George Smeaton

George Smeaton (1814-89) was one of Scotland's leading theologians of the nineteenth century. When he died the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland adopted the following statement about Smeaton: "A man of massive intellect and unwearied diligence, of profound erudition and exact scholarship, he consecrated his talents, his time, and the wealth of his learning to the service of God, and the interpretation of his holy word." Smeaton held the chair of Exegetical Theology at New College Edinburgh. He taught there with William Cunningham (1805-61) and John "Rabbi" Duncan (1796-1870). Smeaton was a Calvinist, and orthodox as light defines the day.

New College since those days, of course, has drifted from how Smeaton (and others there) understood the faith. Anectodely, Smeaton's portrait was given to New College by his wife after his death (1892). It hung in the Common Hall of the college for many decades. His portrait looked "down on generations of students who, sadly, would take a very different line from Smeaton himself in the understanding of the faith" (biography by J. W. Keddie). In the 1990's the college sold his portrait to an American bookseller from Pennsylvania for less than $1000.

Models of Ministry

J. Gresham Machen, the founder of Westminster Theological Seminary, told a graduating class of the seminary what he thought was the purpose of these young men as ministers of the gospel. He said, "You, as ministers of Christ, are called to deal with unseen things. You are the stewards of the mysteries of God. You alone can lead men, by the proclamation of God's word, out of the crash and jazz and noise and rattle of this weary age into green pastures and beside the still waters; you alone as ministers of reconciliation, can give what the world with all its boasting and pride can never give -- the infinite sweetness of the redeemed soul with the living God." (Taken from D.G. Hart)

Modern models of ministry look nothing like what Machen said. Many say that "Machen's older conception of the ministry now looks tired, irrelevant, and even a bit selfish" (Hart). But is it really? I would ask you to read Machen's statement again, and then ask yourself, is Machen not right?

The Especial Mercy of God

George Muller, as is well known, was a man of prayer. The orphanages that he began were in daily need of necessities and provisions: Muller's answer was to pray. And God answered his prayers daily, and often in the most unexpected ways. Following is what Muller had to say about a particularly difficult period in 1841:

“Indeed, so sharp were the trials of our faith for more than six months after [September, 1841]; so long the seasons when, day after day, only daily supplies were granted to us, and when even from meal to meal we had to look up to the Lord; so long had we to continue in prayer, and yet help seemed to fail; that it can be only ascribed to the especial mercy of God, that the faith of those who were engaged in this work did not altogether fail, and that they did not entirely grow weary of this way of carrying on the Lord’s work, and go, in despair of help from God, back again to the habits and maxims of this evil world…In the midst of the trial I was fully assured that the Lord would lighten His hand in His own good time, and that, whilst it lasted, it was only in order that in a small measure, for the benefit of the Church of Christ generally, that word might be fulfilled in us – ‘Whether we be afflicted it is for you consolation.’”

Submitted by JD

Aged Preachers

John Newton was born in 1725 in London. He was pastor at Olney for 16 years, and then, in 1779, he became minister of St. Mary Woolnoth. He preached there in London until almost the end of his life in 1807. In 1806, Richard Cecil counseled Newton to cease preaching, Newton gave the memorable reply, "I cannot stop. What, shall the old African blasphemer stop while he can speak?" When preaching in his old age, Newton would sometimes get lost and drift in his sermon. He knew it when it happened, and he was known to have said, "I may not know where I am, but I know two things for certain: that I am a great sinner and that Jesus is a great Savior." And that is preaching the gospel to the point!

The Allergic Shoe-Maker

I am currently reading a new biography of William Carey. It is by John Appleby, and it is called I Can Plod: William Carey and the Early Years of the First Baptist Missionary Society (London: Grace Publications, 2007). Two facts of Carey's early life are intriguing to me. First, I was unaware that he was allergic to sunshine. Second, and I did know this, that before he went on the mission field he was a shoe-maker (leather worker) and a part-time pastor. What is interesting about those two facts is, "is it not surprising that someone allergic to sunshine and being a leather worker as well should have been sent by Providence to spend a lifetime in India where the former is constant ant the latter is a trade of the despised lower caste?" God does not do things in the manner of men; we would consider Carey, in our day of assessing "gifts", as perhaps one who would be unfit for such misssionary service. God knows better, and, indeed, by using Carey that way he did only brings more glory and honor to His own name.

Renovation not Innovation

In 1890, reviewing his 20 years' pastorate, Dr. Gordon remarked: "We believe we have learned much, through divine teaching, as to the true method of conducting the affairs of God's church; have proved by experience the practicability of what we have learned; and have largely united the church in the practice thereof. Innovations have from the beginning been strongly urged. 'Innovations'? No! that word implies newness, and God is our witness that in theology, in worship, and in church administration it is not the new to which we have been inclined, but the old. Renovation, rather, is what we have sought. With a deep feeling that many of the usages which have been fastenend upon our church by long tradition [he's talking about buying pews and formal choirs, etc..] constitute a serious barrier to spiritual success, it has been my steady aim to remove these. In general, we may say, it is our strong conviction that true success in the church of Christ is to be attained by spiritual, not by secular, methods by a worship which promotes self-denial in God's people, and not by that which ministers to self-gratification; by a cultivation of the heart through diligent use of the Word and of prayer, and not by a cultivation of art through music and architecture and ritual. And with the most deliberate emphasis we can say that every step in our return to simpler and more scriptural methods of church service has proved an onward step toward spiritual efficiency and success." His whole ministry, then, faced backward - away from the pitiable modern devices and schemes and substitutes to "that higher, holier, earlier, purer church," from which we are ever departing, and to which we must ever return if we are to live.

- all from Adoniram Judson Gordon, A Biography

submitted by Jennifer Dixon

Scripture

John Willison, an 18th century pastor from Scotland, spoke of the importance of the Bible for the believer, as follows: "We should look upon it as a golden epistle, indited by the Spirit of God; we should receive it as a love-letter from heaven, opening up God's designs of love to our souls; we should go to it as for our daily food and substitence, and daily enquire in it for the will of God, and hereby consult with God about our duty in all cases . . . We should read with faith, reverence, and application to ourselves, as if we were particularly named in the precepts, reproofs, threatenings, and consolations of it . . . and in reading every part, we should still keep Christ in our eye, as the end, scope, and substance of the whole scriptures."

This reflects the Testimony of the Seceders (1736) that states, "the Word of God contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is not only a sufficient rule, or a principal rule, but it is the only rule to direct us how we ought to glorify God and enjoy him."