AN engine-driver on the Pennsylvania Railway, on October 22, 1882, saved the lives of about six hundred passengers, by an extraordinary act of heroism. The furnace door was opened by the fireman to replenish the fire, while the train was going at the rate of about thirty-five miles an hour. The back draft forced the flames out, so that the car of the locomotive caught fire, and the engine-driver and the fireman were driven back over the tender into the passenger car, leaving the engine without control. The speed increased, and the volume of flame with it. There was imminent danger that all the carriages would take fire, and the whole train be consumed. The passengers, recognizing the terrible state of things, were panicstricken. To jump off was certain death, to remain was to be burned alive.
“In order to save the lives of those six hundred passengers, it only needed the devotion of one life, the daring deed of one brave man. Joseph Sieg resolved to do it, and there and then, without an instant’s hesitation, he prepared to retrace his steps, ―back from the burning car, back across the red-hot tender, back through the flame, the roar, and the smoke that surrounded him, ―to stop the train, though he should die in the attempt. For an awful moment or so the engine-driver was lost.
No one could see through the cruel flames and the blinding smoke. All at once the paralysis of terror, which had run through the cars from one end to the other, ceased. The train stopped; the danger was over, save for an explosion; and the fireman, half mad with excitement, made a rush for his devoted comrade. He was alive, but sorely hurt, burned and scorched almost to death by the intolerable flames. Almost in despair, he had climbed into the water tank to assuage the agony of his sufferings. There they found Joseph Sieg, his clothes literally burned off his back; his face, hands, and body cruelly scarified by the pitiless flames.
There was no more danger now. The six hundred passengers were safe, and rendering thanks for their merciful preservation; the burning train was easily extinguished; and reverently they bore the injured man to the hospital, where his hurts were pronounced to be so serious that recovery was supposed to be well-nigh impossible. The poor fellow lingered a few days, and then died.”
The above account of the deliverance of some six hundred persons in a railway train from an awful death, by the devotion of one man, is a forcible illustration of the great salvation wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of poor sinners by His death upon the cross.
What a striking picture of the moral state of the world at the present moment, was the condition of the people in this train. The world, like the train, is rushing on, swifter and swifter, in its mad career of sin; men following their own uncontrollable will, with nothing before them but sin’s wages―death, and after this the judgment (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). Little did the passengers think of the awful danger to which they were so suddenly exposed. Probably persons of all grades of society, rich and poor, old and young, their minds filled with the thousand and one cares or pleasures of this life, were being carried rapidly on, thinking they were perfectly safe, when suddenly the awful alarm of fire spreads from one end to the other of the train.
What a terrible moment! Some six hundred of our fellow-creatures brought face to face with death, and that in one of its most fearful forms. And little does the giddy world think of the judgment to which they are hastening. Fire threatened the whole of these travelers, and there seemed no way of escape. And, in fact, had it rested with them to deliver themselves, their case was hopeless. The eternal judgment of the lake of fire now threatens the whole world that lieth in the wicked one (1 John 5:1919And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. (1 John 5:19)). Wrath of God is now revealed from heaven (Rom. 1:1818For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; (Romans 1:18)). But, lulled into carnal security by the arch-enemy of souls, men little dream of the doom that awaits them.
Oh! sinner, have you been aroused to the awful danger in which you stand? Have you heard the sound of alarm? Are you alive to the solemn fact, that you are one of the many who compose a guilty and lost world, that is rushing on, with more than railroad speed, to the everlasting doom of hell? (Rom. 3:1919Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Romans 3:19).) Far better to be aroused to a sense of your ever-increasingly perilous position, than to go on blindfold into death, and wake up in hell when it is too late. May God, in His rich grace, use these lines to warn you.
Have you discovered that you are lost? How then are you to escape? What can you do? Do! Ah! poor sinner, you cannot do anything. What could the people in the burning train do? They could neither stop the train, nor extinguish the flames, nor jump from the carriages without being killed. Neither can you, sinner, stop for one moment the rapid progress of the world’s, or your own, career of sin, nor put off the hour of death and judgment, nor escape by any device of your poor deceived heart. What, then, is to be done? Let us see.
Just at the moment when the whole of the occupants of that train seemed given over to certain death, it began to slacken speed, and very soon was brought to a standstill. How was it accomplished? Not by the efforts of the passengers, but by the wonderful devotion of the engine-driver. One man sacrificed his life for all. Nothing but facing death could deliver; and without a moment’s hesitation, he rushed into the midst of the blinding smoke and the pitiless flames, and stopped the train, sacrificing his own life in accomplishing it. And what a full and perfect deliverance! Not another person was injured. The train having stopped, all that the passengers had to do, was to avail themselves at once of the deliverance wrought for them by another, and simply get out of the carriages. The moment they were out, they were perfectly safe.
How strikingly this illustrates the gospel as to deliverance from death and judgment. For just as the engine-driver went into death to deliver the trainload of passengers from destruction, so Jesus, the Son of God, stooped to the awful death of Calvary’s cross, to deliver this world of sinners doomed to eternal destruction (1 Tim. 2:5,65For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:5‑6)). This was the only way that sinners could be saved, and Jesus sacrificed His own life once for all. The terrible fiery judgment of God, due to the sinner, fell upon the spotless Lamb of God upon the cross. There God hath made Him sin for us who knew no sin (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)). There the awful curse fell upon the holy Christ of God (Gal. 3:1313Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (Galatians 3:13)). “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” was the bitter cry of the Beloved, as He, the Holy and the Just, endured the hiding of God’s face (Matt. 27:4646And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)). Blessed Saviour! His work is done. Yes, dear reader, He finished the work the Father gave Him to do (John 17:44I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. (John 17:4)). “It is finished!” was the dying Saviour’s cry (John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30)). And God raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:2424Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. (Acts 2:24)). Thus has He wrought a full and perfect salvation. Christ is a propitiation for all (1 John 2:22And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)). He died for all. And what is the result? Why, just as the people in the train availed themselves at once of the deliverance wrought, so any poor sinner has now but to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Saviour, God’s great Deliverer, and thus to accept His free and great salvation.
What would you have thought of any person who refused or neglected to get out of the train when it was stopped? Why, you would have thought them mad. What! remain in a train that was on fire, to be burned? I doubt not that every seat was emptied with the utmost haste. But not one passenger there was so mad as you, sinner, if you remain where you are in your sins. Behold, the Judge standeth before the door (James 5:99Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. (James 5:9)), Delays are dangerous. Escape now from this condemned world (Gen. 19:1717And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. (Genesis 19:17)). Behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:22(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)), Christ is the only Saviour, the only Deliverer (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)). Believe on Him, and you are saved, delivered from judgment and the lake of fire (Eph. 2:88For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8)).
Your own efforts are utterly unavailing to deliver yourself from the impending judgment. You are without strength. But when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:66For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)). I press upon you, therefore, the immense importance of the present moment to accept God’s deliverance. Tomorrow may be too late. “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Prov. 27:11Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. (Proverbs 27:1)). Oh! that men would consider their latter end (Deut. 32:2929O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! (Deuteronomy 32:29)). “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Heb. 2:33How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Hebrews 2:3).)
As long as you are part of this poor world, you cannot please God (Rom. 8:88So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8)). You may turn over as many new leaves, and make as many good resolutions as you please, but only to find, again and again, that you have blotted the leaves and broken the resolutions. But once you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, you are for ever delivered from eternal judgment,—a child of God (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)). Then, and not till then, can you walk in God’s ways, and bring forth fruit to His glory. Have you believed? E. H. C.