THOMAS ADAM’S PRIVATE THOUGHTS

Last month’s Banner of Truth included biographical material and composition of Rev. John Newton. As head of an Oxford Seminary called Hertford College, Newton exercised profound influence upon his students. One such student, who retained high respect for Newton throughout his life, was Thomas Adam (1701-1784) — a godly divine who was deeply exercised in scriptural truth experientially, and whose remembrance needs to be raised from near oblivion. The following material (taken from his Private Thoughts on Relgion) and to be continued in future issues, is an attempt to redress this imbalance to some degree.

Little is known of Thomas Adam’s personal life and conversion. Shortly after his entrance into the ministry, he married Susanna Cooke, the daughter of a godly, neighboring vicar. They had only one child — a daughter who died in infancy. After a blessed marriage of thirty years, Rev. Adam’s wife also died, and he remained a widower for the last twenty-five years of his life. He postered one flock (Wintringham in Lincolnshire) for all of his ministerial career — 58 years! Like Newton he remained within the pale of the Anglican church all his life.

As with several of his contemporaries, Thomas Adam’s spiritual quickening transpired subsequent to becoming pastor. It is probable that the Lord used William Law’s Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life to awaken him from his deadly sleep. The breach between God and himself became real His biographer, James Stillingfleet, details the little that we know of his spiritual experience as follows: “He saw indeed the law to be holy, just, and good; but found, after all his utmost care and endeavour to fulfil it, he fell so short of its demands, and was so sinful, that he was continually under its righteous condemnation .… In this situation of [conviction] he went on for sometimes [until 1748].… One morning in his study, being much distressed on the subject [of personal salvation], he fell down upon his knees before God in prayer, spread his case before the divine Majesty and Goodness, imploring him to pity his distress, and to guide him by his Holy Spirit into the right understanding of His own truth. When he arose from his supplication, he took the Greek Testament and sat himself down to read the first six chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, sincerely desirous to be taught of God, and to receive, in the simplicity of a child, the word of His revelation: when, to his unspeakable comfort and astonishment, his difficulties vanished; — a most clear and satisfactory light was given him into this great subject. He saw the doctrine of justification by Jesus Christ alone, through faith, to be the great subject of the gospel — the highest display of the divine perfections — the happiest relief for his burdened conscience — and the most powerful principle of all constant and unfeigned holiness of heart and life. He rejoiced exceedingly: he found peace and comfort spring up in his mind; his conscience was purged from guilt through the atoning blood of Christ, and his heart set at liberty to run the way of God’s commandments without fear, in a spirit of filial love and holy delight; and from that hour he began to preach salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone, to man, by nature and practice lost, and condemned under the law; and, as his own expression is, always a sinner.

His sermons, though before animated by an honest zeal, were no longer mere lectures of morality, or filled only with legal condemnation. While all godliness in principle and practice was duly enforced, the enlivening display of that glorious Saviour, whose worth and excellence he had now tasted, and who was become all his salvation and all his desire, seasoned every discourse .… In this blessed and happy faith of the gospel, he went on from this time to the very end of his days, growing in grace, and in the knowledge of his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and adorning the doctrine of God his Saviour in all things, by his truly Christian life and conversation: nor did increasing years, experience and reading, give him any ground to alter the opinion which he has now espoused, or to depart from it in any degree; but, on the contrary, he was daily confirmed more and more, both in the truth and in the necessity of these doctrines, while he found them, in sickness and in health, a sovereign cordial to his heart, and the alone, but all-sufficient support of his soul. This testimony he fully bore to them in his last illness, frequently repeating to his friends around him, “I find my foundation able to bear me. “

The quotations that follow certainly provide ample proof of the profound knowledge Thomas Adam received of both himself and the Triune God. Assuredly, he was schooled deeply in the Romans 7 dilemma of the apostle Paul; by the Spirit he knew what it was to cry out in the strife of two conflicting natures: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (vv. 24-25). Through his Private Thoughts those taught of God may feel as if they know him, despite the scarcity of biographical facts relative to his outwardly uneventful life. In a day of shallow doctrine and profession of faith, may God bless anew the confessions and thoughts of Rev. Thomas Adam to many of us.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen