WHAT a busy scene this is, getting the big ship ready to go out into the great deep.
It seems they are at the last job and that is the painting. Soon it will be away so far, that those on shore will not be able to see it and those on board will not see anything but the water and the sky. All may seem bright for a while but then the storm comes up, the ship founders and sinks, often with all the rich cargo, but her owners will receive an insurance which will cover the value of cargo and vessel. But what insurance is there for the seamen who go down with her? No golden policy covers the priceless value of their souls; and when the last struggle is made in the yielding wave, no glory above will arise to their view, for they were strangers to the blessed Saviour. Such is the case with most of the seamen. They are a rough and Godless class of men, but they have soul’s and will spend eternity like others, either with Christ in glory, or fiends in despair.
Much is done to send the gospel, far and near on land, telling poor sinners of that blessed Saviour who came to seek and to save that which was lost, but how much is being done for these poor sailors, who go out amidst such peril? May the hearts of both young and old, who know that blessed Saviour, be stirred to do something for these men, that they too may hear the gospel. Most of my readers are far from the sea, and may think they can do nothing, but there is one thing we, can always do, and that is pray. But there is something else we may do. Tracts, telling the way of salvation, may be sent to those men, and they receive them with expressions of gratitude, and some with tears in their eyes. The sailor, poor fellow, is not used to much kind treatment, and some of them have been known to weep over the reading matter that has been given to them, because someone had pity and sympathy for poor Jack. If you desire to send some gospel tracts to these men, you may send them to the publishers of this paper and they “Will see that they are sent to the Mission Yacht in New York, that goes out to visit these ships as they lie in harbor.
But if you have not been saved yet, you need not think God would be well pleased with your effort to spread the gospel to others, while you are still rejecting His Son whom He has given to die for poor sinners. You must first take Jesus as your own Saviour and then you may gladly send the glad tidings to others.
ML 07/15/1906