He was an excellent open-air speaker, the evangelist. His voice could be heard, on a quiet evening, at an astonishing distance, so that many, too timid to attend his meetings, heard the Word in spite of themselves.
In the neighborhood where he lived, was a notorious man, Joe Braley, a rough man of unenviable reputation. He was often in prison for his misdeeds, and nearly always wanted by the police.
One night, having selected a promising looking house just out of town for that night's work, Joe was loitering along the river bank with his bag of burglar's tools. Suddenly a distant voice fell distinctly on his ears: "Be sure your sins will find you out," cried the voice.
Curiosity prompted Joe to follow the sound for a distance along the river, until he found himself on the outskirts of a crowd. They were listening to the earnest words of a gospel preacher.
About an hour later the preacher was at home preparing for bed. A knock at his front door resulted in the announcement that Joe Braley wanted to see Mr. Russell. He immediately went to greet him, while Mrs. Russell, naturally timid and knowing Joe's character, crept quietly behind her husband in the darkness. There at the open door stood a sturdy figure, and a gruff voice asked, "Are you Mr. Russell?”
"Yes, I am," was the answer.
"Do you know me?”
"Yes, Joe, I do.”
"I want you to come for a walk with me.”
At this point Mrs. Russell made known her presence by laying hold of her husband and beseeching him not to venture out at that late hour. But her remonstrance was in vain. Together the preacher and his visitor walked off together in silence into the dark night.
Mr. Russell wondered what could be Joe's errand, as they went out of the town and up a lonely lane between two high hedge rows. Ere long Joe came to a sudden halt and said: "I guess you know what my life has been. I started out tonight to burglarize a house, but as I crept along the river bank a voice fell on my ears. I scarcely know what I did as I followed the sound until I came to a crowd and heard you preaching. I afterward inquired your name, and was told who you were, and where you lived. I want to ask you: Is all you said true?”
"Yes, Joe; every word of it," was the reply. "Then do you think there is any hope for me? Can Jesus save such a sinner as I?”
"Yes, Joe, I have no doubt about it whatever, for the Bible says He is able to save to the uttermost.”
"Well, preacher, you know much of my life, maybe, but you don't know all. There is hardly a sin under the sun that I have not committed. I would not even swear that these hands have not been stained with human blood. Can there be any mercy for such a deep-dyed sinner?”
"Yes, Joe; the 'blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin'. That is God's Word.”
"Then I want you to see me bury these things and kneel with me upon their grave.”
Cutting the turf carefully, he dug a little grave. He deposited there his revolver, skeleton-keys and other house-breaking tools. Then replacing the sod and treading down the earth, he again asked the preacher to kneel there in the darkness, and cry to God to have mercy on his poor soul. They rose from their knees and Joe wordlessly, but with a strong handshake, thanked the preacher. Then he walked resolutely down the road, away from his old life, and was heard of in that neighborhood no more. Where he went remained a question. If living, he evidently had put distance between himself and his old associates as his best hope for avoiding temptation.
Often in the ensuing years the preacher told the story of his midnight walk with Joe Braley. He had moved far from that scene, but he still prayed for, and wondered what had become of Joe.
About thirty years later, the whole country was busy with Sunday School celebrations. At one of the largest, where Christian parents and friends had met for a Sunday School treat, Mr. Russell, now a very aged man, was present with his family. To his surprise, a well-built and neatly dressed man came up to him and gripped his hand. 'Why, Mr. Russell, I am delighted to see you," he cried. "Don't you know me? I have cause to know you well. Don't you remember Joe Braley?”
"Are you Joe Braley?" The astounded old man could scarcely believe it.
"I am, praise God, but I am not the Joe Braley you knew. Since that night in the lane I have belonged to God, and have been seeking to lead others to Him. My wife and my three daughters are all believers. Forget you? Never! We shall forever praise God for you.”
Among the many glad hearts that returned from that gathering, not one thrilled with truer joy than did that of the dear old servant of God. How happily he told the tale of the long lost one—found! And how precious to him was the divine promise: "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.”