Part 19 (1/2)
she said toall sinners by nature, and outcasts froain His dear children by silorious fact that Christ died, and was punished instead of us, and that our debt to God being thus paid, our sins are blotted out of His rehteousness of Christ, we can approach boldly the throne of grace, and are one before to prepare for us He knows, too, that, being possessed of these privileges, we are called on by the aid of the Holy Spirit to try and imitate Christ, to live pure and blameless lives, to ood we can to our fellow-creatures, especially to those of the household of faith I am thankful to find, Charley, that you, too, know these truths, and are not ashamed of Christ”
”I have not understood theo,” I answered ”Now that I do know theraceful to a Christian as to be asha the Master he serves, and therefore it is that Satan is always endeavouring to make us conceal our belief in the presence of our fellow-race for those who do not really acknowledge Christ, although they would be very angry if told that they were not Christians”
”I found that to be the case in Sydney,” said Miss Kitty, ”although during the time I spent with Mr and Mrs Newton it was a difficulty I did not experience The poor heathens a whom I lived were sincere; they had discovered the worthlessness of their own idols, and felt their sinfulness, and, consequently, heard with joy the simple plan of salvation which God in His mercy has prepared for man In Sydney, I found people so well satisfied with their forms and ceremonies, their attendance at their churches and chapels, and their al and moral conduct, that they stared when I spoke of the love of Jesus, which brought Him down from heaven to suffer for man, and of the utter inability ofthat they the the hich was tothe sacrifice of Christ of no effect This, it appears to e nuer nuht to the future, or caring whether they are to pass it in glory, or to be cast out for ever from the presence of God I cannot bear to think that those I know should be existing in so dangerous a state without trying totherace lasts”
I mention this conversation, because it so exactly describes reater number of people I have since met
”How earnestly I pray that my dear father may have accepted the truth,”
continued Miss Kitty ”I had al him, when a sailor, who had been wrecked in the Pacific,with the poor , he told me that he had been on board an outward-bound shi+p which had picked up an English officer, who had made his escape from a French prison; and I was certain, froave me, that the officer must have been my father The shi+p touched nowhere till she recked on some rocks in the Southern Ocean, between the Mauritius and Australia My father was a those who escaped They were rescued by a South Sea whaler, whichhi to he could not tell, but concluded that he intended returning home Even should he have done so, he would have been unable to hear of me, and this makes me anxious in the extreme to return home, to try and find hiave lad I should be to assist her in the search
Soales which occasionally blow over the usually calm waters of the Pacific came on, and we unexpectedly made an island notaltered, when a squall laid the shi+p al off ht be perfectly unfettered, I sprang aloft with others yet further to shorten sail, when thewere carried away The nextwaters The shi+p flew on To heave-to or lower a boat I kneas iave myself up for lost: still I struck out with the instinct of self-preservation
The seas dancing wildly around circumscribed my view, and I could only just see the masts of the shi+p as she receded from me Several other poor fellows I knew had been hove into the sea off the yard with ht shi+rt and trousers, I was nearly exhausted Had I retained my jacket, I believe that I should have been unable to keep myself afloat Just then a shout reached my ears, and I saw Bill seated astride a piece of tith Ime by the shi+rt, hauled me up, and made me fast with some rope attached to the spar
”Glad to find you, Charley,” he said ”I saw the tiot on to it Noe must trust that the shi+p will come back to pick us up, or that the ill drive us to the shore, othere shall be badly off”
I thought so too; but having escaped i that furtherour lives
”Wefor you andthat He will receive us as loved children”
”Ah, yes, Master Charley, that's what I have been thinking,” said Bill
”I knew you were on the yard, and the moment I was in the water I prayed that He would save you as well as me, and you see He has done so”
We, however, could talk but little; indeed, e said was uttered in disjointed sentences; for the foa on which we sat up and down, so that we could with difficulty hold on to it The sea-birds kept wildly screa could be seen around us but the foa, troubled waters In vain we looked out for the shi+p Evening was coloom increased Had it not been for the rope, we could not have
Each ti to discover the shi+p, but she was nowhere visible, and even had she been near, the increased darkness would have shut her out froht
Hour after hour passed by, and, faint and exhausted, I felt that I could not hold on er Poor Bill seemed in even a worse condition I could hear his voice every now and then, a a prayer, and I joined him in my heart At last I fell into a state of almost insensibility, and I knew not how the hours went by
Again I aroused h passed by At length the roaring sound of the waters increased: it was that of a heavy surf breaking on the shore Daylight appeared As the log rose to the suht of a rocky coast close at hand In a few er we ran was greater than ever, for if turned over and over by the surf, we s which boundBill to do the same He did not appear to comprehend me I stretched outloose the rope which held hi sea took me, and I was carried forward in its embrace towards the shore What happened to my companion I could not see, for I lost all consciousness Confused by the roaring and hissing of the waters in my ears, it appeared to me that I was lifted up and down, and swept backwards and forwards; then I felt led on Another sea ca my hands into the sand ere it passed away Exhausted, I could exert myself no further Had another sea overtakenI thus reround, and openinghair and beard, and a benignant expression of countenance, bending overme in his arain placed round, unable to proceed farther
”How came you here, lad?” he asked, when he saw that I had sufficiently recovered to speak ”Has your shi+p been cast away?”
I told him how I had been carried overboard, and inquired whether my companion had been saved
”I have seen no one,” he said ”Indeed, I only just now came down to the spot to bathe, as it is one of the few places on the shore free from rocks; but I will search for hio at once, assuring hiive you soht soth; but when I tried to get up and acco pole and a rope in his hand, telling ht rest without anxiety, as there were neither savages nor wild beasts in the island to injureunder the shade of a rock, I fell asleep I oke by hearing voices, and toup, I saw the oldto the ti the shore into a sheltered bay, where it had grounded Thence he had scra in vain for rief, under the idea that I had been lost