Salvation

He time was come when God would have mercy

on me. When I was careless, He sent His Spirit

into my heart. I had no Bible, and had not read one

for years. I seldom went to church. I had never heard

the gospel, and never met a person who told me he

meant to live according to the Scriptures. I had no idea

there were persons different from myself, except in degrees 3

One Saturday afternoon, in November, 1825, Beta

told me he went, Saturday evenings, to the house of a

Christian, to a meeting where they read the Bible, sang, -

prayed, and read a printed sermon. This was to me as if I had found something I had been seeking all my ‘life. We went together in the evening. I made an apology for coming. The kind answer of the brother I shall never forget: “Come as often as you please; house and heart are open to you.” We sang a hymn. Brother

Kayser, now a missionary in Africa, fell on his knees,

and asked a blessing on our meeting. I had never seen any one kneel, nor ever prayed on my knees. The whole made a deep impression. I was happy, though I could not have told why.

Walking home I said to Beta: “All we saw in Switzerland, and all our former pleasures, are nothing in comparison with this evening.”

God works in different ways. That evening he began a work of grace in me, I obtained joy without any deep dd sorrow of heart, or scarce any knowledge. It was the turning point in’ my life. My wicked companions were given up; going to taverns was entirely discontinued; the practice of falsehood was no longer indulged in; but a few times after this I spoke an untruth. I read the Scriptures, prayed often, loved the brethren, went to church from right motives, and stood on the side of Christ, though laughed at by my fellow-students.

In January, 1826, I began to read missionary papers, and was greatly stirred to become a missionary. I prayed frequently concerning this, and thus made decided progress for a few weeks. About Easter, I saw Hermann Ball, a learned man, of wealthy parents, who, constrained by the love of Christ, preferred laboring in Poland among the Jews, as a missionary, to having a comfortable living near his relations. His example made a deep impression. The Lord smiled on me, and I was, for the first time, able unreservedly to give myself to Him. I began to enjoy the peace of God which passeth all understanding. In my joy I wrote to my father and brother, entreating them to seek the Lord, and telling them how happy I was. To my great surprise, an angry answer was returned, About this period the Lord sent Dr. Tholuck, as Professor of Divinity, to Halle.

My desire to give myself to missionary service returned, and I went to obtain my father’s permission, without which I could not enter any German missionary institution. My father was greatly displeased, and reproached me, saying he had expended money on my education that he might spend his last days with me in a parsonage, and he should no longer consider me his son. The Lord gave me grace to remain steadfast, My father then entreated me, and wept; yet this far harder trial God enabled me to bear. “After I left my father, though 1 needed much money, having two years more in the university, 1 decided never to take any more from him; for it seemed wrong to be supported by him, when he had no prospect that I should become a clergyman with a good living. á i

Shortly after two American college professors came to Halle, and I was recommended, by-Dr. Tholuck, to teach them German: These gentlemen paid so handsomely for the instruction, and for the lectures of professors I wrote out for them, I had enough and to spare. Thus the Lord richly made up to me the little I relinquished for Him. “O fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him.” (Ps. XXXIV; ‘9:)

Whitsuntide I spent in the home of a pious clergyman in the country. God greatly refreshed me. Beta was with me. On our return we told two of our former friends how happy we had been. I told them I wished they were as happy. They said, “We do not feel we are sinners.” I knelt and asked God to show them they were sinners. I went to my room, and continued to pray. After a little I returned to my sitting-room, and found both in tears. They now felt themselves to be sinners, and a work of grace commenced in their hearts.

Though weak and ignorant, I had a desire to benefit others, and win souls for Christ. I circulated, every month, about three hundred missionary papers. I distributed tracts, and often took my pockets full, in my walks, and spoke to poor people.

I wrote letters to my former companions in sin. I visited, for thirteen weeks, a sick man, who was completely ignorant of his state as a sinner, trusting for salvation in his moral life. os

The Lord allowed me to see a decided change in him, and he expressed gratitude that I had been sent by God to open his blind eyes.

Having heard that there was a schoolmaster in a village six miles from Halle who held a meeting at four every morning with the miners, before they went into the pit, I thought he was a believer, and went to see him and help him. Afterward he told me that when I came he knew not the Lord, but held the meetings out of kindness to a relative who had gone on a journey; and the addresses he read were copied out of a book. My kindness and conversation were instrumental in leading him to God.;

The schoolmaster asked me to preach in his parish,’ as the aged minister would be glad of my assistance. I had never preached, yet thought I could help, by taking. a sermon written by a spiritual man, and committing it to memory; so did this. There is no joy in man’s doings. It was August 26, 1826, at eight, in a chapel. There was a service again in the afternoon, at which I need not have done anything; but desiring to serve the Lord, I had it in my heart to preach. I read Matt. v. Immediately upon. beginning to expound, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” I felt myself greatly assisted. In the morning my sermon had not been simple enough. I now was listened to with great attention, and I think, understood. My peace and joy were great. I thought, “This is the way I should like to preach, but it would never do for a well-educated assembly in town.”

I did not understand the work of the Spirit, and the powerlessness of human eloquence, or that, if the most illiterate in the congregation can comprehend the discourse, the most educated will understand it too; but the reverse is not true.

The public means of grace by which I could be benefited were few. Though I went regularly to church when I did not preach, I scarcely ever heard the truth.

When I could hear Dr. Tholuck, or any godly minister, the prospect of it beforehand, and looking back on it afterward, filled me with joy. Now and then I walked fifteen miles to enjoy this privilege.

Another means of grace, beside the Saturday evening meetings in Brother Wagner’s house, was a meeting every Lord’s day evening with the believing students. ’

One most important means of grace — prayer — l little used. Had I prayed as often and as earnestly as I have of late years, I should have made much more rapid progress.

I read tracts, missionary papers, sermons, and biographies. I never had been in the habit of reading the Scriptures. When under fifteen, I read a little in the Bible at school; afterwards God’s precious Book was entirely laid aside, till it pleased God to begin a work of grace in my heart. Even then the difficulty in understanding it, and the little enjoyment I had in it, made me careless of reading it. I preferred, for the first four years of my divine life, the works of. uninspired men to the oracles of the living God. So I remained a babe in knowledge and grace.: