Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Isabella Dickson, who would one day become Mrs. Andrew Bonar, was converted to Jesus during the times of revival in Edinburgh in 1842. Along with a friend, Miss Gifford, she went to a prayer meeting for the Jews held at St. Andrews Church. Robert Murray M'Cheyne spoke at the meeting; what he said interested her, but it was the impression of his personal holiness that really deeply affected her. She said, "There was something singularly attractive about Mr. M'Cheyne's holiness" she would later tell her husband. "It was not his matter nor his manner either that struck me; it was just the living epistle of Christ -- a picture so lovely, I felt I would have given all the world to be as he was, but knew all the time I was dead in sins."

Sinners Part 3

Edwards never mentioned this sermon in any other writings. The reason is probably because the spirit of revival in evidence at Enfield was a common occurrence at that time. For this was the period of the Great Awakening in which many souls were converted by the overpowering work of the Holy Spirit. The Great Awakening began in New England in 1734-35 by a revival in Edwards's own church at Northampton. For a description of that spiritual visitation one should read Edwards's account, titled Narrative of Surprising Conversions (1735). In 1739 revival erupted again in New England, and well into 1741, at the time of the Enfield sermon, Edwards was convinced that "the work seemed to be much more pure, having less of a corrupt mixture than in the former great outpouring of the Spirit in 1735."

Through the years, Edwards has been unfairly criticized for "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" because many think its predominant teaching is the punishment of the ungodly in the fires of hell. While that image is certainly present in the sermon, it is not its prevailing image. On the contrary, as E. H. Cady points out, "the focus of the sermon is on the predicament of the sinner, how dreadfully he dangles just before he plunges to eternal agony, and while he has time to repent and be saved." Consequently, the purpose of the sermon was chiefly evangelistic -- an attempt to present the true condition of fallen men, their precarious position in the world, and their need for the salvific work of Christ. Edwards's concept of hell fire was a tool to persuade men of their uncertain circumstance. As he said elsewhere, "the fears of hell tend to convince men of the hardness of their hearts."

Sinners Part 2

"Another eyewitness, a certain Stephen Williams, provided a more complete account: 'We went over to Enfield where we met dear Mr. Edwards of Northampton who preached a most awakening sermon from these words -- Deuteronomy 32-35 and before sermon was done -- there was a great moaning & crying out through the whole House -- What Shall I Do to be Saved -- oh I am going to Hell -- oh what shall I do for Christ, etc. So that the minister was obliged to desist -- the shrieks and crys were piercing and amazing -- after some time of waiting the Congregation were Still so that a prayer was made by Mr. W. and after that we descended from the pulpitt and discoursed with the people -- Some in one place and Some in another -- and Amazing and Astonishing the power of God was seen -- & several Souls were hopefully wrought upon that night. & oh the cheerfulness and pleasantness of their countenance that received comfort -- oh that God would strengthen and confirm -- we sung an hymn & prayed & dismissed the Assembly.'

The principal consequence of the sermon was that the hardened hearts of many people were so changed because the people were 'bowed down with an awful conviction of their sin and danger' (Trumbell). The power of the Holy Spirit caused that softening, not the persuasive speaking powers of Jonathan Edwards. The truth is that Edwards was not a flamboyant preacher in his delivery at Enfield; as Davidson points out, Edwards 'set his eyes on the bellrope at the rear, and spoke the words in a level tone and with no high pomp of rhetoric or oratory.' Tradition reports that Edwards used little or no gesture, and he read the sermon very closely from a manuscript on the pulpit before him.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Part I

For our men's study this week at BPC we are reading Jonathan Edwards' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Years ago (1991) I wrote a foreword to the sermon that was published by Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. For the next few blogs I would like to re-print that foreword.

"The year 1991 marks the 250th anniversary of the most famous sermon ever delivered in the history of America. It is "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," and it was preached by Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) at the church in Enfield, Connecticut, on July 8, 1741. Edwards, who was the pastor of the Congregational church of Northampton, Massachusetts, was invited to preach at the request of Enfield's minister because the people at Enfield were particularly stubborn to the message of the gospel. The congregation's attitude was further revealed by Pastor Wheelock, minister of the Second Church of Lebanon at that time, who characterized them as 'thoughtless and vain.' Tradition relates that Edwards was not the designated guest-speaker on that Sunday, but a last-minute substitute. I have found no evidence to substantiate that claim.

The district of Enfield had been mostly untouched by the Great Awakening in New England of 1734-35. And, in fact, as Iain Murray reports, the people were unconcerned whether it came upon them or not. Neighboring Christians, however, had great interest in Enfield, and on the night before Edwards' sermon they spent considerable time in prayer lest 'while the divine showers were falling around them' Enfield would be passed by.

The response of the Enfield congregation to the sermon was absolutely 'amazing.' Before the sermon was finished, people were moaning, groaning, and crying out such things as 'What shall I do to be saved?' An eyewitness account by another minister reported that 'there was such a breathing of distress, and weeping, that the preacher (i.e., Edwards) was obliged to speak to the people and desire silence that he might be heard.'"

Newton's Confession

John Newton, in a letter to Rev. Francis Okeley, states a brief confession of faith that truly summarizes the Christian walk:

"I believe that sin is the most hateful thing in the world; that I and all men are by nature in a state of wrath and depravity, utterly unable to sustain the penalty, or to fulfil the commands of God's holy law; and that we have no sufficiency of ourselves to think a good thought. I believe that Jesus Christ is the chief among ten thousands; that He came into the world to save the chief of sinners by making propitiation for sin by his death, by paying a perfect obedience to the law, in our behalf; and that He is now exalted on high, to give repentance and remission of sins to all that believe; and that He ever liveth to make intercession for us. I believe that the Holy Spirit (the gift of God, through Jesus Christ) is the sure and only guide into all truth, and the common privilege of all believers; and under his influence, I believe the Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation, and to furnish us thoroughly for every good work. I believe that love to God, and to man for God's sake, is the essence of religion, and the fulfilling of the law; that without holiness no man shall see the Lord; that those who, by a patient course in well doing, seek glory, honour, and immortality, shall receive eternal life; and I believe that this reward is not of debt but of grace, even to the praise and glory of that grace, whereby He has made us accepted in the Beloved. Amen"

The Inheritance of the Saints

Jonathan Edwards made the following point in one of his sermons regarding the inheritance of believers:

"The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwellingplace, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honour and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to at the end of the world. The Lord God is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem; and is the " river of the water of life" that runs, and " the tree of life that grows, in the midst of the paradise of God." The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will for ever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another; but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in any thing else whatsoever that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what shall be seen of God in them."

Weariness

Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, penned the following poem regarding rest for the weary in Christ:

"Heart that is weary because of the way,
Facing the wind and the sting of the spray,
Come unto me, and I will refresh you.

Heart that has tasted of travail and toil,
Burdened for souls whom the foe would despoil,
Come unto me, and I will refresh you.

Heart that is frozen -- a handful of snow,
Heart that is faded -- a sky without glow,
Come unto me, and I will refresh you.

Heart that is weary, Oh, come unto me!
Fear not, whatever the trouble may be;
Come unto me, and I will refresh you."

Spurgeon on Raising Children

Spurgeon provides a wonderful illustration of the results of the proper Christian nurturing of youth. He says:

"On the mantel-shelf of my grandmother's best parlour, among other marvels, was an apple in a phial. It quite filled up the body of the bottle, and my wondering enquiry was, 'How could it have been got into its place?' By stealth I climbed a chair to see if the bottom would unscrew, or if there had been a join in the glass throughout the length of the phial. I was satisfied by careful observation that neither of these theories could be supported, and the apple remained to me an enigma and a mystery. Walking in the garden I saw a phial placed on a tree bearing within it a tiny apple, which was growing within the crystal; now I saw it all; the apple was put into the bottle while it was little, and it grew there. Just so must we catch the little men and women who swarm our streets -- we call them boys and girls -- and introduce them within the influence of the church, for alas! it is hard indeed to reach them when they have ripened in carelessness and sin."

Cowper

During the onset of a particularly severe bout of depression, the great English hymn-writer William Cowper realized that God's ways are not man's ways. Ella describes the moment: "On the first day of January 1773 Cowper was walking over the Olney fields when he received a sudden premonition that a second time of darkness and depression was about to fall on him. With his heart turned to God, he struggled home and immediately wrote down a confession of faith in verse form before that darkness came upon him." It was then that he penned the wondrous hymn:

God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform.

Communion

This Sunday we will celebrate the Lord's Supper. John G. Paton, who was a missionary to the cannibals in the New Hebrides in the middle of the nineteenth century, tells the story of the first communion held on one of the islands. He says,

"For three years we had toiled and prayed and taught for this. At the moment when I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism but now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the joy of glory that well-nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never taste a deeper bliss till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus himself."

May our hearts contain that "joy of glory" when we partake of the Lamb's great supper!

Short Thought for the Day

Hudson Taylor once commented: "Let us give up our work, our thoughts, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into His hand, and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about, or to make trouble about."

As Far as the East is from the West

J. Wilbur Chapman, who wrote the wonderful hymn "Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners", tells the story of a German mathematics professor who was converted under his ministry and became a member of his congregation. One morning during a men's study at the church, Chapman commented that God had taken our sins as far as the east is from the west. He turned to the mathematics professor and asked him, "How far is the east from the west?" The man responded in tears, saying, "Men, you cannot measure, for if you put your stake here and keep the east ahead of you and west behind you, you can go around the world and come back to your stake, and east will still be ahead of you and west behind you. The distance is immeasurable. And thank God, that is where my sins have gone."

James Gardiner

We read in the biography of Colonel James Gardiner the following account of his conversion:

"In July, 1719, he had spent the evening, which was the Sabbath, in some gay company, and had an unhappy assignation with a married lady, whom he was to attend exactly at twelve. The company broke up about eleven, and he went into his chamber to kill the tedious hour. It happened that he took up a religious book, which his good mother or aunt had, without his knowledge, slipped into his portmanteau, 'The Christian Soldier,' written by Mr. Watson. Guessing by the title that he should find some phrases of his own profession spiritualised in a manner which might afford him some diversion, he resolved to dip into it: while this book was in his hand, an impression was made upon his mind, which drew after it a train of the most important consequences. Suddenly he thought he waw an unusual blaze of light fall on the book while he was reading, and lifting up his eyes, he apprehended, to his extreme amazement, that there was before him, as it were suspended in the air, a visible representation of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross, surrounded with a glory, and was impressed as if a voice had come to him, to this effect, 'O sinner, did I suffer this for thee, and are these thy returns?' He sunk down in his chair, and continued for some time insensible. He then arose in a tumult of passions, and walked to and fro in his chamber, till he was ready to drop, in unutterable astonishment and agony of heart, which continued until the October following, when his terrors were turned into unutterable joy." (In Memoir of Thomas Watson, Spurgeon)

Watson

As a seminary professor there is one phrase I have heard students use over the years that makes my blood boil; it is "C = M.Div". The idea is, of course, that if a student merely keeps a "C" average, then he will get through seminary and move on to the pastorate. In contrast to that minimalistic thought I have just read a passage written by Spurgeon about the Puritan Thomas Watson:

"We are not at all surpised to learn that Thomas Watson enjoyed the repute, while at Cambridge, of being a most laborious student; the great Puritanic authors must have been most industrious workers at the university, or they never would have become such pre-eminent masters in Israel. The conscientious student is the most likely man to become a successful preacher. After completinghis course with honour, Watson became rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, where in the very heart of London he executed for nearly sixteen years the office of a faithful pastor with great diligence and assiduity. Happy were the citizens who regularly attended so instructive and spiritual a ministry. The church was constantly filled, for the fame and the popularity of the preacher were deservedly great. . . he was a man of considerable learning, a popular, but judicious preacher, and eminent in the gift of prayer."