THERE lived in a large city in Holland a Jewish doctor who, like Paul, had lived a Pharisee. Like Paul, too, he had been, by the power of the Holy Spirit, turned from darkness into light, and from the power of Satan to God; and, like Paul, his heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel was that they might be saved.
With this object the doctor went day after day into the part of the city inhabited by the lowest class of Jews, and from house to house did he preach and teach Jesus Christ. On reaching this suburb he had to pass the magnificent house of a rich Jewish merchant, who had a house of business also in the mercantile part of the city.
It had often happened to the doctor to pass this house, but it was not until he had done so many times that a new thought struck him. Why was it that he was ready to go day after day and speak of the Lord Jesus to the poor Jews in the back streets, and yet he had never felt how accountable he was to God for making Christ known to the rich Jew in the great house? The doctor was not one of those who could assent to a matter as being right, without at once proceeding to act upon his conviction.
He knew that the merchant was often engaged in the city till a late hour, and he therefore determined to call upon him one evening at about ten o’clock, thinking that by that time he would be sure to find him at home. He was surprised at being at once admitted and shown upstairs, just as though he had been expected. But this was explained when he was ushered suddenly into a large ball-room, already filled with company. The music was playing, and the dancing had begun. The appearance of the little doctor, so unlike the rest of the company, caused many eyes to be fixed upon him. He at once made out the master of the house, and, advancing towards him, apologized for his untimely visit. “I was not aware,” said he, “that you were engaged this evening, but as I have called upon a matter of great importance, I would ask if you would kindly appoint a time when I may call again without inconvenience to you.”
“Certainly,” replied the merchant. “May I ask if the business is pressing?”
“It is a matter of life and death,” replied the doctor. “I will call again at your earliest convenience.”
“Allow me to ask one more question,” said the merchant. “Whom does the business concern?”
“It concerns the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth,” replied the honest doctor. “It is concerning Him, and Him only, that I came to speak to you, and I am glad that you will kindly allow me the opportunity of doing so another day.”
“Stay,” said the merchant, with a strange expression of joy and astonishment. “This is wonderful,” he continued, now speaking so as to be heard by the doctor only. “My friend, I have been miserable for many months past. How or why I know not; but one thought has continually haunted me by day and by night. Whether in business, or at home, it has never been absent from my mind. I have tried to put it from me, but I could not. It is a thought which left me no peace, and it was this: ‘Who and what was Jesus of Nazareth?’ I have asked God in His mercy to help me, and to send me someone who could speak to me and tell me the truth about this great question. Now He has heard my prayer. I cannot let you go. There is no time like the present.”
Then, calling for the music to stop, the merchant addressed his astonished visitors. “This gentleman,” he said, “has kindly come to speak to us on a matter of great importance — a matter in which each one of us is personally concerned. May I ask you to take your seats, and to give him your attention? And you, dear sir,” he said to the doctor, “will you now speak fully and plainly? Tell us all you have to say, and keep back nothing.”
And at once, standing in the middle of the ball-room, the doctor began to preach that wonderful gospel of God, concerning His Son, which is indeed the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth.
It was not long after this memorable evening that the merchant made public confession of Christ, and remained a consistent believer, helping forward the gospel he had once blasphemed. I cannot now remember whether others in the ball-room also received the truth into their hearts. It is my impression that some of them did; but as this story is strictly true, it is well to add nothing which is on doubtful authority.
And now, dear reader, what are your thoughts of it? Was the earnest doctor wrong, or right, in his characterizing this as a matter of life and death? And if it was so for this man and his guests, what is it for you?