A Review Article by Rev W A Weale
Many, perhaps most of us, are familiar with some of Brownlow North’s writings, such as his published sermons, The Rich Man and Lazarus, or on the words addressed to Rebekah, Wilt Thou Go with this Man? Fewer perhaps may have read this account of his life and work by K Moody Stuart. The first edition of this was published in 1878, just three years after Brownlow North’s death. There followed several editions before the present, very much welcomed, retypeset hardback edition.
Brownlow North was born on 6 January 1810. He was the only son of Augustus North, Rector of Alverstoke, Hampshire. His grandfather, also Brownlow North, was successively Bishop of Lichfield, Worcester and Winchester. Brownlow North was a grand-nephew of Lord North, prime minister during the reign of George III.
At the early age of nine he went to Eton, but did not distinguish himself there, being more interested in sport than in study. Although blessed with a godly mother, the prayers she offered up and the pious training he received bore no fruit in her son at that stage. He became increasingly wayward and, when his father died in 1825, young Brownlow was removed from Eton and went out to Corfu with his cousin Lord Guilford. His behaviour there, however, was so unruly that he was soon sent home – being beyond his cousin’s control. Afterwards he was sent abroad again with a tutor, but again with no success, for he appears to have passed the greater part of his time in Paris and Rome in gaming saloons. On returning to England he continued to pursue the ways of this world, spending his time riding and dancing. While still in his teens he visited Ireland and met his wife to be, Grace Ann, a daughter of a minister in Galway. They married on 12 December 1828 when Brownlow was still only 18. Three sons were born to Brownlow North and his wife.
About this time an event took place that was to have repercussions for the future. His cousin died and, as a result North lost all hope of being appointed minister of a comfortable city charge. He did, however, have some income as registrar of the diocese of Winchester and Surrey, to which he had been appointed early in life, and after paying two solicitors to do his work, he was left with about £300 a year. In an attempt to augment this amount of money, much too little for his lifestyle, he began to gamble and soon ran into debt.
The outcome was that, after leaving his family with his mother, he went off to Portugal as a volunteer in Don Pedro’s army. After a few months there he returned and set off for Abergeldie Castle in Scotland with his family and brother-in-law. It was now 1836 and, from that time on, Scotland was to be his home. For several years he lived in Aberdeenshire hunting and fishing, but he took a lease of the Dallas moors, in Morayshire, and made his home there. Of this time, a friend recalled “the Sabbath mornings when, at the same hour as the worshippers were flocking to the house of God, he had seen [North] drive in his dog-cart through the streets, with rod and basket behind him, going to spend the day in fishing on the River Findhorn” (p 16).
1The article reviews Brownlow North: His Life and Work, by K Moody Stuart, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, hardback, 328 pages, £13.00; available from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
Yet it cannot be said that Brownlow North was without serious thoughts from time to time. He had a godly relative who frequently spoke to him about his life and where it was leading, and her words seem to have made some impression upon him. On one occasion, having heard an impressive sermon on the words, “Let me die the death of the righteous”, she thought of him and later she spoke to him about it, hoping it might be of some good to him. After listening to her he said, “To die the death of the righteous we must live the life of the righteous, dear Auntie, and I am not prepared for that yet” (p 17).
This careless course of life continued until the autumn of 1854, when Brownlow North was nearly 45. God’s time for favour had now come and the narrative goes on to give an account of his conversion as he told it to the students of Edinburgh University in March 1862.
“It pleased God”, he said, “in the month of November 1854, one night when I was sitting playing at cards, to make me concerned about my soul. The instrument used was a sensation of sudden illness, which led me to think that I was going to die. I said to my son, ‘I am a dead man; take me upstairs’. As soon as this was done, I threw myself down on the bed. My first thought was now, What will my 44 years of following the devices of my own heart profit me? In a few minutes I shall be in hell, and what good will all these things do me, for which I have sold my soul? At that moment I felt constrained to pray, but it was merely the prayer of a coward, a cry for mercy. I was not sorry for what I had done, but I was afraid of the punishment of my sin.
“And yet still there was something trying to prevent me putting myself on my knees to call for mercy, and that was the presence of the maidservant in the room, lighting my fire. Though I did not believe at that time that I had ten minutes to live, and knew that there was no possible hope for me but in the mercy of God, and that if I did not seek that mercy I could not be expected to have it, yet such was the nature of my heart, and of my spirit within me, that it was a balance with me – a thing to turn this way or that, I could not tell how – whether I should wait till that woman left the room, or whether I should fall on my knees and cry for mercy in her presence. By the grace of God I did put myself on my knees before that girl, and I believe it was the turning point with me. I believe that if I had at that time resisted the Holy Ghost – of course, I cannot say, for who shall limit the Holy Ghost? – but my belief is that it would have been once too often. By God’s grace I was not prevented. I did pray, and though I am not what I should be, yet I am this day what I am, which at least is not what I was. I mentioned this because I believe that every man has in his life his turning-point. I believe that the sin against the Holy Ghost is grieving the Spirit once too often.” The following day he announced publicly to all about him that he was a changed man.
The account goes on to relate how Brownlow North made known, to all his former friends and acquaintances, the great change that God had wrought in his life. This was a great joy to those who were the Lord’s people and not least his mother, but some doubted the sincerity of his conversion. This comes out in the chapter on his “First Private Efforts to Win Souls”, which was largely by way of handing out tracts and speaking “a word in season” as he had opportunity. He also visited the sick and addressed not only the person that was ill but the rest of the people in the home. The news of those addresses and prayers and reading of God’s Word very quickly went round, and before long he was asked to help out in addressing meetings. The great gifts of God bestowed on Brownlow North soon became apparent, and large numbers were attracted whenever he preached.
In the chapter entitled, “Early Evangelic Labours”, we are given an insight into his manner of preaching: “His speech on first rising to address an audience was diffident and laboured, but gradually he became more fluent, except towards the climax of his appeals, when words seemed sometimes wholly to fail him. His language was always simple, natural, scriptural, and was always for the sole purpose of conveying his meaning in the clearest manner to his hearers, without any thought of either rules or flowers of rhetoric, although he was a natural orator, a gift which he probably inherited. He always threw his whole soul unto the subject he was treating of, and was so evidently interested, impressed, and moved by it that he could not but communicate some of the impression on his own spirit to his hearers. Having read his text, or the passage he was about to lecture2 from, several times very slowly and solemnly, emphasising almost every word, he entered at once into his subject, gaining the attention of his audience at the outset, and retaining it in an ever-intensified degree to the close” (pp 86,87).
2In the sense of an expository address.
In the chapters that follow, we are told of his work in Edinburgh, and then Glasgow, which began in the early spring of 1857 and which from the beginning attracted large congregations, so much so that, unless people arrived half an hour before the time, no seats would be available. The outcome of this was that, in May 1859, when the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland met in Edinburgh, an overture was submitted to it desiring to have North recognised as an evangelist. This overture was signed by 68 ministers and 38 elders and was unanimously accepted, resulting in a most eloquent address to North by the moderator, Principal Cunningham, and an equally eloquent and earnest response by North.
The chapters that follow give us an insight, first into “Brownlow North’s Postbag”, with several examples of the many letters he received from those who benefited from his ministry, and then some of his own letters of reply. These reveal the insight he was given into the work of God in the souls of people young and old.
After a chapter on “Brownlow North’s Theology and Preaching”, which highlights not only his gifts as a preacher but also his grasp of theology, we have a chapter on his “Work in Ireland and London”. These were days of revival, when the Spirit of God was poured forth upon the Western nations; and when we read of the many thousands that packed buildings to hear North as well as others, we realise how low things are in our day and generation. Later we are told of “Harvest Work in Various Fields”, in places as far apart as Thurso and Rothesay, before being told of “Remarkable Cases of Impression and Conversion” and “Later Evangelistic Work in Large Towns in England”.
After such widespread and successful labours, and with North still only in his mid-sixties, we are scarcely prepared for the chapter, “Last Year of Earthly Labour”. We are, however, told in earlier chapters of his declining health, owing not a little to his incessant labours. The doctors who attended to him as he struggled with rheumatism and gout, but even more seriously, with a heart problem, warned him that his condition was such that he could die at any time in the pulpit.
In October 1875 he went to Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, for a series of meetings, and on a Sabbath he preached to around 1200 people. Later that week, on Wednesday and Friday, he preached again. On the Saturday, however, he was taken ill and on November 9, just about ten days after preaching his final sermon, he passed from this earthly scene to be with his Lord, whom he so faithfully and devotedly served.
The life and work of Brownlow North bear testimony to the grace of God in transforming one who spent the greater part of his life in the service of Satan, into a mighty instrument for the good of Britain, in the hand of God. We warmly commend this book.