"Be saved by hiding in the cleft of the Rock," the preacher had said "for that Rock is Christ!"
Later, some men who had heard this solemn word were talking together. Said one: "Saved in the cleft of a rock! I know what that means. I was saved that way once, nor can I ever forget it."
"How did it happen? Tell us about it."
"You remember that when the railroad first came through our town it was a single track. Remember that long curve at the foot of the hill? Hardly any space was left between the rocky cliff and the tracks on the one side, nor from the tracks to the deep water on the other."
"Yes, I have often thought how awful it would have been if the train had run off the track there. On the cliff side there was barely enough space for the train to pass without striking the rocks."
"And on the river side there was no place for a person to stand if a train should come while he was there. It was an awful place before the second track was laid and the roadbed widened. I shudder to think what might have happened to me there.
"It was when we were yet children, a short time after the railroad was built. My sister and I were coming home from school, and we thought it would be shorter and easier, as well as more pleasant, to try the railroad cut instead of the long walk over the hill-path. We knew that it was past the time for the express, and that no other train was due: so we felt safe enough. In fact, we did not think of danger. My sister was older than I, and I left all care to her.
"We were going along leisurely. I was skimming stones across the water and she looking on, when suddenly she caught my hand, screaming, ‘Run! The express is coming!'
"Listening, I heard its distant roar. Its whistle sounded as it neared the curve. We could not see it yet but boys, you know, learn to tell trains and locomotives by their sounds and by the differences in their whistles. I knew that it was the express. My heart seemed to stop. Had not my sister forced me on, I would have been powerless to run. We ran as fast as possible; but what are the feet of children in a race with an express train, and that train behind time and trying to make up its schedule?
"Had we gone back we would have been safe, for we had only just started on the narrow and dangerous stretch when we heard the train. All that long run was ahead before we could reach a spot wide enough to let a train go safely by—and not far behind came that express.
"It was a cloudy day in early winter so that it seemed quite dark, especially on that side of the hill. Perhaps it was the darkness, perhaps the curve that prevented the engineer from seeing us. He had not yet seen us: the train was coming on as fast as ever.
"Oh, that awful terror of that minute—for it was but a minute! Each moment we felt must be our last. We could hear the roar of the train coming nearer and nearer. We did not know but that it was almost upon us. We dared not look around lest we should lose time. We dared not even speak! Tightly holding each other's hands, we ran on. All this, you need not be told, took less time than it takes to tell it.
"Suddenly the whistle blew. The engineer had seen us, but too late to stop the train.
Whether or not the whistle made my sister notice, I don't know; but just then we reached a place where a large piece had been blown out of the rock by the side of the track: it seemed as if the rock had parted and a wedge had been taken out.
"Before I had time to think, my sister let go of my hand and at the same moment threw her arm about me and pushed me into that cleft in the rock. Then she threw herself forward and crowded me into the opening.
"Hardly had she done this when the train rushed by and left us safe in the cleft. We were saved—saved by a single moment only. Had we gone ten yards farther the train would have caught us, and—well, I would not be here to tell about it."
"That was a narrow escape, surely."
"Yes; and I never think about it without a shudder. WE WERE SAVED BY THAT CLEFT IN THE ROCK. If ever children were thankful for anything, we were for that cleft rock. I sometimes think, 'What if it had not been there!' "
"I can see that the preacher's message would make you think of your terrifying experience. But why be so wrought up over it? We are all honest, law-abiding citizens, and need not be concerned for the future."
"Ah, but I am deeply concerned, and each of us should be, I fear. We are in the way of danger, and, unless we take heed, in the way of eternal death. Destruction's express train is rushing along. It may soon overtake us. Then what? That sermon meant me. I am afraid that it meant you, too.
"But it is not so much of that I'm thinking: I can't forget that Rock that the preacher said was cleft for us. It is the 'cleft in the Rock' that is on my mind. I know what it means."
"I can't say I do."
"Had you been saved as I once was 'in a cleft of a rock,' you would understand. We are both on a dangerous track, and in the way of destruction. It is coming, too, and not far behind. Running away will not help: we can't get out of its way by running. We must find some place to hide, some place where destruction's train cannot reach us.
"Right alongside of WHERE WE ARE is a cleft Rock. In that is the place to hide.
That Rock is Christ. That is what the preacher meant when he said that we must `hide in the Rock Christ.' That is what is meant by the hymn:
'Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.'
"I have made up my mind to hide in that Rock. I know now that only there can I find eternal safety. Will not you, my friends, seek that place of security from all that would destroy your souls? Hiding in Him, resting on Him, will bring peace and joy."