The Life Story of Dr. Ironside.

This editorial, reviews “H. A. Ironside—Ordained of the Lord.” A biography, by E. Schuyler English, Litt.D. (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids 2, Mich.
FOR more than half a century, H. A. Ironside has been preaching the Gospel of the grace of God, for he began as a boy in his teens. He was born in Toronto on October 14, 1876, of British stock on his father’s side. His father and mother, John and. Sophia, were humble working people who loved and served the Lord. “Sophia was as ardent a soul-winner as her husband. While John devoted his evenings to proclaiming Christ at street meetings, in halls and in theaters, and on the Lord’s Day held services in the park, the wife bore testimony to the Saviour in every contact that she had.” They worshiped with the Plymouth Brethren. “John was known as ‘The Eternity Man,’ because of his habit of asking every new acquaintance the question, ‘Where will you spend eternity?’ ” When Harry Ironside returned to Toronto, many years later, as a preacher of the Gospel, “he was asked again and again if he was the son of ‘The Eternity Man,’ and he found scores of his father’s converts continuing in the faith, living wholly for Christ.”
But John died at age 27, and left Sophia to support herself and their two little sons, John and Harry. “But Sophia walked in quiet trust and confidence in God, and young Henry Allan Ironside was not slow in observing the effectiveness of his mother’s faith.” They had many tests of faith, and saw God supply their needs in wonderful ways. Sophia prayed that God would make Henry a street preacher like his father, and he says of her, “My mother was one of the most earnest personal workers I have ever known.”
A number of striking examples of the trials and triumphs of this little family are given in the early pages of this biography of Dr. Ironside, by Dr. English, editor of Our Hope. He has rendered a real service to the Christian public in tracing the colorful and inspiring life story of this servant of God who has been so mightily used of Him. In the four parts, divided into twenty-three chapters and covering 262 pages, he tells of Harry Ironside’s boyhood days, his experiences in the Salvation Army, among the Brethren, and at the Moody Memorial Church, as pastor of a congregation that often numbers 4,000. Thirty-two photographs illustrate the book, and there is a comprehensive index. There are passages in this book as stimulating to faith as many that are found in the writings relating to Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission. For Harry Ironside learned early in life to walk by faith, to “live from hand to mouth”—the hand being God’s—to face persecution and privation cheerfully for Christ’s sake, and to see multitudes of souls won for Him. But it is his desire, as well as the author’s, that this biography may encourage others and glorify the Lord. Dr. Ironside. wrote to the author: “I certainly do not want the biography written in a way that would glorify this poor sinner. When your name was suggested, I felt as though I could trust you to tell (partly) the truth. You will never know the whole—but I do not like to think of your having to bother very much about it.”
As a boy, Harry was familiar with the things of the Lord before he came to know Christ as his own personal Saviour. “One can have religion without being a Christian, and that was Harry’s experience. From the time when he was three years old, he memorized the Scripture. The first verse that he knew . . . was Luke 19: 10, ‘For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’ ” Hearing a man say that he had read the Bible through every year, Harry decided to follow the same plan. When he was fourteen, “he had ‘caught up with himself,’ as he puts it, having completed his fourteenth reading of the Bible in that year. Since then, he has never failed to read the Book from cover to cover at least once every year. What better way than this could there be to know the Word as a whole?
In 1886, after having lived in several places, the family moved to Los Angeles. Two years later, when Harry was twelve, he heard D. L. Moody and George Stebbins, and he prayed, “Lord, help me some day to preach to crowds like these, and to lead souls to Christ.”  “Mr. Moody spoke for only thirty-five minutes; he quoted many Scripture passages, punctuated with moving illustrations that were extremely homely and tender; and he pressed upon his hearers the importance of definite personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. Those who have heard H. A. Ironside preach, will recognize that these impressions have been lasting ones, lessons well learned.”
One night when he was fourteen, Harry attended a party of young people, but he could not enter heartily into their pleasures. Standing alone in a room apart from the others, he thought of’ some Scripture verses that he had learned, Proverbs 1: 23-28 (the same passage that had gripped the heart of John Newton, more than a century before). Harry went home, and alone in his room after midnight, he fell on his knees and after a time of prayer, received the Lord Jesus Christ as his own Saviour.
From that time on, Harry Ironside has walked with God, though like every other Christian, he has had his times of sore temptation and trial. He entered the Salvation Army, became a Lieutenant, then a Captain, when only eighteen, and was zealous in street preaching and personal work. His school friends mocked him, calling out, “Praise the Lord! Glory to God! Hallelujah!” To these taunts, he would reply heartily, “Amen!” So they let Harry alone, and he told them what Christ had done for him. He became entangled in spurious holiness teaching, from which he suffered for some time. But God brought him out of it triumphantly, and thus he has been able to help others in the same predicament.
In 1897, Henry Varley, the famed British evangelist, came to California. The pianist for one of the campaigns was Captain Helen Schofield of the Salvation Army. Harry fell in love with her and she consented to marry him. He received a small legacy from the estate of his grandfather in Scotland, and on January 5, 1898, they were married. Both Dr. and Mrs. Ironside have known what it is to suffer the trials of separation for weeks and months at a time, for he has traveled almost continually, preaching the Gospel and teaching the Bible. They had two sons, Edmund, born February 10, 1899, in Los Angeles, and John, born August 18, 1905.
Dr. English tells of many interesting experiences and interviews that Dr. Ironside has had in his travels, and of the very large number of meetings that he has held through the years. The author’s task was made easier by Dr. Ironside’s carefully kept journals. He has had four trips to England and one to Palestine, of which descriptions are given.
In 1914, Dr. Ironside organized the Western Book and Tract Company of Oakland. For some time, this was a financial burden but later paid its own way. Along with all his traveling and preaching, Dr. Ironside has been an incessant writer. The leading lesson article in The Sunday School Times, begun at the end of 1937, is only one of his tasks. He has published twenty-one expository volumes, twenty-four miscellaneous volumes, thirty-one books and pamphlets, and fifteen tracts. His book entitled “Except. Ye Repent” won the prize of $1,000 in the contest sponsored by the American Tract Society.
In 1930, after much consultation and prayer, and by unanimous vote of the executive committee and the congregation, Dr. Ironside became pastor of the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago.
It is to be hoped that thousands of Christian people will read this inspiring record of God’s faithfulness to one of His eminent servants, who has been a blessing to so many. Dr. Ironside is one whose faith and works we may well imitate, for he points the unsaved to a loving Saviour, and the saved to a faithful, covenant-keeping Heavenly Father.
“The Sunday School Times” April 13, 1946