Dr. Ron Gleason and Reformation Day 2014

In the following video, taken at the Talbot School of Theology on the occassion of Reformation Day 2012, Dr. Ron Gleason (author of Herman Bavinck: Pastor, Churchman, Statesman, and Theologian) gives a good and solid lecture on the basic tenets that undergirded the Reformation.




However, what impressed me the most was what he said at the 7:15 mark:

"In 1980, the Lord called me to take the casket of my 4-month old son and put it into the ground as my last earthly duty as his father. And I recall going back to our home in the Netherlands, to a little village in Kampen, and literally just falling back on the bed and wiping the tears, and that verse came to my mind and I said, 'This, too, Lord?' And he said, 'Yes, this, too. This will mold you and shape you into a better person, a better Christian. This will conform you more to the image of Christ. You will be able to comfort others with the comfort with which I am going to comfort you.'"

I was reminded of an old post:

"John Calvin lost his wife and son.

John Owen had eleven children. All died in early youth, except one daughter.

Francis Turretin had four children. Only one survived." (Underdog Theology: Personal Tragedy to Apostasy, Oct. 29, 2012)

A Stark Christlike Contrast to Pat

Decide for yourselves which reaction to a wife having Alzheimer's is Christlike: Pat Robertson's advice: Pat Robertson: The Monster-Maker or the husband in the following clip:




Some very important Tim Keller quotes on marriage here.

Gospel Sobriety in Owen

In the work entitled, A Treatise of the Dominion of Sin and Grace, John Owen describes the antithesis as being in either of two possible dominions. The one who is in the dominion of sin, the person who has not been blessed with definitive sanctification, is the unbeliever. For this person, there has not occurred that epochal break with the rule of sin by virtue of faith-wrought union with Christ. The believer, while still at war with indwelling sin in progressive sanctification, has been liberated from sin's sovereignty.

The following quote is preceded by Owen's treatment of what it means for sin to have dominion in the mind. I am now on the part wherein he discusses the affections, and I found this snippet to be valuable:

"If we love any thing more than God, as we do if we will not part with it for his sake, be it as a right eye or as a right hand unto us; if we take more satisfaction and complacency in it, and cleave more unto it in our thoughts and minds than unto God, as men commonly do in their lusts, interests, enjoyments, and relations; if we trust more to it, as unto a supply of our wants, than unto God, as most do to the world; if our desires are enlarged and our diligence heightened in seeking after and attaining other things, more than towards the love and favour of God; if we fear the loss of other things or danger from them more than we fear God, -- we are not under the rule of God or his grace, but we are under the dominion of sin, which reigns in our affections...All the commands we have in the Scripture for self-searching, trial, and examination; all the rules that are given us unto that end; all the warnings we have of the deceitfulness of sin and of our own hearts, -- are given us to prevent this evil of shutting our eyes against the prevalent corruption and disorder of our affections." (The Essential Works Of John Owen)

The gravitas in Owen's words is hard to miss. The ascertaining of our right standing with God, of being not in the dominion of sin but of grace, does not appear to him as simply a matter of "getting used to our justification" but involves real hard and sacrificial work! While Owen is keen on highlighting the primacy of faith: "I call these latter evidences subordinate ones, and additional to that of faith, [and they are] of great use by way of establishment and confirmation unto believers, provided they be not abused to sole resting and reliance upon them, to the great prejudice of our life of faith: for we live by faith (so must all repenting sinners when they have attained to the highest pitch of holiness in this life), and not by sense, no, not even spiritual sense; it is a good handmaid to faith, but no good mistress to it.", it is a faith that is ever examining the heart so that its affections may solely be grounded on Christ.

I am always thankful for Owen's Gospel sobriety.

Anger and the Imitatio Dei

I think it would be correct to say that the vast majority of our expressions of sinful anger are due to perceived slights on self-constructed notions of our own honor, dignity, and worth. But what if this sense of self-honor is one that is borne out of a valuing of what the Word of God declares to be the sole ground of true honor—the imitation of God (Matt. 5:48)?

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

I propose that in order to overcome sinful anger (along with other sinful emotions), one must not consider a bare appeal to a set of abstract virtues as desirable in and of themselves (the first horn of the Euthyphro dilemma), but that the one who has God as the chief object of his desire longs for patience and self-control precisely because God Himself is slow to anger (Exodus 34:6).

In other words, just as my two sons (a 5-yr.-old and a 2-yr.-old) worship the ground that I walk on (in a manner of speaking), children of God should long for the family resemblance to become ingrained in their characters in ever-increasing measure, and thus manifested, because they are indeed sons of God through the benefit of adoption in Christ.

The ff. is from a great commentary on Proverbs—a book of Scripture that has a lot to say about anger(!):

Anger (15:18; 16:14; 19:11, 12, 19; 21:19; 25:23; 27:3– 4; 29:8, 22)

Proverbs overall advocates a temperate expression of emotion. We thus are not surprised that anger is identified as a destructive emotion when it is out of control.

Wrath is cruel, and anger is a flood, and who can stand up in the face of jealousy? (27: 4)

Anger destroys familial and community relationships. It is better to live in a desolate wilderness, for instance, than with an angry woman (21: 19). The wise will not only control this emotion in themselves but will also seek to minimize it in others. In terms of the latter, the king is specifically mentioned because his anger can cause the greatest harm:

The anger of a king is a messenger of death; the wise will appease it. (16: 14)

Appropriate Expression of Emotions (12:16; 14:29, 30; 16:32; 17:27; 19:11; 25:28; 29:11)

The wise person is coolheaded, the fool an impetuous hothead. In the same way that the wise are sparing in speech, so they are sparing in emotional expression. It is not that the wise are emotionless or that they don’t express anger or disappointment, but they do so in a way that is appropriate to the context. They don’t blow up in anger, though they may get angry. Moderate expressions of emotions allow the wise to think and strategize. Emotions don’t cloud their thinking. They are still able to navigate life. Another way to put this is that the wise are patient, whereas fools are impatient.

Patience brings much competence, but impatience promotes stupidity. (14: 29)

A patient person is better than a warrior, and those who control their emotions than those who can capture a city. (16: 32)

Those who hold back their speech know wisdom, and those who are coolheaded are people of understanding. (17: 27)

(Tremper Longman III, Proverbs [Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms], Appendix: Topical Studies)

Calling the Bluff on Anger

I almost figured in a road altercation this morning. I had just finished dropping my wife off to her usual shuttle service terminal, where she gets her ride to work, and was on my way home. I was about to make a left onto the main road that would take me home, having signaled my intention at the proper distance, when this car at the opposite lane suddenly shot up. I did make my left before this car could pass through, but not without having my ears blared at by an irate horn. In what I perceived was an injustice, I slowed my van just enough to give the offending car a look of taunting defiance. What I got in turn was the finger.

This incident taught me something about righteous indignation—I am often unable to discern the situations that call for it, and I often lack the good sense that makes one slow to anger, rendering me unfit for receiving the glory of the one who overlooks an offense (Proverbs 19:11).

Instead of having my temper blow up at my face when someone just as foolish calls my bluff, I must consider the One who never has the fear of meeting His match and yet prescribes patience, meekness, and longsuffering for His people because He Himself is the archetype of these virtues.

Perhaps, a deeper consideration of the decretive will of God would help me curb the anger that is often directed at mere trifles. The circumstances of life fall into their assigned places by design, and what haughty presumption would it be on my part to fume at instances wherein no explicit violation of God's prescriptive will is evident.

Indeed, be angry and sin not (Eph. 4:26), but this assumes an anger that is excited by infractions of God's revealed will, and even then the setting of the sun lays down the boundary beyond which even anger of the good kind has the potential of becoming bad.

With that said, I think easing off of metal music would do me good, too. LOL.

A good resource on anger by Ed Welch: The Madness of Anger

What's in a Name? Making the Epistemologically Sound Choice

A friend of mine directed me to this nice blog that suggests something I have long since held:

"My thesis is this: The naming of a child is one of the most important decisions you will make on behalf of your son or daughter, so be deliberate. Make an 'epistemologically self-conscious' choice. Be biblical. Consider your reasons and motivation for the name.

Make sure they are consistent with Scripture. Be prepared to carefully articulate your reasons to others. Consider also the message this name is sending to your child and the world with which he or she will spend the rest of his or her life interacting. When picking names, it is fine to consider sound, meter, popularity, ethnic background, meaning, association, and family history, but, in the final analysis, you should use his name to motivate your child and encourage him to persevere before the Lord. This means selecting names with the understanding that the day will come when you are prepared to give a meaningful, biblical explanation for the name of your child."

My eldest is named "SOPHIA DOMINIQUE," which I chose for its meaning of "divine wisdom"; my second, "JOSHUA DAVID," for its reference to the Lord Jesus Christ and my favorite Old Testament hero of the faith; lastly, my third, who will be seeing the light of day this September, I will be naming "CAUVIN PAUL," in reference to John Calvin and the Apostle Paul.

Somehow, I can't find any biblical significance for "WARREN WILFRED." LOL!

Simul Justus Et Peccator

"We are not either carnal Christians or spiritual Christians; rather, all Christians are simultaneously sinful and spiritual—not because of their 'surrender,' but because of Christ's. We are all in the same category, simply at different points along the way.

The message of the Reformation has been salve in the wounds of many, including this writer. I am not a Christian with great faith or with praiseworthy character, but a Christian who is confident that I share with every regenerate Christian 'every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ' (Eph. 1:3). I am simultaneously sinful and justified, as I am simultaneously at peace with God because of Christ's imputed righteousness, but at war with myself because of Christ's imparted righteousness. I am not a 'successful runner,' but I am 'looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of [my] faith' (Heb. 12:2). I trust and obey Christ (however feebly), and I know that I will continue trusting and obeying until the day I die—not because I have appropriated Christ, but because he has appropriated me."

— Dr. Michael S. Horton, Christ the Lord (The Reformation and Lordship Salvation), 33.

Beasley on Success

"How do you define success? Many people define success in terms of this world's possessions and positions. Unfortunately, many Christians have joined them in the materialistic 'rat race.' I, too, have been caught up in the same thing.

When I was a brand-new Christian over twenty-five years ago, I told God, 'Lord, you were smart to save old Beasley! I'm going to cut a wide swath for You in the real estate development business. And, I'm going to cut Your church in on a big share of the profits!' Who was I kidding? Certainly not God. I was in it for Beasley, using God as my 'ace in the hole' to assure my 'success' in the world.

God then proceeded to take me not to profitability but to deep indebtedness. It took over 20 years to get my financial head above water again. But I found success! 'Where?' some one asks. In the discipline of my heavenly Father.

Those who love the world system plow vainly ahead, seeking the treasures that the world has to offer. But I found out that what the world has it gives begrudgingly, if at all. And once you have its treasures, at least four things happen. First, the 'treasure' is never as good as you thought. Second, you become addicted, as a little treasure causes you to seek more and more. Third, you worry about losing what treasure you've achieved. Fourth, you realize that you can't take your treasure with you when you die. I call it the 'short view' of life.

God's view is the 'long view.' First, God's treasure is better than advertised. Second, it brings contentment. Third, God's treasure brings peace and assurance. Fourth, His treasure is eternal. You can take it with you! Seek God's treasure, and let Him define 'success' for you."

— Robert C. Beasley (graduate of Westminster Seminary California and church elder. Founder of COMPS InfoSystems, where he was CEO until he retired to devote more time to teaching and writing), The Commandments of Christ, ch. 8, pp. 95-96.

An Old Man and The Two Ages

The other day, as I was on my daily commute to work, an old man happened to sit on the aisle across mine in this jeepney that was among the many jeepneys that ride the route I usually take. His face was marked by deep furrows, he was bent, almost emaciated, and was coughing all throughout the trip. I was moved to pity. The undignity of the sight overcame me, and I thought to myself that this man, perhaps, is a husband, a father, and was once the pillar of his family; but in his present state, all sturdiness and notions of strength and dependability have all but faded. He reminded me of the harsh and grim realities of the present age and the glory and redemption of the one to come.

In the present age, every human being is subject to the winding down of the clock. Though modern culture exalts youth and the illusion of longevity in its many manifestations (even in so-called Christianity!), it is but the rebellious reaction of fallen man to the curse that he finds himself an heir to. Many huff and puff while in their prime, seemingly immortal, oblivious to the dirt and worm that await to reclaim their own.

But then I am taken to the child of God who has aged in the hope of the future age. He has not spent the meat of his days trying to curry the world's favor, with its symbols of youth, power, and prestige. He has not counted it as loss to be held in disesteem by his peers for his disinterest in their shallow pursuits, even those who supposedly are his siblings in the faith but worship at the altar of Mammon. No, this old man lived as though he was a pilgrim, making his way uneasily through this life of pain, disease, sin and temptation, looking forward to his true home, the abode of righteousness. He has lived his days in the reality of the glory that is the heritage of the saints, having sought to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through everything he has put his hands on, in honest, hard work, and in communion with other faithful pilgrims who share his passion for the things of God.

In a very real sense, the old man in Christ is possessed of a greater blessing than most of us who have yet to advance in years for he is almost there, ready to leave this present age to be with his Chief Desire. And though he may not look quite dissimilar from the man I saw in my commute, the old man of Christ and the old man of the world could not be any more different.

The Loneliness of Holiness

What a breath of fresh air it is when one's life experience is validated in the lives and words of the saints of old, who themselves know the different nuances of what it means to walk upon the narrow path of devotion and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

"The truly spiritual man is indeed something of an oddity. He lives not for himself but to promote the interests of Another. He seeks to persuade people to give all to his Lord and asks no portion or share for himself. He delights not to be honored but to see his Savior glorified in the eyes of men. His joy is to see his Lord promoted and himself neglcted. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens. He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces (see Psalm 45:8), and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. 'Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me' (Psalm 27:10). His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else. He learns in inner solitude what he could not have learned in the crowd—that Christ is All in all, that He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, that in Him we have and possess life's summum bonum."

- A.W. Tozer, The Radical Cross, ch. 6, p. 37

Schaeffer on Brotherly Love

"All men are our neighbors, and we are to love them as ourselves. We are to do this on the basis of creation, even if they are not redeemed, for all men have value because they are made in the image of God. Therefore they are to be loved even at great cost.

This is, of course, the whole point of Jesus' story of the good Samaritan: Because a man is a man, he is to be loved at all cost.

So, when Jesus gives the special command to love our Christian brothers, it does not negate the other command. The two are not antithetical. We are not to choose between loving all men as ourselves and loving the Christian in a special way. The two commands reinforce each other.

If Jesus has commanded so strongly that we love all men as our neighbors, then how important it is especially to love our fellow Christians. If we are told to love all men as our neighbors—as ourselves—then surely, when it comes to those with whom we have the special bonds as fellow Christians—having one Father through one Jesus Christ and being indwelt by one Spirit—we can understand how overwhelmingly important it is that all men be able to see an observable love for those with whom we have these special ties. Paul makes the double obligation clear in Galatians 6:10: 'As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.' He does not negate the command to do good to all men. But it is still not meaningless to add, 'especially unto them who are of the household of faith.' This dual goal should be our Christian mentality, the set of our minds; we should be consciously thinking about it and what it means in our one-moment-at-a-time lives. It should be the attitude that governs our outward observable actions."

- Francis Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster, 157-58

Identity and Imputation

The Christian's self-concept is fragmented and in disarray up until a laying hold of the righteousness of Christ ensues.

The Man in the Mirror by Patrick M. Morley

Finally, I come across a book dealing with almost all of the male issues that have weighed heavily upon me—and I'm sure on all men wanting to make their lives count—appreciating especially its able treatment of the issue of which race to run: the rat race or God's race.

I'm not done with the book yet, but R.C. Sproul loved it!

Here's a snippet from the book where it defines "cultural Christianity", contrasting it with "Biblical Christianity":

"Cultural Christianity means to pursue the God we want instead of the God who is. It is the tendency to be shallow in our understanding of God, wanting Him to be more of a gentle grandfather type who spoils us and lets us have our own way. It is sensing a need for God, but on our own terms. It is wanting the God we have underlined in our Bibles without wanting the rest of Him, too. It is God relative instead of God absolute." (emphasis mine) - Patrick M. Morley, The Man in the Mirror, ch. 3, p. 49

And did I mention that R.C. Sproul wrote the foreword to it?!!

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord—Woe is Me!

Isaiah 6 cuts to the quick! Just for the life we lived today, you and I can fittingly cry "Woe is me!", for its incongruity to God's holiness and our professed Christianity. We miss the mark time and time again and we mourn. We cry out to God and ask for more of His holiness to be who and what we are, not just positionally, but in true substance and character. And so we will never cease to worship Him for all eternity for that is precisely what He has accomplished in Christ, and that is make a way for us to be partakers of His holiness, His beauty, and His character.

Self-Control: The Lifeblood of Virtue

"Self-control...is the exercise of godly restraint upon our human appetites and passions.This quality is practically the lifeblood of virtue itself—so that a person of true character is most easily distinguished by his or her extraordinary self-control. In the development of Christlike character qualities, here is a trait to which we ought to give a significant amount of energy and attention."

- John MacArthur, The Quest for Character, ch. 25, p. 104–105

To be Meek is NOT to be Weak

This hour-long sermon by Pastor Mark Kielar really ministered to me. His fresh insight on the blessedness of meekness, and how it is founded on the prior blessedness of brokenness and mourning, reinforced these concepts on humility that have long been brewing inside my soul.

I hope the sermon does for you what it did for me, and that is solidify the centrality of humility in the head, heart, and hands.




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Humility Before Honor

Indeed, God desires to bless His children. In fact, not just His children for "...he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Mat 5:45). It is in God's unalterable nature to be gracious. So gracious is He that He "spared not his own Son, but delivered him up, for us all, how then shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Rom 8:32). "All things", however, has taken on a new meaning for most Christians. It has now mutated into the acquisition of the world's symbols of success, of being lauded by others as a person of power and influence, of living a hardship-free existence. This is not what God's blessing must mean to a blood-bought child of God. In fact, we are promised tribulation by none other than our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. But He doesn't leave us in that predicament. He gave His Word, the Word that fashioned worlds, that in Him we can overcome the pain, disappointments, heartaches, and sufferings that must inevitably befall His disciples. Let us hearken to His words: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (Joh 16:33)

One of the things that stick so tenaciously to even a Christian is the need for honor. We want to be the head of the pack. We want to be "the man". We want to be the one who "gets things done". There is all the biblical support for being the best that we can be in everything we put our hands to, but this is quite different from that virulent scourge of pride that often ravages our souls and leaves us as either demigods or burned-out vagabonds. What is the way out of this? In light of the biblical warning that "pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Pro 16:18), how do we overcome pride in our souls? The same way all enemies of our souls are overcome: THROUGH CHRIST.

If we have based our self-worth, our hopes, our dreams--our future--on CHRIST, pride must naturally fade away. We are given the injunction to "be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." (1Pe 5:5) What could be a more daunting prospect than to have God resist you--to have Him resist your proud flauntings by a withholding of His grace? But then, what could be a greater source of joy and power than to be assured of a continuous supply of this grace--the grace that feeds you, clothes you, places you within a loving family, gives you the physical and mental strength to hold a job--the grace that saved you from your former wretched life?

The lower you go, the more real His grace becomes! It truly is AMAZING!

The Winner's Choice

Psa 34:18
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Psa 34:19
Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

A Christian does his soul well if he would accept that troubles are the norm and not the exception. Yet there is a way to make the seasons in the valley seasons of joy.

Psa 84:5
Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.

Psa 84:6
Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.

Psa 84:7
They go from strength, to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

Joy in times of adversity is sustained by virtue of the grounding on which one's hopes are based. Hoping in God is not a downgrading of one's life vision, as what the world system and the Enemy would have you believe, as if it is the last alternative of the loser in his many attempts at fulfillment using methods that should've worked for a man made of nobler stuff. On the contrary, it is the response of the man who has weighed the alternatives and found them pathetic and wanting and has discovered for himself a pearl of great price, the value of which renders the options worthless as chaff.

Upon this solid rock of hope, the Christian finds even in the most arid of deserts, where there is loneliness, disappointment, and death, springs of comfort and delight issuing forth from the promise of God to deliver and transform. The valleys of God make men--men of joy, hope, and the power of a Christlike nature.

Cool Enough to be Uncool

I don't know if it's still the buzzword among the younger ones but, back in the day, being "cool" was what it was all about. "Cool" could mean you were conforming to the latest fad and fashion or going against it in a screaming way, brandishing unconformity in the choice of wardrobe, music and overall personal style. It was a crazy word. Everyone wanted to be "cool" and yet it was a hazy concept, with one being "cool" one day and horribly "out-of-style" the next.

Simply put, the corrupt, anti-God world system wants its denizens adopting certain mindsets, beliefs and philosophies which, naturally, must translate to behavior. It wants people flaunting their independence. To be "cool", you had to be independent; you had to put forth evidence of this independence, this self-sufficiency, this I-am-the-captain-of-my-ship principle in how you conducted yourself in every area of life. Sporting designer and branded anything meant that you were made, or rebelling against the establishment signified strength and a tough core. Of course, no one can maintain this charade for long and many end up crushed under the weight of this mindless and stupid burden.

The Christian young person does not need to aim for the world's standard of "coolness". For one thing, independence is a myth. Not a single human being is independent of God, regardless of how one may think that not to be the case. When a person sleeps at night, he lays himself at the mercy of the God who sustains life, unwittingly hoping that he wakes up the next day with the breath of life still in him. In every sphere of existence, the creature is dependent upon the Creator.

I offer this challenge to not just the new generation but to everyone who names the Name of Christ: DEPEND ON GOD WITH ALL YOUR BEING. Risk being called "uncool" by those you perceive as mattering in your life if this means glorifying Christ. Do you crave being called a "winner"? A winner at what? At having your own way in every decision of life and amassing symbols of power? Why not rather be spat upon and labelled a "loser"? Was not your Lord treated in the same way? Would you claim Him as Lord and yet shun the kind of life He lived? Would you desire eternal life without carrying your cross?

Be as an utterly helpless child at the feet of God--NOTHING IS COOLER THAN THAT!

Why We Need the Puritans

Why We Need the Puritans
by Dr. J. I. Packer

1
Horse Racing is said to be the sport of kings. The sport of slinging mud has, however, a wider following. Pillorying the Puritans, in particular, has long been a popular pastime both sides of the Atlantic, and most people's image of Puritanism still has on it much disfiguring dirt that needs to be scraped off.

'Puritan' as a name was, in fact, mud from the start. Coined in the early 1560's, it was always a satirical smear word implying peevishness, censoriousness, conceit, and a measure of hypocrisy, over and above its basic implication of religiously motivated discontent with what was seen as Elizabeth's Laodicean and compromising Church of England. Later, the word gained the further, political connotation of being against the Stuart monarchy and for some sort of republicanism; its primary reference, however, was still to what was seen as an odd, furious, and ugly form of Protestant religion.

In England, anti-Puritan feeling was let loose at the time of the Restoration and has flowed freely ever since. In North America it built up slowly after the days of Jonathan Edwards to reach its zenith a hundred years ago in post-Puritan New England. For the past half-century, however, scholars have been meticulously wiping away the mud, and as Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel have unfamiliar colours today now that restorers have removed the dark varnish, so the conventional image of the Puritans has been radically revamped, at least for those in the know. (Knowledge, alas, travels slowly in some quarters.) Taught by Perry Miller, William Haller, Marshall Knappen, Percy Scholes, Edmund Morgan, and a host of more recent researchers, informed folk now acknowledge that the typical Puritans were not wild men, fierce and freaky, religious fanatics and social extremists, but sober, conscientious, and cultured citizens: persons of principle, devoted, determined, and disciplined, excelling in the domestic virtues, and with no obvious shortcomings save a tendency to run to works when saying anything important, whether to God or to man. At last the record has been put straight.