SAMUEL RUTHERFORD-1600-1661

By now, you know that I enjoy, and benefit much from the writings and sermons of preachers long departed from this earth. It is not that I don't enjoy some of the modern preachers, but these "fathers of our faith" are hard to beat for spiritual truth, and pithy sayings, especially the Puritans. My favorite one (this week!) is Samuel Rutherford, whose letters are loaded with sweet spiritual gems. I like these Puritans, long hair and all (and wish sometimes I had a little more of it myself). Click the link on the right "Puritan Sermons", and see Letters of Samuel Rutherford, and if you read some of them, and are a Christian you will surely be blessed. If you are not, God may use them to open your heart. I am sharing the blessing - enjoy!

GEORGE WHITEFIELD -1714-1770

I will never forget reading, in the 1980's, the two volume biography of this godly man by the late Arnold Dallimore. A tremendous blessing! God used Whitefield both in England and the United States. A Great Awakening took place. How we need a preacher like him again today! How we need for God to do it again! Of course, only God can, and He usually works through a man. But, as you know, if you have read the Bible, he can use a woman, and He can use a donkey to get His message out!

J.C. RYLE OF LIVERPOOL- 1816-1900

Another influence on me, and a writer I enjoy reading and quoting is John Charles Ryle. His influence was the greatest later in his life when he became the Anglican bishop of Liverpool, England. He was a strong leader and stood against ritualism, and for the pure gospel. He was a rare and godly man. Like Charles Spurgeon (who regarded him highly), he being dead, yet speaks through his many books. See the latest cybermeditations for excellent quotes by him.

THE MAYFLOWER IN PLYMOUTH HARBOR- 1620

The Pilgrims first landed at what was to become Provincetown, on Cape Cod, on November 21, 1620. A small party of men, led by Myles Standish, went ashore to explore. They found a place where Native People had stored corn underground and confiscated it to use for seed. Due to lack of fresh water and poor soil, they decided to move on.

...Now was the heart of winter and unseasonable weather was come upon us...it was in the end concluded to make some discovery within the bay.

The Mayflower’s pilot, Robert Coppin, remembered the bay from a previous visit. The area was called Patuxet by the Natives and Plymouth by the English, from an earlier map drawn by the explorer Captain John Smith. The Mayflower passengers may have also known from an account of a recent exploration that the area had been depopulated.

An exploring party set out in the shallop : ...though it was very dark and rained sore, yet in the end they got under the lee of a small island [Clark's Island] and remained there all that night in safety... And this being the last day of the week, they prepared there to keep the Sabbath.

On Monday they sounded the harbor and found it fit for shipping, and marched into the land and found divers cornfield, and little running brooks, a place (as they supposed) fit for situation. We Must Not Forget Our History! Dear God! Perhaps We Already Have!

ONE OF MY GREATEST INFLUENCES

No doubt if you have read much by me, or other writers that I publish, you can (at least faintly I hope), see the influence of this gifted preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Enough accolades have been given to him, such as "Greatest preacher since the Apostle Paul" and the like. If he were alive today, he would scold those who said that, for with all his ability and fame, he was still a humble man -- a "John Ploughman" as he would say. He left us a wealth of material in his balanced sermons. Read them and be blessed! I have links on my main blog to a large collection of his sermons through the Spurgeon Archive, and also, Pilgrim Publications. Simply access the featured sermons and look for other links to more sermons. Blessed reading!

THE PRODIGAL SON RETURNS

I am not so fond of all religious art, especially pictures of Christ, since we do not really know what He looked like. Some religious art helps to enhance a Bible story such as this depiction of the prodigal son by Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1617 - 1682 titled
The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1667/1670. I don't know about you, but this I like.

IN UNDERGROUND ATLANTA- ABT 1980

It has had its ups and downs as a tourist attraction, but it is interesting because it shows that modern downtown Atlanta, by using viaducts and bridges, was built over the old city in several areas. The old city itself was hurridly rebuilt after the Civil War ended in 1865.