"Rainy wi'oot the Principal". XXVIII.
Robert Rainy, still Principal of New College, Edinburgh, though no longer the Professor of Church History there, was enjoying a time of peace in his life. He had three new books in print, books that represented him as historian, preacher and Bible expositor. He was still acting as a pastor to those who needed his care and love. As his old friends began to die around him, Rainy wrote:
"Bereavements come with strange force, and they leave us crushed and lonely. And yet we are sure that our Heavenly Father turns all these sorrows, which seem to come upon us like fate, into means of grace, and is near us to be sought and found. He does it for our profit that we may be partakers of His holiness. Only this does not come to pass as a matter of course, and we have to ask for help and to find our way to the Father's mind and to trust. 'Though He cause grief, yet He will have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.'
"I think, as we advance in life, we may do well to think more of the great hope of the Gospel. The fashion of this world passes away, but we have great hopes before us. Yet surely, they are not so welcome, not so dear, do not come home to us with soothing and cheering power, as they ought to do. Do we not find ourselves in moods in which these hopes are strange, not entering harmoniously into the life of our souls? I believe it is because we need to have revealed to us more fully the love of God. In that great revelation, everything takes on a new light and warmth, and the hopes I speak of become dear and real. Well, we must ask for great things, for the greatest; our Father is a great God."
In one of his serons he had said:
"The prospect of departing in God's good time, to us unknown, should be a great and bright hope before us - the refuge of our hearts in trouble, the retreat into which we go when we would soothe and cheer our souls, a great element of the cheerfulness and patience of our lives - while we assure ourselves that the best of all we find here is by and by to give place to that which is better."
But Rainy had one more battle to fight, one more crisis. God willing, that is what we shall consider next time.
"Bereavements come with strange force, and they leave us crushed and lonely. And yet we are sure that our Heavenly Father turns all these sorrows, which seem to come upon us like fate, into means of grace, and is near us to be sought and found. He does it for our profit that we may be partakers of His holiness. Only this does not come to pass as a matter of course, and we have to ask for help and to find our way to the Father's mind and to trust. 'Though He cause grief, yet He will have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.'
"I think, as we advance in life, we may do well to think more of the great hope of the Gospel. The fashion of this world passes away, but we have great hopes before us. Yet surely, they are not so welcome, not so dear, do not come home to us with soothing and cheering power, as they ought to do. Do we not find ourselves in moods in which these hopes are strange, not entering harmoniously into the life of our souls? I believe it is because we need to have revealed to us more fully the love of God. In that great revelation, everything takes on a new light and warmth, and the hopes I speak of become dear and real. Well, we must ask for great things, for the greatest; our Father is a great God."
In one of his serons he had said:
"The prospect of departing in God's good time, to us unknown, should be a great and bright hope before us - the refuge of our hearts in trouble, the retreat into which we go when we would soothe and cheer our souls, a great element of the cheerfulness and patience of our lives - while we assure ourselves that the best of all we find here is by and by to give place to that which is better."
But Rainy had one more battle to fight, one more crisis. God willing, that is what we shall consider next time.
Labels: Principal Rainy
posted by Highland Host at 10:34 am
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