Charles Spurgeon – HARVEY Christian Publishers

Can God call children or rather does God call children? What he can do is infinite; what he does do brings the question down to practicalities. The book Father Calling presents stories of children who received intimations of God’s plan for their lives at a young age. Take Charles Spurgeon for example, or Lord Shaftsbury, or Hudson Taylor, to mention a few. Sometimes the call was direct but more often it came as a result of life experience as in the case of William Quarrier who founded the Quarrier Homes in Scotland. Growing up in the slums of Glasgow, William knew what it was to feel hungry and sometimes homeless. And so he determined to give his life to help other children like himself find a place of comfort and safety from the cruelty of a fallen world.

Lord Shaftsbury also gave his life to better the lot of children. Unlike William Quarrier, however, his childhood was not similar to the children he came to serve. Brought up in a beautiful mansion, he never knew what it was to be hungry or homeless. He did not have to rise early and go to the mills where heard-hearted masters made sure he earned the little he received as a result of long hard hours of work. But he came to love his Father in Heaven and listen to His voice and that led him to fight long and hard to make sure that the boys and girls of England and Scotland were no longer exploited by money-grabbing factory owners.
Both William Quarrier and Lord Shaftsbury, however, heard the same Voice, followed the same Master, and as a result, thousands of children lived to bless both their names.
Father Calling is written by Lillian Harvey and her daughter Trudy Harvey Tait and is published by Harvey Christian Publishers. It is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

Royal Insignia by E. & L. Harvey focuses on the theme of humility which is in effect, the insignia or badge of every true follower of Christ. This book is a compilation of testimonies and exhortations from past saints who discovered that the way down is always the way up. Here is what John Milton had to say in the first reading:

“It had been a small mastery for Him to have drawn out His legions into array, and flank them with His thunder; therefore He sent foolishness to confute wisdom, weakness to bind strength, despisedness to vanquish pride; and this is the great mystery of the Gospel, made good in Christ Himself, Who, as He testifies, came not to be ministered to but to minister; and must be fulfilled in all His ministers till His second coming.—(p. 8)

In the second reading entitled “The infallible Proof,” Andrew Murray puts it this way: “The chief mark of counterfeit holiness is the lack of humility. Every seeker after holiness needs to be on his guard, lest unconsciously what was begun in the Spirit is perfected in the flesh, and pride creep in where its presence is least expected.” P. 9.

And here is Charles Spurgeon: “It seems that Jehovah’s way is to lower those whom He means to raise and to strip those whom He intends to clothe. If it is His way, it is the wisest and best way. If I am now enduring the bringing low, I may well rejoice, because I see in it the preface to the lifting up. The more we are humbled by grace, the more we shall be exalted in glory. That impoverishment which will be overruled for our enrichment is to be welcomed. “Oh, Lord, Thou hast taken me down of late, and made me feel my insignificance and sin. It is not a pleasant experience, but I pray Thee make it a profitable one to me. Oh, that Thou wouldst thus fit me to bear a greater weight of delight and of usefulness, and when I am ready for it, then grant it to me, for Christ’s sake! Amen.” (p. 14).

“Royal Insignia” is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore

Tag: Charles Spurgeon

Father Calling: Called to save the children.

Royal Insignia, Edwin and Lillian Harvey