Duncan Matheson's Conversion

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 8
 
"Oh, God, stamp eternity on my eyeballs!" was the often uttered prayer of Duncan Matheson, a soul winner much used and honored of God. Following is the story of his spiritual awakening, which was followed by his conversion to Christ and a life of service to Him.
Dr. A. A. Bonar preached a sermon on Exodus 34:6, 76And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6‑7). When he came to the words, "Will by no means clear the guilty," Matheson wrote: "I felt the burning, piercing eye of Gad upon me. A mountain of wrath seemed to crush me down, and hell was opened beneath me. Louder than the loudest thunder came the words, 'By no means clear the guilty,' and 'cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.'
"The congregation was dismissed, the people departed, but I remained fixed to the spot. Some as they passed gave me a look of pity. At last I rose and reeled home to my lodgings, realizing with awful vividness God, heaven, hell, judgment and eternity.... I saw the mass around me hurrying unsaved to eternity. I wondered they could laugh. It seemed to me like the condemned dancing on the scaffold. The heaven seemed as if clothed in sackcloth. Wherever I went I felt the burning eye of God upon me, and the threatenings of the Word came like peals of artillery in quick succession. I feared I should drop into hell at every step."
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."