TWICE-BORN MEN
REMARKABLE CONVERSIONS OF WELL-KNOWN MEN
IN DIFFERENT AGES AND IN VARIED RANKS OF LIFE
Compiled by HY. PICKERING
A Royal Academician
THOMAS SIDNEY COOPER, R.A., the famous painter, was born in 1803, and died in 1902. After a long career as an artist, he was brought to the Lord in 1889.
To the editor of a magazine, who requested the opinion of a number of prominent men on the Bible, he wrote the following simple yet beautiful confession of what the Bible had done for him:
“DEAR SIR,—You ask me what I think of the Bible. It brought me to see I was lost in sin, and had no power to save myself. It showed me how I must get God’s forgiveness for all my iniquity.
“It told me the door of mercy was open, and salvation was to be freely had.
“It showed me the wonderful sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and through His precious blood all my sins are washed away. ‘For He bath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Corinthians 5. 21).
“I am thankful to say I read the Bible daily, at 9, at 1, and at 10 p.m., and would recommend your readers to do the same. Yours faithfully .—Tnos . SIDNEY COOPER . “
The following was written by his wile, relative to an illness he had some little time before he went home:
“On one occasion the doctor said, ‘Everyone is asking how you are, Mr. Cooper.’ He replied, ‘It is very kind, but I am less anxious they should hear about my health, than that they should hear that God has redeemed me, by the Blood of His beloved Son, for “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven” for me. I want everyone to know that I am going to enjoy that inheritance with Christ.’
“One day he was speaking of the certainty of salvation, and said, ‘If anyone asks me how I know that I am saved, I should say I know it better than if I had heard an angel out of Heaven say so, for I might make a mistake about that , but I cannot make a mistake about the Word of God. The Lord Jesus said, “All that the Father giveth Me, shall come to Me (and I have come to Him), and him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.” The Fattier has made my soul a present to His Son, and I know that He will not take me away from Him.’
“A friend said to him, ‘We must prepare for death.’ He replied, ‘The Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ has done that for me.'”