pastoral predicament of Vavasor Powell (1617-1670): Eschatological fervor and its relationship to the pastoral ministry, The

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Sep 2000 by Milton, Michael A

On 27 October 1670, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Vavasor Powell died in his cell at Fleet Street Prison, London, at the age of 53. The body of the great Welsh evangelist was interred at Bunhill Fiends, London, and his grave-in a dubious location-remains there to this day. The monument to his life and ministry, on which were written verses in his honor by Edward Bagshaw the younger, was erected soon after his death but has long since perished.

Powell remained a hero to Welshmen well into the nineteenth century, and there is a Vavasor Powell Memorial Chapel still standing today in the village of his birth. But, among Puritan worthies, he is a virtual unknown. His gravestone carried this inscription:

VAVASOR POWELL, a successful Teacher of the past, A sincere Witness of the present, and an useful Example to the future . . .

His life and ministry does, indeed, provide an "Example" for us today. Whether it was his eschatological fervor alone that robbed him of ministerial opportunities is arguable. But the record of his life and times will surely allow for one to conclude that the unbalanced attention to eschatological schemes limited his greater pastoral usefulness. In the end, this is probably his "example" to the future.

II. AN APPEAL FROM CHURCH HISTORY

I now offer an observation from this historical case study: it is possible and even likely for the ordinary day-in and day-out work of the pastoral ministry to suffer in days of eschatological fervor. In times when books are being published as fast as publishers can get them out, when the thirst of consumers for more titillating end-of time Biblical data seems virtually unquenchable, and when sermon series on "the last days" and "prophecy conferences" represent the sure-fire way to pack out auditoriums and sanctuaries, we must-in light of case history-admit that there exists, at least, a threat to the pastoral charge. Consequently, if and when the pastorate becomes unbalanced, congregations are given to become so as well.

So I would urge that in our day-a time not so unlike the volatile days of seventeenth-century England and Wales-we pastors and ministers of the Gospel (too often not so unlike Vavasor Powell) resist the temptation to use our hearer's fears and anxieties about the future as an opportunity to gain an audience. In doing so, we will avoid the pastoral predicament that invariably follows such a strategy. Rather, let us, in days like these, "redeem the time" and be about the harder-but more faithful and satisfying-labor of gathering the saints through the preaching of the grace of God in Christ, and growing the saints through, among other Biblical injunctions, the exhortation to holiness, and the consistent announcement of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, if we endure in faith until his appearing, whenever and however that might come to us.

I The Life and Death of Mr. Vavasor Powell, that Faithful Minister and Confessor of Jesus Christ. Wherein his Eminent Conversion, Laborious, Successful Ministry, Excellent Conversation, Confession of Faith, Worthy Sayings, Choice Experiences, Various Sufferings, and other Remarkable Passages, in his Life, and at his Death, are faithfully Recorded for Publick benefit. With some Elogies and Epitaphs by His Friends. Heb. 11. 3, Who being dead yet speaketh. Heb. 11. 38. Of whom the world was not worthy. Rev. 14:13. Blessed are the dead, which dye in the Lord, they rest from their Labours, and their Works follow them. Printed in the Year MCVLXXI. No author is given. Upon the Saints Suffering' by Vavasor Powell, lines 1-12, pp. 104-105. Copy in the British Museum. Hereafter referred to as Life.