"Fair Sunshine"

One of the most influential books I read in my early ministry life was: “FAIR SUNSHINE –Character Studies of the Scottish Covenanters” by Jock Purves.

These biographical sketches of certain Scottish Covenanters…the story of their faith, families, and horrific persecutions; and ultimately the memory of their heroic lives, Biblical convictions and eternal perspectives were used by God in my formative (early) years as a Christian to bring about a revolution in my own heart and mind.  

I wholeheartedly agree with Samuel Johnson and Joseph Addison when they said, “No species of writing seems more worthy of cultivation than biography”; and “It is observed that a man improves more by reading the Story of a person eminent for prudence and virtue, than by the finest rules and precepts of morality.”

The power of a testimony and inspiration from a godly example are personal invitations to engage life and experience God. Christian biographies cultivate the fertile soil of our hearts and minds while germinating the seeds of destiny within us.  Once we read how they lived, what they believed, and see both the passion and priorities of their lives, it’s hard to return to a mediocre faith.

The most powerful forces for changing perspectives, motivations and expectations are personal ones. That’s why Jesus came, what HE sends us for (Mt 10:40), how your witness is so vital, and where the influence of biographies comes from. The Holy Spirit uses human lives in changing human lives, whether from a real relationship or the pages of a book.

When Jesus teaches on sanctification, HE tells us the power to change is in the truth of the Word, being sent as HIS representative, and a personal relational love motivation (Jn 17:17-19). It is “for their sake” or because of our loving concern for another that consecration is possible. You can’t be holy alone…there is no true sanctification from trying harder, self-discipline or works orientation. You will never become more like Jesus without relationships. The fruit of the Spirit is to be manifest in the relationships and difficult circumstances of our lives.

“Fair Sunshine” was and is a useful guide to readers who could, should learn more about a people and their Covenants with God in Christ…

The Spirit of God testifies that they had the mind of Christ.  Here is a small part of their Rules of Society Meetings:

 ‘As it is the undoubted duty of all to pray for the coming of Christ’s kingdom, so all that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and know what it is to bow a knee in good earnest, will long and pray for the out-making of the Gospel promises to His Church in the latter days, that King Christ would go out upon the white horse of the Gospel, conquering and to conquer, and make a conquest of the travail of His soul, that it may be sounded that the kingdoms of the world are become His, and His Name called upon from the rising of the sun to its going down.

            1. That the old casten of Israel would never be forgotten, especially in these meetings.  That the promised day of their ingrafting might be hastened; and that dead weight of blood removed off them, that their fathers took upon them and upon their children, that have sunk them down to hell, upwards of seventeen hundred years.

            2. That the Lord’s written and preached word may be sent with power to enlighten the poor pagan world, living in black perishing darkness without Christ and the knowledge of His Name…that they would love, sympathize, and pray for one another in secret, and in their families who have them, and weep when any member weeps, and rejoice with all such as are joined in this society communion which is the strictest of all communions; and before they go to their meetings everyone would be importunate with the Lord to go with them and meet with them, that it may be for the better and not for the worse, and with all such meetings.’

I loved this when I first read it in my UR dorm room during the winter of 1989…and I am inspired to live by it even today. Notice that historically, King Jesus is the 1 going forth on the “White Horse” of the Gospel, not the anti-christ.

“What shall I say in this great day of the Lord, wherein in the midst of a cloud, I have found a fair sunshine! I can wish no more for you, but that the Lord may comfort you, and shine upon you as HE does upon me, and give you that same sense of HIS love in staying in the world, as I have in going out of it.”

-Letter of Archibald Campbell, a Covenanter, to his daughter-in-law, written on the day of his execution in Edinburgh for his Christian faith.