“Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had a perfect understanding (carefully investigated) of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightiest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed.” Luke 1:1-4
GOD AT WORK! In the past. In the last half of the 19th century and the 1st half of the 20th century, there was a deep and compelling interest among Christians who gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to reach out in evangelism. Gospel work spread across the British Commonwealth and to many other parts of the world, through men and women who had a heart for the eternal welfare of people all over the world. New assemblies were formed and from them, the work of God spread to cities and villages, farms, and isolated places.
Zealous Gospel preachers came from the UK to North America, following contacts of people who came to get free land and they homesteaded adjoining property to provide opportunity for their children to get a start. Coal mines in Nova Scotia drew men from Scotland. Small farms were cut out of the forests of New Brunswick and all across Canada. Mr. William Brennan and Mr. Isaac McMullen, two men from Northern Ireland, came to Nova Scotia and there they found open doors to preach the Gospel, although there was often strong opposition. My grandfather, David Scott, had come to Boston, USA in 1885 as a new believer who had to leave his home in North Ireland because he had been saved at the age of thirteen under the preaching of Mr. James Campbell. His family was very angry at his “presumption” that he was saved and had eternal life. Mr. John Blair, also from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland where my grandfather came from, came to Boston and they had meetings together in Massachusetts and then went to New Brunswick. Mr. Campbell came also and asked my grandfather to preach with him when he had the opportunity to get off work.
He went with Mr. Campbell to New Brunswick and they saw souls saved, and an assembly formed there. He married soon after and went back to Omagh, North Ireland to try to win his family to Christ. Some of them were saved which was a wonderful relief to grandfather, even in his old age. On their way back to Nova Scotia, in the fall of 1897, the sea on the North Atlantic was so rough, the ship came into St. John’s, Newfoundland. It wasn’t a large city then, so during the week they were there he was able to visit much of the city in door-to-door work giving out tracts.
Mr. Brennan and Mr. McMullen, a few years later decided to go to Newfoundland and preach the Gospel. They were in St, John’s first and then went farther out around Conception Bay. WWI began, and they did not return for a few years. After that war was over, they returned to Newfoundland for at least one, and maybe another one or two more occasions during the summer months. Mrs. Jessie Snow who lived in Freshwater, Carbonear, and some others professed to be saved. There were connections in Corner Brook with the Noel’s who are from Carbonear. The ones in Corner Brook had a business on Broadway. That was around the time when Bowater’s pulp mill was just getting started in Corner Brook.
The preachers went to Corner Brook on at least one occasion and had a great hearing in the open air on Broadway. But these two men were getting older, and the Depression of the 1930s set in, so they were not able to return to Newfoundland. I believe they kept a connection with Mrs. (Aunt Jessie) Snow and supplied her with tracts that she used to go about and pass out. She was what we call “an outspoken person,” who wasn’t easily intimidated. Mr. Burton McMullen, the son of the preacher, came twice a year to Newfoundland in the 1960s and 1970s. He had a great interest in the development of the work in new places as doors were opened up for the Gospel to be preached across the province. He was a salesman who often spoke in the Gospel and was likely motivated by the testimony and outreach work of His father.
When God works in the hearts of believers and generates a desire in them to see other people saved by God’s grace, He can use any available person to further His Gospel in one way or another. God was at work in Ireland in the hearts of some. Then in Nova Scotia, and then finally in Newfoundland and Labrador. He wants to use you and me to reach out to places that need to hear the plain preaching of the Gospel so that people will be brought to repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the fields that are ready for a harvest of precious souls. “He is just the same today.”