A Few More Books I Would Like to See Written - Glenn Conjurske
A Few More
Books I Would Like to See Written
by Glenn Conjurske
And first, though I have never thought of a suitable title for it, a commentary on important texts of the Bible, consisting primarily of the comments of the old men of God on those texts. It is too late in life for me to begin such a work, if it is not too late in the history of the world. But the fact is, good commentaries are extremely rare. Most of the commentaries which exist comment at length on the obvious, and pass by the harder things with scarcely a word. This is little more than a waste of time and paper. Then too, most of the commentaries which exist are not the work of the men most qualified to write them. Many of them are the work of intellectuals who are positively unspiritual, who seem to suppose that the Scriptures may be understood by means of mere linguistic studies. There are numerous such commentaries, such as those of H. B. Swete,
J. B. Lightfoot, B. F. Westcott, and Keil and Delitszch. Others are the work of men who certainly leave something to be desired in spirituality, such as John Gill and Charles Hodge. But one of the greatest weaknesses of commentaries in general is due to the method by which they are written. Each commentator consults the commentaries which already exist, and so incorporates a great deal of unspiritual, intellectual speculation into his own. But the fact is, the soundest and most telling and enlightening comments on any particular verse of the Bible will seldom be found in a commentary, but rather in an apt application of it in the journal of John Wesley or Francis Asbury, in a comment on its translation in one of Burgon’s books, in a doctrinal article in an old issue of Moody Monthly, in a controversial letter in the Guardian, in a sermon on some other text by William Jay or Rowland Hill, in some oblique reference in The Pilgrim’s Progress, in a doctrinal book by R. A. Torrey or Archibald Alexander, in an old Methodist biography, in an apt application in a hymn or poem —-and in many other such sources. I offer one example, from the table-talk of Richard Cecil. He says,
“I have a shelf in my study for tried authors; and one in my mind for tried principles and characters. When an AUTHOR has stood a thorough examination, and will bear to be taken as a guide, I put him on the shelf. … When I have turned a CHARACTER over and over on all sides, and seen it through and through in all situations, I put in on the shelf. There may be conduct in the person, which may stumble others: there may be great inconsistencies: there may be strange and unaccountable turns—-but if I have put that character on the shelf: difficulties will all be cleared up: every thing will come round again. I should be much chagrined, indeed, to be obliged to take a character down, which I had once put up; but that has never been the case with me yet; and the best guard against it, is—-not to be too hasty in putting them there.”
Where could we find, in a commentary, so apt a comment as this on “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins”?
Such a commentary as I desire has never been written, so far as I know, but it surely ought to be. If I had begun thirty years ago to make a textual index of such comments, I might now have the materials in hand to produce such a book, but I had no one to guide me to such an undertaking. Perhaps some young man might do it yet. If he begins now with the right kind of reading, and continues at it for thirty or forty years, he may then have both the materials and the depth necessary to write such a book—-though I suppose such materials might be better gathered by a dozen or a score of likeminded men (or women) than by one. I have begun now to keep notes of such materials, too late to produce the desired book, but perhaps not too late for some profitable articles for this magazine.
Some of my readers are doubtless familiar with The Translators Revived, by Alexander McClure, an old work, revived in our time by the King James Only movement—-not that it will much help their cause. I would like to see a similar work entitled The Revisers Revived. This, if properly done, and by a man who knows the facts and understands the issues, would go far to establish the real nature of the Revised Version, which is a repository of liberalism, intellectualism, and pedantry, and indeed a proclamation that there are 36,000 “plain and clear errors” in the New Testament of the Authorized Version. Any man who thinks so only proclaims his own unfitness to revise it. But the actual fact is, the alterations in the Revised New Testament were limited to 36,000 only by the presence of a more conservative element in the company of revisers. Some of the liberals, such as B. F. Westcott, believed the revision did not go far enough.
Physical Phenomena in Revivals. Almost all the great revivals in history have been characterized by various physical manifestations, some of them evidently supernatural, accompanying the conviction and conversion of sinners. Physical prostrations have been very common, and there have also been numerous other physical effects, such as blindness, deafness, dumbness, trances and visions, and “the jerks.” Some men of God have warmly embraced and defended the whole of these manifestations as the work of God, while others have opposed the whole as the work of the devil. Others have attempted to discriminate between them, embracing some of them as of God, and rejecting others as of the devil. It may be we will see such things again, whether we will or no, should the longed-for revival come to us, and it may be well to be prepared for them. I am sure I have plenty of materials in hand to write such a book, if only I had time. The book would consist, first and foremost, of descriptions and accounts of actual instances of such manifestations, and should include also the judgements of the prominent men of the church concerning them.
Anecdotes of Asbury. I have not yet discovered a good biography of Asbury. But here are two facts. First, the best part of any biography consists of anecdotes and incidents. Scripture biography consists almost entirely of this. And second, there are dozens of such anecdotes of Asbury thickly scattered throughout the realm of Methodist biography. I always make note of them, and adjure all my friends to do the same. A collection of these would be most edifying.
Glenn Conjurske