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In a letter that Andrew Fuller wrote to William Carey on September 16, 1795, he has a noteworthy remark about money. Rhetorically, he asks Carey: “What shall we do with our money, but appropriate it to the service of our God?”
[Cited The Bengal Obituary (Calcutta: Holmes and Co./London and Calcutta: W. Thacker & Co., 1851), 338].
Dr. Sean Michael Lucas has found a great statement in the Autobiography, Correspondence, etc. of Lyman Beecher, D.D., ed. Charles Beecher (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1864), I, 99—at the beginning of chapter 17—about the payment received by the first Puritan minister of East Hampton, Long Island. His annual support was to be ₤45 per annum (later raised to ₤50 and then ₤60 per annum), “lands rate free, grain to be first ground at the mill every Monday, and one fourth of the whales stranded on the beach” (italics added). As Dr. Lucas notes: this “is the only case I ever knew of a minister’s being paid in whales” [“Glad ministerial pay has advanced beyond this...”, reformation21, post December 20, 2010 (http://networkedblogs.com/c3AE3)]. Can you imagine? James’ successor was a Mr. Hunting, related to one of the Marian martyrs, and then came Samuel Buell (d.1798) (Autobiography, Correspondence, etc. of Lyman Beecher, 99-100), whose ordination sermon Jonathan Edwards preached in 1746, and under whose pulpit ministry Sarah Edwards had some remarkable experiences. I wonder if Buell was still being paid in beached whales during his pastorate. One could only imagine him and his mentor, America’s greatest theologian, when the latter visited him, going out to check the beach for stranded whales!
We are currently accepting paper proposals for next year’s conference (September 26-27, 2011). We have a limited number of spaces (only six this year) available for the parallel sessions. These papers should be about 5,000 words in length and able to be delivered in approximately 30 minutes. Those interested in presenting need to e-mail the Center (andrewfullercenter@sbts.edu) with a title and brief outline of their proposal as well as a brief resume before January 31, 2011. The topic of papers for the parallel sessions must fall within the theme of the conference, namely, “Baptists and War.” The plenary session schedule is included below. Parallel sessions may focus on biblical, theological, and/or historical approaches to the conference theme. Submission of a proposal does not guarantee acceptance. The presenters of papers accepted for the conference will be notified by the first of February, 2011.
THE ANDREW FULLER CENTER FOR BAPTIST STUDIES
5th ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Baptists and War
September 26–27, 2011
Monday, September 26
8:30am Plenary Session 1: Anthony Cross, (Regent’s Park College, Oxford University), “Anabaptists, Baptists, and Pacifism: An Overview”
10:00am Plenary Session 2: Larry Kreitzer (Regent’s Park College, Oxford University), “The ‘Valiant Old Lady’: The Story of the Eighth Whelp (1628–46) and her Baptist Chaplain John Pendarves”
11:30am Plenary Session 3: Keith Harper (SEBTS), “Baptists and the American Revolution”
1:00–3:00pm Banquet Lunch
3:00pm–4:30 pm Plenary Session 4: Paul Brewster (Pastor, SBC, & Junior Fellow of the Andrew Fuller Center), “Andrew Fuller and the War against Napoleon”
4:30–5:30 pm Parallel Sessions (six in total)
7:30pm–9:00pm Plenary Session 5 and panel discussion: George Rable (Univ. of Alabama), James Fuller (Univ. of Indianapolis), Tom Nettles (SBTS), and Greg Wills (SBTS, moderator), “Interpreting the American Civil War”
Tuesday, September 27
8:30am Plenary Session 6: Jamie Robertson (PhD student, McMaster University), “Baptists and the War of 1812”
10:00am SBTS Chapel
11:30 am Plenary Session 7: Gord Heath (McMaster Divinity College, McMaster University), “Canadian Baptists and the 19th century Wars of the British Empire”
2:00pm Plenary Session 8: Maurice Dowling (Irish Baptist College), “Russian Baptists and the Cold War”
3:30pm Plenary Session 9: Nathan Finn (SEBTS), “The Vietnam War and Baptist Witness”
A commonality in late 17th and 18th century funeral sermons is the mention of the saints—often a few by name, usually the more famous figures of Protestant history with a few ‘local’ figures—with whom the deceased is now enjoying heaven. Richard Baxter captures the centrality of this thought in a remark he makes in a letter to Richard Sargeant on March 17, 1672: “Oh, for a seeing faith to behold the glory of our Father’s presence, and our heavenly society” [cited N.H. Keeble, A Subject Index to the Calendar of the Correspondence of Richard Baxter with another Baxter letter (Dr. Williams’s Library Occasional Papers, no.13; London: Dr. Williams’s Trust, 1994), 19].
A “seeing faith” is the paradox of the Christian walk is it not? It speaks of the certainty and assurance that faith needs. The “glory of our Father’s presence”—Baxter would not wish to exclude the Son and the Spirit, for surely the Son is the glory of the Father and the Spirit their mutual love. But my focus here is “our heavenly society”: in addition to the glory of the Triune God, surely the next greatest joy in heaven are the redeemed saints. To revel in them, their joy and redemption: why, ‘tis glory!
Sometimes Christians, in their desire to uphold biblical truth, are led into strange statements, even remarks that are downright silly. Recently I was reading early 19th century issues of The Gospel Magazine when I came across a series of articles by an author who signed his name as Boanerges. This said author had a bee in his bonnet about another Christian periodical of the era entitled The Evangelical Magazine, which during this very time period was supported by a number of key Baptist figures, including Andrew Fuller, John Ryland, Jr., and John Fawcett (see, for example, the title page of The Evangelical Magazine for 1807). “Boarnerges” wrote a series of review pieces on The Evangelical Magazine during 1806 and was quite severe in his judgment on this Christian monthly. In one piece, he reviewed the “Memoirs of the Life of the Mr. Abraham Booth,” which appeared in The Evangelical Magazine for August 1806. Booth, Boanerges was sure, was “a subject of God’s regenerating grace,” but as he got older he got “lost…in the maze of Arminianism” and “very much departed from the purity of the gospel” [“Review of the Evangelical Magazine for August 1806”, The Gospel Magazine, 2nd series, 1, no.10 (October 1806), 452]. I was amazed when I read this, though as I read more of the review, “Boanerges” sounded like a Huntingtonian and that made some sense as to why he would rank Booth as an Arminian. But if Booth be an Arminian, then terms have no sense at all and all is nonsense!
Thankfully, a certain correspondent, who simply signed his name as “S.G.U.” wrote in to the editor on November 4, 1806, and stated forthrightly, “I was much surprised to find it asserted that Mr. Booth” was an Arminian. He then went on to quote a lengthy text from Booth’s Divine Justice essential to the Divine Character (1793), which S.G.U. was confident “satisfactorily shews that Mr. Booth was not an Arminian” [“Mr. Booth Not An Arminian”, The Gospel Magazine, 2nd series, 2, no.1 (January 1807), 33–34]. Grateful for S.G.U.'s defence of Booth, I could not help but wonder what kind of author could make such assertions as Boanerges did and still desire to be taken seriously as a Christian thinker!
I have been reading Sarah Gibbard Cook's doctoral thesis, "A Political Biography of a Religious Independent John Owen, 1616-83" (Unpubished PhD thesis, Harvard University, 1972). It really is very well written and filled a notable gap at the time, namely a substantial biography of Owen from the point of view of his politics. Peter Toon's biography of Owen was about to be published when Cook was writing and she references his unpublished manuscript. But, believe it or not, I am finding Cook a much better read than Toon, except in one particular, namely Toon's attention to theology, which Cook does not touch unless it bears on her examination of Owen's political views. We need a good biography of Owen that takes into account all of the recent research by such Owen experts as Trueman and the major amounts of work done on the era in which he lived.
By the way, lest anyone think I am going soft on theological purity, let me add to the previous post on Christian unity this word: there is, of course, a time to break fellowship because true fellowship has ceased. "They went out from us but they were not of us." Of course, I believe that. But my concern was the far-too-hasty, and frankly sinful, breaking of fellowship over issues that could never be properly classified as primary or even secondary matters.
A big thank you for those who took the time to wish me a happy birthday: it reminded me afresh of the undeserved grace of being part of the Body of Christ. I hope I never take this privilege for granted. It is a precious privilege to be in unity with blood-bought brothers and sisters in Christ. Had to drive to London, ON, today to meet with a dear brother, Stephen Mawdsley, an architect—we are doing a work together on architecture and Christianity. More on that as it develops.
Had an hour there and an hour back to pray and ponder. I rarely have the radio or podcasts or MP3s playing on such occasions. I simply love the silence. Spent some time thinking about the theme of my first paragraph above. Specifically, spent time thinking about the divisions that sometimes occur between true Christians. Whether it was power-brokerage or prickly temperaments or plain old sin that led to the breaks in the first place, so often far too many believers who have broken with other believers in the past seem quite happy with the status quo and are seemingly content to let the years go by without any attempt to reconcile. To be sure, theological purity is often adduced, but how rarely such is the real reason for the division. Maybe it is because I have been spending so much time reading Paul and his high view of the Church that such quarrels increasingly seem so petty to me and so foreign to the mindset of the Apostle.
It breaks my heart, though, to see the attitude of such brothers and sisters. And in the light of such, I understand better (though this too booggles the mind!) why one occasionally hears of true believers who, seeing such, give up on the local church. Shades of A.W. Pink!! Oh, for biblical balance and a willigness to confess sin and walk in the Light...
What versatility and diversity there is on Robert Plant’s new CD, Band of Joy (2010), from rock and folk to country (the latter never my favourite, but in this case, I make an exception. Apologies to certain friends!). The entire collection on the CD is a delight to listen to, especially the final two songs that are gems: “Satan your kingdom must come down” (a bit of a surprise I must confess) and “Even this shall pass away.” Highly recommended.
Truth will out. And though the disciple of Jesus wants it to be now, she can wait, by grace, for the eschatological day of reckoning. Be wise, therefore, soldier of Jesus: love the truth, and never fear to own your faults, foibles, and failings. Don't be like the world: covering the truth with veneer and lacquer. For truth will shine through.
November 22 is the anniversary of the death of John F. Kennedy (and C.S. Lewis). But it is neither of these whose death I wish to remember today. Rather it is that of an early Christian martyr. One of the most amazing documents historians of early Christianity are privileged to have is the prison diary of a young woman who was martyred in the year 202 in Carthage as part of a civic celebration. Her name is Vibia Perpetua. It's an amazing, complicated story. The diary is in kind of a sandwich. The editor introduces the story (Pass. Perp. 1-2). Then there's the authentic diary of Perpetua (Pass. Perp. 3-10). Then there is a diary from the hand of another of the martyrs, Saturus (Pass. Perp. 11-13). Editorial conclusions follow which conclude the account (Pass. Perp. 14-21).
The Christian community in Carthage was probably at this time around 2,000 in a city of up to half a million. Perpetua had been arrested, along with the slaves Felicitas and Revocatus, and two other Christians Saturninus and Secundulus. Soon one Saturus, who deliberately declared himself a Christian before the judge, was also incarcerated. This took place during the reign of Lucius Septimius Severus (r.193-211), who was devoted to the Egyptian god Serapis. He issued an edit in 202/203 that forbade conversion to either Judaism or Christianity upon pain of death.
Perpetua was a member of the urban upper middle classes, whose family may have held an estate near Carthage. She can speak Greek (Pass. Perp. 13) which indicates a fair degree of education for she was living in Latin-speaking Africa. At one point in her diary, she says this (Pass. Perp. 3):
"A few days later we were lodged in the prison; and I was terrified, as I had never before been in such a dark hole. What a difficult time it was! With the crowd the heat was stifling; then there was the extortion of the soldiers; and to crown all, I was tortured with worry for my baby there."
"Then Tertius and Pomponius, those blessed deacons who tried to take care of us, bribed the soldiers to allow us to go to a better part of the prison to refresh ourselves for a few hours. Everyone then left that dungeon and shifted for himself. I nursed my baby, who was faint from hunger. In my anxiety I spoke to my mother about the child, I tried to comfort my brother, and I gave the child in their charge. I was in pain because I saw them suffering out of pity for me. These were the trials I had to endure for many days. Then I got permission for my baby to stay with me in prison. At once I recovered my health, relieved as I was of my worry and anxiety over the child. My prison had suddenly become a palace, so that I wanted to be there rather than anywhere else."
Below is a picture taken by an acquaintance on a recent trip to the ruins of Carthage. It is said to be Perpetua's prison cell. It is very sobering to view this picture and think of our elder sister Perpetua and our other brothers and sister Felicitas waiting in this very place for death--and glory!
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ETS 2010 (meeting in Atlanta) is now history. Like other years, there were some great papers (I think of the four papers on Thursday morning on American history by Peter Beck, Donald Macleod, Paige Patterson, and Greg Wills) and some not so good (one speaker—maybe more—did not show, a real disappointment, as I was looking forward to the paper), rich conversations and fellowship with brothers, and superb plenary sessions. This year the topic was justification, and saw Tom Wright, Tom Schreiner (a colleague at SBTS), and Frank Thielman speak to this issue. Wright was dynamic, witty, a great communicator—but in the final analysis and in the opinion of this author, wrong on the key issue. He was not so far wrong that his view did not have much appeal. And much he said resonated with many of us, I am sure: especially the emphasis on the Christian community and the appeal that he was on Calvin’s side as opposed to Luther when it came to the third use of the law. Before Tom Wright spoke, Tom Schreiner had delivered a well-crafted analysis of the issue and why Wright was wrong. At the end of the day I was struck by the fact that for Wright: Augustine’s failure to understand justification set the stage for the wrong directions of the Middle Ages, and hence the misguided response of the Reformers. He certainly favoured Calvin over Luther, but in the final analysis he remarked that history would have been so different if these two great Reformers had begun with Ephesians rather than Romans or Galatians. I was also deeply struck by his firm rejection of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. The latter, though, is central to the gospel: without holiness no man shall see the Lord. If God be holy—holy beyond our conception—how can we envisage a salvation that does not involve being made as holy as Jesus? Also noted that Wright emphasized that no one he knew who had embraced his view had swum the Tiber—but I can think of a few—if not the Tiber, then the Hellespont!
It was over twenty years ago—around 1987 or 1988—that I first heard this view enunciated—in a joint faculty meeting between what was then Central Baptist Seminary and Toronto Baptist Seminary. And while I have a better understanding now of what the so-called New Perspective on Paul (NPP) entails, I am more than ever deeply convinced that it fails to capture the heart of the Apostle’s thought. To the advocates of the NPP the old perspective is mere dull thrumming, but for us it has lost none of its joyful thrill.
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Southern Seminary will host "An Irish Christmas" with Keith and Kristyn Getty on Dec. 9, 2010 at 7:30 pm in Alumni Chapel. Tickets are available here for $10.00 ($8.00 for SBTS Students, Faculty, Staff, and their spouses).
Make sure you watch this interview with Dr James Renihan of the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies on 17th century Particular Baptists on the social context of these Baptists and their use of the Fathers: http://www.mctsowensboro.org/2010/10/dr-renihan-interview-on-the-puritans-part-i/ . Good stuff!
I just watched the testimony of Lauren Booth, Tony Blair’s sister-in-law, about her conversion to Islam, which was sealed in a Shi’ite shrine in Iran (see it here). While there, she said she had a feeling of overwhelming peace and absolute joy, and knew that her life would never be the same again. And she now knows, she said, that Islam is a religion of compassion, love, and joy. There are two critical components in a genuine encounter with God: truth and the concomitant feelings. The most important is truth. I shall never forget my conversion in 1974. I wrestled with the truth of the gospel for six months before submitting to the Lord Christ, and then for another nine months I went through times of deep profound spiritual warfare. At times, all that kept me was the truth of the resurrection of Christ, not my feelings. I learned a very valuable lesson in those months: the truth of the gospel stands independently of my feelings. To be sure, there were positive feelings of joy at the very outset, but so often there were deep spiritual testings as well.
I do not doubt the feelings Lauren Booth has had. But, if they are not yoked to truth, they speak of another source than the true and living God.
HT: Luis Dizon on Facebook
Not long after his conversion, William Wilberforce (1759–1833), at the time a member of Parliament, wrote to the evangelical minister John Newton (1725–1807) on December 2, 1785, wanting to visit him for spiritual advice about his career, for Wilberforce was contemplating leaving the realm of politics. For a number of eighteenth-century evangelicals, particularly the Methodist followers of John Wesley (1703–91) and those outside of the Anglican fold like the Baptists, politics was a “worldly” occupation from which the believer was best to separate himself or herself [see, for example, Murray Andrew Pura, Vital Christianity: The Life and Spirituality of William Wilberforce (Fearn by Tain, Ross-Shire: Christian Focus/Toronto: Clements Publishing, 2003), 37–8]. Anglican evangelicals like Newton, however, did not view their Christian discipleship in such a counter-cultural light and Newton wisely encouraged Wilberforce to stay in the world of politics. Some words that Newton wrote to him a couple of years later well capture the essence of his advice to the young convert: “It is hoped and believed that the Lord has raised you up for the good of His church and for the good of the nation.” [cited John Pollock, Wilberforce (1977 ed.; repr. Eastbourne: Kingsway, 2001), 38]. Newton was well aware of the challenge of being a Christian and a politician. As he wrote of Wilberforce to his good friend William Cowper (1731–1800) the year after Wilberforce came to see him: “I hope the Lord will make him a blessing both as a Christian and a statesman. How seldom do these characters coincide!! But they are not incompatible.” [William Hague, William Wilberforce (HarperCollins, 2007), 88].
Nor did Newton simply direct Wilberforce into the calling God had chosen for him, but over the next couple of decades Newton proved to be the ablest and most devoted of spiritual mentors. For example, in 1796, Newton wrote to Wilberforce: “I believe you are the Lord’s servant, and are in the post which He has assigned you; and though it appears to me more arduous, and requiring more self-denial than my own, I know that He who has called you to it can afford you strength according to your day” [cited Hague, William Wilberforce, 88]. Newton also helped Wilberforce by recalling those in Scripture who had served in the political realm: “May the wisdom that influenced Joseph and Moses and Daniel rest upon you. Not only to guide and animate you in the line of political duty—but especially to keep you in the habit of dependence upon God, and your communion with him, in the midst of all the changes and bustle around you.” [John Newton, Letter to William Wilberforce, 18 May [1786] (Bodleian, MS Wilberforce c.49, fol. 9)].
The meeting between Wilberforce and Newton in 1785 would be a true turning point in the religious, social and political history of Great Britain. Thanks be to God Wilberforce did not consult Wesley—though Wesley would encourage him to persevere in the fight against slavery shortly before his death in 1791—or a London Baptist leader, who would have told the young convert to get out of politics. And glad in this sense that he was not living today when he might have visited one of any number of pietistic Evangelical leaders in the Anglophone world, who conceives of the advance of the kingdom to be solely a matter of the recruitment of preachers. To be sure, we need such: the advance of the kingdom of our glorious Captain is tied to his infrangible and indelible Word. But we also need moral reformers with the mettle of Wilberforce.
A great statement about the goal of theology by the Reformer Martin Bucer: “Vera theologia non theoretica, sed practica est; finis siquidem eius agere est hoc est vitam vivere deiformem.” (ET: “True theology is not theoretical, but practical. The end of it is living, that is to live a godly life.”)
Listening to Crosby, Stills & Nash. Love so much of their stuff. Their “Long time gone” (1969) defined so much about my life in that era when it was written. Of course, as with so much of the music of that era, the tunes and lyrics were both remarkable, almost classic as soon as they were crafted. But the deeply resonant tunes often cloaked philosophical approaches that would prove destructive to occidental cultural structures. Take “Cathedral,” for example. The drug theme—the mention of “flying” and being high—reminds one of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” (from their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band). But half-way into the song, there is this—words that echo the attitude of so many in the sixties and that shaped so many in the days following that heady era:
“I’m flying in Winchester cathedral. All religion has to have it’s day Expressions on the face of the Saviour Made me say I can’t stay.”
“Open up the gates of the church and let me out of here! Too many people have lied in the name of Christ For anyone to heed the call. So many people have died in the name of Christ That I can’t believe it all.”
What seemed patent to so many in the sixties, the seeming bankruptcy of western Christianity with its lies and death-dealing, has faded in the forty years between then and now. Why? Because Jesus Christ is greater than his Church. No doubt Christians have lied and dealt death in the name of the Lord of life. But their failures are not to be ascribed to Jesus. And in the light of the fallout of the sixties and the realization that the heroes of that era—Che and John Lennon, Krishna and Herbert Marcuse, Danny the Red and Eldridge Cleaver, Cher and RFK—were but clay, choosing to follow the pure-hearted Jesus is but wisdom.
When this song was penned I too would have said, “Open up the gates of the church and let me out of here!” But five years later, I came to love Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Expressions on his crucified and risen visage made me say, “Here is where I want to stay and nowhere else.”
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November 19-20 at Southern Seminary Worship Leaders: Mary Kassian and Heather Payne
Breakouts on multicultural relationships, girl-girl relationships, girl-boy relationships, balancing, time management, wise spending, spiritual fitness, God’s call, and the P31 wife.
Learn to minister to young women! Bring young women! Learn to be wise in a world gone crazy.
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The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies is sponsoring "A Morning with Robert Hall, Jr." on Wednesday, October 27th from 9 am to 11:30 am on the 3rd floor of the Legacy Center at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
This event will feature lectures from British pastor Austin Walker and SBTS Ph.D. candidate Cody McNutt.
Robert Hall, Jr. was very influential in the launch of the modern missionary movement in the 18th century. He was friends with such men as William Carey and Andrew Fuller. The first 25 students in attendance will receive a free copy of the new B&H title Andrew Fuller: Model Pastor-Theologian by Paul Brewster.
