I have always enjoyed reading older books for multiple reasons. In my opinion literary art peaked during the Victorian era. Writers used flowery poetic language that would be considered disruptive to narrative by modern masters of the art. But I love language, so it is no disruption to me, but a delight. Another thing I really like about books from this era, is that most of them have morally decent content even if written by a secular writer. In fact, some even have good spiritual lessons in them coming from unbelievers. 

One such example is the phrase I used as my title. It can probably be found in many older books, but the first time I ran across a version of it was in a Sherlock Holmes book, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—an unbeliever who dabbled in questionable pagan practices. For that reason, I don’t read a lot of his stuff anymore, but in hind-sight, I am amazed at some of the things he wrote. 

Spiritual Lessons From Sherlock?

Sherlock, on one occasion, after receiving a signed confession from a criminal, told Dr. Watson, “God help us!”…“Why does fate play such tricks with poor helpless worms? I never hear of such a case as this that I do not think of Baxter’s words, and say, “There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes”.

Conan Doyle, through Sherlock, displays a keen awareness of the complete helplessness of the human race apart from Divine grace. And he does this by quoting a 17^th century puritan—Richard Baxter. And in principle he is backed up by the Bible in John 15:5 and other places. A little earlier in this same story, Sherlock reminded the criminal who was signing the confession that he would soon be facing a court much higher than the earthly court he could potentially face for his crime. 

The Greater Point I’m Making…

So, my point, as you probably see by now, is much greater than the lesson in humility brought to us by the pen of an unbeliever—though I do think that lesson in itself is pretty powerful. My aim is to bring to light the contrast of the church’s influence in the Victorian era versus today. 

It is remarkable to me that there are many so-called secular books of that period that feature better morals and spiritual insights than many so-called Christian books of today. Back then, the church held such a strong position in society that even heathens felt compelled to lace their books with good morals, spiritual lessons and Christian platitudes. Today, on the other hand, various evil movements have made such extensive inroads in our social fabric that many Christian books are laced with the platitudes arising from such movements. 

From Offense To Defense

This means we, as the church at large, have gone from a position of offense and influence, to a defensive position—drinking heavily from the poison of the world. There are abundant rivers flowing from the cesspools of ungodliness. But perhaps not quite as many rivers of living water as there used to be—or at least not as many vessels for those rivers to flow through.

But all is not lost. Let’s just be aware of the spiritual climate we’re living in. We have to be a little more intentional in our faith than our predecessors had to be. This isn’t a bad thing. We have an opportunity to shine the precious light of Jesus more obviously and without compromise if we have the courage to do so. 

We Can Be The Exception

We don’t have to be among the lukewarm in this Laodicean age. We can let the refiner’s fire do its cleansing work—keeping us awake in an age of slumber. We can choose to remain on the offensive and to influence the world around us rather than vice versa. On a smaller scale, there are still very good things happening in pockets around the world—and teachings going forth in greater revelation than before. We were made for such a time as this. God’s revelation and power increase as deception and rebellion increase. We just need to look for His provision.  

Full Circle

And of course we can’t be arrogant about our observations of the decay around us. We can simply each acknowledge individually that “there but for the grace of God, go I”—and bless the Lord for His rich mercies. And in due time, God will send the latter rain as promised in Scripture and God’s people at large will be a conduit once more for vast rivers of living water.