Listening to the Giants

Unfortunately, we do not know much about the younger years of Mr. Brainerd except this account, which is firmly established in church history lore.  “And it once happened, that he and two or three more of these intimate friends were in the hall together, after Mr. Whittelsey, one of the tutors, had been to prayer there with the scholars; no other person now remaining in the hall but Brainerd and his companions. Mr. Whittelsey having been unusually pathetic in his prayer, one of Brainerd’s friends on this occasion asked him what he thought of Mr. Whittelsey; he made answer, “He has no more grace that this chair”. One of the freshman happening at that time to be near the have (though not in the room) over-heard those words. This person, though he heard no name mentioned, and knew not who was thus censured, informed a certain woman in the town, withal telling her his own suspicion, that he believed Brainerd said this of someone or another of the rulers of the college. Whereupon sh...

Ahhh….young love. Now it might disturb you that Edwards was 20 when he wrote this about his future wife, Sarah. Yet keep in mind that it was four years before they married and the age of Sarah was normative for females to marry in the 1700’s.  The words below were written on a leaf on one of Edwards’ student books. “They say there is a young lady in New Haven, who is beloved of that Great Being who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this Great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on Him that she expects after a while to be received up where He is, to be raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that He loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from Him always. There she is to dwell with him, and to be ravished with His love and delight forever. Therefore, if you present all the world be...

The Bible is clear that a Christian is to “be holy, because I AM holy” (I Peter 1:16). Robert Murray McCheyne not only obeyed this command, but lived before God and others with an “unusual” holiness. A brief account of McCheyne reveals his impact on others: “A cynic was once asserting to a follower of Jesus the hypocrisy of Christians, but when he asked if she had ever met a genuine ‘man of God’ she replied, “Yes, I saw one, a minister in this hotel, who was a man of God. His very look did me good. ” After reading this story, I asked myself a few questions. “How does a look convey such holiness?” “Was McCheyne’s holy behavior unique or is it available to every Christian?” and finally “How did McCheyne become this holy? His biographer explains: “He was never satisfied with his own attainments in holiness; he was ever ready to learn, and quick to apply, any suggestion that might tend to his greater usefulness. About this period he used to sing a psalm or hymn ...