My eldest son, Robert Stockton Green, died the very close of this year 1813. He died at Boston, on Tuesday the 28th of September, and the next day his corpse was deposited in Mr. Dexter’s cemetery;—the very day of our annual commencement, eight years after taking his degree in this College. He was born July 30th, 1787; and was, of course, twenty-six years and two months of age when he died, wanting two days.
On the way to the ruler’s house, where Jesus raised the dead Maiden to life, an unusual interruption occurred. This tried the anxious father’s spirit by his child’s death during the delay. We have now to take up the case of the Sufferer whose urgency occasioned it. But first of all it is to be observed, that the interruption itself is of a most remarkable character; there being nothing similar to it in the New Testament. Jesus, though hindered, was not stopped by the crowd, nor by an importunate petitioner that would not be denied, but simply by the change that passed on his own spirit. Virtue has gone out of him; a portion of the Spirit within him has entered into some one else. He has undertaken a great work which he goes to perform, and there is a pressing throng around him; but he instantly marks the alteration that has occurred within himself, and will not proceed till it is accounted for; although he possesses the Spirit without measure, and that is not lost by him which is gained by another.
God is sovereign over every detail of this world. This the Scripture asserts plainly throughout its pages. Recent times have challenged the church to maintain consistency in its understanding and application of this doctrine. If the Lord is sovereign over all, he is sovereign over trials, afflictions, and global catastrophes.
The greatest thing in man is mind. But in a fallen world, the best mind degenerates and is subject to all the vicissitudes and decay inherent to our condition. In the twenty-first century, talk of the mind invariably turns to thought of the brain. And what will the physical brain of man be in heaven and in the new earth? This is one of many interesting questions that receives consideration from Rev. Hugh Martin, in one of his letters included in the compendium “Christ Victorious, Selected Writings of Hugh Martin,” recently published by the Banner of Truth Trust.
