50 People Every Christian Should Know by Warren W. Wiersbe

Author:Warren W. Wiersbe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2009-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

27

F. B. Meyer

1847–1929

When Jack Johnson defeated James Jeffries for the 1911 world heavyweight championship, negotiations were begun to pit Johnson against the British champion, Bombardier Wells. But a well-known British Baptist preacher stepped into the ring and opposed the contest. So effectively did he protest from pulpit and platform, as well as in the press, that the fight was called off. The sporting public was enraged. F. B. Meyer hardly seemed the type to get involved in controversy. A harmless mystic with a saintly face, he was popular throughout the English-speaking world as a devotional preacher. Even today his devotional books and biblical biographies are on almost every pastor’s shelves.

But Frederick Brotherton Meyer was a militant mystic. He was, as Carl Sandburg described Abraham Lincoln, “velvet steel.” His gentleness was not weakness, but power under control. Once he determined that something was wrong, he fought it—even if he had to fight alone. Attacked in one church because of his strong evangelistic ministry, he resigned and built a church of his own. Hindered in his program of rehabilitating ex-convicts, he organized his own business and put the men on his payroll. There was no stopping F. B. Meyer.

Nothing in Meyer’s birth hinted that a spiritual soldier had come on the scene. In fact, he was born with the coveted silver spoon in his mouth. As they said in that Victorian era, the family had “good connections.” He was born on April 8, 1847, at Lavender Terrace, Wandsworth Road, London (even the address seems to glitter). Home life in Brighton was happy and comfortable, but also spiritual. His mother taught the children the Bible, and his father set the example as a dedicated Christian businessman. On Sunday mornings they attended the Bloomsbury Chapel, and in the evenings they held family services at home.

When Meyer was fifteen, business reverses forced the family to leave their lovely home in Brighton and return to London. His father tried to settle all the accounts honestly, which left little for the family. Meyer’s silver spoon was gone, but not his sterling Christian character. In later years Meyer gave thanks for the experience because it helped him discover the things that mattered most. In his itinerant ministry he was always sensitive about large offerings and honoraria. More than once he returned love offerings he thought were too large.

From his earliest years, Meyer felt called to the ministry. He had even preached during family devotions. When he was sixteen he told his father his decision to enter the ministry, and both went to see William Brock, pastor of Bloomsbury Chapel. The great preacher asked young Meyer to preach a trial sermon for him—hardly easy for a teenager. But he passed the test.

At this critical point Brock counseled Meyer to spend at least two years working in a London business office before entering college. So Meyer joined the tea firm of Allan Murray, working there for two years. He saw city life firsthand. He learned to keep accurate records, make sensible decisions, plan his day well, and use his time efficiently.

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