Cæsar Malan, From the French, No. II [pp. 81-86]

EBRUARY.
CAESAR MALAN, BY HIS SON.
II. DR. MALAN AS AN EVANGELIST.
AM reminded of a fact of which I was my self a witness in 1828 or 1829, on one of
the steamboats of our lake. After having ob tained permission of the captain, my father,
who in a moment had gathered several persons
around him, stood up on a coil of rope in the
bow of the vessel, and, with his New Testament
in his hand, invited those who were there "to
draw near and listen to the good Word of God."
I see him still at this hour the center of the
attentive groutp formed around him; I hear still
his voice vibrating in the pure air of a Summer
morning in view of our beautiful shores. What
is more, I remember very well that a gentleman
near me, who at first manifested signs of impatience, which were very natural at so unusual a
scene, approached my father after he had finishled speaking, and having pressed his hands
with emotion, spoke in his turn, and declared
to those who were there, that his heart had
embraced the Gospel for the first time, and
from that day hlie should earnestly declare himself a disciple.
With regard to my father's missionary zeal
I can not do better than recall what M. de
Goltz has written in speaking of my father and
of Felix Neff. "They possessed," says he, "a
power of faith, a spirit of prayer, and a boldness
in testimony, which rendered their work wonderfully blessed. Personally powerful, they
were every-where witnesses of Jesus Christ.
They did not let pass a walk, an accidental
encounter; they did not hear an inimical word,
they never traveled without finding, or making
the occasion to speak of their Savior. Keeping
themselves constantly in the presence of their
Lord, it was impossible that they should not
VOL. XXX.-6
feel inflamed with a holy love for the souls
which God had placed in their way, and they
could have no relations with their fellows with out also profiting by them to work for their
salvation."
"They had the passion for the salvation of
souls," says M. Guizot, in speaking of revivalists in general. "God constantly in relation to
man, to each man, present in the actual life of
each man, and about to decide his fiuture destiny, the immense worth of each human soul in
the eyes of God, and the immense weight of
the future that awaits it, these are the convictions, the affirmations contained in this passion
for the salvation of souls, which was the life
even of our Lord Jesus Christ."
These words apply exactly to the sentiments
which were the source of the missionary zeal
of my father. I may be permitted to relate an
incident of which I was witness, toward the
year I845, in a pedestrian tour that I made with
him in company with a young Englishlman who
then resided in our house.
My father wished to revisit with us the picturesque gorges of the Bishopric of Basle,
which, since a tour hlie had made there as a
young man, had left with him an indelible impression. After having taken the boat from
Geneva to Lausanne, we went on foot to Yondon, my father not neglecting on the way any
opportunity of preaching the Gospel. On the
Lake of Neuchalet, I recollect that I sketched
him seated on the bow of the boat by the side
of a young man "to whom he spoke of his
soul," his New Testament in his hand, while a
mountaineer, leaning against the railing, let his
pipe go out while listening to him.
Some days after, on a superb evening, we
ascended the road which rises from Bienne
in following the deep gorges of the Suze.