"The Devil's Chains Were Snapped."

“AY, sir, my heart is full to overflowing when I think of the mercy of our blessed God and Father to a poor rebel sinner such as I was. I will very gladly, as you wish to hear it, tell you a little of my life’s history.
“Thank God I was blessed with a praying mother; this, I am sure, will be one of my many themes for praise throughout eternity.
“When a young man I entered a large wholesale establishment in London, very soon to find myself the center and leader of a band of young men as godless as myself. Our evenings were spent in riot and evil living, every penny of our money being spent in the devil’s service.
“Having served my term in London, I determined to see other cities. One day I saw an advertisement in a paper telling of an opening in Dublin, which appeared to be exactly to my taste, and without taking the trouble to give any notice, I forthwith started off to the station accompanied by my sister, a dear Christian girl, who came to see me off.
“At the ticket office I found I had only sufficient money—less three pence―to take me to Chester. I don’t know why, but that booking clerk gave me the three pence necessary to make up the amount from his own pocket. My sister guessed my money-less condition, and tried to press some upon me, but I was all too proud to accept help from her; and so, with an appearance of high spirits, I bade her, the only one I loved in the world, good-bye.
“What a day that was, I shall never forget it. I had not a penny in my pocket to get food, and all the world was so cold. I almost began to feel that Satan was a bad master to serve.
“Arrived at Chester, I at once sought out a pawnbroker’s to try and get rid of my watch and chain. This was about the only thing of real value I had in the world— ‘twas a mother’s gift, and I had kept it as a sacred trust; but now money I must have, and my watch must go. Strange to say, I could not get a single Chester pawnbroker to take my watch and chain; they looked at me and then at my proffered pledge, and then declined it.
“After wandering about for hours, weak from hunger and worn with care, I by chance tried a jeweler’s, and after much ado, obtained a £10 loan on the watch and trinkets. With this sum in my possession, I managed to pay my way to Dublin, and generally set myself up and present myself suitably, when next day I applied for the situation.
“Strangely enough, I was taken on immediately and placed at the very work in which I had excelled in London; and very soon I made my mark in Dublin, and was recognized as a most pushing business man.
“But to return to early Dublin days. I soon discovered that the way to ingratiate oneself with the principals was to assume a distinctly religious tone. And so it happened that, after the first week in my new quarters, I felt it might be a good move if I complained that I had been placed in night-quarters with a set of young fellows—whose conduct exactly tallied with mine whilst I was in London.
“The chief to whom I complained at once took the hint, and I was quartered in another part of the building, with three or four godly young men as my companions. I had not bargained for this, but was certainly being thrashed for my miserable hypocrisy; for, on the very first night, these young fellows pressed me to accompany them to a prayer-meeting, from which I pleaded to be excused, because of a sudden attack of neuralgia. The next night it was a Bible-reading, and to this invitation I must needs invent some other excuse. They at least soon saw beneath the mask I was trying to wear.
“I presently found myself in Dublin as in London, the leader of a thoroughly bad set. We spent our Sundays in open revelry, and our evenings in making ourselves a nuisance to the neighborhood we might select for our incursions. Matters became at last serious; we found the police had been set to watch for us, and again and again I was very nearly caught, and only by the merest chance escaped.
“One Sunday night some half-dozen of us had, after drinking ourselves into a state of partial madness, assaulted the police and generally interfered with foot-passengers. A crowd gathered, constables were called up, and we scattered and fled in all directions. I found myself hastening along strange streets and quite alone, and yet fancied I heard the hue and cry behind me.
“At that moment I passed the open doors of some meeting-house or chapel, and for shelter I walked right in, and sat down amongst the congregation. I cannot tell what the speaker said, but I was spellbound. The mighty power of God laid hold of me, and I sat a stricken sinner.
“The meeting over, any who were anxious were invited to remain for further help. I remained. I dared not move. Presently the speaker came and sat by my side.
“Are you saved, my friend?’ said he.
“‘No, indeed, I am not,’ I replied.
“ ‘Do you wish to be saved?’
“ ‘Oh, sir,’ I said, I came in here to escape the police, but I find myself face to face with a holy God, and I am lost!’
“ ‘Friend, ‘twas for the lost Jesus came— ‘twas for the sin-burdened Jesus died.’
“ ‘Yes, yes, I know all that, but I am such a great sinner. My sins are as a great mountain before me, and shut me out from God.’
“‘No, no, it is not so. Your very need and many sins only make you just the one suitable for all there is in the sinner’s Saviour, for He “came to call—not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” See, my brother—oh! ‘tis a matchless sight—that blessed Jesus, God’s blessed Son, the Holy One, hangs there on that cruel tree. From those loving hands and feet and brow and side streams forth the precious blood, and it flows and flows to you. See, it covers the mountain of your dark sins—for “the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth from all sin.”’
“And as this dear servant of God spoke, the devil’s chains were snapped, the heavy burden upon my soul was gone, and light and joy filled my once poor dark heart.
“Yes, sir, and all this happened more than forty years ago, and God has been, oh! so good to me. He has not only made me to rejoice in His great salvation, but has permitted me to tell others to their eternal blessing of this same grace which has saved me.”
Such was the story told me by my aged friend of his own conversion to God, and in the November number of The Gospel Messenger for 1904, under the title, “Only a Word in the Train,” will be found an illustration of the way God used him to others.
On the last Sunday in October I received my early copies of The Gospel Messenger, and expecting to meet my friend I thrust a copy in my pocket, proposing to myself to place it in his hands, and at the same time saying, “I wonder if you will recognize the little story, ‘Only a Word in the Train,’ which you will find in this number of the magazine?”
I duly reached the room in which the meeting was to be held, and my friend, whose story I have told so briefly, sat by my side. Before us on the table were the bread and the wine—tokens of the death of the One “who loved us and gave himself for us.”
We had just finished singing a little hymn of praise to our rises Lord: —
“His be the Victor’s name,
Who fought the fight alone;
Triumphant saints no honor claim,
His conquest was their own.
By weakness and defeat
He won the meed and crown;
Trod all our foes beneath His feet,
By being trodden down.
He hell in hell laid low;
Made sin, He sin o’erthrew;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And Death by dying slew.
Bless, bless the Conqueror slain,
Slain in His victory;
Who lived, who died, who lives again—
For thee, His Church, for thee!”
My friend arose to give thanks and praise, and dwelt much upon the sufferings of Jesus. How His deep love to His own led Him into such depths of woe. Said he, “O Lord, we think of Thee with Thy blessed face marred more than any man’s. O Lord we see Thee there. Oh, that lovely, lovely face, and they spat upon that lovely, lovely face—” He hesitated, sat down, soon sank into unconsciousness, and before the day closed was “Forever with the Lord”―gazing, without a veil, on that lovely, lovely face, to the eternal joy of his happy ransomed soul.
Reader, what of your life? Are you a living fraud? You may be cut off suddenly like my friend. He had often wished lie might pass away from the Lord’s presence amongst His own on earth to the Lord’s presence amongst His own in glory, and God granted the desire of his heart. But what about you? There are more sudden deaths than lingering sicknesses, and it may be your turn next. Do, I pray you, seek the Saviour now. “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.”
G. W. H.