(By: Christopher Powell) Martin Luther (1483-1546) remains one of my favourite (though sometimes controversial) reformers. What I most enjoy about him is his transparency about his walk with the Lord. One of my great struggles with much of Christian biography is the strong bias to produce hagiography which can be much more spiritually damaging to Christians than it is helpful. Hagiography is a type of Christian biography that is very common in Christian circles which presents the subjects of the biography in the best possible light. Specifically, although it may be unintentional, there is a sense promoted by these biographies that our forefathers in the faith never struggled except against the sin of others. This can lead modern readers of these biographies to question their own Christianity when they, supposedly unlike their heroes, face struggle with doubts or with discouragement. Instead of what people need at that point – to seek refuge in the Gospel and confess their struggles to the Lord in prayer – a key teaching opportunity is missed. Without examples of those who have struggled, there are fewer opportunities for spiritual growth.

 

The problem arises because biographers often omit bits of a “Christian hero’s” life; sins they committed or mistakes they made, because they want to cast the “hero” in the best possible light to encourage people to emulate him or her. While the intention is honourable (protecting the reputation of the Christian) it can also have a terrible result because it misses the whole point of the Gospel as revealed in the Bible. In the Scriptures we constantly see “heroes” like King David or King Hezekiah exposed in their shortcomings. The Gospel purpose in these exposures is to point the reader away from men to the greatness of the Saviour and Redeemer of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. God uses struggle and failure for His glory. He delights to work redemptively in our lives (Genesis 50:20).

 

This is why I like Luther. Like Oliver Cromwell who told his painter to paint his portrait “warts and all”, Luther, in his own writings is transparent about his struggles with unbelief. Because he talked about it, his books and prayers can help Christians to form a more realistic and encouraging picture of the perseverance aspect of the Christian life. This particular prayer of Luther’s was sent to me by a brother pastor and I found it most authentic and edifying because it points to the fact that even the “greats” of the Reformation had spiritual struggles and a continual, desperate need and dependence on the work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. I hope you will all find encouragement in it as I did:

 

Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it. I am weak in the faith; strengthen me. I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor. I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you. In you I have sealed the treasure of all I have. I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor. I am a sinner; you are upright. With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness. Therefore I will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give. Amen.

 

(HT: Pastor Steve Clevenger)

(By: Eddie Goodwin)

I have the privilege this weekend of traveling with Dr. Sam Waldron to The Reformed Pastor conference in Durham, NC.  This is an annual event hosted by Springs of Life Church in Durham.  This year’s speakers are Andy Davies, Sam Waldron and Nathan Finn.  Here is a wonderful quote from the conference web page to whet your appetite!

 

When many a modern day pastor has become an entertainer, comedian, esteem builder and/or CEO, it is time to call on the church to go back to the Scriptures and be reminded of the qualifications and roles God has established for the high office of pastor.

 

In his book “Working the Angles”, Eugene Peterson writes: “American pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate. They are not leaving their churches and getting other jobs. Congregations still pay their salaries. Their names remain on the church stationary and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays. But they are abandoning their posts, their calling. They have gone whoring after other gods. They talk of images and statistics. They drop names. They discuss influence and status. Matters of God and the soul and Scripture are not grist for their mills. The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeeper’s concerns—how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out more money. The strategies of the fast-food franchise occupy the waking minds of these entrepreneurs; while asleep they dream of the kind of success that will get the attention of journalists…What they do with their time under the guise of pastoral ministry hasn’t the remotest connection with what the church’s pastors have done for most of twenty centuries.”

 

When we speak of the term “Reformed” pastor we speak of a pastor whose life, teaching and ministry conforms to the Word of God alone as the only standard for faith and practice. In this conference we will plumb God’s Word and church history to discover what a “Reformed” pastor looks like and his vital importance to the local church today.

(By: John Miller)

Last week we considered some of the shaping influences upon Andrew Fuller and his thinking. This week we will consider how these influences worked themselves out in Fuller’s life, especially in his contribution to bring Particular Baptists back to an evangelical Calvinism.

In 1781, Andrew Fuller began to write down his own refutation of High Calvinism, which was a much fuller and more detailed exposition of the topic. Though Fuller wrote the work for his own benefit and had no intention of publishing it, due to the urging of his friends he did end up publishing the work as The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation in 1785. From the very beginning of this work, Fuller refutes the High Calvinist notion that it is improper to exhort unconverted men to spiritual duties, though one can exhort them to unspiritual duties. As Fuller states:

God requires the heart, the whole heart, and nothing but the heart; that all the precepts of the Bible are only the different modes in which we are required to express our love to him; that, instead of its being true that sinners are obliged to perform duties which have no spirituality in them, there are no such duties to be performed; and that, so far from their being exhorted to every thing excepting what is spiritually good, they are exhorted to nothing else. The Scriptures undoubtedly require them to read, to hear, to repent, and to pray, that their sins may be forgiven them. It is not, however, in the exercise of a carnal, but of a spiritual state of mind, that these duties are performed.[1]

It the first part of the work, Fuller shows the importance of the subject, and how one of the great errors of the High Calvinist position is that it makes the object of faith to be faith itself. In other words, it makes faith to “terminate principally on something within us; namely, the work of grace in our hearts,” rather than “terminating on something without us; namely, on Christ.”[2] In the second part of the work, Fuller presents particular arguments to prove it is the duty of all men who hear the gospel to believe in Christ. In this section Fuller expounds various pertinent passages of Scripture: Psalm 2:11-12; Isaiah 4:1-7; Jeremiah 6:16; John 5:23, 6:29, and 12:36. He also displays his reliance upon Jonathan Edwards, by employing the distinction between natural and moral inability from Edwards’ Inquiry into the Freedom of the Will. In the third part of the work Fuller answers several objections. For example, some object to declaring faith in Christ to be the duty of sinners because they believe it is contrary to the Scriptural teaching of election. Fuller responds by showing that both concepts are taught in Scripture, and must be held together, even if we cannot fully understand how the two fit together. Fuller concludes by stating that it is certainly the duty of all men to repent and believe the gospel, and more pointedly that “it is the duty of ministers not only to exhort their carnal auditors to believe in Jesus Christ for the salvation of their souls; but IT IS AT OUR PERIL TO EXHORT THEM TO ANYTHING SHORT OF IT, OR WHICH DOES NOT INVOLVE OR IMPLY IT.”[3]

This contribution of Andrew Fuller was one of the key instruments God used to turn the Particular Baptists of England away from High Calvinism and back to the evangelical Calvinism they first held. The convictions expressed in this work “led directly to Fuller’s whole-hearted commitment to the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1792 and his role as secretary of this society till his death in 1815.”[4] From this Missionary Society, men like William Carey and John Thomson were sent to foreign countries to proclaim the duty of sinners to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was the recovery of evangelical Calvinism that gave Particular Baptists the theological foundation from which to impact the world around them. For this reason, men like Andrew Fuller should not be forgotten. As Thomas Chalmers stated:

Let it never be forgotten of the Particular Baptists of England, that they form the denomination of Fuller and Carey and Ryland and Hall and Foster; that they have organized among the greatest of all missionary enterprises; that they have enriched the Christian literature of our country with authorship of the most exalted piety, as well as of the first talent and the first eloquence;…that perhaps there is not a more intellectual community of ministers in our islands, or who have put forth for their number a greater amount of mental power and mental activity in the defense and illustration of our common faith; and – which is far better than all of the triumphs of genius or understanding – who, by their zeal and fidelity and pastoral labor among congregations they have reared, have done more to swell the list of genuine discipleship in the walks of private society – and thus to both uphold and extend the living Christianity of our nation.[5]

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[1] Andrew Fuller, The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation, in The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, ed. Joseph Belcher, vol. 2, Controversial Publications (1845, reprint, Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 332.

[2] Ibid., 334.

[3] Ibid., 387.

[4] Michael A. G. Haykin, The Armies of the Lamb: The Spirituality of Andrew Fuller (Dundas, Ontario: Joshua Press, 2001), 35.

[5]Michael A. G. Haykin, One Heart and One Soul: John Sutcliff of Olney, His Friends and His Times (Durham, England: Evangelical Press, 1994), 7.

(By: John Miller)

Last week, we considered Fuller’s upbringing and conversion, especially how God brought Fuller to saving faith despite the High Calvinism in his own home church. This week we shall consider Fuller’s ministry and the influences that shaped his thinking in his struggle against High Calvinism.

After his conversion in November 1769, Fuller was baptized in the spring of 1770 and joined the church in Soham. John Eve left the church for another pastorate in 1771, and Fuller was called to be the pastor in 1775, where he remained until 1782 when he went to pastor the Particular Baptist church in Kettering. While in Soham, Fuller began to question the doctrines of High Calvinism, which he held at the time. These doubts came to his mind “chiefly from thinking on some passages of Scripture, particularly the latter part of the second Psalm, where kings, who ‘set themselves against the Lord, and against his Anointed,’ are positively commanded to ‘kiss the Son;’ also the preaching of John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, who, he found, did not hesitate to address unconverted sinners…”[1] Fuller was also secondarily influenced in his thinking through reading the books of John Owen and Jonathan Edwards, such as Edward’s Inquiry into the Freedom of the Will. Another important influence upon Fuller’s thinking was the friendships he had with fellow Particular Baptist pastors who also questioned the tenets of High Calvinism. One such friend was Robert Hall, Sr., who had taken part in Andrew Fuller’s ordination. In a sermon published in 1781 Hall states, “If any should ask, ‘Have I a right to apply to Jesus the Savior, simply as a poor, undone perishing sinner, in whom there appears no good thing?’ I answer yes; the gospel proclamation is, ‘Whosoever will, let him come.’” [2]

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[1] Andrew Fuller, The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation, in The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, ed. Joseph Belcher, vol. 2, Controversial Publications (1845, reprint, Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 328-329.

[2] Raymond Brown, The English Baptists of the Eighteenth Century, vol. 2 of A History of the English Baptists, ed. B. R. White (London, England: The Baptist Historical Society, 1986), 72.

(By: John Miller)

Last week we looked at the decline of Particular Baptists in 18th century England, and some of the causes. This week we will consider the entrance of Andrew Fuller into those difficult times, and how God in His mighty sovereign grace brought Fuller out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His Son, despite the prevailing Hyper-Calvinism of his day.

It was during the period of decline that Andrew Fuller was born in the village of Wicken on February 6, 1754. Fuller’s parents, Robert and Phillipa, were dairy farmers by trade, and Calvinistic Baptists by conviction. Thus, they took their family to the local Particular Baptist congregation for worship each Lord’s Day. The Fuller family moved to the village of Soham when Andrew was seven years old, where they sat under the ministry of John Eve, who was a Hyper-Calvinist. As Andrew Fuller stated, “[We] were in the habit of hearing Mr. Eve, a Baptist minister, who, being what is here termed High in his sentiments, or tinged with false Calvinism, had little or nothing to say to the unconverted. I, therefore, never considered myself as any way concerned in what I heard from the pulpit.”[1] When Fuller was fourteen, he began to be spiritually affected through reading such books as Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan, along with Gospel Sonnets by Ralph Erskine. While Fuller came under a conviction of his sin, it did not last, and he did not repent and believe in Christ at that time. A year and a half later Fuller was again confronted with conviction for his sins, but he struggled to trust in Christ to deliver him from his sins due to High Calvinist teaching. As Fuller stated, “I was not then aware that any poor sinner had a warrant to believe in Christ for the salvation of his soul; but supposed there must be some kind of qualification to entitle him to do it.”[2] Nevertheless, he came to say in the spirit of Esther, “I must – I will – yes – I will trust my soul, my sinful, lost soul in [Christ’s] hands. If I perish, I perish!”[3] Thus, God converted Fuller and he overcame the High Calvinist notions. As he stated, “This notion [of High Calvinism] was a bar that kept me back for a time; though, through divine drawings, I was enabled to overleap it.” [4]

Next week we will consider Fuller’s ministry and fight against Hyper-Calvinism.

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[1] Michael A. G. Haykin, The Armies of the Lamb: The Spirituality of Andrew Fuller (Dundas, Ontario: Joshua Press, 2001), 59.

[2] Ibid., 71.

[3] Ibid., 72.

[4] Ibid.

(By: John Miller)


Last month I posted a quote from Andrew Fuller (1754-1815), a Particular Baptist pastor in England that was greatly used of God. This week, and over the next few posts, I would like to return to considering the life of Andrew Fuller and the contribution that he made to the Church. We’ll begin this week by looking at the state of Particular Baptist churches in England into which Andrew Fuller was born. May God help us to learn the lessons of history and apply them to our own day.

The Decline of Particular Baptists in the 18th Century

While there was a measure of growth at the very beginning of the 18th century among Particular Baptists, there soon came a great decline among them. Around the year 1715, “there were roughly 220 Calvinistic Baptist congregations in England and Wales,” but by around mid-century “the number of Calvinistic Baptist congregations had dropped to around 150.”[1] The reason for this decline is not simple, but can be attributed to many causes. First, the 1689 Act of Toleration did not grant Non-conformists the same degree of freedom they had under Cromwell. While the Act of Toleration did free the Particular Baptists from persecution and allowed them to gather for worship, they were not allowed to preach anywhere outside of “those buildings registered as meeting-houses with the bishop of the diocese or the local Justice of the Peace.”[2] Thus, Particular Baptists could not preach in the open air, as George Whitfield was able to do because he was a part of the Church of England. Second, certain social restrictions enacted against the Non-conformists under Charles II had not been rescinded. Thus it was very difficult for a Non-conformist to study at Oxford or Cambridge, or to pursue any sort of career in the government. These restrictions limited the social circles of Particular Baptists, and thus their influence in the society. Third, sadly there was a decline due to the amount of time spent infighting among Particular Baptists over doctrinal controversies, such as the validity of hymn-singing. Fourth, there was decline due to the decrease in fellowship and cooperation among the various Particular Baptist churches. While the Particular Baptists met together for a national assembly in 1689, this annual meeting only continued for four years. Regional associations continued in various parts of England, but their activity also declined in the first half of the 18th century. One final cause of the decline among Particular Baptists was the shift in theology from an evangelical Calvinism to a High Calvinism, also known as Hyper-Calvinism.

The doctrine of High Calvinism taught that unconverted men who do not have the Holy Spirit cannot be exhorted to perform spiritual duties; particularly they cannot be exhorted to repent and believe in the gospel. Particular Baptist had been dealing with such questions since the 17th century. In 1675, one Calvinistic Baptist wrote that he knew “some ministers who were of the opinion that as none could pray acceptably without the influences of the Holy Spirit, and unconverted men being destitute of those influences, that therefore it was not their duty to pray, nor the duty of ministers to exhort them to seek for spiritual blessings.”[3] Several Particular Baptists in London responded with a letter clearly stating, “’Tis certain no man can, without the assistance of the Holy Spirit, either repent or believe; yet it will not therefore follow, that impenitency and unbelief are no sins; if these be sins, then the contrary must be their duty.”[4] Indeed, these early Particular Baptists had no difficulty in calling unconverted men to spiritual duties. For example, Benjamin Keach “regularly and effectively pleaded with his congregation to put their trust in Christ.”[5] Nevertheless, High Calvinism re-entered Particular Baptist life through the influence of John Skepp. Skepp was a Particular Baptist pastor in London who had been converted under and influenced by the preaching of the Independent preacher Joseph Hussey, who was a High Calvinist. After Skepp’s death in 1721, a collection of his sermons supporting High Calvinism “appeared in London’s bookshops under the title Divine Energy.”[6] This work greatly influenced prominent Particular Baptists, such as John Gill and John Brine. Because of the prominence of these men and their prolific writing, many of the Particular Baptists were persuaded to hold the High Calvinist position, and they no longer exhorted their hearers to repent and believe in Christ.

It was during the period of decline among Particular Baptists in England that Andrew Fuller was born. More on Fuller’s contribution next week.

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[1]Michael A. G. Haykin, One Heart and One Soul: John Sutcliff of Olney, His Friends and His Times (Durham, England: Evangelical Press, 1994), 25.

[2] Ibid., 20.

[3]Michael Haykin, Kiffin, Knollys and Keach: Rediscovering Our English Baptist Heritage (Leeds, England: Reformation Today Trust, 1996), 64.

[4]Ibid., 64-65.

[5]Raymond Brown, The English Baptists of the Eighteenth Century, vol. 2 of A History of the English Baptists, ed. B. R. White (London, England: The Baptist Historical Society, 1986), 73.

[6] Ibid., 72.