The Roots of Endurance is Book Three in Piper’s superb series called “the swans are not silent”. Before we get to the heart of the book, it would be helpful to understand why Piper makes these “swans” statements. The reference is actually from a quote from 1600 years ago. Piper explains:

St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, retired in A.D. 430. He handed over his duties to his humble successor, Eraclius. At the ceremony, Eraclius stood to preach as the aged Augustine sat on his bishop’s throne behind him. Overwhelmed by a sense of inadequacy in Augustine’s presence, Earfuls said, “The cricket chirps, the swan is silent.”

Though Eraclius’ self-portrait of having the voice of a cricket was most likely appropriate (especially in the shadow of Augustine), he failed to see the fact that the writings of this giant of the faith would survive, and like Abel in Hebrews 11:4, “though he is dead, he still speaks”. In this series of books, Piper takes on the daunting task of telling the rest of us about these swans, these men who spoke and lived and endured for Christ, men of whom the world was not worthy. Because of the written word, these men still have influence today, and we are much the better for it.

Here in Book Three, Piper blesses us with the examples of three godly men: John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce.

John Newton lived in the 1700s. He was a sailor, and lived a wretched life. He became the captain of a ship – a ship used to transport slaves. Does that sound like an unlikely hero of the Christian faith? God is in the business of changing lives, and Newton’s life was dramatically changed. He didn’t stay those things. Piper continued:

[Newton was] a loved pastor of two congregations … for forty-three years; a devoted husband to Mary for forty years…; a personal friend to William Wilberforce, Charles Simeon, Henry Martyn, William Carey, John Wesley, and George Whitefield; and, finally, the author of the most famous hymn in the English language, “Amazing Grace.”

For a man to change so much, and to have so much influence, must mean that something extraordinary happened. We read about how Newton’s ship was caught in a severe storm, lasting for two weeks, how he found a Bible, how the Lord began to work on him through His Word.

I will not repeat much of his story in this review, but would instead encourage you to be blessed by reading it. I think that you would be pleasantly surprised about this man. He was man who had no children of his own but greatly loved children. His preaching was unpolished, but his love for both the flock and for the unredeemed was unquestionable. He preached as long as he could, up to the age of 81, even as eyes and ears were failing. The rest of his body failed at the age of 82. A month before he died, Newton expressed these sentiments:

It is a great thing to die; and, when flesh and heart fail, to have God for the strength of our heart, and our portion forever.

The next swan in The Roots of Endurance is a man who would not serve very well as a psychologist in our day. His attitude toward life and self would not only be ridiculed in our secular society, but it would be disparaged by much of contemporary Christianity as well, which is a sad indictment on the state of Christianity today.

Charles Simeon lived around 1800 AD, and he suffered mind-numbing persecution for many years. I do not speak of persecution from outside of the church, but from inside the church which he pastored for 54 years. When he began his ministry, he was so opposed by some in the church (“pewholders”) that they locked their pews and refused to attend, forcing many of the congregation to attend church standing. You might think that after a few weeks or even months of this, something would have to change. It went on for the first 12 years of Simeon’s ministry.

But that was just the beginning of his suffering. He endured many trials in life, some of them quite lengthy. How did he endure, but not just endure, move forward in the faith? Piper wrote

Simeon did not respond to trial and suffering the way ordinary humans respond. Something else was at work here than a mere man. Beneath the forms of his endurance was a life of prayer and meditation that drew up resources for the battle from some deeper place. Both prayer and meditation were essential to tap the grace of God.

Perhaps the key to Simeon’s life, and the thing that makes him so incomprehensible to many, is his view of himself and of Christ. This subject is utterly essential to all who would grow toward Christian maturity. Piper wrote

But the remarkable thing about humiliation and adoration in the heart of Charles Simeon is that they were inseparable. Simeon was utterly unlike most of us today who think that we should get rid once and for all of feelings of vileness and unworthiness as soon as we can. For him adoration only grew in the freshly plowed soil of humiliation for sin. So he actually labored to know his true sinfulness and his remaining corruption as a Christian.

Simeon had been a Christian for over four decades when he wrote these words:

With this sweet hope of ultimate acceptance with God, I have always enjoyed much cheerfulness before men; but I have at the same time labored incessantly to cultivate the deepest humiliation before God. I have never thought that the circumstance of God’s having forgiven me, was any reason why I should forgive myself; on the contrary, I have always judged it better to loathe myself the more, in proportion as I was assured that God was pacified towards me (Ezekiel 16:63)… There are but two objects that I have ever desired for these forty years to behold; the one, is my own vileness; and the other is, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ…

Are those words shocking? Piper wrote of them,

If Simeon is right, vast portions of contemporary Christianity are wrong.

Simeon is right. Even for the Christian who knows and understands this (even a little), how many of us have “labored incessantly” to cultivate humility? Our world would mock Simeon. Some in cultural Christianity would revile him. Others would dismiss him as a lunatic, an unfathomable nutcase who needed a lesson in self-esteem. We would do well, however, to sit at his feet, and begin to learn (as he did over many years) that we need an ever-increasing understanding of the majesty of Jesus Christ and an ever-decreasing opinion of our own selves.

Piper includes a number of other quotes and thoughts from Simeon on this subject. They are to be read with care, not because they are misleading, but because we are so far behind Simeon in this area, that his thoughts are nearly inconceivable. One of the short comments from Simeon:

I love the valley of humiliation. I there feel that I am in my proper place.

If you read Simeon, and read about him, and find that he had discovered something that is almost lost today, you might find yourself with the feeling of numbness, even remorse, at the state of contemporary Christianity, and at the state of your own soul. If that is the case for you, then I believe you are on the right path to a deeper understanding of Christian humility. If that is not the case for you, ask the Lord to help you understand, and then go re-read Charles Simeon and the Word of the Christ whom he adored.

Simeon was by nature a proud and quick-tempered man, a man who was changed by Jesus Christ. He rejoiced in the mercy of God and in the cross of Christ, and he preached faithfully for 54 years. May the Lord raise up men like him in our day.

Finally, Piper describes for us a man whose name we might be familiar with, but a man who most of us probably know little about.

William Wilberforce lived around 1800 AD. He was a politician, and you might wonder what a politician is doing in a book of heroes of the Christian faith. But he was indeed a man who endured much for the cause of Christ.

In his mid-20s, Wilberforce, already in political office, was encouraged by a visiting friend to read a Christian book. Over the period of a year, he became convinced of the veracity of the Bible’s claims, and shortly thereafter became a Christian. He soon found that he had a growing contempt for the luxury that he lived in.

He held office for over 60 years, and was known as an evangelistic and altruistic Christian. He was concerned about social issues, not just because they were issues, but because they were issues in the eyes of Christ, issues that affected people for whom Christ died.

Wilberforce was far from a single-issue politician, but the issue for which he is most well known is the issue of slavery. For years, he fought to outlaw the slave trade, and then slavery itself. The vote to abolish slave-trading was defeated eleven times. Wilberforce endured. On the twelfth try, he finally experienced the joy of victory. Even then, however, slavery itself was still legal, and Wilberforce would not rest. It was 25 years later that this man of God finally saw the victory in that battle – a mere three days before his death. Perhaps the Lord saw that his work was done, allowed him to see the results, and then took him to his reward.

Wilberforce was not a political leader that had no care for sound doctrine. Piper wrote

Is it not remarkable that one of the greatest politicians of Britain and one of the most persevering public warriors for social justice should elevate doctrine so high? Perhaps this is why the impact of the church today is as weak at it is. Those who are most passionate about being practical for the public good are often the least doctrinally interested or informed. Wilberforce would say: You can’t endure in bearing fruit if you sever the root.

The Roots of Endurance is a book that should encourage you to stand for Christ, not just for a day or a week, but through years of trials and challenges. It is a book that illustrates the life-changing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and details for us three men who exemplify Christian humility and service. I highly encourage you to take the time to read it – it will not be time that you later count as wasted.