They Were Pilgrims

Book Description:

They Were Pilgrims is the story of four remarkable young men who shared a common spiritual aim and ideal. They were David Brainerd, Henry Martyn, Robert Murray M'Cheyne, and Ion Keith-Falconer. Their average life-span was only thirty years, but they left a spiritual impact on their generation which was altogether out of the ordinary. Their lives covered the period of history from 1718 to 1887. A clear line of spiritual descent can be traced from David Brainerd to Henry Martyn, from Brainerd and Martyn to Robert Murray M'Cheyne, and from Martyn to Ion Keith-Falconer. They were all linked to the missionary movement which had its birth in the great spiritual awakening of the eighteenth century.

They were pioneers in this movement: Brainerd with the Native North Americans, M'Cheyne with the Jews of Palestine and Central Europe, Martyn and keith-Falconer in the Muslin world of Persia and Arabia. Their contribution to missionary work would be enough in itself to invest their lives with outstanding interest. But the greatest single feature in their lives was their unqualified self-surrender to the claims of God.

This book tries to pull up the blinds so that readers can see through the window and can trace the inner spiritual development of these exemplary Christians. It is the freshness and clarity of this record of personal devotion which makes the story of their pilgrimage so relevant for the whole-hearted disciple of Christ today.

Author:

Sir Marcus Lawrence Loane KBE (1911-2009) was the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney from 1966 to 1982 and Primate of Australia from 1978 to 1982. Born in Tasmania, Loane spent nearly all his ministry in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney except for two years during World War II when as a front-line chaplain in Papua New Guinea, his thoughtfulness and physical endurance won the respect of the Kokoda Trail troops and indigenous workers in his pastoral care.
After the war he was appointed Vice-Principal and then Principal of Moore Theological College. In 1958, he was appointed a coadjutor (assistant) bishop in the diocese. In the 1976 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). He was also appointed Chaplain of the Venerable Order of Saint John on 5 December 1978. Loane travelled widely in Australia and overseas, imparting his theological, ministerial, historical, and devotional insights to many Christians. His books published by the Trust are Masters of the English Reformation, They Were Pilgrims, Jesus Himself, and Makers of Puritan History. He died in Sydney on April 14, 2009, at the age of 97.

Endorsement:

The South African missionary, John Smith Moffat, once commented: 'Many take religion as they take their bridge and tennis, when they have nothing more pressing to do. Religion ought to be a ruling passion.' The young men in the following pages are eminent examples of what Christian passion means…Here some readers will have a first meeting with Brainerd, Martyn, M'Cheyne and Keith-Falconer. And for other readers, who have long revered these names, there will be the pleasure of meeting them again, as true to life as any book can make them. For us all there is the challenge to live with greater devotion to Christ. What follows in these pages aims to deepen what is a fundamental New Testament conviction, and it will surely help us to understand the prayer of Robert Murray M'Cheyne: 'I long for love without any coldness, light without dimness, and purity without spot or wrinkle. I long to lie at Jesus' feet, and tell Him I am all His, and ever will be.' - IAIN H. MURRAY

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