Part 32

But while we cannot convince men of sin, there is One who can, the Holy Spirit. He can convince the most hardened and blinded man of sin. He can change men and women from utter carelessness and indifference to a place where they are overwhelmed with a sense of their need of a Saviour. How often we have seen this illustrated. Some years ago, the officers of the Chicago Avenue Church were burdened over the fact that there was so little profound conviction of sin manifested in our meetings. There were conversions, a good many were being added to the church, but very few were coming with an apparently overwhelming conviction of sin. One night one of the officers of the church said, “Brethren, I am greatly troubled by the fact that we have so little conviction of sin in our meetings. While we are having conversions and many accessions to the church, there is not that deep conviction of sin that I like to see, and I propose that we, the officers of the church, meet from night to night to pray that there may be more conviction of sin in our meetings.” The suggestion was taken up by the entire committee. We had not been praying many nights when one Sunday evening I saw in the front seat underneath the gallery a showily dressed man with a very hard face. A large diamond was blazing from his shirt front. He was sitting beside one of the deacons. As I looked at him as I preached, I thought to myself, “That man is a sporting man, and Deacon Young has been fishing to-day.” It turned out that I was right. The man was the son of a woman who kept a sporting house in a Western city. I think he had never been in a Protestant service before. Deacon Young had got hold of him that day on the street and brought him to the meeting. As I preached the man’s eyes were riveted upon me. When we went down-stairs to the after meeting, Deacon Young took the man with him. I was late dealing with the anxious that night. As I finished with the last one about eleven o’clock, and almost everybody had gone home, Deacon Young came over to me and said, “I have a man over here I wish you would come and speak with.” It was this big sporting man. He was deeply agitated. “Oh,” he groaned, “I don’t know what is the matter with me. I never felt this way before in all my life,” and he sobbed and shook like a leaf. Then he told me this story: “I started out this afternoon to go down to Cottage Grove Avenue to meet some men and spend the afternoon gambling. As I passed by the park over yonder, some of your young men were holding an open air meeting and I stopped to listen. I saw one man testifying whom I had known in a life of sin, and I waited to hear what he had to say. When he finished I went on down the street. I had not gone far when some strange power took hold of me and brought me back and I stayed through the meeting. Then this gentleman spoke to me and brought me over to your church, to your Yoke Fellows’ Meeting. I stayed to supper with them and he brought me up to hear you preach, then he brought me down to this meeting.” Here he stopped and sobbed, “Oh, I don’t know what is the matter with me. I feel awful. I never felt this way before in all my life,” and his great frame shook with emotion. “I know what is the matter with you,” I said. “You are under conviction of sin; the Holy Spirit is dealing with you,” and I pointed him to Christ, and he knelt down and cried to God for mercy, to forgive his sins for Christ’s sake.