SAD beyond description is the pitiful story of the recent Hamstead Colliery disaster; yet from that grim death-chamber has come a stirring testimony which has gone through the whole world. It has found an echo in the heart of many a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and has doubtless spoken in its solemn simplicity to the unconverted.
Briefly the facts are these. Shortly after five o’clock on Wednesday evening, 4 March, 1908, smoke was seen issuing from a shaft, and immediately men below were warned that something was wrong. A few minutes later three or four men who had just descended were hauled to the surface, and they brought the serious report that a fire had broken out down below, and the retreat of their twenty-eight comrades below had been cut off.
Rescue parties were immediately formed and attempted to descend. They made their way to the utmost limit of safety down the different shafts; but it was a hopeless task, and the cage soon reappeared at the pit-brow with the men almost insensible through the ordeal they had heroically faced.
But why should a terrible story be retold here? Because there is presented a striking picture of the real state of the unconverted soul. In a helpless and hopeless condition, without any resources and in need of a saviour, the poor miners below depict the position of the sinner without God. All that is good and necessary for life is above, and they cannot reach it. All their devices are in vain, and they are in need of help and deliverance apart from their own efforts entirely if their rescue is to be accomplished.
And does not the very spirit of the rescuers remind us of the devotedness of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son, Who came from above into this dark, sin-stricken scene of woe, Who laid aside His glory and descended even into the lowest depths of death that He might rescue and save poor helpless sinners from an eternity of woe?
The next day a fresh body of men descended, only to return to the surface with the same story of defeat. Darkness came on again, and sobbing women and children, who had hoped against hope, were gently led to their homes.
On Thursday night a band of rescuers again descended, two of whom managed to penetrate into the workings for a considerable distance. Realizing, however, that they were becoming exhausted, they turned back but for one of them, Welby by name, it was too late, for he sank down completely worn out, while his companion had to reluctantly leave him to gain the cage in time to save his own life. It was soon found that poor Welby had perished, and on the following Tuesday, just as the darkness closed over the desolation of Hamstead Colliery, a mournful scene was enacted at the pit-head: the body of that brave rescuer, who had thus lost his life in his efforts to save the imprisoned men, was brought to the surface.
He had died for others, but his efforts had been unsuccessful. A noble death of self-sacrifice was his and we are carried in thought to One Who in self-sacrifice voluntarily laid down, His life. Blessed be God! His work was not unsuccessful, but fruitful with eternal results. Ten thousand times ten thousand saved ones will sing throughout eternity the praises of Him Who loved them even unto death, and “gave Himself” for them. Shall you be one of that happy throng, dear reader?
A week passed, and then the worst was known, for fourteen of the missing men were found lying side by side on their faces, dead. Another day of search, and six more bodies were found; and here the searchers were greatly affected as they noticed chalked upon the door, close to where the six were lying, the, words―
The Lord preserve us,
For we are all Trusting in Christ.
Under this they wrote their names.
TRUSTING IN CHRIST! Could anything have been more expressive or more comforting? To think of those poor fellows caught in a trap from which no escape was possible, facing a terrible death, with no hope of deliverance, yet calmly and simply to record the blessed fact that they were trusting in the mighty Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Their trust as they passed into eternity was in the only object worthy of confidence; nor was it in vain. Although temporal deliverance was not granted to them, a greater and even more blessed portion was theirs―to be transported into the presence of Him in Whom they trusted. Truly, “blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.”
The absorbing consideration of those poor miners was not the social-question for time, but the soul-question for eternity. Let it be yours today. Beware lest you are entrapped by the enemy into giving to the former the importance of the latter.
There is every reason why you should entrust your precious soul to Christ Let us enumerate a few.
HE IS SO TRUSTWORTHY. God Himself has entrusted Him with the great work of Redemption, and so perfectly has He accomplished it, that God has raised Him from the dead and given Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.
HE IS THE ONLY SAVIOUR. “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”
IT IS VAIN TO TRUST IN MAN. For “none can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.” Then “cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of?”
You CANNOT SAVE YOURSELF, for God’s Word says: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us.”
YOUR NEED OF A SAVIOUR IS SO GREAT, and He is both willing and able to save. Trust, then, in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who alone can meet your need, for by His precious Blood alone your guilt can be removed, by His death alone can God righteously meet you in grace, and In Him alone can you be justified.
F. S.M.