Southern Baptist Theology in the Late Twentieth Century
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 54, No. 2 – Spring 2012
Managing Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
Transcribed and Edited by Terry L. Wilder. Mountain Home, AR: BorderStone, 2010. 218 pages. Softcover. $10.95.
Though Peter Grant was once of the most influential preachers in early eighteenth century Scotland, many contemporary evangelicals are unaware of his preaching ministry. In Scotland, Grant’s Gaelic (a predominant language in the Scottish Highlands) hymns still provide Scottish Baptists exposure to the evangelistic thought to this pastor/ itinerant preacher. However, the present volume affords readers on both sides of the Atlantic an encounter of the preaching of the Baptist pastor from the Scottish Highlands. In addition to the sermons, the volume includes a helpful, though brief, preface by Donald Meek, Retired Professor of Gaelic Studies that gives a glimpse of the stature of Peter Grant among his eighteenth-century Scottish hearers and an Afterword by Michael Haykin providing a timely reminder of the ongoing legacy of the evangelistic preacher. Terry Wilder adds his own helpful introduction to Grant’s ministry in Grantown-on-Spey, which Wilder describes as strictly Baptist and as “warm-hearted, evangelical Calvinism” (viii). Wilder also notes that in Grant’s sermons he “proclaimed salvation found only in God’s grace in Christ, warned against sin, preached judgment and wrath to come for the unrepentant sinner, and also described heaven’s glories” (viii). Grant’s sermons are reflective of his pastoral ministry of over forty years to the Baptists in Grantown-on-Spey.
The sermons themselves are actually sermon briefs versus full manuscripts and were probably all recorded by the church clerk rather than produced in writing by Grant himself. The collection comprises over forty sermons from the year 1851 and a few selections from the following spring. Wilder arranges the sermons chronologically, thereby giving the reader some sense of how the congregation would have received the sermons in the first hearing.
Among the sermons, Grant preached a cluster on Matthew 12–16 during 1851. In these sermons, Grant contended for the souls of his hearers. He particularly exhorted them in the areas of hypocrisy noted in the Gospel texts. He distinguished between hypocrites and true believers by how they respond to a truth that rebukes their sinful hearts. He warned, “When hypocrites are made known, it gives an unpardonable offence . . . just because it sends a stab to their heart.” A true child of God will receive the rebuke of the Lord’s truth (69). In a later sermon, he continues his pleas against the hardened heart. He pleads, “We should see the necessity of being born again. Unless God changes our heart, it never shall see heaven . . . So unless the Lord converts us, we of necessity must go to hell” (77). Grant returned to the theme of the necessity of salvation drawing on both Old and New Testament texts. In November 1851, he preached a two-sermon series on preparing to meet God from Amos 4 (123, 129). These gospel appeals were a constant feature of Grant’s sermons. Since there are no indices to sort the sermons by theme or biblical text, the contemporary reader might find that simply reading through the sermons in order (perhaps even devotionally) an apt way to be exposed to the preaching of this passionate, Scottish Baptist pastor.
