"Not me: not for nobody!" was the reply of a sailor who had been invited to a gospel preaching. He certainly did not look like a very promising subject. His face showed plainly his dissolute habits, and the don't-care way in which he folded his arms, together with his determined look, would have deterred many a one from addressing him again. The evangelist spoke kindly to him, and pleaded with him to hear the Savior's voice.
"None of your cant for me," said he with an oath.
The preacher noticed that the man's hair was turning gray, so he said: "My friend, you were young once; you are no longer so. Have you a mother?”
The rough sailor looked at him with a piercing glance. The muscles of his face worked; his bosom began to heave. Struggling in vain to hide his emotion, he turned his head aside; but the bitter tears ran down his cheeks and he sobbed out, "A mother! A mother! How came you to know about my mother? Yes, I had a mother once—a good mother, a praying mother. I broke her heart and sent her to the grave. What would she think if she could see me now?”
The joints of his harness were pierced. That question had touched a hidden spring. It broke up the hardened profligate. The Spirit of God entered the breach and wrought mightily. Another self-condemned, repentant sinner listened to God's blessed Word as the evangelist quoted Isa. 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18):
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”