Author: py3ak

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Controversy Practical Notes

Grumbling about Historical Ignorance

This grumble is not about other people’s historical ignorance (or my own).� No, it’s about a tendency to grumble about historical ignorance and not do anything about it.� We are silly creatures: and part of our silliness is that we sometimes feel that if we have grumbled about something we have done something about it.� It is as though we equated grumbling with action, complaining with reformation, querulousness with effort.� It is an easy mistake to make, I think; but in plain terms what this silliness results in is hypocrisy.� Because I may lament my ignorance quite movingly; but the proof that I am ashamed of it is that I take steps to remedy it.

Of course, here too there are pitfalls.� One such pitfall is that we read in the categories of our time.� What would Calvin have said to Gordon Clark and Cornelius Van Til?� That is not to say that Calvin doesn’t have an epistemology: but it is the wrong way to discover it to try to find out where he comes down on that particular divide.

And a still worse fault is people grumbling about other people’s historical ignorance, while being wildly ignorant themselves. It’s handy in a debate: moan about people’s ignorance of history, find a quote or two online, and you’ve triumphed.� (Here I would like to record that I was once hailed as “quite the source for historical theology” because I read through Calvin’s letters from the council of Ratisbon in order to be able to give an opinion in the discussion about it.� And yet those letters and a lecture I once heard about it were my only sources.� This is no reflection on the gentleman who was so kind as to make this statement: it is a comment on what is perceived as good research.)� Blaming other people for ignorance of topics we are ignorant of is a deeper hypocrisy than indulging in some well-meaning but ineffective lamentation.

So here is a suggestion: before again complaining about historical ignorance, take your best shot at answering a research question from the Matthew Poole project.� Here is a sample, but there are plenty more.

�Hence God is said to have set the beams of the chambers (namely, the upper chambers, as the Saxon rightly translates it) in the waters, Psalm 104:3, and (what is the same) above many waters, Psalm 29:3 (Gregorie�s Notes and Observations 23).� To which Saxon rendering is he referring?

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Literary Criticism Quotations

Art as Instruction

C.S. Lewis reminds us that we should not despise art for having a moral purpose: though of course we are free to despise bad art and to despise bad moral purposes.

Letter to Dom Bede Griffiths, O.S.B., 16 April 1940

I do most thoroughly agree with what you say about Art and Literature. To my mind they are only healthy when they are either (a) Definitely the handmaids of religious, or at least moral, truth � or (b) Admittedly aiming at nothing but innocent recreation or entertainment. Dante’s alright, and Pickwick is alright. But the great serious irreligious art � art for art’s sake � is all balderdash; and, incidentally, never exists when art is really flourishing. In fact one can say of Art as an author I recently read says of Love (sensual love, I mean) �It ceases to be a devil when it ceases to be a god�. Isn’t that well put? So many things � nay every real thing � is good if only it will be humble and ordinate.

Letter to I.O. Evans, 28 February 1949

I’m with you on the main issue � that art can teach (and much great art deliberately sets out to do so) without at all ceasing to be art. On the particular case of Wells I wd agree with Burke, because in Wells it seems to me that one had first class pure fantasy (Time Machine, First Men in the Moon) and third class didacticism: i.e. I object to his novels with a purpose not because they have a purpose but because I think them bad. Just as I object to the preaching passages in Thackeray not because I dislike sermons but because I dislike bad sermons. To me, therefore, Wells & Thackeray are instances that obscure the issue. It must be fought on books where the doctrine is as good on its own merits as the art � e.g. Bunyan, Chesterton (as you agree), Tolstoi, Charles Williams, Virgil.

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Outsourcing

Trueman and the Reformed Use of the Fathers

In general, I like Carl Trueman.� He wrote a blog post at Zack’s request.� He has a sense of humour that is often appealing to me.� Although he has a tendency to say “at the end of the day” rather too frequently, his lectures on John Owen are well worth listening to.
He has written a short note that gives some direction for realizing that the Reformers and the Reformed Orthodox who followed them were not ignorantly dismissive of either the Fathers or the medievals: I might add also that they were not casually dismissive of the pagans, either.

Anyway, follow the link.

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Poetry Practical Notes Quotations

The Unlearned and Unstable

From John Dryden’s Religio Laici

[Of the negative results of Scripture being readily accessible]

‘Tis true, my Friend, (and far be Flattery hence)

This good had full as a bad a Consequence:

The Book thus put in every vulgar hand,

Which each presum’d he best cou’d understand,

the Common Rule was made the common Prey;

And at the mercy of the Rabble lay.

The tender Page with horney Fists was gaul’d;

And he was gifted most that that loudest baul’d:

The Spirit gave the Doctoral Degree:

And every member of a Company

Was of his Trade, and of the Bible free.

Plain Truths enough for needful use they found;

But men wou’d still be itching to expound:

Each was ambitious of th’ obscurest place,

No measure ta’en from Knowledg, all from grace.

Study and Pains were now no more their Care:

Texts were explain’d by Fasting, and by Prayer:

This was the Fruit the private Spirit brought;

Occasion’d by great Zeal, and little Thought.

While Crouds unlearn’d, with rude Devotion warm,

About the Sacred Viands buz and swarm,

The Fly-blown Text creates a crawling Brood;

And turns to Maggots what was meant for Food.

A Thousand daily Sects rise up, and dye;

A Thousand more the perish’d Race supply:

So all we make of Heaven’s discover’d Will

Is, not to have it, or to use it ill.

This is not, I think, a topic that one frequently hears addressed in Protestant circles: and certainly it should not be taken as an argument against the dissemination of Scripture. Yet nonetheless, it is as well to recognize the truth of Peter’s words, that Scripture is wrested to the destruction of the wresters. Abusus non tollit usus: this is not a call to ignorance, to neglect of our Lord’s commandment in John 5:39, or a failure to imitate the noble Bereans. It is a call to make a good use of Heaven’s discover’d Will.

Categories
Quotations Theological Reflections

Orthodox Apophaticism

P.D. Steeves, �Orthodox Tradition, The� in the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology

Relying principally on the sixth century writer Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite, Orthodox writers insisted that God in his nature is beyond any understanding. Humans can know nothing about the being of God, and therefore all theological statements must be of a negative, or apophactic, form: God is unchanging, immovable, infinite, etc. Even a seemingly positive affirmation has only negative significance; for example, to say, �God is Spirit,� is actually to affirm his noncorporeality. Theology, then, is not a science of God, which is impossible, but of his revelation. That which is known is not necessarily true of God but is what God chooses to disclose, although in that sense it is indeed true knowledge.

[Umberto Eco notes that it is better to call him, �Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and I find that C.S. Lewis uses “Pseudo-Dionysius” in “Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism”.]

Now the concluding sentence of the quote from Steeves’ article is one that is rather difficult to accept. And if Matthew Winzer and Richard Muller are correct, the reformed scholastics have left us in no need of accepting it. Thus, in Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, v.1, p.229 Muller writes:

…the theology of the Reformation recognized not only that God is distinct from his revelation and that the one who reveals cannot be fully comprehended in the revelation, but also that the revelation, given in a finite and understandable form, must truly rest on the eternal truth of God: this is the fundamental message and intention of the distinction between archetypal and ectypal theology.

Ectypal theology is not archetypal theology: ectypal theology is certainly accomodated theology; but it is nonetheless true theology and speaks truly of God.

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Practical Notes Preaching Quotations

Some Advice to Ministers

From John Owen, Commentary on Hebrews 6:1
It is the duty of ministers of the gospel to take care, not only that their doctrine they preach be true, but also that it be seasonable with respect unto the state and condition of their hearers.
Herein consists no small part of that wisdom which is required in the dispensation of the word. Truths unseasonable are like showers in harvest. It is �a word spoken in season� that is beautiful and useful, Proverbs 25:11; yea, �every thing is beautiful in its own time,� and not else, Ecclesiastes 3:11. And two things are especially to be considered by him who would order his doctrine aright, that his words may be fit, meet, and seasonable:
1. The condition of his hearers, as to their present knowledge and capacity.
Suppose them to be persons, as the apostle speaks, of �full age,� such as can receive and digest �strong meat,� � that have already attained some good acquaintance with the mysteries of the gospel. In preaching unto such an auditory, if men, through want of ability to do otherwise, or want of wisdom to know when they ought to do otherwise, shall constantly treat of first principles, or things common and obvious, it will not only be unuseful unto their edification, but also at length make them weary of the ordinance itself. And there will be no better effect on the other side, where the hearers being mostly weak, the more abstruse mysteries of truth are insisted on, without a prudent accommodation of matters suited unto their capacity. It is, therefore, the duty of stewards in the house of God to give unto his household their proper portion.
(…)
And as it will be a trouble unto him who esteems it his duty to go forward in the declaration of the mysteries of the gospel, to fear that many stay behind, as being unable to receive and digest the food he hath provided; so it should be a shame to them who can make no provision but of things trite, ordinary, and common, when many, perhaps, among their hearers are capable of feeding on better or more solid provision. Again,
2. The circumstances of the present time are duly to be considered by them who would preach doctrine that should be seasonable unto their hearers; and these are many, not here to be particularly insisted on. But those especially of known public temptations, of prevalent errors and heresies, of especial opposition and hatred unto any important truths, are always to be regarded; for I could easily manifest that the apostle in his epistles hath continually an especial respect unto them all. (…) Some important doctrines of truth may, in the preaching of the gospel, be omitted for a season, but none must ever be forgotten or neglected. � So deals the apostle in this place, and light hath been sufficiently given us hereinto by what hath already been discoursed.
(…)
It is only an intellectual perfection, a perfection of the mind in knowledge, that is intended. And this may be where there is not a moral, gracious, sinless perfection. Yea, men may have great light in their minds, whilst their wills and affections are very much depraved, and their lives unreformed.

Categories
Quotations Theological Reflections

And the third day rise again

Here is something very appropriate for the first day of the week, when we remember that Christ has indeed risen.

Leo the Great, On the Lord’s Resurrection

The Apostle of the Gentiles, Paul, dearly beloved, does not disagree with this belief [the belief that Christ’s identical body was resurrected], when he says, �even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know Him so no more.� For the Lord�s Resurrection was not the ending, but the changing of the flesh, and His substance was not destroyed by His increase of power. The quality altered, but the nature did not cease to exist: the body was made impassible, which it had been possible to crucify: it was made incorruptible, though it had been possible to wound it. And properly is Christ�s flesh said not to be known in that state in which it had been known, because nothing remained passible in it, nothing weak, so that it was both the same in essence and not the same in glory. But what wonder if S. Paul maintains this about Christ�s body, when he says of all spiritual Christians �wherefore henceforth we know no one after the flesh.� Henceforth, he says, we begin to experience the resurrection in Christ, since the time when in Him, Who died for all, all our hopes were guaranteed to us. We do not hesitate in diffidence, we are not under the suspense of uncertainty, but having received an earnest of the promise, we now with the eye of faith see the things which will be, and rejoicing in the uplifting of our nature, we already possess what we believe. (…)

Let God�s people then recognize that they are a new creation in Christ, and with all vigilance understand by Whom they have been adopted and Whom they have adopted. let not the things, which have been made new, return to their ancient instability; and let not him who has �put his hand to the plough� forsake his work, but rather attend to that which he sows than look back to that which he has left behind. Let no one fall back into that from which he has risen, but, even though from bodily weakness he still languishes under certain maladies, let him urgently desire to be healed and raised up. For this is the path of health through imitation of the Resurrection begun in Christ, whereby, notwithstanding the many accidents and falls to which in this slippery life the traveler is liable, his feet may be guided from the quagmire on to solid ground, for, as it is written, �the steps of a man are directed by the Lord, and He will delight in his way.

Categories
Controversy Poetry Quotations

A Position He Later Rejected

From John Dryden’s Religio Laici

[Of Rome’s claims to final authority in the interpretation of Scripture]

The partial Papists wou’d infer from hence

Their Church, in last resort, shou’d Judge the Sense,

But first they wou’d assume, with wondrous Art,

Themselves to be the whole, who are but part

Of that vast Frame, the Church; yet grant they were

The handers down, can they from thence infer

A right t’ interpret? or wou’d they alone

Who brought the Present, claim it for their own?

In explanation of the title, it should be noted that John Dryden declared that he had converted to Catholicism shortly after the accession of King James. I suppose that Dr. Johnson’s reasons as to the possibility of the sincerity of such a timely conversion should suffice to quiet the impatient. Dryden may, of course have replied to this argument after his conversion, but if so I have not yet come across it.

Categories
Piety Quotations

Self-Ownership

C.S. Lewis, “Christianity and Culture” in Christian Reflections

Finally, I agree with Brother Every that our leisure, even our play, is a matter of serious concern. There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.

C.S. Lewis, Letter to “Mrs Ashton”, 17 July 1953

The writer you quote was very good at the stage at wh. you met him: Now, as is plain, you’ve got beyond him. Poor boob � he thought his mind was his own. Never his own until he makes it Christ’s: up till then merely a result of heredity, environment, and the state of his digestion. I became my own only when I gave myself to Another.

Some years ago, the place where I worked hired some new temporaries, including a friendly man with a blue jacket who had been in the Army. He and I got along well, and we had some interesting conversation. I told him at one point the verse in Scripture which most reminded me of him was 2 Peter 2:14 �having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin. This co-worker once asked me if a statement he had heard were true, namely, that what happens in the bedroom is none of God’s business. I’ll let C.S. Lewis answer that question:

He will be infinitely merciful to our repeated failures; I know no promise that He will accept a deliberate compromise. For He has, in the last resort, nothing to give us but Himself; and He can give that only insofar as our self-affirming will retires and makes room for Him in our souls. Let us make up our minds to it; there will be nothing �of our own� left over to live on, no �ordinary� life. (…) What cannot be admitted�what must exist only as an undefeated but daily resisted enemy�is the idea of something that is �our own,� some area in which we are to be �out of school,� on which God has no claim.

(C.S. Lewis, �A Slip of the Tongue� in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses)

…ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body… (1 Corinthians 6:19,20)

Categories
Poetry Practical Notes Quotations

Humility and Commentaries

From John Dryden’s Religio Laici

[Of the role of patristic interpretations of Scripture]

That Antient Fathers thus expound the Page,

Gives Truth the reverend Majesty of Age:

Confirms its force, by biding every Test;

For best Authority’s next Rules are best.

And still the nearer to the Spring we go

More limpid, more unsoyl’d the Waters flow.

(…)

In doubtful questions ’tis the safest way

To learn what unsuspected Antients say:

For ’tis not likely we shou’d higher Soar

In search of Heav’n, than all the Church before: