Reclaiming St. Patrick's Day

By Steve Weaver

Patrick Cover

We are blessed in our society today to have holidays such as Easter, Christmas, St. Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day which are filled with Christian significance. Unfortunately, almost all of the Christian meaning for these important markers on the Christian calendar has been forgotten. As much as we Christians like to blame the nebulous society around us, I don't think it is the "world's" fault that these holidays have not retained their Christian meaning. Instead, I fault Christians who are either unaware of their heritage or just plain derelict in their duty to educate their children. We shouldn't expect unbelievers to celebrate Christianity, but we should expect Christians to seek to pass their heritage on to the next generation.

Hopefully you do use the holidays of Christmas and Easter as opportunities to talk to your children about the birth and resurrection of Christ respectively. However, days like St. Valentine's Day and especially St. Patrick's Day are often missed opportunities in evangelical homes. Perhaps we're frightened away by the fact that these individuals are often associated with the Roman Catholic Church. But there is no need to fear Patrick for in him evangelicals have not a foe but a friend.

Patrick was a courageous Christian missionary to Ireland in the 5th century. His story of being kidnapped as a boy in Britain to become a slave in Ireland, his escape back to Britain, and his call as a missionary to return is a fascinating tale of God's providence and grace. His dedication to the doctrine of the Trinity is both admirable and worthy of emulation. Talking to your children about how Patrick taught the Trinity to the pagans of his day provides a tremendous opportunity to explain this difficult biblical teaching to them. This is an opportunity that should not be missed. Likewise, Patrick's commitment to take the gospel to unreached peoples (Ireland at the time would have been considered the "end of the world.") is another important teachable aspect of this remarkable life for our children. Read, in Patrick's own words, his commitment to take the gospel to Ireland:

I came to the people of Ireland to preach the Gospel, and to suffer insult from the unbelievers, bearing the reproach of my going abroad and many persecutions even unto bonds, and to give my free birth for the benefit of others; and, should I be worthy, I am prepared to give even my life without hesitation and most gladly for his name, and it is there that I wish to spend it until I die, if the Lord would grant it to me. (Confession 37)

In short, St. Patrick should be introduced to our children as a courageous missionary hero who believed and taught the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity.

Many legends are attached to the story of Patrick and though I believe most are grounded in some true events, the discerning reader must be aware of the mixture of legend and history on this early Christian figure. However, we are not dependent merely on legends to know about the life of Patrick. His autobiographical Confession has survived the centuries and is a fascinating recounting of his life.

For those interested in learning more, there is a helpful modern biography of Patrick by Philip Freeman. For parents wanting a good introduction that can be ready by or to their children, I highly recommend Patrick: Saint of Ireland by Joyce Denham. In addition, a new biography of Patrick has been penned by Michael Haykin, which is already available in the UK and is available for pre-order in the US. We are going to give away a free copy of this book today. Enter the contest below!

A few short, but very helpful articles about Patrick's modern-day relevance are available online.

This post originally appeared on March 17, 2012 on pastorhistorian.com. It has been lightly edited and reposted today on that blog in honor of St. Patrick's Day 2014.

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Steve Weaver serves as a research assistant to the director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies and a fellow of the Center. He also serves as senior pastor of Farmdale Baptist Church in Frankfort, KY. Steve and his wife Gretta have six children.

Spurgeon’s Missiology: “Go and Teach Them”

By Evan D. Burns

Charles Spurgeon equally upheld a passion for converting lost souls and for making disciples of all nations.  In his sermon, “The Missionaries’ Charge and Charter,” on April 21, 1861, Spurgeon unpacked the role of teaching disciples in missions, as commanded in the Great Commission:

First, my Brethren and very briefly, indeed, a few things about the COMMAND.  And we must remark, first, what a singularly loving one it is….  It is the voice of love, not of wrath. “Go and teach them the power of My blood to cleanse, the willingness of My arms to embrace, the yearning of My heart to save! Go and teach them. Teach them no more to despise Me, no more to think My Father an angry and implacable Deity. Teach them to bow the knee, and kiss the Son, and find peace in Me for all their troubles, and a balm for all their woes. Go—speak as I have spoken—weep as I have wept; invite as I have invited; exhort, entreat, beseech and pray, as I have done before you. Tell them to come unto Me, if they are weary and heavy laden, and I will give them rest….

Note, too, how exceedingly plain is the command, “Go you, teach all nations.”…  Why, it is the mother’s work with her child! It is the tutor’s work with the boy and with the girl—“go you and teach.” How simple! Illustrate; explain; expound; tell; inform; narrate! Take from them the darkness of ignorance; reveal to them the light of Revelation. Teach! Be content to sit down, and tell them the very plainest and most common things. It is not your eloquence that shall convert them; it is not your gaudy language or your polished periods that shall sway their intellects….  Go you and teach them first the very simplicities of the Cross of Christ!...

There has been heroism in every land for Christ—men of every color and of every race have died for Him; upon His altar has been found the blood of all kindreds who are upon the face of the earth. Oh, tell me not they cannot be taught! Sirs, they can be taught to die for Christ; and this is more than some of you have learned. They can rehearse the very highest lesson of the Christian religion—that self-sacrifice which knows not itself, but gives up all for Him. At this day there are Karen missionaries preaching among the Karens with as fervid an eloquence as ever was known by Whitefield! There are Chinese teaching in Borneo, Sumatra, and Australia, with as much earnestness as Morison or Milne first taught in China. There are Hindu Evangelists who are not ashamed to have given up the Brahmian thread, and to eat with the Pariah, and to preach with him the riches of Christ!... Well was that command warranted by future facts, when Christ said, “Go you, teach all nations.”

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Southeast Asia with his wife and twin sons.  They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.

Samuel Davies on the Nature of the Spiritual Life

By Joe Harrod

Samuel Davies (1723–1761) used the language of communion or fellowship when describing the nature of spiritual life: “If you love God and the Lord Jesus Christ, you delight in communion with them.”[1] True friends seized every opportunity for fellowship and a dear companion’s “absence is tedious and painful to them.”[2] God was such a friend to believers. Davies balanced God’s transcendence and immanence:

Though God be a spirit, and infinitely above all sensible converse with the sons of men, yet he does not keep himself at a distance from his people. He has access to their spirits, and allows them to carry on a spiritual commerce with him, which is the greatest happiness of their lives.[3]

Jesus had promised this communion (c.f. John 14:21–23) and it was a “mystical fellowship” that believers enjoyed, which sinners knew not.[4] Just as friends experienced communion through mutual exchanges, so God drew near to his people as a father might approach his child, showering grace, kindling love, and fostering assurance of his closeness. For their part, Christians had freedom to approach God through acts of devotion, especially prayer:

And oh! how divinely sweet in some happy hours of sacred intimacy! This indeed is heaven upon earth: and, might it but continue without interruption, the life of a lover of God would be a constant series of pure, unmingled happiness.[5]

Contrary to the opinion of some detractors, religion provided “a happiness more pure, more noble, and more durable than all the world can give.”[6] Such happiness was the believer’s present joy, and consisted of “the pleasures of a peaceful, approving conscience, of communion with God, the supreme good, of the most noble dispositions and most delightful contemplations.”[7] These blessings were gospel fruits and it was through Christ that believers had “sweet communion” with God, “the reviving communications of divine love, to sweeten the affections of life; and the constant assistance of divine grace to bear us up under every burden, and to enable us to persevere in the midst of many temptations to apostacy [sic], deliverance from hell, and all the consequences of sin.”[8]

Occasionally the believer’s experience of God did not seem so intimate, for “at times their Beloved withdraws himself, and goes from them, and then they languish, and pine away, and mourn.”[9] He recognized that the deep communion with God that he described was foreign to many, and he anticipated objections that such talk was “enthusiasm, fanaticism, or heated imagination.”[10] He appealed to more than a  half-dozen passages of Scripture (James 4:8; Hebrews 7:19 and 10:22; Psalms 69:18 and 73:28; Lamentations 3:57; and 1 John 1:3) which promised such intimacy, but replied that such communion was indeed true of God’s friends and if some critics questioned the possibility of such a close relationship, then their distance from God testified to their alienation.[11]

[1]Davies, “Nature of Love to God and Christ Opened and Enforced,” in Sermons by the Rev. Samuel Davies, A.M. President of the College of New Jersey, vol. 2 (Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria, 1854, repr. 1993), 463. Cited henceforth as Sermons.

[2]Davies, “Nature of Love to God,” in Sermons, 2:463.

[3]Davies, “Nature of Love to God,” in Sermons, 2:463.

[4]Davies, “Nature of Love to God,” in Sermons, 2:463.

[5]Davies, “Nature of Love to God,” in Sermons, 2:464.

[6]Samuel Davies, “The Ways of Sin Hard and Difficult,” in Sermons, 2:549.

[7]Davies, “Ways of Sin,” in Sermons, 2:549.

[8]Samuel Davies, “The Gospel Invitation,” in Sermons, 2:631.

[9]Davies, “Nature of Love to God,” in Sermons, 2:464.

[10]Davies, “Nature of Love to God,” in Sermons, 2:464.

[11]Davies, “Nature of Love to God,” in Sermons, 2:463–64.

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Joe Harrod serves as Director for Institutional Assessment at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is a doctoral candidate in the areas of Biblical Spirituality and Church History. He and his wife, Tracy, have three sons.

Fuller on Reading the Scriptures

By Evan D. Burns

Andrew Fuller carefully explained the usefulness and spiritual benefit of prayerfully reading the Scriptures, as opposed to reading commentaries in substitution of meditation.  He said that reading assists prayer, and prayer assists reading.  Here are some suggestions he gives for reading the Bible prayerfully:[1]

  • Read Scripture prayerfully at set times each day, preferably in the mornings.

  • Let reading the Scriptures precede prayer, and then let prayer spur on more reading.

  • Maintain a tender, humble, holy frame of mind.

  • Pause, think, pray, and apply to your meditations to your daily life.

  • Only use commentators/expositors when you cannot resolve a difficult issue, and that only after thinking hard by yourself.

  • Writing down interesting thoughts fixes them to memory.

[1] Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 3: Expositions—Miscellaneous, ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 788.

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Southeast Asia with his wife and twin sons.  They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.

Puritan Manliness

By Evan D. Burns

John Owen has been called the John Calvin of England, and he is arguably the greatest of all the Puritan writers.  Summarizing Owen’s spirituality, J.I. Packer compares contemporary evangelicalism to Puritan spirituality with three points:

Anyone who knows anything at all about Puritan Christianity knows that at its best it had a vigour, a manliness, and a depth which modern evangelical piety largely lacks.  This is because Puritanism was essentially an experimental faith, a religion of ‘heart-work’, a sustained practice of seeking the face of God, in a way that our own Christianity too often is not.  The Puritans were manlier Christians just because they were godlier Christians.  It is worth noting three particular points of contrast between them and ourselves.

First, we cannot but conclude that whereas to the Puritans communion with God was a great thing, to evangelicals today it is a comparatively small thing.…  We do not spend much time, alone or together, in dwelling on the wonder of the fact that God and sinners have communion at all; no, we just take that for granted, and give our minds to other matters.  Thus we make it plain that communion with God is a small thing to us….

Then, second, we observe that whereas the experimental piety of the Puritans was natural and unselfconscious, because it was so utterly God-centred, our own (such as it is) is too often artificial and boastful, because it is so largely concerned with ourselves….  The difference of interest comes out clearly when we compare Puritan spiritual autobiography… with similar works our own day.  In modern spiritual autobiography, the hero and chief actor is usually the writer himself; he is the centre of interest, and God comes in only as a part of his story….

Third, it seems undeniable that the Puritans’ passion for spiritual integrity and moral honesty before God… has no counterpart in the modern-day evangelical ethos.  They were characteristically cautious, serious, realistic, steady, patient, persistent in well-doing and avid for holiness of heart; we, by contrast, too often show ourselves to be characteristically brash, euphoric, frivolous, superficial, naïve, hollow and shallow….[1]

[1] J.I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 215-218.

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Southeast Asia with his wife and twin sons.  They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.

One Thought on Church Membership

By Michael A.G. Haykin

Baptism: is both a declaration of commitment to following Christ and the doorway as it were to the church (look at Acts 2:41-42). It is unthinkable that in the early church they would have baptized anyone and that person did not join himself to the church that baptized him. Only in a deeply individualistic culture like ours does this idea emerge: I can be baptized but still be a free agent. To join myself to Christ is to join myself to his people.

____________________ Michael A.G. Haykin is the director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies. He also serves as Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Haykin and his wife Alison have two grown children, Victoria and Nigel.

“Every Cup Stirred by the Finger of God”

By Evan D. Burns

Adoniram Judson wrote an afflicted fellow-missionary, Mr. Osgood.  His encouraging words demonstrate that he himself had choked down the bitterness of suffering and had savored the sweetness of heavenly promises.  Judson’s way of ministering to this grief-stricken brother grew out of trusting in God’s heavenly promises in spite of his own bitter trials.

So the light in your dwelling has gone out, my poor brother, and it is all darkness there, only as you draw down by faith some faint gleams of the light of heaven; and coldness has gathered round your hearth-stone; your house is probably desolate, your children scattered, and you a homeless wanderer over the face of the land.  We have both tasted of these bitter cups once and again; we have found them bitter, and we have found them sweet too.  Every cup stirred by the finger of God becomes sweet to the humble believer.  Do you remember how our late wives, and sister Stevens, and perhaps some others, used to cluster around the well-curb in the mission compound at the close of day?  I can almost see them sitting there, with their smiling faces, as I look out of the window at which I am now writing.  Where are ours now?  Clustering around the well-curb of the fountain of living water, to which the Lamb of heaven shows them the way—reposing in the arms of infinite love, who wipes away all their tears with His own hand.

Let us travel on and look up.  We shall soon be there. As sure as I write or you read these lines, we shall soon be there.  Many a weary step we may yet have to take, but we shall surely get there at last.  And the longer and more tedious the way, the sweeter will be our repose.[1]

 [1]Edward Judson, The Life,521-522;  Wayland, Memoir, 2:328-329.

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Southeast Asia with his wife and twin sons.  They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.

“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”: Spurgeon's Meditations on the Lord's Prayer

By Evan D. Burns

Charles Spurgeon was a master at taking a familiar biblical text and staring at it long and hard until he saw mountains of spiritual treasure emerge.  He read the Bible as a beggar in search for bread, and he never stopped looking even in places he had searched before. Here is a simple example of his active meditation on a familiar text—“The Lord’s Prayer” (Matt 6:9).  Let us seek and find the riches of God's Word, even in familiar places.

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, etc.” Matthew 6:9.

This prayer begins where all true prayer must commence, with the spirit of adoption, “Our Father.” There is no acceptable prayer until we can say, “I will arise, and go unto my Father.”

This child-like spirit soon perceives the grandeur of the Father “in heaven,” and ascends to devout adoration, “Hallowed be thy name.” The child lisping, “Abba, Father,” grows into the cherub crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

There is but a step from rapturous worship to the glowing missionary spirit, which is a sure outgrowth of filial love and reverent adoration—“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Next follows the heartfelt expression of dependence upon God—“Give us this day our daily bread.”

Being further illuminated by the Spirit, he discovers that he is not only dependent, but sinful, hence he entreats for mercy, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors:” and being pardoned, having the righteousness of Christ imputed, and knowing his acceptance with God, he humbly supplicates for holy perseverance, “Lead us not into temptation.” The man who is really forgiven, is anxious not to offend again; the possession of justification leads to an anxious desire for sanctification. “Forgive us our debts,” that is justification; “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” that is sanctification in its negative and positive forms.

As the result of all this, there follows a triumphant ascription of praise, “Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen.”  We rejoice that our King reigns in providence and shall reign in grace, from the river even to the ends of the earth, and of his dominion there shall be no end.

Thus from a sense of adoption, up to fellowship with our reigning Lord, this short model of prayer conducts the soul. Lord, teach us thus to pray.[1]

 [1]Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, “October 29.”

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Southeast Asia with his wife and twin sons.  They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.

“That He Might Find Access To Their Souls”

By Evan D. Burns

In a sermon delivered at the Old Jewry Chapel, London, on December 27, 1797, Andrew Fuller unpacked the implications of soul prosperity from the book of 3 John:  “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (3 John 2).  Fuller’s sermon demonstrates his uncommon ability to wring out of a simple text every drop of biblical import and implication.  Outlined here are his observations of the prosperous soul:

What then are those marks of a prosperous soul which it behoves us to aspire after?

1)   A prosperous souls is one in whom the truth dwells, and dwells richly.

2)   The prosperous soul is a soul where the doctrinal and the practical parts of religion bear lovely proportion and are united.

3)   The prosperous soul is a soul in which is united a happy mixture of the retired and the active—a happy attention to the duties of retirement mingled with an equal attention to the duties of active life.

4)   The prosperous soul may be known by this, that it is accompanied by a good degree of public spirit, and largeness of heart.

5)   The prosperous soul is dispossessed of an ambitious spirit—it is meek and lowly.

The standard which prosperity of soul affords to our safety in prosperity of other kinds [is]:

1)   That prosperity of soul makes prosperity of other kind safe.

2)   With prosperity of soul, the general good is promoted.[1]

Fuller’s concluding appeal is for his hearers to be prosperous in soul for the sake of being evangelical in action.  He sees mercy ministry as the door that opens the soul to prosper with the balm of the gospel.

To this I may add, that the relieving of men’s bodies to get access to their minds is a primitive and an excellent practice. The Son of God himself—and who can doubt that he had access wherever he pleased?—has set us the example; he went among the poor, the blind, the lame, the diseased. He mingled himself with them, and healed their bodies, that he might find access to their souls. The Almighty God, in human nature, would not overturn the laws of humanity; his desire was to establish and sanctify them. Let us operate by a system he himself has established, and do good to the bodies of men with a view to obtain access to their minds, thus relieving the temporal wants of the afflicted poor, and administering the balm of consolation unto the wounded spirit.[2]

[1] Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 1: Memoirs, Sermons, Etc., ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 405-08.

[2]The Complete Works, 1:409.

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Southeast Asia with his wife and twin sons.  They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.

Announcing The pure flame of devotion: The history of Christian spirituality–Essays in honor of Michael A.G. Haykin

By Dustin Bruce

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Last night (November 18, 2013), friends, colleagues, and family of Dr. Michael Haykin gathered to honor his life and ministry on account of his 60th birthday  (11/24/13). The surprise party, planned to coincide with the annual conference of the Evangelical Theological Society, was held at the Baltimore Hilton and featured a presentation of both a portrait of Samuel Pearce and a book written in his honor.

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Dr. Tom Nettles presented Haykin with a portrait of Samuel Pearce, an eighteenth-century English Baptist pastor and one of Haykin’s favorite historical figures. The portrait was an original painting by Dr. Nettles’ son, Robert Nettles.

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Then, much to his surprise, a Festschrift entitled The pure flame of devotion was presented to Haykin by Steve Weaver, who edited the volume along with Ian Clary. Over two years in the making, The pure flame of devotion features a foreword by Dr. Russell Moore and 23 essays on the history of Christian spirituality by such leading scholars as David Hogg, Carl Trueman, Joel Beeke, Tom Nettles, and Don Whitney.

Dr. Albert R. Mohler, Jr. offered a word of appreciation for Haykin on behalf of Southern Seminary. According to Mohler, the Festschrift, with its range of contributors and subjects,testifies to the broad impact Haykin’s scholarship has made across the Christian community. Mohler noted, however, that it is in churches ranging from Canada to Kentucky that Haykin will ultimately have the most impact.

Front Cover

Finally, Haykin expressed his heartfelt thanks to everyone involved with the event and especially to Steve Weaver and Ian Clary for compiling and editing the volume in his honor. Recounting the Lord’s blessings, Haykin spoke of feeling unworthy, but grateful, for the Festschrift and the friendships it represents.

Copies of The pure flame of devotion may be purchased from Amazon and Joshua Press.

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Dustin Bruce lives in Louisville, KY where he is pursuing a PhD in Biblical Spirituality at Southern Seminary. He is a graduate of Auburn University and Southwestern Seminary. Dustin and his wife, Whitney, originally hail from Alabama.

“I Dare Not Trifle with My Commission”

By Evan D. Burns

As a writer, Emily C. Judson (1817-1854) sketched some illuminating anecdotes of her marriage to Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) that exhibit his Christ-enamored piety.  She recorded his single-minded devotion to preaching the gospel as a missionary and his refusal to entertain people with stories of his labors, as though he were some kind of Christian celebrity.  Emily recounted Judson speaking about Christ’s gospel at her home church (soon after they were married in 1846), though the people were manifestly disappointed with his lack of sensational stories.  This account illustrates Judson’s humility in seeking to draw attention to Christ and his gospel instead of Judson’s own reputation.  His self-forgetfulness would be a stranger to our self-promoting contemporary culture.

A short time before Dr. Judson left this country, he took considerable pains to visit my native village, and the church with which I first united….  After the usual sermon was over, he spoke for about fifteen minutes, with singular simplicity, and, as I thought, with touching pathos, of the “precious Saviour,” what he has done for us, and what we owe to him….  After the exercises were over, several persons inquired of me, frankly, why Dr. Judson had not talked of something else; why he had not told a story, etc.; while others signified their disappointment by not alluding to his having spoken at all.  On the way home, I mentioned the subject to him.

“Why, what did they want?” he inquired; “I presented the most interesting subject in the world, to the best of my ability.”

“But they wanted something different—a story.”

“Well, I am sure I gave them a story—the most thrilling one that can be conceived of.”

“But they had heard it before.  They wanted something new of a man who had just come from the antipodes.”

“Then I am glad they have it to say, that a man coming from the antipodes had nothing better to tell than the wondrous story of Jesus’ dying love.  My business is to preach the gospel of Christ, and when I can speak at all, I dare not trifle with my commission.  When I looked upon those people today, and remembered where I should next meet them, how could I stand up and furnish food to vain curiosity—tickle their fancies with amusing stories, however decently strung together on a thread of religion?  That is not what Christ meant by preaching the gospel.  And then, how could I hereafter meet the fearful charge, ‘I gave you one opportunity to tell them of me—you spent it in describing your own adventures!’”

He acknowledged that the diffusion of missionary information was a thing of great importance, but said that the good of the cause of missions did not require a lowering of the standard of gospel preaching; and that whatever was done for missions at the expense of spirituality in the American churches, was lost on the world.[1]

[1]Wayland, Memoir, 2:368-370.

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Southeast Asia with his wife and twin sons.  They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.

A new book by Dr. Michael Haykin: Ardent Love for Jesus: Learning from the eighteenth-century Baptist revival

By Dustin Bruce

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Building on years of teaching experience, D.A. Carson is quoted at saying, “students don’t learn everything I teach them. What they learn is what I am excited about, the kinds of things I emphasize again and again and again and again.” Michael Haykin’s new book, Ardent Love for Jesus, is this concept translated into book form. Each chapter may be compared to having one’s ear to the door of a classroom, listening intently as Haykin delivers a passionate lecture on a favorite subject: a band of eighteenth-century Baptists whose pursuit of the Risen Lord changed their denomination and the world.

Haykin begins by setting the context of the Baptist revivals, establishing a complicated British history and the rise of hyper-Calvinism as the winds that cooled the piety of Baptist churches in Britain. Yet, with men like John Gill, who fought to preserve the ember of orthodoxy among Baptist ranks, the spark remained for a fresh awakening when the Spirit would blow and ignite Baptist churches once again.

This book is about that fire of revival experienced by eighteenth-century Baptist men and women and what it can teach us today.

Chapters include:

  1. ‘A very dunghill in society’: The Calvinistic Baptists and their need for revival

  2. ‘The Saviour calls’: The ministry and piety of Benjamin Francis and Anne Steele

  3. ‘A little band of brothers’: Friendship and revival in the life of John Ryland Jr.

  4. ‘I wish I had prayed more’: John Sutcliff and the Concert of Prayer for revival

  5. ‘A dull flint’: Andrew Fuller and theological reformation

  6. ‘What a soul’: The revival piety of Samuel Pearce

  7. ‘A wretched, poor and helpless worm’: Revival activism–the legacy of William Carey

Appendix: Eighteenth-century Baptists and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in revival

I encourage you to pick up this helpful volume and have your heart warmed in love for Jesus.

Available at Amazon and The Book Depository.

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Dustin Bruce lives in Louisville, KY where he is pursuing a PhD in Biblical Spirituality at Southern Seminary. He is a graduate of Auburn University and Southwestern Seminary. Dustin and his wife, Whitney, originally hail from Alabama.

The choice of Moses: “the sweetest of all sweets”

By Michael A.G. Haykin

A text that I have long meditated upon and that has been profitable to my soul has been the description of Moses’ treasure in Hebrews 11:24–26. I never noticed until last night when I was perusing J.W. Morris, coll. and arr., Miscellaneous Pieces on Various Religious Subjects, Being the Last Remains of The Rev. Andrew Fuller (London: Wightman and Cramp, 1826) that Andrew Fuller preached a sermon on this very text entitled “The choice of Moses” (Miscellaneous Pieces on Various Religious Subjects, 293–297). Here is choice portion—very Edwardsean with the mention of “sweet”—from the sermon:

“The society of the people of God, though afflicted, reproached, and persecuted, exceeds all the pleasures of sin while they do last. It is delightful to cast in our lot with them; for the bond of their union is holy love, which is the sweetest of all sweets to a holy mind. If we have once tasted of this, every thing else will become comparatively insipid. How sweet a bond of union is the love of Christ!—How sweet is the fellowship of saints! Even when borne down with reproaches and afflictions, how sweet are the tears of sympathy!”

____________________ Michael A.G. Haykin is the director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies. He also serves as Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Haykin and his wife Alison have two grown children, Victoria and Nigel.

 

Charles Hodge on Demons and Evil Spirits

By Ryan Patrick Hoselton

You may be thinking that this is another Fundamentalist rant against Halloween. It’s not. In fact, I love dressing up in costumes, and I especially love candy. There is nothing wrong with how most celebrate Halloween. It’s a fantastic opportunity for parents to bond with children, communities to come together, and it’s a great excuse to eat candy.

However, the fact that most Westerners can enjoy the holiday with lightheartedness indicates a major shift in our culture: most do not take evil spirits as seriously as previous centuries. My colleague at work asked me what I’ve been writing about recently, and when I explained the topic of evil spirits, he said: “that’s ridiculous.” Case in point. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since the Salem Witch Trials, but have we gone too far to largely ignore the dimension of evil spirits? Of course there are still groups that celebrate witchcraft and the occult, but the mainstream culture has largely dismissed any notion of evil spirits as unscientific, mythical, and antiquated—if not in theory then at least in practice and conscientiousness. The truth is that the realm and agency of evil spirits is no light matter, and it exists just as actively in our modern world as it always has.

Charles Hodge (1797–1878), the Princeton theologian and author of the seminal Systematic Theology, maintained that “great evils…have arisen from exaggerated views of the agency of evil spirits” (Systematic Theology, 1.XIII.4). Nonetheless, he also recognized the reality of the evil supernatural realm and warned Christians not to underestimate it. “There is no special improbability in the doctrine of demoniacal possessions” Hodge wrote, “Evil spirits do exist. Why should we refuse to believe, on the authority of Christ, that they were allowed to have special power over some men? The world, since the apostasy, belongs to the kingdom of Satan” (1.XIII.4).

Many believers wrongly assume that the dimension of evil forces has no bearing on them. Hodge challenges Christians to consider that if we believe what the Scriptures say about the activity of evil spirits in the Old Testament and Apostolic eras, what indication to we have that it would be any different today? “As to the power and agency of these evil spirits,” they are “represented as being exceedingly numerous, as everywhere efficient, as having access to our world, and as operating in nature and in the minds of men” (1.XIII.4). Demons are still operative, actively trying to manipulate and pollute the souls of men and women. Thus we ought to “be on our guard and seek divine protection from the machinations of the spirits of evil” (1.XIII.4).  It is important to have a right and balanced theology of evil spirits in order to understand the import of Christ’s victory over them.

Redeeming the world from the dominion of Satan “was the special object of the mission of the Son of God” (1.XIII.4).  Christ’s incarnation was the apex of history when “he manifested his power” over the rule of Satan, “making the fact of his overthrow the more conspicuous and glorious” (1.XIII.4). Christ overturned the force of Satan’s power by conquering sin and rising victorious from the grave, demonstrating who truly has authority over death. That God sent his own Son to defeat evil forces shows that he takes them very seriously, and we should do likewise.

If men and women do not submit to the authority of God, they will bow to the authority of Satan. Perhaps the manifestation of mankind’s allegiance to Satan does not appear supernatural on the surface in our Western world, but it is nonetheless deceptively real. Christ will come again to claim his kingdom, and he will put a final end to Satan and his followers and gloriously deliver his people from their power.

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Ryan Patrick Hoselton is pursuing a ThM at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He lives in Louisville, KY with his wife Jaclyn, and they are the parents of one child.

Fuller’s Encouragement to Prayer

By Ian Hugh Clary

Without taking morbid fascination in the failings of another, we can learn from the struggles of other Christians. To observe an admired Christian wrestle against sins that beset even us, help us take heart that our trials are not uncommon. It should not surprise us, but we can forget that, yes, saints greatly used of God like John Piper or Joni Eareckson Tada fight against sin. This can encourage us, if taken rightly, when it comes to the mundane aspects of Christian discipleship like prayer or bible reading. To see that a hero of the faith struggled to pray keeps me from complacency, and encourages me to press on as they evidently did. Even more encouraging is to read about their victories over sin, and the joy they received from such victories.

I was struck by this as I read about Andrew Fuller. On May 2, 1785 he wrote in his diary about a monthly prayer meeting set up in his church in Kettering—part of the “Prayer Call” that began in 1784. I’ll quote the entry at length:

This evening, I felt tender all the time of the prayer-meeting for the revival of religion; but, in hearing Mr Beeby Wallis [a deacon in the church] pray for me, I was overcome: his having a better opinion of me than I deserve, cuts me to heart! Went to prayer myself, and found my mind engaged more than ordinarily in praying for the revival of religion. I had felt many sceptical thoughts; as though there were room to ask—What profit shall I have if I pray to God? for which I was much grieved. Find a great satisfaction in these monthly meetings: even supposing our requests should not be granted, yet prayer to God is its own reward.

There are a number of thoughts we can take away from such a quote. One is the inadequacy a pastor feels before his congregants. Wallis had a high view of his pastor, and Fuller, knowing his own heart, experienced conviction of sin. Another is that the prayers of one can spur another in the same. A third, and pertinent to this post, is that Fuller—a man with no mean theological abilities, and well used by God—doubted the value of prayer, if only in his own heart. This grieved him, because he knew his doubts were unfounded, real though they were. Yet Fuller encourages us by telling of us of the satisfaction he received in corporate prayer, even prayer that might not be answered in the way he hoped. Why? Because, in that great, pithy quote, he said: “prayer to God is its own reward.” Rooted in a tradition that stressed the importance of communion with God, Fuller was able to gain a biblical perspective on prayer that helped him—and us—see the real value in prayer. This is a rebuke to me when I languish in my own spiritual lethargy. I am thankful to read quotes like this.

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Ian Hugh Clary is finishing doctoral studies under Adriaan Neele at Universiteit van die Vrystaat (Blomfontein), where he is writing a dissertation on the evangelical historiography of Arnold Dallimore. He has co-authored two local church histories with Michael Haykin and contributed articles to numerous scholarly journals. Ian lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.

Summary of "Mapping Revivals"

By Dustin Bruce

Catching up on some periodical reading over the weekend, I noticed an article on revival by The Andrew Fuller Center's very own Dr. Michael Haykin appeared in the July issue of The Banner of Truth Magazine.

I found the article, "Mapping Revivals: Five Marks," to be quite excellent and would like to share a brief summary with the hopes of piquing your interest.[1]

Haykin begins the essay by turning to the great theologian of revival, Jonathan Edwards, to link genuine revival with the work of the Holy Spirit. Haykin rightly understands that one’s understanding of Pentecost frames one’s theology of revival. He summarizes the options for interpretation,

Was that remarkable Sunday [Pentecost] a once-and-for-all event that established the ongoing presence of the Spirit in the church and is it henceforth foolish to pray for his coming? ...Or was Pentecost a paradigm of what happens from time to time as the church wanes and desperately needs reviving and renewing?[2]

For Haykin, the book of Ephesians offers a brief answer to the complex question. He summarizes,

There [in the book of Ephesians] the apostle affirms that genuine faith in Christ is accompanied by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which Paul describes as being sealed with the Spirit, a metaphor that speaks of a reality that cannot be lost. Yet, at the same time, the apostle can urge his readers in Ephesians 5:18 to ‘be filled with the Spirit,’ which implies that a genuine believer who is indwelt by the Spirit can live in such a way that while he does not lose the Spirit’s presence, he nonetheless stands in need of spiritual renewal and empowerment.[3]

The need for spiritual renewal and empowerment is not limited to individual Christians. Haykin goes on,

Now what is true on an individual level is also true on a corporate level: due to a multitude of reasons, God’s holy people can live at a level that really is sub-standard from a biblical perspective and that can only be rectified by what Christian authors have called a fresh outpouring of the Spirit.[4]

After establishing the biblical paradigm for understanding revival, Haykin then turns to three examples of revivals in church history. Citing the far-reaching French Reformation at the hands of John Calvin, the one-day revival experienced by the Puritan John Livingstone, and the extraordinary ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Haykin argues for an understanding of revival large enough to encompass various outpourings of genuine revival.

While revival has manifested itself in sundry ways, Haykin does isolate five marks of genuine revival. He summarizes,

1.    Revival is a work of God in which God takes the initiative and presences himself in power and glory.

2.    In times of revival, according to Jonathan Edwards, the Spirit used the Word of God to make a powerful impact upon people.

3.    Revival is a powerful intensification of the Holy Spirit’s normal activity of convicting, converting, regenerating, sanctifying, and empowering.

4.    Revival involves also a powerful intensification of the Holy Spirit’s normal activity of testifying to the Saviour–in other words, revival is a Christ-centred event.

5.    Revival leads to the diminution of sinful practices in the community.[5]

The remainder of the essay involves Haykin elaborating on each of the five marks of revival.[6]

This short piece provides one of the clearest paradigms for understanding and evaluating revival that I have encountered. In a day and time when churches think so-called ‘revivals’ occur because they get scheduled on the church calendar, Haykin provides a needed corrective by offering a simple, but biblical, paradigm for understanding great outpourings of the Spirit of God.

[1]Michael A.G. Haykin, “Mapping Revivals: Five Marks­—1,” The Banner of Truth Magazine 598 (July 2012), 20–28. This article is part one of a two-part series.

[2]Haykin, “Mapping Revivals,” 21.

[3]Haykin, “Mapping Revivals,” 21.

[4]Haykin, “Mapping Spiritual Revivals,” 21.

[5]Haykin, “Mapping Spiritual Revivals,” 26. This list is drawn from Stuart Piggin, Firestorm of the Lord: The History of Prospects for Revival in the Church and the World (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2000), 11.

[6]Though he only elaborates on the first mark in the July issue, the remainder is forthcoming.

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Dustin Bruce lives in Louisville, KY where he is pursuing a PhD in Biblical Spirituality at Southern Seminary. He is a graduate of Auburn University and Southwestern Seminary. Dustin and his wife, Whitney, originally hail from Alabama.

 

Fuller’s “Lively Hope”

By Evan D. Burns

In a circular letter, entitled, “The Excellency and Utility of the Grace of Hope,” Andrew Fuller reasoned from Scripture to show that hope in eternal rest and reward energizes the minister today to be active in the Lord’s service.  In many ways, it sounds similar to John Piper’s call to faith in Future Grace.  The whole letter is excellent, and the two paragraphs below are especially encouraging excerpts:

HOPE, or an expectation of future good, is of so extensive an influence, that whether true or false, well or ill founded, it is one of the principal springs that keep mankind in motion. It is vigorous, bold, and enterprising. It causes men to encounter dangers, endure hardships, and surmount difficulties innumerable, in order to accomplish the desired end. In religion it is of no less consequence. It is claimed by almost all ranks and parties of men. It makes a considerable part of the religion of those that truly fear God; for though in all true religion there is and must be a love to God and Divine things for their own excellency, yet God, who knows our frame, and draws us with the cords of a man, condescends also to excite us with the promise of gracious reward, and to allure us with the prospect of a crown of glory….[1]

Moreover, as servants of God, you have a great work to do.—Though the meritorious part of your salvation has been long since finished, yet there is a salvation for you still to work out. By prayer, by patience, by watchfulness, and holy strife, you have to overcome the world, mortify sin, and run the race set before you. Hope is of excellent use in this great work. It is well denominated a “lively hope.” Its tendency is not to lull the soul asleep, but to rouse it to action. We trust, dear brethren, that the hope of which you are partakers will more and more animate your breasts with generous purposes, and prompt your souls to noble pursuits. For this you have the greatest encouragements surely that a God can give! God will employ none in his service without making it their inestimable privilege. They that plough for him shall plough in hope. Mansions of bliss stand ready to receive you, and crowns of unfading glory to reward you; therefore, beloved brethren, “be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”[2]

Fuller saw hope in future reward has eminently useful for active labour in the Lord’s service.  We labour heartily in our Master’s vineyard because he assures us that we will eat at table with him and enjoy the wine of his inheritance.  “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Col 3:23-24).

[1] Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 3: Expositions—Miscellaneous, ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 308-09.

[2] Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 3: Expositions—Miscellaneous, ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 314.

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Thailand with his wife and twin sons.  They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.

Fuller’s “Lively Faith”

By Evan D. Burns

In 1799, Andrew Fuller wrote, “The Importance of a Lively Faith, Especially in Missionary Undertakings.”  He illustrated the dangers of disobeying the Great Commission because of our disbelief in God’s promises to deliver us through adversity in our Great Commission labors.  He called for a “lively faith” in missionaries to enter the nations, believing in God’s promises despite seemingly insurmountable hardships and opposition, just as Joshua and Caleb did.  And, whereas the Israelites were to engage the nations with a mission of justice, armed with swords, missionaries ought to engage the nations with a mission of mercy, equipped with the sword of the Spirit.  Here is a great excerpt from what Fuller wrote:

When Israel went out of Egypt, they greatly rejoiced on the shores of the Red Sea; but the greater part of them entered not into the Promised Land, and that on account of their unbelief. The resemblance between their case and ours has struck my mind with considerable force. The grand object of their undertaking was to root out idolatry, and to establish the knowledge and worship of the one living and true God; and such also is ours. The authority on which they acted was the sovereign command of Heaven; and ours is the same. “Go preach the gospel to every creature.” The ground on which they were to rest their hope of success was the Divine promise. It was by relying on this alone that they were enabled to surmount difficulties, and to encounter their gigantic enemies. Those among them who believed, like Joshua and Caleb, felt themselves well able to go up; but they that distrusted the promise turned their backs in the hour of danger. Such also is the ground of our hope. He who hath commissioned us to “teach all nations” hath added, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” The heathen nations are given to our Redeemer for an inheritance, as much as Canaan was given to the seed of Abraham; and it is our business, as it was theirs, to go up and possess the land. We should lay our account with difficulties as well as they; but, according to our faith in the Divine promises, we may expect these mountains to become a plain. If the Lord delight in us, he will bring us into the land; but if, like the unbelieving Israelites, we make light of the promised good, or magnify the difficulties in the way of obtaining it, and so relax our efforts, we may expect to die as it were in the wilderness.[1]

Would that we, in our day, preserve such a lively faith that lays hold of the Divine promises in obedience to the Great Commission, lest we be like the unbelieving Israelites who died in the wilderness.

[1] Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 3: Expositions—Miscellaneous, ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 826.

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Thailand with his wife and twin sons.  They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.

 

The Domestic Benefits of “A Right Spirit”

By Dustin Bruce

With the recent birth of my daughter, I have given much thought to Paul’s command to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). I’ve read page after page on the importance of family worship, catechetical instruction, consistent discipline, and more. Andrew Fuller joined a chorus of helpful voices in offering a bit of heart piercing counsel.

Fuller, in a 1798 sermon at Ipswich, gave a sermon on David’s request that God “renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Surprisingly, Fuller elaborated on the familial benefits of possessing a right spirit in relation to God. According to Fuller, David was never more a sinner than when he dealt with Uriah, but he was never more a saint than when, in true repentance, he penned the 51st Psalm. He goes on to speak of a right spirit as signifying true religion, which he defines as follows:

A right spirit is a spirit of love to God, and love to our neighbour, and a right disposition to ourselves. A right spirit towards God is a spirit of love to him, a spirit of faith in God, a spirit of gratitude to God, a spirit of submission to God, a spirit of obedience to God, and so of every grace of the Spirit of God. A right spirit is not that of him who has experienced right feelings at a distant period only, but of one who habitually lives in the exercise of them: a constant spirit, as expressed in the margin. The term right has respect to some rule; this rule is the law of God, which is a right rule—the rule by which the Spirit of God works in the conversion of a sinner: hence he has said, “I will write the law in their hearts;” and as this is the rule by which God works, so it is the rule by which Christians ought to walk.[1]

The personal consequences to losing a right spirit are devastating. However, failure to maintain such a spirit affects one’s family as well. First, the loss of a right spirit makes us ineffective Christians at home. As Fuller explains,

We can do no good in our families. When a person has lost his right spirit, he commonly lives in the neglect of his duties, and too often in the commission of some small sins, neither of which seem to affect his conscience, so that religion appears of little consequence in the eyes of those around him. As he has not a savour of religion in his own mind, he cannot communicate it to others. As he has no love to God, no zeal for God, he cannot enkindle the flame of them in others. And it is mostly found when a person is in such a state, when he attempts to perform duties, he does it in such a manner, that, instead of exciting lively emotions in the lives of others, makes them burdensome, and so become disgustful. Sin unrepented of will spoil our usefulness. Guilt will chain our minds, and keep us from the discharge of what we know to be our duty. In this state we cannot with freedom or pleasure engage in it, and so give it up. Thus it appears we can do no good during this state of mind in our families.[2]

Second, we cannot rightly enjoy our families without a right spirit. Fuller goes on,

It is essentially necessary that we should possess this right spirit, rightly to enjoy what is good in this life. There is no good to be enjoyed in our families, nor good done, without it. The domestic comforts of life are no comforts without it; nor are our relatives a support to us. We may rove among our connexions from object to object, seeking relief, but all will be in vain. The great defect is in ourselves; wanting the right spirit which gives a relish to our comforts, we want the great essential of all.

As the consequence of this, instead of the cheerfulness which infuses a savour into the comforts of social life, and which ought to be seen on our countenances by our domestics, there is nothing but gloom and sullen despair. [3]

In typical fashion, Fuller penetrates to the heart of domestic piety. The great responsibility of bringing up children, as well as the great joy associated with it, are both dependent on the possessing of a right spirit. Family worship may go wrong more than it goes right and children may forget catechisms. But they will never forget growing up in a home with parents who maintained a right spirit of love toward God. May we join David in praying, “Create in me a clean heart, oh God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

[1] Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 3: Expositions—Miscellaneous, ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 837.

[2] Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 3: Expositions—Miscellaneous, ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 839.

[3] Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 3: Expositions—Miscellaneous, ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 840.

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Dustin Bruce lives in Louisville, KY where he is pursuing a PhD in Biblical Spirituality at Southern Seminary. He is a graduate of Auburn University and Southwestern Seminary. Dustin and his wife, Whitney, originally hail from Alabama.

Adoniram Judson “Deeply Impressed” by an Unnamed Pious Man

By Evan D. Burns

Adoniram Judson (1788-1850), the first American missionary, was a man marked by inimitable missionary devotion and theological grit.  Many biographies, indeed some hagiographies, have retold his remarkable story over and over again.  Though many biographies exclusively portray him as a martyr-like hero, he was no island.  He had friends, companions, and co-laborers who died as hard as he did, whose biographies only the historians of heaven have written.  Moreover, there was an anonymous man in his life who never went with him to Burma and never knew him personally, whose name history has left unrecorded, and yet, God used this unknown man to impress God-centered piety upon Judson’s soul.

After going to school in Providence, Judson set out, surging with wanderlust, to explore the Northern States in pursuit of adventure and inspiration.  He had wished to go write for the theater in New York and to also brave the untamed wilderness.  His worldly aspirations broke his pious parents’ hearts.  He went to visit his uncle Ephraim in the wilderness, but God appointed another man to meet him there instead.  Judson’s biographer, Francis Wayland, records:

Before setting out upon his tour he had unfolded his infidel sentiments to his father, and had been treated with the severity natural to a masculine mind that has never doubted, and to a parent, who, after having made innumerable sacrifices for the son of his pride and love, sees him rush recklessly on his own destruction.  His mother also, was no less distressed, and she wept, and prayed, and expostulated.  He knew his superiority to his father in argument; but he had nothing to oppose to his mother’s tears and warnings, and they followed him now wherever he went.  He knew he was on the verge of such a life as he despised.  For the world he would not see a young brother in his perilous position; but “I,” he thought, “am in no danger.  I am only seeing the world—the dark side of it, as well as the bright; and I have too much self-respect to do any thing mean or vicious.”  After seeing what he wished of New York, he returned to Sheffield for his horse, intending to pursue his journey westward.  His uncle, Rev. Ephraim Judson, was absent, and a very pious young man occupied his place.  His conversation was characterized by godly sincerity, a solemn but gentle earnestness, which addressed itself to the heart, and Judson went away deeply impressed.[1]

Not long after meeting this pious man, Judson surrendered his life to his Lord.  How many well-known men in history have been impressed by the warm-hearted piety of unknown saints?  Let us never underestimate the historical impact we could have in a conversation “characterized by godly sincerity, a solemn but gentle earnestness,” that addresses the heart and leaves an indelible impression.  May God be pleased to “deeply impress” future missionaries through our God-enamored piety, even in the most inadvertent conversations.

 [1]Francis Wayland, A Memoir of the Life and Labors of the Rev. Adoniram Judson, D.D. (Boston: Philips, Sampson, and Company, 1853), 1:23-24.

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Thailand with his wife and twin sons.  They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.