DOCSLIB.ORG

Jonathan Edwards and His Legacy] Michael A.G

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Jonathan Edwards and His Legacy] Michael A.G Reformation &"evival A Quarterly Journal for Church Leadership Volume 4, Number 3 III Summer 1995 Jonathan Edwards and His Legacy] Michael A.G. Haykin When D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones read his paper on "Jonathan Edwards and the· Crucial Importance of Revival" at the Westminster Conference in 1976, he confessed that the paper was "one of the most difficult tasks I have ever attempted. "2 Part of the reason for this, Lloyd-Jones admitted, was the immense influence Edwards had had upon him personally.3 But there was also the fact that Edwards was a spiritual and theological giant. "I am tempted," Lloyd-Jones said, "perhaps foolishly, to compare the Puritans to the Alps, Luther and Calvin to the Himalayas, and Jonathan Edwards to Mount Everest!" And as he faced "this great peak pointing up to heaven," Lloyd-Jones continued, he could feel like a weak • "little climber."41f Lloyd-Jones felt so daunted by Edwards, how much more does this writer! My only hope is similar to that of Lloyd-Jones: "to give some glimpses of this man and his life, and what he did," with the goal of persuading you to read Edwards for yourself.s Edwards was born on October 5, 1703, in a town far from the centers of influence and power, East Windsor, Connecticut. His parents both came from well established New England Puritan families. His father, Timothy Edwards (1669-1758), the pastor of the Congregational church in East Windsor, was first cousin to the well-known Puritan theologian and historian Cotton Mather (1663-1728), while his mother, Esther (1672- 1770), was the daughter of Solomon Stoddard (1643-1729), a prominent Congregationalist pastor in New England. Stoddard was especially renowned for his fervent preaching and for the recurrent revivals which his congregation in Northampton, Connecticut, had experienced. Jonathan, the only son of eleven children, received his early education from his father and older sisters. At the age of thirteen he entered the Collegiate School of Connecticut in New Haven, Connecticut, which would later be renamed Yale College. Although he had been raised in an extremely godly home, and graduated from the Collegiate School in 1720 at the Jonathan Edwards and His Legacy Jonathan Edwards and His Legacy head of his class academically, Edwards had neither inner I know not how to express.8 peace nor saving faith. Writing later of his life at this time, Edwards said that it was characterized "by great and violent After a relatively brief stint of pastoring a small Presbyt& inner struggles."6 Edwards stayed at the college for another rian work in New York, Edwards moved back to his hometown two years after graduation in 1720, studying towards an MA of East Windsor in April 1723. That summer he finished his It was during this period, probably in April or May 1721, that MA thesis and subsequently received his M.A. from Yale in Edwards experienced conversion.7 In his Personal Narrative, the fall. The following year he was appointed tutor at Yale, in which he wrote in 1739, he describes this experience: which capacity he served until August 1726, when he was 1 invited by the Congregational Church of Northampton, Mas­ The first instance that I remember of that sort of inward sachusetts, to become assistant to its pastor, his grandfather, sweet delight in God and divine things that I have lived much Solomon Stoddard. In the words of lain H. Murray: "For the in since was on reading those words, 1 Tim. 1:17. "Now unto next twenty-three years he was to be 'Mr. Edwards of the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be Northampton. "'9 honor and glory for ever and ever, Amen." As I read the words, there came into my soul, and was as It were diffused Within a year of his arrival at Northampton Edwards had thro' it, a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense, married. He had known his bride Sarah Peirrepont (1710-58), quite different from anything I ever experienced before. since his student days at Yale. Samuel Miller, who wrote a Never any words of scripture seemed to me as these words biography of Edwards in the last century, comments thus on did. I thought with myself, how excellent a being that was; their marriage: "Perhaps no event of Mr. Edwards' life had a and how happy) should be, if) mIght enjoy that God, and be more close connection with his subsequent comfort and wrapt up to God in Heaven, and be as it were swallowed up in Him.) kept saying, and as it were singing over these words usefulness than his marriage."lo Throughout their married of scripture to myself; and went to prayer, to pray to God lives Sarah and Jonathan were deeply devoted to one another; that I might enjoy Him; and prayed in a manner quite moreover, her godliness fully matched his.11 Their first daugh­ different from what) used to do; with a new sort of affection. ter, Sarah (1728-1805), was born the following year. She was But it never came into my thought, that there was anythIng the first of eleven children, all of whom survived infancy. In a spiritual, or of a saving nature In thIs. day when infant mortality was extremely high (Cotton Mather, From about that time, I began to have a new kind of for instance, had fifteen children, of whom only two survived apprehensions and ideas of Christ, and the work of infancy), this is indeed an amazing fact. Moreover, it should be redemption and the glorious way of salvation by Him. I had noted that the frequent portrayal of Edwards as a stern an inward, sweet sense of these things, that at times came theologian is belied by his tenderness as both a husband and into my heart; and my soul was lead away in pleasant views father, ''whose children seemed genuinely fond of him."12 and contemplations of them. And my mind was greatly Solomon Stoddard died in 1729, leaving to his grandson the engaged, to spend my time in reading and meditating on Christ; and the beauty and excellence of His person, and the ministerial charge of one of the richest congregations in lovely way of salvation, by free grace In Him .... The sense I Connecticut. Spiritually, though, things were far from good at had of divine things, would often of a sudden kindle up, as it the time of Stoddard's death. Edwards wrote of the congrega­ were, a sweet burning in my heart; and ardour of soul, that tion at that time: Jonathan Edwards and His Legacy Jonathan Edwards and His Legacy The greater part seemed to be at that time very insensible of was central to the onset of revival in December 1734.15 For the the things of religion, and engaged in other cares and pursuits. next five months an intense concern to be at peace with God Just after my grandfather's death, it seemed to be a time of and to walk with Him gripped the entire town. "The town extraordinary dullness in religion. Licentiousness for some years prevailed among the youth of the town; they were seemed to be full of the presence of God," Edwards later wrote 16 many of them very much addicted to night-walking, and in his account of this revival. Of the town's roughly one frequenting the tavern, and lewd practices, wherein some, thousand inhabitants, there was hardly one who was not by their example, exceedingly corrupted others. It was their concerned "about the great things of the eternal world."17 manner very frequently to get together, in conventions of Those who knew Christ were ''wrapt up in delightful contem­ both sexes for mirth and jollity, which they called frolics; plation of the glory and wonderful grace of God, the excellency and they would often spend the greater part of the night in them, without regard to any order in the families they and dying love of Jesus Christ; and ... in longing desires after III belonged to: and indeed family government did too much God and Christ. "18 On those who did not know Christ the initial fail in the town. It was become very customary with many of effect was twofold: our young people to be indecent in their carriage at meeting, which doubtless would not have prevailed in such a degree, One was.... immediately to quit their sinful practices .... had it not been that my grandfather, through his great age When once the Spirit of God began to be so wonderfully (though he retained his powers surprisingly to the last), was poured out in a general way through the town, people had not so able to observe them. There had also long prevailed soon done with their old quarrels, backbitings, and In the town a spirit of contention between two parties, into intermeddling with other men's matters. The tavern was which they had for many years been divided; by which they soon left empty; and persons kept very much at home; none maintained a jealousy one of the other, and were prepared went abroad unless on necessary business, or on some to oppose one another in all public affairs. 13 religious account, and every day seemed in many respects like a Sabbath-day. The other effect was, that it put them on Many of the adults of the congregation were taken up with earnest application to the means of salvation, reading, prayer, the pursuit of wealth and property, not with that of God and meditation, the ordinances of God's house, and private His kingdom.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • 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]
  • 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]
  • 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]
  • The Spirituality of George Whitefield (1714-1770)”
    The Fellowship for reformation and pastoral studies 29, No. 1 (september 2000) Michael A. G. Haykin “The revived Puritan: The spirituality of George Whitefield (1714-1770)” The revived Puritan: The spirituality of George Whitefield (1714-1770) n 1835 Francis Alexander Cox (1783-1853) and James Hoby (1788-1871), two I prominent English Baptists who were visiting fellow Baptists in the United States, made a side trip to Newburyport, Massachusetts, to view the tomb of George Whitefield. The “grand itinerant” had died on September 30, 1770, at the home of Jonathan Parsons (1705-1776), pastor of the town’s First Presbyterian Church, also known as Old South. He had been interred two days later in a vault below what is now the centre aisle of this church, where, along with the coffins of Parsons and another pastor of the church, Joseph Prince (d.1791), his remains were on display all through the nineteenth century. In fact, it was not until 1932 that the coffin in which Whitefield’s remains lay was covered over with a slate slab.1 Cox and Hoby later recalled descending with some difficulty into the subterraneous vault where Whitefield was buried. As they did so, they remembered that “deep expectant emotions thrilled our bosoms.” They sat on the two other coffins in the vault and watched as the upper half of the lid of Whitefield’s coffin was opened on its hinges “to reveal the skeleton secrets of the narrow prison-house.” They “contemplated and handled the skull,” while they “thought of his devoted life, his blessed death, his high and happy destiny” and “whispered [their] adorations of the grace that formed him both for earth and heaven.”2 What makes this scene even more outré is that the skeletal remains that Cox and Hoby viewed were not intact.
    [Show full text]
  • The Scientifically Constructive Scholarship of B. B. Warfield1
    MJT 15 (2004) 87-123 The Scientifically Constructive Scholarship of B. B. Warfield1 by David Smith Introduction THROUGHOUT THE NINETEENTH century, the Old Princeton2 faculty was often at the center of controversy because they believed the establishment and advancement of the gospel was related to, if not dependent on, the church believing and declaring the truth about a variety of issues. Though they maintained that the biblical message of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus was what people needed to believe in order to experience salvation, the Princetonians also asserted that this message was ultimately related to every subject matter. This view was based on what the Princetonians called the “unity of truth.”3 Believing that God was the creator, sustainer and 1I am thankful to Dr. Douglas A. Sweeney for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper, as well as for discussions with Dr.’s Brad Gundlach and John Woodbridge over the nature and scope of Warfield’s scholarship. 2For a history of Princeton Seminary, cf. David B. Calhoun, Princeton Seminary, Vol. 1, Faith and Learning 1812-1868 and Princeton Seminary, Vol. 2, The Majestic Testimony 1869-1929 (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1994 and 1996). For histories of its founding and early years, see Lefferts A. Loetscher, Facing the Enlightenment and Pietism: Archibald Alexander the Founding of Princeton Theological Seminary (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1983); Mark A. Noll, Princeton and the Republic, 1768-1822: The Search for a Christian Enlightenment in the Era of Samuel Stanhope Smith (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1989). Also helpful is Noll’s The Princeton Theology 1812-1921: Scripture, Science and Theological Method from Archibald Alexander to Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983; reprint 2001).
    [Show full text]