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Home / Publications / Free Presbyterian Magazine / 1998 to 2003 / June 2002 / The Puritans on Prayer – Part 2

The Puritans on Prayer – Part 2

In this second section of our paper on the Puritan teaching on prayer, we enquire: What are the properties of that prayer which is acceptable to God?

1. Acceptable prayer flows from a saving knowledge of God. If prayer is the address of a rational spirit to God, a living spiritual Being, then it must be characterised by spiritual knowledge. We find this principle exemplified in Abraham, and well illustrated in the contrasting persons: the Publican and the Pharisee, Moses and the unbelieving Hebrews.

The Pharisee and the Publican both had a form of prayer, but there was a great difference between them. One had a saving knowledge of God in Christ and the other had not. There was great spiritual darkness in the soul of the Pharisee when he addressed the Most High at the temple. There was great spiritual light, by comparison, in the soul of the Publican as he prayed. They both addressed God but they did not have the same understanding of God. “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). (The Greek word ilaskomai is translated in our Bible be merciful and make reconciliation – that is, by a sacrifice (Heb 2:17) and the meaning is: to be propitious, to be gracious, to be merciful, to expiate, to make propitiation for, etc – and so this verse might be translated: “God be propitiated (by a sacrifice) to me a sinner”.)

Again the Hebrews at Sinai had such an intimation of God’s glorious majesty as caused them to fear terribly and wish to flee from His presence – rather than to draw near to Him in humble, adoring and confident prayer. Moses, on the other hand, at another time, obtained views of God’s glory which had a different effect. Put in the cleft of a rock, he obtained a view of God’s glorious grace, with the result that “Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped” (Ex 34:8). Mallery says that this rent rock illustrates Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and that it is those who are hid in Christ who have a right apprehension of God. With Moses they make haste, bow their heads and worship God.

A view of God’s glory speaking from Mount Sinai fills us, as sinners, with terror. A view by faith of God’s glory shining from Calvary, savingly apprehended, draws us irresistibly to Himself. The holiness of God speaking in the law is allied to His justice against sin and, once it is apprehended by the conscience, makes God most dreadful to sinners. The holiness of God speaking in the gospel is allied to His mercy to sinners, and makes the name of God most sweet to a sinner once it is apprehended by faith. Sibbes says that it is only in God in Christ that we see, not only the beams of divine majesty, but the bowels of divine mercy. Mallery argues that it was such an apprehension of God that Abraham had – a view by faith of both His majesty and His mercy – when he said in prayer: “Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes” (Gen 18:27). Mallery adds, “In creation, God speaks but as a God that is above us. In the law God speaks but as a God that is against us. In Christ only, we hear God speak as God with us and God for us.”

2. Acceptable prayer flows from saving, or justifying, faith. “Until men have faith in Christ”, Brooks points out, “their best services are but glorious sins.” Faith is essential for prayer. Saving faith is the gift of God; it does not proceed from the ordinary faculties of men. Prayer, or intercourse with God, is the chief exercise of faith. Says Gurnall, “To pray without faith in exercise is to miscarry in prayer. When a person is savingly enlightened in the knowledge of God in Christ, there is the grace of faith or the habit of faith in the soul. It is there because God gave it and the Spirit implanted it in the soul. And it will never die. But we need to have faith in exercise, or active, when we pray. Prayer without faith is a bow without its arrow.”

The Puritans speak of three ways in which faith is exercised in connection with our prayers: in believing and pleading (1) the promises of God, (2) His providence, (3) His perfections, or attributes.

(1) Faith with regard to the promises of God. There are two kinds of promises in the Bible. A conditional promise is a promise to which some condition is prefixed. An absolute promise is one without a condition.

Absolute Promises: William Gouge explains: “The manner of expressing the promises of the new covenant is absolute, so as God undertaketh to perform them all, thus: ‘I will put My laws into their mind . . . and I will be to them a God . . . for all shall know Me . . . . I will be merciful to their unrighteousness’ (Heb 8:10-12).” “Hereby it is manifested,” Gouge goes on, “the privileges of the new covenant are absolutely promised to be performed on God’s part.”

If we ask this Puritan divine, Why does God make absolute promises? he answers: “Man’s vanity and folly, in forfeiting the first covenant, when they had the power and ability to keep it, moveth God in His tender respect to man not to leave the receiving of the benefit of the new covenant in man’s power and will, but to undertake the whole work Himself, and absolutely to promise both means and end and all.” He goes on, “Sanctification is absolutely promised to believers, and the parts thereof. Concerning mortification it is said, ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you’. Concerning perseverance it is said, ‘Christ shall confirm you unto the end’. And for the blessed end of them all, Christ says, ‘It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ (Luke 12:32). . . . Receiving these absolute promises, we ought to believe that they shall all be accomplished; so it shall assuredly be according to our faith.”

Conditional promises. Gurnall warns, “An absolute faith on a conditional promise without immediate revelation, which must not be looked for, is fancy and not faith”. What then is the faith which we are to exercise in connection with the conditional promises? Faith must go no further than the promise; if the promise is conditional so must the faith. Preston says in his work on prayer: “When a man prays to be guided in such a business, to have such an enterprise brought to pass, to have a deliverance from such a trouble – such a sickness, such a calamity as he lies under – he finds no particular promise. For all he knows, it shall never be granted. How can he pray in faith?” And the answer which he gives is: “It is enough for faith to believe that God is a Father and, as a Father, that He is ready to hear; and not only that He is ready to hear, but that He is ready in the exercise of His infinite power to do that which is best for me in such a particular. To believe these things in connection with temporal things is to pray and believe as far as the promise permits.” In brief compass: it is enough for faith to rest upon the goodness of God: “Yea, what is good the Lord shall give” (Ps 85:12).

(2) Faith with regard to the providence of God. This faith, relying on God’s power, trusts in God as One who is able to do all things. “I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause, which doeth great things and unsearchable” (Job 5:8,9). “This”, says Gurnall, referring to faith in God’s power in providence and grace, “is the first stone faith lays. O how unbecoming to have a great God and little faith in Him! Away with the questions that greet the ears of the Almighty: Can He help? Can He pardon? Can He purge? Can He deliver? Can He heal? ‘Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?’ (Ps 78:19). What cannot He do that can do all things as He will? Will God not bring to pass what is for the good of those that trust in Him, and for His own glory?”

(3) Faith with regard to the perfections of God. These perfections, or attributes, are for the consolation of believers. We are instructed to use them as arguments. The prayers of the Bible are often expressed in a way of pleading. Faith distils the promises, the providence and the perfections of God into arguments. For example, when Asa prayed for divine aid, it is said, “And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power” (2 Chr 14:11). Here Asa turned the infinite power of God into a plea, he strengthened his soul by considering God’s power, as if he said, “What cannot the Almighty God of Israel do?” When Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, he said, “O Lord God of Israel, which dwelleth between the cherubims, Thou art the God, even Thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, Thou hast made heaven and earth”. Here Hezekiah is distilling the perfection of divine mercy into prayer, pleading the mercy of God, and the dominion of God over all, and so strengthened his faith in prayer to God. This is a rule which the Puritans teach: that this pleading and arguing in the prayers of Scripture is given us for our instruction in prayer. Thus we are to manage our requests: to our petitions we should add pleas based upon the divine perfections, as well as upon the divine promises.

3. Acceptable prayer flows from true repentance and confession of sin. Confession of sin is necessary in prayer. If prayer is the address of sinful men to a Holy God, then penitence must characterise it. Repentance is the result of a true saving knowledge of God in Christ; confession is the expression of it. In confession we join with God in declaring our sinfulness to be abominable, something which we hate on account of its opposition to God, His holiness and His gospel.

The Hebrew idiom for confessing sin is to point with the hand. “This pointing is done”, says one Puritan, “first by God, in convincing of sin. Then it is done by man in the confessing of it.” “There is no coming to God but with confession of sin, and prayer for its pardon. . . . Unconfessed sin is the spring of horror and principle of all amazement.” David said in Psalm 32: “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. . . . I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid” (Ps 32:3,5).

Confession is the vomiting of sin because it is the loathsome rejection of it. Self-accusation and self-condemnation turn the heart and whole man against sin, casting up with grief and pain what we cast off with detestation. Confession is the vindication of God’s justice and all the afflictions inflicted by Him. The language of true confession is: “Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve” (Ezra 9:13). Confession is the voice with which God is well pleased. “Only acknowledge thine iniquity” is God’s demand. It is well if God will make bare His correcting hand until the stubborn heart acknowledges iniquity. Ephraim cannot sooner relent under God’s hand than He repent of His anger: “Since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still” (Jer 31:20).

4. Acceptable prayer includes thanksgiving. If prayer is the address of the recipient of much bounty and mercy from God, then thanksgiving is a necessary part of it. God’s glory is declared by His rational creatures when they adore His perfections and acknowledge His benefits. Ames wrote that the right performance of thanksgiving requires: (1) a knowledge of the blessings of God, (2) an application of them to ourselves, and by that we understand believing that God has thought on us and has met us in our need with His benefits, and (3) a due estimation of these mercies and suitable affections respecting them.

The way to lose our benefits is to consume them upon our lusts, ascribe them to our own power and forget our unworthiness of them. There are temporal mercies and spiritual mercies; we should be more full in our gratitude for the latter. “Mercies”, says Gurnall, “can be bitter as well as sweet.” Unanswered prayers, for example, are seen as a bitter thing, but look to see if they be not answered in another way, better than you expected, like Paul who got no less affliction, but he got more of Christ.

5. Acceptable prayer includes adoration. If prayer is the address of a rational creature capable of knowing something of God, then adoration ought to be a part of prayer. The Saviour taught His disciples to add adoration to praise when He said; “Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory”. “I will deliver thee,” the Lord is saying, “that thou mayest glorify me”, and again in Psalm 50 He says, “He that offereth praise glorifieth me”. The Puritans say that this makes praise a more heavenly employment than any other part of prayer. This part of prayer must pass through the hand of the Mediator like any other; our praise needs to be cleansed and made acceptable, as well as our persons, petitions and pleas.

Endnotes:
1. Continued from last month. The first part of this paper dealt with prayer as an indispensable means of grace.

Return to Table of Contents for The Free Presbyterian Magazine – June 2002

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      • October 2003
        • A View from the Outer Hebrides
        • The Untiring Travellers – Part 2
        • Sanctification – Part 2
        • The Ten Virgins
        • John Wesley 1703-1791
        • A Pastor’s Concern
        • Seeking Great Things
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 2003
        • A Kingdom Where Order Reigns
        • Church Information
        • The Untiring Travellers – Part 1
        • Sanctification – part 1
        • The Achreny Mission – 2. 1815 to 1843
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – part 4
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2003
        • Church Information
        • A Prayer-Hearing God – Part 1
        • The Achreny Mission – Part 3 – After the Disruption
        • Meditation – Its Blessedness
        • Obituary – John Beaton, Raasay
        • African Missions Update
        • Growing Vatican Sovereignty
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Christ as Prophet
      • March 2003
        • What We Make It?
        • King Solomon’s Chariot
        • Samuel Rutherford – St Andrews and Westminster
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – Part 4
        • The Parable of the Talents
        • The Kinsman
        • Scottish Church Initiative for Union
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 2003
        • A Powerful Voice
        • Notes and Comments
        • “Ye Shall Ask What Ye Will”- Part 2
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – The Religion of the Bible
        • The Prodigal Son
        • The Study of Providence
        • Poor and Needy
        • John Piper and His Doctrine
        • African Missions
        • Protestant View
      • June 2003
        • No Sense of Need
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Call of Matthew
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – The Christian Doctrine of God
        • The Sower
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 1
        • Meditation Sanctifies
        • Mbuma Zending Meeting – 2003
        • Zimbabwe Ordinations and Inductions
        • Book Reviews
      • July 2003
        • Acceptable Worship
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Grace Glorified in Election
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – Some Further Doctrines
        • The Pharisee and the Publican
        • Rabbi Duncan
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 2
        • A Plea for Prayer
        • Continuing Repentance
        • Book Review: Christmas Evans, The Life and Times of the One-Eyed Preacher of Wales
      • January 2003
        • Thankfulness
        • The Lord God of Elijah
        • Samuel Rutherford – Fair Anwoth by the Solway – 1627 – 1636
        • Manna
        • All of Grace
        • Obituary – Mr Edward Arthur Christensen, Auckland
        • Obituary – Miss Isabel Murray, North Tolsta
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • February 2003
        • Christ’s Infinite Riches
        • Protestant View
        • Church Information
        • The Lord God of Elijah – Part 2
        • Samuel Rutherford – His King’s Palace in Aberdeen
        • The Privilege of Prayer
        • In Possession of the Promises
        • The Rich Man and Lazarus
        • Humiliation and Prayer
        • Book Reviews
        • Notes and Comments
        • Book Review – Sidelights on Bible Characters
        • Book Review – Authentic Christianity: Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles
      • December 2003
        • Nineteenth-Century Drift
        • A Prayer-Hearing God – Part 2
        • The Achreny Mission – 4. After the Disruption – Part 2
        • Meditation – Its Consequences
        • Visit to the Ukraine
        • Book Review – Letters from the South Seas, Margaret Paton
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • April 2003
        • The Promised Land
        • Church Information
        • “Ye Shall Ask What Ye Will”- Part 1
        • Samuel Rutherford – The Last Years
        • The Pearl of Great Price
        • Repentance
        • A Private Among the Padres
        • Damaging Doubts
        • The Prince – Defender of all Faiths
        • Protestant View
      • August 2003
        • What Kind of Faith?
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Head Stone of the Corner
        • The Vineyard
        • Mary and the Spiritual Mind
        • The Achreny Mission – 1. 1760 to 1815
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 3
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Book Review – God’s Hymnbook for the Christian Church
      • September 2002
        • The Shepherd’s Reward
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Jubilee
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Conflict
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – Part 2
        • The Beliver’s Sanctification
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Update
        • The New Archbishop of Canterbury
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
      • October 2002
        • “My Counsel Shall Stand”
        • Church Information
        • The Way to the City
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Consolidation
        • “Your Mercy”and the Jews’ Future
        • Springing Up After Many Days
        • Book Reviews
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2002
        • Christ’s Spiritual Conquests
        • Church Information
        • The Call to the Water of Life – Part 2 (1) A Sermon by William Nixon Revelation 22:17. And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
        • The Right Way (1) Rev J S Sinclair
        • Obituary Mr Murdo Macleod, Elder, Stornoway
        • Book Reviews
        • Foreign Mission News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 2002
        • Divine Compassion
        • Book Review – The Antichrist
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Coming to Christ – Part 2
        • A Master in Israel
        • The Cleansing of the Leper
        • The Christian’s Life
        • The Puritans on Prayer
        • Advice on Preaching
        • The Great Draught of Fishes
        • Book Review – Church and State
      • March 2002
        • “Hear the Word of the Lord”
        • The Blessing of Asher
        • Thomas Cranmer – That God Might Be Truly Worshipped
        • Psalms or Hymns in Public Worship
        • Obituary – Reverend Donald Nicolson
        • Is Britain Being Protected?
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
      • June 2002
        • “Another King, One Jesus”
        • Church Information
        • Pray Without Ceasing
        • The Puritans on Prayer – Part 2
        • Inventing Religion
        • Princeton and Pelagianism
        • Among the Children
        • Hopes of Future Usefulness – A Letter of John Love
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • January 2002
        • “Religion in its Purity”
        • Notes and Comments
        • Attaining a Knowledge of Our Sins
        • The Meat Offering
        • The Strength of Faith
        • Thomas Cranmer – Moving Towards a Reformation
        • The Extent of the Atonement
        • Rev John MacDonald (1925-2000) – Obituary
        • Book Review – God and Cosmos
        • Protestant View – Queen Invites Cardinal to Sandringham
      • July 2002
        • The Need for Opened Eyes
        • God’s Wrath Against Sin
        • The Puritans on Prayer – A Wondrous Mysterious Grace
        • Revival in Arran
        • Man’s Righteousness and God’s
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
      • February 2002
        • Offering up Our Desires to God
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Look unto Me and Be Ye Saved
        • Thomas Cranmer – The Man of Extreme Caution
        • The Power of the Gospel
        • The Goodness of God in Redemption
        • Obituary – Mrs Isabella Turner
        • Book Review – Galatians
        • Book Notices
        • Protestant View
      • December 2002
        • “A Zealous, Godly Preacher”
        • The Call to the Water of Life – Part 2
        • Samuel Rutherford – From Birth to New Birth
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – part 3
        • Obituary – Mrs Annie MacIver, North Tolsta
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • April 2002
        • “I am the Resurrection and the Life”
        • Coming to Christ – Part 1
        • Thomas Cranmer – On to the Fire
        • The Plague of Leprosy
        • Divided Allegiance
        • Obituary – Miss Margaret Sutherland
        • Book Review – The Hidden Pathway
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 2002
        • Everything Devoted to God’s Service
        • Unity Among the Brethren
        • Those Who Have Feld for Refuge
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Conquest
        • Symptoms of Spiritual Death
        • Book Review – The King’s Daughters
        • African Mission News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • September 2001
        • Knowing God
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Path of the Just
        • Obituary – The late Miss Jean Nicolson
        • Obituary – The late Mrs Lexie MacLeod
        • Raasay Congregation – a Brief History
        • The Knowledge of Sin
        • Induction at Sengera
        • Book Review: The Source of the IRA/Sinn Fein
        • Protestant View
      • October 2001
        • Tragedy
        • “God Gave the Increase”
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – It’s Usefulness for the Church
        • Desires for Glory
        • Calling a Minister
        • The Vatican Archives
        • A Visit to Singapore
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2001
        • Scotland’s Preachers
        • Recent Inductions
        • The Rose of Sharon
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – It’s Usefulness on the Personal Level – Intellectually
        • “Be Strong and of a Good Courage”
        • God’s Wonderful Goodness
        • “Withhold not Correction”
        • Obituary – The late Mr Donald Beaton, Elder, Auckland
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Obituary – The late Mr Donald Beaton, Elder, Auckland
      • May 2001
        • Sinking in Capernaum’s Doom
        • Book Review – Irish Worthies
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Goodwill of God
        • Keeping the Heart in Temptation
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 2
        • The Garden of Nuts
        • The Son of Man Lifted up
        • Obituary – The late John Angus MacLeod
        • A Deputy’s Visit to Africa – Kenya
        • Book Review – Faith and Justification
      • March 2001
        • “Just with God”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Set up from Everlasting
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ – Christ as Priest
        • W S Plumer- Part 2
        • Obituary – The late Rev Alexander McPherson, Perth
        • Pastoral Letter – Rev Alexander McPherson
        • Joseph MacKay
        • Book Review – Forerunner of the Great Awakening
      • June 2001
        • Blessedness
        • Church Information
        • Christ Coming for His people’s Help – Part 1
        • Who Belong to the Visible Church?
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 3
        • Religion in the Highlands After 1688 – Part 3
        • Raising Questions Against Darwinism
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • July 2001
        • Cry Aloud Spare Not
        • Christ Coming for His people’s Help – Part 2
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ
        • Our African Missions – an Update
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Spring Visit to Ukraine
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • January 2001
        • Looking Forward
        • Book Review – The Government of the Church
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Faith, Its Nature, Origin and Effects
        • Thomas Halyburton and How God May Be Known
        • The Divinity of Christ
        • Religion in the Highlands after 1688 – Part 1
        • Keep a good conscience
        • God’s True Family
        • What is the Object of Faith?
        • Communion in Singapore
      • February 2001
        • Calling the Sabbath a Delight
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Set up from Everlasting
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ – Christ as Prophet
        • Religion in the Highlands after 1688 – Part 2
        • Book Review – Daily Prayer and Praise by Henry Law
        • Psalm 122 – Henry Law
        • The enemies of the Christian
        • African Mission News
        • Protestant View
      • December 2001
        • Protestant View
        • African Mission News
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Book Review – Tell it to the Generation Following
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – Usefulness on the Personal Level
        • The Impossibility of Neutrality
        • “Christian”Entertainment
        • Attaining a Knowledge of Our Sins
        • Church Information
        • Notes and Comments
        • A View From Zimbabwe
      • August 2001
        • “There They Preached the Gospel”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • “He Will Bless Us”
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ
        • “He Delighteth in Mercy”
        • “The Voice of Christianity in Scotland”
        • Obituary – The late Mr Ian M MacLeod, Elder, Dingwall
        • Obituary – The late Mrs Catherine MacKenzie, Stornoway
        • Book Review – Southern Presbyterian Leaders 1683-1911
        • Book Review – The Westminster Confession of Faith, Milestone, Millstone or Manifesto?
      • April 2001
        • Sowing the Seed
        • The Duty of Nations to the Church
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 1
        • “The Finger of God”
        • Obituary – The late Miss Peggy Nicolson, Inverness
        • A Deputy’s Visit to Africa – Zimbabwe
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 2000
        • The Resurrection of Christ
        • Church Information
        • Reading the Scriptures Profitably
        • The believer is to put those sins… into the hands of Christ
        • The Puritans and the Ministry
        • Christ Glorifying God
        • Blessed Are They That Mourn
        • The Nature of Vital Piety (2)
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • October 2000
        • The Fear of God
        • Church Information
        • Reading the Scriptures Profitably (2)
        • He indeed is rich in grace whose graces are not hindered by his riches
        • The Puritans and the Ministry (2)
        • James Stewart
        • Christ Healing a Leper
        • Visits To Eastern Europe
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2000
        • “What Are They Among so Many?”
        • Vain Religion
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Desired Haven
        • God may bear long with the wicked, but…
        • Thomas Halyburton
        • James Stewart (2)
        • The Temptation of Christ
        • Book Review
      • May 2000
        • The Church of God From Age to Age
        • Jesus of Nazareth passeth by
        • Rev Lachlan MacLeod (1918-1998) – Obituary
        • “So let him give”
        • The Solemn League and Covenant
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
      • June 2000
        • The Example of the Church in Smyrna
        • Eastern Europe – Spring 2000 Report
        • Church Information
        • The Nature of the New Birth
        • This is Indeed the Christ
        • Obituary The late Mr Alasdair Gillies, M.A., Elder, Dingwall
        • Report of Mbuma Zending Meeting – 29th April 2000
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Ma Donsa One of the Pilgrims at Ingwenya
        • African Mission News
      • March 2000
        • Two Free Churches
        • Sermon The Gracious Invitation of Christ
        • The Rev John Sinclair of Bruan (1801-43)
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • Regeneration Regulating the Affections
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • July 2000
        • The Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Church Information
        • Lift up a Standard for the People
        • At the Westminster Assembly
        • The Earth Corrupt before God
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • Obituary – The late Mr Kenneth Gillies, Elder, Raasay
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • February 2000
        • The Rev. Christopher Munro (1817-85)
        • African Mission News
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        • “Come unto me”
        • Joy and Peace in Believing
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • Negotiations in London
        • Obituary
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Scottish Day Conference
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • January 2000
        • Another Millennium
        • Notes of a Sermon The Earth Filled with His Glory
        • The Second Coming of Christ – Three Main Views
        • The Latter Day Glory
        • Building up the Church of God
        • Princeton Seminary – The Majestic Testimony by David Calhoun.
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
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      • December 2000
        • The Divine Saviour
        • A Sermon by John Kennedy
        • Thomas Halyburton
        • The Late Roderick Macleod,
        • The Aberdeen Church
        • Book Reviews
        • Book Reviews
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 2000
        • Where Are We Now?
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Given in His Fulness
        • Alexander Henderson
        • I cannot always come to Christ
        • Obedience to Christ
        • The Nature of Vital Piety
        • The Puritans for Today
        • Protestant View
      • April 2000
        • The Family Under Attack
        • Sermon
        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • The King in Scotland
        • Comments on Psalm 51
        • Unsettling the Settlement
        • The pope’s visit to the Holy Land
        • Notes and Comments
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      • October 1999
        • Declaring All the Counsel of God
        • Church Information
        • God so Loved the World
        • The Rev. James S. Sinclair
        • The Glasgow Assembly
        • Calvin’s View of the Millennium
        • Book Review
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Annual General Meeting
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • September 1999
        • Old Testament Types
        • Church Information
        • Christ Seeing of the Travail of His Soul
        • Alexander Stewart of Cromarty
        • The Intercession of Christ
        • Resolved to Abolish Episcopacy
        • “And the sun was darkened”
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 1999
        • Morality and Politics
        • Church Information
        • Sermon
        • Rev Alexander Morrison (1925-1999) – Obituary
        • The Charismatic Movement – The Gifts have Ceased
        • Casting down the Walls of Jericho
        • A Visit to Singapore
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 1999
        • “Upon this rock I will build my church”
        • The Blessed Poor
        • Rev Angus Mackay
        • Is Christ our High Priest?
        • Signs of Religious Declension
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • March 1999
        • Heaven-provoking Legislation
        • Church Information
        • The Drawing Power of the Cross
        • The Alpha Course Examined
        • Teaching Christianity in Scottish Schools
        • The late Mrs Margaret Tallach, Glasgow
        • Letter by John Love, D.D.
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
      • June 1999
        • Made a Faithful Shepherd
        • Notes and Comments
        • How May Sanctification Be Attained?
        • Protestant View
        • Mbuma Zending Meeting Report
        • Address to Mbuma Zending Meeting
        • Spiritual Pride in Man
        • Church Information
        • Preaching the Unsearchable Riches of Christ
        • The Free Church and the World
      • January 1999
        • When the Enemy Shall Come in Like a Flood
        • Church Information
        • Let me see thy countenance
        • The Religion of the Highlands
        • Personal Creed and Resolutions
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
        • Eastern Europe Mission
      • July 1999
        • The Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Pre-eminence of Christ
        • A Man Who Wished to Live Obscurely
        • The Nature of Saving Faith
        • The Light of the World
        • God is: therefore God is to be Worshipped
        • Book Review
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
        • Protestant View
      • February 1999
        • The Purposes of the Lord’s Supper
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society – Appointments
        • The Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God
        • Holy Importunity in Prayer
        • A Heavenly Eternal Crown of Glory
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
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      • December 1999
        • The End of a Millennium
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • Until the Day Break
        • The Charismatic Movement – The Gifts have Ceased
        • The Rev. Donald Macfarlane of Dingwall
        • The Pagan Origin of Christmas A Reminder
        • Ministers Prepared by Temptation
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 1999
        • The Advance of Rome under Hume
        • Notes and Comments
        • Eastern Europe Mission
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        • The Marks of a Time of Revival, and the Means of Bringing it About
        • The Free Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Thy Kingdom Come
        • The National Covenant
        • Work of the Trinitarian Bible Society in 1998
        • Unsettled and Discouraged?
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
      • April 1999
        • The Observance of Easter
        • The Smitten Shepherd and His Flock
        • The Prince of Highland Preachers
        • The Inter-Faith Movement
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 1998
        • The Golden Key of Prayer
        • Church Information
        • Weighed in the Balances
        • Christ, the Way
        • Praying as Beggars
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Our African Mission
        • Patrick Mzamo – A sketch of an African elder and lay-preacher
      • October 1998
        • The Westminster Assembly and Romanism
        • African Mission News
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        • Christ Liveth in me *
        • God’s Way of Bringing Sinners to Christ
        • The Effects of Television Violence
        • Sin and Sanctification
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
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        • Philemon Ndebele
      • November 1998
        • Faithfulness or Vilification
        • Church Information
        • The Best Security in Evil Times
        • Pentecostal Dialogue with Rome
        • The Prayers of the Aged
        • The Religion of the Highlands – The Persecution of a Highland Laird
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Eastern Europe Mission Work
      • May 1998
        • The Mode of Baptism – A Defence
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • A Vessel Meet for the Master’s Use
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        • Serving the Lord with Humility
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland on the Internet
        • Booklet Reviews
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        • Notes and Comments
        • The Story of Mamlotshwa
      • March 1998
        • A Minister of God
        • “I will yet for this be inquired of”
        • African Mission News
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        • Godliness With Contentment
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        • African Mission News
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • Private Prayer and Public Profession
        • Truth and Life
        • The Free Church, Psalms and Hymns
      • June 1998
        • Family Worship
        • Notes and Comments
        • Ma Ngwenya – Mother of the late Rev. B. B. Dube
        • Church Information
        • The Lord is Risen Indeed
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Pastoral Epistles
        • The Church of Scotland and the Bible
        • Mbuma-Zending Meeting – 1998
        • Three Characteristics of True Faith
        • Book Reviews
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        • Three Characteristics of True Faith
      • July 1998
        • The General Assemblies
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        • The Scriptural Warrant for Creedal Subscription
        • The Pastoral Epistles
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • A Cambuslang Case of Conversion
        • Booklet Review
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        • Notes and Comments
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
      • January 1998
        • Book Review
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        • Notes and Comments
        • MaHlabangana
        • Winter Visit to Eastern Europe
        • THE NEW YEAR
        • The Church Built and Kept by the Lord
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Fruits of the Declaratory Act In the Free Church of Scotland
        • Redeeming the Time
        • African Mission News
      • February 1998
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • A Mission Day of Prayer
        • Church Information
        • Leaning Upon her Beloved
        • Brought Home to Heaven
        • Observing the Sabbath
        • Church Deputy’s Visit to North America
        • African Mission News
        • A Faithful Ambassador is Health
      • December 1998
        • When the Enemy Shall Come in Like a Flood
        • “My grace is sufficient for thee”
        • The People of the Great Faith
        • Sudden Conversions
        • A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ
        • “Give ye them to eat”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
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      • August 1998
        • The General Assemblies
        • Sermon – The House of Many Mansions
        • Lessons From the Doctrine of Divine Justice
        • Book Notice
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Paul Magaya – Lay Preacher in Shangani
        • Church Information
      • April 1998
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Mode of Baptism – A Defence
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
        • The Manner of Coming to Christ
        • Book Notice
        • A Lily from the Ukraine
        • Eastern Europe Mission
        • Church Information
        • Called of God
        • Threats to our Religious Liberties
        • Mazwabo’s Amazing Transformation
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