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our conductor th e Word of God and the little story. He gripped our hand and said “You’ve given me something today to th in k over. Good-bye. I ’ll read the book.” U We were ju s t as two ships passing in th e night, and only etern ity will reveal th e issue. “ In th e morning sow thy seed, and in th e evening w ithhold no t th y hand, for thou knowest no t w hether shall prosper, eith er th is or th a t, or whether they both shall be alike good.”— D. T. Cant, Supt. The p a s t, m onth b rough t answers to prayer and visible resu lts from tim e to time. Conditions are ex trao rd inary in th e world, yet the Gospel of Christ is sufficient. SEAMEN’S , It was a privilege to WORK bring th e message of sal vation to th e crews, as well as th e passengers, of many vessels in and out of th is busy port, sending the Gospel along th e highways of th e sea to far-off shores. The Lord opened doors in churches for th e message in regard to th e need of th e work, and many friends were raised up. O ftentimes Christian people would come and say “This is th e first tim e in a long while th a t we have heard a real Gospel message. We were weary of so much . of th e schemes and en deavors of th e world.” W h at a bless ing it was to get into o ther churches where th e atmosphere was one of Bible study, faith in th e Book, and in its Christ, and sweet indeed w as th e fel lowship which we counted as a rare privilege. Among th e visible resu lts encount ered was a very atten tiv e listener to th e Gospel. H is face and clothing gave evidence of his being a highly educated foreigner and he d rank in the Word. He proved to be an Armenian, unsaved, needy and interested. It is so easy to speak to h earts ready for th e tru th ! The Lord had prepared his h e a rt and th e re was very little opposition, save th a t of fear th a t th e sto ry heard was too good to be tru e. Yet w hat if it indeed was tru e? Could he reasonably reje ct it? or anyone else? The Spirit spoke to him and th e invitation to ac cept Christ was followed by a public confession. P raise th e Lord! It was a privilege to supply needed help in the way of Scripture and to let th is man go.
S ure,” he replied, “Where are you headed fo r? ” “ Home, when I’m th rough w ith my ro u te.” “Then w h ere?” “ Back to th e job, and th en home again.” “And when you get all th rough w ith th e rou te and home, where afte r th a t? ” “Why, w hat do you m ean?” “ You m ust go some where from down h ere; is it to he heaven or hell?” Somewhat startled , he answered, “ I don’t know .” “Why, how old are you?” “About th irty -fou r.” “And haven’t you found out in all these years where you are going to spend etern ity ? The life of a tree is a thou sand years; even a to rto ise lives a hun dred, and you surely believe th a t a man — th e highest of all God’s created in telligences— will live longer th a n these. W h at is th e object of your existence?” “Don’t know .” Then we said, “You rem ind us of an old story told of a very foolish old king, and a very wise old fool. This old court je ste r pleasing th e king very much one day, th e king presented him with' a golden staff, pledging him to present it to a g reater fool th a n him self should he ever ru n across one. The fool solemnly prom ised he would do so. Years passed and hearing th e old king was dying, he journeyed back to the palace and was ushered into th e bed chamber where th e old king was stru g gling w ith th a t still older preacher who is always reaching out his cold, clammy hand to pluck old and young, rich and poor. “ Sire” he said “ they te ll me you are going on a long journey.” “Yes, fool, a long, long journey.” “ How long is your destination, may I in q u ire ?” “ I don’t know .” “W hat, a long journey for etern ity , sire, and don’t even know your destination? S trange,— b u t tell me, w h at prep aration have , you made for th a t long jou rn ey ?” “None.” “Then here, sire, perm it me to present this golden staff to you for now I have dis covered a g reater fool th a n myself. I also learned th a t I m ust ta k e th a t long jou rney ; every tick of th e watch, every h e a rt beat, every pulse beat, rem inded me th a t life, a t best, is very brief; and learn ing th rough th e blessed Book of th e only One who had ever retu rn ed from th a t etern ity to lead us safely th ere, I yielded my soul to H is tend er embrace and faith , tak ing hold of His Word my fetters fell off and I anchored my soul in Jesus, and am safe ever more.” The Lord gave us th e opportunity as we rode a few blocks tog eth er to give
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