302 THE CROSS! THE CROSS! The cross! 'tis here I sweetly rest ;- Not now my Suffering Jesus, but The cross in this alone I'll boast, Not now my Suffering Jesus, but The cross! here at its foot I die Not now my Suffering Saviour, but The cross the cross! I'll sing its praise My Bleeding Lord! Not then my Suffering Saviour, but CHAPTER X. REMARKABLE CASES OF CONVERSION AMONG THE POOR, IGNORANT, AND IRRELIGIOUS CLASSES. "To the poor the gospel is preached, and blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me."-Luke vii. 22, 23. "Jesus said, the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” -Matt. ix. 12, 13. Love finds them in the wilderness.—Makes the poor man rich.—The profligate nailer of Broughshane.-Saved from the depth of sin. _“The devil's castaway" saved.—Whitfield's preaching.— Terrors of conscience.-Forlorn! Hopeless !-Why weepest thou? -Suicide prevented.--On the brink of destruction.-Hater of religion dying.-Not prepared.-Gospel preached through a key-hole. A deaf and dumb man.-Way to Calvary free.Ignorant, but wise !—“ A fool" saved.—Will you ?—An escaped slave." Me don't know Jesus."—Just in time.-Public-house sinners.-Smitten in the public-house.—Appetite for drinking removed.-A cabman saved.-Dog-fighter of Belfast.-The happy home." Jesus is lovely!"-He looks at His wounds, then looks at us. pp. 303-332 CHAPTER X. "Love found me in the wilderness, at cost Love on its shoulders joyfully did lay Love lit the lamp, and swept the house all round, 'Twas love whose ever quick and watchful eye once so wretched and MANY a poor wanderer undone can say so now. that the drawing power of love is wonderful. Formerly they thought that neither God nor man cared aught for them. But now they know that there are loving hearts down here; and that here is a Heavenly Father whose looks towards them are full of tender pity and richest grace. "Oh! how He loves!" A POOR MAN IN ULSTER, the day after his conversion to God, said, "Yesterday, I was a poor lone, desolate, friendless creature, caring for no one and no one caring for me, without father or X 306 THE PROFLIGATE OF BROUGHSHANE. mother, house or friend; this day, I am rich and happy, and would not exchange places with the Queen on the throne; for God is my Father, Christ Jesus is my Brother and Master, heaven is my home, and all God's people are my friends.” THERE were several thousands of persons present in a quarry pit at Broughshane, about three miles from Ballymena, in the North of Ireland, when addresses were being delivered to them on Christ Jesus and Him crucified as the only way of salvation. This was about May, 1859. "Near the end of the preaching," says a visitor, one old man stood up to address the multitude. He was a remarkable looking man. I was beside him before he rose. A dealer in rags would not have given more than sixpence for all the clothes he had on his person. He bore the marks and tokens of 'A HARD LIVER,' A CONFIRMED DRUNKARD. He spoke something to the following effect, as nearly as I can remember:-'Gentlemen,'-and he trembled as he spoke,-'gentlemen, I appear before you this day as a vile sinner. Many of you know me. You have but to look at me and recognise the profligate of Broughshane. You know I was an old man, hardened in sin; you know I was a servant of the devil, and he led me by that instrument of his, the spirit of the barley. I brought my wife and family to beggary more than |