"Thank you, sir; I'm glad to get your gospel paper. As you see, I'm just a rough old sailor on a leaky old boat; but I'm happy to say, sir, that if the old ship goes DOWN I shall go UP. How do I know? I'll tell you the story.
"Well, it all came about this way: we were lying off Malta, and I was ashore one night. I turned into a place where a soldier was preaching. He started with the hymn:
`The Savior calls; oh! come and see
What things He hath prepared for thee.'
Only it was the chorus that pulled me up; you know how it runs, sir: 'Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.' It kept ringing in my ears. Somehow or other, those words made me feel very queer. 'Him that cometh, him that cometh, him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.' It kept ringing in my ears, and I could not get it out. Presently the soldier comes to the door; and as I went out he shook hands with me, and said, 'God bless you, and make you very miserable.'
"This coming on the top of the hymn made me miserable-like indeed; but I thought I would turn in there again the next night. There, sure enough, was the same soldier, and he got up on the platform. Fixing his eyes on me right at the back of the hall, he says, 'God loves you.'
"I tell you, sir, that made me feel worse than ever! Presently when he had done his address, he walked straight down the hall and took a seat by me. Well, of course, I tried to edge off; but just as far as I edged off he edged after me.
"At last I said, 'Here, I'm getting out of this.' He said, `I'm coming too.' So we got outside, and he said, 'You look very miserable.' I said, 'I am'; and he seemed quite happy over it.
"So I said, 'A nice sort of man you are, to call yourself a Christian! You haven't got a bit of sympathy in you.'
"He said, 'I'll take you to the sympathizing Jesus.' Then he showed me Him, the One that sympathized with and died for sinners. I knew I was one, sure enough. I put my claim in as a sinner, and I got Him from that night for my Savior. I just proved the scripture: 'Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.' John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37).
"That is nigh on four years ago now. Hearing that the gospel would be preached here tonight, I just turned in. That is the end of my story.”