A Spy Turns to Christ

THE FOLLOWING was written by a chaplain of an Ohio regiment on May 18, 1863, near Carthage, Tennessee, after he was asked to pray for a condemned spy:

I found Mr. Smith exceedingly anxious to converse upon the subject of his soul’s salvation, about which, until the time of his arrest, he had felt no interest . . . He had been a soldier in the rebel army, from whom he deserted some time before his arrest . . . Those who had been acquainted with him represent him to be a very wicked and cruel man . . . His wife and children seemed to absorb his whole attention. “What will become of my poor wife and children?” he exclaimed, while at the same time his whole frame shook with agitation . . . We knelt together, and his cries for mercy and forgiveness, intermingled with earnest solicitations for his wife and children, were truly distressing . . . as he met me in passing from the jail to the ambulance which conveyed him to the place of execution [he said] that he was ready to die; “the Lord has pardoned my sins.”

I rode with him, seated upon his coffin, to the scaffold, led him, assisted by the executioner, to the platform, and in the presence of 2,000 (at least) soldiers heard him express the same hope . . . The white cap was then placed over the prisoner’s face, and in a few moments his spirit was launched into eternity . . .

How tragic that a person would wait until his hour of death to repent of his sins and trust Christ. Many who enjoy the pleasures of sin think they will one day give their lives to Christ. Their intentions are good, but good intentions are not enough. Waiting until the hour of one’s death is like gambling with eternity.

May we learn to “number our days” so we will be ready to meet the Lord with confidence.