A FRIEND has given us a copy of the Sword and Trowel for July, 1889, in which the following striking instance of salvation by grace at the eleventh hour is recorded at the close of an article with the above heading:—
A vessel once sailed from England with a captain whose profanity, addiction to drink, and tyranny in general quite alienated the crew, so that when he was overtaken by mortal sickness in mid-ocean the sailors resolved to allow the man to die like a dog, without either attention or sympathy. Though he knew little about Christianity beyond the name, there was a cabin boy, called Bob, who had a more tender spot upon his heart. Unbidden, Bob ventured to approach the stateroom door, to enquire how the sick man was, but the only answer was, “What’s that to you? Be off.” Undaunted by this rebuff, the little fellow enquired again on the following morning, at the same time venturing to hope that the captain was better; and, encouraged by a more gracious reply, the kind lad advanced from one thing to another, until he was allowed to wash and shave his master and even to make some tea. Having been cruel as well as profane, the dying captain was too proud to either ask or expect favours from those he had maltreated, but the unsolicited attentions of poor Bob soon produced its effect, and he was regarded as a true friend.
In earlier days, in order to excuse the iniquity into which he had run, the man embraced Atheism; but like Voltaire, whose principles were not proof against a thunder-storm, he found this yielded no support in the trying hour. Though he suffered severely in body, the physical pains were light when compared with the mental. “Alas, Bob, I’m a lost man!” cried the sufferer, awakening to realise the enormity of sin. “No, master,” answered the boy, “God is merciful; He knows what sailors are, and I daresay He’ll save you.” With his heart thus broken, the sick man continued some days longer, until one morning he remarked: “Bob, I’ve been thinking of a Bible,” and then the boy was commissioned to search for the Book. “Where shall I read, master?” asked the faithful attendant as he returned after a successful search; but the other did not know, he had never learned his letters, so that he could only direct that Bob should “try and pick out some places that speak about sinners and salvation.” Thereupon the young reader read for two hours from the New Testament, the words falling on the captain’s heart like arrows of conviction. He saw himself a lost sinner in God’s sight; but terrified at the thought of divine justice, it seemed impossible for him to lay hold of Christ. After a night of misgiving, the dejected sinner remarked, that soon his dead body would be committed to the deep, while the released soul would be lost for ever! “No, no, master, I believe you will be saved yet,” replied the more sanguine Bob, “Remember, I read many fine things yesterday about salvation.” Then followed some talk about praying, and the anxious boy candidly confessed that his capacity in this direction only extended to the Lord’s Prayer, which he had learned of his mother; but not willing to allow fleeting opportunities to pass, the captain beseeched the boy to kneel and cry for mercy, meanwhile praying himself, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Overcome at length by importunity, Bob fell upon his knees, and, although sobs choked his utterance, he cried, “Lord, have mercy on my poor dying captain. O Lord, I’m a poor wicked, ignorant sailor boy. Lord, I don’t know what to say. Lord, the captain says I must pray for him, but I don’t know how—I am but a child. I should be glad to get him tea, or do anything I can for him; but, Lord, I don’t know how to pray for him. Lord, have mercy on him. He says he shall be lost,—Lord, save him. He says he shall go to hell,—Lord, take him to heaven. He says he shall be with devils,—oh that he may be with angels. Don’t let him perish, O Lord. Thou knowest I love him, and am sorry he’s so ill. The men won’t come near him, but I’ll do the best I can for him as long as he lives, but I can’t save him. O Lord, pity my poor captain; see how thin and how weak he is. Oh comfort his troubled mind. Oh help me, Lord, to pray for my master.”
Overcome by this experience, the child retired, but returned in the evening to give another New Testament reading, to every word of which the sinking man listened with the utmost eagerness. On the following morning a wonderful change was perceptible; for, instead of gloom and despair, the captain’s pallid face was aglow with hope; for he had heard the Saviour say to his soul, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee.” Much more passed between the two. . . . Soon after daylight on the following morning the captain was found dead in the attitude of prayer; but who can doubt that the spirit was even then in Paradise, to magnify for ever the wonders of redeeming grace?