Rev. Morrison was elected moderator of the Old School General Assembly during its meeting in Peoria, Illinois. He was a member of the Presbytery of Lodiana, one of three presbyteries of the Synod of Northern India. He encouraged the General Assembly to remember their mission work in India. It is often difficult for missionaries to be so far from home, family, and familiar culture, and the difficulty becomes deeply distressing if they feel forgotten.

John Hunter was born June 29, 1806 to James and Eleanor (Thompson) Morrison in Wallkill Township, New York. James’s grandfather Morrison had emigrated from Scotland. John’s early studies were accomplished in Bloomfield Academy, New Jersey. At twenty-two years of age he professed faith in Christ in the Presbyterian Church on Cedar Street in New York (currently, Fifth Avenue) during the ministry of Cyrus Mason. It was two more years before he attended the College of New Jersey (Princeton) graduating with the class of 1834. Called to the ministry, his theological studies were completed in Princeton at the seminary which granted his certificate of studies in 1837. The Presbytery of New York, Old School, licensed Morrison September 12, 1837, then the next day he married the daughter of E. D. Ward, Anna Maria, who was eight years younger.  Just a few weeks after licensure he was ordained on the first day of October. Events proceeded rapidly for the Morrisons because they were leaving for the foreign mission field in India, but first they joined other new missionaries for a public commissioning service in Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. Dr. William W. Phillips of First Church, New York, and Dr. Henry R. Wilson spoke to the appointees encouraging them as they prepared for voyages to distant lands.
On October 14, the Morrisons left Philadelphia on a steamboat to Newcastle, Delaware, to set sail for India once the stormy weather cleared. They were on board the Edward which was under the command of Capt. J. H. Cheyney. It was the Sabbath so Rev. Morrison held a service on the deck with passengers and crew in attendance as he preached from Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” Anna Maria described their accommodations on the Edward.
The stateroom admits one chair, and a small table, which answers the purpose also of a wash-stand, having a bowl fastened to it. Our berths are large, and by far more comfortable than I supposed they would be. And if we could have a little more air, we should sleep charmingly.
When the ship sailed for India October 16, the anticipated charming trip ended up a horrendous journey for Anna Maria. The one-hundred-seventy-day voyage to Calcutta was a nightmare of reoccurring bouts with sea sickness—one of which lasted two weeks. She also suffered a mysterious malady with symptoms that included a splitting headache and convulsions. The unidentified disease was diagnosed by one passenger claiming to have some medical knowledge as “congestion of the liver.” Late in the voyage, Anna Maria developed stomach pain to add to her discomfort. When the Edward arrived in Calcutta April 6, 1838, things were looking better because the Morrisons were in the country where they would serve the Lord, but despite the relative calm of port, Anna Maria’s headaches continued to be troublesome. A physician treated her by putting leaches and ice on her head. Added to the Morrisons’ difficulties was the news that cholera was raging in Calcutta. The sequence of events is not clear at this point, but it appears the Morrisons remained on the Edward in the bay waiting for transport to Allahabad, which is nearly 500 miles northwest of Calcutta. Anna Maria developed symptoms indicative of cholera then died April 27. So, John and Anna Maria had been married about seven months, on the move the whole time, and they did not reach their field of ministry in Allahabad together. To say the least, this is a sad story but not an uncommon one for western missionaries working in Asian climates.
John continued his journey to his field of ministry and worked faithfully throughout the years. He came to be known among the missionaries as “The Lion of the Punjab,” because of his tenacity and faithful preaching of the Bible. Though tough, he was also congenial, well loved, and greatly respected by the people of India as well as his colleagues. It did not take Morrison long to remarry because less than a year after Anna Maria’s death on February 20, 1839 he married at Allahabad Isabella Hay of Perthshire, Scotland. They had likely met in the missionary community. But after only four years Isabella died at Calcutta February 14, 1843. Then during a visit to the United States he married on June 1, 1846 a woman from England named Anna Williams.
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A second and related thing I am not calling for is this: When I say we must avoid various extremes, that is not the same as saying we should simply always run with a lukewarmness about things. For example, when I recently put up a social media post about these matters, someone responded with this comment: “moderation in all things and setting scriptural boundaries go a long way”. He was seeking to affirm what I was saying, but I had to make this reply. “Yes, although moderation is not always the same as biblical balance. For example, we should not be moderate in our love for Christ – we should love him 100%. We should not be moderately faithful to our spouse – we should be 100% faithful.”

In this brief article I want to clarify something that can easily be misconstrued. A spiritual point that I often make to other believers can be open to misunderstanding or misinterpretation, so let me explain just a bit more about what I am calling for.
I have often spoken about the need to be biblically balanced, and how we must avoid unbiblical extremes. There are many clear examples of this. As but one, we can sometimes get things wrong when it comes to Satan and demons. Some believers live as if neither one exist, while some other believers seem to see demons and the devil under every rock.
Or as C. S. Lewis had put it in the preface to his 1942 classic, The Screwtape Letters: “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
So there are many areas in which believers can go to unhelpful extremes. But even this warning about avoiding extremes can be misunderstood or misused. There are various things I am NOT saying when I make this sort of caution about keeping the biblical balance.
The first thing I do not mean is this: On some doctrinal and theological issues in which there are various sides to the matter, there is a need to fully push ALL aspects of a biblical truth. Consider the old problem of how we reconcile the sovereignty of God with human responsibility.
What I am NOT saying here is that the biblical middle and biblical balance means we take 50 per cent of the one and take 50 per cent of the other. Nope, that is not how we proceed here. Instead, we are to take 100 per cent of the one and 100 per cent of the other.
BOTH must be fully affirmed, just as Scripture fully affirms each one. Sure, our fallen and finite minds will struggle with how we can hold the two together as we push each one to the max. They are not contradictory truths, but they seem paradoxical to us.
So in this case, we are not looking for a soft gooey centre, like with a caramel chocolate, but two strong, firm tines of a fork. Both are needed and both must go together.
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If you are looking for a wonderful love story, look no further than to your Savior Jesus Christ and his love for you, a member of the church, his bride. For he loves you more than you know and will do so for all eternity: And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:2).

Most everybody likes a good romance. And I’m not talking about a wishy-washy teen romance, but a good hearty love story where the characters have substance, face serious obstacles, mature, and come together in the end after much tribulation. Why is the love genre, or just a love story in a larger narrative, so captivating? Could it be because we were created to love, and we are longing to know and experience that perfect love that we so often only see shadows of?
True love is lived out by God himself for his people.
True love is understood and seen when we look at God’s love. This love is lived out by God himself for his people. One of the most beautiful images in the Scriptures is Christ Jesus, the groom, and the church as Christ’s bride.
This bride was one in need of redemption—she was a slave to sin. She was dirty—in need of cleansing. She was guilty—in need of righteousness. She was impure—in need of holiness. She was dressed in filthy rags—in need of a glorious wedding gown. None of these things that she needed could she manufacture in her own strength, and there was nothing about her that made her lovable.
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