Preaching Nature

Rev. James Hamilton, a Scottish preacher from the 18th century, often brought phenomena of nature to bear on the business of the pulpit. In other words, he would use nature as an illustration of God's common grace and, sometimes, of his special grace to sinners. A poor woman from Dundee once came to his prayer meeting, and he was speaking to the people about a fig leaf which he held in his hand. She could not understand his point, and she protested, "Eh, Mr. Hamilton, to give them fig leaves, when their hungering for the bread of life!"

Peace in a Hectic World

In the concluding chapter of his classic work on justification, The Everlasting Righteousness, Horatius Bonar describes "the holy life of the justified." His comment on the relationship between the believer's justification and the peace that should characterize his life is as relevant in today's hectic and frenzied world as it was 125 years ago: "The life of the justified should be a peaceful one. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God - the God of peace, and the God of all grace. The world's storms have not been stilled, nor our way smoothed, nor our skies brightened, nor our enemies swept away; but the peace of God has come in and taken possession of the soul. We are cheered and comforted. God is for us, and who can be against us? The name of the Lord is our strong tower; we run into it, and are safe. No evil can happen to us; no weapon that is formed against us can propser." May we as Christians take hold of this truth, and never let it go!

Never Beyond the Pale II

As we continue with our theme that no man is beyond salvation if God wills him to be saved, I am reminded of the story of Robert Thomas. The first Protestant missionary venture to Korea was led by Robert Thomas of the London Missionary Society in 1866. He traveled to Korea on an American ship, called the "General Sherman", which was going on a voyage of exploration. As the ship sailed up the Tai Tong River, Thomas shared the gospel and handed out Bibles to people at various places that the ship stopped. When the ship neared the city of Pyonyang, hostilities broke out. The ship was set on fire, and the crew and its passengers jumped into the water and made for shore. There they were bayoneted by soldiers. One of the missionaries, some believe it was Robert Thomas, staggered to shore with his arms full of Bibles. As he was being killed, he handed Bibles to his Korean attackers. Although the authorities tried to gather and burn all the Bibles, some of them were hidden and later read by some of the soldiers and the people of Pyonyang.
Seventeen years later, a Presbyterian minister named Samuel Moffett came to Pyonyang to bring the gospel and to start a church. The missionary found that there were a number of people of the city who knew the Bible, and one of the first members of the church was the son of one of the soldiers who had killed a missionary on the shore of the Tai Tong River. And beginning with that see God brought a large and famous revival to Pyonyang and its surroundings under the ministry of Rev. Moffett. Oh the mystery of the providence of God in salvation!

Never Beyond the Pale

Sometimes I think we wonder whether a person is beyond God's reach or beyond the pale. In this regard, I have recently been reading about a man named John Craig. He was a Dominican Friar who spent a number of years in a monastery in England. He then went to live in a monastery in Bologna, Italy. As he was in the monastery library one day, he ran across a copy of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. He read it and was converted to the doctrines of grace. Craig went back to Britain and he became a ministerial colleague of John Knox. Later he was the minister to King James (1580-1600). Don't you wonder how Calvin's Institutes made into a Dominican monastery? God's hand can reach anyone at anytime at any place. His hand reached into a Dominican monastery in Italy and plucked John Craig to use him as a light of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. This is encouraging: no one is beyond the pale if God sees fit to shine into one's heart with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Be Strong and Courageous

I am in the process of beginning a commentary on the Book of Joshua. And as I was spending time in chapter 1 of the book and thinking about God's encouragement to his people to be "strong and courageous", I was reminded of the Scottish preacher John Livingstone (1603-72). When he was a young man in his twenties he doubted whether he had a call to the ministry, and he had great fear that God had not set him apart to that work. When he was twenty-seven years old he still had no ministerial charge. A neighboring minister one day engaged Livingstone to preach on a Sunday at his church in Shotts. The morning of the sermon Livingstone had such a fit of fear and panic that he sought to flee before the service. He took heart, however, and courageously went forth and preached on Ezekiel 36:25-26. Five hundred people ascribed their conversion to that sermon.
Indeed, in our Christian walk, we need to be "strong and courageous". As David remarks, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1)

Studying the Bible

And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God? Mark 12:24

J.C. Ryle commented on this passage (as relayed in a recent article in Banner of Truth magazine) that "We learn . . . from this passage, how much of religious error may be traced to ignorance of the Bible . . . The truth of the principle here laid down, is proved by facts in almost every age of church history. The reformation in Josiah's day was closely connected with the discovery of the book of the law. The false doctrines of the Jews in our Lord's time were the result of neglecting the Scriptures. The dark ages of Christendom were times when the Bible was kept back from the people. The Protestant Reformation was mainly effected by translating and circulating the Bible. The Churches which are most flourishing at this day are churches which honour the Bible. The nations which enjoy most moral light are nations in which the Bible is most known. The parishes in our land where there is most true religion are those in which the Bible is most studied. The godliest families are Bible-reading families. The holiest men and women are Bible-reading people. These are simple facts which cannot be denied."

Never Too Young, Never Too Old

Jonathan Edwards in his treatise A Faithful Narrative of Surprising Conversions tells the story of Phebe Bartlett who was born in 1731. At the age of four she was deeply moved by the spirit, and even at the young age she became serious about Christianity. Her parents noticed that she would pray 5-6 times daily, and on one occasion her mother heard her pray "Pray, blessed Lord give me salvation! I pray, pardon all my sins!" From that day forward there was a deep and lasting change in her life.
In December of 1804, Phebe traveled to the town of Westhampton with her husband to visit her son. She became quite sick. A certain young man named Justin Edwards (no relation to Jonathan) help to nurse her. He was converted as he, in his own words, "saw the dying woman calmly trusting in her savior." He said to himself, "Here is a religion that I have not, and that I must have". Phebe Bartlett died of her illness in January 1805. Justin Edwards became a pastor, and served for years at South Church in Andover, Mass. He later became president of Andover Theological Seminary.
The reality is that the truth burned brightly in the life of Phebe Bartlett from the age of her conversion at four years old until her death at the age of seventy-three. She was a faithful witness for Christ from childhood to tomb. What a great example for us to follow in our walks with Jesus Christ!