A SHIP was wrecked on the coast of Cornwall. All hands went down save one sailor-boy, who was washed on to the shore, barely living, and who lay bruised and ready to perish for weeks on a sick-bed.
He was visited by a young man, who strove to lead the sailor-lad to Christ, who died for sinners, and to show him that He is the only anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, and that He alone can deliver from the storm which destroys both body and soul in hell.
“Suppose,” said the missionary, “that when your vessel was in pieces round about you off the coast, and you felt yourself sinking, exhausted, beneath the surge―suppose you had caught hold of a plank as it floated by you, and felt that, as you clutched it, it bore your weight, and held you up till relief could come, you would thank God for that plank, would you not?”
“Yes, sir,” gasped the boy; and then he was made to understand that the plank was a figure of Christ, bearing up or delivering the sinner from the wrath to come.
Many years rolled away, and the Christian missionary toiled on, miles and miles from the southern coast, in the midst of a northern city. One day he was again in a sick-room. Everything showed that it was also a room ready for a death.
They moved about silently and solemnly, as men who can say, “O death, where is thy sting?” (1 Cor. 15:5555O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55).) The sufferer was very nearly gone., The visitor, true to his old calling, bent down to whisper to the dying man words about the great salvation, and the life after death.
“Is it well with your soul?” said the old missionary. At once there was a sudden glance of the eye, that had begun to fix, and the head turned round, and a last flush covered the white face, and then a smile― such a smile! “God bless you, sir! It is well. The plank bears, sir! The plank bears!” And so it did. It had borne him ever since, and having believed in Christ, the Son of God, he had been saved from eternal wrath.
Reader, do you believe in Christ alone for the salvation of your soul? If so, happy, thrice happy are you. Without Christ you will become a wreck, and be lost in the blackness of darkness forever. He now waits to save you. He is ready to forgive you, and to bring you to God (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)). And “in this was manifested the love of. God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4:99In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9)). “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood... to him be glory and dominion forever and ever” (Rev. 1:5, 65And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5‑6)).
ANON.