December 27. Frederick B Meyer. On this date in 1865, Frederick outlined his understanding of his faith. By 1870, he was pastoring his first church. By about 1878, he founded a church, which he pastored for ten years. He was also a friend of DL Moody and ministered in the US, often focusing on inner-city mission work.
In his lifetime, Frederick wrote 75 books, including The Secret of Guidance, which was published in 31 editions between 1896 and 2018 in English and Korean. The Worldcat library indicates that Frederick has published 817 works in 2,584 publications in 8 languages for a total of 23,078 library holdings.
Philosopher Dallas Willard once said that excepting the Bible, if he could only keep one book about hearing from God, he would want it to be Frederick Meyer’s The Secret of Guidance.
In the introduction to a Moody Classics edition, Willard wrote: “The best way to understand Meyer and this book is to see him as engaged in pastoral spiritual formation, but in the manner so effectively and widely practiced by teachers in the pre-World War I period, when it was assumed that Christianity — being a Christian — was a life to be lived, not just a doctrine to be professed.”
Men who need a new beginning need a friend to help them find it.
The local pastor Frederick shrugged into his coat and watched the released prisoners saunter from the jailhouse across the street and right into the local pub. A heavy mist hung over the town, just like the cold haze of liquor hung over these men’s ruined lives.
He knew too much drink was at the root of a lot of crime—and it was clear to Frederick that the men walked out the front door of the prison and right into the back door of the pub.
What if someone offered a smile, took them to breakfast instead of a pub, and extended friendship? Could those first few moments of freedom become a new beginning? Frederick got permission to greet the newly released prisoners each morning.
One day, Frederick noticed an especially ragged man in the line of prisoners to be released. The tear in his pants was barely held together by wide cross-stitches. If it had been raining, his boots would have taken in water at the toe and let it out at the heel! And the man looked dejected. Miserable. Like a tramp.
Frederick offered him breakfast at the coffee house.
The beaten-down man was sullen, but he accepted the offer of a meal.
Then after a bit of hot food, and no preachy attack from Frederick, the man began to talk. He told Frederick he had once been a respectable worker, but after a time in the army, he had started drinking heavily.
The man was still young. Frederick longed to see him grab hold of a new beginning. Convinced that if men could stop drinking, they could get back on their feet, Frederick carried pledge cards in his pocket. He often asked struggling men to sign a card promising not to touch liquor again.
Sober from his time in jail, this man signed. Frederick helped him get lodging in a clean, respectable place, away from his old companions. Helped him find work, bought him acceptable clothes, and visited him. One day, he asked the man if he had family.
He didn’t.
Frederick pressed—was there really no one who cared for him? Or that he cared for?
The man hesitated. There was a girl. “But she wouldn’t be likely to look at me now,” he said.
“You never know,” said Frederick. “These women are wonderful creatures. I’ve known them to stick to a man when he has lost all self-respect. There’s no accounting for a woman’s love.”
Hope came into the man’s eye, and Frederick had an idea. He offered to ask the woman if she would re-open the friendship, and the man agreed.
Frederick left in good spirits. Human love was so often a revelation of God’s love. If he could help the man believe someone cared for him, then his friend would have a reason to rise up and be worthy of that love.
Frederick found the woman. When he explained his errand, there was a look on her face that said it all. She had hope the relationship could be saved. Frederick rushed to his friend and shared the good news.
Sometime later Frederick saw the two together, strolling arm-in-arm in a nearby park. He slipped away so he wouldn’t intrude upon their new-found joy. Twelve months later, the two were married.
“On one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘What is written in the Law?’ [Jesus] replied. ‘How do you read it?’
“‘[The expert] answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” and, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”’
“‘You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. ‘Do this and you will live’” (Luke 10:25–28 NIV).
Is there a new beginning you can invite a friend into? Can you be a friend for someone as he fights for a new beginning? Men who need a new beginning need a friend to help them find it.
Meyer, B.A., F.B. The Bells of Is Or Voices of Human Need and Sorrow. Chicago, IL: Fleming H Revell, 1894.
Holman, Bob. F. B. Meyer: If I Had a Hundred Lives. Scotland, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2007.
Norlein, Marvin. “Book Excerpt. The Secret of Guidance.” Renovare. Accessed July 6, 2020. https://renovare.org/articles/the-secret-of-guidance.
Story read by Daniel Carpenter