A steamship left wharf one morning with nineteen passengers aboard. All went well until about seven o’clock in the evening, when the vessel struck upon some rocks.
The captain, finding that the sinp was leaking badly and that water was coming in, ordered the boats to be lowered, and the passengers and crew got into them; but the weather being very stormy, and the sea rough, nearly all the boats were swamped, and only six passengers and eight of the crew reached the shore; all the rest, thirty-two in number, were drowned, although they were very near the shore.
Surely this sad event, dear reader, has a voice to you, if unsaved. The passengers little thought when they left their homes, and bid their friends goodbye, that in a few hours they would be in eternity. Yet so it was; and you may be called away as suddenly as they were.
“O but,” you say, “I am young and strong, full of life and vigor.”
Yes, and many of those aboard the vessel, were strong hardy men, but their strength could not save them, anymore than you can save your own soul.
How solemm to be ushered into eternity thus! no time to prepare fur death, or to meet God! If you are not trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, trust Him now, even while you are reading these lines. But perhaps you do not see the danger you are in.
The people aboard the vessel saw their danger, and without delay availed themselves of their only means of escape. God says,
“Now is the accepted time.”
Satan will try his utmost to make you turn away, and say,
“Tomorrow I will trust in Jesus;” but tomorrow for you may never come, and if you die unsaved, where Jesus is, you can never go.
He is still saying, “Come unto Me.” He is the same mighty, loving Saviour — “mighty to save;” the One of whom we read in John’s Gospel. When He found the sheep, He put it on His shoulder, and never laid it down till He got it safely home,
I earnestly entreat you, clear reader, to trust in Him, the Good Shepherd, God’s dear Son, as your own Saviour.
The boats were the only means of escape for the people on the vessel and Jesus is the only way of escape from the wrath to come; and though the passengers and crew took to the boats, the greater number were drowned; but if you are safe in God’s lifeboat, you can never be lost, His own word declares, “They shall never perish.” John 10:2828And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28).
“Life is found alone in Jesus,
Only there ‘tis offered thee—
Offered without price or money
‘Tis the gift of God, sent free.
Take Salvation—
Take it now and happy be.”
ML 01/30/1944