Guidance re buying Puritan books

John Owen is a marvelous entry into Puritanism. He has been rightly described as the Calvin of the Puritan authors. His writing style is prolix and a little verbose, but he is superb in terms of his penetrating and exhaustive treatment of an issue. Buy some of his Works if you can; they are printed by the Banner of Truth. Volume 6 on the believer’s struggle against sin is a good place to begin. Richard Baxter is also good, but only with regard to his practical works. His theology was a mish-mash (my words, but J. I. Packer's sentiments). Stay away from his theological works proper. But his practical stuff—e.g. The Reformed Pastor and The Saints’ Everlasting Rest are tops. Other series of Puritan works: Richard Sibbes, an early Puritan, is also superb. His works are published by the Banner of Truth. Thomas Goodwin is also excellent, especially on the Spirit. Two late Puritans are also highly recommended : John Howe, one of my favourite authors, and Matthew Henry—get his commentary, the first complete commentary on the entire Bible by an English author. Get the full edition of this commentary, not an abbreviation. Finally, John Bunyan is a must—any of his works. With regard to individual books there is Isaac Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus—superb. And Thomas Wilcox, Honey out of the Rock. I have begun to read a little of David Dickson, who is not bad. Samuel Rutherford’s Letters are also a must—absolute gold. I.D.E. Thomas, A Puritan Golden Treasury is also worth possessing. It is published by the Banner of Truth, and is a weighty selection of Puritan quotes. Thomas Boston, a late Scottish Puritan author is also good.

New Issue of Eusebeia Shipping

The latest issue of Eusebeia: The Bulletin of the Andrew Fuller Center is now shipping. This issue focuses on the namesake of the Center, Andrew Fuller himself. The theme is "Reading Andrew Fuller." The journal features nine scholarly articles by the likes of Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin, Dr. Carl R. Trueman, and Dr. Thomas J. Nettles. Most of the articles were originally papers presented at last year's conference. For a complete Table of Contents with free access to the editorial and an article by Dr. Haykin click here. This issue can be ordered for $12 USD, or a subscription (which includes 2 issues) is available for $20 USD (international orders are $15 and $30 respectively). Subscription information, as well as limited access to past issues, is available here.

It is our desire to eventually provide a Table of Contents for all issues along with each issue's editorial by Dr. Haykin, a select article from each issue, and book reviews, all available for free PDF download. Some of the Table of Contents and articles from past issues have always been posted. Others will be posted soon. Be sure to visit this site regularly as new content is added often.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

First Book Review Posted

The first book review has been posted on the new "Book Review" page (see left sidebar under "Audio").   The first review is Dr. Haykin's review article on Brian McLaren's Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices which appears in the current issue (Summer 2008) of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology.  As you will be able to tell if you take the time to read the article, it is not a recommendation of McLaren's use of "Ancient" church history.  Instead, you will find a devastating critique of the whole emergent co-opting of the practices of the ancient church by a historical scholar trained in the field of Patristics.   Don't miss this review, and continue to check back periodically as more reviews will be added every one or two weeks.  Future reviews will generally be recommendatory of various works on Baptist history in particular, or church history in general.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Book reviews: an addition to the Andrew Fuller Center mandate

It occurred to me this past weekend that one of the ways in which the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies can serve the Southern Baptist community, as well as the larger Baptist world and even the broader scene of English-speaking Evangelicalism, is through online reviews of books that specifically relate to Baptist history. One of the ways in which the publishing world has been impacted in the past twenty years or so, a time of massive change for that world, has been in the role played by book reviews. Book reviews often appear in journals or magazines anywhere up to a year, or even more, after the book being reviewed has been published. Given the way books are marketed today though, this often results in the book review playing no substantial role in the sale of the book.

Given the resources of the worldwide web, one of the ways around this dilemma is to publish online reviews as soon as possible after the book has been published, as a number of e-journals are already doing. So, in the next week or so the Center hopes to initiate such a venture and try to review a book every couple of weeks or so. There will be a link provided on the home page to see the book reviews both current and past. Do check back regularly to see what is being recommended in the exciting field of Baptist history and ancillary fields of church history.

8,000 Dissenter martyrs revisited

Is this 8,000 martyrs an inflated figure for the Stuart persecution? Michael Watts in his magisterial first volume of his multi-volume work The Dissenters (Clarendon Press 1978), reckons that W.C. Braithwaite was correct when he stated that 15,000 Quakers alone suffered during this era by "fines, imprisonment, and transportation" into exile and 450 died in prison (p.236). I just glanced at Gerald R. Cragg's Puritanism in the Period of the Great Persecution, another great book on this era, but could see nothing where he gave statistics of those who died in prison.

If 450 Quakers died in prison, that would mean there were 7,500 other Dissenters from the Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Baptist ranks that perished in the prisons--and that seems unlikely to me as the Quakers suffered very heavily in this era.

Does anyone have any other statistics?

8,000 martyrs

In response to my mention in the previous post of 8,000 Dissenters dying in prisons during the reign of Charles II and James II, a dear friend, Ron Miller, made this extremely helpful comment: "The 8000 number is found in De Foe's preface to De Laune's A Plea for the Non-Conformists, p 4 in the 1720 edition I have, the seventh paragraph from the start. De Foe says this, 'I am sorry to say, he is one of near eight thousand Protestant Dissenters that perish'd in prison in the days of that merciful [sarcasm?!] prince, King Charles the Second'."

John Bunyan & his poem/hymn "He who would valiant be"

In a recent book, Tom Paulin—The Secret Life of Poems: A Poetry Primer (London: Faber and Faber, 2008)—discusses John Bunyan’s “He who would valiant be” (pages 31-35) in terms of its poetic merit, its thought and its historical context. Paulin judges it to be “one of the finest English hymns” (p.31-32), a “simple and austere puritan lyric,” that is deeply indebted to Shakespeare in spots (p.32). The phrase “come hither,” for example, Paulin reckons to be taken from the Stratford bard’s As You Like It (p.32-33).

Paulin relates portions of the hymn to Bunyan’s own writings, especially The Pilgrim’s Progress and the vicious historical context of the persecution by the Stuart regime. He notes that 8,000 Dissenters died as a result of goal fever in this time. I do not recall having seen such a figure. Nor does Paulin give his source for it. But it drives home the difficulties of that day.

In sum, Paulin writes that “this short, beautiful lyric is packed with great historical and personal suffering—and with unyielding courage and conviction” (p.35)—high praise indeed.

P.S. Incidentally, at the 2nd annual Andrew Fuller Center conference, held this past week at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, a number of papers dealt with this theme of persecution: the plenary session by Austin Walker on Benjamin Keach, and two parallel sessions on Abraham Cheare and Thomas Hardcastle by Jeff Robinson and Peter Beck respectively.

For the audio of these, see The English Baptists of the 17th Century, August 25-26, 2008.

Conference Audio Now Available

The audio for this week's conference on the 17th Century English Particular Baptists has now been posted online.  All the lectures (including the parallel sessions) are now available for free MP3 download on the conference page.  By all accounts, the conference was a great blessing to those who attended and it is hoped that this blessing can now be extended to those who would have liked to have attended, but were unable to do so.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Conference on 17th Century English Baptists Begins Today

Today the 2nd annual conference of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies begins.  The theme this year is the English Calvinistic Baptists of the Seventeenth Century.  A complete schedule is available here.  It is hoped that the audio will be available soon in MP3 format online for the benefit of those unable to attend.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Augustine Birrell and the weakness of Victorian Nonconformity

What kind of historical memory is needed today? Well, we need to know the Fathers, to remind ourselves of the catholicity of our Faith. We cannot forget the great gains made by the Reformers--no, I dare opine, the Reformation is not over. The children of the Reformers, the Puritans, need to be read for their sturdy piety and confessionalism. The eighteenth century--my favourite century, if I were to name one--must be remembered for the Spirit's great works. And then overlaying these last two our Baptist heritage (we cannot know who we are if we not know whence we came--whence our persons indeed if we forget our spiritual kin?). Now, in all of this, it would be easy to overlook the Victorians. But there is much to be learned from them. This one thing, for example: the way in which much of late nineteenth-century Evangelicalism traded in its heritage for a mess of liberal stew! The rot, so evident in the twentieth century, has far deeper roots than we imagine.

These words of the Victorian politician Augustine Birrell (1850-1933), an unbeliever though the son of the Evangelical Baptist minister Charles Mitchell Birrell (d.1880), about the impact of the writings of Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)--born in Ecclefechan, what a name that!--and the Roman Catholic John Henry Newman (1801-1890) could have been written today: "these great writers found their most enthusiastic readers among the ranks of youthful Nonconformity" [Things Past Redress (London: Faber and Faber, 1937), 273]. "Youthful Nonconformity"--the heirs of the Puritans and the Evangelicals of the eighteenth century--Birrell continues, found "great solace" in these two authors, one an arch-opponent of all things Evangelical and the other a Roman Catholic author (ibid.).

Little wonder the succeeding weakness of Nonconformity when faced with the behemoth of Liberalism. The abandonment of a rich heritage and for what? And what the end result? Spiritual desolation. 1 Cor 10:6.

Eusebeia 9 to the Printer

The latest issue of Eusebeia: The Bulletin of the Andrew Fuller Center is headed to the printer and should be ready to be shipped by the end of this month.  This issue focuses on the namesake of the Center, Andrew Fuller himself.  The theme is "Reading Andrew Fuller."  The journal features nine scholarly articles by the likes of Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin, Dr. Carl R. Trueman, and Dr. Thomas J. Nettles.  Most of the articles were originally papers presented at last year's conference. For a complete Table of Contents with free access to the editorial and an article by Dr. Haykin click here. Subscription information, as well as limited access to past issues, is available here.  It is our desire to eventually provide a Table of Contents for all issues along with each issue's editorial by Dr. Haykin, a select article from each issue, and book reviews, all available for free PDF download. Some of the Table of Contents and articles from past issues have always been posted.  Others will be posted soon.  Be sure to visit this site regularly as new content is added often.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)

Another literary figure for whom I have a great admiration and who recently died was Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008). His literary masterpieces from my perspective were parts of The Red Wheel--August 1914, November 1916, Lenin in Zurich--and then One Day in the Life of Ivan Denosovich (a difficult read emotionally). I read many of his essays when a much younger Christian and deeply appreciated his critique of the godlessness and soul-lessness of Communism, especially when I had once professed myself a Marxist. For a recent obituary, see Alexander Solzhenitsyn: Dissident writer who exposed the moral infamy of Soviet Communism by Mark Le Fanu (The Independent, August 5, 2008). See also John Piper, “Thank You, Lord, for Solzhenitsyn.”

Pauline Baynes (1922-2008)

Art and religion have long gone hand in hand. One thinks of the base use of the arts to create idols for worship. But, on the other hand, one needs to remember Bezalel, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit "to desvise artistic designs" in gold, silver, and bronze for use in the Temple (Exodus 31). And the Spirit filled this man so that his artistic ability might be a blessing to the people of God. It is no less true today. One thinks of Rembrandt's work, for example. Or the twentieth-century artist Pauline Baynes, who has just died. Her marvellous drawings of figures to accompany the Narnia tales of C.S. Lewis will long be remembered by this writer/reader.

For a recent obituary, see Pauline Baynes: Illustrator who depicted Lewis's Narnia and Tolkien's Middle-earth by Brian Sibley (The Independent, August 6, 2008).

New book by Iain H. Murray reviewed

Iain H. Murray,Lloyd-Jones: Messenger of Grace (Edinburgh/Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2008)

I am biased when it comes to books by and on Martyn Lloyd-Jones. By the grace of God, this man’s preaching and teaching has exercised such an influence for good in my life, I find it hard to pick up a book like this and not be reminded again of the central importance of this man’s ministry—not simply for my life—but for the life of the Church in the modern Western world. I trust that I do not think his ministry is the model for every conceivable Christian ministry (see the remarks on p.xi-xii, 6-7), but here is a man whose teaching the Church in our day needs to hear and heed. Lloyd-Jones’ great concern was “the recovery of true spiritual power amid the decline of Christianity in Britain”—and we might add, “and in the western world in general” (p.xiii; see also p.26-28). Some of his emphases in this regard were controversial, in particular his assertion of a distinct second work of the Holy Spirit, which he held in common with such Puritan authors as Richard Sibbes and Thomas Goodwin (p.127-163). And it would be easy to dismiss his great concern because of one’s disagreement with him on this specific issue. But that would be a great mistake. Murray has his disagreements with “the Doctor” in this matter (p.162-163), but he is rightly confident that Lloyd-Jones’ life and teaching can still be a great help to us today. The first chapter, entitled “The Lloyd-Jones Legacies” (p.3-28), is thus in some ways the key theme of the whole book—the way in which the emphases of Lloyd-Jones’ remarkable ministry are needed as much now as when they were first made.

In tracing the specific ways that Lloyd-Jones’ great concern for true spiritual revival is of present significance, Murray especially looks at: the Welshman’s deep conviction about the life-changing power of biblical preaching (p.17-22, 29-54) and that true preaching is a gift of the Holy Spirit (p.83); his evangelistic use of the Old Testament (p.55-83)—a rarity today among Reformed and Evangelical men; and his quarrel with fellow Reformed men who believed they could work with out-and-out liberals (p.165-208—see also p.263-267). Along the way there are numerous details about his preaching (p.85-106, 227-255) and a very helpful comparison between Lloyd-Jones and the Victorian Baptist C.H. Spurgeon, the similarities of their ministries and also the differences between them (p.109-125). Finally, a CD in a jacket at the back of the book which contains a tremendous sermon by Lloyd-Jones on the way men and women die—either “in their sins” or “ in the Lord”—serves as a reminder of the power of God that rested on his preaching.

What is clear from Murray’s examination of Lloyd-Jones’ legacy is that although his ministry cannot be taken as an exact blueprint of what biblical ministry looks like, its main emphases can be seen as typical: Christianity as fundamentally and ultimately a God-centered religion, the Church’s desperate need for the power of the Holy Spirit, the glorious transformation brought about by anointed preaching. Oh for such in our day!

New biography of John Cennick

Today I happened to drop in to the Coles bookstore at Limeridge Mall on the Hamilton mountain. Spent a few moments looking at the Biography section. Was amazed--though I shoudn't be!--that most of the bios were of movie stars, rock stars, some royalty, and some sports heroes. Is this honestly what people are reading when it comes to biographies? I spent a few minutes looking at one, that of Tatum O'Neal. I remembered her starring with her Dad in Paper Moon, a movie that sticks in my mind because I took my wife to it on our first date. What a sad, sad story she's lived. I don't expect most of the others of this genre--movie star bios--are much different. There is a place for such bios, if only to show how sad life is when the Lord Jesus is not in it.

What a contrast, then, was a recent biograpphy that I read, cover to cover--Peter Gentry and Paul Taylor, Bold as a lion: The Life of John Cennick (1718-1755), Moravian Evangelist (2007)--when I flew back from Wales in June. Here was a biography that was truly uplifting and strengthening to the soul, both challenging and inspiring to the heart. And in good biblical fashion, the book ended with a challenge to the present-day from Cennick's life and theology.

A lesson from a Victorian preface

Acquaintances a while ago gave me a Victorian volume that had seen better days. One of the cheap printings that characterized that era, with poor paper and even poorer illustrations, and now with the cover quite dishevelled and the binding coming loose, they could have easily decided to toss the book. But I am glad they did not. Entitled The Four Great Preachers: A Collection of Choice Sermons by Spurgeon, Moody, Talmage and Beecher the book contains a number of sermons by each of these well-known Victorian preachers along with brief biographical sketches of the four. But what I found valuable in the book was not so much the sermons, all of which can be found elsewhere in much sturdier collections. No, what I found quite illuminating was the two-page “Preface,” which was written by an unnamed Canadian editor who lived in Toronto and is dated April 10, 1885. He may well have been J.S. Robertson, the name of the Toronto publisher on the title-page. But whoever he was, his words bear a lesson for contemporary Evangelicalism.

The “Preface” begins by noting that it has been said that ‘nobody reads sermons’ any more. The editor admits that there may be some truth in this statement, but he says, ‘there are sermons and sermons’. Few, he thinks, are interested in the older style of sermons, what he calls ‘the dry type of doctrinal discourses that was once common in the pulpit’. Such sermons have been replaced by ones that are ‘more interesting’ and that contain ‘more enlivening appeals to the human heart and conscience’. There is no doubt that the author of these lines considers himself an Evangelical as the next sentence bears witness. ‘The Church,’ the editor writes, ‘as it has dropped dogma, has in large degree returned to its first work of evangelizing the world by the spirit and power of the Gospel; and in the true missionary spirit, it is going again into the highways and byways to reclaim the world to Christ, and to bring the prodigal back to the Father’.

What should forcefully strike any reader of these lines is that ‘dogma’—Christian doctrine and theology—is set over against evangelism and missions, as if the two were mutually exclusive. That winning the lost can somehow be done without a concern for theology. To be sure, there have been individuals in the history of the church who allowed have themselves to become so wrapped up in theology and its tomes that they gave nary a thought to evangelism. But such are aberrations. More exemplary is Andrew Fuller (1754-1815), the Baptist pastor and theologian, whose wrestling with the theology of the free offer of the gospel was accompanied by a deepening zeal for evangelism. Or, more authoritatively, there is the example of the Apostle Paul. Some of the Apostle’s most powerful statements on evangelism occur in his letter to the Romans (see, e.g. Romans 9:1-3; 10:9-21; 15:18-29) in the midst of some of the richest doctrinal material—‘dogma’—in the New Testament. Theology, if rightly pursued, should issue in a life of concern for the lost.

The dislike for doctrine in this Victorian “Preface” may also help us understand how sectors of late Victorian Evangelicalism helped prepare the way for the coming of Liberalism. The author of this “Preface” is certainly not a liberal. But his easy dismissal of doctrine in favour of evangelism helps explain why certain sectors of Victorian Evangelicalism found themselves without any adequate response in the face of the liberal assault on Christian orthodoxy at the end of nineteenth century and at the start of the twentieth.

One wonders if a copy of the volume was sent to each of the four respective preachers, whose sermons were reprinted in the book. If one did reach the hands of C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), and he did happen to read the “Preface,” he would have been surely struck by the folly of trying to separate a passion for theological truth from Christian missions. As he well knew and affirmed, it is only when the coals of Christian orthodoxy are hot and blazing that a zeal for the conversion of others can be properly sustained.

Samuel Pearce on humility

It is simply wrong to think that we as Evangelicals are great on how to enter into the Christian life but when it comes to sanctification we have no spiritual heritage to speak of and that we have to go to Roman Catholic writings to find wisdom. Here is a good example of a perennial Baptist concern for humility. In a letter that Samuel Pearce wrote to John Ryland, Jr. on October 8, 1798, he told his close friend of a sermon that he had just heard:

Cooper from London is here. I heard part of a sermon last night from him, after our service was over, which I should have very much liked if the fly of Egotism had not spoiled the ointment, e.g. "I have found that my preaching has been blessed when I etc."

Pearce then added, “O what a lovely garment is humility! May the Lord clothe [us] with it from head to foot."

Samuel Pearce on how to conduct oneself as a missionary

When Samuel Pearce was dying in 1799, momentous things were afoot with the Baptist Missionary Society, to which he had given so much energy. They were preparing to send a number of missionaries, among them William Ward and Joshua Marshman, to India. Once Ward and Marshman arrived they would link up with Carey and form the Serampore Trio, that fruitful band of brothers in the Church of that era. Pearce wrote a deeply-moving letter to Andrew Fuller, the Secretary of the Society, from Tamerton, Devon, on May 2, 1799.[1] The following are his three recommendations regarding missionary policy. They are still wise advice today.

First, as this Society is dependent for its support on the pious public, whose least compensation should be an acquaintance with the success of those for whom their benevolence is exerted, it is highly proper that each missionary under the patronage of this Society should communicate direct and personal information concerning his own efforts, and their various fruits, at least twice in every year; to which end the Society do request that each of their missionaries would keep a regular journal of his proceedings and send it, or a copy of it, to the secretary by the spring and fall ships.

Secondly, since that kingdom which we as the disciples of Jesus wish to establish is not of this world, we affectionately and seriously enjoin on each missionary under our patronage that he do cautiously and constantly abstain from every interference with the political concerns of the country were he may be called to labour, whether by words or deeds; that he be obedient to the laws in all civil affairs; that he respect magistrates, supreme and subordinates; and teach the same things to others. In fine, that he apply himself wholly to the all-important concerns of that evangelical service to which he has so solemnly dedicated himself.

Thirdly, however gross may be the idolatries and heathenish superstitions that may fall beneath a missionary’s notice, the Society are nevertheless persuaded that both the mutual respect due from man to man, together with the interests of the true religion, demand that every missionary should sedulously avoid all rudeness, insult, or interruption during the observance of the said superstitions; recommending no methods but those adopted by Christ and his apostles, namely, the persevering use of Scripture, reason, prayer, meekness, and love.

[1] From Periodical Accounts relative to the Baptist Missionary Society I (Clipstone: J.W. Morris, 1800), 516-519.

William Carey, egotism, and eternal ennui

Writing to his dear friend Samuel Pearce in the autumn of 1795, William Carey told him: "Egotism is tedious..." [Letter to Samuel Pearce, October 2, 1795 in Periodical Accounts relative to the Baptist Missionary Society, I (1800), 215]. In the years that followed, Carey became something of a celebrity in the UK. He was very glad he was far away from most of it.

Why is egotism so tedious? Because to focus on the finite inevitably leads to boredom. But to focus on the Infinite God--infinite in glory, Infinite Beauty, infinite in kindness, infinite in goodness, Infinite Holiness--now that is a subject of which we shall never tire and it will take an eternity to plumb--and even then we shall not be done! And to be with men and women who are taken up with the Infinite God and filled with his glory and goodness and beauty--wow, what holy company, what fascinating fellowship--who would not want to be with such?

In this snippet of a comment, Carey joined that great theological conversation that had been going on since Origen postulated that the wicked angels fell because of satiety. Not so! But they and their fiendish leader are taken up with themselves--filled with egotistical pride--and what insufferable company to spend eternity with--eternal ennui--horrific the thought!