John Ryland

Sov'reign Ruler of the skies,
Ever gracious, ever wise,
All my times are in thy hand,
All events at thy command.

His decree who form'd the earth
Fix'd my first and second birth;
Parents, native place, and time,
All appointed were by him.

He that form'd me in the womb,
He shall guide me to the tomb;
All my times shall ever be
Order'd by his wise decree.

Times of sickness; times of health;
Times of penury and wealth;
Times of trial and of grief;
Times of triumph and relief;

Times the tempter's power to prove;
Times to taste the Saviour's love
All must come, and last, and end,
As shall please my heavenly Friend.

Plagues and deaths around me fly;
Till he bids, I cannot die;
Not a single shaft can hit,
Till the God of love sees fit.

John Ryland (1753-1825)

Posted by NMC

Richard Greenham

In the late 16th century, Richard Greenham pastored in Dry Drayton, an English town about 7 miles from Cambridge. As a pastor, he worked very hard and was diligent for the Lord. "He rose daily at four and each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday preached a sermon at daybreak, to catch his flock before they dispersed into the fields; then on Sunday he preached twice, and in addition catechised the children of the parish each Sunday evening and Thursday morning." (Packer, A Quest for Godliness, p. 43) Henry Holland, his biographer, says that when he preached that "he was so earnest, and took such extraordinary pains, that his shirt would usually be as wet with sweating, as if it had been drenched with water." He was constantly and continually with his people, encouraging and counseling. In one of the few letters we have from him, he wrote his bishop to say that his ministry was "preaching Christ crucified unto my selfe and Country people." But for all his labors for Christ, Greenham's ministry was unfruitful.

How are we to understand the truth that many pastors diligently labor in fields in which there appears to be little growth? Are we to be in despair? Are we to be discouraged in our labors for Christ? Indeed not! Packer concludes that in "rural England in Greenham's day, there was much fallow ground to be broken up; it was a time for sowing, but the reaping time was still in the future." That, of course, is the correct answer: some are called to sow and some are called to reap, yet both are good, solid laboring for Christ.

Robert Pasfield

William Hinde, in his biography of John Bruen, tells of one of Bruen's servants, a man named Robert Pasfield. Pasfield was totally illiterate, unable to either read or write. Hinde says that Pasfield was "a man utterly unlearned being unable to read a sentence or write a syllable." But Pasfield was no ignorant man. According to Hinde, Pasfield "was so acquainted with the history of the Bible, and the sum and substance of every book and chapter, that hardly could any ask him where such a saying or sentence were, but he would with very little ado tell them in what book and chapter they might find it." (See Ryken, Wordly Saints, p. 140)

Prayer Life

If you want to gain insight into the state of your soul, consider your prayer life. As Robert Murray M’Cheyne said, "A man is what he is on his knees before God, and nothing more."

Likewise, J. C. Ryle in the booklet A Call To Prayer writes the following: “I have a question to offer you. It is contained in three words, DO YOU PRAY? The question is one that none but you can answer. Whether you attend public worship or not, your minister knows. Whether you have family prayers in your house or not, your relations know. But whether you pray in private or not, is a matter between yourself and God…It is essential to your soul’s health to make praying a part of the business of every twenty-four hours in your life. Just as you allot time to eating, sleeping, and business, so also allot time to prayer. Choose your own hours and seasons. At the very least, speak with God in the morning, before you speak with the world: and speak with God at night, after you have done with the world. But settle it in your minds, that prayer is one of the great things of every day. Do not drive it into a corner. Do not give it the scraps and parings of your duty. Whatever else you make a business of, make a business of prayer.”

Mr. M’Cheyne surely incorporated such principles in his life as his diary entry from February 23, 1834 testifies: “Rose early to seek God, and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?”

Submitted by NMC

Congregational Attention Span

We live in an age in which people's attention spans are minimal. Preachers are, of course, well aware of this truth. When the sermon is yet being preached at noon on Sunday, and parishioners are shifting in their seats and watches are beeping and cell phones are ringing, what is a preacher to do? When, heaven forbid, the preacher goes until ten after twelve, and he hears about it from some mothers who have dinner in the oven.

Thomas Fuller, in his book The Worthies of England, tells the story of a sermon given by Laurence Chaderton one Sunday morning in Lancashire. Chaderton was the first Master of Emmanuel College of Cambridge University, and he was a fine preacher of the gospel. In any event, on that Sunday morning he had preached for about two hours to the congregation in Lancashire that was not used to good, solid expository preaching. In any event, at the end of the sermon he said something almost apologetically: "that he would no longer trespass on their patience." But the people would not allow him to stop. They urged him on, "For God's sake, sir, go on, go on!" Fuller describes the consequence, "Hereat, Mr. Chaderton was surprised into a longer discourse, beyond his expectation, in satisfaction of their importunity."

I believe many in the pastorate would be sent into great shock if their congregations responded this way.

John Elias

Rev. John Elias was a pastor in North Wales in the early 19th century. He was a lively preacher, as is evidenced by a remarkable sermon he preached in 1824 against drunkeness. Efion Evans describes the sermon as follows:

"Are there any drunkards here?" he cried. "I am afraid there are. I beg of you, will you -- at least today -- control yourselves. If you have no respect for the Almighty, no respect for the laws of your land, no respect for yourselves, will you please -- for our sakes today -- behave soberly and decently. You are, by attending our meetings ande by your drinking and disorderly conduct, undermining our character . . . We have nothing but our character on which to fall back. We are not rich, we are not learned, we are not gifted, we have no high titles . . . But we have our character; we have a very high opinion of our character; we are unwilling to allow anybody to destroy our character. But the drunkards who are attending our Associations are undermining our character. What can we do with them, my brethren?"

Someone made a remark, referring to a sermon that had been preached that day. "I feel within myself this minute", he cried, "to offerthem for sale, by auction, to whomsoever will take them, that they might not disturb us any more." Then, at the top of his voice, with his arm outstretched, as if he held them in the palm of his hand, he shouted, "Who will take them? Who will take them?"

"Churchmen, will you take them?" "We? We, in our baptism have professed to renounce the devil and all his works. No; we cannot take them."

Then, after a moment's silence, "Independents, will you take them?" "What? We? We, ages ago, left the Church of England because of her corruption. No; we will not take them."

Another interval of silence. "Baptists, will you take them?" "We? Certainly not! We dip all our people in water as a sign that we take those who have been cleansed. No; we will not take them."

Silence again. "Wesleyans, will you take them?" "What? We? Good works is a matter of life with us. We do not want them."

Then he stretched forth his arm once again, as if holding the poor drunkards in his hand; and once again, at the top of his voice he shouted, "Who will take them? Who will take them? Who will take them?" Then, suddenly, his whole nature became agitated. His eyes flashed as he turned his head aside, and in a low tone which could be heard by all, he said, "Methinks I can hear the devil at my elbow saying, 'Knock them down to me! I will take them.'"

Then, after thirty seconds of dead silence, he cried, "I was going to say, Satan, that you could have them, but" -- looking upwards he said in a loud, clear, yet gentle voice, "I can hear Jesus saying, 'I will take them! I will take them! Unclean, to be washed; drunkards, to be sobered; in all their filth and degradation, I will take them, and cleanse them in mine own blood."

According to Peter Jefferey, the "effects of all this can be better imagined than described. The ministers, preachers and elders were stunned; and the huge congregation was stirred with a spirit of tumultuous joy and exulatation."

Balance

Keeping one’s balance is a constant Christian challenge. It is the secret of successful tight-rope walking. It is also the great secret of Christian living. As a tight-rope walker can fall either to the right or the left, so it is with any believer. J. I. Packer thinks we are not very good at doing that.

“We Christians are in fact abysmally bad at avoiding extremes,” he says. “We are like pendulums, constantly swinging from one extreme to the other.” Indeed, the power of reaction is one of the powerful forces in all of human life. Packer says it works like this: We see or hear, or think we see or hear, something we dislike and we back away from it as we would from a poisonous snake in the grass. We fix your eyes upon it while we put as much distance between it and us as we can. Walking backward from the snake we soon reach an extreme opposite danger that we are likely not to notice, like a cliff or a hornet’s nest. Avoiding one extreme spawns an opposite sort of extreme. Or as Packer delightfully quips, “The reaction of man does not work the righteousness of God.”

We can see this pendulum swing in the epic struggle between legalism and antinomianism. Another area is the struggle between the dangers of compromise with the world and retreating from the world, an ethos of assimilation to one of detachment by containment and safety.

Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 10:16 helps us maintain balance in our Christian life, positing an ethos of shrewd harmlessness. Jesus was instructing his followers to be crafty at the same time he was commissioning them for ministry in the world. Are there Biblical examples? Yes, Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon are excellent role models of this balance. Shrewdness and craftiness calls for a knack, a flair for fitting oneself into the world. Not avoidance or witlessness of the world. Shrewdness includes good judgment, discernment, and attentiveness.

Preaching Today

Much preaching today seems to be tepid, soft, and often meant to please the ears of the audience. In contrast, a great example for us today is Spurgeon who used to preach to people in a way that caused them to see the Lord with great fervor. He believed that preaching should never be boring, shallow, or lukewarm. He once said, "That is what you must do with your sermons, make them red-hot; never mind if men do say you are too enthusiastic, or even too fanatical, give them a red hot shot, there is nothing else half as good for the purpose you have in view. We do not go snow-balling on Sundays, we go fire-balling; we ought to hurl grenades into the enemies ranks."

He said further in his book The Soul Winner: "If the people are to be saved, it must be by sermons that interest them. You have first to get them to come under the sound of the gospel, for there is, at all events in London, a great aversion to a place of worship, and I am not much surprised that it is so concerning many churches and chapels. I think, in many instances, the common people do not attend such services because they do not understand the theological 'lingo' that is used in the pulpit; it is neither English nor Greek, but Double-dutch. No, brethren, we must preach in what Whitefield used to call 'market language' if we would have all classes of the community listening to our message."

Earthly Mindedness

Jeremiah Burroughs, a Puritan, wrote a wonderful book called A Treatise of Earthly-Mindedness. He defines "earthly-mindedness" as when a person puts his/her mind and heart primarily on the things and cares of the world. It is as if the things of the world are the most excellent things; as if they are the real treasures of life and so should be sought with all out fervor and energy.

Christians can be earthly-minded; they can be pilgrims without the pilgrim spirit. They can be like Lot who gripped the world and was hesitant to let go. Burroughs provides one way for us to guage our hearts in this matter, and it is quite insightful. He says we need to ask ourselves the following question: what is your heart upon in times of solitude? When you are alone and need not impress anyone, what is it that you place your heart upon? It is at these times that the true nature of our wants and desires are easily discovered.

John Nelson

The first time John Nelson ever heard the gospel message was when he heard John Wesley preach at Moorfields in London. He recalls, "O that was a blessed morning to my soul! As soon as he got upon the stand he stroked back his hair and turned his gaze towards where I stood, and I thought fixed his eyes upon me. His countenance struck such an awful dread upon me before I heard him speak that it made my heart beat like the pendulum of a clock. When he did speak, I thought his whole discourse was aimed at me."

Nelson tried to stop any conviction that was taking place in his heart, that is, until he heard another man tell a group of women that he had been saved through the preaching of John Wesley. Nelson tells of the man's words: "When he began to speak his words made me tremble. I thought he spoke to no one but me, and I durst not look up, for I imagined all the people were looking at me." Nelson went and heard Wesley preach again, and he said, "I found power to believe that Jesus Christ had shed his blood for me, and that God, for his sake, had forgiven my offences. Then was my heart filled with love to God and man."

In time, John Nelson became one of Wesley's assistant ministers, and he went with Wesley to preach in Cornwall and elsewhere. As Geoffrey Thomas comments, "He too became a mighty proclaimer of the divine message of the gospel." (Robert Strivens, ed. Which Church? How to Identify a Biblical Church. Evangelical Press, 2007, p. 77)

Locked out of Church

In an earlier blog I told the story of Charles Simeon, and how the people of Trinity Church in Cambridge, England would lock the doors of the church to keep him from the pulpit. He preached the doctrines of grace, and the people did not want to hear expository preaching or the gospel message. He, of course, wore them down, many were converted, and Simeon pastored that church for over fifty years.

Now, I am not against locking preachers out of a church, but it must be for the right reasons. Alexander Henderson (1583-1646) was unconverted when he went into the ministry (Spurgeon once commented, "nothing could be sadder than an unconverted minister"). On the day of his ordination, the people of his church locked it so that presbytery could not get in to set Henderson apart for the ministerial office. So, against the will of the people, presbytery was obliged to sneak through a window of the church. By God's providence, Alexander Henderson was eventually converted under the preaching of Robert Bruce, and he became a valuable gospel preacher in the city of Edinburgh. But, indeed, at the beginning of his ministry he should have been locked out of his church!

Children

Here is solid advice in raising children:

“What we want to do with our children, is not merely to control them and keep them in order-but to implant true principles deep in their hearts which shall rule their whole lives; to shape their character from within into Christ-like beauty, and to make of them noble men and women, strong for battle of life. They are to be trained rather than governed. Growth of character, not merely good behavior - is the object of all home governing and teaching. Therefore the home influence is far more important than the home laws; and the parents' lives are of more significance than their teachings. Whatever may be done in the way of governing, teaching or training-theories are not half as important as the parents' lives. They may teach the most beautiful things - but if the child does not see these things modeled in the life of the parent, he will not consider them important enough to be adopted in his own life.”

J.R. Miller, Home-Making (1882)

Submitted by RE MS

Thomas Scott

Thomas Scott, an English preacher of the 18th century, is probably best known for his mammoth commentary on the whole Bible. The commentary is evangelical, Calvinistic, judicious, and well written. It has had a great impact on the church ever since it was written. What is of great interest, however, is how Thomas Scott came to see and grip the doctrines of grace.

In the 1770's, Scott was the curate in charge of the parishes of Ravenstone and Weston Underwood (Church of England). He, however, was obviously an unbeliever: he denied the Trinity, he ridiculed the belief that the event at Calvary was a substitution and covering for sin, did not believe in hell, original sin, or judgment. He did not believe that one needed to be born again, that is, regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Scott also was an uncaring pastor; he had very little to do with the people of his congregation. In fact, he had become a minister in order to have an easy way of making a living!

Scott began to hear rumblings in his parish that there was a Dissenter in the town of Olney preaching strange things. So Scott slipped into the man's church to hear him preach. He couldn't believe the things that he heard! And, then, he found out that the Dissenter had, in fact, visited two of Scott's parishioners who were on their death beds in order to encourage them in their trials. What audacity! Who is this man that he is visiting my parishioners?

Scott did not like this man, but he began a written correspondence with him in order to test his own theology. The Dissenter, John Newton, refused to argue with Scott. He simply laid out the gospel to him, prayed for him, and assured him that one day he would come to agree with Newton's theology. Slowly Scott's mind and heart were changing. Brian Edwards comments, " . . . but not only his mind, his preaching also. To his great confusion, some of his congregation came to him 'in great distress about their souls', but he could only encourage them 'in a general way to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.' Clearly some were converted before there own minister was!"

In 1777, through a time of great trial and distress, Thomas Scott knew of only one man to turn to. John Newton helped him through the personal adversity. Scott, by the end of the year, had converted, become evangelical, and soon became Calvinistic. Ironically, when Newton left Olney to pastor in London, it was Thomas Scott who "took his place in the vicarage and wrote and preached as a champion for the truth" (Edwards). One of the men who used to come and hear him preach frequently was a young Baptist cobbler named William Carey. Carey commented in 1821, "If there be anything of the word of God in my soul, I owe much of it to Scott's preaching."

Oh the mysterious providence of God in the salvation of sinners!

On-line Sermons

There are many on-line services that give today's minister an easy out when it comes to sermon preparation. For a price, they will give you a sermon to preach. Those of us who labor week in and week out on a text to deliver to our people, we stand aghast and in despair when we consider such end runs by our ministerial colleagues. But, as the Preacher says in Ecclesiastes, "there is nothing new under the sun."

In 1762, Augustus Toplady (author of Rock of Ages) was soon to be ordained. One day he was browsing in a bookstore in London, and the propriator approached him and said he would like to speak with Toplady in private. The salesman said to him, "Sir, you will soon be ordained. I suppose you have not laid in a very great stock of sermons. I can supply you with as many sets as you please. All originals: very excellent ones, and they will come for a trifle."

Toplady was amazed by such a suggestion. He answered, "I shall certainly never be a customer to you in that way . . . How could you think of me buying ready-made sermons? A man who cannot or will not make his own sermons is quite unfit to wear the gown!" The other retorted, "Nay, young gentleman, do not be surprised, I assure you I have sold ready-made sermons to many a bishop in my time."

Blest Be the Tie that Binds

Reverend John Fawcett, in 1782, had decided to leave his pastorate and to take up a new pastoral charge in another part of England. While he was concluding the packing of his wagon outside the manse, the people of the congregation pleaded with him not to leave the flock. Seeing and sensing the love and emotion of his people, he turned and said, "Yes, we are staying." Based on that event, he then penned the hymn "Blest Be the Tie that Binds".

Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love;
the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
Before the Father's throne we pour our ardent prayers;
our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares.
We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear,
and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.
When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain;
but we hsall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again.

To Conquer in Death

The M’Cheyne daily Bible reading calendar currently has readers in the book of Revelation. What an encouragement that Christ and His Church will be more than conquerors over Satan and his helpers. (William Hendriksen). Indeed, “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” (Revelation 17:14)

Matthew Henry provides the touching account of a believer from bygone days who, even at his deathbed, steadfastly clung to the truth that Christ prevails and will preserve His people: “Mr. Hugh Kennedy an eminent Christian of Ayr, in Scotland, when he was dying, called for a Bible; but finding his sight gone he said, ‘Turn me to the eighth of the Romans and set my finger at these words, I am persuaded that neither death nor life,’ etc. ‘Now,’ said he, ‘is my finger upon them?’ And, when they told him it was, without speaking any more, he said ‘Now, God be with you, my children; I have breakfasted with you, and shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ this night;’ and so departed.”

Submitted by NMC

Means of Revival

Robert Murray McCheyne and Andrew Bonar, two minister of the Church of Scotland took an important journey in the 1830's. They were sent by the Church of Scotland to see the state of the Jews in Palestine and the affect of the Presbyterian mission to the Jews. They were gone from Scotland for a number of months. McCheyne left his church in Dundee in the hands of William Burns, a young evangelist who would one day become famous as a missionary to China. While McCheyne was gone, there was a great revival under the preaching ministry of Burns. It is interesting to note that the very day of the beginning of the revival that there is a statement in McCheyne's diary that he had been in prayer all that Sunday for revival in his church. So, what were the means of revival in the Dundee church in Scotland: it was both Burns' preaching of the word and McCheyne's praying.

Piper on Wesley

On July 18, 1738, two months after his conversion, Charles Wesley did an amazing thing. He had spent the week witnessing to inmates at the Newgate prison with a friend named “Bray,” who he described as “a poor ignorant mechanic.” One of the men they spoke to was “a black slave that had robbed his master.” He was sick with a fever and was condemned to die.
Wesley and Bray asked if they could be locked in overnight with the prisoners who were to be executed the next day. That night they spoke the gospel. They told the men that “one came down from heaven to save lost sinners.” They described the sufferings of the Son of God, his sorrows, agony, and death.
The next day, the men were loaded onto a cart and taken to Tyburn. Charles went with them. Ropes were fastened around their necks so that the cart could be driven off and leave them swinging in the air to choke to death.
The fruit of Wesley’s and Bray’s night-long labor was astonishing. Here’s what Wesley wrote:
They were all cheerful; full of comfort, peace, and triumph; assuredly persuaded Christ had died for them, and waited to receive them into paradise. . . . The black . . . saluted me with his looks. As often as his eyes met mine, he smiled with the most composed, delightful countenance I ever saw.
We left them going to meet their Lord, ready for the bridegroom. When the cart drove off, not one stirred, or struggled for life, but meekly gave up their spirits. Exactly at twelve they were turned off. I spoke a few suitable words to the crowd; and returned, full of peace and confidence in our friends’ happiness. That hour under the gallows was the most blessed hour of my life. (Journal, vol 1, 120-123)
Two things amaze and inspire me in this story. One is the astonishing power of Wesley’s message about the truth and love of Christ. All the condemned prisoners were converted. And they were so deeply converted in one night that they could look death in the face (without any long period of “follow-up” or “discipling”) and give up their spirits with confidence that Christ would receive them. O, for such power and witness!
The other thing that amazes me is the sheer fact that Wesley went to the prison and asked to be locked up all night with condemned criminals. It was a huge risk. These men had nothing more to lose if they killed another person. Wesley had no supervisor telling him that this was his job. He was not a professional prison minister. It would have been comfortable and pleasant to spend the evening at home conversing with friends. Why did he go?
God put is it in his heart to go. And Wesley yielded. Wesley believed in hell and heaven. He believed that what these prisoners believed from their hearts on that night would determine forever their eternal destiny. It was worth risking his life for. O that I might discern the leading of God when something outside my usual path is called for.

Written in 1991 by John Piper

The Journey

Today one hears a lot of talk about how each one of us is on a "journey", that is, a journey of life, an adventurous journey, or even a spiritual journey. Indeed, Buddhists talk about the journey of life, and so do astrologers, witches, numerologists, Muslims, and all sorts of religions, pseudo-religions, and even atheists. The language of "journey" has taken over the business world; one can rarely open the newspaper and not hear a bank spouting "we will help you on your journey". But I think, as Christians, we need to be very careful in using such language as "our journey" and "our story" -- for most people today, such language simply reflects a meandering, rambling path that has no purpose, end, or goal. For a post-modern generation there is no telos, that is, no end or purpose. There is no specific destination, but many are simply on the waves of time and chance, and they are being taken wherever circumstances take them. This type of journey has no climax; these people simply do not know where they are going.

The Christian is not on that type of journey. As Thomas Carlyle said, "The man without purpose is like a ship without a rudder." Christians do have an end, a purpose, and a telos: we are on a pilgrimage. We have a definite end and destination. We are heading for the celestial city, the city with foundations, that is, the land that will never perish or fade away (1 Peter 1:4). And even more than that, our pilgrimage is not meandering or wandering or out of control because the steps of our pilgrimage have been set by the very sovereignty of God. We are on a pilgrimage and not an unknown journey. We "follow in his steps" (1 Peter 2:21).

The Grace of God

When Christians examine their own salvation, I often wonder if we truly understand the mercy of God to us. Do we truly comprehend his grace that comes to an undeserving people? Spurgeon commented, "When I know that those whom God saves he saves with an everlasting salvation, when I know that he gives to them an everlasting righteousness, when I know that he settles them on an everlasting foundation of everlasting love, and that he will bring them to his everlasing kingdom, oh, then I do wonder, and I am astonished that such a blessing as this should ever have been given to me!" Isaac Watts, in his hymn How Sweet and Awesome Is the Place, asks the appropriate question: "Why was I a guest? Why was I made to hear your voice, and enter while there's room, when thousands make a wretched choice, and rather starve than come?" This is the demeanor by which we are to live our lives as believers, indeed!

The Shepherd

I recently heard a pastor in London tell the following story of a trip that he took to Israel. The tour was about to visit the area of Bethlehem, and the tour guide told the people about shepherding. And he said that the shepherds often walk in front of the sheep, and they speak gently to the sheep -- and the sheep follow the voices of their shepherds. When the people got off the bus in one of the fields in Bethlehem they saw a flock of sheep running past, and behind the flock was a man with a stick hitting the sheep to get them moving. The tourists got back on the bus and started to tease the tour guide regarding his understanding of shepherding. He smiled, and said, "That was not the shepherd, that was the butcher!"

The Apostle Peter tells elders that they should "not be domineering over those in your charge, but be examples to your flock" (1 Peter 5:3). Indeed, may our elders not be butchers, but true shepherds of the flock of Jesus Christ!

Ministers of Death

In the year 1665, a deadly plague engulfed the city of London. Thomas Vincent, in his book God's Terrible Voice in the City, describes how thousands of Londoners died that year from the sickness: "Now the cloud is very black, and the storm comes down upon us very sharp. Now death rides triumphantly on his pale horse through our streets; and breaks into every house almost, where any inhabitants are found. Now people fall as thick as leaves from the trees in autumn, when they are shaken by a mighty wind . . . Now in some places where the people did generally stay, not one house in a hundred but is infected; and in many houses half the family is swept away; in some the whole, from the eldest to the youngest; few escape with the death of but one or two; never did so many husbands and wives die together; never did so many parents carry their children with them to the grave . . . "

This was a dark and terrible time for London. Yet, it was not all bleak and grim. Vincent tells of faithful gospel-preaching ministers who came to London to serve the people. He remarks, "Now they are preaching, and every sermon was unto them, as if they were preaching their last." The response was electrifying as many people were brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through God's mercy and grace.

But why did these ministers, who were safe in the countryside, go into the city and risk death? It is because they did not fear death, and they saw London as an opportunity to preach the riches of Christ, the one who has gained victory over death. Robert Murray McCheyne made it a habit to visit the dying in his city of Dundee on Saturday afternoons; he said that "Before preaching he liked to look over the verge." Spurgeon once commented "To be often where men die will help us to teach them both to die and to live."