“I was so full of my newfound happiness that as soon as I had my supper, I felt I must go down and tell my mates the good news, thinking, of course, they’d be glad to hear it. We used to meet in the village tavern, called ‘The Fleece,’ and I think now it is a good name for such a place, for it is just there a fellow does get properly fleeced, as I proved manys a time. We used to talk all the gossip of the country, and it was a regular scandal shop. So I goes down this night with my Testament in my pocket.
“When I get there, my mates and the landlord especially, begin to cry out how late I am, that I must have something very good to tell, and so on. And when they are quiet, I tells them what I telled my wife, and pulls out my Testament and says the verse to them: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever (that means you, me, or anybody else) believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
“Well, they stared at me, but hadn’t a word to say. At last the landlord spoke up. ‘I ‘spoke he saw that if all came to this way of thinking, that would be an end to his trade; so he says, " ‘Come, we don’t want any of that sort of stuff here; we have enough preaching on Sundays by learned men, without your setting up to be so good.’
“I answered him, ‘Is that the way it is, Joe? Well, it opens my eyes plain, what the friendship of the world’s worth. I could come here and talk all manner of stuff about anyone, and anything, no matter how low, and drink till I was scarce able to find my way home, and I was welcome; but now that my soul is saved, I musn’t speak about that, nor about my Saviour. Then I can’t come here anymore indeed. Here’s the 75c I owe you, and good-bye. Old mates, I would to God that you would take the word of Jesus, and thank Him for it.”
“But the most of them laughed at me; only two that I know of (and thank God for them!), gave any heed. One of them was a young fellow who had been converted before, and me and my mates had dragged him back among us; he followed me out with tears in his eyes, and said, " ‘Oh, pray for me! I have dishonored my Saviour; I’ve left Him; will He receive me back?’
“And He did, as He ever will. That young man is rejoicing again in Christ. It was not that day only, but every day after, I spoke to my neighbors and friends, wherever I could get them, of Jesus — ‘that whosoever (you, me or anybody else, I told them) believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ "
ML-08/07/1977