Today is remembrance day. It is the day which we hope ended war forever in the main countries of Europe. It is a day for silence, contemplation, and gratitude. The thought that strikes me is that what is true of nations is also true of individuals. We war and fight with one another, and just as a small event all those years ago erupted into a major war that engulfed the globe, so in our personal relationships small disagreements can spread and sour entire families. In personal relationships, as with war, we have to know when to confront, but also when to simply let a matter lie.

I was challenged again to think—how often do I simply overlook an imagined offence committed against me, and how often do I self-righteously believe I am helping another by pointing out their weaknesses? The Scriptures seem clear that we should overlook a whole lot more of these offences than it is our natural tendency to do. Let me share a few of them with you:

• The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out. (Proverbs 17:14)
  
  
• Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offence (Proverbs 19:11).
  
  
• The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult (Proverbs 12:16).
  
  
• It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling (Proverbs 20:3).
  
  
• Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).

Yesterday it was a delight to see my old friends, Ian and Megan Jukes, and their three lovely kids. We went to visit a church founded by George Whitefield where he preached and is buried under the pulpit. I took loads of photos so have turned them into a slide show for you. If you want to see his burial place, it is at The Old South Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts.The Resurgence also posted a sermon by George Whitefield just recently.

I have to say that this experience was one of the most memorable of any of the historical tourist things I have ever done. We were shown around the church by Norm, one of the elders there. To just stand outside the church and realize that we were standing on the very street where revival had been so strong all those years ago thrilled me. We have pictures of ourselves standing at Whitefield's preaching desk, and handling his Bible.

I have to say that I felt the presence of God in that church building today, and at one point I was praying silently, "Do it again!" It was a special moment to join Ian afterwards in praying that God would once again raise up preachers like George Whitefield.

I find myself very powerfully affected whenever I visit these sites connected with historic revival. Three such visits stand out in my mind. Today's visit, a trip to Wesley Cottage, and some time I spent on our honeymoon speaking with a lady who personally remembered the Lewis Revival. On each occasion I felt a stirring in my spirit, and the same sense of the presence of God was tangible to me. Once again I have been undone. Once again I find myself longing to experience for myself the joy of being present during such a sovereign touch of God's Spirit.

As I woke early this morning, I decided to remind myself of the events of the Lewis revival. Imagine my surprise to find that there are a number of recordings by Duncan Campbell (the preacher used by God on Lewis) available for free online. I listened this morning to a talk given in 1950 by Campbell about revival. It is powerful, engaging, and captured my heart again. The sense of God's Spirit on this talk was tangible to me, almost as though the Spirit himself is somehow contained in the words.

Campbell begins his retelling of the events with which he had been so intimately involved by saying:

"One evening, an old woman 84 years of age and blind, had a vision. Now don't ask me to explain this vision because I cannot, but strange things happen when God begins to move. This dear old lady in the vision saw the church of her fathers crowded with young people, and she saw a strange minister in the pulpit. She was so impressed by this revelation, because a revelation it was, she sent for the minister and told her story. The parish minister was a God-fearing man, a man who longed to see God working. Oh, he had tried ever so many things to get the youth of the parish interested, but not one single teenager attended the church. That was the situation. Well, what did the old lady have to say to him? I'll tell you what she said: "I am sure, Mr. McKay, that you are longing to see God working. What about calling your office bearers together and suggesting to them that you spend two nights a week waiting upon God? You have tried missions, you have tried special evangelists, Mr. Mckay, have you tried God?" Oh, I tell you this is a wonderful old woman. So he meekly obeyed and said, "Yes, I'll call the session together and I will suggest that we meet on Tuesday night and Friday night, and we'll spend the whole night in prayer." I tell you, dear people, here were men who meant business. The dear old lady said, "Well, if you do that, my sister and I will get on our knees at ten o'clock on Tuesday and ten o'clock on Friday and pray until 4 a.m. . . ." And in the prayers, according to the minister, they would say again and again, "God, you are a covenant-keeping God and you must be true to your engagements . . ." One night a very remarkable thing happened. They were kneeliing amongst straw, the straw of a barn house. Suddenly one young man rose and read part of Psalm 24: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord” (vv.3-5a). And then that young man closed his Bible. And looking down at the minister and the elders, he spoke these crude words (but perhaps not so crude in our Gaelic language): “It seems to me to be so much humbug to be praying as we are praying, to be waiting as we are waiting, if we ourselves are not rightly related to God.” And then he lifted his two hands and prayed, “God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?” That dear man got no further, he fell on his knees and then on his face on the straw. In a matter of minutes three of the elders fell into a trance . . . when that happened in the barn . . . a power was let loosed . . . that shook the whole of Lewis. God stepped down. The Holy Spirit began to move among the people . . . God seemed to be everywhere . . . "


— Duncan Campbell

I defy you to listen to that talk and not be moved deeply. The description of revival is amazing, and I can feel the presence of the Spirit as I listen. As I write this, with Campbell's voice resounding in my head, I am not ashamed to say that tears are welling in my eyes. Oh, won't you join me in crying to God, "Do it again! Do what you did on Lewis. Do what you did through George Whitefield. Revive us again!"

Photos from George Whitefield's final resting place.

Mark Dever has been visiting ancient baptistries during his ministry trip to Italy. This picture is of the baptistry in which Ambrose baptised Augustine.

Everybody's favorite Presbyterians, Lig Duncan and David Wayne, will be interested to know some facts about this baptistry.

Firstly, it's BIG — surely only necessary if you are planning to baptise an adult by immersion?

Secondly, it's round so that everyone can get a good view, suggesting that baptism is seen as a testimony to others at least as much as for the individual being baptised.

The other interesting fact that Mark Dever points out is that Ambrose baptised Augustine after the latter had been appointed a bishop. (Ed. — incorrect see below!) This suggests that baptism had become detached from conversion by the fourth century, and that it surely cannot have had any connection to regeneration in their minds as why would someone risk everything by not being baptised immediately on conversion?

I don't know about the textual evidence for the mode and subjects of baptism in the fourth century, but this picture of this baptistry seems to give us some pretty potent archaeological evidence.

Now, lest anyone misunderstand the point here, I am not (and I am sure Dever would concur) in any way suggesting that the way in which Augustine was baptised has any direct authority over us — any more than how people were baptised for hundreds of years before the advent of the modern Baptists should. It is always reassuring to discover that what might initially appear to be a novel view (the modern day adult baptism) may have been the norm at an earlier point of history. Knowing that others interpreted the Bible the way we do today just adds a little to our confidence in the way we have interpreted Scripture.

So what do you make of this Lig, David, and any other Presbyterians or Anglicans who are reading?

UPDATE

When you make a mistake, as I did this morning, you have a choice — either change the entry and hide it, or add an addendum. This time, I thought I would add the following from an email from Mark Dever:

"One error on your entry. It was not Augustine that was not baptized until he was a bishop, it was Ambrose. Ambrose was a public official, and though trusting in Christ, felt that because he may have to order some morally problematic things while a high-ranking Roman official, it was better for him to do so as one unbaptized, that is, not publicly identified with Christianity. But, after he was elected bishop (against his will) he immediately resigned his position, sought baptism, and only then began to serve.

Augustine was not baptized till he was in his early 30’s but that’s because that’s when he was converted. He had been a Christian for several weeks before he was baptized (and had been listening to sermons at church for more than a year). He was not baptized as an infant. The practice was not universal at that point."

Here it is! The full story from Logos of how my e-mail to them led to one of the most exciting pre-pub offers they have had for a long time.

Don't say I didn't warn you - you definitely have to move fast to get these at the low price!

This is an e-mail from a regular news e-mail Logos sent out. To sign up for more Logos e-mails, see www.logos.com/newswire.

Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae Commentary (21 Volumes)

Suggested Retail Price: $699.95
Logos Sale Price: $489.95
Pre-Publication Special: $299.95

Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae: or Discourses Digested into One Continuous Series and Forming a Commentary Upon Every Book of the Old and New Testament is a 12,000 page commentary which is becoming more and more respected and referenced every day. Think of it as owning Simeon's sermon outlines from fifty-four years of preaching designed to "humble the sinner, exalt the Saviour and promote holiness".

"What Simeon experienced in the Word was remarkable. And it is so utterly different from the counsel that we receive today that it is worth looking at …"

—John Piper

Our story begins late one night in foggy London town . . .

Several months ago we received an e-mail from one of our users in London. He wanted to make sure that we were aware of a listing for an extremely rare out-of-print commentary series that was being sold as a part of an old library collection. He assured us that it was an excellent resource that was recently being rediscovered by many people, and he begged us to take advantage of this opportunity to get a complete set in good condition so we could put it on pre-pub.

After doing a little more research on the title, we decided it would be worth a try, and since this did appear to be quite a rare opportunity to get a complete set in good condition, we got in on the auction - and we won - for around $700.

Moving on to Dallas, Texas . . .

When we went to pay the seller for this title and he discovered that his customer was actually "Logos Bible Software," and the reason we were buying it was to put it on pre-pub, not only did he volunteer to shave $200 off the selling price, but he told us he would hand-deliver the complete set to our people in Texas personally - as his contribution to making sure that this title would make it through the pre-pub process and go into production.

It turns out he was personal friends with our main contact in Dallas, who was working on our projects there. He drove it over and handed it off himself.

Now to the reference shelves of libraries around the world . . .

We were not sure how such a popular 12,000 page commentary on the entire Old and New Testaments could have escaped our notice for so long, but we wanted to know. We did our research and checked in with some of the most prestigious libraries in the world that were around in 1832 to see which libraries took notice and endorsed it by adding it to their reference sections. Then we took a look at some of the newer libraries to see which ones knew it was so important to have - that they tracked down their own rare copies to add to their collections.

We were surprised at what we discovered . . .

Take a look at a sampling of libraries that list this set in their collections:

• Trinity College
• Cambridge University
• Glasgow University Library
• Edinburgh University Library
• Harvard University, Harvard College Library
• Dallas Theological Seminary
• Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
• Duke University Library
• Princeton Theological Seminary
• Wellesley College
• University of Manchester
• University of Wales, Lampeter
• University of Hong Kong Library
• Graduate Theological Union Library
• California Baptist University
• University of Manitoba
• Bethel Seminary Library
• Luther Seminary Library
• Southern Methodist University, Bridwell Library
• Texas Christian University
• Michigan Theological Seminary
• Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Library
• Asbury Theological Seminary
• duPont Library
• Houghton College Library
• Eastern Mennonite University
• The State Library of Pennsylvania
• American University
• Amherst College
• Boston College
• Brown University

That's a pretty impressive list, and it doesn't even include dozens more that we found, not to mention all the ones we didn't find. Needless to say we soon realized that this was a title we needed to publish for Logos Bible Software.

And now on to Bellingham Washington . . .

After the series was scanned in Dallas, we received the set back here at headquarters and put up the pre-pub page. We told a few people about it who we knew were interested in the author, and we were blown away by the results.

At the time of writing this e-mail, we had over 50% of the interest needed to put this title into production, and lots of excited bloggers talking about it out there.

What makes these 21 volumes so highly sought after?

These 21 volumes, featuring Simeon’s collected sermons, represent the fruit of his fifty-four years of preaching. Published originally in 1832 for the benefit of younger pastors seeking practical improvement at the task of sermon creation, Horae Homileticae reflects the rich source of Biblical understanding of its author, a towering figure in the history of evangelical theology.

"If Wilberforce is the most famous evangelical layman in the Church of England, then Simeon is the most famous evangelical clergyman."

—Who's Who in Christian History

These expository outlines (or “skeletons”) are not a verse-by-verse explanation of the English Bible. Rather, they are a chapter-by-chapter study, with explanations of the most important and instructive verses in each chapter.

Simeon’s aim with this commentary is "Instruction Relative to the Composition of Sermons." To this end, his exposition of the Scriptures is designed to maintain a focus on the more general aspects of a passage over and above possible treatments of particulars. His test for a sermon, as he teaches in Horae Homileticae, is threefold: does it humble the sinner, exalt the Saviour, and promote holiness?

Opposing all human systems of divinity, Simeon’s commentary is also marked by an avoidance of any possible systemization of God’s Word and entanglement with theological controversies. A self-described “moderate Calvinist” or, more plainly, a “Biblical Christian,” Simeon believed that the Bible should speak for itself. “Be Bible Christians, not systems Christians” was his maxim; "My endeavor is to bring out of Scripture what is there, and not to thrust in what I think might be there. I have a great jealousy on this head; never to speak more or less than I believe to be the mind of the Spirit in the passage I am expounding." With Horae Homileticae this conviction is soundly applied.

And now for the "bad news" . . .

As you read earlier, we won the auction for the set at around $700. From the feedback we are already getting - we know that we got away with a bargain. Others have reported that the going rate for a complete set is more like $1,000.00 if you can even find a complete set.

When the fans of this work saw that the starting pre-pub price was just $299.95, they told us how much more they paid for their print copies and got very excited about our extremely low introductory price - and the potential to get it in a much more usable format than print.

Even though we have over half of the required orders already booked, we are going to go ahead and keep the original listing price of $299.95 up for at least the rest of this week - after that, the price will go up.

Lock in the lowest price now!

Charles Simeon's 21 Volume Horae Homileticae: or Discourses Digested into One Continuous Series and Forming a Commentary Upon Every Book of the Old and New Testament will most likely go up in price in less than a week from the time we send this message. Lock in the low price while you can.

Charles Simeon's 21 Volume Horae Homileticae
Suggested Retail Price: $699.95
Logos Sale Price: $489.95
Pre-Publication Special: $299.95

For all the details, please visit the website at:

http://logos.directtrack.com/z/179/cd156

Or call 800-875-6467 to order.

---

NewsWire! -- Logos Research Systems, Inc.
1313 Commercial St., Bellingham WA 98225-4307
(800) 875-6467 -- (360) 527-1700
For technical support e-mail: tech@logos.com
www.Logos.com

This is going to be a bit of a long and personal post and will meander through some personal news, and some reflections on this blog and blogging in general, before eventually getting to the subject of American Independence Day as seen through the eyes of a Brit! So bear with me . . .

I know that none of you will believe me when I say this, but I really did consider shutting down the whole blog for good this past week - perhaps moving to a group blog if anyone could bear having me. (The title "Warnock Wars" did spring to mind for such an endeavour if I was to do it with Dave Warnock!)

Blogging is quite draining at times, and so the idea of laying it all down - or at least the pressure to write something EVERY day - was quite attractive for awhile as I lay on my bed for most of the week!

But the lure of solo-blogging proved too strong, even for a shingles weakened man. Some of you predicted that I wouldn't last without blogging for 24 hours, and judging by the traffic this past week, my absence hasn't stopped you from popping by - either to see if there was any news or to browse the archives. In fact, I made it to a week!

Speaking of the archives, one of the things that drew me back is all that unfinished business. At various points, this blog appears totally preoccupied with certain things; then after awhile the focus shifts. In the past these preoccupations have included the ESV Bible, being a reformed charismatic, preaching, Together for the Gospel, neo-liberalism, the so-called "New Perspectives on Paul", and of course, the atonement or "Who Killed Jesus?" It really isn't true that this is a one-subject blog, although at various times it sure has looked like it!

But along with all of that, there are so many loose ends to tie up, and whatever my next pre-occupation is, I do want to get back to and finish off as many of these as possible; things that spring to mind as areas to which I want to return are (roughly in order of priority):

• Blogging through the Together for the Gospel statement - Both Martyn Lloyd-Jones and John Piper will have a break for another week or so, but they and I will return to this important task - why don't you chip in as well and give yourself a chance to win a free book?
  
  
• Blogging the Gifts - I still have prophecy, discernment, tongues, and interpretation to cover in my practical look at how the gifts of the Holy Spirit are used in the churches in which I have had experience.
  
  
• Social Styles and Teamwork - this kind of practical thinking about how we can best serve and draw out different kinds of people in various teams is vital. I never finished what I wanted to say in this series, and I would love to get back to it sometime. This series was in itself a diversion from the next one in this list of unfinished series.
  
  
• Churches that Change the World - sparked by a sermon, I would love to blog more about this one day and finish going through the points I made about what kind of churches we need to see planted in order to change the expression of Christianity.
  
  
• My Story - someone recently asked if I was going to finish this autobiographical series - perhaps not, but I really should try to go a bit further with it!
  
  
• Of course, I haven't mentioned all the people I want to get around to interviewing, and the books I want to review, nor what I feel is still unfinished business with the Blogdom of God, which needs a major facelift (any web developers interested in helping with that?) nor the fact that if anyone is still interested and I can find another worthy recipient, I think I'd like to revive the Warnie awards!
  

Whilst I can't promise that I will get back to any of these loose ends, I'm glad to announce that near-normal service will resume here this week . . . well, hopefully, and wi-fi permitting!

I go to the newfrontiers "Together on a Mission" conference tomorrow, and as the shingles hasn't quite left me, whilst I do hope to do some live-blogging, I suspect it may not be as regular or as detailed as Tim Challies seems to manage at these kind of events!

I am beginning to get very excited about this conference, and am glad to have had the opportunity to quieten my heart down and begin to prepare to receive from God. For a regular preacher to get away from the home base where he feels so responsible and to just be an ordinary participant, present only to learn, is fantastic.

God has a good record of speaking to me at conferences like this, and I already feel this one will be something of a watershed for me in many ways. Why else would God arrange for me to STOP so suddenly and so completely for the week immediately before the meeting?

I haven't a clue how many other bloggers will actually be attending this conference, but we will do our best to bring you the round-up of other posts about this conference as the week goes by. Being a part of the worldwide family that is newfrontiers is one of the greatest privileges in my life, apart from having a wonderful family!

It has been a great blessing to be reminded again this week - in case I was in danger of forgetting - that I have a real life outside of blogging! I am always happy, unlike some, for that real life to appear from time to time on this blog. It always concerns me a bit when Christian bloggers in particular want to hide behind a cloak of anonymity.

I know that for many of you Americans, especially at this time of Independence Day, you will want to remind me that, of course, bloggers are "free" to do just that. But, in my opinion, as much as with great power, so also with great freedom comes great responsibility. With this blogging media a nobody like me can suddenly find his thoughts being shared online, opening up the possibility for international influence unprecedented in history for someone without any recognised power or authority.

Blogging can, because of this power for influence, be a powerful force for good and potentially a means of challenging those with established "off-blog" authority. Where that authority is being misused, or needs to be corrected, then I guess blogging can usefully be a tool - a bit like in the Reformation where pamphlets and the printing press led to a single obscure monk's weird ideas being spread throughout the known world. We should welcome this opportunity to be always reforming and holding those with influential voices to account.

But, for many bloggers - even sadly some Christian ones - the very concept of authority seems to have gone missing. Blogging can give people delusions about their own importance. It concerns me that in our drive to make a mark and stand for our own opinions, it is possible for us to denigrate those with whom we disagree, forgetting in some cases their positions of authority within the church. This wouldn't be so bad if some of the most vociferous critics of Christian leaders online were not themselves so unaccountable. The harshest voices are invariably the ones who do not tell us who they are, nor what church they go to, nor whose authority they are under. For many, of course, they do not feel the NEED to be under anybody's authority - let's be free, let's be "independent" they cry!

Of course, American Independence Day speaks to this. Few, even on this side of the Atlantic, would today doubt that throwing off the tyranny of the British king was the best thing the US could have done, both for itself and for the mother country. But imagine, if instead of a domineering and oppressive regime, there had been a king who put their interests first and exported not just "civilisation," but also the democracy we had begun to experience in England. Who knows? Perhaps we would now be living in some kind of mega-state - the United States of America and Britain or the British and American Federation or perhaps even the Anglosphere of which some people speak (see also the Wikipaedia entry on the Anglosphere).

Such thoughts are, of course, a bit fanciful, but what is perhaps less fanciful is to imagine the anarchy that would have ensued (and indeed nearly did!) if, in the history of the liberated America, the founding fathers had not learnt to balance the needs for freedom and for collective responsibility. For a country, like a church and like a family, needs to have some form of leadership and accountability. The truth is, we are not all "independent," and both in the modern family of nations and also in their constitutions (both written and in our case virtual!) this is recognised.

The pressure to be independent and stand alone is, we all often feel, never more powerfully felt than in the blogosphere. This blog has always stood for an aim to help us bloggers who follow the cause of Christ to try to stand together, even if only online! For, if we cannot learn from one another, disagree with each other honourably, and glorify Christ throughout all these interactions, there is something seriously wrong.

I have written in the past about principles for Christian blogging - we must remember that one of our characteristics as Christians is community. Let's blog to build one another up and support the leaders of the Christian movement out there in the "real world."

Incidentally, speaking of teamwork, I do want to take this opportunity to thank my editor and research assistant who helps to make all this blogging possible - whilst being keen to remain in the background! God knows the blessings that many will receive for all they do without public recognition! It really seems that I have the beginnings of a "staff," and it may be that one way to take some of the pressure off would be to have even more support in that department.

So, if you fancy an unsung-hero type job sifting blogs, Christian magazines, theological journals, secular newspapers, books, and other sources of great stories and provocative quotes for this blog, let me know!

Alternatively, do begin to use the for:apwarnock tag on del.icio.us. Since it is so easy for us to re-use those links, I am sure that a link placed there has a very good chance of appearing right here if it is consistent with the kind of things we link to!

We do also track links back to this blog, and the use of certain key words from time to time using the fantastic Google Blogsearch. (Make sure your blog is read by this service - just pass your feed through feedburner.com if for some reason it doesn't show up!

God bless you all, and let's all continue to enjoy the white-water rafting ride that blogging is together!

Jollyblogger has a fantastic post reminding us that the 31st October is also Reformation Day:

"But more importantly, the Reformation has a spiritual significance which transcends these lesser matters of life, like the affairs of nations. This is because the Reformation marked the recovery of the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. It marked the recovery of the gospel. While it is true that these things are taught in the Scriptures and that no reformer or other human being should be given credit for the doctrines themselves, it is also true that these precious truths had been all but lost before the time of the Reformation. In His providence, God chose certain men at a certain time in history to recover the very gospel itself. It is this gospel by which we are saved. And we who confess the evangelical faith in our day are remiss in forgetting this important aspect of our history. "

Church history always fascinates me. This page I found gives a great introduction to the Brethren?:

"The Open Brethren began in the 19th century with a group of British Evangelical Christians who wanted to return to the purity of the New Testament Church. Their desire was to base church practice on the Bible, rather than on the traditions of a particular denomination. Key early Brethren leaders included J N Darby, A. N. Groves, and George Muller. Some of the distinctives of the Brethren are:
-The autonomy of the local congregation
-Leadership by a body of lay elders; opposition to the idea of a paid professional ministry
-The Lord's Supper - a Communion service which is open for any (male) member in good standing to teach, give a
-Bible reading, pray, announce a hymn etc.
-The baptism of believers (i.e. not infants), by immersion
-Usually (but not always) a very conservative interpretation of the Bible's teaching about the role of women; in particular, no place for women in leadership or public teaching. "

Interesting that many of these things have been taken up by the so called 'New Churches' and I for one am proud that my grandfather was a Brethren Preacher. They had much to offer the church at the time. Like many such movements, they recovered certain things for the church, most of which are now seen as mainstream in many settings.