Black-balled by Man, Saved by Christ. – Dwight Lyman Moody

At the Fulton street prayer-meeting a man came in, and this was his story. He said he had a mother who prayed for him; he was a wild, reckless prodigal. Some time after his mother’s death he began to be troubled. He thought he ought to get into new company, and leave his old companions. So he said he would go and ‘join a secret society; he thought he would join the Odd Fellows. They went and made inquiry about him, and they found he was a drunken sailor, so they black-balled him. They would not have him. He then went to the Freemasons; he had nobody to recommend him, so they inquired and found there was nogood in his character, and they, too, black-balled him. They didn’t want him. One day, some one handed him a little notice in the street about the prayer-meeting, and he went in. He heard that Christ had come to save sinners. He believed Him; He took Him at his word; and, in reporting the matter, he said he “came to Christ without a character, and Christ hadn’t black-balled him.” My friends, that is Christ’s way.