The Man Who Cursed on Calvary


Part 8

"There is one confession that I feel I must make in this public way,"  the young man continued.

I graduated from Cambridge University in England as a civil engineer,  and I was one of the first group sent out to survey the railroad from Jaffa to Jerusalem,  in the land of Palestine.
I cannot tell you how strangely I was affected by everything I saw in that land.

The very stones of Palestine seemed to rise up against my unbelief,  and to declare that the Bible is true.
But I told myself that this was all superstition, and I refused to believe it.

"One day a group of us were taken by a guide  outside the Damascus Gate  to what was known as 'Gordon's Calvary,'  the place which General Gordon thought he identified as the actual scene of the crucifixion.

As we stood on the top of that skull-shaped knoll it came to me with much force that there Christianity,  which I regarded as a delusion,  really began.
My anger flamed up, and I burst forth in uncontrollable cursing and blasphemy,  so that even my ungodly companions were afraid and ran from the spot.
They told me afterward that they thought a bolt from the blue would strike me dead for cursing on that sacred place.

"But oh, my friends,  I have lived to learn in the last few nights that the One whom I cursed on Calvary's hill  was wounded for my transgressions,  bruised for my iniquities;  the chastisement of my peace was upon Him,  and with His wounds I am healed!"

He could say no more, for his feelings overcame him,  and as he sank into his seat our hearts were filled with rejoicing,  and we took up that old, familiar strain:

"He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean
His blood avails for me!"

The young man in question had a splendid bass voice,  and it was soon his delight to help us sing the gospel to others.

I can see him yet,  singing some of the grand old hymns of the Church in those deep, rich tones which carried so much conviction with them.
His stay on earth was not very long after that,  for within a year he was called to be forever with the Lord who had redeemed him with His precious blood.

I am glad to retell his story,  hoping it may be used of God to speak to someone who,  like my dear friend of long ago,  has been rejecting the testimony of God in spite of all His love and grace to sinners.

Let no one think he has sinned too greatly to be saved,  for the vilest who comes to Christ is instantly cleansed from every stain.

Random Reminiscences:   from Fifty Years of Preaching.