一起阅读带来的现代宣教运动
在十八世纪晚期，英国浸信会经历了一个极大的复兴，这复兴是现代宣教运动的结果。是谁推动了现代宣教运动？有一个重要的因素是当时的牧师们在一起有规律的会面、阅读、讨论和祷告。
本文讲述了北安普顿郡联会的聚会如何兴起了教会的复兴，并盼望今天的牧师们能够行在前人的足迹上。
Andrew Fuller所呼吁的圣经真理
在1799年秋天，英国东诺福克Great Yarmouth的浸信会传道人William Wales Horne (1773–1826)做出了两篇重要讲话。这两篇讲话后来被一本1800年出版的小册子所收录，该书的标题为《福音所证明的信心》（The Faith of the Gospel Vindicated）。他的讲话批评了“福音信仰是非信徒的责任”这一观点，Horne指出：
……如果信心是圣灵工作的结果，同时也是被造物的责任，那也就是说一个在罪中已死的人要赋予自己神的灵！这是多么荒谬的事啊！所有认真严肃的思考恩典的人都会反对这种观点。[1]
换句话说，Horne好象是在否认所有人都有机会听到福音。[2]
北安普敦郡Kettering的浸信会传道人Andrew Fuller(1754–1815)是当时捍卫“信心是所有领受福音的人之责任”这一观点的主要辩护者。毫无疑问，当他拿到这本小册子时，他用以一篇名为“对Horne两篇讲道的评论”的文章作出了反击（Remarks on Two Sermons by W.W. Horne of Yarmouth）。[3]Fuller最难过的是Horne用讲台来攻击像他这样的主张积极传福音的人。Fuller这样写道，
无论是把讲台变成炮台，或是利用我们的沉默滔滔不绝的进行人身攻击都不能使真理更显明……真理的显明应当是透过阅读、冷静和严肃的反思、谦卑的祷告、自由并且友好的私下交流我们的思想来进行的。唯有这样，对真理的探讨才能有进展。[4]
透过这些机会，Fuller发现了传递圣经真理的方法：透过带着反思的阅读、思想，并透过祷告和私下的交流。所有的这些方法都是Fuller自己首先采用的认识真理的方式，特别是他所提到的最后一种：“自由并且友好的私下交流我们的思想”。
与朋友共同阅读的力量
在Fuller身边的这一小群阅读好友中，有宣教士威廉·凯瑞（William Carey，1761–1834），Olney的John Sutcliff（1754–1815），还有John Ryland, Jr. (1753–1825)——他是Fuller的传记作者也是Bristol浸信会学校的校长。[5] 这些朋友给他带来很大的祝福，他也知道与这样的人坐下来一起探讨是多么有价值和重要的事情。
事实上，这样的讨论只是Fuller和其他北安普顿郡联会的传道人在一起的会议内容中的一部分。John Ryland在他的日记中提到他如何在1788年1月21日与这些朋友们度过一天的，他写道：
弟兄们，包括Fuller，Sutcliff，Carey和我将这一天作为禁食日，一起研读这些书：圣经中的提多书和提摩太书、Booth’s Charge to Hopkins、Blackerby’s Life、in Gillies、Rogers of Dedham’s Sixty Memorials for a Godly Life，并且每个人祷告两次——Carey做了非凡的补充和讽刺。我们的首要目的是复兴我们心中敬虔的大能，这大能在我们的心里，也在我们的教会里，也在地区的教会中。[6]
我们看到这些朋友们一起祷告、一起读圣经，并一起读当时经典的教牧书籍。很显然他们讨论了阅读的内容，分享了自己心中的感动并彼此增强了在神面前服事的力量。
我不知道这样的聚会多久一次，但是我们手中有相当多的资料（这些人所写下的期刊等文件）记录了这些人当时所读、所欣赏、所建议的书籍和讲章。他们特别欣赏的是约翰·欧文（John Owen，1616–1683）和约拿单·爱德华兹（1703–1758）的作品，称他们为“十八世纪最伟大的基督教神学家”[7]。他们的作品被仔细的阅读与讨论。[8]思考和讨论圣经和基督教书籍深深的影响了这些弟兄们的生命。
果子：复兴和宣教
Fuller和这群人对十八世纪英国浸信会的复兴和宣教运动有非常深远的影响。是Fuller和他的导师Robert Hall（卒于1791年）削弱了那些困扰了英国浸信会多年的极端加尔文主义者们（例如前面提到的William Horne等人）带来的恶劣影响。[9]
经过1780年代努力的出版工作和1784年开始的复兴祷告会，到处开始涌现植堂、信主、教会扩堂以容纳更多信徒来聆听福音的现象，这些现象持续了好几十年。举个例子来说，在1880年，Fuller就在一封写给威廉·凯瑞的信中这样说：
我今天讲了一篇道，是根据帖前2:19讲给即将开学的青少年听的。今天大概从各个宿舍来了近千人听道。我心中迫切的为他们祷告，希望他们能得救。
Fuller在12月28日写给Ryland的信中表达了类似的喜乐：
我希望神能在这些年轻人当中动工。我们周一和周五晚上的聚会都挤满了人。
几个月之后，Fuller继续告诉Ryland：
周五晚上的聚会即将开始，我们已经持续举行了一年了，场场爆满。因为这个聚会里的信息是讲给那些关心自己救恩的人听的。
在Fuller的教会里所发生的事情也在英格兰和威尔士的其他教会里发生。[10]
正是从这群朋友当中，威廉凯瑞被派往印度做宣教士，英语世界里的宣教运动也从此开始。宣教学家Harry R. Boer指出，Fuller坚持所有的人都有责任相信福音，这一观点在凯瑞成为宣教士的决定中起了至关重要的作用。[11] Fuller描写说他们将凯瑞派往印度就像让金矿的矿工下到矿里去挖矿一样，他要挖出的金子就是要献给上帝的宝贵的印度灵魂。Fuller和他的好友Sutcliff、Ryland立志说他们要在凯瑞挖矿时抓住拴住凯瑞的绳子，成为他的帮助者。
我们从这些弟兄身上学到什么？
很明显，我们看到这群十八世纪的浸信会弟兄们生活在一起，一起祷告、阅读和谈话。这种关系在英国浸信会当中产生了极大的作用，影响了当时的福音派教会、宣教运动，也进而影响了世界。
我们可以从这些十八世纪的英国弟兄们身上学习如何从透过祷告和阅读收获丰富的、深刻的友谊关系，并如何进行高质量的交流。今天如果我们愿意这样做，谁又知道神会怎么使用我们呢？
Baptists Reading Together and the Birth of Modern Missions
Toward the end of the eighteenth century, English Baptists experienced a dramatic and much-needed revival that resulted in the birth of the modern missions movement. What fueled this? One important factor was a handful of pastors’ regular practice of meeting together to read, talk, and pray.
This article tells the story of how the Northamptonshire Association’s meetings promoted truth-fueled revival in the hope that pastors today would walk in these brothers’ footsteps.
HOW ANDREW FULLER PROMOTED BIBLICAL TRUTH
In the fall of 1799, William Wales Horne (1773–1826), the minister of the Baptist cause in Great Yarmouth, east Norfolk, England, gave two addresses that were later published together as a pamphlet entitled The Faith of the Gospel Vindicated(1800). Part of the pamphlet attacked the idea that “Evangelical faith…[is] the duty of the unconverted.” As Horne went on to argue,
…if faith is the work of the Spirit, and at the same time the duty of the creature, it consequently follows, that it is the duty of a man dead in sin, to give himself the Spirit of God! A sentiment equally as absurd as presumptuous! and to be detested by all sincere advocates for the glory of free grace![1]
In other words, Horne appeared to be denying that the gospel should be freely offered to all people.[2]
Andrew Fuller (1754–1815), minister of the Baptist work in Kettering, Northamptonshire, was that day’s most ardent defender of the biblical truth that faith is indeed the duty of all to whom the gospel comes. So it is not surprising that when this pamphlet fell into Fuller’s hands, he fired off a small piece that has been transmitted under the title “Remarks on Two Sermons by W.W. Horne of Yarmouth.”[3] Among other things, Fuller was distressed that Horne had used the pulpit to launch an attack on those, like him, who held to the free offer of the gospel. As Fuller said:
It is not by converting the pulpit into a stage of strife, nor by availing ourselves of the silence which decency imposes upon an audience to pour forth personal invective, that truth is promoted…It is by reading, by calm and serious reflection, by humble prayer, and by a free and friendly communication of our thoughts to one another in private conversation, that truth makes progress.[4]
In these occasional remarks, Fuller reveals an important aspect of his thinking about how to promote biblical truth. It was to be through reflective reading and meditation on what has been read, and through prayer and personal conversations. All of these means mentioned were part of Fuller’s own way of appropriating truth, though note especially the final one: “free and friendly communication of our thoughts to one another in private conversation.”
THE POWER OF FRIENDS READING TOGETHER
Fuller was blessed to be part of a close-knit circle of friends that included William Carey the missionary (1761–1834), John Sutcliff of Olney (1754–1815), and John Ryland, Jr. (1753–1825), Fuller’s biographer and the Principal of Bristol Baptist Academy.[5] And he knew from personal experience how vital it was to sit down with such men and talk through issues.
In fact, such discussions were one of the things that took place when Fuller and other ministers of the Northamptonshire Association met regularly for prayer and fellowship. For example, John Ryland notes in his diary that he and the above-mentioned friends spent January 21, 1788, together, as he explains:
Brethren, Fuller, Sutcliff, Carey, and I, kept this day as a private fast in my study: read the Epistles to Timothy and Titus; Booth’s Charge to Hopkins; Blackerby’s Life, in Gillies; and Rogers of Dedham’s Sixty Memorials for a Godly Life: and each prayed twice—Carey with singular enlargement and pungency. Our chief design was to implore a revival of the power of godliness in our own souls, in our churches, and in the church at large.[6]
Here, we have these friends praying and reading Scripture together, as well as a number of classic pastoral works. Presumably they discussed the content of what they read and in this way sought to inflame their hearts and strengthen their wills in God’s service.
I have no idea how often this sort of day together took place, but we do have a significant amount of other material (journals and correspondence from these men) that mentions books and sermons that were being read, appreciated, and recommended. In particular, there is abundant evidence that the works of John Owen (1616–1683) and Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), the “greatest Christian theologian of the eighteenth century,”[7] were being carefully read and discussed by these friends.[8] Reflecting on and discussing Scripture and Christian literature thus deeply shaped the lives of these Christian brothers.
THE FRUITS: REVIVAL AND MISSIONS
Fuller and this circle of men were central to the revitalization of the English Baptists at the close of the eighteenth century. It was the writings of Fuller and his mentor Robert Hall, Sr. (d.1791) that played a key role in blowing away much of the hyper-Calvinism—similar to what William Horne advocated above—which bedeviled far too many English Baptist communities.[9]
Hard on the heels of the publication of these works in the 1780s and the initiation of monthly one-hour prayer meetings for revival in 1784, there was a noticeable surge of church planting, conversions, and the physical expansion of church buildings to accommodate the crowds now coming to the hear the gospel, trends which continued to bear fruit for decades.
In 1810, for example, Fuller noted in a letter to William Carey: “I preached a sermon to the youth last Lord’s Day from 1 Thess 2:19. I think we must have had nearly one thousand. They came from all quarters. My heart’s desire and prayer for them is that they may be saved.” Fuller was still rejoicing when he wrote to Ryland on December 28: “I hope the Lord is at work among our young people. Our Monday and Friday night meetings are much thronged.” A couple months later Fuller told Ryland: “The Friday evening discourses are now, and have been for nearly a year, much thronged, because they have been mostly addressed to persons under some concern about their salvation.” And what was happening in Fuller’s church was happening in Baptist causes throughout the length and breadth of England and Wales.[10]
And then it was out of this circle of friends that William Carey was sent to India and the modern missionary movement in the English-speaking world began. As missiologist Harry R. Boer put it, “Fuller’s insistence on the duty of all men everywhere to believe the gospel…played a determinative role in the crystallization of Carey’s missionary vision.”[11] Fuller himself described their sending Carey to India as lowering him into a deep gold-mine to extract “gold”—precious Indian souls—for God. And Fuller and his close friends Sutcliff and Ryland pledged themselves to “hold the ropes” as long as Carey lived.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THESE BROTHERS
It’s easy to see how the way these eighteenth-century Baptists lived together—in reading, prayer, and conversation—had an enormous impact for good in English Baptist churches, in the larger sphere of evangelicalism, and in the world at large.
We can certainly learn from these eighteenth-century brothers to take time to cultivate rich, deep friendships that are also marked by prayer and reading together, and that fine art of conversation. And who knows what God might do through such circles of friends today!
[1] The Faith of the Gospel Vindicated: Being the Substance of Two Sermons, Delivered Extempore at the Baptist Meeting, Great Yarmouth, Oct. 27, 1799 (Yarmouth, 1800), 33.
[2] Faith of the Gospel Vindicated, 26–27. Elsewhere, Horne claimed to be a defender of “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, as covenant blessings, the free gifts of Jehovah, and of the operation of the Holy Spirit in the souls of the redeemed, against the duty faith men, or Semi-arminians” (Biblical Criticisms and Illustrations of Experimental Godliness, The Solutions to Critical Questions in Theology [London: W. Day, 1825], vi).
[3] The Complete Works of the Rev. Andrew Fuller (1845 ed.; repr. Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), III, 578–585. Horne subsequently replied to Fuller with his A Scriptural Defence of the Truth, As it is in Jesus (Nottingham: J. Plumbe, 1801) and sarcastically referred to him as “a great master in Baptist Israel.”
[4] “Remarks on Two Sermons by W.W. Horne of Yarmouth” (Complete Works, III, 582).
[5] On these friendships, see Michael A.G. Haykin, One heart and one soul: John Sutcliff of Olney, his friends, and his times (Darlington, Co. Durham: Evangelical Press, 1994).
[6] Cited J.E. Ryland, “Memoir” in Pastoral Memorials (London: B.J. Holdsworth, 1826), I, 17, note. The works Ryland mentions are Abraham Booth’s (1734–1806) classic ministerial charge to Thomas Hopkins (1759–1787)—Pastoral Cautions (1785; see The Works of Abraham Booth, eds. Michael A.G. Haykin with Alison E. Haykin [Springfield, Missouri: Particular Baptist Press, 2006], I, 57–84); the life of the Puritan Richard Blackerby (1574–1648) as it was published in John Gillies’ Historical Collections Relating to Remarkable Periods of the Success of the Gospel, and Eminent Instruments Employed in Promoting It (1754); and Sixty Memorials of a Godly Life, frequently assigned to John Rogers of Dedham (d.1636), a fiery Puritan preacher.
[7] Miklós Vetö, “Book Reviews: America’s Theologian. A Recommendation of Jonathan Edwards. By Robert W. Jenson”, Church History, 58 (1989), 522.
[8] See, for example, two recent studies of Fuller’s reading of Owen and Edwards: Carl Trueman, “John Owen and Andrew Fuller”, Eusebeia, 9 (2008), 53–69, and Chris Chun, “‘Sense of the Heart’: Jonathan Edwards’ Legacy in the Writings of Andrew Fuller,” Eusebeia, 9 (2008), 117–134.
[9] See Robert Hall, Sr., Help to Zion’s Travellers (1781) and elHHH Andrew Fuller, The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation (1785)
[10] The preceding extracts from the letters of Andrew Fuller are all cited by Doyle L. Young, “The Place of Andrew Fuller in the Developing Modern Missions Movement” (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1981), 232.
[11] Harry R. Boer, Pentecost and Missions (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 24.
作者：Michael A. G. Haykin
Michael A. G. Haykin是美南浸信会神学院教会历史教授。
翻译肢体：谢昉
用圣经视野和实用资源装备教会领袖
进而通过健康的教会向世界彰显神的荣耀
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