"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now"
(Rom. 8:22).
It may be well that we remind ourselves that pain presents no problem to any man except to the man who believes in God. Pain becomes a problem only in the presence of faith. When, ever and anon, some believer, it may be one whose faith at the moment is trembling, challenges the world's agony, the challenge is always uttered in the presence of the consciousness of God. When the soul cries out in revolt in the presence of the abounding suffering of men, the cry is always born of the wonder how God can permit this. There is no other problem. Blot God out of His universe and you will still have pain, but no problem to assault the soul. It is only faith that has to face this perplexity. It is Habakkuk who suffers most in the day of the declension of the people of God. It is Habakkuk who says, "Oh, Lord, how long?" I cry murder and Thou dost not hear. I cry violence and there is no answer. What is God doing?
It was Carlyle, rough, rugged, peculiar in many ways, and yet a man of the greatest faith, who, when Froude attempted to comfort him by telling him that God is in His heaven, said, "Yes, but He is doing nothing." I never repeat that without being inclined to say to believing souls, Do not be angry with Carlyle. It was not true, God was doing something, but there is neither man nor woman in this house who has ever come very near, and remained near to the world's agony, who has not had that thought at some time or another. The whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain, and the proportion of our nearness to God is the proportion of our sense of this problem of pain, for it is the love of God shed abroad in the heart that renders the heart keen and sensitive to the world's agony. The heart of man, taught by the Divine love, questions the Divine love, until, presently, the heart of the man discovers that the very agony he feels which makes him question is the result of the presence in his soul of the God of love, and, indeed, it is an expression of God's own agony. It is when we become sensible of that prevalent pain that we need hope; and unless hope shall save us, then we shall indeed be lost.
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G. Campbell Morgan (1863 - 1945)
Was a British evangelist, preacher and a leading Bible scholar. A contemporary of Rodney "Gipsy" Smith, Morgan was the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London from 1904 to 1919, and from 1933 to 1943.In 1896 D. L. Moody invited him to lecture to the students at the Moody Bible Institute. This was the first of his 54 crossings of the Atlantic to preach and teach. After the death of Moody in 1899 Morgan assumed the position of director of the Northfield Bible Conference. He was ordained by the Congregationalists in London, and given a Doctor of Divinity degree by the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1902.[1] After five successful years in this capacity, he returned to England in 1904 and became pastor of Westminster Chapel in London. During two years of this ministry he was President of Cheshunt College in Cambridge.[2] His preaching and weekly Friday night Bible classes were attended by thousands. In 1910 Morgan contributed an essay entitled The Purposes of the Incarnation to the first volume of The Fundamentals, 90 essays which are widely considered to be the foundation of the modern Fundamentalist movement. Leaving Westminster Chapel in 1919, he once again returned to the United States, where he conducted an itinerant preaching/teaching ministry for 14 years. Finally, in 1933, he returned to England, where he again became pastor of Westminster Chapel and remained there until his retirement in 1943. He was instrumental in bringing Martyn Lloyd-Jones to Westminster in 1939 to share the pulpit and become his successor. Morgan was a friend of F. B. Meyer, Charles Spurgeon, and many other great preachers of his day.
George Campbell Morgan was born in Tetbury, England, the son of a Baptist minister. His home was one of such genuine piety that in later years he wrote: "While my father could not compel me to be a Christian, I had no choice because of what he did for me and what I saw in him."
When Campbell was 10 years old, D.L. Moody came to England for the first time, and the effect of his ministry, combined with the dedication of his parents, made such an impression on the life of young Morgan, that at the age of 13, he preached his first sermon. Two years later, he was preaching regularly in country chapels during his Sundays and holidays.
In 1886, at the age of 23, he left the teaching profession, for which he had been trained, and began devoting his full time to the ministry of the Word of God. He was ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1890, having been rejected by the Wesleyan Methodists two years before. His reputation as preacher and Bible expositor soon encompassed England and spread to the United States.
After the death of Moody in 1899, Morgan assumed the position of director of the Northfield Bible Conference. After five very successful years there, he returned to England in 1904 and became pastor of Westminster Chapel of London. His preaching and his weekly Friday night Bible classes were attended by thousands. During two years of this ministry, he was president of Cheshunt College in Cambridge.
Leaving Westminster Chapel in 1919, he once again returned to the United States, where he conducted an itinerant ministry for 14 years. Many thousands of people heard him preach in nearly every state and also in Canada. Finally, in 1933, he returned to England, where he became pastor of Westminster Chapel again and remained there until his retirement in 1943.
The most outstanding preacher that this country has heard during the past thirty years"-this was Dr. James M. Gray's estimate of Dr. G. Campbell Morgan whose ministry spanned the Atlantic and reached from the days of D. L. Moody to the era of World War II.
Born on a farm in England in 1863, he was brought up in a strict Puritanical home where he amused himself by preaching to his sisters' dolls. Although his first sermon before a responsive audience was delivered in a Wesleyan schoolroom at the age of thirteen, he was engulfed in doubt and confusion concerning his faith after preparing for the ministry.
Remembering those two chaotic years, Dr. Morgan later wrote, "The only hope for me was the Bible....I stopped reading books about the Bible and began to read the Bible itself. I saw the light and was back on the path." For seven years thereafter, his reading concerning the things of God was confined to the Word of God itself.
Ordained a minister of the Congregational Church in 1889, the young man became the leading preacher in England, holding several pastorates. Later he became widely known in the United States and Canada as a Bible conference speaker, lecturer, pastor and teacher before returning to England in 1935 to become the pastor of Westminster Congregational Church in London.
Dr. Morgan was a prolific but profound writer of books, booklets, tracts and articles. Among his best-known books are Parables of the Kingdom; the eleven volumes of the Westminster Pulpit; The Crises of the Christ; the ten-volume work, The Analysed Bible; the Triumphs of Faith series; and An Exposition of the Whole Bible.
His earthly life of testimony and ministry came to a close in May, 1945.