IN the month of December last year a high wind arose, and blew violently over London all night. Now, you know, if you live in London, that it is rather awkward when a very high wind blows, because there is such an immense number of tiles, slates, stacks of chimneys, cowls, and chimney pots, that you cannot tell how soon some of them may come rattling down on your head. It is bad enough in the country when a hurricane is blowing, especially at night, to wake up and find the thatch gone, and the stars shining quietly down into the cottage bedroom, as if curious to see how you get on under the circumstances; but the danger is far greater in a large city, where the houses stand so close together, and something is almost sure to fall and do injury to somebody. Thus, several accidents occurred in the night I refer to, but one of them is so remarkable, that I think you would like to hear about it. A little girl was sleeping all alone in her little bed on that night, when the roarin of the wind awoke her. There is something very terrible in the rush and roar of a violent hurricane whether on land or sea. How it makes men’ feel their utter helplessness. There is no controlling the might of the tempest, “the wind bloweth where it listeth,” and man’s puny strength can in no wise hinder it. As the little girl lay listening to the awful voice of the hurricane, shaking the house and making doors and windows rattle, she became so frightened that she could lie there no longer; so getting timidly out of bed in the dark wild night, she sought her father’s room, and crept into bed beside him. Hardly had she done so when a terrific crash was heard, and a large chimney-stack came crashing through the roof of the house, and fell right on to the bed where the little girl had just been lying. Had she remained there another moment she would have been crushed and mangled to death; but God in His mercy had caused her to leave her little bed just in time to escape, and thus, although much damage was done, no life was lost, for the little girl was safe in her father’s arms.
Now, I remember many years ago, that an aged schoolmaster, who, for more than thirty years, had had the charge of an infant school in London, told me that he was quite sure from his long experience that “there was a special providence over little children.” I could not help thinking when he said this of Him who took little children up into His arms and laid His loving hands on them and blessed them, and I felt sure the old schoolmaster was right enough, for He who did this when on earth is now at God’s right hand, exalted, and “all power is given unto Him in heaven and on earth,” as the blessed Man (God’s eternal Son) who glorified God on the earth so perfectly. I remember reading, not long since, of a child falling out of a window from a height that would have killed any man, yet the child was unhurt, and got up and walked indoors again as if nothing had happened! Yes, there is surely “a special providence over little children,” and YOU ought to think of this, for it is sad indeed that children should forget Him who, the old schoolmaster thought, never forgets them. Is He not “THE SAME yesterday, today, and forever?” And if He so loved little children when He was here on earth, do you think He has ceased to love them now? No, indeed. Who but He took that little girl from her bed just before that chimney-stack fell and crushed the place where she had been lying; nor would let it fall until she was safe in another room? I wonder whether she ever thought of thanking Him? But, perhaps, she did not know Him. Do you? If not, I hope His love—love told out upon the cross, where He died for you—will win you to Himself.
But this little tale of a child’s wonderful escape from a sudden and violent death, speaks not only to the young, but also to the old. The child was only just in time; another moment would have been too late. Now “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment,” and who shall tell how soon or how suddenly that appointed moment, “once to die” may come? And then there is all eternity, and no change! If you die in your sins “there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest”; no work of salvation there, no device whereby you can escape perdition, no knowledge of Christ save as the awful Judge of the wicked; no wisdom, the beginning of which is “the fear of the Lord”— no hope for evermore! Safe in her father’s arms, the little girl escaped a painful death, but she got there only just in time. Do you GO AT ONCE to Christ, whose precious blood cleanseth from all sin, and then from all fear of judgment YOU will be safe in the hands of Him whose almighty hold will never let you go, for He has declared “My sheep shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.”
“Behold, Now is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation.” Go to Him now; delay not another moment—you are JUST IN TIME.