Excellent. Here is a taste of R.C., which I hope we can all drink from this well of wisdom. Praise God!
Chapman’s communion and fellowship with God were most intimate. “When I bow to God, God stoops to me,” he declared. Again, “As the father and child do all they can to please each other, so I do all I can to please God, and God does all He can to please me.”
He was told of a “perfectionist” who said he had reverted to the state of Adam, born without sin and with only the possibility, in an unguarded moment, of wrongdoing.
“Adam’s state!” he exclaimed with vehemence. “Back to Adam’s state! I would not change places with Adam before the Fall for a hundred thousand worlds.”
Chapman cultivated the grace of brotherly love. His one friendly relative, while visiting him, looked into his larder and asked if he might obtain some groceries for him. Chapman consented on condition that he purchase them from a certain shopkeeper, whom he named. This merchant, gratified by the largeness of the order, was discomfited and totally incredulous when told it was to be delivered to Chapman, whom he detested. After delivering the groceries, this man, who had formerly made Chapman the target of his abuse, was discovered prostrate on his face before the man of God in tears, begging forgiveness.
When told of the fault of another, Chapman was wont to say, “Let us go to our brother and tell him of this.” One day, a member of the Chapel called on him, expressing distress at the conduct of a certain sister. He listened and, as she concluded her grievances, retired from the room for a few minutes. Returning with his overcoat and Bible, he remarked, “I’m going now.”
“But, Mr. Chapman, I came for your advice.”
“I will give it,” was his reply, “when you come with me to call on the sister. You see, I never judge by appearance but must always hear both sides.”
Most reluctantly the visitor accompanied him, but after the three had conversed awhile, in a most humble manner, she confessed her lack of charity.
When anyone in his presence criticized the public address of a speaker, his reaction was, “Let us tell him so”; at the same time rising from his chair. This attitude, in a very effective way, dampened further criticism. Thus did his parishioners understand his hatred of talebearing.
On another occasion, when he was calling from house to house with one of his church members, he met a woman who felt it her duty to give him a most severe tongue-lashing. He listened for a while, with no comment. Then he called to his colleague across the street, “Dear brother, listen to this sister, she is telling me all that is in her heart.” Needless to say, the stream of vituperation dried up at once.
God granted a long and useful life to His servant. He preached his last sermon just before his ninety-eighth birthday. At the ripe old age of ninety-nine years, Robert Chapman passed away with the words upon his lips, “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding.”
Doubtless the treasury of Christian literature is the poorer because Robert Chapman, in a spirit of self-abnegation, destroyed most of his papers. However, from the limited supply available, the few we do include reveal the character of the man.
Source:
www.pawcreek.org/articles/testimonials/RobertCleaverChapmanTheRichPoorMan.htm