One of my favorite poets is a woman of whom many have never heard. Her name is Charlotte Elliott, and she lived a life that can teach us quite a bit about God and the mystery of our lives.
When Charlotte was a young woman living in Clapham, England, a travelling evangelist by the name of Henri Malan was assigned to sit at her table during a gathering in her city. Dr. Malan spoke with her and told her near the end of the evening that he hoped she was a Christian. Charlotte was offended that he might say such a thing to her, for speaking of religion publicly was deemed inappropriate. She replied that she would rather not discuss religious issues at the table. Malan dropped the inquiry, apologizing if he had offended her.
Weeks later, however, Charlotte found that she could not shake the question. By God’s grace, she encountered Malan again and, dismissing the breach of etiquette, told him that she could not get his question out of her head, and wondered if he might explain to her how one found Jesus as Savior. “You have nothing of merit to bring to God,” he told her, “You must come as you are, sin included. By God’s grace you will find faith and repentance.” Charlotte had spent most of her life trying to perform noble deeds for God, yet it had only left her cold toward him. Now suddenly with Malan’s words she found hope, and her life was changed.
Not many years later Charlotte was struck with a disabling disease. She would spend the next fifty years of her life as an invalid. “My heavenly Father knows,” she wrote, “and he alone, what it is, day after day, and hour after hour, to fight against bodily feelings of almost overpowering weakness and languor and exhaustion, to resolve, as he enables me to do, not to yield to the slothfulness, the depression, the irritability, such as a body causes me to long to indulge, but I rise every morning determined to take this for my motto, ‘if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.’”
After many years as an invalid, Charlotte sat down and wrote a poem that was transposed into verse as a hymn; you probably know it some 200 years later. Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou biddest me come to Thee, O Lamb of God I come…I come. It is only one of over 150 poems she wrote, but it is rightfully her most famous. William Wordsworth loved her work - his daughter insisted that this very poem be read to her over and over on her deathbed. Billy Graham used it as an invitation hymn at the close of most of his crusades. It would be impossible to estimate how many men, women and children over the years have committed their lives to Christ while this hymn played in the background.
Charlotte died in 1871, but not before she had demonstrated in word and deed what it means to be transformed by Jesus Christ. She understood suffering, and she understood that one’s physical condition does not determine how one might be used by God. She took what God had given her (even when he had given others so much more) and used it for his glory, refusing to allow self-pity and pain to keep her from utilizing her gifts. She wrote beautiful poetry, and although most of it is forgotten in our day, it still resonates with this pastor who must empathize with many who suffer daily in life. The example of her life teaches me to be grateful for what I have been given.
Elliott’s poems are not easy to come by, but some of her works can still be found online and on Amazon if you have a love for old poetry. I’ll close with my favorite of her poems, one I memorized years ago: O Jesus, make thyself to me a living bright reality. More precious to faith’s vision keen than any outward object seen. More dear, more intimately nigh, than even the sweetest earthly tie.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym