John B. Lyle

150 years ago today, a little-known, pious bachelor and elder in the Lexington, Virginia Presbyterian Church suffered a paralyzing stroke. The year was 1856. Lexington was in the midst of a dramatic, area wide religious revival that filled area churches, revitalized educational institutions, and impacted lives for generations. Stonewall Jackson commented on this revival in an 1856 letter to his aunt:

". . . for we have such an outpouring of the Spirit of God in our churches here as I never remember of having seen elsewhere. Your branch of the church has recently been increased though I can not say how much. The Episcopal church about a week since took in nearly twenty five and from present appearances I suppose that about fifty will join the Presbyterian church in a few days when we are to have our commission. The Baptist church is also being blest, and I think that we may reasonably expect more than one hundred from this revival. I feel very thankful to God for such divine blessings."

Known for being a committed prayer warrior, John B. Lyle likely carried a heavy burden of prayer that, while promoting the spiritual awakening of the town, was more than his body could endure. The stroke eventually took the life of Lyle. Another little known fact is that John Lyle once gave his dear friend, Major Thomas J. Jackson, "a little volume illustrative of the power of prayer. . . it arrested Jackson’s mind; for so frequently did he afterwards revert to it, that it was evident its influence was far-reaching and lasting. Thus the simple act of the devout elder may have had a traceable bearing upon the brilliant successes and achievements of the Christian hero!"

This "little volume" also went into some detail about a retired British army officer who spent his latter years establishing Sunday schools "among the neglected" of London. It is plausable that John Lyle's influence on Jackson led not only to Jackson's dramatic battlefield successes--which Jackson attributed to the power of prayer--but also to Jackson's now famous "Colored Sabbath school" that reached hundreds of Lexington area blacks with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Amazing isn't it--how ordinary people can impact history and eternity?

As George Grant has written, “That is one of the great lessons of history. It is simply that in the providence of God, ordinary people are ultimately the ones who determine the outcome of human events.” Though John Lyle may appear little more than “ordinary” in the eyes of the world, he was much more in God’s divine plan.