C. S. Lewis: Oxford Don, Christian Apologist, & Celebrated Writer

Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) is one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century. Whether he’s narrating the stories of Narnia, describing the tactics of the sinister Uncle Wormwood, or simply sharing the inner struggles that marked his spiritual journey, Lewis has captivated a very large and eager readership for over three quarters of a century. He is known to most as a Christian apologist and a beloved author, but he was also an Oxford academic of exceptional brilliance who carried on a somewhat eccentric and enigmatic private life. He has inspired dozens of biographies, has been portrayed by Anthony Hopkins on the big screen in Shadowlands, and has attracted a world-wide network of devoted admirers.

Early Education and Oxford

In many ways, Lewis had a difficult upbringing. When he was only nine-years-old his mother died of cancer, a loss Lewis felt keenly. He had a troubled relationship with his father and was generally unhappy as a student until he went to study with William T. Kirk from 1914-1917. Kirk had a formative influence on Lewis’ early intellectual development.

Lewis began his studies at Oxford University in 1917 only to have them interrupted by the First World War. He served in France for several months before being wounded and was eventually discharged from the military. He resumed his studies at Oxford and generally excelled, eventually being elected as a Fellow and Tutor of English Literature at Magdalen College (pronounced “Maudlin” College) in 1925. Lewis served in this position for the next three decades, distinguishing himself as a first rate scholar of Medieval and Renaissance Literature. He eventually qualified himself for a prestigious Cambridge Chair, which he occupied from 1954 until his death in 1963.

It was in his early years as a Fellow at Oxford that Lewis helped to organize “The Inklings,” a gathering of friends and colleagues who made up a sort of literary discussion group. Famous members of the club include Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, and Charles Williams. The Inklings met off and on from 1930 to 1949, usually holding their meetings at the now famous Eagle and Child pub.

Conversion to Christianity

Through a variety of influences, including his friendship with J. R. R. Tolkien, Lewis came to embrace the Christian faith in 1929. His conversion came about after many months of wrestling with the intellectual underpinnings of Christianity. Writing of his conversion experience he said,

“You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.” (Lewis, Surprised by Joy)

His slow, and it could be said, agonizing conversion to the Christian faith would in many ways set the trajectory for his future as a leading Christian apologist. Lewis was concerned with providing honest answers to the honest questions of spiritual seekers who, like him, had perhaps struggled for some time with the claims of Christianity.

Literary Career

In the 1940s, Lewis established himself as a popular Christian writer. Some of his most significant works written during this period focused on apologetic questions, such as The Problem of Pain and The Weight of Glory. However, his most popular book of this decade, The Screwtape Letters, was more of an imaginative piece of fiction inspired by Christian ideas. The book takes the form of a series of letters between a master demon and his apprentice, who together discuss strategies for keeping their “patients” from embracing Christian belief. The book is obviously speculative, but nonetheless full of insight into demonic activity.

Lewis’ most popular work of apologetics, Mere Christianity, was published in 1952. Adapted from a series of BBC radio talks, Mere Christianity argues for the existence of God and the validity of Christianity through a series of inquiries into human experience and rationality. It’s in Mere Christianity that Lewis presents, in its most popular and winsome form, an argument for the existence of God from the existence of moral absolutes. Mere Christianity also lays out Lewis’ famous trilemma, that Jesus must have been either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord, and that no other option is available to those who wish to make sense of Jesus.

The 1950s saw the publication of the books for which Lewis is most widely known today, the fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. These seven books, published between 1950 and 1956, introduced the world to the Pevensie siblings, the White Witch, a host of talking animals, and of course, the great lion Aslan. The land of Narnia subtly introduces readers to some of the most significant themes in Christianity such as grace, sacrifice, and redemption. These Christian themes have contributed to the books’ enduring popularity.

Marriage and Death

The story of Lewis’ marriage to Joy Davidman toward the end of his life was remarkable and unusual. What began as nothing more than a civil marriage of convenience turned into a passionate, though short-lived, romance. Joy died of cancer in 1960, just four years after their marriage. Lewis followed her three years later, dying just a few minutes before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.

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Greatest Works: The Chronicles of Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity

Recommended Biography: C. S. Lewis – A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet by Alister McGrath

Some sites we’ll visit on the tour:

• The Eagle and Child in Oxford – The pub where Lewis met with the famous Inklings Club.

• University Church of St. Mary in Oxford – Where church where Lewis preached his famous Weight of Glory sermons.

• The Kilns in Oxford – The house where Lewis lived from 1930 until his death in 1963.

• Holy Trinity Church in Oxford – The churchyard where Lewis is buried alongside his brother, Warnie.

Jeremiah Burroughs: Godliness with Contentment

By the mid-nineteenth century, many were referring to the great London preacher, C. H. Spurgeon as the “Prince of Preachers.” However, had one been in London two hundred years earlier, he would have heard the same description given to the most famous preacher of the day, the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs (1599-1646). In the 1640s no one preached to more people Sunday by Sunday than Jeremiah Burroughs. He drew larger audiences to his weekly sermons than John Owen, John Bunyan, and Richard Baxter combined. Not only was Burroughs a popular preacher, but he was also a leader universally loved and admired by his fellow Puritans. And yet, very few Christians today, even among those who read and appreciate the Puritans know much at all about Jeremiah Burroughs.

“I know how to be brought low…”

Burroughs had a thoroughly Puritan upbringing. He was born and raised in Essex, which was a Puritan stronghold throughout most of the seventeenth century. He was trained at Emmanuel College in Cambridge, which was famously referred to as, “that nursery of the Puritans.” While at Emmanuel, Burroughs came under the influence of the renowned Puritan Thomas Hooker who would become a true mentor to Burroughs for the rest of his life. Burroughs studied with Hooker at Emmanuel and later at the small seminary that Hooker organized in his home in Chelmsford.

In 1625, Burroughs took up his first pastoral charge as the curate of All Saints Church in Stisted, Essex. A curate was essentially an assistant priest. From Stisted Burroughs would go on to serve as a lecturer in Bury St. Edmunds and eventually as a rector (i.e. priest) in the Norfolk village of Tivetshall. None of these posts were especially prestigious. However, while in relative obscurity Burroughs was a remarkably faithful minister and grew in his pastoral gifts, especially his preaching.

In the 1630s Burroughs, along with many of his friends, came under attack for their Puritan views by the dreaded Archbishop William Laud. Archbishop Laud made sport of harassing the Puritans and oppressed them with the High-Church measures he imposed upon their churches. Eventually things got so bad that Burroughs was forced to flee England in the face of imminent arrest and imprisonment. In 1637, he retreated to Rotterdam in the Netherlands where he pastored a church for a few years before returning to England in 1641.

“I know how to abound…”

When Burroughs returned to his homeland, he encountered a very different religious climate than the one he had previously left. England was on the verge of civil war leading to the beheading of King Charles I and an unprecedented period of prosperity for the Puritans. Through various providences, Burroughs was eventually called to pastor two of the largest congregations in London, one in Stepney and one in Cripplegate. He preached every Sunday to two audiences numbering over 3,000 people combined. He was widely regarded as the greatest preacher in London.

“I have learned the secret…”

It was during this time that Burroughs preached the sermons that would become his most famous book, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, a true Puritan classic. This book is a small masterpiece and has provided consolation and help to millions of Christians over the last 350 years. The entire book is a reflection on Paul’s words in Philippians 4:11b – “for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” In The Rare Jewel, Burroughs defines contentment as, “that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.” Burroughs closes his consideration with the following words, which serve as fitting invitation to pick up and read!

“Oh, the Word holds forth a way full of comfort and peace to the people of God even in this world. You may live happy lives in the midst of all the storms and tempests in the world. There is an ark that you may come into, and no men in the world may live such comfortable, cheerful and contented lives as the saints of God. Oh, that we had learned this lesson.” 

Burroughs went on to serve as one of the divines at the Westminster Assembly, which produced the magisterial Presbyterian confession, the Westminster Confession of Faith. Burroughs, for his part, was not a Presbyterian but a Congregationalist, believing that each local congregation should be autonomous rather than be governed by a regional synod. Burroughs was one of five divines who made up a group that came to be known as the “Dissenting Five.” This group strenuously argued for their congregationalist ideals, but ultimately failed to convince the assembly. However, their efforts did contribute to broader toleration for local church autonomy among Congregationalists and Baptists. 

What stands out in Burroughs’ ministry is his perseverance and faithfulness in every context in which God called him to serve. He knew what it was to minister in relative obscurity in a rural parish and to preach to thousands in one of the largest cities in the world. He had a profoundly humble outlook, and desired only to be useful to his Lord. Reflecting on his time as a pastor of rather small rural churches, he said, “I had been confined to my closet; yet it had been a service of which I had been unworthy.” Though the Lord was pleased to eventually elevate Burroughs to a place of prominence in England, he nonetheless maintained a posture of humility and contentment all of his days. In this he is an example to us.

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Greatest Works: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment; Gospel Worship; Commentary on the Prophecy of Hosea

Recommended Biography: A Life of Gospel Peace: The Biography of Jeremiah Burroughs by Phillip Simpson

Some sites we’ll visit on the tour:

• St. Giles Cripplegate in London – The church where Burroughs preached to his largest audiences from 1641-46

• Westminster Abbey in London – The famous cathedral where Burroughs participated in the drafting of the Westminster Confession of Faith

• All Saints Church in Stisted, Essex – Burroughs’ first church where he served as curate

• Emmanuel College, Cambridge – The college Burroughs attended along with many other Puritans

Pilgrim’s Progress: Journey to the Celestial City

Suppose you lived in England in the 1660s. Suppose you wished to gather a small group of Christians together in your home to teach them the Bible. Now imagine that this small group is larger than five people. Imagine also that you and your friends are not Anglican, meaning you are not members of the state church because your consciences will not allow you to sign the confessional documents of the Church of England. If the above conditions are all met, you would be engaged in illegal activity and would be considered an enemy of the state. Because John Bunyan engaged in such activity, seeking to preach the gospel to his small church in Bedford outside the auspices of the Church of England, he was thrown in prison for a total of 14 years.

“As I walked through the wilderness of this world…” 

There were many who suffered as a result of Bunyan’s imprisonment. Certainly his congregation suffered as they were deprived of the ministry of their beloved pastor. Bunyan’s family suffered terribly as his wife and four children (one of whom, daughter Mary, was born blind) had to learn how to survive without a husband and father. And perhaps no one suffered more than Bunyan himself who was robbed of his liberty, the joys of home and family, and the comforts and helps of his local church. Beyond that, he was surely tormented by trials of conscience, perhaps wondering if his godly stand for the preaching of the pure gospel was worth all the sacrifice and sorrow. Few of us can appreciate just how great this trial must have been for Bunyan. We may feel as though religious toleration and free speech are under attack in our day, but we are still far removed from the difficulties that faced Bunyan and his friends.

Yet these were the circumstances appointed by God to bring to life one of the greatest works of literature ever produced. For it was while in prison that Bunyan penned a work that deserves pride of place among the annals of Christian classics, and indeed world classics. This book is his famous allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress. Inestimable in its value and peerless in its depth, Pilgrim’s Progress has provided comfort, conviction, and consolation to millions of people over the last three and a half centuries. It has been published in over 200 languages and in over 2,000 editions, and has never been out of print since it first appeared in 1678. Bunyan’s work has had a tremendous influence on the development of the English language and of western literature as a whole. It has also had an immense impact on the development of Christian spirituality in the west. It is not uncommon for Christians to conceive of their own spiritual lives in terms of the book’s narrative. 

“I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man…”

Pilgrim’s Progress tells the story of Christian, a man who leaves the City of Destruction after reading in “the book in his hand” (the Bible) that all of its inhabitants are destined for ruin. Through the help of a man named Evangelist, he makes for the Celestial City where he is promised eternal life. Christian meets many interesting and eclectic characters along the way such as Pliable, Worldly Wiseman, and Talkative. He also meets with great trials at the hands of enemies like Apollyon and Giant Despair. However, Christian is not without friends in characters like Faithful and Hopeful who help him at key points along his journey leading ultimately to his safe arrival at the Celestial City. The second part of Pilgrim’s Progress tells the story of Christian’s wife, Christiana, who follows after him, and also finds her way to the Celestial City, though she too meets with various trials and difficulties along the way.

A number of Christian leaders, pastors, and theologians over the years have suggested that Pilgrim’s Progress should be required reading for Christians (if there were such a thing). J. I. Packer has gone so far as to encourage Christians to read the book at least once every year. C. H. Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, said that he himself read the book over 100 times throughout his life.

“When I had seen, I wished myself among them…”

It is worth asking how this book has captivated the imaginations of so many millions of people across the world for so many years. Some have spoken of feeling almost entranced by the book, enthralled with its various heroes and villains, and profoundly affected by many of its passages and scenes. Could it be that we recognize that in the narratives of Christian and Christiana we are actually reading about ourselves – about our battles with Apollyon, our struggles with Giant Despair, our fumbling through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and our experiences of help from friends like Faithful and Hopeful. We realize that Christian’s story is our story, and in a most unusual way, our pilgrimage to the Celestial City is being narrated to us.

Pilgrim’s Progress reminds us that the Christian life is a journey, and one fraught with many danger, toils, and snares. Our pilgrimage to heaven will require endurance and perseverance. And yet Bunyan also reminds us that there is reward held out for all those who finish the journey. The Christian life is not an endless maze that leads us nowhere. We are headed for a paradise forever with Christ, a Celestial City whose builder and maker is God.

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Other Recommended Books by Bunyan: The Holy War, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

Some sites we’ll visit on the tour:

·      Elstow – The birthplace of John Bunyan and where he grew up

·      Bedford – The site of Bunyan’s ministry and also the jail where he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress; we’ll also visit the museum in Bedford that celebrates his legacy

·      Bunhill Fields in London – The Dissenters graveyard where Bunyan is buried just a few yards off from his friend John Owen

John Owen: England’s Greatest Theologian

It has often been remarked that Jonathan Edwards was the greatest theologian America ever produced. If the focus were changed from America to England, the first name deserving of such recognition is John Owen (1616-1683). Not only was Owen a theologian of exceptional brilliance, he was also a deeply experiential Christian with unusual insight into the Bible and into the person of God Himself.

A Promising Beginning 

Born in rural Oxfordshire and later trained at the University of Oxford, Owen’s outstanding intellect was evident from an early age. He had already earned his M.A. from Oxford by the time he was nineteen. By his mid-twenties he was ministering in east Anglia in the little village of Fordham in Essex, and later in Coggeshall just a few miles west from there. It was in these relatively obscure settings that Owen learned how to preach and how to pastor. He also grew in profile as a theologian, writing various doctrinal and polemical works in defense of Calvinistic tenets. It was during this period of his life that Owen married his first wife, Mary. He would outlive her and their eleven children, ten of whom died in infancy. Though Owen must have felt these losses terribly, he made almost no reference to them throughout his writings.

From Obscurity to Prestige and Back Again

Owen was elevated to a place of prominence among England’s divines through his sermons to Parliament. He also rose in the public eye by his appointment to serve as personal chaplain to Oliver Cromwell during his campaigns in Scotland and Ireland. It was in service to Cromwell that Owen witnessed the cruelties of war firsthand.

After the war was over, Cromwell, then serving as Lord Protector of England, installed Owen as the Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and later as Vice-Chancellor of the University in 1652. Owen had gone from a humble country parish in the east country to one of the most prestigious theological posts in the land. From this position, Owen worked for the further reform of religion in England. As a Puritan, Owen rejected Anglicanism, but at the same time he could not fully embrace the Presbyterianism of the Westminster Confession (1646). Owen was a Congregationalist and identified his theology with the Savoy Declaration (1658), a statement which Owen himself helped to draft. The Savoy Declaration and the Westminster Confession agree at almost every point save their respective statements on church polity.

Owen eventually fell out of favor with Cromwell and lost his post at Oxford in 1659. Shortly thereafter, Cromwell died and was replaced by his son Richard who lacked his father’s natural leadership ability. Eventually parliament removed Richard Cromwell, recalled Charles II, and restored the monarchy. This effectively marked the end of Owen’s career as a public theologian. On August 24, 1662, Owen, along with many of his Puritan brothers, was ejected from his pulpit for refusing to sign the Act of Uniformity which required all pastors to make use of the Anglican liturgy in their churches. The rest of Owen’s life would be spent in relative obscurity writing books and preaching in house churches. He died peacefully on August 24, 1683. He is buried in Bunhill Fields only a few yards off from his friends and fellow Puritans, John Bunyan and Thomas Goodwin.

Theological Contributions

The Works of John Owen are presently published in sixteen large volumes; twenty-three if you include his massive seven-volume commentary on the book of Hebrews. Of his many important writings, four stand out for special comment 

• On the Mortification of Sin. Often published as a stand-alone book, this treatise is actually the opening section of Volume Six in the collected works. It was originally a series of sermons preached in Oxford to university undergraduates. The entire book is a sustained treatment of the believer’s warfare against sin. Owen’s oft quoted line, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you,” is a fitting summary of the book’s thesis.

• The Glory of Christ. Owen wrote extensively on each member of the Trinity. This book represents the best of his writing on the person of Christ. Perhaps nothing Owen wrote is more edifying than this book. Though it forms part of Volume One of the collected works, it too is often published as a stand-alone volume 

• Communion with God. One of Owen’s greatest theological contributions was his understanding of the very intimate relationship redeemed men and women were meant to have with the Godhead. In Communion with God, Owen explores this theme with penetrating insight, calling believers to greater experiential fellowship with God.

• The Holy Spirit. It is possible that no one wrote more on the Holy Spirit than John Owen prior to the 17th century. We owe a great debt to Owen for shining a light on the Scriptures’ teaching on the doctrine of Holy Spirit. The preeminent work of the Spirit, Owen argues, is to disclose the person and presence of Christ to the believer.

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Greatest Works: The Mortification of Sin, the Glory of Christ, Communion with God, and The Holy Spirit.

Recommended Biography: John Owen and English Puritanism: Experiences of Defeat by Crawford Gribben 

Some sites we’ll visit on the tour:

• Bunhill Fields in London – The site of Owen’s grave

• St. Peter Ad Vincula in Coggeshall – The site of Owen’s second pastorate in the east country; also where he wrote his famous treatise The Death of Death in the Death of Christ

• University Church of St. Mary in Oxford – The most famous church in Oxford, and the place where Owen preached his sermons on the mortification of sin to Oxford undergraduates

• Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford – Where Owen was given the deanery by Oliver Cromwell during the 1650s

Lavenham, Suffolk: Medieval Charm and Mankind’s War

Lavenham is a charming village in East Anglia, located in the heart of the Suffolk countryside. Considered a medieval gem, Lavenham was one of the wealthiest villages in Britain by the end of the 15th century. The wealth of the town came largely from its thriving wool trade.

Today, Lavenham still features many well-preserved buildings from the 15th and 16th centuries including the great guildhall at the center of the village. Many of the older buildings are designed with exposed wood timbers, giving the village its distinctive architectural character. One of the most famous buildings in Lavenham is the Crooked House (pictured right) which is now a delightful little tea room. Contributing to the charm of the shops and cottages lining the streets are the wide variety of flowers that teem from underneath windows and above doors. 

At the edge of the village is the stunning St. Peter and St. Paul Church which was completed in 1525. The church is encompassed by a beautiful courtyard which creates a brilliant contrast with the church’s imposing stone tower. The church tower is believed to be the highest of its kind in any village in Britain. In fact, during WWII, RAF pilots referred to the tower as, “Thank God Tower,” because the it was the first thing they could see from the sky upon returning to English airspace after a bombing raid.

St. Peter and St. Paul is of significance to our tour because it is where the Puritan, William Gurnall (1616-1679) ministered for three and a half decades. Gurnall graduated from Emmanuel College Cambridge, that famous “nursery of the Puritans,” in 1639. In 1644 he became rector of St. Peter and St. Paul where he would minister till his death 35 years later. From everything we can tell he was a faithful pastor who carried on his ministry relatively detached from the controversy and commotion found in other parts of England during that tumultuous era. Though a Puritan theologically, Gurnall never withdrew from the Anglican communion like many of his Puritan brothers. Though some 2,000 of them were ejected from their pulpits in 1662 for refusing to sign the Act of Uniformity, Gurnall did not dissent, choosing to remain within the state church. His exact reasoning behind this decision remains unknown.

Biographical information on Gurnall is scarce. However, he did make one seminal contribution to the overall body of Puritan literature which has come down to us today as something of a classic of the period. He produced a work, first published in 1655, called The Christian in Complete Armour. The book is 1,240 pages in my Banner of Truth edition. It is, in essence, a sustained treatment of Ephesians 6:10-20 on the subject of spiritual warfare and the armor of God. Gurnall introduces the work with these words,

“The subject of the treatise is solemn; A War between the Saints and Satan, and that so bloody a one, that the cruelest which was ever fought by men will be found but sport and child’s play to this. It is a spiritual war that you shall read of; and that not a history of what was fought many ages past and is now over, but of what is now doing—the tragedy is at present acting—and that not at the furthest end of the world, but what concerns thee and everyone that reads it. The stage whereon this war is fought is every man’s own soul. Here is no neuter in this war. The whole world is engaged in the quarrel, either for God against Satan, or for Satan against God.”

 Gurnall’s work would garner high praise, not only from his peers, but also from great men of later generations. John Newton famously said that if he were allowed to keep only one book in his library beside the Bible, he would choose Gurnall’s The Christian in Complete Armour. Spurgeon said of the book, “peerless and priceless; every line full of wisdom. The book has been preached over scores of times and is, in our judgment, the best thought-breeder in all our library.”

As one sits in the beautiful church courtyard, surrounded by the picturesque scenes of charming little Lavenham, with the sight of sheep grazing on a pasture a little ways off from the church, one is impressed that a man surrounded by so peaceful a setting would produce so significant and comprehensive a work on the subject of spiritual warfare. One might have thought the task would fall to other Puritans such as John Owen or Richard Baxter, who saw their fair share of warfare during the English Civil War; or perhaps even John Bunyan, himself a soldier at one time and later incarcerated for his faith. And yet it was Gurnall, the humble retiring Anglican pastor, ministering in a quintessential little English village, who gave 1,240 pages to this great subject.

William Gurnall saw past the pleasant meadows, the beautiful flowers, and the quaint cottages. He saw past the stillness and tranquility of little Lavenham. He was enabled to see that behind all the pleasantries of this life, there constantly raged a war in the spiritual realm, “and that so bloody a one” he says, “that the cruelest which was ever fought by men will be found but sport and child’s play to this.” He recognized that the greatest conflicts he and his flock would know would not be found in the quiet streets of Lavenham. They would be found in the spirit realm, where each Christian finds himself engaged, alongside of Christ, in spiritual warfare.

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Greatest Work: The Christian in Complete Armour

Recommended Biography: Chapter on William Gurnall in Light from Old Times by J. C. Ryle

Some sites we’ll visit on the tour:

• St. Peter and St. Paul Church – The Site of Gurnall’s ministry from 1644 to 1679

• The Crooked House – Famous Tea Room in Lavenham

John Newton: Minister of Grace

The story of John Newton (1725-1807), the dissolute slave trader turned evangelical pastor, hymn-writer, and activist is one of the most captivating stories of grace in Christian history. It was reported that in Newton’s dying days, he made the following statement, “Although my memory is nearly gone, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” This sentiment not only serves as a fit summary of Newton’s life, but also conveys the overall theme of his ministry. He could sympathize with the Apostle Paul who said, 

13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (1 Tim. 1:13-15)

The Prodigal Son

Newton was born in London on August 4, 1725 and he would die there 82 years later on December 21, 1807. In those 82 years Newton would spend much of that time outside of London, though he would spend his final 27 years pastoring a church there in the heart of the city just 10 minute walk away from St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Newton was raised in the Puritan Reformed tradition. His mother was the dominant spiritual influence in the home, but she died when he was only seven. In his teenage years he cast off his religious upbringing and pursued a life of sinful indulgence. In 1743, Newton was pressed into naval service and he served as midshipman in the Royal Navy. Generally miserable in the navy, Newton managed to transfer to a slave ship bound for West Africa. He would make a living in the slave trade for the next ten years.  

At sea, Newton continued his moral decline. It was upon various slave ships that Newton both practiced and witnessed acts of extreme moral degradation. He participated in and observed many cruel beatings of slaves, and took part in various forms of torture. Many of the sailors were known to sexually assault the female slaves, sometimes in broad daylight on the ship’s deck. Newton himself would testify to these assaults along with several murders that he either witnessed firsthand or heard of secondhand. These experiences would leave indelible scars on Newton’s soul for the rest of his life. 

Newton himself was known for lewd drunkenness and highly vulgar forms of profanity that even scandalized many of his fellow sailors. He often spoke of himself as a heathen of the heathens, and the chief of sinners among a morally debased crew of men. Newton was so disliked among the crew of one of the slave ships that he was once abandoned in West Africa and forced into slavery himself under an African princess who treated him severely. He was abused and starved and often forced to engage in degrading acts with other slaves.

From Disgrace to Amazing Grace

Newton was eventually rescued by a ship that had apparently been commissioned by Newton’s father to recover him, and Newton was brought back to England. It was on the voyage back to England that Newton was powerfully converted. The date was March 21, 1748. The ship and crew were caught in a terrible storm and Newton awoke in the middle of the night to find his room filling with water. He cried out to God for the first time in years. Though greatly damaged, the ship survived the storm. Newton would, for the rest of his life, mark this day as the beginning of his conversion to Christianity. Newton’s growth was slow, and he did not immediately leave the slave trade, but continued in it another 5 years or so. He finally left the trade in 1754 after suffering an epileptic seizure, rendering him unable to continue.

It was 10 years later, at the age of 39, that Newton entered pastoral ministry. Those 10 intervening years represented a period of immense growth. In that time, Newton became well established in the spiritual disciplines, embraced evangelical Calvinism, gave himself to seasons of intense study of the Bible in its original languages, and developed a broad network of evangelical friends, including a number of prominent pastors and preachers. He was most profoundly influenced by the ministry of George Whitfield who became a close personal friend. 

Pastoral Ministry

Newton occupied two pastorates from the year 1764 to his death in 1807. The first was in the small town of Olney about 50 miles north of London, and only about 10 miles west of Bedford which was the center of John Bunyan’s life and ministry a century earlier. Newton served as the curate of Olney for 16 years, and then in 1780 took up his second pastorate in London where he served until the end of his life in 1807.

During his years in Olney, Newton became an intimate friend of the troubled poet and hymn-writer William Cowper. Together Newton and Cowper produced the famous evangelical hymnbook, Olney Hymns, which included Newton’s classic Amazing Grace and Cowper’s famous God Moves in a Mysterious Way. The friendship between Newton and Cowper would continue through many trials and hardships brought on largely by Cowper’s severe depression and melancholy.

As pastor in London from 1780 to 1807, Newton would serve as something of an elder statesman in the evangelical movement. He became a friend and mentor to William Wilberforce, and partnered with him in the campaign to abolish slavery in England. Newton’s eye-witness testimony before Parliament was of key importance to the success of the campaign.

The following quote from Newton is a fitting conclusion to this brief consideration of his life and also serves as an invitation to further study of this great saint. 

I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.

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Greatest Works: Cardiphonia (Utterances of the Heart), sometimes published under the simple title Letters of John Newton; and Out of the Depths: The Autobiography of John Newton

Recommended Biography: Spurgeon: John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by Jonathan Aitken

Some sites we’ll visit on the tour: 

• St. Peter and St. Paul in Olney – The site of Newton’s first pastorate from 1764 to 1780 as well as his final resting place

• The Cowper and Newton Museum in Olney – The museum commemorating the friendship and legacy of the two great men

• St. Mary Woolnoth in London – The site of Newton’s second pastorate from 1780 till his death 1807

C. H. Spurgeon: Preacher of the Cross

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) is popularly known as the “Prince of Preachers.” He was widely regarded as the most prolific preacher in England during the Victorian Era and is among the most renowned preachers in Christian history. His now sixty-six volumes of printed sermons, his scores of devoted converts, and his myriad of published books and tracts attest to his legacy as a powerful preacher and Christian leader.

Looking to the Savior

Spurgeon was born in Kelvedon, Essex on June 19, 1834. He was the first of seventeen children, only eight of whom survived infancy. Spurgeon came to saving faith in Jesus Christ in climactic fashion as a fifteen-year-old boy in January of 1851. He stepped outside his parents’ home in Colchester on a Lord’s day morning to attend a nearby church. However, he was caught in the middle of an intense snow storm and only made it a few blocks down the road before deciding to turn indoors at the local Primitive Methodist chapel. There were only about a dozen or so worshippers gathered that morning. A humble country preacher ascended the pulpit and preached from Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.” That day, Spurgeon looked to the Savior and never looked back

By the time he was sixteen, Spurgeon was teaching a large Sunday school class of children and adults in Cambridge. At seventeen, he was pastoring his first church in the small village of Waterbeach, a church which grew to over 400 people over the course of his eighteen-month ministry there. At the age of nineteen, he was called to pastor a church in the sprawling metropolis of London, one of the world’s largest and most industrialized cities. There he would pastor one of London’s most famous churches, which was then called New Park Street chapel, and later the Metropolitan Tabernacle. By the age of twenty-one, the first biographies of Spurgeon began to appear in print.

The Prince of Preachers

The heart of Spurgeon’s life and ministry was his preaching. He gave himself tirelessly to preaching the gospel and made the sovereign love of God shown in the cross of Jesus Christ the focal point of his message. Spurgeon often preached six to seven times per week, including two messages each Sunday at the Metropolitan Tabernacle which accommodated over 6,000 worshippers at both services every Lord’s day. It has been estimated that Spurgeon preached to over 10 million people over the course his life.

The Tabernacle membership grew in almost every year of Spurgeon’s tenure as pastor. Over his thirty–eight years in London, Spurgeon saw the church grow from 232 members when he first arrived in 1854 to 5,311 in 1892. Altogether 14,461 people were baptized during his ministry–an average of more than one per day. This sort of sustained success was without precedent in Spurgeon’s era. His power to draw large crowds was only exceeded by his ability to keep them for nearly four decades.

A Benevolent Ministry

Alongside his thriving preaching ministry was his ever-growing philanthropic work. The Metropolitan Tabernacle, under Spurgeon’s leadership, was home to sixty-six benevolent ministries by the 1880s. Most of these institutions were either founded or chaired by Spurgeon himself. Among the most famous of Spurgeon’s benevolent ministries were the Pastors’ College and the Stockwell Orphanage.

The Pastors’ College was founded in the late 1850s and began as a small training school for preachers in London with a mere handful of students. It eventually became the most productive theological college for Baptist preachers in all of England. By Spurgeon’s death in 1892, over 20% of all of the Baptist preachers in England had graduated from Spurgeon’s College. The Pastors’ College graduated over 900 students in Spurgeon’s lifetime. It has been estimated that by the end of Spurgeon’s life over 200 new churches were planted in Britain alone by graduates of the College. The Pastors’ College is considered one of Spurgeon’s benevolent institutions because for the first decade of the school’s existence it was almost entirely supported by Spurgeon himself through his sermon sales and book royalties.

The second most well-known of Spurgeon’s benevolences was the Stockwell Orphanage. The Orphanage housed roughly 500 orphans at any given time and provided care of the highest quality. Spurgeon would often spend his Christmas mornings with the orphans who, as he said, “compassed me about like bees.”

A Good Fight

Spurgeon died in Mentone, France on January 31, 1892 of kidney disease. His last conscious act was to send a £100 note to the Metropolitan Tabernacle benevolence fund along with the message “Love to all friends.” Though Spurgeon made millions throughout his lifetime through the sale of his sermons and books, he died nearly broke because he had given most of his money away to charitable causes. He was buried at Norwood Cemetery where hundreds still visit his grave each year. At the foot of the grave is a sculpture of a Bible opened to 2 Timothy 4:7-8: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

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Greatest Works: The Treasury of David, Morning and Evening, and Lectures to My Students

Recommended Biography: Spurgeon: A New Biography by Arnold A. Dallimore

Some sites we’ll visit on the tour:

• Kelvedon – Spurgeon’s birthplace

• Colchester – The Primitive Methodist chapel where Spurgeon was converted

• Waterbeach – The village where Spurgeon first pastored at the age of seventeen

• London – The Metropolitan Tabernacle where Spurgeon ministered for 38 years.