MR. PERRY furnishes also the following reminiscences:
As George Müller was engaged in free, homely conversation with his friends on a Sunday afternoon within about three weeks of his departure to be with the Lord, he referred to two visits he had made during the previous week to two old and beloved friends. He had fully appreciated that, though they were about ten years younger than himself, his power to walk, and specially his power to continue his service for his Lord, was far greater than theirs. So that he playfully said, with a bright smile:
"I came away from both these beloved brethren feeling that I was quite young by comparison as to strength, though so much older,"
and then at once followed an ascription of praise to God for His goodness to him:
"Oh, how very kind and good my heavenly Father has been to me! I have no aches or pains, no rheumatism, and now in my ninety-third year I can do a day's work at the orphan houses with as much ease and comfort to myself as ever."
One sentence aptly sets forth a striking feature in his Christian character, viz.:
George Müller, nothing. The Lord Jesus, everything. In himself worse than nothing. By grace, in Christ, the son of the King.
And as such he lived; for all those who knew and loved this beloved and honoured servant of Christ best would testify that his habitual attitude towards the Lord was to treat Him as an ever-present, almighty, loving Friend, whose love was far greater to him than he could ever return, and who delighted in having his entire confidence about everything, and was not only ready at hand to listen to his prayers and praises about great and important matters, but nothing was too small to speak to Him about. So real was this that it was almost impossible to be enjoying the privilege of private, confidential intercourse with him without being conscious that at least to him the Lord was really present. One to whom he turned for counsel, in prayer, or in praise, as freely as most men would to a third person present; and again and again marked answers to prayer have been received in response to petitions thus unitedly presented to the Lord altogether apart from his own special work.
Be the first to react on this!
Arthur Tappan Pierson was an American Presbyterian pastor, early fundamentalist leader, and writer who preached over 13,000 sermons, wrote over fifty books, and gave Bible lectures as part of a transatlantic preaching ministry that made him famous in Scotland and England.
He was a consulting editor for the original "Scofield Reference Bible" (1909) for his friend, C. I. Scofield and was also a friend of D. L. Moody, George Mueller (whose biography 'George Muller of Bristol' he wrote), Adoniram Judson Gordon, and C. H. Spurgeon, whom he succeeded in the pulpit of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, from 1891 to 1893. Throughout his career, Pierson filled several pulpit positions around the world as an urban pastor who cared passionately for the poor.
Pierson was also a pioneer advocate of faith missions who was determined to see the world evangelized in his generation. Prior to 1870, there had been only about 2000 missionaries from the United States in full-time service, roughly ten percent of whom had engaged in work among Native Americans.
A great movement of foreign missions began in the 1880s and accelerated into the twentieth century, in some measure due to the work of Pierson. He acted as the elder statesman of the student missionary movement and was the leading evangelical advocate of foreign missions in the late 1800s.
Arthur T. Pierson preached over 13,000 sermons, wrote over fifty books, and his Bible lectures made him widely known in America. He was a consulting editor for his friend, C. I. Scofield, with the original Scofield Reference Bible (1909), and was the author of the classic biography, 'George Muller of Bristol'... A. T. Pierson's association with D. L. Moody and his Northfield Conferences were the breeding ground for Pierson's determination to see the world evangelized in his generation.
This deepening of the Christian life in Pierson saw him author one of his most spiritually significant books, 'In Christ Jesus' 1898.
Pierson attended Hamilton College and Union Theological Seminary. In 1860, he married Sarah Frances Benedict; they had seven children, all of whom were converted before the age of 15 and grew up to serve as missionaries, pastors, or lay leaders. He pastored in Binghamton and Waterford, New York; Detroit, Michigan; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
After retiring, he continued to preach at churches and conferences at home and abroad. He was a contemporary and friend of many Christian leaders, including Dwight Moody, Adoniram Gordon, George Mueller, and Charles Spurgeon. During Spurgeon's last illness, Pierson filled the pulpit of Metropolitan Tabernacle for several months.