Christ Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, wherein believers spiritually share in the blood and body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16). It is a sign and sealing of His benefits to believers, as well as a mark of the bond that ties all believers together in Christ. Rightly understood, it truly is a thankful celebration. However, one Saturday evening in 1696, Boston decided to miss the Lord’s Supper the next day at Culross. In God’s mercy, a servant rebuked him, and he realised that his reasons for missing the Supper were wrong.Having been humbled, he went to “the table,” but struggled with his own unbelief. 

“I bless the Lord, who gave me counsel then and afterwards, to seek and value conversation with serious Christians, in the places where my lot was cast.”

Taste and See That the Lord Is Good

This third period of Thomas Boston’s life, from when he was eighteen to twenty-one years old, was one of significant spiritual growth. Books – worthwhile books – helped to grow him. His spirit was malleable in the hands of God, and yet often this growth came about through unpleasant experiences.

In some ways, we only know the taste of good food by comparing it to bitter food. So too, the goodness of God becomes more alive to us when we see the emptiness of life without Him. As the Psalm confesses: “I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’” (Psalm 16:2)

In early 1696, Boston accepted a job to teach at a school in Edinburgh. Here, he was introduced to “Mr B−“ who managed the school. Yet, from the beginning Boston noticed that his behaviour was “grievous and loathsome,” and this left him feeling uneasy.

Boston lived in Mr B-‘s home, where he saw the emptiness and harshness of his, and his wife’s, lives – and it helped drive Boston closer to God. He cried out to the Lord to get him out of there, and the Lord did. After a month, he was able to leave in good conscience, albeit against Mr B-‘s wishes.

The Sweetness of Spiritual Kin

Psalm 16 also says: “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” (Psalm 16:3) It was on the back of this disappointment with Mr. B- that Boston saw the power and goodness of true Christian fellowship.

In particular, he met “an old, exercised, godly woman” named Janet Maclaunie. She left a lasting impression upon Boston, and supported him with a modest amount financially, as a sign of Christian love. This caused Boston to say: “I bless the Lord, who gave me counsel then and afterwards, to seek and value conversation with serious Christians, in the places where my lot was cast.”

Although they were decades apart in age, she was able to encourage the younger believer, and he never forgot her generosity. She had given him what he needed at that time – an elderly Christian woman of warm and generous faith. Probably, in the wisdom and providence of God, she never knew the impact that her small gift had upon him.

God truly has made the body, with Christ as the head, to work together so that it “builds itself up in love.” (Eph. 4:16) Whatever our circumstances may be, ask God to be like this godly woman was to Boston. Learn to esteem the local fellowship of believers, as it is Christ’s body. 

Read More