“Suddenly there was a terrific crash on deck, and in a short time four badly wounded sailors were brought down below. One of them was dying, and he knew it. When Jack came to take care of him, he said,
“ ‘Read me something from the Bible, lad, for I’m going soon, I am dying.’
“Gladly Jack read to him and when he was through, the man said, “‘Through reading that book I was saved from sin, and although I am dying, I am not afraid, for the blood of Jesus has cleansed away all my sins.’
“This was new to Jack, for he had not read the Bible and knew nothing about the forgiveness of sins. With great interest he knelt beside the dying man and began asking many questions. He found that there was one deep sorrow that was ever with him. There was some dreadful crime which he had committed which gave him sorrow, although he knew God had forgiven him.
“‘I feel I must tell you, though I know it is pardoned, that I murdered my son.’
“Jack asked more questions, and with eager ears he heard the story—here in this dying Christian sailor, he had met his own father!
“I will not attempt to describe the happiness of the man, nor the feelings of poor Jack as he watched his father die.
“The father died, and his body was lowered into the sea, there to wait till the Lord Jesus shall raise it up again to be with and like Him at His coming.
“When it was all over, Jack crept down below, and took out the Bible, his father’s own Bible, and began to read it. God’s grace taught him his need as a lost sinner, and God’s grace led him to the feet of the sinner’s Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Jack was saved. Yes, saved through faith in the Lord Jesus, and what a comfort to his heart that someday soon he will be in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ. And there too, Jack is going to meet his father again.”
“And,” said the sailor, “the wonderful news of salvation that Jack found in his father’s Bible is for you, too.”
As the stranger told this wondrous tale to the people at the meeting at Brighton, you may well imagine how interested they all were. As he came to the end of the story, he said, “And the story is perfectly true, friends, for I am sailor Jack.”
Perhaps the reader of this tale has been brought up in a home where the Bible is read and honored. And perhaps you have never had to beg your pants for a piece of bread. No, your story is probably not much like the story of Jack the sailor. But you must take she same Saviour as your very own or you will be lost eternally.
ML 05/24/1953