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The Christian Contemplated; In a Course of Lectures Delivered in Argyle Chapel, Bath
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
298 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2013
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April 30, 2016
Difficult to rate. I didn't overly enjoy it but I can appreciate its qualities and so three stars would be deficient. But I wasn't blown away by it so I can't give it five stars. Four stars seems the necessary compromise. Maybe if I'd read it earlier on in my life I would have been more impressed by it. Or maybe, in those days before I knew anything of Jay's life and work, I wouldn't have thought much of it.
Jay was a contemporary of my favourite writer, John Angell James (co-editor of Jay's Autobiography), both popular preachers with lengthy pastorates. But personally I find John Angell James far more engaging, and thus in comparison Jay feels a bit tame. However, I do have to admit that Jay's sermons are far more closely tied to Scripture. His sermons are packed full of quotes from Scripture, where in James's sermons they would be far fewer and further between. Jay might win the admiration and emulation of some for his approach, but I find James' approach more effective. James will take Biblical doctrines and principles and then just speak away, passionately opening up his subject and making it relevant to people's lives. He was more of a pastoral figure, he had a pastor's heart. Jay tended to dissociate himself from pastoral work and saw himself as primarily there to preach, and thus he largely confined himself to his studies and sermon preparation. And that affects the presentation and the way it addresses (or fails to address) the hearts of the hearers and readers. For me, it felt thoroughly Biblical, and intensively Scriptural, (which was a good thing) but it was deficient in that it lacked those barbs needed to strike it into the reader's heart.
Some would surely disagree with me and think that the more of Scripture the better. But if it was only necessary for people to hear Scripture in order to be saved, we could dispense with preachers entirely and anybody would be capable of standing up and reading the Bible aloud to more effect. But preachers are appointed to open up the Word - not just to recite it, but to capture our attention and open our ears and soften our hearts and capture our attention and show us the way.
The purpose of my review is just to say that the contents were good, but still largely left me unmoved. Maybe others will find it more stirring than I did.
Jay was a contemporary of my favourite writer, John Angell James (co-editor of Jay's Autobiography), both popular preachers with lengthy pastorates. But personally I find John Angell James far more engaging, and thus in comparison Jay feels a bit tame. However, I do have to admit that Jay's sermons are far more closely tied to Scripture. His sermons are packed full of quotes from Scripture, where in James's sermons they would be far fewer and further between. Jay might win the admiration and emulation of some for his approach, but I find James' approach more effective. James will take Biblical doctrines and principles and then just speak away, passionately opening up his subject and making it relevant to people's lives. He was more of a pastoral figure, he had a pastor's heart. Jay tended to dissociate himself from pastoral work and saw himself as primarily there to preach, and thus he largely confined himself to his studies and sermon preparation. And that affects the presentation and the way it addresses (or fails to address) the hearts of the hearers and readers. For me, it felt thoroughly Biblical, and intensively Scriptural, (which was a good thing) but it was deficient in that it lacked those barbs needed to strike it into the reader's heart.
Some would surely disagree with me and think that the more of Scripture the better. But if it was only necessary for people to hear Scripture in order to be saved, we could dispense with preachers entirely and anybody would be capable of standing up and reading the Bible aloud to more effect. But preachers are appointed to open up the Word - not just to recite it, but to capture our attention and open our ears and soften our hearts and capture our attention and show us the way.
The purpose of my review is just to say that the contents were good, but still largely left me unmoved. Maybe others will find it more stirring than I did.
Displaying 1 of 1 review