Praise for Faith

Of all the gifts Thine hand bestows,

Thou Giver of all good!

Not heaven itself a richer knows

Than my Redeemer’s blood.

Faith too, the blood-receiving grace,

From the same hand we gain;

Else, sweetly as it suits our case,

That gift had been in vain.

Till Thou Thy teaching power apply,

Our hearts refuse to see,

And weak, as a distemper’d eye,

Shut out the view of Thee.

Blind to the merits of Thy Son,

What misery we endure!

Yet fly that Hand from which alone

We could expect a cure.

We praise Thee, and would praise Thee more,

To Thee our all we owe:

The precious Saviour, and the power

That makes Him precious too.

—William Cowper

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More Cowper poetry:

• Jehovah Our Righteousness
• The Contrite Heart
• The New Convert
• Old Testament Gospel
• To the Immortal Memory of the Halibut
• Jehovah-Jesus
• Self-Acquaintance

On the life of Cowper: 

• A lecture on the life of Cowper by Michael Haykin 
• Cowper 1
• Cowper 2

Thankful Thursday

I’m thankful that my youngest son’s trip to Europe is going well. I’m also thankful that he’s been emailing me frequently. Frequent contact isn’t a given when your kids travel, so I’m especially thankful for this.

I’m thankful for that spring is coming, or is here, depending on what your definition of spring is. I’m thankful that the Easter season is here, or coming, what ever your definition of Easter season is.

I’ve been listening to some audio sermons and lectures while I do spring cleaning, and I’m thankful for them. I’m thankful for the work done collecting them at sites like Monergism.com. I’m also thankful for those who preach the sermons and speak the lectures. 

I’m thankful for some recent superb provisions for me and mine. I can’t list them for the whole wide world to read, but I’m thank God for them. 

I’m thankful for the work of the Holy Spirit, who points us (me) to Christ.

What about you? What are you thankful for?

Both Familiar and Foreign Genres

From 40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible by Robert L. Plummer:

Certain books in the Bible are written in genres that are familiar to us, but others are foreign to the modern reader. And even familiar genres sometimes include assumptions that the modern reader might not expect. One way to identify the genre of a biblical book is to read it and note significant literary details and authorial comments that cue the reader as to how it should be understood. For example, the most common genre in the Bible is historical narrative, which makes up roughly 60 percent of its contents. The biblical genre of historical narrative is similar to factual historical reporting that we read today in a newspaper of history book. Still, there are a few differences. (1) Biblical historical narratives often are peppered with unfamiliar subgenres, such as genealogies (Matt. 1:1-17), songs (Exod. 15:1-18), proverbs (Matt. 26:52), prophecies (Mark 13: 3-37), or covenants (Josh. 24:1-28). (2) Biblical historical narratives generally are not concerned with some of the same details that modern readers might wish addressed (for example, strict chronological identification or sequencing, biographical details from the entire span of a person’s life, etc.). (3) Biblical historical narratives, while accurate, never claim to be objective. The biblical authors have a purpose in writing—to convince the readers of God’s revelatory message and the necessity of responding to God in repentance, faith, and obedience (e.g., John 20:30-31). 

One way to identify and learn about the genres of books in the Bible is to consult a study Bible, commentary, of other theological reference work…