I first saw Lamplighter books in a Vision Forum catalog a few years ago, and they really caught my attention. I have been pleased to locate Lamplighter’s complete catalog. They republish some books which I found in old copies in bookshops in Scotland but had not yet been able to find reprinted. Their motto alone was enough to catch me: “Building character – One Story at a Time.” EXACTLY! That is what I am attempting and I think that reading good stories is an excellent way of building character.

Their books are not cheap, but they are all nicely bound and printed, maintaining a classic look of age. I have not yet read one of their reprints (I have one in the queue!), but they do have a reprint of The Gold Thread which is one of our all time favorites (read my earlier post on this book here).

The catalog itself is nicely organized with listings by age and gender as well as other topics (rare collector’s series, etc.). If you are looking for books for your children this is certainly one catalog to have ready.

Blogger has been having all sorts of problems the last few days which is causing numerous problems for me in posting. Hopefully I will be able to access them consistently soon! When I catch Blogger working I will get things up but it looks to be difficult the next few days.

Blogger has been having all sorts of problems the last few days which is causing numerous problems for me in posting. Hopefully I will be able to access them consistently soon! When I catch Blogger working I will get things up but it looks to be difficult the next few days.

Here is an excerpt from Vance Havner (1901-1986), the prominent Baptist preacher. He is reflecting on Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. His words are at least as relevant to us today as they were then. So much of what people today call ‘succesful’ in ministry is simply the exertion of the flesh to impress the world with our show and numbers as Havner describes here.

We’re a little short on prophets. We need to rebuild the broken altar and put the sacrifice of a dedicated life thereupon. But before we can expect any fire from heaven, we must drench the altar. I’ve heard plenty of preaching about rebuilding the altar. I’ve heard sermons about presenting our body as living sacrifice. But the hardest lesson for anybody in Christian service to learn is that we cannot help God out in the slightest by warming up the altar in the energy of the flesh. We try to start a fire of our own and think that’ll help out God’s fire. It won’t do it. We’re ashamed to be laughed at by the world. We don’t dare face the Midianites with Gideon’s band, so we mob-o-lize.
We don’t mobilize, we mob-o-lize a multitude who know little and care less about spiritual warfare, who never have understood that the Bible is the Lord’s and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We’re afraid to face old Goliath today with sling and stone. We want to wear the latest equipment, and Saul’s armory is working overtime. We must be up-to-date and borrow all the technique of the world to do the work of God. But you can’t organize revivals as you do secular things, as the world puts on its drives and campaigns.
You can’t run a church as you would a business corporation. You can’t work up mere human enthusiasm to put over the work of the Lord. We all give lip service, of course, to the Holy Spirit: “Not by might nor power, but by my Spirit” (Zech. 4:6). We sing, “Kindle a flame of sacred love in these cold hearts of ours” (Isaac Watts, “Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,” 1707). But actually we’re so wired up to our own devices that if the fire doesn’t fall from heaven, we can turn on a switch and produce some false fire of our own. And if there’s no sound of a mighty rushing wind, we’ve got the bellows all set to blow hot air instead. But God answers by fire, not by feelings, not by fame, not by finances. You can blow up quite a blaze today on Carmel. We can do it, yes. But people are not crying out today, “The LORD, he is the God” (1 Kings 18:39).

Vance Hanver, When God Breaks Through: Sermons on Revival, edited and complied by Dennis J. Hester (Grand Rapids, MI; Kregel Publications, 2003), 54-55; emphasis mine
(HT: Kairos Journal– registration required)

The following poem was written by William Cowper and published in the Olney Hymns. It captures well the desire fo parents and the church.

XXII. Prayer for Children (66-67)

Bestow, dear Lord, upon our youth,
The gift of saving grace;
And let the seed of sacred truth
Fall in a fruitful place.

Grace is a plant, where’er it grows,
Of pure and heavenly root;
But fairest in the youngest shows,
And yields the sweetest fruit.

Ye careless ones, O hear betimes
The voice of sovereign love!
Your youth is stain’d with many crimes,
But mercy reigns above.

True, you are young, but there’s a stone
Within the youngest breast;
Or half the crimes which you have done
Would rob you of your rest.

For you the public prayer is made;
Oh! join the public prayer!
For you the secret tear is shed:
Oh shed yourselves a tear!

We pray that you may early prove
The Spirit’s power to teach;
You cannot be too young to love
That Jesus whom we preach.

At the recent pastors’ luncheon in Memphis I mentioned previously, I had a number of good conversations. One was with a pastor who told me about a fairly recent conversation he had with Eric Alexander, the Scottish preacher regarded by many as one of the great preachers of our era. The man with whom I spoke expressed to Alexander his appreciation saying, “When I hear you preach I sense the real presence of God.” Alexander thanked him saying, “That is something for which I have prayed all my ministry.”
I thought that this was a humble way to receive such a compliment and a good encouragement to pray regularly for the Lord’s blessing on our preaching, for what the Puritans called “unction.” We must labor to understand the text and to express it well; but, then it all depends on the Lord’s blessing of our labors to take His word and apply it powerfully to the hearts and minds of men.

I recently spoke with someone who only half jokingly said, “We already have enough preachers.” I took issue with the statement, conceding that we do have many filling the office but not enough properly preaching the word and overseeing souls (indeed many not even considering that such oversight is their duty- for which they will answer to God! Heb 13:17)
Then a friend who is desperately searching (so far in vain) for a church in her area where they can find straightforward biblical exposition sent this quote to me.

“Let me leave this branch of my subject with an earnest request that all who pray will never forget to make supplications and prayers and intercession for the ministers of Christ, that there never may be wanting a due supply of them at home and in the mission field, that they may be kept sound in the faith and holy in their lives, and that they may take heed to themselves as well as to the doctrine (I Timothy 4:16).”
J.C. Ryle, “Holiness”

Fellow pastors, may we labor to be such preachers and do all we can to help and encourage the development of more such preachers.

Ink on His Fingers , Louise A. Vernon
(Herald Press, 1972, 2004), pb., 127 pp.

This biography of Johann Gutenberg is written similarly to Mrs. Vernon’s biography of Wycliffe reviewed previously. A young boy, Hans Dunne, is pursuing his desire to make copies of the Bible. He thinks of making handwritten copies, but stumbles upon the efforts of various people to make copies with movable type. Eventually he ends up working as an apprentice for Johann Gutenberg.

The story itself works well. There is an air of mystery as well as a strong sense of working against opposition. These aspects made it a compelling read for my boys. Mrs. Vernon highlights the fact that other people were working on movable type and the opposition Gutenberg faces. In fact it seemed to me that one point of the book was to highlight Gutenberg’s perseverance and the fact that those who seek to serve God do encounter difficulty. Thus, the book gives the reader a good sense of the hard work it took to produce movable type (for the production of Bibles) and encourages perseverance.

I have two main criticisms or requests. First (and the least of the two), a small glossary would be very helpful. A number of books we have read in historical fiction have provided a glossary for words from the era and this has been helpful. A glossary would add to this book as well. The more authentic the book seeks to be the more helpful a glossary is. Secondly, I really appreciate a note from the author describing at least briefly what he/she has created for the story and what is based on fact. This is very helpful since the distinction is not obvious. I have no problem with the fiction aspect of the book, but children often want to know what part is historical. In this book it seemed especially hard to distinguish. Fair enough, we do not have many details about Gutenberg’s life. However, I at first assumed the key “bad guy” in the book Herr (Mr.) Fust was a fictional creation. After some searching of my own, though, I discovered that Fust was a historical person who did the basic things described in the book. Knowing this really added to the reading.

In summary, we enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others. It succeeds well in the basic goal of introducing children (and parents!) to Gutenberg and the labor to make printing a regular part of life.

The Beggars Bible , Louise A. Vernon
(Herald Press, 1971), pb., 135 pp.

Following the Thomson biography of Wycliffe, we read this one by Louise Vernon, The Beggars’ Bible. Whereas the Thomson bio began as Wycliffe first went to Oxford, this book picks up well in to Wycliffe’s career.

This story centers around a young peasant boy, Arnold Hutton, who wants the chance to go to Oxford along with his noble born friend, Timothy. Arnold was given the opportunity to learn alongside his noble born friend due to the encouragement of Wycliffe and due to Wycliffe’s influence he eventually enters Oxford. This bio makes more of Wycliffe’s hot temper as an example of his humanness. There is also more mystery and intrigue as people plot against Wycliffe and Arnold and Timothy try to discover and foil the plots.

This book is overall more of a compelling story than the Thomson bio, though my boys enjoyed both. The mystery element in Vernon’s book probably was the big difference. However, Vernon’s (like too many children’s stories it seems) ends quite suddenly which was disappointing. I also thought the Thomson story provided more overall information about the life and times of Wycliffe. Thomson provides some clarity about what is fictional, but Vernon does not. Vernon though does provide a nice glossary of words form the era that are less common today.

Overall, the books complement each other well, and I would recommend using them both.

We have recently come across another helpful catalog for children’s literature. The folks at Beautiful Feet Books, like a number of others, both publish books of their own and offer books sold by others. We appreciate having several catalogs like this because it gives us access to books discovered by various people rather than leaving us simply with what one group has found or liked.

The Beautiful Feet Catalog is put together as a resource for teaching children history through literature, which is exactly what we are trying to do. It is a good approach whether you homeschool or send your children to school. The little essay on this topic in the catalog is well worth a read. They make the point that literature was the typical way of learning history for years until someone got the bright idea of writing books stripped of story and containing merely the facts- enter the standard textbook and the association of boredom with history! My boys will currently say that history is one of their favorite things because they love stories, and truly history is simply the story of humanity through various eras and situations. Now, I intentionally started them years ago with stories of battles and adventures because I knew that would be more appealing, but there is nothing wrong with meeting them where they are!

Anyway, this can be a helpful resource. They list age appropriate books by historical era which is very useful. I obtained a copy of the catalog for free by requesting it from their website, http://www.bfbooks.com/.