Dear Boys and Girls,
The story in this edition of the Wicket Gate is one which Mr Seaton told me and which I enjoyed very much.
Well now, let's get started. One day a visitor arrived at a certain house and in this house lived a little boy called Charles. The visitor was a preacher and was very specially interested in boys and girls. He soon spied Charles and said to him, "Where do you sleep? For I want to call you up in the morning." Charles showed him his little room, and at six o'clock the next morning Mr Knill – for that was the visitor's name – called Charles and the two of them went into the garden. They sat down on a seat and in a gentle way Mr Knill told Charles about the Lord Jesus Christ and how happy those boys and girls are who learned to trust Him early in life. He then knelt down and prayed for Charles.
When the time came for Mr Knill to leave the house, all the family were gathered together for family worship, and the kind visitor took Charles up on his knee and said a very strange thing: "This child," he said, "will one day preach the gospel, and he will preach it to great numbers of people. I am persuaded that he will preach in the chapel of Rowland Hill." (Rowland Hill was another great preacher.) He then gave Charles a sixpence if he would learn the hymn: "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform," And he made Charles promise that when he did preach in Rowland Hill's Chapel, as he said he would, that Charles would have that hymn sung there.
What a promise, boys and girls; and yet, it was a promise that was kept, for Mr Knill's words about Charles came true. When Charles grew up, he began to preach and one day he was asked to preach in Rowland Hill's chapel. "I will preach," he said, "if you allow the children to sing, 'God moves in a mysterious way.'"
As Charles announced the hymn he felt very close to God and he remembered how the words of the Lord's servant, Mr Knill, had come to pass. And not only did the words about preaching in that particular church come to pass, but the words of Mr Knill about preaching to great multitudes, for, boys and girls, that boy's name was Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and he became one of the greatest preachers the world has ever known.
Mrs Seaton
