By R. M. Holman
I remember, as a young fellow, one sunny afternoon, when stretched out upon the grass of the old Cholera Cemetery of Nottingham, seeing beneath me and approaching the gates, a very long and curious-looking funeral procession. It was the burial of the noted converted pugilist, Bendigo.
Thirty years afterward, when converted myself, and staying with a converted physician of Nottingham―Dr. Brooks―I borrowed a camera, and getting the doctor to stoop down on all fours, I used his broad back to obtain the photograph shown. Some skillful and loving hand had carved from massive granite this magnificent lion. The text is from Isaiah, and I believe it is: “A little child shall lead them.” Anyhow the idea was the old fighting lion had become a lamb.
Now what could affect such a transformation? How could the heart of the hardened old sinner become as the heart of a little child? By what power could so mighty a change be wrought?
The answer is to be found in 1 John 1:7: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Bendigo was in prison. The day his sentence expired his old companions met him with raw beef steak and hot ale, at the jail gates.
God had other purposes. These hell-hounds were baffled of their prey. The Holy Spirit of God took this devil’s champion (in whom the human element had almost disappeared and been replaced by the animal) in hand, convicting him of sin. Now a violent tearing struggle began in his soul. His cry was “My sins, my sins, and the judgment day.” Then the same light which showed him his sins revealed to him his Saviour, and he began to shout: ―
“By faith I see my Saviour dying
On the tree.
To ruined sinners He is crying―
‘Look to Me.’
He bids the guilty now draw near,
Hark, hark! His precious words I hear
So soft, so sweet, they banish fear’
‘Mercy’s free.’”
His life from this point was not long, but long enough for him to valiantly serve his new Master, and show by the consistent holy life he lived, the reality of this great change.
“It seemed as though I awoke from a dream
How sweet was the light of day!
Melodious sounded the Sabbath bells
From towers that were far away.
I then became as a little child,
And I wept and wept afresh,
For the Lord had taken my heart of stone
And given a heart of flesh.”