BIOGRAPHY OF HARRY ALLEN IRONSIDE

Harry Allen Ironside

by Ed Reese*

Used with permission

BORN:

October 14, 1876

Toronto, Canada DIED:

January 15, 1951

Cambridge, New Zealand LIFE SPAN:

74 years, 3 months,

1 day

Ironside was one of the greatest Bible teachers the world has ever known. For

some 50 years he went up and down America teaching and preaching the Word

of God. He was the ultimate in his field. Coupled with this was his successful

ministry as pastor of Moody Church from 1930 to 1948 which made him the most

known Christian leader of his era, outside of Billy Sunday whose funeral he

preached. He was affectionately known as "the archbishop of Fundamentalism."

John and Sophia (Stafford) Ironside were a godly couple with his occupation

being that of a bank teller. They were both tremendous soul-winners. The father

spent evenings at street meetings, in halls and in theaters, and on Sundays held

services in the park. His mother likewise testified everywhere. They were

identified with the Plymouth Brethren. The father was known as "The Eternity

Man," because every time he met someone he asked them, "Where will you

spend eternity?" In the providence of God this amazing soul-winner died at age

27 from typhoid when Henry was two years old.

Henry's birth was almost a casualty. The child was thought to be dead, so

attention was given to the dangerously ill mother. Forty minutes later a nurse

detected a pulse beat and at the doctor's order put the baby in a hot bath which

soon produced a demonstration of his vocal chords.

Following the death of the father, the 26-year old widow, who also had a new

baby along with two-year old Henry, began to sew trying to hold the family

together.

Harry had religion but not Christ. He was memorizing Scripture from three years

of age and up, starting with Luke 19:10. Ironside read the Bible through 14

times by his 14th year. Two frequent visitors were Scotch evangelists, Donald

Munro and John Smith. They would always ask Harry "are you born again?" He

always replied that he passed out tracts, memorized Scripture, went to Sunday

School. He was quite relieved when he heard his mother make plans to go to Los

Angeles in 1886 when he was ten years old. At least they would not be bugging

him anymore, he mused.

A train ride from Toronto to Los Angeles was an adventure for an adult, let alone

a child of ten. They arrived on December 12, 1886. Harry was surprised to find

out there was no Sunday School in his neighborhood, so at age 11 he started

one. He called together boys and girls and talked to them about his purpose. He

sent out the boys to collect sacks and burlap bags and he organized the girls into

a sewing club. They sewed the burlap together and soon a burlap tent was made

that could accommodate 100 people. There was no teacher, so Harry taught,

and the average attendance was 60 including a few adults. Harry would always

revert to Isaiah 53 when he couldn't think of anything else to say. People would

say, "God bless this little preacher" and Harry assumed himself saved. In 1888

[Dwight L.] Moody came to Los Angeles for a campaign. Meetings were held in

Hazzard's Pavilion which seated 8,000. Finding no seat he climbed up on a

trough-like girder that extended from the second gallery up to the apex of the

roof. Moody excited Harry and he prayed, "Lord, help me some day to preach to

crowds like these, and to lead souls to Christ." Forty-two years later he became

pastor of the church Moody founded. In 1889 his mother said happily one day

after school, "Guess who's here?" Harry thought it to be some lost relative, but it

was evangelist Donald Munro. As he arrived it was, "Well, well, Harry lad, how

you have grown! And are you born again yet, my boy?" His Uncle Allan, who was

in the room said, "Oh, Harry preaches himself, now." Undaunted Munro said,

"You are preaching, and yet you don't know that you're born again! Go and get

your Bible, lad." Young Ironside was really challenged. Within a few weeks Harry

gave up his Sunday School, for he felt he had no right to open his mouth for God

if he were unsaved. For six months he battled this problem.Then in February,

1890, he went to a party, and Proverbs 1:24-32 came to his mind. As soon as he

could, he hurried home. After midnight, he fell on his knees and said, "Lord, save

me." He wondered about a lack of some new emotion, but soon claimed the

promise, rose from his knees - saved at age 13. He later said, "I rested on the

Word of God and confessed Christ as my Saviour."

Two nights later he attended a Salvation Army street meeting and could not wait

for a chance to say something. He asked if he could testify and fire away he did.

He preached from Isaiah 53:6 for one-half hour forcing the Captain to pull his

coattail, because they were late for the meeting at the hall. The next day he won

his first convert to the Lord -- a 70-year old Negro. He was taunted at school but

held firm. In June he graduated from grammar school. The year 1890 also saw

his mother, Sophia, marry William D. Watson, and young Ironside found a parttime

job with a shoe-cobbler. Young Ironside decided he needed no more

education, and never attended school again. His only eighth grade education was

later regretted, but the Lord never held it against him. He took full time

employment with the Lamson Photo Studio, and every night would attend one of

the Salvation Army meetings. He spoke so often he was called, "The Boy

Preacher." He began to educate himself with books. When not attending Army

meetings, he would be giving out tracts or holding his own street meetings. Soon

Ironside was identified with the Salvation Army. His zeal matched theirs, and

soon he was put in charge of children's work. At age 16 he was urged to become

a cadet, and he decided to accept. He left the photography business for the

preaching business -- full time.

He entered the Oakland (California) Training Garrison preparatory to becoming

an officer in the Salvation Army. He finally was commissioned and made a

Lieutenant in the Army. He went forth to San Bernardino, California, somewhat a

believer of sinless perfection in 1892. Ironside was switched around to several

southern California cities to assist in the various Army outreaches. Soon he was

preaching over 500 sermons a year, dealing with countless individuals. So

thoroughly did he enjoy his work and so busy did he keep himself that it was not

until he was [about]19 that he had any real chance to analyze "the second

blessing" doctrine. He soon began to see this "holiness" teaching was leaving

many a spiritual person derelict. He himself had to convince himself of his

"holiness" before he went to a "holiness" meeting, and to tell himself upon

leaving that now, at last, he was ready to receive "the blessing." He soon began

to see it was not the study of the Scriptures, but the lack of knowledge of them

that was causing many casualties. Now a captain at about 18 he submitted his

resignation to the Salvation Army. He was sent to the Beulah Rest Home near

Oakland, utterly worn out from five years of work. There were 14 others, broken

in health, trying to regain strength while contemplating their futures. Counseling

with others he soon discovered the problem. He was looking within to the wrong

person and wrong place for holiness, instead of without.

Ironside had met a Charles Montgomery, a Brethren believer who gave him living

quarters and access to his own large library, in San Francisco. Soon he was

asked to address a meeting of the Brethren, and again he used Isaiah 53 which

continued to evidently be his favorite preaching spot. In 1896 (now 20 years old)

he began "to break bread" with the Brethren.

Henry Varley, British evangelist, came to San Francisco in 1897 and Ironside

helped in many ways during the campaign. He held street meetings, ushered,

ran the book table, and was a great help to the campaign. The pianist for most

of the services was another ex-Salvation Army member, Helen Schofield,

daughter of a Presbyterian pastor in Oakland. Love blossomed and on January 5,

1898, Ironside and the young lady married. He was 21 and had been living by

faith for some years now. The cupboards were often bare in their small

apartment in San Francisco. His mother's death in 1898 also added to his trials.

Joy came into their home on February 10, 1899, when the first child - a son,

Edmund Henry was born. The Ironsides moved to a home in Oakland in 1900

and Harry continued with his ministry as doors were opened, speaking in some

place nearly every night, and often two or three times a day. He was beginning

to be in greater demand among believers who were helped by his expository

preaching. When he had no meetings, he would go to the street corners and

preach to the passersby. Oakland became their headquarters until 1929. He

preached in tents, Missions, Bible conferences and churches whenever he was

invited. More than once the small family was without funds and had to depend

wholly upon God to do something for them.

It was in 1903 that he received his first invitation from the East, from believers in

St. Cloud, Minnesota. On their way home they only had funds to take them as far

as Salt Lake City, Utah. So they disembarked, obtained accommodations in a

very inexpensive hotel. For 10 days Harry spent every day and night visiting,

distributing tracts from door to door and street preaching. Ironside had little

response spiritually and none financially, so he sold a set of his books to a

Baptist preacher to pay his hotel bill. The 40 cents a day allotted for food ran

out. Harry grabbed his wife's hand and prayed, "O Lord, we claim this promise.

We two agreed to ask for this forty cents. If we do not receive it, I shall never

believe this verse again." He went into the streets, preached for forty minutes to

a good crowd of 300. After the service, discouraged, he was on his way to the

hotel, when two men ran after him, asked him how he lived, was told he just

trusted the Lord. They put coins in his palm and left. He was going to return the

coins when he found out they were Mormon elders, but they hurried off. He

counted the coins - 40 cents. The next morning he got a letter with $15 from

some who felt impressed that they needed money. They could now go home to

Oakland.

In 1904 an unusual conversion happened as the family was traveling through

northwestern Canada on a train. A Franciscan priest joined Ironside and the

conversation began. It was a marvelous conversion before it was all over that

Ironside often related.

A second son, John Schofield, was born on August 18, 1905, and thereafter the

mother, and firstborn who had traveled with him almost all the time, was

confined to their home to rear the children.

He already was beginning to write: his first expository notes appeared in 1900,

Notes on Esther. Notes on Jeremiah in 1902, Notes on the Minor Prophets in

1904 and Notes on the Book of Proverbs appeared in 1906. His writings would

make him one of the most prolific authors in the Christian field in the 20th

century.

Soon he was teaching at the Mount Hermon Bible Conference each summer.

Then in 1911 he began his annual summer ministry to the American Indians - at

the Southeast Missionary Bible Conference near Flagstaff, Arizona.

He continued to write; in 1910 came his Notes on Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, in

1911 Lectures on Daniel the Prophet came out and in 1912 his famous book -

Holiness, the False and the True.

On June 1, 1914, he rented a store and started the Western Book and Tract

Company. His books were not being in much demand, and he needed some sort

of headquarters for them. This went well until the depression [in] the late 1920s.

From 1916 to 1929, Ironside was constantly on the move, preaching nearly

7,000 times to some 1¼ million people. No vacations, always busy, even in

sickness and weariness. In 1918 he preached at the Old Tent Evangel in New

York City for George McPherson, which opened up further doors of contact. In

1924 he began to accept meetings under the direction of the Moody Bible

Institute.

This relationship deepened through the years. In his "free" months he was

engaged by the Brethren assemblies or by other local congregations. In 1926

Dallas Theological Seminary asked him to come for seven months a year as a

full-time faculty member, but it had to be turned down, although he was visiting

lecturer from 1925 to 1943. A daughter, Lillian, was born to Edmund [Ironside's

son] in 1920, but because of the illness of the mother who died of tuberculosis

not long afterwards, was adopted by the grandparents - the Harry Ironsides. The

father later remarried, served the Lord as Superintendent of the Southern Bible

Institute, a school for colored people in Dallas. In December of 1929 Ironside

held his third series of services at Moody Memorial Church, and after 11 months

absence arrived home in Oakland on December 22nd to see his family. In two

weeks he was gone again. He now began his ministry at the Moody Founder's

Week Conference in February, 1930. On February 17th his diary states, "Then

downtown for a conference with Thomas S. Smith and another elder of the

Moody Church, relative to possibly being called to be the minister there." He had

preached there in 1925 and 1926 plus the above mentioned time. He had

already been approached in 1929 since the resignation of Dr. P. Philpott. He

finally agreed that if he got an unanimous call he would come for a one-year trial

period. On March 5, the call was unanimous. On March 8th he accepted. On

March 16th he preached his first sermon there - his diary speaks:

My first Lord's Day as pastor of Moody Church

At 9:15 a.m. a few of us broke bread in the feast of remembrance in church

study.

At 10:45 I preached on I Cor. 2:2. 3500 present and there was a serious

impression.

Dinner with the Herrings

At 5:50 I spoke briefly to the C.C. Club in Torrey Hall, on "Life at Best."

At 7:30 I preached on "God's Salvation and the Scorner's Doom." 2 Kings 7, to

about 3700 people.

Five confessed Christ.

He would wind up his affairs in Oakland in late August, and on December 31,

1930 Mrs. Ironside and Lillian were finally able to join him. They took up their

residence in the Plaza Hotel, right across from the Church.

There was hardly a Sunday that went by from that time on that did not have

decisions or a capacity audience to hear Ironside. A pattern set that continued

until he left the Church. Ironside would leave Chicago by train late Sunday night

to minister in some other city, returning usually on Saturday morning for the

Sunday services at Moody Church. This would be 40 weeks a year, traveling

30,000 miles annually. Frequently Saturdays and whatever few other days in

Chicago were taken up with callers, committee meetings and correspondence.

In 1932 he took his first trip outside the USA as he ministered on a boat cruise

from Bermuda to Nova Scotia. In 1933 there was a Century of Progress

Campaign held in the summer. In November, 1935, Ironside preached the

funeral of Billy Sunday at Moody Church. His sermon was, "Billy Sunday's

Spiritual History - Without Christ; In Christ; For Christ; With Christ." In February,

1936, he took his first overseas trip - to Palestine. Thirty days were spent

preaching in the British Isles, and the Ironsides arrived back at New York on April

30th. Three more trips to the British Isles followed, in 1937, 1938 and 1939.

Britain was participating in the Moody Centennial in 1937, and Will Houghton,

MBI President asked Ironside and Mel Trotter to go to Europe. Leaving January

29, they had great meetings. On the night of their arrival of February 5th,

Ironside preached on Romans 1:16 to 10,000 at Royal Albert Hall. He was to

speak 62 times in his 32 days there. He arrived home on march 14th.

Beginning with the first week of 1938, Ironside became the writer of the

International Sunday School Lessons, published in the Sunday School Times. In

the fall of 1938, he left again, this time from Montreal on August 19th,

accompanied by Stratton Shufelt, music director of Moody Church. This was a

tour of Ireland, Scotland, and England. Ironside spoke 142 times. They were in

Glasgow for nearly a month, with crowds averaging 3,000 per night, with many

saved. A ten-day series in London in Kingsway Hall finalized the stay. Crowds of

2,000 attended each night. He left for home on November 12th. In 1939 the

purpose of the trip to England was 1½ months of well needed rest, and then to

be one of the speakers at English Keswick. They left New York May 24th and

returned August 1st. From 1939 to 1944 he continued his travels in every

direction averaging some 500 sermons per year. His son Edmund died July 25,

1941, with the father preaching the funeral service. In 1942 he became

president of the Africa Inland Mission.

When Ironside took the pastorate of the 4,000 member Moody Church in 1930,

the indebtedness was $319,500. At the Watch Night Service, December 31,

1943, the last note of indebtedness was burned, during which time the home

outreach and foreign missions programs increased - amazing for the fact that he

was only home two days a week. When he was gone on Sundays, the crowd

would be down. His daughter that he raised, Lillian, married Gilbert Koppin on

June 10, 1944. A crowning evangelistic campaign was held February 10-27,

1944, back "home" in Oakland, California. Services were held in the Oakland

Civic Auditorium Theatre. Crowds started at 1,300 and ended with 2,500 with

many saved. Ironside was now beginning to tire as he approached 70, not that

the age was so great, but simply keep in mind that he had been preaching

continually since age 14 with hardly any break.

Pastor and Mrs. Ironside were able to celebrate their Golden Wedding

Anniversary together, January 5, 1948, to be soon followed by the death of Mrs.

Ironside on May 1, 1948. Dr. Ironside resigned as pastor on May 30,1948, and

his farewell services were held at the church, October 27th and October 31st.

During his first 14 years there, only two Sundays went by without seeing

somebody saved. He had been a member of the faculty of Moody Bible Institute

in later years as well.

He then retired to Winona Lake, Indiana. He married Mrs. Ann Hightower on

October 9,1949, who became his constant companion and helper during his few

remaining months of failing eyesight. An operation restored his vision and he set

out for New Zealand on November 2, 1950. He visited with his sister, Mrs. Robert

A. Laidlaw and planned a preaching tour, but death claimed him and at his own

request was buried there. His other son John died January 19, 1957.

His books poured forth through the years, too numerous to mention here. Over

80 volumes have come from his pen. A D.L. degree had come from Wheaton in

June 1930, and on June 3, 1942 Bob Jones University granted him an honorary

D.D. degree. Many pulpits would not consider a boy with an 8th grade education,

but little is much - when God is in it.

His writings included addresses or commentaries on the entire New Testament,

all of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, and a great many volumes on

specific Bible themes and subjects. Some of his later titles include Things Seen

and Heard in Bible Lands, Lamp of Prophecy, Changed by Beholding, The Way of

Peace, and The Great Parenthesis.

Almost lost in the seemingly more important phases of his ministry is the fact

that he is the author of the well known hymn, Overshadowed.

*The above is one of 46 booklets by Ed Reese in the Christian Hall of Fame

series. These short biographies provide good material for Sunday School lessons,

family devotions, and reading for young people and adults. Order/information

from: Reese Publications, Attn: Kay Griffin, 8824 Northcote Avenue, Munster, IN

46321; Fax: (219) 838-4695; E-mail: Kgreese@aol.com - Used with permission,

7/13/99.