It was such a queer little hall, in a narrow, dingy street in one of our seaport towns where sailors and dockers abounded. The hall had been formed by knocking out a partition, thus making two rooms into one. It had been previously used for some time as a place of doubtful amusement for the young people in the neighborhood, but lately had been rented to some Christian men. They wished to proclaim the gospel in that part of the town. They were not waiting for souls to seek the good news of salvation; they were carrying it into the midst of them. Thus the hall became a mission-room, where many found the Savior.
I had most reluctantly come to the meeting in this hall at the entreaty of an older sister. A young doctor from Edinburgh (he had given up the lancet for the "sword of the Spirit") was holding a gospel service, and this was his last night to speak.
The room was crowded and uncomfortably warm and close. As soon as the speaker appeared he opened a window. Then he asked a man to put out the fire which was burning in an open grate in a corner of the room. This he did with a large pair of tongs, spreading the smoking coals within the fender. They gave off a most unpleasant odor and steaming heat, hard for us to endure, for we were sitting close by, almost within reach of the platform.
This strange beginning did not make me like it any better. I thought I had never been in such a queer little place. Then when the doctor began to preach, he shouted so loud that I was at first considerably disturbed. I hated loud voices, and I compared his with my father's gentle, gracious tones to which I was accustomed to listen. The contrast was not to the doctor's advantage.
The doctor was preaching on the words: "When I see the blood I will pass over you." He described with graphic reality and intensity that awful night in Egypt; not a house where there was not one dead! The Lord had passed through the land in judgment; and the firstborn of wealthy and poor, highborn and humble, had been struck down suddenly by the hand of a just and holy God. Only in the houses where the blood of a lamb had been sprinkled on the doorposts and lintels was there peace and safety.
This was but a faint picture, he said, of the judgment soon to fall on this sinful world; and every unsaved soul in that hall, whatever his outward position, respectability, or attainments, stood guilty before God: exposed to the judgment which was as surely coming as it had come in that long ago night in Egypt.
Judgment (the inevitable consequence of man's sin and ruin) was coming! It was sure, it was certain. We could no more prevent its coming than we could stop the express train rushing to its destruction.
All were guilty; all were in peril. Every soul must meet a holy God who could by no means clear the guilty. All were shut up to the just judgment of God.
How terrible was the danger in which I found myself! To stand before God—a holy God—all alone. A guilty sinner! I knew and felt it now. What should I do?
In my anxiety I listened eagerly and drank in every word. The heat of the room no longer oppressed me. The loud voice of the speaker annoyed me no more. I was only anxious about one thing: Would he explain clearly, clearly enough that I might know how to be saved? Would he make it quite plain how I might be sprinkled by the blood of the Lamb?
"When free grace awoke me with light from on high, Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die.”
And he did explain it all so simply. "The blood of the Lamb means that a spotless life has been laid down—the blood of His own Son has been shed for sinners, for you. The Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, suffered in your stead. Jehovah laid on His beloved Son the iniquity of us all. God is satisfied with Jesus, and His offering of Himself for sin. He asks you to be satisfied with His dear Son and His work on Calvary for you. He bids you come just as you are—in all your guiltiness and need—and accept Him and His word. He is here waiting the response of your heart. Will you accept Him now as your personal Savior? `Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.' You can take Him just as you are, just where you are. Will you?”
Never shall I forget those last words and the extraordinary sense of God's presence and power that came over me. I realized that I must answer a holy God. I saw that I had to do with God, and I must act at once. The present moment of salvation was all that was offered to me. Tomorrow might be too late.
But what doubts assailed me! Though I was deeply conscious of my need and my danger, it did not seem possible to come at once to Christ. It all seemed too simple. I must have misunderstood. There must be something to do, or to feel, or to wait for, before I could be forgiven and accepted.
All the long walk home after the service the Spirit strove with me. I seemed to hear God saying, "When I see the blood I will pass over you. When I see the blood. Never mind what you feel; when I see you trusting only in the blood of Christ, the death of Christ in your stead, I will pass over you. Judgment is passed, it has been borne on Calvary for you, if you will rest in that perfect sacrifice. You can take Him just as you are, and just where you are; will you?”
Praise be to God, I took Him at His word. One more poor sinner proved "that night of the Lord" that God meant what He said: "When I see the blood I will pass over you.”