Knowing The Gospel Is The Greatest Duty of Humanity
A type of commentary on Ralph Erskine's "Gospel Sonnets" (Pt. 1)
For understanding the reasons for this commentary, click here to read the introduction to this series. The layout of this commentary will be to type up Erskine’s original poetry in the main body and then provide footnotes. I will also try to separate the stanzas based on the content of what’s being said for more helpful reading of his logical flow. Because I can’t change the way Substack structures their blog, I intend the footnotes to be part of reading with the poem. Ideally, they would be “side notes” like in the Christian Focus version of The Marrow of Modern Divinity. For the best modern version of Erskine’s work, you can find it here.
For the best way to navigate this, you can click on the footnote number and it will immediately take you to the commentary part for that portion. You can do the same thing in the commentary part to bring you back to where you were in the poem.
Before Erskine begins, there is a note at the top which says, “A poem upon Isaiah 54:5”. To get more of the context of that verse, here is Isaiah 54:4-71: “‘Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.’”
Hark2, dying mortal3, if the sonnet prove
A song of living and immortal love,
'Tis then thy grand concern4 the theme to know,
If life and immortality be so.
Are eyes to read, or ears to hear a trust?
Shall both in death be cram’d anon (i.e. “soon”) with dust?
Then trifle not to please thine ear and eye,
But read thou, hear thou, for eternity.
Pursue no shadows wing’d5, but be thy chase,
The God of glory on the field of grace:6
The mighty hunter’s name is lost and vain,7
That runs not this substantial prize to gain.These humble lines assume no high pretence,
To please thy fancy, or allure thy sense;
But aim, if everlasting life’s thy chase,
To clear thy mind, and warm thy heart through grace.8
A marriage so mysterious I proclaim,
Betwixt two parties of such diff’rent fame,9
That human tongues may blush their names to tell,
To wit, the Prince of Heav’n, the heir of hell!10But, on so vast a subject, who can find
Words suiting the conceptions of his mind?
Or, if our language with our thought could vie,
What mortal thought can raise itself so high?11
When words and thoughts both fail, may faith and pray’r
Ascend by climbing up the Scripture stair:
From sacred writ these strange espousals may
Be explained in the following way.
There are longer and more substantial poems to come but this one certainly sets the stage for the importance of knowing the gospel and the importance of applying it in our lives.
The italicized portions are what Erskine has in mind.
Erskine reminds us of the urgency of attending to the gospel and believing it. This is not another religion equal to others. This is the only “true truth” out there. This is the only true theology while all others are false.
How similar to WSC 1 which asks, “What is the chief end of man?”
Every other thought, regardless of how important, is in comparison to the gospel merely a shadow that flies away. While there comes many times where we must resolve earthly issues (and especially so because it means we are faithful stewards of what God has given us), nevertheless, what does it matter if we settle all those yet not the most important of all? My fear is that we have an over-realized eschatology today—in the sense that we are (even in the name Christianity) too worldly and earthly-minded. This has implicitly and indirectly influenced Christian to be too-this-world-minded. We have reacted from this by thinking that Christianity is mainly about worldview, lifestyle, movements, and the like rather than first and foremost covenanting oneself with Christ.
There is no other way to “chase” God except on the field of grace. Trying to “chase” God on the field of works is like a toddler trying to run down Usain Bolt in his prime. It will never happen. Indeed, it is laughable. See Romans 3:9-20 and Galatians 2:16. The only way to deal with God—the only way we can be dealt with in a salvific way—is by grace alone.
No matter how “mighty” one might be, no matter what they accomplish, it will never earn salvation. In our age of worshipping celebrities (even “Christian celebrities”) this might be one of the more relevant lines for us. Again, let’s heed Jesus when He says, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Mt. 16:26) The greatest an earthly unbeliever can do amounts to a tumbleweed that might catch the eyes of future historians but is chaff blown away in the wind of God’s judgment (Ps. 1:4). God will not save us by works—ever. It is only by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
If you cringe at the word “grace” then Erskine is going to make you cringe a lot. But, maybe Erskine will teach you the biblical way to understand what “grace” is and how it operates in believers.
In a poem coming up later, he will talk about how we struggle with the magnitude of this gracious marriage match in our conscience. It is true that when we come to understand more of who God is and who we are, it is a stunning realization that He would wed Himself to us. The improper response to that would be to doubt it and despair. The proper response would be to believe it—because He says it is so!
Yet, another note must be made here. When Erskine says “different frame”, he is not talking about how Christ is unrelatable to us. Christ relates to us in every way yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). He is true God and true Man in One Person. No one can relate to us more than Christ. Yet, He remains unchangeable God. Other sinners lack the truest humanity that Christ possessed because of His sinless nature. This makes Him not superhuman but especially a sufficient Savior for sinners and a better Adam. “Different frame” is referring to Christ’s sinlessness (a crucial and vital piece to our salvation) in contrast to our sinfulness.
Is this harsh to call us “the heir of hell”? Not when you remember what Jesus Himself once said in John 8:44. “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.” Ephesians 2:3 says that before Christ we were “children of wrath”. If you’re going to be amazed at God’s grace then you must understand from where Christ saved us. He saved us from the depths of depravity and the heinousness of our hellish nature. Yes, it is true that the Father chose us in the Son by the Spirit even in eternity past (Eph. 1:3-10). That sovereign free choice was a choice of infinite free love. That choosing was not because of works (Rom. 9:11). God was not, is not, and will not ever be improved in His Being or Perfection by saving us. He is who He is (Ex. 3:14; Rom. 11:36). And He is unchangeably who He is (Mal 3:6; Ja. 1:17). See James Dolezal’s book All That Is In God. When He places His love upon us, it is not because we wooed Him or “forced His hand”. It is also not because He looked through the “tunnel of time” to save us. That would contradict God’s eternality and His omniscience (not to mention the fact that it would then be salvation by works and repayment). God is outside of time and all time is “always” simultaneously before Him. As the Eternal God, He decreed all things to come to pass (Is. 46:10). Therefore, there is not some “future” out there that God has not decreed or that He does not know about (Ps. 33:10; Eph. 1:11). God can neither increase nor decrease in knowledge (Ps. 139:4; 147:5; 1 Jn. 3:20). Therefore, nothing about election (not even in the Greek and Hebrew words used in Scripture) comes across as God choosing us because we choose Him or that He chooses us because of something we could give to Him. This would not only be a contradiction of Scripture, an abuse of the biblical language and exegesis, but also a dismantling of the Being of God. Rather, predestination and election is free, sovereign, gracious, and monergistic. It is helpful to be reminded of Romans 11:35 which says, “Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?” Salvation is all of grace—from beginning to end. And this grace is so gracious that it takes an heir of hell and makes him an heir with Christ. Because it is all of grace, we need never fear that we could lose such a wonderful salvation.
I wonder if we feel the same about the gospel today. Here is one test: Do we delight to regularly gather on the Sabbath Day (Sunday) to worship God each week in morning and evening? It certainly was a hallmark of the early church to gather morning on evening on the Sabbath and several times during the week (Acts 2:42-47; 20:7). It is backwards for us to think that private devotions are more important than public worship or that personal spiritual disciplines are a greater barometer of one’s spiritual maturity than heartfelt, dedicated worship in the corporate worship setting. To be sure, one can merely go through the motions and halfheartedly or hypocritically attend the public functions of the church without true faith. But, public worship flows into private worship. Our relationship with Christ is not first and foremost a “me and Jesus” thing but a “we and Jesus” thing. The means of grace are first experienced in corporate worship—even for some of the means exclusively in corporate worship when one remembers the public preaching of the gospel and the sacraments. Yes, salvation is and must be personal. But, it is never private.