I was traveling on the train one afternoon when five of the men in the coach began to play cards. They were evidently sharpers, and before long challenged others to play with them, but all declined. At last they turned to me and said: "We can see by your face that you fully understand the game; come, take a turn."
"I did know the cards once," I replied, "but it is so long since I played that I forget."
"Nonsense!" they said, "you could win all our money if you tried."
"Perhaps that would not be very much," I answered. "Anyway, I will not attempt. Five of you are quite enough for the game; we will look on."
As they still kept pressing me to play, I at last said: "Gentlemen, I tell you I cannot play. But there is one thing I can do."
"What is that?" they asked eagerly.
"I can tell fortunes."
"Great! Will you tell ours?"
"If you wish it; but I warn you it may not be very flattering."
"What cards do you want?"
"The five of spades, please." It was handed to me with expectation of great sport.
"I shall require one other thing, if you don't mind."
"What?" they asked impatiently.
"A Bible."
They could not produce one.
"No, but you had one once," said the fortune teller, "and if you followed its precepts you would not have been what you are now. However, I have one."
To their dismay I produced the small Testament I always carried. A revolver would hardly have been more unwelcome. Then as fortune teller I began: "Gentlemen, you see these two pips at the top of the card? I wish them to represent your two eyes; this one in the middle, your mouth; and these other two at the bottom, your knees.
"Now, in Revelation 1:77Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7), I read: 'Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him.' The speaker is Jesus, who shed His blood for sinners like you and me. And your eyes, that do not see Him now shall surely see Him then. You will stand before Him to be judged. That is the future of your two eyes.
" 'Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.'
"From this I foretell that your knees will bow to Jesus, and your tongue, that used to say, `Gentle Jesus' and 'Our Father,' will have to confess that He is Lord of all.
"Your eyes will see Him, and when you see Him your knees will grow weak, and you will fall before His Majesty."
They got more than they bargained for, but I gave them some more.
"Gentlemen, that is only the first reading of this card. Now for the second. These five spades represent five actual spades— tools that are already made, and may before long dig the graves of you five sinners, and then your souls will be in Hell, crying in thirst for a drop of water, and you will wish you had never been born."
The five card sharpers were getting more and more restless, but they could not get out until the train stopped.
"Gentlemen," I continued, "you may escape this terrible future, and my fortune-telling not come true, if you do what I did when I was perhaps the worst of us six.
"My eyes saw the Lord Jesus dying on the cross for me in my stead, bearing my doom. My tongue confessed Him Lord, and my knees bowed to Him in lowly submission. If you do this, I can foretell the very opposite of all I have said.
"I have told your fortunes, as I promised. If I am right you ought to cross my palm with a quarter apiece. But I do not wish your five quarters. I will be content if even one of you will promise to accept the Lord Jesus Christ whose blood cleanses from all sin."
They would neither pay nor promise; but as the train slowed to a stop they tumbled out as if the coach contained a small-pox patient, leaving me in possession of the "five of spades."
"Stop!" I called, "here's your card," and I tossed it after them.
Was the effort wasted? Let the sequel answer. Recently walking near my home years later, a man greeted me.
"Good evening, sir," he said.
"It is a good evening, if all your sins are forgiven," was my response.
"Yes, and I am glad you are still at it," replied the stranger.
"Still at what?"
"Telling fortunes."
"That is not my line."
"Well, you told mine more than ten years ago."
"I think you are mistaken."
"Oh, no, I am sure you are the same person."
He then recalled the train journey.
"Ah! I remember, and you left like a lot of cowards, without paying the fortune teller!"
"I am your payment," he replied. "Your words have already come true of three of us. Three spades have dug their graves. The other one I saw a few days ago. He is anxious to be saved from the fortune you foretold. As I parted with him I earnestly said: 'Sam, don't forget the five of spades.' "
"And what about yourself?" I asked.
"When you saw me on the train, I had been to my sister's. I was downright miserable. Mother had just died. Calling me to her bedside, she had said:
"When you quoted those very words, it seemed as if my dear mother rose up and frowned upon the cards. That text followed me. I drank and drank, and drank again; but continually I heard, `Every eye shall see Him.'
At last I went to California. Soon after I landed, having nothing to do one evening, I stopped to hear someone singing. When a young man got up to speak, he gave out his text: "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him."
"It was more than I could stand. That night I bowed my knees in submission, saw Jesus as my Savior, and with my tongue confessed Him Lord.
"I have long wished to meet you and tell you the results of your fortune telling, but I did not know who you were, and had no means of finding you. With what surprise and delight I recognized you tonight!"
He was soon going back to California; but that one interview was good payment for the fortune teller.