Catherwood (daughter) on Lloyd-Jones (her father)

Below is from the hand of my church's faithful receptionist/secretary, Kasey Gurley:

Last year when J.I. Packer was visiting Mark Dever, we had an informal Q & A with Dr. Packer in Mark’s study.

Knowing I might have an opportunity to ask Dr. Packer a question and knowing that Dr. Packer had sat under Lloyd Jones' preaching, I googled their names together before the Q&A to help me ask a more informed question. I came across this quote from the Desiring God website:

When J. I. Packer first heard Lloyd-Jones he said that he had "never heard such preaching." It came to him "with the force of electric shock, bringing to at least one of his listeners more of a sense of God than any other man" he had known.

I brought up this quote to Dr. Packer and asked him what set Dr. Lloyd-Jones apart from other preachers (understanding that ultimately the force behind his preaching was not Dr. Lloyd-Jones, but the Lord’s good pleasure to bless Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ life and ministry). Dr. Packer said that he had thought about this question himself and had boiled his thoughts down to three main things that permeated all of Lloyd Jones’ life and teaching.

This week when Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ daughter, Lady Elizabeth Catherwood, was asked a similar question during a similar informal Q&A in Mark’s study, she repeated many of the same themes Dr. Packer had noted. Those themes were:


1. The man deeply felt his conversion. Dr. Lloyd-Jones never got over the Lord’s mercy to him in saving him and this was clear in his preaching.
2. The underlining issue behind his preaching was the glory of God. Behind all of his preaching the main point and main issue was always that God be glorified and exalted. He never treated the Lord casually.
3. He had the presence of a man who dwelt with the Lord in prayer. When he preached, he sincerely preached as a man that had consistently lingered truly humbly before the Lord and had dwelt on the Truth of God in Scripture. He brought those meditations and that posture to the people.

by Matt Schmucker, blog.9marks.org