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Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)
Bible Verse
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..." (Rom. 1:16).
Devotional
To what but the divinity of its nature are we to attribute the miraculous success which has hitherto attended the propagation of the gospel? Systems of religious opinion have risen, flourished for a while, then languished and disappeared. But the gospel, the most ancient, as it is the most sublime of all, has outlived all other systems. It has beheld the rise and the fall of many, and yet it remains.
What religion has ever encountered the fierce and persevering opposition that Christianity has endured? Professed friends have endeavored to corrupt and betray it. Avowed enemies have sworn to utterly annihilate it. Kings and legislatures have sought to arrest its progress, and to banish it from the earth. The fires of persecution have consumed its sanctuaries and its preachers. And behold! it yet lives!
The Lord has kept it. He who dwelt in the bush has preserved it.
Where are the French Encyclopedists—the men of deep learning and brilliant genius, of moving eloquence, caustic wit, and untiring energy—who banded themselves together with a vow to exterminate Christ and Christianity? Where is the eloquent Rosseau, the witty Voltaire, the ingenious Helvetius, the sophistical Hume, the scoffing D'Alembert, and the ribaldist Paine? Their names have rotted from the earth, and their works follow them.
And where is the Savior, whom they sought to annihilate? Enthroned in glory, robed in majesty, and exalted a Prince and a Savior, encircled, worshiped, and adored by countless myriads of holy beings, the crown of Deity on his head, and the scepter of universal government in his hand, from whose tribunal they have passed, tried, sentenced, and condemned, while he yet lives, to guard his Church and crush his foes.
And where is the gospel, against which they banded and thought to overthrow? Pursuing its widening way of mercy through the world; borne on the wings of every wind, and on the crest of every billow, to the remotest ends of the earth, destroying the temples and casting down the idols of heathenism, supplanting superstition and idolatry with Christian sanctuaries and Christian churches; softening down the harshness of human barbarism, turning the instruments of cruelty into implements of cultivation; above all, and the grandest of all its results, proclaiming to the poorest, neediest, vilest of our race, salvation—full, free salvation by Christ—the pardon of the greatest sins by his atoning blood, the covering of the greatest deformity and unworthiness by his justifying righteousness, and the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all who believe.
In this way, the glorious gospel is now blessing the world. It goes and effaces the stains of human guilt, it gives ease to the burdened conscience, rest to the laboring spirit, the sweetest comfort under the deepest sorrow, it dries the mourner's tear, and it exchanges "the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit" (Isa. 61:3)—and all because it speaks of Jesus!
Oh, this gospel would be no glad tidings, it would be no good news, if it did not testify of Jesus the Savior. He who does not see Christ the sum, the substance, the wisdom, the power of the gospel, is blind to the real glory of the word. He who has never tasted the love of Jesus is yet a stranger to the sweetness of the truth.
Yes! The gospel is divine! It is God's own creation. He gave the Word, and great is the company of those who preach it. Infidelity may oppose it, and infidels may scorn it. False professors may betray it, and sworn enemies may assail it. Yet it will survive, as it has done, the fiercest assaults of men and of devils. Like the burning bush it will outlive the flame. And like the rock of the ocean it will tower above the storm. God, who originated and who guards it, exclaims to all their rage, "Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed" (Job 38:11).
The church's one Foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the Word:
from heav'n he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.
Elect from ev'ry nation,
yet one o'er all the earth,
her charter of salvation
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy Name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with ev'ry grace endued.
Though with a scornful wonder
men see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder,
by heresies distressed,
yet saints their watch are keeping,
their cry goes up, "How long?"
and soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.
The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
to guide, sustain and cherish
is with her to the end;
though there be those who hate her,
and false sons in her pale,
against or foe or traitor
she ever shall prevail.
'Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blest,
and the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath union
with the God the Three in One,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.
(Samuel J. Stone, 1866)
Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.
Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2011.
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