This week, one of my son's friends posted this greeting on his Facebook page:

"Have a Felicitous Birthday!"

"Felicitous" is not a word we hear used very often in this day and age... but as I read that, I was reminded me of some words from Susanna Anthony's (1726-1791) diary.

June, 1752. O my God, my gracious God, is it so? My soul, my immortal soul, is it as I have this day heard? Are believers thus nearly united to Christ? Is it a vital, spiritual, indissoluble union; "I in them, and they in me?" My faith was even ready to stagger at this, as to my own part. I can hold it, in a general view of it; but when it is set out in such lively terms; the inestimable privileges resulting therefrom, and the surprising heights and depths of the condescending grace of God, to take worms of the dust thus near to his infinite Majesty, I am ready to say, all my hopes are vain ! It can never be so as to me. I can never be thus united to the great God-Man-Mediator, and derive so more life from him! Can l be thus closely united to an infinite Being, and yet feel so little strength and grace? Can I be united to the pure and holy God. and yet be thus unholy? Can l be in him, in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead, as the branches are in the vine, and bear so little fruit? O, methinks it is impossible! And yet in this is all my confidence, delight, desire and expectation. This makes life supportable and death desirable.

   O my Lord and head, am I thus united to thee: thou in me, and I in thee! I could never have dared to claim such a union with the Most High, hadst thou not revealed it. O happy privilege! the only desire or joy of my soul. The highest felicity of a rational being, as it is the foundation, whence flows all the happiness I enjoy, expect, or desire. O blessed union ! O dear privilege! All that is worthy the wish of a rational creature. Why was I born to he made thus happy? O blessed, for ever blessed be God, that I have a being among rational creatures, for this end! That I should be raised to this honor and dignity of being so nearly allied to the great, eternal, infinite God. Here be all my future contemplation and joy. Here be all my sense of pleasure. Here be all my sweet repose, and all my rest. Here be all the confidence of my soul; its only centre, and fixed abode. Here let me lose all the relish of creature delights: and with these, here let me lose concern to please a vain world. Let them think me mean, sordid, low-lived, and having no taste for refined pleasures: while my whole soul is divinely ravished, with the infinite glories of thy nature, and the felicity of being so nearly united to Jesus the dear Mediator, it is enough.
 
   Lord, here I would delight to dwell. It is long since I have voluntarily chosen to lay up all my good in thee. And I have never willingly retracted. Though, alas! I have too, too often seemed so to do; yet, O my God, my desire has been to thee, and to the remembrance of thy name. I trust my heart has never even secretly drawn back from its first choice of thee; but has a thousand, and ten thousand times renewed its first solemn engagements to be thine. And, if a hearty consent to the terms of the gospel, and a daily desire after, and delight in Christ, and after conformity to him, be an evidence of my union to him, l will still hope. Notwithstanding all my yet unallowed weakness, barrenness and sin, I am united to this God by faith; and shall be brought to glory. Here, O my soul, take thy shield, thy faith and confidence. Be fixed, and be no more afraid. Here rejoice and triumph. If indeed united to the great Redeemer, thou art happy, and shall be so, though heaven and earth pass away. As long as the eternal God is thy refuge, nothing but sin shall hurt thee. And that shall not have dominion over thee. O my only desirable refuge, save me from every inclination to sin.

~ Source: "The Life and Character of Miss Susanna Anthony. Who Died, in Newport, (R I.) June 23, 1791, in the 65th year of her age. Consisting Chiefly in Extracts from Her Writings, with Some Brief Observations on Them." Complied by Samuel Hopkins, Second Edition. (Portland, Maine: Lyman, Hall & Co. 1810), 96-98. (Underlining mine.) / HT for the text: http://books.google.com/books?output=text&id=YO0QAAAAYAAJ&jtp=9.

I bring Miss Anthony's words to you today because I long for you and I plead with you to seek to enter into and share in that highest felicity, to prove by experience the doctrine David wrote and sung of in the Psalms:

... Happy is that people, whose God is the LORD (Psalm 144:15b).

and . . .

Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple (Psalm 65:4).

and . . .

The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage... Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Psalm 16:6, 11).

• Do words such as these characterize your daily Christian life (your actions and attitudes)?

happy, blessed, satisfied, goodness, pleasantness, goodly, life, fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore?

• Do you count knowing Christ . . .

... as a dear, happy, and inestimable privilege?

... the only desire of your soul?

.... your highest felicity?

Blogging "for your progress and joy of faith"

What a great joy it would be for me to see you walking in the truth, so I might be able to exult along with the apostle John:

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth!

There are several reasons why I blog, but one of those is "for your progress and joy of faith" (Philippians 1:25, ESV). Can anyone say we are making any genuine progress at all in our Christian pilgrimage if our lives are, for all intents and purposes, devoid of joy, and if our faith that does not increase in an experiential (or experimental) knowledge of that highest felicity which Susanna Anthony had begun to know and which David described? Jesus Himself told us that He came that we might have life and life more abundantly, that our joy might be full, and that streams of living water might flow out of our hearts as we come to Him and drink!

In times of persecution and trial, the early Church rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory (I Peter 1). The believers in Acts 5 rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ's name, and in Hebrews 10 we read that the believers rejoiced in God when their goods were plundered! In writing from prison, the apostle Paul charged us to rejoice in the Lord always. Always!

Turn to Acts 8, and notice how the early Church behaved as she was scattered during persecution. These believers did NOT cry out and whine with a grumbling and complaining spirit, "Woe are we! Why us?" and engage in a fleshly, self-absorbed pity-party –– but rather they responded in the Spirit:

"Woe are those souls who don't know Christ! And woe are we if we don't preach the Good News of Great Joy, the only way to this Highest Felicity to all the peoples –– no matter where God in His providence may send us! This is a God-ordained opportunity for testimony! Blessed are we who have been sent to this place to declare His glory even here, among the Samaritans, for we know God has a plan to gather a people for Himself out of all the peoples of the world for the sake of His name! O! that Almighty God might use our witness here to pluck more souls from the fire, just as we were plucked out by His grace! How will these souls call on Him, how will they believe on Him unless we testify of Him who is our exceeding Joy?"

–– And so we find the saints in Acts 8 "scattered abroad" going "every where preaching the word..." with the result being this: "great joy in the city." This type of life of rejoicing is a part of what Martyn Lloyd-Jones called "the great and glorious possibilities of the Christian life." But O! how we have dumbed down those great and glorious possibilities and limited the Holy One of Israel –– and we have settled for earthly husks and fleeting shadows! How puny our expectations! Truly we are living in a day of small things because we are living in a day of small and diminished expectations! O! that our God might give us clearer views of Himself that our expectations might be heightened and made great, informed rightly by the Scripture!

• How do you respond in times of trial and stress and disappointment? Have you known the supernatural joy of the Lord bubbling up from within and flowing out through the operation of the Holy Spirit sustaining you and imparting to you Habakkuk 3 joy?

Getting into the temple!

Having read Miss Anthony's diary, the Rev. Edward Dorr Griffin (1770-1837) became convicted of the profound deficiency in his own spiritual pilgrimage. Here was his response:

Wednesday, Oct. 4 [1797]. In consequence of reading the prayers of Miss Anthony, and discovering her intense desire to obtain more clear and transforming views of God, I have been led to reflect on the great difference between her prayers and mine. I have been, for the most part, asking for particular exercises of divine power, to produce effects in regard to me, my friends, my people, and Zion at large. And in prayer my mind has been more on the desired effects, than on that fulness and glorious sufficiency of wisdom, power, goodness, majesty, condescension, patience, faithfulness and truth, which there is in God. Thus I have stopped at the threshold, without getting into the temple. Had I in prayer been more intent to gaze into God, and had I exercised myself more in adoration and praise, I believe my acquaintance with God would have been vastly greater, and my mind more transformed into his likeness. Let it in future be the burden of my prayer, "Lord, show me thy glory."

~ Source: "Memoir of the Rev. Edward D. Griffin, D.D., Compiled Chiefly from His Own Writings" by Edward D. Griffin & William Buell Sprague (New York: Taylor & Dodd, 1839), reprinted in 1987 by Banner of Truth Trust, 30. HT for the text: http://books.google.com/books?id=JbAEAAAAYAAJ).

In short, if you are Christ's, I want you to get into the temple –– for that is our inheritance as children of God! The veil to the Most Holy Place has been torn from top to bottom! The way has been opened through the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! Through Him we have access! I want each and every day for each and every one of you who are Christ's to be a felicitous day! I don't want you to stop at the threshold without getting into the temple!

And for you who may have doubts about this "Christian hedonism," know this:  our fervent pursuit of joy in Christ isn't merely for our own spiritual well-being... How can we really expect to be vibrant ambassadors of Jesus Christ taking the good news of great joy (highest felicity!) to all the nations, if we have not begun to experience and know for ourselves that highest felicity! How can we invite others to the Lord's banqueting house if we've never sat down in His shade with great delight, if we've never supped with our first Love to know His fruit sweet to our taste, if we've never been sustained and refreshed by His Holy Spirit, if we've never known His banner over us to be love by the Spirit's inner witness, if we've never known the felt comfort and strong assurance of His left hand supporting our head and His right hand embracing us, if we've never known God's lovingkindness to be better than wine, better than life? (See Song of Solomon 2:3-6). How can we with any integrity exhort the nations to sing to the LORD a new song if we have no new song to sing ourselves?

Our pastor has been preaching through the book of Colossians, and I jotted down the following question in my bulletin this past Sunday morning:

"What does it REALLY mean to be a 'partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light'?"
(see Colossians 1:12, NKJV)

I think you'd have to agree with me that Miss Anthony and King David show us what it REALLY means to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in the light... But, sad to say, too many of us look around at the average 21st century Christian (or even the unbelieving world!), and we're tempted to think we're doing pretty well, aren't we? That's why in addition to exhorting you to read the Bible, I continue to encourage you to read good Christian biography!

• Have you begun to enter into and enjoy that inheritance of which King David and Susanna Anthony partook? If not, would you pray for God to give you a clearer vision of Christ and a greater understanding of the inheritance that is yours as a blood-bought child of God?

"NOT nice little moral or psychological pep talks" ... but "laboring to placard God"

In his biographical message on Jonathan Edwards, "The Pastor as Theologian," John Piper said:

"What our people need is not nice little moral or psychological pep talks about how to get along in the world. Most of our people have no one, have no one, who is laboring to placard God before their eyes. And so many them are starved, and they don't know why they're starved. They don't know what to ask for. They interview pastors for their churches and they don't know what questions to ask even. They don't know what's missing in their souls by and large. They need the infinite God, the God-entranced vision of Jonathan Edwards."

"They are like people who have grown up in a room with an 8-foot flat white plaster ceiling and no windows. They have never seen the broad blue sky, or the sun blazing in midday glory, or the million stars of a clear country night or some trillion-ton mountain. And so they can't explain the sense of littleness and triviality and pettiness and insignificance in their souls. But it's because there is no grandeur. What our people need is the God-entranced vision of reality that Jonathan Edwards saw."

~ Source: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/biographies/the-pastor-as-theologian. The first quote is from the audio recording, the second from the written transcript.

Dr. Piper was addressing a group of pastors at the 1988 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors. I'm not a pastor, but know this:  I am not blogging here to give you nice little moral or psychological pep talks! Just over three years ago in this post, I wrote:

I consider my writing here a stewardship for which I will be held to account one day. I'm a steward of God's Word...all His Word...nothing held back, no sugar coating...no shrinking back...

I'm no Piper, and I'm no Edwards –– but I have the same heavenly Father, and the same Savior –– I've been bought with the same precious blood, and adopted into the same family of God, and have been given the gift of the same Holy Spirit –– and so I pray God would be pleased to honor and to use my efforts here to placard God before your eyes, that His Heavenly Dove might descend with fire upon those words I write which are true to Scripture, and infuse them in such a way that that the Breath of God might blow and shatter into smithereens that white plaster ceiling that blinds you to the all-surpassing Beauty and Glory and Goodness and Majesty of Christ –– to tear down and demolish any misunderstandings and misconceptions you have about Jesus Christ and the life and the inheritance He died and rose again to give you, so you might come to understand that God's prospering you means nothing less than God granting you the grace to call upon Him, to go to Him, and to pray to Him –– that you might seek Him and find Him as your all-surpassing and all-satisfying treasure as you search for Him with all your heart –– in other words, that God's prospering His people today in the 21st century means exactly the same thing that the LORD said to His people in Jeremiah 29, over 2,500 years ago:

11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

I am praying that you would see that your soul's highest and greatest and happiest and most felicitous good is for you to draw near to God through Jesus Christ, and to know Him, and then, having known Him, pressing on to know Him more and more! That is the truest and highest and purest and choicest prosperity we can know! Remember that Jesus Christ was punished and died in our place to bring us back to God! I pray that God might grant you freedom from bondage to man-centered and self-absorbed notions of Christianity, and set you free as He opens your eyes to a truer, clearer, grander, higher, richer, and loftier spiritual sight of Him, so you might no longer trudge and plod along day after day undernourished and emaciated, but begin to recognize your soul's hunger and thirst, and hasten to run to Jesus Christ and eat and drink of Him, so you might be satisfied and happy with Him, and be filled with all the fulness of God! And then, having tasted and seen that highest felicity, hasten to run to all the ends of the earth with the good tidings of great felicity for all peoples! Know this:  Puddleglum Christianity will NOT turn the world upside-down!

May God send out His light and His truth:  that they might lead you to that highest felicity ~ unto His holy hill, and to His tabernacles. That you might go unto the altar of God, unto God your exceeding joy:  yea, upon the harp may you praise Him, O God my God, O God your God, among all the nations for the sake of His name! (~ Psalm 43:3-4, adapted).

For your joy and for His glory,
Karen

---

Related posts:

more on Susanna Anthony:

consider ... our ways, the great cloud of witnesses, Susanna Anthony,
"... since thou hast been thus gracious ..." ~ Susanna Anthony and grace upon grace

more on blogging:

Why I blog and the only kind of recommendation I should seek
Why I write and minister - My credo for being a godly encourager
dedication 2010 (reflections on God's Word & God's grace) ~ no sugar coating...
blogging to build up the ruined Church of God / expository exultation
Here I stand & from here I cast (devoted to prayer & the ministry of the Word)
five years ago ~ for your joy (AND an inheritance | Richard Sibbes & the Sealing of the Spirit)
year end reflections, # 1: "end of the year ... in the midst of heartache" | Letter 97 on joy

please see my series of posts on assurance & fighting for joy HERE

other related posts:

The Christian should not just believe the truth, and know it..." | the Father's assurance
happiness & joy: the distinction that SHOULD be made | letter 155 on assurance & fighting for joy
the 6th sola: "The Price of salvation is the Prize of salvation" ~ John Piper
Lenten Reflections: Why did Jesus die? ACCESS! | Letter 140 on assurance & fighting for joy
"I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word)"
don't waste your new year ~ teach us, satisfy us, make us glad (Psalm 90:12-15)
The Father's Inheritance (Eleven days' journey ~ A lamentation & an exhortation)
Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
Advent # 9 WHY HAS JESUS COME? Adoption: the highest privilege the gospel offers ~ J.I. Packer
Mistakes about Religion & What Religion Is ~ Henry Scougal
"The duties of religion are delightful" ~ the fruit of "The Life of God in the Soul of Man"
What is a nominal Christian?
Phebe Bartlet – a child put in our midst ~ "Do you love Me?"
year end reflections, # 2: rejoicing in "The Often Unwanted but Necessary Gift" | Letter 98 on joy ~ more on Jeremiah 29:11-13

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. / Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. / Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

* Please see the ADDENDUM I've added below. ~ 2.27.2013 *

This past weekend, my husband and I took a little getaway. I loaded my backpack with a few books, one of which includes a reprint of Jonathan Edwards' "An Humble Attempt..." ¹

The full title of Edwards' work is more than a mouthful! . . .

I'd already read through the book last year, and I've dabbled in it since, but I took it along with me since I've been wanting to reread it...

A little background...

Jonathan Edwards wrote and published "An Humble Attempt" in 1748 as an expansion of a sermon he had originally preached to his congregation in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1747. Edwards' spirit had been stirred up to this good work through a holy exhortation and godly challenge which came to him from across the Atlantic, in both word and deed: through the written text drawn up by several ministers in Scotland in "A memorial from several ministers in Scotland, to their brethren in different places, for continuing a Concert for Prayer, first entered into in the year 1744" (the full text of which Edwards included in "An Humble Attempt" ² ), as well as through the vibrant example of several societies and concerts of prayer for revival which had sprung up in Scotland beginning in the early 1740's.

Initially Edwards' "An Humble Attempt" had little impact, but several decades later, it began to bear much fruit among the Calvinistic Baptists in England. The Scottish minister, John Erskine, had corresponded with Edwards during his lifetime, and in 1784, he sent John Ryland Jr. a copy of Edwards' "An Humble Attempt." God's Providence had brought Ryland Jr. into geographic proximity as well as spiritual kinship with Andrew Fuller and John Sutcliff (as well as William Carey) in the East Midlands. Ryland Jr. passed along Edwards' "Humble Attempt" to Fuller and Sutcliff, and a fire was kindled. Both Fuller and Sufcliff were already familiar with Edwards; Edwards' writings had served to inform, shape and reform their theology, moving them from a high (hyper) Calvinism to Biblical, evangelical Calvinism.

In response to reading Edwards' "An Humble Attempt," a similar call to prayer for revival now rang out loudly in England: "The Prayer Call of 1784," which, according to Michael A.G. Haykin, was most likely penned by Sutcliff himself. Soon afterwards, societies of prayer for revival arose, old churches were revitalized, new members were welcomed in through conversion, many new churches were planted, and in 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was formed and along with it, the advent of the modern missionary movement, with William Carey and others sailing off to India the following year to fulfill Jesus' great commission to preach the Gospel to every creature, to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in His name to all nations and fulfill God's covenant promises to Abraham: that through Abraham, in his seed (in Christ), all the families of earth would indeed be blessed to the praise, honor, and glory of God!

In 1789, Sutcliff republished Edwards' "An Humble Attempt." In the Preface, Sutcliff expressed his heart's desire to see the Body of Christ raised up in united, extraordinary prayer for revival, so God might pour out of His Holy Spirit in Pentecostal power as He did in the book of Acts.

O for thousands upon thousands, divided into small bands in their respective cities, towns, villages, and neighbourhood, all met at the same time, and in pursuit of one end, offering up their united prayers, like so many ascending clouds of incense before the Most High!—May he shower down blessings on all the scattered tribes of Zion! Grace, great grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity! Amen!

As I re-read those words this past weekend, over two hundred years after Sutcliff wrote them, my heart broke and ached...

O! for thousands upon thousands ... offering up their united prayers, like so many ascending clouds of incense before the Most High! Where are the intercessors after Christ's own heart, quickened by the resurrection life of the Christ who Himself is seated at the right hand of Majesty where He ever lives to intercede for His Church? Where are the watchmen on the walls breathing forth prayers day and night for God's Church to be a praise in the earth, even as the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, unceasingly intercedes for us?

After that, I went back and read once again these words of Sutcliff from earlier in the Preface, and my heart broke further and my heart ached more intently (emphasis mine):

If any inquire why the ensuing work is re-published, I would beg leave to lay before them the following intelligence.

At an association of the ministers and messengers of the Baptist Churches in the counties of Northampton, Leicester, &c. held at Nottingham, in the year 1784, a resolution was termed to establish through the association, a meeting of prayer for the general revival and spread of religion. This was to be observed the first Monday evening in every calendar month, by all the churches. It still continues.—In 1786, another Baptist association commonly called the Midland, held that year at Aulcester, in the county of Warwick, entered into the same resolution. Many other churches, particularly in Yorkshire, have adopted, and now follow, the above practice. We have the pleasure also to find, that several Pædobaptist churches statedly meet on those evenings for the same purpose.

The re-publication of the following work is with the avowed design of promoting the above agreement and practice. Those concerned in its first institution, never intended it should be confined to any peculiar connexion, or particular denomination. Rather they ardently wished it might become general among the real friends of truth and holiness. The advocates of error are indefatigable in their endeavours to overthrow the distinguishing and interesting doctrine of Christianity; those doctrines which are the grounds of our hope, and sources of our joy. Surely it becomes the followers of Christ, to use every effort, in order to strengthen the things which remain...

In the present imperfect state, we may reasonably expect a diversity of sentiments upon religious matters. Each ought to think for himself; and every one has a right, on proper occasions, to show his opinion. Yet all should remember, that there are but two parties in the world, each engaged in opposite causes; the cause of God and of Satan; of holiness and sin; of heaven and hell. The advancement of the one, and the downfall of the other, must appear exceedingly desirable to every real friend of God and man. If such in some respects entertain different sentiments, and practise distinguishing modes of worship, surely they may unite in the above business.

Though firmly settled in his Calvinist Baptist beliefs, John Sutcliff had the strong desire for all the children of God to be gathered together with one heart and one mind to pray in one accord for the reviving of God's one Church. And that's the same desire God has been working in me over the past few years.

When I look out at the Church today, my heart weeps like Jesus' heart did over Jerusalem. And when I hear good-meaning, orthodox Christians use the word "strategies" my heart cringes within me. Don't get me wrong, it's not that we shouldn't strategize. Buy my question and my concern is this:  Where is the strategy the 120 members of the early church used in Acts 1 and 2? My heart cries with Sutcliff: "O! for thousands upon thousands!" Where is the burning heart of prayer that filled Edwards and Sutcliff and the rest of these men, the zealous intercessions ushered in great movements of reformation and revival and missionary zeal? Where is the midnight, unceasing asking, seeking and knocking for God to rend the heavens and come down? Where is the call to continuing devotion to prayer and to the ministry of the Word that we find in Acts 6?

And when I look back at the Biblical narrative and throughout Church history at God's mighty power and wondrous works in reviving His people time and time again, my heart aches that our God might once again show us grace in the wilderness, that He might awake and arise and appear to us for the sake of His name! O! We are living so very far below what He has intended for us! Have we forgotten that we serve a living Savior! Have we forgotten that He is risen from the dead and He is Lord!? Have we forgotten that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit? Have we forgotten that without Him we can do nothing? O! That our God might pour out upon us His Spirit of grace and supplications! O! That we might follow the example of David, and have our eyes opened to see that the fleshly armor we have been using is no match at all for the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged!

O! That we might put off all of our futile, fleshly ways, and seek the Lord, seek His face, and seek His strength in unceasing, importunate, fervent prayer day and night!

II Corinthians 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
4  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds...

Do we not understand our God is the God who does wonders?
Do we not understand that our God is the true God, a great and everlasting King over all the earth?

* * *

The "resolution" to which Sutcliff referred was the "Prayer Call of 1784," and in it, we find his catholic sentiment and spirit overflowing (emphasis mine):

Upon a motion being made to the ministers and messengers of the associate Baptist churches assembled at Nottingham, respecting meetings for prayer, to bewail the low estate of religion, and earnestly implore a revival of our churches, and of the general cause of our Redeemer, and for that end to wrestle with God for the effusion of his Holy Spirit, which alone can produce the blessed effect, it was unanimously RESOLVED, to recommend to all our churches and congregations, the spending of one hour in this important exercise, on the first Monday in every calendar month.

We hereby solemnly exhort all the churches in our connection, to engage heartily and perseveringly in the prosecution of this plan. And as it may be well to endeavour to keep the same hour, as a token of our unity herein, it is supposed the following scheme may suit many congregations, viz. to meet on the first Monday evening in May, June, and July, from 8 to 9. In August from 7-8. Sept. and Oct. from 6 to 7. Dec. Jan. and Feb. from 5 to 6. March, from 6 to 7; and April, from 7 to 8. Nevertheless if this hour, or even the particular evening, should not suit in particular places, we wish our brethren to fix on one more convenient to themselves.

We hope also, that as many of our brethren who live at a distance from our places of worship may not be able to attend there, that as many as are conveniently situated in a village or neighbourhood, will unite in small societies at the same time. And if any single individual should be so situated as not to be able to attend to this duty in society with others, let him retire at the appointed hour, to unite the breath of prayer in private with those who are thus engaged in a more public manner.

The grand object of prayer is to be that the Holy Spirit may be poured down on our ministers and churches, that sinners may be converted, the saints edified, the interest of religion revived, and the name of God glorified. At the same time, remember, we trust you will not confine your requests to your own societies (i.e. churches); or to your own immediate connection (i.e. denomination); let the whole interest of the Redeemer be affectionately remembered, and the spread of the gospel to the most distant parts of the habitable globe be the object of your most fervent requests. We shall rejoice if any other Christian societies of our own or other denominations will unite with us, and do now invite them most cordially to join heart and hand in the attempt.

Who can tell what the consequences of such an united effort in prayer may be! Let us plead with God the many gracious promises of His Word, which relate to the future success of His gospel. He has said, "I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them, I will increase them with men like a flock." Ezek. xxxvi37. Surely we have love enough for Zion to set apart one hour at a time, twelve times in a year, to seek her welfare.

I know I can sometimes become quickly frustrated and flustered and irritated and distracted by those who disagree with me on Calvinistic doctrine. In a recent post, "Will it not, in the end, destroy brotherly love..." ~ Whitefield | welcome one another, I wrote about "an interesting tension in my soul" over these matters, and in fact, I had found that tension increasing to the point where it was in danger of overwhelming me and drying up my soul. But thanks be to God, in the past few days, God's Spirit sent His refreshing rain upon me, and stirred me up to remind me how deeply I long (and He longs) to see such explicit agreement and visible union of God's people in extraordinary prayer, for the revival of religion and the advancement of Christ's Kingdom on earth.

Therefore, as God's Spirit permits me and equips me, along with Edwards and along with Sutcliff, I humbly desire to attempt to promote explicit agreement and visible union of God's people, be they Calvinistic or Arminian, in extraordinary prayer, for the revival of religion and the advancement of Christ's Kingdom on earth. And along with Sutcliff, I will greatly "rejoice if any other Christian societies of [my] own or other denominations will unite with [me], and do now invite them most cordially to join heart and hand in the attempt."

As I further reflected on Sutcliff's words, Caiphas' prophecy in John 11 was brought to mind:

49  But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50  Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

51  He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52  and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

The Lord Jesus Christ did indeed die to gather into one all the children of God who are scattered abroad –– to bring all of us back to God –– both Jew and Gentile, both male and female, both young and old, both Arminian and Calvinist, etc., etc.

I Peter 3:18  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit...

The apostle Paul reminds us of the unity, oneness and fellowship believers share with Christ and with one another:

Ephesians 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15  by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17  And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.

18  For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

19  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21  in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22  In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Having been brought near by the blood of Christ, yes, we do have peace, and yes, we do have access –– but, my brothers and sisters, let's not become short-sighted, self-absorbed, ingrown, apathetic, and indifferent, and forget that one blessed responsibility of that access is that we are called to pray for more and more souls to be gathered in, so along with us, they too might enjoy that blessed union, fellowship with, and access to God the Father through Jesus Christ in one Spirit! That is part of God's design for us as He builds His Church :–– In His mysterious and marvelous workings, God builds His Church through the prayers of saved sinners like us. Yes, God is altogether sovereign in the building, but we are still responsible nonetheless! Can we say we truly love Zion if we don't mourn and weep and plead for her, and seek her welfare in prayer?

The Good Shepherd continues to call and to gather all of His sheep to Himself, so His Church might be a house of prayer of all nations and a house of prayer for all nations... and that in-gathering will carry on until the Day our Lord descends from heaven and returns to the earth to judge the living and the dead and set up His Kingdom upon the new earth, and all things will be put under His feet, death will be destroyed, and we shall no longer see Him through a glass darkly, but see Him face to face, and we shall always be with Him forevermore!

However, in the meantime, so long as the Lord Jesus tarries, we know for certain there is still room at the Great Banquet! (Luke 14:15-24). And, my dear friends, because there is still room at His Great Banquet, we know for certain there is still room at His throne of grace where we might come together and prostrate ourselves in prayer and supplication and weeping and mourning and fasting to seek Him, to seek His face, to seek His strength with boldness and confidence –– that His Gospel would go out in the Holy Spirit, in power, and in boldness and in much assurance to all the ends of the earth, so other sheep who have not yet be gathered to Him may be gathered to Him, and that along with us, they may begin to taste and see He is good, and all the nations might praise the name of the LORD from the rising of the sun until its setting down, and all the ends of the earth might fear Him!

John 10:16
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.
I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.
So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

8  The Lord GOD,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him
besides those already gathered.”

ADDENDUM:  I realized I needed to make some clarifications to this post. I realize that Edwards was preaching against Arminianism in his day (and, in fact, God sent down revival blessings as a result), and I'm not sure at all what Sutcliff's viewpoint on 21st century Arminianism would be, but I continue to find myself falling into the interesting and necessary tension in which Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (also a Calvinist) found himself, which was recently described in this blog post by Exiled Preacher:

Lloyd-Jones was prepared to work with other Evangelicals whose views were quite different from his own on the charismatic gifts, worship styles, Calvinism and Arminianism and so on. His attitude to dealing with differences between Evangelicals was this, 'If am I convinced that a man is my brother I am going to bear with him. I am not going to divide from him. What makes us one is that we are born of the same blood, of the same Spirit. We are born again by the same Spirit into the same family... I do not separate from my brother.' (Unity in Truth, p. 120-121).

In closing, I'd like to repost my own words I'd written earlier this month in this post:

I want to make it clear that I very well know that souls can be saved and not hold to the tenets of Calvinism. I know this because for years, I was saved, but I wasn't a Calvinist! (In my post, "True Calvinism is not," I wrote about how I balked at and rejected many of the doctrines of grace for years. I'd encourage you to read that account here.)

... I am ten thousand times more convinced of Calvinistic doctrine than I was at this time year. I believe it is critical and vital that the doctrines of grace are preached and taught. And I strongly and urgently assert that one reason why the Church is in such a sad, sorry, and ruined state right now is because those doctrines have not been preached and taught as they ought to have been –– since those doctrines provide the true kindling for the fire of personal and corporate reformation, renewal, and revival –- which results in an overflowing love and zeal for God, God's glory, God's Word, God's Gospel, and God's mission –– exactly what happened on the Day of Pentecost. O! We are in desperate need of the heavens being rent again and the Holy Dove to descend with His baptizing fire!

However, all that said, I am compelled by the Spirit of Christ to welcome ALL the saints (both Arminians and Calvinists) whom Christ Himself has welcomed, for Christ's sake and for the sake of the Gospel, for the glory of God. (Makes for an interesting tension in my soul, to say the least!)

In Romans 15, Paul reminds us of our holy obligation to welcome one another:

5  May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6  that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7  Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant me to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus, and welcome one another, that together we may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in extraordinary prayer for the revival of religion and the advancement of Christ's Kingdom on earth, for the glory of God!

II Corinthians 13:11-14,
Karen

You can read about some of the journey to prayer God has had me on over the past few years in these posts:

Naphtali News: Ministry of the Word and Prayer (see especially the second portion)
Here I stand & from here I cast (devoted to prayer & the ministry of the Word)
Silent Night - Not! ~ "Prayer also will be made for Him continually" ... day and night

If God has been giving you a burden to pray for revival, please visit my other blog dedicated to prayer for revival:  tent_of_meeting.xanga.com.

Other related posts...

on catholicity...

a Calvinist, a Wesley bobblehead, the holy catholic Church & the communion of saints
"Will it not, in the end, destroy brotherly love..." ~ Whitefield | welcome one another
I can't keep walking on eggshells here (more on Revelife, Calvinism, the Body of Christ and self)
May the mind and word of Christ dwell in us so we might arise as one man

on prayer & revival...

the lost treasures of Christianity & the call to pray for revival (Bible reading: Ezra 1)
Revival resources, etc.
More revival resources: opportunity and eyes to see the ruins, a burden from God
postcards from England: "The Burden for Revival" (ML-J)
The Day of Pentecost ... the first of a series (Martyn Lloyd-Jones on revival)
an advent of a different sort for the "glorious progress of the work of God"
Are you storming heaven – or are you sleeping?
Prayer & Revival in Ireland (R.A. Torrey) & Livingstone in Africa: Are we in our closets?

References and Acknowledgements

¹ "A Call to United Extraordinary Prayer... ('An humble attempt...)" (Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Heritage imprint by Christian Focus Publications: 2003, republished 2004). Includes an introduction by David Bryant.

² You can access "The Memorial" from Scotland here: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/works2.viii.iii.i.html (see Section IV.)

HT for the text from Sutcliff's Preface to "An Humble Attempt" found at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/works2.viii.html / Please note: The Preface itself can be accessed here: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/works2.viii.ii.html.

HT for the text of The Prayer Call of 1784:  http://www.calltoworship.org/calltoworship/articles/sutcliff.html.

Other Sources (in addition to those cited above):

Andrew Fuller, "A Memoir of the Rev. John Sutcliff, of Olney, Bucks" - http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/sutcliff.john.memoir.html.

Michael A.G. Haykin, “The 18th Century Great Commission Resurgence: Part 2. Praying for Revival” - http://baptistmessenger.com/the-18th-century-great-commission-resurgence-part-2-praying-for-revival/.
.
Michael A.G. Haykin, "John Sutcliff and the Concert of Prayer," in Reformation & Revival, A Quarterly Journal for Church Leadership (Summer 1992, 1:3) - http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ref-rev/01-3/1-3_haykin.pdf.

(All resources referenced were accessed 2.26.2013)

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Corriedale_lambs_in_Tierra_del_Fuego.JPG  / CC BY-SA 3.0.
Work found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Osmar_Schindler_David_und_Goliath.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {{PD-Art|PD-old-70}}

The following is an excerpt from one of the many letters the Scottish minister Samuel Rutherford wrote while he was banished from his flock at Anwoth and confined in Aberdeen for a period of almost two years "for non-Conformity to the acts of Episcopacy... and his work against the Arminians" (Sketch of Samuel Rutherford by Andrew A. Bonar in "Letters of Samuel Rutherford," p. 12) ~ hence Rutherford's reference to himself as an "His exiled prisoner."

Even during this time, Rutherford spoke often of trysting with Christ. For example, in LETTER LXIX., he wrote:  "I cannot but write to my friends, that Christ hath trysted me in Aberdeen..." Rutherford was full proof of Jesus' promise found in John 7:

37  In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive...

Have you known such a thirst, and have you come to Christ and drunk – or are you continuing to drink elsewhere and, as a result, remaining dry, thirsty, unfilled and unsatisfied?

Are there rivers of living water bubbling up and overflowing out of your heart? Have you ever drunk of Jesus? Has anyone ever accused you of being drunk with wine –– Spirit-filled and Spirit-intoxicated like the believers in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit descended?

Like Peter and John, Samuel Rutherford could not help but speak what he had seen and heard (Acts 4:20). His tongue was indeed the pen of a ready writer (Psalm 45) because he had drunk of Christ, and drunk deeply, and he continued to drink of Christ through the Holy Spirit. Rutherford had come to know Christ by experience as altogether lovely and the fairest of 10,000. His heart was filled to overflowing with the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:14-21), and having been filled, he returned again and again to the Most Holy Place, and with boldness and confidence he sought grace upon grace, so he might be filled again and again and again. Rutherford knew what it was to sup with Christ –– to  experience and enjoy more and more of the everlasting, never-ending fount of the love of God in Christ for him!

On this Valentine's Day, many of you who profess to be Christians may be sitting in the quiet at home all alone tonight, and feeling empty and unfilled and disappointed and unloved. –– I urge you to read Rutherford's words and prayerfully examine your own relationship to Christ in light of the Scripture.

Are you aware that there are, as Rutherford put it –– "curtains to be drawn by in Christ, that we never saw, and new foldings of love in Him" to all who seek Him?

Have you ever prayed God might grant you an entrance into and experience of the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge?

Have you ever experienced the love of God shed abroad into your heart and known Christ's divine love (in contrast to all earthly loves) never to disappoint (Romans 5:1-5)?

Along with Rutherford, I pray those of you who belong to Christ might seek "a nearer communion with Christ, and a growing communion," for that is your privilege and your inheritance as a child of God. Labor to know Him, and having known Him, never cease such happy labor to know Him! He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him! O! what an enchanted pleasure it is to be "sweetly pressed" by "the many pound-weights of His love"!
Luke 11:13  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

John 14:26  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things... John 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you...

LETTER CIV.––To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my LADY VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE (1637)

     I urge upon you, Madam, a nearer communion with Christ, and a growing communion. There are curtains to be drawn by in Christ, that we never saw, and new foldings of love in Him.

I despair that ever I shall win to the far end of that love, there are so many plies in it.  Therefore, dig deep; and sweat, and labour, and take pains for Him; and set by as much time in the day for Him as you can.  He will be won with labour.

     I, His exiled prisoner, sought Him, and He hath rued upon me, and hath made a moan for me, as He doth for His own,¹ and I know not what to do with Christ.  His love surroundeth and surchargeth me.  I am burdened with it; but oh, how sweet and lovely is that burden!  I dow not keep it with in me.  I am so in love with His love, that if His love were not in heaven, I should be unwilling to go thither.  Oh, what weighing, and what telling is in Christ's love!  I fear nothing now so much as the losing² of Christ's cross, and of the love-showers that accompany it.  I wonder what He meaneth, to put such a slave at the board-head, at His own elbow.  O that I should lay my black mouth to such a fair, fair, fair face as Christ's!  But I dare not refuse to be loved.  The cause is not in me, why He hath looked upon me, and loved me for He got neither bud nor hire of me.  It cost me nothing, it is good-cheap love.  Oh, the many pound-weights of His love under which I am sweetly pressed!

____________

¹ Jer. xxxi.20. [ Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.] /  Hos. xi.8. [How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.]

²The fear to be deprived of it.  Early editions give "laughing," which seems a misprint.

Reference:  "Letters of Samuel Rutherford, With a Sketch of his Life and Biographical Notices of His Correspondents by the Rev. Andrew A. Bonar" (The Banner of Truth Trust: Edinburgh, 1984 & 2006; first published 1664, reprinted from the 1891 edition), 215-216.

Related:

♥ Valentine's Day Posts ♥ (Series Links)
postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck?
Three Years Later: Dancing & Skipping with Mrs. Durham | Letter 147 on fighting for joy
"I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word)"
Herein is love ... Vast as the ocean ~ And let him that is athirst come!
Linger, linger, linger – so you might know God's love
Embittered, pricked in heart? Go into the sanctuary of God (Psalm 73)
the lover's inquiry | letter 114 on fighting for joy
The Christian should not just believe the truth, and know it..." | the Father's assurance
five years ago ~ for your joy (AND an inheritance | Richard Sibbes & the Sealing of the Spirit)
Advent # 9 WHY HAS JESUS COME? Adoption: the highest privilege the gospel offers ~ J.I. Packer
the children of God will never say of Him: "Got stood up big time!"

Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Samuel_Rutherford.jpg / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}
Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Konzerthaus_Ravensburg_Prospekt_Motiv_Vorhang.jpg / {{PD-Art|PD-old-70}}
Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Julia_Margaret_Cameron_(British,_born_India_-_Sadness_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}