One of my hobbies is collecting and reprinting the writings of and about 18th and 19th century American Presbyterians (I was a history and mathematics major at LSU, and have enjoyed studying history for as long as I can remember; combine that with my love for the Presbyterian Church and books, and I guess it was only a matter of time before Log College Press happened). Preserving and reading old books is important for many reasons (if you’ve never read C. S. Lewis’ essay “On the Reading of Old Books,” do it as soon as you can), but one of my favorite reasons is that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). The trials and issues we face today have already been faced by Christians in generations past, and their writings continue to minister powerfully to us.
One example is immediately obvious: a recent precursor to today’s coronavirus pandemic was the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Between October 1, 1918, and November 1, 1919, nearly 3,000 citizens of our nation’s capital died from the virus. During October 1918, as we’re experiencing somewhat today, public gatherings were banned. Francis James Grimke was an African American Presbyterian minister in Washington, D.C., who pastored Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church from 1878-1928. When his congregation was allowed to gather for corporate worship again on November 3, 1918, he preached a sermon entitled Some Reflections, Growing Out of the Recent Epidemic of Influenza That Afflicted Our City. In it he elaborates upon several lessons he learned during the worst season of the deadly flu. I encourage you to read all eleven pages of Grimke’s sermon, but I want to summarize a few of the things he learned in hopes that God might teach us similar lessons over the next few months.
1. In spite of all the resources of modern science and all the skill of trained professionals, it is easy for viruses to kill large numbers of people. Grimke soberly reminds us, “How easy it would be for God to wipe out the whole human race, in this way, if he wanted to; for these terrible epidemics, plagues, the mighty forces of nature, all are at His command, are all His agents. At any moment, if He willed it, in this way, vast populations or portions of populations could be destroyed.”
2. Why do some who get the virus die and others recover? Why do some get the virus and others do not? Certainly there are physical answers to those questions. But ultimately, the answer is that God has written all our days in His book, when as yet there was not one of them (Psalm 139:16). Grimke explains, “[The reason] is to be found in the will of God. For some, the time of their departure had come, the limit of their earthly existence had been reached, and this was God's way of removing them out of this world into the next. Some day we have all got to go, but how, or when, or where, we do not know; that is with God alone.”
3. Viruses are no respecter of persons, and certainly no respecter of skin color. In Grimke’s day, racial discrimination against African Americans in the United States was present to a large degree. He was struck by the way that white Americans were having to face the fact that white skin was no guarantee of a stronger constitution, as some in his day were claiming. “In this terrible epidemic, which has afflicted not only this city but the whole country, there is a great lesson for the white man to learn. It is the folly of his stupid color prejudice. It calls attention to the fact that he is acting on a pinciple that God utterly repudiates, as He has shown during this epidemic scourge, and, as He will show him when He comes to deal with him in the judgment of the great day of solemn account.”
4. Flu pandemics keep death and eternity before people in a way that only wars tend to do. Grimke puts it beautifully, and I quote him at length: “While it lasted, it kept the thought of death and of eternity constantly before the people. As the papers came out, day after day, among the first things that every one looked for, or asked about, was as to the number of deaths. And so the thought of death was never allowed to stay very long out of the consciousness of the living. And with the thought of death, the great thought also of eternity, for it is through death that the gates of eternity swing open. We don't as a general thing think very much about either death or eternity. They are not pleasant things to think about, and so we avoid thinking of them as much as possible. It is only when we are forced to that we give them any consideration, and even then only for the moment. They are both subjects of vital importance, however, involving the most momentous consequences. For after death is always the judgment. The grim messenger is God's summons to us to render up our account. That there is an account to be rendered up we are inclined to lose sight of, to forget; but it is to be rendered all the same. The books are to be opened, and we are to be judged out of the books. During the weeks of this epidemic—in the long list of deaths, in the large number of new made graves, in the unusual number of funeral processions along our streets, God has been reminding us of this account which we must soon render up; He has been projecting before us in away to startle us, the thought of eternity.”
5. Finally, it is only a living faith in Jesus Christ that can give a true sense of security in the midst of deadly perils. “While the plague was raging, while thousands were dying, what a comfort it was to feel that we were in the hands of a loving Father who was looking out for us, who had given us the great assurance that all things should work together for our good. And, therefore, that come what would—whether we were smitten with the epidemic or not, or whether being smitten, we survived or perished, we knew it would be well with us, that there was no reason to be alarmed.” For the Christian, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And so while we live, we live for Christ and for the good of our neighbor, not for self. And if He chooses to take us home, then we rejoice that we will be with him forever.
May the Lord grant us protection and peace, as well as grace to use this trial for our spiritual growth and His glory!