Machen on the Faith Intended For the Whole World

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For we are not trying to spread over the world any particular view of Christian truth or any particular form of Christian organisation. I belong to the Presbyterian Church, but I have not the slightest zeal in seeking to have the Presbyterian Church extended over the non-Christian world. — Robert E. Speer, Christianity and the Nations (1910), pp. 331-332

In a striking example of two radically opposite approaches to the missionary vision, Robert E. Speer, the ecumenical layman-theologian, above, spoke of his desire for cooperation between denominations without giving weight to the distinctive beliefs of the Presbyterian church. But some years later, J.G. Machen responded clearly and forcefully to Speer’s statement with his own conviction that those distinctive beliefs represent a full-orbed gospel message as opposed to a watered-down gospel (The Attack Upon Princeton Seminary: A Plea For Fair Play [1927], pp. 8-9).

As over against such a reduced Christianity, we at Princeton stand for the full, glorious gospel of divine grace that God has given us in His Word and that is summarized in the Confession of Faith of our Church. We cannot agree with those who say that although they are members of the Presbyterian Church, they “have not the slightest zeal to have the Presbyterian Church extended through the length and breadth of the world.” As for us, we hold the faith of the Presbyterian Church, the great Reformed Faith that is set forth in the Westminster Confession, to be true; and holding it to be true we hold that it is intended for the whole world.

We may agree very much with Samuel Davies, who once wrote: “I care but little whether men go to Heaven from the Church of England or Presbyterian, if they do but go there; but Oh! Multitudes of both denominations must experience a great change before they obtain it” (August 13, 1751 Letter to brother-in-law John Holt). But there is an important difference between acknowledgment that Christianity is not at all confined to one denomination, which is most certainly the case, as confessed in the Presbyterian creed — “The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion…This catholic church hath been sometimes more, sometimes less, visible. And particular churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them” (Westminster Confession of Faith 25.2, 4) — and a desire, such as that which Machen expressed, that the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) be preached to the nations rather than a watered-down, non-offensive message be delivered to the world that eviscerates the truth of the gospel.

The Impact of John Flavel on American Presbyterians

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Robert Murray M’Cheyne once recounted a memorable story about the lasting impact of a sermon by John Flavel, the 17th century English Puritan (Serm. XXXVI, “God Let None of His Words Fall to the Ground,” in The Works of Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne: Complete in One Volume, 1874 ed., pp. 221-222):

The excellent John Flavel was minister of Dartmouth, in England. One day he preached from these words: “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha.” The discourse was unusually solemn — particularly the explanation of the curse. At the conclusion, when Mr. Flavel rose to pronounce the blessing, he paused, and said: “How shall I bless this whole assembly, when every person in it who loves not the Lord Jesus is anathema maranatha?” The solemnity of this address deeply affected the audience. In the congregation was a lad named Luke Short, about fifteen years old, a native of Dartmouth. Shortly after he went to sea, and sailed to America, where he passed the rest of his life. His life was lengthened far beyond the usual term. When a hundred years old, he was able to work on his farm, and his mind was not at all impaired. He had lived all this time in carelessness and sin; he was a sinner a hundred years old, and ready to die accursed. One day, as he sat in his field, he busied himself in reflecting on his past life. He thought of the days of his youth. His memory fixed on Mr. Flavel’s sermon, a considerable part of which he remembered. The earnestness of the minister — the truths spoken — the effect on the people — all came fresh to his mind. He felt that he had not loved the Lord Jesus; he feared the dreadful anathema; he was deeply convinced of sin — was brought to the blood of sprinkling. He lived to his one hundred and sixteenth year, giving every evidence of being born again. Ah! how faithful God is to his word. He did let none of his words fall to the ground.

Besides this remarkable example, the legacy of John Flavel’s ministry has deeply affected many around the world — such as John Brown of Haddington and Charles Spurgeon — including American Presbyterians. On this side of the pond, a number of Flavel’s works were republished in the 19th century by the American Tract Society and the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and also noted Philadelphia publisher William S. Young.

  • Samuel Davies — When Davies wrote to Rev. Joseph Bellamy in 1751, a letter published as The State of Religion Among the Protestant Dissenters in Virginia, he listed the “experimental” divines whose methods of conversion he followed, and among them he included Flavel - who wrote The Method of Grace. See Joseph C. Harrod, Theology and Spirituality in the Works of Samuel Davies, pp. 88, 92-95 for more discussion of Flavel’s influence on Davies.

  • Archibald Alexander — In The Life of Archibald Alexander, we read autobiographical accounts by Archibald, and the remarks of his son and biographer, James W. Alexander. Archibald wrote of the time he served as a tutor in Virginia at the Posey Plantation. Books by Flavel were placed in his hand by a Baptist lady named Mrs. Tyler. She loved Flavel and this exposure to his writings would lead Archibald to explore his Presbyterian beliefs and views on conversion. Archibald went on to say, “My services as a reader were frequently in requisition, not only to save the eyes of old Mrs. Tyler, but on Sundays for the benefit of the whole family. On one of these Sabbath evenings, I was requested to read out of Flavel. The part on which I had been regularly engaged was the 'Method of Grace;' but now, by some means, I was led to select one of the sermons on Revelation iii. 20, "Behold I stand at the door and knock," &c. The discourse was upon the patience, forbearance and kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ to impenitent and obstinate sinners. As I proceeded to read aloud, the truth took effect on my feelings, and every word I read seemed applicable to my own case. Before I finished the discourse, these emotions became too strong for restraint, and my voice began to falter. I laid down the book, rose hastily, and went out with a full heart, and hastened to my place of retirement. No sooner had I reached the spot than I dropped upon my knees, and attempted to pour out my feelings in prayer; but I had not continued many minutes in this exercise before I was overwhelmed with a flood of joy. It was transport such as I had never known before, and seldom since. I have no recollection of any distinct views of Christ; but I was filled with a sense of the goodness and mercy of God ; and this joy was accompanied with a full assurance that my state was happy, and that if I was then to die, I should go to heaven. This ecstacy was too high to be lasting, but as it subsided, my feelings were calm and happy. It soon occurred to me that possibly I had experienced the change called the new birth.” Archibald further stated that “I began to love the truth, and to seek after it, as for hid treasure. To John Flavel I certainly owe more than to any uninspired writer.”

  • Samuel Miller — An 1847 letter to Chancellor James Kent, found in The Life of Samuel Miller, Vol. 2, p. 492 gives evidence of the high regard that Miller had for Flavel: “I take for granted that, in whatever degree your attention may have been heretofore directed to theological reading, that degree will be, hereafter, rather increased than diminished. Under this impression, permit me to say, that there are few writings that I have found more pleasant and edifying to myself, than the works of the late John Newton, of London, and of Thomas Scott, the commentator. I can also cordially recommend the two works by John Flavel, the old Puritan divine, of England, viz., his "Fountain of Life Opened," and his "Method of Grace;" both of which have been lately published, in an improved form, by the American Tract Society. Dr. Stone knows them all well, and will, I have no doubt, add his testimony to their value. True, you will not find in these volumes any thing new. They aim at exhibiting and recommending those great elementary truths of the Gospel with which you have been familiar from your earliest years; which your venerated parents and grandparents loved and rejoiced in; and which the truly pious of all Protestant denominations scarcely know how enough to value and circulate.”

  • James W. Alexander — In Alexander’s posthumously-published Thoughts on Preaching, we may see how highly James, like his father, valued Flavel. There are a number of references to Flavel, but we particularly take note of this: “How could I have postponed to this place [pp. 129-130] dear JOHN FLAVEL? No one needs to be told how pious, how faithful, how tender, how rich, how full of unction, are his works. In no writer have the highest truths of religion been more remarkably brought down to the lowest capacity; yet with no sinking of the doctrine, and with a perpetual sparkle and zest, belonging to the most generous liquor. It has always been a wonder to me, how Flavel could maintain such simplicity and naïveté, and such childlike and almost frolicksome grace, amidst the multiform studies which he pursued. I can account for it only by his having been constantly among the people, in actual duty as a pastor. Opening one of his volumes, at random, I find quotations, often in Greek and Latin, and in the order here annexed, from Cicero, Pope Adrian, Plato, Chrysostom, Horace, Ovid, Luther, Bernard, Claudian, Menander, and Petronius. His residence at Dartmouth would afford a multitude of pastoral instances, if this were our present subject.”

  • Jonathan Cross — In his autobiographical Five Years in the Alleghenies, the famous colporteur wrote that he read Flavel and Thomas Boston from the ages of ten to thirteen which brought him to a deep state of conviction over his sinfulness and his need for Christ.

  • Thomas Murphy — Among the best books recommended for a minister’s library by Murphy in Pastoral Theology includes, in the area of practical piety, “Flavel’s Keeping the Heart,” and, among the “Great Puritan Writers,” “Flavel’s works — highly recommended.”

  • Wayne Sparkman — The Director of the PCA Historical Center is a good friend to us at Log College Press. He, too, has been influenced by John Flavel. Barry Waugh quotes him in Westminster Lives: Eight Decades of Alumni in Ministry, 1929-2009, p. 56, regarding this influence: “Some years ago I read John Flavel’s work The Mystery of Providence. Flavel’s message has stuck with me and undergirds much of how I approach the work of the PCA Historical Center. Writing during a time of intense persecution, Flavel was eager to impress upon his congregation the realization that God is at work in the lives of His people, accomplishing His purposes and demonstrating His love. In that truth, that our lives have been truly changed by the reality of Christ our Savior, rests the basis of why the life of every Christian is important. Each life lived by faith is a testimony to the grace of God. Obviously, we cannot preserve the story of every saint, but it is important that we try to preserve something of the life-testimony of those who may have been used more strategically in the advance of God’s kingdom. Thus, the purpose of the PCA Historical Center is to preserve and promote the story of the Presbyterian Church in America and its predecessor denominations, as well as the people who make up those groups and related ministries. We preserve these things precisely because men and women were truly changed by a very real Savior. [We preserve these things because each in some way bears testimony to the reality of the gospel.]”

We take note of this great Puritan preacher because of the powerful impact he has had on so many. We prize Flavel for his heart for God, his remarkable ability to convey the Gospel in terms that all can understand, his tender compassion on both saints and sinners, and for his labors on behalf of the kingdom of God as well as the hardships he endured after being ejected from his pulpit for the gospel’s sake. The word that he preached gives powerful testimony to the fact that God’s Word goes forth to accomplish his will. It was Flavel who testified of the Word of God thus, “The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying.” Consider these witnesses, and how a non-conformist English Puritan minister from the 17th century has left his mark on American Presbyterianism.

J.W. Rosebro on seeking the Lord

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From the Southern Presbyterian Pulpit (1896), today we highlight a sermon by J.W. Rosebro which is based on Isa. 55:6: “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." As Rosebro notes, the text is both a invitation and a command, both a privilege and a duty, and incorporates both a promise and a warning.

Rosebro (1847-1912) was educated at Davidson College, North Carolina, Princeton University, and Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He served pastorates at Mossy Creek Presbyterian Church in Augusta County, Virginia; Lewisburg, West Virginia; and at the Tabb Street Presbyterian Church in Petersburg, Virginia. He also served as President of Fredericksburg College (Virginia); director of Union Seminary, Richmond; and as a professor at Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was the son-in-law of B.M. Smith.

Returning to our sermon, after an insightful introduction showing the connective tissues between the 53rd, 54th and 55th chapters of Isaiah, Roseboro shows the connection between God’s gracious invitation and firm command.

The command is, "Seek ye the Lord." It comes from one who has the right to command. Let not the fulness and freeness of the invitation lead you to think you have nothing to do. It is true Jesus says he came to seek as well as save the lost; yet he also declares we must seek if we would find. It is true, he stands at the door and knocks, yet must we knock if we would have it opened unto us. It is true, God opens wide the door of his grace and proclaims, “whosoever will may come”; yet must we "strive to enter in." He offers the water of life “without money”; yet must we “buy” it. God presses the gift of eternal life on us; yet is it true, “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel." God forces himself on no soul. He offers himself, and then it is our privilege, our duty to "seek the Lord.” We cannot sit down and wait for salvation; we must seek the Lord, though he. is not far from us.

It is on the basis of Christ’s work as Redeemer, seen so vividly in Isa. 53, that the promises given to those who come at God’s gracious call do rest.

If God invites us to come and commands us to come, there is surely an implied promise of acceptance, when we obey the command and accept the invitation. He has filled his book with richest promises and holds up before us one illustration after another, that we may see how sinful souls came to accept his invitation and that none ever went away unblest. He assures us that the favor of God standeth sure, and that '''whosoever'' cometh to drink of this water shall receive it without money….It is a glorious, amazing truth, that since Jesus died God is graciously bound to receive every soul that comes trusting in Jesus who died.

Yet with the call, there is an admonition to the hearer.

The preacher would not be faithful to you did he not press on your thoughts the warning in this text. Do not the words, "while he may be found," "while he is near,” warn us that there is a time when he may not be found, when he is not near?

This is the full-orbed, whole gospel message which Rosebro conveys to his auditors and readers.

Oh! while the Spirit is whispering in your heart, "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart," while Jesus once more invites, while God is near, come! come! Provoke not that state in which it will be impossible to renew you again to repentance. It were better for you, if you had never been born.

Begin now to seek the Lord. Stop and think. You cannot stop and think of your sin and ingratitude against such love and patience without coming to repentance. You cannot think of Jesus bearing your guilt, of his suffering and death for you, without learning to love him who thus first loved you. "My people will not consider" is the mournful charge God brings against us. Therefore does he entreat us to — "Come now let us reason together." "Harden not your heart,” but "seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near.”

Read the full sermon by Rosebro here. Oh, may the Spirit of God quicken us to draw near and not shrink back when God graciously calls us to himself. To God be the glory for his kindness and love towards undeserving, unworthy sinners for Christ’s sake.

E.C. Wines: Christ the Fountain of the Promises

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Recently, we have highlighted William Swan Plumer’s 1872 book on The Promises of God (here and here). Today we highlight an 1868 volume with the same title by Enoch Cobb Wines.

His introductory comments on the proposition that Christ is the fountain of all gospel promises are very much worth meditating upon.

THE original and spring of all gospel promises is the Lord Jesus Christ. This precious truth is taught by Peter in the following passage: "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises,” 2 Pet. i. 3, 4. The word "whereby,” in verse fourth, refers to the divine power and glorious excellence of Jesus Christ; that is, to Jesus Christ himself. Without any unnatural or forced construction, therefore, the passage might be rendered: "By, through, or in Christ Jesus, are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.” Thus construed, it distinctly teaches the doctrine enunciated as the theme of the present chapter.

The same glorious and cheering truth is still more clearly taught by Paul in 2 Cor. i. 20, where he affirms that “all the promises of God in him (that is, in Jesus Christ, as the contest shows) are yea, and in him, Amen.”
…
Christ may be said to be the rise and spring of the promises, inasmuch as they were all purchased and. procured for us by the shedding of his most precious blood.
…
Christ is the fountain of the promises, inasmuch as it is to him, as our Head and Surety, that they are all originally made. The promises are primarily to Christ; and they are made to us only as we are in him. Through him alone are they made over to us. His blessed mediation is the only channel through which their divine benefits can flow into our souls.
…
Christ is the fountain of the promises, inasmuch as it is in and by him that we have a right to them and to whatever is included in them. "He that hath the Son hath life.” A great principle is embodied in these words. Christ being ours, all things are ours; Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, things present, things to come, all are ours; much more then the exceeding great and precious promises of the gospel. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Now, freedom from condemnation implies a title to life, and a title to life of necessity implies a right to all the promises which assure eternal life to the believer. But the promises belong only to those who are in union with Christ. If once a soul close with Christ in the covenant of promise, there is not one promise in the Scripture but he may write this superscription upon it, "This is mine.” Yes, dear reader, it is even so. If you have closed with Christ, you may write your own name upon every promise in the Bible regarding it as addressed to yourself personally, as much as if there was not another individual of the race who could become a partaker of its benefits. The promises of the gospel are for all those who want them. The suggestion that they are not, come from whatever quarter it may, is a lie of the devil. It is of the very essence of faith to embrace the promises in the firm trust that Christ will do all he has said.

Christ is the spring of the promises, inasmuch as it is his grace that prepares and qualifies us for the fulfilment of them.

It is through grace received from Christ that we are enabled to believe the promises. It is through strength imparted by Christ that we are enabled to perform the conditions annexed to the promises.

It is through faith, which is the gift of Christ, that we are enabled to appropriate all the precious benefits of the promises. If Christ did not help us, we should never believe a single promise. If Christ did not help us, we should never obey the precept on which the promise is conditioned. If Christ did not help us, we should never receive the comfort and refreshment of an appropriating faith in the promise.

So that in reference to the divine promises, as in reference to every other benefit and blessing of the new and everlasting covenant, “CHRIST IS ALL IN ALL.”

Read the rest of Wines on The Promises of God here. It is a sweet, gospel-themed read by a fascinating 19th century American Presbyterian minister with a particular interest in the reform of civil society along Biblical principles.

A tearful missionary's farewell: J.B. Adger

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At one point in the movie Mary Poppins (1964), Bert asks Michael and Jane,

Look at it this way. You've got your mother to look after you. And Mary Poppins, and Constable Jones and me. Who looks after your father? Tell me that. When something terrible happens, what does he do? Fends for himself, he does. Who does he tell about it? No one! Don't blab his troubles at home. He just pushes on at his job, uncomplaining and alone and silent.

When John Bailey Adger prepared to depart on his missionary journey to from South Carolina to Smyrna (now known as Izmir, Turkey) in 1834, he wrote a farewell letter to his brethren at home. The scene of his departure was especially touching, as recounted in Adger’s autobiography, My Life and Times, because of his concern for his father.

The time drew nigh for my ordination, and in the Second Presbyterian church I was solemnly set apart by the Charleston Union Presbytery to the work of foreign missions. An immense audience gathered to witness the laying on of the Presbytery's hands. Before setting out I wrote and published a farewell letter to my friends throughout the State, giving them my reasons for the step I was taking. It was a day of weeping when my wife and I parted from her relatives and mine. My father accompanied us to New York and Boston. So did my brother James. The little brig that was to carry us to Smyrna was not quite ready to sail. We had also some purchases for our outfit to make in Boston. Having no occupation whilst we were making our purchases, the time hung heavy on my father's hands. I saw that he was much distressed at the prospect of separation, and at last I begged him to leave us. He started home early the next morning by stage. I went down with him and saw him in the stage, and my brother James subsequently informed me that, as they started off, my father laid his hands on the back of the seat before him, and bowed his head upon his hands and wept audibly and profusely. As for me, that was the bitterest hour of my life — up to that period. I had left my mother with my father to take care of her; but the thought that oppressed me was, who was I leaving behind me to take care of my father?

When we pray for missionaries, let us not only remember their families on the mission field, but also their families at home. There is a chain of relationships that are all connected, and all have their parts, and all merit our prayers — for the sake of the gospel. Pray for missionaries, and for their families at home and abroad. A father’s heart for his missionary son (and the son’s for the father) ought to spur to pray for the whole family as well as the whole work of missions.

The Presbyterian scientist and educator who hastened the end of World War I

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Henry Louis Smith (1859-1951) was the son of Rev. Jacob Henry Smith (1820-1897), as well as the brother of Rev. Egbert Watson Smith (1862-1944) and Charles Alphonso Smith (1864-1924), a noted educator. Henry was also a Presbyterian ruling elder, and a scientist. He served at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina as a professor of natural science (physics and astronomy), where he pioneered the development of x-rays, before becoming the institution’s ninth president in 1901. From 1912 to 1930, Henry served as president of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Nicknamed “Project” for his many creative ideas, one in particular perhaps saved many lives.

In 1918, the National Security League offered a reward for the best method of distributing Allied propaganda over Germany to reach the people directly with the message that the World War was being waged by Allies not for conquest but for freedom. Dr. Henry L. Smith’s studies of gas-filled balloons and wind currents lead him to propose that such a message could be attached by string to many colored paper and rubber balloons filled with coal gas and hydrogen which, when released at the right time and place, would travel behind enemy lines to achieve the desired objective. Millions of such balloons were released into the air — with attached leaflets containing President Woodrow Wilson’s speeches, news from America and statements about the causes of the conflict from the American perspective — and did in fact reach their goal, as it was reported that when German soldiers surrendered, eight out of ten carried those messages with them. The President later credited Dr. Smith with substantially shortening the war. Dr. Smith told others later with a smile that he used the reward money to purchase his first car, not as a college student, but as a college president.

Dr. Smith’s scientific studies in this matter served the interests of diplomacy, and although not well-known today, deserve to be remembered as a contribution to world peace. His brother Egbert wrote in 1915 of the world-wide obligation that Christians have to promote the interests of the gospel.

The Bible declares over and over again that we are put in trust with the gospel for the world. The unsearchable riches of Christ we do not hold as a piece of private property, but as a trust fund for the benefit of all nations. The Bible calls us not owners, but trustees, stewards, of the grace of God. To neglect a task is one thing, to betray a trust is a far darker thing, whose punishment is that of the unfaithful steward whom his lord put out of the stewardship.

We don’t always know what sort of mark we will leave on the world, but we do well to remember the words of Samuel Davies, who wrote,

Whatever, I say, be your Place, permit me, my dear Youth, to inculcate upon you this important instruction, IMBIBE AND CHERISH A PUBLIC SPIRIT. Serve your Generation. Live not for yourselves, but the Publick. Be the Servants of the Church; the servants of your Country; the Servants of all. Extend the Arms of your Benevolence to embrace your Friends, your Neighbors, your Country, your Nation, the whole Race of mankind, even your Enemies. Let it be the vigorous unremitted Effort of your whole Life, to leave the World wiser and better than you found it at your Entrance.

Letters to a Young Minister by D.A. Wallace

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David Alexander Wallace (1826-1883) served as a faithful minister of the gospel, as the first President of Monmouth College in Illinois, and as a Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA). As the title of his memoir — A Busy Life — would suggest, Wallace was active in contributing to the good of the church in many ways throughout his ecclesiastical career. This memoir includes — besides his inaugural address, sermons, and other writings, his letters to a young minister, from which we highlight certain extracts here today. They reflect wisdom from pastoral experience which can enrich the ministry of faithful undershepherds still today.

For Wallace, author of What Must I Do To Be Saved, the gospel was at the heart of pastoral work. It was the raison d'être of what it means to be an ambassador for Christ, as he explains.

Your work as a preacher is to teach men the gospel of the grace of God. You may, on different occasions, give men instruction on other subjects, but this does not belong to your ministerial work. I have no hesitation in saying that you should confine yourself to this grand old subject. In illustrating and expounding the way of salvation through Jesus Christ you will find ample scope for all your powers, and enough to do to occupy all your time.

In respect to the gospel, I desire to impress upon your attention the importance of ascertaining precisely what it is, and of placing it before the people with the utmost fulness and clearness. One would think that the most careless reader of the Bible could not fail to know the gospel exactly. Yet, if you will talk a little with Christian people of aver- age intelligence, and note carefully statements which you will see in print and hear from the pulpit, you will find prevalent very indistinct and inadequate views of the subject. The preacher undertakes to prescribe for the spiritual diseases of his people, and lie ought to make his prescription correct in every particular. Study the subject carefully. Go to your Bible. Examine every scripture that bears on the gospel, every illustration of it, every allusion to it. Be sure that you have the full Bible doctrine. Beware of taking a part for the whole; of confounding things that differ, and of making distinctions where there is no difference. Study carefully the expositions which the great lights of the Christian church have given of it. Rest content only when you are assured that you have found the truth, and the whole truth on the subject. Having found it, use all diligence to teach it clearly to your people. If you adopt the methods of statement and illustration employed by any one writer, your preaching will become tame and uninteresting from sameness. If, however, you vary your modes of presentation to set forth the gospel in all the forms, under all the aspects, and with all the variety of the Scriptures themselves, your preaching will constantly be new and interesting. The more closely you follow the Bible, the more varied will your preaching be.

As believers must be encouraged not to forget their first love — Christ — ministers of the gospel will benefit from encouragement to remember their first duty: to lead sinners to Christ.

The first and great work of the gospel minister is to bring souls to Christ. The inquiring sinner, crushed under a load of guilt, needs Christ at once. We should point him to the Lamb of God, and exhort him to flee to him without a moment's delay. We should put nothing between the inquirer and Christ. We should put every obstacle out of his way. We should by all means help him to the only Saviour. He may reform his life, he may make a personal profession of faith, he may take his place with the people of God in all worship and all service, and still, if he is not in Christ, he is a child of wrath still under the curse. Hence, in this way do all you can to bring sinners to the Saviour.

Among his final remarks in the fourth letter, Wallace highlights an often overlooked aspect of pastoral ministry, which is that the work of a minister, though first and foremost is pulpit-centered (pertains to the public preaching), yet much of a minister’s work is done outside the pulpit, as a shepherd tends not only to the flock, but to all the sheep individually under his care.

There is a prevailing feeling that the whole work of the preacher must be performed in the pulpit. Hence many, to a great extent, excuse themselves from the more private preaching. This, however, is not according to apostolic practice. Paul in his address to the Ephesian elders speaks of having taught "publicly and from house to house," and of "warning every one, night and day, with tears." Thus he labored in the gospel of God. The most successful ministers in all ages have followed his example in this thing. My own observation has satisfied me that no part of one's ministry is so effective as the personal dealing of man with man. He who neglects it, fails to use one of the most important elements of power. Let me, therefore, press on you the importance of doing your utmost to attain excellence in this department of your work . Study it. Pray for wisdom, strength and grace to help you in it. Talk with old ministers about it, and avail yourself of the lessons of their experience.

Thus, Wallace encourages a young minister to get to know his people, young and old, their views, their needs, spiritual and otherwise, while he also encourages avoidance of the opposite error - to undervalue the primary place of pulpit work and thus to neglect the minister’s key mission. Preaching is first, but the congregation to whom a minister is preaching, whom he serves in the Lord, are people that a faithful shepherd must know and love.

Each of his letters to a young minister — and more to a theological student — are full of nuggets of wisdom gained through experience. There is great value in consulting with older ministers, and these letters reflect that truth. Bookmark Wallace’s memoir, A Busy Life, here, and whether you are an older or a younger minister, or a member of the flock, be encouraged in the Lord by Wallace’s focus on communion with Christ and love for the saints.

A Dialogue Between D.L. Moody and W.S. Plumer - In Two Acts

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In 1875 and 1876, on two separate occasions, a young Dwight L. Moody and an elderly William Swan Plumer, took the stage together to dialogue about questions concerning salvation. In these dialogues, or colloquies, it was Moody who, in the role of an anxious inquirer, posed questions which Dr. Plumer answered, as crowds listened attentively.

The first event took place at Wannamaker’s Grand Depot in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 31, 1875. Moody had already preached to an audience of twelve thousand on the text: “How long halt yet between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). As was his custom, Moody followed his sermon with an inquiry meeting. But this meeting was special because of its format and the guest speaker involved.

Dwight L. Moody (c. 1870).

Dwight L. Moody (c. 1870).

To set the stage further, as it were, we turn first to William R. Moody’s The Life of Dwight L. Moody, pp. 269-270, in which he quotes Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull thus:

The central figure on the platform that New Year’s eve was one whose appearance and bearing were most impressive. The Rev. Dr. William S. Plumer, then a professor of the Columbia Theological Seminary in South Carolina, and who nearly forty years before was moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, was a figure that would compel reverence and regard in any gathering. Massive in frame, towering in stature, venerable in appearance, with snowy hair and flowing beard, he suggested Michael Angelo’s Moses.

Mr. Moody was on this occasion represented, not at the teacher, but as the inquirer. Dr. Plumer stood out as the teacher, to whom the younger Moody came with his questionings of heart. Few men, if any, in the world better knew the anxious cravings and doubts of the inquiring soul than Moody, as he had met with them in his varied evangelistic labors. Few trained theologians could have more wisely and simply answered those inquirers than the large-brained, large-hearted, large-framed, venerable patriarch before whom Moody stood.

The whole scene evidenced the simplicity of trust in God as the sinner came to him through Jesus Christ, in his need and in his confidence. The theologian could give the answer that the anxious soul longed for. Mr. Moody and Dr. Plumer were at one in this interview.

Moody then introduced his friend and partner in this endeavor to the audience at nearly midnight with these words:

Here is the Rev. Dr. Plumer, of South Carolina. He is seventy-four years old. He has been living on borrowed time for four years. For fifty-five years he has been sitting at the feet of Jesus. I’m going to put him on the witness-stand, and question him before you all. Dr. Plumer, will you take the pulpit?

Dr. William Swan Plumer

Dr. William Swan Plumer

We have a transcript of this and a subsequent “colloquy,” and the text shows a back-and-forth dialogue that left a deep impression on its hearers. We are told that “It was a most impressive service. Many a soul seemed to feel himself the questioner, and to listen as for his life to the answer.”

Act 1 begins:

Dr. Plumer — I was to give a year-text to this assembly. It is from the 73d Psalm: “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.”

Mr. Moody — Dr. Plumer, we often speak of “conviction.” What is conviction?

Dr. Plumer — Conviction is a clear persuasion that a thing is true. Religious conviction is a clear, settled persuasion of five things: First, That I am ignorant, and need instruction. Second, That I am guilty, and deserve wrath, and need pardon. Third. That my heart is vile, and must be renewed. Fourth. That my condition is miserable; I am “wretched and miserable and poor.” Fifth. That I am helpless; I am without strength; I can not save myself; I can not think a good thought without divine grace."

Mr. Moody — What is the use of conviction?

Dr. Plumer — The use of conviction is not to punish a man for his sins; nor is it to make him any better. The devils in hell have been under awful conviction for a long time, and not one of them is any better. The sole object of conviction is to shut up the soul to the faith of Jesus. The sole object of conviction is to bring the sinner to accept salvation by atoning blood.

Mr. Moody — Is any given amount of distress necessary to genuine conviction?

Dr. Plumer — Lydia seems to have had no dis tress; we read of none. God opened her heart, and she attended to the things spoken of Paul; but the jailer of Philippi would probably not have accepted Christ without some alarm. If you will accept the Son of God, you need have no trouble; there is nothing in mere trouble that sanctifies the soul.

Mr. Moody — Well, doctor, what is conversion?

Dr. Plumer — Glory be to God! there is such a thing as conversion. If there was not, everlasting chains and darkness would be our doom. To be converted is to turn from self, self-will, self-righteousness, all self confidence, and from sin in every shape, and to be turned to Christ. The turning-point in a man's conversion is his acceptance of Jesus Christ; then he closes in with Christ and gives Him all his confidence.

Mr. Moody — Why must a sinner come to Christ for salvation ?

Dr. Pumer — Because there is salvation in none else. All the angels in heaven and all the saints in heaven and earth can not save one sinner. He must come to the Saviour. I will tell you why. Here are quintillions of tons of atmospheric air: why does not that support life without your respir ing it? You must breathe it or you die. For the same reason you must make Christ yours, or you perish notwithstanding what He has done. The sight of a river will never quench thirst, and the sight of food will never satisfy hunger. You must come to Christ, and make His salvation yours.

Mr. Moody — Can a man be saved here to-night, before twelve o'clock — saved all at once?

Dr. Plumer — Why not? In my Bible I read of three thousand men gathered together one morning — all of them murderers, their hands stained with the blood of the Son of God. They met in the morning, and before night they were all baptized members of Christ. God added to the church in those days such as should be saved. If you are ever saved, there must be a moment when you accept Christ and renounce the world.

Mr. Moody — What is repentance?

Dr. Plumer — It is turning to God with abhorrence of sin and cleaving to Christ with purpose pf obedience. A man truly repents of his sins when he does not commit the sins he has repented of; therefore saving repentance always terminates in purity of life and in reformation. A thorough change of heart is followed by a thorough change of character.

Mr. Moody — How can I know that I am saved?

Dr. Plumer — By the fact that God is true. “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” If I accept Jesus Christ, it is not Mr. Moody's word, nor Mr. Sankey's, nor Dr. Newton's; it is the Word of the living God, whose name is Amen. “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life.”

Mr. Moody — What if I haven't got faith enough?

Dr. Plumer — Glory be to God! if I can touch the hem of my Saviour's garment I shall be saved. A little faith is as truly faith as a great deal of faith. A little coal of fire in the ashes is as truly fire as the glowing heat of the furnace. Jesus says not, If you have great faith you will be saved, but “He that believeth shall be saved.” Oh! come and trust Him fully! Give Him all your confidence, and if your faith is not as strong as it ought to be, cry as the disciples did, “Lord, increase our faith.”

Interior view of the Roman Hippodrome in New York City.

Interior view of the Roman Hippodrome in New York City.

A subsequent event took place on March 30, 1876 at P.T. Barnum’s Great Roman Hippodrome in New York City, the precursor to Madison Square Garden. Act 2 commences at 8 pm, following the conclusion of a convention.

At eight o’clock the house was filled, every seat being occupied, and hundreds standing. Mr. Moody, followed by Dr. Plumer, of South Carolina, entered. The usual devotional exercises were held. Mr. Moody then arose, and said: “The exercises of this evening will vary from those commonly had at this hour. I shall not preach, but shall call on Dr. Plumer to answer many questions of great importance; these questions relate to the way of life. Dr. Plumer has long been studying the Word of God. He will please take the stand.

Mr. Moody — Dr. Plumer, I am living in the world, with eternity before me. I am accountable to God; I have broken His law. What must I do to be saved?

Dr. Plumer — There is but one safe answer to that question. It sounds out from the jail at Philippi: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts xvi. 31. That is the substance of all the Scriptures on this subject summed up in a few words.

Mr. Moody — Is faith in Christ essential to salvation?

Dr. Plumer — So says the Lord Jesus Christ: “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John iii. 18.

Mr. Moody — Many in the inquiry-room tell us that we are making too much of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dr. Plumer — If they mean that we are making too much of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, that cannot be so; for He is All in All; the First and the Last; the Author and Finisher of Salvation; the one Mediator between God and man; the Prophet, Priest, and King of His Church. If they mean that we are making too much of faith itself, that cannot be so, unless we go beyond the Scriptures. The words faith and believe occur in the New Testament about five hundred times; and in a large number of cases salvation is clearly connected with believing. Jesus taught us this when asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” He answered, “This is the work of God that ye believe on the name of Him whom He hath sent,” and, “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” John vi. 29; viii. 24.

Mr. Moody — Does our faith, or our want of faith, decide our relations to God the Father?

Dr. Plumer — The Scriptures so affirm: “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father;” “He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath the Father and the Son;” “He that hateth me, hateth my Father also.” I John ii. 23; 2 John 9; John xv. 23. No man can refuse to confess that Christ, the Son of God, is come in the flesh, without denying and dishonoring God the Father.

Mr. Moody — Is true faith wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost alone?

Dr. Plumer — Paul says: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,” and so on; and, “No man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” Galatians v. 22; I Cor. xii. 3. Elsewhere he says, “Faith is of the operation of God;" and John says, “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God.”

Mr. Moody — Is there no substitute for faith in Christ Jesus?

Dr. Plumer — None whatever. The want of faith mars everything. I remember John Calvin thus puts it: “The annihilation of faith is the abolition of the promises.” Many Scriptures justify this remark. In the great commission given by Christ to the preachers of His Gospel, He says: “He that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark xvi. 16. These words are awſul, and they are true: “He that believeth not shall be damned;” so says the Son of God, our final Judge.

With many other questions, on both occasions, did Moody draw out from Plumer the “way of life,” that is, a gospel understanding of repentance and faith and salvation, as given to us in the Scriptures. The rest of the dialogue is given in Great Questions Answered: Two Colloquies Between D.L. Moody and Wm. S. Plumer (1876), available to read here. The drama of these two men, in the roles of anxious inquirer and wise teacher, in two different locations, is played out in that remarkable volume, and is well worth the read. Plumer acquitted himself with distinction in giving Moody and his 19th century hearers sound Biblical answers to questions of great importance, and readers of the 21st century will profit too by consideration of these dialogues.

Edward O. Guerrant: The Gospel of the Lilies

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Flowers preach to us if we will hear. — Christina Rossetti, “Consider the Lilies of the Field”

Edward O. Gurreant’s devotional work The Gospel of the Lilies is a treasure of encouragement with much meat for meditation. We have extracted his first message for your consideration today. May his remarks concerning our Lord’s sermon on the Mount — a sermon derived from the very flowers planted by our Creator on that mountain — render a blessing to your soul as you read and, “consider the lilies.”

THE GOSPEL OF THE LILIES

Consider the lilies. Matthew vi, 28, 29.

The greatest preacher was the simplest. The “common people heard Him gladly,” and under stood Him easily.

This was His first sermon, His “inaugural address.” In it He states the character of His kingdom, and lays down the laws of its government, and the duties of its subjects. He shows its superiority over all that preceded it and the absolute security and happiness of all its inhabitants.

Multitudes waited on His teaching. He was the “desire of all the nations.” For four thousand years a guilty hopeless world has been expecting a deliverer. All other helps and hopes had failed. “In the fulness of time,” He came to save a lost world; to bring a race of immortals back to God; to restore order and peace to God’s kingdom on earth. It was a mission worthy of a God, and only a God could do it.

This great sermon on the mountain was His first utterance. He used plain language. He was speaking to plain people. Most of them were poor and unlearned. Their life was a hard one; a struggle for bread, long and sharp. He was speaking to multitudes who were accustomed to “walk by sight,” to depend upon their own arm for a living. The inquiry was “how shall we get bread and clothes for ourselves and children?” They saw nothing beyond the narrow horizon of a hard life, and nothing above the humble roof of their homes.

For years they had been ground beneath the heels of tyrants, and deluded by teachers who taught a false religion, without a Savior or a hope. They felt the need of something better. This was the occasion. The object was to teach them, and you, and me, a better way — the divine, the heavenly way. We need it: The old Galilean cry has come down to us — “What shall we eat?” It occupies most of our thoughts, and time, and energies. He came to show us a better way; to set the world right; to put God back in His place in our lives; to lift up the burdens which have crushed humanity for six thousand years. His great theme was to let God do our thinking, planning, and providing; to let God bear our burdens; to let Him be, what He ought to be, our Father, our Helper, our Redeemer, our “All in All.” He showed them the utter helplessness of man; the utter folly of thinking more of their clothes than of their bodies; more of their food than their souls.

Looking down into the valley where beautiful lilies were blooming, He called their attention to them, and says, “consider the lilies.”

Field of Lilies.jpg

What a scene! What a sermon! How simple, yet how sublime! He made those lilies. He painted their heavenly colors with His sunlight; He refreshed them with His dews and showers; He dressed them in colors more regal than “Solomon in all his glory.” “They neither toil nor spin.” No milliner could have made their wardrobe. God only could make it. Now let us consider:

I. God’s care of the lilies. — He made them, and planted them along the mountain, glen and stream, in field and meadow. He fed and clothed them. The wild lilies have no other provider. God alone cares for them. How well it is done. No human heart or hand can take His place. He planted them where they grow. He selected their home. They grew as He wisely ordered, by stem and leaf and flower. He watered them when thirsty, and fed them when hungry.

“They have no care;
They bend their heads before the storm,
And rise to meet the sunshine warm,
“God cares for them.
His love is over every one;
He wills their good, His will be done.
He does neglect no single flower;
He makes them rich with sun and shower,
Their song of trust is sweet and clear,
And he that hath an ear, may hear.”

You see the lesson. The maker of the lilies made you; the Lover of the lilies loves you. Will He not clothe and feed you? Are you not worth more than all the lilies? Why, then, be “anxious about the morrow?” Why, then, be afraid to trust God? How unnatural How unreasonable! How ungrateful!

This is the lesson. Trust God like the lilies, and He will take care of you. This is the life of faith, the lily life; the child life, the heavenly life.

II. Then consider God’s prodigality to the lilies. — Go into a beautiful garden and examine the flowers. What a wealth of color and shape and perfume. All colors, all shapes beautiful, all exquisite perfumes. The wealth of heaven poured out on earth. No wonder Jesus called heaven “Paradise,” the beautiful garden of God.

But that lily is only a poor soulless flower. It can never know who feeds it, or made it, or loves it. It can never see, or know, or enjoy Him. You can. This is your God, your Father. Consider what He does for the lilies, then doubt what He will do for you, His child, His image, His loved one. You can know Him, see Him, love Him and enjoy Him. How much more then will He do for you. What prodigality of love and grace and riches and honor He has for you.

See what He has already done for you. For whom did He make the lilies and the birds and the sunshine and the world? All for you. Whom did Jesus die for? Whom are angels ministering to? Whom is heaven waiting for? All for you.

“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”

III. Then consider God’s resurrection of the lilies. — They vanish with the summer, and the snow of winter covers the graves of the lilies, and we imagine they are dead. The wild bees seek them in vain, and the valley is desolate where they bloomed, and the children wonder where they went, but God smiles over the landscape with April sun and showers, and the lilies rise from the dead, and bloom again. This is the resurrection of the lilies. Does it teach us no lesson? Hear Him say, “Consider the lilies.”

Have we loved ones beneath the sod, and the snow, whom we call dead?

“An angel form walks o'er the earth,
With soft and silent tread,
And bears our best loved friends away,
And then we call them dead.”

And will not the God of the lilies smile on them again, and make them rise from the grave and bloom again? He says He will. “Awake and sing, ye that sleep in the dust.”

Hear Him say, “Thy brother shall rise again,” and thy mother and husband and child.

We will consider the lilies, and thank God for the beautiful lessons they teach us. The loving hand that heals the broken lily with divine surgery, will bind up the broken heart of His child.

The mighty voice that calls the sleeping lilies from beneath the snow and sod, will call our loved ones from their graves. Blessed resurrection! With beauty beyond all lilies, and life beyond all death, we will receive them again to our rejoicing hearts and homes.

When hard times come and our hearts fail, “Consider the lilies, how they grow,” and take courage. When death comes and takes our best loved ones away, then “consider the lilies,” how they rise, and rejoice that we shall meet them again

“In those everlasting gardens,
Where angels walk,
And Seraphs are the wardens.”

The Gospel Encapsulated by B.B. Warfield

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Alistair Begg on his radio program Truth For Life recently highlighted a quote by Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, which he described as “majestic and wonderful.” He added, “this, loved ones, is the gospel.”

It comes from his extended 1920 article on “Miserable-Sinner Christianity” and it is worth meditating upon today, dear reader, just as it was almost a century ago. We have included here a couple of sentences that go beyond what Begg cited on his show. Here he addresses the heart of the gospel, that is, what is the basis of our acceptance before God?

…there is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only “when we believe.” It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in Christian behavior may be. It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest. There is never anything that we are or have or do that can take His place, or that can take a place along with Him. We are always unworthy, and all that we have or do of good is always of pure grace.

HT: Carolyn Kelleher

Missionary Stories at Log College Press

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If the history of missions work by American Presbyterians interests you, there is a goldmine to be discovered among the writings available at Log College Press. As Robert Dabney Bedinger wrote, “The providences of God run through the American Presbyterian Congo Mission like the vein of gold through the stratum of rock.” The stories that are told in these volumes will enrich, educate and inspire. Readers can explore the world and learn how the gospel has gone forth to all four corners of the planet.

We have many volumes by and about missionaries on the Missions page. Today we wish to highlight some of the new additions that tell the story in particular of Southern Presbyterian foreign missions, as well as other volumes that have been available here for some time. Within the following memoirs and historical accounts are told the stories men and women who followed the call of Christ to foreign lands to testify of his goodness and the gospel of his free grace by their lives and labors. Additionally, some have served as educators, translators, diplomats, medical workers and more to help those in need and to advance cross-cultural understanding and appreciation. Take time to get to know these stories. Pray for these lands. And consider the promise of God that “all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord” (Num. 14.21).

General

  • Samuel Hall Chester, LIghts and Shadows of Mission Work in the Far East: Being the Record of Observations Made During a Visit to the Southern Presbyterian Missions in Japan, China, and Korea in the year 1897 (1899)

  • Thomas Cary Johnson, A Brief Sketch of the Missions of the Southern Presbyterian Church (1895)

  • Henry Francis Williams, In Four Continents: A Sketch of the Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. (1910)

Africa

China

  • Hampden Coit DuBose, Preaching in Sinim (1893)

  • John Leighton Stuart, Fifty Years in China: The Memoirs of John Leighton Stuart, Missionary and Ambassador (1954)

  • Henry Francis Williams, Along the Grand Canal: The Mid-China Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1911) and North of the Yangtze: The North Kiangsu Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1911)

  • Samuel Isett Woodbridge, Sr., Fifty Years in China: Being Some Account of the History and Conditions in China and of the Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States there from 1867 to the present day (1919)

Japan

  • Lois Johnson Erickson, The White Fields of Japan: Being Some Account of the History and Conditions in Japan and of the Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the United States there from 1885 to the Present Day (1923)

  • Egbert Watson Smith, Present Day Japan (1920)

  • Henry Francis Williams, In the Mikado’s Empire: The Japan Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1912)

Korea

  • Anabel Major Nisbet, Day In and Day Out in Korea: Being Some Account of the Mission Work that has been carried on in Korea since 1892 by the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1920)

  • Henry Francis Williams, In the Hermit Land: The Korea Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1912)

Latin America

  • William Alfred Ross, Sunrise in Aztec Land: Being an Account of the Mission Work that has been carried on in Mexico since 1874 by the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1922)

  • Henry Francis Williams, In Mexico and Cuba: The Near-Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1912)

South America

  • Henry Francis Williams, In South America: The Brazil Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (1910) and In Brazil: Our Missions in Brazil (1917)

The poignant cry of a 19th century African American minister: J.W.C. Pennington

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James William Charles Pennington (1807-1870) was perhaps the first African American minister to receive a doctorate of divinity - by the University of Heidelberg, Germany (1849). And he was so honored while still legally a fugitive slave. He also attempted to desegregate streetcars in New York City (1855), one hundred years before Martin Luther King, Jr. attempted the same with public transportation in Montgomery, Alabama (1955-1956). His sermon on Covenants Involving Moral Wrong Are Not Obligatory Upon Man (1842) in which he affirmed that unjust laws have no moral force at all predates King’s same argument (citing Augustine) in the Letter From a Birmingham Jail by over 120 years.

The fact that this escaped slave became a Presbyterian minister is remarkable. But in 1843 he gave a speech in which he shared his experience of racism within the church. It is painful to read, but reading it serves as a reminder that the church is not immune to prejudice. And there are many different types of prejudice - the Apostle James spoke of one kind involving favoritism to the rich to the detriment of the poor, James 2:3. But those who are so judged based on the color of their skin or other factors can be deeply hurt, as Pennington here testifies.

For the last ten years, since I have been a Christian − seven or eight years of which I have been a minister, I have thought much on this subject, and have come to the conclusion that I am an excommunicated man. I have tried to avoid the conclusion, to think it was not so, but, like other people, find I cannot believe without evidence. I have tried to command my mind from this subject, but could not. To say that our condition is not an enviable one − that it is not a pleasant one, does not express the whole truth. I have labored hard to inform myself − I have tried to make myself useful and agreeable as a Christian − have tried to avoid everything wrong. A great question of orthodoxy is concerned here. Though we have felt ourselves abused, we have not dared to indulge unkind feelings toward our brethren. You have helped us to build small school-houses and churches, or rather helped us to shoulder a debt, many times − but I forbear − and yet I may as well speak out my convictions − it is done in the spirit of colonization, to get us out of the way. How often, in coming into a congregation like this, have I been treated with indignity. A man accidentally takes his seat by my side − he discovers that I have a dark face − he rises in contempt and leaves the slip. It is said colored people are fond of sitting together. It is such treatment as this which drives them together. They take the Jim Crow seat to escape ill treatment and abuse. And here let me say, the necessity for separate schools and churches has not grown out of the wishes of the colored people, but from the spirit of caste in the church. We do not desire separate churches. They have not bettered our condition, but only made it WORSE. Many of our churches have not competent religious teachers − they have had to hasten through their course so fast, in order to supply the destitute fields, that they have come into the ministry illy prepared. The treatment of the colored people has put back Africa’s redemption fifty years.

This testimony is nearly 200 years old, but it is to be feared that today’s church also is not color blind or free from all forms of prejudice, Elsewhere (in an 1844 letter appended to his autobiography), Pennington explains what is needed to combat this prejudice - something that is, it should be noted, to be found within the church.

Let me urge upon you the fundamental truths of the Gospel of the Son of God. Let repentance to- wards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ have their perfect work in you, I beseech you. Do not be prejudiced against the gospel because it may be seemingly twisted into a support of slavery. The gospel rightly understood, taught, received, felt and practised, is anti-slavery as it is anti-sin. Just so far and so fast as the true spirit of the gospel obtains in the land, and especially in the lives of the oppressed, will the spirit of slavery sicken and become powerless like the serpent with his head pressed beneath the fresh leaves of the prickly ash of the forest.

The troubles and sorrows of those who have been hurt are real, but Pennington urged his hearers to bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ. In another speech given in England in 1843 he reminded his hearers that the whole human race is laboring under sin, but redemption is found only in Jesus Christ, in whom all are one:

Though I have a country that has never done me justice, yet I must return to it, and I shall not therefore recriminate. It has pleased God to make me black and you white, but let us remember, that whatever be our complexion, we are all by nature labouring under the degradation of sin, and without the grace of God are black at heart. I know of no difference between the depraved heart of a Briton, an American, or an African. There is no difference between its colour, its disposition, and its self-will. There is only one mode of emancipation from the slavery of sin, from the blackness of heart, and that is by the blood of the Son of God. Whatever be our complexion, whatever our kindred and people, we need to be emancipated from sin, and to be cleansed from our pollution by the all-prevailing grace of God. I bless his name, that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, but all are one.

The sermons, speeches and writings of James W.C. Pennington reflect the heart of a man who was deeply wounded and hurt by prejudice but who found redemption in Jesus Christ and preached the healing and uniting gospel of grace to others. And that is a message that is timeless.

The Sum of Archibald Alexander's Theology

As recounted in Practical Truths (1857), p. 386, “on his dying bed, [Archibald Alexander] uttered to his family these memorable words: ‘All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.'“ What a beautiful summation of the gospel, and what a simple truth to meditate upon this day to the glory of God, who sent his Son to save sinners.

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Be on the lookout for our forthcoming booklet by Archibald Alexander, which includes his counsel to those in the autumn of life. Coming soon!