that the Christian enjoys, this was not strange.  Always he had danced just for the pleasure he derived from dancing, and he considered dancing an innocent amusement.  When, however, he was made aware of the evils of dancing and the temptations it causes boys and girls whose characters are weak, he could see how that to some it might mean the loss of virtue; and, too, he found that much of his suffering had been caused by the late hours that dancing and other things had caused him to keep.  Then he gladly bade adieu to the dance-hall and all its trivial gaiety.

After he had asked the Lord to pardon him for his transgressions, his simple faith took hold of the promises and he received a clear witness of his acceptance as a child of God.  At last, after so many weeks and months—­yes, years—­of dissatisfaction, he was indeed truly happy; and the deep aching in his hungry heart was replaced by the Savior’s love.  His companions, too, went away from that service rejoicing.  Their language, once so rough and vile, was now becoming to any Christian; and the things that they had loved, no longer attracted their attention.  In fact, the entire neighborhood was changed; for many haunts of sin and vice were entirely vacated.

John soon found that it was his duty to make all of his wrongs right as far as it lay in his power to do so; and this he gladly did.  In many instances he was surprised to see the effect that this act of obedience had upon the ones concerned.  Many, with tears in their eyes, exclaimed, “John, I only wish that I possessed the joy in my own heart that I can see written in your face!”

CHAPTER X

A Child Again

No one could doubt the change in John’s life; and many wondered how such a thing could have been accomplished.  But they did not realize that with God all things are possible.  How well it was for John that he discovered before it was too late that he was a sinner, lost in God’s sight, and that it was necessary for him to forsake all of his evil ways and habits if he would be freed from the binding chain of Satan!  Each sinful habit formed a link in the chain, and its strength could be measured only by what it took to release him from its binding power.

John was sorry to see the meetings close; and as he bade the sweet-faced women farewell, he was loath to see them go, because of their Christian influence.  But life to him was no longer what it had been in the past.  With the poet, he had found that

  “Life is real! life is earnest. 
  And the grave is not its goal;
  Dust thou art, to dust returnest
  Was not spoken of the soul.”

He procured a Bible and studied it diligently.  He soon found that it was a wonderful book, for what troubled him in one part was explained in another.  One day while reading in the tenth chapter of Mark, he found to his surprise that, instead of his being a man, he was only a child, a mere babe, in God’s sight.  John had expected to be changed and to be different in every way, but he did not know that, in order to realize his desire to be a “man after God’s own heart,” he must commence at the beginning and be as a little child again.  But he was willing; for he saw how his past life had been completely wasted, and he was glad to begin anew.