IT was a terrible night. The storm was raging fearfully round a vessel far away in the Chinese Sea, off the coast of Singapore. Could the ship live through the tempest? It seemed doubtful, and many stout hearts not accustomed to tremble, were trembling now.
The men off duty were in their berths below, but it was no time for sleep; for none could say whether they might not all be swept into the angry waters long before morning. All were wishing they were safe on shore; many were feeling now, with death staring them in the face, that there was something wrong within—that the great matter between themselves and God had never yet been settled.
But a cheerful voice was heard among them:
“Well, my men, I’ve come down to read to you: the Word of God is the same in a storm as in a calm, and always does us good.”
The words came from a young officer who, whether on sea or land, always tried to serve God, and never lost an opportunity of doing his Master service. His heart was full of the love of Jesus; he had come to the Saviour with his load of sin, and had left it there; and he had felt the perfect peace which that Saviour gives to those who trust Him in simple faith.
Yes, even on this night of tumult and danger the peace was in his heart, and it shone out in his countenance, and as he sat there on a mess-table, holding to a rope, with his Bible open in his hand, his face was like a sunbeam.
The officer read, and talked, and prayed out of the fulness of his own spirit, rejoicing in his God.
After a while the storm abated, the howling wind sank gradually; the morning came at last, and the sun shone out on dripping decks, and torn sails, and weary workers. The danger was over and no harm had been done.
Everything went on as usual, and, as far as human eye could see, the solemn feelings of that awful night had passed away with the storm that gave rise to them. The vessel reached the port and the officer went on his way.
Some years afterward, while walking along the streets of Singapore, a man touched his hat to him. The officer stopped, and asked him how he knew him.
“O, sir,” said the man, “I have reason to know you, and much indeed to thank you for. Do you remember the night of that terrible gale off St. P—? I was lying in my hammock in fear and trembling, when I saw you come down to read the Bible to the men. I could not hear a word you said, but I could see your face, and I watched you the whole time. I saw your bright, happy smile, just the same as ever. I said to myself,
‘Here am I an old sailor, many years at sea, and I am afraid now in this gale, and here’s a young man as happy as if he were ashore!’
I felt that you had what I had not; I felt that you had what I had heard you say you had—forgiveness of sins, and eternal life. I prayed that night. Ever afterwards I came near you when you were reading, and when I left the ship I was a believer in Jesus Christ.”
ML 07/09/1933