Archive for August, 2009

UPDATED The following books have been donated by kind publishers and will be available for free to all registered attendees of the Baptist Spirituality conference on August 24th – 25th. There are ten books that have been donated. The value of these books is well worth the price of registration! Register soon to ensure your spot at this year’s conference!

God’s Rules for Holiness:  Unlocking the Ten Commandments by Peter Masters (Wakeman Trust)

Soldiers of Christ: Selections from the Writings of Basil Manly Sr. & Basil Manly Jr. by Michael A.G. Haykin, Roger D. Duke, and A. James Fuller (Founders Press)

Free Church – Free State:  The Positive Baptist Vision by Nigel Wright (Paternoster)

The Fear of God:  The Soul of Godliness by John Murray (Solid Ground Christian Books)

Southern Baptist Identity:  An Evangelical Identity Faces the Future, edited by David S. Dockery (Crossway)

An Introduction to the Baptists by Erroll Hulse (Audubon Press)

In God We Trust?  What is God Saying in the Midst of this Financial Crisis? by Michael A.G. Haykin (Audubon Press)

C H Spurgeon on Creation and Evolution: An Interview Conducted by David Harding (DayOne)

The Advent of Evangelicalism: Exploring Historical Continuities (B&H Academic)

A Sweet Flame: Piety in the Letters of Jonathan Edwards (Reformation Heritage Books)

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

In celebration of the four-hundredth anniversary of the modern Baptist movement, the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies is capping off its annual conference with an action-packed evening that will be opened up to the entire seminary community and the general public.

6:45 pm “Spirituality of Historic Baptist Hymnody:  A Hymn Sing” (BROADUS CHAPEL)

7:45 pm “ ‘We Believe with the Heart and with the Mouth Confess’: The Engaging Piety of John Smyth and the Early General Baptists”  (BROADUS CHAPEL)

9:00 pm “Reformed and Anabaptist:  Strengths and Shortcomings of Two Traditions”: A Late Night Discussion between Drs. Yarnell and Haykin (NORTON 195)

While these Tuesday evening events are free, registration for the entire conference is still open. There is a student rate and at least seven books will be given away to all registered attendees.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Again, from the pen of Andrew Fuller:

“…the way to true excellence is not to affect eccentricity, nor to aspire after the performance of a few splendid actions; but to fill up our lives with a sober, modest, sincere, affectionate, assiduous, and uniform conduct. “

My, reading Andrew Fuller is such a tonic! Here he is on spiritual enjoyments and how these were realized in his dear friend Samuel Pearce:

“A little religion, it has been justly said, will make us miserable; but a great deal will make us happy. The one will do little more than keep the conscience alive, while our numerous defects and inconsistencies are perpetually furnishing it with materials to scourge us: the other keeps the heart alive, and leads us to drink deep at the fountain of joy. Hence it is, in a great degree, that so much of the spirit of bondage, and so little of the Spirit of adoption, prevails among Christians. Religious enjoyments with us are rather occasional, than habitual; or if in some instances it be otherwise, we are ready to suspect that it is supported in part by the strange fire of enthusiasm, and not by the pure flame of Scriptural devotion. But in Mr. Pearce, we saw a devotion ardent, steady, pure, and persevering: kindled, as we may say, at the altar of God, like the fire of the temple, it went not out by night nor by day. He seemed to have learnt that heavenly art, so conspicuous among the primitive Christians, of converting everything he met with into materials for love, and joy, and praise. “

Here is Andrew Fuller comparing true Christianity with other religious systems:

“The various kinds of religion that still prevail, the pagan, Mahometan, Jewish, papal, or Protestant, may form the exteriors of man according to their respective models; but where is the man amongst them, save the true believer in Jesus, that overcometh the world? Men may cease from particular evils, and assume a very different character; may lay aside their drunkenness, blasphemies, or debaucheries, and take up with a kind of monkish austerity, and yet all may amount to nothing more than an exchange of vices. The lusts of the flesh will on many occasions give place to those of the mind; but to overcome the world is another thing. By embracing the doctrine of the cross, to feel not merely a dread of the consequences of sin, but a holy abhorrence of its nature—and, by conversing with invisible realities, to become regardless of the best, and fearless of the worst, that this world has to dispense—this is the effect of genuine Christianity, and this is a standing proof of its Divine original. …this is true religion.”

Identity and vision go together like two peas in a pod!

If we have no idea who we are, where we have come from, what is our DNA, do not surprised that there is no vision.

Vision for our future is initmately linked to knowledge of our past.

“If the gospel of Christ be true, it should be heartily embraced. We should yield ourselves to its influence without reserve. We must come to a point, and resolve to be either infidels or Christians. To know the power of the sun we should expose ourselves to his rays: to know the sweetness of honey we must bring it to our palates. Speculations will not do in either of these cases, much less will it in matters of religion. ‘My son,’ saith God, ‘give me thine heart!’ “

Samuel Pearce on the human state:

“I consider man as a depraved creature, so depraved, that his judgment is as dark as his appetites are sensual; wholly dependent on God, therefore, for religious light as well as true devotion: yet such a dupe to pride as to reject every thing which the narrow limits of his comprehension cannot embrace; and such a slave to his passions as to admit no law but self- interest for his government. With these views of human nature, I am persuaded we ought to suspect our own decisions, whenever they oppose truths too sublime for our understandings, or too pure for our lusts.”

I need a very high res picture of A Booth asap.

If anyone out there has such, send it to me at mhaykin@sbts.edu.

Many thanks in advance!

Love this paragraph by Andrew Fuller describing his close friend Samuel Pearce:

“In many persons the pleasures imparted by religion are counteracted by a gloomy constitution: but it was not so in him. In his disposition they met with a friendly soul. Cheerfulness was as natural to him as breathing; and this spirit, sanctified by the grace of God, gave a tincture to all his thoughts, conversation, and preaching. He was seldom heard without tears; but they were frequently tears of pleasure. No levity, no attempts at wit, no aiming to excite the risibility of an audience, ever disgraced his sermons. Religion in him was habitual seriousness, mingled with sacred pleasure, frequently rising into sublime delight, and occasionally overflowing with transporting joy.”

May God forgive those brethren have so lived that Christianity appeared to be a thing of gloom and doom!