The Christian Remembrancer, Short Reflections upon the Faith, Life & Conduct of a Real Christian, by Ambrose Serle, published by Gospel Standard Trust Publications, hardback, 294 pages, £13, obtainable from the F P Bookroom. Serle (1742-1812) may be known to few people today; indeed it may come as a surprise to learn that the author of this book was a civil servant rather than a minister. At the age of 30 he was made under-secretary to the second Earl of Dartmouth, whom the poet William Cowper described as a praying
man. Four years later, Serle became secretary to the Commander-in-chief of the British army in America at the time of the War of Independence. Augustus Toplady, the noted Church of England minister, wrote, “Mr Serle is one of the most learned, most devout and most valuable men I know”. And John Newton spoke highly of his “solid experimental religion”.
At the beginning of Serle’s seventieth year, he acknowledged before God “how much of mercy and goodness” he had enjoyed. “Once I was nothing. Thy favour brought me into being. Yet, being born a sinner, Thy patience endured for many years, till Thy Holy Spirit renewed me in the spirit of my mind. . . . It was Thy grace which bestowed faith upon me and kept that faith alive from day to day. If thou hadst withdrawn Thy powerful hand, I should have been like the backsliding heifer, and have fallen by degrees into all the corruptions of the world, of the flesh, and of the devil. . . . I should soon have been both a practical and a theoretical atheist, and have lived according to my fallen nature, without God in the world. . . . Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but unto Thee be all the praise that I am a sinner redeemed, restored, and made willing to love, to serve, to follow, and to enjoy Thy holy truth, to walk in all Thy blessed ways!”
The author explains that his book has three parts (corresponding to the three elements in the subtitle): “the first of which relates chiefly to the word and work of God in the redemption of souls by Jesus Christ; the second to the inward and practical experience of this mediation in the heart of the believer; and the third to his outward conversation and conduct with others”. After a brief sketch of Serle’s life and some other introductory material, there follow close on 90 meditations, intended to encourage the reader to meditate further on these topics. Some of these meditations are spoken to the Lord, as if the writer was engaged in prayer.
We may quote a few of the points that Serle makes. In a piece on unbelief, he remarks that the work of faith is “to subdue unbelief in all its activities; this often makes a sore and difficult conflict in the soul”. He notes further that no one can “be reasoned by natural deductions and convictions out of unbelief into faith, but must be saved through the gift and working of the divine power, first to possess faith and afterwards to use it”.
In a piece on self-seeking, Serle shows himself sensitive to the danger of seeking one’s own glory: “A poor soul shall own [confess] itself, with much pain and sincerity, to be a miserable sinner; and self, from this very acknowledgement, will stir up a notion of worth in the creature, and give it to believe that there are some seeds at least of excellency within itself, which others have not, and for having of which he is higher and better than they. Self will bid some men confess themselves sinners, that they may be con-
sidered as saints.” In a later meditation, Serle notes, “Nature draweth all from its own fund, and carrieth it all back, and with interest if possible, to itself again. But grace receiveth all from God, and is never so truly delighted as when God receiveth the whole of the glory as His just return.”
On adversity, Serle, comments, “We naturally love the world and the things that are in the world; and this love, unsubdued, is the sole cause and ground of what are called mortifications and disappointments from the world. If the love of Christ prevailed more in us, it would not be in the power of outward things to give us so much pain as they do; or rather, if this love were perfect in us, we should be ashamed and sorry that these things should give us any pain at all.” On the other hand, “God’s people are seldom trusted [by Him] with much prosperity; and when they are, it very rarely appears for their good. The things of earth and time, in affluence or abundance, have a fascinating power over the carnal senses, entice them first into the ways of evil, and then (if grace prevent not) intoxicate them with it.” And he concludes this meditation: “Whatever draws us nearest to God cannot be real adversity. Whatever entices us from Him deserves not the name of prosperity.”
Two practical comments: “Whatever principles, temper and conduct cannot be sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, are absolutely unholy to a Christian, and strictly to be avoided”; “O what an evil is fullness of bread, without emptiness of self and fullness of grace!”
Serle wrote several books and many spoke well of them. Thomas Chalmers, commending a reprint of the book under review, called it a “valuable treatise in which the great and essential truths of Christianity are exhibited in a luminous and practical manner”. Charles Hodge said of another of Serle’s writings that he “tends, in every page, to exalt the Redeemer, and to invite the soul to commune with Him. . . . It contains much doctrine and much experience; so intermingled that the doctrine is never dry, nor the experience ever unsound.” May many readers today find profit from the writings of this godly man who had such a deep insight into his own heart and into the remedy that God has provided for sinners!