Lord hast thou not a time for these poor benighted souls?
What happens when, in the Lord’s providence, his people long for others to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? What happens when his people work together for this end?
In May 1787, the First Fleet set sail from Portsmouth, carrying 1,400 officers, ships’ crew, marines and their families, convicts – and the Chaplain, Richard Johnson and his wife Mary. They were bound for New South Wales, on the other side of the world.
John Newton was one of the key men who had worked to have a minister of the gospel on the First Fleet.
We get a glimpse into his motivation in this previously unpublished extract from his 1777 diary. It was written seven years before he helped found The Eclectic Society, ten years before the Fleet sailed, and twenty-two years before he helped found CMS. –
8 July 1777
My leisure time and rather more than I can well spare taken up with reading the accounts of the late voyage of Capt. Cook in the Southern Ocean and round the Globe.
Teach me to see thy hand and read thy name in these relations. Thy providence and goodness are displayed in every clime. May I be suitably affected with the case of the countless thousands of my fellow creatures, who know thee not, nor have opportunities of knowing thee.
Alas that those who are called Christians, and who venture through the greatest dangers to explore unknown regions, should only impart to the inhabitants examples of sin and occasions of mischief, and communicate nothing of thy Gospel to them. Lord hast thou not a time for these poor benighted souls, when thou wilt arise and shine upon them?
Give thanks for John Newton, and men and women like him.
Special thanks to Marylynn Rouse of The John Newton Project, who found this entry in Newton’s diary from his time in Olney and passed it on to us.
The painting of John Newton by John Russell hangs in the CMS building in Oxford. Photo © Marylynn Rouse / The John Newton Project, used with permission.
Get a Bible with all the words
In this 2 minute video clip, John Piper explains why we need a Bible translation that has all the words.
Understanding the Pentateuch
In 2005, James Robson, Tutor in Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew at Oak Hill College in London, gave a series of evening lectures on the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch.
The course ran for 8 weeks, with two lectures each week. They are available as mp3 files courtesy of Oak Hill and would be suitable to listen to on your iPod on the way to work. Each one is about 50 minutes long.
It promises far too little — the false gospel of prosperity theology
“‘God knows where the money is, and he knows how to get the money to you.” That was the message of Gloria Copeland as she was speaking at the Southwest Believers’ Convention recently held in Fort Worth, Texas. …
This ‘turbocharged’ theology offers a false hope, presents a failed message, and is a False Gospel.”
– Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, writes bluntly about the false gospel of ‘prosperity theology’.
See also this from last year on Word of Faith preachers.
(Oh, and if you must see for yourself the messages given at “the Southwest Believers’ Convention”, you can do so here. Note: the mp4 video files are around 1GB each.)
Pray the Bible
Ligon Duncan and Dan Arnold, in conjunction with the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, have produced an online prayer resource based on Matthew Henry’s book A Method for Prayer.
Ligon Duncan writes that in the book, “Henry lays down an outline of a plan for prayer (Adoration, Confession, Petition, Thanksgiving, Intercession, and Conclusion) and supplies the contents of prayer from the Scriptures themselves.”
The website follows this same pattern. It’s available at matthewhenry.org. (h/t Tim Challies.)
John Newton: Ministry on My Mind
“Over a period of 8 months, following a conversation with friends, John Newton found himself increasingly drawn to the work of the ministry. So for the six weeks which led up to his 33rd birthday (when he resolved he would make a decision) he wrote down some ‘miscellaneous thoughts’ on the subject, which have come to be published in this 25 page booklet. …”
– Paul McFarland reviews previously unpublished writings from John Newton’s private journal as he contemplated calling into pastoral ministry.
As well, former MP Jonathan Aitken commends the booklet in this video on YouTube.
‘Ministry on My Mind’ is available from The John Newton Project in the UK.
A Hymn for ordinary Christians — Great is Thy faithfulness
“Our church as been trying to memorize one hymn a month for the past ten months. This month we’re working on Great is Thy Faithfulness. I had the opportunity to introduce the hymn yesterday morning and was moved by its history. Here’s what I shared. …”
– Bob Kauflin briefly recounts the story of Thomas Chisholm.
Worship God conference audio online
More audio resources: Justin Taylor has links to the mp3 files from last weekend’s WorshipGod09 Conference, organised by Sovereign Grace Ministries.
Speakers included John Piper and Thabiti Anyabwile.
In reflecting on the conference, Thabiti Anyabwile writes:
The folks at Sovereign Grace put together the best conference I know of for folks involved in leading public praise. The conference blends both concentrated attention to the word of God and workshops addressing almost every imaginable topic involved in leading worship, songwriting, playing instruments (everything but the Oboe according to C.J.), and a host of other things. It’s a wonderfully refreshing time.
Our English Bible
Church Society has reprinted a 1936 article by Harold Smith on the origins of the English Bible. It’s an introductory article covering the period before Wycliffe to the Revised Version of 1885.
It’s available as a PDF file from Church Society.
Australia — whose land?
Dr. Peter Adam, Principal of Ridley College in Melbourne, last weekend delivered the John Saunders Lecture for 2009. His topic was ‘Australia – whose land?’.
“So all lands belongs to God, and he distributed them to many nations, setting the time and places where they would live. The land is God’s land. To respect and honour God is to know that he made Australia, and to treat the existing indigenous peoples who were here in 1788 with respect. The appalling theory of terra nullius treated people as if they had no significance. This was an insult to them, and an offence against God their maker. …”
The text of his lecture has now been made available on the Ridley College website (PDF – direct link).
The historic episcopate: a response
“I appreciate the feedback on the historic episcopate, following my blog of last fortnight, reflecting upon article 3 of the ACNA constitution.
3. We confess the godly historic Episcopate as an inherent part of the apostolic faith and practice, and therefore as integral to the fullness and unity of the Body of Christ. …”
– Bishop Glenn Davies expands his earlier comments about one article of the ACNA Constitution (PDF) – at SydneyAnglicans.net. (Photo: Russell Powell.)
The power of God
“The statistics concerning the Church of England continue to make grim reading. The decline in attendance has not abated, the number of clergy continues to fall and there are signs that even if there were more clergy many dioceses cannot afford to pay their stipends. The Church is also losing influence in the national life …
There is much ground for pessimism and it may be that we are witnessing the judgement of God on our Church and nation. Our first response to such things must always be to repent and to cry out to God for mercy. But we are called to do more, and part of what we must do is reform the Church. …”
– David Phillips, General Secretary of Church Society, writes the editorial in the current issue of Cross†Way. (PDF file.)
Cranmer & Hooker on the saving power of the word
“The first two of Ashley Null’s lecture series on repentance in classical Anglicanism have been superb. So far he has spent time unfolding the place and nature of repentance in Thomas Cranmer’s thinking and then in the thinking of Richard Hooker. …”
– ACL President Mark Thompson blogs about Ashley Null’s lectures.
Whither Evangelicalism?
“… I’d be inclined to say that the singular characteristic that stands out most among contemporary evangelicals is their distaste for drawing any clear lines between truth and error. They don’t like to handle doctrine in a polemical fashion. They especially don’t want to be thought “negative” when it comes to declaring their doctrinal convictions. …
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones saw this trend coming and warned against it. In 1971, during a visit to Australia, he gave a series of lectures that were compiled and published as a booklet, ‘What Is an Evangelical?’ If you haven’t read it, you should. …”
– Phil Johnson writes of evangelicalism in North America. Is Australia far behind?
The Narcissism Epidemic
In last weekend’s edition (August 2nd 2009) of the White Horse Inn, Michael Horton spoke with Dr. Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me, and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement.
It’s worth hearing – at the White Horse Inn website.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…