ON the platform of a small junction station on the London and North-Western Railway a little crowd had collected. This being no unusual occurrence, especially toward evening, it attracted but little attention. The writer sat in a carriage by himself, when two men entered, and quietly took their seats close together at the far side. There would have been nothing noteworthy in this either had not the group, just referred to, come crowding round the carriage door, peering in with apparent interest. What could all this mean? The writer looked at his two fellow-passengers, and again at the crowd outside, without discovering any clue. Then an elderly man from the company came close to the window, and beckoned one of the newly arrived passengers to him. Both rose Something was whispered between them, and once more the two sat down as near to each other as before. Another glance, and the secret was out. A link of bright steel could now be seen; and though they were both evidently doing their best to cover the chain from view, it was now plain enough that they were handcuffed together—a detective and his prisoner.
Feelings of pity filled one’s heart to see a respectable—looking young fellow of about twenty-four in such a position, and almost involuntarily I said aloud, “ ‘The way of transgressors is hard,’ but wisdom’s ways are ‘ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.’” “That is true,” said the detective, while the prisoner, by a sorrowful shake of the head, seemed to give his mournful assent. A little more conversation, and I found to my surprise that neither the constable nor his poor prisoner was a stranger to the gracious work of the Spirit of God.
As far as memory will carry I will seek to give separately the substance of each man’s testimony.
THE DETECTIVE’S CONVERSION.
“I had a Christian mother, but left home unconverted, and somewhat earlier than most. I earned good wages in connection with the Midland locomotive works at D―, but soon fell in with bad company, and spent all my earnings in wickedness. Things got from bad to worse, until one day I quarreled with my uncle, with whom I was lodging, struck him in the face with my fist, and offered to fight him. Soon after this I left my work at D―, returned to N —, where my mother lived, and joined the police force. This, however, did not curb me in my wicked course, for I went deeper into sin than ever, though perhaps in a more covert way. One day, alas! my poor mother had to fetch me out of a public-house. On our road home she stumbled in some way on the pavement, and said as I was helping her up again, ‘You’ve broken my heart, my boy; you’ve broken my heart.’ This certainly touched me a little, but still I persisted in the downward path. Shortly after this, while on duty, I was seriously bitten by a dog, and for several days after had a dreadfully painful finger. Then it was that the possibility of the near approach of the end came before me. The agony of mind with which I walked the streets, on my usual beat, I could never describe. I said to myself, holding my finger as I walked along, ‘Death! Death! eternal death! DEATH! DEATH! ETERNAL DEATH!’ The dreaded hereafter was constantly before me, and I felt as though the very paving-stones would open under my feet and I should drop into hell. I then tasted something of the awful reality of the torments of the lost, and I knew how richly I deserved it. At last I went to show my swollen, blackened hand to the doctor, who called me a ‘brave fellow’ to have been on duty with such a finger. [Little did the doctor dream of the fear and dread that, even then, filled his quailing heart; but God knew it, and deliverance was at hand.]
“After tossing on my bed one evening, before going on my beat, I suggested to my wife, whom I believed to be unconverted, and therefore unconcerned about eternal things, that she should take a small article of domestic use into the town to be repaired. She was no sooner clear of the house than I sprang off the bed and cast myself on my knees before God, saying, ‘Lord, I want no sham religion, no deception; I want to know that I as saved in reality. I come to Thee! I make full surrender of heart to Thee.’ Then suddenly, like a flash of light from heaven, the sense of pardon filled my soul. I rose to my feet―almost seemed lifted up―and couldn’t help calling aloud, ‘I’ve got it! I’ve got it!’ The policemen below thought I must have gone mad.
“Then thought I, All the neighbors must be told; and from house to house I went with the news, that ‘I had got it.’ Got it! Got what? ‘Salvation!’”
Now, reader, let me pause here and ask, Have you, like this policeman, ever honestly faced the end? Have you faced the reality of death? and beyond that, the, second death― ETERNAL DEATH? Do not, if unsaved, deceive yourself by imagining that the “second death” means ceasing to exist. The second death is no more ceasing to exist than is the first. The circumstances of your existence will be changed both by the first and the second death, but you will live on and on forever. At your first death your natural body will be laid aside, and you in the prison-house without it; but if you reach the “second death,” your body will have been raised, and you will be in the lake of fire with it (Rev. 20:12-1512And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12‑15)). God grant that your spiritual awakening may come before Death shall place his cold, withering hand upon you, and leave nothing for you but the misery and remorse of a hopeless eternity. And to this end, while God shall give us opportunity, we will both plead with you and pray for you May the Spirit disturb your deadly slumber even now.
Has He already awakened you? Then come to the Saviour today. Delay not another hour! Make full surrender to Him, as the policeman did, and “joy and peace in believing” shall be yours.
Now for
THE PRISONER’S STORY.
A word of loving appeal (judging him to be unconverted) brought from him the acknowledgment that he, too, was once happy about his soul’s salvation, and that a few years before he had, he believed, been truly converted to God.
“Well,” I remarked, “then your breakdown did not commence with the offense that places you today in a painful position as this?”
“No,” he replied; “my downfall began with cricket and football. These led me into godless company, and from that I got to drinking, and into deeper sin. But lay father is a Christian, and I myself once helped in the work of the Lord; indeed, the Lord used me in rather a remarkable way to the conversion of my brother who is now in heaven. After my own conversion I had great longings for his salvation, and often tried to reach his conscience, but in vain. He laughed it off, sometimes even with mockery. But God had His own way of reaching him, and this was bow it took place. My brother’s favorite dog had died, and it fell to my lot to bury it, which I did at the far end of the garden. I found an old piece of stone in the yard (probably part of an old gravestone), which I thought would do well to mark the dog’s grave, and accordingly placed it there. Shortly afterward my brother walked down the garden-path, but after going as far as the grave he came back looking greatly agitated and deadly pale. ‘What is the matter?’ I inquired. ‘Are you ill?’ ‘No,’ he said, but the words on that dog’s gravestone gave me such a turn just now. What a strange feeling came over me as I read upon it,
‘PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD!’
“These solemn words must have reached his soul in the quickening power of the Spirit, and brought him as a convicted sinner into the presence of a holy God, for from that moment he never rested until he knew for certain that his own soul was saved.”
As I parted with the detective and his prisoner at the D―station the latter said, with apparent deep emotion, poor fellow, “Do, please, pray for me.” May the blessed Advocate have restored His wandering sheep ere this, and given him to walk more softly, and to distrust himself more thoroughly for the future.
Take warning by this, young believer, and beware of association with the world. For “what communion hath light with darkness?” (see 2 Cor. 6:14-1814Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:14‑18)). If we unite with the world for a common object we not only dishonor the Lord, and rob our own souls of the enjoyment of their heavenly portion, but we also become stumbling-blocks to the unconverted, if not laughing-stocks for the enemy. Have you already been tripped up or drawn aside? His love, be assured, would win you back today. Get low before Him; confess all to Him; and never rest until you have the renewed sense of His gracious smile upon you. Depend upon it, He will never rest until that moment. He who gave up His precious life to make you His own will never rest content till you are happily restored in heart to Him. Oh, how He loves!