My Dear Friends,
Many and varied are the customs and dishes that have now come to be associated with that time of the year just past, which has come to be known as Christmas. One of the traditional dishes, of course, is the plum pudding, and that got us to thinking about what we have come to refer to as "The Doctrine of Plum-ism;" let me explain.
Reflecting on the havoc that good John Wyclif had caused among the forces of error in his day, one Church historian remarks that “a plum in the right place might have shut his mouth for ever.” In other words, a bit of promotion, or position – “A Plum” – might have succeeded in keeping him from being so outspoken about the things of the gospel. How we should rejoice that the old Reformer had no palate for such dubious fruit, preferring rather the wholesome diet of the bread, and milk, and meat of the Word of God. In circles large and small today, however, there seems to be little of Wyclif's aversion to “A plum in the right place,” for how many mouths have apparently been shut by a “Ministerial career?” A more lucrative “call”? A “Influential” Deacon? A denominational acceptability? A Council or Committee Appointment? A veiled hint at ecclesiastical promotion? A Chairmanship? A Committee Convenership? A Presidency of Moderatorship? And a “pension scheme” to round it all off at the end of the day, apparently more eagerly to be sought than that “crown of righteousness that fadeth not away.”
Perhaps, of course, we are judging wrongly. But, surely, in these days of such error and blasphemous behaviour in the churches there must be some explanation for the fact of there being so many of what Isaiah called “dumb dogs that cannot bark.” (Isaiah 56:10). Come to think of it, we've never yet heard a dog bark with a “bone” in its mouth! Perhaps “growl” a little; but even then, only if it thought someone was going to take its bone away from it! Perhaps that's what Isaiah was getting at; a bone in a dog's mouth would have something of the same effect as a “plum” in a man's mouth!
Dear friend, if your mouth has been stopped in such an effective way would you not be well-advised at the beginning of this New Year to do what the wee boy in the rhyme did and “put in your thumb, and pull out the plum?” Better to empty your mouth of it now before you break your teeth on the stone at the end. You'll not come off the loser by it: “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it,” saith the Lord. That's surely the recipe for “A Happy New Year” for any of us, for “Happy are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled”.
Yours in Christ,
W. J. Seaton
This Page Title – Pastor's Letter - The Doctrine of Plum-ism The Wicket Gate Magazine "A Continuing Witness". Internet Edition number 82 – placed on line January 2010 Magazine web address – www.wicketgate.co.uk |