ON a Bank Holiday, some years ago, some young men went from Manchester to Birmingham to spend the day. Returning at night, they had taken their seats in a railway carriage, when one, knowing the train was timed to start in five minutes, ran across to the refreshment room.
On his return to the platform, he found a train just moving off. Without hesitation he opened the nearest door and jumped in, thinking himself fortunate to have caught his train.
Judge of his surprise when, instead of proceeding on to Manchester, it gradually slowed down and stopped outside the station.
Realizing at once that he had got into the wrong train, he determined to seek the platform, as he was sure the Manchester train would not be gone.
Opening the carriage door, he stepped out in the darkness, and stood between the lines.
Scarcely a minute passed before the gravity of his position was apparent.
Whiz!
Close by him thundered past an express. Around him lay an intricate network of lines, over which he could only dare to pass at the utmost risk of his life. Lights were flashing, and trains were coming and going, as only those who have traveled through large towns on a holiday can form any conception of.
But what was that regular waving of a lantern to and fro yonder?
Not many paces away a “shunting” pointsman was busy at his work. In that humble man he thought he saw his deliverer. Quickly as possible he strode across the intervening lines, and only reached him just in time.
“Could you kindly direct me—”
“In God’s name, get behind me—quick!” he said in a tone trembling with surprise and agitation.
The powerful rays of a lamp loomed in front, and a train dashed by only a few feet away, where the adventurous passenger had crossed but a moment before.
“Now, then, hold on to my coat, and as I move you follow.”
In loud, unceremonious tones these words were uttered; yet how sweetly they sounded in the ear of the young man, now fully alive to his terrible situation!
Implicit obedience was imperative. His life depended on the shunter’s directions.
The sinner awakened to his awful condition before God, as guilty and under condemnation, is pictured here. The hard, peremptory tones of the shunter, he knew, were friendly, and he did not take offense at them. So should it be with the sinner. The voice that speaks of judgment and warning is that of the One who came freighted with grace and truth to a perishing world.
The One who said, “It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not,” said also, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” and again, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Mark 9:43, 4443And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:43‑44); 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)). Oh, that souls would take heed to the kindly warnings of God!
The predicament of the subject of our narrative was perilous enough, but infinitely more perilous is your condition; my dear reader, if your hope of salvation is not in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His completely finished work and the all-atoning value of His precious blood. To naught else in heaven and earth does God attach the slightest value for a sinner’s shelter.
From His own great heart of love proceeded the thought of redemption for man through His own provided Lamb: that perfect Sacrifice completely displayed and vindicated every attribute of His character and glorified Him eternally, and He has made both Lord and Christ in ascended glory the One who thus offered Himself as the willing Victim. Have you yet bowed the knee and humbled the heart to the Lord Jesus? Have you come to Him? “This Man receiveth sinners.”
But let us return to our narrative, though not much remains to be told.
For fully five minutes, which seemed an hour, the pointsman guided the young man from one point to another while the special shunting operations, owing to the congested traffic, were going on.
At last he was at liberty to take his charge to the Manchester train, which had been delayed, and curiously enough, placed him in the very compartment be had left at the first, much to the surprise of his friends, who when they heard his story regarded him as one saved from the very jaws of death.
“It is a wonder,” remarked a commercial traveler to him, “that we have not to read in the papers tomorrow of a young man cut to pieces on the railway.”
It may be necessary to explain that the Manchester train had been shunted to allow other trains to pass, and that was the cause of the above adventure.
Dear unsaved reader, may you realize your lost condition under sin and under death, and trust entirely and only in Christ. He is now holding out salvation—the light of the knowledge of the glory of God to all. In implicit obedience to His, word, may you be led into His gracious footsteps and to walk with Him here till landed safely in glory.
L. O. L.