A LITTLE boy was standing on a rock upon the sands of the sea. The rock was dry and safe; the summer sunshine was playing on the ocean, whose quiet waves were rolling inshore with a ceaseless murmur and splash, as they fell upon the beach. The little boy was very happy, for there was nothing to make him sad, and he jumped up and down on the ledges of the rock, picked the fresh-smelling seaweed and hunted for shells, thoroughly amused with everything around him. But though the day was so bright, and the sea so peaceful, and the sunlight so pleasant, the tide was rolling in—stealing a little bit at a time over the silver sands, and coming nearer and nearer on every side with every throb of its great heaving breast. But the little boy was happy for all that; he knew nothing about the tide; the rock was high and dry; and he, healthy and amused, had no thought of fear. But a gentleman, who was walking near, saw him on the rock, and knowing what was coming, called out to him to leave his chosen playground, and get higher up the beach. “Why?” asked the little boy. “Because the tide is rising,” said the stranger, “and will soon flow over the place you are standing on.” I am sorry to say that instead of thanking this gentleman for his kind warning, and instantly obeying his counsel, the boy did not believe him, and, though he said nothing, he did not leave the rock. Pleased with the place, and well content with his little treasures of sea-weed and shells, he wanted to stay where he was, and so persuaded himself to think it was all right, and that even if the tide did come, he could run when it was near enough to make it dangerous to stay any longer. Well, he lingered still a little while to take a few more jumps, to pick a few more shells, to choose a bit more sea-weed, and then, all at once, a big wave swept right round the rock, and turned it at once into an island with water on every side. Poor little boy! how pale he looked! But, just at that moment, the big wave rolled back again, and the little boy laughed merrily at his own fears. Yet hardly had the echo of his cheery laugh died away among the cliffs, when that heavy wave came in again with greater force, threw a shower of spray all over him, and once more turned the rock into an islet, and not only so, but tossed its watery arms towards him as if it wanted to wrap him in its cold embrace. And now the stranger, who had patiently waited for him to make up his mind, came nearer from the landward side, and called to him to jump into his arms. “Come,” he cried, “trust to me—quick, before the next wave comes and sweeps you off!” But the little boy, quite frightened, now began to cry. Afraid to jump for fear the gentleman should let him fall, afraid to stay for fear of the waves, he hesitated, and, as he did so, another and bigger wave dashed up with a roar and a heavy splash that wetted him all over, and the little boy, thoroughly terrified, instead of springing into the stranger’s arms, leaped the other way, and fell headlong into the sea.
“Poor little boy!” you will exclaim; “was he drowned?” No. The stranger sprang forward, and, seizing him only just in time to save him from being carried out to sea by the back-flow of the waters, drew him out and took him, all drenched and dripping wet, to a place of safety. Now I think that every reader will see that this little boy was very wrong, first of all in not believing what the kind stranger told him as to the danger that was coming. This is plain enough. And yet how many little boys and girls, and big ones too, are just as unbelieving when they are told about that tide of judgment which is even now setting in upon an ungodly world, and will soon overflow it on every side. “How do you know it?” Why, because God has said so; and if it was wrong of the little boy to disbelieve that gentleman, how much worse to disbelieve God! (2 Pet. 3) Do you? I hope not. But, if you do not disbelieve God about the judgment which is coming, if you believe that it really is coming, are you trying to persuade yourself that you may wait a little longer, just a little, to enjoy the things that seem so pleasant, as the seaweed and the shells seemed to the little boy? Is it right to think so? Is it safe? Who shall tell how soon the tide may rise? I mean that tide of wrath foretold in God’s blessed book, the Bible? You know that our Lord Jesus Christ says that the people before the flood “knew not till the flood came and took them all away?” (Matt. 24:3939And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:39).) Why did they not know? Noah was a preacher of righteousness, but they did not obey his preaching; they did not heed his counsel any more than did the little boy attend to the counsel which the kind stranger gave him. They saw Noah building an ark, because “by faith” he knew what was coming. But they did not believe, and so they did not know, and therefore were overtaken by the judgment. Well, perhaps you are quite sure that what God has said about judgment to come is true. If so, have you listened to those gracious words of the Lord Jesus Christ, “Come unto Me?”
Let little children come to Me,
From palace, mansion, or from cot;
The young I always love to see:
Let children come, forbid them not.
My blood, which was on Calvary shed,
Can cleanse from every sinful spot;
And still, as when on earth I said,
Let children come, forbid them not.
ML 09/16/1906