Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

or, Salvation Rejected

How sad must have been the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ when He had to say to the Jews of old: “Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life.” And again, when He stood outside Jerusalem and wept over the sinners therein, because they had rejected Him, and refused the salvation He would have brought to them. And how strangely sad it is to-day to see men and women and youths and maidens still rejecting this Saviour choosing the way of destruction rather than safety and blessing. I greatly doubted whether any tale of the sea could illustrate such folly as this, but I have a letter open before me now which records a case which, I think may do so.

The facts in this letter are as follows: A ship was stranded during a gale on the rocks near Boulmer, a small fishing village on the coast of Northumberland. The brave and kind-hearted fishermen at once manned their little lifeboat, and after much tossing and a weary struggle, they succeeded in reaching the wreck. But their disappointment can well be imagined, when, after risking their lives in their gallant attempt to rescue the shipwrecked crew, the captain absolutely refused to get into their boat, nor would he allow any man of his crew to do so.

The fishermen besought him to allow them to save them; but the captain refused to believe that this was their object, and cried out that they had come to plunder the ship and rob him of all he possessed. The fishermen replied: “Man, we have come to save you! — we have come to save you!”

At length the captain allowed his men to get into the lifeboat, but he himself refused to quit his ship. Sadly, they had to turn from him, leaving him to his fate, while they reached the shore in safety.

The ship went to pieces, and a few days after the captain’s body was picked up at Newton-by-the-Sea, about six miles from the scene of the wreck.

We can have very little patience with the madness of this captain, and I expect will say he deserved his fate, and yet we could find an excuse for him, for there have been men hardhearted enough to pretend to save, when they only intended to destroy. But there can be no excuse for the rejector of Christ. Who ever heard of Him deceiving and robbing a sinner? Nay! On the other hand, He Himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive”; and He delights to take this more blessed place. He came from heaven to earth to proclaim God as the “Giving God.” He went even to death that He might save men, and that they might become the recipients of God’s blessing.

Still, there is the notion that to become a Christian means to be robbed of mirth and pleasure, and the world with its attractions. But these things are but the glitter that dazzles the eye in order to obscure the bitterness and the misery at the end. You may depend upon it that the best things the world can possibly offer can only bring disappointment. And if the world and its prizes are sought after to the exclusion of Christ; sorrow, death, and hell will follow in their train. The Word of God tells us that Satan is the god of this world, and he is a deceiver and a thief. He robs men of their souls, of happiness and heaven, and he accomplishes this very often by giving them some fancied advantage in this world, which they fear they would lose if they were to become Christians.

But let us face this question: What is the best that this world has to offer? Can fame, honour or wealth really fill the heart? We will take the testimony of England’s greatest seaman, Lord Nelson.

As a young naval captain he had said to a friend: “I shall live to be envied.” And truly he did; his highest ambition must have been overtopped by the pinnacle of honour which he reached.

His great victory over the French in the Battle of the Nile filled Europe with his fame. He himself said of that fight: “Victory is not a name strong enough for such a scene — it is a conquest.”

In the House of Commons Mr. Pitt, in announcing the fact that Nelson was to be raised to the peerage, said: “Admiral Nelson’s fame will be co-equal with the British name. No title can express what we think, or add anything to him.” Thus he was honoured and enriched by his country; but, in a letter to a friend at this time, he wrote: “The only people who I envy are those whose estate measures six feet by two.” On another occasion he wrote to the Earl St. Vincent: “There is no real happiness in this world.”

This is the experience of landsmen and seamen alike. Then why lose your soul for those things which do not satisfy now, and which you must eventually lose for ever. Oh! be not deceived; look ahead into Eternity. Put the things which are of the greatest importance first. Take salvation now from the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you will be able to say with the writer: —
“Better than grandeur,
 Better than gold,
 Better than fame ten thousand-fold,
 Is the love of Christ, who died for me,
 Who shed His blood to set me free.”