August 18, 2021 Show with Roger Salter on “Augustinian John Colet (1467-1519)”

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August 19, 2021

August 18, 2021 ROGER SALTER, rector @ St. Matthews Anglican Church, Birmingham, AL, who will address: “AUGUSTINIAN JOHN COLET (1467-1519)”

00:04: Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown
00:10: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,
00:23: Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.
00:31: Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.
00:38: Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.
00:50: It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you the listener with your own questions and now here's your host
00:59: Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon this is
01:13: Chris Arnzen your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio speaking to you today with a much more somber and sorrowful voice because I just learned this morning that my oldest brother
01:30: John, 76 years of age, passed into eternity and many of you have been praying for him.
01:41: He had been battling critical stage emphysema for quite some time with a more recent diagnosis of cancer and then complicated by pneumonia and COVID and one of his daughters was with him,
02:02: Regina, and said that he was very comfortable and relaxed when he departed from this earth and he is survived by his wife
02:14: Jan, his two daughters Regina and Patrice, his two sons
02:23: Eric and JJ, and his siblings Andrew, Mary, Bob, and myself.
02:32: I would ask that you pray for our family during this season of very deep mourning for our brother.
02:39: Pray for me as I not only am entering into a season of deep sadness over this but there's also a bit of frustration involved since I missed two telephone calls from my brother yesterday which were likely calls he intended to use to say goodbye to me.
03:06: There was a malfunction on my cell phone and I did not hear the phone ringing and when
03:13: I tried to call him back he did not answer. So please pray that I am constantly reminded of my own proclamation and heartfelt belief in the sovereignty of God over all things including the passing of my brother and including that mishap with the telephone and missing what would have been my final conversation with him.
03:42: I do have reason for great hope that he is with his
03:49: Savior. As I read during a program a number of weeks ago, my brother
03:59: John wrote to me these exact words back in July.
04:06: I pray the three prayers I know, Chris, plus have a short talk with God, ask for his forgiveness of my sins, admit my frailties to him, and dedicate my life day and night to him every morning.
04:25: I ask him if today is the day he takes me, to take me into his arms and into his kingdom so that I can worship him in wondrous glory for eternity.
04:39: I do this above every day. Well this was the morning, today was the morning that God did call him home and I am choosing to believe that our
04:54: Lord answered my brother's prayer that he did take my brother
04:59: John into his arms and into his kingdom where he is worshipping him at this very moment in wondrous glory for eternity.
05:11: Thank you for your prayers and pray for his wife Jan who is in the hospital with pneumonia and COVID and pray that a revival breaks out in my family, bringing those who do not yet know
05:31: Christ to a saving knowledge of him. One of the reasons
05:37: I decided to do the show today and not take the day off in the midst of this very sad news is that I wanted to do this program in tribute to my brother
05:49: John and I believe that it was important to think about heavenly things today in the midst of my grief and that I might even perhaps be a more useful tool in the state that I am in to be
06:12: Christ -focused and to use this program by God's grace and mercy to draw my listeners into a deeper understanding of the
06:25: King of Kings and it is my honor and privilege today to do that today on this
06:34: Wednesday, August 16th, 2021.
06:41: I'm sorry, that's the wrong date. I'm looking at a different program.
06:50: Today is Wednesday, I believe.
07:01: What day? What's the date, Roger? 18th, Chris. 18th. Yes, Wednesday, August 18th, 2021.
07:08: Sorry for the mishap there, folks. I am so delighted to have
07:13: Roger Salter on the program. I can't think of a better guest to have on the program with me today.
07:22: I was touched deeply by a video that Roger's son,
07:30: Alex, sent me weeks ago of Roger praying at a worship service at St.
07:38: Matthew's Anglican Church in Birmingham, Alabama for my brother John, and I am forever grateful for his friendship and for his prayers and his compassion along with his precious wife,
07:55: Maureen, two very dear saints of God. Today Roger is going to be discussing introducing
08:03: John Collett, who lived 1467 to 1519.
08:08: He was the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, an Augustinian theologian on the fringe of the
08:15: Reformation. It's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Trumpet Zion Radio, my dear friend,
08:21: Roger Salter. Thank you, Chris. I am really privileged to be with you this afternoon.
08:30: As you do know, we prayed and engaged frequently in prayer for John.
08:40: I do think that your words of hope concerning John are very well -founded.
08:48: When I think of the immense and enormous mercy and compassion of God, I believe that John called out to him and was wonderfully received by his
09:02: Savior when he approached him in prayer and that affirmation of confidence in him, and now
09:10: I believe that he is in the full fellowship and communion with God, who is our common
09:17: Redeemer and Savior, Chris. So I truly believe that there is much encouragement for you in the recent words of John.
09:27: Amen. And in fact, even his demeanor appeared to change in the things that he wrote to me.
09:36: John very rarely over the last year spoke with me because he was too weak to speak most of the time because of the chemo and radiation and because of the illness itself, especially the critical stage emphysema.
09:54: But in his writings to me, he appeared to have a change of demeanor in that he seemed to be truly much more at peace, where his words to me prior to that were more filled with fear.
10:12: That seemed to dissipate, it seemed to vanish, actually, and he no longer wrote words of fear to me.
10:23: So I am trusting, as he said, in that God provided me a gift of hearing or reading that profession, and I trust he is with him.
10:38: Why don't you, for the sake of those who are hearing this program for the very first time, why don't you tell our listeners something about St.
10:48: Matthew's Anglican Church of Birmingham, Alabama? I'll try, Chris.
10:54: There's not a lot to say. We've had quite a history in the past, and of course we're now an independent congregation.
11:01: It was formed originally back in the 70s by people who made their departure from the
11:08: Episcopal Church, and it was probably moderately high and Catholic when it started out in 1979.
11:18: Over the years it's had different ministries, and we've been here 27 years now, which is astonishing.
11:26: And in that time we have moved, in accord with the 39 articles, to a reformed
11:34: Anglican position that has met sometimes with conflict and repudiation, and we've had some struggles over various issues, particularly ten years or so ago when we had an efflux of most of our church family because of three issues following in very quick succession on which
11:54: I won't elaborate. But we're a small congregation. We are, if I can use the term, and I don't use it in a denominational sense, we are a
12:03: Cranmerian church. We're not here to further Anglicanism as a label or a denomination.
12:11: We're simply here to enjoy and share our heritage derived from the
12:16: English Reformation. So that's our position, I think, rather succinctly,
12:22: Chris. We really treasure Anglicanism's origin in that great revival of Christian truth and piety in the 16th century.
12:35: Well, if anybody wants more information about this wonderful church, the websites, they have two of them.
12:46: First, you can go to stmanglican .weebly .com,
12:52: that's S -T -M, which is an abbreviation of St. Matthew's, anglican .weebly .com.
13:01: And you can also go to rogersalter .com, and that's rogersalter .com.
13:12: Well, when you told me, brother, that you wanted to discuss John Collet, this 15th and 16th century figure from history, as I said before, he was the
13:27: Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, an Augustinian theologian on the fringe of the Reformation. I must confess
13:34: I had never heard of him before, but why don't you tell us how you first learned of John Collet, and why there was a burden on your heart to discuss his life and legacy today with our audience.
13:55: Well, I'll try, Chris. I used the term introducing John Collet because I was only introduced to him in an authentic and knowledgeable way a little earlier this year.
14:10: I'd seen the name and I'd read about him, but I rather dismissed him through misinformation and the wrong conclusions that I had drawn about him.
14:19: I really thought that he was simply another version of Erasmus, and I thought of him as a semi -Pelagian.
14:28: And then about six months ago, I was reading a book on King Henry VIII, and it was by the
14:41: American historian, her name was Carolee Erickson, and I realized after that that there is ample testimony, not only of the attractiveness and congeniality and the integrity of Collet as a person, because he is so well -referred to by his generation, those who were living at the same time as him, his contemporaries, and he is greatly admired by scholars and historians, and he had great ability as a scholar, but he was also a royal advisor in a very significant way to the
15:28: Tudor king, and he even dared to counsel King Henry in a manner contrary to the king's set ideas, particularly over warfare.
15:39: Henry was very keen to go to war, and John Collet advised him against it, and so Henry made the comment, according to Carolee Erickson, he says, she said
15:54: Henry embraced Collet in front of his mortified colleagues, because there was a great discussion over this matter of the seriousness of warfare, and Henry called for wine to pledge
16:08: Collet with a toast, and this was apparently what he said, that every man choose his own doctor, he said exuberantly,
16:16: Dean Collet shall be mine. So he was in that position, like Cranmer, of being a favorite of the monarch, and I could read as a background, rather than rattling off a few facts myself, if there's time and it seems a good idea,
16:34: I could read the brief article on Collet. Sure. Okay, it's the
16:41: Who's Who in Christian History, edited by J .D. Douglas, and it's very informative.
16:49: It's not exhaustive, it's a column, half a page, but it speaks of Dean of St.
16:56: Paul's Cathedral and educator, so I'll read it as slowly and as well as I can manage,
17:02: Chris. Son of Henry Collet, twice London's Lord Mayor, Collet was educated at Oxford, he also studied in France and Italy, where he added
17:15: Greek to his existing knowledge of Latin. Ordained in 1497,
17:22: Collet returned to Oxford to deliver his momentous lectures on Paul's Letters, a five -year series.
17:30: Based on Paul's life and traits, this featured Collet's original exegesis and his concern over the early church's character and example.
17:42: From this point, his ministry emphasized corrupt practices in his era's church life and avenues for broad renewal.
17:52: And he goes on to say, because these lectures, I think, were of a powerful influence to those very early on the
18:01: Reformation scene, before the Reformation actually got underway in a confirmed fashion.
18:08: Collet's reformist message elicited frequent charges of false teaching from other churchmen.
18:16: But unmoved by thoughts of leaving the Roman Catholic Church, he had many supporters, including his fellow reformers,
18:26: Erasmus and Thomas More, both close friends. In 1504,
18:32: Collet was made Dean of London's St. Paul's Cathedral, a post he retained until his death.
18:38: Inheriting his father's fortune in 1505, he distributed this wealth to various worthy enterprises.
18:48: A large part was used to found and endow his great achievement, St. Paul's School in London.
18:54: This school is still in existence, I believe. This provided high -quality instruction to the best students, irrespective of background.
19:03: With its inclusion of Greek, the school also stressed humanist studies, the classics, together with scripture and theology.
19:13: All of Collet's important works have been preserved. His greatest writings have
19:20: English translations and modern editions. Collet's life and work exemplified a very responsible, yet penetrating type of church reform.
19:32: So he's a very significant figure indeed, and it's lovely to discover that he was thoroughly
19:41: Augustinian, as were our reformers a decade or two later.
19:49: Could you repeat that last thing that you said, Brer? Just my own comment?
19:56: Yes. I think it's amazingly encouraging to know that this man, whom
20:01: I had, in my ignorance, terribly underestimated until about three or four months ago, that he affirmed the same
20:10: Augustinian doctrine of grace as our reformers did two or three decades later.
20:17: So he is basically someone who you are confident embraced the biblical gospel of the
20:24: Reformation that would be later championed during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.
20:31: I think that's very much the case, Chris. He has become, in a very short time, if I can use the term, which
20:37: I don't like much, but he's become much admired by myself. I see him as one of the great
20:43: Christian heroes of that era. And it makes me think of a couple of recommendations
20:49: I could make. You introduced me, for instance, to Long Before Luther by Nathan Busnitz.
20:57: He doesn't actually mention, he doesn't mention Colette, but for anyone interested in anything prior to the launching of the
21:06: Reformation, that book I think is indispensable and it's so useful with the quotes from that lovely long lineage of Augustinians in English church history.
21:19: And the other one is a Catholic book called The Colors of Grace by Guido Stucco. I've got that book and it's a joy to read.
21:27: It's about the doctrines of grace up to the period of about the 8th or 9th century.
21:35: And then there are so many worthy upholders of the gospel, especially in England.
21:41: So I think of the Church of England and everything that, you know, preceded its formation of the, or at least its
21:49: Reformation in the 16th century. Guido Stucco has written several books on the doctrine of predestination in Catholicism right up to even beyond the, oh,
22:04: I'm trying to think of the term and I should have written it down, Chris. I'll get it eventually. And then another excellent person is
22:12: Francis Gumelock, who wrote a book called Predestination in the Century Before God's Chalk.
22:19: These three men, and there must be many others, fill us in with so much detail about loyal gospel preachers and theologians who were true heirs of Augustine's theology.
22:36: Well, at this time in history, which was not long before the spark that ignited the
22:49: Protestant Reformation, he passed into glory with Christ two years after Luther nailed his 95
23:00: Theses to the door of the Council of Church of Wittenberg. During this time, because the
23:08: Council of Trent had not yet convened to officially declare as damnable heresy those precious things that the
23:17: Reformers believed, because the Council of Trent, as you know full well, was a counter -Reformation effort to officially and dogmatically condemn what the
23:32: Reformers believed, especially in regard to the gospel. But what was the
23:38: Catholic Church's attitude towards Collett at this time? Were his words well known enough that any kind of negative feedback was received by him from those that were holding onto the damnable heresies of Rome regarding the gospel, regarding the fact that men need to, in part, earn their justification, and that Mary and the saints have also contributed to the merit that everyone needs, according to Rome, to enter into heaven?
24:24: What was their response to him? And I'll have you answer that when we come back, because we have to go to our first break right now.
24:30: Okay, Chris. If anybody would like to join us with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com
24:41: chrisarnson at gmail .com Please give us your first name, at least, as always, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence, if you live outside the
24:54: USA, and please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.
25:02: Let's say you are a Roman Catholic, and you're starting to question your faith, you're starting to learn from those that believe in the gospel of the
25:16: Reformation, which we believe is the biblical gospel, of course. You don't want to publicly identify yourself.
25:22: Well, we can understand that would be a reason why you might feel compelled to remain anonymous.
25:30: But if it's just a general question on John Collett, a general question on church history, on anything in the scriptures, on the gospel itself, any general question,
25:43: I would ask of you to please give us your first name, city and state, and country of residence.
25:49: That's chrisarnson at gmail .com chrisarnson at gmail .com We'll be right back with Roger Salter as we further discuss
25:57: John Collett after these messages. Hello, dear ones, my name is
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37:05: Historical Bible Society, Roger Salter, who is my guest for the entire program today,
37:11: Rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and we are discussing the theme
37:22: Introducing John Collett, 1467 -1519, Dean of St.
37:28: Paul's Cathedral in London, Augustinian theologian on the fringe of the Reformation.
37:34: Our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com if you have a question for Roger. chrisarnsen at gmail .com
37:42: As always, give us your first name at least, your city and state, and your country of residence, if you live outside the
37:48: USA, and only remain anonymous if your question regards a personal and private matter.
37:53: Before the break, Roger, I asked you what kind of feedback, if any, especially in a negative sense to start with, and then
38:03: I want to hear the positive feedback, of course, but what was the negative feedback, specifically from authorities in the
38:10: Church of Rome, if any, when they began to hear something unfamiliar from the lips and perhaps writing of John Collett?
38:22: There was a lot of criticism of his theology, Chris. The thought at that stage about leaving
38:31: Rome had not really come to a head as it wasn't really an issue, and he spent most of his theological effort expounding the
38:41: Pauline epistles. It was a project that took him five years, a series of lectures at Oxford University, and I think there was a certain amount of concern about his teaching of grace without works and without reliance upon the
39:00: Church as an institution. There was also a great deal of support because being a
39:07: Pauline theologian and spending so long studying and exegeting the letters of Paul would mean that some of those distinctives of Roman Catholicism would not even occur to him to deal with.
39:23: I don't know specifically what he might have retained or thought of some of the issues you alluded to, but he was thoroughly, to my mind, and I compare him with Luther who came 20 years later or so, as being identical in his theology of salvation.
39:43: That would have led him, had he been living several decades later,
39:48: I think, to dealing with that matter of what does one do with regard to Mother Church, the
39:55: Roman Catholic Church? And I think it is inevitable, on the basis of what he taught from Romans, that he would have to make a similar decision to the
40:05: Reformers. But things were very different in his era, and he was also a translator and a teacher of other subjects as well.
40:17: So I don't think there's much reference to his thoughts about issues like Mary and the sacraments and various other things that we would perceive as being fabricated by Rome.
40:32: He was more a Catholic in the sense of adherence to the earlier creeds and standing in that Augustinian lineage of sovereign grace.
40:43: Well, let's hear in a positive sense how people were receiving the various messages, and be as specific as you want with what messages were gaining favor in the hearts of his hearers.
41:03: And were they recognizing these things as truths they had not previously heard?
41:09: Did they recognize that some of them were not in alignment with the typical works -righteousness understanding of salvation that Rome was offering?
41:22: Yes, I mean, I think they would have thought of him as standing in the same line of thought as Woodcliffe.
41:33: The Reformers, the English Reformers, appreciated him greatly because his stress was on Paul, and it was that Pauline approach, of course, that was the basis of the
41:45: Reformation. So he was a forerunner of the Reformation before it became a crisis point in the life of the
41:54: Church. But I've gone through the commentary on Romans that I purchased a month or so ago, and I made some comments in the margins this morning, and I've got a couple of quotations, if I can read them, on various topics to give an idea of what his teaching was.
42:13: Of course. And I'm sure it influenced a lot of people and, you know, planted seeds in the mind of another generation that became more sympathetic to the
42:25: Reformation as it developed. But on justification, for example, in Romans 4, he says, "...by
42:45: him from unbelief, that they may trust in him alone, and believe that by no other means whatever can they be justified than by the divine grace."
42:57: He was definitely opposed to salvation by works or ritual or sacramental observance.
43:04: For the law in which the Jews hoped points out sin, defines boundaries, threatens transgressors.
43:12: But it takes not away the fault. "...more draws man out of his straight,"
43:19: S -T -R -A -I -T, "...more graciously cherishes and sustains him which very thing divine grace does with both strength and sweetness, so that man may be able to trust in God alone."
43:36: And he develops this thought in Romans 4 by concluding, "...so also at this time, he who trusts in God, believing that he is both the power and the will, that his dealings with his
43:50: Son have been such as they have been, namely, for the redemption of the human race, and that Jesus was both incarnate and raised again, through this reconciliation to God," he goes on to say, "...he
44:08: who firmly believes and constantly keeps this unspeakable mystery has therewith alone enough for his justification and salvation."
44:20: And in Romans 5 he begins with the same affirmation, "...wherefore
44:25: St. Paul concludes that being justified by faith and trusting in God alone, men are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ and restored to grace, that they may stand before God and themselves remain sons of God and look for the certain glory of the sons of God."
44:47: His chapters are quite brief, because I guess these are just the notes of extended lectures,
44:54: Chris, but his thoughts are identical to the Reformers' on these matters, and I think real consistency with some of the more noteworthy rejections of Catholicism would have emerged later as these doctrines ran their course in his mind and he had the opportunity to assess them in terms of their consistency with what the
45:20: Catholic Church maintained. But he certainly stood a lot of enmity because he was concerned about error and heresy, and I think all his thinking is in line with Scripture, St.
45:37: Paul, and the Reformation. Well, one of the things that we could immediately learn from this is that Christians have to be very cautious about not being too quick to dismiss everyone prior to the
46:02: Reformation, as not being worthy of reading and learning about.
46:09: Of course, great caution must be used, but we have to be very careful about not automatically condemning those that might even be in the
46:27: Catholic Church now, but don't necessarily trust in the false gospel that is dogmatically defined by Rome.
46:37: I'm sure that if you were to ask my brother, John, who entered into eternity this morning, if you were to ask him, are you a member of the
46:50: Catholic Church before he closed his eyes for the final time?
46:57: I am quite certain he would have said yes, but that does not mean that he was trusting in the false gospel of Rome.
47:03: Am I making sense here? Absolutely, Chris. I mean, I think there are two
47:08: Catholicisms. There's the ancient Catholicism of the creeds, and they weren't consistent, but some of the good teaching of the
47:18: Fathers, and then, of course, we have marvelous men like Bernard of Clairvaux and Gregory of Rimini.
47:25: I think that needs to be distinguished from the fabrications and manufactured superstition of Rome itself.
47:35: You know, it finds its origin in the Roman leadership and elite, and that's not necessarily in harmony with Scripture, and I really do believe that in a sovereign and wonderful way,
47:50: God protects his chosen ones from the harmful teaching that they may hear, but it just probably goes over their heads and doesn't strike them with great impact because they're more concerned to know
48:05: God and be reconciled to Him through the gospel as they hear that. What else can you inform us about John Collett that so drew you to him to create within you a great admiration for him, and even much so to the point that you wanted to highlight him on today's interview?
48:37: I think it was the sheer joy that I've noticed over the last couple of years of those men that I think you have alluded to as well,
48:47: Chris, and we find that in the book before Luther, that there are those who were, as it were, early reformers who disagreed with the fundamentals of the church to which they belonged, but they were nurtured by that church.
49:06: It hadn't occurred to them that there were other alternatives in an organized way, and I just find so much encouragement and edification from a number of people who are in that Augustinian succession in the
49:27: Church of England and the Church more widely, of course, in all the European countries, who were crying out for the doctrine of grace and the gospel and probably, you know, receiving a lot of disapproval from officialdom as Catholics, who know that in Italy, where the
49:47: Reformation was quashed, and even more harshly in Spain.
49:53: There were believers there who wanted a reformed church, but they were snuffed out by the power of the
50:00: Church of Rome and its ability to work through military and civic agents.
50:06: But I've got this lovely quote on the power and beauty of grace from Chapter 5 of Romans, from John Collett's pen, and I just find it entrancing as well as so true.
50:23: He says, Now if there was such a force in sin, and that too the sin of one man for destruction, then ought there to be a much greater force and power in grace for quickening men and restoring them to an entire and sure salvation?
50:43: And that this is so, one may discern even from hence, namely, that whatever grew from one sin for destruction, and there did grow sin manifold and infinite, when the tale thereof was all made up, and the virulence of the disease, as it were, at fever height, then at the same time, all powerful grace, by its prevailing and marvellous force, dispelled it and destroyed all the sin.
51:10: For it was mightier to take away the evil when completed than the evil was to begin.
51:17: Thus it happens that men being laid hold of by the love and grace of God and drawn to God, who if they have hope, be more strongly and firmly sustained and preserved unto life by that same prevailing grace than they had been thrust down and kept under by sin unto death.
51:39: Sin is indeed a violent and aggressive thing, but the glorious power of the sweet and pleasant grace that works softly and marvellously and with a secret and wonderful effect, nothing can resist.
51:52: Wherefore we must believe that grace which reconciles to God has far more power in the world than sin, which estranges from God, and it becomes more clear that there are hints in that passage of his belief in, just for short -hand, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the children of God.
52:17: Do you want me to keep going, Chris? Absolutely. Okay. Well, in that same chapter,
52:24: Romans... Oh, you know something? I'm sorry. I just recognized that we have to go to our midway break, so hold on to that.
52:29: Oh, okay. Okay, Chris. Folks, if you remember, this is the longer -than -normal break in the show, so please be patient with us.
52:40: Grace Life Radio, 90 .1 FM in Lake City, Florida requires of us a longer break in the middle of the show because they are required by the
52:53: FCC to localize this program geographically to Lake City, Florida, and they do that with all of their programming.
53:04: So while they do that, simultaneously, we are airing our Globally Heard commercials. Please use this time wisely.
53:11: Write down as much of the information as you possibly can for as many of our advertisers as you can so that you can more frequently and successfully respond to them.
53:21: I hope that many of you will purchase their products, use their services, visit their churches, and support their parachurch organizations.
53:31: But when you cannot do those things, please, at the very least, I'm urging you, please at least respond to our advertisers and thank them for sponsoring
53:42: Iron Troupe and Zion Radio. That will go a long way to please our advertisers, to make them know that their money is being well spent on Iron Troupe and Zion Radio because the program is blessing the lives of many.
53:58: So please do that. Please at least respond to them and thank them for sponsoring the show. And also, of course, send in your questions to Roger Salter on this great hero of the faith of church history,
54:10: John Collett. And the email address, again, for your questions is chrisarnson at gmail .com.
54:18: chrisarnson at gmail .com. And give us your first name at least, city and state, and country of residence. We'll be right back.
54:29: Hi, I'm Phil Johnson, host and executive director of Grace to You, the media ministry of John MacArthur.
54:41: I hope you plan to join me and Chris Arnzen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, for the
54:47: G3 Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, Thursday, September 30th through Saturday, October 2nd.
54:53: The theme this year is Christ is supreme over all. My friend Chris Arnzen and I will be joined by several of our other friends, including
55:01: Votie Balcombe, Justin Peters, Daryl Bernard Harrison, Virgil Walker, and James White.
55:08: More than 20 other speakers will be joining us, and the lineup this year includes my pastor, John MacArthur.
55:14: For details, visit g3conference .com. That's g3conference .com.
55:21: Chris Arnzen and I hope to see you September 30th through October 2nd at G3 2021.
55:28: This is Phil Johnson reminding you that Christ is supreme over all. We are excited to announce another new member of the
55:47: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio advertising family, Banu Gadi, owner of three
55:53: New York pharmacies, Lee's Drugs of Floral Park, Long Beach Chemists, and Prescription Center of Long Island in Hempstead.
56:01: Banu Gadi earned a doctorate in pharmacy degree and is very knowledgeable on the current coronavirus pandemic.
56:09: Please contact Dr. Gadi so he and his expert staff can give you proper guidance amid all the contradictory confusion we are all hearing in the media.
56:19: To find the pharmacy nearest you, call 516 -354 -2000.
56:24: That's 516 -354 -2000. Or order online at leesdrugsrx .com.
56:33: That's leesdrugsrx .com. Don't forget to ask about their discount generic drug program.
56:42: Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. My name is Banu Gadi. I'm a pharmacist in New York, which is the epicenter of the latest crisis the world is going through.
56:53: In Psalm 139 verse 14, the psalmist offers praise to the Lord like this,
56:58: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and wondrous are your works that my soul knows very well.
57:06: He saw God's goodness and mercy, kindness, and the beauty in what
57:11: God has designed, and he has erupted into praise. In any crisis or problem, brothers and sisters, our only fallback position is to trust
57:20: God's design. And once we do, there is nothing for us to do but to erupt in praise to him.
57:27: When the whole world is searching for a solution, God in his infinite mercy has given us what we need to address this illness, which can be very serious.
57:37: Such is the beauty of his design. Knowing that design, how can we not erupt in praise to our great
57:43: God like the psalmist did? May God bless you and give all of us wisdom to see greater things in his design.
57:51: Thank you. Grace Church at Franklin This is
58:07: Pastor Bill Sousa, Grace Church at Franklin, here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.
58:13: Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially.
58:21: Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work of our
58:34: Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the end of which we strive is the glory of God.
58:41: If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe ten minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some
58:54: Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.
59:04: Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.
59:12: This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign
59:18: Lord, God, Savior, and King Jesus Christ today and always.
59:34: When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the
59:40: New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the
59:48: Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the
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59:59: NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Dan Lubenick of West Hills Baptist Church in Huntington Station, New York, and the
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01:00:13: NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Reverend Buzz Taylor, author of God's Lawson, and the
01:00:19: NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Dr. William Webster, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Battleground, Washington, founder of the ministry
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01:00:34: I'm Pastor Ryan Galan of Central Islip Community Church in Central Islip, New York, and the
01:00:39: NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Brandon Smith of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Jackson, Georgia, and the
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01:01:23: Hi, I'm Buzz Taylor. Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio has had a long -time partnership with our friends at CVBBS, which stands for Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.
01:01:34: They specialize in supplying Reformed and Puritan books and bibles at discount prices that make them affordable for everyone.
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01:01:48: They seek to bring you the best available Christian books and bibles at the best possible prices.
01:01:54: Unlike other book sites, they make no effort to provide every book that is available or popular, because frankly, much of what is being printed is not worth your time.
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01:02:29: Or you can order by phone at 1 -800 -656 -0231, that's 1 -800 -656 -0231.
01:02:40: Please let our friends at CVBBS know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Hi, this is
01:02:52: John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona. Taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnzen and the
01:02:59: Iron Sharpens Iron podcast, I consider Chris a true friend and a man of high integrity. He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions, while always defending the key doctrines of the
01:03:11: Christian faith. I've always been happy to point people to this podcast, knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray.
01:03:20: I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide. This is a day of great spiritual compromise, and yet God has raised
01:03:27: Chris up for just such a time. And knowing this, it's up to us as members of the body of Christ to stand with such a ministry, in prayer and in finances.
01:03:37: I'm pleased to do so, and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting
01:03:42: Iron Sharpens Iron financially. Would you consider sending either a one -time gift, or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?
01:03:50: I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com,
01:03:57: where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com.
01:04:06: Here's what Gary DeMar, president of American Vision, had to say about Iron Sharpens Iron Radio recently.
01:04:13: Good to be back, Chris. I always enjoy our time here. I have to tell you, you're one of the better interviewers out there, and I've been doing this for 30, more than 30 years.
01:04:23: Wow, that's some compliment. How much do I owe you for that? You don't have to owe me anything.
01:04:30: We're in good shape. I'm glad you said it on the air, so I don't have to brag about myself.
01:04:37: Tell your friends and loved ones about Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, airing live Monday through Friday, 4 to 6 p .m.
01:04:44: Eastern Time, at ironsharpensironradio .com. James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here.
01:05:00: If you've watched my Dividing Line webcast often enough, you know I have a great love for getting Bibles and other documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity.
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01:05:42: Nestle All in 28th edition, with a navy blue goatskin inside liner, and the electric blue goatskin from a
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01:06:18: That's PTLBibleRebinding .com Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said,
01:06:34: Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read. He who never quotes will never be quoted.
01:06:41: He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own.
01:06:47: You need to read. Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the
01:06:53: Prince of Preachers to heart. The mission of Solid Ground Christian Books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and future, and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world.
01:07:06: Since its beginning in 2001, Solid Ground has been committed to publish God -centered,
01:07:11: Christ -exalting books for all ages. We invite you to go treasure hunting at Solid -Ground -Books .com
01:07:19: That's Solid -Ground -Books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past to present you can unearth from Solid Ground.
01:07:28: Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And please never forget, folks, how vitally important Solid -Ground -Books .com
01:07:40: is to the existence of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And I know that my guest today,
01:07:47: Roger Salter, has a very high view of Solid -Ground -Books .com and its founder,
01:07:52: Mike Gaydosh, don't you, brother? I do indeed, Chris. I have several volumes on my shelves, and I admire
01:08:00: Mike's ministry with the republication of these classics from the past, as well as contemporary works, of course.
01:08:09: But yes, Mike is doing a grand job with Solid Ground. Yes, and for our
01:08:15: Anglican listeners, which we may have in a higher number than normal because of Roger's presence on our show today, you might be interested that Solid -Ground -Books .com
01:08:28: has some absolutely superb books that they have brought back into print and actually published for the first time by biblically faithful Anglicans.
01:08:39: They would include books by Stephen H. Ting. That's T as in Thomas, Y, N as in Nancy, G.
01:08:47: Stephen H. Ting, and Stephen is spelled with a P -H. He has written a couple of books that Solid Ground Christian Books brought back into print.
01:09:00: He was a Calvinist Low Church Episcopalian in 19th century
01:09:06: New York City and really a profound brother in Christ.
01:09:12: So if you type T -Y -N -G into the search engine at Solid -Ground -Books .com,
01:09:18: you will see what they have brought back into print by Brother Stephen Ting. Also, there is a modern -day author,
01:09:29: Thomas Garrett Isham. That last name is I -S -H -A -M as in Michael.
01:09:36: He has written two biographies that you should get. The first is on Augustus Toplady, the writer of the great hymn
01:09:47: Rock of Ages. And also, he wrote a biography called
01:09:56: The Born -Again Episcopalian about Bishop Mickelvane.
01:10:01: Do you remember his first name? Because I'm not looking at it right now, Roger. I think it's Charles. Yes, Charles Mickelvane.
01:10:07: Well, if you type in I -S -H -A -M in the search engine at Solid -Ground -Books .com,
01:10:15: you will see those and other books written by Thomas Garrett Isham.
01:10:20: And there are other books, not only by Anglicans, many others, but also by Presbyterians, Reformed Baptists, Reformed Congregationalists, and others in the body of Christ who have blessed the
01:10:34: Church, dating back to the Reformation and even up to our present day. Dr.
01:10:40: James R. White is another modern -day author that Solid -Ground -Books .com
01:10:46: publishes in addition to Thomas Garrett Isham and others. So please, every time you go to Solid -Ground -Books .com
01:10:55: mention that you heard about them from Chris Orensen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. I hope you visit them today and purchase generously.
01:11:05: Also, folks, before I return to Roger's discussion on John Collett, a hero of the faith from both the 15th and early 16th century, having entered into glory with Christ only two years after Luther nailed the 95
01:11:26: Theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg, before I return to that discussion,
01:11:32: I want to remind you of a few things. If you are a man in ministry leadership,
01:11:37: I invite you to the next Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Pastor's Luncheon, which will be held
01:11:43: Monday, September 27, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. at the Bongiorno Conference Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
01:11:53: The admission is absolutely free of charge. And not only will you be fed physically for free, but you will also be fed spiritually for free by a man
01:12:04: I think is the most powerful preacher alive on the planet Earth, and I am not exaggerating. His name is Dr. Conrad Mbewe, a
01:12:12: Reformed Baptist who is the pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa.
01:12:18: He is also the founding chancellor of African Christian University and an author.
01:12:24: He is utterly superb, utterly magnificent, and he is speaking at my luncheon.
01:12:31: And not only will you get fed physically and spiritually, but you will also be given a heavy sack of brand new books that I have personally selected from major Christian publishers all over the
01:12:44: United States and the United Kingdom who have donated these books, enough of each title that I select that every man in attendance could go home with a copy of each of those titles.
01:12:56: So you will have dozens of books for free that you will be going home with. Nothing is for sale at my luncheons.
01:13:05: My late wife, Julie, in the 1990s, insisted that this be specifically and completely a day where men of God in the ministry could gather for rest, relaxation, refreshment, and fellowship and to be edified by a gifted speaker and receive gifts for free, and that would be
01:13:32: Christian books that I just mentioned, without any ulterior motive, without any hidden agenda, without anything for sale.
01:13:41: She wanted this to be an entirely free event, and I have kept true to her insistence all the way to the current day.
01:13:50: We began these in the 1990s, and there was several years.
01:13:55: I took a hiatus after she passed into eternity with Christ, but I have resumed these luncheons ever since I moved back to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 2014.
01:14:13: Or should I say moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania for the first time, I should say. So if you would like to attend this, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com.
01:14:22: chrisarnson at gmail .com and put Pastor's Luncheon in the subject line. That's Monday, September 27th, 11 a .m.
01:14:30: to 2 p .m. at the Bongiorno Conference Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, featuring guest speaker
01:14:36: Dr. Conrad Mbewe of Kavuata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa. Also, folks, if you love this show,
01:14:43: I am urging you, I'm pleading with you, please go to ironsharpensironradio .com, click support, then click click to donate now.
01:14:52: You could donate instantly in that fashion with a debit or credit card.
01:14:57: If you prefer snail mail, when you click support at ironsharpensironradio .com,
01:15:04: you will also see a physical address where you can mail checks made payable to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.
01:15:15: Also, if you'd like to advertise with us, as long as whatever it is you're promoting is compatible with what
01:15:21: I believe, I would love to help you launch an ad campaign. Send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com
01:15:27: and put advertising in the subject line. We are in urgent need of your donations, folks, urgent need of your advertising dollars.
01:15:38: The coronavirus pandemic hysteria has hit us pretty hard, to say the least, because many in our audience have been hurt financially, and therefore giving has gone down dramatically, and in some cases people have cut out, at least for the time being, their giving altogether.
01:15:59: So please help us replenish that which was lost. If, indeed, you love the show and don't want it to disappear, go to ironsharpensironradio .com,
01:16:07: click support, then click click to donate now. Last but not least, if you are not a member of a
01:16:12: Bible -believing church, I have lists of biblically faithful churches spanning the globe, including
01:16:19: St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Birmingham, Alabama. So, if you are in need of a church, no matter where in the world you live, send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com,
01:16:29: chrisarnson at gmail .com, and put I Need a Church in the subject line. I have helped many people all over the planet
01:16:36: Earth find churches, sometimes within just a couple of minutes of where they live, and you may be one of them if you are in that same predicament of not having a biblically faithful church that you're aware of near you.
01:16:52: Also, if you're going on vacation and you want to visit a biblically faithful church, or if you have a loved one who is without a biblically faithful church, send me an email, and I will try my best to get to you a list of churches that is most biblically faithful, wherever they, or you, may live.
01:17:11: That is chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com, and put
01:17:16: I Need a Church in the subject line. That's also the email address where you can send in a question to Roger Salter on John Collett.
01:17:24: He is the figure from church history that we are introducing to you today, born 1467, entering into eternity with Christ in 1519.
01:17:42: He was the dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, Augustinian theologian on the fringe of the
01:17:48: Reformation. You are going to, I believe, read another series of writings from John Collett before the break, and I would give you that opportunity to do so now.
01:18:06: That's true, Chris. I'm looking through the one that I possibly should omit, but I find in all of these quotes from Collett a summary, a gathering together of all the elements of the doctrine of grace.
01:18:21: I'm going to mention the Canons of Dorf, of course, because I believe that they are the clearest affirmation of the doctrines of grace historically, and the
01:18:32: Church of England bishops who were sent as delegates to that conference by King James said that all of those statements in the
01:18:41: Canon of Dorf were consonant with the teaching of the 39 articles of the
01:18:46: Church of England. So I believe that maybe not publicly, but personally, the ministers of the
01:18:56: Church of England ought to be able to subscribe to the
01:19:01: Canons of Dorf as well, because our five delegates did that very warmly and definitely.
01:19:08: But here's a little quote from John Collett, which
01:19:14: I think emphasizes human helplessness and incapacity, because men of themselves, such as their own wickedness without grace, were unable to do otherwise than sin.
01:19:30: And so as sin grew and gathered strength, it was needful for the healing of mankind that saving grace should then much more increase and abound, that men, being justified by it, might be able, through Jesus Christ, to attain eternal life.
01:19:50: And then he brings out beautifully which we're familiar with in terms of effectual calling, that warming of our souls that grants
01:20:02: Christ success in drawing us to Himself. And Collett says,
01:20:08: And they who are loved and inspired by God are called, to the end that having received love, they should in turn love
01:20:17: God that loves them, and should long for and await Him in love.
01:20:23: This waiting and this hope come of love. Our love towards Him is in truth because He first loved us.
01:20:30: As St. John writes in his second epistle, Not that we first loved God, but that He loved us, even though worthy of no love, as being ungodly and unjust, rightly destined to everlasting destruction.
01:20:46: But certain ones whom He knew and whom He would, God did love.
01:20:53: By loving He called them, by calling He justified them, by justifying glorified them.
01:20:59: The gracious love in God and charity towards men is itself their calling and justification and glorifying.
01:21:09: Nor do we mean anything else by so many terms than one thing, namely,
01:21:15: God's love towards those whom it is His will to love. In like manner, when we say that by grace men are drawn and called, are justified and glorified, we signify nothing else but men return the love of a loving
01:21:33: God. I'm wondering if I should press on with another one, Chris.
01:21:39: Sure. I've got one, that's where I think he affirms the enslavement of the human will and then of course the particularity of the calling.
01:21:51: I've got two more categories, the effectual call and also predestination.
01:21:58: Should I go on with those? Yes, certainly. Okay. I don't read them too well, but I'll try.
01:22:08: This is the effectual call, and I put in the column the wooing and allurement of the lover of our souls.
01:22:17: Touching the first matter, we must bear in mind that the Spirit of God, who is
01:22:22: God Himself, though He is everywhere and present to you all, yet does not dwell in and enlighten all, but only those who are predestined by the divine counsel to be enlightened.
01:22:36: Upon them indeed, that is upon the surface of their minds, the Spirit works pleasantly and sweetly, and by eating as it were and breathing upon them, in a way past our understanding, first thaws and liquefies some little extent of love, and if we may use such a term in immaterial things like these, in a measure rarefies it to the end that they may have full light and heat in their inmost depths.
01:23:06: So that that is that lovely conquest of the souls of the elect through divine love and conviction.
01:23:15: And then the predestination, I think this absolutely clarifies the
01:23:22: Augustinianism of John Collard, the
01:23:27: Lord's sovereign will and decree is what I put in the column next to this quotation.
01:23:36: In this purpose of God cannot be baffled, for what
01:23:42: He has determined and promised in the future depends not on the wills of men, but on His own power and choice.
01:23:50: This is what St. Paul teaches the Jews when he says that not all the seed of Abraham are children of Abraham, nor all
01:23:59: Israelites who are born of Israel, but they who are so are the promised and chosen by God's free will, even as Isaac and Jacob were whilst
01:24:10: Ishmael and Esau were disowned and rejected. And this we may perceive even in regard to their temple affairs, but still in this proceeding and the election to earthly possessions,
01:24:24: Holy Scripture in accordance with its design has portrayed this deeper purpose of God and the method of coming to a heavenly inheritance, the partakers of which it calls children of Abraham and Israelites.
01:24:39: These are they who have attained to the faith of Abraham that was so acceptable to God and to the vision of Israel.
01:24:46: These again are they whom God Himself has decreed to be faithful and believing, that is, seeing.
01:24:54: These in sooth are the true children of Abraham and because elected to the faith of Abraham, children of God, and truly
01:25:02: Israelites because through faith they see God. These lastly are they whom
01:25:09: God has promised and purposed and predestined to be children of Abraham, that is, representatives of the faith of Abraham and Israelites, that is, seers of God.
01:25:22: These are called children by the promise and election of God, being verily born, nay rather reborn, of the promised seed, even
01:25:31: Jesus Christ, of whom Isaac of promise was a type. Well, would you like me to take a couple of audience questions now?
01:25:44: Yes, certainly, certainly Chris. Okay, we have
01:25:49: I've got to enlarge the the microscopic font on this listener's question.
01:25:57: While I'm doing that, let me repeat our email address if you'd like to join us. It's chrisarnson at gmail .com chrisarnson at gmail .com
01:26:05: Give us your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside the
01:26:12: USA. We have Bruce in Hoover, Alabama.
01:26:19: Dear Chris and Roger, thank you gentlemen for this important discussion today. Chris, I am genuinely sorry for your and your family's loss of your brother.
01:26:32: My heart goes out to you and I pray for the peace that passes all understanding.
01:26:38: Be with you now in this difficult and sad season. Through Christ our
01:26:43: Lord, King, Brother and Savior. I have a comment and question related to today's topic.
01:26:50: Comment. It sounds like Collette or Collette was a blue blood in his day.
01:26:58: Dad was mayor of London, etc. Meaning from high social class back when the class system was in its heyday.
01:27:07: So a profession in ministry must have been viewed as his high social profession career, right?
01:27:15: I'm not sure what he means by that, but I'll let you comment on that before I go on to his question.
01:27:24: It's very possible. He did preach in St. Paul's, so I don't think there was any prevention of anyone of any class going to St.
01:27:33: Paul's Cathedral for worship or for Christian teaching. Can you repeat what you just said?
01:27:41: Can you repeat what you just said? Yes, I think that St. Paul's was open to all classes of people.
01:27:48: It was open to all classes. Yes, anyone could wander in the doors and worship
01:27:54: God and hear the word of God. And I'm trying to think desperately because my brain, when
01:28:00: I call upon it from memory, it responds five minutes later. But the followers of Wycliffe were quite influential right up to the time of the
01:28:12: Reformation among what we would call the common folk, the ordinary people.
01:28:18: And so there was a constancy, as it were, of the preaching of the gospel among the people.
01:28:27: And I think that also, although Colette seemed to minister mainly among the educated, the clergy, the philosophers, the literary types,
01:28:41: I'm sure his message did penetrate to other classes of people as well.
01:28:48: He was extremely generous, extremely kind and friendly. After all, he gave away his tremendous inheritance that his father left him to the poor and started that school at St.
01:29:02: Paul's for all classes of people that had students that showed promise.
01:29:08: So I think his message did penetrate beyond the, as it were, the religious elite.
01:29:14: So we cannot measure that, but I'm sure it was quite, you know, influential in a very positive way.
01:29:25: I don't know, did Bruce ask something else in addition to that, Chris?
01:29:31: Yes, he did. All right. Let me get to it. The question is,
01:29:38: In our day in America, it doesn't at all seem like society views ministry this way.
01:29:44: Politics, business, government, medicine, among other fields seem to be the high calling of the day.
01:29:53: Was it so that in Colette's day, a career in the church was viewed as a high profession?
01:29:59: If so, why? And how did we get where we are today?
01:30:05: Well, actually, you may know more about this than I, and you likely too,
01:30:14: Roger, but I understand that there were some great men of God whose families were really urging them not to go into the ministry.
01:30:23: I think Luther's father was trying to dissuade him from becoming a priest in the
01:30:30: Catholic Church. Was he not? And weren't there other cases of this? I think so.
01:30:36: I think it was certainly true because one of the customs, of course, in that time was the retreat to monasteries and, to some extent, the separation from the world.
01:30:47: So it could mean a loss of influential people to a life of isolation and contemplation.
01:30:54: But I think that people were often visited by the monks from the monasteries and ministered to.
01:31:05: That is, the godly ones. Of course, there were many who were just purely out for a leisurely life or a life of security and even wealth because the monasteries were so well endowed.
01:31:18: But it's hard for me to comment on this. I don't know what sort of feel
01:31:23: I have for past centuries that would be accurate. But there was a lot of dissuasion, yes, from families that men should become at least monks and priests because that seemed to put a limit on their potential and their ambitions, which they were tempted with high office and great success in the secular world.
01:31:49: But we know that many of them were ardent in the cause of Christ and were people who would preach beyond the confines of the monasteries, of the cathedrals, and particularly in the parish churches.
01:32:04: So I think there was opportunity for people who were utterly devout and pious in the cause of Christ to mingle with and reach the people of God with the gospel.
01:32:18: Well, thank you, Bruce. We have a note from Cindy in Finley, Ohio, which is not a question, but she offers these words.
01:32:32: It was so comforting to hear the reassuring words of Roger Salter regarding John's salvation, meaning my brother.
01:32:40: Continuing to pray for you and your family in this sorrowful time, asking our merciful God to grant them much grace and comfort, also asking him to open the minds and hearts of those without Christ and grant repentance and faith in our precious
01:32:56: Lord and Savior. Prayer, it's not the least I can do, but the most
01:33:01: I can do. That's Cindy from Finley, Ohio. Thank you so much, Finley.
01:33:07: Finley. Cindy. And I thank all of you who have been sending me emails and my more close friends who have been sending me texts that are beginning to come in in higher frequency, offering me comfort during this painful time.
01:33:36: Before I go to... I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to go to our final break so I don't have to interrupt you at any point.
01:33:43: And then I will continue with a couple of audience questions unless you have another series of quotes you'd like to share before we get to that point.
01:33:55: But... Yeah, I've got... Oh yeah, well then you could read some more of Collet and then
01:34:01: I will take some more audience questions as we have time. Okay. But I'm going to the break now.
01:34:08: So if you would like to join us, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com. chrisarnson at gmail .com.
01:34:15: Give us your first name at least, city and state, and country of residence. We'll be right back with Roger Salter and our discussion on John Collet right after these messages.
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01:46:05: Thanks for helping to keep Iron Sharpen's Iron Radio on the air. Welcome back and Roger Salter, if you could, share with us a citation from John Collett that you would like to share with our audience at this time.
01:46:25: I certainly will, Chris, but I've got some news. My memory has just made contact with me over a couple of months.
01:46:33: That's good, that's good. And the first is thinking of Bruce's question that Wycliffe's followers were the
01:46:40: Lollards, and they preached among the people quite widely from Wycliffe's time until the beginning of the
01:46:47: Reformation, and even many of them joined in with what developed in the
01:46:52: Reformation. And the other thing is when you were talking about solid ground books, it was also published,
01:46:59: James Usher's great work, Body of Divinity, and of course, Usher was the 17th century
01:47:06: Anglican primate of all Ireland, and of course ministered for some time in England as well, so I think along with Cranmer, he is the great influencer of Anglicanism in terms of its doctrine, in terms of its pastoral sensitivity and care and the kind of piety that it encourages.
01:47:30: So those were two points that came to me during the advertisements, Chris. But, you know,
01:47:36: I know that people can be overawed by this matter of the sovereignty of God in salvation, and perhaps even demur the thought of God's sovereign will, and it's interesting that Collet addresses that matter in Romans 9, the right place to cover it, of course, and I'll just read a little bit from that paragraph.
01:48:07: He says, Wherefore let everyone consider who is pondering in a purblind way, that is, in entire blindness, on the divine and arbitrary election of men to heavenly life.
01:48:21: Let such consider, I say, in the first place, how great is the sublimity and loftiness of the divine majesty, and how it surpasses by the vastest possible interval not only weak men, but the most exalted angels, so that not even the highest spirits of all know all the things that are of God, who dwelleth as St.
01:48:46: Paul everywhere says, in the light which no man can approach unto. Let him consider in the next place, and I think this is so vitally important, for our maintenance of humility before the sovereign
01:49:01: God. Let him consider in the next place his own low and base condition, how far distant from God his own mind is, both of itself and from its being depressed into this heavy and gloomy body, whereby the soul is so hoodwinked as not only to be unable to look upwards at things heavenly, much less at things divine themselves, but even to behold without error all that is present and set before the eye.
01:49:34: The gospel, of course, is addressed to all, that is our responsibility, and we can't blame anyone for not benefiting from the gospel, but ourselves and our own evil will and opposition to God, our native hostility.
01:49:51: So, you know, that is covered too, that we receive this doctrine in humility, knowing the limitations of our comprehension, our intellects and acumen when it comes to the things pertaining to God.
01:50:07: We have Ronald in Eastern Suffolk County, Long Island, New York who asks, do you have anything in writing by John Collett, where he was openly disagreeing with other
01:50:23: Roman Catholic clerics on issues especially regarding the gospel and even the
01:50:31: Romish practice of idolatry and other aberrant views that separated
01:50:37: Rome from Collett? I would think one would have to go to a biography of Collett.
01:50:46: There are several, there was one written in the 19th century, and I might just be able to turn up to something more recent.
01:50:56: You see, he didn't, he was so much a man of the word and preaching the gospel that I don't think he dealt exhaustively with some of these matters that would concern us as Protestants.
01:51:13: I'll have to look up another reference which I don't have with me. There is a more recent, it will come up on Google, I'm sure, biography.
01:51:23: I just have a preface and some comments on my copy of Romans, which doesn't touch any other issue but that of salvation by grace.
01:51:37: Soteriological matters. But I have no doubt that if consistency were called for and faced him directly as an issue, he would deal with these matters because as he says, we are saved by grace alone and Christ alone through his word.
01:51:55: So to be consistent with that, you would have to reject outright many of the inventions of the
01:52:03: Romish church as distinct from the Catholic church. Well, what can you leave with our audience in summary form, before we run out of time, that you find most worthy of our listeners retaining in their memories, having etched in their hearts and minds about John Collett, that they may even be compelled for further study on this great saint of history?
01:52:36: I think for anyone who's an advocate of the doctrines of grace in the
01:52:42: Augustinian and Calvinistic sense, God is sovereign in salvation, as successful in salvation, as faithful in his promises to his people, nurturing them in the knowledge of himself, sustaining them day by day, and bringing them at last to his eternal dwelling.
01:53:05: I think anything that advocates these in terms of theology is to be treasured and to be utterly precious because this kind of conviction and teaching doesn't come about through human effort or human ability.
01:53:21: It has to be revealed by God. It has to be something that God initiates and inspires, this thought of utter dependence upon God and humility before him.
01:53:35: I just think that anything that encourages us in that attitude is well worth searching out and diligently contemplating and thinking about.
01:53:47: And to think that God was preparing the way for a reformation in England when so many people think it was due mainly to Henry VIII's marriage problem,
01:53:58: I think this answers it totally that this was a work of God. Henry was instrumental in forwarding it for his own reasons, but there were people who preceded the reformers who were very, very active in proclaiming gospel truth to England and leaving us this wonderful heritage that we derive from the
01:54:23: Reformation. So John Collett to me is a hero that in the time when
01:54:30: Catholicism was still in charge and command of the minds of the people, here he was opening up the way to a fresh vision of the grace of God and the gospel of Christ.
01:54:43: That has to be an immense contribution to the spiritual life of a people and a nation and those who investigate history in regard to these matters.
01:54:55: But it's the lovely and eloquent way in which he spells out the gospel of grace because he loves it and he presents it so enticingly and eloquently and I think that is part of the evidence for the truth of God is that it so possesses and allures our hearts that it heightens our expression of the truth because we are inspired by it, enthralled by it, moved by it and we try to present it as attractively as we can as well as accurately and so I'm moved when
01:55:30: I read portions of his commentary as to how much affection he has for divine truth for God the three in one and for Christ as our sure redeemer and one other point
01:55:45: I would make because I feel the doctrines of grace are so important in a time when man depends upon himself advertises his abilities his skill in sorting out his own issues his own life in improving his own present situation this is pride and I think the great thing about the gospel is that it undermines all pride and shatters it and so somebody that I found a reference toward Collett John Arnold says this, one concept apparently adopted by Collett from Augustine was that of double predestination pre -election by God and therefore anti -Pelagian notions of grace and I think we are living in a time when there is just an overwhelming reference to man's capacities before God when we are utterly helpless and we need to know that it's upon him his sovereign will and beautiful grace that we are redeemed that's our utter and only hope
01:57:04: Praise God well I want to make sure that our listeners have your contact information again in the event that they would like to get a hold of you or visit
01:57:16: St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Birmingham Alabama first of all the website for St.
01:57:24: Matthew's is STM an abbreviation for St. Matthew's anglican .weebly
01:57:32: .com that's stmanglican .weebly
01:57:39: .com and you can also go to rogersalter .com rogersalter .com
01:57:49: once again I want to thank all of you who for months have been praying for my oldest brother
01:57:57: John who was battling cancer and critical stage emphysema and inoperable aneurysm and more recently
01:58:13: COVID and pneumonia on top of all of it he is not battling any of those things anymore he feels no pain
01:58:21: I trust he is with Christ for eternity where he is experiencing joy and bliss that we can't even comprehend right here on this earth
01:58:34: I want to thank you for those of you who were prayer warriors on his behalf and for not only his health that you were lifting up to the throne of grace but his salvation most importantly and I thank the
01:58:51: Lord that he gave me sufficient evidence to trust that John is indeed in glory with Christ I ask of you to please continue to pray for me and my family especially
01:59:05: John's wife Jan and his daughter Regina, his daughter Patrice his son
01:59:10: Eric and his son JJ his grandchildren and me and my siblings
01:59:19: Andy, Mary and Bob as we all enter into this journey of deep sorrow together and I thank all of you in ways that I cannot possibly describe in the
01:59:34: English language for reaching out to me with your words of comfort and I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater