"In the love of a brave and faithful man, there is always a strain of
maternal tenderness; he gives out again those beams of protecting
fondness, which were shed on him as he lay upon his mother's
knee."--GEO. ELLIOTT.
A son of one of our missionaries (J. Johnson) says of Gordon "he was one
of the most unassuming and gentle men I ever met; and I well remember his
saintly conversation, as he sat at tea with us. I also remember, (though
only a youth) being struck with his humility, especially for one of his
rank and profession. He generally had on a well worn greyish overcoat,
the side pockets of which gaped somewhat with constant usage for into
them he would cram a large number of tracts and sally forth in company
with me or another of the missionaries, or as sometimes happened he went
alone, drop a tract here or there and speak a seasonable word. He spoke
to me as a youth, as some of our saintly old pastors used to do to the
children of the penniless where they stayed. He wrote me occasionally. A
specimen I herewith append."
Letter to Mr. Johnson, junr.:
"My dear J. . . . since we had a few words together you have not been
out of my mind for any length of time together, and I was very glad to
hear of you to-day from your father. God acts in mysterious ways and
He gave me comfort concerning you on that evening. Trust Him with all
thine heart. He says (He who cannot lie) He lives in you if you
believe that Jesus is the Son of God. His word is truth whatever may
be our feelings, which change as the clouds. You are my dear friend,
saved not on account of your feelings, but because our blessed Lord
loved you unto death, and has washed you in His own blood . . . . I
will not write more than express my hope that He who has begun a good
work may perfect it. Yea he surely will, for He says He will perfect
that which concerneth us--make you useful in His service. May He
strengthen you to fight the good fight of faith, and give you that
crown of glory which fadeth not away; I am very sure He will. May His
will be done on this poor sorrowing world, for the longer we live the
more fleeting are its glories. Good-bye, my dear young friend.
Believe me
Yours sincerely
C. G. GORDON."
Also a further letter to Mr. Johnson. This was written during my illness
and leave of absence from duty--
"My dear Mr. Johnson, I have received your letter with many thanks. I
am so much obliged for your letting me know of MY LADS, and have
written to them a few lines. I wish sometimes I was with you. I like
your quiet earnestness; there is little of that here, and I like the
work; I have also said a few words to your son; the Holy Ghost is the
teacher for Him, and will not leave His work till he is happy.
I hope Mr. Wardle is improving in health. "And he shall sit as a
refiner and purifier of silver." Silver is spoilt if heated too much,
therefore the refiner sits watching; until it is purified when the
refiner sees his image reflected in its surface; so with us, our Lord
will see that we are not too much heated, only just enough to reflect
His image. Will you thank Mr. Fielden for his kind letter, I quite
feel for his trials in that district, but he has a fellow helper and
worker in his kind Lord who feels for him and will support him through
all. Give my kind regard to Spence, your wife and son, and to all my
friends.
And believe me my dear Mr. Johnson,
Yours sincerely,
C. G. GORDON."
Mr. Johnson writes:--
"One evening after I had been observing his patient endurance and
perseverance with one of the reckless, insolent lads as we left the
school, I, in a quiet pleasant way remarked "I fear Colonel, your
Christian work in Dark Lane Ragged School will never get the fame and
applause from this world that your military achievements in China have
lately secured for you."
"My dear Sir," he replied "If I can but be the means in the hands of
God of leading any of these precious sons to Jesus, I must place that
amongst the most glorious trophies of my life, and to hear the Master
at last say 'Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these,
ye have done it unto Me,' will be to me a resplendent undying glory
when so many of earth's fleeting honours have tarnished."
"It is impossible (says Lord Blatchford about General Gordon) to
imagine a man more completely in the presence of God, or more
absolutely careless of his own distinction, comfort, wealth or life. A
man unreservedly devoted to the cause of the oppressed. One bows
before him as before a man of a superior order of things." Mr.
Boulger says, "There will never be another Gordon." Sir William
Butler said of him, "He was unselfish as Sydney; of courage, dauntless
as Wolfe; of honour, stainless as Outram; of sympathy, wide-reaching
as Drummond; of honesty, straightforward as Napier; of faith, as
steadfast as Moore."
We believe Gordon answered to all these encomiums and well deserved them.
Edgmont Hake, writing of him says:--"He lived wholly for others; his home
at Gravesend was school, hospital, church, and almshouse all in one. His
work more like that of a Home missionary than of a military officer. The
troubles of all interested him alike, but he had a warm corner in his
heart for lads." This will be seen from letters produced. Many of the
lads he rescued from the slums and gutters; he cleaned them, clothed
them, fed them, and gave them shelter and home, sometimes for weeks and
even longer. He taught in the evenings lessons suitable to their
conditions; not forgetting the moral and spiritual side of his work. And
he did this work without fee or reward, and he did it with all his heart.
He was as enthusiastic about this duty as he was about his military
duties. He called these lads "_His kings_."
Leigh Hunt's ideal of a king describes very closely Gordon's ideal:--
"'Tis not the wealth that makes a king
Nor the purple colouring,
Nor a brow that's bound with gold,
Nor gate on mighty hinges rolled;
That king is he who void of fear,
Can look abroad with bosom clear,
Who can tread ambition down,
Nor be swayed by smile nor frown,
Nor for all the treasure cares,
That mine conceals or harvest wears,
Or that golden sands deliver,
Bosomed on a glassy river,
Safe with wisdom for his crown,
He looks on all things calmly down,
He has no fear of earthly thing,
This is it that makes a king,
And all of us who e'er we be
May carve us out such royalty."
On one occasion a lad in the employ of a Gravesend tradesman was
discovered to have been pilfering on a somewhat serious scale. When the
fact was proved beyond question, the master declared he would have the
boy punished by imprisonment. The mother of the boy, hearing of this sad
affair, was almost broken-hearted, and at her wit's end. Someone who had
heard of Gordon's love for lads, also his intense desire to help all in
trouble, suggested that she should see him and explain her case. So,
with all a mother's earnestness, she went at once to Gordon and told him
the whole story, and begged with tears for his sympathy and help. After
hearing the story his heart was touched, he could not refuse a mother's
appeal. When a mother pleads, there is power and pathos difficult for
any to withstand, much less Gordon. So he went to the lad's late
employer, and after considerable argument, the master undertook not to
prosecute, but only on condition that Gordon would personally undertake
to look after the lad himself, for one year at least. This Gordon
promised, and he took the boy to his own home, sent him to a good school
at his own expense for the year; then he got him a good situation on
board one of Her Majesty's vessels. That lad became a man of honour and
respectability, secured good situations, won for himself a good
character, and the mother and the sailor boy in their heart often blessed
Gordon, who saved the boy from prison, ruin and disgrace, and the mother
from a broken heart. His rescue work amongst boys was work he loved
supremely, in it he found his highest joys. His pleasures were not
secured where many seek them, viz., at the theatre, at the
gambling-house, at the racecourse, at the public-house, or in
accumulating wealth, or in winning renown and glory--these were nothing
to Gordon. To save a fallen lad, was to him the highest gratification;
in this work he was very successful.
Many a rescued lad was he able to restore to his home and to society, and
to the world. For many of these lads he was able to secure situations on
board ship. To show his interest in them when away he had a large map on
his study wall, in this map were pins in very many places. These, he
told a visitor, showed the position of the ships on which his lads were
located; and he moved the pins as the ships moved and prayed for each boy
from day to day. The workhouse and the infirmary were places he used to
visit, and his visits were remembered by the inmates, as all the fruits
and flowers he could grow were given to these places and to the sick and
poor whom he visited. Very often the dying sent for him in preference to
a clergyman, and he was, if at home, always ready; no matter what the
weather or what the distance. His works were essentially works of
charity, and these were not done to be seen of men. He was one of the
humblest men I ever met. He would not occupy the chair at a meeting or
even go on to the platform. Once I remember he addressed a gathering
after tea of those who had been rescued and who were likely to be useful
to others, but he would not be lionised or praised. He would say, "No; I
am but the instrument: the praise belongs to God." His spirit was the
fruitful cause of all the work he did.
"Give me that lowest place,
Not that I dare ask for that lowest place.
But Thou hast died that I might share
Thy glory by Thy side.
Give me that lowest place, or if for me
That lowest place too high
Make one more low, where I may sit
And see my God; and love Thee so."
He recognised "that pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is
this, to visit the fatherless, and the widows in their affliction, and to
keep unspotted from the world." This kindled his enthusiasm, influenced
his chivalrous character, and we think had largely to do with his
success. To know him was to know a Christian, a Christlike man--God's
man.
With Job (ch. 29, verses 11, 12, etc.) he could say truly--
"When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; when the eye saw me, it
gave witness to me. Because I delivered the poor that cried and the
fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him
that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart
to sing for joy. I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame.
I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not I searched
out."
He could truly say
"I live for those that love me:
For those that know me true;
For the heaven that smiles above me
And waits my coming too.
For the cause that needs assistance,
For the wrong that needs resistance.
For the future in the distance,
And for the good that I can do."
Upon his removal from Gravesend in 1873 a local newspaper writing of his
removal, and deploring his loss, said--"Our readers will hear with regret
of the departure of Colonel Gordon from the town, in which he has resided
for six years; gaining a name for the most exquisite charity that will
long be remembered. Nor will he be less missed than remembered, for in
the lowest walks of life he has been so unwearied in well-doing that his
departure will be felt as a terrible calamity. His charity was essential
charity, having its root in deep philanthropic feeling and goodness, and
always shunning the light of publicity." Many were the friends who
grieved over his departure from Gravesend, for they ne'er would look upon
his like again.