Incidents Connected with The Wreck of the London.
WHEN all hope of saving the vessel was abandoned, Stedcling, the boatswain, and several others, made up their minds to leave the sinking ship in the remaining small boat over the cucldy. One boatful had already got away. They had provisioned and launched her; all was ready; another moment, and they too would escape the swirl of waters around the stern of the fast foundering ship. But just when about to put off, the vessel suddenly slid beneath the waves, leaving for a moment an awful gulf, within whose walls of dark whirling waters they instantly fell, with every human being and every article around. In the din of the tempest, no cry could be heard. Hurled into the yawning chasm, they vanished from sight of man without a sound!
“Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,” said one of old time. Conviction must have been very strong to wring such a confession from such a man under the circumstances. Where is he now?
He was almost ready to “put off” from a position which if maintained was certain and everlasting destruction. Did he ever do so? Who shall say! “And as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season I will call for thee.” He, too, seems to have been “about to put off;” he probably quite intended to do so at that “convenient season.” Did it ever come? We only know he “left Paul bound,” and therefore judge it never did. Do you, reader, yet cling to the world, intending at some future time to “put off”? How many times have you been on the very eve of doing so! Something or other has always interfered with your intention. The lost men provisioned the boat before launching and pushing off. No doubt the two or three minutes so employed cost them their lives. Was it wise to be occupied about provisions when every moment threatened impending destruction?
And have you hitherto allowed comparative trifles to engage your attention at the risk of ETERNAL RUIN? One boat had already put off, and its occupants are now safe at home. Oh that the others had put off with them! Do you know any converted friend or relative who is now “safe at home”? Be persuaded before it is too late. “Put off now” —now at once! A moment sooner, and who shall say but that Stedding and his companions might now be in safety? A moment later, and where may YOU be?
The first boat just alluded to had put off from the vessel but a few minutes before. The rowers had great difficulty to force their boat out from the trough of the sea made by the sinking ship, which threatened to drag them down with it. They had but just succeeded, when a lady rushed on deck, and throwing out her arms imploringly, shrieked in an agony of apprehension, “A thousand guineas if you will take me in!” Shrill above the roar of the waves, the howling of the storm, the cries of those around, rose her agonizing scream; her countenance was livid with horror; death to her was evidently inexpressibly terrible; but — she was too late!
Ten times a thousand guineas would not have tempted the rowers to return. To have done so would have been self-destruction. A moment sooner, ere the boat was cut away, they would have received her gladly, and for nothing. Now, no amount that man could name, or wealth propose, would purchase the safety of their boat.
Dear reader, the word of God tells us that the Lord is coming; that his coming will be sudden; that at his coming, the dead saints, and they only, will be raised, and the living believers, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” changed and caught away with the risen ones to meet the Lord. Believers are taught to look for this every day, every hour, every moment. There is absolutely nothing to hinder its taking place Now, even while you read. All that mistaken teaching which confounds “the day of judgment,” the “end of the world,” and other important events and periods (true in their place) with the coming of Christ, is only so much dust thrown into the eyes of men to blind them to the imminent nearness of the coming of the Lord for his own, and, by consequence, the imminent danger they are in who are not his own. As the hapless lady rushed on deck, having probably heard below that a boat was launched to rescue some from death, did any tell her, “You are too late — the boat is cut away”? As she flew to the ship side, and stretched her arms beseechingly, amid the tumult of the waves and the howling of the blast, while she could feel the vessel sinking under her feet, and her eye rested on the little ark of safety tossing on the billows, did the thought flash across her quivering heart, ONE MOMENT SOONER, AND YOU HAD BEEN IN TIME! Oh, if it were so, how it must have intensified her anguish And you, reader, what would be your agony if while you now read — if while you sleep this night — if just as daylight greets your waking eyes to-morrow — if while busied with the cares and occupations of the day, at an instant, suddenly the moment came, the trumpet sounded, the saints were caught away, and you, aroused at last, yet ONE MOMENT TOO LATE, stretched your hands imploringly to heaven while with a shudder you recalled those solemn words of the Lord Jesus, “Many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us... he shall answer and say unto you, I know ye not whence ye are” (Luke 13:24, 2524Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. 25When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: (Luke 13:24‑25)) —And what if, to add to the horror of your situation, a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, a husband, wife, or child, near and very dear to you, were caught away from your side, while you alone in your despair felt that to yourself, and yourself alone, you owed all this unutterable woe, because you would not be persuaded till TOO LATE!
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Do you feel your danger?
“All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel your need of him:”
Fly to him at once. Could you but hear the first note of that awe-inspiring trumpet, you would not hesitate — no, not a moment. “The trumpet shall sound.” Hark! Are you sure it is not even now about to do so? If it were possible for you to hear but the very faintest far-off sound of that trumpet, you would already be — TOO LATE!