Reading Defoe.

~ From Robinson Crusoe, "The Journal."

JULY 4. - In the morning I took the Bible; and beginning at the New  Testament, I began seriously to read it, and imposed upon myself to  read a while every morning and every night; not tying myself to the  number of chapters, but long as my thoughts should engage me.  It  was not long after I set seriously to this work till I found my  heart more deeply and sincerely affected with the wickedness of my  past life.  The impression of my dream revived; and the words, "All  these things have not brought thee to repentance," ran seriously  through my thoughts.  I was earnestly begging of God to give me  repentance, when it happened providentially, the very day, that,  reading the Scripture, I came to these words: "He is exalted a  Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and to give remission."  I  threw down the book; and with my heart as well as my hands lifted  up to heaven, in a kind of ecstasy of joy, I cried out aloud,  "Jesus, thou son of David!  Jesus, thou exalted Prince and Saviour!  give me repentance!"  This was the first time I could say, in the  true sense of the words, that I prayed in all my life; for now I  prayed with a sense of my condition, and a true Scripture view of  hope, founded on the encouragement of the Word of God; and from  this time, I may say, I began to hope that God would hear me.  

Now I began to construe the words mentioned above, "Call on Me, and  I will deliver thee," in a different sense from what I had ever  done before; for then I had no notion of anything being called  DELIVERANCE, but my being delivered from the captivity I was in;  for though I was indeed at large in the place, yet the island was  certainly a prison to me, and that in the worse sense in the world.   But now I learned to take it in another sense: now I looked back  upon my past life with such horror, and my sins appeared so  dreadful, that my soul sought nothing of God but deliverance from  the load of guilt that bore down all my comfort.  As for my  solitary life, it was nothing.  I did not so much as pray to be  delivered from it or think of it; it was all of no consideration in  comparison to this.  And I add this part here, to hint to whoever  shall read it, that whenever they come to a true sense of things,  they will find deliverance from sin a much greater blessing than  deliverance from affliction.

I've been reading Robinson Crusoe by Defoe just for the fun of it, and I have to say I am more impressed the further I read.  I started out not enjoying the novel as much as I would have liked, although it did have its good parts.  However, a short way in there is an unfolding story of redemption for Crusoe that opens great avenues for thought.  This is definitely an intriguing read - there are quite a few "hidden gems" in this book that I'm really enjoying.  Again, I am only halfway through, so I will most likely post more thoughts a little farther along on the journey.

I'm not finished with Holiness yet either, so check back for some more thoughts about that as well (for there are many).  

Adios for now.