Nothing New Under the Sun

F. Lewis wrote the following about seminary students in the southern Presbyterian church in 1879:

"The age tends to superficiality; young men come forth with great pretensions and great expectations. Their encyclopedic attainments are calculated to startle. And yet too often this is illusory. There is the breadth, but not the depth. There is the glitter, but not the gold. They lack that sweep of pinion and that vigor of stroke that lifts the eagle toward the sun. It avails not to have much and varied knowledge in the multiplied branches of human investigation, unless there be also depth and justness of thought and keenness of vision. Truth lies beneath the surface. We must dig for her diamonds, we must dive for her pearls. Anything that antagonises the mushroom learning of the day must be beneficial. Let us lay the foundations broader and deeper with lexicon and grammar. We need to commune not only with Augustine and Calvin, with Turrettin and Hodge and Dabney, but also with Gesenius and Fuerst, with Davidson and Deutsch. Our Southern Church is already widely known for her orthodoxy and for her unswerving fidelity to the incomparable symbols of the Presbyterian faith. Let her be equally widely known for her scholarship and her ability and determination to stand on that high plane of learning on which Melanchthon and Calvin placed the Church of the Reformation. Let her do this—not for the pride of learning, or the exulting joy of superiority, but for the glory of her King; that she may bring to his altar a richer sacrifice, and offer there with vows of consecration not only the strength and service of her body, but the power and service of her mind; that she may bear her continued testi-mony to the value of an educated ministry; that she may have young men upon whose shoulders the mantles of ascending scholars may fall, to cover a double portion of their spirits; and lastly, that she may cover her front with that broad and burnished shield of learning that shall turn aside from her vitals the poi- soned darts of superficiality and ignorance."

Newton Beside the Death-Bed

In one of his letters, John Newton tells of a young woman whom he visited on her death bed. He says the following:

"She was a sober, prudent person, of plain sense, could read her Bible, but had read little besides. Her knowledge of the world was nearly confined to the parish; for I suppose she was seldom, if ever, twelve miles from home in her life. She had known the gospel about seven years before the Lord visited her with a lingering consumption, which at length removed her to a better world. A few days before her death, I had been praying by her bed-side, and in my prayer I thanked the Lord that he gave her now to see that she had not followed cunningly-devised fables. When I had finished she repeated that word, 'No,' she said, 'not cunningly-devised fables; these are realities indeed; I feel their truth, I feel their comfort. Oh! tell my friends, tell my acquaintance, tell inquiring souls, tell poor sinners, tell all the daughters of Jerusalem (alluding to Solomon's Song, v. 16, from which she had just before desired me to preach at her funeral) what Jesus has done for my soul. Tell them, that now in the time of need I find him my beloved and my friend, and as such I commend him to them.' She then fixed her eyes stedfastly upon me, and proceeded, as well as I can recollect, as follows: 'Sir, you are highly favoured in being called to preach the gospel. I have often heard you with pleasure; but give me leave to tell you, that I now see all you have said, or can say, is comparatively but little. Nor, till you come into my situation, and have death and eternity full in your view, will it be possible for you to conceive the vast weight and importance of the truths you declare. Oh! Sir, it is a serious thing to die; no words can express what is needful to support the soul in the solemnity of a dying hour.'"

Change

When the Queen came to Edinburgh on one occasion, Andrew Bonar took his two youngest daughters with him to see her. As they were walking about, they met his old friend, Mr. Walker of Perth, and Dr. Bonar said to him, "You see I've brought my children to see the Queen." "Very good," was Mr. Walker's reply. "Yes," said Dr. Bonar, "we saw her, but we were not changed; but 'when we see Him we shall be like Him.'"

From Marjory Bonar

Christ Crucified

I was reminded today that the primary task of the preacher is to preach Christ and him crucified. Andrew Bonar once preached at St. Peter's Church in Dundee . . . Robert Murray M'Cheyne was the pastor there. His text was "Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty." As the two of them walked home after the service, M'Cheyne turned to Bonar and said, "Brother, I enjoyed your sermon; to me it was sweet. You and I and many, I trust, in our congregations shall see the King in His beauty. But, my brother, you forgot there might be many listening to you tonight, who, unless, they are changed by the grace of God, shall never see Him in His beauty."

Bonar learned that truth . . . and he would pray in his church the following: "Lord, never let any one occupy this pulpit who does not preach Christ and Him crucified."

Different Calls

Dr. Livingstone, the great African explorer, said, on one occasion after hearing Mr. Spurgeon, that no religious service he ever remembered had so deeply impressed his own mind as that he had witnessed and participated in that morning; adding, that when he had retired again into the solitudes of Africa, no scene he had ever witnessed would afford him more consolation than to recall the recollection that there was one man God had raised up who could so effectively and impressively preach to congregated thousands, whilst he should have to content himself by preaching to units, or at most tens, under a tropical sky in Africa; implying at the same time, that Mr. Spurgeon's sphere of religious influence was a hundred times greater than that of the great and good traveller.

From Northrup's Life of Spurgeon

Summer Reading

I would encourage you to look at the summer reading lists of various important pastors in the evangelical camp. See Al Mohler's list at www.albertmohler.com/blog and Mark Dever's vacation reading list at http://blog.9marks.org These reading list are quite impressive and extensive. To this I would add my reading list for the summer:

1. Hebrew Old Testament
2. Greek New Testament
3. Septuagint (LXX) (when necessary)

Earl of Dartmouth

The Earl of Dartmouth (1731-1801) was a strong Christian and a friend of Evangelicalism. He knew some of the great preachers through his acquaintance with Lady Huntingdon: he met Whitefield, Romaine, and the Wesleys. His faith was well known; a letter from a Mr. Hervey to Lady Shirley in 1757 speaks to it: "I have not the honour of Lord Dartmouth's acquaintance; but I hear he is full of grace, and valiant for the truth, -- a lover of Christ, and an ornament to his gospel."

Lord Dartmouth was the butt of jokes and ridicule at the hands of the upper crust. Many of them were won over to Christ by Dartmouth's stand for the Lord. King George III knew of Dartmouth's faith; in an interview with Dr. Beattie, the king said, "They call my Lord Dartmouth an enthusiast, but surely he says nothing on the subject of religion but what any Christian may and ought to say."

Quote from Matthew Henry

"Sensual choices are sinful choices, and seldom speed well. Those who, in choosing relations, callings, dwellings, or settlements, are guided and governed by the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, or the pride of life, and consult not the interests of their souls and their religion, cannot expect God's presence with them, nor his blessing upon them, but are commonly disappointed even in that which they principally aimed at, and miss of that which they promised themselves satisfaction in."

Calvin on Chance

In the Institutes I, xvii, I., 179, Calvin makes the following remarks:

"Hence we maintain that by his providence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also the counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined. What, then, you will say, does nothing happen fortuitously, nothing contingently? I answer, it was a true saying of Basil the Great, that fortune and chance are heathen terms; the meaning of which ought not to occupy pious minds. For if all success is blessing from God, and calamity and adversity are his curse, there is no place left in human affairs for fortune and chance."

The Word of God

Guthrie says the following about God's Word:

"It is an armoury of heavenly weapons, a laboratory of infallible medicines, a mine of exhaustless wealth. It is a guide-book for every road, a chart for every sea, a medicine for every malady, a balm for every wound. Rob us of our Bible, and our sky has lost its sun, and in the best of other books we have naught but the glimmer of twinkling stars. It is the wealth of the poor, blessing poverty with the contentment which makes it rich. It is the shield of wealth, protecting the few that are rich against the many that are poor. It may be compared to the skies, which hold at once the most blessed and the most baneful elements -- soft dews to bathe the opening rose, and bolts that rend the oak asunder."

Bricks of Babylon

Andrew Bonar, an 19th century preacher in Scotland, spoke on the "bricks of Babylon" and how every brick in Babylon had on it the king's stamp. So Bonar concluded, "everything we do should have the King's stamp on it." One of his hearers, a maid, was one day set to the tedious work of cleaning a feather bed. She was tempted to hurry the matter, but she said the "bricks of Babylon" kept ringing in her ears, and so she had to do the entire job faithfully. Another servant who had heard Bonar use that example said, "Well, I hate cleaning the knives, but I can't but do them thoroughly now."

Newton

Fairly soon after John Newton became pastor in Olney he published his Authentic Narrative that described his life, his conversion, and his call to the ministry. The response to his story was immediate and powerful . . . and, indeed, it yet resonates strongly even today. Newton became quite famous in his day and people sought him for counsel. There is the time when an Indian chief from the new world came to visit him! This chief had been converted under the ministry of George Whitefield in America . . . and he later became a preacher to his own tribe, the Mohicans! Newton also became well known because of his correspondence. He even said, "It is the Lord's will that I should do most by my letters." If you have the opportunity and are looking for something special to read in Christian literature, pick up Letters of John Newton (Banner of Truth, 2007).

M'Cheyne

Andrew Bonar, who wrote a famous biography of Robert Murray M'Cheyne, had an old servant who used to tell the story of M'Cheyne's last visit to Collace where Bonar was the pastor. M'Cheyne preached in the church, and "the folk were standin' out to the gate, and the windows were pulled down that those outside might hear. Mr. Cormick (of Kirriemuir) spoke first, and then Mr. M'Cheyne preached on 'Lest I myself should be castaway.' I had come awa' after he began, and I could see from the house the kirk lichted up, and oh, I wearied sair for them to come hame! They stayed at the kirk that nicht till eleven. The folk coudna gi'e ower listenin', and Mr. M'Cheyne couldna gi'e ower speakin'. I mind the time when Mr. Bonar couldna get his tea ta'en for folk comin' and speerin' if conversion was true. Oh, to hear Mr. M'Cheyne at prayers in the mornin'! It was as if he could never gi'e ower, he had sae muckle to ask. Ye would hae thocht the very walls would speak again. He used to rise at six on the Sabbath mornin', and go to bed at twelve at night, for he said he likit to have the whole day alone with God."