# The Lord's Day is the weekly divinely appointed availability of the means of grace



## NaphtaliPress (Aug 26, 2017)

The pastoral theology taught by proto puritan Richard Greenham in his parish seminary (also maintained by Nicholas Bownd his stepson, the author of the first large systematic argument for the Lord's Day as the Christian Sabbath) revolved around the means of grace.[1] The primary means which are mentioned throughout Greenham’s _Works_ are preaching, the administration of the sacraments and prayer, to which are added in his catechism, discipline and affliction (which bring together “exercises for coping with adversity: self-examination, prayer, fasting, repentance, reading of the Word, and meditation on the future life”).[2] Another means for Greenham is meditation, which Bownd champions at length and to which he added conferencing (Christians conferring with one another to discuss the faith).[3] And the main thing—*the “great means of the means”*—whereby all these means of grace are made available to the people of God is the weekly gatherings on the Christian Sabbath or Lord’s Day.[4] Considering the focus of both Greenham and Bownd on this practical divinity, it is not surprising both wrote books on the fourth commandment.
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[1] John H. Primus, _Richard Greenham,_ _the Portrait of an Elizabethan Pastor _(1998), 127, 129.
[2] Ibid., 147.
[3] Ibid., 147–149. Bownd, _True Doctrine of the Sabbath_ (1606), 383–418; critical text (Naphtali Press, 2015), 370–396.
[4] _Richard Greenham,_ 150–177.

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## KeithW (Aug 26, 2017)

(emphasis my own)


NaphtaliPress said:


> The pastoral theology taught by proto puritan Richard Greenham in his parish seminary... *revolved around the means of grace*.[





NaphtaliPress said:


> self-examination, prayer, fasting, repentance, reading of the Word, and meditation on the future life





NaphtaliPress said:


> And the main thing—the “great means of the means”—whereby *all these means of grace are made available to the people of God* is the weekly gatherings on the Christian Sabbath or Lord’s Day.


I don't know ahead of time what you are trying to point out, but isn't the logical implication of this that outside of "_the weekly gatherings on the Christian Sabbath_" doing "_self-examination, prayer, fasting, repentance, reading of the Word, and meditation on the future life_" are meaningless? They accomplish nothing for us because these "_means of Grace_" are only "_made available to the people of God_" inside of the Sabbath gathering? I know I inserted the word "only", but isn't that the implication? I'm confused.


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## NaphtaliPress (Aug 26, 2017)

No, not at all; but the Lord's day is a blessing in that while we may take time for using the private means of grace the rest of the week, a full day has been given wherein we make use of both the public and private means of grace every week.

Reactions: Like 1 | Amen 1


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