Street Meeting Thirty Seventh

A dear brother, himself a fruit of the work, took it upon him this day to preach Christ in two several places. I bless the LORD for such zeal in men, and it rejoiceth me greatly to behold one who hath received the Word beginning himself to carry it unto others. Yet I have lived long enough not to expect more from such beginnings than is necessary. In this work the end is of greater consequence than the beginning. Many may begin with heat who afterward grow cold; and therefore, whilst I rejoice, I would rather pray than presume. Exaggerate not small beginnings, and despise not small beginnings.

May it please the LORD to bless this dear brother with brokenness, with need, and with emptiness. These are good markings of vessels fit for the Master's use: men who have learned that they possess nothing in themselves, and therefore must continually go unto Christ for everything. We have more than enough supposed men of God who have words, learning, reputation, and yet are void of power. 

What we greatly need are men with the fire of the Holy Ghost; men who can do nothing without God, and therefore dare do nothing apart from Him. Men who cannot be governed by opinion, and cannot be purchased with praise. Men who cannot be redirected with reproach, and cannot be held hostage with possessions. Oh, may this brother be such a man—not merely one who began well, but one who shall be found still following Christ when the road hath become most grievous and costly. A man looking toward glory upon a road that leadeth through death.

A man who hath no great interest in earthly things, but striveth toward glory, is a dangerous man. He is not easily governed by the mere opinions of men when they stand contrary to the Word of God; neither doth he greatly value anything which might take hold of his heart and hold it hostage. The world can offer nothing to overcome such a man. Its praise hath no worth to him, and its reproach cannot alter what God hath spoken. What it offers he can lose; what it threatens to take away he hath already surrendered. If he must be faithful unto death that he might receive the crown of life, then even death itself hath lost much of its power over him.

I have judged it needful to put upon record something of the hand of God in the work amongst the children of the church, and amongst the children in the park. Three instances to be written down for two reasons: for witness; and for remembrance.

For if the Lord hath indeed been pleased to work amongst these little ones, His dealings ought not to pass unnoticed. And knowing how readily I myself forget, I would preserve some account of these beginnings, that in years to come we may look back and remember what the Lord was pleased to do when the work was yet small.

Firstly, Two weeks ago, after one of our Street Meetings, we unknowingly took a photograph of some of the brethren in which several children of the park also appeared. I thought little of it at the time; but afterward, whilst putting the photographs in order, the LORD minded me that we ought to make some deliberate effort to reach these children for Christ. It felt warmly strange and humbling to stare at the photo, and look at the children we have overlooked.

The following week the brethren therefore began to befriend the same children, simply speaking with them, becoming acquainted with them, and eating together. To begin straightway teaching them the Word would, in my judgment, have been a rash move. They scarcely knew us, and we scarcely knew them. We ought first to break up the fallow ground before any seeds can be planted.

And so, for the present, we were content to labor upon the dry and hard ground. If the Lord be pleased afterward to open their hearts unto His Word, we would rather enter by the door of kindness, which He provide, than force one of our own making. Who knows whether we shall indeed be permitted, in time, to sit these children down and instruct them in the Word? This is certainly where we desire to arrive; but if we would come unto that place, we must take the right road towards it, and not make one up merely because we are impatient to arrive. 

Perhaps the Lord shall give us time to break up the fallow ground, sow the seed, and afterward behold something spring from it. Perhaps the children shall be gone before ever we have opportunity to speak to them as fully as we desire. This also belongeth unto Him.

Yet even then I could not account these little acts of kindness wasted. For if they should carry nothing else away from us, they shall at least have known, for a little while, what it is to be treated with kindness. They shall have sat with people who desired nothing from them, shared food with those who sought no advantage over them, and found that there were grown men whom they need not fear. Perhaps even this may strike some little blow against that miserable view of the world which life hath already begun to teach them—that there are no men worth trusting, and no truth worth believing.

Secondly, a young girl whose parents are our near neighbors, and have always shown themselves agreeable to the work carried on amongst the little ones in the community. She is a child of uncommon understanding, and giveth her whole heart unto the lessons taught her. She can already repeat the Decalogue from memory, and is presently under our instruction in the catechism.

Her mother, who is yet an unbeliever, hath more than once spoken to us with much pleasure concerning the evident change in the child's behavior at home. This hath greatly encouraged us; for whatever she receives amongst us seems not to remain merely within the hours of instruction, but follows her home. The little girl is diligent also in reviewing her lessons, and frequently asks her mother to help her. Thus the mother herself is brought to take up the Scriptures and read those portions which her child hath been taught.

This affected me much when I first considered it. Here is a woman who, in the ordinary course of things, would neither have taken the Word of God into her hands nor opened it to read; yet now her own child brings it before her and asks her help in learning it. 

How quietly doth the Lord order such things! We teach the child, thinking chiefly of the little soul before us; the child carries the lesson home; and there the mother, whilst helping her daughter to learn, finds the Scriptures open before her own eyes.

I have time and again put upon record our former pleadings with the Lord that He would open some way whereby we might reach our neighbors with the Gospel. Yet it hath pleased Him to make plain that we were not first to begin with the parents, as perhaps I had imagined, but with their children. Thus He answered the petition, whilst reserving unto Himself the manner of answering it. And now, we behold the first leaf of spring.

The children have indeed begun carrying the truth into their homes. What we teach them amongst ourselves passeth from their lips into the hearing of their parents; and the Scriptures placed before the children are finding their way before eyes which otherwise might never have opened them.

I had asked the Lord to reach our neighbors. I had not known whom He would first reach, when He would do it, nor by what means. These answers belonged unto Him. This first little appearing strengthens us only to ask for more. For if He hath been pleased to answer thus, beyond the manner in which we ourselves had conceived the petition, why should we prescribe the bounds of what He may yet do? He is glorified not only in answering us, but in giving above what we ask.

Thirdly, About a month ago, the teachers began directing the children in reviving amongst them that old Filipino custom of showing honor unto their elders which we call pagmamano. The child taketh the hand of the elder and gently brings it unto his forehead, whilst the elder commonly lays his hand upon the child in blessing. It is but a simple gesture, yet one which our people have long understood as an expression of reverence and affection from the young toward the old. As the years pass and our manner of life becometh more modern, this old custom seems gradually to be neglected, and perhaps shall altogether disappear if the young are no longer taught it.

But something hath followed these lessons which hath greatly pleased us. The children now come running unto us whenever they see us outside, even upon ordinary days, that they might receive our blessing. It hath become natural with them. They see us, leave what they are doing, and presently come to ask our hands on their heads. Mano.

I cannot behold this without remembering what these same children were like when we first came here five years ago. They would be outside playing roughly together, sometimes fighting and cursing one another was common amongst them. Now there is an evident difference between those who have continued under our instruction and the few who still speak after the old manner. 

Neither do we commonly find our children amongst the rougher company as before; more often they are together amongst themselves. A small fellowship of children playing as I see it.  These are small things, perhaps, and I would be careful not to call the bud the full-grown fruit. Yet neither would I despise what the Lord hath permitted us to see.

We are impatient creatures. We would have a neighborhood changed at once, and wonder why the work proceeds so slowly. But perhaps the Lord is pleased to teach us another manner of reckoning. We count days, months, and even years. He may be pleased to redeem a people one generation at a time. I believe the Lord is pleased to have this poor worm rest content in beholding but a single green leaf of the coming spring, and no more. I felt a mighty melting in my soul at this thought—that I may be called to build upon the foundation, whilst a generation I shall never live to see grow up shall possess the building. Lord, let Thy will be done, so that Christ be magnified.

These things, and more which, if the Lord grant me time, I hope yet to put into writing, bear witness unto His goodness and mercy toward us. The images herein preserve something of what transpired that afternoon at the Street Meeting; yet I know how much they leave untold. There are many particulars which no photograph can show, and which I am content rather to commit unto my private journal than relate them here. Not everything needeth to be made public in order that it might be remembered. Suffice it to say that those prayers for poverty of spirit were again answered mightily.

Praise be unto God.