“ I have accepted the Lord as my Saviour and . . .” ‘‘You have!” I exclaimed, grabbing his hand and pumping it up and down in my joy. “Well, so have I !” We had a regular love feast that afternoon as we told each other our stories. All my contacts after conversion were not such happy ones. In our church there were some people who made it hard for me and there were relatives who were very angry at my step. The Lord in such a tender way had prepared for this trial, though. Long before I had known Him, I had bought a new home and it wasn’t until after I was converted that I learned the location where my house stood was called Zion Hill. Just think! The Lord had put me there—on Zion Hill—and I was saved there. He had also given us Christian friends, even before we fully appreciated them. A mother and her two daughters lived nearby and through them and the tracts they brought us, the Lord showed me that I was not to look to people but to God. God had put us there because we were to go through trials and there were those who understood and could help us. The first person I really knew I helped to find the Lord was my wife’s niece. She was a Catholic as my wife had been. She came to live in our home to continue her violin lessons in the city. We told her of our conversions and witnessed to her, praying much that she might be led to know Christ, too. One night at midnight she called us and a few minutes later she knelt and accepted the Lord as her Saviour. As any truly born-again child of God wishes to do, she wanted to tell others, especially her parents.They were very angry and the letter we received soon after that contained but one sentence: “ If you ever come to our home, we will kick you out for what you have done to our daughter,” it read. They never changed in their attitude. Except for my sister, I had not, since my conversion, met another of Jewish faith who had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. When I heard of a converted Jew in Pittsburgh who was on fire for the Lord, even to becoming a missionary to his own people, I thought how won derful it would be to meet such an one. I had heard his story and the recounting of what he had suffered and the way he had accepted it had thrilled my heart; so much so that I set out for Pittsburgh at once, to meet such a witness. When Morris Reuben had been con verted, his brother had been so bitter that he had had him certified insane and placed in an insane asylum. There seemed to be no one to stand by him, none to investigate such charges in those days. His wife left his home and took their children with her. It looked as though belief in Christ had certainly cost him everything one might hold dear. But a Pittsburgh business man heard of the case and began to work for Morris’ release from the asylum.
Undaunted by his unjust treatment at the hands of his brother, Morris be gan witnessing—not secretly—but open ly, for the Lord Jesus Christ as soon as he was released from the asylum. It was dangerous but he braved the anger and recriminations of his own people to bring the Good News of -salvation to them. God worked for him, even to restoring his family. His wife was led to return to her husband and shortly after that both she and the children were converted and joined him whole heartedly in his witness and work. When I arrived at their home, he was just setting out for a street meeting. When I had explained my purpose in coming, he invited me to go along to the meeting to give my testimony. I accepted with alacrity. I had never at tended a street meeting but I was ready. That meeting was just like Heaven to me. Oh, the crowd was rough; now and then a tomato or an egg would come sailing through the air, but that couldn’t spoil my joy! A policeman stood by al ways to keep the crowd from actually harming the Jewish missionary. And I was so tickled to stand out there and to testify for the Lord that the tomatoes and eggs didn’t bother me in the least— not even when they found their target. I had a wonderful time and though it was nearly fifty years ago I still re member it as though it were yesterday, because it was my first experience. How little I knew then that through such meetings and the further experi ence I gained as I lived in their home and went about with this Jewish mis sionary in his work that God was giv ing me the first steps in preparation for a future work—not the business work in which I was well established—but a work for Him wholly undreamed of, far across the continent. (To he continued) immortality “ If the Father deigns to touch with divine power the cold and pulseless heart of a buried acorn, and make it burst forth from its prison walls, will He leave buried in the earth neglected the body of man, made in the image of his Creator? If He stoops to give the rose bush, whose withered blossoms float upon the summer breeze, the sweet promise of another summertime, will He refuse that word of hope and cheer to the sons of men when the frost of winter comes? If matter, mute and inanimate though changed by the forces of nature into a multitude of forms, can never die, will man suffer annihilation, after he has paid a brief visit to this world like a royal guest, in this tenement of clay? No! I am just as sure that there is another life as I am that I live today.” —William Jennings Bryan T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
it was not many days before my cup of joy was filled to overflowing. Selina had been reared a Catholic and then had married a Jew. Now she saw that she must make a personal decision regard ing the Son of God and she came in penitence to Him and was gloriously saved. Within a few days our circle of four was made wholly complete in Him when Charles, Carrie’s husband and Selina’s brother, accepted Christ as his Saviour. Thus, within the space of a few weeks, we four, brothers and sisters, two Catholics and two Jews, had become new creatures through Christ Jesus our Lord. And on June 22, 1902, we four redeemed children of God went down into the .waters of baptism, and thereby confessed to all who saw, that we had died and risen again with Christ. Now attendance at the Ninth Street Baptist Church took on new meaning. Now I could sing through all the hymns and found special joy in singing where I had been silent before: “ The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.” No longer was there any desire to hide that precious Name. But while savoring every moment of our new life and the happiness of our home circle, I had a great desire to be out witnessing particularly seeking out other Jewish people to whom I could tell the wonderful news. I had such a deep abiding joy in my own salvation that I wanted everyone else to know my Saviour, too. I wanted to witness to my friends with whom I had formerly spent much time in wordly pastimes. I thought sadly of sortie of the young fellows I had known as a boy. “ If I had only known the Lord then and could have told them of Him, they might have lived,” I thought as I remembered how young some of them were when they had died, victims of debauched lives. I sought out and tried to talk with former companions of mine in drinking parties and card games. But I was in stantly rebuffed. They laughed and scoffed at the first mention of my new experience. “ You won’t keep it up very long,” they jeered and rocked with raucous laughter when one in pseudo-mournful tones lamented that “ now Dan’s got religion and we won’t see him no more.” They were right. Soon I had lost con tact with them. They were uncomfort able in my presence if I didn’t join in with their games and I knew I could no longer continue in those things. But one day I met another of the fellows I had not seen since my conversion. I ap proached him with some trepidation, I must confess, remembering the jeers and taunts of the other fellows. Before I had time to think how I should begin, he hailed me and hurried toward me with outstretched hand. “ Dan!” he shouted, not caring that others on the street turned and stared. “ I’ve got news for you. Something has happened to me. I want to tell you about it.” “ What is it?”
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