I just finished a very heart touching book called "Strange Tales" by John Ashworth. It's a collection of personal memoirs in which he shares his experience ministering to destitute people in the mid 1800s.

Words are inadequate to describe how touched I was by it. I used a lot of kleenex. If you want a good dose of what it is like to minister to the destitute, this is it.

I was quite moved with it that here's my detailed review of the book.

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Book: Strange Tales
Author: by John Ashworth (1813-1875)

(Reviewed by Lemm Huang)
The title of the book suggests stories that are fictional in nature. However, it is really a collection of personal fervent memoirs written by a man named John Ashworth about his outreach to the many destitute: homeless, friendless, maimed, blind or crippled, criminals and addicts around Rochdale, Lancashire, during mid 1800s.

Brief Description of a Few Stories
Indeed, the true stories portray a number of terrible ordeals experienced by the destitute. Many of them test the limits of human grief and sorrow, such as:

• A man failing to find work for days while his four hungry children huddle around their sick pregnant mother about to give birth in a cold, dark and damp cellar.

• A faithful, godly father remains alone and weak in his elderly years after losing twelve members of his family to sickness including his wife. His remaining daughter now grown up and taking care of her father, dies in a terrible accident.

• A young woman of twenty-six years while unable to move her entire body for the last two years and four months due to some spinal disease and nearing death several times, also faces the death of her sick father, then her younger brother, and finally her mother (This story really moved me deeply!).

• The sentence of death upon an idle husband and father for crimes of theft which causes untold grief and sorrow to his dear wife and children.

The Humanity of John Ashworth
Truly, John Ashworth is an example of a human being that has attempted to preach and live the gospel. Visiting countless number of the fatherless, widows and other troubled people in their affliction, one cannot help but see religion undefiled (James 1:27), and all without drawing glory to himself.

Particularly contributing to the realistic and sober nature of the book is the deep range of emotions the author is able to convey in his memoirs. He not only records in striking detail the circumstances surrounding his subjects, but opens his innermost heart, confesses his weaknesses and failures, times of hopelessness where his faith and patience are severely tested, as well as his triumphs and inspiring moments of joy and relief.

Here is a more than a century old quote describing the life of this beloved brother.

No man in England could write words more cutting and painful on the one hand or more cheering and edifying on the other hand than can this good John Ashworth. He is the pioneer of real Christian charity in Rochdale. The rich and laborious rector must surely be thankful for such a parishioner. John Kershaw and all the godly must certainly hail him as a brother most beloved but the poor practically find in him a benefactor indeed. Cheering Words, Volume IX, No. 92, Page 196, London: Robert Banks and Co., 1859

The book tells how numerous destitute people waited to speak to him at the chapel every Sunday after ministering to the congregation. In most cases, he saw that many bring sufferings upon themselves, and that the knowledge of the Gospel was their solution.

He understood their lives and had a way of communicating with them in a language that reached their hearts. Mr. Ashworth was very discerning and intelligent, candid with grace, full of self-control, yet easily entreated and moved often with compassion as evident in this book.


Life Long Lessons
The real life stories in this book have given me some life lessons. The most deeply impressionable one is realizing how blessed I am compared to the lives of the destitute, motivating me not to complain but to be thankful for what I have. I was also touched by what the author himself describes in the following quote.

On retiring to my bedroom, that evening, turning on the gas, and lifting my watchguard from my neck, I wound up my watch, looked around on my pictures, furniture, bed-hangings, and carpet. I seemed in a palace. I, who had often looked at and envied my rich neighbours, and murmured in my heart that I was so much below them in worldly circumstances, all at once found myself among the princes of the earth! The contrast between my comfortable home, and the miserable one I had just witnessed, seemed too great. My unthankfulness and my ingratitude never seemed so black, or my murmurings so sinful, as they did that evening. Strange Tales, Chapter 1, The Dark Hour, Page 6

The Christian stories have also given me a more balanced perspective of a Christian life. It is tempting to see Christianity only filled with continued joy and abundance. Nothing could be further from the truth. In many cases, Christian lives are accompanied by more difficult trials and circumstances than those living secular lives.

By no means does this mean that God has forsaken His people. As a matter of fact, another lesson clearly seen in this book is that miracles often do not involve physical deliverance from difficult circumstances. Rather they involve deep spiritual changes in the heart, where love and joy is stronger than death and sorrow. I call these true life miracle stories, because this is only possible when people are in contact with TRUE LIFE from above.

Finally, these Christian stories have allowed me to see these destitute people as playing a part in a grandeur purpose. Little known or insignificant lives by appearance have now become very significant. Like the story of Job in the bible, who in the world would have ever seen and predicted in the future that the true life stories of these lowly destitute people would be spread throughout the entire world by the use of Internet technology a century and a half later?

We don’t see the whole picture, but God does.

Be Encouraged and Inspired
The memoirs are written with an older style of English and are not embellished with theology or philosophy, but are excellent spirit filled examples of practical Christianity. They should be read from the pulpit to encourage all who have been crushed in spirit or suffer under heavy burdens.

The book (soft cover paperback) contains 32 chapters (319 pages), but many chapters contain more than one memoir or testimony.

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This reprinted book is $12 Canadian and can be obtained by phoning 519-688-0673. Please mention "Lemm's review."

If you ever do get a copy, I would be very much interested to know what you think of the book, whether you were touched, whether you cried a lot like I did, etc.

Lemm