TWICE-BORN MEN
REMARKABLE CONVERSIONS OF WELL-KNOWN MEN
IN DIFFERENT AGES AND IN VARIED RANKS OF LIFE
Compiled by HY. PICKERING
The King of Sweden
OSCAR II, KING OF SWEDEN. On 8th December, 1907, there passed into the presence of the King of kings in the person of OSCAR II, King of Sweden, a monarch who was remarkable, in that he was a converted king, and a grandson of a French shoemaker.
Mr. Josiah Nix relates that some years ago, at Bergen, the King was on the point of leaving for Stockholm when a party of Polytechnic visitors cheered lustily. Thereupon the King said to Mr. Nix, their conductor: “Do you like my country ?” “No, your Majesty,” was the reply; “we love it, and your people.” Mr. Nix then thanked King Oscar for his message to the Y.M.C.A. in London on their celebration, and also for the Queen’s greetings.
“Are you a disciple?” King Oscar asked. “Yes, your Majesty, the least of all the disciples,” was the answer, upon which the King said quietly: “Then please do not refer to me as ‘your Majesty.’ We are one in Christ Jesus .” Touching details are given of the solemn moment when the King of Terrors (though not in this case the terror of kings) entered the royal chamber. When, at two o’clock on the Saturday afternoon, His Majesty became conscious for a moment, he recognised his family and said in a clear voice: “God bless you all.” The Queen said: “Yes, the Lord shall carry you through; His mercy is so great.” To this the King replied: “Yes, His mercy is great.” The Queen then bent down over her husband’s bed and whispered in his ear the words of the First Epistle of John, chapter 1, verse 7: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” The King said in a distinct voice: “THANKS BE TO JESUS.“ These words were King Oscar’s last. At four o’clock he was “with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1. 23).