Led of the Lord to Light by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 17, 1910

Led of the Lord to Light

By W. A. S.

As Cornelius, the centurion, prayed for light at Cesarea, he saw in vision an angel, who said:—

“Thy prayers and thine alms are come up as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: he lodged with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.”

How encouragingly direct and personal is the connection between heaven and earth in the Scripture story. The Lord sent conviction, and heard prayer, and angels knew where sinners were seeking light, and how to lead such to servants of God who had the light and instruction to give. And that same loving Father is our God, and the same angels are ministers of his.

Of all the manifest leadings of Providence in bringing souls into contact with the truth, we could not attempt to tell. Our workers are continually meeting the evidence that shows a direct contact between heaven and earth, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit and of the divinely sent messengers. But here is an experience, related by Brother A. S. Booth at the last Southern California camp-meeting, which is rather out of the ordinary, and bears testimony to the Lord’s gracious working to save sinners. I summarize it briefly, from memory, as follows:—

Brother Booth and an associate were holding tent-meetings in a Southern California town. Some miles away in the country lived a man who had led a worldly and irreligious life. One night, as he was in bed, the conviction of sin came upon him so powerfully and so distressingly that he was impelled to get up and pray for mercy and for relief. The conviction continued with him a day or two, bringing him great mental distress. I believe he got hold of a New Testament and began to read it. Then, in his trouble, he left his ranch in the mountains, and went down to the town to seek for help.

The first evening he attended a Salvation Army meeting; but when it closed, he had not found the relief he sought. That night at midnight he was walking the street in his distress of soul. A policeman noted him as a stranger, apparently loitering in the night, and accosted him as a suspicious character. The man told of his trouble, and why he had come to the town. “I’ll tell you, if that is what you want,” said the policeman; “you go down to that tent, where those boys are preaching [directing him to our tent-meeting]; they have got the truth there.”

So next morning the man found our brethren; and there, too, he found release from his burden, and joy in the acceptance of the truth. Then he begged that one of the workers might go back with him to teach the way to his household. Brother Booth visited the brother’s home, and there the blessing of the Lord brought salvation to his house. In one of the last Bible studies at the ranch, Brother Booth told us, they read how Cornelius prayed and the Lord led him to send for Peter to come to teach him the way of life. The new brother’s heart was melted with gratitude and love as he saw that the same God had in mercy convicted him of sin, through no human agency, and then providentially led him to those who could teach him the truth for these last days.

There is a definite message for these closing hours of earth’s history. We know it by the sure, unfailing Word; and we know by multiplied experiences in all parts of the world that the Lord is pouring out his Spirit in the latter rain, and making bare his mighty arm for the finishing of the work. At home and abroad, we are seeing more and more the revelation of his direct providences in the work. Every day the Lord of life is in touch with every soul. He knows where hearts are longing for help. It will not take him long to finish the work, now that the time has come for the witness to be borne in every unwarned field.

Well may we be of good cheer, and surrender ourselves to be used of God in giving the words of life to others. It is by the ministry of God’s Holy Word, under the converting power of the Holy Spirit, that the work is being done.

W. A. S.