Our castaway this time is Bernard Honeysett, now retired, but for many years pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Tenterden, Kent. Mr. Honeysett is now in his eighty-eighth year. (published Summer 1994)
Morning and Evening -- Daily Readings by C. H. Spurgeon. This book has been my companion for thirty years. I was brought up to believe C. H. Spurgeon was an Arminian and when I first read a small volume of his I was not impressed. Soon after coming to Tenterden in 1961 Mr. Denyer, Gospel Standard pastor in Canterbury, died. His widow invited me to come and take some of his books. Amongst them I found a copy of the Evening Readings -- they were originally published as two separate volumes. Some time after, Mrs. Denyer came to stay with us. Reading the evening portion I asked her, "Do you know whose portion that is?". She was always rather stern and at once said, "That is not my book is it?". I said it was with those she said I might take. Her reply, "I have looked everywhere for that book, Dr. McQueen gave it to us". I at once returned it to her.
Later I was visiting a friend and told her of my experience. She had someone staying with her from Northampton, I do not remember who. He at once said, "Would you like a copy? Many years ago they were made a blessing to me. I vowed I would give a copy to anyone who would accept." I gladly did so and in due course received my copy which I still have.
I have also given away many copies. At one time you could purchase a very nice presentation copy, so whenever I married a couple I would give them one, believing that if they read them daily they would always be receiving some sound instruction. He was reading from every book of the Bible. They were written as daily portions unlike some volumes where quotations have simply been extracted from other writings. It is truly wonderful to see how they just meet the present need.
Thomas Watson's Body of Divinity. This book has also had a lasting impression upon me. It was one of the first Banner of Truth reprints. I purchased a copy soon after I entered the ministry in 1956. I was brought up to believe you must not use notes or commentaries, God would give you what to say! I thought that being doctrinal it would be rather dry, but was amazed as every page ministered to me, granting me gracious instruction. Watson is concise and racy, unlike many of the Puritans, so you do not have to wade through pages to cover one point. I am sure the condition we are in and our need makes all the difference to the benefit we receive from a book. I have read it since that first time, but not with the same benefit and delight. Under "Growth in Grace" he writes:
"The first sign of our growing is when we have got beyond our former measures of grace. It is a sign a child thrives when he has outgrown his clothes. That knowledge which would serve us before will not serve us now; we have a deeper insight into religion, our light is clearer, our spark of love is increased into a flame; this is a sign of growth. That competency of grace which we once had is too scanty for us now; we have outgrown ourselves."
Life and times of Selina Countess of Huntingdon. This life I have in two volumes which are now very hard to come by. I consider the Countess of Huntingdon one of the greatest women the Church has ever had and the period in which she lived one of the greatest in Church history. Again this work was a means of enlarging my outlook.
When I first left school I spent a year at Attwood Bros., the carnation specialists, at Wivelsfield in Sussex. I lodged near a Countess of Huntingdon Connexion chapel, "Oate Hall", but I never entered the doors! I knew nothing then of her work and the many chapels she had erected at her own expense. She was once criticised for not helping the poor (she did, of course) but said the commission she received from the Lord was to further the work of the Gospel. It is difficult to estimate in present-day terms how much money she used for this purpose, but it could be around a million pounds. I once visited her chapel in "The Vineyards", Bath, and found the tablet to her memory had been removed and broken up and was lying in the courtyard, so I took a piece which has part of her name on it as a momento. It was the chapel where she had what was called "The Bishop's Seat", a secret seat curtained off so that prominent men could come and hear her chaplains without it being known.
This book contains some remarkable letters from the leading preachers of those days and she interviews with them. Also the great days of her Trevecca College. I should love to relieve those thrilling days as I soaked up the sun on my desert island.
I include just one apreciation of her found in the book:
"As long as Christ has a Church on earth and disciples animated with zeal for the glory of His name, the Countess of Huntingdon will live and enjoy a distinguished niche in the temple of God. The world has its heroes whom it holds up to universal admiration in the pages of history -- here the Church of Christ presents one of hers. The moment her ladyship arrived in Bristol her active spirit began to devise fresh plans for the cultivation of those who hated that light which her burning zeal for the salvation of immortal souls longed to pour in torrents on all those within her reach. Her compassionated heart, tenderly sympathising in the distress of her fellow-creatures, and breathing forth the most affectionate ardour for their external interests, induced her to visit the prisons, the house of pestilence, and the chambers of mortal disease, wherever the voice of misery invited her, bearing with her the mercy of the Gospel to souls on the very brink of eternity."
John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides. Having been concerned and interested in revival for many years I would want some great missionary life to spur on my prayers. It would be difficult to choose from the many lives of sacrifice and service. Hudson Taylor and William Carey would both press their claims, but I think I would choose Paton. One reason would be that he ministered on islands and in some ways I could associate with him! Secondly, he witnessed to some of the worst of the human race who were indeed in the thickest darkness, proving in the most glorious manner the power of God, to save unto the uttermost "the vilest sinner out of hell".
There are in parts of his life a sadness which moves on to tears and yet fills one with wonder and admiration. As one sat again and read through those great annals one could contemplate the time when we shall meet and have blessed fellowship in "the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness".
Listen to him at the end of his life of peril and sacrifice:
"Oh that I had my life again! I would consecrate it anew to Jesus in seeking the conversion of the remaining cannibals of the New Hebrides. But since that may not be, may He help me to use every moment and every power still left to me to carry forward to the uttermost that beloved work. Doubtless these poor degraded savages are part of the Redeemer's inheritance, given to Him in the Father's Eternal Covenant and thousands of them are destined through us to sing His Praise in the glory and the joy of the Heavenly World!"
What faith and love!
The First Forty Years -- The Fight of Faith -- Biography of Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I would not want to be without this life either. I would like to take the two volumes, but if I am allowed only one it would be the first.
I view the Doctor as being the last of the Puritans. This was claimed for Spurgeon, but God, in His goodness, added one in another century. I believe the Doctor was influenced more by the Puritans than by any other period of Church history. Spurgeon and Lloyd-Jones both had great London ministries. Alas, what can we say today? Surely the judgement of God is upon us in that we do not have an outstanding leader amongst the evangelical Churches.
Personally, I owe a great debt to the Doctor, having attended his Westminister Fellowship for ministers regularly for many years. Having been reared in "hyper-Calvinistic" circles, his gracious teaching and wise counsel was a tremendous blessing. In reading and re-reading this book I relieve it all, seeing in my mind's eye those wonderful days of fellowship. I joined about 1964 and have seen many changes. We were also kept informed by him of the situation in the wider world.
I have vivid memories of him coming to preach for me and chairing for him on his annual visit to the Ashford Bible Witness over a number of years. I met him at the station when he preached for us in 1970. It was a hot summer day, but he came off the platform with his overcoat on -- a light mac over it, gloves, and a Homburg. The first thing he said was, "I never get caught in the rain". "We have not had any rain here for weeks," I said. "Oh, we had a shower coming down," was his reply. I had asked him to preach on a Sunday, but he said that when he preached twice on a Saturday he did not preach again on a Sunday. The last thing he said to me as we said good-bye was, "I shall be praying for you tomorrow". He really did have a heart of gold! I believe his ministry was the means of thousands being converted. Only eternity will reveal the whole story.
Reading the biography would bring back the last time I saw him. It was at the Westminister Fellowship in June 1980. Josif Ton, from Romania, was present and before the meeting began the Doctor introduced him. It was quite a contrast. Ton, a fine looking man in full vigour. The Doctor, obviously old and very frail. He said to Josif, "It is eight years since you were here last" (he attended while studying here), "and I want to assure you that Mrs. Lloyd-Jones and myself have prayed for you every day". There were tears in the Romanian's eyes.
The Doctor was a great man of prayer. His concluding prayer that afternoon will be remembered by many. Surely this is an important note to close on -- the vital need of prayer (see Ezekial 36:37). It is something one would have a lot of time for on a desert island with, hopefully, little to distract one! Even there one could still meet around the one common mercy seat.
