Burroughs on God's ways and His Name

[Wayne]

I came across this by Jeremiah Burroughs and have been pondering it.
Don't know where else in Puritan literature I'd turn for a similar thought by another Puritan, but I'd like to find some further exploration of this concept:

It is the duty of the saints to observe what the way of God is in the times of their generation, to see what name of God is most conspicuous in His administration and accordingly to sanctify that name of His.

Insights? Helpful comments?

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

It is the duty of the saints to observe what the way of God is in the times of their generation,

Just a few blogs with Burroughs' quotes.

http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/puritancovenanter/great-honor-god-puts-upon-human-nature-jeremiah-burroughs-629/

http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/p...peace-mercy-exhibited-jeremiah-burroughs-623/

http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/puritancovenanter/becoming-gospel-we-profess-622/

http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/puritancovenanter/sum-gospel-jeremiah-burroughs-614/

http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/p...farther-than-natural-light-requires-more-607/

http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/p...re-Christ-saints-your-conscience-benefit-598/

http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/p...ng-gods-image-portion-jeremiah-burroughs-592/

 

[Wayne]

yes, but I'm looking esp. for something on that exact topic or concept raised in the quote.

 

[PuritanCovenanter]

yes, but I'm looking esp. for something on that exact topic or concept raised in the quote.

Explain what you mean or he means by "in the way of generation".....

I believe some of the above address this....

 

[Wayne]

He means the way of God in their own time or generation--how God is working with a particular people in a particular time. Not really sure what to make of all this, other than perhaps some sort of Naphtali type thing - "they knew the times and seasons", etc.

Like I said, just pondering it.

 

[a mere housewife]

I thought I remembered something at least related in Samuel Rutherford's letters, but of course I can't locate it, and perhaps it was mythical -- only something that suggested a similar thought when I read it. In flipping back and forth in quest of this needle in a haystack I did come across this, which while not as related as what I was looking for, seemed to have some sort of bearing: 'The times would make any that love the Lord sick and faint, to consider how iniquity aboundeth, and how dull we are in observing sins in ourselves, and how quicksighted to find them out in others, and what bondage we are in. And yet very often, when we complain of times, we are secretly slandering the Lord's work and wise government of the world, and making a hard report of Him.' Which seems to suggest a correlation between even the particular sins of a certain age, and the Lord's own glory as revealed in the moral government of the world. So for instance, perhaps we don't very meaningfully apprehend and glorify God's incredible longsuffering, simply because we don't have eyes for it as it meets us in all the events about which we are so impatient and ready to have an end of. I'm sure that's a very basic example.

I think, and I'm hesitant to venture this (so please forgive me if it's foolish or irrelevant to what you were asking), that perhaps what I thought related to this was a half suggested thought -- I believe I remember Rutherford writing towards the end of his life, as the tides changed again, about God's judgment on them for their lack of unity. And I did think that to some degree it seemed like the proper, albeit rather chilling, reading of that chapter of God's dealings with the church was to see that when brothers began persecuting and fighting and killing each other, God gave them over again to official persecution. For those who dwell in the hill of the Lord must do no evil, and take up no reproach, against a neighbor, and honor those that fear the Lord. And of course our Saviour is like this in His dealings with all of His brothers.

 

[py3ak]

Wayne, that is a very interesting idea. It does show how deeply the idea of providence is embedded in Burrough's thinking, that the current of God's providential dealings in our own time and place requires us especially to know him in the character manifested by those dealings and to glorify him in that especially. It is also an interesting way to think about history - that here at such and such a time and place God was particularly manifesting his power or his longsuffering. That would tie in well with the form of reflection in some of the Psalms, as 105 and 106: the choice of events to be mentioned in those Psalms seems to depend on the different point being made in each case.

I have a vague sense that I have encountered a similar thought elsewhere, but a day of wishing to remember where has so far produced nothing concrete.

 

[Wayne]

The quote is from The Glorious Name of God, one of the few works of Burroughs not to have been reprinted in the last twenty years, but available over at archive.org

One likely reason this work has not been reprinted is the subject matter. Burroughs is focused on presenting an apologetic or rationale for taking up arms..