Installment thirty-nine.

Now Mr. and Mrs. Gregory are left alone in their cabin to discuss the
events of the day.
____________________________________________________
Installment thirty-nine:

"What are you going to do about this truth of the Sabbath?" Mrs. Gregory
asked when a knock on the door interrupted their conversation. It was Dr.
Spaulding.
"I'm so glad you came in," said Mrs. Gregory. "My husband and I were
just talking about a matter of personal duty and I'd like you to join us."
Dr. Spaulding glanced about the stateroom, instinctively detecting that
the matter of personal duty was one which, above all others, he would
avoid. His distress was apparent, particularly when he saw Harold's
Bible lying on the table, which the young man had left behind in his haste.
"Perhaps you have not long to stay with us," said Mrs. Gregory, "so I will
come at once to my point."
Dr. Spaulding's eyes seemed to be pinned on a text which, as a motto for
the voyage, Mrs. Gregory had posted on the side wall of the stateroom.
"You see, Dr. Spaulding, my husband and I have been taken through a
hard experience. As you know, yesterday God sent me down through
"the valley of the shadow," and as I considered all the circumstances, I am
profoundly convinced that it was to teach me to be willing to bear my
cross as the Lord Jesus would have me. I have been bitterly opposed
to the idea of observing the true Sabbath of the Lord, although ever
since I was a child, I have heard something telling me that Sunday is
not the Christian day of rest. Yesterday that bitterness almost cost me
my life, and only the heroic act of a Sabbath keeper saved me. I have
come to see what God wants me to do and I intend to do it. My husband
can also see it. He is also convinced that the truth spoken yesterday
called for surrender on our part. My question is: Don't you think we
should both come out at once and openly take our stand in favor of
the Sabbath? You are an ambassador for Christ and I want you to
give me your most sincere opinion."
Little did the good woman know that the day before, at the very same
time she fell overboard, Dr. Spaulding was seeking to persuade her
husband that Harold Wilson was a menace to the Christian belief of
a vast majority of the passengers, and that Mr. Anderson should be
shunned by both ministers and lay people.
Mr. Gregory sensed the embarrassment of the situation and sought
to come to Dr. Spaulding's aid.
"Dr. Spaulding," he said, "don't you regard it as remarkable, in view
of what we were discussing at the time of the accident, that Mr.
Wilson should have been the one to save my wife's life? And mark
you, he himself has said the truth which has recently come to him
was what gave him inspiration and faith to jump overboard and
attempt the rescue. Don't you think it's remarkable?"
"Yes, Gregory, I do. And I confess myself reproved for what I said."
"But you must answer my question, Dr. Spaulding," Mrs. Gregory
insisted. "Don't you think we should both keep the Sabbath, even
though it may cost us everything we have in the world, when we
have come to understand that God is calling upon us to do so?"
_______________________________________________
To be continued...