been told we reached
the old captain's room and passed the threshold to find the bed empty,
for he was gone. "I wish you might have seen his Bible," said the
captain. "I sent it to his family recently. There was not a page in
it that was not marked red." Over his bed swung a pasteboard anchor;
marked upon it were these words--"I have cast my anchor in safe
harbor." For he had gone home.

III

Do you know when you were converted? That is, do you know the exact
time? There are two extremes in experiences in this matter. I recall
the experience of an old man who sat in my lecture room one Friday
evening, and just as the hands of the clock marked the hour 9:30 he
said "I will," and came to Christ. That was the moment of his
conversion. But, as for myself, I have not had this experience; I do
not know just when I turned to Christ. It must have been when I was
but a small child. One of the best women I know has had an experience
similar to mine, while one of the greatest preachers in the land has
told me that he was a drunkard until he was 21 years of age, and then,
on his knees, by his father's death bed, he came to the Savior. After
all, it is not so much a question of the knowledge of the day, or the
hour, or the month of one's conversion as "Do we now know Christ?"

IV

How may we know that we have passed from death into life? Certainly
not with our feelings as a proof, for they change as the sands shift on
the seashore. If our feelings be the foundation, then we may be in the
kingdom and out of it a great many times a day. It is not always to be
determined by a great change in one's life, for men who have not
accepted Christ have had such an experience. There is only one sure
way of knowing it, and that is on the authority of the word of God.
John 5:24, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life." And John
6:47, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life."

It is said that Napoleon while riding in front of his soldiers lost
control of his horse, when a private stepped from the ranks, seized the
horse's bridle and saved the officer's life. Napoleon saluted him and
called him captain. "But, sir," said he, "I am not a captain, only a
private." "Then," said Napoleon, "I will commission you captain." And
immediate