FROM Mort to Mumbles is about 30 miles, and this distance, in a 10-foot punt, Tom—, the hobbler (unlicensed pilot), had to travel one winter’s morning before he could reach his home. He had not proceeded far when the wind, which hitherto had been fairly propitious, completely changed, bringing with it snow, hail, and heavy seas. It was too late to return whence he came, and the waves were rising higher and higher. Every muscle and nerve had to be strained to prevent the frail craft from swamping. Some distance off a couple of small craft were descried, battling with the storm, and thitherward he sought to direct his boat. Suddenly, however, the wind increased in fury, and these vessels were seen to founder and all on board perished. Left alone, stripped of every human hope of deliverance, with angry waves surging and curling around, every moment threatening to swallow him up, where could he look for help? The heart of the stoutest might well have quaked, but—Hark!
From the midst of the billows a cry of distress is directed to the throne of God. “O! Christ, Thou who didst of old still the storm for thy disciples, save, oh! save poor Tom!”
We read in God’s Holy Book of the angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb. 1:1414Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)). We are not surprised, therefore, that, in the midst of outward storm and inward fear and anguish, an inexplicable calm took possession of Tom. New courage filled his heart and braced his nerves, while his benumbed fingers clasped the sculls with renewed vigor.
From amidst the blinding snowstorm a lightship is seen, and, better still, the waves are beating the fragile craft thitherward. But how board in such a sea? Nearer and nearer drifts the punt. Eager eyes and willing hearts are ready to help, and as she approaches the side of the lightship a man with a rope round his waist is seen to leap on board the punt, and in a moment Tom finds himself safely landed on the deck of the Scar-weather Lightship, surrounded by the loving hearts whom God had used, in answer to his prayer, to save him from a watery grave.
Well might the Psalmist exclaim, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psa. 107:3131Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! (Psalm 107:31)). No such sound, however, fell from this poor man’s lips. Still in nature’s darkness, his precious soul unsaved, the pressure of death’s cold hand removed for the moment, God’s care and pity were soon forgotten.
He arrived home after some days to find himself mourned as dead! But this only brought forth an ironical laugh, and the subject of this narrative was soon found following his old habits of drunkenness and debauchery. But the God of all grace had not done with him yet. The Shepherd sought the sheep until He found it. (Luke 15:44What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? (Luke 15:4)).
Lying at midnight across the lines of a railway much used for mineral traffic is seen the form of a man. A push is made by a passerby to arouse the sleeper, but in vain. Tom — lies there hopelessly intoxicated. There is not even a cry for help this time. Yet help from without is his only chance of safety; and this, through God’s tender mercy, is once again forthcoming.
Seized by the legs, and swung by a pair of powerful hands from off the tracks, he is thus firmly held in the place of safety while 40 coal wagons back slowly over the spot where only a few seconds before this poor fellow had lain.
What a deliverance! Indeed, the magnitude of it effectually sobered this drunkard. Standing up and trembling from head to foot, he surveyed with awe the shreds of the cap scattered up and down, which he had placed under his head. Terror seized him. Where might he now have been had not God interposed? He went home, but not to sleep. One awful thought alone filled his mind. “Where, oh where shall I spend eternity?” Hell’s yawning gulf seemed ready to swallow him up, and from the bottom of his heart this cry was wrung, “O God, save me! O God, have mercy on my soul!” Satan’s bondslave was about to be set free. The blind eyes of poor Tom were at last opened to his true state. He saw himself a ruined, helpless, hell-bound sinner before God. What a discovery! Yet how blessed that it was made this side eternity. From without, as before, is salvation brought. The Friend who sticketh closer than a brother breaks on his view; and while God, by His Spirit, reveals to his troubled soul the meaning of those pierced hands and riven side, faith appropriates what love had provided, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—even “the chief” (1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)). This just suited Tom. The Saviour and the sinner met. The lost sheep was found, and on the mighty Shepherd’s shoulders was carried homeward.
Tom—still lives to testify to the power of the patient grace of a Saviour-God.
Dear reader, Gen. 6:33And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. (Genesis 6:3) informs us that the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” How often from childhood’s days to the present time, by means of untold mercies and, it may be, temporal deliverances, as in the case just recorded, has God been seeking to arouse you from your slumberings and to awaken in your soul the consciousness of your deep, deep need of Jesus, as the One in whom alone salvation is to be found. “For there is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)).
Wake up, therefore, I beseech you!
His voice once again rings in your ears. Good resolutions and human efforts, though so often tried, are utterly unavailing. But there is One who once cried, “Come unto me” — “I will give you rest.” Although in the brightest glory above, His heart still yearns over you. He “was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” “He was wounded for our transgressions.” Behold Him whose pierced hands are Still stretched out to you, and rest your soul upon the value (as God declares it) of that precious blood which once flowed from His riven side for guilty sinners. Appropriate this mighty work and salvation is yours.
Christ is coming. “Time its course will quickly run.” God is not mocked. “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Prov. 29:11He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. (Proverbs 29:1)).
H. R. H.