IT was at the Sailors’ Rest, or Bethel, as it was called, that I first made the acquaintance of Sandberg.
He was a Norwegian, and was engaged as a seaman and lamp-trimmer on board the ship “Loch Katrine,” bound for London with a cargo of wool and grain.
Of a quiet and reserved disposition, he had few companions among the lively sailor lads and landsmen who attended the “social meetings,” where they were invited to spend their evenings, and have a chat over a cup of cocoa, or give recitations, and sing songs, of a nature consistent with the place, and so keep out of the public-houses, and bad company, which abounded on every side.
I had decided on returning to England, and had lost one vessel, but was on the look-out for another, when I came across Sandberg. He told me the captain of his vessel wanted some hands to complete his crew, so I sought and obtained a berth for home.
Sandberg was a Christian, and a diligent student of his Bible, so that, as he moved in and out among the men in his quiet manner, he was dubbed “religious and stupid.”
Religious and stupid or not―I speak it to my own shame―he lived his Christianity, and bore out, as far as in him lay the words of the Lord Jesus, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16), while I was “hail fellow, well met,” with them all, and my religion was not noticed.
We had a severe time of it, right down to Cape Horn; gale upon gale, with snow and hailstorms―fifty long days and nights before the Cape was rounded, and still no fairer wind or better weather.
“All hands” were more or less in low spirits, longing for warmer weather, and trade winds; some, with bitter cursing, declaring we should never reach home, cursing the ship, the captain, the weather, and (awful wickedness!) God Himself, who alone could save, or send them to the bottom, lost for eternity; but amidst it all Sandberg remained tranquil and quiet, and why? Because he was resting on the only source of quietness for the soul—the Lord Jesus Christ.
One night when the gale raged with unabated fury, the ship was head reaching under close canvas, and “the watch,” wet and cold, turned in at midnight, after making fast sail, and Sandberg’s watch remained on deck.
At a quarter to four in the morning “all hands” were called to reef the foretopsail, and went aloft.
It was pitch dark, and hailing fast. We were all benumbed with cold, struggling with the sail, when a startling cry was heard above the roar of the storm, followed by a crack as of something falling on deck. My first impression was that a block had fallen from aloft, but the loud cry of “Man fell off the yard, sir!” undeceived me. In my bewilderment I called out, “Who is it?” There was a pause to find who was missing, and then came the loud cry, “Sandberg has fallen off the yard, sir!”
Poor fellow! he had fallen backward from the yard on to the forecastle rail—nearly ninety feet—breaking his back, and then had gone overboard. There was no chance of saving him, for no boat could live in such a sea.
In the midst of life we are in death, one moment alive, the next in eternity. But, thank God, Sandberg was ready, the only one of the crew, perhaps, of the ship’s company, numbering fifty souls.
Oh! the mercy of God in sparing those who were not ready to meet Him.
Reader, are you ready?
Can you go as suddenly into the presence of your Creator?
Have you had to do with God about your sins?
If you have not, I tell you solemnly you cannot count on a tomorrow. Not another five minutes ahead can you call your own.
“In the midst of life we are in death.”
“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Have you stopped to consider this? Hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my wards, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). Is judgment before you or behind you? If before you, while you have the chance, grasp the offer of salvation. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
“Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
There is no chance for you, whether your sins be few or many, unless, realizing your lost condition, you rest your guilty soul upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Christ died for our sins.” Will you not say, Christ died for my sins?
Oh! listen to His words― “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
Come to him now, for “now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
May the Lord lead you, dear reader, if still unsaved, to know your need of Him, and to now secure the salvation of your precious soul.
H. W. S.