The following is a portion of a letter by a well-known lawyer who, for years, practiced law in St. Louis, Missouri.
"Great opportunities had indeed been given me and for years I made them my own. But slowly, insidiously, the all but universal habit of drink, in society and among men of my earlier days, overmastered me. I sought no victory in the battle of life— though victories had often come to me. As a ruined and hopeless man, I gave in with scarcely a struggle. I was fast bound in a chain of my own forging.
"I had no thought of Christ, save as a vague person, respected as the survival of a family influence or tradition. There was no hope that in a church at some time, I might hear and believe the gospel, for I never went to church.
"Then Jesus Christ took up my case. Men were beginning to turn away from me, but the Lord of glory took me up. He sought and found the derelict. Through Thomas McPheeter, a joyous soul, Jesus Christ offered Himself to my poor lost soul.
"It was a Bible conversion. From a worn pocket Testament, McPheeter read to me the great gospel messages, the great deliverance passages, such as John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16); John 6:4747Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47); John 10:2828And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28), etc., and when I asked, like the Philippian jailer, "what must I do to be saved?" he just read them over again, and we knelt, and I received Christ as my Savior and my Lord.
"And— oh, when you tell my story put this in—PUT IT BIG AND PLAIN; instantly the chains were broken, NEVER TO BE FORGED AGAIN! The passion for drink left me it was taken away. Put it 'INSTANTLY'! MAKE IT PLAIN!
"Do not say, 'He strove with the drink sin and came out victor'! I did nothing of the kind. Divine power did it, wholly by grace. To Christ be all the glory!" Yours in His love, C. I. Scofield