A LITTLE village was enjoying a period of heaven-given revival. A spirit of prayer had fallen upon the Christians of the place, and very soon the result had been manifested in many desiring salvation, who had hitherto lived very godless lives. It was soul-stirring to hear those Christians pray; the formal, mechanical prayers, so much in vogue, were exchanged for earnest, simple, direct petitions, and, in answer, homes and hearts, that had been dark through sin, were lit up and made bright with the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. It could not be said that everybody in the village was converted, for, as in Paul’s lodging at Rome, “some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.”
Among the many who flocked to the meetings, came at length William H., one night. He was the eldest son of a Christian mother, who had fallen asleep. His sister, who kept house for him, was a godly woman, but William was yet unconverted. Invitations to the meetings had been given him from time to time, but until now not one of them had he ever accepted. He would give a quiet smile, and would offer no opposition, but not on any account could he be induced to come. But now, that the power of God was upon the community, many attended the meetings, who had never before been near them, and this night, to our joy, William turned up among others. He was interested, and came back several times, and earnest prayer was made on his behalf.
On Halloween (the last evening in October) the Christians had a special social meeting, at which tea, prayer, and praise formed the program of the evening. Our friend William, who had by this time been coming to the meetings two or three weeks, was very much displeased at the proposed tea meeting, declaring that for his part he could see no meaning in such a gathering; it seemed to him a senseless thing for Christians to meet together in a hall, to drink tea, pray and sing hymns together. It was a queer way of holding Halloween; he would hold it, he said, as well as any of them, but in a far happier way. So he set out for a public-house spree, in a neighboring village.
William did not return for a day or two. How he got home, early the following Sunday morning, he knew not; but he arrived without his hat, and with his purse well emptied. When he awoke, after a few hours of heavy sleep in bed, he was in an awful state of mind. He felt as if he were going to die, and his first thoughts were to arouse his sister and tell her he was dying; but on second thoughts he resolved to lie still, and die without telling anyone. However, he soon came round, and felt himself again. But one sorrowful consequence of his spree remained: it had entirely quenched his spiritual impressions, and damped all desire for the meetings.
On Fridays it was my habit to visit the village from end to end, and this fact was well known to William. For some while it so happened that I had visited one-half of the village in the forenoon, and the remaining portion in the afternoon, his cottage being usually the last that I visited before the evening meeting, as it stood quite at the end of the village. Unknown to me, he had watched where I usually left off in the forenoon, having made up his mind to avoid me, and to come no more to the meetings. For one or two Fridays I missed him, and could get no trace of him.
On one of my subsequent visiting days, it so happened that I stopped about five doors short of my usual forenoon portion. Purposely to escape me, very early in the afternoon William went to see a young man in one of these houses, reckoning that at that hour I should have already been there. When I came back from dinner to resume my visiting, the first house I entered was the very one into which he had gone to hide from me! He had just entered when I came in behind him. “I have not seen you for a while,” I said. “Are you coming to the meeting tonight?”
“Yes,” he replied, quickly and emphatically, for he was so startled by my unexpected entrance, just at the moment when he was sure he had escaped me, that, for the life of him, he could not say no! I had no idea that he had gone into the house to evade me; he told me all this afterward.
That evening there was a very blessed meeting, and the power of the Lord was present to heal sin-sick souls. The preacher expounded the first Psalm, dwelling on the contrast between the righteous and the wicked; and, while listening to the preaching of the word, faith came by hearing, and William passed from death unto life.
The following Sunday, instead of hiding from me, he sought me out to tell me of the blessed change he had experienced, and of the joy he now had in Christ Jesus, the Saviour.
J. C.