Adolphus Writer's Blog, page 5
April 25, 2020
Death’s Duel
In the preface to John Donne s sermon Deaths Duel, the original editor said that Donne delivered this sermon at White Hall, before the Kings Majesty, at the beginning of Lent, 25 February, 1631. This Sermon was considered the authors own funeral sermon because it was preached so few days before his death. Donne died on 31 March, 1631. This unnamed editor observed of Donne, that his preaching skills continually increased, in that he exceeded others at first, so, at last he exceeded himself....
April 18, 2020
Death, Be Not Proud
John Donne, who faced illness and tragedy during his life, wrote an almost whimsical taunt in sonnet form. Donne included Death, be not proud in his collection, Holy Sonnets, as sonnet #10. This is his poem in updated English:
DEATH be not proud, though some have called you
Mighty and dreadful, for, you are not so,
For, those, whom you think, you do overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet can you kill me.
***
From rest and sleep, which but your pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from you, much...
April 9, 2020
Now This Bell, Tolling Softly for Another, Says to Me, You Must Die
We, in the twenty-first century, rarely hear church bells in our neighborhoods, if ever. Noise ordinances silence or reduce the volume of church bells, whether from century old bells or electronic surrogates. Typically, its a matter of neighborhood negotiation embodied in formal local ordinances or informal agreements; though, sometimes it rises to the federal courts where churches have found protection under the Constitutions free exercise clause. However, these bells used to call us to...
April 3, 2020
Perilous Times in the Age of SARS-CoVID-19
The USN aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt offloaded the majority of its crew in Guam where they went into quarantine. At the time, around 5 percent of the sailors tested positive for CoVID-19. The captain sent a letter, dated March 30, 2020, to many but not all of those in his chain of command and some that werent.
The letter was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle and published March 31, 2020.
The captain was relieved of his command because of poor judgment.
On April 1, 2020 the...
We’re Not Dead Yet
Hi! Were back. Were not dead yet (warning: video ends a little violently.) A lot of things have happened over these past twenty months. Among other things weve moved about ten miles from where we once were. The necessity of the move fell upon us like the water streaming from our roof, running down our office walls, and drenching our carpeting. Sorry we never uploaded those promised posts, we were treading water at the time. We hope to upload a few posts in this time of SARS-CoVID-19. These...
August 10, 2018
Whither Goest Thou?
We’re still here. Our last post proves it.
We’re in the midst of changes at Mandated Memoranda Publishing.
Hopefully, these will be for the best.
Our plan is to make at least two new posts in the coming months. One, a review of Charles Krauthammer’s Things That Matter.
The second is a review of Robert McKee’s Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
Then, we plan writing Who Shall Be God. The characters are getting restless for us to get on with it.
We Stand United – A Review
Thomas Brooks, seventeenth century Puritan preacher, wrote much during his time on earth. One of these is his book: Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices. According to Ligonier, Brooks said, among other reasons, he wrote it because:
Satan has a greater influence upon men, and higher advantages over them than they think he has, and the knowledge of his high advantage is the highway to disappoint him, and to render the soul strong in resisting, and happy in conquering.
We Stand United is a...
June 26, 2018
Not to Us
We seek to be the center of attention. We want to be acknowledged as experts in our fields. We want our deeds to count, to make a difference, and to be recognized, no, acclaimed, by all. This is our life’s goal. It’s true even in the churches.
The Psalmist, however, expressed a different viewpoint. One that’s even more pertinent in our day:
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
“Why should the nations say,
“Where...
June 5, 2018
Innocent
What do the news anchors mean when we hear, over and over: “More innocents were… today in…?” One definition of the word ‘innocent’ is:
In·no·cent
adjective
Not guilty of a crime or offense.
“the arbitrary execution of an innocent man”
Synonyms: guiltless, blameless, in the clear, unimpeachable, irreproachable, above suspicion, faultless; honorable, honest, upright, law-abiding; informal: squeaky clean
“he was entirely innocent”
Antonyms: guilty
Turns out, this is almost the same as the third...
May 15, 2018
God’s Will
I was reading God’s word and stumbled across this passage again:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
1 John 5:13-15 English Standard Version (ESV)
It hit me that very few things are as sure as...
