The last thing godly parents should want for their children is that they should become little Pharisees, clean on the outside but rotten and dead within. It is important to stress not just their outward behavior but also their consciences, minds, and hearts.

Joel R. Beeke, How Do We Plant Godly Convictions In Our Children?, 6.

The nomina sacra are one of the earliest pieces of evidence for a Christian visual and material culture.  These abbreviations remind us that Christians communicated their theology not merely by the words on the page, but by visual symbols. The nomina sacra are essentially the earliest Christian art.

“One of the Most Remarkable Features of Early Christian Manuscripts” by Michael J. Kruger (https://michaeljkruger.com/one-of-the-most-remarkable-features-of-early-christian-manuscripts/)

Additionally, Christian manhood requires other characteristics like meekness, moderation, sobriety, and gravity. A godly man avoids “sinful anger, hatred, envy, desire of revenge; all excessive passions, distracting cares; immoderate use of meat, drink, labor, and recreations” (Westminster Larger Catechism 136). Health and fitness are good things, but they are good things in relationship to other goals. They must enable one to achieve godly ends, including protection, provision, and service. A flashy or excessively “manly” notion of masculinity is actually an artifice standing in place of the real thing. Insofar as these artificial versions of manhood give in to vice by way of the soft motions of indulgence or intemperance, they become “effeminate.”

“What is Effeminacy?” by Steven Wedgeworth (https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-effeminacy)

40. And so let us always give the thanks that are due for the institution of the sacraments and be mindful of the oath of fidelity, whereby we are bound in receiving the sacraments. And like spiritual soldiers let us wage war constantly against Satan, our flesh and the world. In this warfare, wherein we are assisted by these aids, may we at last reach that point where, when the signs have ceased, we shall behold the very thing itself with blessed vision and possess it with everlasting enjoyment, when every war will have ended, and we shall live in everlasting peace with the prince of peace, Jesus Christ. To him be the glory forever.

Disputation 43, “On the Sacraments in General,” in Synopsis of a Purer Theology, 560.

37. But since the right worship of God is abundantly prescribed for us in Holy Scripture, we strive very much not to depart from the rule of Holy Scripture also in the administration of the sacraments.

Disputation 43, “On the Sacraments in General,” in Synopsis of a Purer Theology, 559.

12. Although, with regard to the office a calling is required in order to administer a sacrament in the correct manner, we do not therefore judge that the sanctity of the person is a requirement. Because the minister is acting in this administration on behalf of God and not of himself, we state that the ministers’ dignity, or lack thereof, can neither add nor take away anything at all from the integrity or efficacy of the sacraments. In the same manner those men “who preached Christ out of selfish ambition and not out of good will” (Phil 1:17) detracted nothing from the dignity of God’s Word. In this matter we do not disapprove Thomas’s statement, “The instrument does not work by its own form, but by the strength of him who makes it move” (Summa theologiae 3, question 64, article 5).

Disputation 43, “On the Sacraments in General,” in Synopsis of a Purer Theology, 550-551.

20. [Christ] used bread, real bread for eating that was thin in shape and not thick, so that it was suitable for breaking into pieces (as was the custom of those people), and it was one whole. And moreover, the bread was unleavened or unfermented; of course, that was by accident and due to the circumstance of the law about the first day of unleavened bread; otherwise Christ would have used everyday bread. That is why Christ makes a comparison with everyday bread in John 6, and the apostle when speaking about the Supper mentions simply the bread as it was used in Corinth, because unleavened bread had been abolished along with the Passover Lamb and the other ceremonies. Otherwise, this would be a matter of indifference, provided there is no belief of necessity. And therefore, the debate between the Greeks and Latins over this matter is an idle one.

21. In the same way he used the drink of the produce or fruit of the vine, i.e., wine (Matt 26:29). But it is not known whether the wine was red as it nearly always is in that region (Prov 21:31) and wherefore it is also called the “blood of grapes” (Gen 49:11), or whether it was diluted (which is called mixed wine), in keeping with the custom of blending the wine in those warmer climates (Prov 9:2, 5 and 23:30). Justin states that a cup of wine diluted with water was used. But that adds nothing to the religious character and mystery; nor does the material and shape of the cup (i.e., the chalice), whether it is wooden, silver, or gilded.

22. And the fact that for the mysteries he chose bread and wine, common things taken from everyday life, is because of the very close similarity and analogy in the properties and effects of both (i.e., as basis and very necessary nourishment) to the things they signify: the body and blood of the Lord.

23. Hence the papal teachers and otherws who follow them do not sin lightly when they use bread that is not bread but little slices of the smallest size and then as a shadow, quite unlike the looks of real bread (and not worthy of that name) and not having the energy to nourish; they are wafers, or offerings as they call them. And they also use unleavened bread, as if it is necessary for the sacrament because of the precedent of Christ. And what is more, for the sake of mystery they use diluted wine, over which some ancients like Cyprian and others have philosophized in too much detail and dilutedly.

24. But if [the sacrament is held] where bread and wine are not used, or where they cannot be obtained in abundance, it is possible to use whatever takes the place of bread and wine, or whatever is the equivalent for those people.

Disputation 45, “On the Lord’s Supper,” in Synopsis of a Purer Theology, 584-585.

If Scotland’s protestant cultural transformation was revolutionary, the mechanisms by which it was achieved we have found to be measured, flexible and comprehensive — and all of these precisely because its agents, the sessions, were local.

MARGO TODD, THE CULTURE OF PROTESTANTISM IN EARLY MODERN SCOTLAND, 403.

Taking their local witness in session minutes together with the material culture they have left us, we now have a Reformation more complex than the textbooks have offered, ridden with tension and contradiction, but for all that more credible than the received version and certainly more illuminating of the larger population’s multivalent perceptions and receptions of the new ideas.

Margo Todd, The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland, 404.

When, as tradition has it, Martin Luther ( 1483–1546 ) nailed his theses on indulgences to the door of the castle church of Wittenberg in 1517 , the hammer blows appeared to usher in a new era for the church. Luther’s act is often considered the beginning of the Reformation. However, a close look at the theses will make it clear that they do not condemn indulgences as such, but only the misuse of them. When it comes to content, Luther’s first act of reform was therefore more medieval than has commonly been assumed. But the form of this important act in the history of the church also must be seen against a medieval background. Nailing theses to a door was not an unusual thing to do, since theological disputations were regularly held on theses that previously had been made known. When Luther nailed those famous theses to the door, his intention was to enter into a theological disputation . The disputation genre had developed in the medieval schools and formed an important part of the scholastic method . Luther’s hammer blows may have drawn the curtains on the Middle Ages and heralded a new era in church history, but as such his first act of reformation was entirely medieval.

“The Method of the Schools: Medieval Scholasticism” by Pieter L. Rouwendal in WILLEM J. VAN ASSELT, INTRODUCTION TO REFORMED SCHOLASTICISM, 79.