AT the age of fifteen, I went to learn to be a tailor. When we moved to G. I went to work at my trade. The, tailors among whom I worked were a very drunken lot. As the apprentice, I was kept running continually to the saloon for them till I learned to drink, and often tarried long at the cursed cup. At the age of eighteen I joined the Lodge, and some time afterward the Free Masons, and other societies. Being of a sporting turn of mind, I went in for breeding dogs, fowls, canaries, etc. At the age of twenty-one I married and settled down in a home of my own, but I was “nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,” causing my wife and parents many a heartache, my spare time, which should have been spent at home with my wife and children, was taken up attending society meetings, entertainments, etc.
When about eight years married the Lord came in and took away one of our children. This made me think, and led me to sign the pledge, but in a short time I was back to the old ways. God again spoke to me by taking away another child, leading me again to sign the pledge, with the resolve to lead a different life, but “the last state was worse than the first.” A third loved child was called Home to be with Jesus. I went into the room to look at him as he lay in his coffin. While doing so God spoke right to my heart, saying,
“If you were there, where would your soul be?”
One Sunday my daughter, a girl of ten years, came home from the Sunday school, and brought me her magazine to read. As soon as I opened it my eye caught the picture of a large heart. It was an illustrated text of Scripture, and read thus:
That very moment God revealed to me His way of salvation; but the Devil said, I could not keep it, and brought up before me my companions, societies, dogs, etc. For nearly three months he kept me in a state of misery, bringing all these things before me, while God all the time was pressing on me the need of being saved.
One Thursday night my wife and I went to a prayer meeting. All the people went down on their knees and prayed one after another till it came to us. Of course I could not pray, as I was not saved. As soon as we got home, I fell on my knees at a chair in my own kitchen, and from the depth of my heart cried,
“Lord Jesus, Thou hast died for sinners, and I am a sinner, I do believe, and I will confess Thee with my mouth as my Saviour, and serve Thee all my life.”
That very moment, the peace I was longing for filled my heart, and the burden rolled away. I got up from my knees with the conscious knowledge of sins forgiven, and have had many happy days since then. The love of worldly pleasure was, gone. The prayer meeting took the place of the saloon. Everything was changed.
“All things had indeed become new” (2 Cor. 6). Praise His Name.
ML 10/24/1937