IT was not always so with Michael, but changes do come, and, when they are for the better, it is a good thing indeed. Had he been asked two weeks earlier to “take a hand” at cards for a pair of shoes, he would have consented at once, but now, through the grace of God, he was resolved to have nothing more to do with card-playing. He was not particularly well stocked with shoes, it is true, but he had come to the conclusion that it was better to wait till he could go with the money in his hand to the shoe shop and buy them, than to play a game at cards in the hope of winning a pair.
Michael’s friend, who had asked him to “take a hand fora pair of shoes,” was scarcely prepared for a strong, manly, healthy “No” to his question; but Michael gave him frankly to understand that he had done with cards for good and all. “No more cards,” he said; “I’ve served the devil long enough,” and certainly he had, and that in a great many more ways than in playing at cards. But whatever power the “king of hearts,” or the whiskey bottle, or bad language had had over him in the past, their power and government were gone, and their reign at an end. For Michael had now met with the Lord, and had received Him in his heart; and the Lord had given him of the living water, and had satisfied his soul, and now, instead of blasphemy, prayer and praise were upon his lips.
His old companions said, he was setting himself up for something, as if he were better than other people; and that he was thinking himself very good, but that it would not last, and other such familiar speeches.
But what led to this change, and how did it come about? Well, one day, two large railway carts had drawn up on the village common, both well loaded, and willing hand s were soon at work, relieving them of their contents. The loafers scoffed, and some of the respectable people said, “It was a shame that any such thing should come to the place. It was a disgrace, indeed it was, and they wondered that any decent body would go near it.”
Had it been a traveling circus, or a wild beast show, there would have been nothing very objectionable, but it was neither, and objections were abundant.
After the carts were unloaded, if you had taken stock of what lay upon the village green, you would have seen several long poles, and a whole host of irons, and planks, boxes, and bags large and small, several coils of rope, and a number of bundles of canvas. In a short space of time, poles, ropes, canvas and pins were joined together, irons and planks were transformed into seats, and, when all was completed, to the satisfaction of those interested, there stood, ready for service, and for usually the Lord’s use, a summer pavilion, called “a gospel tent.”
The canvas cathedral was duly opened, and some of the people came to hear, others to see. A young man who liked the service, invited Michael to the tent. Accepting the invitation, he accompanied this young man. The gospel address being finished, a meeting for enquirers was announced; the young man hurried away, but Michael remained, and that night he learned in his soul’s happy experience that, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And this was how the great change in his life came about.
His first night at the tent was his last night in the devil’s service. When God works who can hinder Him?
It is now some years since Michael came to the tent, but it is only a few weeks since we saw him and worked with him in the gospel.
E. C.