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tu n lty to reach several hundred men who were in p o rt only a very sho rt time, being on a cruise to the North and a t th a t tim e homeward bound. W ill you no t pray for every leaflet, Gospel, and •interview and for those who have pro fessed to have accepted Christ as th e ir personal Saviour, whose story follows? A colored man was found all alone in th e mess room of a ship w riting a let t e r home to his wife. Asked if he would have tim e to listen to a little mes sage from th e Bible he said: “ I’ll tak e tim e for that. • One should always have tim e to listen to th e Lord.” He con fessed th a t he was ju s t w riting to his wife th a t while he was away he did not always _behave himself, in fact lived very badly, b u t hoped to do b etter in the future. He said he was not a Chris tian, n eith er was his Wife, and he reck oned th a t was th e reason th a t they had so many quarrels and when he was away .they both had more peace as one could not s ta rt a fight w ithout th e other. “ Yet,” he said, “ I love my wife and al ways w rite her about everything, even if I am bad.” There was a fine oppor tu n ity to lead a soul into a real peace w ith God and to open up th e way to happiness in th e home life. Nothing was said by the worker as to th e trouble a t home, b u t Christ was presented to a h e a rt which was really tired of th e sins th a t dragged him down. He confessed th a t he was bad through and through, bu t was most earnest in following the w orker as Scripture after Scripture was unfolded to him. F inally he accepted Christ as his personal Saviour. Then he though t about his le tte r and his wife, and saw why God let th e worker come in before th e le tte r was finished. “ I ’ll have b etter news to finish w ith th an I though t,” he said, and as the worker left, he was telling her in th e letter, th a t th e reason for unhappiness on his p art was now removed, and he hoped th a t she too would accept the Lord. Looking F o r a P reach er On another ship ju st in from the A tlantic a man asked th e worker; “Are you a m inister of th e Gospel?” , This was an unusual greeting as th a t title is very seldom used by men of th e sea. Also he seemed eager to have his hope realized, as he seemed to have been looking for such a man. He was told th a t we were in Seamen’s work and then he asked us if we could not hold a service on board th a t vessel the next day. This also is unusual, for as a rule, the worker
has to ask to arrang e a meeting. The day came and th e worker was ready to preach to th e men, bu t no men came .except th ree from th e stew ard’s depart ment, and th e man who had asked for th e meeting. It was found th a t a change in orders caused th e sailors to go rig h t back to work a t the noon hour, getting things ready for th e longshore men to begin unloading a p a rt of the ship not yet emptied, so th ere was no meeting, which a ll reg retted . Those present were all Christians except one man who was a native of Colombia, a big husky fellow. The disappointm ent was soon forgotten when th is fellow .accept ed the Lord and only then we saw why th e trip was made to th a t ship th e sec ond time. W inning one soul was b etter th a n having a meeting a fte r all. B om Again In a Launch One day lately several former helpers in th e Seamen’s work came down to spend the day before leaving for other fields a fte r completing th e ir course in th e In stitu te. A little launch was tak en along and a little tim e of fellow ship was ours in th e - Gospel launch. During the afternoon several visited a battleship and dealt w ith some men, finally leaving the ship in the Gospel launch. Two men came along to get to shore no t knowing w hat so rt of a boat th is was and while we were making for shore n atu rally the conversation turned to th e real thing. Both were good listeners and about half way across one of them accepted th e Lord. So th e first soul born again on th a t launch caused us all to rejoice greatly. Also we feel th a t if nothing would ever be accom plished through th e launch besides th a t, it was worth th e money invested, was it not? . _ , Much prayer is needed for th e work, for every piece of Gospel literatu re placed and for these men in a hard place who have accepted th e Lord. “W hither shall I go from thy S p irit?” “W hither shall I flee from th y pres ence?” Psalm 139:7. T h e following story of the conversion of a Jew is an illu stration of th e persist ence and faithfulness of th e Holy Spirit in following and bringing safely back into the fold of th e Great- Shep herd one of the “lost sheep of the House of Israel.” JEWISH WORK Jam es A. Vaus Supt.
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