When Dwight L. Moody was still a young shoe clerk in Chicago, he often went out preaching in his spare time. When holding meetings in an Illinois town, the wife of the district judge asked him to speak to her husband.
"I cannot speak to your husband," he replied. "Your husband is a book infidel and I am nothing but an uneducated shoe clerk."
But the wife insisted and finally Moody called upon the judge. As he passed through the general office, the law clerks tittered, thinking how the learned judge would confound the uneducated young shoe clerk from Chicago. When he was admitted into the judge's private office Mr. Moody said: "Judge, I cannot talk with you, you are an educated man; I am nothing but an uneducated shoe clerk. But I just want to ask you one thing: When you are converted, will you let me know?"
"Yes," replied the judge, "when I am converted I will let you know." He then raised his voice louder and said, "Yes, young man, when I am converted I will let you know. Good morning!"
As Mr. Moody again passed through the general office, the judge raised his voice still louder so that all the staff could hear: "Yes, young man, WHEN I am converted I will let you know!" and the law clerks chuckled louder than ever.
But the judge was converted within a year! When Moody revisited the town and called upon the judge, he asked: "Judge, will you tell me how you were converted?"
"Yes," the judge replied. "One night my wife went to the prayer meeting as usual, but I as usual stayed at home reading the evening paper.
"I began to get very uneasy and miserable, and before my wife returned I was so miserable I was afraid to face her, so I retired for the night. On her return, finding me in bed she came to the door and asked if I were sick.
" 'No,' I replied, 'I am not sick; I am just not feeling well. Good night.'
"I had a miserable night and was so miserable in the morning that I dared not face my wife at breakfast. I simply looked in the door and said: `Wife, I am not feeling very well this morning, I will not eat any breakfast.'
"I went to my office and told the clerks that they could take a holiday. I locked the outside door and then went into my inner office and locked the door to that. I sat down, getting more miserable all the time.
"At last, in my misery and my overwhelming sense of sin, I knelt down and cried: “‘O God, forgive my sins!' But there was no answer. Again I cried: "’O God, forgive my sins!' but there was no answer. I would not say: "’O God, for Christ's sake forgive my sins,' because I was a Unitarian and did not believe in the divinity of Christ. Again I cried: "’O God, for Jesus Christ's sake, forgive my sins!' and instantly I found peace."
There is divine power in a faith that accepts Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
"Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."