<TITLE>11. Par 40-42</TITLE>L-40 And we went down, and if I... I think that it would be a good thing for any man to take his son to the bowery and let him see. I think if you was ever in France, take your daughter to Pigalle; let her see how degraded human life can get.
So when I went down to--by the bowery, men laying helpless, flies blowing in his face from vomiting. Oh, dope fiends, alcoholics...
And I said, "Oh, Brother Berg," I said, "perhaps these men here was raised in homes that--that did not care what they do; they was just let loose to run on the street."
He laid his hand across my shoulder and said, "You'd be surprised." He said, "Right in the mission here we're going to, we got out a hundred and eighty that died in there last year. Kept them off the streets, feeding them and so forth, and they finally died; there's no hope for them outside of Christ."

L-41 And then, they're up here, they're too far for that. He said, "Here, this man here." Said, "I know him. Raise him up."
And I went over to him, and I said, "Sir, could I speak to you?"
He said, "Well, he may not be able to speak."
Oh, I just can't say the condition the man was in. He had gotten to a place his clothes from his waist down was in a terrible condition, wet all over. And he was just in a--an awful state, smelling. And I said, "Sir, could I speak to you?"
And Brother Berg shook him. I... He raised up. And he said, "I'm Brother Berg." Well, he didn't know nothing about Brother Berg. He was still on the drunk.
And I said, "I would like to ask you a question." I said, "What type of home was you raised in?"
He said, "Will you give me enough money for a drink?"

L-42 And I said, "I'm a minister of the Gospel. I would not give the money of the Lord to a man to drink." I said, "I... The money that I have comes from the children of God, and it's to be spent for the Kingdom of God. I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll buy you a sandwich; I'll buy you your dinner or--if you'll go with me. But I would just like, as a minister, to ask you."
He said, "Excuse me, Reverend."
And I said, "How did you ever come to be this way?"
He said, "Sir, I doubt whether you'll believe my story."
"Well," I said, "I take you as a man of honor. I--I'll believe your story; you tell me; tell me from your heart."
And he said, "Sir," he said, "I was raised in a Christian home."
And I said, "And then fall into this?"
He said, "Yes, sir." Said, "I had the most lovely family: Three children--two boys and a girl--and the sweetest wife that ever lived." And the big tears begin to run through his old gray beard. He said, "I was the president of this bank over here on a certain corner."
And I said, "Is that so?"
He said, "Go to the bank and ask them."
And he... I said, "Well, what caused you to do this?"
He said, "Sir, reverend sir," he said, "one evening I come home and there was a 'Dear John' letter laying on the table. My wife had left me." He said, "And I--I never drinking, but I thought, 'I got to do something or I'll take a pistol and blow my brains out.' And I started drinking, and here I am."
Thought, "God have mercy." See?
"From that time..." That's what started it. We can always think from a time.


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