Some Exceedingly Difficult Letters to Answer

A selection from a letter by A. W. Pink to his friend, Lowell Green. Mr. Pink received many letters and responded to them, saying in 1946 that he had written "by hand well over 20,000 letters." He was a pastor and counselor to many by means of correspondence. This letter, which was written July 10, 1939, make clear some of the troubles to which he sought to bring light and comfort.

Of late I have had some exceedingly difficult letters to answer: among them one from a Sister who allowed her heart to run away with her head… She thought she was doing God's will, is now satisfied she was deceived by Satan, and wanting to know how the promptings of the Holy Spirit may be distinguished from those of the Evil One.

Another from a preacher of many years' experience: had a nervous breakdown; eventually went to a "Prayer Healer" (a servant of the Devil), since which the spirit of prayer has been stifled in his own soul, all assurance of salvation gone, so that he no longer dares to preach to others.

What saddens me so much is that there seem to be so very few today unto whom these poor souls can turn for helpful counsel. Many who can preach gospel, doctrinal and prophetic sermons appear to be quite incapable of entering into the experiences of the perplexed and distressed and giving them "a word in season" [Isa. 50:4]. Unless pastors are Divinely qualified to be doctors of souls they are "physicians of no value," as Job [13:4] had to say unto those who failed to diagnose his case and minister to him in his trouble. Such "qualification" cannot be acquired in any Seminary or Bible School.

The Life of Arthur W. Pink, Revised and Enlarged Edition, Iain H. Murray, Banner of Truth, 2004, p. 216.

May Your Life and Health Be Long Spared

A letter to C. H. Spurgeon from the faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, on the great preacher's 50th birthday. They rejoiced in the good ministry of the London preacher and expressed their appreciation for him and doctrinal agreement with him. The letter was written June 27, 1884.

The undersigned professors in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, beg leave to offer respectful and hearty congratulations on your fiftieth birthday. We thank God for all that he made you and by his grace enabled you to become and achieve. We rejoice in your great and wonderful work as preacher and pastor, and through your Orphanage and your Pastor's College; as also your numerous writings, so sparkling with genius, so filled with the spirit of the gospel. Especially we delight to think how nobly you have defended and diffused the doctrines of grace; how in an age so eager for novelty and marked by such loosening of belief you have through long years kept the English-speaking world for your audience while never turning aside from the old-fashioned gospel.

And now, honored brother, we invoke upon you the continued blessings of our God. May your life and health be long spared, if it be his will; may Providence still smile on your varied work, and the Holy Spirit richly bless your spoken and written messages to mankind.

Life and Letters of John Albert Broadus, by Archibald Thomas Robertson, 1901, reprint by Gano Books, pp. 341-42.

The Only Hope

A portion of a letter written by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones to the Rev. Kenneth J. MacLeay, a minister in the Free Church of Scotland. He had just been ordained to the gospel ministry and was serving his first church. Lloyd-Jones spoke about the great need of Revival and urged him to be prayerful and patient. He also encouraged him to read the sermons of men blessed of God in revival. It should be noted that although he commended Charles Finney in his letter, Lloyd-Jones later dismissed the theology of Finney as Pelagian and rationalistic. Lloyd-Jones was a believer in revival but not an advocate of revivalism. The letter was written March 3, 1942.

I trust that you will be much blessed in your charge and in the work. The times are difficult and we must be patient. The only hope, I see more and more clearly, is a Revival. I feel we are all called to pray and to prepare for such a movement. Nothing can possibly deal with the terrible state of the country and of the world. In any case our business is to sow the seed in hope, knowing that God alone can give the increase. Do not allow the devil therefore to discourage you.

I find nothing so refreshing to my soul as to read the accounts of revivals in the past. It is good also to read sermons and other works by servants whom God has honoured as Spurgeon, Moody, Finney, etc.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Letters 1919-1981, Selected with Notes, by Ian H. Murray, Banner of Truth, 1994, pp. 63-64.

I Beseech You to Pray for Me

A letter from C. H. Spurgeon, attached to a printed sermon that was on sale to the public. Sermons were printed each week in The Penny Pulpit. This letter contained information about his recovering health and an appeal for funds to carry on many of the ministries of which he was in charge. It was printed at the end of a sermon from Mark 14:6, entitled, “To Lovers of Jesus: An Example,” which was preached at the Tabernacle on November 2, 1884.

Mentone, [France], April 5, 1885

Dear Friends,

When this letter reaches you I hope I shall have returned to my family, and my people, much refreshed. I can hardly hope to be very long quite free from the disease which afflicts me; yet I do confidently expect a few months of steady service, and I am anxious that upon these the divine blessing may richly descend. I beseech you pray for me.

For more than thirty years these sermons have been published week by week; may I not entreat your supplications that I may be enabled to maintain their freshness, fullness, and power? For this I shall need great help from on high. My own resources are slender enough, but the divine fountain can never run dry.

The church over which I preside is large beyond all precedent, containing more than five thousand members. I entreat your prayers that wisdom and grace may be given me as the Pastor of such a flock. I tremble as I think of my responsibility. Who is sufficient for these things? Beside all this, — there are the Orphanage with its hundreds of little ones, the College with its students for the ministry, the Colportage with its book-selling missionaries, the Evangelists travelling from place to place and proclaiming the living word, and many other minor enterprises. The burden is too great for me unless the Lord’s own power be revealed in my weakness. For these institutions I need money in large measure, and grace beyond all measure. Those who profit by these sermons would act kindly if they would help me with their prayers and their contributions. I need both, and both at this time, in a special manner.

On my return I shall have to prepare for the gathering of the clan, in the form of the College Conference. A great host of ministers will come together to spend a week in holy fellowship and united devotion. If the Lord be with us, it will be a soul-refreshing season, and the brethren will return to their flocks prepared for a great blessing: but without the Spirit of the Lord all will be in vain. By the love of Jesus I implore the special prayers of faithful brethren and sisters. O Lord, send now prosperity! Revive thy work! Revive our own souls, for Jesus’ sake!

Your servant for Christ’s sake,
C. H. Spurgeon.

The Metropolitan Tabernacle, vol. 31, No. 1834, Logos Library System and Ages Software.