Many years ago a vessel was wrecked on the stormy coast of Cornwall. It was a time of much danger and distress, but the Lord was merciful and no lives were lost. On the following Sunday the rescued sailors attended the preaching in a hall nearby and thanks were publicly returned for their deliverance.
The preacher that day was deeply conscious of the solemn circumstances and endeavored to impress them on his audience. Near the close of his sermon he spoke with much earnestness of the sinner's danger and the Savior's love.
"Imagine," he said, "the situation of a drowning man. He knows now that all his efforts are unavailing and that he is fast sinking beneath the raging waters. Suddenly a plank floats within his reach. Seizing it he finds it will bear his weight. My fellow-sinners, this is your case; it is my own! We are like the drowning sailor. Christ is the plank of safety. He is near. He is the plank that will bear you up. Oh, refuse not, delay not to seize it! This plank will bear! Yes, sinner, this plank will bear!”
The preacher's own heart was much moved and he felt that he had spoken with unusual power. However he heard no more comments about that appeal than he was wont to hear about others, and by degrees the whole incident seemed forgotten.
Many years later he received an urgent message. He was urged to hasten to see a man who was near death in a village some distance away.
He went immediately, glad to answer such a call. On entering, he saw at once that the sufferer was a total stranger to him and also his moments on earth were almost gone.
The minister knelt beside the bed. "My friend, you have sent for me and I am come. You are on the verge of eternity. Will you tell me what is your hope?”
The dying man was evidently conscious but the power of speech seemed gone. "My friend," continued the preacher urgently, "if you can no longer speak, will you give me a sign, a token, to tell if your hope is now in Christ?”
Then with what a thrill of joyful, grateful recollection came to the listening ears of the preacher from the lips of the dying man: "The plank bears.”
Yes, that long-forgotten sermon had not been preached in vain. In this soul, the good seed had borne fruit to everlasting life.
Reader, this plank will bear! Have you taken hold of it? Jesus is the all-sufficient, the only Savior.
"There is none other Name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”