In one of the large steamers bound for India an engineer lay suffering from an illness which, to all appearance, must end in death. A mate of his came to his bunk one day to see how he fared. In his blunt, sailor like way, he inquired how the invalid was, saying: "Bill, you look bad. Are you suffering a great deal?”
"Yes," replied the engineer; "but, oh, Tom, the suffering in my body is nothing to the suffering in my mind. I'm dying, mate, I'm dying! And I'm going to hell! Will you pray for me?”
Tom, suddenly speechless, listened as the poor sufferer cried out, in agony beseeching him to pray. At length he spoke, sadly and in deep distress: "I can't pray, Bill! I have never prayed in my life—and I don't know how.”
The dying man again besought him and suddenly Tom recalled a scripture text. He had learned it when he was a child in Sunday school. Perhaps he had not thought of it for years. Softly he repeated the almost forgotten words: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Falling on his knees, Tom cried from his own sinful heart: "Oh, Lord! Here are two dreadful sinners. Lord, wash us in Thy blood. Save my mate and me! Thy shed blood is enough for us both.”
The two men wept together, and prayer unexpressed in words arose from those two hearts. He who loves to listen to repentant souls, heard their cry. He accepted their tears of true repentance and spoke peace to the troubled soul of the dying man.
A few hours later Tom asked his fellow-engineer:
"How is it with you, mate? Do you think God heard us? Do you really believe in Him?”
Faintly the answer came: "Yes I do, Bill. I can see my way quite clear now, and my soul has peace.”
Thus Bill, the engineer, passed away in the full assurance that "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." Sinner though he was, he knew that the precious blood of Christ had made him fit to enter into the presence of Him who loved him, and gave Himself for him.
Tom, the other engineer, still lives to praise the Lord who drew him, a poor lost sinner, out of darkness into light. His greatest joy is in telling the lost of the matchless love of the God of all grace.