A few weeks ago, I had the rare privelege (for me anyway) of driving on the highway through downtown Chicago. I was on my way home to the southside from the northside, and I was praying. While I admit this was not the safest of prayers methods (especially in a manual car), I think God was revealing something to me then:
I saw the city landscape. Every street. Every building. And it took a while for me to get it, but then I realized the imensity of it all. I realized that each building represented, well, who knows how many people; and each person – who knows how many sins. And while that thought can be overwhelming, so can this: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Is this not overwhelming?
James Caughy was one who understood. Born in Northern Ireland on April 9, 1810, his family soon immigrated to America. It was in New York in 1830 where he became a believer duirng what is known as the Second Great Awakening in the “Burned-over District.” Two years later he was ordained as a Methodist preacher.
The Rev. James Caughy is known for is firey preaching. In fact, it was at his revival service in Nottingham that lead William Booth to declare “God should have all there is of William Booth.” His evangelism campaigns in Britain reportedly saw over 20,000 come to Christ.
If there was anyone who undertsood what it meant to fight for souls, it was this guy.
He knew the call:
“If Jesus wept over Jerusalem, when He beheld a cloud of wrath gathering over it – why, Oh, why, should not we weep? I repeat it, why should not we weep to behold the mouths of the grave and of hell preparing to open and to engulf so many. Instead of repressing our tears, should we not rather say with the prophet Jeremiah, “Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people?” (James Caughey)
Complied and Edited from The International Heritage Centre Website.
Photo by Archie Florcruz.