Rebecca at Rebecca Writes has been talking about the Puritans all month. When I told my husband about the great stuff she had, and her invitation for others to blog about the Puritans, he suggested I blog about Oliver Cromwell. Isn’t he funny? Somehow, I don’t think Cromwell was in the same category as Jonathon Edwards or John Bunyan. I do have a great biography of Oliver Cromwell, written by Antonia Fraser. It’s a huge sucker, and I ‘ve yet to make my way through it.
In keeping with Puritan Month, I’ve decided to include a selection from The Valley of Vision. Puritan Prayers and Devotions. This is my favorite one.
Paradoxes
Oh changeless God,
Under the conviction of thy Spirit
I learn that the more I do, the worse I am,
the more I know, the less I know,
the more holiness I have, the more sinful I am,
the more I love, the more there is to love.
O wretched man that I am!
Oh Lord, I have a wild heart,
and cannot stand before thee;
I am like a bird before a man,
How little I love thy truth and ways!
I neglect prayer, by thinking I have
prayed enough and earnestly,
by knowing thou has saved my soul.
Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be
an evangelical hypocrite,
who sins more safely because grace abounds,
who tells his lusts that Christ’s blood
cleanseth them,
who reasons that God cannot cast him into
hell, for he is saved,
who loves evangelical preaching, churches,
Christians, but lives unholily.
My mind is a bucket without a bottom,
with no spiritual understanding,
no desire for the Lord’s Day,
ever learning but never reaching the truth,
always at the gospel-well
but never holding water.
My conscience is without conviction or contrition,
with nothing to repent of.
My will is without power of
decision or resolution.
My heart is without affection, and full of leaks.
My memory has no retention,
so I forget easily lessons learned,
and thy truths seep away.
Give me a broken heart that yet carries home
the water of grace
I can really relate to the mind like a bucket thing. The Puritans had an understanding of their place before God and their total depravity that I certainly don’t have about myself
|