He "He knows all about it, comrade, and He's willing all the same. He knows you are drifting on a lee shore, and He only waits for you to hoist the Pilot signal, and He will soon come alongside and shape your course for you. has done all He could to make us trust Him, more than ever we should like to do for any other. When a man is overboard on a gusty night, brave fellows man the boat, or jump overboard to pick him up, in the hope that they will come on board with him, but our Saviour plunged into the gulf of ruin after us, knowing that He must sink, when He made the rope of salvation fast to us. Can't you trust Him, shipmate, to forgive you now, and keep you ever after, and bring you up safe in the heavenly anchorage? He knows more than we do, besides loving us so much, as many anchored souls can testify. Put the helm in His hand.' "Jerry was silent, but I noticed from that time he was often alone, especially on Sundays: by-and-by he wished to join a few of us that read the Bible together. 'But would not his messmates fall foul of him?' he asked. 'Never fear, my lad,' said I, 'show a light at the masthead, and they will steer clear of you, and give you a wide berth beside.' Still he was fearful of himself, and did not like to carry too many topsails. All right,' said I, 'but it's a fearful man that's always reefing. Mind the Pilot, study the chart, and sail on for heaven.' "Poor Jerry! he had a strong love for his Saviour. "He fell sick soon after we made the land. Often he spoke to me of the wonderful mercy that had invited and guided and saved him. 'Wonderful steering,' he said, shortly before he died, 'wonderful steering! and I am just like a passenger--so little to do, only to rest and look at Him. Why did I not see it before?'" "Had he a fair passage from that time?" "Not quite; he said there were heavy breakers between him and the land, and he could not tell how such an unseaworthy craft would behave: however, as he got nearer, he found there was a way through, and no trouble at all; it was a straight course to the harbour's mouth; and just when he thought a gale was brewing he found they were all over for ever, and he would land in a calm. 'Wonderful steer ing!' he repeated; 'let go the anchor."" "Did any other of your messmates look heavenwards ?" "Oh yes, several; but some made a bad hand of it; they were not careful. 'Look here,' said I to them, after we had been reading the Bible. 'You have the compass and the chart, and you know your bearings; keep a good lookout, and have your weather-eye open.' Just then we went into port, and all kinds of temptation abounded, and some of them went straight into the mouth of the landsharks. "Avast, my lads,' said I, one day on the quay: do you mean to go down after all?' 66 6 No, old croaker,' said the foremost of them; 'one leak does not always sink a ship.' "Don't try it, my lads, you don't know what weather is before you, and a waterlogged craft is a bad sailer; some men are always baling out, or hard at work at the pumps just to keep afloat; they always sail low in the water, and if it comes on to blow they have hard times of it. I have known such a man in stress of weather, when he is on his beam-ends, for example, in the hospital, and I should never like to be in his berth. How much better to be true to your colours! As the chaplain says, a consecrated soul is a buoyant soul: a man that keeps his heart diligently, he says, is like a craft decked in the whole way from stem to stern: if the blue seas wash over the deck, they all run off again, especially if you batten down the hatches when temptation is coming." "And did they heed the good counsel ?" He "One did; he began to feel he was a backslider. said, as he joined me, 'I fear I've been like a man at the oar; he looks the way he is not going, and he may go backwards over the falls without thinking of it.' Very true,' I replied: to have the eye on heaven while one is drifting fast the other way is a bad look-out; and as for deserters, they never expect much favour.' "He seemed to feel it, and he went on a new tack. For a while he doubted whether the good Pilot would have anything more to do with him. "Never fear,' said I; 'you are not under water yet: pray away, and look out by faith, and you will soon see a sail heave in sight; mark my word if you don't; and you know who will be on board. He is always on the look-out for signals of distress, and He can see a wondrous way.' "So it turned out, and the man is now making a straight course for heaven in full sail. Others of the crew were driven back on their old course by the storm of temptation, and lost all the way they had ever made. I often pray and hope concerning some of them; but the one who was the leader in it all foundered outright." "How was that?" "Oh, he was flush of money when we were paid off, and after a good deal of drinking he seemed to lose all care for his soul; then a fit came on, and he suddenly went down, all standing. The men said, 'That's meant for a buoy to mark off a dangerous channel; we must give it a wide berth, that grog-drinking."" We were now coming to a spot where our roads diverged. "Well, my friend," said I to the coastguardsman, "as you get on towards harbour, is your faith in Christ stronger?" "I can't boast: the anchor is good and sure, but the chain that holds it is a different thing." "Why so? Did not the same heavenly wisdom give you Christ as an anchor, and faith to keep hold on Him? and will not that faith, being from Him, be equal to all the strain that is put upon it ?" "I believe you are right," answered he, musingly. "I've had heavy troubles in my family, and stormy weather, but I dare say troubles are needful ballast, and if you only keep the prow light, she rises to the waves all right." 66 Quite so; a buoyant trust in God carries us over any thing. Will you not honour Him by such a cheery trustfulness? Then you will reach the harbour, not as a battered wreck that has thrown her cargo overboard to save the lives of the crew, but in full sail, with a rich freightage of peace and hope for eternity." "God grant it!" said the sailor; and with a grasp of the hand we parted. F. A. J. L Looking Onward. ET us look forward at our life's beginning, Which we must travel, sorrowing when sinning, With ever-growing load. Let us not cherish idle expectation That it will not prove steep, For there may oft be times of desolation Friends may forsake, and envy may dissever Enough if sorrow quicken our endeavour Death may be busy, and remove our treasures Our hopes may fade, and all our youthful pleasures Life without sorrow is a strange exception, Where suffering is the rule, For in this world of trial and deception There is a land of happiness unbroken, Where bitter parting words are never spoken, The Mile-stones; or, "Leaving Behind." NE December day I was travelling by coach along a high road in the West of Scotland. The weather, though very cold, was clear and bright, and most of my fellow-travellers were, like myself, engaged in observing the grandeur of the scenery through which we passed. But there were two young men seated in front of |
