CHRIST the SOVEREIGN: “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand” (Jn 3:35). Leonard Strong (1797-1874), after attending Oxford, settled in British Guiana. Although sent to pastor an English church, he was deeply moved by the plight of the slaves. Because he insisted on bringing the gospel to them, he was released from his charge and began to meet simply with other believers. He writes: “The Scriptures testify fully that there is no range of human ambition, power, or tyranny…in which God cannot, does not, often work out His gracious plans.…There is, perhaps, nothing in modern history more illustrative of the above than the occasion God has taken, from the transportation of 800,000 Africans to the islands and settlements of the West, to have preached to them the blessed gospel by which not only thousands have become children of God through faith, but many have returned to their own native land, publishing the gospel of peace.”