"Within a generation after the Puritans, the Protestant Church began drifting back toward the worship practices of the Roman Catholic Church of the late Middle Ages. Today, that return is almost complete. We once again see Protestants following liturgies and ecclesiastical calendars that are similar, if not identical to, those followed by the Roman Catholic Church. In many respects, there is no essential difference."A very informative online book.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
The Return To Rome
In Spirit and Truth: Worship as God Requires (Understanding and Applying the Regulative Principle of Worship) by James R. Hughes:
Monday, April 28, 2014
The Inner Life of Christ In The Psalms
A quote from the Preface of "The True Psalmody," published in 1861:
Understanding this view has been most meaningful in my enjoyment of the Psalms, and most enlarging of their edification to me. It has shown me Christ more in the Psalms and increased my love for him and my appreciation of all that he bore for his people, in life and in death. I've realized that in the Psalms, as the pre-incarnate Christ speaks of his sufferings to come, and speaks to the Father about them, and calls on Yahweh to save and rescue him, he is training us to do the same. What a tremendous Author of our salvation!
"The True Psalmody" is an old book that as far as I know, can only be accessed online, but it's a valuable addition to those looking to figure out this psalmody/worship question. Here's a link to it: "The True Psalmody". The quote above is from the first Preface of the book by Rev. Henry Cooke, and outlines his story of coming to see the worth of singing only the Psalms in the church.
...I believe there is one view of Christ—and that not the least important to the tired and troubled believer—that can only be discovered in the Book of Psalms. I mean His inward life. No eye-witness of the outward man, even though an inspired evangelist (i.e., one of Jesus' apostles), could penetrate the heart. But the Spirit who "searches the deep things of God" has, in the Psalms, laid open the innermost thoughts, sorrows, and conflicts of our Lord.The [writers of the gospels] faithfully and intelligently depict the sinless Man; the Psalms alone lay open the heart of "the Man of sorrows".
Understanding this view has been most meaningful in my enjoyment of the Psalms, and most enlarging of their edification to me. It has shown me Christ more in the Psalms and increased my love for him and my appreciation of all that he bore for his people, in life and in death. I've realized that in the Psalms, as the pre-incarnate Christ speaks of his sufferings to come, and speaks to the Father about them, and calls on Yahweh to save and rescue him, he is training us to do the same. What a tremendous Author of our salvation!
"The True Psalmody" is an old book that as far as I know, can only be accessed online, but it's a valuable addition to those looking to figure out this psalmody/worship question. Here's a link to it: "The True Psalmody". The quote above is from the first Preface of the book by Rev. Henry Cooke, and outlines his story of coming to see the worth of singing only the Psalms in the church.
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