DOCSLIB.ORG

Stephen J. Wellum 3 the Life and Legacy of George Whitefield (1714-1770)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Stephen J. Wellum 3 the Life and Legacy of George Whitefield (1714-1770) Volume 18 · Number 2 Summer 2014 George Whitefield Editorial: Stephen J. Wellum 3 The Life and Legacy of George Whitefield (1714-1770) Michael A. G. Haykin 7 The Christian Life in the Thought of George Whitefield Digby L. James 23 Who is the Greatest Preacher? The Life and Legacy of George Whitefield Jeongmo Yoo 43 George Whitefield’s Doctrine of Christ Lee Gatiss 71 George Whitefield — The Angelican Evangelist Introduced and Edited by Michael A. G. Haykin 83 Writing to George Whitefield: A letter from Anne Dutton on Sinless Perfection Introduced and Edited by Michael A. G. Haykin 89 George Whitefield Sermon: “The Indwelling of the Spirit the Common Privilege of all Believers” Introduced and Edited by Michael A. G. Haykin 103 George Whitefield Sermon: “Christ, the Believer’s Wisdom, Righteousness, Satification and Redemption” The SBJT Forum 119 Book Reviews 131 Editor-in-Chief: R. Albert Mohler, Jr. • Editor: Stephen J. Wellum • Associate Editor: Brian Vickers • Book Review Editor: Gregory A. Wills • Assistant Editor: Brent E. Parker • Editorial Board: Ran- dy L. Stinson, Daniel S. Dumas, Gregory A. Wills, Adam W. Greenway, Dan DeWitt, Timothy Paul Jones, Jeff K. Walters, Steve Watters, James A. Smith, Sr.•Typographer: Brittany Loop•Editorial Office: SBTS Box 832, 2825 Lexington Rd., Louisville, KY 40280, (800) 626-5525, x 4413 • Editorial E-Mail: [email protected] Editorial: The Life and Legacy of George Whitefield (1714- 1770) Stephen J. Wellum Stephen J. Wellum is Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and editor ofSouthern Baptist Journal of Theology. He received his Ph.D. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and he is the author of numerous essays and articles and the co-author of Kingdom through Covenant (Crossway, 2012). This year marks the 300th anniversary of George Whitefield’s birth. Whitefield is important for a number of reasons, all of which deserve our attention as evangelical Christians. As a man committed to the preach- ing of God’s sovereign grace and the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is probably no better example of an individual who lived out his theological convictions. Believing that Scripture calls the church to take the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the world, Whitefield faithfully and tirelessly proclaimed Christ at home and abroad. During his lifetime, for example, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean thirteen times, as he wore him- self out preaching Christ to all who would listen, and calling men, wom- en, and boys and girls to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. In addition, he sought to put the Gospel into practice by not only pro- claiming Christ but helping those in need. For Whitefield, the preaching of the Gospel demanded action in word and deed, and his life, although certainly not perfect, was a shining example of biblical Christianity at work in real life. Whitefield is also important in demonstrating that it is possible for evangelicals to work together, even evangelicals who differ sharply in SBJT 18.2 (2014): 3-5. 3 their theological convictions. As an Anglican with Calvinistic convic- tions, he was able to forge links with those outside of the Church of England and work with those within. His friendship with the Wesley’s is well known, which nicely demonstrated that people with differing theo- logical convictions can still work together in the common cause of the Gospel. Obviously, Whitefield’s working with those who named Christ had its limits, as he sought to proclaim and defend orthodox Christiani- ty. But within the pale of orthodoxy, Whitefield, without compromising his theological convictions, desired to see Christ’s Church unified, and his life was a fine example of a person who worked to this end. Probably one of the greatest encouragements we can receive in our day from the life and ministry of George Whitefield is the reminder of the power of the Gospel to transform individual lives and to impact the broader society. Whitefield’s day, like our own, was dark on a number of fronts. Spiritually, the church was apathetic and weak. Culturally, im- morality was rampant, and the social conditions of the day were awful. It was in such a day that our triune God, by his grace and for his glory, raised up people like Whitefield to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ. Through the preaching of the Gospel, God graciously brought revival both in the United Kingdom and in America, which set the stage for individual conversions and also societal transformation. Often peo- ple look back at this era and rightly acknowledge that if it was not for the changes which occurred in the Evangelical Revival in the United King- dom and the Great Awakening in America, the history of these countries would be quite different. As we look at our own day and age, we see a similar decay around us, as Whitefield and others witnessed in their day. What is the solution to our ills? What can bring about the change necessary to see the tide turned back? Whitefield reminds us that it is only by God’s grace, and through the preaching of the Gospel and the transformation it brings, that the human heart can be changed and brought into right relationship with God and one another. It is our privilege to devout this issue of SBJT to the life and legacy of George Whitefield. Our goal is not only to learn from his life—learn from him as a preacher, evangelist, missionary, Christian statesman, and theologian—but also to be reminded that it is only through the Gospel that true change comes. Working on other societal fronts is very import- ant, and Christians are called to serve in all walks of life for God’s glory. But we must never forget that God has called the church to faithful gos- 4 pel proclamation, and it is in the life of George Whitefield which we see this so beautifully demonstrated. It is my prayer that this issue will chal- lenge us anew to Gospel faithfulness in our day, as we await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 New from BAKER ACADEMIC COMING AUGUST 2014014 978-0-8010-3919-5 978-0-8010-4956-9 978-0-8010-4966-8 304 pp. • $24.99p 272 pp. • $22.99p 256 pp. • $27.99p “Vidu calls clichés into question PRAISE FOR THE FIRST “It is hard to imagine a more and works to show how different EDITION reliable guide to Romans than Douglas Moo. His expertise as a models of the atonement are “A masterful job of presenting commentator is renowned and related to varied notions of the Bible as an organic whole. rightly so. If one wants to justice and law in the Western All who want to enrich their become acquainted with Paul’s intellectual tradition. It is a work understanding of the account of theology and gospel in Romans, that will open further inquiry, God’s redemptive plan will this volume is the perfect place and it will repay careful study.” benefi t from reading this to begin.”—Thomas R. Schreiner, —Thomas H. McCall, Trinity book.”—Tremper Longman III, Southern Baptist Theological Evangelical Divinity School Westmont College u Seminary Available in bookstores or by calling 800.877.2665 | Visit our blog: blog.bakeracademic.com Subscribe to E-Notes, our enewsletter, at bakeracademic.com 6 The Christian Life in the Thought of George Whitefield1 Michael A. G. Haykin Michael A. G. Haykin is Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also Adjunct Professor of Church History and Spirituality at Toronto Baptist Seminary in Ontario, Canada. Dr. Haykin is the author of many books, including “At the Pure Fountain of Thy Word”: Andrew Fuller As an Apologist (Paternoster Press, 2004), Jonathan Edwards: The Holy Spirit in Revival (Evangelical Press, 2005), and The God Who Draws Near: An Introduction to Biblical Spirituality (Evangelical Press, 2007), and Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church (Crossway, 2011). The final decades of the seventeenth century witnessed a distinct de- cline in public manners and morals in England. Attestation of this fact is found in both public documents and private testimonies. Here is the witness of one author, the London Baptist theologian Benjamin Keach (1640–1704), writing in 1701: Was ever sodomy so common in a Christian nation, or so notoriously and frequently committed, as by too palpable evidences it appears to be, in and about this city, notwithstanding the clear light of the gospel which shines therein, and the great pains taken to reform the abominable profaneness that abounds? Is it not a wonder the patience of God hath not consumed us in his wrath, before this time? Was ever swearing, blasphemy, whoring, drunkenness, gluttony, self-love, and covetousness, at such a height, as at this time here?2 Despite the presence of a number of gospel-centered ministries like that of Keach and various societies which had been created to bring about moral SBJT 18.2 (2014): 7-20. 7 reform, homosexuality, profanity, sexual immorality, drunkenness and glut- tony were widespread. And the next three decades saw little improvement. The moral tone of the nation was set in many ways by its monarchs and leading politicians. The first of the Hanoverian monarchs, George I (r. 1714–1727), was primarily interested in food, horses, and women. He di- vorced his wife when he was thirty-four and thereafter consorted with a se- ries of mistresses.3 Sir Robert Walpole (1676–1745), prime minister from 1722 to 1742, lived in undisguised adultery with his mistress, Maria Skerrett (d.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • EVAN9404 the Biblical & Theological Basis of Evangelism and Discipleship
    EVAN9404 The Biblical & Theological Basis of Evangelism and Discipleship New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary Division of Pastoral Ministries Spring 2017 * Friday * 8:00 AM-5:00 PM (2/3, 3/3, 3/31, 4/28) Dr. Preston L. Nix Professor of Evangelism and Evangelistic Preaching Occupying the Roland Q. Leavell Chair of Evangelism Director of the Leavell Center for Evangelism and Church Health Chairman of the Pastoral Ministries Division Administrative Assistant: Karen Kennedy Office: The Leavell Center for Evangelism and Church Health Phone: 504-282-4455 ext. 8820 Fax: 504-816-8035 E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Mission Statement The mission of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is to equip leaders to fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandments through the local Church and its ministries. Core Value Focus The seminary has five core values: Doctrinal Integrity, Spiritual Vitality, Mission Focus, Characteristic Excellence and Servant Leadership. The core value focus for this academic year is Characteristic Excellence. Characteristic Excellence is described as “What we do, we do to the utmost of our abilities and resources as a testimony to the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2016-17 Online Graduate Catalog, p. 5). Curriculum Competencies All graduates of NOBTS are expected to have at least a minimum level of competency in each of the following areas: Biblical Exposition, Christian Theological Heritage, Disciple Making, Interpersonal Skills, Servant Leadership, Spiritual and Character Formation, and Worship Leadership. The curriculum competencies addressed in this course are Biblical Exposition, Christian Theological Heritage, Disciple Making and Spiritual and Character Formation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evangelistic Piety of George Whitefield
    ON THE ERRANDS OF ANGELS SENT: THE EVANGELISTIC PIETY OF GEORGE WHITEFIELD __________________ A Paper Presented to Dr. Michael Haykin The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary __________________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for 88910 __________________ by Matthew D. Haste 1010 Morehead Road, Bowling Green, KY 42101 May 23, 2011 ON THE ERRANDS OF ANGELS SENT: THE EVANGELISTIC PIETY OF GEORGE WHITEFIELD In his 19th-century poetic tribute entitled ―The Preacher,‖ John Greenleaf Whittier called George Whitefield ―a homeless pilgrim with dubious name / blown about by the winds of fame.‖1 This fame on both sides of the Atlantic provided Whitefield with a unique platform for preaching the Gospel in his day. He seemingly seized every opportunity, preaching over 18,000 sermons over the course of his life while traveling frequently between England, America, and Scotland. Whittier‘s poem, while recognizing that Whitefield was not without his faults, summarizes his ministry well with these words: ―Up and down the world he went / A John the Baptist crying, Repent!‖2 Beneath Whitefield‘s fiery passion and inexhaustible energy for the Great Commission was an evangelistic piety built upon Calvinistic theology and evangelical convictions about the nature of God and man. This paper will examine Whitefield‘s piety as it relates to his zeal for evangelism through the lens of his life and theology. The goal is to provide an evaluative summary of the spirituality of a man who lived, in Whittier‘s words, as if he were ―on the errands of angels sent.‖3 The Life of George Whitefield On December 16, 1714, the owners of the finest hotel in Gloucester welcomed their seventh child into the world.
    [Show full text]
  • The Puritan Hope
    THE PURITAN HOPE [iv] Introduction THE PURITAN HOPE A STUDY IN REVIVAL AND THE INTERPRETATION OF PROPHECY Iain H. Murray THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST [v] THE PURITAN HOPE THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST 3 Murrayfield Road, Edinburgh EH12 6EL, UK P.O. Box 621, Carlisle, PA 17013, USA * © Iain H. Murray 1971 First published (clothbound) 1971 Reprinted in small-format paperback 1975 Reprinted 1984 Reprinted 1991 Reprinted 1998 Reprinted 2009 Re-typeset and reprinted in large-format paperback 2014 Reprinted 2017 ISBN Print: 978 1 84871 478 6 EPUB: 978 1 84871 479 3 Kindle: 978 1 84871 480 9 * Typeset in 10.5/14 pt Sabon Oldstyle at The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh Printed in the USA by Versa Press, Inc., East Peoria, IL [vi] Introduction TO THE TRUSTEES AND ALL MY COLLEAGUES WHO SHARE IN THE WORK OF THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST [vii] THE PURITAN HOPE [viii] Introduction CONTENTS List of Illustrations xi Introduction xiii 1 Revival Christianity: England 1 2 Revival Christianity: Scotland 19 3 Unfulfilled Prophecy: The Development of the Hope 37 4 Apostolic Testimony: The Basis of the Hope 57 5 The Hope and Puritan Piety 85 6 The Eighteenth-century Awakening: The Hope Revived 107 7 World Missions: The Hope Spreading 133 8 The Hope and Scotland’s Missionaries 167 9 The Eclipse of the Hope 195 10 Christ’s Second Coming: The Best Hope 219 11 The Prospect in History: Christ Our Hope 233 APPENDICES John Howe on The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit 255 C. H. Spurgeon’s Views on Prophecy 273 Notes 285 Index 313 Index to Scripture References 325 [ix] THE PURITAN HOPE [x] Introduction ILLUSTRATIONS Elstow xiii Samuel Fairclough 1 The Glasgow College 19 David Dickson’s Church at Irvine 36 Richard Sibbes 37 ‘The Holie Land’, 1576 57 The Seal of the New England Corporation 85 George Whitefield 107 David Bogue 133 William Carey 139 Rowland Hill and Surrey Chapel, London 140 Alexander Duff 141 John Love 141 David Livingstone 142 The Albury Park Conference 143 Edward Irving 143 The Kilsyth Manse 167 St Andrews 194 Funeral of C.
    [Show full text]
  • The First Great Awakening and the American Revolution
    No Lords, Spiritual or Temporal: The First Great Awakening and the American Revolution An Online Professional Development Seminar Timothy H. Breen National Humanities Center Fellow 1983-84; 1995-96 William Smith Mason Professor of American History Northwestern University We will begin promptly on the hour. The silence you hear is normal. If you do not hear anything when the images change, e-mail Caryn Koplik [email protected] for assistance. The First Great Awakening and the American Revolution GOALS To deepen understanding of the First Great Awakening and the role it played in the life of the American colonies To provide fresh primary resources and instructional approaches for use with students To enable you to make historical judgments about the Awakening‟s influence on the American Revolution americainclass.org 2 The First Great Awakening and the American Revolution FROM THE FORUM Challenges, Issues, Questions Topic is shortchanged in most American history textbooks. How did the ideas of the First Great Awakening influence the founders of the United States? What is the connection between the First Great Awakening and political activism? How did the First Great Awakening change the religious culture of the colonies, including the role of ministers? americainclass.org 3 The First Great Awakening and the American Revolution FROM THE FORUM Challenges, Issues, Questions How can we teach the First Great Awakening without raising God questions that are difficult, if not impossible, to address in class? What is
    [Show full text]
  • Specific Name /Term / Historical Development – Think Proper Nouns)
    Answer the following questions. Make sure to have examples to prove each point (specific name /term / historical development – think proper nouns). MERCANTILISM 1) Describe the economic role of the English North American colonies in Atlantic trade. 2) How did England try to regulate the English North American colonies? 3) What was salutary neglect? The English Atlantic trade system shaped the North American colonies. New England farmers supplied the sugar islands with bread, lumber, fish, and meat. New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania farmers shipped wheat, corn, and bread to the Caribbean. The southern colonies bought slaves and sold tobacco and sugar to England. Merchants in booming cities like Newport, Charleston, Boston, New York and Philadelphia were based on the shipping industry’s varied jobs. To support the shipping industry, artisans, skilled workers, and lawyers developed in the towns. Believing they had to control trade with the colonies to reap their economic benefits, English ministers wanted agricultural goods and raw materials to be carried to English ports in English vessels. In reality, Dutch and French shippers were often buying sugar and other colonial products and taking them to market around the world. To counter this practice, the Navigation Act of 1651 required all goods to be carried on English ships. Navigation Acts in 1660 and 1663 strengthened the ban on foreign traders as colonists could export sugar and tobacco only through England and three quarters of the crew had to be English. In 1673, the Revenue Act imposed a tax on American exports of sugar and tobacco. The English government backed these policies with force and expanded their merchant fleet on both sides of the Atlantic.
    [Show full text]
  • 80513 Bibliography
    8 80513 BIBLIOGRAPHY Ahlstrom, Sydney E. A Religious History of the American People. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1972. Allen, Roland. Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962. __________. The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962. Alexander, Archibald. The Log College. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1968. Anderson, Neil, and Elmer L. Towns. Rivers of Revival: How God is Moving & Pouring Himself Out on His People Today. Ventura, CA: Regal, 1997. Arn, Win, Elmer Towns, and Peter Wagner. Church Growth: State of the Art. Wheaton: Tyndale, 1989. Autrey, C. E. Renewals Before Pentecost. Nashville: Broadman, 1968. ________. Revivals of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960. Baer, Hans A. African-American Religion in the Twentieth Century: Varieties of Protest and Accommodation. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992. Bahr, Robert. Least of All Saints: The Story of Aimee Semple McPherson. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1979. Bainton, Roland. Yale and the Ministry. New York: Harper, 1957. Baker, Ernest. The Revivals of the Bible. London: Kingsgate Press, 1906. Banks, Robert J. Paul’s Idea of Community: The Early Church Houses in Their Historical Setting. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994. Barrett, David B. Evangelize! A Historical Survey of the Concept. Birmingham, AL: New Hope, 1987. Beardsley, Frank G. A History of American Revivals. New York: American Tract Society, 1904. Beasley-Murray, Paul, and Alan Wilkinson. Turning the Tide: An Assessment of Baptist Church Growth in England. London: Bible Society, 1981. Beere, Joel R. Puritan Evangelism—A Biblical Approach. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 1999. Blumhofer, Edith L.
    [Show full text]
  • Excerpt from George Whitefield, Sermon 14
    Excerpt from George Whitefield, Sermon 14 Alas, my heart almost bleeds! What a multitude of precious souls are now before me! How shortly must all be ushered into eternity! And yet, O cutting thought! Was God now to require all your souls, how few, comparatively speaking, could really say, the Lord our righteousness! And think you, O sinner, that you will be able to stand in the day of judgment, if Christ be not your righteousness? No, that alone is the wedding garment in which you must appear. O Christless sinners, I am distressed for you! The desires of my soul are enlarged. O that this may be an accepted time! That the Lord may be your righteousness! For whither would you flee, if death should fine you naked? Indeed there is no hiding yourselves from his presence. The pitiful fig-leaves of your own righteousness will not cover your nakedness, when God shall call you to stand before him. Adam found them ineffectual, and so will you. O think of death! O think of judgment! Yet a little while, and time shall be no more; and then what will become of you, if the Lord be not your righteousness? Think you that Christ will spare you? No, he that formed you, will have no mercy on you. If you are not of Christ, if Christ be not your righteousness, Christ himself shall pronounce you damned. And can you bear to think of being damned by Christ? Can you bear to hear the Lord Jesus say to you, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Can you live, think you, in everlasting burnings? Is your flesh brass, and your bones iron? What if they are? Hell-fire, that fire prepared for the devil and his angels, will heat them through and through.
    [Show full text]
  • D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: the Preacher Thomas N
    RefofInation &"evival A Quarterly Journal for Church Leadership Volume 1, No.4" Fall 1992 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Preacher Thomas N. Smith There can be little question that if Martyn Lloyd-Jones assessed his own life and work he would have considered himself to be a preacher. That he was a gifted and able man in many areas,'tI't'ere is no doubt. But, in the midst of the personal crisis which he underwent in 1925-26, Lloyd-Jones (Ml.rJ hereafter) came to the conclusion that his call from God was a call topreaCFi;"to preach the gospel. Until his death in 1981 he was never to waver from this conviction. In the mid 1950's he said, "Whatever authority I may have as a preacher is not the result of any decision on my part. It was God's hand that laid hold of me, and drew me out, and separated me to this work."1 Thus, he entered this work only after a long and difficult struggle and only with a sense of the Divine compulsion, of the Divine "call;" Hewould have agreed with a contemporary of his on this: "The preacher must be conscious of an interior call. He must experience the imperative pressure of a vocation and accept it with all his heart. "2 From the time of this call and onwards, Ml.rJ was to devote the whole of his considerable intellect, the whole of his passionate personality, the whole of his time to what he himself called "the primacy of preaching," either in preaching or the preparation of his sermons for publication.
    [Show full text]
  • The Puritan Alternative to Secular Psychology David P
    COUNSELING THE DEPRESSED PERSON: THE PURITAN ALTERNATIVE TO SECULAR PSYCHOLOGY by David P. Herding A Thesis Submitted to the faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Religion at Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte, North Carolina December 2010 i Accepted: ____________________________________ Andrew J. Peterson, Ph.D. Dissertation Advisor ____________________________________ Second Reader ____________________________________ Third Reader ii ABSTRACT Counseling Chronically Depressed People: The Puritan Alternative to Secular Psychology David P. Herding While there is an abundance of existing literature written on the subject of counseling depressed people from both secular psychological and religious perspectives, the views and methods of the Puritans on the subject are largely unknown, untapped and unapplied among contemporary Christians. Even though depressed moods and traits have been in existence since the fall of mankind, many secular psychologists and Christian counselors still do not rightly understand its origins, causes and cures and are too quick to medicate the problem or resort to self-help methods. But the ancient Biblical principles documented and applied by the Puritans for the diagnosis and cure of depression have proven to be what sufferers really need and desire. Therefore, the general intent is to put the topic of counseling of the depressed to the test by examining the historical writings and counsel of Puritan writers against that of their current counterparts, namely the secular psychological methods, and how these modern methods fall short in dealing with a syndrome of depression. In particular, the Puritan foundational theories of diagnosing a pattern of depression and the theological themes they used for cures of such situations are examined and thoroughly documented.
    [Show full text]
  • Martyn Lloyd-Jones the Long Line of Godly Men Profiles Series Editor, Steven J
    The Passionate Preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones The Long Line of Godly Men Profiles Series editor, Steven J. Lawson The Expository Genius of John Calvin by Steven J. Lawson The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards by Steven J. Lawson The Mighty Weakness of John Knox by Douglas Bond The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon by Steven J. Lawson The Heroic Boldness of Martin Luther by Steven J. Lawson The Poetic Wonder of Isaac Watts by Douglas Bond The Evangelistic Zeal of George Whitefield by Steven J. Lawson The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen by Sinclair B. Ferguson The Daring Mission of William Tyndale by Steven J. Lawson A Long Line of Godly Men Profile The Passionate Preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones STEVEN J. LAWSON The Passionate Preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones © 2016 by Steven J. Lawson Published by Reformation Trust Publishing a division of Ligonier Ministries 421 Ligonier Court, Sanford, FL 32771 Ligonier.org ReformationTrust.com Printed in Crawfordsville, Indiana RR Donnelley and Sons February 2016 First edition All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher, Reformation Trust Publishing. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Cover illustration: Steven Noble Interior design and typeset: Katherine Lloyd, The DESK Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Lawson, Steven J., author. Title: The passionate preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones / Steven J. Lawson. Description: First edition. | Orlando, FL : Reformation Trust Publishing, 2015.
    [Show full text]
  • Preaching: Learning from the Puritans Joel R
    Preaching: Learning from the Puritans Joel R. Beeke The Puritan movement from the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century has been 1 called the golden age of preaching. ​ Through preaching and the publication of sermons, the ​ 2 Puritans sought to reform the church and the everyday lives of the people. ​ Though they failed to ​ reform the church, they succeeded in reforming everyday lives, ushering in, as Alexander F. Mitchell says, “a season of spiritual revival as deep and extensive as any that has since occurred in the history of the British Churches.”3 ​ With few exceptions, Puritan ministers were great preachers who lovingly and passionately proclaimed the whole counsel of God set forth in Holy Scripture. No group of preachers in church history has matched their biblical, doctrinal, experiential, and practical preaching.4 ​ 1 Tae-Hyeun Park, The Sacred Rhetoric of the Holy Spirit: A Study of Puritan Preaching in a Pneumatological ​ Perspective (Apeldoorn: Theologische Unversiteit, 2005), 4. Several thoughts in this address are adapted from my ​ chapters 41 and 42 in Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage ​ ​ Books, 2012). 2 J. I. Packer, foreword to Introduction to Puritan Theology: A Reader, ed. Edward Hindson (Grand Rapids: Baker, ​ ​ 1976). 3 Alexander F. Mitchell, introduction to Minutes of the Sessions of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, ed. ​ ​ Alexander F. Mitchell and John Struthers (Edmonton: Still Waters Revival Books, 1991), xv. ​ ​ 4 For additional books and articles on Puritan preaching, see R. Bruce Bickel, Light and Heat: The Puritan View of ​ the Pulpit (Morgan: Soli Deo Gloria, 1999); J.
    [Show full text]
  • TMSJ 5/1 (Spring 1994) 43-71
    TMSJ 5/1 (Spring 1994) 43-71 DOES ASSURANCE BELONG TO THE ESSENCE OF FAITH? CALVIN AND THE CALVINISTS Joel R. Beeke1 The contemporary church stands in great need of refocusing on the doctrine of assurance if the desirable fruit of Christian living is to abound. A relevant issue in church history centers in whether or not the Calvinists differed from Calvin himself regarding the relationship between faith and assurance. The difference between the two was quantitative and method- ological, not qualitative or substantial. Calvin himself distinguished between the definition of faith and the reality of faith in the believer's experience. Alexander Comrie, a representative of the Dutch Second Reformation, held essentially the same position as Calvin in mediating between the view that assurance is the fruit of faith and the view that assurance is inseparable from faith. He and some other Calvinists differ from Calvin in holding to a two-tier approach to the consciousness of assurance. So Calvin and the Calvinists furnish the church with a model to follow that is greatly needed today. * * * * * Today many infer that the doctrine of personal assurance`that is, the certainty of one's own salvation`is no longer relevant since nearly all Christians possess assurance in an ample degree. On the contrary, it is probably true that the doctrine of assurance has particular relevance, because today's Christians live in a day of minimal, not maximal, assurance. Scripture, the Reformers, and post-Reformation men repeatedly 1Joel R. Beeke, PhD, is the Pastor of the First Netherlands Reformed Congregation, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Theological Instructor for the Netherlands Reformed Theological School.
    [Show full text]