Daily Quote for Friday, January 19, 2024

     "[Dr. Thomas] Goodwin, having heard much of Mr. Rogers of Dedham [an early Puritan Boanerges] took a journey ...to hear him preach on his lecture day...Mr. Rogers was ...on the subject of...the scriptures. And in that sermon he falls into an expostulation with the people about their neglect of their Bible; ... he personates God to the people, telling them, 'Well, I have trusted you so long with my Bible; you have slighted it, it lies in such and such houses all dust and cobwebs; you care not to listen to it. Do you use my Bible so? Well, you shall have my Bible no longer.' And he takes up the Bible from his cushion, and seas as if he were going away with it, and carrying it from them. But, immediately turns again and personates the people to God, falls down on his knees, cries and pleads most earnestly, 'Lord, whatever Thou dost to us, take not Thy Bible from us; Kill our children, burn our houses, destroy our goods; only spare us Thy Bible, only take not away Thy Bible.' And then he personates God again to the people, 'Say you so? Well, I will try you a while longer; and here is my Bible for you. I will see if you will use it, whether you will love it more...observe it more...practice it more, and live according to it.'" - A Quest for Godliness - the Puritan Vision for the Christian Life, by J. I. Packer