YEARS ago, two sailors from a British ship, the Daphne, which was anchored close by, were strolling along the shore of a South African town. The wind blew high —indeed, a terrific gale—and the big crest of rolling waves of the Pacific formed a grand and most sublime picture.
“What’s the matter?” suddenly cried the tallest of the two sailors, James MacLennen, seeing a crowd rushing towards a concrete wall that went down into the water. Outstripping his companion, he speedily gained the spot. It was just what he had feared — a man struggling in the water. Not a second to lose. Throwing off his coat, and forgetting even his pretty young wife in Scotland, the gallant fellow leaped over the wall, twenty feet down into the deep surging sea below. Anxious eyes watched the brave swimmer! At length, the poor fellow for whom he risked his life was actually in the sailor’s grasp, but alas, for a moment only. A tremendous receding wave proved too strong. Exhausted, he was swept out from the arms so nobly straining every muscle to save him, and buried beneath the foam.
With great difficulty, MacLennen reached the shore. Cheer after cheer followed him as he returned to the Daphne. Later he was awarded a beautiful medal for his bravery. “It’s quite like him,” said Jim MacLennen’s sister-in-law to me Afterward, “he’s so kind, so good.”
“Yet, after all, he failed,” I answered, my thoughts wandering back to another scene more than 19 centuries ago, in Palestine, my heart secretly responding, blessed contrast: “My Saviour cannot fail.”
Your Saviour too, I trust, dear young friends? These are His own precious words for you: “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” 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). Can you praise Him enough? He came in love to save sinners, sinking down to hell with the weight of their own sins. He went beneath those dark waves of death and judgment, and rose again the mighty conqueror of death and Satan. And He is still saving the precious souls of all who trust Him as Saviour and Lord.
ML-06/14/1970