Listening to the Giants

In reading The Life and Diary of David Brainerd , I observed that Brainerd wrote often about his daily, personal struggle with sin. Here are three examples of his sin-focused entries: Lord's day, June 13: Felt something calm and resigned in the public worship: at the sacrament saw myself very vile and worthless. O that I may always lie low in the dust. My soul seemed steadily to go forth after God, in longing desires to live upon him. Thursday, May 13: Saw so much of the wickedness of my heart, that I longed to get away from myself. I never before thought there was so much spiritual pride in my soul. I felt almost pressed to death with my own vileness. Oh what a body of death is there in me! Lord, deliver my soul. I could not find any convenient place for retirement, and was greatly exercised. Lord's day, May 2: God was pleased this morning to give me such a sight of myself, as made me appear very vile in my own eyes. I felt corruption stirring in my hea...

It might surprise you that the journal of David Brainerd has encouraged hundreds of thousands of Christians and missionaries over the last 250 years. Though he never intended it to be read by anyone, Jonathan Edwards gave a gift to Christendom by publishing his experiences, his hurts, his sorrows and his victories. In other words, Brainerd’s journal resonated with fellow Christians because is a brutally honest account of his journey to the Celestial City. Brainerd was a man of great highs and great lows. In future blog posts, I will examine with more exactness his bouts of melancholy, but here I wanted to simply show some examples of his legendary journal. Wednesday, May 18. “My circumstances are such, that I have no comfort, of any kind, but what I have in God. I live in the most lonesome wilderness; have but one single person to converse with, that can speak English. Most of the talk I hear, is either Highland Scotch or Indian. I have no fellow-Christian to whom I might ...

This is the last blog post on Jonathan Edwards. He (as with most of the “giants”) has been influential in “cementing” my theological foundation. There are two areas in particular that Edwards has helped bring me clarity; 1) the nature of free will and 2) the nature of “religious affections”. First, Edwards’ statement regarding the nature of “free will”.   “Free moral agents always act according to the strongest inclination they have at the moment of choice.” Why did this seemingly obvious statement transform my thinking? Well, mainly because it came from the mouth of a staunch Calvinist. Since the bible teaches that God had ordained everything, even the steps we take in this life (Prov. 16:9), the issue of free will is a normal concern for any thoughtful person, especially for any Christian who desires to embrace the biblical teaching of both divine sovereignty and human responsibility . Edwards, through the lens of the doctrine of original sin, makes a clear cas...

Every pastor-scholar must spend time in his study. No man who aspires to such a position can avoid it. Undoubtedly, there are some men who thrive on it. Others die trying (one of my older peers in seminary died during finals week). Yet few were like Edwards. Edwards’ first biographer penned the words that would forever define him: “He commonly spent thirteen hours, every day, in his study.” Impressive, huh. Yet many fault Edwards for such diligence. They accuse him of being an “ivory tower” theologian, who was aloof and disengaged with the sheep he was called to “shepherd”. Is this assessment of Edwards correct? No….well, mostly no. Here is a more balanced understanding of Jonathan Edwards: First , Edwards’ study was always accessible to his family and his congregants. Samuel Hopkins (Edwards’ first biographer) writes: “He believed he could do more good conversing with persons under religious impressions in his study where they were treated with all desirab...

Sarah Edwards, like most wives of the “giants”, were basically unknown. The reasons for this are many. They rarely wrote. They were “helpers” to their husbands first, which seemed incongruent to self-promotion. The secular and sacred culture of the previous centuries was typically “patriarchal”, which saw little worth in hearing from a “woman” and to publish anything from a woman would have been almost comical. Finally, families were normally large and women (with the help of servants) did all the domestic duties. Yet, because of the contemporary interest of Edwards during his lifetime, Sarah was integrated through the pages of her husband’s biographies. Here are some observations from Samuel Hopkins (one of Edwards’ first biographer): “She made it her rule to speak well of all, so far as she could with truth and justice to herself and others. Thus she was tender of everyone’s character, even of those who injured or spoke evil of her.” He continues: “In the midst of these comp...

In 1950, J.I. Packer, O. Raymond Johnston and the legendary D. M. Lloyd-Jones began what would be known as the Puritan Conferences. These conferences lasted for roughly 20 years and are undoubtedly the reason for the resurgence of puritan theology and puritan reprints. Here is an excerpt from the mouth of Packer himself: “The interests of the Conference are practical and constructive, not merely academic. We look on the Puritans as our fellow-Christians, now enabled to share with us, through the medium of their books, the good things which God gave them three centuries ago…And the question which we ask is not simply the historical one; what did they do and teach? (though, of course, that is where we start); our questions are rather these: how far is their exposition of the Scriptures a right one? And what biblical principles does it yield for the guiding of our faith and life today? The second half of each session of the Conference is devoted to discussing the contents of the paper ...