These words gave hope, and he exclaimed, “Pray for me!”
I knelt by his cot-side; and while he prayed and I pleaded, “the opening heaven around us shone,” and the mighty power of saving grace came down upon his soul.
The tempest was stilled, and all was peace. I looked up into his face to see, that in a moment—as it were, in the twinkling of an eye—all the lines of despair had been taken out of his face, and that it was beaming with joy; a joy unspeakable, and full of glory.
If I had been an infidel up to that time, it seems to me that I should have been convicted of the truth of Christianity in that presence.
There were many witnesses to that scene; and it was as though the Master would show his mighty saving power, for he healed that man soul and body. My secretary was with me. Three days from that time I found him on the shady side of the house reading the Testament I had given him the day before. The same look of peace and joy was in his face, as he said,—
“Oh, I am so happy this morning! I have a furlough, and I am going home. How glad my Christian mother will be to know that I have found salvation.”
“Young man,” I said, “wherever you go, remember that you were snatched as a brand from the burning.”
“I can never forget that. My disease and despair were crushing me down. I must have died if salvation had not come just then; but when you spoke the name of Jesus, I knew you were a Christian, and that you would help me if you could.”