Will any of these men
be at church to-morrow, do you suppose? I am afraid sailors are not much in
the way of going to church?"
"I am afraid not. You see they are all anxious to get home. Most likely
they'll be all travelling to-morrow. It's a pity. It would be a good chance
for saying something to them that they might think of again. But I often
think that, perhaps--it's only my own fancy, and I don't set it up for
anything--that sailors won't be judged exactly like other people. They're
so knocked about, you see, sir."
"Of course not. Nobody will be judged like any other body. To his own
Master, who knows all about him, every man stands or falls. Depend upon it,
God likes fair play, to use a homely phrase, far better than any sailor of
them all. But that's not exactly the question. It seems to me the question
is this: shall we, who know what a blessed thing life is because we know
what God is like, who can trust in him with all our hearts because he is
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners, shall we not
try all we can to let them, too, know the blessedness of trusting in their
Father in heaven? If we could only get them to say the Lord's prayer,
_meaning_ it, think what that would be! Look here! This can't be called
bribery, for they are in want of it, and it will show them I am friendly.
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