ARDENT LOVE FOR JESUS
Learning from the 18th-century Baptist revival
By Michael A. G. Haykin
Bryntirion Press. 160pp. £6.79
ISBN 978 1 850 492 481
If you are interested in the subject of revival, as all Christians should be, you will have read of the great Evangelical Revival associated with George Whitefield, the Wesleys, and others of the eighteenth century.
It is easy to overlook a period of revival amongst the English nonconformists which took place in the aftermath of that earlier glorious work of God. This later revival was as significant as the earlier one, since it had repercussions around the world.
Michael Haykin has long made a special study of this era. Out of the fruits of his research has come this book. The names of Andrew Fuller and William Carey are well known, although details of their lives, work and teaching may not be. Together with Fuller and Carey, other significant men come to life in these pages. They include John Ryland junior, John Sutcliff, Benjamin Francis, William Ward, Joshua Marshman and Samuel Pearce, all worthy of our attention.
A number of features stand out. These were men of prayer; many were content to spend their lives serving congregations of quite ordinary people.In the wider interests of the church, they were ready work together self-sacrificially. None of them tried to build an empire; each seemed to regard the others as superior to himself. Haykin quotes a tribute from Thomas Chalmers, urging that they and their work should not be forgotten, although they themselves were self-effacing men. ‘Ardent love for Jesus’ marked their lives.
This excellent introduction to a glorious work of God is well-written and easy to read, but ample references enable the reader to dig deeper. Much of the material was first given as addresses to ordinary Christians in widely scattered locations. It is good that it is now brought together and given more permanent form. This book will do much good.
