Give Thanks

A portion of a letter by William Still, pastor of Gilcomston South Church in Aberdeen Scotland, from 1945 to 1997. He wrote a letter monthly to his congregation to exhort, encourage, admonish, and teach them God's word in light of current events. This selection appeared on the blog of Charlie Wingard (http://charliewingard.blogspot.com/) pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday, September 17, 2010.

If you see the grace of God working in your life, and if you recognize material blessings that have come your way as a consequence, do not forget to thank Him. It is sad when there is nothing for which we feel grateful to God, but it is serious when there is something and we fail to show gratitude, and it is tragic when we are so busy asking for more that we forget to thank Him for what we have received.

The Letters of William Still, The Banner of Truth, 1984, pp. 34-35.

May Your Life and Health Be Long Spared

A letter to C. H. Spurgeon from the faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, on the great preacher's 50th birthday. They rejoiced in the good ministry of the London preacher and expressed their appreciation for him and doctrinal agreement with him. The letter was written June 27, 1884.

The undersigned professors in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, beg leave to offer respectful and hearty congratulations on your fiftieth birthday. We thank God for all that he made you and by his grace enabled you to become and achieve. We rejoice in your great and wonderful work as preacher and pastor, and through your Orphanage and your Pastor's College; as also your numerous writings, so sparkling with genius, so filled with the spirit of the gospel. Especially we delight to think how nobly you have defended and diffused the doctrines of grace; how in an age so eager for novelty and marked by such loosening of belief you have through long years kept the English-speaking world for your audience while never turning aside from the old-fashioned gospel.

And now, honored brother, we invoke upon you the continued blessings of our God. May your life and health be long spared, if it be his will; may Providence still smile on your varied work, and the Holy Spirit richly bless your spoken and written messages to mankind.

Life and Letters of John Albert Broadus, by Archibald Thomas Robertson, 1901, reprint by Gano Books, pp. 341-42.

In the Midst of Troubles and Difficulties

From the pen of Jonathan Edwards to the Scottish pastor, Thomas Gillespie, after his removal as pastor from his church in Northampton. He explained to his friend the causes of his dismissal and then expressed thanks for the prayers of his Scottish brethren. The letter was written from Stockbridge, the place of his new ministry, July 1, 1751.

I have much to teach me to behave as a pilgrim and stranger on the earth. But in the midst of troubles and difficulties, I receive many mercies. Particularly I have great reason, with abundant thankfulness, to take notice of the great kindness of friends in Scotland. Blessed be God who never forsakes those that trust in him, and never wants instruments for the conveyance of his goodness and liberality to those who suffer in his cause…

Remember me, dear Sir, at the throne of grace, with regard to all my trials, and with regard to my new circumstances, and the important service I have undertaken in this place…

Jonathan Edwards: Letters and Personal Writings, edited by George S. Claghorn, vol. 16 in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Yale University Press, 1998, p. 387.