Last week a friend of mine, Karl Minor, mentioned a volume from someone in the late 1500s, which he said had the richness of the Puritan prayers of The Valley of Vision. I did a little research and ordered a copy of Lancelot Andrewes and His Private Devotions, by Alexander Whyte.
To this point I have only done a cursory overview of the book, but I did find the following very refreshing and clear. It is Andrewes’ own Confession of Faith. I believe it is a worthy read and meditation, and so I commend it to you. I maintained the language as it was published. A few words may not be immediately obvious in their meaning, but it is worthwhile to look them up.
4. CONFESSION OF FAITH.
I believe, O Lord, in Thee,
Father, Word, Spirit, One God;
that by Thy fatherly love and power
all things were created;
that by Thy goodness and love to man
all things have been gathered together into one
in Thy Word,
Who, for us men and for our salvation,
became flesh, was conceived, was born,
suffered, was crucified,
died, was buried,
descended, rose again,
ascended, sat down,
will return, will repay;
that by the forth-shining and operation
of Thy Holy Spirit
hath been called out of the whole world
a peculiar people, into a commonwealth
of faith in the truth
and holiness of life,
in which we are partakers
of the communion of saints
and forgiveness of sins in this world,
and in which we look for
the resurrection of the flesh
and the life everlasting
in the world to come.
This most holy faith once delivered to the saints
I believe, O Lord;
help Thou mine unbelief,
increase Thou my little faith.
And vouchsafe* to me
to love the Father for His love,
to reverence the Almighty for His power,
to Him, as unto a faithful Creator, to commit my soul in well doing.
Vouchsafe to me to partake
from Jesus of salvation,
from Christ of anointing,
from the only begotten Son of adoption;
to serve the Lord
for His conception, in faith,
for His birth, in humility,
for His sufferings, in patience and in impatience of sin;
for His cross, to crucify occasions of sin,
for His death, to mortify the flesh,
for His burial, to bury evil thoughts in good works,
for His descent, to meditate upon hell,
for His resurrection, upon newness of life,
for His ascension, to set my mind on things above,
for His sitting on high, to set my mind on the
better things on His right hand,
for His return, to fear His second appearing,
for His judgment, to judge myself ere I be judged.
From the Spirit
vouchsafe to met o receive the breath of saving grace,
in the holy catholic (universal) Church
to have my own calling, sanctification, and portion,
and fellowship of her holy things,
prayers, fastings, groanings,
watchings, tears, sufferings,
for assurance of the remission of sins,
for hope of resurrection and translation
to eternal life.
*”vouchsafe” — to grant or furnish often in a gracious manner
I am looking forward to further reading in this very old, but rich book.
Filed under: Dead yet they speak, Prayer, Reformation, Theology | Leave a comment »
Worship is what we do when we gather together each Sunday. We do that for a lot of reasons, not least of which is because God has called us to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). There are other times when we do other things. We have times of fellowship and play together. There are times when we get together to have some entertainment, such as the annual youth event, Blast from the Past. But when we enter the sanctuary on Sunday we come with the focused purpose of worship. We sing, read God’s word, pray, and study God’s word; and not much else. Again, that is by design. Once we hear the call to worship (usually Scripture) at the beginning of the service until the benediction at the end, our focus is on God and His Being and truth. You say, Bill, that’s a given, what else would a church do?
I love reading prayers written by great saints of years gone by. This is one of my favorites by St. Augustine. May we learn to pray it and trust it to be so in our lives:
September 11, 2001 was one of the darkest days in the history of our nation. The horrible attack, on our soil, by Islamic Terrorists, took the lives of 
3,000 people on that day. Some in the media believe that the images of that day should not be shown on TV or in the media. They claim that it will incite strong feelings against the terrorists. Well, I think we need to be reminded over and over . . . we must never forget that fateful day.
The hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness has long been one of my favorites. So I was interested today when Bob Kauflin of 
Today marks the 500th Birthday of one of the most influential theologians in the life of the church of Jesus Christ.
On July 4, 1776 our nation was born with the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. I wonder, how long it has been since you read this document? Have you ever read it? I understand from talking to some high schoolers that it is mentioned in class, and the opening words are sometimes read, but that there is no requirement in their history classes to read the document. This is sad! Is it any wonder that patriotism is waning in our great nation?
Here I Stand . . . I Can Do Nothing Else 