Part 5 (1/2)
He then challenged me on another point, and said, ”Have you peace with God?” I answered, without hesitation, ”Yes,”---for, for eight years or arded God as et peace?” ”Oh,” I said, ”I have it continually I get it at the Daily Service, I get it through prayer and reading, and especially at the Holy Communion I have made it a rule to carry my sins there every Sunday, and have often co as happy and free as a bird” My friend looked surprised, but did not dispute this part ofdoes your peace last?” This question made me think I said, ”I suppose, not a week, for I have to do the sa the Bible, he found the fourth chapter of St John, and read, ”'Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again' The woman of Samaria dreater for herself at Jacob's well, and quenched her thirst; but she had to coetting water, except by drawing, any h the ift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Hi water,' which would be 'a well of water springing up into everlasting life'” (John 4:10-14) My friend pointed out the difference between getting water by drawing fro up
I said, ”I never heard of such a thing”
”I suppose not,” he answered
”Have you this living water?” I continued
”Yes, thank God, I have had it for the last thirty years”
”How did you get it?”
”Look here,” he said, pointing to the tenth verse: ”You wouldest have asked of Hi water” ”Shall we ask Him?” I said
He answered, ”With allback his chair, knelt down at his round table, and I knelt on the opposite side
What he prayed for I do not knoas coround, sobbing, while he shouted aloud, praising God
As soon as I could get up, Imy hat, coat, and uer” With this I tookbehind It was seven miles to Penzance, but in my excitement I walked and ran all the way, and arrived there before the coach, which was to have called forinstead In thefor it, I saw a paot into the train to return to Baldhu My ht relief in reading I had not long been doing so, when I caraph in italics: ”Then shall He say unto them, Depart from Me; I never knew you” The question arrested me, ”What if He says that to you? Ah, that is not likely But, what if He does? It cannot be I have given up the world; I love God; I visit the sick; I have daily service and weekly communion But, what if He does?--what if He does? I could not bear the thought; it seemed to overwhelm me”
As I read the pamphlet, I saw that the words were spoken to persons ere taken by surprise So should I be They were able to say, ”We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou has taught in our streets: in Thy name we have cast out devils, and done many wonderful works” Yet, with all this, He replied, ”Depart from Me, I never knew you” I did not see how I could escape, if suchhold upon ht pressed heavily upon !” Added to this, I trembled to think of those I had misled ”Can it be true? Is it so?” I remembered some I had watched over most zealously, lest the Dissenters should come and pray with the upon a false hope, ad any other way of bringing therieve over any parishi+oner who died without the last sacrament, and often wondered hoould fare with Dissenters!
My ot home I felt as if I were out on the dark, boundless ocean, without light, or oar, or rudder I endured the greatest agony of norantly ”They are gone, and lost forever!” I justly deserved to go also My distress seereater than I could bear A tre at the tis I could not rest
Looking at the graves of some of my faithful Churchmisled them?”
Thursday Friday, and Saturday passed by, each day and nightone On the Sunday, I was so ill that I was quite unfit to take the service Mr Aitken had said to me, ”If I were you, I would shut the church, and say to the congregation, 'I will not preach again till I am converted Pray for htly, and before I could make up my mind to put off the service, the bells struck out a merry peal, and sent their suht ca prayers and after that dismiss the people There was no preparation for the Holy Communion that day, and I had deputed the clerk to select the hy myself The psalms and hymns were especially applicable to o on and read the ante-communion service, and then dis the Gospel, I thought, well, I will just say a feords in explanation of this, and then I will disave out ospel of the day--”What think ye of Christ?” (Matt 22:42)
As I went on to explain the passage, I saw that the Pharisees and scribes did not know that Christ was the Son of God, or that He was co, the son of David, to reign over the me, all the time, ”You are no better than the Pharisees yourself-you do not believe that He is the Son of God, and that He is come to save you, any more than they did” I do not re intoto see what the Pharisees did not
Whether it was so in my words, or my manner, or my look, I know not; but all of a sudden a local preacher, who happened to be in the congregation, stood up, and putting up his arms, shouted out in a Cornish manner, ”The parson is converted! The parson is converted!
Hallelujah!” and in another moment his voice was lost in the shouts and praises of three or four hundred of the congregation Instead of rebuking this extraordinary ”brawling,” as I should have done in a former time, I joined in the outburst of praise; and to y--”Praise God, fro it with heart and voice, over and over again
My Churchmen were dismayed, and many of them fled precipitately from the place Still the voice of praise went on, and elled by nureatly surprised to hear and see as going on
When this subsided, I found at least twenty people crying for mercy, whose voices had not been heard in the excite They all professed to find peace and joy in believing
Ast this number there were three fro God
The news spread in all directions that ”the parson was converted,” and that by his own sermon, in his own pulpit to The church would not hold the croho ca I cannot exactly re I said was, ”that if I had died last week I should have been lost for ever” I felt it was true So clear and vivid was the conviction through which I had passed, and so distinct was the light into which the Lord had brought ht me up out of an horrible pit, out of theinto my mouth” (Ps 40) He had ”quickened” me, as before ”dead in trespasses and sins,” (Eph 2:1)
I felt sure, as I said, that if I had died last week I should have been lost for ever This was a startling and an alar word to many of my earnest people, who said, ”What then will become of us?” I replied, ”You will be lost for a certainty if you do not give your hearts to God”
At the end of this great and eventful day of my life--my spiritual birthday, on which I passed fro ”born from above”--I could scarcely sleep for joy I awoke early the next et up and go to a village a ood and holy man, who had often spoken tofor three years or one half-way before Itowards me: he seemed as much surprised to see e way, and then, leaning his back against a stone fence, he said, ”Are you converted?”