FROM a boy George Field was a ringleader in all mischief, and, if there was anything to be done requiring courage, George was always sure to be there.
One Sunday morning, George’s father threatened to punish him, so the boy determined to escape for the day, and got a boat and sailed down the river. But the boat ran on the mud, the tide ebbed, and there the truant had to remain for hours; and, while alone in the quiet of the long day, he could get nothing into his thoughts but heaven and hell.
When George was about eighteen years of age he came to me, saying he was tired of the way in which he spent his life. Then we took lodgings together, and attended the same chapel, being favored with the preaching of a most earnest christian minister. Here the Spirit of God took hold of George, and he was truly convicted of sin. For sixteen months he was in deep trouble of soul, but, because of his love of evil, he would not yield himself up to Christ.
Oh, my readers, are there any of you raining in the terrible danger of eternal punishment just for the sake of enjoying some paltry little sin? Oh, for Christ’s sake, give it up, repent and do works meet for repentance.
At last the truth, dawning like a ray from heaven, came into George’s soul, and he was himself astonished. He had been listening to these words, “What wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan?” and was praying earnestly for salvation, when what seemed a light from heaven appeared to him, and in that light One whom he conceived to be Jesus Christ, surrounded by glory.
From that time his life was changed. The light of the truth, which in God’s loving mercy had shone into George’s heart, began to burn very brightly in the neighborhood in which he lived. As he had been a zealous servant of Satan, he now became a very earnest and energetic young disciple of Christ. In less than six months from his conversion all his old companions said, “If there was ever a Christian in the world it is George Field.” More than one blessed the day they met him, for God was truly with him.
The young man is still living an earnest and useful life, serving his Master with all his heart in the salvation of souls.
This is a very simple story, but it is true in all respects, and is written in the hope that some young man will be led to follow in the same way the Lord and Master, Jesus Christ J. W.