The year is 1877. Come with me along Temple Street, Southwark, in South London, thick with fog, and in under the lamp that stands above a wrought iron gate that leads us to a large college building, not many years old. If we go through the large wooden double doors of the arched entrance of the building itself and along the corridors we will find a small room, tucked away somewhere and there at the desk within we will find a man sat writing. It is January and a small fire is burning in the grate. A clock can be heard ticking out the seconds. The man is not tall. He is rather thick set with dark lively eyes, a full head of hair and a full beard that disappears on either side near the ears. He is in his thirties. It is the great C H Spurgeon, president of the Pastors College where we find ourselves.
At this moment there is a knock on the door of the room and in steps a tall African-American gentleman. His skin is dark, though not ebony black. He has the broad nose and the thick lips we associate with Africans. His hair is quite long with a vague parting in the middle. It has been brushed as straight as its fairly tight curls will allow. He sports what is often called a ‘goatee’ beard and moustache, quite whispy in appearance. He is just 40 but looks perhaps a little older. ‘Ah, Mr Johnson’ says Spurgeon in his ringing tones, rising to take him by the hand, ‘how good to have a few moments to speak with you’. For the next 15 minutes the older man speaks to Spurgeon in a slow, precise Virginian accent, peppered with distinct African-American pronunciation and occasionally odd grammatical constructions. He tells his story and of how he longs to take the gospel to Africa. Spurgeon is a busy man and there is little time but he listens well and does not allow his black brother to depart without definite assurances that he will do all in his power to help him in his endeavours to bring the gospel to Africa. They bow their heads for a moment of prayer before parting and Spurgeon briefly but boldly commends his ‘black but comely’ brother to the Lord.
*
This Sunday marks the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. It is being marked in
several ways. For my own part I thought I might serialise a story I found some years ago about a man who knew many changes, who served God on three continents, who was born into slavery but became a preacher and missionary and whose story is one of extraordinary struggle and great sacrifice.
I came across Thomas Lewis Johnson’s name in our church minute book which reports a visit of his in the 1890s when, unlike now, his black skin was considered to be rather exotic. His autobiography is to be found here.
His story gives us a window on God’s providence in the life of just one African-American hero, one that people of colour and of other cultures too can look to as a great example of the life of God in the soul of man.
Johnson used to speak about his life in terms of three birthdays. That is how he referred to
1. His natural birth as a slave in Virginia, America - August 7, 1836
2. The day he was born again at the age of 18 - June, 1857
3. The day he knew of his emancipation from the yoke of slavery when Richmond, Virginia was taken in the Civil War or War Between the States, April 3, 1865
More comprehensively, the first part of his life can be neatly divided in three.
1. An early period of double slavery — to man and to the devil.
2. From the time he was emancipated in Christ
3. His escape from slavery and his official emancipation
We can go on to speak further, of a later period when
1. He worked as a preacher in the northern USA
2. Then came to study here in Britain.
3. Went as a missionary to West Africa
4. Finally, ministering here in England and sometimes in America
several ways. For my own part I thought I might serialise a story I found some years ago about a man who knew many changes, who served God on three continents, who was born into slavery but became a preacher and missionary and whose story is one of extraordinary struggle and great sacrifice.I came across Thomas Lewis Johnson’s name in our church minute book which reports a visit of his in the 1890s when, unlike now, his black skin was considered to be rather exotic. His autobiography is to be found here.
His story gives us a window on God’s providence in the life of just one African-American hero, one that people of colour and of other cultures too can look to as a great example of the life of God in the soul of man.
Johnson used to speak about his life in terms of three birthdays. That is how he referred to
1. His natural birth as a slave in Virginia, America - August 7, 1836
2. The day he was born again at the age of 18 - June, 1857
3. The day he knew of his emancipation from the yoke of slavery when Richmond, Virginia was taken in the Civil War or War Between the States, April 3, 1865
More comprehensively, the first part of his life can be neatly divided in three.
1. An early period of double slavery — to man and to the devil.
2. From the time he was emancipated in Christ
3. His escape from slavery and his official emancipation
We can go on to speak further, of a later period when
1. He worked as a preacher in the northern USA
2. Then came to study here in Britain.
3. Went as a missionary to West Africa
4. Finally, ministering here in England and sometimes in America
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