Mr. Hubbell’s Conversion by Lephia Bryant Larson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 31, 1907

Mr. Hubbell’s Conversion

By Lephia Bryant Larson

(Concluded)

LEPHIA BRYANT LARSON

“He ain’t said a thing that we can pick an argument out of, has he?” whispered Tom Sykes, nudging Mr. Offish, who sat with his head bowed on the back of the chair in front of him.

“Don’t, don’t drive the angel away, Tom! I’m done for. What a ‘brute’ I’ve been! Lord, have mercy on me, a poor, miserable sinner.” And Mr. Offish leaned against Tom’s shoulder and cried for the first time since twenty years ago, when his only son had been buried. Now, God’s only Son was speaking to him, to win him back so that he could see his little child once more, when those that sleep shall awake at his coming.

“I’m more miserable than you are,” stammered Tom. “I can’t seem to get hold of the truth. Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. What an ungrateful man I’ve been, and what a brute to Mary, and the children. I wish I could pray, John, I wish I could. I can—I will. I know that Jesus died for me, and I want to serve him!”

Tom Sykes got down on his knees, and John Offish knelt with him. Mr. Hubbell sat, looking up at the lamp, with tightly shut lips.

“There couldn’t any evangelist living get me to make such a show of myself,” he thought. “No, indeed! Never! Ask God to forgive me! Never!”

There was a slight stir at the back of the hall. Some one came quickly forward. A boy walked down the aisle, and stopped beside Mr. Hubbell’s chair.

Everybody knew that Jamie had been lame for over six years, and they wondered to see him without his crutches. He kissed his father, then walked up to the side of the three evangelists, where he gave his testimony to the healing power of Jesus.

“I wanted to come to these meetings every night, but father wouldn’t let me. I told Martha I was coming to-night anyway. I didn’t expect to see father here, but I’m glad he came, too. You’ll forgive me for disobeying you this time, won’t you, father?”

“While I sat back there by the door, listening to the reading, I heard something else. I heard the voice of Jesus speak to me, ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ He spoke just as plainly as he did to those at Bethesda. Dear father, I don’t need my crutches any more,” and the happy boy ran about from friend to friend.

“Let us give thanks to Jesus, the divine Healer,” said Mr. Clonkey, reverently.

It was some time before Mr. Hubbell realized what had happened. He gazed at his son, then at the crutches which some one had brought and leaned against the platform, then his eyes came back to the bowed figures of his friends.

The singers continued:— “The waters are troubled, The angel still waits; He pauses in peril Who halts and debates: Give over your faltering, Your struggles within; The waters are troubled, Step in, O step in!”

Still Joseph Hubbell hesitated, though in his heart he knew what he ought to do.

A dozen people came forward and filled up the seats which had been vacated by those who had left the hall. Old Judge Brown was among them. He was the great freethinker of the community. He was seeking salvation through the name of Jesus. He was asking for prayer. He wanted to be baptized as soon as he could. Joseph Hubbell listened to the old man’s words: “I made up my mind that what time remained for me should be given to the Lord. I’ve fought his teachings and his followers for fifty years, but I have been thinking to-night that I’d die sometime; and I made up my mind that I’d get right with God.”

A few kind words to the kneeling ones, and the meeting closed. Seemingly there had been no impression made on Joseph Hubbell.

Mr. Offish and Tom Sykes went to the shed after the team, while Jamie and his father waited. It seemed strange to see the boy without his crutches, but the father said nothing about it.

The team was soon brought around, and Mr. Hubbell offered to assist Jamie.

“O, no, father,” said the boy, “I can climb in now. I’m as spry as anybody. Are you glad I’m well, father?”

A pressure of the hand was all that told Jamie that his father heard him.

“Pears to me the stars never looked so bright as they do to-night,” said Mr. Offish.

“And the moon! How grand it is!” said Tom Sykes. “And we were so foolish as to think all those stars and planets made themselves, and just stayed up there without anything nor anybody to keep track of them. It takes a master mind, John, to keep all those lights a-shining. There is a God, John, and I’m happier to-night than I’ve ever been in my life. Won’t my children be glad to have a real father? I’ve been anything but a help to my family. I never believed it when I used to hear any one tell how completely the love of Jesus could change one’s heart. And to think Jamie’s been healed! Hubbell, you ought to be the happiest man in seventeen counties!”

Jamie felt hot tears fall on his hand. “I am, God knows I am. I thank him from the depths of my heart;” and two weeks later Joseph Hubbell was baptized. Mrs. Clonkey was the seed-sower, and she rejoiced that so many sheaves had been gathered for Jesus.

Aberdeen, Wash.