The Radical Change of Edward Studd

Well, before we go to our time of prayer this evening, friends, I want us to study the salvation experience of C.T. Studd's father, Edward Studd, who was saved under the preaching of D.L. Moody in England. Hearing Moody preach changed the rest of his life, and after he was converted, he gave D.L. Moody a large financial gift, which enabled Moody to buy the house in Northfield, Massachusetts, which was adjacent to the farm that he was born on, that was the house Moody died in. It's still there today.

Edward Studd was a wealthy country gentleman, and his main goal in life was spending his fortune on breeding and racing horses at his large estate called Tedworth House in England. And, friends, if you want to see what this Palladian mansion looks like, just pull it up on the internet. It's called Tedworth House.

This is the home in which C.T. Studd grew up in. Most of us are familiar with C.T. Studd and how greatly he was used of God as a missionary to China, India, and eventually Africa, and is founder of the missionary agency that's now WEC International. C.T. Studd is probably best known for being a famous cricketeer and for giving his inherited fortune away and doing what the rich young ruler would not.

C.T. Studd wrote the little poem, Only One Life, which will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last. And I like this other quote from him as well.

Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. And he did just that, friend.

He poured his life out in the bush in Africa, and his bones are buried there today. But our focus this evening is C.T. Studd's father, Edward, because when God got a hold of Edward Studd, his conversion impacted his entire family for Christ. All three of his sons became Christians.

The duty of a parent in the home can have vast implications for eternity and the life of that family. And I want us to look at the radical change of Edward Studd, and that's the title of my message this evening, friends. The Radical Change of Edward Studd.

It fascinates me how God can save a person and radically alter their life so much that others are impacted for eternity as well. And I want to look at how God transformed this man, Edward Studd. Is that not what true conversion is, friends? A transformation? When we get saved, we get a new set of eyes, a new set of desires, a new purpose in life.

Well, C.T. Studd was visiting America, and while he was here, he spoke at D.L. Moody's Northfield Conference. The final extract, which I'd like to read you, was taken down when he was speaking about his father Edward's conversion. And here now are his words.

I was brought up in the Church of England and was pretty religious, so most people thought I was taken to church and baptized the right day. And after a time, I was confirmed and took communion. But I did not know anything about Jesus Christ personally.

I knew a little about him, as I may know a little about President Taft, but I did not know him. There was not a moment in my life when I ever doubted that there was a God or that Jesus Christ was the Savior of the world, but I did not know him as my personal Savior. We boys were brought up to go to church regularly, but although we had a kind of religion, it was not a religion that amounted to much.

It was just like having a toothache. We were always sorry to have Sunday come around and glad when Monday morning came. The Sabbath was the dullest day of the whole week, and just because we got hold of the wrong end of religion, a man may get hold of the wrong poker, and I got hold of the wrong end of religion and had to pay dearly for it.

We had lots of ministers and lots of churches all around us, but we never saw such a thing as a real convert. We did not believe much in converts in those days. We thought that the Chinese and Africans had to be converted, but the idea of an Englishman being converted was absurd because it made him out to be a heathen before he was converted.

My father was just a man of the world, loving all sorts of worldly things. He had made a fortune in India and had come back to England to spend it. He was very fond of sports of all kinds.

He would go into regular training that he might go fox hunting, but above all, he was an enthusiast on horse racing. He was passionately fond of horses to begin with, and when he saw fine horses, he would buy them and train them, and then he would race them. He had a large place in the country where he made a race course, and he won the biggest steeplechase in London three times.

At last he got hold of a horse better than any one he ever had, and so certain was he of winning the race that he wrote to a friend in London and said, If you are a wise man, you will come to the race tomorrow and put every penny you have on my horse. Well, unknown to my father, this man had been converted. Mr. Moody had come to England and had been preaching.

Nobody believed very much at that time in a man getting up to preach the gospel unless he had two things, the title of reverend, and a white tie around his neck. The papers could not understand such a preacher as Mr. Moody, who had neither, and of course, they printed column after column against him. They could not help seeing that he could get more people to his meetings than half a dozen archbishops, and that more were converted by him than twenty ordinary ministers.

Of course, they did not put the right construction on things. They said that Mr. Sankey had come over to sell organs and Mr. Moody to sell his hymn books. My father read the papers day after day, and these things tickled him immensely.

I remember one evening he threw the paper down and said, Well, anyhow, when this man comes to London, I am going to hear him. There must be some good about the man, or he would never be so abused much by the papers. Well, father went to London the next day according to promise and met his friend.

This man had been over to Ireland when Mr. Moody was there, and he was about to leave Dublin, and he missed his train. God was even in that, missing a train. It was Saturday night, and the man had to remain over to Sunday, and as he was looking about the streets that evening, he saw the big bills advertising Moody and Sankey, and he thought, I will just go and hear those Americans.

He went, and God met him. He went again, and God converted him. He was a new man, and yet when my father wrote that letter, he never said anything about it.

When they met and drove along in a carriage, father talked of nothing but horses and told this man if he was a wise man, he would put up every penny he had on that horse. After father had finished his business, he came back to his friend and said, How much money have you put on my horse? Nothing. My father said, You are the biggest fool I ever saw.

Didn't I tell you what a good horse he was? But though you are a fool, come along with me to dinner. After dinner, my father said, Now, where shall we go to amuse ourselves? His friend said, Anywhere. My father said, Well, you are the guest, so you shall choose where we shall go.

Well, we will go and hear Moody. My father said, Oh no, this isn't Sunday. We will go to the theater or the concert.

But the man said, You promise to go wherever I choose. So my father had to go. They found the building was full, and there were no seats in the hall except special ones.

This man knew he would never get my father there again, so he worked himself into the crowd until he came across one of the committee. He said to him, Look here, I have brought a wealthy sporting gentleman here, but I will never get him here again if we do not get a seat. The man took them in and put them right straight in front of Mr. Moody.

My father never took his eyes off of Mr. Moody until he finished his address, and after the meeting, my father said, I won't come and hear this man again. He just told me everything I had ever done. My father kept going until he was right sound and converted.

That afternoon, my father had been full of a thing that takes possession of a man's heart and head more than anything else, the passion for horse racing. And in the evening, he was a changed man. It was the same skin, but a new man altogether inside.

When we boys came home from college, we didn't understand what had come over him. But father kept continually telling us he was born again. We thought he was just born upside down because he was always asking us about our souls, and we didn't like it.

We couldn't understand what had come over him. He kept telling us that he'd been born again. And at night, he would come into my room and talk to me about my soul.

He would ask if I was saved. I got wise and would pretend to be asleep as soon as I heard him come in. Everyone in the house had a dog's life till they got converted.

His insistence made us avoid him, so we would quickly move around the other side of the house if we saw him come in. Of course, he took us to hear Mr. Moody, and we were impressed a good deal, but were not converted. Oh, when my father was converted, of course, he could not go on living the same life as before.

He could not go to balls, card parties, and all that sort of thing. His conscience told him so, and he said to Mr. Moody, I want to be straight with you. If I become a Christian, will I have to give up racing, and shooting, and hunting, and theaters, and balls? Well, Mr. Moody said, Mr. Studd, you have been straight with me.

I will be straight with you. Racing means betting, and betting means gambling, and I don't see how a gambler's going to be a Christian. Do the other things as long as you like.

My father asked again about the theater and cards, and Mr. Moody said, Mr. Studd, you have children and people you love, and now you are a saved man yourself, and you want to get them saved. God will give you some souls, and as soon as ever you've won a soul, you won't care about any of the other things. Sure enough, we found to our astonishment that father didn't care for any of those things any longer.

He only cared about one thing, and that was saving souls. Well, I will stop there in the narrative, friends. What C.T. Studd said about his father was true.

Edward Studd woke up each day with a burden for souls, and he became a soul winner himself. He transformed his Tedworth mansion, and shocked his relatives and staff by selling all his horses and giving up racing. He replaced much of the fine furniture in the house with benches and chairs so he could hold prayer meetings in the hall on Sunday evenings.

Edward began praying for the salvation of his three sons, and each of his three sons were converted on the same day at Tedworth house by a visiting preacher. Tedworth house was soon transformed into an evangelistic center with Edward Studd inviting leading speakers to preach the gospel to all who would hear. Edward Studd was a changed man.

His transformation was summed up neatly by his coachman, who when asked by a guest if his master had become religious or something, remarked, well, sir, we don't know much about that, but all I can say is that those there's the same skin. There's a new man inside. Edward Studd lived only two more years after being converted under Moody's preaching, but it was said of him, he did more in the last two remaining years of his life for the gospel that many other men accomplish in 20 years.

Edward Studd lived out the verse from second Corinthians 5 15, which states, and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. He was a man who had a radical conversion experience and a change, not only his life friends, but the life of his family and the lives of countless thousands who were impacted because of his son, C.T. Studd's self-sacrifice and missionary enterprise. And as we go to prayer, let us think of this man, Edward Studd, who got on so far for God that he lost his reputation within his circle of society friends so he could win others to Christ Jesus.

Let us examine our own lives to see if we are as consumed with eternity as this man Studd was. Let us ask God to ignite us with a holy flame and to give us a deeper burden for the lost. Let us pray.