A summary of our captivity and freedom

William Tyndale lived from about 1494 to 1536.

The fall of Adam has made us heirs of the vengeance and wrath of God, and heirs of eternal damnation. It has brought us into captivity and bondage under the devil. The devil is our lord, our ruler, our head, our governor, our prince and our god. And our will is locked and knit closer to the will of the devil than could a hundred thousand chains bind a man to a post. To the devil’s will we consent with all our hearts, with all our minds,with all our might, power, strength, will and lusts. The law and will of the devil is written in our hearts as well as in our members. We run headlong after the devil with full zeal, and the whole force of all the power we have; just as a stone cast up into the air comes down naturally of its own accord, with all the violence and force of its own weight. With what poisonous, deadly and venomous hate does a man hate his enemy! With what great malice of mind, inwardly, do we slay and murder! With what violence and rage, and with what fervent lust do we commit adultery, fornication and such like uncleanness! With what pleasure and delight, inwardly, does a glutton serve his belly! With what diligence do we deceive! How busily do we seek the things of this world! Whatever we do, think, or imagine, is abominable in the sight of God. For we give no honour to God; his law, or will, is not written in our members or in our hearts; neither is there any more power in us to follow the will of God, than in a stone to ascend upward by itself. And besides that, we are as it were asleep in such deep blindness, that we can neither see nor feel the misery, slavery and wretchedness we are in, until Moses comes and wakes us, and publishes the law.

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Relishing the Reformation

Pastoral Ministry

Nigel Fortescue came out of Bible college full of ideas, enthusiasm and a big vocabulary. Thanks to the wisdom of the Reformation, he gradually learnt that the big issues of ministry had not, and do not, change.

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Sermons on the card

The tenor and effect of certain sermons made by Master Latimer in Cambridge, about the year of our Lord 1529. (Hugh Latimer lived from 1485 to 1555.)

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The Reformed Pastor

Richard Baxter published The Reformed Pastor in 1656 to help pastors do their jobs better. It is still worth reading. Gordon Cheng brings us two short excerpts.

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Enemies of the cross of Christ

Martin Luther lived from 1483 to 1546.

Phillipians 3:17-21: Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself.

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