One day at the conclusion of my lesson, my tutor said he had very, unpleasant news to break to me. It was this:--That an examination would be held for civilians only, and that an order had been received stating that no seaman should be allowed to change his rating. Oh, I thought, was ever any disappointment so vexatious as mine? I left his house with a wounded spirit, and, having crossed the harbour, walked toward home, a journey of three miles, weeping bitterly and praying nearly all the way. The very heavens above seemed to me as brass, and my horizon appeared dark as the blackness of night; not a streak of light could I find. For two years I had been studying and working hard to qualify for this examination, and had spent most of my earnings in tuition, and now the issue was that in spite of my utter dislike to a naval life as a sailor, I must still pursue it. The memory of that awful journey comes to mi mind very forcibly at times, and when I hear or know of any sore disappointment occurring in one's life, I fervently pray to God that such disappointment may be immersed in the waters of kindly help and sympathy. May the Christ of Gethsemane comfort all wounded hearts, all crushed spirits, and make sorrow the seed of a new hope, even as He did in my life. On reaching home that evening my parents observed that I had been weeping, and on asking the cause, the pent-up grief again burst forth. Gradually I became calm, and conveyed to them the news which I had received from my tutor, the naval schoolmaster. They both agreed there and then, that by God's help I should be released from my unbearable life, and that steps should be taken immediately to that end. Shortly after I came home from sea I attended the Congregational Church at Cawsand, and here, under the influence of my pastor's preaching, made a decision for Christ. He soon put me in harness in church work, and for more than two years I studied theology under him, he kindly coming to my home every Monday evening to help me in that direction. Occasionally he set me an examination paper, and assisted me educationally in every way. This course of theological study began while I was yet in the navy, and often when boat-keeper at the lower boom of the 'Cambridge' have I spent hours in study. To test my preaching abilities, the Rev. Stephen Stroud, for such was my pastor's name, would take me into his church, where in a pew he would sit as a listening critic, while I preached from the pulpit.