Tag Archives: puritan

Tuesday: Manton on the goal of worship

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God will be sought in his own ordinances. Christ walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks. If you would find a man, mind where is his walk and usual resort. …

To serve God is one thing; to seek him another. To serve God is to make him the object of worship, to seek God is to make him the end of worship. …

It is not enough to make use of ordinances, but we must see if we can find God there. There are many that hover about the palace, that yet do not speak with the prince; so possibly we may hover about ordinances, and not meet with God there. To go away with the husk and shell of an ordinance, and neglect the kernel, is to please ourselves because we have been in the courts of God, though we have not met with the living God, that is very sad.

…So a formal person goes from ordinance to ordinance, and is satisfied with the work; a godly man looks to … go away from God with God.

— on Psalm 119:2

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Thomas Manton Tuesday!

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I can still remember the day, well over a decade ago I was reading comments on Psalm 119 by my favorite Puritan, Thomas Manton, and ran across this helpful explanation of the exercise of faith. The verse from the psalm is this: 2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart (esv).

Manton: “FAITH is often expressed by forms of motion: coming, running, going, seeking. Thus is the whole tendency of soul towards God expressed by terms that are proper to outward motion. COMING notes our serious resolution and purpose to make after God. GOING note the practice or progress in that resolution. RUNNING nots the fervour and earnestness of the soul to enjoy God. And SEEKING, that notes our diligence in the use of means.”

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