“AS we passed Cape Verde,” writes a friend, “we saw a big steamer on the rocks, close to the lighthouse, a warning to all who pass by!”
We know not the history of this disaster, whether she was there as the result of accident or neglect, but we venture to think such a sight thrilled the hearts of some of those who stood on board the S.S. “Armadale” that day, and varied would be the thoughts that passed through the minds, as each beheld that derelict on the rocks, although close to the lighthouse.
Reader, has this story no voice for you? May be you have been warned many times as to the rocks that lie ahead, in the sinful course that multitudes are pursuing.
It may be you are one of these multitudes. The ocean of time is carrying your tiny barque swiftly onward, each moment bringing you nearer the rocks of eternal destruction.
May be you have often heard the Gospel story, and your soul is still unsaved. You are yet in your sins, and have no hope as to the great forever, which you must soon enter.
The lighthouse of the Grace of God sheds its beams across your pathway once more, even as you read these lines— “for God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)).
“God could not pass the sinner by,
His sins demand that he must die,
But in the Cross of Christ we see,
How God can save, yet righteous be.”
God purposed in His heart to bless man, before the world began, before ever sin had come in: “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:1818Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. (Acts 15:18)). Then having pledged Himself to bless man, He laid help upon One that was mighty, His own blessed Son, and could say, “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom” (Job 33:2424Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. (Job 33:24)).
Thus we see that He has not only purposed and promised the blessing, but He has provided the way by which it has been secured— “Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:66Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:6)).
Reader, have you bowed your knee in submission to that One? Has your soul felt its need? Has your tongue confessed His name?
If not, may God in His mercy, open your eyes, to see the rocks of eternal ruin ahead of you, and while it is yet the day of God’s grace, may the language of your heart be—
“Jesus, I will trust Thee,
Trust Thee with my soul.
Guilty! lost! And helpless,
Thou canst make me whole.
There is none in heaven,
Or on earth like Thee.
Thou hast died for sinners,
Therefore, Lord, for me.”
A. E. O.