IN 1907 an evangelist conducted a series of I meetings in the West of Ireland. He was cheered by receiving the following letter.
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“Dear Mr. C—
“I received your kind letter of the 19th instant in due course; also the papers you sent, for which I am much obliged.
“I, too, felt regret on Sunday night that time did not admit of my giving you more particulars. I had intended telling you before then how God's message through you had brought peace to my troubled soul; but every night at the close of the meetings found you engaged with some other person, and I feared to speak then lest I might cause a deflection of that message from another.
“From my early youth I had been brought under religious influences, and had a certain kind of interest in what is termed religious matters.' Leaving home when about twenty, I was brought into business relations with drinking men, and ultimately acquired habits of intemperance; but as the number of occasions upon which I indulged to excess were few, and as I always pretended to a taste for reading, I was regarded as a fairly respectable character.
“Now my taste for reading was restricted to books on modern science—Darwin's Descent of Man,' Huxley's and Spencer's works, &c.— until eventually I became a skeptic, passing through the stages of unitarianism and agnosticism to indifferentism. This kind of reading, however, revealed to me the foolishness of drinking intoxicating liquor and of smoking, with the result—strangely enough—over sixteen years ago, after many unsuccessful attempts, of finally succeeding in giving up strong drink. I also gave up smoking.
“In one sense I was now much worse than before, because—not being an aggressive Freethinker —I was regarded as a religious person, while within myself I fancied that having regulated my manner of living in accordance with scientific truth, and having done so successfully, I needed no other, no higher incentive.
“This will give you some idea of the kind of person I was when, one morning in October, 1907, I received through the post an invitation to attend a Gospel service at the S— Road Hall. I was not exactly going religiously to hell, but I certainly was going morally to hell. As a matter of courtesy I thought I would just drop in for one evening, so I went to your mission that first Sunday night you spoke in G—.
I had always, when possible, accepted invitations to such meetings, for 'I considered that they could do me no harm. The speakers were, I considered, well-meaning, and generally unselfish people, but simple-minded and absolutely unscientific.
“The very first of your meetings I attended I was impressed by the unusually quiet and confident manner in which you explained the relationship of the sinner to the Savior; and I felt unusually disturbed within myself when going home. I had only intended going once, but I felt that the next night would again find me at the mission hall. Each succeeding address was making me still more uncomfortable, until the night you spoke from Acts 26:28-2928Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. 29And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. (Acts 26:28‑29) on the subject of Almost Persuaded ' brought things to a climax.
“In your closing exhortation to the unconverted that night you said, God wants to save you to-night.' You then said, But you will ask, ‘How do I know He wants to save me?'
‘Well,' you said, what has brought you into this meeting to-night?'
“Like a flash, I saw myself a poor distracted, unsatisfied sinner, weary of the theories of men. I saw God's merciful purpose towards me quite plainly, and I took the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
“I thank God every day since then for a peace which passeth all understanding. Of course I realize that while there is nothing to be done on the sinner's part to obtain salvation, there is much to be done afterward to serve and please the Lord, and I have much lost time to make up for. May He make my duty clear to me, and give me strength to perform my allotted part.
“As you were the means employed by our Heavenly Father to bring to my soul the knowledge of His saving love, I felt a strong desire to give you all the facts as fully as one may within the limits of a letter; and when you were leaving here on Monday I had a feeling as of parting from a very dear friend.
In conclusion, let me say that I do not forget to plead at the throne of grace that our Heavenly Father may continue to bless your labor, and I feel very strongly that He will.
“I remain, with kindest regards,
“Yours very sincerely,
“J. M`C—.”
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Reader, could you write such a letter as the above? Have you experienced the saving grace and power of God? Have you trusted on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior?
If not, may the perusal of this letter be the means of awakening in your heart a desire for this "peace, which passeth all understanding," which the writer of the letter experienced. God is willing and able to save you through Christ. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31.)
Contributed by H. A. M.