NOW at a time when I was as careless about [Jesus] as ever, He sent His Spirit into my heart. I had no Bible, and had not read in it for years. I went to church but seldom; but, from custom, I took the Lord’s supper twice a year. I had never heard the gospel preached. . . . I had never met with a person who told me that he meant, by the help of God, to live according to the Holy Scriptures. . . .
One Saturday afternoon, about the middle of November 1825, I had taken a walk with my friend Beta. . . . He was in the habit of going on Saturday evenings to the house of a Christian, where there was a meeting . . . they read the Bible, sang, prayed, and read a printed sermon.
No sooner had I heard this, than it was to me as if I had found something after which I had been seeking all my life long. I immediately wished to go with my friend, who was not at once willing to take me. . . .
At last, however, he said he would call for me. . . .
We went together in the evening. As I did not know the manners of believers, and the joy they have in seeing poor sinners . . . I made an apology for coming. The kind answer of this dear brother I shall never forget. He said: “Come as often as you please; house and heart are open to you.” We sat down and sang a hymn. Then brother Kayser . . . fell on his knees, and asked a blessing on our meeting. This kneeling down made a deep impression upon me; for I had never either seen any one on his knees, nor had I ever myself prayed on my knees. He then read a chapter and a printed sermon; for no regular meetings for expounding the Scriptures were allowed in Prussia, except [when] an ordained clergyman was present.
At the close we sang another hymn, and then the master of the house prayed. Whilst he prayed, my feeling was something like this: “I could not pray as well, though I am much more learned than this illiterate man.” The whole made a deep impression on me. I was happy; though, if I had been asked, why I was happy,
I could not have clearly explained it.
When we walked home, I said to Beta, “All we have seen on our journey to Switzerland, and all our former pleasures, are as nothing in comparison with this evening.” Whether I fell on my knees when I returned home, I do not remember; but this I know, that I lay peaceful and happy in my bed.
This shows that the Lord may begin His work in different ways. For I have not the least doubt, that on that evening, He began a work of grace in me, though I obtained joy without any deep sorrow of heart, and with scarcely any knowledge. That evening was the turning point in my life. . . .
My wicked companions were given up; the going to taverns was entirely discontinued; the habitual practice of telling falsehoods was no longer indulged in, but still a few times after this I spoke an untruth. . . .
I now no longer lived habitually in sin, though I was still often overcome, and sometimes even by open sins, though far less frequently than before, and not without sorrow of heart. I read the Scriptures, prayed often, loved the brethren, went to church from right motives, and stood on the side of Christ; though laughed at by my fellow-students. . . .
It had pleased God to teach me something of the meaning of that precious truth: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I understood something of the reason why the Lord Jesus died on the cross, and suffered such agonies in the Garden of Gethsemane: even that thus, bearing the punishment due to us, we might not have to bear it ourselves. . . .
What all the exhortations and precepts of my father and others could not effect; what all my own resolutions could not bring about, even to renounce a life of sin and profligacy: I was enabled to do, constrained by the love of Jesus.
The individual who desires to have his sins forgiven, must seek for it through the blood of Jesus. The individual who desires to get power over sin, must likewise seek it through the blood of Jesus.