Recently I've read through some biographies of men whose ministries overlapped one another in the 19th century. Andrew Bonar 1810-1892, Hudson Taylor 1832-1905, George Muller 1805-1898 and Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892. So Muller lived the longest and Spurgeon, (probably the best known of the four), lived the shortest, but for approximately 40 years their ministries were in parallel with one another. They were very different men but giants in the Kingdom of God. From my reading I reckon each of them had one outstanding characteristic.
Holiness. This was Andrew Bonar. His name may be the least familiar to us, but he had an extremely fruitful and effective ministry in Glasgow. In a way his name is probably overshadowed by that of Robert Murray M'Cheyne who ministered for just 7 years in Dundee and died at the age of 29. M'Cheyne has always been revered for his extraordinary holiness and for overseeing a significant revival in his church. However we mainly know of M'Cheyne because of his friend Andrew Bonar who wrote his biography, probably one of the most famous christian biographies ever written. But even if Bonar appears to be somewhat in the shadow of M'Cheyne, he too experienced seasons of revival, was a wonderfully diligent pastor and is worth reading about because of what was his cheerful holiness. Think 'holy' and you can think stuffy, but not Andrew Bonar.
Courage. This was Hudson Taylor. The founder of the China Inland Mission with an unsurpassed passion for the salvation of millions of unreached Chinese. His courage was just extraordinary and his life an adventure from beginning to end. He travelled a number of times between Britain and China and twice in his early voyages was nearly shipwrecked in tremendous storms, but showed enormous bravery on both occasions. He was nearly killed in a riot in China and made numerous and very dangerous mission trips into cities and areas where his life was several times under threat. His first wife died in China at the age of 33 and yet he kept pioneering, recruiting missionaries, building mission stations and evangelising. He adopted the chinese hairstyle and dress in order to identify with local people as he wanted to see them saved and churches established. His perseverance and courage were just amazing.
Faith. This was George Muller. During his lifetime he built orphanages in Bristol and looked after over 10,000 children and to do this and run other Christian work he raised in excess of £1.3 million (about £110 million today). Muller never once made an appeal for money, but received it all in direct answers to prayer! There are many famous stories of 'near misses', eg. sitting the children down for breakfast and giving thanks for the food in prayer while there was nothing in the house but as the prayer finished someone would arrive at the door with the gift of a meal. Muller also supported financially the work of Hudson Taylor in China. Interestingly he was no preacher. Spurgeon was a friend of both Taylor and Muller and had both to preach at his church in London. Spurgeon was,to say the least, not complimentary about Muller's preaching, but he did add, 'Ah!, but it was the man behind the message'.
Preaching. This was Spurgeon. Whitefield may have been a greater preacher before Spurgeon but probably no-one has ever been greater or more famous as a preacher since the end of his ministry in 1892. During his lifetime he built the biggest congregation in the world at that time and the building that was erected during his ministry in central London, known as the Metropolitan Tabernacle, could seat between 5 and 6,000. He would preach to full congregations there twice on a Sunday and on Thursday evenings and of course always without any help from a microphone. He struggled with depression throughout his ministry, suffered greatly with bad health and his wife was an invalid throughout much of their marriage.But his work output in terms of preaching and writing was just enormous. His effectiveness as a preacher and writer is clear from the fact that his sermons and books are still widely read today.
Four very different men, ministering at the same time and massively used by God in the 19th century. It always does me good to read biographies. They provoke, challenge excite and inspire. They underline the amazing work that God can do through one person. If you feel weary as a Believer, then nothing is more refreshing than to read a christian biography.