IN our singing practice (says William Taylor, in a book called “A Four Years’ Campaign in India”), I was in the habit of repeating the first verse of a hymn till the congregation could catch the tune, and then proceed. George Ainsworth, with his wife, came one night for the first time to hear me preach. They entered and got seated while we were engaged in singing practice—for which we took half-an-hour before the time appointed for preaching. We had just taken up the first verse of one of Charles Wesley’s grand hymns: “And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain, — For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”
A book was handed to Mr. and Mrs. Ainsworth, and the hymn indicated; but to their surprise the same verse was sung again “A mistake, perhaps.” Then we sang it over again. “What does this mean?”
It was sung again and again; and Ainsworth said to himself, as he told us subsequently, “And this is the great preacher I have heard about! I came to hear him preach; and he seems to know nothing but one verse of a hymn. When he gets to the end of it he begins and goes over the same verse again. What nonsense!”
On we went, singing the same verse; and the rest of the congregation, who knew the value of repeating in order quickly to master the tune, were getting on beautifully; but Ainsworth, there for the first time, and knowing nothing of the design of this method, was first surprised, then disgusted, and then got angry, and was tempted to get up abruptly and leave the house; but the small room was greatly crowded, and he had difficulty to get a seat; and being a man of good breeding, he made up his mind to stand it patiently, and see the end. On went the repetition—and now the whole crowd had got the tune; and George began to reflect, “What wonderful words are these, that must be sung thirty times over before we go on to the second verse? ―
“ ‘And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?’
“ ‘That I should gain’—I, George Ainsworth: can I gain an interest in the Saviour’s blood? Oh, would not that be a gain worth more to me than to gain the world? To gain the world, and lose my soul: dreadful! ―
“ ‘And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?’
“Why not? I hear of many who have gained this, at these very meetings. What’s to hinder me from finding this ‘pearl of great price’? ‘He tasted death for every man’—hence for me.’”
Repeated again by the congregation, it came ringing into his ears—
“Died He for me, who caused His pain, —
For me, who Him to death pursued?”
“Yes, He died for me—for George Ainsworth; and I have, in the murderous spirit of carnal enmity to God that pursued Him to the death of the cross, been rejecting Him all my life, and am a rebel against Him now, with the brand-mark of His murderers upon my soul.”
I have merely given the substance of what he said passed in his mind. We then went on with the hymn, and came to the verse—
“Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;”—
“True,” said George to himself; “and I am a poor prisoner tonight.”
“Thine eye diffused a quickening ray:
I woke; the dungeon flamed with light.
My chains fell off, my heart was free, —
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.”
“Oh, that I could feel that quickening ray tonight!” was the throb of a new life that the Holy Spirit was beginning to inspire in his dead soul. It grew and increased, and when seekers were invited at the close of the sermon, George Ainsworth was among the first to respond, and in the agony produced by a sudden, deep awakening of the Spirit of God, he surrendered, and received Christ; his wife also; then they could indeed sing with that little host of Jesus’ witnesses―
“Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray:
I woke; the dungeon flamed with light.
My chains fell off, my heart was free, —
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.”
“No condemnation now I dread:
Jesus, with all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness Divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.”