TWICE-BORN MEN
REMARKABLE CONVERSIONS OF WELL-KNOWN MEN
IN DIFFERENT AGES AND IN VARIED RANKS OF LIFE
Compiled by HY. PICKERING
An Inniskilling Dragoon
CAPT. W. H. DAWSON, one of the best-known Christians in the South of England, was born in London, in 1850, entered Harrow in 1864, passed 19th out of 130 for a direct commission, and at the age of 19, entered the Inniskilling Dragoons as a Cornet, in 1870. In 1873, whilst at Newbridge Barracks the “great change took place.” His conversion is told so simply in his own words that we quote it.
“One evening occupied with Orderly-room work and preparing a Military Lecture till late I did not dine at Mess, but had some light food in my quarters. I thought a little lighter reading than the Military Works I was studying would be a change with my meals, so I sent for the Regimental Library Catalogue. No book attracted my attention till the very end, and there I saw ‘ Vicars, Hedley, Memorials of, by Miss Marsh.’ I had heard of the book but knew nothing about it. I thought, ‘Well, it must be this book, there is nothing else.’
“I found that Hedley Vicars was Adjutant of his regiment and a keen soldier, so I hoped that I might learn something from him, but I had no idea there was anything in the book that was ‘religious,’ or I should not have sent for it! I had respect for those who were earnest godly persons, but kept out of their way, and thought that such things were all very well for old people, but not for those still young!
“My life was just a careless, happy life, no thoughts beyond the present and my profession. A lover of horses, cricket, etc., and the pleasures of life in a Cavalry Regiment, with the busy work of Adjutant. I began the book and read right through. As Adjutant, and loving my work, the book appealed to me at once, but I was much surprised that Hedley Vicars found some wonderful blessing which completely changed his life, gave him true happiness, and enabled him to look forward to Heaven with an assurance which, to me, seemed startling and extraordinary. There seemed to me such a true ring about the details that I was convinced it was a reality and I was greatly interested.
“My thought was, here is something quite new to me, something wonderful; let me look into it ; it seems to be supernatural, I must be very ignorant. What Hedley Vicars found which gave him such complete satisfaction and altered his whole life, might be also for me!
“To become a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, to have a different object in life and a glorious eternity before me, these were things I had never thought about. Some passages I read over several times, especially the verse which helped Hedley Vicars, ‘The Blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin’ (1 John 1. 7). This was like Hebrew to me, nothing whatever in it. I must have read that verse a hundred times. My thought again was, if Hedley Vicars was a sinner, and needed forgiveness of sins, then I must also be a sinner before God, and I need forgiveness of my sins here and now. If he received that forgiveness at once, perhaps I may! If he accepted eternal life as a gift, and a present possession, why should not I? I asked God to show me the meaning of that verse, to change my life, to give me eternal life and make me a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. I prayed other words on my knees; my heart was stirred and I longed to know what Hedley Vicars had learned. I fell asleep after wondering what it all meant, a good deal astonished and much perplexed. I remember thinking perhaps it will all have passed away by the morning; it seemed complete darkness.”
In the morning he realised that he had taken the place of a guilty sinner, accepted the Lord Jesus as his own personal Saviour, and as he expressed it: “Some great change, through the sovereign grace of God, had taken place in me. God had heard my prayer; I went forth that day a changed man; it was a new life, though I could not understand, or account for it, or explain it. I do know that my Bible was a new book to me that morning, and verses stood out with a new meaning. I had been blind; now I began to see. I seemed to have some new power within me; it was an inward revolution, and gave a joy which I had never known before. I had found a Friend in Heaven to whom I could look up, and a new object in life.
“At once I told my brother officers, and there was considerable excitement! Some said it was a ‘sort of fit,’ others said it was just a ‘dream,’ and would not last. They soon saw there was a great change in my life; they were quite puzzled and there was much discussion.
“I saw there must be a separation from the former things, so the playing cards were burned, billiard cues given away, wine and smoking given up.
“I could only say, it was marvellous to me that my tastes were completely changed, and I no longer wanted those things. I had got that which was so much better, and there was no room for the former things. My desire was that God would guide and control my life, and I wanted to serve Him and help others into the same blessing. I know it is not always so, and to some it is a real difficulty as to the line of separation from certain things. I can only humbly testify that as a young officer of twenty-three, in the full enjoyment of all the usual pleasures, the love of them was taken away, and I had infinitely greater delight in spiritual things, in the things of God than in all other things before, and the happiness in the changed life contrasted with the happiness before, was just as different as gold from copper.”