ONE hundred years ago an English sailing vessel, “The Kent,” left London to go to India. There were aboard six hundred and forty people men, women and children. When it arrived in the Bay of Biscay, fire broke but in the hold where a lantern had been carelessly dropped. For several hours the passengers faced death, either by fire or by drowning: the fire was spreading and at any moment it might reach the powder magazine.
Among the officers in command was Major McGregor, a God-fearing man, with his wife and daughter. Foreseeing that all would perish, and none might be left to tell what had happened, he wrote a few lines on a paper, folded it and addressed it to his father in Edinburgh. Then he enclosed the note in a bottle, which he threw into the sea, hoping it would be picked up, and the letter sent to its destination.
When all hope of salvation was given up, suddenly a glad cry was heard, “A sail under wind.” The ship had seen “The Kent,” and was hastening to its rescue. All except eighty people, who had perished either in the flame or in the sea in their eagerness to leave the ship were rescued, and taken back to England.
Eighteen months later, the bottle thrown into the sea by Major McGregor was picked up by a bather on the shore of the West Indies. The letter still is in existence, and although stained by sea water, it can be read easily. It reads as follows:
“The ship, Kent, Indianian, is on fire. Elizabeth, Joanna and myself commit our spirits into the hands of our Blessed Redeemer. His grace enables us to be quite composed in the awful prospect of entering eternity.
D. W. McGregor,
1St March, 1825. Bay of Biscay.”
Why should not every believer have the same confidence in the presence of death? What Jesus had to suffer to put away our sins is the proof of His great love. He died that He might have us with Him throughout eternity, and that we might enjoy His presence for ever more.
ML 08/13/1922