W. W. Fereday

William Woldridge Fereday was born in England in 1863, was saved at 16 and almost immediately started to preach. He spent the whole of his life in the study and exposition of the Scripture of Truth and travelled extensively and spent a considerable time in Scotland and the continent of Europe. He was a faithful expositor of the Word of God. He knew no fear and never compromised for one moment, one could not help but love him.

He lived for many years in Rothesay, Scotland, and the last five years of his life at Machermore Eventide Home, Scotland, from where he went to be with the Lord at the age of 96. During the First World War, he lived in Berkenwell in a large country house. He was a "tea taster" by profession. Mr. Fereday was troubled with a nervous complaint. He used to ask his host where he was staying to stop the clocks in his room as the ticking kept him awake. At one house where he stayed the clocks were all stopped. In the morning they asked him if he had slept well. He said, "No, the clocks next door kept me awake!" He was of a worthy kind like John Nelson Darby and William Kelly. Brother Fereday always had two life size portraits of these two revered men of God in his large study; he knew them both personally and they were guides to him in his early formative years.

Many lovers of the Scriptures have spent long hours immersing themselves in the writings of J. N. Darby and have found them at first reading almost beyond understanding. However, after a further reading, the truth conveyed gradually shone through and one could grasp the writer's meaning and then would gladly acknowledge that what he wrote was undoubtedly worth the effort and I hasten to add, a very sweet portion.

However W. W. Fereday was different. Precise, accurate, lucid, brief; he was as succinct in his written ministry as in his public addresses. One of his favourite expressions was "I do not give lectures, I state facts". He never wasted a word, wrote in the briefest possible way, taught the same truths as J.N.D. and W.K. but in a language that was simple, interesting, and often thrilling; in fact just in the form that young Christians will appreciate today.

John Ritchie Limited have done a great service to the Lord's people in republishing these books in paperback. We are sure God will use them in blessing to this present generation.

(Adapted from a preface by A. M. S. Gooding.)

--www.stempublishing.com/hymns/