A selection from a letter by A. W. Pink to Harold J. Bradshaw of Norwich, England. Iain Murray says that the most remarkable correspondence of Pink that survives is the letters exchanged between Bradshaw and Pink. I have had the privilege of seeing these letters, having known Dudley Bradshaw, the son of Harold Bradshaw. Bradshaw grew up under hyper-Calvinistic teaching and struggled with assurance. Pink spoke plainly to him in an attempt to help him either to become a genuine believer or gain the certainty of salvation.
A postman may be gruff, even surly, but that is (relatively) a trifling matter if he hands you a valuable letter! I am an ‘earthen’ and not a golden vessel. I may not be as suave as you might wish, I may even appear harsh, but I hope you will not suffer such defects in your would-be physician to prejudice you against his treatment of your case. This is a day which calls for plain dealing, not Judas-like kisses.
The Life of Arthur W. Pink, by Iain H. Murray, revised and enlarged edition, The Banner of Truth Trust, 2004, p. 231.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Into The Heavenly City
A selection from a letter by Eliza McCoy, the niece of the beloved missionary to the American Indians, Isaac McCoy, after his death. She wrote to comfort Mrs. McCoy. The letter was written on June 9, 1846:
I have reflected much upon the infinite happiness with which his soul is now filled. By an eye of faith I have followed him to the heavenly city. At the entrance stood his parents, all of his brothers but one, with eleven of his children, to welcome him through the gates. Nor were these all; for near by there stood a group arrayed in robes of victory with harps of gold in their hands. And as they raised the notes of praise to their loftiest strain, they said, “We are those from the red man’s land, to whom you carried the news of salvation. We listened to your story of a Savior’s dying love; we believed, cast ourselves at the feet of that Savior, sought and obtained His mercy. We have, some of us, long since been called home. Now, with heavenly rapture, we hail you as you enter upon eternal rest from all your earthly toils.” But even this is not all. He was introduced into the very presence of the Savior in whose cause it was his meat and his drink to labor when on earth.
Isaac McCoy: Apostle of the Western Trail, by George M. Ella, Particular Baptist Press, 2002, pp. 555-56.
I have reflected much upon the infinite happiness with which his soul is now filled. By an eye of faith I have followed him to the heavenly city. At the entrance stood his parents, all of his brothers but one, with eleven of his children, to welcome him through the gates. Nor were these all; for near by there stood a group arrayed in robes of victory with harps of gold in their hands. And as they raised the notes of praise to their loftiest strain, they said, “We are those from the red man’s land, to whom you carried the news of salvation. We listened to your story of a Savior’s dying love; we believed, cast ourselves at the feet of that Savior, sought and obtained His mercy. We have, some of us, long since been called home. Now, with heavenly rapture, we hail you as you enter upon eternal rest from all your earthly toils.” But even this is not all. He was introduced into the very presence of the Savior in whose cause it was his meat and his drink to labor when on earth.
Isaac McCoy: Apostle of the Western Trail, by George M. Ella, Particular Baptist Press, 2002, pp. 555-56.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Had He Not Been Prepared
A letter by Rev. Daniel Baker, pastoring in Tuscalossa, Alabama at the time, to his dear friend, Rev. John S. Galloway, pastor in Springfield, Ohio; writing about a convert who died shortly after his conversion. The letter was written February 25, 1839:
Dear Brother Galloway:
I told you of the revival with which we were favoured last fall. Well, one of the converts died a few days since, furnishing a new proof of the great importance of at once securing the salvation of the soul. This young convert, a very interesting and talented young man, was accidently shot while hunting, and died in about six hours. On hearing the sad intelligence that he had received a mortal wound, I stepped into a carriage and went to the place, about two miles from the city, where I found him lying upon the ground, weltering in his gore. He was in great agony of body; he groaned and cried aloud, so that his voice re-echoed through the grove. ‘My dear brother,’ said I, ‘Is Christ precious?’ “He is,’ replied he. ‘Are you willing to die?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Are you happy?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, I trust you will soon be in heaven; and there is no pain there.’ As soon as I mentioned this, he seemed to be wonderfully calmed, and, as well as I can recollect, he cried aloud no more. Observing his apparent composure, I thought his pain was really gone; but on putting the question, he said, ‘Great pain.’ He was brought in a furniture carriage to town. I though he would have died on the road; but he was carried to the house of a friend, and, in about two hours after, he peacefully fell asleep in Jesus. O, what a blessed thing it is to be a Christian! As our Master says, ‘Blessed is that servant whom our Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.’ Had he not bee prepared, when shot, how could he have been when he died? O, how do poor sinners place in peril the salvation of their souls! My dear brother, your business and mine is to do what we can to awaken them. May the Lord make us more earnest and more faithful in our great work.
With Christian salutations, your brother in Christ,
Daniel Baker
Making Many Glad: The Life and Labours of Daniel Baker, by William M. Baker, first published in 1858, reprinted by the Banner of Truth, 2000, p. 217-18.
Dear Brother Galloway:
I told you of the revival with which we were favoured last fall. Well, one of the converts died a few days since, furnishing a new proof of the great importance of at once securing the salvation of the soul. This young convert, a very interesting and talented young man, was accidently shot while hunting, and died in about six hours. On hearing the sad intelligence that he had received a mortal wound, I stepped into a carriage and went to the place, about two miles from the city, where I found him lying upon the ground, weltering in his gore. He was in great agony of body; he groaned and cried aloud, so that his voice re-echoed through the grove. ‘My dear brother,’ said I, ‘Is Christ precious?’ “He is,’ replied he. ‘Are you willing to die?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Are you happy?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, I trust you will soon be in heaven; and there is no pain there.’ As soon as I mentioned this, he seemed to be wonderfully calmed, and, as well as I can recollect, he cried aloud no more. Observing his apparent composure, I thought his pain was really gone; but on putting the question, he said, ‘Great pain.’ He was brought in a furniture carriage to town. I though he would have died on the road; but he was carried to the house of a friend, and, in about two hours after, he peacefully fell asleep in Jesus. O, what a blessed thing it is to be a Christian! As our Master says, ‘Blessed is that servant whom our Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.’ Had he not bee prepared, when shot, how could he have been when he died? O, how do poor sinners place in peril the salvation of their souls! My dear brother, your business and mine is to do what we can to awaken them. May the Lord make us more earnest and more faithful in our great work.
With Christian salutations, your brother in Christ,
Daniel Baker
Making Many Glad: The Life and Labours of Daniel Baker, by William M. Baker, first published in 1858, reprinted by the Banner of Truth, 2000, p. 217-18.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Ignorance of the Gospel
A selection from a letter by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, to his daughter Elizabeth, and her husband, Fred Catherwood, written on April 5. 1954:
I went to Birmingham on Tuesday and preached to a congregation called together by the Welsh community. I preached on the Woman of Samaria. I was amazed myself how readily it lent itself to the occasion as the condition of the Samaritans was so similar to that of modern Wales – Nationalism, interest in religion and theology and preaching etc., and yet ignorance of the gospel in any living and vital sense. I felt I was given much liberty and authority.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Letters 1919-1981, Selected with Notes, by Iain H. Murray, Banner of Truth, 1994, p. 117.
I went to Birmingham on Tuesday and preached to a congregation called together by the Welsh community. I preached on the Woman of Samaria. I was amazed myself how readily it lent itself to the occasion as the condition of the Samaritans was so similar to that of modern Wales – Nationalism, interest in religion and theology and preaching etc., and yet ignorance of the gospel in any living and vital sense. I felt I was given much liberty and authority.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Letters 1919-1981, Selected with Notes, by Iain H. Murray, Banner of Truth, 1994, p. 117.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Forgive Him For Christ's Sake
A selection from a letter by the one-eyed Baptist preacher of Wales, Christmas Evans, to a friend who had asked him about forgiving others. It was written on August 7, 1836:
If some person attempted to injure me in my character, by slander, calumny and falsehood; I have no inspiration by which I may know that such a one sins the sin unto death, and that God has abandoned him to irrecoverable delusion; therefore I must, according to the nature of the gospel, and the grace of God, pray for my enemy; not that he should take him to heaven in his enmity and ungodliness, but that he would grant him repentance, and make him sensible of his crime, and then forgive him for Christ’s sake. I do not expect forgiveness myself of God for the sake of the blood of Christ, but in connection with repentance and sorrow under a sense of my sins. I perceive it necessary, and have been enabled to pray for my greatest enemies, that they may be saved in the same way that I myself expect to obtain forgiveness, even in connection with repentance and faith in the blood of Christ. Our hearts must be brought into such a state in respect of our enemies, that we can say, we would rather they should be brought to heaven in God’s gracious method, than that they should perish under the righteous judgement of Jehovah.
Christmas Evans: The Life and Times of the One-Eyed Preacher of Wales, by Tim Shenton, Evangelical Press, 2001, pp. 442-43.
If some person attempted to injure me in my character, by slander, calumny and falsehood; I have no inspiration by which I may know that such a one sins the sin unto death, and that God has abandoned him to irrecoverable delusion; therefore I must, according to the nature of the gospel, and the grace of God, pray for my enemy; not that he should take him to heaven in his enmity and ungodliness, but that he would grant him repentance, and make him sensible of his crime, and then forgive him for Christ’s sake. I do not expect forgiveness myself of God for the sake of the blood of Christ, but in connection with repentance and sorrow under a sense of my sins. I perceive it necessary, and have been enabled to pray for my greatest enemies, that they may be saved in the same way that I myself expect to obtain forgiveness, even in connection with repentance and faith in the blood of Christ. Our hearts must be brought into such a state in respect of our enemies, that we can say, we would rather they should be brought to heaven in God’s gracious method, than that they should perish under the righteous judgement of Jehovah.
Christmas Evans: The Life and Times of the One-Eyed Preacher of Wales, by Tim Shenton, Evangelical Press, 2001, pp. 442-43.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Atonement and Faith
A selection from a letter by Robert L. Dabney, to his youngest sister, whom he sought to win to Christ by exhorting her to believe and be saved. The letter was written either in 1840 or 41:
If… you had committed but one sin, some atonement must be made for it, either by your own eternal sufferings or by the obedience and death of an all-sufficient, because an infinite and divine, Saviour. God is pleased to accept the atonement of Christ, and all you have to do is to receive it thankfully, not caviling at the mode or the conditions. This condition, which must be fulfilled before the benefits of the atonement can be enjoyed by you, is one which is evidently proper and suitable to the nature of the case. If you are sensible that you need it, you can formally accept it, in your inmost soul, and at the same time renounce all other hope, and this is the faith in Christ, which is the condition of salvation. By having this faith you do not become any more worthy. It is still sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. But by having this faith you fulfil the condition that God has been pleased to set for you, so that he can then bestow his gift of pardon in accordance with the plan he has been pleased to lay down. Simple as this faith on Jesus is, the carnal mind will not submit to it, and give up all its own hopes, unless by the grace of God constraining it.
The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney, by Thomas Cary Johnson, first published in 1903, reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust, 1977, p. 71-72.
If… you had committed but one sin, some atonement must be made for it, either by your own eternal sufferings or by the obedience and death of an all-sufficient, because an infinite and divine, Saviour. God is pleased to accept the atonement of Christ, and all you have to do is to receive it thankfully, not caviling at the mode or the conditions. This condition, which must be fulfilled before the benefits of the atonement can be enjoyed by you, is one which is evidently proper and suitable to the nature of the case. If you are sensible that you need it, you can formally accept it, in your inmost soul, and at the same time renounce all other hope, and this is the faith in Christ, which is the condition of salvation. By having this faith you do not become any more worthy. It is still sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. But by having this faith you fulfil the condition that God has been pleased to set for you, so that he can then bestow his gift of pardon in accordance with the plan he has been pleased to lay down. Simple as this faith on Jesus is, the carnal mind will not submit to it, and give up all its own hopes, unless by the grace of God constraining it.
The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney, by Thomas Cary Johnson, first published in 1903, reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust, 1977, p. 71-72.
Monday, June 2, 2008
If He Was Ever Of Us
A selection from a letter by Augusta Toplady to a friend, about a mutual acquaintance who had departed from the faith, written on September 6, 1768:
If he was ever of us in reality, God will, in due time, bring him to us again. A truly gracious man, like a thorough good watch, may deviate, and point wrong, for a season; but, like the machine just mentioned, will after a time come round, and point right as before. In the mean while, let such instances teach us to be jealous over our own corrupt hearts; make us dependent on the power and faithfulness of the Holy Ghost; stir us up to prayer, that we may be kept from being carried away with the error of the wicked; and put a song of thanksgiving into our mouths, to that God whose free, invincible grace hath enabled us to stand, when others (in appearance stronger than we) have fallen, and become as water that runneth apace.
The Works of Augustus Toplady, Bookshelf Publications, reprint from the 1794 edition, p. 832.
If he was ever of us in reality, God will, in due time, bring him to us again. A truly gracious man, like a thorough good watch, may deviate, and point wrong, for a season; but, like the machine just mentioned, will after a time come round, and point right as before. In the mean while, let such instances teach us to be jealous over our own corrupt hearts; make us dependent on the power and faithfulness of the Holy Ghost; stir us up to prayer, that we may be kept from being carried away with the error of the wicked; and put a song of thanksgiving into our mouths, to that God whose free, invincible grace hath enabled us to stand, when others (in appearance stronger than we) have fallen, and become as water that runneth apace.
The Works of Augustus Toplady, Bookshelf Publications, reprint from the 1794 edition, p. 832.
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