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F.B. Meyer
Frederick Brotherton Meyer (1847 - 1929). English Baptist pastor, author, and evangelist born in London. Converted at eight, he studied at Regent’s Park College and graduated from London University in 1869. Ordained in 1870, he pastored in Liverpool, York, and London, notably at Christ Church, Lambeth, and Regent’s Park Chapel, growing congregations through accessible preaching. A key figure in the Keswick Convention’s holiness movement, he emphasized deeper spiritual life and social reform, advocating for the poor and prisoners. Meyer wrote over 75 books, including The Secret of Guidance (1896) and Paul: A Servant of Jesus Christ, with millions of copies sold globally. He traveled to North America, Asia, and South Africa, influencing figures like D.L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon. Married twice—first to Jane Elder in 1874, then Lucy Holloway in 1898—he had one daughter. His temperance work led to 500 pub closures in York. Meyer’s devotional writings and Bible studies remain influential in evangelical circles.
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Sermon Summary
F.B. Meyer reflects on the contrast between the ancient understanding of death as a land of darkness and the Christian hope of eternal life and light through Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that while the patriarchs viewed life as day and the afterlife as night, believers today see the present as night and the future as a glorious day. Meyer encourages Christians to live in anticipation of Christ's return, likening the soul's affections to the tides influenced by the cross and the hope of His coming. He urges believers to remain vigilant and prepared, embodying the spirit of waiting for the Lord's return with faith and readiness.
The Land of Darkness and the Shadow of Death.
The land of darkness and the shadow of death. Job x. 21. THIS represented the highest thinking of that age about the future. There were gleams now and again of something more; but they were fitful and uncertain, soon overtaken by dark and sad forebodings. How different to our happy condition, for whom death is abolished, whilst life and immortality have been brought to light! The patriarch called the present life Day, and the future Night. We know that in comparison the present is Night, and the future Day. "The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us put on the armour of light." For us, too, there is something better. We wait for his Son from heaven; we look for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. "As the waters of the sea are held between two mighty gravitations, the moon now drawing them towards itself, and the earth drawing them back again, thus giving the ebbing and flowing tide, by which our earth is kept clean and healthful, so must the tides of the soul's affection move perpetually between the cross of Christ and the coming of Christ, influenced now by the power of memory and now by the power of hope." It is said of the late Dr. Gordon: "Hardly a sermon was preached without allusion to the glorious appearing. Never a day passed in which he did not prepare himself for it, in which its hastening was not sought for with prayer." "Yet a little while [Greek, how little! how little!] and He that shall come will come." The attitude of every believer should be that of waiting: with loins girt and lamp burning, let us be ready to meet our Lord. "The Best is yet to be, The Last for which the First was made."
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Frederick Brotherton Meyer (1847 - 1929). English Baptist pastor, author, and evangelist born in London. Converted at eight, he studied at Regent’s Park College and graduated from London University in 1869. Ordained in 1870, he pastored in Liverpool, York, and London, notably at Christ Church, Lambeth, and Regent’s Park Chapel, growing congregations through accessible preaching. A key figure in the Keswick Convention’s holiness movement, he emphasized deeper spiritual life and social reform, advocating for the poor and prisoners. Meyer wrote over 75 books, including The Secret of Guidance (1896) and Paul: A Servant of Jesus Christ, with millions of copies sold globally. He traveled to North America, Asia, and South Africa, influencing figures like D.L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon. Married twice—first to Jane Elder in 1874, then Lucy Holloway in 1898—he had one daughter. His temperance work led to 500 pub closures in York. Meyer’s devotional writings and Bible studies remain influential in evangelical circles.