48. A. W. Tozer (1897–1963)
From 1928 to 1959, A. W. Tozer pastored Southside Alliance Church in Chicago and functioned as the conscience of evangelicalism at large. I heard him preach many times—always with profit—and waited for his books to be published as impatiently as a detective-story addict waits for the next installment of the current serial. I still reread his books regularly, and always find in them something new to think about. This does not mean I always agreed with Tozer. There were times when I felt he was leading a parade of one down a dead-end street, such as when he vigorously opposed Christian movies. His sometimes acid criticisms of new Bible translations and of churches that “majored in counting noses” were but small defects in an otherwise straight and sturdy wall. There was an intensity about his preaching, as there is about his writing. Tozer walked with God and knew him intimately. To listen to Tozer preach was as safe as opening the door of a blast furnace!
To prevent a generation arising that knows not Tozer, I want to devote the first half of this chapter to the man and his books, then I want to consider some other Christian mystics.
The official biography of Tozer is written by David J. Fant Jr. and is entitled A. W. Tozer: A Twentieth-Century Prophet. Unfortunately, the book does not tell too much about the man, and what it does tell might have been written for a press release or for page one of an appreciation booklet. The first chapter takes us from his birth (April 21, 1897) to his death (May 12, 1963), and the remaining eleven chapters concentrate on Tozer’s writing, summarizing what he believed and why he believed it. If I understand Tozer’s philosophy of books and writing, he would disagree with Fant’s approach. “Read the man himself!” he would say. “Don’t read about the man, or what some writer says about the man. Read the man himself!” While I appreciate the excellent quotations Fant selected and agree with his analysis of Tozer’s thinking, I still feel that getting acquainted with this vibrant writer via a biographer is like going to a flower show over the telephone. I suggest you read Tozer’s books first, then read Fant’s biography.
Begin with The Pursuit of God, one of the best devotional books ever written by an American pastor. As your grandmother used to say about her home medicines, “It’s good for what ails you!” The Pursuit of God polishes the lenses of my soul and helps me see better. It cures the fever that often makes a man mistake activity for ministry. It rebukes my lack of worship. For these reasons (and many more), I try to read the book at least once a year. Follow with The Divine Conquest, then with The Knowledge of the Holy, a book that, to me, is the finest modern devotional treatment of the attributes of God. Once you have read these three volumes, you will have a grasp of the essentials of Tozer’s thinking about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, the Bible, and the responsibility of the believer in today’s world. You are then prepared to launch into his books of spiritual essays, such as The Root of the Righteous, Born After Midnight, Of God and Men, That Incredible Christian, Man: The Dwelling Place of God, and (if you enjoy poetry and hymnody) The Christian Book of Mystical Verse. All of his books are published by Christian Publications, with the exception of The Knowledge of the Holy, which is published by Harper. Nearly all of these essays originally appeared as editorials in The Alliance Witness, which Tozer edited for many years and which was perhaps the only evangelical publication people read primarily for the editorials!
Let me suggest that you not read these books the way you read other books—attempting to finish them quickly, perhaps in one sitting (a phrase Tozer despised). Read Tozer leisurely, meditatively, almost as a worship experience. Read each essay slowly, as though the writer were chatting with you personally, in front of the friendly fireplace in his living room. Read with your heart; keep your ear tuned to that “other voice” that will surely speak to you and remind you of the truths of God’s Word. My experience has been that, when reading a book by Tozer, some passage will cause me to put down the book, pick up my Bible, and then start thinking about some truth on my own. And this is exactly what Tozer would want! “The best book is not one that informs merely,” he wrote, “but one that stirs the reader up to inform himself.”1 I try to keep a notebook at hand when I read any book, but especially when I read Tozer.
After becoming acquainted with his devotional essays, read the two biographies he wrote: Wingspread, the life of A. B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Let My People Go! the life of missionary Robert A. Jaffray. Then investigate the volumes of sermons that have recently appeared, edited by Gerald B. Smith. Frankly, this series does not excite me. I can hear Tozer in these messages, but I believe he would have edited this material differently. I fear this may be prejudice on my part, but I prefer the incisiveness of the essays to the expansiveness of the sermons. But, since they are “genuine Tozer,” I have them on my shelf and I read them.
Aiden Wilson Tozer (he preferred his initials, and who can blame him) considered himself an “evangelical mystic.” Unfortunately the word mystic has never been a popular word in the evangelical vocabulary, especially in this day of activism and statistics. To most evangelicals, a mystic is an odd person who sees visions and hears voices and is about as useful to the church as a spare tire on a bobsled. If that were what mysticism is, I would want no part of it. But that is not mysticism; it is only a caricature of it. A mystic is simply a person who: (1) sees a real spiritual world beyond the world of sense, (2) seeks to please God rather than the crowd, (3) cultivates a close fellowship with God, sensing his presence everywhere, and (4) relates his experience to the practical things of life.
In his preface to The Christian Book of Mystical Verse, Tozer put it this way:
I refer to the evangelical mystic who has been brought by the gospel into intimate fellowship with the Godhead. His theology is no less and no more than is taught in the Christian Scriptures. . . . He differs from the ordinary orthodox Christian only because he experiences his faith down in the depths of his sentient being while the other does not. He exists in a world of spiritual reality. He is quietly, deeply and sometimes almost ecstatically aware of the presence of God in his own nature and in the world around him. His religious experience is something elemental, as old as time and the creation. It is immediate acquaintance with God by union with the eternal son.2
Tozer’s essay “Bible Taught or Spirit Taught?” is a good summary of his views on practical mysticism: “It is altogether possible to be instructed in the rudiments of the faith and still have no real understanding of the whole thing,” he wrote. “And it is possible to go on to become expert in Bible doctrine and not have spiritual illumination, with the result that a veil remains over the mind, preventing it from apprehending the truth in its spiritual essence.”3 Tozer’s sermons often confront us with these questions: Is God real to you? Is your Christian experience a set of definitions, a list of orthodox doctrines, or a living relationship with God? Do you have a firsthand experience with him, or a secondhand experience through others? Is your heart hungering and thirsting after personal holiness? These questions are applicable today, perhaps more than we dare to admit.
Fant, at the end of his biography, listed the books and authors that most influenced Tozer, and this list is something of a basic bibliography on the mystics. I am sure that many evangelical pastors today have either never been exposed to this wealth of devotional writing or have purposely avoided it, so I recommend the list to you. However, before you spend your book budget in securing these volumes, I suggest that you sample them in a manner that is quite easy and (best of all) inexpensive. The Upper Room (Nashville, Tennessee) publishes a series of attractive, pocket-size booklets called “The Great Devotional Classics.” I believe there are thirty titles in the series, ranging from William Law (who strongly influenced the Wesleys) to William Temple (archbishop of Canterbury until his death in 1944). I suggest you carry one of these booklets with you to read in spare minutes. Each booklet contains from thirty to forty pages; there is a biographical introduction and a brief discussion of the influence of the writer (or the book) in church history. The thirty or more writers (or titles, where the writers are anonymous) cover a wide spectrum of theological and ecclesiastical groups.
You will find John Knox, prophet of the Reformation in Scotland; François Fenelon, close friend to Madame Guyon; George Fox, founder of the Quakers; John Wesley and Francis Asbury, the great Methodist leaders; Henry Scougal, whose Life of God in the Soul of Man is easily the greatest devotional work to come out of Scotland; Søren Kierkegaard, the melancholy Danish philosopher; Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian; and even Thomas Kelly, the young Quaker writer whose untimely death halted an exciting career. There are selections from anonymous works: Theologia Germanica, which Luther put alongside the Bible and Augustine’s writings, and Cloud of Unknowing, which Tozer loved to quote.
If you profit from this excursion into the land of Christian mysticism, then search for another volume that must be on your devotional shelf. Unfortunately, like many fine books, it is out of print. Abingdon Press ought to reissue this book and make it available to this generation of preachers. I refer to The Fellowship of the Saints, an anthology of devotional writings edited by Thomas S. Kepler, for many years professor at Oberlin College. Kepler was an ardent student of the mystics, and in this large (800-page) volume he gives the best of their writings in a chronological sequence that enables the reader to trace the influence of one writer on the next. He starts with Clement of Rome and ends with selections from twentieth-century writers. To be sure, there is some chaff here; but there is so much fine wheat that the chaff does not upset me. Look for a copy in used-book stores; I hope you find one!
Kepler compiled another anthology that you may want to secure: The Evelyn Underhill Reader. Evelyn Underhill was a well-known British mystic who died in 1941. Her books, Mysticism, Practical Mysticism, and Worship are almost standard texts on these subjects. Unfortunately she was never quite sure of her theology, and it is here she parts company with Tozer. She confessed to being “a modernist on many points.” But some of her personal insights are helpful, and therefore she should be read. Like poison, these matters should be “handled” but not permitted into one’s system!
Harper and Row has published two basic books that should be in your library: Christian Perfection, written by François Fenelon and published in 1947, and Treatises and Sermons of Meister Eckhart, published in 1958. Fenelon’s book is priceless for devotional reading—a chapter a day. Here is a man who conducted “spiritual conferences” in the court of Louis XIV! Chapter 1 is “On the Use of Time” and is one of the finest treatments of this elusive subject, from a spiritual point of view, that you will find anywhere. Chapter 2 deals with “Recreation.” Chapter 8 considers “Fidelity in Little Things.” Every pastor will want to read chapter 14, “Dryness and Distraction.” These chapters are not long, but they are deep and profoundly practical. I cannot recommend this book too highly. Eckhart was a German mystic (1260–1327) whose purity of life gave great power to his preaching. Selections from his many writings are available in different editions, the most popular of which is probably After Supper in the Refectory: A Series of Instructions, published in 1917. Tozer recommended this book. The volume referred to above contains selections from Talks of Instruction as well as material from other writings.
If you wish to purchase a copy of Cloud of Unknowing, the edition edited by Evelyn Underhill is perhaps the best. The introduction by the editor and the glossary of terms are both very helpful to those not conversant with mystical writings. However, I must confess that, so far, this book has failed to reach me, although here and there some statements have struck fire. The repeated phrase “O Ghostly friend in God” still makes me chuckle. Out of respect for the anonymous author, I try to chuckle in a mystical way, but I fear I do not always succeed. As I grow spiritually, I am sure I will better appreciate this book.
The mystics wrote to cultivate the inner man, and certainly this is a neglected activity in our churches today. We have more Marthas than Marys! But, in the long run, the ideal Christian will not be one or the other: he will be a balance of both. Worship and work will not compete; they will cooperate. This is the contribution the evangelical mystics can make to our lives, and I trust you will sincerely give them the opportunity to do so.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones and I were discussing the mystics over dinner one evening, and he related an interesting experience. With his permission I repeat it here.
“Dr. Tozer and I shared a conference years ago,” he said, “and I appreciated his ministry and his fellowship very much. One day he said to me, ‘Lloyd-Jones, you and I hold just about the same position on spiritual matters, but we have come to this position by different routes.’
“‘How do you mean?’ I asked.
“‘Well,’ Tozer replied, ‘you came by way of the Puritans and I came by way of the mystics.’ And, you know, he was right!”
Which perhaps goes to prove that doctrine and devotion have been joined together by God and that no man dare put them asunder. Our understanding of doctrine ought to lead us into greater devotion to Christ, and our deeper devotion ought to make us better servants and soul-winners. Jesus beautifully joined both together when he said: “Abide in me and I in you . . . for without me, ye can do nothing.” This is the message of the evangelical mystics, a message we desperately need to hear today.