Italian Souls for Christ

Last weekend I had a Sunday morning meeting in Massachusetts and an evening meeting in Rhode Island. Usually I schedule a large group of meetings in one area when I have to travel so many miles from home but in this instance it worked out that I only had the two in New England before needing to return to southern Ohio. Since it was such a quick trip with a lot of mileage I had Sandy and the kids stay home and my brother Rob went with me not only to share in the driving but so that he could see a part of the country he had never been to before.

We drove all night on Thursday and arrived in New York City at 4:30 in the morning on Friday. We left for Rhode Island before lunch but we were able to walk around the Battery Park area and financial district as well as view the city from the top of the Empire State Building. We enjoyed a good dinner in Newport, Rhode Island at the Black Pearl restaurant before turning in for the night at a mission apartment in the area. On Saturday we visited historic Boston until early afternoon and then we drove a circuit in scenic Maine and New Hampshire before returning to our hotel in Massachusetts where I would be preaching the next morning. Before our evening service in Rhode Island we stopped in Providence and visited the First Baptist Church in America founded by Roger Williams. After the evening service we drove the 800-plus miles back to Dayton, Ohio. The trip was special because it would likely be the last time I would be able to spend so much time with my older brother before we leave for Italy.

One of the places we visited along the Freedom Trail in Boston was the Granary Burying Ground, the place of internment for such notable Americans as Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere. One of the last tombstones I walked by was that of James Otis. I would have paid no attention to it had he not been a character in one of Isaiah’s home-school books that Sandy read to us titled Johnny Tremain. The story is about a young apprentice silversmith that is caught up in the danger and excitement of Boston just before the Revolutionary War. There is a moving scene in the book where a handful of men including Adams, Hancock, and Revere are secretly meeting in an upper room to discuss going to war with the British when Otis arrives uninvited. He had overheard Sam Adams say something about fighting. Otis inquires, “For what will we fight?” to which Adams replies, “To free Boston from these infernal redcoats and…” Otis interrupts and says, “That’s not enough reason for going into a war.” He then tells how well the British have treated them even though they occupy the city. Again he asks, “Why are we going to fight?” Adams rejoins, “We will fight for the rights of Americans. England cannot take our money away by taxes.” Otis replies, “No, no. For something more important than the pocketbooks of our American citizens.” Otis then begins a powerful oratory about freedom to choose rulers and the natural rights given by God to every man. He spoke about igniting the torch of liberty to be set as a new sun to lighten the entire world. He then gives account of the cost of fighting for such a noble cause…

Joseph Warren’s fair, responsive face was aflame. The torch Otis had been talking about seemed reflected in his eyes. “We are lucky men,” he murmured, “for we have a cause worth dying for. This honor is not given to every generation.” “Boy,” said Otis to Johnny, “fill my tankard.” It was not until he had drained it and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand that he spoke again. All sat silently waiting for him. He had, and not for the first time, cast a spell upon them. “They say,” he began again, “my wits left me after I got hit on the head by that customs official. That’s what you think, eh, Mr. Sam Adams?” “Oh, no, no, indeed, Mr. Otis.” “Some of us will give our wits,” he said, “some of us all our property. Heh, John Hancock, did you hear that? Property – that hurts, eh? To give one’s silver wine-coolers, one’s coach and four, and the gold buttons off one’s sprigged satin waistcoasts?” Hancock looked him straight in the face and Johnny had never before liked him so well. “I am ready,” he said. “I can get along without all that.” “You, Paul Revere, you’ll give up that silvercraft you love. God made you to make silver, not war.” Revere smiled. “There’s a time for the casting of silver and a time for the casting of cannon. If that’s not in the Bible, it should be.” “Doctor Warren, you’ve a young family. You know quite well, if you get killed they may literally starve.” Warren said, “I’ve thought of all that long ago.” “And you, John Adams. You’ve built up a very nice little law practice, stealing away my clients, I notice. Ah, well, so it goes. Each shall give according to his own abilities, and some” – he turned directly to Rab – “some will give their lives. All the years of their maturity. All the children they never live to have. The serenity of old age. To die so young is more than merely dying; it is to lose so large a part of life.” Rab was looking straight at Otis. His arms were folded across his chest. His head flung back a little. His lips parted as though he would speak, but he did not. “Even you, my old friend –my old enemy? How shall I call you, Sam Adams? Even you will give the best you have – a genius for politics. Oh, go to Philadelphia! Pull all the wool, pull all the strings and all the wires. Yes, go, go! And God go with you. We need you, Sam. We must fight this war. You’ll play your part – but what it is really about… you’ll never know.” James Otis was on his feet, his head close against the rafters that cut down into the attic, making it the shape of a tent. Otis put out his arms. “It is all so much simpler than you think,” he said. He lifted his hands and pushed against the rafters. “We give all we have, lives, property, safety, skills… we fight, we die, for one simple thing. Only that a man can stand up.”

When Sandy read this portion of Johnny Tremain it was an emotional moment for us as we considered the price of our freedom in America. And yet we that name the name of Christ have a far nobler cause than any war fought among nations. We fight for liberty as well – to set men free, held captive by their sin and the Devil. It truly is a cause worth dying for. Some give their wits as they defend the gospel against agnostics and infidels. Others give more liberally of their finances that the gospel might shine around the globe. Still others give up a promising career to minister to those in spiritual darkness in cultures so foreign to their own. Not only does this glorious cause affect those foremost in the fight but to varying degrees their families as well. Truly, each should give according to their own abilities and some even give their lives. Again, why? That liberty might be proclaimed to the captives, that the burden of their sin can roll away, that those once enslaved can stand in the freedom only found in the person of Jesus Christ, and ultimately that they can worship God and enjoy Him forever.

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” – John 8:36