“Mr. Stanton, this day marks a miracle in my life. When I went out into the street this afternoon to see and hear Jesus, I had no other motive but idle curiosity, just like every other broker and speculator there. But from the moment he began to speak, I knew in my heart that something great was going to happen to me. I have lived for forty-five years the regular life of a professional money-getter. Money has been my god. I am a type of hundreds and thousands in this town. I lived, ate, drank, dreamed, and loved money.

“In among all my other schemes, I have for years been at the head of the contracting firms that supply the material used in nearly all the sweat shops and child labor contracts. In addition to all the rest, I have all my life been one of those respectable rich men in New York who have believed in the brewery and the saloon, and I have always voted to license the saloon, saying what thousands of men in New York say—that it is here to stay and it is the only sensible thing to do, and so forth. I have always had liquor in my home and at my club, and own heavy shares in brewing concerns and all that.

“You saw what happened to me today. If I were to talk all night, it would not add to what you see and I feel. For the first time in my life, I am living. Jesus is my Redeemer. I know my sins are forgiven. I have been a very wicked, selfish, sinful man. In New York money circles, I have passed for a good financier, a successful business man, a respected citizen. In reality, as Jesus laid bare my life as he talked, I am convicted of being a man guilty of nearly every crime against my brothers and sisters, and against my own life.

“I would die for him. When he put his arm around me today, I felt ready to follow him to the end of the world. I understand now how a man would leave his business as Matthew did and follow him. I was never happy before, never knew what real happiness was. Now I know. If He will tell me how, I will give the rest of my life to humanity.

“Do you know why he stood there a few minutes ago and looked on while that drunken brute beat up his family? It was to let me see and feel the horror of the thing I have all my life been so ‘respectably’ defending. And when I got up and put my hands on that drunken representative of the wealthy brewer, I did the first real thing in all my life that sprang out of an honest personal conviction.