John Gray

With Christ:
MR. JOHN GRAY, a partner in the publishing firm of Pickering & Inglis, Glasgow, entered into his rest on Sunday, February 2nd, 1936, after a distressing illness which lasted for eleven weeks. For 28 years, Mr. Gray supervised the production of the "Evangel," but his interest in this paper was more than that of a printer and publisher.
When he was a boy, John Climie, the founder of the "Monthly Evangel," was an evangelist, serving under the auspices of the Ayrshire Christian Union. Those were the revival days of the early eighties, and Mr. Climie's ministry was singularly fruitful in conversions. At the Railway Centres in Ayrshire, not a few engine-drivers and guards were brought to the Lord. Among the former was Andrew Gray of Hurlford, the father of our brother John. He bore a bright testimony for a few years, but before his son was twelve years of age, he had finished his earthly course. The influence of his father's life, and the godly instruction of his widowed mother, prepared the way for the great decision which John made in his early teens.
He entered the railway service at Hurlford about a year after his father's death, and his conversion to God took place not very long after. He described his conversion thus—"On a wintry evening, when on a country road near my home, I was burdened with a sense of my own sinfulness, and cried out, 'God, have mercy on my soul'! Quick as a flash and clear as if a human voice had spoken, came the answer—'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.' (Acts 16. 31). 'Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,' " and that evening, the lad entered into the assurance of sins forgiven, and for him, a new life was begun. As a result of that experience, John Gray's theology was founded and fashioned on two great facts. The first was his own unworthiness, and the second, the matchless worth and the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
In the ministry of the Gospel and in private dealing with anxious enquirers, a portion of Scripture to which he loved to turn was, "Jesus . . . who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 4. 25; 5. 1).
He at once confessed Christ, and took his stand as a Christian, identifying himself with the Baptist Church in Kilmarnock, where Mr. Donald was pastor.
"Saved to serve," was true of him and he was soon engrossed in the activities of the church. After a time, he joined himself to the Brethren meeting in Waterloo Hall, and found a sphere of Gospel witness and testimony that not only helped to establish his own spiritual life, but made him a channel of blessing to others. He was one of a youthful band from which two missionaries went forth to Africa, and others became evangelists in the homeland. Their activities were not confined to Kilmarnock, for their service was given freely in neighbouring towns and villages.
After a number of years promotion in the railway service, brought him to Glasgow, where he soon became known as an earnest and capable Gospel preacher and minister of the Word. His services were given wherever doors were opened for him, his principle being that the evangelist's sphere is the world, and wherever there is a sinner, it is the business of the evangelist to take to him the proclamation of pardon.
In 1908, Mr. Gray took up what was to be the work of his life, when, on the death of Mr. [William] Inglis, he entered into partnership with Mr. Hy. Pickering, in the firm of Pickering & Inglis. Thereafter, in the production of religious literature, he found a sphere after his own heart, and one in which he was destined to effect great developments. He had a keen business instinct; he was alert, shrewd, eager and enterprising. In this respect, he was characteristic of the best type of Glasgow businessmen, who have done so much for local industries. And through it all, his Christian principles shown undimmed. The word of John Gray was always as good as his bond.
But neither business cares nor business success was allowed to affect his interest and activities in religious work. While "diligent in business," he was also "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." He continued freely to use his gifts as a preacher and speaker, responding, almost beyond the limits of his strength, to requests for his services. He was one of the conveners and also the secretary of the Glasgow Half Yearly Meetings of Christians. In the work abroad, he had a warm and intimate interest. For twelve years, he served as one of the treasurers of the Home and Foreign Missions Funds of Christian Brethren.
In the churches also, he had a wide connection and a large circle of friendship. A Glasgow Doctor of Divinity said, "I was grieved to see Mr. John Gray has been called Home. It is a great loss. He was most useful and had a multitude of friends." His affability and remarkable knack of making and retaining friendships, his accessibility for all classes and conditions of men, and his readiness, as well as his ability to serve and help, became so widely known that the demands made upon him were urgent and continuous. And never did anyone appeal to him in vain for any help he could render. To high and low, he was always the same. The humble widow in her trouble had no difficulty in gaining his sympathetic ear; indeed, his anxiety to serve the sorrowing and the suffering became so well known, that all kinds of people turned to him in their hour of need. If he could not grant their requests, his word of encouragement sent the seeker away better fitted to face whatever difficulty confronted him.
The link with Mr. Climie was renewed when Mr. Gray entered the printing business. For many years, Mr. Gray rendered help to Mr. Climie in the production of his monthly paper, and when failing health made it impossible for the latter to carry on longer, it was due to Mr. Gray's kindly thought that arrangements were made which secured the continuance of this Gospel messenger.
From whence then we ask had this man the character and gifts which enabled him to render the service he did? Hear the words which came so frequently from his own lips, "I am a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all."
Love which wrought by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was the secret. The gift of eternal life which he received is offered to you. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." John Hawthorn.
P.S.—As one who has had intimate business relations with Mr. John Gray and Pickering & Inglis, extending back for more than forty years, I would like to add a brief postscript to Mr. Hawthorn's article about of his friend and mine.
Many professing Christian businessmen divorce their religion from their business and seem to believe that true Christianity and business are antagonistic to each other. John Gray gave the lie to that fallacy. He was a keen businessman, and an equally keen Christian, and the two departments of his life were not in antagonism, but in happy union and accord. His method of business commended his religion, so that it was always a pleasure to have any sort of relationship with him. His untimely death will make a blank in many lives, but he leaves behind him a "sweet savour of Christ," and many will thank God for having known him. The great crowd which gathered round his grave was an added testimony to the esteem in which John Gray was held, by a wide circle of folks of all sorts. D. J. F.
"The Monthly Evangel" 1936
Mr. JOHN GRAY, of Glasgow.
A WELL-KNOWN Scottish writer of a past generation described one of his characters as a man who spent his life helping lame dogs over stiles. No more apt description could be applied to Mr. John Gray, the editor of The Believers' Pathway, and for 28 years an esteemed partner in the publishing house of Pickering & Inglis. His affability and his remarkable knack of making and retaining friendships, his accessibility for all classes and conditions of men, and his readiness, as well as his ability to serve and help, became so widely known that the demands made upon him were urgent and continuous. Few, if any, of the sons of want who appealed to him were turned away, and if he could not grant the assistance desired, his word of encouragement, and the hearty handshake which accompanied it, sent the seeker away the better fitted to face whatever difficulty confronted him.
Mr. Gray often said he was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. He was bereft of his father when he was only twelve years of age, and his mother had to provide for him, and his two younger sisters. That experience left a tender chord in his heart which never ceased to be easily moved. His father, however, left him the priceless heritage of a Christian upbringing, and this was manifest in the lofty principles which actuated his whole after life. He entered the service of the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company, at Hurlford Station, as a telegraph boy, at the age of thirteen, [1884/5], and it was not long after that until the change to which he dated all his bliss took place. Walking along a country road, near Kilmarnock, on a winter evening, burdened with the sense of his own unworthiness, he cried out: "God have mercy on my poor soul." Quick as a flash, and clear as if a human voice had spoken, came the answer: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
To a railway guard, named Neil Shannon, he was indebted for the help and council which first turned his steps toward the pathway of separation and service, which he entered shortly after his conversion, and which he never forsook.
After a short time in the Baptist Church at Kilmarnock, he identified himself with the Assembly meeting in Waterloo Hall, then a centre of great spiritual activity. There he found kindred spirits in a band of young men, among them being John Ritchie, John Wilson, (who laid down his life in Central Africa), and James A. Anderson, who passed to his reward a short time ago. He soon became a leader in the band, and all his spare time was devoted to the work of Gospel preaching and teaching.
About this time, he made the acquaintance of Mr. Peter Hynd, of Troon, and profited much from his clear Scriptural expositions. One result of this was that he was saved from the sectarian spirit which not infrequently narrows the outlook and sympathies of many estimable Christians. His conception of Christian service can be given in his oft quoted words, "The work of the evangelist is to preach the Gospel to sinners, and wherever a sinner can be reached, there is the Evangelist's sphere. The work of the pastor and teacher is to care for and instruct the saints, and wherever there are saints to succour, there is the sphere of the pastor and teacher." In this large hearted spirit, he filled his day of service.
But his interests were mostly with the young, to them the special character of his ministry made its strongest appeal. Of the Sunday School and Bible Class, he was wont to say, "They are the most important branches of an Assembly's work." He compiled the Gospel Scheme of lessons, and supplied the weeks' notes to the study thereof during all the time the conduct of the Pathway was under his guidance.
Coming to Glasgow in 1898, he soon began to fill an important niche in the Evangelistic circles of the City, and as new responsibilities opened up to him, his influence and usefulness extended. In later years, he did invaluable work as the secretary of the Half-Yearly Meetings of Christians, and as one of the treasurers of the Home and Foreign Mission Funds. When the call came on Feb. 2, he was one of the best known and most highly respected of Glasgow's Christian business men. He leaves a widow, a son and a daughter, as well as a wide circle of fellow-workers to mourn his loss.
To the end, he found his greatest pleasure in the simple things and among the simple folk who formed his earliest Christian associations. Of him it was verily true, "Where his earliest hopes began, there his last aspirings end.”
J. H.
Hawthorn, John – “New Subjects, Studies, Stories”
“The Believer’s Pathway” v57 1936

From Hy. Pickering:
IN the year 1908, after 15 years of very happy friendship and hard work in seeking to establish and develop the business, I was called upon to part with my first partner, WM. INGLIS, who died unexpectedly from enteric fever, caused by contaminated milk from a country farm. A printer to his fingertips, he greatly helped in establishing the style of printing followed in our magazines and books ever since. Now after 28 years of devoted service, I am called to mourn the loss of a second esteemed partner, JOHN GRAY, who has taken the main responsibility for some years.
Mr. GRAY was born in Kilmarnock, in 1871; his father had been converted under an Ayrshire Union Evangelist, JOHN CLIMIE, much blessed in the county at that time, so he was brought up in a Christian home. When he was twelve, his father died, leaving himself and his two sisters to the care of a widowed mother. Mr. Gray professed conversion in his early teens, at once joined with a number of young folks in Christian work. Was for a few years in the Baptist Church but was helped by a Railway Guard to see the Scriptural way of gathering and joined the Assembly. Was active for a number of years along with ROBERT SMITH, WM. COWAN, JOHN RITCHIE, and others, they had evangelistic work in various centres around Kilmarnock.
He began life as a telegraph boy in the old G. & S. W. Railway, now merged in the L. M. S. was in the Goods Office at Kilmarnock, when he was promoted to the Head Office of the Company in Glasgow. When Mr. lNGLIS died in 1908, he was invited to join the firm, and after consulting Mr. J. R. Caldwell and other leaders, this he did.
["On Jan. 18th, 1908, on the death of William Inglis, John Gray became a partner in Pickering & Inglis and he removed to Glasgow, taking the main responsibility for printing and publishing after Henry Pickering retired to London in 1922"]
For the last 28 years he has been most diligent in furthering the dissemination of the Truth, in the form of books and pamphlets for believers, and Gospel books and tracts for the unsaved. Ever diligent in business, and kindly in spirit, he had a wide circle of friends, as the numerous letters of condolence show. In addition to business, he was constantly out preaching the Gospel and ministering in Conferences and believers' meetings in many parts. He was one of the treasurers of the "Home and Foreign Missionary Fund," which distributes thousands of pounds annually to workers in many fields, specially caring for Scottish workers. He was joint-secretary with J. M. SCOTT of the "Halt-Yearly Meetings of Christians," when large audiences gather in Christian Institute and City Halls; also officiated at many marriages and funerals, and took his full share in Assembly life in the City and district. So that his place will be difficult to fill.
He followed Mr. Inglis in the editing of The Believer's Pathway, and on Mr. Alex. Marshall's death took charge of The Herald of Salvation. Also selected the choice portions for the "Daily Meditation Calendar," and otherwise took a keen interest in the production of all the firm's publications.
Having a robust constitution, he bore the many burdens well, but was laid low with influenza in November. He recovered somewhat, but had not got over the effects, when he was again confined to bed with a nervous attack in December. A specialist spoke of "a tired heart," and advised complete rest and quiet. No fatal result was expected, although a prolonged period of convalescence was anticipated. Just six days before he died, he sent me a special message that he was feeling "a little stronger." A slight shock on the Thursday was followed by a clot of blood touching both brain and lung, and after lying unconscious for some time, he quite peacefully "fell asleep" at.12.15 on Sunday morning, Feb. 2, at the age of 64, leaving a widow, a daughter, and son to mourn his loss.
The redeemed body was laid to rest in Eastwood New Cemetery, where lie the bodies of many saints, and the love and esteem in which Mr. Gray was held was manifest by the 500 or more mourners who assembled at the grave, from all parts of Scotland, near and far. Some 70 motors being parked near the gates. It was a scene not likely to be forgotten.
The remaining three partners, the helpers in the business, and numerous friends feel like the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20. 36 and 37. In considering the Lord's ways, we can only say, "His ways are past finding out" (Rom. 11. 33), yet we bow and remember it is written, "The Lord's ways are right ways" (Hosea 14. 9), and comfort all our hearts with the Hope, "Yet a very little while" (Heb. 10. 37, R.V.), and the Reunion Morning.
We are confident that our many readers will remember in prayer the widow and family, the remaining partners and business, and the Lord's work in Glasgow. With gratitude for the abounding sympathy already manifested. HyP.
"The Witness" 1936

From John Ritchie:
HIS name to me, brings pleasant memories of early and happy days, when we as the then "younger generation" benefitted greatly by his ministry in spiritual things. I used to think that no man could state the foundation truths of the Gospel more clearly than he. Now he is "at home" with his Lord, whom he loved and served.
"The Believer's Magazine" 1936
With Christ:
Nov. 30, 1911, Mrs. Mary B. Gray, widow of Andrew Gray, and mother of John Gray, of the Publishing Office, aged 73. Converted sixty years ago, had fellowship with the saintly John Dickie in years gone by. A number of years in Kilmarnock assembly, last six years in Elim Hall, Glasgow. Now "very far better."
“The Witness” 1912
With Christ:
Andrew Gray, of Glasgow, on 23rd July [1985] after a six month illness. Associated with Albert Hall, he travelled widely in connection with his publishing, church and missionary interests.
Chairman and Managing Director of Pickering & lnglis, he was associated with publishing of Christian literature for most of his life. His name was synonymous with Home and Foreign Mission Funds Scotland, where he served as treasurer for 32 years and senior treasurer since 1966. Chairman of the Laing Trust, he served on many mission boards and Christian committees during the past 35 years. Few men have assumed responsibility for which they were better qualified. He was a Christian gentleman displaying great modesty and charm coupled with his leadership skills enabled him to make a lasting contribution to whatever sphere his talents were applied. His presence in many spheres will be greatly missed, not least by many missionaries who counted him as a personal friend.
Remember his wife and family in prayer.
[His father, John Gray edited Pickering & Inglis publications and Andrew’s son Archibald Napier Gray, took over his responsibilities at Pickering & Inglis.]
“The Believer’s Magazine” 1985