Reformed in Doctrine, Worship, & Practice

16/06/2026

“What do the wicked reproach you for? Is it because you repent? You are doing your duty. Bind their reproaches as a crown about your head. It is better that men should reproach you for repenting than that God should damn you for not repenting.
If you cannot bear a reproach for religion, never call yourself Christian. Luther said, 'Christianas quasi crucianus' ('A Christian is as if a crucified one'). Suffering is a saint's livery. And alas, what are reproaches? They are but chips off the cross, which are rather to be despised than laid to heart.”

Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance, pp.115-6

13/06/2026

Pray for the ancient people of God, the Jews, even every day. It will be as "life from the dead" in further riches to the world:

"For if the casting away of them (the Jews) be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (Rom. 11:15)

"Have you any love to, or concern for the Church, for the work of reformation, the reformation of our country, the reformation of the world? Any longing desire for the revival of that work now at a stand; for a flourishing state of the church, that is now under a decay? then pray for the conversion of the Jews."

Rev. Thomas Boston, Sermon: "Encouragement to Pray for the Conversion of the Jews"

13/06/2026

"There is a day coming in which there shall be a national conversion of the Jews or Israelites. The now blinded and rejected Jews shall at length be converted into the faith of Christ, and join themselves to the Christian Church."

Rev. Thomas Boston (1676-1732). Sermon: "Encouragement to Pray for the Conversion of the Jews"

11/06/2026

Scottish divine Thomas Halyburton, near his death in 1712 said: "O sirs! I dread mightily that a rational sort of religion is coming in among us; I mean by it, a religion that consists in a bare attendance on outward duties and ordinances, without the power of godliness; and thence people shall fall into a way of serving God which is mere deism, having no relation to Christ Jesus and the Spirit of God."

11/06/2026

Eastern Orthodoxy Examined

These are my two favourite quotes from early church saints, especially from the east, showing, in my opinion, an explicit testimony to Sola Scriptura:

St. Athanasius the Great (296-373 A.D.) wrote:

"These [canonical Scriptures] are fountains of salvation, that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain. In these ALONE is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness. Let no man add to these, neither let him take ought from these. For concerning these the Lord put to shame the Sadducees, and said, ‘You err, not knowing the Scriptures.’ And He reproved the Jews, saying, ‘Search the Scriptures, for these are they that testify of Me (Matt. 22:29; John 5:39).’ Festal Letter 39.6.

The beloved St. Athanasius the Great explicitly says here in the Scriptures “alone” is proclaimed the doctrine, or teaching, of godliness, and that we should not add or minus from these (cf. Deut. 4:2)." It is very unlikely that Athanasius is merely talking about the canon LIST of Scripture since he quoted Scriptures about the Scriptures themselves (Matt. 22:29, John 5:39) and a mere catalogue of books being “living words” and “fountains of salvation” that satisfy the thirst is impossible.

Next is St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315-386-A.D.):

"For concerning the divine and sacred Mysteries of the Faith, WE OUGHT NOT TO DELIVER EVEN THE MOST CASUAL REMARK WITHOUT THE HOLY SCRIPTURES: nor be drawn aside by mere probabilities and the artifices of argument. Do not then believe me because I tell thee these things, unless thou receive from the Holy Scriptures the proof of what is set forth: for this salvation, which is of our faith, is not by ingenious reasonings, but by proof from the Holy Scriptures." The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 4.17.

Cyril, as a Patriarch of Jerusalem, says he shouldn't be believed when he teaches on religion unless it is proven from the Scriptures, without exception: not even a "casual remark without the Holy Scriptures" can be received as binding. Therefore the Scripture alone are binding and have the highest and ultimate authority.

10/06/2026

"The form and aspect of the world is like a paradise; but the true Christian church, in the eye of the world, is foul, deformed, and offensive; yet, nevertheless, in the sight of God, she is precious, beloved, and highly esteemed. Aaron, the high priest, appeared gloriously in the temple, with his ornaments and rich attire, with odoriferous and sweet-smelling perfumes; but Christ appeared most mean and lowly. Wherefore I am not troubled that the world esteems the church so meanly; what care I that the usurers, the nobility, gentry, citizens, country-people, covetous men, and drunkards, condemn and esteem me as dirt? In due time, I will esteem them as little. We must not suffer ourselves to be deceived or troubled as to what the world thinks of us. To please the good is our virtue."

Martin Luther, Table Talk 370

09/06/2026

“The fourth and last general point that we shall presently notice is the serious results of the want (lack) of the sense of sin in the modern pulpit, and their bearing upon the pew. Some of these results are that the preacher makes little or no distinction in his sermons between nature and grace, between a state of condemnation and a state of salvation, between the broad way that leadeth to destruction and the narrow way that leadeth to eternal life. Unconverted sinners are not warned of their sin and guilt and danger, or directed to the way of escape through Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Rev. James. S. Sinclair (1867-1921), John Knox’s Free Presbyterian Church, Glasgow

06/06/2026

Willful sin goes against saving faith. Good works must be preached, yet not as a means of being justified before God. Christ's good works alone, His doing and dying, are the basis and ground of our justification.

"We must teach of good works, yet always so that the article of justification remain pure and unfalsified. For Christ neither can nor will endure any beside himself; he will have the bride alone; he is full of jealousy. Should we teach: if thou believest, thou shalt be saved, whatsoever thou doest; that were stark naught; for faith is either false and feigned, or, though it be upright, yet is eclipsed, when people wittingly and wilfully sin against God's command."

Martin Luther, Table Talk 312

04/06/2026

"Timothy and Titus gave themselves early to the Lord, and proved to be good stewards. They gave their souls to God and also their bodies to His service. We read of other young men in the Scriptures that gave their youth to sin and Satan. They destroyed God's property, grieving His Spirit and ruining their souls. Cain is an example who grudgingly and through unbelief offered an unacceptable sacrifice to God, and afterwards slew his brother. We see what privileges Absalom had, yet he spent his youth forming plans to wrest the kingdom from his father and to kill him - breaking the fifth commandment. We see the case of the band of children that mocked the prophet Elisha; they were cursed, and killed by she bears. Whatever seed you sow in youth, that seed you shall reap in old age. If you spend your youth sinning against God and rejecting His Son, remember you shall not be long a steward of youth; old age will soon creep upon you with all its accompanying pains and weaknesses."

Rev. Donald Macdonald (d. 1901), Shieldaig, Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Sermon: "The Unfaithful Steward"

04/06/2026

‘It is a dreadful thing [for professed ministers of Christ] to be lulling sinners asleep in the arms of a false peace on the brink of a lost eternity. The message that is frequently needed is not “All is well, and be happy”, but “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee; neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain (of God’s mercy in Christ) lest thou be consumed.” (Gen. 19:17).’

Rev. James. S. Sinclair (1867-1921), John Knox’s Free Presbyterian Church, Glasgow