A true peacemaker is very hard to find in our world of pride, contention, and division. However, one such person was widely known in his day as a peacemaker. That man was Robert Cleaver Chapman. He was a humble servant of the Lord. His life testified that a man of reconciliation is a man of humility.

Robert Chapman was born on January 4, 1803. Although his family was English, he was born in Helsingor, Denmark. His father was a wealthy merchant, and his mother homeschooled him while they lived in Denmark. In the providence of God, Chapman’s long life of devotion to the Lord and service to his fellowmen would span almost a century.

Chapman was born during the glory days of the British Empire. Truly, Brittania ruled the waves, and the sun never set on the British Empire. London was the center of world economics and trade, and the English economy dominated the world.

Growing up in the home of a wealthy merchant, Robert Chapman enjoyed the benefits of financial security. While he was still a boy, his family returned from Denmark and settled in Yorkshire.

It was decided that young Chapman would enter upon a career in law, as the sons of many wealthy families did in England at the time. A career in law offered excellent social standing, a comfortable income, and even the possibility of great success in the political arena.

Robert Chapman was only fifteen years old when he became an apprentice to a prominent attorney in London. He had all that a young man could want, except one thing, which was the most important thing in all the world.

By 1823, Robert Chapman was officially an attorney. He was twenty years old and already had achieved many of his goals. But he realized that all that the world had to offer could not satisfy the spiritual emptiness in his heart. He later wrote, “I hugged my chains. I would not—could not—hear the voice of Jesus. My cup was bitter with my guilt and the fruit of my doings. Sick was I of the world, hating it in vexation of spirit, while yet I was unable and unwilling to cast it out.”

One day, the young attorney was invited to hear James Harington Evans preach at John Street Chapel in London. On that memorable day, the heart of Robert Chapman was opened to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapman gave up all hope of pleasing God by his outward righteousness. He had found what he was looking for—Christ! Soon after his salvation, Chapman stood up beside Evans in the pulpit and openly confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior.

Because of his father’s financial success and social standing, Robert Chapman was a man of great means. He had inherited a large fortune and had a substantial ongoing income as a successful attorney. However, Chapman was alarmed that there were many people in the slums of London who lacked even the basic necessities of life, such as food and clothing. Beyond this physical need, many of these poor people were ignorant of the saving mercies of Christ.

Robert Chapman began ministering among the poor and despised of London. He willingly gave to provide food and clothing for the destitute. He chose to live simply himself so that he could bless others.

As he grew in Christian maturity, Chapman began to see many things in his profession as an attorney that were inconsistent with Christian virtue. One day, while working on a legal dispute, he discovered that both the plaintiff and the defendant were Christians. Chapman promptly asked both men to come to his office at the same time on the same day.

Once they arrived, he opened his Bible to I Corinthians 6:1, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?” Chapman was delighted when the two men settled their grievance over an open Bible rather than before a judge and jury.

Over time, Robert Chapman became convinced that he should give up his legal profession and devote himself entirely to full-time Christian work. In 1832, at the age of twenty-nine, he was installed as the pastor of Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel in the city of Barnstaple.

Robert Chapman never married. Instead, he devoted his life to serving others, to reconciling sinners to God, and to reconciling estranged Christians to restored mutual fellowship. He was a master of reconciliation. He loved hospitality, and he would often invite travelers, friends, pastors, missionaries, and strangers into his large home. Lodging was always free!

Chapman told each of his guests before retiring for the evening to leave their boots outside their room so that he could personally clean and shine them. He said, “It is not the custom in our day to wash one another’s feet; that which most nearly corresponds to this command of the Lord is to clean each other’s boots.”

Over the course of time, Chapman became doubtful of the value of denominational creeds. He led his congregation toward a new understanding of communion. Robert Chapman became a leader among the early Plymouth Brethren. He embraced the priesthood of all believers and gave up his clerical salary. He had close ties of friendship with men such as John Nelson Darby, George Mueller, and Anthony Norris Groves.

Some of the congregation at Ebenezer Strict Baptist Church did not like these changes at all. The dissenters broke away from the congregation and formed their own splinter group. Chapman did something surprising in response! Rather than fighting for the building, he led the majority group away from the old building to yield to the demands of the smaller faction. He did not want to tarnish the name of Christ in the community.

The new group was organized as Grosvenor Street Chapel. This action so astonished everyone that the splinter group came to deeply respect Chapman. Instead of division, there was harmony. Chapman liked to say, “Humility is the secret of fellowship, and pride the secret of division.”

Robert Chapman became widely known for his ability to resolve disputes. In one dispute between two friends, Chapman took a position that stood against that of one of his close friends, John Nelson Darby. When some of Darby’s supporters reviled Chapman for the position he took, Darby himself rebuked his own followers with the words, “You leave that man alone; we talk of the heavenlies, but Robert Chapman lives in them.”

Robert Chapman said, “If we would wisely reprove the flesh in our brethren, we must first, after the Lord’s example, remember and commend the grace in them.” In addition to his work of reconciliation, Chapman had a deep spiritual burden for the needs of Spain. He learned Spanish and made several trips there to evangelize the Spanish people.

Summing up his own life and ministry, Chapman said, “My business is to love others, not to seek that others shall love me.” Many called him the “Apostle of Love.” Throughout his life, he preached many sermons, wrote more than 150 poems, and carried out many deeds of kindness. But his greatest work was that of reconciliation. Robert Cleaver Chapman died in Barnstaple at the age of ninety-nine. His friend, Charles Spurgeon, called him “the saintliest man I ever knew.”

Sources and Further Reference:
Peterson, Robert L. Robert Chapman: Apostle of Love. Colorado Springs, CO: Lewis and Roth Publishers, 2007.