'right to happiness'
is chiefly claimed for the sexual impulse,
it seems to be impossible that the matter should stay there.
the fatal principle, once allowed in that department,
must sooner or later seep through our whole lives.
we thus advance toward a state of society in which
not only each man but every impulse in each man
claims carte blanche.
and then, though our technological skill may help us survive a little longer,
our civilization will have
died at heart,
and will- one dare not even add 'unfortunately'
-be swept away.

2.9.2013 PRESIDENT OBAMA WON'T 'AGREE'

i'm sorry.
i broke a rule of some long standing...again.
the temptation was that an email appeared in my mail
from senator pat toomey of pennsylvania.
from the little i read this senator is 'conservative'
i don't know if he is 'do it by the constitution or bust'
i read little to nothing these days
so it is easier to maintain normal blood pressure
and obey philippians 4.6-7.
but like i say, i was tempted to take a peek.
whizzing through all of the senator's current
accomplishments
i stopped at a little piece about the
(is it now three years since we descended into the illegality
of representative official refusing to even draw up a budget?)
the people who live that way at home are
either continuous wards of the state
or in a very bad way right now.

in his statement about the last crisis
was it january?
that the 'president' didn't 'agree'
i know from the one word where toomey lies on the political spectrum:
they are all in one lump right now,
men and women masquerading as representatives of the constitution
er, PEOPLE...and using the 'trust' committed to them to....
oh whatever, what's the use,
in many areas we are sleepwalking thru this national nightmare TOGETHER,
right?
let's draw up around the campfire and sing cumbaiya.

i jotted his allentown office #610.434.1444
and wrote out the following which i hope
(i probably will throw the note away and go on looking to God to help me
seek first HIS kingdom..)
to squeeze onto the 30 second allotment:

senator toomey
you speak of the president 'agreeing' to tax cuts
the president doesn't decide spending,
you and the representatives elected and delegated
by the people
to do that, do that.
besides the president doesn't pay for it.
the people do.

i encourage you to take a kamikazee course
during your time in washington.
i encourage you to publicly proclaim yourself a
ONE AND DONE REPRESENTATIVE.
encourage all the others to do the same.
i encourage you to VOTE NO TO ONE
MORE
P-E-N-N-Y
FOR ANYTHING.
until you leave office.
(who knows with any luck they'll impeach you
and you get out sooner!)

i encourage you to
SEEK IMPEACHMENT
OF
EVERY
MAN
AND
WOMAN
WHO
VOTES
FOR
ONE
PENNY.
God says,'thou shalt not steal'
and that includes by voting for it. 

2.7.2013 CONSECRATION VII

on 1.30 i was joggled off the course i have been on for almost a year now of 'reading the bible through in a year'. made it as far as luke 12.1. for the last 9 days the progress has been to the last verse of chapter 17. so only 6 chapters in 9 days. it seems that the concept that had been growing in my heart to take up the practice of regularly greeting other 'believers in Jesus' with,
SO WHAT HAS GOD BEEN SAYING TO YOU,
in a strangely wonderful, but twisted way, has born fruit in the would be questioner.

the notebook i began that morning,
which has now reached a number of pages,
bears the heading,
WHAT IS JESUS SAYING TO ME?
since right now i am mostly reading His reported words.
the strong impression
i don't know how long this will last
was that of moving away from the practice of
reading through the daily assigned (3/5 on sunday) chapters
slowly, meditatively
to reading through only as quickly as
i am able to actually understand what He is saying
to the ones who first heard
and to every disciple who would ever hear or read them afterwards.
(not as if he were just saying and doing in some kind of vacuum
but in such a way that expected me to respond personally and appropriately
to what He said or did...as if i were personally present).

i must candidly say that my time with the Lord has moved to a different place
than it has ever occupied before.
it seems a very good thing.
but how i am totally 'snowed under' by it.
it's not at all the idea of
ok, He did/said this, so now i am saying/doing this.
the reading has rather turned a time of reading a book
into a daily encounter with a person.
it is poignant (keen/strong in mental appeal; affecting/moving the emotions)
i ask God to make it more.
i ask that He make this daily time absolutely transformative.
that i would become another person because of it.
that i, though a wretched sinner in fact,
would somehow be changed to waft abroad His beauty
in mysterious fragrance to His glory.
ie. no one would talk at all of me, only of God because of what i said and did
...just like they did when Jesus was here.

my times during this period have lengthened out considerably.
quite honestly i am reluctant to leave.
but i know that God' enemy, the devil
can transform Himself into a messenger of light.
i can lead a monastic existence never being away from the word or prayer,
i can speak with the tongue of men and of angels,
i can cast out devils and do many seeming wondrous works in His name.
and still hear those awful words
'depart from Me, you that work iniquity'.
what He has clearly been leading me to do,
ie. GET 54 READY. THEN SELL IT.
i find ingenious ways to avoid.
no matter how 'good seeming'
anything done to avoid obedience is
defacto (in fact, in reality)
sin.

last two days,
like chewing glass,
i have been enabled to
'chop its head off'
at one hour.

but, oh, i find it surpassingly sweet to spend the half hour bible time part!
i have hope that God will use this to my good and His glory.

2.6.2012 PHILIP HENRY II

be sure you look to your secret duty;keep that up whatever you do.
the soul cannot prosper in the neglect of it.
he observed that apostacy generally begins at the closet door.
secret prayer is first neglected and carelessly performed,
then frequently omitted
and after a while wholly cast off;
and then farewell god and Christ and all religion.
..besides the deadness and coldness,
the distractions and wanderings..
there is also a kind of weariness which many times seizes their spirits,.
sometimes the impression..'enough for this time' comes
and needs to be ignored.
if the devil cannot keep us from God,
he will work a loathness to tarry with him..

the Spirit deals not with us as stocks and stones,
but as rational creatures. hosea 11.4
He expects and requires, that we should put forth ourselves
to the utmost
towards the working our hearts into a fervent frame
and when we are weak and wanting
He comes with help.
thus much seems to be implied in that expression,
the Spirit helpeth our infirmities..
it is an allusion to a man who has a great burden,
suppose a heavy log of wood to carry,
and he cannot manage it unless some one will come and
lay a shoulder under one end.
but if that help be offered, he is not altogether excused.
he must lay his shoulder under the other end.
if we find our hears dead and dull ans indisposed to prayer,
we are ready, presently to cast the blame upon the Spirit,
all our life is from Him.
that is true;
but he conveys life in the use of the means.
and, commonly, the fault that
we do not receive more life and quickening from His
is in ourselves.
we are wanting in stirring up our affections,
in laboring with our hearts, by meditation, which is a special means.
the Spirit meeteth him that rejoiceth, and worketh righeousness.
sometimes, however, a cause of deadness
may be overmuch confidence in ourselves;
when we set about duties in our own strength,
and have no eye to the Spirit,
but rely altogether upon self.  philippians 3.3
this is as bad as the other.
the true mean between both is this;
so to labour with our hearts
as if we were to expect no assistance from the Spirit,
and yet so to rely upon His aid,
as if with our own hearts we had laboured nothing.

..he advised, that secret duty be performed secretly,
which was the admonition he gave sometimes to those
who caused their voice to be heard on high in that duty.

there are 2 doors,..to be shut when we go to prayer;
the door of our closet, that we may be secret;
the door of our hears, that we may be serious.

besides this, he and his wife constantly prayed together
morning and evening
and never, if they were together,
at home or abroad,
was it intermitted;
and from his own experience of the benefit of this practice,
he would take all opportunities to recommend it
to those in that relation..
he would say, that this is duty of husbands and wives
praying together..
this sanctifies the relation
and fetcheth in a blessing upon it,
makes the comforts of it the more sweet
and the cares and crosses of it the more easy,
and is an excellent means
of preserving and increasing love in the relation...

..he recommended..that the wife should be
sometimes called upon to pray with the husband,
that she might learn to perform duty in the family
in the husband's absence,
or in case he be removed by death...
it is comfortable if the moon rises when the sun sets.

..he made conscience ..a business of family worship,
in all the parts of it
and in it he was uniform, steady, and constant,
from the time that he was first called to the charge of a family,
to his dying day;
and according to his own practice,
he took all occasions to press it upon others.
his doctrine..from joshua 24.15, was that family worship is family duty.
he would say, sometimes,
if the worship of God be not in the house...
the Lord, have mercy upon us..

..as to the time of it, his rule was, commonly,
the earlier the better, both morning and evening;
in the morning, before worldly business crowded in,
early will i seek Thee.
..nor is it fit that the worship of God should
stand by and wait while the world's turn was served.
and early in the evening,
before the children and servants began to be sleepy;
and therefore, if it might be,
he would have prayer at night before supper,
that the body might be the more fit to serve the soul
in that service of God.
and indeed he did industriously contrive
all the circumstances of his family worship,
so as to make it most solemn,
and most likely answer the end
he always made it the business of every day,
and not, as too many, a bye-business.
this being his fixed principle,
all other affairs must be sure to give way to this.

(it was the observation of an excellent man,
that when he did hasten over holy duties,
out of an over eager desire to follow his worldly business,
he did many times meet with a cross in his business;
but when he did take his ordinary time,
God did make his other business to succeed the better
or else his mind was brought to submit to the will of God.

and he would tell those who objected against family worship,
that they could not get time for it;
that if they would but put on christian resolution at first,
they would not find the difficulty so great as they imagined;
but after a while, their other affairs would fall in
easily and naturally with this,
especially here there is that wisdom which is profitable to direct.
nay, they would find it to be a great preserver of
order and decency in a family
and it would be like a hem to all their other business,
to keep it from ravelling.
he was ever careful to have all his family present
at family worship;
though sometimes, living in the country,
he had a great household;
yet he would have not only his children
and sojourners, if he had any,
and domestick servants, but his workmen and day labourers,
and all that were employed by him, if they were within call,
to be present,
to join with him in this service;
and , as it was an act of his charity many times to set them to work for him,
so to that he added this act of piety, to set them to work for God.
and usually , when he paid his workmen their wages,
he gave them some good counsel about their souls.
yet, if any that should come to family worship,
were at a distance, and must be stayed for long,
he would rather want them,
than put the duty much out of time;
and would sometimes say, at night,
better one away, than all sleepy.

the performances of his family worship were the same
morning and evening.
he observed that, under the law,
the morning and evening lamb
had the same meat offering and drink offering. ex. 29.38-41
 he always began with a short, but very solemn prayer,
imploring the divine presence and grace, assistance and acceptance;
particularly begging a blessing upon the word to be read,
in reference to which he often put up this petition,
-that the same Spirit that indited the scripture,
would enable us to understand the scripture,
and to make up something to ourselves out of it that may do us good.
and esteeming the word of god as his necessary food,
he would sometimes pray in a morning,
that our souls might have a good meal out of it...

he next sung a psalm and commonly he sung david's psalms
in order, throughout...
(..and did so without the common line between every line of text)
..thinking it more likely to be performed in the spirit
and with the understanding;;
the sense being not so broken, nor the affections interrupted,
as (with)..the line betwixt.

he next read a portion of scripture, taking the bible in order;
he would sometimes blame those who only pray in their families,
and do not read the scripture.
in prayer we speak to God; by the word, He speaks to us;
and is there any reason, saith he , that we would speak all?
..
he advised the reading of scripture in order;
for, though one star in the firmament of the scripture
differ from another star in glory,
yet wherever God hath a mouth to speak,
we should have an ear to hear:
and the diligent searcher may find much excellent matter

(foot:beloved, if you doe but take any piece of this word,
and stay upon it, as the bee doth upon the flower,
and will not off till you have got somewhat out of it;
if you be still digging in this mine,
this would make you rich in knowledge;
and, if you be rich in knowledge,
it will (can?) make you rich in grace likewise.

in those parts of scripture, which we are sometimes tempted
to think might have been spared.
how affectionately would he sometimes bless God
for every book, and chapter and verse and line in the bible!

every word of God he would say, is good,
but especially God, the word.
how sweet is it to a lost, undone sinner,
to be acquainted with a saviour!

what he read in his family, he always expounded;
and exhorted all...to do so,
as an excellent means of increasing their acquaintance with the scripture.
his expositions were not so much critical as plain, and practical and useful;
and such as tended to edification ,
and to answer the end for which the scriptures were written,
which is to make us wise to salvation.
and herein he had a peculiar excellence,
performing that daily exercise with so much judgment,
and at the same time with such facility and clearness,
as if every exposition had been premeditated;
and very instructive they were, as well as affecting to the auditors.
his observations were many times very pretty and surprising,
and such as one shall not ordinarily meet with.
commonly, in his expositions, he reduced the matter
of the chapter or psalm read, to some heads;
not by a logical analysis, which often minceth it too small,
and confounds the sense with the terms;
but by such a distribution as the matter did most easily and unforcedly fall into.
he often mentioned and said that ...
when sometimes he had hit upon some useful observation that was new to him,
he would say afterwards to those about him, -
how often have i read this chapter
and never before now took notice of such a thing in it!
he put his children, while they were with him,
to write these expositions; and when they were gone from him,
the strangers that sojourned with him did the same.
what collections his children had, though but broken and very imperfect hints,
yet, when afterwards they were disposed of in the world,
were of good used to them and their families.
some expositions of this nature, that is plain and practical
and helping to raise the affections and guide the conversation by the word..

..the method of his family worship.
the chapter or psalm being read and expounded,
he required from his children some account of what they could remember of it
and sometimes would discourse with them plainly and familiarly about it,
that he might lead them into an acquaintance with it;
and if it might be, impress something of it upon their hearts.

he then prayed and always kneeling, which he looked upon as .. fittest..
he usually fetched his matter and expressions in prayer,
from the chapter that was read and the psalm that was sung,
which was ..affecting, and helped to stir up and excite praying graces..

..he recommended the use of free prayer
(as opposed to forms such as the Lord's prayer)..

it may be objected (as to the practice of free prayer)
i am not learned, as others are;
neither have i such parts as others have;
therefore, it is best for me to pray out of a book.
this is grounded  upon a mistake;
it is not learning and parts, but grace that doth it;
-it is the Spirit of grace and supplication, not of learning and supplication.
i deny not, but where grace and natural abilities
are together in the same person,
there, ordinarily, a man is the more powerful in prayer;
i mean, in affecting others who join;
and yet, another, who want these abilities
and is truly godly, may pray as acceptably..as he.

but it is said,
i distrust myself, i dare not go to God with a prayer of my own inditing;
it is, therefore, best for me to borrow one
that may have some method and elegance in it.
this also is ..a mistake.
God regards not elegancy in prayer
He cares not how little there is of the head in the duty,
so there be a great deal of the heart.
we must be well acquainted with that
boldness of access which we have to God,
upon all occasions, by Jesus Christ,
else we shall never do any thing this way. hebrews 4.14-6
we must approach God in prayer as children to a father.
ignorance of this causes formality and ceremony.
is not a tender hearted father far more delighted
with the lispings and stammerings of his little child,
when it first begins to speak,
than with the neatest, finest speech that he can hear from another?
and what is the reason?
why, it is his CHILD.

go to the the scrivener (scribe, notary) and get a petition drawn,
to present it to his father!
no; he comes with boldness,
'Father, i want clothes; will you please to give me them?
whereas, another must observe ceremonies, and circumstances,
or else have no hopes of success.

in family prayer he was usually most full in giving thanks for
family mercies, confessing family sins, and begging family blessings.
very particular he would sometimes be in prayer for his family;
if any were absent, they were sure to have an express petition put up for them.
he used to observe, concerning job 1.5,
that he offered burnt offerings for his children,
according to the number of them all, an offering for each child;
and so would he sometimes in praying for his children,
put up a petition for each child.
he always observed, at the annual return
of the birth day of each of his children, to bless God
for His mercy to him and his wife in that child;
the giving of it, the continuance of it, the comfort they had in it, etc.
with some special request to God for that child.
every servant and sojourner, at their coming into his family,
and their going out,
besides the daily remembrances of them,
had a particular petition put up for them,
according as their circumstances were.
the strangers, that were at any time within his gates,
he was wont particularly to recommend to God in prayer.
with much affection and christian concern for them
and their concernments.
he was daily mindful of those that desired his prayers for them
and would say sometimes,-
it is a great comfort that God knows who we mean in prayer, though we do not name them.
particularly providences concerning the country,
as to health or sickness, good or bad weather, or the like,
he commonly took notice of in prayer, as there was occasion;
and would often beg of God to fit us for the next providence, whatever it might be.
nor did he ever forget to pray for the peace of jerusalem.

he maintained, that supplication must be made for all saints;
for those you do not know, as well as for those you do;eph. 6.18
for those that differ from you, as well as for those with whom you agree;
for those who are in prosperity, as well as in adversity.
for all saints, because all are alike related to Jesus Christ;
because all are alike related to you, as fellow members;
and it will be an evidence you love them, as brethren,
when you love them all and pray for them all.
when you have nearest communion with God,
then remember me, said bernard to a friend;
then speak, say i, for the church.

..immediately after the prayer was ended, his children together,
with bended knee, asked blessing of him and their mother;
that is, desired of them to pray to God to bless them;
which blessing was given with great solemnity and affection;
and if any of them were absent, they were remembered,
the Lord bless you and your brother; or, -you and your sister that is absent.

this was his daily worship, which he never altered, unless,
as is after mentioned, nor ever omitted any part of,
though he went from home never so early or returned never so late
or had never so much business for his servants to do.
he would say that sometimes he saw cause to shorten them;
but he would never omit any of them;
for, if an excuse be once admitted for an omission,
it will be often returning.
he was not willing, unless the necessity were urgent,
that any should go from his house in a morning
before morning worship;
but up[on such as occasion, would mind his friends,
that-prayer and provender never hinder a journey

he managed his daily family worship,
so as to make it a pleasure and never a task
to his children and servants;
for he was seldom long, and never tedious in the service;
the variety of the duties made it the more pleasant;
so that none who joined with him had ever any reason to say,
behold, what a weariness is it!
such an excellent faculty he had of rendering religion
the most sweet and amiable employment in the world;
and so careful was he, like jacob,
to drive as the children could go,
not putting new wine into old bottles...

on thursday evenings, instead of reading, he catechized..
in the assembly's (westminster) catechism, with the proofs..

..on saturday evenings, his children and servants
gave him an account what they could remember
of the chapters that had been expounded all the week before, in order,
each a several part, helping one another's memories
for the recollecting of it.
this he called -gathering up the fragments which remained,
that nothing might be lost.
he would say to them sometimes, as Christ to his disciples,
-have ye understood all these things?
if not, he took that occasion to explain them more fully.
this exercise, which he constantly kept up all along,
was both delightful and profitable,
and being managed by him with so much prudence and sweetness,
helped to instill into those about him
betimes (early, in good time)
the knowledge and the love of the holy scriptures...

but on the Lord's day
(his grown daughter writes, i have long since been taught
the sabbath is a sign;
the institution a sign of God's love to us;
the sanctification, a sign of our love to Him.)
which he called and counted the queen of days,
the pearl of the week, and observed it accordingly...
in this, therefore, he was very exact,
and abounded in the work of the Lord in his family on that day...
his common salutation of his family or friends,
on the Lord's day in the morning,
was that of the primitive christians
the Lord is risen; he is risen indeed
making it his chief business on that day
to celebrate the memory of Christ's resurrection..
every Lord's day is a true christian's easter day.
he took care to have his family ready early on that day,
and was larger in exposition and prayer
on sabbath mornings that on other days.
he would often remember, that, under the law,
the daily sacrifice was doubled on sabbath days..
he had always a particular subject
for his expositions on sabbath mornings;
the harmony of the evangelists several times over,
the scripture prayers, the old testament prophesies of Christ...
he constantly sung a psalm after dinner
and another after supper..
and in the evening of the day his children and servants
were catechized and examined in the sense and meaning
of the answers in the catechism;
that they might not say it, as he used to tell them,
like a parrot-by rote.
then the day's sermons were repeated,
commonly by one of his children,
when they were grown up  and while they were with him;
and the family gave an account what they could remember
of the word of the day,
which he endeavoured to fasten upon them,
as a nail in a sure place.
in his prayers..he was often more than ordinarily enlarged;
as one that found not only God's service perfect freedom,
but his work its own wages
and a great reward, not only after keeping,
but..in keeping God's commandments...
in that prayer he was usually very particular,
in praying for his family and all that belonged to it.
it was a prayer he often put up,
that we might have grace to carry it as a minister,
and a minister's wife
and a minister's children
and a minster's servants,
should carry it, that the ministry might in nothing be blamed.
he would sometimes be a particular intercessor
for the towns and parishes adjacent...

he had many years ago a man servant,
that was once overtaken in drink abroad;
for which, the next morning, at family worship,
he solemnly reproved him, admonished him, and prayed for him,
with a spirit of meekness,
and soon after parted with him.
but there were many that were his servants, who,
by the blessing of God upon his endeavours,
got those good impressions upon their souls
which they retained ever after;
and blessed God, with all their hearts,
that ever they came under his roof.
few went from his service till they were married,
and went to families of their own;
and some, after they had been married,
and had buried their yoke fellows,
returned to his service again, saying,
master, it is good to be here.

he brought up his children in the fear of God,
with a great deal of care and tenderness,
and did, by his practice, as well as upon all occasions in discourses,
condemn the indiscretion of those parents
who are partial in their affections to their children,
making a difference between them,
which he observed did often prove
of ill consequence in families;
and lay a foundation of envy, contempt, and discord,
which turns to their shame and ruin.
his carriage towards his children was with great mildness and gentleness,
as one who desired rather to be loved than feared by them...
he allowed his children a great degree of freedom with him,
which gave him the opportunity of reasoning them,
not frightening them,
into that which is good.
he did much toward the instruction of his children in the way of familiar discourse,
according to that excellent directory for religious education,
deuteronomy 6.7
thou shall whet (sharpen; make keen or eager, stimulate) these things
(so the word is,
which, he said, denoted frequent repetition of the same things)
these things upon thy children,
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house etc.
which made them love home and delight in his company ,
and greatly endeared religion to them.

5 lessons he observed were good to learn in the days of their youth:

1. to remember their creator..to love Him and fear Him.

2.to come to Jesus Christ...He will in no wise cast you out.

3. to bear the yoke in youth.
(those that have not been inured (accustom to hardship; toughen)
to the yoke of obedience will never endure the yoke of suffering)
the yoke is that which young ones cannot endure.
but it is good for them to bear it.
the yoke of the cross.
if god lay affliction on you when young,
do not murmur but bear that cross.
it is good to be trained up in the school of affliction.
TAKE My yoke'
His commandments are not grievous.

4. to flee youthful lusts. II timothy 2.22

5. to cleanse their way.
how? by taking heed thereto according to Thy word.
and if you do thus you are taught of God...

..he not only taught his children betimes to pray,
but when they were young he put them upon it,
to pray together,
and appointed them on saturdays in the afternoon
to spend some time together,
-none but they, and such of their age as might occasionally be with them,
-in reading good books,
especially those for children,
and in singing and praying;
and would sometimes tell them for their encouragement,
that the God with whom we have to do,
understands broken language.
and, if we do as well as we can in the sincerity of our hearts,
we shall not only be accepted, but taught to do better.
to him that hath, shall be given.

he sometimes set his children,
in their own reading of the scriptures,
to gather out such passages as they took most notice of,
and thought most considerable, and write them down.
he also directed them to insert in a paper book,
which each of them had for the purpose,
remarkable sayings and stories,
which they met with in reading such
other good books as he put into their hands.