On the 31st day of May, 1904, four young men were playing cards two blocks from the Chicago Avenue Church. They were sober, industrious men above the average intelligence, but not Christians. At the conclusion of their game of cards, they got to discussing religion and one of them, a shipping clerk with a leather firm on Illinois Street, said, “I don’t believe there is a God. I believe something like Ingersoll. I don’t believe there is a God, and I won’t believe there is a God until He proves it to me, but if He proves it to me by striking me deaf and dumb, I will believe it.”
There was silence for a moment or two. The he threw up his hands, staggered and fell to the floor unconscious. At first his companions thought it was a joke. Then they became frightened and ran to him and tried to pick him up, and found him unconscious. One ran for a doctor and another ran downstairs for the landlady and told her that Julian had fainted. The doctor soon came. He thought at first that the young man was shamming but soon became convinced that he was actually deaf and dumb. He was unable to account for the condition of things. The young man was not of a nervous disposition, was strong physically, and right in his mind. When he came to himself he tried to talk, his lips moved but no sound came from them. Then they handed him a pencil and paper. The first thing he wrote on the paper was, “I want my Bible.” The next thing he wrote was, “I want my mother.”
The next morning two ladies came to my assistant, Rev. W. S. Jacoby (I was out of the country at the time) and asked him to go over to see the young man. Mr. Jacoby went over about eleven o’clock. Julian sat at the table calm, quiet, well dressed, showing to all appearances that he was above the average. He shook hands with Mr. Jacoby and the people wrote on a piece of paper that Mr. Jacoby was a minister. Mr. Jacoby sat down at the table beside him and prayed God that He might guide him in what he should say. After this prayer he wrote on a piece of paper, “God loves you.” Julian wrote back, “I know it.”
Then Mr. Jacoby wrote, “What did you do?”
He wrote, “I did what I should not have done.”
“Why did you do it?”
“I did not believe there was a God. I believed what I said. Now I am satisfied there is a God, and I am wanted in His service.”
“Why do you believe there is a God?”
“Because I said I would not believe there was a God unless He struck me dumb. A look from His countenance struck me dumb; a look from His eye was as a flash of lightning.” (He had written on the paper to his companions, he had seen the flash and asked them, “Did you see the flash?” They had not seen it. It was for him alone.)
Mr. Jacoby wrote, “Did you see anything as you fell to the floor?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sorry, and why?”
“I am, because I feel I did very wrong.”
“Do you believe that there is a God?”
“I do.”
“Do you believe that God hears prayer?”
“I do.”
Again Mr. Jacoby wrote, “God loves you.”
He wrote, “I believe He does, for I have heard a whisper calling me to His work for many years, but I turned a deaf ear to it.”
Mr. Jacoby then related to him part of his own experience, and how God had revealed Himself to him. How the voice of the Spirit had said to him once in a time of sickness, “Down on your knees,” and how he had resisted that Spirit but how God had not left him but again by His Holy Spirit called him and he had come.
Again Mr. Jacoby wrote, “God loves you, and He is filling my heart with sympathy for you. He would not do this unless He was going to save you.”
The young man wrote as an answer, “I feel that way about it but I feel I shall remain this way (deaf and dumb) until I have prepared to go and work for Him. My life is His to use as He sees fit. I shall go home and apply all my time in learning of Him and when I am fit to do His work, I shall be all right.”
Mr. Jacoby wrote, “I believe the first thing is to know Jesus Christ as a Saviour.” He then showed him John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37), “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” He read it and nodded his head.
Mr. Jacoby then turned him to Isaiah 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18), “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” He took his pencil and marked this passage in the Bible. He was then shown John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24), “Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.” Pointing his finger at the word “hath,” Mr. Jacoby wrote, “The work is done, not will be or shall be, but ‘hath’ is in the present tense and means that we have eternal life.” Again he nodded his head.
Then he wrote, “I believe now there is a God. I also believe that Jesus Christ died to save all sinners. I feel that I am accepted because I believe Him and trust Him, but there is work for me to do.”
He then showed him John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12), “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
Pointing to the word “Sons,” Mr. Jacoby wrote, “A child has a right to call God Father.”
He read all these very eagerly as he was shown them.
Mr. Jacoby then asked him, “Do you know you are saved? You write that you feel you are saved, do you believe God has forgiven you? Are you saved?”
“I am.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Because I am contented.”
“How long have you thought so?”
“Since I have believed in Him.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because I know He will save if I trust Him, and I do trust Him.”
“How long is that?”
“Since you have shown me His many promises.”
“Do you believe you are saved?”
He wrote, “I believe I am saved.” He then drew his pencil through the word “believe,” and wrote the word “know” over it.
He made a confession of the Lord Jesus Christ before his friends in the next room. By standing up in the doorway Mr. Jacoby would speak the words so they could hear and then write them so he could read them, and he answered each question with a nod.
“You believe there is a God?”
He nodded, yes.
“Do you receive Jesus as the Son of God, your Saviour?”
“Yes.”
“You believe He saves you?”
“Yes.”
“You thus publicly confess Jesus Christ as your Saviour?”
“Yes,” he wrote, “I am perfectly satisfied.”
The physician who attended him made this statement regarding the case afterward, “It would not be remarkable if he had been merely stricken speechless under certain conditions of hysteria, but in such an event there would have been physical conditions that he did not have. He seemed to be in full possession of his faculties, his ideas were coherent, and his general health was good.” The medical man could find no physical conditions or symptoms which would lead to the sudden loss of speech. It was evidently an act of God. An act of mercy more than an act of judgment.
His speech was restored to him the following July. His first words were, “The Lord be praised,” and after this his lips continued to move and he was repeating the words of the twenty-third Psalm.
He is now preparing for the ministry of the Gospel.