F. W. Grant
F. W. GRANT was born in the Putney district of London, on
25th July, 1834. His conversion was occasioned by the reading of the Scriptures
himself, and not through the instrumentality of others. He was educated at
King´s College School with the expectation of securing a position in the
War Office. The necessary influence for this failing, he went to Canada when he
was twenty-one years of age. At the time he came to Canada the Church of
England was opening parishes in the new parts of the country, and he was
examined and ordained to the ministry without having taken the regular college
course. He left the 'systems' on receiving light through the reading of the
literature published by so-called 'brethren', and lived for a time in Toronto,
afterwards coming to the United States, where he lived in the city of Brooklyn,
and then in Plainfield, N.J., till his death. He was the leader in what is
known as 'the Grant party' in America.
His claim for a permanent place in
the hearts of the saints rests - as it really does with any, but more
ostensibly than with most - in his identification with the Word of God. Unknown
to many in the flesh, who have profited by his ministry, with little of what
may be called popularity, or the magnetism supposed to be so essential in a
leader, he is lost sight of in the precious truth which it was his joy to
unfold. Those who knew him personally loved him for the worth and Christian
nobility of his character, the fruit of God's grace; for that wondrous mind
received from Him and for the simplicity and dignity of a true Christian man.
But it is not of these things that we speak, while we would ever seek to walk
in the steps of piety and faith wherever seen. We turn rather to that Word to
which he held fast, and, in conscious feebleness and dependence, used so
constantly. What views of the Word did he give us! What thoughts of Christ!
What truths under the guidance of the Holy Spirit! These abide.
He had been
for years a diligent student of the Book of Psalms. Not only did their contents
attract, but the form in which they were written - their divisions into a
pentateuch, the acrostic form of a number of them, their evident relation one
to another in various groups - all these things impressed him with the fact
that God had written them upon a distinct plan in which the numerical
significance of psalm and group and book had a clearly marked and important
place. But if the Psalms were written thus, why not all Scripture? So he went
on, till he found the same Divine harmony throughout the inspired Word, set to
work, and with unbounded patience produced "The Numerical Bible," issued in
several volumes, unfortunately not embracing the whole Bible. He was the author
of "Facts and Theories as to a Future State", "Genesis in the Light of the New
Testament", "Spiritual Law in the Natural World", "The Crowned Christ", and
many other valuable books and pamphlets, which have had an extensive
circulation on both sides of the Atlantic.
The passion of our
brother´s life, the desire that consumed him, was to make Christ more
precious, to make His Word, more loved, more read, more studied. He made a
significant utterance shortly before his departure. Sitting propped in his
chair, with the Word of God open before him, as was his custom through the days
of weary, helpless, waiting, he turned to the writer of these lines, and with a
depth of pathos, glancing at his Bible, said: "Oh, the Book, the Book, the
BOOK!" It seemed as though he said: "What a fulness there; how little I have
grasped it; how feeble expressed its thoughts". Thus he passed to be "with
Christ" at Plainfield, New Jersey, on 25th July, 1902, on his sixty-eighth
birthday.
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