John Chambers, Servant of Christ and Master of Hearts, and His Ministry in PhiladelphiaGriffis, William Elliot
Religion
John Chambers, Servant of Christ and Master of Hearts, and His Ministry in Philadelphia
Griffis, William Elliot
Chambers, John, 1797-1875
Prejudice. The effects of prejudice on the interests of Christianity.
Civil War. Is there anything in the commission given by Christ to
ministers that justifies them in encouraging civil war?
In March a notable course was given on the rearing of children.
The proper training of children.
How are children to be trained?
By whom and for what are children to be trained?
If children are properly trained will they depart therefrom when old?
How are the young men and lads who congregate about dram shops, street
corners, engine houses, etc., etc., to be saved?
Not a little of his morning preaching was, as we have said, in the
line of expository discourse. This, from a coldly critical point of
view, could not be called scholarly, and was rather repetitious, but
it was thoroughly practical and characteristic, and the love which the
overwhelming majority of the people bore to their pastor made every
word tell, so that defects were largely forgotten. He had certain
pet words which he rather overworked, and, to say the least, some
mannerisms. His method was to quote frequently from the scriptures,
and, in his later days, with many a page turned down at the corners
of the big pulpit Bible. We can see him yet, as with one hand on his
eye glasses and nose near the page, he quickly found the various
texts desired to support his arguments. Mr. Chambers, as Mr. Moody
would put it, was a master of "the original English" of King James's
Version of the Scriptures. Occasionally he slipped on a word, the
double p's seeming especially to bother him at times. His particular
_bête noire_ was the tenet of the limited atonement, and if there was
anything he loved to pound at, it was this. What he gloried in was
the proclaiming and strengthening, with proof texts, of the doctrine
of the universal atonement, such as I John, ii., 2. In one instance,
after the word "propitiation" had on his, for once recalcitrant
tongue, reached no further than the first syllable, the full word came
out as "appropriation", which was not so far from the idea of the
apostle after all.
He was especially impressive in the reading of hymns, and he was so,
because as it seemed to us, he felt so deeply the sentiment expressed
in the words. Memory will never allow us to forget his frequent
rendering of "Oh to grace how great a debtor!" His favorite term for
his Best Beloved was "Our Lord and Master," but whatever name he used,
one always knew that our pastor was in close and daily touch with Him
and that was the secret of his godly life and his power for good.
Other hymns, "There is a holy city", "My days are gliding swiftly by"
(to the tune "Shining Shore") and some that are rarely heard now,
were also favorites. There is proof to the memory that "history is a
resurrection."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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