In new Zealand a man stepped off the train at a flag station in the woods and trudged up the track to the small sawmill town a mile away. Arriving there, he began a door to door canvass. A rough husky man in his front garden saw the stranger and wondered what his business could be. He was soon to know.
“Good morning, friend,” called out the stranger coming up to the house.
“Who are you, and what are you after?” was the surly reply.
“I am starting gospel services in this town tomorrow evening. Will you come?”
The man known as Drunken Jack, stooped down and picked up a fence picket. Brandishing it over his head, he exclaimed: “See this picket? If you come inside this gate, I’ll knock your head off. And I’m telling you,” he added.
“God bless you,” said the stranger as he passed on his way. The gospel service was held the following night in a local hall and God blessed the message. No less than seven people answered the gospel invitation and accepted the Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour.
The encouraged preacher again canvassed the district and met a Christian farmer and his family. Two of his daughters were good singers and he asked them if they would sing a gospel duet at the service. They decided to sing “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” together. On Sunday evening there was a good crowd on hand and the two sisters sang their duet with real expression. Many hearts were affected, and no less than fourteen souls surrendered to the claims of the Lord Jesus. Among them were the wife of Drunken Jack and his little daughter of eight years.
Great was the joy among the new converts as they tasted of the Saviour’s love for the first time.
It so happened that a neighbor of Jack’s had seen all that had taken place, and hurried home to tell him what had happened. Letting out a string of oaths and curses, Jack paced up and down the garden path. Soon his wife and daughter arrived. Grasping each of them with an iron grip, he rushed them both to the back of the house. Savagely he tied a rope around them, binding them both together, and in spite of the cries of his little girl, he pushed them both to the mouth of the well. Swearing that he would drown them both, he fastened them to the rope and began lowering them into the well.
“I’ll teach you to go to those meetings. Promise you won’t go again or I’ll drown both of you.”
With their feet already in the water, the brave wife replied, “No, Jack, I will not promise that. It is just as near heaven down here as it is up there, and may God forgive you. We are praying for you.”
But this only enraged the terrible man even more, and he began lowering them still further. But suddenly he stopped and let out a cry of fear and pain. What had happened?
On their way home through the woods that lovely summer evening, the two girls who had sung the gospel duet were singing over again the words of that hymn:
“Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me, Oh my Saviour, hide,
Till the storms of life be past;
Safe within the haven guide,
Oh, receive my soul at last.
Sharper than any two-edged sword, the words pierced the heart of the sin-maddened man by the well, and the spirit of God wrought a work that night which for all eternity will redound to the glory of God. Quickly Jack began to wind up the windlass, and when his poor wife and daughter were at the top he laid them tenderly on the ground and untied the rope that had bound them. Then, throwing himself on the ground, he cried out: “Oh God, it was my mother’s voice and my mother’s song.” Bursting into tears, he turned to his astonished wife and said, “Mary, forgive me, and pray for me, for I have heard my mother’s voice again.”
There by the well Jack knelt with his wife and little Ann. They offered a broken prayer to God to forgive his sinful past and save his soul. By the picket fence the two sisters stood spellbound at the sight they saw.
The following Sunday night the hall was filled again, this time by a curious crowd who wanted to know what had happened. Jack was there, and in due time he rose to speak. In a slow stammering tongue he said, “I have come here to acknowledge that I have lived a wicked life and that last Sunday night as a sinner I asked the Lord Jesus Christ to save me. To prove that I am sincere in what I have done I have come here tonight.” The Lord Jesus had saved Jack and all knew it.
Such is the true story of the conversion of “Drunken Jack.” His afterlife proved the reality of his faith in God. This is recorded, dear reader, that by simple faith you may come to the Saviour of sinners just as you are, and prove that He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him.
ML 12/26/1965