dependence

  • "Brother, we are only half awake" ~ Legh Richmond

    Today would have been the 240th birthday of the evangelical divine Legh Richmond, born in Liverpool January 29, 1772.

    In his lecture History of Revival (1740-1852) # 2, Iain Murray cited a minister who said, "Brother, we are only half awake—we are none of us more than half awake." When I heard that, my ears perked up, and I did a little sleuthing on google. I found the quotation was from Legh Richmond. Until that time, I'd never heard of Richmond.

    Murray explained that such a half-awake state very much described the spiritual condition prior to the Great Awakening (and I'll add that with but a few exceptions, it describes the spiritual condition we face today here in the west).

    "Before the great awakening it seemed as though men slept, the world slept, the church slept. Ministers seemed to be asleep in their duties and Christians slept in the pew. Before the great awakening for many years there had been complaints of the absence of powerful conversions and of general decline."

    Then Murray read the words of Dr. Increase Mather from 1721, who at age of 82 was remembering back to years prior:

    "Conversions have become rare in this age of the world... they that have their thoughts exercised in discerning things of this nature have sad apprehensions that the work of conversion has come to a stand. During the last age, scarcely a sermon was preached without someone being apparently converted, and sometimes hundreds were converted by one sermon. Who but now can say that we have seen anything such as this? Clear, sound conversions are not frequent in our congregations. The great bulk of the present generation are apparently poor, perishing, and if the Lord prevented prevent not, undone. Having been for sixty-five years a preacher of the gospel, I feel as did the ancient men who had seen the former temple and wept aloud when they saw the latter."

    Mather's reference there is to Ezra 3, the time after Israel's return from exile when the temple was being rebuilt...

    Ezra 3:10  And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the directions of David king of Israel. 11  And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD,

    “For he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”


    And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12  But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13  so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

    If we keep looking at ourselves as our own benchmark, if we keep comparing ourselves to ourselves, or if we in the Church only choose to compare ourselves to society at large, we're going to think we're doing all right, we'll say we're awake, and we'll go ahead and keep patting ourselves on the back, but in reality, we're not doing all right. We'll be guilty of myopia of the worst kind, a tunnel vision of a most dangerous and deadly sort, for these matters deal with both the eternal destiny of souls and the glory of God. When the Church isn't walking as she ought, when she is half-awake, when those of us in the Christian Church remain half-awake, then God's name is blasphemed, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not being published to the ends of the earth, and all the while souls are dying daily apart from Jesus Christ.

    We in the Church are falling so far short of the Church's former glory and the glory God intends for us. For example, in Isaiah 62, God's expectations for His people are laid out:  righteousness going forth as brightness and salvation as a burning torch, and it is then the nations shall see our righteousness. If you look at the Church, would that be your first thought of her?

    We are so, so far from that shining city on a hill God intends us to be. Only as we examine what God's expectations are for His Church, what His desire for each and every one of us as members of His Body is as we find them in the Scripture, only as we look back at the Church's beginnings and then look back at those times of revival and awakening, it is only then that we will begin to make a right assessment – to begin to see ourselves as God sees us.

    Let us look back at those times when God's people have been humbled, when they had come to the end of themselves, that they saw their insufficiency and their need to rely on Christ rather than on their own ingenuity, machinery and cleverness. Let us look back to those times when the Spirit blew, when God's people came to embrace their own poverty and neediness, when they humbled themselves and fell prostrate before the throne of God and sought the Lord with strong tears and cryings, and followed hard after Christ and clung to Him and Him only, and continued to examine themselves, casting off all their earthly props, despising themselves and no longer putting confidence in their own flesh.

    May God give us eyes to examine ourselves in light of those saints who remained steadfast in the Word of God, lifted up Christ and Him crucified; to examine ourselves in light of those saints who tarried in prayer, those who were faithful watchmen who importunately pleaded for God to rend the heavens and waited upon God to pour out His Spirit upon them, confessing that without Him they could do nothing, and so they continued to seek a heavenly effusion and endowment – for a God-imparted power that was not their own. Let us look upon those on whom the Holy Spirit fell, these men and women and boys and girls became consumed and compelled and emboldened by the baptizing fire and love and light and life of the Holy Spirit – it is only as we do so, will we begin to have a right assessment of our condition and how pitiful we are today, those of us who profess the name of Christian, so we might confess that we are only half awake—we are none of us more than half awake.

    The Reverend Alfred Stackhouse, an Anglican minister, referred to Richmond in his lecture, "The Lord Is at Hand." Here's an excerpt (emphasis mine).

    Some of us are communicants; and thereby we profess, before the world, that we have renounced the false principles and practices of the state of darkness, that we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and him alone, for salvation, and that we are wholly devoted to him as sinners saved by grace. Or, to use the metaphor to which I have before referred, our profession is, that, having been awakened as in the night by the power of divine grace, we are now wholly devoted to the work of preparation for the approaching dawn. The minister is distinguished from other communicants principally in this respect, that it is his office to keep others awake, as well as to maintain an awakened spirit in his own mind, and to forward the works of others as well as to fulfil his own. How does the minister then, how do his fellow communicants appear, as the light of day exposes secrets and unfolds realities? We maybe assisted in our reply to this inquiry by the experience of one whose works are known to most of us—an eminent, faithful, laborious clergyman of the church of England ; one whose works of faith and labours of love were highly valued in his day, and are still remembered in almost every country where evangelical truth and spiritual Christianity is valued—I mean the author of the "Young Cottager," and the "Dairyman's Daughter"— Rev. L. Richmond. When it was decided by the medical advisers that the pulmonary disease under which he was suffering must soon terminate his valuable life, a friend communicated to him the opinion. He was not surprised by it. "I knew it, brother," he replied, "seven months ago: I was well satisfied from whence this cough came—that it was a message from above." But observe his view of himself, and of all his works, in the light which then might be said to be opened upon him. His friend had scarcely resumed the conversation, with a remark upon the immense importance of Christian principles, when he raised himself in his chair, and with great solemnity of manner, said, "Brother, we are only half awake—we are none of us more than half awake." In an account, also, of his last moments, given by his (daughter, the clearer views of his mind in the light of that day are still more remarkably unfolded. "One morning," she states, "as I was sitting near him, he burst into tears, and said, 'O my parish! my poor parish! I feel as if I had done nothing for it—as if it had been so much neglected. I have not done half what I ought.' It was more than I could bear," she adds, "to hear him speak in this way; for I had seen him in weariness and painfulness and watchings, spending and being spent, if by any means he might win souls to Christ. I suggested to him his labours and the singular usefulness of his ministry, especially within the last two years. He would still reply, 'No thanks to me! no thanks to me! I see it so differently now, as if I had done just nothing. I see nothing but neglect, and duties left undone.' I could not help reflecting," observes his daughter, "on the different aspect things must have, when eternity is opening upon us"*.

    Christian friends, will not the experience of this eminent minister assist us greatly in estimating our own principles, and examining our conduct, as in the light of the day of the Lord? If such a man was thus ashamed of himself, what must our estimate of ourselves be? If such works appear as nothing in the light of eternity, what shall be said of those of which we, perhaps, have been tempted to make our boast? Have not we reason to exclaim that we are only half awake? Have we not reason to be ashamed even of our best actions, and to esteem as absolutely nothing our greatest efforts? My friends, some of us may appear to be diligent, and faithful, and zealous, and earnest, in comparison with others; nay, more, some of us may be distinguished from our fellowmen by "works of faith and labours of love;" but we are viewing ourselves now in the light of the day of the Lord, and with the understanding that we are tested by the standard of perfection rather than by the attainments of our neighbours. O, how contemptible our pride appears in this light! how utterly baseless any show of merit! What! the devotion of a life-time not meritorious? The persevering labours of a faithful man of God, shall these be accounted worthless? My friends, the light of the day of the Lord reveals the Christian standard so clearly, that his greatest attainments increase his self-abasement. And see how the rising dawn exposes our neglect, our carelessness, our worldly conformity, our unbelief, our coldness, our selfishness. These things were concealed by the imperfect light of the night season; or, if not concealed, they were justified by the laws of a spurious charity. Our neglect, perhaps, was thought to be justifiable, on account of the peculiar circumstances of our case. Our carelessness was excused by the plea that perfection was not attainable. Our worldliness was thought to be necessary for the diffusion of our Christian light, and to avoid the charge of singularity. Even our unbelief and coldness of heart and selfishness were not without their plausible arguments. But now, in the better light of the approaching day, all these vain excuses are forgotten. Every fault, every inconsistency stands out in all its naked deformity. And observe, further, how by this light the pathway through which we have parsed is illuminated, and the imperfections of bygone days are brought to view. How different everything appears! In those days, probably, we acquitted ourselves of blame; but now the truth is made manifest. See, there an opportunity might have been improved; there a habit might have been corrected; there self-indulgence was preferred to self-denial; there the heart went after covetousness, when the glory of God demanded its best efforts. O, what ingratitude to him who gave his Son for us! what disregard, too, for our own best interests! The heirs of an incorruptible inheritance, the citizens of an eternal kingdom have been wasting their time and strength upon the trifles of a moment—trifles, too, which were calculated to hinder rather than set forward their salvation! Christian friends, can you realize enough of the light to perceive these truths? But there is more, much more to be said; for the light of the day exposes other realities. The carnally-minded are now separated from the spiritually-minded, the converted from the unconverted, formalists from the true communicants, "lovers of pleasure" from "lovers of God." By the light of the night season these distinctions could not be clearly discerned ; and the rule was, "judge nothing before the time" (1 Cor. iv. 6); but now the state of the heart is revealed—now the truth is made known. And what painful disappointment, what sad exposures are the result! Christian friends, it was once the opinion of a faithful and highly-esteemed minister, who is now with the Saviour (Rev. E. Bickersteth), that he had not one unconverted communicant connected with his church. Would such an opinion, think you, be justified with respect to our small body of communicants? What does the light of the day of the Lord reveal concerning this? Remember, nothing but vital godliness will bear this light. Formalism, and every kind of self-deception, every kind of hypocrisy must be discovered, and put to shame by this spirit-searching test.

    * Memoirs of Rev. Legh Richmond, p. 414.

    Luke 12:35  “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36  and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37  Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38  If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39  But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40  You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

    "Have not we reason to exclaim that we are only half awake?"

    Source: "The Lord Is at Hand;" four Lectures delivered during Lent, at Perth, by the Rev. Alfred Stackhouse, found in "The Church of England Magazine"<http://books.google.com/books?id=Bw_OAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q&f=false>, August 31, 1854, Volume 37 - July to December 1854, 137-139.

    For more on Legh Richmond, please see http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Richmond,_Legh_%28DNB00%29.  I'd highly recommend your reading Richmond's "The Annals of the Poor," <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19671/19671-h/19671-h.htm>.

    Please Note: If God has been giving you a desire to see the church revived, please see my other sites, tent_of_meeting (prayer for revival) and deerlife (ministry encouragement), please comment below and/or message me. I would also encourage you to read these posts which express some of my heart for revival.

    Photo credits:

    Image of the Rev. Legh Richmond's engraved portrait from T.S.Grimshawe's Memoirs of the Rev. Legh Richmond found at http://www.grimshaworigin.org/WebPages/ThomShut.htm / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schadow,FW-Die_klugen_und_t%C3%B6richten_Jungfrauen-2.JPG  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

    Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  • "I raise my prayerful meditation" ~ based on Psalm 5

    I raise my prayerful meditation
    To the God who is all Sovereign

    Eternal help – can it ever be found
    In man or horse, on earthly ground?

    Beyond the hills, my heart it glides
    To everlasting strength, the God only wise

    My groans, my griefs and deepest cries
    Ascend to the heavens, above the skies

    To the wellspring! For maids, new wine,
    Grain that cheers, makes the young men thrive

    Who else has the words of eternal life,
    Peace and joy all through Baca's toilsome strife?

    From whence shines a smile in dead of night?
    But Christ's throne effuses gladd'ning light

    My voice I raise to my God and King
    O, LORD, give ear to me this morning

    Who am I, but dust and ashes indeed,
    Yet by faith counted as Your righteous seed

    In fear I approach, yet with assurance I come
    The Spirit has sealed me, I am your son!

    Now boldly I lift my voice high to Thee
    O, yes! my prayers fly through Calvary!

    Not of my merit, but Your mercies they abound
    Here I fall, rejoice and tremble on holy ground

    My voice is heard, O what a thought!
    Through precious blood I was bought!

    To priestly courts I come and enter here
    On You cast my burdens, my every care

    With favor I am compassed all about
    In You I trust and lift a joyful shout

    Glory to You, my shield and sure defense
    O, most excellent and comely countenance!

    Hidden in You, my lovely dwelling place
    In my weakness find Your sufficient grace


    ~ See Psalm 5 ~

    Related:

  • In loss and grief ... "You maun just go the mair to Jesus." ~ James Laing

     
    This day last year, January 6, 2011, one of my closest friends and sisters in Christ passed into the glory everlasting. A few days later I wrote a tribute to her and to Jesus Christ, calling her life a triumph of His grace.

    Robert Murray M'Cheyne's "Another Lily Gathered,"* is the account of James Laing, who "fell asleep in Jesus" when he was thirteen years of age. Like my friend, Laing was a triumph of God's grace. M'Cheyne had a great affection for Laing and wrote the account to be "living monument of what a God of grace can do." I've included a couple excerpts below.

    * * *

    ANOTHER LILY GATHERED
    CONVERSION OF JAMES LAING.
    "My beloved is gone down into his garden to gather lilies."—Song vi. 2.

    GOD loves his mighty works to be remembered. We easily forget the most amazing displays of his love and power, and therefore it is right often to set up a stone of remembrance. When Israel passed over Jordan on dry land, God commanded Joshua to take twelve stones out of the dry bed of the river, and to set them up at Gilgal for a memorial, "That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord that it is mighty;" Joshua iv. 24. Whenever the children of Israel looked upon these massy stones, they would remember how God brought their fathers through the swellings of Jordan.

    God has done great things for us in this corner of his vineyard, whereof we are glad. The word has often grown mightily and prevailed. Many old sinners and many young ones have given clear evidence of a saving change. And though we cannot say that "the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved," yet we can say that from the first day until now he has never left himself without a witness.

    We have done little in the way of making known the doings of the Lord. The record of many a saved soul is on high, and many in their heavenly walk amid a polluted world are living monuments of what a God of grace can do. In this little narrative we would raise up an humble stone to the memory of a dear boy who now sleeps in Jesus, and to the praise of that God and Saviour who planted, watered, and gathered his own lily.

    JAMES LAING was born on 28th July 1828, and lost his mother before he was eight years old. Of the living members of the family I do not mean to speak; they have not yet finished their course, but are still in the valley of tears, and trials, and temptations. This only must be noticed, that not long after God took away the mother, he dealt so graciously with the elder sister [Margaret] that she was henceforth fitted to watch over the other children with a mother's tenderness.

    James was seized with the same fever as that of which his mother died, and he never enjoyed good health afterwards...

    *In October 1841, James was converted to Christ. M'Cheyne shares this account from James' last days in June of 1842:

    Margaret asked him, "What will I do?  I will miss your company in the house." James answered, "You maun just go the mair to Jesus. Do not be ill about me now, when I am dead, Margaret. If I thought that, I would be sorry, and more than that, God would be angry at you; for I would be far happier. It is better to depart and be with Christ. Ask grace to keep you from it."

    All that day he spoke very little. In the evening he grew much worse. His sister wished to sit up with him that night, but he would not allow her. She said, " These eyes will soon see him whom your soul loves." James said, "Aye." After midnight Margaret, seeing him worse, arose and woke her father. She tried to conceal her tears; but James saw them, and said, with a look of solemn earnestness, "O woman, I wonder to see you do the like of that." He spoke little after this, and about one o'clock on the Saturday morning, 11th June 1842, fell asleep in Jesus.

    When Christ comes down to his church it is . . .


    To gather lilies, wherewith he is pleased to entertain and adorn himself. He picks the lilies one by one, and gathers them to himself; and there will be a general harvest of them at the great day, when he will send forth his angels, to gather all his lilies, that he may be for ever glorified and admired in them.

    ~ From Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Song of Solomon 6:2

    In this fallen world, we will have tribulation (that is a promise of Jesus' that many of us cast aside!); we will all suffer heartaches and heartbreaks, including losing loved ones to death – BUT there is sufficient grace available for the Christian so we might keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and our minds set above and grieve in a way that honors and glorifies our God.

    In the midst of our tribulations, we can be sure that:

    God has sovereignly ordained every heartache and heartbreak we experience.

    God has sovereignly ordained every heartache and heartbreak we experience for our good (Romans 8:28).

    God has sovereignly ordained every heartache and heartbreak we experience for His glory (Romans 11:33-36).

    God has sovereignly ordained every heartache and heartbreak we experience so Christ might be preeminent (Colossians 1:16-18).

    As I've said many a time, God's sovereignty is my sanity!

    In John 14, we see that Jesus knew we would all be tempted to be troubled and to be afraid. And yet our Good Shepherd has told us that He offers to His sheep peace unlike the world's peace and comfort far surpassing any worldly comfort. Our God is the God of all comfort (II Cor. 1). Our God is the Consolation of Israel. All believers today are of Israel because we have been adopted in, as we are of Christ, we are now of Abraham's seed (Galatians 3-4).

    Do you know Jesus Christ as your consolation?

    Do you know God's peace that passes understanding?

    Do you immerse yourself in the Scripture so you might know Jehovah as your everlasting strength and be kept in perfect peace?

    Isaiah 26:1  In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. 2  Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. 3  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 4  Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength...

    Notice there the reference to truth (v. 2) and our minds being stayed on God (v. 3). In order to know God and the true peace and full comfort of our Lord Jesus Christ we must be rooted in and continuing to grow in doctrinal truth through reading, study and meditation of the Bible in conjunction with prayer asking the Holy Spirit to illumine our minds so the Biblical truths and promises might become alive to us. In times of loss, if we have not been drinking of God's Word, if we have not been planting ourselves by the rivers of water, we will quickly wither (Psalm 1; Jer. 17:5-8).

    Our Father's desire is that each one of His children might come to know Him and His love for us in Jesus Christ in increasing measure (Eph. 3:14-21) – that we might really know and embrace and hold Him as our strong and everlasting consolation (Heb. 6:18, II Thes. 2:16) – much like Simeon took the baby Jesus up in his arms in the temple (Luke 2)!

    In the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a merciful, great High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. We read how our Lord was exceeding sorrowful unto death and how He wept at Lazarus' graveside. We see how Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw the multitudes. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.  Our Savior Himself has been touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and is able to succor them that are tempted. (See Hebrews 2 & 4.)

    I pray God might use these words to encourage you in the midst of your griefs and sorrows and losses to press on to know Him, that your soul might be strengthened to follow hard after God (see Ps. 63:8 ~ to follow close behind Him (NKJV) and to cling to Him (ESV))... that indeed you might be more than conquerors in your trials and afflictions and go the more to Jesus, or, as the young Scotsman James Laing said on his deathbed, "You maun just go the mair to Jesus." ~ Or, rephrased for us English speakers: "You must just go the more to Jesus." We can trust that God's grace is always sufficient for all our needs all our days! Our God is a rewarder to them who diligently seek Him! Hallelujah!


    Hebrews 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.


    Hebrews 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

    Psalm 43:3  O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. 4  Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. 5  Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

    Related:

    Where do you go when the world is unlovely? (Psalm 84 & the theology of Biblical counseling)
    year end reflections, # 1: "end of the year ... in the midst of heartache" | Letter 97 on joy
    year end reflections, # 2: rejoicing in "The Often Unwanted but Necessary Gift" | Letter 98 on joy
    don't waste your new year ~ teach us, satisfy us, make us glad (Psalm 90:12-15)
    The Dove's Resting Place | What kind of dove are you?
    Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor
    Blessed dependence ~ "Leaning upon her beloved"
    Bible Reading-Isaiah: When We Think the LORD Has Forsaken and Forgotten Us
    The story of Job: bad luck, God's sovereign will or ?
    All things (even bad things) work together for good...
    Our Twisted View of God
    Lenten Reflections: When he broke all supply of bread (My breaking is for your blessing)

    Get gnawing, put your nose down in the Book to feed the white-hot flame of God's gift
    "Garbage In" (Are you truly His disciple?)
    a little child shall lead them in life and in death
    Praying cancer is for the glory of God
    Broken but singing even after death
    My friend's "traveling days are done" but mine aren't
    At Calvary: Can you say, "I'm with Him"?
    I remember my friend
    How can we say? ~ This cancer | letter 91 on assurance & fighting for joy
    I thought it would be easier
    Two sheep, Two sisters (a joyous requiem)
    the house of mourning (Ecc. 7) ~ grieving to the glory of God ~ "pleasing pain" (David Brainerd)
    "He is my Sustenance" ~ remembering my sister & my friend - a triumph of His grace
    frozen
    one Friend alone | letter 100 on assurance & fighting for joy
    David's Lament for Jonathan
    Bible Reading: Isaiah 53:3-A Prayer to the Man of Sorrows, Acquainted with Grief
    The ultimate joy (1): "When round His throne we meet" (letter 55 on assurance & fighting for joy)
    The ultimate joy (2): a joy without end we shall attain (letter 56 on assurance & fighting for joy)
    The ultimate joy (3): today: imperfect enjoyment; one Day: perfect - Thomas Boston (letter 59)

    * "Another Lily Gathered" <http://books.google.com/books?id=JIY6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA504#v=onepage&q&f=false> is included in the "Memoir & Remains of Robert Murray M'Cheyne" by Andrew A. Bonar <http://books.google.com/books?id=JIY6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false>.

    Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lilium_candidum,_Tunisia_-_20110517.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0
    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:61049_Simeon_in_the_Temple.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 - {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

naphtali_deer

About me...

Christian hedonist in training. Pressing on to know more and more of the joy of the LORD. Pleading with God to rend the heavens and revive and refresh my own soul, as well as His Church, to His praise, honor and glory.

Thank God. He can make men and women in middle life sing again with a joy that has been chastened by a memory of their past failures. ~ Alan Redpath

My other websites

tent of meeting: Prayer for reformation & revival

(See also Zechariah821. Zechariah821 is a mirror site of tent of meeting, found on WordPress)

deerlifetrumpet: Encouragement for those seeking reformation & revival in the Church

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