Page 83 - Living Epistles

Two hours later warders came from the asylum and took him to a room
where there were twenty-nine mentally deranged people. The bitterness of
his position overcame him. He had victory in the lock-up, but this seemed
more than he could bear. He fell on his knees by his bed and poured out his
heart to the Lord. He did not know how long he was there, but he seemed to
lose himself, and a vision of Calvary appeared to him. He witnessed every
stage of the crucifixion. He forgot his own sufferings in the sufferings of the
Savior, and as he gazed upon the cross, the Master said to him, “And must I
bear the cross alone, and all the world go free?” From a broken heart Reuben
answered, “No. There’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.”

From that hour he was a new man. Instead of complaining at being in the
asylum, he began to pray for the other twenty-nine, and to the Savior he
said, “Let me suffer for You. Whatever You allow me to go through, I will
never complain again.”

Two weeks later, Reuben’s brother came to see him, and reproached him for
his folly in getting himself into such a place. “Why don’t you be wise” he said.
“Get out of here and go to Montana.” “Does that offer still stand? Then it is
not a medical condition, but something else that is keeping me here!” said
Reuben with all the keenness of his logical mind.

Some Christian friends he was in touch with caused inquiries to be set on
foot. In six weeks his release was procured. It became a court case, and the
test was on “the voice.”

The judge called the doctor and asked why this man had been certified as
insane. “Because he heard a voice,” said the doctor. “Didn’t the apostle Paul
hear a voice?” countered the judge, who was a Christian man. “This is a
disgrace to the American flag,” and he told Reuben to prosecute anyone who
had anything to do with it.

“I shall never prosecute anyone,” answered Reuben, “but I will do one thing -
I will pray for them.” He crossed the court and offered his hand to his
brother, but he turned his back on him. He went to his wife, but she did the
same. But what a victory he had in his own soul!

Maurice rented a small room in Chicago, where he lived alone with the Lord
and won many converts, though for two years he hardly had a square meal.
A year later his wife came to hear him in a camp meeting and was converted,