CHARLES H. WELCH
62
I had no concern as to whether John's Gospel was or was not for the present period, all I know is that it was
blessed to my eternal salvation. This was my `Road to Damascus', as sudden and as complete as was the conversion
of Saul of Tarsus.
At the close of the Gospel address, Dr. Munhall quoted Romans 10:9 and called upon any who `believed' with
the heart, to follow it by making a `confession' with the mouth. With great trepidation I responded and
acknowledged the Saviour. As I stood there, feeling none too comfortable, Dr. Munhall gave a final word:
`This is not a matter of "feeling". There may be occasions subsequently when you will not "feel" safe or saved,
but this is a finished transaction based upon a finished work'.
Thus started a new life, a new prospect, and a new goal. Upon reaching home after hearing the opening lecture
on `Sceptics and the Bible' I had rehearsed the address with my father. Now as I journeyed home I realized I had
something fuller and perhaps more decisive to discuss, and it would have been true of myself as it had been of the
apostle, that observing angels could have said for the first time `Behold he prayeth'. Once again the message was
repeated to my father, with the added personal comment `I believed and I have life'. I needed no persuasion to make
me attend the third meeting of this series. I was only too conscious of my abysmal ignorance of the very elements of
revealed Truth. Again the preacher made known in simple terms the way of salvation, and again he quoted Romans
10:9 and made his appeal. I was naturally interested to see who would respond as I had done the evening before,
and to my amazement and joy I looked round to see my father, with a face white with emotion, standing to
acknowledge the same Saviour and Lord.
Here was a first-fruits indeed! And here commenced a faith of lovely simplicity that lasted until my father's
death in his ninetieth year. My dear mother, and in course of time the younger members of the family, were brought
by various ways or different instruments to a saving knowledge of Christ. Light had dawned in that Bermondsey
home, and soon the consciousness of calling and commission was to make its urgent voice heard. For the moment
let us pause, and gratefully acknowledge the wondrous grace that could save and enlighten those who were so
darkened and dead.
GRACE and GRACIOUSNESS at a TIME of CRISIS.
The fact that `straightway' after his conversion the apostle could preach in the synagogue that Jesus is the Son of
God (Acts 9:20 R.V.) or, as verse 22 adds, `proving that this is the very Christ', shows that before conversion his
knowledge of the law and the prophets accorded with his zeal. True, as a Pharisee, he had imbibed the tradition of
the Elders which stultified much of the Scriptures, a veil which could only be removed by an act of grace - yet it is
evident that at his conversion Paul was already well stored with Biblical knowledge. In the case of the present
writer it was not so. After conversion a most lamentable lack of the raw material and of Christian growth and
witness was evident. Till nearly twenty one years of age the Bible had been a closed book. Those responsible for
the Gospel campaign that had resulted in my conversion very wisely followed these Gospel meetings with a series of
expository lectures given by that able Bible Teacher, Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas.
The first of these studies was in the Gospel of John and I became acquainted - for the first time - both with the
facts of the Gospel and with an excellent method of presenting the truth. Although it is fortyeight years since these
lectures were given I can remember, as vividly as the night I first heard Griffith Thomas speak, how he introduced
the teaching of John's Gospel. He said John's method seemed to be a truth made known, which was followed by a
division among the hearers. This he made visible by the outline -
REVELATION
RECEPTION
REJECTION
(John 1:6-12).
Nothing could be simpler, though in many ways such an outline left much truth untouched, yet it came upon my
susceptible and opening mind with freshness and force - a good omen of richer and fuller analytical studies that were
yet to be made. The four printed sheets giving the analytical outline of these studies in John's Gospel are before me
as I write, fortyeight years after they were delivered and are treasured still. Next to my conversion they mark the
most decisive step in my early Christian experience.