HE was one of the devil’s castaways. He had been a drunkard and a thief, with a wretched home and a broken-hearted wife. Some of the things lie passed through are almost beyond conception. He was once foraging in the London sewers for silver spoons, and other things carelessly dropped by the servants down the sinks. Whilst engaged thus, some oil stores caught fire and the surface of the Thames was a burning mass. The rising tide swept this burning oil up the sewer. As he began to retrace his steps he heard the most horrible shrieks, on turning a corner he saw numbers of rats fleeing before the flames. There was no way out except at the mouth of the sewer. He dived, swam underneath until he had got beyond the floating mass of oil. This was only one out of many hairbreadth escapes he related to me. That man was afterward converted.
The grace of God, which brings salvation to all men, found him out and blessed him. His joy was too great to keep to himself, he began to speak to others. I met him one day, and said, “What are you doing?” He replied: “I was down last night in the suburbs of London preaching to the people and telling them of this wonderful Saviour, and how He saves to the end, and gives His sheep eternal life, and will never let them perish. After the preaching was over, they came to me and said, ‘That gospel is too sure. If you don’t hold on you will be lost.’”
“What was your answer?” I asked. “Oh, I told them I did mean to hold on, but I had found out that when I was saved two people got hold of each other. I got hold of Christ, and Christ got hold of me, and I am sure of one thing, if I let Christ go, He will never let me go; He loves me too much.”
Can you say that, my reader?
H. N.