Fred N. Charrington was the son of a wealthy brewer. His father sent him to college and hoped that he would eventually take over the management of the great brewery establishment. But one day when on a visit to Europe with a friend from America, William Rainsford, his friend, asked him if he knew whether he was “saved.”
At first Fred resented this question, but before they parted, William begged him to read the third chapter of John’s gospel. Fred promised he would and then he remembered an old friend had asked him to read that same chapter. He thought, “This is a curious thing. Both these friends say that they are “saved.”
He read the chapter through, and in the great mercy and love of God when he reached the last verse, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him,” he saw that Christ had finished the work for him on Calvary and by believing the good news, he was the happy possessor of eternal life.
Immediately he set about to work for Christ.
As a boy nine years old, he had taken a bundle of bills from his father’s desk and thrown them into the fire. When his father asked him why he did that, he replied that he wanted to see a blaze. Fourteen years later he flung away a huge fortune and threw in his lot with those who were seeking to reach poor boys and girls and bring them to the Saviour.
He told of how one day he saw a poor woman with her little children dragging at her skirts go to the tavern, and looking in she called to her husband inside, “Oh Tom, Tom, do give us some money. The children are crying for something to eat.” The man looked at her and his only reply was to rush out and knock her and her children down. “Sights like that,” he declared, “knocked me out of the liquor traffic.”
Not long Afterward his father was in a fatal accident, but before he passed away Fred had the joy of bringing to him the sweet and comforting words of the gospel.
For the rest of his life Fred Charrington worked and preached Christ among the poor and He had many enemies. One day when in his 73rd year, some men made a murderous attack on him. He was felled to the ground, and his life almost despaired of, but God spared him to carry on the work of the gospel. Eternity alone will reveal how many were saved and blessed through the mission work during those years.
He said: “I was born to a great inheritance worth more than a million, but it was defiled. I was born again to a greater inheritance, ‘incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven’ for me.” (1 Peter 1:44To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4).)
ML-02/12/1978