"YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN"

TWICE-BORN
MEN

TRUE
CONVERSION
RECORDS OF
~100 WELL - KNOWN
MEN IN ALL
RANKS OF LIFE

Compiled by
HY. PICKERING

A World Known Bible Teacher

DR. ARTHUR T. PIERSON had attended Church and
      Sunday School since the age of six, and all his
training and most of the influences that surrounded him
had been Christian, yet he had never yet deliberately sur-
rendered his heart to Christ.   At Tarrytown there came the
crisis that comes to so many boys when they first leave
home, an experience which tested his earnestness and his
courage.   He came face to face with the question: "Shall
I seek great things for myself in my own way,
or shall I
give my life to God and surrender to the claims of Jesus
Christ?"

   A series of special revival meetings were held in the
Methodist Church, and the earnest, but quiet message of
the evangelist made a deep impression on him.   What
followed is given in his own words:
   "One night I was much moved to seek my salvation.
When the invitation was given, I asked for the prayers
of God's people and decided to make a start in serving
God by accepting Jesus as my Saviour.   On my way back
to school I was forced to ask myself: How am I to act as a
Christian before the other boys?   We all slept in large
rooms with five or six beds, and with two boys in each
bed.   As I went up to the ward where I slept, I felt that
now or never I must show my colours.   If my life were to
count, I must give some testimony before my schoolmates.

   "The boys were not yet in bed, and as some others had
attended the meeting, the word had preceded me, 'Pier-
son is converted.'
  The boys were waiting to see what I
would do.   There was not one other Christian in the ward,
and my own bedfellow was perhaps the most careless,
trifling, and vicious boy in the school.   My first hour of
testing had come; much depended on how I would meet it.
   "As I undressed for bed, I asked God for courage, and
then, when ready to turn in, knelt down beside the bed
and silently prayed.   The boys were quiet for a moment,
then a few began to chuckle, and presently a pillow came
flying at my head.   I paid no attention to it, though
praying was not easy just then, if by prayer is meant
consecutive, orderly speaking to God.
   "My schoolmates were not malicious, but only bent on
'fun,' and when they saw that I did not move, their sense
of fair play asserted itself.   One of the older boys said,
'Let him alone,' and silently they all picked up their
pillows and got into bed.   I was never again disturbed
when praying before my fellows."

   The initial victory was won, and it was his conviction
in later years that this was the turning point in his life.
He found that an apparently heavy cross when taken up
with the help of God, proves light, and easily borne.

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