Some of you used to know that little man who was called by the
title of "Uncle John Vassar." He was a man of God. He was not a
minister; he never preached in the pulpits, but he was a man that had
to win souls for Jesus Christ. He was converted when he was about
twenty-five years of age, when he was at work in his uncle's brewery
in Poughkeepsie. In those days people thought that a man could make
beer and still be a Christian. After he was converted, John made a
little rack above the vat where he was at work, on which he kept his
Bible. He wanted to have his Bible there so he could study it. But
soon there came an explosion. There will always be an explosion when
you take the Word of God wherever there is any kind of intoxicating
liquor. This one blew John clear out of the brewery, and he never went
back. His wealthy uncle offered to raise his wages, and finally
offered to take him into partnership, but John said, "I will have
nothing to do with this accursed thing.''
He became, as he used to say of himself, legs for good men. He was
employed by the American Tract Society to carry around Bibles and good
books, and he used to say of himself that he was the shepherd's
watch-dog. He would go into a parish and find out the minister and
say, "Let us go out and see if we cannot find some lost sheep." So it
was the shepherd's dog that led the shepherd around. If he came to see
you and you were not quite ready to see him be would go into a
neighbor's house and get the whole family down on their knees before
you had brushed your hair. I remember that when I was a boy a number
of us were coming back from skating, and he said to us, "Have you
given your hearts to God?" I shall never forget that as long as live.
He was always at it. He spoke to everybody, to whom he spoke about
anything, about Jesus Christ. His nephew, who was his biographer, says
he never knew him to be repulsed but once, and that was when he spoke
to a professing Christian by mistake.
He went into the army as a tract-distributor, where he had the
modest salary of twenty-five dollars a month. When the chaplain died
the soldiers wanted Uncle John for their chaplain, and they elected
him to that position. But he was not an ordained minister, and in
order to be chaplain, he would have to be ordained. A chaplain he
would get a salary of some twelve or fifteen hundred dollars. People
in Poughkeepsie heard about it, and they asked John to come back, and
said they would make him an ordained minister. He went back, and they
called a council of the Baptist churches to ordain him. But he heard
some people say that John was just like the rest of them, he would do
anything to get money. So he said to the council, "Brethren, you will
have to forgive me. I am sorry that you have come together in this
way," and told them what he had heard. He would not do anything that
by any possibility would bring discredit on Jesus Christ, and he went
back to his old salary of three hundred dollars a year.
Once the Southerners captured him, and they thought he was a spy.
They took him up to the headquarters, but all the way he preached to
them Jesus. They brought him into the presence of the colonel and the
other officers, and he went right up to the colonel and said,
"Colonel, I see by your uniform what side you are fighting on; but are
you on the Lord's side or against him?" The colonel said, "We won't
speak about that just now." And he turned to another and said, "Major,
how is it with you?" So he went the round of the officers, speaking to
them about Jesus, until one of them said, "Colonel, you had better let
this man go. If you don't turn him loose we will have a prayer-meeting
all the way from here to Richmond." It is a fact that they let him go
with no other guarantee than that he would not tell for forty-eight
hours what he had seen. They saw the Spirit of God was upon him. He
was full of him all the time.
He came into a hotel in Boston, looking for a friend, and in the
parlor there were two fashionably dressed ladies. He went right up to
them and said to one of them, "Excuse me, madame, are you a
Christian?'' She said, "Of course." He said, I didn't mean that kind
of a Christian. Have you been born again?" "Why, no; we have gotten
all over that in Boston; we do not believe in being born again any
more." Have you gotten all over the Bible in Boston, or do you believe
that some more?" "Oh, yes, we believe in the Bible, of course." "Will
you let me read it to you?" And he took his Bible and began to pour
the Word of God into her heart until her soul burned within her and
the tears came into her eyes. His friend came and he had to go, but he
said, "Before I go, may I pray with you?" She answered, "I wish you
would." He knelt down by the side of that proud woman and asked God to
save her then and there. Her husband came in afterward, and seeing
signs of tears in her eves, he asked, "What is the matter?" She said,
"There has been a strange little man here. He came up to me and asked
me if I was a Christian -- if I had been born again; and then he
preached to me and read the Bible; and, husband I never in my life
felt as I feel now." He said, "Why didn't you tell him it was none of
his business?" She said, "Dear, if you had been here, you would have
thought it was his business."
Would anyone think it was your business to preach Jesus? Is it your
business? Will you let it be? I am sure this afternoon if you say to
God, ''Lord, show me what to do, and I will do it," He will do one of
two things; either he will show you some sin to abandon or he will
show you some duty that you can successfully perform. Are you willing
to pray: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Show me and I will do
it."
By J. Wilbur Chapan, "Present Day Parables."
