The sun had nearly set. As its last rays made a shining path across the sea, my companion, an old sailor, sighed deeply. Suddenly he turned to me and said, "What a mercy it is to be brought to know the God who has made all this!”
He paused a moment, and then went on: "I didn't always know Him, you know; nor appreciate any of the beauties of His creation. I was captain of a smuggling boat and my men and I were always searching every quarter of the horizon to see if there was any man-of-war or any coast guard boat on our tracks. Instead of looking for beauty around us, we were always better satisfied when it was darkest, and often we would have been happy if the night had been several hours longer.
"I remember well one morning, just at daybreak, we discovered a coast guard boat in the distance. We had on board a heavy cargo of tobacco, and we stood to make quite a bit of money if we could land it.
"The coast guard was still a long way off, but we knew that we couldn't possibly get away if she gave chase because our heavy cargo slowed us so much. We hoped at first that we might not be seen, but we gave that up when we saw the coast guard crowding all sail and turning her course toward us.
"We all knew what would happen if we were taken. Not only would the boat and cargo be confiscated, but we would all be sent to prison. We stared at each other in dismay. For a time there was a dead silence while they waited for my command. The coast guard was coming up fast behind us, and we could calculate how little time we had until they would overhaul us. Suddenly I thought of a way out. 'Mates,' I cried, `there is no hope for us by running away—they will soon be on us—but let them come! They will only find an empty ship.'
"My men set up a cheer, and we went right to work. We first rigged a sail at the stern of the ship to screen us from the sight of the customs men; then, sending part of the men below, I set them in line to hand up the packages of tobacco and pitch them overboard as they came up.
"How we did work! It gave us a sore pang to think of the loss of all that tobacco, but we consoled ourselves with thinking of the disappointment the customs people would get when they found the ship empty.
"All was quiet: nothing was heard but the splash of the tobacco dropping into the sea. The cargo was going down fast. 'Cheer up, men,' I cried, 'we'll soon be finished with it.' Just then I saw that the ship's boy, who was working near me, was too tired to go on. I sent him to see if the coast guard was very far off.
"In a minute he came rushing back to me, pale as death, and too frightened to say a word. I gave him a shaking: 'What's the matter? What's happened?'
"He just gasped out, 'It won't sink!' and fled below.
"In a flash we understood what he meant. I ran to the stern of the ship, and what a sight that was! The sun was just rising behind us and there, in that long line of light, were the packages of tobacco bobbing up and down in our wake. And the first package in the line reached right back to that oncoming coast guard boat.
"Helplessly, we stood and stared at it. In our excitement we hadn't once thought that the tobacco wouldn't sink at once in the water. We cursed heaven and earth, and specially the coast guards, but where was the good of it? The proof of our guilt was there spread out for all to see. We were lost, and in our ears rang over and over those fatal words, 'It won't sink.'”
The old sailor stopped speaking. I thought he had finished his story, but he began again: "In those days I little thought that that adventure would end in any good to me. My heart was far from God. I belonged to the world. From time to time, though, I had serious thoughts, and then I would resolve to correct my ways and change my course. But resolving is one thing doing is another. I still went on in the same old ways, and as soon as we were set free I went back to smuggling.
"About three years after all this happened, I went out in a row boat on the river one night. I was out to shoot birds, and while I was waiting for the moon to rise I lay down in the bottom of the boat. Everything around me was silent, except the little splash of the water against the side of the boat. It was New Year's Eve, and after a time I heard the stroke of midnight. 'It is the last night of the year,' I said to myself, and in spite of myself my thoughts went back in a review of my past life. My childhood came back before me, and I saw myself kneeling again at my mother's knee to say my evening prayers. Again I heard her tell me of One who came down from heaven to bring life to the world. At this I sighed deeply, and said, half aloud, 'If I should die this night not a single soul in the world would thank God that I had lived.'
"The more I thought about my past, the more horrified I was. God had created me, and I had lived and was still living as though there was neither God nor eternity. That night I went down on my knees in the boat and prayed that God would come to my help. After this I would be another man. I resolved not to touch a drop of liquor, and to avoid all bad company. I made many more resolutions like that, what I would do, and what I wouldn't do, and soon I began to feel a very good opinion of myself. I was happy in the thought that I had become a new man for, being faithful to my resolutions, I judged I would be almost a saint.
"But on reflection I saw there were still several things that I ought to clean up, or, as we say, lighten the ship. Half measures would not satisfy me. I must throw overboard everything which ought not to be found in my boat, and I saw in my mind quite a list of things that I would need to change. My resolutions were getting more serious and positive every moment, and my heart grew lighter. My life was to be completely changed, and as a finishing stroke I decided to sell my ship and go home, to my mother.
"How blind I was! After having decided to sell my ship it seemed that everything must be in perfect order, but God was still speaking to me. I had taken up the oars to go back to land, when suddenly the moon broke through a cloud and cast its beams right across the rippled water to where my boat was lying. It was like a long band of silver across the water—a beautiful sight—but why should I start and shiver? What did it remind me of? The memory of a certain morning when, chased by the coast guard, I had cast the cargo into the sea came over me with overwhelming power. I saw again the ship's boy's frightened face, and I heard his cry, 'It won't sink!'
"Ah, what had I been trying to do? I had tried to lighten the ship by casting the cargo overboard and there, behold, it was all floating behind me like an accusing line stretched up to the throne of God. All that I had done, said, or thought, was there before the face of God, and 'it would not sink!' Fool that I was, I thought I could drown all my wickedness in the sea of eternal forgetfulness, and I had not a thought of the holiness of God!
"I was completely thrown down. All my trouble would be worthless—all my good resolutions vain— even if faithfully done. If I had been able from that moment on to do only what was good, it would not have changed the evil done in the past. What good was it to be forming good resolutions for the future, and to pitch the old cargo overboard, when it would not sink? Tears of despair filled my eyes and ran down my cheeks. I was lost, hopelessly lost! For me there was no resource, no salvation.
"While I was in this state, seeing neither relief nor safety, my thoughts went back again to my childhood. I remembered the teachings of my faithful mother. Hadn't she often told me about Jesus, the Savior of sinners? Hadn't He died on the cross for sinners? Hadn't one of the thieves who was crucified with Him found pardon at the last hour? And if I should turn now to this Savior wouldn't His precious blood wash away even my many sins? Wasn't there grace and mercy for me even for me?
"All at once everything was clear before me. Yes, the Lord Jesus had died for me. He had borne the punishment of all my sins. If I accepted that, they would all be cast into the depths of the sea. 'Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more' was the passage that came to my mind. Such a joy as filled my heart then! Lighthearted, entirely relieved of my burden, I turned my boat toward the shore and, a new man, I stepped out on the land. I had gone out a lost sinner, but I was coming back redeemed by the Lord.
"That was the good end of my adventure with the coast guard," said the old sailor. "It all turned to my eternal salvation, for it taught me that it was altogether useless to lighten the ship by my own efforts, seeing the cargo will not sink. True deliverance only comes by faith in the testimony of God concerning His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.”
"WHAT SHALL WE DO,
THAT WE MIGHT
WORK THE WORKS
OF GOD?”
"THIS IS THE WORK
OF GOD,
THAT YE BELIEVE
ON HIM WHOM HE
HATH SENT.”