Greg Johnson

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA (150 - 215) "The Instructor" "For silly are they who, from greed, take delight in what they have hoarded up. 'He that gathereth wages, it is said, 'gathereth into a bag with holes. Such is he who gathers corn and shuts it up; and he who giveth to no one, becomes poorer."

Clement, church father, considers #greed.

Proverbs 11:26 and Haggai 1:6-8 promise blessing to one that sells, doesn’t create artificial scarcity in a necessity. But are we no longer allowed to make value judgements about any action in the marketplace?

How can you consider how you gathereth wages?

OSWALD CHAMBERS (1874-1917) Studies in the Sermon on the Mount "It would have been a sorry look-out for us if God had not gone the second mile with us. The first thing God requires of a man is to get born from above, then when he goes the second mile for men it is the Son of God in him Who does it. The only right of a Christian is the right not to insist on his rights. Every time I insist on my rights I hurt the Son of God."

Oswald Chambers, #Baptist, sees Christ “going the first mile” in our salvation; the 2nd in our doing the Sermon on the Mount. Our right is to not insist on our rights.

Today, we tell the oppressed they have no rights, yet mere slights against us is persecution.

How can you not hurt the Son of God?

JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564) Calvin's Commentaries Hebrews "But he [Hebrews writer] speaks not so much of the practice of hospitality as observed then by the rich; but he rather commends the miserable and the needy to be entertained, as at that time many were fugitives who left their homes for the name of Christ."

John Calvin, #Calvinist, says that entertaining strangers (Heb 13:2) wasn’t about parties, but welcoming miserable throwing parties, but about entertaining of the miserable and needy, esp. Christian refugees.

Conservatives had no love for Syrian refugees.

How can you entertain angels? #family

ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY (1815-1881) THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES "And therefore in the true spirit of that Divine discourse in St. Matthew's Gospel, which is the true model of his teaching, he asserted depth and unity of the moral law, that ' whosoever shall offend in one point, he is guilty of all;" that 'he who has shewed no mercy shall have judgment without mercy; that the 'pure and undefiled' service of God is not to use many ablutions and eat with unwashen hands, but to perform those acts of purity and beneficence which were so beautifully shewn forth in the society over which he presided in Palestine, in the Church of Barnabas and Dorcas, and of those who had all things in common, 'to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep unspotted from the world.'"

Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, #Anglican, references nine bible passages, plus the life of Jesus, to point to centrality of benevolence in Christianity.

Yet I see contemporary Christians write systematic theologies of guidance for youth without mentioning helping people in need.

How can you show mercy?

JOHN BUNYAN (1628 - 1688) "What it is to Suffer for Righteousness' Sake" "How is it, dost thou show most mercy to thy dog, or to thine enemy, to thy swine, or to the poor? Whose naked body hast thou clothed? Whose hungry belly hast thou fed? Hast thou taken delight in being defrauded and beguiled?"

John Bunyan, #Puritan preacher, writes on a life of righteousness. Has the person who claims to be righteous ever clothed a naked person? Do fans of Bunyan delight in being defrauded?

Do we care more about animals than people? Where is Sally Struthers?

How can you suffer for righteousness sake?

GUILLAME BUCANUS (d. 1603) Institutions of Christian religion framed out of Gods word "Moreover faith receiveth, Charitie giveth and bestoweth, Charitie is begotten of faith, and not on the contrarie, faith maketh vs the sonnes of God, charitie trieth us, whether we be the sonnes of God."

Guillame Bucanus, #Calvinist, considers faith and charity.

Faith receives, charity gives. #Faith makes us the sons of God. Charity “tries” us, as 2 being sons of God.

In contrast, John Piper says Jesus will ask how much bible reading you’ve done.

How can you demonstrate that you are a son of God?

MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK (1858-1901) REMEMBERING THE LORD "Tire out your body for Him ; coin your blood into devotion to Him.... Enter into the lives of the poor with the radiance of your richer life. Bring to the troubled the repose of your faith. Try to adjust some of the inequalities that form life's burden for so many. So shall your body be broken and your blood be shed, but you will commit your finished work with joy into your Father's hands."

Maltbie Davenport Babcock, #Presbyterian, wrote, “This is my Father’s World”. He says tire ourselves out for the Lord, serve the poor w/ sharing radiance of faith; adjust inequalities. Then we commit our work w/ joy into the Father’s hands.

Justice & faith.
How can you tire out your body for Him?

BEILBY PORTEUS (1731-1809) Lectures on the Gospel of St. Matthew "The fact is, that charity, or love to man in all its extent, being the most eminent of all the evangelical virtues, being that which Christ has made the very badge and discriminating mark of his religion, is here constituted by him the representative of all other virtues; just as faith is, in various passages of scripture, used to denote and represent the whole Christian religion."

Beilby Porteus, #Anglican, says verses such as Matthew 25 point to charity as the representative of all Christian virtues.

I see the faith of charitable people called into question over not enjoying lengthy devotions.

How can you display the discriminating marks of Christ’s religion? #christian

EDWARD REYNOLDS (1599-1676) "BEFORE THE LORD MAYOR" "Haply to give unto a man that which he hath a just property and claim unto, men can be contented to do; it is violence and robbery to withhold it: but when we must give that which is our own, to another, here grudging and unwillingness may creep in upon us."

Edward Reynolds, #presybterian, says you’d return someone’s property— it’d be violence to withhold it. But grudging at a needy person is doing the same.

Is this grudging and unwillingness something taught and reinforced by today’s conservatism?

How can you give willingly, without grudging?

EMANUEL GREENWALD (1811-1885) Discourses on Romanism "I knew a poor man in my native place, who made his living by going about town selling apples. He was a devout Romanist. He died. His son who was also a Romanist, paid the priest sum after sum until it amounted to $24 to pray his father's soul out of Purgatory. He was a poor young man, and paid all that he could afford. The priest was still not satisfied, declared that his father's soul was not yet out of Purgatory, and wanted more money."

Emanuel Greenwald, #Lutheran, says a poor lad was oppressed by a RC priest to “pray his father’s soul out of purgatory,” even after he ran out of dough. Indulgences continued 300 years after the Protestant #Reformation.

Did he have to mention that the boy was poor?

How can you remember the poor?

EZEKIEL HOPKINS (1634-1690) "THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT" "... but even deferring it [wages] beyond the time that they [poor laborers] can conveniently be without it, is a kind of theft and oppression. Deut. 24: 14, 15, 'Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy. At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it : lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee.'"

Ezekiel Hopkins, #Anglican, on theft. Delaying wages is theft from the poor. (Dt 24:14-5). Our sin is in the poor’s cry.

Today the poor’s cry is their sin, ‘cuz such a business is “returning greater vale to society.”

How can you respond to the cry of the poor? #gohelp

THOMAS CHALMERS (1780-1847) Problems of Poverty “And does not the Bible expressly tell us to give to him that asketh, to give even to the evil and the unthankful — nay, most specific of all, to give alms of such things as we have?”

Thomas Chalmers, #Presbyterian, speaking on poverty, says bible commands to give that ask, even to the evil and unthankful

In contrast, today someone has to be an ally to get aid.

How can you give to the evil and unthankful? #theosky

JACQUES SAURIN (1677-1730) "The Enemies and the Arms of Christianity" "When he [Satan] doth not strive to render us insensible to the necessities of a poor neighbour, but to convince us that we should first take care of ourselves, for charity, as they say, begins at home: — do you not conceive, my brethren, that there is in this morality a secret poison, which slides insensibly into the heart, and corrodes all the powers of the soul."

Jacques Saurin was a French #Reformed pastor. He the devil is behind this idea of “charity begins at home.” This moral vision is a secret poison that corrodes all the powers of the soul.

Today would some think it’s in the Bible?

How can you resist corrosion of the soul? #ethics

THOMAS GISBORNE (1758-1846) An Enquiry Into The Duties Of Men "... it must previously be stated, that so long as any manufacture portends such dangers to the health or to the morals of the persons engaged in it, as to be likely to prove on the whole injurious to human happiness, on taking futurity as well as the present life into the account, whatever profits it may promise, it cannot be continued with a safe conscience."

Thomas Gisborne, #Anglican, writes on use of mercury in manufacturing. A practice that injures human health or morals injures the conscience.

Not a call for massive regulation nor caveman-like technology, but an appeals to #conscience.

How can you protect the health and morals of persons?

WILLIAM ATTERSOLL (d. 1640) The Badges of Christianity ".. we have not at all times been given to mercy and compassion toward the poor, for the maintenance of them and their families, especially in times of famine, dearth, pestilence, sickness, and other mortalities and necessities."

William Attersoll, #Puritan, laments a lack of mercy and compassion for maintenance of the poor. Not even in famine, scarcity, sickness, and “mortalities.”

Do some of these categories make us shrink from giving?

How can you be given to mercy and #compassion, and consider ways to get “we” involved?

DAVID JAMES BURRELL (1844-1926) IN THE PORCHES OF BETHESDA "Then observe, in the second place, that Jesus looked on the sufferers. He sought them out, and looked on them. ... There are multitudes of good people who are willing to help, but they do not want to look on suffering. ... O, the quackery of such charity as that! Go, look on the suffering ! Look on it ! See the shame and the hunger, the crime, the pain, the anguish ! See it with your own eyes if you want to help it."

David James Burrell, #Reformed Dutch pastor, says some would help but don’t want to look at suffering people. He calls this “quackery”! Go look upon people in shame and #hunger. See crime and anguish. See it with your own eyes if you want to help it.

How can you seek out sufferers? #pulpitsky

ELIAS BOUDINOT (1802-1839) An Address to the whites "I ask you, shall red men live, or shall they be swept from the earth? With you and this public at large, the decision chiefly rests. Must they perish? Must they all, like the unfortunate Creeks, (victims of the unchristian policy of certain persons,) go down in sorrow to their grave?"

Elias Boudinot translated the #NewTestament into Cherokee. He argues (in 1826) against the “Trail of Tears”. Sweeping people away = death.

How can you and the public at large decide against unchristian policies which sweep people from the earth? #equity

ANDREAS GERHARD HYPERIUS (1511-1564) A speciall treatise of Gods prouidence “... both David in this place [Psalm 15], as also Christ & Paul every where, do urge and require, that this should be showed in the observation of the second Table, that is to say, in the sincere love of our neighbour, wherein for no other cause is the whole accomplishment of the Law said to consist."

Andreas Gerhard Hyperius was Flemish, #Lutheran #Reformed theologian. David, Christ, and Paul, “everywhere” require love of neighbor. It is the whole of law.

Some preachers demand so much time for devotions that no time is left for love or #service.

How can you obey God’s Law?

RALPH ERSKINE (1685 - 1752) SERMON XXIV. — XXVII "O remember mercy to all that are about you: mercy to the poor and needy ; mercy to the destitute and afflicted; mercy to the souls and bodies of men : not only mercy to their bodies, by acts of bounty, alms, charity, and benevolence, as you know their circumstances require, especially if they be of the household of faith; but also mercy to their souls, by your acts of piety, by your prayers, and counsels, suitable reproofs, and religious example."

Ralph Erskine, #Presbyterian, urges mercy to all. Mercy to bodies: bounty and alms, especially w/in the faith. Mercy to souls: prayer, and reproofs.

To all. Aiding the body is not a distraction, or embarrassing preclude to the main point.

How can you remember mercy to all? All of them? #donate

EDWARD POLHILL (1622-1694?) Speculum theologia in Christo "Piety towards God is the right Fountain of Charity towards Men."

Edward Polhill, #Calvinist, muses on 1 John 3:17. Piety to God and a Fountain of Charity towards others are intricately linked.

Few may tolerate such a linkage, objecting for different reasons.

How can you have a Fountain of Charity towards Mankind? #charity #faith #bible #piety #humanity

Matthew Mead worked with Presbyterian & Congregationalist churches. Here he taunts duelists. If you’re such a big man, take on God. You’re hardly strong enough to take on just one of His warriors, the Death that stalks the land with his Pale-horse of the plague. Hell is not too far behind (Rev 6:8) for you. Does today’s conservative church make unqualified appeals to a shame and honor culture not too different form the duelists? How can you not tempt God? #christian

Matthew Mead, #Presbyterian, taunts duelists. If you need to prove Manhood, take on God, whose warriors were stalking the land with the plague. Hell is not too far behind (Rev 6:8) for you.

Do conservatives make appeals to this same shame and honor culture?

How can you not tempt God? #christian

JOHN MCDOWELL (1780-1863) "SERMON LXXXIV" .. and further the putting another to the trouble and expense of a law-suit to gain his own right, and protracting the suit to as great length as we can, to run him to as much expense as possible, are oppression. This last is a common mode of oppression, and it is a grievous one, and especially if the person thus wronged be poor, and unable to bear the expense incident to a tedious suit at law."

John McDowell, #Presbyterian sem pres, writes on Do Not Steal. Dragging out a case is oppression, extra bad if done to a poor person.

Do we find some things an unfortunate lot, but bristle at using the “O” word in #theology?

How can you protect and further another person’s interests and property?

THOMAS MOCKET (1602-1670?) Christian advice both to old and young "Liberality supplieth the want of the necessitous, giving occasion of much thanksgiving, and of glory to God, doth adorn the Christian Religion, honor the Gospel of Christ, stop the mouths of worldly men, but opens the mouths and hearts of them that are relieved, refreshed, and comforted, to praise God for you, speak well of you, pray to God for you; and doth (as I may in some sense say) engage God to deal liberally with you, for your liberal distribution to others..."

Thomas Mocket, #Puritan minister, lists good reasons for generosity to the needy. This list ended up in the Westminster C.F. Among benefits of giving are that it opens hearts of recipients, stops the mouths of religion’s critics.

Others would have you pray all day.

How can you give glory to God?

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON (1834 - 1892) "A Duty of Remembering the Poor" "When we take our walks abroad and see the poor, he must be but a very poor Christian who does not lift up his eyes to heaven and thank his God thus-- 'Not more than others I deserve, But God has given me more.”

Charles Spurgeon, London #Baptist, says that upon seeing the poor abroad, only a very “poor Christian” wouldn’t immediately thank God for giving them more. Not as they deserve.

Some today would say those poor kids chose regimes that voted against US @ UN, etc.

How can you develop Spurgeon’s heart?

LEO THE GREAT (400-461) "Sermon XII. On the Fast of The Tenth Month, I." "... this godly love cannot be perfect unless a man love his neighbour also. Under which name must be included not only those who are connected with us by friendship or neighbour-hood, but absolutely all men, with whom we have a common nature, whether they be foes or allies, slaves or free. For the One Maker fashioned us, the One Creator breathed life into us; we all enjoy the same sky and air, the same days and nights, and, though some be good, others bad, some righteous, others unrighteous, yet God is bountiful to all, kind to all."

Leo the Great considers our desires to achieve a perfected love towards God. It must include love to neighbor, extend to all people, whether foe or ally, slave or free. God is kind to all.

Do some argue against giving to those who are not allies?

How can you perfect godly love? #americafirst

JAMES HAMILTON (1814-1867) Royal Preacher: Lectures on Ecclesiastes "Very ghastly is the picture which our world presents when we look at it as the scene of injustice and cruelty; and very painful is the view it gives us of our arbitrary and oppressive human nature. Could we only see what God is daily seeing, and hear what God is daily hearing, we would be apt to join with Solomon in praising the dead who are already dead, and who are past our pain or danger."

James Hamilton, Scottish #Presbyterian minster, comments on Ecclesiastes 4:3. The world is full of injustice and cruelty. We’d be tempted to praise the dead if we could see all as God does.

We see each other’s causes as injustices, and vice versa.

Could some see cruelty in your causes? #pulpitsky

ANDREW THOMSON (1779-1831) Plead the Cause of the Poor and Needy "The whole tenor of the Scriptures teaches us, that slavery was ever detestable in the sight of God, insomuch, that it has generally been denounced, as the punishment of the most abandoned sinners."

Andrew Thomson, Scottish minister, considers the poor and needy. If God hates “slavery to sin”, then how could the same word ever denote a thing He likes?

Would love to troll 19thc slavers with this. Time Machine, anyone??

How can you respond to the whole tenor of the Scriptures? #elohim

EDWARD REYNOLDS (1599-1676) "BEFORE THE LORD MAYOR" "We are all of us like leaves of trees, as Homer elegantly. That wind which blows away my neighbour to-day, may blow away me to-morrow. That mercy that I deny to him, I may live to see denied to myself."

Edward Reynolds, #Westminster member, addresses the mayor. We’re like leaves: that which blows away a neighbor may blow me away tomorrow.

It’s unlikely that this is exclusively about mayor’s personal, discretionary charity.

How can you not deny #mercy?

GEORGE BARRELL CHEEVER (1808-1890) God Against Slavery "When God says, Thou shalt not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, the servant, the hireling ; and when he teaches us to pray, Deliver me from the oppression of man : so will I keep thy precepts; every one of these statutes and instructions demonstrates the system of slavery to be sinful; because its fundamental claim of property in man is the sum of all these oppressions, and God could never sanction in a general system as right, that which He forbidS; in every particular, as wrong."

George Barrell Cheever, #Presbyterian minster, argues against slavery. It is the sum of oppressions (Mal 3:5, Ps 119:134).

How can you protect the stranger, fatherless, widows, the servant, and hireling? Any one particularly at risk today? #sermonsky

WILLIAM CAVE (1637-1713) Primitive Christianity "Lactantius: 'For being all created by one God, and sprung from one common parent, we should reckon ourselves akin, and obliged to love all mankind; and (that our innocency may be perfect) not only not to do an injury to another, but not to revenge one when done to ourselves; for which reason also we are commanded to pray for our very enemies. We ought therefore to be kind and sociable, that we may help and assist each other!"

William Cave, #Anglican minister, quotes a Christian advisor to the emperor, Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325).

Because of common parentage, we should love all, pray for enemies, assist each other.

What if 1stC Christians didn’t do this?

How can you consider creation and common #humanity?