A LITTLE boy of about six or seven years of age, in company with other boys, went down to the side of the river Thames, one summer afternoon, with the idea of having a bathe. When he had stripped off his clothes he began to walk down to the water’s edge; but the way was covered with mud, left by the ebbing tide.
Soon, without being aware of it, he stepped on a spot where a boat had been lying, and where the mud was therefore much deeper. Then, to the little fellow’s great dismay, he began to sink; and, of course, he struggled to get out, but the more he did so, the more deeply he sank in; till at length I saw that the black mud was almost up to his shoulders. He was now really in danger of losing his life, for in a few moments, unless help reached him, he would be sucked under the surface, and suffocated.
What was to be done? He needed a saviour, for he was utterly helpless himself. He could do nothing. What a picture of a poor sinner away from God; in all his need, “without strength,” undone!
What a mercy that God has provided just that which suits us—Jesus, the Saviour.
Fortunately, help was not far off; for a man who saw what had happened, ran and got a rope, and threw it to the little lad, who clutched it tightly, and in this way was pulled out of his perilous position.
Oh! how pleased he was to be saved, and how thankful, too, to the one who had saved him!
Jesus is ready, and willing, and mighty to save.
Have you come to Him just as you are, without attempting to make yourself one whit better?
Just hear what He says: “Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.”
ML 03/31/1918