Captain Brown was in command of one of the finest yachts in the world. He was a splendid man all round: a rare seaman, a well-read man, and physically of unusually fine build and commanding stature.
During the winter his yacht was "laid up," and his time was his own to spend as he pleased. Now the captain was, above everything else, a Christian; and he devoted all the evenings of this period of leisure to evangelistic work.
One stormy winter's night, after having preached the gospel at the City Mission, he came out to find the rain falling in torrents, and his home was five miles away. He called a cab, and was soon rattling along, cozy and warm, while the storm beat upon the closed windows.
After the fatigue of having walked the five miles to the Mission, and of holding a long service followed by an after-meeting, the quiet rest in the cab was very pleasant. Suddenly, however, a fierce blast of wind and rain shook the vehicle, and he said, half aloud: "That poor cabman! What a drenching he will get!”
All the man in the captain rose in pity for the bodily discomfort of his driver. Then a thought occurred to him, with sudden and startling force.
"I wonder if his soul is saved!" All the Christian in him was aroused for the poor man's soul. Acting promptly on his leadings, the captain opened the door, and called him in.
"Cabbie, I want you a moment. It is an awful night for your body, exposed as it is; but I cannot be at rest as I think about your soul. Is it saved? Are you ready for death? Are you serving God?”
The cab was drawn close to the roadside now, and at the captain's invitation the cabman sat down opposite to him, so they might have a few minutes' conversation. It transpired that for some time the man had been troubled about his soul, and he welcomed the opportunity to learn those things now being presented to him.
"Where is your difficulty, friend?" asked the captain.
"Well, sir, you see, I've known all about these things ever since I was a little boy at Sunday school; but what I want now is to know how to get the benefit of Jesus Christ's death for me. I've done any amount of repentin' and prayin', and such like, of late; but I don't seem to get much farther. Tonight at supper my little girl was singin'—
“‘It is not your tears of repentance, nor prayers, But the blood that atones for the soul.'
"So now I'm at a loss and don't know what to do.”
Very simply, but very faithfully, Captain Brown showed the poor man that he had been looking within himself for some sort of comfortable feeling, instead of looking at Christ's work upon the cross for him.
"We are 'saved by grace' (free gift) 'through faith,'" he said. "We believe and receive; our joy comes from the knowledge and acceptance of the facts that 'the Lord hath laid on Him' (Jesus) 'the iniquity'—the sin—`of us all,' and that He does accept Him as our Substitute.”
That cabman went home with his heart at peace through believing God's statement as to the Lord Jesus Christ.