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The Successor of Samuel H. Hadley
Holv John H. Wyburn, Superintendent of Water Street Mission, Found Christ.
Old Charlie 9 s Song, of His Conversion.
WrtrmnriY wm
HE Jerry McAuley Mission in New
York, being the most famous rescue mis
sion in the world, is still going forward
successfully, though the former super
intendent, Samuel H. Hadley, has
passed to his reward. It, is one of the
most interesting and sacred spots in
America, for hundreds of helpless and
hopeless men and women find Christ
and a new life there each year.
The successor of Mr. Hadley in the conduct of
the mission is Mr. John H. Wyburn, himself a re
deemed man, who had been assistant superintendent
of the work for six years. What Mr. Hadley
thought of his assistant may be gathered from a
letter he sent to Air. Wyburn on the occasion of
his sixteenth anniversary, in which he said: “1
have known yon probably closer than any man
living, since the hour of your conversion. I have
learned to love you more and deeper each day of
our journey together; your spotless, faithful, Chris-
'’ r < ’ . * -s »" > * » ¥ 1®?"- ■•••'
WR. JOHN H. WYBURN.
tian life, your lender love for the lost and erring,
your candid, manly friendship makes you a peer
less missionary, and lias endeared you to thousands
all over this globe.”
At a recent Round Top service at Northfield,
Mass., just as the setting sun was casting a golden
glcw over earth and sky, on a quiet, peaceful Sab
bath evening, Mr. Wyburn told the large company
who had gathered under the open canopy of heaven
the story of the past year’s work at the McAuley
Mission, and something of his jown life story.
Later Mr. Wyburn gave a more detailed account
of his conversion as follows;
“I was sent with a letter of introduction to
Mr. S. H. Hadley, of 316 Water Street, on the
25th of September, 1888, by one of the converts of
the .mission, who did not say anything to me about
the fact of Mr. Hadley’s being the superintendent
of the McAuley Mission, but simply said, ‘This is
a friend of mine; he will help you,’ and on the way
The Golden Age for September 12, 1907.
By GEORGE T. B. DAVIS.
down to the mission I came to the conclusion I
would strike him for ten dollars. Fortunately for
me he was not at home. I retained the letter and
went out looking fir more whiskey. I was unsuc
cessful in getting much money that afternoon. I
believe God was in it. It had been easy for me to
get five or ten dollars a day. I had done an ex
tensive business in New York and Brooklyn, and
I had lots of friends at one time. I hunted all
the afternoon for a man who had been one of my
foremen for many years, and finally found him.
But he had just, paid out all the ready money he
had for a new oven (he was just starting in the
baking business for himself), and could give me
only a quarter. With that I bought my last drink,
crossed the bridge, and came to the mission. It
has always been a puzzle to me as to how I found
the mission. I knew nothing about the neighbor
hood, but I have always firmly believed that it was
God who was leading me, and so I woke up, as it
were, to find myself seated in the McAuley Mission,
still holding on to the letter, and even then I had
not the slightest, idea it was a mission. It was my
first experience of the kind. I became interested
in the man sitting next to me. He was a red
headed Irishman who wanted to get a place to sleep,
and I told him I would give him the price, and he
did get a bed that night, and I have never seen
him since, but have never ceased to pray for him.
“Some one told Mr. Hadley that I wanted to see
him, and he came to the seat where I sat, and I
gave him the letter. After he read it, he said:
‘Well, what can 1 do for you?’ I told him that
I wanted to get sobered up so that I could go back
to my business, and he said, ‘ls that all you want?’
I thought, if you only knew how impossible it was
for me to keep sober, you would not speak so lightly
about it. But in a moment he said, his face beam
ing with light and love. ‘What you need, my dear
brother, is Jesus Christ as your friend and Savior;
He will sober you up and you will never want an
other drink.’ I accepted his invitation to stay
to the meeting.
“What a wonderful meeting it was! The hymns
that were sung took me back to my childhood days;
every man seemed to be saying to me through their
testimonies: ‘There is hope for you, Jesus will
save you.’ And, when the man who sent me to the
mission stood up and said he was saved, I imme
diately stood up and said, ‘I want some of that,’
and that very moment the great transaction was
done. ‘AU the fitness He requireth is that you
should feel your need of Him.’ He knew what I
needed far better than I did, and He forgave my
sin and rebellion and made me a new man in
Christ Jesus.
“I went to the penitent form at the close of the
meeting, and the devil followed me, every step of
the way, and when I got down on my knees to pray,
he very vividly brought to my mind my old life
of unbelief, and he said, ‘What’s the use of your
praying, you don’t believe in prayer, anyhow?, and
I got up and down, up and down several times, but
finally the victory was won and sweet deliverance
came •to me, the victory through the might and
power of the blessed blood of Jesus, and from that
moment I have never wanted a drink of whiskey.
Every drop of blood in my veins was crying out
for whiskey. It had been impossible for me to
Satisfy the craving. But Jesus had taken me at
my word. The very second I said, I will, the old
life passed away and Jesus came into my heart and
life and, made it impossible for me to drink. A
new man in Christ Jesus does not want whiskey,
and while I suffered the tortures of the damned,
and it seemed that all the demons in hell were tug
ging at my life, and sleep was out of the question
all night long, through it all Jesus was with
me. It was the most strenuous fight I had ever
had. The devil was after my life. ‘But he had me
once, and he can’t have me any more.’ And from
that very moment I have been a free man. Oh,
the luxury of the freedom! I would have given
any part of my body if I could have got rid of the
appetite, but Jesus, and He alone, can save from
that.
“I have been ‘holding out the Life Line’ from
that very night, to lost, dying drunkards in this
dear old mission, and for three years I had the
privilege of being superintendent of the Bowery
Mission, and God wonderfully used my feeble efforts
and all over this land are men who have been re
deemed through the simple testimony which God
has given me to tell of His matchless grace in
saving and keeping a sinner like me. I gave my
life long ago to this work. It is true I have been
tempted to give it up, and did yield once, when I
left the Bowery Mission, and have deeply regretted
it. But God called me back, and I never want to
run away again, but I wish to give my life (as my
beloved brother did, who, a few months ago, went
to his reward), for the salvation of the lost drunk
ards of this land, and point them to the only One
' Y-ritr
“OLD CHARLIE.”
who can help them, Jesus, the precious Son of
God.”
At the Round Top service mentioned above, af
ter Mr. Wybum had told of the year’s work at
316 Water Street, he called upon several converts
of the mission to tell briefly the story of their
conversion. After several had spoken, he at last
called upon “Old Charlie,” who sang the narrative
of his redemption.
“Old Charlie” was converted thirty-one years
ago at the old Farwell Hall in Chicago, during
the great Moody and Sankey campaign of 1875. He
has stood fast in the faith all these years, and is
now one of the most faithful workers at the Mc-
Auley Mission. Though 69 years of age, he is at
the mission each night pointing souls to Christ.
When called upon by Mr. Wyburn, “Old Charlie”
stood up vith his fiddle under his chin, and sang
his experience while he played his own accompani
(Concluded on Page 7.)
