It was nearly midnight. Two men were so deep in talk that they scarcely realized how late it was. Their animation showed how greatly affected both were by the subject being discussed. One was a naval officer. The whole bearing of the other revealed the military man.
Both of these men had been present at an open-air service some hours before. The naval officer had taken it upon himself to heckle the evangelist. Now they were privately threshing the matter out between themselves.
The naval officer pooh-poohed the whole idea of religion. For the life of him he said he could not understand why anybody should worry about such a belief at all. Why make fools of themselves by preaching it in the open-air?
"Parsons! Oh well," he cried contemptuously, "that is their job; they are paid to preach. People expect them to hold services. But for anybody really believing it—why, surely everyone knows what nonsense religion is! Intelligent people have no use for it, my dear fellow.”
"Put your hand on the back of my head, just here," said the other. "Now tell me what you feel there." The officer complied, and then exclaimed: "How in the world did you get that deep scar just there?”
"I was a man of the same mind as yourself once. I had no use for religion either. I hated it, and wished everyone else did. But my father would write to me about it, although he knew I had entered the army purposely to get away from all Christian influence, as I thought. His letters never ended without an appeal to me to consider my need of a Savior. Then my mother died, and the memory of what she had taught me of the love of God and of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, kept coming back to my mind. My father's letters too kept it all constantly before me.
"One day in desperation I wrote my father a long letter—a lying letter. It was full of pious phrases from end to end! I wrote him that I had taken Christ as my Savior, and was now a real Christian believer. Every word of it was a lie!
"For a bit of sport I read this letter out in the barrack-room, to the amusement of some but to the disgust of others. As I was reading it, somehow I tripped and fell backwards towards the fire-place. My head struck on one of the spiked bars of the fender,—that accounts for the deep indentation you felt on my skull just now. I was completely knocked out.
"They hurried me off to the hospital, where I lay near death for weeks. One night the medical officer, thinking I was still unconscious, remarked to the nurse: `He won't last the night, Nurse; he'll be gone before morning.'
"Gone! I heard his verdict. And then there came to my poor mind the urgent question: where should I be gone before morning? As my faculties cleared, I realized that ETERNITY was just before me. Also I knew, if I had my deserts, it would be hellfire for me for certain! That is what I knew I deserved for my wicked life and for mocking at God and His people.
"I tell you, I prayed to God that night. I promised to reform and to be a better man if only my life were spared.
To the doctor's surprise, in the morning the fever had completely gone. I was out of immediate danger of death, though of course I was terribly weak.
"I did recover, but I did not reform my ways. Indeed, with returning health I threw off all my fears of the future life, and put God out of my thoughts.
"But God did not put me out of His thoughts. When given a few days' leave, I determined to visit my father. Arriving at the cottage in the dusk of the early evening, I lifted the latch and entered the room. I had stepped inside when, to my horror, I saw several people kneeling there in prayer. I had blundered into a special prayer meeting, and there knelt some of my father's friends praying for me. I tried to slip out from this awkward situation, but my attempt failed. A slightly deformed little man whom I knew as Tommy Marks, had grasped my arm. 'Don't go, don't go, Edward,' he whispered. We love you, and God loves you, too.'
"Exactly what happened, I can never clearly remember; but the thought that these friends cared about my worthless soul, and that God loved me enough to send His own Son to die that I might not perish, absolutely broke me down. I knelt there by an old chair, and there I confessed my sins, taking Christ as my own Savior with a thankful heart.
"That's the difference between you and me. I felt my need of a Savior, and I thanked God for the Savior He provided. Will you not do the same, friend?”
The naval officer was indeed touched, and to hide his feelings, was turning away; but he paused to say: "I am all bad, my friend, I've treated my wife shamefully. She's one of your sort. She believes in this kind of thing. She prays for me and I ridicule her. Is there any chance for me, do you think?”
His heart filled with joy, as the other promptly told him the story of the way God has provided so that none need perish.
After further heart-to-heart talk, the naval officer said to his friend: "Thank God, thank God! I do believe He has forgiven me for Christ's sake. Now I am going to write to my poor wife and tell her. Maybe she will forgive me too.”
They parted, the one going into his quarters at the Naval College, the other to his home, each with a heart full of joy and thanksgiving for God's great love.