Dr. Pierson and his message

Contents

Page

L Early Years and Ministry ..... 3

II. At the Metropolitan Tabernacle . ... 13

II At the Metropolitan Tabernacle

HE combination of circumstances associated with

Dr. Pierson's ministry at the Metropolitan

JL Tabernacle in London leaves no doubt whatever that he occupied the pulpit by Divine appointment. It was no easy task to step into the breach occasioned by the illness, and subsequently by the death, of that prince of preachers, Mr. C. H. Spurgeon, but the man who is commissioned to undertake a duty forgets himself in the discharge of his task.

So it was with Dr. Pierson. There was no pulpit in all the world so renowned as that from which Mr. Spurgeon week after week and year after year delivered the wonderful sermons that found their way literally by the million into every quarter of the globe, and to step into the fierce light that beat upon the Tabernacle and all its affairs was an ordeal from which almost any man would have shrunk. But Dr. Pierson, looking away from himself and only at the Master whom he served, shouldered the responsibilities of the Tabernacle ministry, and marched forward in full dependence upon the Spirit of God.

He was not entirely a stranger to the congregation when, towards the close of 1891, he began his temporary

ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.

ministry in London. Two years earlier he had preached at the Tabernacle, and the impression made upon his mind on the occasion of that last visit is reflected in the article which appeared shortly afterwards in the pages of his own magazine, "The Missionary Review of the World."

" This Metropolitan Tabernacle is a house of prayer most emphatically," Dr. Pierson writes. " Here are numerous rooms, under and around the great audienceroom, where for almost forty years this one servant of God has held forth the Word of Life ; and in these rooms prayer is almost ceaselessly going up. When one meeting is not in progress, another is. This is a hive of bees, where there are comparatively few drones. There are prayer meetings before preaching, and others after preaching ; Evangelistic Associations, Zenana Societies, and all sorts of work for God find here a centre, and all are consecrated by prayer. Before the preacher goes upon the platform to address these thousands, the officers of this great church meet him and each other for prayer as to the service ; and one feels upborne on these strong arms of prayer while preaching. No marvel that Mr. Spurgeon's ministry has been so blessed. He himself attributes it mainly to the prevailing prayers of his people. Why may not the whole Church of God learn something from the Metropolitan Tabernacle of London as to the power of simple Gospel preaching backed by believing supplication ?

" Referring to this great church, one cannot forget also this divine mission as a standing protest against the secularising of the house of God by the attractions of worldly art and sestheticism. Here is nothing to divert the mind from the simplicity of worship and the Gospel ; no attempt at elaborate architecture, furniture, garniture. A precentor leads congregational song without even the

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE 15 help of a cornet ; prayer and praise, and the reading of the Word of God, with plain putting of Gospel truth — these have been Mr. Spurgeon's lifelong ' means of grace ' and weapons of war.

" This lesson has, in my opinion, a bearing on all work for Christ, at home and abroad. Our reliance is too much on the charms of this world, in drawing souls to the Gospel and to the Saviour. The Holy Spirit will not tolerate our idols. If we will have artistic and secular types of music, substituting unsanctifled art for simple praise ; if we will have elaborate ritual in place of simple, believing prayer, if we will have eloquent lectures in place of simple, earnest Gospel preaching, we must not wonder if no shekinah fires burn in our sanctuaries. If Ahaz is allowed to displace God's plain altar by the carved, idolatrous altar from Damascus, we need not be surprised if God withdraws His power. Perhaps the reason why the work of God abroad shows more sign of His presence and power than our sanctuary services at home is in part this, that our foreign mission work has never been embarrassed as yet by those elaborate attempts at sesthetic attractions which turn many of our home churches into concert-halls and lecture-saloons, and costly club-houses. May God grant us to learn, once for all, that nothing in our mission work can make up for Holy Spirit power, and that Holy Spirit power itself makes up for the lack of all else. If the angel troubles the pool, there is healing in the waters ; but if God's angel comes not down, all the doctors in Jerusalem, with all the drugs in creation, cannot impart healing virtue."

In 1891 Mr. Spurgeon was laid aside by illness, the heavy duties at the Tabernacle overcoming at last his physical strength, and necessitating a respite from the strain of his busy ministry. Ordered abroad by his medical advisers, he was naturally anxious that his congregation should not suffer by his absence, and the problem of a capable substitute was much in his thoughts. Early in the month of August he remembered that Dr. Pierson had kindly offered to come to London at any time when his services might be required, and writing to his friend he inquired whether his engagements would permit of his coming to England. The very next morning, to show how the hand of the Lord was working in the matter, a loving letter was received from Dr. Pierson in which, among other helpful words, were the following : " If by coming across the sea I could now serve you, I would cheerfully do all in my power." To this a reply was at once sent, and the return mail brought the following confirmation of the belief that the proposal was of the Lord : —

" My beloved in the Lord, dearest Spurgeon, — Your most loving letter of August 7th has just reached me, forwarded from my city address. Please do not ' Reverend ' or ' Doctor ' me ! I am not as reverend as you are, for I am only fifty-four, and you are a little more venerable ; and, as to the doctoring, you unhappily need it more than I. Now, henceforth let me be plain Pastor Pierson !

" As to the contents of your letter, I fell on my knees — there was in all this a touch of the supernatural, and I was overawed.

" First of all, I was unexpectedly called to preach in the Tabernacle, Dec. 6, 1889 ; and never had I felt such divine uplifting; the atmosphere of prayer and of the Holy Ghost was there, and those blessed men of prayer all about me, and the conscious demand of the congregation for the plain Word of God, with no chaff of science and art and human wisdom, falsely so-called ; I felt that such a congregation and environment evoked the best there was in me, and that such eloquent hearing would make any man mighty to preach. And so it pained me

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE 17 to be unable to comply with after-appeals by letter and telegram asking me to preach again, for I felt that nowhere on earth would I so gladly hold forth the Word of Life. And then my deep love for Pastor Spurgeon, nourished through many years, and increasing day by day, led me to feel it a divine joy to do anything to help you, for no man on earth has ever had more of my love and sympathy than you. Every utterance of tongue or pen has an echo in my heart, and especially in this Greatest Fight in the World.

" Well, now — listen ; for the first time, I think, since I began to preach at twenty years of age, I am entirely free of all positive engagements from October 1st ; my last appointment to preach, thus far, is September 27. By some strange leading I have been made to keep clear of all embarrassing promises and pledges ; and though it will upset all my supposed and presumed course, I cannot offer at present any insuperable barrier to my coming and preaching for you, from about the middle of October, indefinitely. I know not what I may be able to cable you, for I feel that I must write fully on a subject so grave. It is of supreme consequence for me only to do the will of God, and that can be known only in answer to believing prayer. My counsel is, that you call your deacons together, and, after earnest prayer, ascertain by their unanimous voice what is the divine mind. I am making this matter one of fasting and prayer ; and if your mind, and theirs, and my own, are led in the same direction, I will accept it as a token of God's will, and come with joy to you.

" My hesitation is due, not so much to the necessary doubt investing such a manifest interruption of my ordinary work, which, like other men's, runs in the ruts of habit ; but I cannot but hesitate for clear signs of the divine will, before daring to take up a work so

c vast, and of issues possibly so momentous. To enter such a field, and there labour at this critical time, when the whole people have been chastened, and the soil is mellow and ready for the sowing, — I simply dare not, unless I am thrust into it and anointed anew for the work by the Master Himself."

Three days after writing the above, Dr. Pierson cabled : — Acts xvi. 9, 10. The passage runs thus — " And a vision appeared to Paul in the night : There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them."

In due course, the deacons met, and unanimously agreed to the proposal ; it was afterwards approved by the elders ; and on final details being arranged, October 25th was fixed as the date of Dr. Pierson's first services at the Tabernacle. " We trust " — said the official organ of the Tabernacle at the time — " that his coming will indeed be like Paul's mission to Macedonia, and that not only will believers be edified and strengthened, but that many under his ministry may be brought out of darkness into light."

Believing that blessing received is in proportion to the faith expecting it, Dr. Pierson entered upon his work in London with every confidence of a harvest season. To this belief he gave utterance in some of the first words spoken by him from the Tabernacle pulpit. " Do you expect a blessing ? " he asked. " Then you will prepare your heart for it. May I say that I expect a blessing ? I never would have come those three thousand miles across the stormy Atlantic, and have left all the work in America that was at my hands, to preach in this Tabernacle, had I not been confident that God called me, and

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE ig meant, through this poor ministry of mine, to second the glorious testimony of Pastor Spurgeon, and that I should come to a prepared people. And I want solemnly to say that, if we do not have a blessing, it will be our own fault ; for God is great and rich in mercy, and the Holy Ghost is even now hovering over this assembly like a dove at a window ; and if we will open the window the Holy Dove will come in."

This expectation was realised from the very beginning. Mr. Spurgeon, before his departure for Mentone, had spoken of the rest of heart which he enjoyed in leaving Tabernacle affairs in the hands of " our beloved brother, Dr. Pierson," adding those significant words : — " It was according to the wonder-working way of God to have such a man in reserve while we were laid aside. No one could be more competent, or more suitable ; no one could display a more unselfish desire to serve the cause of God, or a more loving concern to help a brother in his hour of need. It is marvellous how greatly we coincide in thought and feeling : the two ministries have dovetailed into each other, and we are indeed one." And so the ministry, begun amid such mutual love and confidence, and in an atmosphere warm with prayer, was wonderfully marked by the Divine favour. In undiminished crowds the people flocked to the house of God, and the joy of reaping gladdened the heart of the preacher from over the sea.

Meantime, while every department of the Tabernacle was maintaining its activities under the guiding hand of Dr. Pierson, the beloved pastor was resting by the sunny shore of the Mediterranean, gradually gaining strength and, as far as human eye could see, getting ready for a resumption of his labours in the centre of London's teeming millions. He hoped to be " home in February." And he was, in a much more real sense than was supposed by any of those who heard the words, for with the coming of

ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.

that month there flashed across the world the sad intelligence that, on January 31st, 1892, C. H. Spurgeon had gone to his reward.

Throughout the dark and trying days that followed, Dr. Pierson stood like a giant, strong in faith, and preaching the steadying and inspiring messages that were needed in the hours of crisis. " During the life of the great pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle," one of the officials has said to me, " there were many who were filled with apprehension as to what would happen after his decease, for his master had guided and controlled, not only the great Church, but the important institutions connected with it, and when he was called to his rest, the Church was staggered and bewildered by the calamity. Loyally and faithfully, Dr. Pierson stepped into the breach and gave himself unreservedly in the service of the Church; throughout the ordeal of the funeral and memorial services, without faltering, he maintained the great work, until time began to heal the sense of bereavement and distraction, and thus he guided the great ship into smoother water."

The memory of Dr. Pierson's faith, courage, and healing ministry during that period of sorrow and bereavement is still gratefully cherished at the Tabernacle. If, after the congregation worshipping there began to accustom itself to its altered circumstances, there were some who forgot their debt to him, and attributed unworthy motives to disinterested service, it was but a modern illustration of the experience of the "poor wise man " recorded in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Into the unhappy episodes I need not enter, but I have it on the authority of one well acquainted with all the circumstances, that Dr. Pierson made "efforts to restore harmony to an extent that many might consider derogatory in his fervent desire that the cause of Christ might

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE 21, not suffer disrepute by real or imaginary disunion within its borders."

At the Tabernacle and elsewhere there were many who would have liked to see Dr. Pierson succeed Mr. Spurgeon in the permanent pastorate of the Church, but that was not God's purpose for His servant. And so, the mission which had brought him to London having been fulfilled, he resumed other duties, with twenty years of glorious service still ahead.

Ill

THOUGH Dr. Pierson occupied no settled pastorate during the closing twenty years of his life, his ministry was world-wide in its scope, in large measure through his books, and he left his impress on many departments of religious work. In no field, perhaps, did he labour with deeper earnestness than in that of foreign missions. The tremendous need of the mission field ever loomed up before him with pathetic appeal ; he saw vast areas of the world's surface untouched by the saving presence of the missionary, and his heart yearned with a passionate earnestness to send the Gospel to the great multitudes who sat in the gloomy darkness of heathenism. Voice and pen were devoted to furthering the interests of the cause of Christ in foreign lands, and not only did he seek to awaken the interest in the Church, but he gave that which is often hardest to give, his own children to missionary labours, one of them dying at her post in India, another sacrificing his health in the tropics of Central America ; a third has laboured among the Indians in the South-west of America ; a fourth assists her husband in Christian settlement work in one of the large cities in the United States, while the eldest son was associated with his father in the conduct of his missionary magazine.

This intense interest in the cause of missions was not a plant of late growth. For twenty-five years he was editor of The Missionary Review oj the World, and one of his own countrymen has declared that " it is generally conceded that there is no living writer on Christian missions the equal of Dr. Arthur T. Pierson, in fulness of knowledge, in enthusiasm and earnestness of spirit, and in charm and power of treatment." Before he left America in 1891, to enter upon the temporary pastorate of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, he prepared a " Solemn League and Covenant " in order to create a fresh concern in the cause of missions and to lead to a practical support of them.

That " League and Covenant " was in the following practical terms : —

" Who of God's people are ready to join in an agreement of prayer to carry out some such solemn confession of duty, faith, and privilege as the following ?

" We, the undersigned, deeply feeling the reproach and dishonour of the Church of Christ in the long neglect of the perishing millions of our race, and the selfish hoarding and spending of money which has been committed to disciples as stewards ; and painfully conscious that unbelief has led to the still worse neglect of believing prayer in behalf of a world's evangelisation, do, in the name of Jesus, declare our deep conviction that it is the duty and privilege of the disciples of Christ to bear the Gospel message to the whole race of man with all possible promptness ; that every believer is responsible before God for the carrying out of our Lord's last command ; that the avenues of self-indulgence should be closed, that we may have the more to give to those that need ; that we ourselves should be ready to go wherever we are sent, and to send others where we may not go ; that our children should be consecrated, from the first,

ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.

unto God's service, and encouraged to cherish the spirit of missions. And we are especially impressed that daily and believing prayer should be offered for the speedy evangelisation of this world and the coming of the kingdom of God. We believe it is the privilege of all true believers to implore God for the speedy outpourings of His Spirit in a world-wide Pentecost of power.

" And in this faith we do solemnly undertake, in holy agreement before God, however widely separated from each other, to meet each other at the throne of grace in the early morning hours of each day in earnest and importunate prayer."

Again and again he uttered warnings to the Church of Christ, pointing out its duty with regard to missionary work in foreign parts, and no one could listen to his clarion calls without realising how real was the passion that stirred his soul. As recently as August last, igio, in spite of the weakness that was then leaving its mark upon the faithful servant, he spoke at the Northfield Conference on " The Incredible Facts of Modern Missions," emphasising in that address the fact that God is working a great work in our day and calling upon Christian men and women to recognise His working and rise to their responsibility.

" If," he added, " the Church fails Him in these days, He will cast it aside and raise up another people to do His will, as He did with the Israelites at Kadesh-Barnea, that was so near the land of promise that it is not quite certain whether it was inside the border. In a few hours they could have entered and taken possession; but because they were afraid to face the giant sons of Anak, and were so unbelieving and hard-hearted that they were even going to stone Caleb for encouraging them to go forward, God turned them back into the desert for thirty-nine years, till they all left their carcases in the wilderness. If the Church of God in this generation does not arise to the work of the world's evangelisation, He will cast us aside and raise up another generation to do His will."

Then he closed with this appeal, showing how even to the last he was striving to awaken the individual and the Church to a real sense of their responsibility to the unevangelised world : —

" Thousands and millions of people have not yet seen a missionary nor heard the first proclamation of the Gospel. This assembly room has in it as many as equal one-eighth of the missionary forces in the world that the Christian Church sends unto heathen and papal countries. We do not know what consecration is or what giving is. I want to see the day when people beget and bear and rear children for the mission field ; when they restrict their expenses for the sake of having more to give ; when believers limit their indulgences, forego fine houses, collections of art and of books, and all forms of needless outlay for temporal things for the sake of the spiritual welfare of a lost race. I beseech you, take this matter into new consideration before Almighty God, and do not sleep until you have communed with the Wonder Worker of our day, and have solemnly asked Him, * Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? ' "

With such a fire as this glowing perpetually in his breast, one can readily understand how eagerly he welcomed the awakening of college students to the cause of foreign missions in 1886, when the Student Volunteer Movement was founded at Mount Hermon. Much of the inspiration of this movement was derived from Dr. Pierson himself, who was in attendance upon the conference at Northfield, and was associated with the small group of men, including Robert Wilder and John Forman, who inaugurated the world-wide enterprise. During the

ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.

earlier years of the movement Dr. Pierson was present and took part in nearly all their leading conferences both in this country and in America.

No review of Dr. Pierson's life, however lengthy, could do anything like justice to his labours on behalf of missions, but it is worth recalling the fact that in 1888, at the great London Missionary Conference, he delivered a memorable address, giving a general survey of modern missions, in the course of which he pressed home the thought that in connection with this enterprise the greatest need was the need of a revival of faith in the supernatural. In the month of July that same year, in association with his fellow-countryman, the late Dr. A. J. Gordon, of Boston, he addressed a series of meetings in Edinburgh; and this was followed by a campaign in which these two honoured brethren visited quite a number of centres in Scotland, speaking everywhere on missions with much acceptance.

With another branch of Christian activity in this country Dr. Pierson was intimately associated — the Muller Orphanage at Bristol. His association with that wonderful man of God began during one of Mr. Miiller's preaching tours in the United States, Dr. Pierson at that time being minister at a church in Philadelphia. Close and prolonged seasons of prayer and Bible reading which they had together bound them to one another in affectionate relationships, and the ties then formed were only broken when, in 1898, Mr. Muller was called to his reward. Dr. Pierson was a frequent visitor at the Bristol Homes, and in the two biographies, " George Muller, of Bristol," and " James Wright, of Bristol," he paid tribute to the devoted services of those two men of God on behalf of the homeless and the destitute orphans.

AH who had the privilege of being acquainted with Dr. Pierson in his home life speak of the beautiful devotion of husband to wife and of wife to husband. Joined together in marriage in i860, they enjoyed half a century of unbroken happiness, the growing years but drawing them into closer unity of heart and spirit and rendering their married life the perfect ideal of what all true marriage should be. Last summer they celebrated their golden wedding — celebrated it quietly and happily at beautiful Northfield, redolent with memories of D. L. Moody and the centre to-day of Bible conferences and schools that have made, and are making, their mark upon the religious life and thought of the world. The Rev. J. Stuart Holden was privileged to join with Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Moody in an otherwise almost entirely family gathering, and he says that never shall he forget the happiness of that summer afternoon. " With sparkling wit, striking epigram, and interesting reminiscence, the Doctor entertained and amused us all, and his tender and almost patriarchal greeting and blessing of his guests was like a benediction."

To the "beloved friends, everywhere," of Mrs. Pierson and himself there was sent " with grateful affection," a little souvenir of the happy event, couched in the following terms : —

" Our Golden Jubilee was quietly kept with the family circle at * Heerrnhut,' our Northfield summer home.

"We had issued no announcements or invitations, wishing to avoid all publicity, for obvious reasons ; but, notwithstanding, we were the recipients of not a few generous gifts, and very many precious messages of love and salutation, by letter or telegram. Feeling unequal to the individual acknowledgement of all these acts of kindness, we ask our friends to accept this simple memorial of the occasion, and response to their congratulations as a personal tribute, with thanks for their gracious ministries of many years, and fervent prayers for their joyful gathering with us and all the Church of God at the Marriage Supper of the King. ^Upofthe inside'pages of this memorial were reproduced portraits of Dr. and Mrs. Pierson at the tun of their wedding, together with portraits taken just before heir jubilee, and also the following lines in verse giving their testimony to the Lord's goodness during the half century they had been together in the sacred relationship of husband and wife : —

With fifty years of wedded Love and Life Our Father God has crowned us— Husband, Wife— With two sons and five daughters Home was blest, One only-dear " Louise "—yet called to rest, For all these golden years, and sunlit ways, We ask our friends to join our hymn of praise ; No gifts we crave so much as priceless Love, And prayers in our behalf to God above ; That, if awhile His grace prolongs our stay His pillar may direct our pilgrim way. Then bid us welcome to His Home on high, Where Love is throned and Joy can never die. Blessed indeed, from Sin and Death made free In Heaven to keep the Golden Jubilee !

The fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Pierson's ordination to the ministry falling in the same year, it occurred to some of his friends that it was a fitting time to undertake some form of a memorial to him, and it was proposed that a Missionary Bible Lectureship should be founded. The occasion seemed appropriate also for making a missionary tour that had long been in contemplation, and in Dr. Pierson's own magazine the following details were given : —

" After receiving many pressing invitations to visit the Orient, and bear testimony to the truth, the Editor-inchief has now made plans for a trip to the mission fields of Asia, returning by Egypt and the Mediterranean.

He expects to sail from Vancouver on October 19th on the Empress of Japan, and plans to reach London in time for the Keswick Convention in July, 1911. The itinerary, so far as complete, embraces Japan, Korea, China, Siam, India, Burma, and Ceylon, and probably Egypt. Arrangements are being made for services with the missionaries and English-speaking Christians in India during January and February, 1911. The editor will also be ready, as far as is desired and possible, to meet with missionaries in other lands. He expects to be in Japan and Korea in November ; in Manchuria and China in December ; in Siam, Burma, and then India, from about January 1st to March 1st, and in Egypt from March 15th to April 15th, approximately.

" The purpose of this tour is to accomplish several ends : First, to glean information at first hand about the actual state and needs of the mission fields ; second, to encourage and stimulate the missionaries and native churches ; third, to strengthen faith in the inspired Word of God and loyalty to our divine Redeemer ; and, finally, in every way to build up the cause of Bible study and missionary enterprise."