Hector Maiben was born and brought up in Scotland. After his conversion he used to say of himself that in early life he had been "an infidel of the worst kind." This he did not call himself because he was so very profligate—a drunkard or profane. It was because he was so moral and upright that people would point to him and say: "There is one who is an infidel, yet he leads a better life than some of you Christians!" Thus his influence against Christianity was greater than if he had been quite immoral.
The conversion of his sister troubled him. Together they had gone to shows and dances: but having chosen Christ as her portion, she found in Him her source of joy and would go with her brother to these worldly places of pleasure no longer. He had to acknowledge that as a sister she was as kind and dear as ever; but the change in her only embittered him against the gospel of God. What could be done with such a man? How could the Lord reach his heart? We shall see.
While in a book-store one day, Maiben's attention was drawn to a beautifully bound volume. He himself loved books, but seeing that this one was about something "religious," he bought it for his mother. It proved to be Dr. Keith's "Evidences of the Truth of the Christian Religion Derived from the Literal Fulfillment of Prophecy."
Was not God's hand in this? The purchaser was not an atheist. He believed in the existence of a supreme Being, but had never been convinced of the genuineness, authenticity and inspiration of the Scriptures. To exhort him, however earnestly, to become a Christian had no effect. What he needed was not his feelings moved, but evidence that the Bible is a revelation from God.
Maiben was a great reader. This beautiful book, therefore, could not be long in the house before he began to examine it. It proved to be just what he needed. As the author quoted the passages of Scripture concerning the Jews, Judea, Edom, Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, etc., uttered undeniably thousands of years ago, and then cited the testimony of travelers and historians as showing the literal fulfillment of the prophecies, Maiben became convinced that no mere man or group of men could have foreseen and foretold with such accuracy what has happened!
Concerning his conversion Maiben says: "I well remember the first time I prayed. All had gone to bed but myself and I was sitting alone in the parlor reading. I studied the predictions of the prophets which Dr. Keith cites, and over against them the undesigned corroboration of the infidel Volney, in his "Ruins of Empires," as to what he had seen in those lands. I had to admit the claim of Scripture—that these prophets of old spoke not of themselves but as they were inspired of God by the Holy Spirit. Without reservation I then accepted the Bible as God's written Word, and saw myself as I was in His eyes—a vile, lost sinner. Believing that I ought at once to confess to God, I got down to pray, and it seemed as though I shook the room in so doing." Like Saul of Tarsus, his question now was, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"
He soon openly confessed Christ as his Savior and identified himself with the people of God. Step by step he was led onward until as "a pedestrian missionary," he occupied himself energetically in the work of an evangelist" in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States. His was "the pen of the ready writer," and many are the articles which he wrote in defense of the truth as it is in Jesus.