Archibald G. Brown: Spurgeon's Successor by Iain H. Murray

Archibald Brown: Spurgeon’s Successor,

Iain H. Murray, Banner of Truth Trust, 2011, 405pp.

At the 2011 Banner Ministers' Conference Iain Murray gave an address on Archibald Brown (1844-1922). Few of us knew anything much about the subject of his talk. But by the end we wanted to know more about this remarkable servant of God. With the publication of this excellent biography this longing is more than fulfilled.

Brown was converted at the age of sixteen. A friend of his, Annie Bigg (later to become his first wife), invited him to an evangelistic meeting. The speaker, Arthur Blackwood asked if Brown were a Christian. When he replied, "no", the evangelist said, "how sad". This affected him deeply. Brown was convicted of sin and then soundly converted while sitting under a tree. Full of joy, he threw his cap in the air, which then got stuck in the tree. His first act as a Christian was to retrieve his hat.

Brown trained for the ministry under C. H. Spurgeon at the Pastors’ College. He became great friends with the famous London preacher and stood with him during the Down-Grade controversy. Spurgeon was no great fan of physical exercise, but he said that he would walk four miles to hear Brown preach.

Brown’s first pastorate was in Bromley, Kent. After that he served several London churches, ministering in Stepney Green Tabernacle, East London Tabernacle, Chastsworth Road Chapel and the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

However, the 'Spurgeon's Successor' tag, while true is a little misleading. Brown was only pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle from 1907-1910, initially serving as co-pastor with C. H. Spurgeon’s son, Thomas. Browns’ longest and most fruitful period of ministry was spent in the East End of London from 1866-1897. Revival in the Stepney Green Tabernacle necessitated the building of East London Tabernacle to accommodate the large number of converts that had been added to the church. Congregations of 3,000 people thronged to hear him preach. 

The East London Tabernacle was a true community church. Murray movingly details Brown’s attempts to minister to the poverty-stricken people of the East End. He appointed nine missionaries to reach into the community with gospel hope and practical help. Brown was a fervent evangelist. His ministry touched all kinds of people. The record of his converts includes prostitutes, thieves and other criminals.

The preacher experienced personal tragedy, losing four wives to the grave, before dying himself shortly after his last wife, Edith was taken to glory.

Brown knew times of revival in the earlier period of his ministry.  As the 20^th century wore on he was faithful to the gospel in days of general decline. He remained a staunch Calvinist when Calvinistic theology was rapidly going out of fashion.

Iain Murray had produced a masterly biography of Archibald Brown, giving a vivid portrait of his times and capturing something of the essence of this undeservedly forgotten minister of Christ. His life is full of lessons for our situation today. Brown lived to preach the gospel in season and out of season. And so should we. 

* Reviewed for Evangelical Times.

Education, education, education

On Wednesday I went back to school, sitting in on a couple of lessons. I was there as a Parent Governor of the local secondary school, linked to the BV (Beliefs & Values, or RE in old money) Department. From what I remember of school at that stage, it was mostly about teachers writing stuff on blackboards with sticks of chalk, or dictating information that we had to note down in our exercise books. It didn't really engage me. Present day lessons are a lot more fun and interesting, with plenty of teacher/class interaction through questions and discussion and the use of PowerPoint, film clips etc. 

I listened with interest to the leaked news of Michael Gove's proposals on bringing back the O-level. It reminded me that my lack of educational effort was rewarded by the school I attended putting me in for CSEs in most subjects. Yesterday's Guardian described the CSE as "a badge of a misspent youth". Knowing that CSEs were regarded as the poor relative of O levels gave me little motivation me to get on with my school work. The Headteacher's comment on my Report for 1976 read, "Guy is content to waste a great deal of time. He is under achieving in most subjects. Greater effort is needed at all times." Ouch! Harsh, but true. I left school at sixteen and became a YTS boy in British Steel Orb Works, Newport. I'm all for making the GCSE as rigorous and highly regarded a qualification as possible. But Nick Clegg was right to point out that while some people might applaud the reintroduction of O-levels, few would welcome the return of  little lamented CSEs. May as well bring back Grammar Schools.   

It was only on becoming a Christian in my late teens that I became interested in reading and study. I hungrily devoured Lloyd-Jones' sermons on Romans and Ephesians and began reading theology and church history in earnest. Feeling called to the Ministry I went to the London Theological Seminary (1988-1990), which only served to deepen my love for theological study. Later I gained a BA (Hons) degree with Greenwich School of Theology for research on the meaning and significance of the resurrection of Jesus. Education-wise the Lord has graciously restored the locust-eaten years spent wasting time rather than learning. 

Yesterday I took my son to Birmingham University for one of their open days. He's interested in studying Chemical Engineering. It looked like a fine place to study, with an attractive campus, great facilities and a vibrant student scene. We'll be off to Loughborough, Nottingham and Sheffield over the next few weeks for their open days. Spending the day looking round Birmingham Uni made me feel quite envious of my seventeen year-old son, with the prospects of a university education ahead of him. But there we are. I can't turn back the clock, but in terms of study I can try to redeem the time, Ecclesiastes 9:10.

I've sometimes thought of doing a Masters in theology. The John Owen Centre's ThM looks good. But current family life and ministry commitments mean I won't be getting around to that for a while. Never mind. There's more to learning than formal courses of study. Now, where was I in Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 3?

Education, education, education.

The race for life

I took a Primary School assembly this morning on 'Paul's Olympian race: following Jesus for a crown of righteousness'. One of my points was that Jesus inspired the apostle to keep on serving and helping others. I asked the children how they might be of help in the life of the school. One said by being nice, another by listening in class, etc. But the best answer by far was, "by not murdering people." A very important principle, I'm sure you'll agree. 

Reformed Catholic Confessions

Confessions of faith should reflect the historical connectedness of the Christian Church. The compliers of the Westminster Confession and its Independent and Baptist derivatives, the Savoy Declaration and Second London Baptist Confession did not turn their backs on the rich theological heritage of the Church and try and start from scratch in confessing the faith. For all their Puritan distinctives, the seventeenth century confessions were Reformed Catholic documents. Their God is the triune Lord of of the Nicene Creed. Their Jesus is the divine person with a human nature set forth in the Definition of Chalcedon. Their doctrine of salvation by the sovereign grace of God is consistently Augustinian. With them we hold to the faith once delivered to the saints. 

The World Reformed Fellowship's recently published Statement of Faith seeks to incorporate the best of the old and also to address more recent issues such as theological liberalism and postmodernism. 

The Secret Providence of God by John Calvin

The Secret Providence of God,

John Calvin, Edited by Paul Helm,

Crossway Books, 2010, 125pp

Sebastian Castellio was once a friend and supporter of John Calvin. For a time the two men worked together in Geneva. But they drifted apart both in terms of their friendship and also theologically. Castellio especially came to dislike Calvin's teaching on the absolute sovereignty of God. He released an open letter criticising what Calvin had written on the subject. The letter took the form of fourteen articles on predestination supposedly drawn from Calvin's works, together with a point-by-point rebuttal of the Reformer's views. Calvin was stung into action on reading Castellio's manuscript. He entered the fray to defend his teaching on the providence of God. This work offers a fresh translation of Castellio's missive and John Calvin's response. 

Calvin argues his case with vigour and clarity, constantly appealing to the teaching of Scripture in support of his views. Calvin's position was not idiosyncratic. The Reformer saw the issues clearly because he stood on the shoulders of Augustine. He repeatedly cites the views of the Church Father over and against his opponent. Accordingly, Calvin insists on both the absolute sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man for his sin. He makes a distinction between the revealed will of God, which man is bound to obey and his secret will by which God governs even the sinful actions of men (Deuteronomy 29:29). But this does not mean that God is conflicted, as in all things he decrees that which is wise, just and good.  

The Reformer takes no prisoners when it comes to denouncing Castellio's disingenuous calumnies, "Now you see, you dog, what you accomplish by your violent barking (p. 64).  He raises the matter of Castellio's alleged theft of firewood when he lived in Geneva to illustrate that when people sin they do so willingly and are therefore responsible for their actions (p. 112). He concludes by likening Castellio to Shimei who cursed David when he was on the run from Absalom. Like David, Calvin could only bear up under Catellio's onslaught by taking refuge in the secret providence of God. Calvin wrote with such passion partly because he was irked by Castellio's deliberate caricaturing of his views, but his great concern was to vindicate the sovereignty of God as attested in Holy Scripture. 

Readers might wonder what exactly is the relevance of this long-forgotten theological spat to our situation today. Well, the views similar to those somewhat crudely advocated by Castellio have not gone away. He reasoned that if God is absolutely sovereign, with his will governing all things, then he must be responsible for the sinful conduct of men. He summarises Calvin's teaching under Article 4, as saying, All the crimes that have been accomplished by any man are the good and just works of God (p.43). Castellio would have it that God permits sin in deference to man's freedom, but not that he willingly permits sin for his own secret and wise purposes. The calumniator's views anticipate the teaching of Jacob Arminius. The seeds he planted find their fruition in Open Theism, which has been finding inroads in contemporary Evangelical circles. Calvin's robust response to Castellio will put iron into the veins of today's theologically anaemic Evangelicalism. 

Long weekend

Devon

traffic jam

log flume splash

skimming stone cool

fireworks thunder flash

long to rain over us

traffic jam

Home.

Jubilee

Blood is shed,

atonement made.

Let the trumpets sound.

Proclaim liberty

throughout the land.

Slaves go free,

ransomed by sacrifice.

Lost inheritance restored,

redeemed by blood

in year of  Jubilee.

Herman Bavinck and R. S. Thomas: can an idea bleed?

As a reader I'm usually a cover to cover man rather than an occasional dipper. But my approach is a bit different when it comes to poetry. As a case in point, I tend to flick through R. S. Thomas' Collected Later Poems 1988-2000, (Bloodaxe, 2004), and read a poem here and there that grabs my attention. It's a bit random I suppose, and there might be some benefit in working through the collection one at a time, but there we are. Thomas was a theologically liberal Church in Wales clergyman. (See here for my review of his biography The Man Who Went into the West). Thomas' poems often give expression to his struggles with the orthodox Christian faith. The other day I came across one entitled Agnus Dei,

No longer the Lamb

but the idea of it.

Can an idea bleed?

Or on what altar

does one sacrifice an idea?

It gave its life

for the world? No

it is we give our life

for the idea that nourishes 

itself on the dust in our veins.

God is love. Where

there is no love, no God?

There is only the gap between

word and deed we try

narrowing with an idea.

In this offering R. S. Thomas perfectly encapsulates the problem with liberal theology. The historical foundations of the Gospel in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ have been exchanged for the idea of Christ as some kind of cosmic expression of God's love. It is not that the Lamb of God gave his life for the world. An idea cannot bleed. Rather, it is we who nourish the idea of love. And that idea is projected onto God. He owes his existence to us. 

This struck me as I'm currently reading Herman Bavinck's treatment of Christ's Humiliation in The Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ. After setting out the biblical materials on Christ's sacrifice, the theologian begins to reflect on the doctrine of Christ's work. He gives attention to attempts on the part of modern theology to modify the historic teaching of the church on Christ's sacrificial death. In modern theology, "The idea that God becomes man in a specific person and subsequently suffers for others is unthinkable." (P. 351). The death of Jesus is reinterpreted as a symbol of the suffering and dying  of God in and through the world. Bavinck summarises the views of Hartmann to the effect that, "God cannot save me, but I must save God. God can only be saved through me. Actual existence is the incarnation of the deity; the cosmic process is the story of God's passion and at the same time the way to the redemption of the One crucified in the flesh." (P. 351-352). 

The liberal account of Christ's person and work totally inverts the message of the Bible and the historic teaching of the Church. The Creator/creature distinction is rendered void. The singularity of the ensfleshment of God in Christ is compromised as the whole of existence becomes the incarnation of the deity. The historical Jesus is decoupled from an idealised 'Christ of faith'. It is we who save God, not he who saves us. 

Bavinck, however maintains that "the historical Jesus and the apostolic Christ cannot be separated" (p. 272). And that, "One cannot honour Jesus without accepting him as the Christ, the Son of the living God... [T]hroughout all centuries the [church] has confessed the crucified and risen Christ as its Lord and its God." (P. 273-274). As such Jesus is the unique mediator between God and men,

He is not a third party who, coming from without, intervenes between God and us but is himself the Son of God , the reflection of his glory and the exact imprint of his very being, a partaker in God's essence, in the attributes of his nature, and at the same time the Son of Man, head of all humanity, Lord of the church. He does not stand between two parties he is those two parties in his own person. (P. 362)

Jesus is no bloodless idea, the projection of human thoughts about God. He is the God-Man who took human flesh, bled and died to save us from sin. His death was an act of vicarious satisfaction, "Christ put himself in our place, has borne the punishment of our sin, satisfied God's justice, and so secured salvation for us." (P. 398).

Agnus Dei. Behold the Lamb who redeemed us to God by his blood!

William Williams Pantycelyn was a better poet of redemption that R. S. Thomas, 

THERE is a path of pardon

In His blood;

There is a sure salvation

In His blood.

The law’s full consummation,

A Father’s approbation—

Hear Zion’s acclamation!

In His blood—

Atonement and redemption

In His blood!

William Williams, (1801-76)

tr. by William Vernon Higham (1926-)

New Foundations

The Spring edition of Affinity's theological journal,  Foundations is out now.

Steven Mittwede shows how the relationship between justification and sanctification in Paul’s letters helps us to avoid the pitfalls of legalistic religion; at stake, he says ‘is the spiritual health of individual believers and local fellowships of believers’. Derek Bigg contributes helpfully and practically on the neglected subject of the public reading of Scripture. Chris Thomas writes as a pastor and chaplain on the way in which chaplaincy work reflects a consistent theme throughout Scripture of God’s presence in the world he has made. He ends with a pertinent challenge to us all. Oliver Gross provides a thorough exegetical study of John 3:5 and comes to a well-argued (and, to some, controversial) conclusion. Finally, Kieran Beville gives us a useful survey of the main players in the phenomenon of New Atheism and encourages us, like David facing Goliath, to have courageous hearts. Book reviews from Stephen Clark, Gareth Williams, Paul Yeulett and Ro Mody complete this edition.

Confessions of a literary polygamist

When it comes to books some people are serial monogamists. They pick up a book and remain wedded to it until they have finished before starting on another one. I have a sneaking regard for such undying literary faithfulness. I could almost bring myself to echo the famous prayer of Augustine, "Make me chaste and continent, but not yet." (Confessions, 8:7). However, while the thought of being married to only one wife is fine by me, the idea of being limited to one book at a time does my head in. Only read systematic theology, for months on end? As much as I enjoy ST, no, no, please no. Only read biography? Same response. Only novels? Same again. You've got the picture. When it comes to books - and only when it comes to books, mind you, I am an unashamed polygamist. 

I have to confess, though that I don't treat all the books I read with equal attentiveness and affection. I don't even try. Some are left gathering dust for weeks, even months before I pick them up and read a chapter or two. But others keep drawing me back day after day, week after week. My current long-term read is Reformed Dogmatics by Herman Bavinck. I'm currently around half way through Volume 3. Big multi-volume sets hold no fear for me as, a bit like William Carey, I can plod. Not that reading Bavinck is a plodding hard slog. The theologian writes with a warmth, depth of insight and sheer triune God-centredness that is utterly captivating. Forget Befkhof and Reymond. Read Bavinck I say. 

One of my favourite Christian biographers has to be Iain Murray. His work on Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards and Lloyd-Jones had a massive impact on my life and thinking. I'm presently on chapter 12 of his biography of Archibald Brown. It really is excellent stuff, very moving and encouraging. 

Some time ago I started D. B. Calhuon's two volume history of Pinceton Seminary, published by Banner. I stopped reading near the end of volume one and did not disturb the set for a couple of years. But I recently finished Volume 1 and have made a good start on Volume 2, usually reading a chapter or so Sunday evenings. Few better ways to unwind than to hang out with the Alexanders and Hodges of Old Princteon, not to mention the estimable B. B. Warfield. 

But it's not all big sets. The other day I picked up The Secret Providence of God by John Calvin, edited by Paul Helm (Crossway). It's a mere 125pp. but it really is bracing stuff. Calvin takes on a pesky 'calumniator' who presumed to diss the Reformer's views on providence and the sovereignty of God. There are some great put-downs from Calvin's acid-dipped pen, "Now see, you dog, what you accomplish by your violent barking". Why don't you just tell him what you think, Mr. C? Should be finished by the end of the day. Expect a review soon. 

I've written before about John Newton's Letters as my 'waiting room book', but no visits to the doctor or dentist recently, so the old sea captain's epistles have been rather neglected of late. 

I like to read a bit of poetry. These days it's mostly Edward Taylor or R. S. Thomas. Taylor is extravagantly metaphorical, ornate and theologically orthodox. RST is stripped back, spare and sceptical. 

I keep a weather eye on politics and current affairs and have almost finished The Journey by Tony Blair. I'm a bit diffident about reading it in public in case I get accosted by an anti-war protester. But it's an interesting read that gives some insight into life in No. 10. 

Lastly Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. We've just arrived in France. A barrel of wine has been smashed, sending its blood-red contents cascading down the street.  And we've been introduced to a shoemaker.  

And that's about it for now.