INCIDENTS
OF GOSPEL WORK
or
by
Charles Stanley
Visit to a village in the Yorkshire Moors
Need of faith
Preached at the Moracian Settlement at Fulneck
Peace with God, and no Condemnation
Preaching tour in Yorkshire
Call to an old woman blessed
An aged relative.
Sometimes in going into strange and out of the way places,
faith was tried. I had heard of a few poor Christians, in a village about nine
miles from Penistone, on the borders of the Yorkshire moors. I knew none of
them, but a dear old fellow-labourer had visited them. I started early, one
Lord’s day morning, and walked nine miles over a hilly country. When I arrived,
they were holding a prayer meeting, in the forenoon, I found the house, and
kneeled with them before the Lord. After the meeting, I told them I had come to
speak for my Master. They seemed very shy, and in no hurry to welcome a
stranger. It was agreed, however, I should preach in a house near, at three
o’clock. No one asked me to dinner, for which I was quite ready, having
breakfasted at seven, and walked nine miles, after a journey by rail. I believe
it was poverty, and the poor people were ashamed to offer me their poor fare. I
walked about the village until two, and then a man asked me if I would take
what he had, he would be glad for me to do so. I went in, and we sat down round
the cottage table. There was a rice pudding baked hard in a brown dish. I
should think it was made with water; and we drank good water out of one yellow
mug. That was our dinner, and I, for one, was thankful for it.
Still, my new friends were shy. I went to the house to
preach. There was a wooden chair, with high sides, and I sat in it, and sang a
hymn, “One there is above all others, O how He loves.” Not a soul would come to
sing, or pray, or hear. A few crept to the door to hear there. Certainly, if I
had walked by sight that day, I should have got out of that chair, and walked
straight to Penistone. I have often found, the greater the difficulty, the
greater the blessing. I cam out of doors, and found a few of my shy friends
standing about. The Spirit of God directed me to point to a tree, on the green.
I said to the men near, “You see that tree, if God has sent me to preach here,
you will see a congregation under that tree at such o’clock.” I forget whether
it was four or six. At the time named, there was such a congregation as had
probably never been seen in that part of the country before. The Spirit of God
gave me much liberty in telling out the kindness of God, as illustrated by the
history of Mephibosheth. And such was the interest awakened, that the meetings
out of doors and in, continued until twelve o’clock that night. I slept in a
little closet; but at four they came calling me up for another meeting, before I
left at seven, for Penistone station. How the news spread, and the people were
collected, I never knew. And this was one of the many places I never saw again.
Jesus says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;” as David sent and
fetched Mephibosheth, so the Holy Ghost can bring whom He will to hear the
word, and be saved, And whilst depending on Him we should let no circumstances
discourage us.
Sometimes we cannot, by any means, account for His sovereign
actings, or the way in which He brings about His purposes. I received a letter
from the minister of the Moravian Settlement at Fulneck, near Leeds, to say
that by some means a report had got abroad, that I was to preach at the
Settlement on the following Lords Day evening. The impression was so universal
in the neighborhood, that it was no use trying to alter it. I gathered that the
hand of the Lord was in the matte, and went. A few of us had prayer in the
vestry, and so coming out we had the greatest difficulty in reaching the
pulpit, the crush was so great. From all parts of the country the people
streamed to the large hall. I was sorry to hear that many of the Moravians
could not get in. I was led to speak on “Peace with God,” and no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. (Rom. V. 1; viii. 1.)
This was evidently the very subject needed, as the aged
minister told me afterwards, he scarcely knew one in the Settlement, who knew with certainty that he had peace
with God. Is it not sad, that so few even of those who are Christians enjoy
this blessed certainty? How many who read these lines may not have that
enjoyment! Yet, surely, Jesus made peace by the blood of His cross, for all who
believe. It was truly a blessed time, and to have no doubt about meeting many
in the presence of the Lord, who passed from death unto life that night.
But it is not always in public preaching that God displays
His sovereign grace. Nothing perhaps shews that grace more strikingly than the
call of the aged; and the various, nay particular means, that He may use in
calling them by His grace. A few Christians had it laid on their hearts to take
a long drive in a waggonette, through the villages in Yorkshire, around my
native village, Brookhouse, and leave a tract at every house, and preach the
Gospel as the Lord might direct. After passing Whiston some distance, we came
to where one road turned up to Laughton, and the other down to Brookhouse. I
felt deeply impressed that the Lord had now some special case I must see in
Brookhouse. I called to the driver, who was a Christian also, and said, “B.,
you must drive down to Brookhouse, and stop just when I tell you,” He said, “We
cannot turn round in the place.” I said, “We must go, and you can drive to
Hooton, and there you can turn the vehicle.” We drove down the village, I was
in prayer to the Lord to guide me to the right person He had in view. At least
I felt assured, “This is a safe place!” and called out for B. to stop. I got
out, and found myself exactly opposite a little bridge over the brook. I had
well known that bridge in childhood, and often had I crossed it to buy sweets,
as a child, from a little shop up a short walk, kept then by a person known as
Becky F. To the door of that once little shop I felt directed. I knocked at the
door. A middle-aged woman came to the door. I said, “May I ask you, is Mrs. F.
still living?” “Yes,” she said, “she is still alive; please walk in.” And she
took me to the little parlour, and there, propped up in bed, was the aged dying
woman, Becky F. I do not know that I had seen her for forty years. It was a
solemn moment. She was perfectly sensible, and knew me. She said, “Is that
Charles Stanley? Why the Lord has sent you. I am dying; and I have no one to
tell me how I can be saved, and go to heaven. Oh, tell me how I can be saved.”
I assured her God had sent me to declare to her, through the atoning death of
Jesus, the free, full, everlasting forgiveness of sins (Acts xiii. 38, 39) I
shewed her from scripture that that atoning death was finished; that God had
raised Jesus form the dead; and declared that, through Him, all who believe are
justified, and have peace with Him.
It was, however, the blessed Person of Christ speaking those
words, that had been blest to so many, and that will be yet blest to many who
read this paper, until Jesus comes. The Spirit had prepared this very aged
dying woman to hear the words of Jesus. I said, “Now Jesus says to you ‘verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that hearth my word, and believeth on him that sent
me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from
death to life.’ (John v. 24.)” Oh, it was blessed to see how she drank in those
life-giving words. I said, “Do you hear these words of Jesus?” “I do,” she
said. “And do you believe that God sent Him; that God so loved?” “I do,” “He
says, then, you shall not come into judgment. Do you believe Him?” “I do,” Yes,
it is most true, for He has borne the judgment due to all who believe in Him.
“He says, then, you have passed from death unto life. Do you believe Him?” “I
do.” Yes, through grace, believed the words of Jesus. She sweetly passed from
death unto life. I said, “We will now give thanks.” I kneeled down, and gave
thanks unto God. As I rose, I heard the carriage returning. I left her a new
creation, soon to be for ever with the Lord; a blessed trophy of infinite
grace. In what a variety of ways will God be glorified!
This was not the only case that day. We then drove on to Laughton. We got out, with tracts, and gave to very house, and also to all the children in the school where I had sat, a little by, so many years before. We also had a preaching opposite the chapel, where the Lord first opened my mouth, when a little more than fourteen years of age. We then drove on to Firbeck. I suddenly remembered that some of my ancestors lived in that village. I called at a cottage, and inquired if any of that name were left in the village. I was soon directed to the house of my grandfather’s sister-in-law, the very aged widow of his brother. She was sitting in her cottage, with the door open, surrounded by her children, and their children, who had come to see her that day. She had never seen since I was eight years of age. Yet, strange to say, she knew me, and felt that I was a messenger sent from God. She was anxious to be saved, and had no one to shew her the way of life. I have every reason to believe that God blesst His word to her hat day. O was accustomed after that to visit her unto the day of her departure. Though so aged, she was able to walk over to Roche Abbey, one mile, and there we had preaching of the gospel. The large and excellent school from Workshop was there that day, and the boys desired to hear us preach. The masters very readily gave their consent. The boys, and also my aged friend, listened with the deepest attention. It was a happy day’s service, because spent in communion with Christ, in telling out the love of God to lost sinners, It is a most solemn thought, that even service, if not in communion, is worth nothing; nay, is it not sin?