The Incomprehensibleness of Divine Love

How little can the saints concieve,
Of love that's infinite;
In part they know; in part believe,
But yet want further sight.

Our eye is weak, our object bright,
Alas! such babes are we;
That can't yet bear love's dazzling light,
Nor its full glory see.

Transporting glances now and then,
The eye of faith takes in;
But love's too bright for mortal men,
And still remains unseen.

The saints, indeed, are vessels made,
To hold eternal love;
But yet, while here, we scanty are,
not like the saints above.

They are enlarg'd, they are complete,
They see, while we believe;
But love is so immensely great,
No Finite can conceive!

They in the light of vision see,
And still in raptures praise;
But yet, unto eternity,
There will be new displays.

Because the creature finite is,
And can't at once take in,
The fullness of Jehovah's bliss,
Where heirs of glory swim.

Thy love, O Lord! Our souls adore,
Its past created skill;
We long to be enlarged more,
And then to drink our fill.

ANNE DUTTON

Upcoming Series

A while ago, my pastor did a series on Wednesday nights, in which he went through Ecclesiastes. Ever since then I've been fascinated by the book. The message of the book is a sobering and urgent reminder of the fact that, no matter what it is, if you're finding your pleasure and satisfaction somewhere other than God, you'll be let down. So, starting Monday (d.v.) I'll be devoting the next few weeks to Ecclesiastes.

Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher,
"Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."
What advantage does man have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?
A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the earth remains forever.
Also, the sun rises and the sun sets;
And hastening to its place it rises there again.
Blowing toward the south,
Then turning toward the north,
The wind continues swirling along;
And on its circular courses the wind returns.
All the rivers flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers flow,
There they flow again.
All things are wearisome;
Man is not able to tell it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one might say,
"See this, it is new"?
Already it has existed for ages
Which were before us.
There is no remembrance of earlier things;
And also of the later things which will occur,
There will be for them no remembrance
Among those who will come later still.

--------------------

So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
"See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

---------------------

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.

Hymn for young people

Last night I was reading in volume 4 of The Publications of the American Tract Society (which by the way is REALLY good!!!) and I came across this hymn. It didn't say who the author was, so I looked it up, and sure enough, it was written by the illustrious Isaac Watts! I think this is based on part of Psalm 119, because the first stanza brought to mind this verse:

How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.

Here's the hymn:

INSTRUCTIONS FROM SCRIPTURE

How shall the young secure their hearts
And guard their lives from sin?
Thy Word the choicest rules imparts
To keep the conscience clean.

When once it enters to the mind,
It spreads such light abroad,
The meanest souls instruction find,
And raise their thoughts to God.

’Tis, like the sun, a heav’nly light
That guides us all the day,
And through the dangers of the night
A lamp to lead our way.

The men that keep Thy law with care,
And meditate Thy Word,
Grow wiser than their teachers are,
And better know the Lord.

Thy precepts make me truly wise:
I hate the sinner’s road;
I hate my own vain thoughts that rise,
But love Thy law, my God.

The starry heav’ns Thy rule obey,
The earth maintains her place;
And these Thy servants, night and day,
Thy skill and power express.

But still Thy law and Gospel, Lord,
Have lessons more divine;
Not earth stands firmer than Thy Word,
Nor stars so nobly shine.

Thy Word is everlasting truth;
How pure is every page!
That holy Book shall guide our youth
And well support our age.

Electress Elizabeth of the Palatinate - part 2

And now began her happiest days. Her "honeymoon" lasted five years. This beautiful castle, which provoked the wonder of the English visitors, had been enlarged by the English building and the thick tower at the west end, built by Frederick for his English bride. He also laid out the rough wild mountain back of the castle into a most beautiful garden - a blooming paradise where she might rest and enjoy herself. Here in summer, oranges and limes spread their fragrance. Here was an English orchard, there a mulberry grove. Beautiful beds of many tinted flowers varied the view. From the edge of the precipices fell an artificial waterfall, while silvery streams of water would flow when bidden through the garden, and as they flowed, musical symphonies, supposed to be breathed by naiads, fell on her ears. There were grottoes from which issued streams of melody. The beauties of the garden were so great that Louis XIV. of France became jealous lest it would eclipse the splendor of his gardens at Versailles. Here passed the happiest years of her life. Her happiness seemed to culminate when in 1619 she became a queen, for her husband was elected king of Bohemia. Her mother could no longer sneer at her for marrying only a prince, for she was now a queen. She gained the coveted rank, but alas, heavy hangs the head that wears a crown. But she was ready for it, for she writes to her husband, when he accepted the throne, "I shall not repine, whatever consequences may ensue, not even though I should be forced to part with my last jewel."

The time had now come when Queen Elizabeth was to set out for Prague, to ascend the throne of Bohemia. Her departure from Heidelberg was ominous of her future sorrows. The day before she left was Sunday. She attended service on that day, and her chaplain, by a curious coincidence, preached on the text: "Go to now, ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and buy and sell, and get gain, whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow," etc. Strange to say, "the year" in that text was fulfilled, for she remained just a year as queen in Bohemia before unexpected disasters came upon her. When she arrived at the Bohemian border with her husband, she was received with great honor. Her journey reminded her of her triumphal bridal journey up the Rhine a few years before. Her beauty and rank seemed to dazzle the Bohemians. At Waldsach the women and children gathered around her, touching the hem of her garment, or prostrating themselves before her as if she were some new divinity. Her journey was completed and crowned by a magnificent triumphal procession into Prague, October 21, 1620. "Never," says her biographer, "since the days of Queen Elizabeth has any princess inspired the sentiments of such impassioned affection in the people of Prague. The horses of her carriage were adorned with housings of gold and silver, and she sat under a canopy of gold and silver not more splended than becoming to her fair complexion." Her husband was crowned on November 3, and three days later she was also crowned in great state. Amid music she approached the chancel of the Hussite church, and knelt to recieve the crown of Bohemia. The administrator of Bohemia, who crowned her, preached a long sermon, which he closed with the wish that "the piety of the new queen might be rewarded with the longevity of Sarah, in that all her undertakings she might be as prosperous as the beautiful Rebecca, that she should prevail over her enemies like the intrepid Judith, and be meek and magnanimous like Queen Esther, and that finally she might be persevering like the Queen of Sheba in the search of truth and wisdom, and above all, be crowned with spiritual gifts like the blessed Salome, who had been chosen and solemly approved by the Savior of the world." He solemly crowned her as the walls resounded with the shouts, "Long live Queen Elizabeth."

An Important Reminder

All life is serious. We are not butterflies, to flutter a little while in the air and then drop into the dust. The words we speak and the things we do are not snow- flakes dropping into the water, "a moment white, then gone forever," but are beginnings of immortalities. We are not done with anything in life as it passes from our hands. Nothing is indifferent. There is a moral character in all that we do. Either we are blessing the world, or sowing the seed of a curse in every influence that goes out from us. It becomes us, therefore, to give conscientious thought to all our life.

(Taken from Things to Live For by J.R. Miller, pp. 14-15)

Earthly Mindedness

A man is earthly minded when he looks upon earthly things as the greatest things of all, when he has a high esteem of earthly things as the things. As if it were thus: " Oh, if I had such and such things as others have, oh, how happy I would be! How happy are such and such men that do enjoy such earthly things at their will, in their dwellings, in their furniture, their comings in; oh, these are the excellent things, these are the delightful things. These are the things in which felicity and happiness consist."

When men promise themselves felicity in any earthly things, they mind earthly things. I remember golden-mouthed Chrysostom had a speech about a covetous man who looked upon his money and saw more beauty in his money than in the very sun that shines in the firmament. Men look upon the things of the earth as the most beautiful things in their eyes. Certainly a man is in a distemper when he puts such a high esteem upon any earthly things. This esteem is not according to what God and His saints put upon earthly things. God never puts any great eminency on any earthly thing. He never made any earthly things to be any great conduit or means of conveyance of any great good of Himself unto His creature. If you would know where your heart is, you may know it by this one sign as much as any: what do you count your excellency? According to what any man or woman counts their excellency to consist in, so is their heart. Their hearts are suitable.

[A Treatise on Earthly Mindedness, by Jeremiah Burroughs, pp 7 & 8]

What do you call your excellency?

Electress Elizabeth of the Palatinate - part 1

Not so well known as the famous Queen Bess of England, but far more beautiful was her namesake and relative, Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of King James I of England, yet her lot became a sad as she was beautiful. The sad fate of her family, the Stuarts, seemed to hang over her. She became the unfortunate Queen of Bohemia, the "paschal lamb" of the Thirty Year's War.

She was born August 19, 1596, at the palace at Falkland, Scotland. Her early life was made happy by an idolized brother, Henry, who instilled into her young mind an antipathy to Rome, which was only intensified as she afterwards suffered so much from Romish powers. She was sent to school at Combe Abbey. When there she was hurried away when the gunpowder plot (1605) was discovered, because the conspirators hoped to capture her and force her to become queen. When the danger was over, she wrote to her brother a little note which concluded with this expression: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" At that time a lad of nine years sent her from the continent a note of congratulation on her safety. He was the little Count Frederick of the Palatinate, who afterwards became her husband. He declared in this note that he believed that the wicked conspiracy proceded from the direct agency of the Antichrist. Later she wrote to her guardian a poem in which she seems to have caught the devotional spirit of Lady Jane Grey. When she was sixteen years old, Frederick sued for her hand. It was deemed wise to unite two such prominent and Reformed powers as England and the Palatinate in marriage. So on October 16, 1612, Prince Frederick embarked for England to recieve his bride. The Protestants in England were very glad for the marriage of their beautiful princess to Frederick; although the Catholics opposed it, and Elizabeth's mother never lost an opportunity to remind her that she was marrying beneath her station by calling the Palatinate Prince Frederick "Goody Palsgrave." Elizabeth promptly replied, "I would rather espouse a Protestant count than a Catholic emperor." It happened that just as Frederick arrived in England, Prince Henry, the heir to the throne and idol of the people, died. So most fortunately Frederick came to England to take her brother's place with Elizabeth. And the nation seemed to transfer its interest from the dead prince to Frederick.

They were married on Valentine's Day, 1613, with great pomp. Dressed in a gorgeous robe of white and silver, studded with diamonds, a crown of gold on her head, her long hair woven with pearls and diamonds, her train carried by thirteen young ladies dressed in white, she was married to the prince. The archbishop of Cantebury married them, and a sermon was preached by the Bishop of Bath and Wells on the wedding at Cana. After the wedding Frederick visited Cambridge and Oxford, where he was recieved with great honor, and then prepared to take his bride back to his own land. Their journey through Holland and up the Rhine seemed a triumphal entry. Reception followed reception. At Amsterdam from her barge to the carriage she passed over a bridge richly carpeted, while on the front of the exchange was a beautiful arch, on which she was represented as Thetis, the goddess mother of Achilles. Every day there were military displays, so that her bridal journey seemed a victorious march. At Dusseldorf her husband had provided a yacht on which she was to sail up the beautiful Rhine to Heidelberg. When she arrived at the Palatinate, she was recieved by the towns of Oppenheim and Frankenthal with great rejoicing and honor. She arrived at Heidelberg on a beautiful day in June. Almost all the Protestant nobility of Germany was there to welcome her; and as they came with large retinues of followers, Heidelberg was full of gaiety and splendor. The Princess arrived before the city, having 374 in her company, among them English nobles, as the Earl of Arundel and Lord Lenox. As she proceeded to the castle in a carriage with eight horses, the streets were strewn with green-sward and the roofs crowned with boughs of May. Along the walls were hung festoons of flowers. The next day the court preacher, Scultetus, preached a sermon, and for twelve days the festivities continued. They were closed June 18, 1613, by a sermon by Scultetus on the subject of thanksgiving, based on the 119th Psalm. Nearly 300,000 pounds were spent, and 5,500 persons dined at the table every day at the castle.

Bunyan's version of what I believe is the Apostle's Creed

I Do believe in God;
And in his only Son;
Born of a Woman, yet begot
Before the World began.

I also do believe
That he was crucifi'd,
Was dead and buried ; and yet
Believe he never dy'd.

The Third day I believe,
He did rise from the dead;
Went up to Heav'n, and is of God
Of all things made the Head.

Also I do believe,
That he from thence shall come,
To judge the quick, the dead,and to
Give unto all just Doom.

Moreover I believe
In God the Holy Ghost;
And that there is an Holy Church,
An universal Host.

Also I do believe,
That sin shall be forgiven;
And that the dead shall rise; and that
The Saints shall dwell in Heaven.

Update on the sidebar and cups

Since I added some new ones to the sidebar, I thought I'd tell you about the books I'm reading right now.


Calvin's Institutes

First off, there's Calvin's Institutes. Right now I'm reading about the Trinity, and Calvin's defense for the deity of each person of it. I read it during my morning devotions, so that I don't forget to read it during the rest of the day. :-) A weird part of me is amused by how Calvin, when describing heretics and their heresies, often uses the word "stupid." You don't really think of a reformer as somebody who'd use that particular term!

Emotional Purity

This is a book that my mom and I had been wanting to read, and to our surprise, she found it at the public library! While reading this book, I keep finding myself wishing that I could have read it years ago! You always hear about purity in the sense of modesty, etc., but the topic of your emotions often gets forgotten. I don't know if its just me, but for the first few chapters at least, it seems like the author keeps repeating the same thing. But hey, repetitio mater studiorum - repetition is the mother of learning. So I wont complain too much.



The History of the Ancient World

Man, this author is impressive. Read her biography, and you'll see why I admire her. Anyways, she's writing a 4 volume history of the world, and this is the one on Ancient History. I really like how she tells history as a story, and not a bunch of dry facts. One thing I wish she covered more would be the culture of the civilizations she writes about - there's a lot of stuff about wars and politics (military history), but not as much about what daily life was like. But aside from that, I love this book! I've learned a lot from it.




In Christ Alone

This is a compilation of 50 articles Sinclair Ferguson wrote for several magazines, with the purpose being to show what, as the subtitle says- Living the Cross-centered Life - is like. Each chapter is only 4 pages long, so you could read several at a time, and feel like you made an accomplishment. :-) This is a very thought-provoking book.






The Last Days of Socrates

This is a series of the last discussions Socrates had in his lifetime, written down later on by his student Plato. I've only gotten a little bit into it, but so far this is a really fascinating book. There are places though, where you have to re-read what he's saying at least 3 times. But overall, I think it's worth the time it takes to read it, because in doing so, you're getting to know one of the greatest minds in western philosophy.




The Mysteries of Udolpho

Being the Jane Austen enthusiast that I am, when I saw this book at the library, visions of Northanger Abbey came to mind, and I was determined to see what the big deal was about this book back in the 1700's. I started reading the first 10 or 15 pages, and to tell you the truth, I'm a little disapointed. I'm hoping it gets better as the story goes on. So far there was somewhere around 6 pages spent describing a house and its grounds, which then reminded me of Les Miserables. Ick. Anyways, the people of the 18th century must have had a reason for liking this, so I'm going to see why.



Young People's Problems

I've quoted here a lot from this book. Every teenager should read it. You'll be convicted, inspired, and encouraged. I can't think of anything else to say other than IT'S REALLY GOOD!!! Books for teens today tend to be so shallow; this book, being over a hundred years old, could be read by adults and teens alike, and both of them would benefit greatly from it. It's definitely worth your time!




UPDATE ON THE CUPS MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS POST

Alas, while I was doing my devotions yesterday morning, I heard the sound of shattering glass. Yes, one of the glasses sacrificed itself for the other one. My mom was the executioner.

Um, wow....I didn't know I could do this

I've done a lot of stupid things in my lifetime, but this most recent one probably makes the top ten.

Like a good, dutiful daughter, (cough) I was doing the dishes tonight, and being the brilliant genius that I am, decided to save space by stacking up the cups. Bad idea.

So I went on my merry way, congratulating myself on how efficient I am while I was doing the aforesaid dishes, when I came to the two last cups in the stack. Here I realized something was wrong. The cups were stuck together. And not your ordinary, sorta-stuck, which can be easily made un-stuck, these were more adhered to each other than if there were glue and/or nails involved.

I tried pulling them apart as hard as I could, but had to stop because I was afraid something would break - either the glass or my wrist. I tried puting them through cold water. Nope. The thought occurred to me that I could try butter, but the only way I could get the butter in between the cups would be to pull them apart, and if I did that, I wouldn't need the butter, now would I?

I never thought my home-making abilities, as pitiful as they are, were quite this bad. Does this happen to anybody else, or am I just a sorry excuse for a girl? Only boys do this kind of thing! So I am now humbly entreating my 3 readers to tell me what they think I should do. My mom thinks the cups should be thrown out. I however, want to wait overnight to see what happens. Isn't there one of Newton's laws saying that for every motion there is an equal and opposite motion too? Or something like that? Or am I just crazy, like I've already demonstrated with the cups?

Well, I guess I'll see whether there are any new developements when I get up tomorrow.

Boy oh boy. My poor mom. She's a pretty nice lady. How'd she end up with a daughter like me?