I WAS favored beyond many in this world in that I had kind and Christian parents, who sought to bring me up in the fear of the Lord.
It was their constant habit to get their children all together each Sunday evening to read the Scriptures, and on one occasion we read Matthew 24, verses 36-41. For the first time in my life was I aroused to the fact that things were not right with me, and the peace my parents were in possession of was not known to me.
This uneasiness went on for some time, until one night I had a dream in which I thought my long- anticipated fears were to be realized. I looked from my bedroom window, and saw firemen working, dressed in their red coats, getting their instructions from One in the sky, which was all in a flame of fire, and shedding its red rays on the earth. “How terrible!” I said as I looked around for my father and mother, only to find that the other members of the family had gathered around father, and that he was reading and praying with them, no one paying any heed to me.
In my excitement I awoke to find it only a dream, but one that greatly affected me at the time; but I knew not the voice of the Saviour that was sending such warnings to me. The reader may be surprised when I say that the effects both of Matthew 24 and of the dream had well-nigh worn away, when the Lord spoke to me again. The Blessed One who had Ibis eye upon me was not going to give me up; so if warning number one and warning number two would not do, warning number three must be resorted to.
One evening after work and tea were over, and father, who had gone to town, had not returned, we children were having a good time to ourselves. In the midst of our glee and excitement there came a sudden hush, and we all stood looking into one another’s faces to know what had happened to cause such a sudden stop. Thinking it might have been a knock at the door, I opened it at once to see, and was met by my younger brother coming in crying.
I inquired in haste, “What is the matter?” but got no reply. I insisted upon having an answer as to what was the matter, and he said, “Mother is gone, and I do not know where she is gone to.”
Search was immediately made, but no mother could be found.
“There now, it has come at last,” I said to myself “father went to town this morning, and he has not returned at this hour of the night, and while we were having our home concert the Lord has come, and he and mother have been taken away to glory, and we are all left behind.” A painful silence ensued, and then the cries of some members of our family were most pitiable, as we were made to taste, in a very real way, what it would be to be left behind when the Lord takes His saints away.
Mother, who had left the house to go and meet father on his return from the town, heard at some distance our cries, and returned as speedily as possible, and of course at the appearance of our parents all our fears were quelled.
Several of our family date their spiritual history as having begun from that night. As for myself, this was the third warning voice; yet I was still unreached, for I knew not that the One who was sending such warnings was really seeking to win me for Himself.
Leaving home soon afterward to live in a town, my state is well described in these lines―
“I wandered on in the darkness,
Not a ray of light could I see,
And I wondered if Christ the Redeemer
Could save a poor sinner like me.”
There I was met one day on the street by a Christian friend, who said to me, “Well, George, are you saved yet?” “No, I’m not fit to be saved,” was my reply. He smiled at my ready reply, for I had made up my mind to improve myself by saying my prayers and reading my Bible and trying to do good, and then surely the Lord would not shut me out.
My Christian friend then said to me, “Do you know what Jesus said: ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’?” (Luke 5:3232I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)).
Oh! the sweetness of these words, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” My friend spoke to me for some time, but I do not remember another word he spoke. These sweet words, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” rang in my ears. A ray of hope appeared, but soon it gave way to greater darkness and distress, so I determined to call on my Christian friend and have a talk with him. We went into a room alone, and I felt how true were the words of the hymn—
“A guilty rebel lone and sad,
I trod destruction’s road;
Earth’s follies failed to make me glad,
I groaned beneath sin’s load.”
Time fails me to tell alt that was said, as my Christian friend sought to bring relief to my troubled ‘load; but at length he repeated to me these words― “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the JUST FOR THE UNJUST, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)). Light flashed into my soul as I saw Christ, the Just, suffering for the sins of such an unjust sinner as I saw myself to be. Throwing up my hands I said, “I see it all now,” and from that moment I could sing―
“No longer in darkness I’m walking,
The Light is now shining on me,
And now unto others I’m telling
How He saved a poor sinner like me.”
This short account of the Saviour’s dealing with the writer is penned with a view of encouraging some poor sinner, who is like what the writer himself was, to come and trust the same loving Saviour.
Reader, you may be certain of this, that you will never be disappointed in Him.
G. A. D.