Many years ago there lived a poor widow with her son of sixteen years, who was her only joy and help. They were very poor and Ronald in order to get strengthening food for himself and his mother, used to climb the steep mountains on the coast to hunt for the sea-birds’ nests and take their eggs home. This was a dangerous undertaking, as the large birds defended themselves furiously, when their nests were robbed.
On a certain day, Ronald, after saying good-bye to his Mother, set out to search for nests. He was provided with a strong rope by which he was to be let down over the side of the cliffs, and with a knife to defend himself from the birds of prey. The beach there was beautiful; with an extended view over the foaming ocean that dashed unavailingly its mighty waves against the rocks.
Having climbed up the rocks, Ronald fastened carefully the end of the rope to a rocky point, then tied the other end round his body and he was lowered to a cleft where there were nests. Arriving there, he made a sign to his comrades not to let him down lower. He set his foot on the rock, took in one hand his knife, and stretched out the other to seize the eggs.
At this moment he was attacked by a bird; he tried with a blow of his knife to defend himself, —but O! horrors! instead of hitting the bird, he hit the rope and cut it nearly in two. He uttered a heartrending shriek, that was heard by his comrades. Seeing the danger he was in, they pulled the rope up carefully. Terrible moment! As they were drawing it up, Ronald could distinctly feel that one thread after another was breaking. His first thought and prayer was,
“O Lord! have mercy upon me,” and the next:
“My God! comfort my poor mother!”
He closed his eyes, so that he should not see the precipice, as he felt that every second the rope was getting thinner. They drew on the rope again and again; at last there was but one thread on which he was hanging. He heard the anxious shouts of his comrades, and of his mother, who they were trying to hold back from throwing herself over the cliff, with the desperate desire to save her child. And then, nothing more! He was losing consciousness. But just at the moment the rope broke, one of his friends caught him with a powerful hand, leaning far over the edge of the cliff at the risk of his life, and Ronald was saved!
Is there anyone among my readers whose soul is not yet saved, and is in the same terrible position? His life is hanging by a thread over the precipice of eternal destruction. As years fly past, the strength of the thread lessens. Reader! how much time have you left? Any moment the thread of life may break, and the terrible precipice swallow you up!
Dear reader! Do you know that you are in this position? Ronald felt his condition in that terrible moment, and he thought himself utterly lost, but a strong hand saved him.
May the Lord by His Holy Spirit make known to you the danger you are in, so that you may without delay cast yourself into the powerful arms of the Saviour of the lost. His hand is stretched out to save you, to lift you up, and to bring you to His home in heaven.
Accept the Lord Jesus Christ at once as your Saviour. He will keep you from falling into the terrible abyss of hell.
If you believe on Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who loved you and gave Himself for you, then you are saved.
ML 10/11/1931