Dear Friends,

Yesterday in Church we sang that grand old hymn “The God of Abraham Praise.” I thought you might enjoy the story of the man who wrote it and take him as an example of meaning business for Christ. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,

John Janney

Romans 13:8

“I remember the story of Thomas Olivers, the famous cobbler convert, who was a loose-living man till he was renewed by grace through the preaching of Mr. Wesley, and became a mighty preacher, and the author of that glorious hymn, ‘The God of Abraham Praise.’ This man, before conversion, was much in the habit of contracting debts, but could not be brought to pay them. When he received grace, he was convinced that he had no right to remain in debt. He says, ‘I felt as great sorrow and confusion as if I had stolen every sum I owed.’ Now, he was not repentant for this one debt, or that other debt, but for being in debt at all, and, therefore, having a little coming to him from the estate of a relative, he bought a horse, and rode from town to town, paying everybody to whom he was indebted. Before he had finished his pilgrimage, he had paid seventy debts, principal and interest, and had been compelled to sell his horse, saddle, and bridle, to do it. During this eventful journey he rode many miles to pay a single sixpence: it was only a sixpence, but the principle was the same, whether the debt was sixpence or a hundred pounds.” [Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XXXV, (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1889), p. 125-125]