The Wanderer

You may be interested in this little beauty: a facsimile of the 1526 edition of William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament.  This is the same size and shape as the little book that spread through England and produced such marvellous spiritual effects, and – as the pictures show  (fingers cunningly providing scale, although I do have hands the size of shovels) – it is precisely what those men and women would have read.  I intend to use it for my personal devotions in the first part of the year: using a different translation (especially with the different type and spelling) will, perhaps, slow down my reading, and the freshness of the phrasing might assist in a fresh appreciation of the truth.  A worthy Crimbo present, indeed!

Rhosymedre  6 6. 6 6. 8 8

He stepped from his high throne,
And laid aside his crown,
And to this sinful world
The Son of God stooped down:
He came as our Immanuel
That God as man with men should dwell.

The virgin brought him forth
As promised from of old;
The Word in flesh appeared,
The Saviour long foretold:
He came as our Immanuel
That God as man with men should dwell.

The angels praised the Lord,
And shepherds came to see;
In royal Bethlehem,
The wise men bowed their knee:
They worshipped our Immanuel,
For God as man with men did dwell.

He came in servant form,
A King of David’s line;
And those who looked for hope
Beheld redemption shine:
They looked on our Immanuel,
For God as man with men did dwell.

Messiah mediates,
The breach with God to mend;
He served because he loved;
He loved us to the end:
He came as our Immanuel
That ransomed men with God might dwell.

And Jesus was his name –
He died and rose to save,
And we shall know in full
His triumph o’er the grave:
For he is our Immanuel
And man at last with God shall dwell.

©JRW

See all hymns and psalms.

Gospel Intimacy in a Godly Marriage by Alan Dunn

Pillar & Ground Publications, 2009 (168pp, pbk)

The greatest threat to genuine intimacy in marriage, even when two redeemed sinners become one flesh, is sin.  Alan Dunn’s book on gospel intimacy is intended to help identify and overcome those barriers and hindrances to genuine closeness.

The author navigates the journey in the light of the doctrines of God, creation, fall and redemption.  He then addresses the grace of gospel love, and it is here that facing sin in a relationship comes to the fore.  Only the gospel can teach us to love our spouse in the face of remaining sin.  Realistically facing our sins, cultivating a disposition of forgiveness and forbearance, and the nature of those ‘gospel transactions’ that enable married sinners to press on together are all helpfully explained.  In the third part, the specific challenges of headship and submission, selfishness, unbiblical communication, and unavoidable death are assessed in the light of Scripture, with instruction, counsel and encouragement wisely and graciously offered.  The author’s experience as a pastor and husband is helpfully evident.

Clearly, the book is directed primarily to Christian couples (married or contemplating marriage).  Slightly unusually, but rightly, the weight of application is toward husbands as those called to set the tone of gospel love in a marriage (the section on headship brings out the nuances of this).  At the same time, Christians in various situations will find rich principles that will guide them not just with regard to marriage, but in understanding their environment, their hearts, their relationships with others, and the gospel realities which underpin peace and unity not just in marriage but in friendships, in the family more broadly, and in the church.

There are many books on marriage, but few that deal with the heart of the matter – in terms of sin and the gospel grace in Christ that overcomes it – with the brevity, clarity and profundity of this volume.  Practical on the deepest level, it is warmly recommended as a gospel recipe for repairing damage and developing and maintaining true intimacy in a godly marriage.

I was preaching this evening at a small Baptist church in East Sussex.  I have been there before, and this time managed to get a record of the simple, striking epitaph of one of the earlier pastors of the church.  The poetry will not win any prizes, but the man it describes has an eternal reward.  It would be no bad thing if every pastor could have this truthfully written of him when he dies.

In Memory of
HENRY BOOKER
Many Years Pastor of the
Particular Baptist Church
In this Place.  Who died
May 27^th 1799 Aged 69 Years
Also SARAH his first Wife who Died
August 30^th 1779 Aged 45 Years

Beneath this Stone doth lie the Man
Who for his Lord did boldly Stand
Proclaim’d Salvation through his Name
For wretched, dying, Sinful Man
And fully prov’d that All in Christ
Are fully and freely sav’d in him
From all their Sins through his Blood.
And justify’d alone in Christ.
Jesus the Lord their Righteousness.
This the Truth he did maintain
In his Life and Death: Amen.
Now he’s gone unto his Lord.
There to receive his great Reward,
There to behold his Saviour’s Face
And sing his great Redeeming Grace.

Solid Ground Christian Books is doing ‘A Year With Baptist Classics’, offering an excellent discount on a theological reading programme, drawing on some of the faithful men who have gone before.  They are suggesting a book or so a month, and here is the outline:

January -  Benjamin Keach The Travels of True Godliness
This is a work, written in the style of The Pilgrim’s Progress, tracing the growth, struggles and temptations faced by ‘True Godliness.’ It is an enjoyable journey depicting the path of growth in holiness.

February – Andrew Fuller: A Heart for Missions (Pearce Bio)
One of the best Christian biographies ever written! Samuel Pearce was the Baptist version of Robert Murray McCheyne–a young pastor known for godliness and zeal whose life was brief but impact was profound.

March - Hercules Collins Devoted to the Service of the Temple
A mighty man of God, Hercules Collins was a pastor of a very large London Congregation during the 17th century. This little book very helpfully collects some of his wonderful doctrinal and devotional writings.

April - Adoniram Judson On Christan Baptism
The Congregational Missionary Society was shocked when its first missionary, Adoniram Judson, adopted credobaptist views while on his way to serve in India. In this book, Judson demonstrates the nature of Christian baptism.

May - Southern Baptist Sermons on Sovereignty and Responsibility
American Baptist history is full of great preachers. Here is a collection of sermons by Southern worthies, expounding vital topics; by Basil Manly, Sr., W.B. Johnson, R.B.C. Howell & Richard Fuller.

June – John Broadus: Jesus of Nazareth
Our Lord Jesus is wonderfully presented by another great Southern preacher, John Broadus.

July/August – Benjamin Beddome’s Exposition of the Baptist Catechism
Here is a gem, long out of print, but recently reprinted. Theology is made practical by this pastor from the village of Bourton-on-the-Water in the English Cotswolds.

September – Andrew Fuller: The Backslider
Christians struggle with sin–this is a fact. We need to consider this truth, learn about its dangers, and find the right method of recovery. This book will help.

October - John Bunyan: Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ
We can’t neglect Bunyan! In this book, he calls us to find our full satisfaction in Jesus Christ.

November – Benjamin Keach: The Marrow of True Justification
We live in a day when the doctrine of justification by faith alone is under attack. One of our fathers, Benjamin Keach, ably explains this doctrine here. This is the heart of the gospel.

December – Charles Spurgeon: Sermons on Men or Women of the Bible
What a great way to conclude the year! As always, Spurgeon shows us how the men and women of the Bible point us to Jesus Christ.

Shipping overseas is possible, and some of these titles will be available through Evangelical Press, but it is a good deal for the package direct from the publisher: the list price for all eleven titles is $151, but there is a special deal for the whole collection for $69.95.

Whether or not you are a Baptist by conviction, this would be a marvellous collection of books to own, and a better one actually to read.

A friend sends the following quote from Charles Haddon Spurgeon:

Put your finger on any prosperous page in the Church’s history, and I will find a little marginal note reading thus: ‘In this age men could readily see where the Church began and where the world ended.’  Never were there good times when the Church and the world were joined in marriage with one another.

Pentecost  L.M.

When earthly passions wax and wane,
When earthly pleasures rise and fall,
To God above I still can call,
To where my hope and love remain.

When in the stormy seas of life
I stand beset on every side,
I – naked, cold, and stripped of pride –
Come to my God who calms my strife.

When winds of doctrine toss me round
And understanding’s eye is dim,
In humble prayer I fly to him,
To him in whom my hopes abound.

When in confusion I despair,
When human hopes and plans have failed,
In Christ’s bright glory, even veiled,
I find my joy and solace there.

When things against me all conspire,
I know that I need have no fear,
For in such times my God is near,
He will refine me in his fire.

So praise the Lord, rest in his hand,
The fear, the pain, the hurt shall pass,
And he shall guide you safe at last,
For in all things your good is planned.

©JRW

See all hymns and psalms.

The Unquenchable Flame: Introducing the Reformation by Michael Reeves

IVP, 2009 (192pp, pbk)

A genuinely popular book on the Reformation doubtless involves many tensions.  The style must be accessible without being careless; the substance must be accurate while the scope is broad; brevity is required, but historical carelessness cannot be countenanced.

In many ways, this author has succeeded: in a few pages, he carries us from the Reformation’s medieval beginnings, through Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, the Reformation in Britain, and on to the Puritans before asking whether or not the Reformation is over.  A helpful timeline and some valuable suggestions on further reading are furnished; occasional ‘break-out boxes’ deal with individuals and issues of interest.  It is thoroughly orthodox in many respects: the author focuses repeatedly on a Scriptural grasp of justification by faith as one of the driving forces of the Reformation and a continuing issue in ongoing reform.  In doing history accessibly and attractively, with wit and verve, the author has succeeded.

At the same time, its excellences are slightly marred by occasional excesses.  That chatty and casual tone sometimes slips needlessly into breeziness and on into a racy brashness (perhaps aimed squarely at the intended student audience).  Historical accuracy and nuance is sometimes sacrificed to speed of movement, or for the sake of a stark declaration or striking comparison.  I suspect that the author’s Anglicanism has an impact on his assessment at points: while Bunyan gets a nod basically for being Bunyan, the Puritans are covered somewhat ambivalently, and the history peters out in the 17^th century with little apparent sense of the character and momentum of healthy Dissent, leaping then to the 21^st century and taking up again – with helpful clarity and urgency – the issue of justification by faith.

I hope that this book will succeed in stimulating a wider and deeper reading of church history.  It deserves to do so.  However, unless it does so, there is a danger of readers being left with the lack of balance and perspective that a wild ride can leave behind.  If you put this book in the hands of a reader, make sure you are ready to follow up any interest with fuller and more nuanced material.

Martin Downes interviews Michael Reeves here, here and here.

• Westminster Bookstore – not yet available (US edition in 2010)
• Monergism Books – not yet available (US edition in 2010)
• Amazon.co.uk

I won’t post a link for the sake of the blogger, but I just found a magnificent declaration concerning a sermon by Terry Virgo on “Elijah’s despair.”  According to the blogger,

Terry has several decades of experience of leading a growing family of churches.  As a result he has encountered many people who’s [sic] experience mirrored that of Elijah when he ran into the dessert.

No wonder he was a trifle low.

If, in support of this general reminder to proof-read our own posts before we send them online, you wish to add your dessert-based puns in the comments, feel free to do so.

Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches by Russell D. Moore

Crossway, 2009 (232pp, pbk)

The author of this book, Russell Moore, writes as both practitioner and advocate.  His intensity and passion for his topic ooze from every page.  He contends that the church has neglected its God-given role as a people who care for orphans, a mandate that forms an integral part of the Great Commission.  As such, adoption is not just an issue for childless or child-hungry couples, but a real demonstration of gospel realities in a fallen world.  This book therefore functions as a call to Christians, not least pastors, to put adoption on their agenda as a means of advancing the kingdom of Christ and demonstrating the substance of the good news in Christ.

Dr Moore himself has four children, the first two of whom were adopted from a Russian orphanage, and from this experience he brings many lively insights and helpful counsels.  It is in this combination that the book excels: Dr Moore weaves together the social and spiritual realities of adoption, shining the light from the splendour of sinners brought into the family of God on to the earthier but heaven-tinted issues of human adoption and vice versa.  From this complementary study he draws forth many helpful insights and Scriptural connections.  For example, he has some delightful things to say about the much-neglected Joseph, husband of Mary and head of the home to which God committed the human parenting of his only Son.  The gospel connections are made often and well.  One cannot avoid the thrust of his polemic, or the challenge of his presentation, nor should one seek to do so.

The book is not written merely for those who have adopted or are considering adoption, but is intended as a rallying-cry to the whole church.  Nevertheless, it is more likely to be read by such families, and I have no doubt that they would be well-served by reading this volume, as might those who have themselves been adopted.  For those who are looking for advice about proceeding, there is some excellent, often self-deprecatingly witty counsel, although at times there may be a risk of personal opinion offered as Biblical counsel.  That said, it is in giving practical counsel that Dr Moore’s grasp of the dynamics of a Christian’s adoption by God enables him to assess issues in adoption on the earthly level with gospel-soaked sanity and penetration, sweeping aside silly cavils or shoring up troubled hearts as he goes.

My primary question would be whether or not, in his passionate advocacy of adoption, Dr Moore may at times be in danger of overstating his case.  At some points he seems to interpret Scripture in the light of adoption, reading it into places where it is, at best, hard to find.  The intense focus on this doctrine drags other truths into the adoption vortex and risks subtly distorting them in the process, or pulling them out of their proper place.  Likewise, he tends to see adoption as almost the be-all-and-end-all of ‘social righteousness’.  I am by no means saying that this issue is not important, or that the book is not a powerful and necessary corrective to ignorance and carelessness at this point.  Nevertheless, Dr Moore’s cause is not well-served by making it a crusade in which everything must march under adoption’s banner.

With that gentle caveat, this is a spiritually instructive and practically helpful volume.  It points us back to an often-forgotten aspect of “pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father” (Jas 1.27), and calls Christians to consider adoption as a means of demonstrating the heart of the gospel and its sanctifying power, all the more potent in a world in which unwanted children are now murdered before they can be abandoned.  In doing so, it is richly illustrative of the gospel both in its vertical and its horizontal aspects.  If you are a Christian considering any aspect of adoption, you would do well to read and ponder over this book.  Even if you are not, Dr Moore puts the issue on the radar in a genuinely helpful way.  If you have opportunity to encourage or counsel believers who may or ought to be thinking through these issues, this is a resource well worth your investment of time and money.

• Westminster Bookstore
• Monergism Books
• Amazon.co.uk

OK: the results are in.  Again, thank you to all those who entered.  I shall be contacting you shortly to obtain a mailing address for your prize.  Alan Dunn, who wrote Gospel Intimacy in a Godly Marriage, has perused and pondered over the entries, and here is his response:

I’d like to thank all who took the time to read Jeremy’s interview.  I thought his questions were very good and I hope my answers were helpful.  I especially thank those of you who took the time to write responses to the competition question.  I enjoyed reading each response and have had to settle on the winners who will receive a copy of Gospel Intimacy. Most of the responses tended toward “sacrificial love,” as stated in several of the essays.  Such sacrificial love was profiled against the backdrop of extended affliction – especially the failing health of one spouse who was ministered to with Christlike sacrificial love.  Certainly such love is a display of forbearance and patience, all of which are integral to giving each other the kind of love we’ve received in Jesus.  However, I was looking more particularly for “gospel love,” a love that contends with the emergence of sin and overcomes it with the grace of forgiveness and then through the power of the gospel, works to bring spiritual change and maturation in both spouses.

So having said that, here are the results of the competition.  I’ve awarded four books.  I identified the four winners but found that three of the other essays each equally focused on “sacrificial love” in the midst of protracted affliction, and I was therefore unable to distinguish fairly between them.  Since the other four more closely approximated the matter of the gospel overcoming sin, they were selected as winners.

In fourth place: Dan.  His response concerned a sacrificial love that overcame the challenge of post-natal depression.  Although he doesn’t specifically state it, I would think that the husband in his account was faced with temptations to sin as he dealt, not with physical sickness per se, but the emotional distress of his wife.  The need to forgive sin rather than to forebear under suffering would be that much more likely.

In third place: Sarah.  She describes the gospel’s power to overcome class distinctions and social barriers.  Again, although contending with sin was not prominent between William Carey and Charlotte, they certainly were faced with the need to forgive others of their prejudice against them.

In second place: Guy Davies, if only because his response was eight pages long!  Guy brought out the fruit of the gospel evidenced in Jonathan and Sarah Edward’s marriage.  Their harmony and peaceable dynamics were the result of their mutual resolve to overcome sin with the gospel tools of repentance and forgiveness.

And finally – in first place: Cath, whose second submission specifically targeted “gospel intimacy” and “gospel love.”  Cath gave an account of the martyrdom of John Brown of Priesthill.  She then reflected on how his marriage to Isobel evidenced the harmony and unity borne of the gospel and that the couple’s love for Jesus was the supreme impetus in their lives and marriage.  Cath’s essay specifically enlarged upon “gospel intimacy” and “gospel love.”  Congratulations Cath!

Let me conclude with a submission of my own, and since I already have a book, it will not be considered as a contender in the competition.  It’s an example of gospel love from a marriage that I know about.  When the couple first married, both were professing Christians, albeit young and somewhat untaught.  It was not too long, however, before the husband started to drink and soon departed from any association with the things of God.  The wife however, continued to persevere in her love for Christ and faithfulness to the worship of God among the Lord’s people.  She took a stand for Christ and with her husband’s acquiescence, took her two boys to church as they grew into young manhood.  Over the years there were tumultuous times.  On a couple occasions, divorce was not out of the range of possibility and, some would say, even justified.  But the wife/mother persevered as a woman of faith and prayer, demonstrating obedience to 1 Peter 3:1-6.  In the midst of it all, she owned his conscience, and the consciences and love of her two sons.  In her early sixties, she was diagnosed with cancer.  She grew strong in the Lord as she drew near to death, while her husband became increasingly frantic with the fear of facing life without her.  In his desperation, he remembered the God of his youth who his wife had served all her life, and in his mid sixties, he repented and sought the Lord.  Before she went to be with Christ, she saw her husband saved, her marriage brought into alignment with the gospel, and both her sons in the pastoral ministry, having married godly women.  The power the gospel triumphed through a lifetime of gospel love.  The sin that would have otherwise destroyed her marriage and her sons was conquered by her faithful loving adherence to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  My brother and I are eternally grateful to the Lord for having given her to us as our mother and using her to bring us into God’s eternal family where we, with Dad, are now eternally brothers and sister in Christ. I didn’t use my Mom as an illustration in my book, but the Lord used her to teach me the power of gospel love in a marriage.

Perhaps this exercise has confirmed for me that the book could very well meet a real need among believers.  We need to make the gospel itself much more effective in our marriages.  We need to purposefully, intentionally, conscientiously bring the gospel to bear upon our dealings with each other’s sin.  We need to believe and expect that, as we give each other gospel love, the Spirit will work effectively in and through us to conform us to Christ and use our marriages to display the gospel and bring glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Alan, for your careful and thoughtful response, and for the book as a whole.  To summarise:

The winners:

Cath ~ Guy ~ Sarah ~ Dan

Congratulations!

The others: thanks and commiserations, and I hope you will not be put off trying again next time.

The Westminster Conference 2009 takes place this coming Tuesday and Wednesday.

More information can be found at the revamped and upgraded Westminster Conference website.  There are a few tweaks still to be made, but hopefully those will be ironed out shortly, and there should be some audio recordings of previous year’s addresses online within a couple of weeks.

Beatitudo  C.M.

Psalm 1
How greatly favoured is the man
Who, by the grace of God,
Walks not in step with sinful men,
Nor treads the sinner’s road.

The seat of mockers holds no joy:
All wickedness is spurned
By them whose love is for the law,
Who righteousness have learned.

God’s precepts are their first delight,
His statutes are their joy,
And constantly his holy Word
Their thoughts and lips employ.

Thus fed by everflowing streams
The blessed ones take root,
And in their season, pruned and fed,
Each brings forth heavenly fruit.

No foul disease is in their leaf,
No famine do they know;
In meditating day and night
God’s saints forever grow.

The wicked cannot claim the same
For when the wind comes up
Like chaff they will be swept away:
They drink a bitter cup.

They cannot stand before the Lord
At judgement’s awful hour;
They will not stand among the saints
Who praise God’s saving power.

In all these things the Lord is just,
His knowledge is complete.
The righteous and the wicked both
Their proper end shall meet.

©JRW

See all hymns and psalms.

With a late flurry of entries, the competition to win a copy of Gospel Intimacy in a Godly Marriage is now closed.

Many thanks to those who have clearly thought long and hard and carefully about the entries, not just for making it a competition, but for the genuinely profound and often moving examples of godly marriage that you have put before us.  I was particularly glad to see entries from men as well as women, and that many of the examples were flesh-and-blood ones from the present era.

These entries will now be drawn to the attention of Pastor Dunn, and I shall ask him to adjudicate.  Results will be forthcoming soon.

Thanks once again.