“Well,” said his wife, “you know some of the gentlemen who are coming to tea are sceptics, and they are older than you are, and don’t you think you had better wait until after they have gone, or else go out in the kitchen and have your first prayer with the servants?”
The young man thought for a few moments, and then he said:
“I have asked Jesus Christ into my house for the first time, and I shall take Him into the best room, not into the kitchen.”
So he called his friends into the drawing room. There was a little sneering, but he read and prayed. That man afterwards became Chief Justice of the United States Court. Never be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: it is the power of God unto salvation.
A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him.
So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he should do.
“Well,” said the chaplain, “you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right in the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don’t provoke them.”
For weeks after the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one day he met him, and asked—
“By the way, did you take my advice?”
“I did, for two or three nights.”