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An introduction to “The Youngest Puritan” Andrew Gray (1634-1656)

Allow me to transport your mind back to the seventeenth century. The year is 1634, the country is Scotland. A pregnant woman is screaming with labor pains as she gives birth to a child that she will name Andrew. The newborn baby, foreknown from all eternity and predestined before the foundation of the world to be presented holy and blameless before God in Christ, would find himself in the moment foreordained by God in which his conversion was appointed to be granted by grace in time, only a few years later.

This young boy, perhaps playing in a field as young boys do, was struck by discovering a beggar behind a stone who was pouring out his heart in prayer to God. “There” he said to himself, “is a most miserable creature, in the most destitute of all conditions, while I have everything I need, and yet I have never made such an acknowledgement of my mercies as that poor creature who does not lie under one-tenth of my obligations.” – Dr. J.R. Beeke [A Door Into Everlasting Life – Preface – Netherlands Reformed Book and Publishing Committee]

The first time that I read that, I had difficulty in believing that a “young boy” could have the mental capacity to articulate his reaction to what he saw in such a profound way. The rational facilities required to observe and reflect in the way he did, seemed only possible to be possessed by an adult, and a wise adult at that. As I continued to read Dr. Beeke’s preface, he added “Having made, in the words of Francis Coxon, remarkable ‘proficiency, both in learning and divinity’ Andrew Gray was made a candidate for the ministry at nineteen years of age. He was called shortly thereafter by the High Church of Glasgow, where the Lord enabled him to exercise singular preaching gifts with much divine approbation.”

From reading Andrew Gray’s works myself, reading his sermons, reading about the impression he left with his contemporaries, including those impressions he left on others that read his works after his death, it became easier for me to accept Andrew’s testimony of his conversion story as a “young boy.”

Andrew Gray’s intensely powerful preaching style and thunderous application of biblical texts aimed at the sleeping Christian soul, hidden in the darkness of ungodliness, bursts through the text of his works like a thousand mirrors under the noonday sun, and just as no man can nap peacefully outdoors in the midst of a furious and angry thunderstorm, neither can the Christian read Gray’s works without being stirred like dry leaves in the tornado, at the slothful core of our comfortable self-centeredness! Oh, that men would read Andrew Gray today and see for themselves what is attainable when the motivation to live holily outweighs the motivation to make money, to take vacations, to feed their bellies, to be enslaved to the box office and other cultural deterrents that the devil proudly boasts to his minions about.

James Durham (1622-1658), probably most well known for his allegorical interpretation of Christ and His love for His church in his commentary on Song of Solomon, was a close friend of Andrew Gray. Regarding Andrew Gray’s remarkable power of probing the conscience, Durham said: “he could make men’s hair stand on end.” Preserved in their writings, we can discover the type of relationship that they had with one another, and their Lord.

To illustrate: The story is frequently told of Andrew Gray and his God-fearing colleague, James Durham, walking together to church on a particular Sunday. Durham and Gray were to preach that day in the immediate vicinity of each other. Observing that the vast majority of listeners were entering Rev. Gray’s church, Durham remarked: “Brother, I perceive you are to have a thronged church today.”

Andrew Gray responded, “Truly, brother, they are fools to leave you and come to me.”

Rev. Durham replied, “Not so, dear brother, for none can receive such honor and success in his ministry except it be given him from heaven. I rejoice that Christ is preached and that His kingdom and interest is gaining ground, for I am content to be anything, or nothing, that Christ may be all in all.” - Dr. J.R. Beeke [A Door Into Everlasting Life – Preface – Netherlands Reformed Book and Publishing Committee]

Approximately 200 years after Gray’s death, it was observed: “His knowledge of Christian experience was wonderfully extensive and minute; he knew well the joys and troubles, the helps and hindrances, the temptations and delusions of the Christian life.” – Dr. William Blaikie [The Preachers of Scotland]

Dr. Blaikie also said: “We may safely say, that never in the history of our country did a man of his years make so deep a mark.”

Dr. Beeke adds: “This burning and shining light was used in an unusual degree by God for the conversion of numerous souls and for the edification and growth of many of God’s people in the two short years of ministry he was allotted in this life.”

Andrew Gray began preaching at or around the age of 19 or 20. He died of a fever at the age of 22, thus, he is remembered as “The Youngest Puritan.” What he left us was quantitatively limited, as his time on earth was limited, but was qualitatively magnificent. The gift that God gave us in Andrew, then took away in Purple Fever, has been undiscovered by almost everyone since his death.

The Lord blessed me a couple of years ago when I purchased the last known copy of “A Door Opening Into Everlasting Life” by Andrew Gray, the only book he wrote in his short life. I searched everywhere I could think of. Not even the internet had very many resources on Andrew Gray. To illustrate how unknown he is in our day, not even Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia of just about everything you can imagine, true or false, had anything on Andrew Gray. I finally found some small seminary that had one. I kept asking the librarian on the phone “are you sure it’s by Gray? G – R – A - Y?” She kept reading it back to me; she even started reading part of the book to me. I was excited that I had found one. Most booksellers said that the last reprint was a really small order back in 1989 and is now out-of-print. I have since found some copies floating around on the internet, and if you can, I would suggest snatching one up for yourself! If you can’t find one, and if it never gets reprinted again, then keep checking here because it is my desire to, from time to time, release writings about my own experiences from reading Gray, as well as some quotations from him that I find inspiring. I will try to select particular quotations that will give the reader a savory taste of the unique flavor of “The Youngest Puritan.” Hopefully, by God’s grace, 400 years from now, Andrew Gray will be named by Christians of that day among the great gifts that God gave the church. Perhaps he will be part of the “A” list of pastors and theologians that flowed from the Reformation, joining: Luther, Calvin, Owen, Burroughs, Bunyan, Edwards, Spurgeon, Schaeffer, Morey and those yet to emerge. Worthy of making the list of giants, Andrew Gray has been long forgotten, but the message he preached along with the others on the list, the Kerygma, needs to be heralded all the more today in our postmodern, pluralistic world.

A Door Opening Into Everlasting Life (the shortened title) hasn’t been reprinted since the last short run in 1989. Prior to that, it was in 1810, which in turn was the first reprinting of the original posthumous edition of 1706. The original title was: A Door Opening Into Everlasting Life; Or, An Essay, tending to Advance Gospel Holiness, and to Establish the Hearts of True Believers against Their Many Doubts and Fears: In Five Short Treatises, viz., 1. Arguments for leaving sin, and living holily, urged. 2. Directions how to attain Eternal Blessedness prescribed. 3. The Character of a true believer represented. 4. The true Believer’s Doubts resolved. 5. The true Believer’s Privileges and Happiness considered.

In Puritan literature, it isn’t uncommon to find titles with over 70 words in them, unlike today, where catchy 1 to 3 word titles, hip cover art and back-cover endorsements are more marketable than the quality of the content!

If I were to reprint Andrew Gray’s jewel of a work today, I would submit: A Door Opening Into Everlasting Life – the Necessity of a Godly Walk of Life – by Andrew Gray, written shortly before his death at age 22.

Young men preparing for the ministry will benefit tremendously from Gray’s works as they give insight into the possible ways that God can “grace” a young man and anoint him with courage and boldness to preach the truth against any and all opposition.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

“Wicked men turn their backs upon God, and are ruled by sin and Satan at their pleasure. Such profane beasts are many. They glory in their shame. Like Sodom, they carried their sin in their foreheads, oathing it, telling of their cheats, how many they have defrauded, and of their whoredoms, how many they have defiled. Alas, they have not so much as one grain of grace in their hearts, nor the least sign of holiness in their lives. Though, by the ministry of the Word, they be called upon to be holy, yet the more they are called unto holiness, the further do they run into all sin and wickedness. Yea, God’s own children make but little progress in holiness. The estate of many is a declining state. They have lost the savouriness of their spirits, and their delight in communion with God. They are weak in resisting temptations to sin, from the devil, the world, and the flesh. They are often overcome by sensuality, pride, worldliness, envy, etc. Their heart is less watched, their tongue less bridled, and their conversation more vain than formerly. What then more needful, than to have before our eyes such arguments, as are most likely to deter us from sin, to prevail with us to loathe and leave our lusts and transgressions, and to walk humbly and holily before God all our days.”

He draws attention to the wicked and their ways, and shows that “by the ministry of the Word” they’re called upon to be holy, and the more they’re called, the more wicked they become. He gets the reader to agree. Then he turns the tables and says that even Christians act in a similar way to the wicked. Here we see a primitive form of Malakosis described by Gray: “They are weak in resisting temptations…” He concludes by illustrating the need for arguments to deter Christians from sin, lusts and transgression, “and to walk humbly and holily before God all our days.”

Please provide feedback to this series by commenting to the posts. Now, go back to the 21st  century!

P.S. When reading Gray’s quotes, it helps if you do so with a heavy Scottish accent. An Irish accent will do, but the Scottish accent works best.

P.P.S. I often imagine a movie in which the story of Andrew Gray is recreated, and Leonardo DiCaprio plays Andrew Gray.

P.P.P.S. I’ll provide many more Andrew Gray quotes. Since the works I have are not in electronic format, I have to type them up individually, so they may come in slowly.