Human existence is the quest for comfort in all its forms. It is not necessarily an illicit pursuit so long as it does not lean to self-indulgence, immobility, and loss of incentive. At our origins we were made for Paradise, the enjoyment of perfection, the experience of pleasure to the exclusion of pain. We were to be comfortable in our companionship with God and the satisfaction of his generous provision. The comfort would energise us in co-operation with his purposes. Contentment would dispose us to co-creativity for his glory. In the happiness and security of Paradise our activity would be in the service of God and our productivity an offering of praise and thanksgiving. God would be in our sight and senses and our delight would be wholly in him. We would never avert our gaze and nothing would diminish the expression of mutual love. Eden was a place of fruitful employment with a lavish supply of good things to sustain the body and spirit of man. The senses could revel in the pleasures of taste and touch, sight, smell, and sound. The sheer beauty and intricacy of God’s wonderful creation would enthral the dwellers of earth. And sense would stimulate investigation, the exercise of philosophy and science, that would muse upon the genius of God and result in adoration and admiration. The mind and muscle of man would labour in the garden in enrichment of communion with him, performing his will and probing his wisdom. God was the source and centre of life, the sum of human well being. Comfort did not distract him from duty nor dull his attentiveness toward God. Comfort was derived from God and it drove him to God in glad dependence and gratitude. Such was the consequence of the harmony between creature and Creator. Man was fulfilled from the fullness of God. The gifts of creation were not sought or prized in separation from the Giver but received as assurances of his love. They were tokens of his tender care. They sweetened and strengthened the bonds between Adonai and Adam, Master and subject.

Our breach with God has disrupted our sense of comfort and deprived us of the contentment we found in our Maker, and now we are compelled to find our comfort elsewhere, ironically in the things he has made but without reference to him. We steal our pleasures from his store without acknowledgement of him or attributing our pleasures to him, and we sully those pleasures by appropriating them to the satiation of selfish and twisted desires. We misappropriate the good things of God, making them ends in themselves, and our gratification as the supreme end in life. We are equivalent to pirates pillaging the wealth of God without any reverence towards him or regard for his ownership. Our concerns are no longer pious but basely practical. We do not see beyond our appetites and need, and our anxieties and insecurities foster greed. Rather than rest in God’s apportionment of prosperity we obey the urge to wrest as much as we can for our possession. Accumulation of wealth, prestige, and power becomes our substitute for God and all is attained through vicious robbery of God’s property and prerogatives. We have exchanged fellowship with him for felonies against him and we are truly trespassers against him, his honour and his kindness., without any rights on or to his property. What revolt we have committed! What rebels we are!

The surprise in store for us is the announcement of his mercy and the institution of amnesty towards us. There is an offer of pardon and the restitution of his favour. Our former condition is not only offered to us but immeasurably improved. The pleasures of Paradise were contingent and depended on constancy of obedience and perfection of performance. The latest offer of life, perfect and filled with the pleasure of knowing God, comes through promises procured and ratified by the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. he has won our re-entry to Paradise, but a far better Paradise than the Edenic version. It is a Paradise beyond change or loss, permanent and everlasting.

The promises of eternal life urge us on to perseverance, but they are not sufficient in themselves to keep us on course. As mere mortals we slacken in our pilgrimage, turn aside, and grow attached to the features of this world, not only those that are lawful, but those that tempt us away from God and the path of holiness. We forget our status as resident aliens with a dual citizenship. The things of earth cloud our vision of heaven. Instead of travelling light through this world we become burdened with its enticements, snares, and cares. We settle in as if it were home and build a security we have no guarantee of enjoying because both we and it are transient.

We put our roots down here in this life under the illusion of guaranteed longevity or even a fancied immortality, not realizing how tenuous our existence happens to be, and wasting the opportunity life affords for securing our wellbeing for eternity. To prise us away from our complacency and preoccupation with the prizes, pursuits, and idols of this life God must of necessity send shockwaves and sorrows into our lives to prove to us that this phase of our existence does not afford us our ultimate satisfaction and joy. Our painful seasons and separations are drastic measures to turn our focus heavenwards and to retrieve us from attachments that interpose themselves between us and the Lord. Even the good things we embrace have the potential to sever our communion with God and expose us to deprivation or judgment, negative consequences of misplaced devotion. These corrections emerge from any violation of the honour due to God and his desire to protect us from irreversible harm. Glory and grace are affronted by our proneness to elevate anything above him. The woundings of providence may make us smart but they occur to curtail our reckless wanderings and restrain wayward affections. God wants us, in his holy jealousy, to draw on his goodness exclusively and to recognize means of his blessing for what they are – media of his mercy and channels of his grace, not sources. God wishes us to be near and intimate in unbroken union so that he can convey to us his most precious benefits and enjoy our eager response. His desire is eternal entwinement with his folk, the connection of hearts human and divine in mutual ever-flowing love. Love cannot bear estrangement, hence the strange ways of God with his people to keep them close and prevent their departure. God is more attentive to our best interests than we are.

His method of getting us home through a hazardous world is twofold. Promises are inducements, the revelation of what is in prospect and what we may look forward to. The future is glorious beyond description. But we cannot retain what is in store for us with any consistency. The powers of our memory wane under life’s pressures and distractions, and we are often diverted by the noise and merriment of “Vanity Fair” or its modern version, the Super Mall of Materialism. From time to time gentle, even sharp promptings jolt us back into reality and awareness of our final great destiny. We know we dare not stray or slacken in our “obsession” with God. But we are weak. The promises are held before us, and the promptings and prodding come from behind, to ensure we shall not fall short of possessing God as our all in all.
RJS

We humans are incurably forward-looking. Our perception of the future determines our state in the present and may compensate for the difficulties and disappointments of the past. We survive and thrive through hope, and our hope is founded upon prospects and promises. Prospects are based upon our envisioning of the outcome of current trends, and promises are grounded in assurances that we trust will never be broken by bad faith or thwarted by adverse circumstances. From the human point of view we can never be absolutely certain. Unknown factors can wreck prospects and human changeability can rescind promises. Life is a risk. We do not know what will happen and our sense of wellbeing cannot be guaranteed. On the other hand we cannot conclude that ill fortune will never be reversed.

From the outlook of Christian faith the future is in the hand of God. He foresees it because he has foreordained it. With this awareness we may posit that prospects are our guesswork premissed on what we perceive in the present and predict if current trends continue. Promises are the certainties that emerge from the Word of God. Prospects may alter. The promises of God are absolutely sure because they are backed up by the reliability of his character and the immutability of his nature and will. Prospects are the products of man’s mind. The promises of Holy Scripture are definite because they are the pledges of God, “who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17).Therefore, whilst we may legitimately speculate in the light of appearances and events, entertain hope where signs are propitious, and take precautions to avoid danger and disaster where we are able, we cannot be absolutely confident in the inferences we draw. God may not turn in his nature and purpose, but he may turn to us in mercy or judgment in a way that radically transforms any situation, and we must all be ready for that critical point when God actually terminates the course of time and we merge with his eternity in the enjoyment of his felicity or endurance of his displeasure.

The Lord does not survey the scene of human affairs from the vantage point that we occupy. We are in the midst of the stream of events and swept along by it. He guides the water course from where it springs to where it arrives. The direction and speed of its flow are subject to his control. Its currents and eddies are occurrences determined by him. To put it another way, he is the master of the tides and they advance or recede at his bidding. We may observe but it is dangerous to opine. Often the outlook of the people of God is dire. When that is the case our angle on matters breeds anxiety. Israel in Egypt could not begin to create better prospects in minds that were crushed by misery and despair. Abraham and Sarah had long demolished the family nursery. Ezekiel surveyed endless piles of sun-blanched bones that were dead set for inevitable and total decay. Generation after generation of God’s people have stared into futures devoid of prospects, they have gazed along time tunnels with no point of light at the end that they could see. Only the promises of God entered their perception to uplift their eyes beyond the dead ends of their histories to the deliverances and delights of God in store for them. Holy and inspired prophets intimated to his chosen people of old the reality of his power, the fact of his faithfulness, and the certainty of coming acts that would realize their rescue and establish their welfare for ever. Precious and perhaps long term promises cancelled out grim prospects or afforded the resolve and perseverance to pass through them and beyond them. Our reckoning may be reasonable but never final or complete. The last word has to be God’s, and he may yet utter a fresh word that ushers in new life and renewed hope.

God often works through instrumentalities that are foolish and fragile. He operates where there is weakness, and intervenes where there is hopelessness. These are circumstances where his power is proved. His “piece de resistance” is the defeat and reversal of death, the donation of life upon things non-existent or inert. God is the source and force of life whose commanding might brings vitality to whom and what he pleases whenever he chooses. Wherever his breath blows life buds and grows. His energy generates our élan and animates all creatures. A supernatural exhalation produces all life and nothing can prevent the bestowal and continuance of the gift of life until God withdraws it. Life is the inherent possession of God and his unique power which he shares with all that is living. He gives it out of himself. When he sovereignly exerts that power it is irresistibly effectual even if, beyond the moment of creative exertion, that life form is frail. It depends upon his protection and the portion of time allotted to it. In creation God displays his strength and sensitivity. In salvation God restores his creation ruined and ravaged by sin. He sets out to redeem man and renew our environment (a new heaven and a new earth).

The “root and shoot; bud and branch” theology of Isaiah is multi-dimensional. It declares hope where optimism is dead, deliverance where there is despair, and the persistence of divine purposes through means that are vulnerable. God’s attentive husbandry of the tender shoot addresses the blessing he will lavish upon his people (Isaiah 4), the gift of the Messiah, the fulfilment of the Davidic line, through whom all mercy comes (Isaiah 53:2), and the blessing of all those whose trust is rooted in Christ (his offspring).The abiding image is of a dead stump so dry and decayed that nothing can spring forth from it. To the human eye it is barren and useless. But beneath the surface there is yet a single root that connects the stump to the life-giving nutrients of the soil. From the slenderly surviving stump there emerges surprisingly one delicate shoot or twig, and contrary to all normal expectations and natural hazards the tender shoot gradually develops into a branch that extends and guarantees the life of a revitalized and fruitful tree. Everything in Isaiah’s vividly illustrated message points to the miraculous work of God – the complete salvation believers enjoy depicted in nature’s fertility and earthly prosperity and joy: the successful assignment of the Saviour achieved through suffering and sacrifice that reconciles his chosen with the Father and reunites them with the source of life: the ongoing strength and energy that will sustain the people of God and renew them in seasons of decline. The tender shoot is the salvation that will prevail in unlikely conditions on behalf of the people of God. The tender shoot is the incarnate Redeemer who appears when human hope is at its lowest ebb and overcomes all the vulnerabilities and viciousness of a fallen and sinful world rebellious against the Lord. God nurtures and nourishes the tender shoot of both his purpose and the Person of the God-man. And the same divine tenderness enfolds the life of the people who derive their life from Christ the Branch from whom they spring as the fruit of his obedient mission. When things appear dead and dry we may not conclude that they are beyond hope. The tender shoot of revival and restoration may spring forth at any time. We may scan and scrutinize present circumstances and consider them hopeless, but there is an ancient promise ever true, fulfilled and still being fulfilled. It is found in Isaiah 11:1. The Messiah is still the source of life.
RJS

Men have been mining for millennia and the enterprise is intriguing. Deep shafts have been dug, and long tunnels have been bored, in order to gain the hidden wealth stored in the bowels of the earth. Danger and death lurk in the network of caverns and passages that lie beneath our feet, and the benefits we derive from the subterranean activity of man are enormously costly in terms of energy and injury. What risks are taken for the reward of mineral riches.

In spite of the modern improvements in technology and safety, Job’s description of the primitive miner’s venture, reward, and experience is still absolutely accurate.

Surely there is a mine for silver, And a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. Man puts an end to darkness, And searches every recess For ore in the darkness and shadow of death. He breaks open a shaft away from people; In places forgotten by feet They hang far away from men; They swing to and fro. As for the earth . . . Its stones are the source of sapphires, And it contains gold dust (Job 28: 1-6).

The marvel of what the earth contains for man’s provision and pleasure is astounding. The goodness in the ground is a gift from God for our discovery and delight. The earth furnishes us with food and fuel, the necessities of life, and then there are substances for our utilization and precious stones for ornamentation. The bounty of God is multi-purposed and it meets our practical and aesthetic needs. We have been placed ever so graciously in an environment that serves us. Its hazards emerge only from our breach with our Benefactor.

Job’s account of life “down the mines” is vivid enough to be almost personal. Information and imagination can together contrive to give us a sense of a reality we have not actually encountered for ourselves, and as we read Job our mind’s eye and mental comprehension can capture all that he is describing: Man puts an end to darkness – he illuminates his path with torches and lamps. And searches every recess – he is exhaustively investigative and curious as to what he will find. The darkness and the shadow of death – he is exposed to uncertainty and calamity. He breaks open a shaft away from the people – his hard work is in secret and isolation. In places forgotten by feet - he pioneers a track untrodden by others. They hang far away from men; they swing to and fro – away from the crowd and suspended from ropes and reaching towards rock-faces, walls, and crevices, the miner, with hammer, chisel, and pick, gains access to the resources he seeks. Job’s words create a mental video and for as long as we linger upon them we are in the shaft with the miners, enclosed in the darkness, feeling the dankness, and inhaling the smells, that have become familiar to them. It is an alien and discomforting world but men are driven by one force or another (desire, livelihood, coercion - enslavement of workers, or greed - exploitation of workers) to enter it for human benefit or personal gain. Whatever the motive or pressures, mining requires a brave heart and a strong body and its achievements are admirable. Job causes us to identify empathetically with the men who labour underground and to appreciate their qualities. Their efforts are indispensable to human life and their courage incalculable. The heroism of miners is usually only acknowledged and celebrated in the event of catastrophe. These men are deserving of special esteem and their families of special care.

However, Job contrasts the difficulties and rewards of mining with the absolute impossibility of man ever to penetrate the mind of God or gain his wisdom without God’s act and gift of revelation. Man may search the natural world with the mental, physical, and practical tools which God, through common grace, has given him but he cannot enter the realm of spiritual truth and understanding until God opens the way and guides him. The eternal treasures of heart and mind are bestowed by God. They out-endure gold and precious stones. No amount of human ingenuity or effort can find God or gain salvation. He must disclose himself and deliver us. The wisdom that redeems us and restores us to him must be saving knowledge granted to us by grace informing, influencing, and illuminating us through the action of the Holy Spirit in his word and our conscience, mind, and heart. We do not mine the things of God through our attempts at excavation but through his acts of personal inspiration. The Spirit draws us along paths untrodden by man and into depths undiscovered by man. He breaks open shafts into the word of God and takes us to places unimagined by the wildest dreams of men. There is beauty and bounty in the Bible that surpass expectation and comprehension, resources and riches that defy calculation. In Holy Scripture we trace seams or lines that infallibly lead us to God. We dig, delve, explore with enabled effort that ends in joy – the joy of union with God. We trace the course of his love in the historical dealings with his people until we find its infinite well marked by the cross. We tunnel our way through the darkness of this world, driven by the sure prospects of the sunny and broad uplands of his heaven. We are miners who pick at his word for every gem and follow the light of his torch from one discovery to another – promises and precepts.

The danger the miner most dreads is the collapse of the mine and death through the crushing weight of falling rock. If death is somehow averted then the next fear is entrapment in tunnel or safety shelter. In the darkness and isolation, and within the circumstance of physical confinement, there is also the path of one’s life to consider, and the recesses of conscience to reckon with, and the imprisonment of guilt for sin against God and in relationship with others. Dark truths are discovered within the depths of human nature. There are things that come to light no matter how hard we try to conceal them. There is an impenetrable impasse to the way back to innocence and rectitude. We cannot rescue ourselves morally or spiritually.

Unfortunate miners may have to cope with a dead end below ground from time to time, but we all have to face that cul-de-sac within ourselves that prevents any approach to God through our preference for sin and distaste for his ways. We need to discover that we are trapped and that only God can blast our way free by his might and mercy. Each of our hearts is a rock solid cell in which we separate ourselves from the Lord and hide ourselves from him. We are captive in a complex of evil ways, a dark world of foul intent and furtive action that signifies our incompatibility with God and rebellion against his will. We do not seek the treasures and truths of the Lord that are good, but unworthy and unlovely things that are gross and unholy. Where there is silver to be found we wallow with the slugs in streams of slime. We do not mine for things in life that are for our well being but undermine our welfare through ill directed desire and behaviour. We are incorrigible in our badness. Only the Saviour can rescue us and that is his divine expertise and by his obedient action in life and death we are set free: He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men i.e. treasures of salvation and sanctification (Psalm 68:18, Ephesians 4:8- references of necessity to be read).
RJS

Although it may not seem so in the early decades of our lives time races past us with increasing velocity. Somehow we reach a point where the speed of its passage increases. The hands of the clock seem to whir around faster. The days seem shorter and weeks abbreviated. The months on the calendar change more quickly. All of a sudden the years have flown by. Life that seemed to lie way ahead of us and to stretch out over many long years appears to be incredibly brief, and especially so as the memory is refreshed with vivid recollections of the past that seem to be more near than recent events. Something happens to the mind the older we become and we tend to be more selective about our preoccupations. Time is a precious commodity that we recognize to be limited and uncertain in its duration. It becomes more clear that there will soon be a time when we shall not be here. If we are honest we have to face the fact of our death. Yet even as the years advance, if we are reasonably healthy, well, and active, the impact of our mortality can be weakened. The thought of death can be deferred by crowding the mind with a thousand other thoughts, intentions, and expectations. We can, if we choose, ignore the inevitable until some emergency compels us to reckon with it, or robs us of the opportunity. Death is a hair’s breadth away and demands preparation. To be sure, life is short. What will happen when it is over?

Holy Scripture exhorts us to dwell upon this matter and to ponder it well. Death is not only certain, it can be sudden. Each individual is allotted their portion of time on earth and that time passes swiftly. “Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath (Psalm 39: 4-5).

Our lives are not in our hands and we do not exist independent of God in any sense from commencement to conclusion of our existence. We must make reference to God, or fail to do so at our soul’s eternal cost. He brought us into time. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves (Jubilate Deo). We are created and can take no credit for our being. We have a beginning by divine fiat. We are not our own but his, under his sovereignty and obligated to his service.

The length of our time on earth is determined by God. We are in his hands from birth to burial. He gives life and grants its duration. We must be humble, lean on him, and be grateful, careful of how we live before him in due modesty and reverence. The big decisions about us are made by him. We emerge and expire when he chooses. If we are but a breath it is a nonsense to get puffed up on a gulp of empty air.

The life he has bestowed upon us passes in a flash. We are nothing before him in terms of substance, existence, and continuance. We are only “something” at all because of him. Everything about us is derivative. We have no cause for conceit or self confidence. The term “self made” is a lie, and an arrogant one, in every sense, except for the hell we deserve. To strut and swagger around, as we do, is absolute folly. To parade ourselves with pride is to resemble a cockerel who consists of nothing but skinny legs, a squawking beak, and the empty form of ruffled feathers. Human pride is repellent, illusory, and without justification. We are dependent upon God from first breath to last. When we die we shall be summoned before him. Birth is celebratory, death is solemn, judgment is serious and irreversible.

The end of life encounter with God is unavoidable. We shall be accountable before the Searcher of hearts. It will be an awesome moment, to stand before him on our own and face the scrutiny of our holy Creator. We will not be surrounded by a crowd of partial supporters and sympathizers. We shall be solitary before the throne in total silence whilst God gazes upon us, and gazes into us, and weighs his verdict in accordance with the perfect justice of his moral law. One infringement will disqualify us from his approval. One spot of defilement upon our heart will make us incompatible for his friendship. Who can stand? Our sins are many and beyond number. Our hearts are evil. Our condition is hopeless. We are obviously and indisputably evil. One second in his presence will convince us of guilt and condemnation. We shall be struck dumb with no excuse, complaint, or defence to offer. Our hearts and consciences will concur with his sentence as he speaks it. His dread words will crush us and in the horror of a lost eternity we shall emit a scream that will lead to a frenzy of regret and despair. How shall we fare on that awful day? It looms near to the sinner who does not seek God or desire to know him, who never cries for his mercy.

The prospect is utterly unnerving – to appear before God with hearts open like a book and every hidden thought or desire exposed. And then there is the record of the deeds and a replay of our speech. The examination will be thorough and exhaustive. We will not be able to argue against the evidence. God will be fair. He will simply present the facts that we will be unable to refute or gainsay. A life will be unfolded to full view and everything disclosed will be absolutely accurate. How do we prepare for that climactic day that sums up the allotted span our life upon earth? Do we really believe that it will happen and that it will retrace every detail of our existence and performance from our first breath to our final? The mind will see it all in an instant and shudder at the pronouncement of God . . . . . . . .

UNLESS

we have found an alternative scenario in the gospel.

Recapture the scene that is scheduled for our future. We die. We face God. Our record from start to finish is criminal. Our hearts have been rebellious and our nature incurably polluted. We cannot gain the divine seal of approval or win his acceptance by any means. Our reputation is totally ruined and our nature totally foul. What possible chance do we have to pass through the ordeal of judgment before the sovereign Lord who is utterly and essentially upright, pure, righteous, perfect, and fiery holy?

We can only point to the Saviour and claim him as our own and the One who grants us entitlement to heaven. There in his righteousness is our acquittal. There in his advocacy is our defence. His intervention is our safety. His atonement is our peace. His resurrection is our life. His ascension is our guarantee of our journey home. He wrapped himself in our nature, bore our sins, made amends for our faults, purchased our redemption, rescued us from corruption, won restored fellowship and communion with God, and promises to wrap us in his glory, bearing his likeness and receiving the favour of his Father. The Lord Jesus has rewritten our destiny. When we are summoned before the throne we can only, must only, plead the name, nature, and accomplishment of Jesus. THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS!
RJS

(Reformation Sunday)

The more one considers Thomas Cranmer the more one’s admiration and appreciation increase. Among present day theologians and historians Cranmer is receiving some of the recognition and respect that is his due, but among Anglicans and Christian folk in general he is still an obscure figure regarded as the architect of an out of date liturgy and as a weak man who reneged on his faith at the end of his life. The efforts and influence of Thomas Hooker and then the Carolinian divines have tended to eclipse the stature and reputation of the great Archbishop, especially in the Anglo- Catholic sector of the Anglican Communion. A renewed and more wide ranging appraisal of the Reformer is desirable and necessary. Recent highly acclaimed academic work on the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury needs to be popularized for a broader reading public so that Anglicanism may begin its return to its true character as a reformed church.

Thomas Cranmer was born in 1489. He both studied and taught at Jesus College, Cambridge and was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532 by Henry V111. He was martyred at Oxford on March 21st, 1556. In the estimation of Bishop J.C. Ryle, “There is none certainly in the list of our Reformers to whom the Church of England, on the whole, is so much indebted. . . . Cranmer, beyond all doubt, laid the foundation of our present Prayer Book and articles. Though not perhaps a brilliant man, he was a learned one and a lover of learned men, and one who was always trying to improve everything around him. When I consider the immense difficulties he had to contend with, I often wonder that he accomplished what he did”.

Cranmer’s liturgy is the bedrock of Anglican public worship and private devotion. It is in no way a supplanter of Holy Scripture, but an organizer of Biblical material for disciplined and beneficial prayer, reflection, and praise before God. Its lectionary leads us through the entirety of the sacred writings in the space of one year, the complete Psalter is covered every month, and the services, prayers and canticles are derived from Scripture and designed to lead us into its riches intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and practically. The Christian mind and heart are formed to maturity and holiness by the content of the Prayer Book held in one hand and the Bible in the other. We all depend on means and mentors for the development of our faith, unless we are prepared to risk it and pilgrim heavenwards on our own and in total self-dependence. Most of us recognize that we are short on wisdom and need the aid of others in knowledge and godliness. With the Prayer Book before us we are admitted to the company of the saints, past and present, and to the prayers of the people of God of many generations, communities, and climes. Cranmer has left a lasting legacy of enormous value and importance to the Church of Christ as a liturgiologist.

A good composer and compiler of liturgy needs to be a master theologian and Cranmer proved himself to be a theologian of excellence. The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion that establish the doctrinal stance of Anglicanism are largely as he authored and intended them. They are brief but thoroughly Biblical, creedal, and Reformational. Cranmer revered the major Reformers of the Continent and his fundamental theology was in accord with theirs. His earnest scholarship was assisted by theirs through correspondence and personal friendship and collaboration. The Prayer Book encompasses Augustinian doctrine and devotion in remedy of the errors of his era. Though it is often denied, his articles provide Anglicanism with its confessional formulary and an eloquent and orthodox summary of saving truth. As Bishop Handley Moule opines, the articles are, “A noble witness to the strong deep foundation truths of the gospel”.

Put together, the liturgy and doctrine of Cranmer provide Anglican believers with a sound theology and superb forms of worship that are ideal for Christian understanding, the adoration of God, and the evangelization of the people. The Prayer Book, in all is sections, has been carefully crafted in a masterly way for the praise of God, the edification of his people, and as an invitation to sinners who do not yet acknowledge and know God. It fulfils many purposes, principally in creating access to the Lord for head and heart, and it eminently succeeds in presenting the way of salvation, “As a piece of liturgical craftsmanship it is in the first rank . . . . the only effective attempt ever made to give liturgical expression to the doctrine of ‘justification by faith alone’” (Gregory Dix). Whilst confirming the faith of the disciple the BCP is geared to the promotion of conversion among its users and issues a constant call to repentance and faith. Conversion to Christ and growth in him are the twin aims of the Book of Common Prayer. It is an excellent manual of Christian guidance from our initiation in faith to our transition to the kingdom.

Although the Puritan movement from the late 16th century and through the 17th century by and large registered its dissatisfaction with the allegedly limited advances made by the Prayer Book, the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England, most of whom were Reformational by conviction, and some very sympathetic to Puritan concerns (Grindal, Abbott), adhered strongly to the BCP. At the peak of Puritan influence, and within that category, men of immense stature such as Archbishop James Ussher, John Davenant, Joseph Hall, William Gurnall, John Trapp, and William Perkins remained firmly Anglican liturgically and confessionally. The legacy of Thomas Cranmer was thus preserved as the means of nurturing many of the great figures of the 18th century Awakening. The heroic labours of Cranmer and his colleagues established the Church of England as Protestant and Reformed, the Puritan era rewrought and refined the great theological gains of the 16th century, and the sons of the Church of England, Whitefield, Romaine, Toplady, Newton, etc, were in the van of the upsurge of Evangelicalism and evangelism that swept the British Isles throughout the eighteen hundreds. The combination of Scripture and the contours of Cranmerian doctrine and devotion shaped the leaders of revival for their passionate ministrations of the gospel and their outreach to the populace. At the Reformation truth was rediscovered and in the awakening truth took wings.

George Whitefield constantly averred his affection for and indebtedness to the liturgy and articles of the Prayer Book. Daniel Rowland witnessed the visitation of the Holy Spirit to his congregation as the Litany was read in his church. The appreciation of the BCP was keen and strong among all the eminent Anglicans of the amazing 18th century era that gave birth to a distinctive Evangelicalsim that survived in key ministries until our day. Thomas Scott, Henry Law, J.C. Ryle, Griffith Thomas are all members of the Reformational lineage who would no doubt agree with William Grimshaw who regarded the neglect of the Thirty-nine Articles, “ As the chief occasion of all mischief to the Church”, and opined, “I see nothing so materially amiss in the liturgy, or the Church constitution, as to disturb my conscience or justify my separation. No: where shall I go to mend myself? I believe the Church of England to be the soundest, purest, and most apostolical national Christian Church in the world”. Clearly the work of Cranmer contributed greatly to the witness of the great men of the awakening and their successors as a party within the national church. The worldwide Anglican Communion could be wonderfully restored if it paused to take a long look at Cranmer, his Prayer Book, and his devoted heirs.
RJS

We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverend esteem of the holy scripture, and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, (which is to give all glory to God,) the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts. Westminster Confession of Faith, Chap 1.V. Of the Holy Scripture.

There can be no more accurate and beautiful summary of the nature and qualities of Holy Scripture than is contained in this passage of the Westminster Confession. The authority of the Bible consists in so many elements that commend it to our assent and confidence. But beyond all the compelling characteristics that commend the volume of sacred writings to us there is the impress of the Holy Spirit upon our understandings that certifies it to be the very Word of God. There is the conclusion of honest investigation sealed by the conviction of the Spirit. We see and sense its divine authorship. It is self authenticating. There is a power and integrity in the Bible that elevates it above every other book and which establishes its status as The Book. It is the witness of men enabled by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who witnesses its truth to whom he will. Screeds could be written about the verity and virtues of the Bible because it conveys the divine mind and describes the divine nature and ways. It is of infinite depth, unfailing efficacy, and everlasting validity. No one mind can capture or relate the unique authority of God’s written word and sum up exhaustively the attributes it possesses. But the irresistible force that attracts the believer to it over and over again is its presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ and his centrality to its message.

Scripture is adorable in a multiplicity of ways, so many truths gleam forth from it and gain our admiration, but its dearest disclosures are focused upon Christ in whom God makes his person and purposes known. The eternal Word, the incarnate Word, comes to us in the written Word expounded by the Holy Spirit. Every aspect of Scripture combines to reveal Christ to us and unite us to him. In essence the Bible serves to introduce Jesus to us and cultivate intimacy with him. To not encounter the Lord Jesus in the Bible is equivalent to obtaining a passport, discarding it, and thus preventing our capacity to travel anywhere. The Bible grants us access to God the Three-in-One and entitlement to heaven. If it is mere literature to us we are unlettered in the things of God and sentenced to exclusion from his kingdom. The Bible is the grammar of grace and only the humble and penitent believer will be able to understand it. The knowledge of Jesus is the key. The illumination of the Holy Spirit gives light to its pages. It is a miraculous book requiring an inner miracle to grasp it. The Author must explain it.

To open the Bible believingly and prayerfully is to keep a rendezvous with Jesus. That is how we see and hear him. That is how we gain a partial estimate of his great glory, his royal dignity, his brilliant majesty, his alluring loveliness, and his infinite mercy. In his divinity and humanity, his godhood and manhood, we see the full range of his perfections, his sovereignty and servant-hood that restore peace, justice, love, and harmony to a damaged and distressed creation.

Jesus is the attraction of Scripture. History, ethics, guidance, forms of prayer and praise are all to be found in the Bible but we misread it and miss its principal blessing if we don’t discern Jesus Christ and numerous portraits of him throughout its pages. It may be literature to the lover of language and story. It can be law to the legalist. It can be a religious manual to the self-righteous and proud. It can be a source of speculation to the code breaker. But to the sinner who humbly seeks his God it is the way to life and its content is alive and electrifying. Its ancient message from prophet and apostle is timeless, current, riveting, and personal. The tones of the divine speech are heard when we attune ourselves to the wonderful word. It is the celestial cell phone of the believer speaking to us in terms of comfort and correction.

The thrust of Scripture is to inform us of Christ by alerting us to our need of him and assuring us of his eagerness to help. A Saviour is necessary, a Saviour is near. The credentials, competence, and compassion of the Saviour are delineated to us in the Book of the God who commissioned him to our rescue. The descriptions allure and draw us to him. The extent of his offices, titles, and abilities stupefies us. His exaltedness and voluntary abasement amaze us. Our Lord is lofty and lowly. That is a divine contradiction that captivates our hearts, melting them to willing submission. Strength with sensitivity embraces and enfolds us. Sovereignty determines our course and a friend holds our hand. We become enthralled by the charm of the Lord Jesus, his high honour coupled with humility. He is strong enough to save and faithful to keep his chosen ones, and the Bible enumerates his various roles in his ministry of redemption. God has conferred greatness and gifts upon him that equip him for all the tasks assigned to him.

It is the mediatorial role of Jesus Christ that is so endearing. He is our anointed Saviour and Advocate suffering and interceding on our behalf. It is the God-man who brings God and man together, not because we desire or initiate the process but because God proposes and performs it of his own unbidden mercy. To effect the reunion the Mediator must be perfect in his humanity and able to save us successfully in the power of his divinity. Two natures collaborate to redeem us and the Lord Jesus is extolled throughout Scripture as the one perfect and powerful agent able to save us. He fully qualifies for our trust. Our souls are entirely safe in his hands. As man he identifies with us and erases our guilt. As God he exercises sovereign grace, extends forgiveness and freely accepts. Only Jesus as the Elect of God fits the requirements for our restoration.

He is the Word coming to us as the self expression of God, divine and disposed to approach and embrace us in saving compassion, imparting the knowledge of salvation (John 1:1). He is the Son of Man, Ideal Man, in his perfection and purity ruling and raising us in righteousness, and gathering us into the Father’s presence as our Representative (Daniel 7:9-14). He is the Suffering Servant sent to reveal God and redeem us (Isaiah 52:13- 53:12, Phil 2:6-11). He is our substitutionary sacrifice removing our offences and God’s deserved wrath against us (1 John 2: 1-2). He is the Creator and supreme Ruler over,” All things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible” (Colossians1:16). He is the Shepherd of his flock (John 10: 14-18), and Head of the Church (Colossians 1:18) so that none who belong to him can ever be lost or destroyed (Romans 8:37-39). His honours are high. His actions are powerful. His heart is kind. His promises are sure. In Jesus we, “Gaze upon the beauty of the Lord” (Psalm 27:4). RJS

Our inner attitudes manifest themselves in our moral stance (ideas, speech, action) and eventually in our production (culture, custom, manufacturing, artefacts, etc). Ours is an age of shoddiness and poor taste if the media to which we have access is in any way a true reflection of reality. In every way, almost, God is not in our thoughts, and even the religiously inclined are not inclined to give serious, rigorous, thought to God. We like our religion light and entertaining. We prefer diversion, emotion, and sentiment to that which searches the heart, informs the mind, provokes thought, and transforms character. Much modern religion is simply the pampering and massaging of the sinful ego. There is little breakthrough to moral reality and repentance. Where we mention God we scarcely know him, and so all our responses to dubious spiritual stimuli are wrong and in the category of delusion.

No where is our actual spiritual state more evident than in our preferences and practices in worship and nothing challenges our assumptions and attitudes in worship more than the words of the Psalter itself, the liturgical directory and hymnal of Israel. Here we see how the people of God praised him in content and tone. Tone varied from exuberant joyfulness to profound contrition. The content was always in the nature of revealed truth. The Psalms were given by the Holy Spirit and composed within the hearts and minds of holy believers through his inspiration and influence. They evince all the elements of true worship. As pious poetry they have a range of expression that exceeds the language of prose, and the translation of Miles Coverdale in the BCP (1662 &1928) often excels the more literalistic translation of recent versions. In Psalm 47:7 the good bishop is far in advance of modern attempts at accuracy. For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding (cf "sing praises with a psalm" - ESV, or, "sing to him a psalm of praise" - NIV). Coverdale comprehends that praise to God is not merely a matter of earnestness, energy, emotion, and expression, but fundamentally a matter of understanding and informed, intelligent, appreciation of who God is and what he has done. The Psalter has a teaching function so that God may be worshipped as he is and not as we imagine him or speculate him to be. Modern versions tend to miss this important nuance and simply emphasise the exhortation to praise, but the basis of worship is divine self-revelation and not human invention. The original word behind the English rendering "understanding" later came to connote scholarship and expertise in teaching. In our psalm it means to grasp the truth about God and his ways, rejoice in him, and rely upon him. Singing praise is not simply acclamation but absorption and apprehension, singing to God with knowledge and assent.

Worship entails work and concentration of the mind upon the great God we adore and fear. Singing words is not sufficient. They must be understood, meant, and believed to constitute valid worship. Community singing and carrying a tune is not enough for an offering to God. We probe the words as well as pronounce them. They sink to the heart as well as they swell musically. Tunes do not save, but truth does.

"It is impossible to honour God as we ought, unless we know him as he is" (Stephen Charnock). Melody and song are enormously gratifying and wonderful gifts from God, but the joy of true Christian worship is far more than aesthetic or emotional pleasure. Worship goes far beyond artistic performance. Worship is a means of glorifying God. It is generated by grace and given in gratitude for saving mercies received. The head directs the heart in worship and brings them both into concert. Knowledge promotes praise. Worship means that, to the extent of our capacities and opportunities, we are scholars of the word as well as singers of the word. A "merry noise" (v5) is moved by the memory of all that God has taught us through deed and declaration. We sing what we sense from the source of our praises in Scripture. Our priority in worship is to note the truths of the word rather than to be true to the notes of the music, though hopefully we can manage the two together. But worship is not just a happy religious "singalong" where smiling faces need not be sure proof that God smiles upon us. The words must be in line with God's revelation and revealing of the convictions of the heart.

Tunes can impart a thrill irrespective of the accompanying words which can be disregarded and ignored and sung mechanically and uncomprehendingly. The praise of God is not an exercise in that vein. The worship of God is based on content that is confessional. It borders on blasphemy to sing before God words about which we do not care or do not intend to embrace. The music of worship is music with a message. It announces and celebrates all that is implied in the annunciation that "God is the King", supreme over creation and sovereign in salvation. Praise the Lord!
RJS

Men have been mining for millennia and the enterprise is intriguing. Deep shafts have been dug, and long tunnels have been bored, in order to gain the hidden wealth stored in the bowels of the earth. Danger and death lurk in the network of caverns and passages that lie beneath our feet, and the benefits we derive from the subterranean activity of man are enormously costly in terms energy and injury. What risks are taken for the reward of mineral riches.

In spite of the modern improvements in technology and safety, Job's description of the primitive miner's venture, reward, and experience is still absolutely accurate.

Surely there is a mine for silver, And a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. Man puts an end to darkness, And searches every recess For ore in the darkness and shadow of death. He breaks open a shaft away from people; In places forgotten by feet They hang far away from men; They swing to and fro. As for the earth . . . Its stones are the source of sapphires, And it contains gold dust (Job 28: 1-6).

The marvel of what the earth contains for man's provision and pleasure is astounding. The goodness in the ground is a gift from God for our discovery and delight. The earth furnishes us with food and fuel, the necessities of life, and then there are substances for our utilization and precious stones for ornamentation. The bounty of God is multi-purposed and it meets our practical and aesthetic needs. We have been placed ever so graciously in an environment that serves us. Its hazards emerge only from our breach with our Benefactor.

Job's account of life "down the mines" is vivid enough to be almost personal. Information and imagination can together contrive to give us a sense of a reality we have not actually encountered for ourselves, and as we read Job our mind's eye and mental comprehension can capture all that he is describing: Man puts an end to darkness - he illuminates his path with torches and lamps. And searches every recess - he is exhaustively investigative and curious as to what he will find. The darkness and the shadow of death - he is exposed to uncertainty and calamity. He breaks open a shaft away from the people - his hard work is in secret and isolation. In places forgotten by feet - he pioneers a track untrodden by others. They hang far away from men; they swing to and fro - away from the crowd and suspended from ropes and reaching towards rock-faces, walls, and crevices, the miner, with hammer, chisel, and pick, gains access to the resources he seeks. Job's words create a mental video and for as long as we linger upon them we are in the shaft with the miners, enclosed in the darkness, feeling the dankness, and inhaling the smells, that have become familiar to them. It is an alien and discomforting world but men are driven by one force or another (desire, livelihood, coercion - enslavement of workers, or greed - exploitation of workers) to enter it for human benefit or personal gain. Whatever the motive or pressures, mining requires a brave heart and a strong body and its achievements are admirable. Job causes us to identify empathetically with the men who labour underground and to appreciate their qualities. Their efforts are indispensable to human life and their courage incalculable. The heroism of miners is usually only acknowledged and celebrated in the event of catastrophe. These men are deserving of special esteem and their families of special care.

However, Job contrasts the difficulties and rewards of mining with the absolute impossibility of man ever to penetrate the mind of God or gain his wisdom without God's act and gift of revelation. Man may search the natural world with the mental, physical, and practical tools which God, through common grace, has given him but he cannot enter the realm of spiritual truth and understanding until God opens the way and guides him. The eternal treasures of heart and mind are bestowed by God. They out-endure gold and precious stones. No amount of human ingenuity or effort can find God or gain salvation. He must disclose himself and deliver us. The wisdom that redeems us and restores us to him must be saving knowledge granted to us by grace informing, influencing, and illuminating us through the action of the Holy Spirit in his word and our conscience, mind, and heart. We do not mine the things of God through our attempts at excavation but through his acts of personal inspiration. The Spirit draws us along paths untrodden by man and into depths undiscovered by man. He breaks open shafts into the word of God and takes us to places unimagined by the wildest dreams of men. There is beauty and bounty in the Bible that surpass expectation and comprehension, resources and riches that defy calculation. In Holy Scripture we trace seams or lines that infallibly lead us to God. We dig, delve, explore with enabled effort that ends in joy - the joy of union with God. We trace the course of his love in the historical dealings with his people until we find its infinite well marked by the cross. We tunnel our way through the darkness of this world, driven by the sure prospects of the sunny and broad uplands of his heaven. We are miners who pick at his word for every gem and follow the light of his torch from one discovery to another - promises and precepts.

The danger the miner most dreads is the collapse of the mine and death through the crushing weight of falling rock. If death is somehow averted then the next fear is entrapment in tunnel or safety shelter. In the darkness and isolation, and within the circumstance of physical confinement, there is also the path of one's life to consider, and the recesses of conscience to reckon with, and the imprisonment of guilt for sin against God and in relationship with others. Dark truths are discovered within the depths of human nature. There are things that come to light no matter how hard we try to conceal them. There is an impenetrable impasse to the way back to innocence and rectitude. We cannot rescue ourselves morally or spiritually.

Unfortunate miners may have to cope with a dead end below ground from time to time, but we all have to face that cul-de-sac within ourselves that prevents any approach to God through our preference for sin and distaste for his ways. We need to discover that we are trapped and that only God can blast our way free by his might and mercy. Each of our hearts is a rock solid cell in which we separate ourselves from the Lord and hide ourselves from him. We are captive in a complex of evil ways, a dark world of foul intent and furtive action that signifies our incompatibility with God and rebellion against his will. We do not seek the treasures and truths of the Lord that are good, but unworthy and unlovely things that are gross and unholy. Where there is silver to be found we wallow with the slugs in streams of slime. We do not mine for things in life that are for our well being but undermine our welfare through ill directed desire and behaviour. We are incorrigible in our badness. Only the Saviour can rescue us and that is his divine expertise and by his obedient action in life and death we are set free: He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men i.e. treasures of salvation and sanctification (Psalm 68:18, Ephesians 4:8- references of necessity to be read).
RJS