Joseph John Gurney – birth, Aug. 2, 1788

…Beloved friends, the professing church of Christ stands in need of greater purification than it has yet attained to…there are many spots on her garments; she is defiled by the dust of the earth; and her garments are very much tattered. But when the professing church of Christ under every name, comes under the baptizing influence of the Holy Ghost, and comes to be led and guided in all things, by the uncompromising principle of life and light, then she will arise and shake her garments from the dust, then she will appear in her beauty, and there shall no more pass through her borders, the uncircumcised and the unclean.

            – From Sermon by Joseph John Gurney, North Meeting-house, New Street (Philadelphia) First-day                Afternoon, Second Month, Eighteenth, 1838.    Hopper, Edward. Sermons and Prayers Delivered in the      City of Philadelphia by Joseph John Gurney. Philadelphia: Kay & Brother, 1938.

…The guidance of the Spirit of truth, which leads into all truth and into all virtue, will never lead any man, either in opinion or practice to any thing which is Contrary to Holy Scripture.

            – From Sermon by Joseph John Gurney, North Meeting-house, New Street (Philadelphia) First-day                Afternoon, Second Month, Eighteenth, 1838.    Hopper, Edward. Sermons and Prayers Delivered in the      City of Philadelphia by Joseph John Gurney. Philadelphia: Kay & Brother, 1938.

…The Spirit of truth can never by any possibility contradict itself.

            – From Sermon by Joseph John Gurney, North Meeting-house, New Street (Philadelphia) First-day                Afternoon, Second Month, Eighteenth, 1838.    Hopper, Edward. Sermons and Prayers Delivered in the      City of Philadelphia by Joseph John Gurney. Philadelphia: Kay & Brother, 1938.

…The true reason, I believe, why so many who profess the name of Christ, are unwilling to be guided by the unflattering and uncompromising voice of the Spirit of God, which dictates a straight-forward course of unbending holiness, without turning to the right hand or to the left; they are displeased at the cross; they cannot bear the mortification of their heart’s lusts; the world, the world is their God; self is their idol; and they will not renounce the world; they will not renounce self, and walk in the narrow way.

            – From Sermon by Joseph John Gurney, North Meeting-house, New Street (Philadelphia) First-day                Afternoon, Second Month, Eighteenth, 1838.    Hopper, Edward. Sermons and Prayers Delivered in the      City of Philadelphia by Joseph John Gurney. Philadelphia: Kay & Brother, 1938.

 

…Though it is a narrow way, it is a way of peace.

            – From Sermon by Joseph John Gurney, North Meeting-house, New Street (Philadelphia) First-day                Afternoon, Second Month, Eighteenth, 1838.    Hopper, Edward. Sermons and Prayers Delivered in the      City of Philadelphia by Joseph John Gurney. Philadelphia: Kay & Brother, 1938.

 

We must follow him in the path of self-denial; we must follow him in his walk of holiness; we must follow him in his course of ever -abounding charity; we must, though at an immeasurable distance, imitate his patience, his meekness, his forbearance, his subjection to his Father’s will, his love for his enemies…if we would follow him and partake of his glory in the world of spirits.

            – From Sermon by Joseph John Gurney, North Meeting-house, New Street (Philadelphia) First-day                Afternoon, Second Month, Eighteenth, 1838.    Hopper, Edward. Sermons and Prayers Delivered in the      City of Philadelphia by Joseph John Gurney. Philadelphia: Kay & Brother, 1938. 

Joseph John Gurney was born 8/2/1788.

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Oswald Chambers – death, Nov. 15, 1917

How does Jesus Christ teach a man to forget sin?  By forgiving him.  How does a pagan teach a man to forget sin?  “Ignore it, think no more about it, realize yourself!”

                – Oswald Chambers, Workmen of God (NY: Grosset and Dunlap, 1938), 34.

 

God grant we may understand the power of a holy worker for God.  I don’t mean a holiness worker; what we need is holy workers–there is a big difference.

– Oswald Chambers, Workmen of God (NY: Grosset and Dunlap, 1938), 109.

 

Oswald Chamber died this date, Cairo, Egypt.  He was a son of a Scottish Baptist pastor who was converted after hearing Spurgeon preach. For three years he worked as a traveling missioner for the Pentecostal League of Prayer (non-tongues group founded by Reader Harris). Late he was principal of the League’s Bible Training College in London. He taught briefly at God’s Bible School, Cincinnati, Ohio, teaching R.G.Finch while there. Chambers in Egypt after two years of working as a YMCA chaplain among the desert troops. His most important book is his classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest still in print and available in several languages.

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