When Leoni was a very little boy, he went with his father to the market. It was a very hard and trying life for the little fellow, and he was often weary at nights standing in the market around a crowd of ice-cream refreshment stalls. There were devoted servants of Christ who sought to reach the various national-ties that gather there, some by means of evening schools, others by meetings for working boys and girls. It must have been to one of these that Leoni went during the winter months. On the Sunday evenings, a meeting or sort of Sunday school was held in the same place, and to it Leoni after a time was invited to go. He was at first careless,—giving little heed to the speakers, although he liked to hear the hymns—but, after a few weeks, he became much interested in the Bible stories told, and especially about hean, which he had never heard of before. No doubt the Spirit of God was opening his mind to the great truths of the Gospel, and showing him his need of a Saviour. He became acquainted with several boys who had been converted, and they spoke lovingly and earnestly to Leoni about his salvation. He became convicted of sin, and scarcely missed a night at that humble room where the young men sought to reach others with the Gospel.
Leoni believed that he was a sinner and needed a Saviour, but anything he had heard of Jesus, was mixed up with masses, penances, and purgatory. It took some time to teach him that Jesus finished the work of salvation on the Cross, that nothing was left for him to do, but simply to trust himself to the precious blood that cleanseth from all sin. But the light of the Gospel did shine into his heart, and he weomed it and was saved.
He was never ashamed to confess that the Lord Jesus was his Saviour, and the Word of God his guide.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Romans 1:16.
“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalms 119:105.
ML 02/11/1945