“Declare his works with rejoicing.”
THE redeemed of the Lord are oftentimes constrained to speak of His marvelous grace, and know in measure the force of the apostle’s words, “We cannot but speak of the things which we have seen and heard.” By such testimonies the Lord is glorified, and to this He enjoined one upon whom His power was exercised, saying, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” Have you, dear reader, anything to tell of the love and compassion of the Lord Jesus to your soul?
I feel constrained, after years of blessing, to recount what is indelibly written upon my heart. The memorable event which happened twenty-five years ago was one which turned the whole current of my life, for up till then
“I lived for myself, I thought for myself,
Of myself and none beside;
Just as if Jesus had never lived,
As if Jesus had never died.”
But “he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”
Far as my memory can reach, my first impressions of God were got at my mother’s knee; and as time rolled on, under sound Bible instruction, and an evangelical ministry, I learned something of His fear. When about the age of fifteen, I stood by the side of my dying father. He held my hand in his, saying, “When God takes me away, be kind to your mother.” I replied, “We must just trust in God.” I retired to bed much solemnized, for he was a kind and loving father, and to lose him would be a sore trial. An hour later my mother bent over me with tearful eyes, crying, “Tom, you are an orphan now.” That night I felt, as never before, that I had to do with the living God, and began to pray with the conviction that He heard me.
About three years after the death of my dear father, Richard Weaver, the converted collier, visited our city, and was mightily used of the Holy Spirit to lead souls to Christ. Partly from curiosity, and to please my mother, whose influence has followed me for weal all through life, I went to hear him speak. The great hall was packed from floor to ceiling, and I had to stand in a passage during all the service. His unpolished preaching grated sorely upon my ears. He pealed forth judgment, hell, and damnation; and told stories of drunkards and blasphemers either being cut off in their sins, or being converted; shouting and singing, with his hand at his ear, like to rend the roof. All was new and unpalatable to one accustomed to smooth and logical pulpit eloquence. An inquiry meeting was announced, and I made for the door. Though I would scarce acknowledge it then, I believe my conscience was reached. After I was blessed myself, nothing delighted me more than Richard’s preaching, and to point souls to Jesus over an open Bible at the after-meeting.
My way home from this strange scene that night led through one of our public parks, where throngs under the beams of a glorious sunset, loitered beneath the trees, bright in their summer verdure. At cross-roads a knot of people surrounded a young preacher. I was surprised to discover he was the son of our family doctor. I stood awhile, when, finishing his discourse, and linking his arm in mine, he walked homeward with me. After a few general remarks, he made a faithful inquiry, whether it was well with my soul? I could not answer him. Nearing his residence, he begged me to go in with him and pray. I willed to refuse, but could not. What he prayed I remember not; all I know is that while kneeling at that chair I felt God’s claims, and resolved to be a Christian. For several weeks I was so correct I hardly dared to smile; prayed, and read my Bible scrupulously, and was most careful in my speech. Alas! I neither knew myself nor God. I thought of God as making a demand upon me, and that I could, by an effort of my own will, alter my life to please Him, and become His child. Oh, how many comfort themselves with just such a creed. To all such I earnestly cry, You are blind; you are yet in your sins; your sin remaineth. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins,” and “Ye must be born again.” Your guilt must be met by another, and you must be quickened by the Spirit of the living God into another life.
Other two years passed, finding me an active member of a Christian association, regular at the Fellowship, and Bible-Class meetings― but still unsaved. About this time there was a distinct work of the Holy Ghost amongst believers. Many were discovering better things in Christ, and the riches of His Word; getting, too, into the liberty of the Gospel; receiving thereby assurance of union with Christ, and eternal life, along with the truth of His personal return and reign. My dear mother had attended these meetings for Christians, and repeatedly urged me to go. Unknown to me, she had asked special prayers for the blessing of a widow’s only child. Very reluctantly, I at last consented to accompany her one Monday night, for I thought I had plenty of religion on Sundays; and so I had, but then I had never known Christ. It is Christ who saves and satisfies, never religion, though the word means a “binding-back”―and what binds the soul back to God save the love of Jesus?
But I was about to taste a new life, and was upon the threshold of the glorious discovery that the Son of God loved me, and had given Himself for me. The preacher was a young medical student, in afterlife known as Mackay of Hull. His fire, his eloquence, his power, and the plainly spoken truths he uttered, all commanded me as never before. He who opened Lydia’s heart, to attend unto the things spoken by Paul, opened mine that night, and I saw with newly opened eyes the Son of Man glorified, for God had been glorified in Him. When leaving the room, the preacher laid his hand kindly upon my arm and asked if I was the Lord’s. I confessed at once with my mouth the Lord Jesus, for I believed with my heart that God had raised Him from amongst the dead. My mother was astonished at my sudden illumination, but her cup was full, she had received the joy of her heart―I was saved Yes, and I gloried in it, and began to
“tell to sinners round,
What a dear Saviour I had found.”
My title was clear, and my confession distinct. My old companions either became believers, or gave me the cold shoulder. Dear soul, are you afraid of the consequences of owning Christ? If there be no confession, there will be no salvation. To obtain righteousness there must be heart-belief; for salvation, mouth-confession. “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
My mother had long been my guide; now God was about to use me to lead her more fully into His word and way. My mind was fully opened to the authority of Scripture, and I began to judge myself and things around in the light of it. She naturally looked forward to my filling my father’s place in the denominational congregation to which she was firmly attached, having passed through the great Disruption of 1843, which shook religious Scotland to its center. But I was graciously put into a different school, for in reading Scripture I found all true believers called “members of His body;” that “believers were the more added to the Lord;” “the Lord added the saved;” “All that believed were together;” “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” Such distinct teaching I could not reconcile with the “mixed multitude” of a modern church. But further I read that “the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth,” and that “the Father seeketh such to worship him.” I longed to mingle my thanksgiving with those who gathered every “first day of the week to break bread” and commemorate Christ’s death “till he come.” A few months afterward found my mother and myself gathered with a few believers in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, proving the truth of His word, “There am I in the midst.” “And having obtained help of God, I continue unto this day.”
What the Lord has done for me He is able and willing to do for you, my reader. Believe on Him whom God has sent. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.”
“Then will you not prove this wonderful love,
That flows from God’s heart so free,
Which led Him to give, that sinners might live,
His Son to be nailed to the tree?
The Gospel is free, God sends it to thee,
Believe God’s wonderful love.”
T. R. D.