SUCH an easy text, aunt Fanny; it did not take us long to learn it. Indeed, I am almost sure Hilda and myself knew it more than a year ago. Shall we say it to you?” And Wilfrid and Hilda Gray repeated the Bible verse I have already quoted.
“Do you think your verse is quite as easy to understand as to repeat?" aunt Fanny asked, in her bright pleasant way. There was a moment's silence, then Wilfrid said, "I think I can explain it, or at least the first part of it; I know what it means to escape, to get away from any danger. Last winter mother used to read to us almost every evening, and I remember it was about John Wesley, how, when he was quite a little boy only six years old, he had a very narrow escape from being burnt to death, when his father's house caught fire and was burnt down.”
“But God took care of John Wesley, and sent somebody to get him out of the burning house; and when he was grown up he used to preach the gospel and tell people about the Lord Jesus," Hilda added, by way of a conclusion to her brother's story.
“Thank you very much for your account of the early days of John Wesley. Now perhaps you would like to hear a true story of an escape from drowning, I really saw when on a visit to Ramsgate, three or four years ago”
“Oh, yes; do tell us about it please, aunt Fanny," cried both the children at once; and Hilda drew her stool nearer to aunt Fanny's chair.
“It was a fine morning in the autumn of 1883. A fresh breeze was blowing towards the land, so that the sea was rough, but the sun shone brightly. The season was almost over, and nearly all the visitors had left Ramsgate. Only a few children were building castles and digging trenches on the yellow sands, and the number of grown-up people taking a walk on the parade was not large. I had been a little way out to see a sick person; on going down to the sea front, everybody seemed interested, and a few almost excited. What had happened?
“Very quickly the news passed from one to another, ‘The lifeboat has been called out for active service.' I had often seen her when her crew took her out for practice, riding over the waves almost like a thing of life. Now the call for real work had come. But where did the call come from? Who on that bright morning was to be saved by the lifeboat? No flash of rockets or sullen booming of guns had told of any ship run aground on the Goodwin Sands.
“I joined a group who had gathered round a coastguard, and soon learned all he was able to tell.
“A youth who was on his way along the sands from Broadstairs to Ramsgate, had been overtaken by the tide at a point where it comes in very quickly, and the cliffs are too high and steep for any one to escape by climbing. ‘Do you think the lifeboat can reach him in time? where is he now?’ we asked.
“The coastguard looked for some moments through his glass, then answered: He has got a little way up the cliff, just above high-water mark. There is no foothold, but he is holding on with both hands to a ledge of rock. If he can hold on a little longer, he may be saved.'
“Poor boy, that quarter of an hour, during which his danger was so very real, must have been a terrible, never-to-be-forgotten time to him. I could only pray that in that solemn moment the voice of God might be heard in his soul.
“The lifeboat was on her way, and soon reached the one by whom her help was so sorely needed. But at that moment a new difficulty seemed to stand in the way. It was found impossible to get her near enough to the foot of the cliffs, to take the boy off. A life-line or rope was thrown to him, and the captain of the lifeboat called loudly to him to loose his hold of the unsafe, crumbling rock, and grasp the life-line by which he might be drawn safely into the boat.
“But as he looked at the white-crested waves I think he felt afraid, for he still clung to the rock ledge. It could not bear his weight till the turn of the tide, and every moment's delay only added to his danger.
“Must he perish in that sea? Lost, and yet with help so very near. Would the crew of the lifeboat give up trying to rescue him and go sorrowfully away?
“No; for men, carrying poles and long ropes, were seen at the top of the cliff. Cautiously and trying every foot of the unsafe edge with their poles till they found standing room, a rope was let down over the face of the cliff; but the boy could not grasp it, and this attempt would have failed if two of the crew of the lifeboat had not swum out to him, and, after a good deal of trouble, succeeded in making the rope fast under his arms. The men at the top then drew him up, and I think he must have been very glad and thankful when he found his danger was a thing of the past, and he was safe, quite safe.”
“Yes, aunt Fanny, and how grateful he must have felt to those brave men who had taken so much trouble to save him," Wilfrid said very earnestly. After a moment's pause, he continued, "I am sure he would always like to read or hear something about lifeboats and their crews. Do you know when I was at Deal I saw a lifeboat very often, and one day an old sailor who was sitting on the beach, making a fishing net, told me why the lifeboat is different from other boats, and so able to go out when the sea is very rough. I cannot remember all he said, but he tried to explain to me how it is built with a false bottom, under which a hollow space is left, and lined with cork, which being lighter than water always floats, and even if the lifeboat should upset, is a great help in getting her righted again. I was so interested that, when Mr. Cooper said we might choose our own subjects for composition, I wrote mine on ‘The Lifeboat,' and got thirty marks for it.”
“But you have not talked to us about our text yet, aunt Fanny," Hilda, who had been listening very quietly, said.
“I am quite ready now, darling," aunt Fanny answered. "While we have not really spoken of our text, I think our little talk about the lifeboat has helped you to understand the meaning of it. You know when the apostle Peter wrote a letter to Christians, one of the things he told them was: 'Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold.... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.' (1 Peter 1:18, 1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19).)
“The Lord Jesus loved us so much that He bought us for His own. He paid the price, by giving His life that we might be saved. But if we neglect this great salvation, there is no way of escape for us. But what does it mean to neglect?
“Why it is just to take no notice. If you heard mother's voice calling, ‘Wilfrid and Hilda, come to me, I want you,' and you were to go on with your play, and never even run to see what she wanted—how do you think she would feel about it?”
Tears stood in Hilda's eyes as she answered, "I am sure mother would be very grieved and very surprised, too, to find we were such rude and disobedient children.”
“But we would not do it, aunt Fanny," Wilfrid added stoutly.
“No, Wilfrid, I do not for a moment think you would treat your gentle, loving mother so unkindly. But how are you treating the far greater love of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you neglecting or accepting the salvation He came to bring?
“I am not going to ask you to tell me just now, but I want you very much to answer the solemn question of your text to Him who loved you and gave Himself for you.”