A Journey From Depression To Faith

A Journey From Depression To Faith

William Grimshaw’s funeral turned out very different from the one he had planned.

GRIMSHAW was born in 1708 in Lancashire, England. He went to Christ’s College, Cambridge, intending to enter the ministry. During his third year he fell in with the wrong crowd, becoming, in his own words, “as vile as the worst.” Still, he chose to enter the ministry, finding no incongruity between his behavior and his chosen profession.

Ordained in the Church of England in 1732, Grimshaw was assigned a church in West Yorkshire. He married a young widow, but within four years she tragically died, leaving him with two small children.

Already a troubled soul, Grimshaw was plunged into a deep depression. He sent his children away to be cared for by relatives. All he could think about was his own mortality and the necessity of making arrangements for his own funeral. On November 26, 1739, three weeks after his wife’s funeral, he wrote, “The Form of My Burial.” At that time funerals were followed by a feast at an alehouse, where alcohol flowed freely. In his written instructions he specified: “To attend my funeral I desire that 20 persons be invited (of my next relations and intimatest acquaintances) and be entertained in the following manner: Let 5 quarts of claret . . . be put in a punch bowl and be drunk in wine glasses round until done.”

At this time an itinerant preacher began rebuking Grimshaw for his legalistic view of salvation. He said, “You are no believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. You are building on sand.” Grimshaw tried to avoid the man, but the words “you are building on sand” kept haunting him.

In 1741 while visiting a friend, Grimshaw saw a book on a table and picked it up. As he opened it and discovered that the author was John Owen, the Puritan divine, a flash of heat flushed his face. Puzzled, he looked at the fireplace, wondering if the fire caused his sudden flush of heat. Opening the book again, he read the title, The Doctrine of Justification by Faith. Suddenly a second flash of heat swept over him. Astonished that it happened again, Grimshaw took it as a divine imperative that he was to read the book.

Taking the book back home, Grimshaw noted in the preface that Owen had written the book for people suffering from the same anguish and distress that he was experiencing. The book confronted the reader with the question of “whether he will trust unto his own personal inherent righteousness or, in full renunciation of it, betake himself unto the grace of God and the righteousness of Christ alone.” To Grimshaw the choice was clear.

He later confided to a friend, “I was willing to renounce myself, every degree of fancied merit and ability, and to embrace Christ only for my all in all. O what light and comfort did I now enjoy in my own soul, and what a taste of the pardoning love of God!”

His ministry immediately changed, and he found peace and joy in his heart as well as his soul. He fell in love with a local girl, married her, and brought his children back home. Now his joy was complete.

He applied for a new parish and moved his family to nearby Haworth, where he ministered powerfully and effectively until his death in 1763. Under his spiritual leadership the little-known village in Yorkshire became one of the leading centers of the Christian faith in all of England.

His funeral was quite different from the one he had planned years before. Vast crowds of loving parishioners followed his coffin to its final resting place. The pastor summarized the faith of William Grimshaw by saying, “Upon [Christ’s] atoning blood and justifying righteousness alone, did every hope of his soul’s acceptance with God depend.”

Reflection

On what are you depending for your salvation? William Grimshaw’s life went from utter despair to joyous faith when he put his trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where will you put your trust?

When people work, their wages are not a gift. Workers earn what they receive. But people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work.

Romans 4:4-5