Introduction
Introduction
If Thou Wilt Be Perfect
Source
Lectures on biblical philosophy given at the Bible Training College, London, from January to July 1912.
Publication History
• As articles: First published as articles in the Bible Training Course (BTC) Monthly Journal from October 1937 through October 1938.
• As a book: First published as a book in 1939. Mrs. Chambers had planned to title it Spiritual Philosophy but bowed to David Lambert’s suggestion to use Jesus’ words to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:21—“If thou wilt be perfect.”
Always a voracious reader of wide-ranging taste, Chambers included the writings of many philosophers in his personal study. During Oswald’s student days at the University of Edinburgh (1895-1896), he very likely studied Metaphysics and the History of Philosophy under Professor Andrew Seth and Moral Philosophy under Professor Henry Calderwood. In addition, he may well have attended Dr. Alexander Whyte’s Young Men’s Classes, held every Sunday evening following the service at Free St. George’s Church. When Chambers arrived in Edinburgh, Dr. Whyte was dealing with “The Mystics,” including Tauler and the book, Theologia Germanica, which are both quoted throughout If Thou Wilt Be Perfect.
In 1900, Chambers was teaching philosophy at Dunoon College, a small theological school across the Firth of Clyde from Glasgow, Scotland. When his students, most of whom had no university training, expressed their difficulty in making sense of existing textbooks, Chambers compiled and published his own Outlines for the Study of Historical Philosophy as a guide for his classes.
Of his lecture series on Biblical Philosophy at the Bible Training College in 1912, Chambers said: “The Ethics and Philosophy classes have taken a great stride in advance, and this is all the more surprising as the Bible Philosophy class is anything but a popular subject as commonly conceived; yet the numbers attending this class grow.”
One of Chambers’ recurring themes was the critical necessity for every Christian to think. “The reason why the average Christian worker is only the average Christian worker,” Oswald told his students, “is that he or she will remain grossly ignorant about what he does not see any need for. All of you have intelligence, and you must use it for God.”
Foreword
On Tauler and on Theologia Germanica
Two names are mentioned in this book, one is a man, Tauler, and the other a volume, Theologia Germanica. Quotations are made from them. Both belong to pre-Reformation times. John Tauler was born in Strasbourg about 1300. He was a Dominican monk and had already achieved honour and reputation as a preacher when a great change occurred in his spiritual outlook. An unknown layman, after hearing him preach, was moved to tell him that he was allowing himself to be “killed by the letter,” and was yet in darkness, and had not tasted the sweetness of the Holy Ghost. The preacher took the words in a spirit of meekness and was ready to receive helpful counsel from his unknown friend. “You must,” he said, “take up your cross and follow our Lord Jesus Christ and His example in utter sincerity, humility and patience, and must let go all your proud reasoning.” He advised him to cease his preaching for a while and in quiet contemplation examine his life in the mirror of our Lord’s. Tauler was nearly fifty, but he took the place of abasement and self-surrender, and for nearly two years was a seeker of God’s way, praying that God’s life might be brought forth in him. His former friends thought him demented. When the clear light came and he knew the time had come to bear his witness in public, he found it not easy to begin, but soon wisdom and grace from the Holy Spirit were bestowed in abundant measure. So began years of wonderful work for God. In those days when salvation by simple faith in Jesus Christ was so largely hidden beneath ceremonial worship, he taught many that the way to God was by a New Birth that brought men into a vital relation to the Living God. His sermons greatly influenced Luther. They have ministered to many in many countries. A volume of his sermons has been published in English under the title, The Following of Christ.
The book, Theologia Germanica, belongs to the same period. Its author is unknown. That also prepared for the Reformation, as it lays stress on the Holy Spirit’s application of Christ’s work to the heart of a believer. God never leaves Himself without a witness, and in that bedimmed period these lights were shining and have been shining ever since.
John Wesley complained to William Law that when he was an earnest inquirer he had been directed to the mystic writers, and so had missed the basic truth of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. We all need to know the initial experience of Christ as the Propitiation for our sins, and as the One who has brought to a world of sinners the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. Afterwards we may find, as Wesley did, much light in such writers as the above upon how God works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, and how we can work out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12-13).
The quotations made by Oswald Chambers are themselves of great value, and the expository words that follow are full of luminous and practical teaching for us to-day.
London
David Lambert
April 1939