e 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.