"Tom, did you hear that preacher say that a terrible time is ahead for this world, and that the only place to hide from it is in the cleft of the Rock? What did he mean?”
"In the cleft of the rock? Sure I know what that means. I was saved that way once; nor can I ever forget it.”
"How did it happen? Tell us about it.”
"You remember when the railroad first came through our town? It was a single track, and where it runs in that long curve at the foot of the hill, mighty little space there was between the rocks on the one side and the deep water on the other.”
"Yes; I often thought what an awful wreck it would have been if the train had jumped the track there. Just enough space for a train to pass without striking the rocks on the side of the hill.”
"And no place for a person to stand on the other side if a train should come while he was there. It was an awful place, before the roadbed was widened and the second track was laid. I shudder when I think of what might have happened to me there.
"It was when I was just a boy and not long after the railroad was built. My sister and I were coming home from school, and we thought it would be shorter and easier, as well as more pleasant, to try the railroad back instead of the long walk over the hill-path. It would have been after the time for the express, and no other train was scheduled, so we felt safe enough. We hardly thought of danger anyway. She was older than I, and I left all worry to her. We were going along leisurely; I was throwing stones into the water and she was looking on, when suddenly she screamed, as she caught my hand. "Run, run! The express is coming!”
"I heard its roar, and then the whistle as it came near the curve, but could not see it yet. Boys, you know, soon learn to tell trains and locomotives by the different sounds a n d by the differences in their whistles. I knew that it was the express. My heart seemed to stop. Had my sister not forced me on, I might have been powerless to run. We ran as fast as possible; but, how can the feet of children compare with an express train in a race, especially if that train is behind time and trying to make it up?
"Had we gone back we would have been safe, for we had only just started on the narrow and dangerous place when we heard the train. All that long run was ahead before we could reach a spot wide enough to let the train go safely by: and not far behind us came that express.
"It was a cloudy day and in the early winter, so that it seemed quite dark, especially on that side of the hill. Perhaps it was the darkness, perhaps the curve, that prevented the engineer from seeing us. He did not see us! The train came on as swiftly as ever.
"Oh, the awful terror of that minute, for it was but a minute! Each moment we felt must be our last. We could hear the roar of the train coming nearer and nearer, and did not know but that it was almost upon us. Yet we dared not look around lest we should lose time. We dared not even speak. Tightly holding each other's hand, we ran on. All this, you need not be told, took less time than it takes to tell it.
"Suddenly the whistle blew. The engineer had seen us, but too late to stop the train. Whether or not the whistle made my sister notice, I don't know; but just when we reached a place where a large chunk of rock had been blown out of the cliff by the side of the track. It seemed as if the rock had parted and a wedge had been taken out. Before I had time to think, my sister threw her arm about me and pushed me into the cleft in the rock. Then she threw herself forward and crowded me into the opening.
"Hardly had she done this when the train rushed by and left us safe in the cleft. We were saved, saved by a fraction of space and a single moment only. Had we gone any farther the train would have caught us, and—well, I would not be here to tell you about it.”
"That was a narrow escape, surely.”
"Yes; and I never think of it without a shudder. We were saved by that cleft in the rock. If ever children were thankful for anything, we were for that cleft in the rock. I often think, suppose it had not been there!”
"But what has that to do with the sermon we heard yesterday? Of course it was a good sermon, but I don't see how it applies to us, Tom. You and I are good, honest men. It need not concern us about God's punishing sinners. I believe He will, but not such men as you and I are.”
"Jim, I'll tell you why it concerns me, and maybe you too. I know I am not a Christian and so I am in the way of danger. Destruction's express train maybe coming along; it may soon overtake me. Then what? That sermon meant me; and I'm afraid it meant you too. But that minister spoke of the cleft in the rock. That is on my mind all the time, and I know what he means.
"We must find some place to hide, some place where destruction's train cannot reach us. Right alongside of where we are is a cleft Rock; and in that is the place to hide. That Rock is Christ; and that is what the minister meant when he said that we must `hide in the Rock, Christ'. That is what is meant by the hymn:—
"Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.”
"Jim, I've made up my mind to hide in that Rock! That is the place of safety we both need—and Christ is our only way to be saved.”
"Well, it does have more meaning to me now, Tom, than it did before. Yes, you are right; and thank God we have found that cleft in time!”
Reader, do not delay. Time is fast slipping by. The cleft Rock is at hand—God's provision for your eternal safety. Cast yourself into it. Make Christ your Savior. In Him is everlasting peace and security.