faith for such stations. He must take his life in his hand, for his work may be finished suddenly.

30

Blessed are those servants whom their Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. In the Celestial Country there are no Light-Houses to be kept, nor any need of them; no more sea, no more dangers, no more sin.

30 Luke xii. 37.

CHAPTER XIX.

ALMOST SAVED-ALMOST LOST.

Now as they were sailing swiftly, the man at the mast-head suddenly cried out that they were in shoal water. Then, as they ran to the sides of the ship, they found, to their amazement and distress, that the bottom was as clearly visible as the sea itself. They got out their sounding lines, threw all aback, and lay to, for every instant they expected to strike, but still the ship did not touch, and as it was at least as safe keeping her on their course amidst this great danger, as any other way, for they could not go back, so they proceeded with little sail and much trembling, throwing the lead every few fathoms of the way. This continued all night, and the water was so clear, that they could distinctly see the bottom, even by the light of the moon. Great forests of sponges and marine shrubs were visible at intervals, and the forms of grim and glittering sea-monsters could be seen trail

ing in and out; was white sand.

but the greater part of the bottom All night long the melancholy voice of the leads-man, By the deep seven! now shoaler, now deeper, rose like the wail of a prophet of evil, and there was little sleep on board, or closing of the eyes, except in prayer.

But the day dawned, and the bright and cheerful sun rose up in glory, and the waves danced and sparkled in the favorable breeze, as if the gladness of intelligent life were in them. So the men began to take heart once more, though they kept up all their watchfulness, and glad and thankful they were, when they found themselves again passing into deep water. There was nothing on the surface of the sea to indicate danger, not a ripple, nor a crested wave, that showed signs of breakers, nor any point of land, or island, or rising reef, to intimate that they were anywhere but secure in mid-ocean; and yet, as they looked back, they could not but tremble; the more so, as the sea showed no sign, and yet they knew what they had passed over.

Now said Peter, as they were trying to find some intimation of these banks on their course in the chart, there are times when a man's hidden corruptions and evil propensities seem to him much more clearly visible than at other times, when it seems as if the ship must strike, as if it were hazardous to

move, or attempt to go forward. And yet the danger may be greater, when we seem to be in deeper water. Unseen reefs are worse than visible sandbanks. At intervals we may have greater revelations of what is within us, and a deeper conviction of its being God's power and mercy only, that can carry us onward in safety, even when we are drawing nearer to the Celestial Country, than we ever had at first setting out, or in the earliest dangers of the way.

If the King's grace is sufficient for us, if we only have water enough to float, the sight of the bottom so near is indeed terrible, but it throws us upon God, and teaches us how the strength of the King is made perfect in our weakness. Paul himself once had to pass over just such shoals as these, and the ship's keel even grated on the bottom, so that he was distressed and terrified; but the King brought him off safe. And who was it that cried out, Oh wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? He was much nearer deliverance, much more likely to be delivered, when he knew his actual condition, and realized it, than if he had mistaken life for death, and felt secure in deep water and fine weather.

Then said John, it is never safe to be off one's watch, for who can tell what may be before us? Yet

1 Rom. vii. 24.

I suppose some may have passed these shoals, and known nothing about them, but slept all the way.

Yes, said Peter, some slumber through the whole voyage, but where will it end? Let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. Sleepers and breakers often come together. But as to this experience of shoals, I think I said that David also was sometimes near the bottom, so that it was quite plain to him; his soul seemed to be cleaving to the dust, and melting for heaviness, but he cried out for God to lighten him and quicken him. It is only the tide of Divine Mercy that ever bears us up, and certainly it is more apparent how it bears us up, when we seem to be just grating the bottom, than where no such danger is perceptible.

3

Well, said John, we know not only where David. was in shoal water, but just where he struck; and it has always seemed very strange to me, that a man who could keep guard so diligently, when he could scarce lift his eyelids for the weight that seemed to be on them, should have run headlong upon a sharp rugged reef, when it was right plain before him.

It was a wind of nature, said Peter, not of grace, that he was running before at that time and he had so much headway that he could not stop. Nay, even after the crash, he was carried clear over the reef, and 3 Psa. cxix. 25, 28.

2 1 Thess. v. 6.