TWICE-BORN MEN
REMARKABLE CONVERSIONS OF WELL-KNOWN MEN
IN DIFFERENT AGES AND IN VARIED RANKS OF LIFE
Compiled by HY. PICKERING
A Devoted Scottish Evangelist
DUNCAN MATHIESON, the devoted and gifted Scots Evangelist, whilst sowing his wild oats, was urged by his minister to join the Church, along with two other companions. His reply was: “I am not converted, and you know it. G— is not converted, nor is D—. We are on the brink, and you would push us over. You would have us go to the Lord’s table in our sins, and then on Sabbath evening you would pray for the unworthy communicants .”
One Lord ‘s-day evening whilst listening to an awakening discourse, his conscience lashed him with its scorpion sting, and rising, he left the building saying, “I cannot bear this. If I am to come here I must be converted.” The arrow of conviction pierced him to the quick on one occasion as he sat under the faithful and searching preaching of Dr. A. A. Bonar. Dr. Bonar preached from Exodus 34. 6, 7: “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.”
For a time he tried to work for salvation. He had not yet learned that salvation could not be obtained as the reward of merit; that eternal life was a “gift” and could not be bought. Chapters upon chapters of the Bible were daily read, prayer upon prayer was presented, and vow upon vow was made. He had a stair of seventy steps to climb to his lodgings, and be prayed at every step. On reading the Scriptures, he perceived that sinners were saved by grace through faith. He read all the books he could lay his hands on that spoke of faith. He imagined that faith was something meritorious, and “Faith, faith, how can I obtain it ?” was his cry. He did not then see that faith is the reception of testimony, human or Divine; that it is but the empty hand that accepts the gift; the eye of the soul that looks away from self to Christ bearing the judgment due to sin. He went to various persons asking what he had to do to obtain forgiveness. Some told him to hope, and others advised him to pray. He became perplexed and bewildered by the conflicting opinions. In a state of deep soul anxiety, he returned to his native town, Huntly. Many pitied the young man who had, as they said, gone mad. After wading and wading through the “slough of despond,” and finding he could do nothing to save himself, he was led to look from his faith to Him who was its object, and he obtained joy and peace in believing.
“I was standing,” said he, “on the 10th December 1846, at the end of my father’s house, and meditating on that precious word which has brought peace to countless weary ones, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3. 16). I saw that God loved me, for I was one of the world. I saw the proof of His love in the giving of His Son Jesus. I saw that ‘whosoever’ meant anybody and everybody, and therefore me, even me. I saw the result of believing—that I would not perish, but have everlasting life. I was enabled to take God at His word. My burden fell from my back, and I was saved.”