Scripture Verse

Introduction

Anecdote

On a cold night in the fall of 1885, a scan­ti­ly clad man wan­dered in­to Bleeck­er Street, writes a New York ev­an­gel­ist un­der whose per­so­nal ob­ser­va­tion the in­ci­dent came.

“He was foot­sore and wea­ry with much wan­der­ing, worn out for want of sleep, and faint from lack of food. The long, cold night was be­fore him, and he knew he must walk the street unt­il morn­ing. He stepped in­to a door­way for a lit­tle rest. As he sat there he fell to pon­der­ing.

“He was so­li­ta­ry and sad-heart­ed. Drink had wrought fear­ful ha­voc with him, and had left him a home­less, friend­less man. Home and loved ones, friends, mon­ey and po­si­tion had all been sac­ri­ficed to this ap­pe­tite.

“He felt that he was lost, and that no ef­fort could save him. As he thus mused his rev­er­ie was brok­en by the sound of song.

“Surprised, he looked up in the di­rec­tion from which the sound came, and saw across the way an il­lum­in­at­ed sign on which were the words, ‘Flo­rence Mis­sion.’

“Glad to get away from the chill and gloom of the street, he went in­to the mis­sion. As he en­tered a la­dy was sing­ing [this hymn.]

“If there was one thing on earth that the man need­ed it was rest. Rest for the tired, fam­ished body; rest for the tor­tured heart. ‘These things are not for me,’ he thought, ‘I am too far gone.’

He wan­dered the cold streets un­til morn­ing, but ne­ver once did the words of this hymn leave him. The re­frain con­stant­ly rang in his ears, Come un­to Me and rest. He vis­it­ed the mis­sion ma­ny nights, and fin­al­ly gave his heart to God.

The ev­an­gel­ist adds that this man has been his as­sist­ant for ma­ny years, and has won hun­dreds to Christ.

Sankey, pp. 147–482