R. Pierce Beaver, Pioneers in Mission (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966). $6.95.
This book is a significant contribution to the understanding of the rise of mission interest and efforts in America. Its uniqueness is that for the first time it places in the hands of the reading public a collection of all extant missionary ordination sermons through the eighteenth century except one, which the editor feels did not merit inclusion. Two sermons delivered at the ordination and farewell of America’s first overseas missionaries in 1812 are also included. Published, circulated and widely read, these sermons were important promotional literature for the infant mission cause. Beaver has also included several charges to missionaries being ordained, instructions regarding their work and short speeches made by ministers extending the right hand of fellowship to men just ordained. However, all of these documents are not of equal value for understanding early American missionary efforts. Some of them bulge with insight. Ebenezer Pemberton’s sermon at David Brainerd’s ordination in 1744 demonstrates how a wrong interpretation of “compelling sinners to come in” has blunted the effectiveness of the church’s mission in times past. Sixty years before the first foreign missionaries were sent out, Nathanael Appleton realized the importance of sending the gospel to all the nations of the earth. At Stephen Badger’s ordination in 1753 he concludes, “Surely then, there is nothing of equal Importance with this, to Mankind in general” (p. 140). Only men of the highest quality who savingly know the Lord are fit for the Christian ministry and for bringing the gospel to heathen Indians, asserts Samuel Buell at Samson Oecum’s ordination. The sermon of liberal Bostonian scholar Charles Chauncy castigates earlier missions to neighboring Indians for too closely identifying a change of heart with adoption of Puritan culture. He also honestly admits that they of the New England tradition have not done all they could and should have “to propagate the knowledge of the one true and living God, and his only begotten Son, among the ignorant and savage people in these regions of the shadow of death” (p. 199). The instructions from the directors of the New York Missionary Society to their missionaries offer a view of the full proportions of the mission as conceived by them: organization of churches, establishment of schools, learning of Indian languages and appreciation of Indian customs. Professor Leonard Woods’ sermon of 1812 deals with six motives for foreign missions. From the early sermons in the book to this one one detects a shift in basic motivation for mission from the glory of God to compassion for fellow man. Beaver indicates that even in Woods’ sermon the glory of God has not completely disappeared as a motivating factor, however.
Other sermons are as disappointingly sparse as sources on American missions as the foregoing are rewarding. Appleton’s 1735 sermon is a marked contrast to his 1753 sermon. It could have been preached at any contemporary New England ordination if two meager paragraphs of direct application to John Sergeant would have been dropped. The style of most of the sermons makes for rather tedious reading.
As valuable as this collection of documents are Beaver’s general introduction and his introductions to the specific documents. In the former he characterizes early mission efforts in America, paying special attention to methods, motives and the relation of the mission and the missionary. The latter acquaint the reader with the respective mission, missionary and leaders participating in the ordination services. Such d i v e r s e “pioneers” as Eleazer Wheelock and Charles Chauncy are sketched and evaluated in terms of their contributions to American missions. The editor shows how seventeenth and eighteenth century efforts to convert neighboring Indians, largely on a part-time basis by pastors of white congregations, led to the ordination of full-time missionaries to the Indians and culminated in the birth of full-lime foreign mission service in the early nineteenth century. One mllst not look in this book for a treatment of such European-directed mission efforts to the Negroes and Indians of colonial America as were carried on by the Anglicans and Moravians. This book is limited to indigenous American efforts -largely New Eng. land Congregational. Within this framework these introductions offer more penetrating interpretations than given until now. They also contain much information not to be found in the standard surveys of history of missions, acquainting us with missionaries like Stephen Parker, Ebenezer Hinsdell, Joseph Seccombe, joseph Bowman, Charles Smith and Joseph Bullen. People to any degree interested in missions and those involved in all phases of the church’s mission can read this book with profit. It is an important new “Source Book on the Rise of American Missions to the Heathen.”
JAMES J. DE JONGE
James Stalker: THE PREACHER AND HIS MODELS, 284 pp. Baker Book House, 1967 (price $2.95)
The nine chapters which comprise this volume are lectures to prospective ministers at Yale. They were delivered some seventy years ago by James Stalker, preacher and professor in Scotland. Here are unfolded the call, the requisites and the message which the preacher of today is to bring in the name of God. These “practical” questions for seminarians are answered in the light of what Scripture teaches concerning the experiences and ministries of especially Isaiah and Paul. Captivating and convincing in its literary style as well as in its clear arrangement of material, this book deserves to be in the hands of all ministers and prospective ministers not just once but several times. It provides many a healthy antidote to onesidedness, while challenging those who have been called to preach the gospel to stir up the gift that is in them.
PETER Y. DE JONG
Gordon R. Lewis: CONFRONTING THE CULTS, 198 pp., paper. Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1966.
The author is Professor of Theology at Conservative Baptist Seminary in Denver, Colorado.
He defines a cult as “a religious group which claims authorization by Christ and the Bible but neglects or distorts the gospel….” He mentions convincing reasons for the rapid growth of different cults, all reminding the church of its own urgent need of zeal and dedication.
The book especially deals with Russellism, Mormonism, Christian Science, Adventism, Unity, and Spiritualism, stressing that we ought to confront them rather than merely being confronted by them. Along with our Professor A. A. Hoekema, he pleads for the positive approach rather than the defensive stance too common among us.
Professor Lewis names seven leading questions for use in confronting cultists: 1. Whether their teachings are based solely on the Bible; 2. Whether their primary aim is preaching the gospel; 3. Whether they hold Jesus to be the Christ, the eternal God; 4. Whether his shed blood is the sole basis for pardon from sin; 5. Whether he rose again from the dead; 6. Whether they trust Jesus as Redeemer and Lord; 7. Whether their salvation is at all based on their own achievements.
At the end of each of the seven chapters are footnotes, a short bibliography, and a teaching plan for class-room use.
This very readable and soundly biblical book challenges us to: 1. Have a clearly presentable grasp of the basics of our own Christian faith; 2. To be able and ready to humbly and kindly ask such questions of the cultists as will show where they differ; 3. In it all to earnestly seek to win them, rather than to be well rid of them.
CORNEAL HOLTROP
https://outlook.reformedfellowship.net/wp-admin/media-upload.php?post_id=56236&type=image&TB_iframe=1
This book is a significant contribution to the understanding of the rise of mission interest and efforts in America. Its uniqueness is that for the first time it places in the hands of the reading public a collection of all extant missionary ordination sermons through the eighteenth century except one, which the editor feels did not merit inclusion. Two sermons delivered at the ordination and farewell of America’s first overseas missionaries in 1812 are also included. Published, circulated and widely read, these sermons were important promotional literature for the infant mission cause. Beaver has also included several charges to missionaries being ordained, instructions regarding their work and short speeches made by ministers extending the right hand of fellowship to men just ordained. However, all of these documents are not of equal value for understanding early American missionary efforts. Some of them bulge with insight. Ebenezer Pemberton’s sermon at David Brainerd’s ordination in 1744 demonstrates how a wrong interpretation of “compelling sinners to come in” has blunted the effectiveness of the church’s mission in times past. Sixty years before the first foreign missionaries were sent out, Nathanael Appleton realized the importance of sending the gospel to all the nations of the earth. At Stephen Badger’s ordination in 1753 he concludes, “Surely then, there is nothing of equal Importance with this, to Mankind in general” (p. 140). Only men of the highest quality who savingly know the Lord are fit for the Christian ministry and for bringing the gospel to heathen Indians, asserts Samuel Buell at Samson Oecum’s ordination. The sermon of liberal Bostonian scholar Charles Chauncy castigates earlier missions to neighboring Indians for too closely identifying a change of heart with adoption of Puritan culture. He also honestly admits that they of the New England tradition have not done all they could and should have “to propagate the knowledge of the one true and living God, and his only begotten Son, among the ignorant and savage people in these regions of the shadow of death” (p. 199). The instructions from the directors of the New York Missionary Society to their missionaries offer a view of the full proportions of the mission as conceived by them: organization of churches, establishment of schools, learning of Indian languages and appreciation of Indian customs. Professor Leonard Woods’ sermon of 1812 deals with six motives for foreign missions. From the early sermons in the book to this one one detects a shift in basic motivation for mission from the glory of God to compassion for fellow man. Beaver indicates that even in Woods’ sermon the glory of God has not completely disappeared as a motivating factor, however.
Other sermons are as disappointingly sparse as sources on American missions as the foregoing are rewarding. Appleton’s 1735 sermon is a marked contrast to his 1753 sermon. It could have been preached at any contemporary New England ordination if two meager paragraphs of direct application to John Sergeant would have been dropped. The style of most of the sermons makes for rather tedious reading.
As valuable as this collection of documents are Beaver’s general introduction and his introductions to the specific documents. In the former he characterizes early mission efforts in America, paying special attention to methods, motives and the relation of the mission and the missionary. The latter acquaint the reader with the respective mission, missionary and leaders participating in the ordination services. Such d i v e r s e “pioneers” as Eleazer Wheelock and Charles Chauncy are sketched and evaluated in terms of their contributions to American missions. The editor shows how seventeenth and eighteenth century efforts to convert neighboring Indians, largely on a part-time basis by pastors of white congregations, led to the ordination of full-time missionaries to the Indians and culminated in the birth of full-lime foreign mission service in the early nineteenth century. One mllst not look in this book for a treatment of such European-directed mission efforts to the Negroes and Indians of colonial America as were carried on by the Anglicans and Moravians. This book is limited to indigenous American efforts -largely New Eng. land Congregational. Within this framework these introductions offer more penetrating interpretations than given until now. They also contain much information not to be found in the standard surveys of history of missions, acquainting us with missionaries like Stephen Parker, Ebenezer Hinsdell, Joseph Seccombe, joseph Bowman, Charles Smith and Joseph Bullen. People to any degree interested in missions and those involved in all phases of the church’s mission can read this book with profit. It is an important new “Source Book on the Rise of American Missions to the Heathen.”
JAMES J. DE JONGE
James Stalker: THE PREACHER AND HIS MODELS, 284 pp. Baker Book House, 1967 (price $2.95)
The nine chapters which comprise this volume are lectures to prospective ministers at Yale. They were delivered some seventy years ago by James Stalker, preacher and professor in Scotland. Here are unfolded the call, the requisites and the message which the preacher of today is to bring in the name of God. These “practical” questions for seminarians are answered in the light of what Scripture teaches concerning the experiences and ministries of especially Isaiah and Paul. Captivating and convincing in its literary style as well as in its clear arrangement of material, this book deserves to be in the hands of all ministers and prospective ministers not just once but several times. It provides many a healthy antidote to onesidedness, while challenging those who have been called to preach the gospel to stir up the gift that is in them.
PETER Y. DE JONG
Gordon R. Lewis: CONFRONTING THE CULTS, 198 pp., paper. Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1966.
The author is Professor of Theology at Conservative Baptist Seminary in Denver, Colorado.
He defines a cult as “a religious group which claims authorization by Christ and the Bible but neglects or distorts the gospel….” He mentions convincing reasons for the rapid growth of different cults, all reminding the church of its own urgent need of zeal and dedication.
The book especially deals with Russellism, Mormonism, Christian Science, Adventism, Unity, and Spiritualism, stressing that we ought to confront them rather than merely being confronted by them. Along with our Professor A. A. Hoekema, he pleads for the positive approach rather than the defensive stance too common among us.
Professor Lewis names seven leading questions for use in confronting cultists: 1. Whether their teachings are based solely on the Bible; 2. Whether their primary aim is preaching the gospel; 3. Whether they hold Jesus to be the Christ, the eternal God; 4. Whether his shed blood is the sole basis for pardon from sin; 5. Whether he rose again from the dead; 6. Whether they trust Jesus as Redeemer and Lord; 7. Whether their salvation is at all based on their own achievements.
At the end of each of the seven chapters are footnotes, a short bibliography, and a teaching plan for class-room use.
This very readable and soundly biblical book challenges us to: 1. Have a clearly presentable grasp of the basics of our own Christian faith; 2. To be able and ready to humbly and kindly ask such questions of the cultists as will show where they differ; 3. In it all to earnestly seek to win them, rather than to be well rid of them.
CORNEAL HOLTROP
https://outlook.reformedfellowship.net/wp-admin/media-upload.php?post_id=56236&type=image&TB_iframe=1