BIOGRAPHY
MANY have reason to praise God for blessing and help
received through the perusal of tracts with the well-known initials, "C. S."
being the initials for CHARLES STANLEY, of Rotherham.
Born in a
Yorkshire village, he was left an orphan at the age of four. At seven he had to
earn his living - in the summer by working in the fields, and in the winter
months he attended the village school. When a merry little fellow of eight
summers a gentleman who knew him said, You will either be a curse or a blessing
to mankind." This prediction was a true one, and by the mercy of God "C. S." :
became a channel of blessing to hundreds and thousands of his fellow-creatures.
His conversion took place when he was a boy of fourteen, and shortly
afterwards he began to "tell to all around what a dear Saviour he had found."
At the age of twenty-three we find him starting on his own account in
the hardware business in Sheffield. For many years he traversed England as a
commercial traveller, and at the same time did "the wor,7e of an evangelist."
From help he obtained through a Captain W-- the Bible became a new book to him.
It was his daily study, and "he grew in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ." Though only possessed of a small capital when he
commenced business, he managed to devote a good deal of time to preaching the
gospel and teaching believers in various parts of the kingdom. Speaking of
those early days, forty years after, he says: "Seldoth in those days did the
Lord open my lips without some soul being converted. Not that this appeared at
the time, but I have met them everywhere, ten, twenty, or thirty years after."
Instances are given of the Lord's thoughtful and tender care when in
business straits, proving the truth of the promise, "Them that honour Me I will
honour" (i Samuel 2. 30). God marvellously blessed his labours in the salvation
of the perishing, and in the edification and comfort of Christians. "C. S."
believed in the Lord's special and direct guidance of His servants. Again and
again he was deeply impressed with the conviction that he ought to go to places
to preach the gospel where he had never been; and on many such occasions he
found a people anxious to listen.
Here is an instance. "Three of us
felt led to go to Leamington. We had a little notice printed, about the size of
a small envelope, asking the Christians of Leamington to come together in the
Music Hall at three o'clock for prayer for the Lord's blessing on the Word to
be preached in the hall that night. About two hundred come together, and oh!
what a cry of united expecting prayer went up to the Throne of Grace. At seven
the large hall was filled. That night God answered prayer. It was the
birth-night of many precious souls. It was said some hundreds found deliverance
and blessing that night."
By the way-side and river-side, in railway
carriages and steamboats, at balls and races, in halls and chapels, in kitchens
and drawing-rooms, theatres and concert halls, Charles Stanley nobly witnessed
for his Lord and Master. "He being dead yet speaketh" by hundreds converted
through his preaching, and through the scores of tracts and booklets he has
written. What Christian worker has not heard of the "C. S." tracts? He tells
how he began this most blessed service for the Lord. " I had been preaching the
Word at T--, and brother W-- said to me, 'Why don't you print some of those
incidents of the Lord's work in the railway carriages? I am sure the Lord would
use them.' I said I had never thought of it. He urged me to do so. How little
did I think at that moment that the Lord would use them in so many languages."
The objects he had in view in writing the tracts are stated. "To look
to God to give me to write just what He pleased, and to enable me to write it
plainly without any adornment. To never allow me to write with a party feeling,
but to write for the whole Church of God, or gospel to every sinner. In every
incident related to give the exact words as near as I could recollect."
Speaking of his address on "Mephibosheth," he remarks: "I believe the Lord
rarely ever led me to preach from Mephibosheth without souls being converted.
He has been pleased to use that tract very often when repeated to the sick and
the dying, and also through others preaching it. Mr. M-- told me he had
preached it in almost every city and town in America, and, he thought, never
without souls being brought to God.
It would fill a volume to tell of
the great number of cases that have been brought before my own notice." His
counsel to Christian workers is most seasonable and helpful, and is worthy of
prayerful and careful consideration. Invaluable is the following testimony: "I
have always found blessing and results in proportion to communion with Christ
in His love to the whole Church, whether in writing or preaching; and no
Christian can prosper in his own soul unless he is seeking the welfare of
others."
Speaking of "the righteousness of God," he says "Nothing short
of the revelation of the righteousness of God in justifying the sinner can
sustain the soul, either in passing through the storms of temptation of the
world, the flesh, and the devil, or in faithfully preaching the gospel to
others. I would strongly press the prayerful study of the Epistle to the Romans
on all young preachers of the gospel as to the basis and revelation of the
righteousness of God." Yet more: "Another thing - I would impress, unfeigned
dependence on the Holy Spirit, whether as to a holy life or preaching the
gospel." Speaking of divisions among God's people, he remarks "It is the state
of the soul that is the root cause of division. False representations,
bitterness and evil speaking, spiritual pride, vain conceit, worldliness, and
want of uprightness."
Charles Stanley was called from his earthly home
in Rotherham to the Heavenly home on 1888. He has left behind him a legacy in
the form of the "C.S.Tracts" which will cause his name to be honoured and to
shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.
A.M.