Robert Gribble was a simple, uneducated man, who worked with simple, uneducated farmers and laborers in the villages of the bucolic Devonshire countryside. There are parallels between that time and place, and our own. Perhaps surprising to a modern reader, rural Britain in the first part of the nineteenth century was unreached with the Gospel. In spite of the long presence of the established church, most people had never heard the name of Jesus, or if they had, they did not know that He is able to save and to transform souls. Robert Gribble worked with people in a post-Christian time much like our own. From the preface, "In this brief account of forty-two years' labour in the Gospel, [the author hopes] ...that many dear people of God will find some refreshment in the perusal of these pages... The "Appendix" contains a few extracts from the writer's journal, added at the suggestion of friends, who considered that some account of the way in which the Lord has sustained him during the last twenty-five years, might form a suitable conclusion to the book... to show the providential care of an Heavenly Father who delights to help those who trust in Him, and who, if able to raise such weak instruments in bringing sinners to Himself, can surely provide for His servant's daily need."First published in 1858, this Christian classic has been refreshed so that perhaps, as this old book is presented to a new audience, it will encourage new readers to think like Gribble, asking the questions, "How can I be useful to the souls of others?" and "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" The sweet stories in this book give us the encouragement that, should we ask such questions of God, He will certainly show us how to reach our own communities, even in our own post-Christian time.
