Henry Cole

When I came to Jesus I was a poor, miserable wretch on the road to Hell. There was not one good thing left in my life. I had nothing but blasted hopes and a terrible life of sin behind me.

I was raised on the frontier in logging camps and mines. As a boy, I was thrown among vile companions. I followed ox teamsters and learned to curse and to blaspheme the name of God. I was ashamed of the life I lived. After I would come out of the woods where those old toughs were, I would lean up against a fence while I pulled myself together and tried to get up enough nerve to look my own mother in the eye.

I remember the first lie I told my mother and the first time I stole. These things followed me until I confessed them to God and He forgave me.

When I was about sixteen years old, and as hateful, mean, vicious, and tough as a young man can be, I walked down the aisle of a little schoolhouse and gave the preacher my hand. I had determined that I would serve God. A few days later, the preacher took me down to a frozen stream to be baptized. He cut out a piece of thick ice and immersed me in the water. I walked home, about a quarter mile, in the wet clothes. I did not care about the cold because I had the hope of a better life.

I thought I had gotten rid of my sins, but to my sorrow and surprise, the same old desires were in my heart. For about seven more years, I battled with sin and darkness.

When I look back and see the awful life I lived, I wonder how I ever got out of it. All I had heard about religion was that one could join a church and do his best. I believed I had to be a good man in my own strength. I did not know that Jesus could do something for someone like me. I prayed many prayers and wept many times saying, “I will be a good man.” I tried with all that was in me to straighten up, but I utterly failed.  

Eventually, I became discouraged and said, “I am a defeated man.” All hope left me and I wanted to get out of this world. It was the only thing I could think of. I started down to the old San Francisco Bay to end it all. I stood on the very brink of a suicide’s grave, just about to plunge into eternity, when God spoke to my soul. He said, “If you do this, your child will end up just like you.” I stood still like a stone. Then, as I looked into the water, all the sins of my life came up before me. No tongue could ever tell the misspent life I saw. I never felt so terrible. I could just see my child taking the path I took, and I cried out to God, “Help me, so I can teach my child better, and tell him not to come this way!”

I wanted to be rid of my burden, and God was faithful. He led me to a street meeting on the Barbary Coast. There I heard Jesus could save my soul. After hearing a few testimonies, I followed the workers into a little mission, and when the meeting was over, I went to the altar and prayed. I called on God for mercy, but it was dark in my soul. I said to the man who was praying with me, “It is no use. I have tried hundreds of times to do better, but I have only gotten worse.” He looked at me and said, “My Brother, Jesus can save you.” When I heard the name Jesus, everything seemed to change. I saw what He could do for me. I knew that as far as the world was concerned, I was without help. But hope came in as I realized for the first time there was Someone who could help me.

The Lord saved me in a moment of time. That burden of sin lifted, the old blasphemy was gone, the hatred was gone, and a rest and peace came into my heart. I walked out of that place a saved man, an overcomer. As I walked the streets, it seemed as if I was walking on air.

I have had many years to prove the keeping power of God. I have been able to work alongside other men, telling them how God saved me from sin, and then living the life right before them. I have never been able to tell the awful sins that God saved me from, but I can say that it means everything to me to be living right, living clean, and thinking right.