In Wales years ago, Mrs. Jenkins asked her daughter Jessie, aged eight, to go into the cellar for some butter which was kept there. The cellar was lighted by a small grating. Soon after Jessie had entered the cellar Mrs. Jenkins faintly heard her calling for help.
“Oh, Mother, come quick and help me.” Mrs. Jenkins was always afraid of the stairs so she went down very carefully, completely mystified because Jessie seemed such a long way off, as if she were not in the cellar; but of course she must be there somewhere.
What had happened? Mrs. Jenkins wondered; had Jessie fallen and partly stunned herself? Then to her horror she found that at the foot of the stairs there was now a large hole through which Jessie must have fallen, when as usual she must have jumped from one of the lower steps to the cellar floor which apparently gave way under her. Mrs. Jenkins immediately went back for a candle, and then, looking down into the hole saw Jessie suspended by her dress from an iron bracket protruding from the wall.
Can you guess what had happened? All unknown to those living in the house it had been built over an old coal mine, which for years had been forgotten! How dreadful!
“Keep as quiet as you can, Jessie,” Mrs. Jenkins shouted to her. “I’ll go at once to get someone to bring you up.” Frantically she ran into the street and stopped the first man she met and asked him to help her. He ran to a nearby builder’s for a rope while Mrs. Jenkins gathered a few neighbors to come in and give a hand. The rope was fastened round the man and he was gently lowered down the hole while all the women held tightly to the rope. After waiting breathlessly in an agony of suspense they heard the man cry out: “It’s all right, I’ve got her, and you can now pull the rope up.”
It was not long before Jessie was delivered into her mother’s arms saved. You can imagine the joy in the hearts of the mother and daughter as they thanked the man for having descended into the pit and saved Jessie.
Dear young friends, there is One who descended from heaven above to rescue YOU from the pit of sin and judgment. He gave his life so that you might be saved. Yes, it was for YOU, that Jesus died.
Now God’s Word declares, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Believe that the Lord Jesus died for YOU and that His death on the cross was to reconcile you to God. Is He your Saviour? Open your heart to Him today and have the joy of knowing you are His.
ML 08/13/1961