A Handful of Stars: Texts That Have Moved Great MindsBoreham, Frank
Religion
A Handful of Stars: Texts That Have Moved Great Minds
Boreham, Frank
Bible -- Influence; Christian biography
Five years later still, he says that 'I have been many, many times
unhappy for awhile, but have never seriously doubted my interest in the
Lord Jesus.'
When he was fifty-four, his wife died, leaving him to bring up his young
family as best he could. But '_grace for grace_.' A year or two later, I
find him rejoicing that 'to-night both Isabella and Marjory came home
speaking of their having been enabled to rest on Christ. What a joyful
time it has been! I think, too, the young servant has found Christ.
Blessed Lord, I have asked Thee often to remember Thy promise, and "when
mother leaves thee, the Lord will take thee up." I have asked Thee to be
a mother to my motherless children, and now, indeed, Thou hast given me
my prayer. Praise, praise for evermore!'
On the fiftieth anniversary of that never-to-be-forgotten autumn
evening, he records with gratitude the fact that, 'for fifty years the
Lord has kept me within sight of the Cross.'
Ten years later still, now an old man of eighty, he declares that his
Saviour has never once left him in the darkness all these years.
And, two years later, just before his death, he writes, 'it was
sixty-two years ago that I found the Saviour, or, rather, that He found
me; and I have never parted company with Him all these years. Christ the
Saviour has been to me my true portion, my heaven begun; and my earnest
prayer and desire for you and Mary and little Marjory will always be,
that you may each find, not only all I ever found in Christ, but a
hundredfold more, every year!'
_Grace for grace!_
_Grace for the father and grace for the children!_
_Grace for the old man just about to die, and grace for the little child
just learning how to live!_
'_Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace!_'
VII
Yes, _grace for grace_! Grace for the pulpit and grace for the pew!'
For, through all these years, Andrew Bonar was a minister, and the text
was the keynote of all his utterances.
_Fullness! Fullness! Fullness!_
_Receive! Receive! Receive!_
_Grace for grace! Grace for grace!_
'_Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace!_'
In his study there hung a text of two words. He had had it specially
printed, for those two words expressed the abiding fullness on which he
loved to dwell. '_Thou remainest!_' One day, we are told, a lady in
great sorrow called to see him. But nothing that he said could comfort
her. Then, suddenly, he saw a light come into her face. 'Say no more,'
she said, 'I have found what I need!' and she pointed to the text:
'_Thou remainest!_'
That was it! Come what will, He abides! Go who may, He remains! Amidst
all the chances and changes of life, He perennially satisfies. Like the
thirsty toilers in the city, I draw and draw again, and am each time
refreshed and revived.
'_His fullness fills my heart!_'
'_I do nothing but receive!_'
'_Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace!_'
XXI
FRANCIS D'ASSISI'S TEXT
I
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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