Conversion In Childhood

1900

The evangelist of the Free Churches of England, perhaps the greatest living evangelist of the world, Gipsy Smith, is a firm believer in the conversion of children. In an address made by him at a noon prayer meeting in London, and reported in The Christian, he pointed out that many Christian workers testify to having found salvation in the days of youth.

Mr. Smith went on to say that we need a deeper realization of the importance of evangelistic work among the young. We can scarcely begin too early, but we can easily postpone dealing with the question until it is too late, and the child has become a worldling. The late Mrs. Booth once said, "I believe it is possible to be ten minutes ahead of the devil." Save an adult and you save a unit; save a child and you save a multiplication table.

Mr. Smith told of an evangelistic mission in the North of England, at the conclusion of which a critical member grumbled about the only visible fruit being "only a boy." Yet that lad-convert is known today as Rev. Thomas Cook, the esteemed Wesleyan evangelist. At another mission a similar incident occurred, and the people said, "It's only a gipsy boy." That "gipsy boy" is now known as Gipsy Smith.

Mr. Smith added a story — told with a human interest and pathetic touch that moved many to tears — of his own little son. The lad was convicted of his need of Christ under his father's preaching in a meeting at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. Many pressed forward to seek the Saviour. The boy stood for a time anxious and weeping, but timid, "the tears running down his face like bubbles in a mountain spring;" but ultimately he walked down the aisle, and entered the inquiry room. Nothing was said until the next morning, when, before daylight had broken, the little fellow crept into his father's room, taking with him a Bible which was a parental birthday gift. He had written, on the title-page, below the name: "Converted July 17, and the Lord added to the Church."

Concluding his appeal, Mr. Smith said that "Christ put heaven's richest diadem on the cradle of every homestead in the land when he said of the little ones, 'of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.' "

—The Ram's Horn, Nov. 17, 1900, p. 20.

A Light Beyond

1910

Someone has said that where there is a shadow there must be a light somewhere, and so there is. Death stands by the side of the highway in which we have to travel, and the light of heaven shining upon him throws a shadow across our path. Let us then rejoice that there is a light beyond. Nobody is afraid of a shadow, for a shadow cannot stop a man's pathway even for a moment. The shadow of a sword cannot kill; the shadow of death cannot destroy us. Why, therefore, should we be afraid? — J. Wilbur Chapman, D. D.


A Heart at Rest

He who catches the one great thought of purpose in life has heard the first syllable of God's message to him. And after the struggle by which he consents to God's will in him, renouncing selfish desire, welcoming trying conditions, accepting a stern commission, always the angels come and minister to him. You shall know you have seen yours; for he will have brought you heaven's sure token, a heart at rest.


Do It Now!

Never put off until tomorrow what somebody else will probably do today; remember that while you are dreaming over some great plan, another man may conceive the same idea and, what is more, put it into practice. Do it now!


Uncle Allen

"If you're getting old and don't know it," philosophized Uncle Allen Sparks, "you'll find it out when you go back to the town where you grew up and look around for the boys you used to play with when you were a kid."