p. 10 | MOTHER AND SON by B. C. Conner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 30, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 52.

MOTHER AND SON.

By B. C. Conner

It was the fall of the year. The nights were moonlight. We lived in the country, a mile from the church. The special revival services were in progress. I was a boy of fifteen, and had Christian parents. Young people of the neighborhood had been converted. I was under conviction. Earnest prayer was going up for me. I felt it; I knew it. My heart was troubled, and yet I did not want anybody to speak to me about my soul. One night mother and I, just we two, rode to church together. I think she had arranged it so. On the way she gently but earnestly pleaded with me to give my heart to God. She showed me the danger of delay and the awful consequences of rejecting Christ. She told me of her deep solicitude for my welfare, how her heart was burdened for me, and how glad she would be if I would come out on God's side. I was deeply convicted, but did not want to confess it, and her talking with me made me feel all the worse. At last, in my anguish, and seeking to defend myself, I said:—

“Mother, why don't you let me alone? Other

mothers do not talk to their boys as you talk to me.”

Then, with a look that I shall never forget, and with tears in her eyes, she said to me:—

“My boy, I dare not let you alone till you give your heart to Christ.”

Those words pierced my heart. They told me, as I did not know before, how much my mother had loved me, and how much she desired my salvation. I then and there determined that during that meeting I would give my heart to God. A few nights after, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and by His help, I found my way to the altar, already crowded with other seekers of salvation. I had not been there long when I felt around my neck the gentle pressure of a loving arm. I could not see her, but I knew mother was there and that it was her arm that was about me. Soon the deep, pent-up emotion of her soul burst forth, first in praise that her boy was at the altar, and then in prayer that he might be thoroughly converted.

Tho a boy of fifteen, my heart was deeply convicted with a sense of guilt, and of a need of the Saviour. Thank God, through the prayers and counsel of loved ones, I was enabled to accept Jesus as my personal, precious Saviour, and His follower I have been ever since. That was the turning point of my life. Thank God it came so early!

Mothers, do not rest till your boys are saved. Do not allow them to pass through their teens till they have been converted. By your godly life and your deep solicitude for their spiritual welfare, wisely manifested, show them that their salvation is the thing you most desire. Boys, heed mother's counsel, comply with her request, yield to her entreaty. Rejoice her heart by accepting her Saviour. O, the burdened hearts of the Christian mothers for their unsaved boys! Listen! young man. You love your mother. You are proud of her. You are doing many things to make her happy; but if you would give her the greatest and deepest possible joy, you will give your heart to Christ. Do it now. Do not wait till she is dead. Do not send her to her grave with a heavy, broken heart. For Jesus' sake and for mother's sake, and for your own soul's sake, be a Christian to-day.—Rev. B. C. Conner.