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GEO. SLIISTED’SINTERESTING

STORY

he late M g Su ted the ubject ofr. Geor e is , isthis interesting narrative. "

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George Suisted’s Interesting Story

I was born in New Zealand in 1855.When between four and ve years old mymother and father died, and I was cast outinto the world and had no schooling beyonda few weeks’ night school.

Being physically strong as a lad, at 12years of age I left‘ my grandfather’s home toshift for myself, and shortly after learned theart of chopping and hewing timber for bridgebuilding. I was thrown into the roughestsociety, and soon learned card-playing, smok-ing and drinking. My brothers were welleducated and respectable, and were carryingon an extensive business, and seeing me soreckless they informed me that if I could notbehave myself I must leave the town. I said,Very well, I will leave the colony.”

Having saved £100 (for I had been wellpaid at the timber hewing), I left for NorthAmerica, taking with me another NewZealander, whose fare I paid. There I met upwith my older brother who had gone toAmerica previously. I went to Utah territoryand engaged in the sheep business.' Whilethere I met and married a ne young woman

who shared with me all the rough experiencesof ranching. The conditions were terrible. Therough, snowy winter killed about 4400 of thesheep, and I suffered considerably myself. Thenger nails on my right hand were frozen off,and I got rheumatic fever and almost died.My hip bones almost came through the skin,and I had to have pads of wool about 2 to3 inches thick put on them to ease the weightof the body. I became delirious with theexcruciating pain, and remarked that I WishedI was dead and in hell! Oh, if God hadallowed me to die then, I should have beentormented for ever in the lake of re, “wherethe worm dieth not-, and the re is notquenched!” -

. But God had His eye on me and spared mylife. Still my troubles were not nished,‘ formy little boy, 2 years old, died and soon aftermy dear brother and one of his children gotburned to death through a kerosene lampexploding. I returned to San Francisco intend-ing to come back to N.Z., and after ‘payingmy steamer fare I had £20 left. Just beforeleaving the wharf a man expressed sympathywith me and invited me to go and have adrink. We went and had more than onedrink, and as a result he and another mangot £10 of my small store by a “condencetrick.”

We arrived safely in Auckland, althoughI nearly lost my wife, for she was very illall along the journey. From Auckland we tooksteamer to Wellington (my birth-place), andmy wife soon recovered. I arrived there with£6 in my pocket. Seeing some men raffling ahorse (a steeplechaser), I offered one of them£5 for his chance. I waited eagerly to see ifthis man’s throw with the dice was to bebeaten, for I had risked my last £5 note.However, no one beat his throw, and I tookthe horse worth £30.

I then found a situation at butchering andtook to drinking heavily, and in a drunkenrevelry I sold all our household effects andtook my wife to Wanganui, where I joined mybrother who owned a hotel. I was employedas barman, and received £2 a week and food,but I drank the £2 as fast as I earned it. Oneday my ,brother’s daughter said to her father,“Uncle steals money out of the till.” Now,no matter what I had been, I was not a thief,and this hurt my feelings so much that I toldmy brother I would leave. He said I oughtnot to take any notice of what his daughtersaid; but I persisted in leaving, and as I hadno money he gave me £10, so away I wentto Bulls and took a place at 25/- a week.

I now tried to live a moral life—gave updrinking, and turned over a new leaf. After

three months I went to work for a storekeeper,who sent me down to a bush settlement namedCampbelltown (now known as Rongotea) toopen a store. Here I got amongst a class ofpeople known as “Plymouth Brethren.” Therst one of them I met was a Mr. Jas. Chrys-tall who spoke to me about my soul. He toldme I was going to hell. I said, “Then I willgo with the big crowd, and if they can standit I can.” He then asked me to dinner, andwhile at the table spoke very plainly to meas to my state before God and my need ofbeing saved. "

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From that time on I became very troubledabout my soul, and some nights I dreamedthat the heavens were on re and would leapout of bed with horror and tremble like anaspen leaf. Other nights I would dream I wassinking into the ames of a "burning hell.Again, on other nights, I would be ghtingwith the devil. I remember one night a manwas sleeping with me, and I -dreamed I wasgrappling with the devil. I got my bedmateby the throat and nearly choked him. At thistime I went so far as to load a gun to killa man, and would have done so had he crossedmy path that day. Thanks be to God, theman kept clear of me.

But things were coming to a crisis, andI began to wish I could be sure of going to

heaven. An evangelist came to Rongotea bythe name of Mr. C. H. Himnan, and I wasasked by Mr. Chrystall to go and hear himpreach. I said I would, but when night cameand my wife asked me if I were going, Isaid, “No.” She said, “You ought to be aman of your word and go.” I replied, “I willbe a man of my word, and I will go.” Allthe way to the schoolhouse the devil keptsaying, “If you go to the meeting you willget saved, and you will have your old chumspointing the nger of scorn at you.” However,I went.

When the gentleman got up to preach myheart was lled with a spirit of hatred towardshim because, he had no gown, no surplice,and no white choker. But as he preached allthe prejudice left me, and I became underdeeper conviction of sin. He spoke about thedoor of grace, which was Christ, being open,but he said there was no guarantee that thedoor would be open on the morrow, and ifthe door was shut I would be shut out forever. I thought the door would be shut beforeI could enter in, and I became almost franticwith despair. I went" home and smoked tillearly morning thinking over what I had heard.

I pressed my wife to go thenext night,and told her who ever the man was he was

a man of God; so she went, and came homeconvicted but not converted.

The next day the evangelist went away.I saw him pass the shop, and said to a manpresent that I would give that man £5 hewould come in and show me words wherebyI would know I was saved; but he passed bymy shop. I would have gone anywhere, or Iwould have done anything, and given anyething to be saved, I was in such agony of soul.If I had possessed a revolver I felt I couldhave ended my life; but thank God, Hiseye was upon me, and His hand too. I hadheard that Mr. Chrystall held what/they calleda cottage meeting, so I was determined to goto it and see if I could get peace to my pooraching soul. Oh, that men and women wouldcome under a deep conviction of sin such asI experienced; there would be no fear butthey would get saved. A

So I caught my horse and started off, with-out being invited, to go to the cottage meeting.On my way there I met a bright Christiangentleman by the name of Mr. GeorgeMarshall. I said to him, “What kind of peopleare these who read the Bible and sing hymnsand have prayers and such like?” He said,“You will nd them pretty right; go andhear them.” He got o his horse and went

under a bridge and prayed earnestly to Godto save my soul that night. I proceeded upto the house, knocked at the door, and waswelcomed in. When they sang, I tried tosing; when they kneeled down, I kneeleddown; when they read the Bible, I listened;and when the meeting was over, I had gotnothing for my poor aching soul. When Igot up to go, Mr. Chrystall followed me out-side and said, “How do you feel?” I replied,“I feel wretched and miserable, and I wishI had never been born. He said, “I am gladto hear it.” When he said that, he could nothave pierced me worse had he taken a two-edged sword and thrust it through me. Thenhe asked me this question, “Suisted, do youbelieve that Christ died to save you?” I said,

q “Yes, I" believe that Christ died to save me.”

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He said, “Are you saved?” “No,” I replied.‘Then you contradict yourself,” he said. I

J thought the matter over to myself, and said,Well, I have contradicted myself, but I am

not going to say I am saved when I am not.”He then said, “I will come and pray all nightwith you.” But I said, “It is no use, Mr.Chrystall.”

Then I got on my horse and, putting thereins on his neck, said to him, “Now youcan go, and I don’t care how fast you go, orhow slow.” And he went very slow. The

roads were very muddy, and the horse wentplop, plop, through the mud. When I gotto the bridge where Mr. Marshall went underto pray for me and ask God to save me thatnight, I looked up to heaven and out of thedepths of my soul I cried to God to showme what was right. And what seemed like avoice said to me, “Why can’t you say youare saved—why can’t you say you are saved,after what Christ has done for you?” I said,“I will take Christ now as my Saviour,” andimmediately I saw, as in a vision, the personand image of the Lord Jesus nailed hand andfoot to the cross. I was born again, born of

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God, there and then, at about 10 o’clock at Q

night, sitting on my horse.

I went straight home and preached Christto my wife, and asked her if she could notsee Christ bleeding and dying for her sins,and about twenty minutes after my conversionher’s took place. The next morning everythingdown here bore a new, heavenly appearance—-“If any man be in Christ he is a new creature:old things are passed away, and all thingsbecome new.” Away went the pipe, awaywent the liquor, away went the cards. Thesethings had no attraction for me now, andI saw that the “friendship of the world isenmity with God,” and he that will be afriend of the world is an enemy of God.

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Now, dear friends, 29 years have comeand gone, and He has kept me, and will keepme to the end. “Believe on the Lord JesusChrist, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth theLord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine 6 heartthat God hath raised Him from the dead,thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9-10).

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The foregoing account of his conversion"was written by Mr. Suisted in 191.4. Fouryears later, on May 26, 1918, after about threemonths intense suffering of body, he passedaway to be with the Lord at the age of 63.The following particulars, taken from aChristian magazine, will interest the reader:

? “The late Mr. Suisted had a great love andzeal for souls, and was very faithful in testify-ing to his neighbours and all others he met.Though not gifted as a public speaker, yethe had an exceptional gift for visiting andpersonal dealing. Of a good presence, freemanner, and kindly nature, he won his wayeverywhere, and many have professed to besaved through him. He could approch themost rened, and be at home with the rough-

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est. He has suffered vile fellows to spit inhis face, whom his powerful arm could havesent ying, nally overcoming them with theGospel story. He travelled far and wide inNew Zealand, and distributed immense quant- ii

ities of tracts and booklets, having no respectof persons, and the record of his labours isnow on high. Latterly it was much beforehim to visit the Chatham Islands, but theLord took him instead.

Visiting him some days before his departure,he showed much joy in the reading of Philip-pians 3:20-21, and asked for it again. Like-wise portions of John 14, especially verse 27.His spirit exulted in the thought of seeing theLord soon, as John 20:20, Revelation 22:4",and 1 John 3:2_were slowly read; land after apause he repeated with emphasis, “We shallbe like Him!” He said he had always putboth sides before sinners when dealing withthem. His intense bodily pain seemed todeepen his conviction of the sufferings ofthe damned and he referred to the need ofwarning the unsaved. “Tell the believers,” hesaid, “to trust much in the Word of God;much in the precious blood of Christ, Hissacricial and nished work on the cross——

it has been all my trust.” He tightly claspedour hand for some seconds in a last earthlyfarewell, till we meet again around the Lamb

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who was slain to redeem us to God by Hisblood.

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Reader, there is a God in heaven whocares for you; a God who loves you anddesires to save you from the destiny to whichyour sins are carrying you. He has openedwide the gates of heaven, and from His throneof grace an invitation comes ringing down toyou. God invites you to His home, His feast,His arms of salvation, and His great love. Thedeath of Jesus, God’s beloved Son, was thecost——-the mighty price paid that you mighthave salvation. To reject this Saviour is certainand “everlasting destruction.”

“Without shedding of blood is no re-mission” (Heb. 9:22). Divine justice demandedfull and complete satisfaction. Only the deathof the Lamb of God could atone for sin, andset God free to be a Saviour-God. But Jesus’blood has owed beneath the stroke of justice,and His blood cleanseth from all sin. Godis fully satised with the work He accomplish-ed at Calvary, for He has raised Him fromthe dead. And He freely offers pardon to theworst of sinners.

This door of escape stands wide open forall, and God beseeches all to enter in andbe saved; but if men deliberately turn theirbacks upon it, choosing their sins and theway of death instead, the blame lies at theirown doors, and they must reach the end ofthe road they have so madly chosen for them-selves, and at the end of the road is hell—the only just consequence of the deliberaterejection of God’s salvation, God’s Christ.“Be not deceived, God is not mocked; what-soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

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Gospel Publishing House—P.N