He was a member of a church but not a Christian. Sad to say, the drink habit had gotten the best of him. Naturally his wife remonstrated but seemingly to no avail. He became tired of her nagging, as he called it.
He stood upon the front porch of their home with his grip packed. “Good-bye,” said he, “you are saying good-bye to this man for the last time.”
His wife replied, “Good-bye, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
The latter remark clearly indicated that when sober he was a very kind person but when intoxicated, like multitudes of others, he was mean and contemptible.
He met a friend who invited him to the evening service at The Moody Church. Together they came and waited in our great auditorium for the service to begin. The music was appreciated. Dr. Wilber M. Smith, by request, arose and prayed in earnest spiritual fervor, “Lord, there may be some one in this audience tonight whose home has been wrecked through drink or some other sin.” Many other petitions were included in his appeal to the Throne of Grace. This one, however, went as a shaft to the heart of the man who realized its awful truth. Dr. Houghton arose that evening to preach on the them (believe it or not), “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” The mention of this subject had another jolting effect upon our hearer. After a message that gripped the hearts of the people the invitation was given for those who would accept Christ to come forward to the prayer room. What could our friend do but yield to such an appeal. He found his way into the Inquiry Room and there professed to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and the One who could liberate him from the shackles of sin. A wonderful transformation ensued. Not long after that his wife, who had been reconciled to her husband, said, “If that Moody crowd can make the change they have made in my husband, I am going there to attend services too.”
This true story was related to Dr. Porter at a social gathering of one of our organizations. The brother who told it was the one who had brought the needy husband to our services. At that time the wife had been attending quite regularly and of course things were entirely different in their home life.
We would lay this couple upon the hearts of our readers and urge them to pray that yieldedness to the Lord Jesus Christ in the lives of these friends may be so real that His power will be manifest in their home and through them to the blessing of others. How this should encourage us to pray that in every service the arrows of the Holy Spirit, divinely directed, may indeed reach their mark.
Printed in The Moody Church News, February 1938