As John, whenever he was perplexed or troubled, had been in the habit of doing, he reached down into his pocket and drew out a large plug of tobacco and began biting off a piece to chew.  But what was the matter?  The tobacco did not taste as it had in the past and it appealed to him so differently.  It was now actually disgusting and repulsive to him; and he thought:  “What a filthy habit!  And to think of the time and money that it has cost me!  Why have I been so foolish?”

The next instant he resolved that he would never again taste the horrid stuff.  And very soon a few scenes of things that happened when he was under the influence of whisky came to his mind, and he shuddered.  Never again would he touch that stuff, he determined.  In fact, the greater part of the night John spent in reviewing his life; and he found that the larger portion of the things he had been doing were things he would not want to be found doing at the Savior’s coming.

The following day John could hardly wait until the time came when he could again return to the little brown school house to hear more of the beautiful story that had so charmed him.  And night after night found John in one of the seats in the rear of the building.  It was not long until he discovered the pathway to heaven; he saw it bathed with heaven’s sunshine and could see that it was for him to walk upon.  But the next thing was for him to make the start.

It is one thing to decide that a certain thing is right and quite another thing to take a stand (regardless of what anyone may think or say) for the right.  He had heard the preachers telling about the life of a Christian, the Savior’s love and death, and God’s great mercy, night after night for two weeks; but no invitation to come forward had been given to those desiring to make a change in their manner of living.  The ministers desired that each one be given a full understanding of God’s plan of salvation so that none would take a step in the dark.

John was fully decided to change his manner of living; but he did not want to make any more mistakes.  For this reason he restrained himself from going to the motherly lady to inquire of her what he had better do.  His old desire to become a man had revived, but this time he desired to be a man after God’s own heart—­pure and holy—­like the one that God created in the beginning.

The time for an invitation to be given to the penitent finally came.  Upon entering the meeting house that evening John noticed a slight change in the arrangement of the seats.  The long row of chairs supplied by kind-hearted neighbors to help in seating the people had been removed, and a long, narrow bench had been put in their place.  John wondered at the change, but did not have to wonder long.  An announcement was soon made, stating that the bench was to serve as an altar, where those who desired to be converted and who wanted to consecrate their lives and services to God could gather for prayer.