"They departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing everywhere" Luke 9:6
A great many people do not do this. They come to Christ and hear His command — but they do not go, or at least they do not preach and heal. They do not carry to other homes and to other lives — the sweet blessings of mercy and health they have themselves received. Surely this is very ungrateful to Christ, when we remember all that He has done for us. Then it is also very selfish, when we have found such joys — not to try to share them with others who need them.
Christ wants to get the gospel into every home in the world; and the way He wants to do this — is through the hearts and hands of those whom he has already saved. If we do not carry the good news, the lost will not receive it at all.
It is told of a boy who was converted — that at once he started to walk, (for he was poor, and could not buy a ticket on the railroad) away to a place in the West, more than a thousand miles from his home, to tell his brother and Christ.
History relates that the early Christians, many of them, were so eager to carry Christ's gospel everywhere that they even hired themselves out as servants or sold themselves as slaves, that they might be admitted into the homes of the rich and great among the heathen, to live there, and thus have opportunity to tell in those homes of the love of Jesus and of His salvation.
It would have great power in shaping our lives for usefulness, for us to consider ourselves under a divine commission to advance the kingdom of our Lord by bringing others under its holy sway. So long as we merely regard ourselves as sinners saved by grace, with no further responsibility — we shall be of very little use. But when we become conscious that we are apostles — every one of us sent to witness for Christ — we shall become blessings.
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J.R. Miller (1840 - 1912)
Prolific author and pastor of Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois, Rev. James Russell Miller served the USCC as a field agent in the Army of the Potomac and Army of the Cumberland.J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia. J.R. Miller D.D.'s lasting fame is through his over 50 books. Many are still in publication.
James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 - July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
In 1857, James entered Beaver Academy and in 1862 he progressed to Westminster College, Pennsylvania, which he graduated in June, 1862. Then in the autumn of that year he entered the theological seminary of the United Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller resumed his interrupted studies at the Allegheny Theological Seminary in the fall of 1865 and completed them in the spring of 1867. That summer he accepted a call from the First United Presbyterian Church of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867.
J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia.
Five years later, in 1880, Dr. Miller became assistant to the Editorial Secretary at the The Presbyterian Board of Publication, also in Philadelphia.