RICHARD Weaver, the converted coal miner, was holding open-air meetings in various towns. The district was stirred for miles around. From town to town they went, and the Lord worked wondrously. He
liked to sing a hymn at his services,
and his favorite at that time was:
My heart is fixed, eternal God,
Fixed on Thee!
And my immortal choice is made:
Christ for me!
The wife and daughter of a tarn keeper at Dunlop had come to the meetings. That night they were gloriously saved and went home new creatures in Christ Jesus. They began to sing, “Christ for me!” The message was carried home by the Spirit of God in such power to the heart of the tavern keeper that he fell on the floor as if dead. When he became conscious, the first words he was heard to utter were, “Christ for me!”
After that, he sent some young men to pull down the sign over his tavern, and he declared what the Lord had done for his soul.
There was another bar-keeper in the town and when he heard the news he swaggeringly remarked, “Yes, it is Christ for him, and all the customers for me.”
But the work of the Spirit broke out in force in the town. One night a band of young men and ladies passed his place singing a gospel hymn. The bar-keeper thought he would like to hear what they were singing, so he came and stood in his doorway. It was the hymn, “Christ for me!” The arrow of conviction reached his heart. The result was that he fell on his knees crying, “What must I do to be saved?” The Lord didn’t leave him in his distress, but had mercy on him, and pardoned the bar-keeper’s sins. He too had his sign taken down, and for a time the town of Dunlop was without a tavern. Said Mr. Weaver, “The gospel of regeneration is the best temperance lecture I know.”
ML-05/25/1969