MY friend, J. W., was considered by many Christian people to be a peculiar young man, and peculiar he was, in one sense, for he was one of those whom God sets apart specially for Himself. (Psa. 4:33But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him. (Psalm 4:3).) At the time of my acquaintance with him in Manchester, in 1877, he was about twenty-six years of age, and was then passing through a season of the most severe trial. One after another of his family had been taken away suddenly from him, and many other afflictions were upon him, but his trials brought him very near to God.
I never knew a man who realized more fully the presence of God, or who believed more simply the Word of God. He seldom cared to speak of himself or of his troubles, but, seeing that the Lord was performing all things for him, he was content.
J. was most zealous in the Lord’s work, but very particular to know what was the will of God concerning him. He had no special gift for public speaking, nor was he highly educated, but he was a man of power in prayer, and was greatly used to the conversion of sick people.
He believed it to be the privilege of the children of God to be indeed led by the Spirit of God, and frequently would he quote these words, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:1414For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)), and in the simplest manner he expected to be led by the Spirit, and so waited on God till fully assured that he had His mind.
A striking instance of this occurred one Sunday afternoon, when, with others, we were inviting young men from the streets to come into our Bible class. J. suddenly left us; he had gone away to find a secret place for prayer. In about an hour he returned, but seemed troubled. After the Bible class, we had a tea for workers, and J. left the table, retiring to a private room, again to pray, I discovered. Later on in the evening, I inquired the cause of his apparent trouble. He told me that a strong conviction had seized him, which he could not shake off, that the Lord required him to go to Chester. He therefore decided not to return home that night, but to sleep near the station, that he might the more conveniently take the early morning train.
Two years previous to this he had been invited to conduct some special services in that city, and great blessing had followed, and a month or two before the Sunday in question, he had been invited to go again, but could not do so.
He arrived at Chester early, and on reaching the house of his friends learned that the preacher, who was to have taken the services, had been seized suddenly with illness, and that the Christians, being greatly perplexed, had on the previous Sunday, in the afternoon, at about the time of my friend’s trouble of mind, and when he was praying for guidance, called a special prayer meeting, to pray that the Lord would send J. W. among them. And now, to be sure, he had come, and the Lord had answered their prayer!
Strange to say, if he had gone home on Sunday evening as usual, instead of sleeping near the station, a letter would have been waiting for him in the morning, from his friends in Chester, explaining their difficulty, and asking him, if by any means possible, he could come to them.
I do not offer any criticism on the matter, but vouch for the truth of it.
Sometime after J. W.’s visit to Chester, he spoke to me of going to some lonely place, where he knew no one, so that he might spend a few days with the Lord. This we had often talked of doing together, and had hoped to have arranged it later on in the year. Much to my surprise, one evening he informed me he was going off by himself the next morning, for he felt that the Lord had something to teach him. He must needs go immediately, but he could not tell where―he had no idea, for the Lord, he said, had not told him.
I heard no more of my friend till five days after his departure, and this is the account which he gave to me of himself: ―
“The morning after I left you, I took a ticket to the village in Wiltshire, where I had once before lodged in a widow’s cottage.
All seemed well, and I felt confident of having a good time there with the, Lord, as I had had on the previous occasion. During one part of the journey, there was only one young man with me in the carriage, and I got to close quarters with him, and soon we were down upon our knees together. The Lord saved him there and then.
“Soon after this I began to ask myself, if I had any special reason for going to the same village I had previously visited, and began to fear it might be self-pleasing, instead of the Lord’s guidance; so I decided that, if the train stopped again before reaching the place, I would get out. After that I felt happier about my path. In a little while the train stopped at a small roadside station, where there seemed to be no village or town. However, I got out, and, as my custom is, spoke to the first person I met about his soul. He was a commercial traveler, and did not appear to care to talk about these things, and said he must cross over to the other side as his train would soon be in. I said, ‘Yes, dear friend, I hope you will get on the other side, you are not safe where you are,’ and leaving him, turned round to see where I had arrived.
“The station-master informed me that there was no village or town within five miles of the station, and as I had only a small handbag with me, I went out of the station, wondering why I had come there. There was no house in sight as I walked down the road, but after a little while I came to one, having a large vegetable garden attached to it.
Somehow I could not pass by, but felt that I must go to that house and inquire if all within were saved.
“In response to my knocking at the door, I was invited to come in, but on entering did not see anyone. A woman’s voice from an upper room cried out, ‘Come in, and come upstairs; I cannot come down.’
“This seemed strange, and I remained where I was, till the woman invited me again, saying her son was dying, and she could not leave him. So I went up, and the moment I reached the top of the stairs, she exclaimed, ‘Are you a messenger from God?’
“‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘I am.’”
“Upon which she said, I am so glad you have come; my only son is dying, and he is not saved—do, please, pray with him.’”
“I now began to understand why the Lord had sent me to this out-of-the way spot. The poor young man was indeed dying, and he was still in his sins. I prayed with him, read to him, and sang some hymns, but he remained in the darkness of unbelief. The widow, for such the woman was, then gave me a little room, where I could have private prayer, and there I remained until the evening. On saying I wished to go on my journey, she pleaded with me to stay, for there were no houses in the neighborhood, and she did not like to be left alone with her dying son. She offered me a bed in an adjoining room, and so I agreed to remain.
“In the middle of the night she called me up, saying her son wished the stranger to read and sing to him again. I arose and came to his bedside, and this time, as we cried to the Lord, the young man suddenly saw the truth, and received joyfully the Lord Jesus Christ into his heart. He said he was not now afraid to die, for his sins were all pardoned, and Christ had received him. He was filled with joy, but was rapidly sinking.
“Seeing that he was dying, I hastened to the station-master, and he dispatched his boy on the widow’s horse for the doctor, who arrived in time just to tell the dying man that his end was near.
“‘I am quite ready,’ was the reply; ‘Christ has pardoned my sins, and I am resting in Him. I am not afraid to die now.’”
“Some short time after this the young man passed away, and I left the house, continuing my journey, after prayer as to which way the Lord now would have me go.
“Towards evening I reached a large village, and on entering it overtook an old lady with a basket on her arm. ‘What buildings are these, with high spires and the like?’ said I.
“‘Oh,’ she replied, pointing to them, ‘that one is the parish church, that is the Wesleyan, and that is the Baptist chapel, and the one yonder is the Congregational;’ and, she added that she was going to the Congregational chapel, where some mission services were being held; so I went with her.
“The place was well filled, and after the sermon, numbers of the people were in tears, but the minister seemed to have no power to deal with seeking souls, and remained on his knees, and did not even dismiss the congregation. After some time I went over to him, and asked him if he did not think it would be better to close the service, and announce one for prayer for any who might care to stay. He agreed to this, and asked me to do it. So I dismissed the congregation, and commenced the prayer meeting; and a most wonderful time we had. More than a dozen people found the Lord that night.
“The meeting over, the people began to inquire who the stranger was. One said that I must be a Methodist, because I seemed to know how to manage meetings of that kind. I answered their questions, and when they heard that I knew no one in the place, I immediately received about a dozen invitations for the night, and was puzzled to know which one the Lord would have me accept.
At length I decided in this way: I asked who had the largest family of unconverted sons, and went home to a family where there were four sons—two converted and two unconverted.
“After the other members of the family had retired for the night, the sons and I had a Bible reading, and one of the two unconverted youths was saved before we went to bed.
“Next morning the minister called round to see me, as he thought I would like to visit some sick people with him. The remainder of the day was spent alone with God in the woods.”
My friend continued his journey to a neighboring town, and was there also used to the conversion of souls.
There can be no doubt that we miss untold blessings, and find ourselves constantly perplexed, and even bewildered, because we neglect to trust the Holy Ghost to guide and direct us in our path of service. Common sense, sound judgment and logical reasoning cannot take the place of the direct leading of the Spirit. A. G. P.