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Arthur John Gossip
Arthur John Gossip, born 1873, died 1954, was a Scottish preacher and professor whose eloquent sermons and profound faith made him one of the most celebrated ministers of the Free Church of Scotland in the early 20th century. Born on January 20, 1873, in Glasgow, Scotland, to Robert Gossip and Agnes McFarlane, he graduated with an M.A. from the University of Edinburgh, where he was shaped by the preaching of Alexander Whyte at St. George’s Church. Licensed as a Free Church minister in 1898, he served several congregations—Forfar (1898–1907), St. Matthew’s in Glasgow (1910–1918), and Beechgrove Church in Aberdeen (1918–1928)—before becoming Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Glasgow from 1939 to 1945. His World War I service as a chaplain in Belgium and France further deepened his pastoral perspective. Gossip’s preaching gained lasting fame through his sermon “But When Life Tumbles In, What Then?” delivered in 1927 at Beechgrove Church, days after the sudden death of his wife, Annie Morton, whom he married in 1907 and with whom he had one daughter. This sermon, blending raw grief with unshakable hope, is often cited as one of the 20th century’s greatest, published in his book The Hero in Thy Soul (1928). His other works, like From the Edge of the Crowd (1924) and The Galilean Accent (1926), showcase his literary flair, drawing from poetry, fiction, and scripture with a rare dramatic intensity.
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Arthur John Gossip emphasizes the importance of having a steadfast and unwavering faith in God, comparing the challenges faced in life to running with footmen and contending with horses. He warns against having a fair-weather religion that crumbles under pressure, using the analogy of an airplane crashing when faced with a sudden obstacle. Gossip highlights the parable of building on sand versus building on the rock, illustrating the necessity of a strong foundation in God to withstand life's storms and trials.
A Test of Faith
"If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?" (Jer. 12:5). But then so many people's religion is a fair-weather affair. A little rain, and it runs and crumbles; a touch of strain, and it snaps. How often out at the front one lay and watched an airplane high up in the blue and sunlight, a shimmering, glistening, beautiful thing: and then there came one shot out of a cloud, and it crashed down to earth, a broken mass of twisted metal. And many a one's religion is like that. So long as God's will runs parallel to ours, we follow blithely. But the moment that they cross, or clash, that life grows difficult, that we don't understand, how apt faith is to fail us just when we have most need of it! You remember our Lord's story of the two men who lived in the same village, and went to the same synagogue, and sat in the same pew, listening to the same services: and how one day some kind of gale blew into their lives, a fearsome storm. And in the one case, everything collapsed, and for a moment there were some poor spars tossing upon wild waters, and then, nothing at all. For that unhappy soul had built on sand, and in his day of need, everything was undermined, and vanished. But the other, though he too had to face the emptiness, the loneliness, the pain, came through it all braver and stronger and mellower and nearer God. For he had built upon the rock. Well, what of you and me? We have found it a business to march with the infantry, how will we keep up with the horsemen: if the small ills of life have frayed our faith and temper, what will we do in the roar and the black swirl of Jordan?
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Arthur John Gossip, born 1873, died 1954, was a Scottish preacher and professor whose eloquent sermons and profound faith made him one of the most celebrated ministers of the Free Church of Scotland in the early 20th century. Born on January 20, 1873, in Glasgow, Scotland, to Robert Gossip and Agnes McFarlane, he graduated with an M.A. from the University of Edinburgh, where he was shaped by the preaching of Alexander Whyte at St. George’s Church. Licensed as a Free Church minister in 1898, he served several congregations—Forfar (1898–1907), St. Matthew’s in Glasgow (1910–1918), and Beechgrove Church in Aberdeen (1918–1928)—before becoming Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Glasgow from 1939 to 1945. His World War I service as a chaplain in Belgium and France further deepened his pastoral perspective. Gossip’s preaching gained lasting fame through his sermon “But When Life Tumbles In, What Then?” delivered in 1927 at Beechgrove Church, days after the sudden death of his wife, Annie Morton, whom he married in 1907 and with whom he had one daughter. This sermon, blending raw grief with unshakable hope, is often cited as one of the 20th century’s greatest, published in his book The Hero in Thy Soul (1928). His other works, like From the Edge of the Crowd (1924) and The Galilean Accent (1926), showcase his literary flair, drawing from poetry, fiction, and scripture with a rare dramatic intensity.