Some years ago, in a place in London where the gospel was often preached by some of the Lord's people to the crowds that gathered there, several stood up and proclaimed the gospel through the Lord Jesus. This was followed by a young man, a skeptic, who made light of the Word of God and especially of conversion, saying he had had a Christian mother, and at her death he was exercised and prayed to God, if there were a God, to convert him and make him know that his prayer was heard. All was vain; God did not hear, and now he knew there was no God.
And so he went on with considerable force for a half hour, and closed scoffing at God, at Christ, and at conversion, to the seeming dismay of the witnesses for Christ that had preceded him. Then, quietly and with much feeling, an old Hungarian Jew that knew the Lord took his place on the stone from which the skeptic had spoken, and said:
"Friends, the young man that has been speaking seems very strong in his infidelity—quite a giant, a Goliath—but I think that from my satchel I can take two little pebbles with which I can slay him and overthrow all his testimony. The first pebble," he said as he drew out his Bible, "you will find in it Kings, 18th chapter, where the priests of Baal cry to their god so long in vain. Not so Elijah, for Elijah's God heard him. But," he said, turning to the young man, "your god was away; you did not cry loud enough, or he was asleep, or had gone hunting. Your god probably was asleep. And then, young man, you did not show the zeal that the priests of Baal did, for they cut themselves with knives. And now the second pebble is found in John 10:2727My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27). 'My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.' It is clear you were not one of His sheep, or you would have heard His voice. You were an unbeliever, in darkness. It is plain why you had no answer. `Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.' So," he said, again addressing the young man, "your case is clear. No wonder you had no answer. O hear His voice now. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
Thus ended the converted Jew's testimony, so faithfully and so powerfully given. May the day show that his words were an arrow from God, even to the young skeptic!