It
was about this time that John Hyde laid hold of God in a very definite
covenant. This was for one soul a day-not less, not inquiries simply, but a
soul saved-ready to confess Christ in public and be baptized in His Name. The
stress and strain was relieved. His heart was filled with the peace of full
assurance. All who spoke to him perceived a new life and new life-work which
this life can never end.
He
returned to his district with the confidence; nor was he disappointed. It meant
long journeys, nights of watching unto prayer, and fasting, pain and conflict,
yet victory always crowing this. What though the dews chilled him by night and
the drought exhausted him by day? His sheep were being gathered into the fold,
and the Good Shepherd was seeing the travail of His soul and being satisfied.
By the end of that year more than four hundred were gathered in.
Was
he satisfied? Far from it. How could he possibly be so long as his Lord was
not? How could our Lord be satisfied, so long as one single sheep was yet outside
His fold? But John Hyde was learning the secret of Divine strength: “The joy of
the Lord.” For, after all, the greater the capacity for joy, the greater our
capacity also for sorrow. Thus it was with the Man of Sorrows, He could say:
“These words have I spoken unto you, that My joy may be in you and that your
joy may be full.”
John
Hyde seemed always to be hearing the God Shepherd’s voice saying, “Other sheep
I have, other sheep I have.” No matter if he won the one a day or two a day or
four a day, he had an unsatisfied longing, an undying passion for lost souls.
Here is a picture given by one of his friends in India: “As a personal worker
he would engage a man in a talk about his salvation. By and by he would have
his hands on the man’s shoulders, looking him very earnestly in the eyes. Soon
he would get the man on his knees confessing his sins and seeking salvation.
Such a one he would baptize in the village, by the roadside or anywhere.”
I
once attended one of his conventions for Christians. He would meet his converts
as they came in, and embrace them in oriental style, laying his hand first on
one shoulder and then on the other. Indeed, his embraces were so loving that he
got nearly all to give embraces to Christians, and those too, of the lowest caste.
This
was his strong point. Love won him
victories.”
-From Praying Hyde-The Life of John “Praying”
Hyde Bridge Publishing South Plainfield, NJ 1982.
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