Who is Paterson Smyth?
“I know of no better help in the teaching of young children than we get in Canon Paterson Smyth’s Bible for the Young”.1 This endorsement made by Charlotte Mason in the first book of her Home Education series introduced me to John Paterson Smyth, an Anglican pastor, writer, and thinker of the 19th century who has come to be a dear friend and mentor from the past through the writings he left behind. Now, I would like to introduce him to you and tell you why he is a worthy voice to consider in teaching the Bible to 21st century children.
From the recommendation above, I purchased a modern reprinting of The Book of Genesis from The Bible for School and Home Series.2 I was awkwardly trying to follow Mason’s method of Bible lessons and receive the teaching help she claimed this book offered, doing my feeble best to educate my son through his first grade year of school. Some of the challenges this book presented were a great deal of historical criticism, a confusing layout, denominational differences, too much information for our lesson time, and outdated language and examples. As I was knee deep wading through these internal objections, the unexpected happened. In a spiritual process that I still do not completely understand, my attention was captured and my imagination was engaged by his words, and I saw clearly the story of Genesis in a way I had never seen before in all my years of reading this book of the Bible.
I committed to sticking it out with these old children’s Bible commentaries because I knew they contained treasure within their pages. And then, like a permeating cloud of incense, the pleasing aroma I smelled began to spread beyond our homeschool Bible lessons into the Sunday School class I had just volunteered to teach at my church. Soon after, the idea struck me to one day bring forth this treasure I had found in an unsuspecting field to modern day Bible teachers in a new format which helps extract the gems and sift away some of the difficulties.
Education & Experience
1876
Trinity College - Dublin, Ireland
Reverend Joel Scheller of Schellermark Ministries, faithfully runs a website dedicated to preserving the life and works of John Paterson Smyth. He has put together an invaluable timeline3 of Paterson’s life in which a quick look will reveal both a very distinguished educational career and an impressive length of pastoral service in local churches throughout Ireland and later Canada. Paterson Smyth first entered Trinity College in Dublin in 1876 at the age of 24. Over the next 26 years, he would go on to be honored with seven degrees from Trinity College including bachelor degrees in arts, laws, and divinity, a masters degree in arts, and doctorate degrees in laws and letters. He would go on to serve as a professor of pastoral theology at Trinity College for five more years after he wrapped up his academic pursuits.
As far as honors go, just like his list of degrees, the list is not short. Aside from the honors he received alongside many of these degree programs, he also served as Chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland during the years that he taught as a professor at Trinity. He was ordered as a deacon of the Anglican church in 1880 at 28 years old, entered the Anglican priesthood a year later, and then went on to serve as curate, incumbent, vicar, rector, examining chaplain, canon, and finally archdeacon during his 50 years of service to the Anglican church.
Reverend Joel Scheller of Schellermark Ministries, faithfully runs a website dedicated to preserving the life and works of John Paterson Smyth. He has put together an invaluable timeline3 of Paterson’s life in which a quick look will reveal both a very distinguished educational career and an impressive length of pastoral service in local churches throughout Ireland and later Canada. Paterson Smyth first entered Trinity College in Dublin in 1876 at the age of 24. Over the next 26 years, he would go on to be honored with seven degrees from Trinity College including bachelor degrees in arts, laws, and divinity, a masters degree in arts, and doctorate degrees in laws and letters. He would go on to serve as a professor of pastoral theology at Trinity College for five more years after he wrapped up his academic pursuits.
As far as honors go, just like his list of degrees, the list is not short. Aside from the honors he received alongside many of these degree programs, he also served as Chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland during the years that he taught as a professor at Trinity. He was ordered as a deacon of the Anglican church in 1880 at 28 years old, entered the Anglican priesthood a year later, and then went on to serve as curate, incumbent, vicar, rector, examining chaplain, canon, and finally archdeacon during his 50 years of service to the Anglican church.
Education & Experience
Smyth's Wide Acclaim
In a memoir written by Archdeacon W.P. Robertson, the details surrounding Paterson Smyth’s final sermon in Dublin before he immigrated to Canada were as follows: “The traffic had been blocked in Dawson St., Dublin, by the immense crowd struggling to gain admission to St. Ann's to hear the farewell sermon of the man who, in five years, had drawn all Dublin to his feet by his fearless preaching of the everlasting love of God. Not since the days of the great Evangelicals, in the previous generation, had Irish congregations thronged to a preacher as they did to Paterson Smyth.”5
Nonetheless, his acclaim was not limited to those who heard him in the pulpit. He was also a prolific writer and one of the most popular, widely acclaimed authors of religious works before the First World War. His writing days began early in his ministry and he went on to write 23 books during the course of his lifetime. Similar to his preaching, “He wrote on theological and religious subjects in a way that made them intensely interesting to a very wide public. Few religious books in recent years have had a wider circulation or been more appreciated by lay people.”6 Reverend Scheller goes on to pinpoint the secret of Paterson Smyth’s popularity as “a style that is easy and straightforward, a wide scholarship; combined with an unfailing human touch in dealing with subjects of eternal interest to mankind.”6
Though Paterson Smyth and his work is quite literally “dead out of fashion,”7 I think we would do well to dust off the covers of his forgotten books and get to know and remember the truths that once spurred along our brothers and sisters in the faith from a few generations back to run their own race with endurance as we continue persevering in running ours.
Smyth's Character: Childlike Humility
There has only ever been One infallible guide and it’s not John Paterson Smyth, but he was a man of great character and the way he habitually lived his life inspires our trust. So, what was Paterson Smyth’s character like? In order to answer this, we look to the legacy he left behind by those who knew him. One article says that he was “spiritually-minded, sympathetic, unselfish, and enthusiastic.”8 In a memoir written about him after his death, the first line reads, “Old in years but young as ever in heart and mind.”5 Not only was Paterson Smyth known to be fond of children himself and even devoted a portion of his academic writing career to publishing materials to be used primarily in children’s Sunday schools, he was first childlike himself.
Jesus exalted childlike humility in his earthly ministry by making it a prerequisite for entering His Kingdom. “For Christ, there is no contradiction between being mature and being childlike.”9 George MacDonald, another “dead out of fashion”7 author of the past said, “For my part, I do not write for children, but for the childlike, whether of five, or fifty, or seventy-five.”10 I believe John Paterson Smyth and George MacDonald were both able to write maturely towards children because they were both first childlike themselves. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 19:14, ESV).” One way children come to the Father is when they are led by the childlike minds among us.
Smyth's Character: Suffering
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2). When I reflect on John Paterson Smyth’s life, I clearly see him bearing fruit and so it follows that I should not be surprised to also see evidence of painful pruning so that he could bear more fruit. John Piper says “I have never heard anyone say, ‘The really deep lessons of life have come through times of ease and comfort. But I have heard strong saints say, ‘Every significant advance I have ever made in grasping the depths of God’s love and growing deep with him has come through suffering.’”11
Even though Paterson Smyth loved children dearly, he tragically lost two of his own in his lifetime. When his beloved firstborn son, William, was six years old, he died by drowning right in front of his parents' eyes who were not able to save him because they too were unable to swim. He also went on to lose his daughter, Kathleen, who died at one year old, less than two years after William’s drowning. Yet, no suffering is wasted in the Kingdom of God, and even this bitter cup that Paterson Smyth and his wife had to drink was later redeemed in his own lifetime, as we know it was also redeemed when they passed over into glory. Because of these great personal tragedies, he often thought of the eternal life to come, or what happens after we pass through the veil into the unseen. One of his most popular books published is entitled The Gospel of the Hereafter and it brought comfort in the same way he had been comforted by God to countless parents who would go on to lose their sons in The Great War.
Smyth's Character: Lover of the Least
Paterson Smyth is also remembered for the practical ways he lived out his faith in caring for the physical needs of others. He was given the esteemed title of being the “Charles Kingsley of Ireland”12 and though the weight of this accolade may be lost on us moderns, both of these men were writers and clergymen who cared deeply about “correcting the evils of industrialism through measures based on Christian ethics.”12 The social issue of particular concern to Paterson Smyth was in caring for the fate of elderly ladies in his community with very little means.
In reflecting upon Paterson Smyth’s life, one man said “He could not help loving. He proclaimed it to be the supreme duty of a clergyman’s life to think the best and believe the best of all men. He lived by that rule to the fullest. Never did beggars appeal to him in vain. People said that he was easily imposed upon, but that was not really so. A keen judge of character, he detected the frauds and professional beggars as swiftly as any of our social experts. The difference was that his pitying eye saw in every one of them a brother man and a son of God.”5
Closing
Closing John Paterson Smyth loves our children well through the writings he left behind, just like he was known to do with those persons he interacted with during his own lifetime. His words capture both teachers and children’s imaginations alike with his vivid descriptions and the Bible will come alive in their mind's eye. No felt boards, entertaining graphics, or gimmicks are required. He leads students to think in order to answer the insightful questions he poses, refrains from moralizing, rouses their affections towards the love of God, and exhorts them to put in the effort to strengthen their wills to “Go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37). It was not that long ago that “there were few Christian households that did not have one or two books by Paterson Smyth.”13 May the loving voice of the even more loveable man still speak from the pages of his books so that we and our children may understand a bit more fully the love of our great God.
Endnotes:
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Charlotte Mason, Home Education (Living Book Press, 2017), 251-252.
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J. Paterson Smyth, The Book of Genesis (Yesterday’s Classics, 2017).
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“Timeline,” The Writings of J. Paterson Smyth, accessed November 12, 2024, https://jpatersonsmyth.com/index.html.
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“Glossary of Anglican Church Titles,” Tony Harwood-Jones, accessed November 12, 2024, https://www.tonyhj.ca/Priest/glossary_of_titles.html.
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Archdeacon W. P. Robertson, “The Venerable John Paterson Smyth: A Memoir,” The Montreal Churchman, March 1932, https://jpatersonsmyth.com/A%20Memior%20posted%20in%20The%20Montreal%20Churchman.pdf.
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“Home Page,” The Writings of J. Paterson Smyth, accessed November 13, 2024, https://jpatersonsmyth.com/index.html.
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C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (Harper Collins, 2001), 87.
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S.G. Poyntz, “St. Ann’s: The Church in the Heart of the City,” Among the Vicars, 1976. https://jpatersonsmyth.com/Among%20the%20Vicars.pdf.
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Stratford Caldecott, Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education (Angelico Press, 2012), Kindle.
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George MacDonald. “The Fantastic Imagination.” The George MacDonald Society, November 14, 2024. https://www.george-macdonald.com/essays_sermons/fantastic_imagination.html.
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“The Seminary of Suffering; Devotional by John Piper,” Desiring God Ministries, accessed November 14, 2024, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-seminary-of-suffering.
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“Charles Kingsley,” Brittanica, accessed November 14, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Kingsley.
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“Genealogy,” John Paterson-Smyth, accessed November 15, 2024, https://jpatersonsmyth.com/J%20Paterson-Smyth%20and%20Genealogy.pdf.