"Lion in the pulpit, lamb out of it"

By Greg Jones
President, MLJ Trust

Such words, spoken with reference to George Whitefield, could equally be applied to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Indeed, one of the most frequently cited qualities spoken about Dr. Lloyd-Jones by those who knew him best was that of gentleness. Sir Frederick Catherwood, Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s son-in-law, remarked in his tribute to Dr. Lloyd-Jones :

If there is any one quality by which I remember him, it is his gentleness. He was a strong character. He had strong views, and he could put them most powerfully. He had a formidable personality and the capacity, if he wished it, to crush opponents. Yet to all in need, all who wanted him, certainly to all in the family circle, he was the gentlest of people, always helpful, most anxious not to be in the way or to put anyone out.

Similar sentiments were shared by Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s grandson and one of the founders of the MLJ Trust in the US, Jonathan Catherwood. At the roundtable discussion in honor of Dr. Lloyd-Jones held at the _Together for the Gospel_conference in 2013, Catherwood fondly reflected that his grandfather was “the most sweetest, most gentle man - endlessly patient.” A lamb indeed.