Super gross, and I’m not talking about the 144,000 but something I found in the kitchen on Saturday morning.  We have a container for cooking salt (for all culinary purposes) and as I would be doing some alterations in the kitchen I needed to move a load of stuff and this included the salt keeper.

When I picked up the container I noticed the salt was discoloured – a sort of browny colour.  The first thought was that someone had put a tea spoon or something similar in the salt.

When taking a closer look there was something dark about 2 inches long.  To my sheer horror – it was a slug.  Aaaaargh.  How it got there, I have no idea, but somehow it had made its way into the salt but obviously couldn’t get out.

The brown discolouration must have been dead slug juice.  Now that’s Super Gross!!  Enjoy the pictures – yuk.

Here’s another instalment form Mason’s Notes.  I placed the extract from Pilgrim’s Progress in italics and the relevant word in bold followed by Mason’s Notes. I think you get the idea.  The picture on the left is a scan (not scam!) of the notes.  The picture on the right is from a couple of pages further on showing Evangelist and Pilgrim.

I looked and saw him open the book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, “What shall I do?” Acts 2:37; 16:30; Habak 1:2,3.

Mason’s Note for cry

The cry of an awakened sinner, who sees his own righteousness to be as filthy rags: his soul in a state of wrath and wretchedness, exposed to everlasting destruction, feeling the burden of his sins upon his back, he turns his face from his own house, from himself, from all his false hopes and vain confidence, for refuge; and takes his Bible in his hand to direct him where he shall flee for refuge and salvation.  The more a sinner reads therein, the more he is convinced of the wretched state and ruined condition of his precious and immortal soul, and of his necessity of fleeing to Christ for eternal life and salvation.  As he reads he weeps and trembles to think what will become of him.  Reader, was this ever your case?  Did you ever see your sins, and feel the burden of them, so as to cry out in the anguish of your soul, What must I do to be saved?  If not, you will look on this precious book as a romance, or history, which no way concerns you: ypu can no more understand the meaning of it, than if it were written in an unknown tongue: for you are yet carnal, dead in your sins, lying in the arms of the wicked one, in false security.  But this book is spiritual; it can only be understood by spiritually quickened souls, who have experienced that salvation in the heart which begins with a sight of sin, a sense of sin, a fear of destruction.  Such, and only such, commence pilgrims from the City of Destruction to the heavenly kingdom.

Over the page a little we read: I saw also that he looked this way, and that way, as if he would run; yet he stood still because (as I perceived) he could not tell which way to go. I looked then, and saw a man named Evangelist coming to him, and he asked, “Wherefore dost thou cry?” Here Mason comments:

Behold here the tender love and care of Jesus, the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, to sin-distressed, heavy laden sinners, in sending Evangelist, that is, a preacher of the gospel grace, and glad tidings of salvation to them.

Let’s pray that we too, by the Grace of God have the privilege and opportunity to point sinners to the only refuge and saviour, The Lord Jesus Christ.

Ken Samples has delivered (I assume) the third of his Academy Lecture Series “Learning Skills 101: Learning How to Learn” using Mortimer J Adler’s book ‘How to Read a Book’ and the chapters on logic from his own book ‘A World of Difference’.  He plans to give a total of 8 lectures.  If the first two are anything to go by this is going to be a really helpful yet very stretching series.  Listening is one thing putting it all into practice is quite another.

You should check it out at Christ Reformed Academy for the Audio.

On Saturday we spent the day in Hay-on-Wye.  Like many, I had heard of this famous town of ‘Bookshops’ but never been.  The day itself couldn’t have been better – a beautiful sunny day, a pleasant journey with my wife and another couple, and, the (maybe the last) opportunity to wear shorts, sandals and a T-Shirt.  A perfect day.  Hay-on-Wye really is a lovely place but I’m not sure a visit during one of the festivals would suit me.  The bookshops I reckon would be ‘heaving’ making it mightily difficult to move round the small town, especially in the shops.  That said, I think I would like to go back perhaps a little more prepared.  I should have checked out the shops to visit.  There are 30 bookshops with over a million books and just going ‘on spec’ was, on reflection, not very wise.  I should have thought more about what I was looking for and checked the appropriate shops to visit.

Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes   ‘And more than these, my son, be warned: The making of many books has no end, and much study is the weariness of the flesh’ (Ecc 12:12).  One of the shops is in the castle and in the lower grassed area there are loads of books – 50p for a paperback and £1 for a hardback.  Several times I saw one of the staff come down with a box full of books to just bung on empty shelves – and there weren’t many of those.  If there is an end to books I guess it’s here, a charity shop or eventually the dump.  A fitting end to some no doubt.

John Gill writes on part of this verse:

of making many books there is no end; many books, it seems, were written in Solomon’s time; there was the same itch of writing as now, it may be; but what was written was not to be mentioned with the sacred writings, were comparatively useless and worthless. Or the sense is, should Solomon, or any other, write ever so many volumes, it would be quite needless; and there would be no end of writing, for these would not give satisfaction and contentment; and which yet was to be had in the word of God; and therefore that should be closely attended to: though this may be understood, not only of making or composing books, but of getting them, as Aben Ezra; of purchasing them, and so making them a man’s own. A man may lay out his money, and fill his library with books, and be very little the better for them; what one writer affirms, another denies; what one seems to have proved clearly, another rises up and points out his errors and mistakes; and this occasions replies and rejoinders, so that there is no end of these things, and scarce any profit by them; which, without so much trouble, may be found in the writings of wise men, inspired by God, and in which we should rest contented;

Enjoy the pictures, and if you can pay a visit, have a meal at The Three Tunns – excellent!

Danny Hyde (Pastor of Oceanside United Reformed Church) and three other contributors have a new blog called Meet the Puritans.  In their own words:

This website is a collaborative effort. You can read about the contributors in the Author Profiles page at the top left of the home page.

The purpose of this website is to promote the seventeenth century English Puritans. We intend to do this by means of original research, theological and devotional commentary upon the writings of the Puritans, reviews of books about the Puritans, recommendations of books about the Puritans, and by providing Recommended Reading of helpful materials in your study of the Puritans.

We had friends round last night for a meal together and afterwards we chatted briefly about John Bunyan and ‘Pilgrims Progress’.  I remembered an edition I have of this book with ‘Mason’s notes’.  A previous work-mate bought me this edition (a small hardback copy) from a second hand book shop for 20 pence.  I used to work with this man (John) on the shop-floor fabricating aluminium shop fronts, doors and curtain walling.  I had known John since infant school but sadly he died a few years ago through an asthma attack.  Though we talked about Gospel things as far as I know he never embraced the Saviour.

I began to think about this edition and realised the notes would make for excellent blog content.  From time to time then, I will post some of Mason’s notes.  I could find very little about the Rev Mason, other than the following:

William Mason, Calvinist writer; born Rotherhithe, 1719; died 29 September 1791.  He was briefly (1774) editor of The Gospel Magazine, immediately before Augustus Montague Toplady.

Other writings were:

• A Spiritual Treasury for the Children of God
  
• The Christian Communicant
• The Believer’s Pocket Companion

I’ll try and regularly post some of his notes as they are solidly Evangelical and worth reading.