Sword & Trowel 2018: Issue 2
by all on board. It caused a great stir, and the subject of hell fi gured prominently in everyone’s conversa- tion that day. Then, at 5pm, the big saloon fi lled for Sir Arthur, while the Chief Offi cer’s cabin housed a fervent prayer meeting.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Word of God so emphatically
read by an earnest senior offi cer in the morning had its effect. As the passengers poured out of Sir Ar- thur’s meeting, disgust was written on almost every face. That same evening most of the passengers at- tended the ship’s service where an evangelical preacher spoke on ‘God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.’
Later on in the course of the
voyage, Brown was walking on one of the decks when he saw Conan Doyle sitting alone. He sat down beside him to invite him to attend a Bible study meeting, but Sir Arthur was soon elo- quently giving forth about Spiritualism, so that the frustrated Chief Offi cer could not get a word in edgeways. When, at last, Conan Doyle paused for breath, Brown said quickly, ‘I went in for Spiritual- ism once.’
‘Indeed?’ said Sir Arthur, sitting up. ‘Yes,’ replied Brown, ‘and the result was that I nearly did away
page 28 Commodore of the Fleet
with myself.’ ‘I told him,’ wrote Captain Brown
later, ‘how, in the depth of my mis- ery and despair, I had heard God’s loving invitation and at last yielded to him. How the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, had cleansed me from all sin, and how, as the years passed, Christ had become more and more precious to me.’ Conan Doyle listened like a man in a trance. Then Lady Conan Doyle came up and sat beside them. Brightly, she asked what the conversation was about and without waiting for a reply, she supposed it was Spiritualism and went on to extol its virtues very ani- matedly. Sir Arthur put up his hand to stop her and said, ‘Mr Brown is all right – he is under the blood of Christ and is a very happy man.’ More and more Brown found that God was using his witness in the ships he served as Chief Offi cer. Here is a typical letter written from the Guild- ford Castle, which was nearly sunk after a colli- sion in dense fog: ‘I held a small meet- ing in my cabin each evening and a small ser- vice each Sunday in the deck boys’ cabin. God gave me many outward signs of blessing. Three men soundly converted and witnessing for him. One lady, a backslider, was brought back to him and his service. She
Sir Arthur and Lady Conan Doyle
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