IT was in 1912, while staying in the city of Seattle, one of the most western cities in the United States, that I met with the subject of this paper ― a young man, deaf and dumb. It was from himself that I got an account of his conversion; and a touching witness it is of God’s wondrous love and grace to a sinful creature in hopeless extremity.
This young man had been brought up by a godly, praying mother. When, in the wisdom and kindness of God, she was taken away from the trials and hardships of this world, her son, left alone to battle with things as they came up, went to this city to seek work; but had only a time of fruitless effort and weary waiting. Feeling very sad and hungry, one day, he said to himself, “There is no one in this city to love me, or care for me; I will make an end of it all, and go and drown myself!” But even if there had been no one in that busy city to care for him, the God who had taken to heaven his dear devoted mother, cared for him. And there can be no doubt that, before parting with him, she had trustfully committed her afflicted boy to God’s keeping; and we may be sure that God’s all-seeing eye was ever upon him in his bereavement and consequent trials. At the very crisis I refer to, good proof of this came into evidence. When the poor, homeless lad had reached the chosen spot for carrying out his sad purpose, a thought suddenly came to him, and as definitely as if it had been an actual voice, “Don’t drown yourself; go to the police station!” Nor was he long in acting on it; and when he had got to the place, it was soon made plain why such a strange suggestion had been made to him. For the one he had an interview with was a man whose heart God inclined to bring CHRIST before him, and the concerns of eternity.
The, eventual result was that he was brought to see that though every responsible creature had been defiled by sin, and therefore made totally unfit for God’s holy presence, God had found a way of meeting man’s desperate condition; that He had sent His beloved Son to put away man’s sin, by bearing its full judgment in his place; so that now, all who accept and believe on Him are fully entitled to say what is expressed in the 6th verse of the 53rd chapter of Isaiah: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
The result of what he heard was that a great change was wrought by the Spirit in his soul, and he was made a “new creature in Christ”; and we know that of all such it is written: “Old things have passed away; and behold all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)).
Then not only did He believe on the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, he confessed Him also, though deaf and dumb. This confession I read myself, typed out on paper. God had plainly shown him that, as a believer, he had been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, poured out for him on Calvary’s cross.
How his happiness reminded me of my own joy in the same blessed Saviour, when brought by the Spirit to trust Him.
But this was not all he had the joy of confessing. For he was given to see that the One who, by His precious blood, accomplished redemption for us, and who is now glorified at God’s right hand, is awaiting the time when He will return to claim His Own for the heavenly glory for which He has fitted them. This He has definitely promised. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)). For that blessed day I found my young friend waiting.
This is my own position, reader. What of yours? Have you yet tasted that the Lord is gracious? Have you confessed His saving Name? Hear His word: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)). But remember your stay here is very short. At any moment, without further warning, it may end.
“Why wilt thou longer wait?
Haste to the open gate,
Come ere it be too late,
To JESUS come.”
S. D.