John Bakewell – died

ON THIS DATE

John Bakewell died 3/18/1819 at Lewisham, Kent, England.  He was born in 1721, Brailsford, Derbyshire, England (parents unknown).   About 1739 he read the work of Thomas Boston (1676-1732) entitled Fourfold State (Innocence, Nature, Grace, Eternal).  This book was instrumental in Bakewell’s conversion to Christ & he became an fervent evangelist.

Neither the date of his wedding nor his wife’s name were found but he did marry & have a daughter because a son-n-law, Dr. James Egan, is known to have taken his place as director of Greenwich Royal Park Academy.  Bakewell’s circle of friends & acquaintances included Charles & John Wesley, Augustus Toplady, John Fletcher, Madan, & others.  In addition to a few hymns, he wrote at least one article (carried in the Wesleyan Magazine, July 1816) on “Brotherly Love.”  Bakewell penned:

Hail, Thou once despisèd Jesus! Hail,    Thou Galilean King!

Thou didst suffer to release us;    Thou didst free salvation bring.

Hail, Thou universal Savior,    who hast borne our sin and shame!

By Thy merits we find favor;    life is given through Thy name.

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GOD LOVES VARIETY

No!  Christ is not an annual Babe-in-the-crib,

He’s seated on high.

He is interceding NOW for us,

Praying with a sigh,

 

Nor is He a permanent crucifix,

Seen only as the dead.

He is the church’s ever-living,

Eternal, Holy Head!

 

Not even the empty tomb is right,

If it’s “that” and nothing more.

He is all John saw on Patmos Isle,

Knocking at the door.

 

Christ’s way is not cycles of days,

Nor calendars of old. 

When repeating rites and rituals,

Man “is way too bold.”

 

Man likes the predictable,

Wants to know how it will end.

With programs and plans,

Ecumenical churches will blend.

 

Repeat, repeat, is not God’s way,

He likes variety.

Not one highly formal,

Nor one filled with hilarity.

 

This earth has cycles, seasons,

Tides rise from the ocean floor.

But man’s soul’s not made for earth –

He’s made for another shore.

 

Man’s made to grow, not cycle round,

Move out, not redefine.

Creation started a parenthesis;

Time, on – a – line.

 

Mt. Everest was covered but once,

In Noah’s famous Flood.

And then, awesome day,

One final shedding of the Lamb’s Blood.

 

Prophets picked up their telescopes –

Looked through them with smiles,

Time’s line held things far away,

Away by centuries, and miles.

 

God’s power needs not limited cycles,

By limited man.

Christians, be alert to the Word,

Defy a one-church plan.

 

The next great Christian event,

Is His Coming in the sky.

“Hello” to the wonderful line of God. 

To man’s plan – “Good-bye”!

                – eab, Apr. ‘98

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Feature

Man – the creature with an

 

                             Eternal “Feature” – eab, 2/17/09

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Just Christmas, Again

Is it just Christmas, again,

In a world of war and sin?

Another year of tinsel and paper,

Of glamorous gifts (paid for later)

Of loveless homes and empty lives,

And husbands separate from their wives?

Another day, the same as last,

The only difference, a year has past?

 

No, this year can be,

A joyous, Christian reality.

A year when Christ is personal,

Yes, more than an a year, eternal,

The Lord of your life, and heart.

If not now, then now start.        -eab, 11/67

Written while instructor of literature at Hobe Sound Bible College, Martin County, Florida.

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