tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182292432024-03-18T08:42:40.676-05:00Idle musings of a booksellerIdle musings by a once again bookseller, always bibliophile, current copyeditor and proofreader. Complete with ramblings about biblical studies, the ancient Near East, bicycling, gardening, or anything else I am reading (or experiencing). All more or less live from Red Wing, MNjpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.comBlogger7215125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-54086067442857751772024-03-18T08:00:00.000-05:002024-03-18T08:41:50.184-05:00But is it Ṭov?A peace ethic asks what is <i>tov</i> in this situation, which at times transcends what many would perceive to be ‘just’ or ‘right’ or even (dare I say it) ‘biblical.’ It does not ask about status or about who will win, but about what is <i>tov</i>.—Scot McKnight, <a href=" https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506484570/The-Audacity-of-Peace" target="_blank">The Audacity of Peace</a>, 44
<p>
<idle musing><br>
How many times have you asked yourself that? I'll be honest, it was a new idea to me—but a powerful one!<br>
</idle musing>jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-53209453699067203662024-03-18T07:27:00.036-05:002024-03-18T07:27:00.233-05:00Come, let us join our friends above422 Dundee (French). C. M.
<p>
1 Come, let us join our friends above,<br>
That have obtained the prize,<br>
And on the eagle wings of love<br>
To joy celestial rise.
<p>
2 Let all the saints terrestrial sing,<br>
With those to glory gone;<br>
For all the servants of our King,<br>
In earth and heaven, are one.
<p>
3 One family, we dwell in Him,<br>
One Church above, beneath;<br>
Though now divided by the stream,<br>
The narrow stream of death.
<p>
4 One army of the living God,<br>
To His command we bow;<br>
Part of His host has crossed the flood,<br>
And part is crossing now.
<p>
5 Even now by faith we join our hands<br>
With those that went before,<br>
And greet the blood-besprinkled bands<br>
On the eternal shore.<br>
Charles Wesley<br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/349/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
This hymn by Charles Wesley occurs in a little over 340 hymnals. And again, as usual for a Wesley hymn, there are more verses. <a href="https://hymnary.org/text/come_let_us_join_our_friends_above/compare?selected=CBWM1872-282" target="_blank">Hymnary.org</a> lists these:
<blockquote>
5 His militant, embodied coast,<br>
With wishful looks we stand,<br>
And long to see that happy coast,<br>
And reach that heavenly land.
<p>
7 Lord Jesus, be our constant Guide,<br>
And when the word is given,<br>
Bid the cold waves of death divide,<br>
And land us all in heaven.
</blockquote>
</idle musing>
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-90413021555982958582024-03-17T07:30:00.026-05:002024-03-17T07:30:00.176-05:00No form of human framing, no bond of outward might421 Alford. 7. 6. 8. 6. D.
<p>
1. No form of human framing, no bond of outward might,<br>
Can bind Thy Church together, Lord, and all her flocks unite;<br>
But, Jesus, Thou hast told us how unity must be:<br>
Thou art with God the Father one, and we are one in Thee.
<p>
2. The mind that is in Jesus will guide us into truth,<br>
The humble, open, joyful mind of ever-learning youth;<br>
The heart that is in Jesus will lead us out of strife,<br>
The giving and forgiving heart that follows love in life.
<p>
3. Wherever men adore Thee, our souls with them would kneel;<br>
Wherever men implore Thy help, their trouble we would feel;<br>
And where men do Thy service, though knowing not Thy sign,<br>
Our hand is with them in good work, for they are also Thine.
<p>
4. Forgive us, Lord, the folly that quarrels with Thy friends,<br>
And draw us near to Thy heart, where every discord ends;<br>
Thou art the crown of manhood, and Thou of God the Son;<br>
O Master of our many lives, in Thee our life is one.<br>
<a href="https://www.ccel.org/ccel/vandyke" target="_blank">Henry van Dyke</a><br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/349/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
Well, I'm certainly continuing in my trend of choosing the less popular hymns. This one occurs in a paltry eight hymnals! Henry van Dyke is better known as the author of <a href="https://anebooks.blogspot.com/2023/07/joyful-joyful-we-adore-thee.html" target="_blank">Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee</a>. He is also the author of <a href="https://ccel.org/ccel/vandyke/otherwiseman/otherwiseman" target="_blank">The Other Wise Man</a>, which you may be familiar with. If not, take a look! It's out of copyright, so freely available to read.<br>
</idle musing>
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-19075729914514673052024-03-16T07:24:00.038-05:002024-03-16T07:24:00.138-05:00City of God, how broad and far420 Gräfenberg. C. M.
<p>
1 City of God, how broad and far<br>
outspread thy walls sublime!<br>
The true thy chartered freemen are<br>
of every age and clime:
<p>
2 How gleam thy watch-fires through the night<br>
with never-fainting ray!<br>
How rise thy towers, serene and bright,<br>
to meet the dawning day!
<p>
3 How purely hath thy speech come down<br>
from man's primaeval youth!<br>
How grandly hath thine empire grown<br>
of freedom, love, and truth!
<p>
4 In vain the surge's angry shock,<br>
in vain the drifting sands:<br>
unharmed upon the eternal Rock<br>
the eternal city stands.<br>
<a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Johnson_Samuel1822" target="_blank">Samuel Johnson</a><br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/347/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
I don't recall ever singing this one, and it only occurs in 166 hymnals. For being a relatively unpopular hymn, the verses seem to have been scrambled a good bit and <a href="https://hymnary.org/text/city_of_god_how_broad_and_far/compare?selected=AM2013-613&compare=CYBER-878#" target="_blank">many versions</a> include a fifth verse, variously placed:
<blockquote>
2 One holy church, one army strong,<br>
one steadfast, high intent;<br>
one working band, one harvest-song,<br>
one King omnipotent.
</blockquote>
As seems apparent once one knows it, the author of the hymn has strong Unitarian leanings, although never officially a Unitarian.<br>
</idle musing>jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-33083362966536255182024-03-15T08:03:00.001-05:002024-03-15T08:47:02.707-05:00On the marginsThose who are ignored, suppressed, silenced, and excluded are not just seen by Jesus: he exalts them to center stage. Those who because of exigencies in life do not have the advantages and privileges of others are seen and given a place at the table. Here we find the beginnings of a peace ethic about imprisonment in our society. Here we find the beginnings of a word of grace and hope that can turn prisons, which are populated by folks from the margins, into centers of transformation, reconciliation, and rehabilitation.—Scot McKnight, <a href=" https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506484570/The-Audacity-of-Peace" target="_blank">The Audacity of Peace</a>, 42–43jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-5164117838252806022024-03-15T07:30:00.048-05:002024-03-15T08:55:49.777-05:00Jesus, united by Thy grace419 Beatitudo. C. M.
<p>
1. Jesus, united by Thy grace,<br>
And each to each endeared,<br>
With confidence we seek Thy face<br>
And know our prayer is heard.
<p>
2. Help us to help each other, Lord,<br>
Each other’s cross to bear;<br>
Let all their friendly aid afford,<br>
And feel each other’s care.
<p>
3. Up onto Thee, our living Head,<br>
Let us in all things grow;<br>
Till Thou hast made us free indeed<br>
And spotless here below.
<p>
4. Touched by the lodestone of Thy love,<br>
Let all our hearts agree,<br>
And ever toward each other move,<br>
And ever move toward Thee.<br>
Charles Wesley<br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/347/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
I seem to have a penchant for choosing relatively unpopular hymns. This one only occurs in 160 or so hymnals. And, again, as is normal for Wesley hymns, there are many more verses, which <a href="https://hymnary.org/text/jesus_united_by_thy_grace/compare?selected=CYBER-3305&compare=MHTB1917-528#" target="_blank">Cyberhymnal</a> conveniently lists:
<blockquote>
2. Still let us own our common Lord,<br>
And bear Thine easy yoke,<br>
A band of love, a threefold cord,<br>
Which never can be broke.
<p>
3. Make us into one spirit drink;<br>
Baptize into Thy name;<br>
And let us always kindly think,<br>
And sweetly speak, the same.
<p>
7. To Thee, inseparably joined,<br>
Let all our spirits cleave;<br>
O may we all the loving mind,<br>
That was in Thee receive.
<p>
8. This is the bond of perfectness,<br>
Thy spotless charity;<br>
O let us, still we pray, possess<br>
The mind that was in Thee.
<p>
9. Grant this, and then from all below<br>
Insensibly remove:<br>
Our souls their change shall scarcely know,<br>
Made perfect first in love!
<p>
10. With ease our souls through death shall glide<br>
Into their paradise,<br>
And thence, on wings of angels, ride<br>
Triumphant through the skies.
<p>
11. Yet, when the fullest joy is given,<br>
The same delight we prove,<br>
In earth, in paradise, in Heaven,<br>
Our all in all is love.
</blockquote>
The overarching theme of this hymn is the heartbeat of the Wesleyan revival: a heart made perfect in love—now, not just in the future. That's why one can say that it is a holiness of heart first and foremost. Behavior follows because, as Paul says in Romans, "love worketh no ill to its neighbor" (KJV).<br>
</idle musing>
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-30642144528385613192024-03-14T08:00:00.004-05:002024-03-14T08:00:00.137-05:00The way of suffering? Or the way of violence?What I learned from Sider is that <i>Jesus here consciously and intentionally rejected the way of violence and power over others and chose the way of suffering and service as the path to ‘victory’, now redefined.</i> One doesn't get to the Easter victory of Jesus apart from the defeat on Friday.— Scot McKnight, <a href=" https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506484570/The-Audacity-of-Peace" target="_blank">The Audacity of Peace</a>, 21–22
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-36858260814745033122024-03-14T07:30:00.029-05:002024-03-14T07:30:00.135-05:00All praise to our redeeming Lord417 Armenia. C. M.
<p>
1 All praise to our redeeming Lord,<br>
who joins us by his grace,<br>
and bids us, each to each restored,<br>
together seek his face.
<p>
2 He bids us build each other up;<br>
and, gathered into one,<br>
to our high calling’s glorious hope<br>
we hand in hand go on.
<p>
3 We all partake the joy of one,<br>
the common peace we feel,<br>
a peace to sensual minds unknown,<br>
a joy unspeakable.
<p>
4 And if our fellowship below<br>
in Jesus be so sweet,<br>
what heights of rapture shall we know<br>
when round his throne we meet!<br>
Charles Wesley<br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/345/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
This is definitely not one of Wesley's more popular hymns; it only occurs in 142 hymnals. As is usual with a Wesley hymn, there are <a href="https://hymnary.org/text/all_praise_to_our_redeeming_lord/compare?selected=CPAM2000-371a" target="_blank">more verses</a>:
<blockquote>
3 The gift which he on one bestows,<br>
we all delight to prove;<br>
the grace through every vessel flows,<br>
in purest streams of love.
<p>
4 Ev'n now we think and speak the same,<br>
and cordially agree;<br>
concentred all, through Jesus’ name,<br>
in perfect harmony.
</blockquote>
</idle musing>jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-43621751842365149572024-03-13T08:00:00.007-05:002024-03-13T08:24:11.954-05:00What is a peace ethic?A peace ethic embodies the self-denial ethic of Jesus. A peace ethic volitionally and communally participates in the cruciform pattern of the life of Jesus.Through the power of God's grace and the indwelling Spirit of God the participant in the way of Jesus is transformed into a Christoform life.— Scot McKnight, <a href=" https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506484570/The-Audacity-of-Peace" target="_blank">The Audacity of Peace</a>, 10jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-9049239745299783942024-03-13T07:30:00.032-05:002024-03-13T07:30:00.129-05:00Blest be the tie that binds416 Dennis. S. M.
<p>
1. Blest be the tie that binds<br>
Our hearts in Christian love;<br>
The fellowship of kindred minds<br>
Is like to that above.
<p>
2. Before our Father’s throne<br>
We pour our ardent prayers;<br>
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one<br>
Our comforts and our cares.
<p>
3. We share each other’s woes,<br>
Our mutual burdens bear;<br>
And often for each other flows<br>
The sympathizing tear.
<p>
4. When we asunder part,<br>
It gives us inward pain;<br>
But we shall still be joined in heart,<br>
And hope to meet again.<br>
<a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Fawcett_John1740" target="_blank">John Fawcett</a><br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/345/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
Today's hymn is extremely popular, occurring in over 2500 hymnals. A good number of hymnals add a final two verses, which I don't recall ever seeing before:
<blockquote>
5. This glorious hope revives<br>
Our courage by the way;<br>
While each in expectation lives,<br>
And longs to see the day.
<p>
6. From sorrow, toil and pain,<br>
And sin, we shall be free,<br>
And perfect love and friendship reign<br>
Through all eternity.
</blockquote>
You might want to read the bio linked above. Interesting back story on this hymn. I fear that not too many people today would turn down the lucrative city post to stay in the backwater…<br>
</idle musing>
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-17454133367467934132024-03-12T08:19:00.018-05:002024-03-12T08:54:16.185-05:00What got healed?From the perspective of the incarnation the answer is clear: it is the distortion of the fall and of human sin that lies behind this disruption or dichotomy between knowing and being, word and event, theology and history, and it is that very rupture in our human existence that God has come to heal in the incarnation. When the Word was made flesh, the rupture between our true being in communion with God and our physical existence in space and time was healed. It is precisely about this that the sacraments have so much to say in the unity of word and physical elements in the ordinances of baptism and eucharist. The sacraments are designed in the midst of our brokenness and dividedness to hold together in one, spirit and flesh, word and event, spiritual and material, until the new creation. Sacraments are thus the amen to the incarnation, the experienced counterpart to the Word made flesh. Here, then, in the Word made flesh we have truth in the form of personal being, truth in the form of concrete physical existence, truth indissolubly one with space and time, with historical and physical being. To demythologise the truth of its physical and temporal elements is to try to disrupt the incarnation, to attempt to tear apart the Word from the flesh assumed in Jesus Christ. Thus demythologisation belongs to the essential distortion of sin — the sin that brought about the dichotomy in us, that refuses to accept the limitations of our creatureliness in speech and language and in the thought forms of space and time, that wants to conceive the truth in some imaginary form of pure being instead of the form of human flesh which it has assumed once and for all in the incarnation. The relation of the <i>kerygma</i> to history belongs to the very essence of the Christian faith, for it is grounded in the unity of reconciliation and revelation in Iesus Christ, in his unity of word and act, person and work, in the union of true God and true man.—T. F. Torrance, <a href="https://ivpress.com/incarnation" target="_blank">Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ</a>, 296
<p>
<idle musing><br>
That ends our quick jaunt through <a href="https://ivpress.com/incarnation" target="_blank">Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ</a>. I hope you enjoyed it. Maybe someday I'll tackle the next volume, but first, let's read through Scot McKnight's <a href=" https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506484570/The-Audacity-of-Peace" target="_blank">The Audacity of Peace</a>. I'll start that tomorrow and go back to one post per day for it, since it's a shorter book.<br>
</idle musing>
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-37242204028179774062024-03-12T08:00:00.004-05:002024-03-12T08:49:25.923-05:00What's the point?When Bultmann wishes to reinterpret the objective facts of <i>kerygma</i>, e.g. as given in the Apostles’ Creed, in terms of an existential decision which we have to make in order to understand, not God or Christ or the world, but ourselves, we are converting the gospel of the New Testament into something quite different, converting christology into anthropology. It is shockingly subjective. It is not Christ that really counts, but my decision in which I find myself. At this point one sees Bultmann’s involvement in the theological tradition of Schleiermacher and Ritschl that grew out of German pietism and subjectivism, and also in the tradition of the Marburg school of philosophy which tried in vain to break out of phenomenology by existential decision. Moreover, the existential decision with which Bultmann works is not that of Kierkegaard in which the fact and person of Christ is all determining, but that of the Roman Catholic but atheistic Heidegger, who took Kierkegaard’s idea, and altered it by abstracting it entirely from its objective ground in Christ and attaching it to a secularised notion Of tradition which he retained from his Roman Catholic upbringing.—T. F. Torrance, <a href="https://ivpress.com/incarnation" target="_blank">Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ</a>, 286–87jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-46512403482773316082024-03-12T07:45:00.007-05:002024-03-12T07:45:00.134-05:00Tozer for TuesdayI fear the respectable, godly, self-contained people who have money, who dress well, have good educations, speak good English and read good books but have no heart for the flow of humanity that flows everywhere. They care not for the poor and the distressed. I am afraid of aloof godliness—you lovely women who pay no attention to the very women that need you. You respectable men with your money, you hold yourself aloof from a man that needs you the worst.—A.W. Tozer, <a href="http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/reclaiming-christianity/361811" target="_blank">Reclaiming Christianity</a>, 84-85
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-73461969006658195972024-03-12T07:30:00.024-05:002024-03-12T07:30:00.132-05:00For the Bread, which Thou hast broken412 Agapé. 8. 7. 8. 7.
<p>
1 For the bread, which Thou hast broken;<br>
For the wine, which Thou hast poured;<br>
For the words, which Thou hast spoken;<br>
Now we give Thee thanks, O Lord.
<p>
2 By this pledge that Thou dost love us,<br>
By Thy gift of peace restored,<br>
By Thy call to heaven above us,<br>
Hallow all our lives, O Lord.
<p>
3 With our sainted ones in glory<br>
Seated at our Father’s board,<br>
May the Church that waiteth for Thee<br>
Keep love’s tie unbroken, Lord.
<p>
4 In Thy service, Lord, defend us;<br>
In our hearts keep watch and ward;<br>
In the world where Thou dost send us<br>
Let Thy kingdom come, O Lord.<br>
<a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Benson_Louis" target="_blank">Louis F. Benson</a><br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/343/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
Well, I'm continuing in my tradition of posting hymns that aren't in the top 1000, let alone the top 10! This one only occurs in forty-six hymnals.
<p>
I admit, the theology is pretty thin and the hymn seems trite, but I kinda like it. YMMV, of course.<br>
</idle musing>
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-88079570367210402822024-03-11T08:32:00.005-05:002024-03-11T08:32:57.199-05:00Who's the center here, anyway?Or to put it in other words, according to Bultmann and Gogarten, modern men and women cannot understand history apart from our own responsibility for it; and apart from our responsible handling of it, there is in point of fact no history, for there is no history apart from the changes human beings have introduced into it. By our decisions we give the world its particular form, so that reality is now this changing history which we create, and beyond and apart from that there is nothing real for us.
<p>
Now quite frankly this is the <i>biggest myth</i> yet created by man — that we ourselves are the creators of all history, and that apart from the history created by human beings, nothing else is real! Man is the God of history! In view of this, it is clear that it is not the New Testament but Bultmann and Gogarten themselves that need to be radically demythologised! So long as they work with such inverted conceptions of history, scientific interpretation of the New Testament is quite impossible.—T. F. Torrance, <a href="https://ivpress.com/incarnation" target="_blank">Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ</a>, 285
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-46925687477978404892024-03-11T08:00:00.004-05:002024-03-11T08:30:28.311-05:00An eschatology of Good News!There can be no doubt, however, that the New Testament is pervaded with the joyful sense of God's actual presence in Jesus Christ, and with the realisation that the coming age has already broken into the present and overlaps it. That is precisely the good news of the gospel, that here and now in Christ Jesus God is present in all his royal power, not only to speak a word of pardon but actually to enact it and fulfil it in the liberation of the children of God. The account of the eschatology of Jesus as an apocalyptic eschatology of despair is simply not true—it was above all an eschatology of <i>good news </i>.—T. F. Torrance, <a href="https://ivpress.com/incarnation" target="_blank">Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ</a>, 271
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-51033441673519193902024-03-11T07:26:00.028-05:002024-03-11T07:26:00.134-05:00According to Thy gracious word410 St. John's, Westminster. C. M.
<p>
1 According to Thy gracious word,<br>
In meek humility,<br>
This will I do, my dying Lord,<br>
I will remember Thee.
<p>
2 Thy body, broken for my sake,<br>
My bread from heaven shall be;<br>
Thy testamental cup I take,<br>
And thus remember Thee.
<p>
3 Remember Thee, and all Thy pains,<br>
And all Thy love to me;<br>
Yea, while a breath, a pulse remains,<br>
Will I remember Thee!
<p>
4 And when these falling lips grow dumb,<br>
And mind and memory flee,<br>
When Thou shalt in Thy Kingdom come,<br>
Then, Lord, remember me!<br>
<a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Montgomery_James" target="_blank">James Montgomery</a><br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/341/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
This communion hymn is found in about 550 hymnals. It also experiences a bit of variation, with many hymnals only using three of the verses—but not all the same ones. Others contain a total of six verses. <a href="https://hymnary.org/text/according_to_thy_gracious_word/compare?selected=BHPPD866-139&compare=CYBER-25#" target="_blank">Cyberhymnal</a>, as usual, has the fullest version:
<blockquote>
3. Gethsemane can I forget?<br>
Or there Thy conflict see,<br>
Thine agony, and bloody sweat,<br>
And not remember Thee?
<p>
4. When to the cross I turn mine eyes,<br>
And rest on Calvary,<br>
O Lamb of God, my sacrifice,<br>
I must remember Thee;
</blockquote>
</idle musing>jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-71084968436074973502024-03-10T07:30:00.025-05:002024-03-10T07:30:00.140-05:00The King of heaven His table spreads409 Dundee (French). C. M.
<p>
1 The King of heaven His table spreads,<br>
And blessings crown the board;<br>
Not paradise, with all its joys,<br>
Could such delight afford.
<p>
2 Pardon and peace to dying men,<br>
And endless life are given,<br>
Thro' the rich blood that Jesus shed<br>
To raise our souls to heaven.
<p>
3 Millions of souls, in glory now,<br>
Were fed and feasted here;<br>
And millions more, still on the way,<br>
Around the board appear.
<p>
4 All things are ready, come away,<br>
Nor weak excuses frame;<br>
Come to your places at the feast,<br>
And bless the Founder’s Name.<br>
<a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Doddridge_Philip" target="_blank">Philip Doddridge</a><br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/341/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
Well, it's bit more popular than yesterday's hymn! But not by much, occurring in only 230 hymnals. <a href="https://hymnary.org/text/the_king_of_heaven_his_table_spreads/compare?selected=CHAL1814-127&compare=AMEZ1996-326#" target="_blank">Hymnary.org</a> adds a couple of verses:
<blockquote>
3 Ye hungry poor, who long have stray'd<br>
In sin’s dark mazes, come:<br>
Come from the hedges and highways<br>
And grace shall find you room.
<p>
5 Yet is His house and heart so large,<br>
That thousands more may come;<br>
Nor could the wide assembling world<br>
O’erfill the spacious room.
</blockquote>
</idle musing>jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-34695058741505359572024-03-09T07:33:00.029-06:002024-03-09T07:33:00.139-06:00A baptismal hymn406 Ffigysbren. 10. 10. 10. 10.
<p>
1 Friend of the home: as when in Galilee<br>
The mothers brought their little ones to Thee,<br>
So we, dear Lord, would now the children bring,<br>
And seek for them the shelter of Thy wing.
<p>
2 Thine are they, by Thy love’s eternal claim,<br>
Thine we baptize them in the threefold Name;<br>
Yet not the sign we trust, Lord, but the grace<br>
That in Thy fold prepared the lambs a place.
<p>
3 Lord, may Thy Church, as with a mother’s care,<br>
For Thee the lambs within her bosom bear;<br>
And grant, as morning grows to noon, that they<br>
Still in her love and holy service stay.
<p>
4 Draw thro' the child the parents nearer Thee,<br>
Endue their home with growing sanctity;<br>
And gather all, by earthly homes made one,<br>
In heav'n, O Christ, when earthly days are done.<br>
<a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Lewis_HE"target="_blank">Howell E. Lewis</a><br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/n339/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
This one only occurs in seventeen hymnals. I'm not sure if I remember singing it at baptismal services or not, but it certainly fits.
<p>
While I personally am a firm believer in believer baptism, I grew up in the Methodist Church, which practices infant baptism. This hymn highlights the hopes for infant baptism blossoming into a living faith. And there's a lot to be said for that...<br>
</idle musing>jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-22648350596317934172024-03-08T08:15:00.006-06:002024-03-08T08:15:00.131-06:00What will it be?Once again the great dilemma is: <i>either</i> in Jesus Christ we are confronted by the eternal God in history, so that the person of the historical Christ as man and God is of utmost importance; <i>or</i> Jesus is only the historical medium of a confrontation between me and the act of God which summons me to decision, but in which I reach a self understanding which enables me to live my life bravely. Here christology passes away into some kind of existentialist anthropology.—T. F. Torrance, <a href="https://ivpress.com/incarnation" target="_blank">Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ</a>, 263
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-83754286208795845372024-03-08T08:00:00.006-06:002024-03-08T08:00:00.139-06:00Is he God? Or only worthy of honorable mention?It is clear now that if we give up the classical christology or even approach Jesus from a purely historical angle, the historical events which belong to the life and death of Jesus fall away as of no final significance. The great dilemma is this: either in Jesus Christ we are confronted by God, and by one whose person is himself of the utmost importance, or Jesus is in the end only a teacher, a religious genius, the greatest man that ever lived but who, before the absolute importance of timeless and eternal truths, sinks into only an honourable mention.—T. F. Torrance, <a href="https://ivpress.com/incarnation" target="_blank">Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ</a>, 261
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-84119843386791341132024-03-08T07:30:00.002-06:002024-03-08T07:30:00.257-06:00Blest be the dear uniting love44 Tiplady. C. M.
<p>
1. Blest be the dear uniting love,<br>
That will not let us part!<br>
Our bodies may far off remove,<br>
We still are one in heart.
<p>
2. Joined in one spirit to our Head,<br>
Where He appoints we go;<br>
And still in Jesus’ footsteps tread,<br>
And show His praise below.
<p>
3. O may we ever walk in Him,<br>
And nothing know beside;<br>
Nothing desire, nothing esteem,<br>
But Jesus crucified.
<p>
4. Partakers of the Saviour's grace,<br>
The same in mind and heart,<br>
Nor joy, nor grief, nor time, nor place,<br>
Nor life, nor death can part.<br>
Charles Wesley<br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/n337/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
Not one of Wesley's more popular hymns, only occurring in about 270 hymnals. But, as is usual with his hymns, there are more verses and hymnals pick and chose which ones. The first three verses seem pretty stable, but after that, it varies. As usual, <a href="" target="_blank">Cyberhymnal</a> has the fullest:
<blockquote>
4. Closer and closer let us cleave<br>
To His beloved embrace;<br>
Expect His fullness to receive<br>
And grace to answer grace.
<p>
5. While thus we walk with Christ in light<br>
Who shall our souls disjoin,<br>
Souls, which Himself vouchsafes t’unite<br>
In fellowship divine!
<p>
6. We all are one who Him receive,<br>
The same in mind and heart,<br>
Nor joy, nor grief, nor time, nor place,<br>
Nor life, nor death can part.
<p>
8. But let us hasten to the day<br>
Which shall our flesh restore,<br>
When death shall all be done away,<br>
And bodies part no more!
</blockquote>
</idle musing>
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-7556671622110962542024-03-07T08:15:00.005-06:002024-03-07T08:15:00.131-06:00What the Godness of God meansSin, however, means the contradiction of the Godness of God — it is sin against his majesty and is counter to his self—giving in love. If sin is an attack upon the very Godness of God, upon God precisely as God, then by his very Godness, his eternal will as God to be who he is must and does resist sin — just in being God. To be God is to be opposed to the private self—assertion of man. There can be only one God who asserts himself to be supreme: as we read in the decalogue, ‘I am the Lord your God . . . You shall have no other gods before me . . . I the Lord your God am a jealous God’. When men and women assert themselves against the Godness of God they are actually asserting themselves to be God, and so placing themselves in direct contradiction to the Godness of God. God resists sin in the full Godness of God — that is the meaning of the wrath of God. That is the negative aspect of his holiness and love, the exclusive aspect of his majesty. God would abdicate from being God, would un-God himself, if he condoned sin.—T. F. Torrance, <a href="https://ivpress.com/incarnation" target="_blank">Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ</a>, 249jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-78378473917854004502024-03-07T08:03:00.005-06:002024-03-07T08:03:00.132-06:00The wrath of GodBut let us be quite clear about what the wrath of God means. It is the <i>wrath of the lamb</i>, the wrath of redeeming love. As such the very wrath of God is a sign of hope, not of utter destruction — for if God chastises us then we are sons and daughters, and not bastards, as the scripture puts it. Judgement and wrath mean that far from casting us off, God comes within the existence and relation between the creator and the creature, and negates the contradiction we have introduced into it by and in our sin. God's wrath means that God declares in no uncertain terms that what he has made <i>he still affirms as his own good handiwork and will not cast it off into nothingness</i>. Wrath means that God asserts himself against us as holy and loving Creator in the midst of our sin and perversity and alienation. God's wrath is God's judgement of sin, but it is a judgement in which God asserts that he is the God of the sinner and that the sinner is God's creature: it is a wrath that asserts God's ownership of the creature and that asserts the binding of the creature to the holy and loving God. And yet precisely as such, God's wrath is really a part of atonement, part of new creation, for it is his reaffirmation of his creature in spite of its sin and corruption. It is certainly a reaffirmation of it in judgement over against sin, but a reaffirmation that the creature belongs to God and that he refuses to cease to be its God and therefore refuses to let it go. God’s very wrath tells us that we are children of God. It is the rejection of evil, of our evil by the very love that God himself eternally is.—T. F. Torrance, <a href="https://ivpress.com/incarnation" target="_blank">Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ</a>, 250
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229243.post-86145517197735790162024-03-07T07:28:00.023-06:002024-03-07T07:28:00.129-06:00Lord of the living harvest401 Missionary Hymn. 7. 6. 7. 6. D.
<p>
1 Lord of the living harvest<br>
That whitens o'er the plain,<br>
Where angels soon shall gather<br>
Their sheaves of golden grain;<br>
Accept these hands to labor,<br>
These hearts to trust and love,<br>
And deign with them to hasten<br>
Thy kingdom from above.
<p>
2 As laborers in Thy vineyard,<br>
Send us, O Christ, to be<br>
Content to bear the burden<br>
Of weary days for Thee;<br>
We ask no other wages,<br>
When Thou shalt call us home,<br>
But to have shared the travail<br>
Which makes Thy kingdom come.
<p>
3 Be with us, God the Father,<br>
Be with us, God the Son,<br>
And God the Holy Spirit,<br>
Eternal Three in One!<br>
Make us a royal priesthood,<br>
Thee rightly to adore,<br>
And fill us with Thy fullness<br>
Now and for evermore.<br>
<a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Monsell_JSB" target="_blank">John S. B. Monsell</a><br>
<a href="https://archive.org/details/methodisthymnal0000unse_y5c6/page/n335/mode/2up" target="_blank">The Methodist Hymnal</a> 1939 edition
<p>
<idle musing><br>
Well, I don't recall this hymn at all, and it doesn't seem to be very popular, only occurring in a about 125 hymnals. The author of the hymn penned over 300 hymns, but as I looked through the list, I didn't recognize any of them. Apparently some of them were quite popular in the 1800s.<br>
</idle musing>
jpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06017353888045816159noreply@blogger.com0