ON board a large East-Indian trading-vessel, in the harbor of H.., a sailor lay sick in his hammock. He was suffering from a disease, that one could plainly see, would soon end in death.
One day one of his comrades came to his sick-bed, and began in a sympathizing way to inquire how he felt.
“Poor Frank, you seem to be suffering a good deal.”
“Yes,” was the answer; “but Tom, my bodily suffering is nothing in comparison to what my soul is passing through, I’m a dying Man, and on my way to bell! O, pray for me!”
To Tom, it seemed as if that all at once he was deprived of speech. Not knowing what to do, he stood before his comrade, who kept on imploring him to pray for him. Finally Tom said, in a sad and melancholy tone:
“I cannot pray, Frank; I have never prayed, and don’t know how to do it.”
But the dying sailor would not be silenced. Again and again he implored him. All at once Tom remembered a text from the Bible that he had heard as a child at Sunday-school, but had never thought of it since then. It was the seventh verse of the first chapter of the first Epistle of John: “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” Immediately falling on his knees, he cried:
“O, Lord! here are two dreadful sinners; save my comrade and me! One drop of Your blood is enough for us both.”
They wept together, and a prayer arose from their hearts which although not expressed in fine words, still reached the ears of Him whose joy it is to listen to the sighing of a heart that is too full to find vent in words. He heard their weeping; He saw their tears of true contrition, and gave His peace to the anxious heart of the dying sailor. A little while later Torn asked him:
“Do you really believe now?”
“Yes, I believe. Everything is clear to me. I am going to Jesus,” was Frank’s happy reply.
Shortly afterwards Frank left this earth in perfect peace, and in the firm conviction that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. had cleansed him from all sin, and had made him fit to appear in the presence of God.
Tom still lives, and praises the Lord who had drawn him, a lost sinner, to Himself. He never forgets to praise the wonderful grace of God, that had snatched him as a brand from the fire. Yes, God
often works in a wonderful way. He knows where each precious stone is to be found that belongs to the building, of which Christ is the cornerstone; and if it be on land or sea, near or far, He will draw all to Himself, that they may be to the praise of the glory of His grace.
Messages of God’s Love 7/31/1921