Sunday, December 25, 2005

Behold the infinite love of Christ

Use one: Of instruction. (1) See here, as in a glass, the infinite love of God the Father; that when we had lost ourselves by sin, God, in the riches of his grace, sent forth his Son, made of a woman, to redeem us. And behold the infinite love of Christ, in that he was willing thus to condescend to take our flesh. Surely the angels would have disdained to have taken our flesh; it would have been a disparagement to them. What king would be willing to wear sackcloth over his cloth of gold? but Christ did not disdain to take our flesh. Oh the love of Christ! Had not Christ been made flesh, we had been made a curse; had he not been incarnate, we had been incarcerate, and had been for ever in prison. Well might an angel be the herald to proclaim this joyful news of Christ's incarnation: 'Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.'

From Christ's Humiliation in His Incarnation in Body of Divinity, by Thomas Watson.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Augustine on Christmas

He, through whom time was made, was made in time;
and He, older by eternity that the world itself, was younger in age than many of His servants in the world;
He, who made man, was made man;
He was given existence by a mother whom He brought into existence;
He was carried in hands which He formed;
He nursed at breasts which He filled;
He cried like a babe in the manger in speechless infancy -- this Word without which human eloquence is speechless!

Sermon on Christmas, by Augustine of Hippo.

Again, not-puritan, but a great encouragement.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

The Lion

"Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again."

I know - not a puritan quote, but I just finished The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis.
Michael Lawrence from Capitol Hill Baptist Church is doing a sermon series on this - the first one is titled The True Lion. Download it here. He is also doing 2 more in the coming weeks: The Witch's End and This World's Wordrobe.