HOW A JEWESS FOUND CHRIST.
By C. R. Raphael
ONE Saturday I picked up a Bible. Unlike my own Bible it contained the New Testament. I opened to the third chapter of Malachi and read these words, “Behold, I will send my messenger, and He shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple.” I glanced at the heading of the chapter, “Christ’s Coming and Forerunner.” Never before had it been intimated to me that there was anything about Christ in my Bible, the Old Testament. Immediately I began to reason: “I know some good people who read this New Testament which tells about Jesus Christ. I do not believe that it will hurt me to do so.” Thus God was leading me. I opened to the Gospel of Matthew and began to read, fearing at the same time that it might be a sin to do so. Never in my life had I read anything so wonderful. When I got to the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, I felt an irresistible desire to go to my room and get down on my knees, altho Jews do not now kneel in prayer. There, in the stillness of that summer day, the Holy Spirit convinced me that Jesus Christ was my Saviour. O, the joy of those first moments with my beloved Saviour! It seemed that I must go out and tell everybody; but almost immediately came the thought, If my mother hears of this it will break her heart. I went on reading the New Testament, devouring every word, and gloriously happy. When I returned home, a new creature in body and soul, I determined to live as our Saviour would have me live; but told my mother nothing about the change in my faith. O, the struggle of those days! But the truth could not be hidden. One evening my mother asked me a question which might have been answered by the words, “I believe in Christ,” but still I held back. For a whole week I prayed earnestly for strength to be brave and true. Again my mother asked me that question. The time to speak had come. “Mother, I believe in Jesus Christ.” The bitterness to her of those words! How can I speak of that sad time? There was but one thing to do—to choose between my home and my Saviour. And so I went out from the dear ones who had done for me all that parents can do for an only daughter, not knowing what roof would shelter me that night. God directed me to some friends who gave me a home until I found another. Seven years have passed in which the Saviour has become ever more precious. The promise in Matt. 19:29 is continually being fulfilled in my life. O, that my parents and brothers may soon come to the light, that the veil may be removed from the eyes of my people whom our Father in heaven is waiting to bless as He has blessed me.—C. R. Raphael.