SOME years ago a solemn scene was witnessed in a village churchyard. A funeral procession was seen wending its way thither, with not one coffin only but eleven—borne on the shoulders of stalwart village men.
The reader may perhaps wonder why so many bodies were being buried at once. A terrible gale had raged on our eastern coasts. The storm was at its height, when signals of distress were seen by the coastguard. They evidently proceeded from a vessel some distance out at sea. Willing hands were at work immediately, and brave men put out in the lifeboat. Before long the doomed ship was reached, and some of the crew were put into the lifeboat and brought to shore.
But the work of rescue was not yet over. Once more the life boat gained the shore with its precious burden, but there were others yet needing to be saved. This time, alas! on its way to the wreck, the boat capsized, and the brave rescuers were seen struggling in the water. Something prevented the boat from righting itself, so that there was no hope, humanly speaking, for the men, and most were drowned.
The body of one man was never recovered, and only two managed to swim ashore. The rest, who so recently had been full of health and vigor, met with a sudden death. Was this the end? “After this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27), God’s word tells us. How many were prepared for this?
Dear reader, where would you be were sudden death to overtake you? At any moment you may be called away, or Christ may come to take His people to Himself (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). Would you be ready to meet Him? The lifeboat failed in its work of salvation, but Christ never fails. God is ever ready to accept any poor sinner who knows his need, and trusts in the finished work of Christ. God grant that each one who reads these lines may find “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).
A. E.