Sow years ago when wireless telegraphy was in its infancy, a transport ship sailed along the eastern coast of North America.
A sailor on the look-out, surrounded by a vast stretch of ocean, suddenly heard a telephone bell sounding across the water. Startled and wondering he looked around him. Was he dreaming or only half awake, or what was the matter? The bell sounded again; that it was a telephone bell it was quite certain, but where was it, and how could there possibly be such, with nothing to be seen around but the ocean? He called one of his mates, and he, on coming up from below deck, also heard it, so they told the captain, who heard it too.
The ship was stopped, and some sailors went off to investigate. They were not long in finding a buoy with a telephone fixed to it, which belonged to a submarine in distress. This was under water, except for a few feet of the stern, and was swinging about in a most uncomfortable manner. The men were suffering from want of fresh air, having been for thirty-five hours in this unfortunate position.
The sailors returned to their ship and told what they had found, and a wireless message was sent to the United States Admiralty for help. The ship was then brought close to the submarine and a hawser fixed to grapple it firmly until more help came. A hole was cut in the upturned stern, and fresh air was let in, and hot drinks were poured through for the exhausted men.
An American boy, named Moore, trying his home-made wireless set, picked up the transport's message. Thrilled to have received so important a communication, he sent a telephone message to the Navy Department, and was more than delighted to find that he was the first to have received the call for help.
Tugs and boats of various kinds were sent off from headquarters at once, and the hole in the stern of the submarine was soon enlarged, so that the men could get out. It must have been a joy to the sailor who first heard the telephone bell, to see twenty-seven men step out of the submarine, saved from a horrible death, and know that he had played the first part in their release.
This wonderful rescue came about because the imprisoned men sent out a cry for help by fixing the telephone bell, and because the sailor on the transport heard that bell; and also because the boy, Moore, received the wireless message and sent for powerful help.
Had the man on the look-out been deaf; the sailors in the submarine would probably have perished, for few ships passed in that direction. So we may conclude that those twenty-seven men were saved, because they cried for help, and because two people heard the sailor, the telephone bell ringing out over the water, and the boy, a wireless message from the ship.
You will agree that this is an interesting story; but there are greater wonders going on daily, even hourly, around us; for men, women and children in distress are constantly crying for help, and their cries are heard at an immeasurable distance by One, and that One, God Himself, who is willing and able to succor them.
Many, many years ago a lad lay dying of thirst under some bushes in a wilderness. His mouth was parched, his tongue swollen, and his strength quite exhausted. His mother was with him, but she would not see him die, and moved away saying, "Let me not see the death of the child.”
The boy was suffering for his sins. He had a good home and a wonderful father, who feared God, and obeyed Him, but as his son grew up he mocked at his father's heir, and God told Abraham, his father, to send the naughty boy away. And now he was dying, but he remembered his father's God, the only One who could help him, and he prayed to Him, and God was gracious to him and heard his cry. The Bible tells us: "And God heard the voice of the lad.”
How marvelous! God heard the voice of a naughty boy, who cared nothing for Him, until he needed His help! And not only did God hear the voice of the lad, but an angel from heaven repeated the fact to his mother. Notice the words: "God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is." (Gen. 21:1717And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. (Genesis 21:17).)
Then God in His great mercy to this naughty boy, showed his mother where there was a well of water, and she fetched water for him, and thus he was saved from a painful death. The next thing we are told is, "And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer." This was the result of a cry to God for mercy, which God heard.
Perhaps there is a boy reading this, who, like Ishmael, the boy we have been speaking about, has been disobedient and self-willed. You need not feel you are too bad to ask God to forgive you. He will hear your prayer, if it is really a cry of sorrow for your sins. Ishmael was in desperate need, and no one but God could help him, but in spite of his naughtiness God heard him and saved him.
Do not go on without God. He will hear you and bless you. He says to you, "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." (Psa. 50:1515And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. (Psalm 50:15).)