A wounded soldier lay in hospital when the door of the ward opened and in walked a Christian worker. The soldier immediately saluted him with the remark, "You don't know me, but I know you. You were the means of my conversion.”
The gentleman was at once intensely interested and wished to know how it had taken place. In words something like these the soldier replied: "Fourteen years ago I was in a park when I came across a crowd gathered round some open-air preachers. I was not a bit interested, but as I passed by I saw you. You were speaking. I was not concerned at all, but as I strolled by I heard you cry out, `Hallelujah! What a Savior!'
"I strolled on thinking no more about it. Thirteen years rolled on, a pretty big slice out of a man's life, and the incident had apparently passed out of my mind, at any rate consciously.
"The war broke out, I volunteered, was drilled, and in due time found myself at the front. Appalled by the terrors of war, afraid that any hour might be my last, I began to think seriously about my soul, and where I should spend eternity.
"All at once I seemed to be in the park again. I could see, as it were, the whole scene re-enacted—the crowd; the open-air preachers. I distinctly recalled your face; I could hear again your voice crying, `Hallelujah! What a Savior!'
There and then I trusted that Savior, and found the joy and peace that my soul longed for. I never expected to see you again, but God has given me this joy, praise His Name.”
Again that verse of Holy Scripture was gloriously realized.
Of course no mere flippant, superficial cry to God is of any avail; but when a man, as this soldier did, truly realizes his lost and unsaved condition, and turns to the Lord, salvation is his. He may turn to Him. as this soldier did, amid the frightful horror of war, or in the solitude of prison walls, in the crowded street, or under the preaching of a faithful minister of the gospel, or in the privacy of his own room. Where does not matter, but how does. Simply, earnestly, truly as a soul trusts the Lord, so truly will that soul find the truth of that glorious verse, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead; thou shall be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. 10:9, 109That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9‑10).
God give you to be in earnest about your soul's salvation, for however earnest others may be, until you are in earnest yourself, all will be of no avail. Indifference is the crying evil of the hour. It seems as if the world were drugged to sleep by the devil. Business, pleasure, the war, absorb and monopolize the attention of most, and all thoughts of eternity are thrust out. Let it not be so with you. Be in earnest. Get this important matter settled now, confessing Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you will be able to join in the words of the hymn.
"Lost and in our sins, were we;
Spotless, sinless, holy, He,
Bearing guilt upon the tree,
Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Him as Lord we gladly own,
Seated on His Father's throne;
Soon we'll sing in sweeter tone,
Hallelujah! what a Savior!”