The Titanic's Last Hero (7 page)

into touch with John Harper

TO WRITE AN APPRECIATION OF John Harper is no easy task; for when one has written in the superlative degree, one feels that justice has not been done to the life-work and character of this strenuous worker for God.

I knew Mr. Harper for twelve years, and in 1908, I spent ten days with him while conducting a special mission in Paisley Road. Then I learned to love him, and to know John Harper better was to love him more. We were different men, but there was an affinity between us that strengthened with the years, and his great desire was that I should succeed him in Paisley Road, if ever he should be led out of it. That is now an accomplished fact; but little did we think that his earthly race would be completed at age thirty-nine.

HE WAS A MAN TAUGHT OF GOD

In losing our dear brother, we have lost a great preacher. Stepping out from the ranks of the working men, he stood before his fellows as a man taught of God. No college can claim him; he came forth a preacher from God. The passion of his life was soul-winning. It was not unusual for him never to go to bed on a Saturday night, pleading for souls and crying for divine power to enable him to preach for the glory of God. It was this passionate love for souls that made him literally live among the people.

Harper Won the Hearts of the Common People

With pride the people in the district tell me how he used to drop in to dinner or tea and sit down with them to their frugal meal, served on a table devoid of cloth. He was one of them, losing himself in their sorrows and joys—advising and warning, rejoicing and weeping—and in this manly, loving way he endeared himself to the simple people who today mourn his loss as if he had been one of their own family.

His love and sympathy were phenomenal, because of the magnetic, sympathetic influence that ever emanated from him. No wonder Roman Catholic and Protestant, the poor and the poorest of the poor, shed copious tears at the mention of his death! The district loved him and appreciated the Herculean efforts of this great, passionate worker for God.

LIVES WERE FOREVER CHANGED

He was a great Bible student, and his capable teaching is manifest in the numbers of young men in the congregation who have an intelligent grasp of the Book of Books, and who have caught Pastor Harper’s enthusiasm for Bible study. In Paisley Road and Walworth Road, London, his magnificent grasp of Bible truths was instrumental in bringing back many to the main line who had gone off to side tracks.

It was a very common sight to see souls being dealt with in the open-air, some even kneeling down in the ring and making confession of sin. Some of these trophies went on to become deacons and respected members of Paisley Road Baptist Church, which was built on the spot where many of its members once gambled and fought! What a testimony to the power of the gospel, working through a man completely abandoned to the great work of soul-winning!

AN INSPIRATION TO THOUSANDS

What a sermon builder he was! His homiletic ability was marvelous. His great doctrinal sermons grew under his treatment until they appeared like a magnificent branching tree, affording shade and shelter to many a weary traveler. His wide knowledge of Puritan, theological, and revival literature enabled him to embellish his discourses in such a way as to send the hearer away with a sense of satisfaction and fullness.

How difficult it is for one to realize that this great, intelligent, earnest, enthusiastic preacher and soul winner has gone out of one’s life! All denominations mourn his loss, for his energies were freely given to all, as he didn’t know the meaning of ministerial jealousy. His life will be an inspiration to thousands, his influence will be indelible, his example infectious, and although he was struck down in the zenith of his usefulness, yet we do not grudge him his translation to higher service. To try to fill his place is to attempt the impossible, yet to be in his place is an inspiration.

He has gone to his reward, and it is for those who knew and loved him to profit by his example and try to fill the gap as far as is possible.

Farewell, my beloved brother! May your mantle as a preacher fall upon your unworthy successor, and may the passion that filled your soul control the writer of this inadequate appreciation.

Photo of Pastor Hugh Gunn

CHAPTER 5

HE COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT SOULS BEING WON

Tribute by Pastor Hugh Gunn,

John Street Baptist Church, Glasgow, Scotland

Would he not in the midst of

That panic-stricken mass of

Drowning men, women, and children

Be pointing them to the Cross,

And thus as he lived, die with that one

Name upon his lips—

Jesus! Jesus!! Jesus!!!?

OUR DEAR BROTHER, MR. HARPER, was a man of Christ. He was wholly surrendered to God. I knew him well, and I never saw in him anything to the contrary. He had no hobby and sought no recreation other than the deepening of his delight in God. Every power and passion of his being seemed to thrill with the life of God. He was on the altar continually.

A PASSION FOR HOLINESS

He was a man of intense earnestness. This earnestness was begotten of his consciousness of God. The power of the world to come seemed to rest on him at all times. This characterized him continually, whether praying, preaching, or dealing personally with individuals regarding salvation.

He was a man of prayer. I shall never forget seasons of prayer with him. He no sooner began praying audibly than everyone felt he was in touch with God. After hearing him pray, one felt the desire to go away alone and open up one’s heart before God. Prayer took a great deal out of him. He labored in prayer, praying in the Holy Ghost. It was quite a common thing for him to spend whole nights alone in prayer. He literally came from the presence of God to his people. His sermons were saturated with prayer. Hence their great power in uplifting and sanctifying God’s people and bringing sinners weeping to the Cross.

GOD’S HAND RESTED UPON HIM

He was a man of God. A holy man of God. God was all in all to him. He was always in communion with God. He reveled in the precariousness of Christ. God’s hand of power rested upon him. This undoubtedly was the secret of his constant possession of that indescribable, indefinable thing we call unction. I never heard him speak without it.

As a pastor, he was most careful in his preparation for the pulpit. He reminded one of M’Cheyne’s saying, “beaten oil for the sanctuary.” Saint and sinner seemed to be thoroughly understood by him, and each had their portion dealt out to them as in the sight of God. With what eagerness he sought to lead God’s people into the fullness of the blessed life in Christ, dreading their remaining satisfied with anything short of the abundant, overflowing life that filled his own soul. He was greatly blessed in leading Christians out into the service of Christ. He never urged them to be that which he was not, or to do that which he did not. He led the way.

HIS PASSION FOR SOULS

Our beloved brother possessed a consuming zeal for souls. This was really the outstanding feature of his consecrated life. He seemed to be unable to live without souls being won to Christ. Souls! Souls!! Souls!!! colored his whole life.

He was loyal to God’s Word. He never descended into the questionable paths of higher criticism. To him, it was God’s Word.

He was most intolerant with regard to some of the modern methods of doing Christian work. To him, it was a little short of blasphemy to offer dying men entertainments and amusement instead of the glorious gospel that brings salvation to all men. His own work was a living example of what the gospel alone can accomplish.

COME UP HIGHER

Being a great blessing to the Moody Church, he was invited to return for a second mission, and on his way there, Christ came to him and said, “Come up higher.” What a meeting with his Lord! I am intensely curious to know how he acted in the closing moments of his life. Would he not, as was his wont, be drying the tear away, comforting, and helping till the last moment of his life? Would he not in the midst of that panic-stricken mass of drowning men, women, and children be pointing them to the Cross, and thus as he lived, die with that one name upon his lips—Jesus! Jesus!! Jesus!!! ?

Photo of Pastor A. Moncur Niblock

CHAPTER 6

THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER

Tribute by Pastor A.M. Niblock,

Delivered at Walworth Road Baptist Church, London

There was only one John Harper,

And there will never be another,

No one will ever fill his place.

He has gone; we are left, left! For what?

To weep and allow

Our hands to hang down?

No, surely not!

But to work, to watch, to wait,

To preach Christ and Him crucified,

And thus to save those who are crying out

To us, “Save our souls.”

IT IS WITH INDESCRIBABLE FEELINGS that I stand here this morning. The great calamity that has fallen upon us, in the loss of our beloved pastor, the Reverend John Harper, has plunged us into a pathless darkness from which for the moment our hearts and minds cannot find a way out. Last Monday evening, we went from the prayer meeting to our homes full of praise to God for the preservation of our beloved friend.

THE FAILED PROMISE OF AN UNSINKABLE SHIP

The newspapers told us he was upon an unsinkable ship, that all was safe, and that there was no need to fear. Alas! Man’s word is not like God’s Word—immutable, unchanging, and sure. Neither are man’s works like God’s, for both words and works have failed, as has been seen in this sad disaster. The ship was sinkable. She sank. And with her went down into the dark deep the body of him whom we loved so well, but, praise God, we know he himself has gone home to be with the Lord.

We have suffered a great loss, and not only we, but the entire church of God—a loss that cannot be replaced. There was only one John Harper, and there will never be another; no one will ever fill his place. He has gone; we are left, left! For what? To weep and allow our hands to hang down? No, surely not! but to work, to watch, to wait, to preach Christ and Him crucified, and thus to save those who are crying out to us, “Save our souls.”

My heart sympathizes with yours. Yes, we are suffering together, and God only knows the extent of the void that is in your hearts this morning.

OUR FURNACE OF AFFLICTION

God loves this church. He honored it by giving for a season this man of prayer to lead it into the green pastures of truth and to the quiet waters of communion with God. The very fact that he was found here proves the love of God for you, and that God has chosen this people for Himself, that He might show forth His glory and virtue through you. Today you are in the furnace of affliction. But is that not where God chooses His people? Isaiah says, “I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction,” and so in this which has come upon us, God is choosing us for Himself.

England today is a land of mourning. There are many widows and orphans who, but a short time ago, were counting the days—yea, hours—when they would have the joy of meeting their loved ones again. Today their hearts are crushed. Desolation has entered into their spirits, and they are lonely. Their future is dark, and the spirit of the companionless has taken hold of them. Now they have no one to lean upon, to look up to, to commune with. The partner has gone, that one who was their other being, that one in whom they had lost themselves, and of whom they themselves were a part.

HE PRAYED FOR YOU—O HOW HE PRAYED

God help us then to play the part of the true Christian and remember these in our prayers before the eternal throne. I have said that we have lost a friend, a brother, and a pastor. This is true, is it not? He was a friend indeed. We could go to him and open our hearts, knowing that he would hold sacred our confidence, that he would be gentle with us and deal with us tenderly, and that whatever advice he gave could be relied upon.