The Tombstone of Sarah Judson

Nick Clevely (see previous post) has also informed me that the tombstone of Sarah Judson, the third wife of Adoniram Judson, who died and was buried on the island of St Helena, has been moved from the de-consecrated cemetery in Jamestown to the courtyard of the Jamestown Baptist Chapel. While in the cemetery in Jamestown, it was damaged, probably by vandalism, and as a result, the top section of the tombstone is completely missing. At present Nick does not have a description of how it used to look, so he is looking for information in order that he can begin the process of restoring it.

This tombstone is not merely a tombstone; it is in fact a monument erected by the Baptists of Philadelphia. It is a wonderful part of Baptist Missions history and should not be neglected.

Nick is looking for information about the description of the tombstone, so if you have such information or if you would like to contribute to the restoration of it, your help would be most welcome and appreciated. His e-mail is as follows: clevely@helanta.sh.

John Piper to Speak on Andrew Fuller

This year’s annual Bethlehem Conference for Pastors is on “The Holiness of God”, is to be held February 5-7, 2007, and has R.C. Sproul, Thabiti Anyabwile, and William Mckenzie as speakers. John Piper, the host and Pastor for Preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, will give his biographical address—which he does every year to the delight of historically-minded believers—on Andrew Fuller on February 6, 2007, @ 1:45 pm. It is to be entitled: “Holy Faith, Worthy Gospel, World Vision: Andrew Fuller’s Broadsides Against Sandemanianism, Hyper-Calvinism, and Global Unbelief.” Sounds fabulous, as well as the rest of the conference.

HT: Justin Taylor. Justin has links to learn more about the speakers and read John Piper’s invitation.

Adding Moss to the Rose

Gilbert Laws’ biography of Andrew Fuller [Andrew Fuller: Pastor, Theologian, Ropeholder (London: Carey Press, 1942)] is a rarity, possibly because it was published during the war years when paper was scarce. But due to the fact that it is an important document, here is his rendition of the entirety of C.H. Spurgeon’s letter to Andrew Gunton Fuller upon the former’s receiving the latter’s life of his father (on page 127): Venerable Friend, I thank you for sending me your Andrew Fuller. If you had lived for a long time for nothing else but to produce this volume, you have lived to good purpose. I have long considered your father to be the greatest theologian of the century, and I do not know that your pages have made me think more highly of him as a divine than I had thought before. But I now see him within doors far more accurately, and see about the Christian man a soft radiance of tender love which had never been revealed to me either by former biographies or by his writings. You have added moss to the rose, and removed some of the thorns in the process. Yours most respectfully, C.H. Spurgeon.

C.S. Lewis & Persecution

Most of Lewis’ colleagues at Oxford University found his zealous defence of the Christian faith irritating, if not embarrassing [Lyle W. Dorsett, “C.S. Lewis: An Introduction” in his ed., The Essential C.S. Lewis (New York: Macmillan Publ. Co., 1988), 3]. Magdalen College, where Lewis taught, was during the 1930s-1950s “leftish, atheist, cynical.” According to Clyde Kilby, “One report went out that no one at Magdalen wanted to sit next to Lewis at the table because he would immediately turn and ask, “are you a Christian?” Both by nature and dictates of good taste, Lewis was utterly opposed to putting anyone in a corner. Yet this was the sort of gossip that, along with his output of books on Christianity, finally prevented Lewis’s being awarded a professorship…” “For some twenty-five years Lewis knew what it was to be sneered at, to be called “saint” cynically, but still he was friendly with all his colleagues.” [Clyde S. Kilby, “Holiness in the Life of C.S. Lewis”, Discipleship Journal, 22 (July 1, 1984), 15]. Especially after the publication of his Narnia books in the 1950s, a sizeable body of the Oxford faculty shunned him. Some criticized him to his face, while others did it behind his back.

Thanking God for CS Lewis

Like so many others I can remember exactly what I was doing for a portion of the day exactly 43 years ago this very day. I was munching on a cheese roll—that is, one of those big Kaisers with cheese in it; I still love the things—and a news flash interrupted the television show I was watching—Ponderosa!—to inform the watching public that the President of the United States, JFK, had been assassinated. I was in England at the time and I can still visualize the room in which I was lying at Knoll Court, Coventry. Later, in my teens, as an avid fan of sci-fi—I almost never read the stuff today, but have shifted in my fiction loves to mystery!—I read the works of another who died that day—Aldous Huxley.

Years later, when I was converted and beginning to read Christian literature, I learned of yet another who had died that day, C.S. Lewis (1898-1963). Lewis was very instrumental, along with Francis Schaeffer, in informing and shaping my early Christian mind. Since then I have gone through a love-like relationship with his writings. There have been times when I have loved his stuff, and others when that love has been replaced by mere liking. Some of his stuff is really not so good—the space trilogy for example. J.I. Packer was undoubtedly right when he said, for example, that Lewis’ The Hideous Strength is really hideous!

But there are other works that are really remarkable and will surely stand the test of time: The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce and the small collection of essays, The Weight of Glory—the latter of which I have read numerous times, in particular, the title essay, “The Inner Ring” and “Membership.”

In recent years, there has been a great debate over whether Lewis was actually a believer. That he held some aberrant ideas is clear. For example, he was an inclusivist and murky on the destiny of those who are sincere in their worship of other gods and have never heard the name of Christ (see the ending of The Last Battle). (He did believe in the reality of hell, though, for those adamant in their rejection of Christ). And his remarks on the atonement in Mere Christianity are not really helpful.

Personally, though I think he was the genuine thing. For instance, any study of his witness at his college at Oxford in the face of vicious slander and shunning by some of his colleagues—including the Marxist historian Christopher Hill—reveals a man prepared to suffer for his Christian profession. So, despite his theological flaws, I thank God for every remembrance of C.S. Lewis.

Wattisham Strict Baptist Chapel

One of the glories of my Calvinistic Baptist heritage are the various causes tucked away here and there in the UK countryside that speak of a love for the Scriptures, a love of our heritage of Baptist piety, and above a love for the Lord Jesus. The Highland Host at Free St. George’s pointed me to one such in his post, I am Preaching this Lord’s Day. He is preaching at Wattisham Strict Baptist Chapel this coming Sunday—may the Lord powerfully bless His Word to both preacher and congregation—and highlights this report about the church (as he points out, remember the writer is a Roman Catholic): http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/wattishambapt.htm. The church has its roots in the stirring days of the late eighteenth century.

Seeing the pictures and reading the report gave me a longing to be in the UK and visiting such a Bethel! I was actually supposed to fly over this weekend for about ten days, but the month of October exhausted me, and I regrettably had to cancel a couple of important engagements.

May the Lord richly own this congregation in Suffolk and exalt Christ, the only Saviour, through its verbal witness and lived-out testimony.

The Marriage of David Livingstone

A few years ago Doreen Moore wrote a gem of a book entitled Good Christians, Good Husbands? It deals with three marriages: one ugly, one so-so and one great. The ugly one was that of John Wesley and Molly Vazeille—a terrible marriage, much of it Wesley’s fault. The so-so was the marriage of George Whitefield and his wife Elizabeth James—he really married to have a housekeeper! Then there was the sparkling “uncommon union” of Jonathan Edwards and Sarah Pierpont. Wow what a marriage! Thought of this as I read the following “Friday rambling” of Tim Challies:

“I read a biography of David Livingstone this week and drew out a couple of quotes. The first is taken from a letter he wrote to a friend in which he described his fiancee (soon to be his wife). He described her as “not a romantic. Mine is a matter of fact lady, a little thick black haired girl, sturdy and all I want.” I guess it’s a good thing she was not a romantic for clearly Livingstone was not either!” (Friday Ramblings).

Of course, some might say it was a good thing for Livingstone’s intended that she was not a romantic, since he thought of nothing of prolonged peregrinations in Africa without her. Personally, I think such men should not get married—they only bring disrepute on the holy institution. There must be fire and passion, or why get married?

Andrew Fuller the Reader–A Conference

The Andrew Fuller Works Project is pleased to announce a conference on “Andrew Fuller the Reader” to be held at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, August 27-28, 2007. Speakers include Dr. Russell Moore, Dr. Tom Nettles, Dr. Carl Trueman, Dr. Michael McMullen, Dr. Jeff Jue and Dr. Michael Haykin.

Topics include “The contemporary significance of Andrew Fuller” (Dr. Moore); “Andrew Fuller: heir of the Reformation” (Dr. Jue); “John Owen’s influence on Andrew Fuller” (Dr. Trueman); and “Jonathan Edwards—theological mentor to Andrew Fuller” (Dr. Nettles).

Full details as to schedule, full description of topics, and cost to follow.

New Jars of Clay Cd

The new “Jars of Clay” CD—Good Monsters (2006) is out. It is excellent. No doubt of that. I must confess that I regularly look forward to this group’s rich—and Augustinian—musical output. Take “All my tears” for instance.

When I go, don’t cry for me In my Father’s arms I’ll be The wounds this world left on my soul Will all be healed and I’ll be whole Sun and moon will be replaced With the light of Jesus’ face And I will not be ashamed For my Savior knows my name.

A clear note of biblical truth!

John Piper on Andrew Fuller

Recently at the 2006 Desiring God National Conference, which was on The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World, John Piper commented about his biographical study for the 2007 Desiring God Pastors’ Conference. In A Conversation with the Pastors (September 29, 2006), he said this: “I am working on Andrew Fuller for the Pastors’ Conference [2007]. Andrew Fuller was the major ropeholder for William Carey and a very shrewd “understander” of Calvinism in his eighteenth-century day.”

This is exciting and I am looking forward to hearing what Dr Piper will say about Fuller and his ministry.

“Every Step of My Life”: James Murray’s Grasp of Reality

A friend recently passed on to me this fabulous quote from Simon Winchester’s life of James Murray [The Meaning of Everything, p.135, from Peter Sutcliffe, The Oxford University Press, An Informal History (1978), no page given], who was one of the editors of the standard of our beloved English language, The Oxford English Dictionary. Here is the quote: “Murray was sustained for the rest of his life by an illusion that time, however quickly it ran out, was on his side. For a moment in history the language had paused and come to a rest. It could be seized and captured forever.”

This statement was made in light of the following extract from a letter that Murray wrote to Lord Bryce on December 15, 1903. Murray was sixty-six at the time:

“I think it was God’s will. In times of faith, I am sure of it. I look back & see that every step of my life has been as it were imposed upon me—not a thing of choice; and that the whole training of my life with its multifarious & irregular incursions into nearly every science & many arts, seems to have had the express purpose of fitting me to do this Dictionary …So I work on with a firm belief (at most times) that I am doing what God has fitted me for, & so made my duty; & I hope that He will strengthen me to see the end of it …But I am only an instrument, only the means that He has provided, & there is no credit due to me, except that of trying to do my duty; Deo soli Gloria.”

Gambling, Government and Virtue

A mainstream philosophical perspective has long been that the government of any given society should promote moral health and virtue, or at least, legislate in such a way that society’s fabric is not undermined. In this regard, the new anti-gambling bill in the U.S. is indeed welcome news. For as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told reporters, gambling is “a serious addiction that undermines the family, dashes dreams, and frays the fabric of society.” Will Canadian lawmakers follow suit? We wait and see—and pray!

For the story, see “U.S. bans Internet gambling.”

Baptists and the Concept of Liberty–A Thought

Some historians are arguing that Baptist thought about individual freedom and soul-liberty is an influence of the Enlightenment. While there are definitely some good indications of such an influence in the 19th century with Francis Wayland and his exaltation of individualism at the expense of the community, I fear this line of thought is a failure to see that the roots of Baptist convictions about individual freedom before God are rooted in the Separatist movement of the late 16th century, hardly a period of Enlightenment thinking! Men like Robert “Troubelchurch” Browne were central in the development of thinking in this direction. And even earlier than Browne, Jean Morelli, that remarkable Huguenot author with whom Bèze clashed over church government and who defended a Congregationalist polity, developed some of these ideas. No, the roots of Baptist thinking in this regard lie in the 16th century and that because of the re-reading of Scripture in fresh ways.