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Reformed Thought for Christian Living
“Sinners… within or without the visible Church, have a real right to Christ…” A disagreement over baptism Not long after Boston had settled in Simprin, he visited a friend,Rev. George […]
“Sinners… within or without the visible Church, have a real right to Christ…”
A disagreement over baptism
Not long after Boston had settled in Simprin, he visited a friend,Rev. George Mair at Culross. Boston held Mair in high regard and Mair would later marry Boston and Katharine. Despite this, Boston disagreed with him over baptism and the right of sinners to call on Christ. He explained it this way,
Mr. Mair taught, that all members of the visible Church have a general right to Christ, and the benefits of the covenant; and that baptism seals absolutely, that is, as I afterwards understood, that baptism seals that right to them all.
For Mair, the promises of the gospel were open to those who had been baptised, and so within the bounds of the visible church. However, he made no provision for salvation to those who were outside the visible church, having never been baptised.
Boston disagreed with his friend, saying, “But now I believe, that sinners of mankind indefinitely, within or without the visible Church, have a real right to Christ, and the benefits of the covenant, so as they may warrantably take possession thereof by faith.”
Boston understood that the gospel call goes to all people, including those who have never belonged to a church. The prayer is that they would believe in Christ and lay claim to God’s promises, including salvation. He stopped short of saying that that baptism was a necessary to seal, saying, “I could never be satisfied as to baptism’s sealing of” God’s covenant promises.
Later, Boston wrote more about this, including a short treatise, entitled The Number of Sacraments, and The Nature of Baptism. In it he explained that the purpose of baptism was “to signify and seal… saving privileges and benefits for his eternal salvation” to the person being baptized, although he recognised that this is “not effectual to all” who are baptised.
What is it, then, that baptism points to? That is, what does the outward sign of water, signify and seal? Amongst those listed by Boston are:
Boston also encouraged people to “Improve your baptism agreeable to the nature of it.” The way to do this is by asking ourselves: “Into what was I baptised?” This is a lifelong endeavour, and every baptism we witness should spur us on to growth in the Lord. According to Boston, improving our baptism will grow us in six ways:
When you look back over your life since you were baptised, in what ways have you improved your baptism?
An elder brother
On several occasions Boston mentions his eldest brother, Andrew, as someone who gave wise, spiritual counsel to him. He encouraged Boston in the things of Christ Jesus and held a genuine concern for his welfare. During this period, Boston received a letter from Katharine to whom he was now engaged to marry. However, something undisclosed in her letter unsettled him. Boston shared it with Andrew, saying: “he was useful to me, encouraging me to trust in God, before whom I laid the case.”
Paul’s description of Timothy is positive: “I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.” (Phil. 2:20) He had a sincere desire for goodwill towards other believers. True friends are faithful through thick and thin. In times of adversity, a brother steps up to help.
Boston’s brother, Andrew, did not offer him vain opinions or worldly advice when Boston went to him with his problems. Wise counsel that is true always moves the listener closer to God.
Visiting from house to house
The Bible gives us an insight into how the Apostle Paul ministered God’s Word in various places. Whilst he was in Ephesus, Paul said: “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house.” (Acts 20:20)
Boston’s practice as a pastor was to visit each family in his parish twice a year. He gives us an insight into his method for such visits. Generally, he followed the following steps:
First, he would share with them of a point from his preaching of God’s Word the previous week. In doing so, he would exhort them to see their natural state of sin, and their need of Christ.
Second, he would encourage them to secret prayer, family-worship, and to faithfully fulfill whatever duties they had in life.
Third, he would pray with them, and if possible, have the head of household pray too.
Often these visits were spiritually a heavy load for Boston. He described one visit by saying:
I went and visited some families with little satisfaction… it lay heavy on my spirit, having withal a sense of my utter insufficiency for that piece of work. I found it hard, yea, without a supernatural power impossible to bring people to a sense of their need of Christ.
Once at Ferrytown Boston says: “I was called to visit a sick man, whom I knew to have been a very profligate person, but found stored with a great deal of ill-grounded confidence. I applied myself to bring him to a sense of his sin and danger; but saw no success thereof.” The warning is clear: all kinds of people may deceive themselves with false hopes and presumptions of being right with God. May we not be so deceived!
Yet, those that truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love Him in sincerity and good conscience may be “certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed (WCF 18.1).”
Battling the flesh and growing in assurance
At times, Boston had doubts of his own. Once, he was irritated to find that some furniture that he had acquired was not what he had wanted. In addition to that, someone upset him by his behaviour towards him (Boston). He brought the matter before the Lord, but the next day, a Lord’s Day, his thoughts ran away from him “without bounds.” He struggled to reign in his sinful thoughts and upset feelings.
After he had led God’s people in worship and preached on humanity’s ignorance to our sinful standing before God, he said: “My heart was discouraged… [I] said, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? It was answered, Because I have not assurance of God’s love. I thought I had the testimony of conscience, but can never get the testimony of the Spirit to put me quite out of doubt.”
He immediately “went to prayer” and he was grateful to be relieved of his doubts. Humbled before the Lord, he was sorry for his unbelieving heart. In addition, he pleaded the promises of God, in particular John 14:21, “he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” And yet, that promise only raised another doubt in his mind: What if his love for Christ was not a true or right love? And how would he know if Christ had shown Himself to him or not?
Boston answered these questions by saying that it is Christ’s will to show Himself in different ways to different believers. For example, He did not show Himself in the same way to each of His disciples. Only three of His disciples saw Him transfigured on the mountain; Peter, James and John (Matt. 17:1-8). And yet despite this, after reading Psalm 45, Boston realised that a three-fold effect will be seen in all people who have truly known Christ.
First, they see Him as being “fairer” than all, and have an earnest desire to commend Christ to others.
Second, they realise that nothing in heaven or earth can satisfy but Christ alone.
Third, they are troubled when God hides His face from them.
Although Boston still struggled with assurance, by the evening he was able to say: “My soul blessed God for His Word… It has loosed my bands, set me to my feet again, and put courage in my heart. My heart rejoiceth in His salvation, and in Himself.”
Sin steals a believer’s assurance and joy, and causes us to doubt God’s promises. In Boston’s irritation over the furniture and other people’s behaviour toward him, we see the outworking’s of “a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (WCF 13.2).” This could set us on a downward spiral of despair, except that “through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part does overcome; and so, the saints grow in grace; perfecting holiness in the fear of God (WCF 13.3).”
John Bunyan, in The Pilgrim’s Progress, helpfully illustrated this wonderful truth. He pictured a fire burning within a fireplace. Someone was standing in front of the fire, trying to extinguish the flames by throwing water onto it. This person was the Devil. Yet, despite his efforts, the fire grew hotter, because on the other side of the fireplace, hidden from view, Christ was feeding the fire with the oil of His grace. Thank Christ for His burning oil of sanctification that keeps alight all those who belong to Him.
Borrowed preaching
Boston’s preaching never drew great crowds, yet he spoke some serious words for pastors and preachers. James 3:1 says: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” At times Boston was discouraged with “the unsuccessfulness of the gospel.” This led him to pour out his soul before God “for a blessing on what He had helped to deliver.”
One time, Boston had prepared on Thursday to preach that coming Lord’s Day. His heart longed to preach God’s message, however when the time of preaching came, he felt that he had failed, due to some temptation.
On another occasion, he realised that he had misread and so misunderstood a verse from Song of Solomon. He said: “this gave me a sore dash, fearing that my light that I sometimes get be but delusion.” Despite this error, by God’s grace, Boston was not left emptied of confidence in God’s Word and his ability to understand it, but rather it served to strengthen his resolve never to deliberately twist or misuse God’s Word.
He observed that shallow, frivolous conversation is unworthy of the office of pastor. He recalled meeting with another minister whose “foolish talking afforded me heavy reflections, on the unedifying converse of minister, and my own among others, as one great cause of the unsuccessfulness of the gospel.” A pastor’s conversation ought never be shallow.
It was during this period that Boston also experienced a measure of spiritual refreshment. He says:“I went to Robert Fairbairn’s in Woodside… There I was refreshed with a heavenly society, the excellent ones of that part of the earth.” Meeting with other believers in whom the love of the Lord was evident, revived his weary soul. Yet, Boston also commented that these Christians were living “on borrowed meals,” by which he meant the preacher had come from another church.
Yet, in this there is a warning for every preacher. Poor preaching can leave God’s people living off past meals – even from decades earlier. There can be such poor spiritual nourishment from what they are currently hearing that they are forced to survive on the past. Amongst the Lord Jesus’ final words to Peter were the thrice given command, “Feed my lambs” or similar (John 21:15, 16, 17).
For those who preach, may we seek to feed God’s people with true spiritual nourishment.
A Personal Covenant
On 25th March 1700, Boston made a personal covenant with the Lord. It began: “I, Mr. Thomas Boston, minister of God’s word at Simprin.” Then, after confessing his unfaithfulness and frequent backslidings, he affirmed his desire to “get my soul more confirmed in the Lord.” In the last part of the covenant, he confessed and vowed the following,
“[I] do now, with all my heart and soul… give up myself… unto Christ; taking Him with heart and soul, upon those very terms, and no other, upon which He is offered in the gospel; resolving, and hereby engaging, in His strength, to cleave to Him and His truths, so long as I live, whatever be the hazard… [To this] I do with all willingness subscribe, the 25th day of March 1700.”
This was, in fact, the second personal covenant that he had made until this point. The first he signed on 14th August 1699. He made a third personal covenant on 5TH December 1729, which he said was more thoroughly grounded in God’s covenant of grace when compared to the earlier two covenants.
Perhaps we fear making such promises, knowing that we are weak and thinking of Peter’s night of failure (Matt. 26:69-75). We ought never take rash vows (see Ecc. 5:1-5). The strength of Boston’s personal covenant is that he looks to Christ as the founder and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2). In Nehemiah 9-10, over eighty leaders of the people of Israel bound themselves to God in solemn oath. They began by exalting the LORD God and confessing that in the past they had given the “stubborn shoulder” to His law (Neh. 9:26). They vowed, in a sealed document, their loyalty to God in marriage (Neh. 10:30), obedience to God in regards to Sabbath (Neh. 10:31), support of the service of the temple (Neh. 10:32), duty in serving God as priests (Neh. 10:34), their trust in bring their firstfruits (Neh. 10:35-39) and never to neglect “the house of our God (Neh. 10:39).”
Married to Katharine Brown
It was during this time that Boston and Katharine were married. They had some difficulties in their courtship, and yet the more time that Boston spent with Katharine, the more “I was made often to bless God that ever I was acquainted with her.”
Then, on 17th July 1700, “betwixt eight and nine o’clock at night,” they were married: Thomas and Katharine Boston. He was “going on twenty-five years” of age, and Katharine was “going on twenty-seven years” of age. Their marriage service, led by Mr. Mair, seems to have been a simple ceremony. It was the marriage itself that they treated with the greatest joy and seriousness.
In one long, beautiful paragraph, Boston lovingly describes Katharine his wife after thirty years of marriage. He said she was,
A woman of great worth, whom I therefore passionately loved, and inwardly honoured: A stately, beautiful and comely personage, truly pious, and fearing the Lord; of an evenly temper, patient in our common tribulations … wise and affable in conversation, having a good faculty at speaking, and expressing herself with assurance.
Surely, every marriage begins with high hopes for the future, despite not knowing what may come. Thomas and Katharine Boston were to face many difficulties in their lives, with Boston saying: “we have passed through a sea of trouble” and the shore still seemed far away. Yet, their sea of trouble helped to grow them in patience and spiritual strength, and Boston says of Katharine, that “the grace of God in her hath been brightened” despite the difficulties that she faced.
– Graham Barnes
