IN GOD'S SIGHT | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 20, 1901

IN GOD'S SIGHT.

A CLERGYMAN once heard a laboring man swear dreadfully in the presence of his companions. The clergyman told him it was a cowardly thing to swear so in company, when he dared not do so by himself. The man replied that he was not afraid to swear at any time or at any place.

“I am certain,” said the minister, “that you dare not go into the churchyard at 12 o’clock to-night and swear the same oaths which you have uttered here, when you are alone with God.”

The workman was positive that he would not be afraid to repeat, even at that time and place, the words which the minister had heard him utter.

“Then come to me to-morrow,” said the clergyman, “and tell me you have done it.”

The time passed on; midnight came; the man went to the graveyard. It was a night of thick darkness. As he entered the place, not a sound was heard; all was still as death. Then the clergyman’s word, “alone with God,” came to him with wonderful power. The thought of the wickedness he had committed, and had come there to repeat, darted thru his mind like a flash of lightning. He trembled at his folly. Afraid to take another step, he fell on his knees, and instead of the dreadful oaths he came to utter, the earnest cry went up, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”

The next day he went to the clergyman, thanked him for what he had done, and said he had resolved never to swear again.