CLOSE beside them in the harbor of Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, lay a Spanish man-of-war, and a little farther away a Dutchman, with white sides and gilt embellished prow, such a pretty ship to look at, that it was hard to realize she had guns and could deal out death and destruction. The Spaniard was so near that our friends could see a good deal of what was passing on board.
It was Sunday, and during the morning the crew was mustered for a short service, and then came a quick change in the music, as the service being over, the officers gathered on deck for a ball. There were a surprising number of them, and they danced with ladies who had come off in little boats from the shore, and returned after the entertainment, escorted by their hosts.
In Spain very few people have Bibles, and possibly none of those who spent their time so gaily on the Carlos V knew those words of the Lord Jesus, "The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.”
How could the children of the bridechamber feast and make merry when the Bridegroom had been taken from them? And how can those who love the Lord Jesus, and own that He is the heavenly Bridegroom of the church, dance and make merry in a world where He has been, and still is, cast out and rejected?
In the afternoon they were startled by the sound of firing, but it was only the Dutch ship giving a salute to the Governor of the place.
And then at sunset they watched the ceremony of hauling down the flag on board the Don. The sailors were ranged on deck, the band struck up the Spanish National Anthem, and down came the flag.
A sailor boy explained all this to Nora, adding that the daily hoisting up and hauling down of the flag was the chief business that went on on board a man-of-war.
Elizabeth, in her ignorance, had thought that a ship of that sort never took down its flag excepting when it surrendered to an enemy. A Christian's colors at any rate should never work by rope and pulley, they must be nailed to the mast, and remain through cloud and sunshine, fair weather and storm. As the little chorus puts it, a Christian must:
“Dare to be a Daniel,
Dare to stand alone,
Dare to have a purpose firm,
And dare to make it known.”
Soon afterward the Razila' s flag was pulled down, and there was no ceremony about it, but then she was not a warship, and her lads had plenty to do, even if they did find time to spin a yarn now and then.
When night fell it was a pretty sight to see the searchlight from the Spanish ship. Sometimes the light lay athwart the Dutch ship and sometimes it played up and down the shore, but whatever it touched stood out in vivid clearness against the dark of a moonless night.
Overhead the stars shone brilliantly, each in its own peculiar glory, as they must have shone on that night so long ago, when the Lord brought Abraham forth out of his tent and said to him, "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”
And to those who, being Christ's, are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise, this word is very precious, for it not only tells of the countless hosts of the Israel of God, but it reminds them that their calling is a heavenly calling, and that they are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And it carries their thoughts forward to the time, now so near, when the Lord Jesus will come into the air, and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the sleeping saints shall be raised, and the living changed, and all together shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
“There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.”
“The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”