The Life And Ministry Of Robert Sears

Earthen Vessel 1888:

Notes From The Autobiography Of Mr. R. E. Sears, Pastor Of Little Alie Street, Whitechapel

God said unto Moses, “I will make all My goodness pass before thee;” and it passes before us in our own personal experience, and we record it here in praise of the sovereign grace and matchless love of our covenant God. I might have been left to perish in my sin, for,—

“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,

And enter while there’s room;

When thousands make a wretched choice,

And rather starve than come?

‘Twas the same love that spread the feast,

That sweetly forced us in;

Else we had still refused to taste,

And perished in our sin.”

My Birth And Parentage

I first saw the light of natural life on the 22nd of May, 1838, and it was my happy privilege to have parents who loved and served the Lord, both being earnest and active members of the Baptist Church, Hill-street, Dorset-square, then under the pastorate of Mr. John Foreman. I have heard my father say that when he first took me in his arms he presented me to God. It is no small mercy to commence life in a baptism of earnest prayers. Dear reader, have you a praying mother? Esteem her as a priceless treasure. Have you a God-fearing father? Honour him and obey him in the Lord, for this is right.

Forgive me, reader, if I pause to lay a garland on my parents’ tomb. Dear and gentle mother, thy Robert loves thee still; long gone from sight, but always a living reality in the shrine of memory. Thy children call thee blessed; and blessed be God for all the holiness, gentleness, patience, and beauty of thy life! Honoured father, thy counsels are not forgotten; thy prayers God continues to answer; and in thy footsteps we fain would tread.

Childhood

Very early in life I had convictions of sin and desires after God; but they were of a transient nature; they came and went like the dew of the morning. When only nine or ten years of age, “Janeway’s Token for Children,” and “Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress,” were read with deep interest. I used nightly to repeat the prayer my mother taught me, and sometimes I added a few words of my own. When quite a little boy my mother was very ill; and I believe that “Lord, spare my mother,” was true prayer, for God answered it. When about twelve years of age I left off my form of prayer; but, even then, conscience accused me, and often I was constrained to repeat the words in bed.

Sin A Burden

At the age of fourteen years, God was pleased to deepen my convictions, so that sin became a burden; and from that time I was never left to give up seeking the Lord. The instrumentality employed was an address by my own dear father. (Blessed be God that my ministry has been blessed to at least five of my dear children). The subject of my father’s address was the last Judgment, and it was given in the Sunday-school at the close of the afternoon teaching. Oh, the longing I had to be one of God’s people, so that at the last day I might hear the welcome, “Come, ye blessed of My Father.” I knew that God’s people were a praying people; and on returning home I went to my room, and kneeling down I cried, “Lord, teach me how to pray.” And now I began to see my lost and ruined state as a sinner in God’s sight; and I resolved to be good and serve the Lord; for alas! although brought up under a free grace ministry I was full of free will. It seemed so reasonable to me that I should do what I could; for, thought I, How can I expect God to bless me unless I do what I can? Oh, the wretchedness and misery of those days! The more I tried the worse I became. I longed for the light, but darkness far more dense encompassed me. The day when a fresh resolution was made was sure to be a day of greater sin. How I longed for some friendly hand to guide me; but I dared not reveal my feelings to anyone. Many and many a time did I shut myself in my room and bitterly weep over my sad state. I wanted to be a Christian, but feared I never should be; and what seemed so strange to me, there were times when I seemed to have no burden and very little anxiety. Then came the suggestion-doubtless from the devil—You had better think no more about religion: if you are to be saved you will be saved. But He who had begun the good work in me would not leave me. God was preparing me to receive salvation as a free gift. He was preparing me to prize salvation all of sovereign grace. God was showing me the worthlessness of my own works that I might be saved by the work of Christ alone. Well do I remember one night thinking over my sad state, for I had been trying for a long time, and had miserably failed in everything; and I thought, I never shall be one of God’s people; but oh, how I longed to be. My hope that night was gone. No star of promise shone to cheer me; and, falling prostrate upon the ground, I could only groan, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” It was God’s work to bring me to that. He humbled me that He might exalt me; and now I had the morning star of hope. 

I attended a Bible-class, of which I was a member, conducted by Mr. Tinson, now the superintendent at Hill-street. The subject that Thursday evening was “Mercy,” and “I obtained mercy,” and could sing,—

“Is Christ the Door? then here I’ll wait;

Thanks to His Name! ’tis not too late;

Though late I come, and vile and poor,

God will receive me at this Door.”

Earthen Vessel 1890:

Mr. R. E. Sears, Pastor Of Little Alie Street, Whitechapel

Dear Brother Winters,—In your editorial capacity—in asking me to write a short paper to accompany my portrait—you have imposed upon me a somewhat difficult task. “Myself,” is a text I should never select; but to magnify the grace of God is supreme delight. The editorial “We” would be out of place in a personal narrative; I must therefore write, principally, in the first person singular; but kindly remember that if “I” frequently occurs, in my own mind it is always accompanied with the Pauline sentiment, “yet not I, but the grace of God.”

An account of my call by grace was given in the June and July numbers of the Earthen Vessel & Gospel Herald for 1888. No one is more indebted to sovereign grace than myself. The beautiful words of the dear departed Anderson, give expression to my heart’s adoration:—

“How can a guilty man be just with God?

The soul-absorbing thought filled me with fear.

Till Jesus came, and answered by His blood;

His cross I saw, and solved the mystery there.

Where sin abounded, grace abounded more;

She reigns supreme, and will maintain her throne:

Let sin and Satan fight with all their power,

I shall be saved, and saved by grace alone.

Grace leaves me no conditions to fulfil;

“Tis finish’d!” said the dying Saviour’s breath;

My soul for refuge flies to Calvary’s hill,

And lives upon my precious Surety’s death.”

A short account of my call to the ministry will perhaps not be uninteresting to the reader, and it will give me an opportunity of reviewing the guiding hand of my heavenly Father.

From early childhood I always had the conviction that God would call me to the work. The one desire of my heart was to be a Christian minister. Soon after my baptism, my mind was solemnly impressed about preaching the Gospel; my heart began to burn with love to souls, and I yearned to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation. Every opportunity I could find I carried the matter to the Lord in prayer. So awfully solemn did the work appear that I was often amazed that my mind should be occupied with thoughts about it; and I often prayed that God would take the desire away. But the longing increased, and for months the agony of soul I had no tongue can tell. This burden I had to carry alone, for I resolved that no one should know anything about it; but being boldly challenged by a friend, I was obliged to confess that I had been exercised about the work of the ministry. Soon after, I was asked to give an address in the Sunday-school, at the monthly tea-meeting. God helped me, and I was asked again. Those addresses God was graciously pleased to bless.

About this time I read a sermon of Mr. Spurgeon’s on ”The sound in the mulberry trees,” which was much blessed to me; it quieted my mind, and led me more calmly to wait upon God until I “heard the sound” which would indicate more fully His will.

One evening, when on my knees, a voice seemed to say, “Four months.” I resolved quietly to wait and see the end. My pastor, Mr. John Foreman, spoke to me one evening; he said, “I believe you are designed for the ministry.” My reply was, “I cannot preach.” “Well,” said he, “think the matter over; but I shall feel myself at liberty to send you to preach whenever an opening may be made.” Just four months after I heard the voice I received an invitation to preach at Horsell Common, in Surrey. 

My pastor advised me to go and try, saying, “I send you.” I went with much fear and trembling; but God graciously helped me. At the close of the morning service, the friends asked me how long I had been a minister. (Well they might, for I was only twenty years of age). I replied, “I have just preached my first sermon!” I had been informed that a friend would meet me at the Woking Station. On arriving at Woking the only conveyance I saw was a donkey cart. I asked the old lady who had charge of the “bishop’s carriage,” if she had come for the minister?

She replied, ”Are you the minister?” When within sight of the Chapel, she pointed to it, and I alighted. When preaching at Guildford about three years ago, I learnt for the first time the reason why I was not driven to the Chapel door. The driver was ashamed to be seen with such a boy! But she often said, afterwards, “But wasn’t I proud to drive him to the station at night.” The boy’s words had evidently gone into the old lady’s soul.

It is a remarkable circumstance, that on that very day (Oct. 3rd, 1858), Mr. James Tottman, resigned his pastorate at Laxfield, in Suffolk. About the close of the year I received an invitation to preach at Laxfield during the month of March. That to me was the beginning of months. On the first day the teachers of Hill-Street held a farewell meeting in the school-room. Mr. Foreman presided, and in the name of the teachers presented me with a copy of Matthew Henry’s Commentary; and I was affectionately committed to the care of God.

On Friday, the 4th, full of anxiety about the work before me, I took my journey to Laxfield. The nearest railway station at that time was Mellis, about 14 miles distant. A young man, the son of the deacon at whose house I was to stay, met me at the station. On his return he said to his father, “I never saw such a young man before; what he will do on Sunday I do not know; for all the way home I could get nothing out of him but ‘yes’ and ‘no.'” The fact was, I was too full of anxiety to talk. I had only spoken in the name of the Lord a few times, and now I was 100 miles from my home, engaged to speak to a large congregation for a month, and not a note of a sermon had I with me. What I should say to the people I did not know; but I believed in my heart that God had called me, and to Him I was looking for help. Oh the agonizing prayers I then offered! And God answered them.

Lord’s-day March 6^th, 1859, was a bright and beautiful day. It might have been called a summer-day. The chapel was crowded; in the afternoon there must have been quite one thousand persons present. As I entered the chapel—in appearance only a boy, pale-faced, and slender in body—many said, as I was afterwards told, “Poor boy, he can’t preach!” One said, “I shall go to Horham in the afternoon.” But hundreds wept that morning, and the writer weeps now, as he thinks of the surprising mercy of that day! I verily believe that I was baptized with the Holy Ghost, and set apart for the work of the ministry at that time.

The first prayer was the means of the conversion of one, and of the bringing into the liberty of the Gospel of another. About twenty persons were blessed on that day, the work being made manifest in after years. My ministry at Laxfield was continued for eighteen years and four months. At Foot’s Cray, I laboured for about five years; and for the last seven years and a half I have preached the Word at Little Alie Street.

In seventeen different counties, and in two hundred and forty different places, I have been helped to preach about 7,320 sermons. In many parts of the country I have heard of persons being savingly blessed; and in connection with my three pastorates about 400 persons have been added to the Church.

The old Gospel has not lost its power; and as the months and years roll by its intrinsic value is better known. The Bible is not exhausted; more and more does its fulness of thought and blessing stand revealed. May God give increasing power and unction from on high! More and more I find my life work a sacred and hallowed joy. “I love my Master!” To Him I breathe the prayer; Mould me to Thy will, fill me, hold me, use me, bless me, and make me a blessing, and all the praise shall be Thine! “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth’s sake.”

R. E. S.