Fall 2000
Three Centuries of Open Wells, Flowing Grace
This [Fall 2000] issue of the Yale Standard has brought into focus a clear and, to us, thrilling pattern of determined handfuls of people daring Goliath-sized obstacles—all to advance the knowledge of the Good News of Jesus Christ at and through Yale.
Many on campus might be amazed to think of Yale as being a breakthrough for Jesus Christ’s Gospel, as being a means of spreading that Good News across America and many nations, but that is the tercentennial record that can be traced, unbroken, from 1647 to this day … if you know where to look.
In contrast to the multitudes, religious or irreligious, the bands of those who yearn to do what is on God’s own heart have never been large. Their way has never been smooth. Their impact has been profound.
The Bible records that the patriarch Abraham took many steps forward by faith, among them digging some wells in the Promised Land. Later, his enemies registered spite by filling them in (Genesis 26). His son, Isaac, the next generation, went back and reopened those very wells, and God’s purpose in that famous family went on to Isaac’s son Jacob and the 12 tribes of Israel.
In this [Fall 2000] issue, read how Davenport and his friends labored to found New Haven for the Gospel. Then the next generation picked up, then the next. An unbroken skein of Davenport, both Abraham Piersons, Pierpont, Mather, Jonathan Edwards, Dwight, and many more kept advancing the Gospel at and through Yale.
At great cost and despite many setbacks, they persisted, dug and redug the spiritual wells of Gospel light and truth. The very Hebrew of their Yale seal declared their devotion to the Scripture itself, not to religious tradition.
They led in sending out missionaries, founding Christian schools, building a nation, leavening it with the light and truth as it is in Jesus.
This Yale Standard calls your attention to three centuries of testimony to God’s faithfulness, how He has encouraged each generation of believers and borne them fruitfully forward. Abraham Lincoln once remarked, “The Almighty has His own purposes.” We discern that the God of the Scriptures has been moving those purposes in each generation, including this one. God has kept the wells of His refreshing grace open all this time, at Yale and elsewhere, and invites you today to dare pray that astounding request,
“Your kingdom come
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven”
– Matthew 6:10
Philip Chamberlain, BR ’70