Biography
Brownlow North was born in 1810 into one of the great families of England. His relatives included bishops and statesmen, and he grew up in comfort and privilege. He went to Eton and then entered the life of a gentleman. In his youth he showed no interest in religion. He was handsome, witty and popular, and he threw himself into the pleasures of the world. He loved hunting, horse racing, card playing and drinking, and he lived the life of a man who thought he was only young once.
He spent many years in this way. He lived in Scotland and in England, and wasted his fortune and his health. He gambled heavily and kept bad company. Looking back later, he said that he had never been truly happy. He lived with an uneasy conscience and tried to drown it. He was also not a man of crude habits. He was well-read and kept his manners. He lived a respectable life on the surface, and underneath was emptiness.
When he was in his forties, God stopped him. He was troubled by serious illness and by the growing sense that he was heading to a lost eternity. The Spirit of God convicted him of sin, and he began to read the Scriptures with fear. After a time of deep distress he turned to Christ and found forgiveness. The change was complete. The man who had lived for himself began to live for the Lord. He gave up his old pleasures and sought to make amends where he could.
He had not trained for the ministry and held no church office. Yet he felt a strong urge to tell others what had happened to him. He began to speak to small groups and then to larger ones. His first public addresses were stumbling, and he was not a trained speaker. People soon began to gather in great numbers. Those who came found that he spoke with a force that could not be taught. He spoke about sin as a man who knew its power. He spoke about the grace of God as one who had been rescued from the pit.
He preached in churches, halls and in the open air in Scotland, Ireland and England. In the revival years around 1859, he was among those whom God used to awaken many people. Thousands attended his meetings in the cities and towns of Scotland, and many came to Christ. He was invited to preach before people of all classes, including nobles and working men. He did not alter his message for the powerful. He told them that they were sinners who needed a Savior.
He was a man of vivid personality. Some admired his boldness, and others found him blunt. He spoke plainly about hell and judgment, and some thought he did it too much. He also suffered from poor health throughout his later years, and he often preached while in pain. He had to live with the consequences of his early wasted years. He never forgot them, and he spoke of them often. He did not hide his past. He used it to show others what grace could do.
He died in 1875 after a life of about sixty-five years, the second half of which was given to Christ. His preaching left a lasting influence. Many who heard him were turned to the Lord, and those who read his sermons found the gospel set before them with simplicity.
His story gives hope to those who have wasted their years. It shows that God is able to take a man at the end of his own way and make him a servant. The same Lord who found Brownlow North in his sin is the Lord who finds sinners today.