Rock of Ages

Augustus Toplady

Augustus Toplady is best known today as the writer of the hymn “Rock of Ages.”  He was born in 1740 in Farnham, England.  His father was a Major in the Royal Marines and died in wartime service when his only son was still an infant.  Augustus’ widowed mother enrolled him in a private school and later moved to Ireland.

An intelligent and energetic boy, he preached sermons at the age of 12, began writing hymns at age 14, and listened to a Wesleyan sermon at age 16, solidifying his call to Christ’s service.

Despite his foundation in the Arminian theology of Wesleyanism, Augustus switched his allegiance to Calvinism and exchanged a number of fiery letters, both public and private, with John Wesley arguing the point.  Wesley eventually wrote him off, declaring him intractable.  Toplady wrote, “Wesley is guilty of satanic shamelessness, of acting the ignoble part of a lurking, shy assassin.” 

Despite his rancor toward Wesley’s theology, Augustus had a fruitful ministry.  He was known to pray, “God, keep me from being a mere scholar.”  His true love, however, seemed to be writing hymns.  He died of tuberculosis at the young age of 37, but in his day had published over 800 hymns in numerous hymnals.  “Rock of Ages” is rumored to have been inspired by his seeking shelter under a rock overhang during a particularly violent storm in 1776, about 2 years before he died.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me;  Let me hide myself in thee.

Let the water and the blood; From thy wounded side which flowed;

Be of sin the double cure.  Save from wrath and make me pure

Could my tears forever flow?  Could my zeal no languor know?

These for sin could not atone; Thou must save and thou alone.

In my hand no price I bring.  Simply to the cross I cling.

While I draw this fleeting breath.  When my eyes shall close in death.

When I rise to worlds unknown; And behold thee on thy throne.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me; Let me hide myself in thee!

Unknowingly to him, Toplady's most famous hymn is amazingly similar to words in a hymnal preface published by John Wesley nearly 30 years before, “O Rock of Salvation, Rock struck and cleft for me, let those two streams of blood and water which gushed from thy side, bring down pardon and holiness into my soul.”

Then Sings My Soul, Morgan, Robert J., Nelson Publishers, 2003.

https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/hymn-writer-augustus-toplady-11630290.html

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-rock-of-ages-cleft-for-me

Toyohiko Kagawa

Toyohiko Kagawa

Toyohiko Kagawa was born in 1888, the son of a wealthy businessman and a concubine.  Both parents died when he was four years old and the young boy bounced between relatives who didn’t seem to actually want him.  His childhood was very lonely. 

As a teenager, he took some English classes through some Presbyterian missionaries and was converted to Christianity.  His conversion resulted in his extended Buddhist family disowning him and his having to move in with the missionary families.  As a young man, he enrolled in Tokyo Presbyterian college and later in a local Seminary.  He went to Princeton University for further studies from 1914-1916.  His theological studies, while beneficial, left a bad taste in his mouth.  He was turned off by all the discussion and debate over theological fine points and the relatively minor discussion over how to apply those doctrines, and the Christian faith in general, to a struggling world – pointing often to the parable of the Good Samaritan.

He returned to Japan, in the city of Kobe, and moved into a 6x6-foot shack in order to minister to the poor there.  Japan at the time was going through an internal struggle with its attempt to adopt Capitalism as an economic system, and the poor ended up suffering greatly.  As a result of being immersed in this suffering, Toyohiko advocated a form of Socialism based on Christian principles – an alternative to State-run Socialism, Capitalism, and Communism he called “Brotherhood Economics.”

Toyohiko was a driving force in organizing labor strikes and forming the first labor unions in Japan.  For these activities, he was arrested twice: in 1921 and in 1922.  During his time in prison, he wrote two novels, the second of which detailed his life among the destitute of Kobe.

In 1923, a devastating earthquake hit Tokyo, leveling much of the city.  He moved there, sensing an opportunity to minister to those affected.  From here, he advocated for universal male suffrage in Japan, which he succeeded in achieving, and made great strides in universal female suffrage.

With the rise of militarism in Japan in the 1930s, Toyohiko advocated for Pacifism.  After Japan invaded China, he gave a speech in China where he apologized on behalf of the Japanese people for the invasion.  This led to his arrest in 1940.  He was released in early 1941, and he traveled to the United States to advocate for peace.  He spent the duration of World War 2 in the United States, returning to Japan soon after its defeat, then achieving his long-held goal of universal women’s suffrage.  He continued to write on social issues, receiving a nomination for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947 and in 1948 and later a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1955.  All this time, he continued to evangelize the forgotten poor of Japan.  He established hospitals, schools, credit unions and churches.

Though evangelism was the primary impetus for his works, he is better known as a Christian social reformer.  Toyohiko died in 1960, at age 71, of heart failure.  His final words were from his deathbed, “Please do your best for world peace and the church in Japan.”

Quotes:

[to Emperor Hirohito in 1946] “Whosoever will be great among you…shall be the servant of all.  A ruler’s sovereignty, Your Majest, is in the hearts of the people.  Only by service to others can a man, or nation, be godlike.”

“I read that in a book that a man called Christ went about doing good.  It is very disconcerting to me that I am so easily satisfied with just ‘going about’.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyohiko_Kagawa

https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/toyohiko-kagawa-japanese-original-11630620.html

http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/143.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kagawa-Toyohiko

He Lives!

He Lives!

What is the true evidence of our risen Savior?  There are many books on Christian Apologetics that give great evidences for the resurrection of Jesus – and those books are valuable.  The ultimate evidence, however, lies in a changed life.

Alfred Ackley was the younger brother of Bentley Ackley, pianist for Homer Rodheaver, song leader for the Billy Sunday campaigns ongoing in the first couple decades of the 20^th Century.  Alfred initially studied music himself, before turning to the study of Scripture and becoming a pastor.

Alfred was at a pastorate in California when two events in two days absolutely incensed him.  The day before Easter, in 1932, Alfred was witnessing to a Jewish man who resisted the faith saying, “Why should I worship a dead Jew?”  Alfred pondered this question all night, and was up early the next morning preparing to go to Easter services.  While getting ready, the radio was on and Alfred heard the preacher on the radio say, “Good morning – it’s Easter!  You know, folks, it really doesn’t make any difference to me if Christ be risen or not.  The main thing is, His truth goes marching on!”

Hearing this preacher, Alfred shouted, “It’s a lie!”  His wife came running into the room, exclaiming “Why are you shouting so early in the morning?”  Flustered, Alfred said, “Did you hear what that good-for-nothing preacher just said?”  That evening, Alfred continued to grouse over what he had heard until his wife had to tell him to do something with his anger.

Alfred went into his study that Easter evening and re-read the resurrection story from Mark’s Gospel.  As he read, he began to write, and ended up composing a song.

I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today.

I know that He is living, whatever men may say.

I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,

And just the time I need Him, He’s always near.

He lives!  He lives!  Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me, along life’s narrow way!

He lives!  He lives!  Salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart!

In all the world around me I see His loving care;

And tho’ my heart grows weary, I never will despair.

I know that He is leading thro’ all the stormy blast.

The day of His appearing will come at last.

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, life up your voice and sing.

Eternal Hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King.

The hope of all who see Him, the help of all who find.

None other is so loving, so good and kind.

Morgan, Robert J., Then Sings My Soul, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-he-lives

Arius the Heretic

Arius the Heretic

One of the intellectual centers of early Christianity, after its legitimization by the Roman Emperor Constantine, was the city of Alexandria, Egypt.  He was well-respected for his intellect and his scholarly abilities.  After hearing a long sermon by a young scholar named Athanasius on the subject of the Trinity, Arius interrupted and announced, “If the Father begat the Son, then He who was begotten had a beginning in existence, and from this it follows that there was a time when the Son was not.”

The debate: was Jesus a created being, or does the New Testament teach that He is co-equal with God.  In one sense, the argument is over a single Greek letter, the iota.  Simply put, does the term homo-ousios (exact same ‘stuff’) or does the term homoi-ousious (close to, but not exactly the same ‘stuff’) apply to Jesus’ relation to the Father.

We understand today that Arius was completely in the wrong, Biblically.  In the fourth century, though, with the spectre of persecution finally being lifted from the church, these doctrines were still in the process of being defined and this was a foundational debate that was sorely needed.  The central issue to Athanasius was salvation itself.  If only God could save us from sin, then only one who was fully God could pay the price required for our sins.

As the debate spread, Emperor Constantine, very concerned for the peace of his Empire, called a council in the city of Nicea in the year 325 to resolve the issue.  Over 300 bishops attended to come to a resolution on this vital doctrinal issue.  The aged Arius had a number of followers supporting him, but they were overwhelmed by the brilliant debating skills of Athanasius – not to mention that the latter had truth on his side!  At Nicea, the doctrines of Arius were refuted in their finality and Arius was exiled.  All but a couple of the bishops in attendance at Nicea signed on to the final agreement of the doctrine of the Trinity.

It is interesting to note that, at one point in the deliberations, a bishop from the city of Myra named Nicholas, actually got so flustered that he actually punched Arius in the face!  Nicholas is “Saint Nicholas” – the man from whom the legends of Santa Claus had their genesis.

The teaching of Arianism plagued the church for the next few centuries, even reaching to future emperors of the Roman empire.  It took the fall of the Roman Empire and the ascendance of the Roman Catholic Church to squash the false doctrine with a finality.  Today, cults such as Jehovah’s Witnesses point to Arius as an ‘early church father’ who taught what they believe – that Jesus was a created being and is lesser than God the Father.

131 Christians Everyone Should Know, J.I. Packer, Holman Reference, 2000.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-85/how-arianism-almost-won.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Arius

Marcion - Early Church Heretic

Marcion

Heresy in the early church led to the church having to examine its crucial teachings and provide definition to its basic doctrines.  One such teacher was Marcion (ca. 85-160 AD).  Marcion was independently wealthy and gave 2,000 silver coins to the church in Rome, apparently in an attempt to buy some influence within the church.  His unique doctrines and attempts to change the teachings of the church compelled the church to return his sizeable donation and excommunicate him.

We do not have today the direct writings of Marcion.  What we know about Marcion comes from some writings of the early church fathers, especially Tertullian who wrote a treatise entitled “Against Marcion.”  From these rebuttals, historians have pieced together the doctrines of Marcionism.

Marcion believed and taught that the God of the Old Testament (Yahweh) was incompatible with the God of the New Testament.  He believed that the God taught by the Old Testament was on a higher, somewhat transcendent level and that Jesus in the New Testament was a lower world creator and ruler.  What he accepted of the Old Testament, he read very literally to prove his point.  As an example, when he read in Genesis of God walking through the Garden of Eden asking where Adam was, that proved to him that Yahweh had a physical body and had limited knowledge.  The God of the Old Testament was angry, capricious, genocidal.  The God of the New Testament (as he edited the books) was loving, benevolent, and merciful.  To Marcion, these two ‘gods’ were incompatible with each other.  Jesus was sent to reveal the merciful New Testament God. 

Marcion also taught that Jesus had only an imitation of a physical body, and thus denied Jesus’ physical birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection.  Jesus was crucified because of his opposition to Yahweh, but he wasn’t really harmed because he did not actually have a physical body (a teaching of the Gnostics of his day).

To support his views, Marcion instituted a canon – an authoritative list of books he deemed proper.  These books numbered eleven: a highly edited version of the Gospel of Luke (removing His birth account, for example) and ten of Paul’s epistles (removing the Pastoral Epistles).  To Marcion, Paul was the only apostle not corrupted in his teaching.

Marcion’s heresy was actually beneficial to the church in the long term.  The development of a specific set of books by Marcion was the impetus for the early church to come to an understanding of what books were authoritative as Scripture.  While this essay does not purport to examine precisely how that happened, it can be summed up by saying that God miraculously moved in the early church to bring them to consensus on the 27 books of the New Testament as currently stated.  At the time of the early church father Athanasius (AD 367), there was no dispute as to the canon of the New Testament.

The early church developed the Apostles’ Creed in response to heretics, including Marcion, to succinctly state basic Christian doctrine.

Moody Handbook of Theology, Paul Enns, Moody Bible Institute, 1989.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcion-of-Pontus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionism

At Calvary – testimony of a wayward son

At Calvary – testimony of a wayward son

Dr R.A. Torrey was the first superintendent of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for a number of years.  While serving in that capacity, he received a letter from a very concerned pastor.  This pastor told him of a troubled son of his that was causing problems in his family and pleaded with Dr Torrey to allow him to Moody Bible Institute.  Torrey replied that he was leading a Bible College, not a reform school.  The father continued to plead with Torrey, however, and Torrey finally consented provided the boy meet with him every day and that he follow the rules of the Institute.

To Torrey’s surprise, the boy latched on to him and scrupulously followed the rules and found great fruit with his daily meetings with Torrey.    After many meetings, the boy, named William Newell, found answers to the questions that had been plaguing him for years and received Christ, answering the fervent prayers of his father. 

Newell became a minister, and later returned to Moody Bible Institute as a professor.  He authored a number of Bible commentaries, including a very famous verse-by-verse commentary on Romans.  He often said that, had he not gone through the years of difficulty, he would not know God’s grace as intimately as he did.

One day in 1895, he was reflecting on his life during some free time prior to class and penned a poem on the back of an envelope reflecting his testimony.  As he hurried to his lecture, he handed the envelope to Dr Daniel Towner, head of the music ministry for the university, for his evaluation.  By the time the lecture was over, Dr Towner had completed the tune and the men sang it together.  Dr Towner told him, “Bill, I think this may be the best song we have ever written in our lifetime.”

Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified;

Knowing not it was for me He did at Calvary.

Mercy was there was great, and grace was free.

Pardon there was multiplied to me.

There my burdened soul found liberty, at Calvary!

By God’s Word, at last my sin I learned.  Then, I trembled at the Law I’d spurned;

Till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary.

Now, I’ve gi’en to Jesus everything; Now I gladly own Him as my King;

Now my raptured soul can only sing, of Calvary!

O, the love that drew salvation’s plan; O, the grace that brought it down to man;

O, the mighty gulf that God did span, at Calvary!

Then Sings My Soul, Morgan, Robert J., Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

http://dianaleaghmatthews.com/at-calvary/#.XMTuYGhKjIU

Thomas Ken

Thomas Ken – a man who was both rewarded and punished for his convictions

Thomas Ken was born in 1637 and died in 1711.  His parents died when he was a child and he was taken in by his half-sister and her husband, who sent him to a boarding school where he eventually was trained for the ministry.  He had a firm attachment to the Church of England.

He returned to his hometown near London as a chaplain.  To encourage the devotional habits of the young boys he was in charge of, he wrote three hymns, one of each meant to be sung at morning, at evening, and at midnight if the boys woke up in the middle of the night.

The morning hymn had thirteen stanzas, beginning with:

                Awake, my soul, and with the sun the daily stage of duty run;

Shake off dull sloth and joyful rise, to pay thy morning sacrifice.

The evening hymn included this verse:

                All praise to Thee, my God, this night, for all the blessings of the night!

                Keep me, O keep me, King of Kings, beneath Thine own mighty wings.

Singing hymns was fairly revolutionary in England.  At this time, the only signing in churches was singing of the Psalms.  Thomas continued to write hymns, later publishing a hymnal.

Thomas was later appointed as chaplain to Princess Mary of England, wife of the Dutch King William.  He lasted a year, then was sent home after publicly rebuking the King for his treatment of Mary.  Thomas was then appointed as a royal chaplain to King Charles II, a rather thankless job as the King shamelessly indulged in a variety of immoralities.

During this time, Charles had an official mistress, Nell Gwynne.  For his convenience, Charles directed Thomas to lodge her in his residence.  Thomas replied that he was the King’s chaplain, not the King’s pimp.  Fortunately for Thomas, Charles took the rebuke in stride and later, when a Bishop’s position became open, said that the man who should have it must be, “that little man who refused lodging to poor Nellie.”  When Charles was on his deathbed, it was Thomas that he requested be at his side.

Charles was succeeded by James II, a royal proclamation which opened the door to an official sanction of Roman Catholicism.  Charles, along with six other bishops, refused to publish the order and instead drafted a statement opposing it.  James threw them in the Tower of London as prisoners.  Public pressure, including rioting in London, resulted in a verdict of acquittal.  After release, Thomas was taken in by a friend and spent the rest of his life writing and tutoring.

Thomas is known for his steadfast conviction in the light of authority, but perhaps more so for those little hymns he wrote those boys so early in his career.  Each of those hymns, meant to be sung morning, evening, and night, had a common refrain – a refrain we today call the Doxology:

                Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  Praise Him all creatures here below.

                Praise Him above, ye Heavenly host.  Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Morgan, Robert J., Then Sings My Soul, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

https://hymnary.org/person/Ken_Thomas

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Ken

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Ken