Now that the fervid excitement and feeling of horror over the loss of the steamship Titanic has subsided, and the event is a thing of the past, already out of mind with many, it may not be out of place to recall some of the lessons of that dreadful disaster. They are lessons for all time, with a special living voice for such as have an ear to hear. What contrast, for instance, between that great ship and the poor little life-boat! yet safety lay in the life-boat. Thus this great world, with all its mighty inventions, cannot save one soul from eternal doom. Christ alone can. He is the life-boat for eternity.
There were aboard the Titanic all manner of people, illustrating quite fully all classes of those in the world. First, there were the wealthy, "faring sumptuously every day," surrounded with all the luxury and comfort of life which human ingenuity has devised and which wealth can command. Then the second cabin, of the well-to-do and respectable -the middle classes. Thirdly, the steerage, by far the largest in number, whose main capital is in their courage and energy to face new conditions and grapple with them. Then last, but not least, the captain, the officers and crew, and all who served; all making up the total of that little floating world. As in the world at large, it is safe to say all were as different from each other as it is possible to conceive- socially, intellectually, morally, and every other way, save only in one respect:in this they were all alike, and stood on the same level, namely, in their absolute helplessness to save themselves. Consequently they were, all alike, in the common need of rescue if they were to reach shore alive. Without that rescue they must inevitably perish.
Just so with the whole of mankind concerning the other world. Scripture affirms that "there is no difference" so far as man's relation toward God is concerned. True, there is every variety and degree of difference as between man and man, but there is no difference in this respect, that " all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Measured by this standard, all are brought in "guilty before God" and are "without strength," that is, helpless to raise themselves out of their condition. Consequently all need the redemption which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
All aboard the doomed ship who realized their danger were, no doubt, anxious to be saved. It is even so in eternal things:only those who are conscious of their need care for the Saviour. Only those who receive God's judgment of their real condition will care for His salvation. Some on board were asleep, and perished even without a thought about their safety. Again, there were those who, we are told, refused to believe their danger. The ship, they said, could certainly not sink, and they rested in their false security until she tipped her bow and sank with all on board.
How like the vast majority around us to-day all this is! Multitudes cannot be aroused even to a sense of need or danger, and so they have no concern whatever about their souls. They are wholly taken up with earthly things and earthly pursuits, slumbering away, unconscious of a hereafter. What an awakening for such, sooner or later! There may not be the despising, but they are neglecting the great salvation which cost our Saviour so great a price to obtain for us. Others, and they are sadly on the increase in this day of materialism and universal scramble for wealth and power, are those who refuse to hear, and who despise. Their pride scorns the gospel. After nineteen hundred years of Christian testimony and New Testament witness, they are still in heathen darkness. They have no knowledge of the true God, revealed in Christ. They can see no use in a life-boat. Their confidence is in the ship, though it is sinking under them. What is the need of a Saviour ? They profess blind confidence in "human nature." Human nature, with its many accomplishments and beautiful outward appearances, is still their hope. How blind! How fatal is the delusion!
They trusted still in the Titanic, with its unmendable breach; and in the same way these still trust human nature, with its breach of sin which thousands of years of trial have proved incorrigible. But rejecters of Christian truth require more credulity to screen them from the light than Christians have need of faith to be in the light. How Satan must laugh at the folly of his victims!
Reader, where do you belong among all these people ? Do you believe God, and make salvation your foremost concern ? or are you indifferent about it ? or do you despise and reject it ? Have you ever heard the gospel of God's grace ?-the wonderful salvation it offers ?-all free, as every good thing from God is. What have you said to it ? Did you say, To-morrow? Then Satan holds you still in his power, and he will not pity you when you wail in the outer darkness.
But to return a little more to our subject. Many of those who on the various decks of the doomed ship were ready and anxious to be saved, were denied this great privilege. There was not sufficient provision for all. Oh, the agony of this, not only for themselves, but also for their friends! How utterly in contrast is all this with God's ways! He feeds thousands with a few loaves, and there is an abundance left. The anxious cry of the convicted jailer, "What must I do to be saved?" is instantly met with the loving response, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." The Lord's invitation to anxious souls everywhere is, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest " " Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." " My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish." " I am the door:by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved."
None is ever denied. Christ "gave Himself a ransom for all," and all who come to Him for salvation find it. He goes further. He pleads with men. He draws near, and says:"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:if any one hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Are any in perplexity through the confusion in Christendom and the many conflicting voices ? He says to them:" I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me." To all He says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life."
Thus the soul's transition is accomplished from darkness to light, and from the Adam-life of sin and death to life and incorruptibility in the risen Lord.
One thing more-the most solemn perhaps, for it involves the responsibility of the disaster-that which one would gladly pass over but for the sake of the spiritual lessons contained in it. According to the reports of both the American and English investigations, the Titanic, with all her living freight, went into a watery grave, not because of any fault of the ship, nor of the elements, but for wantonly steering a course known to be dangerous. The excuse was that others were taking the same risk.
So, too, multitudes are knowingly heading in the wrong direction-the direction of eternal woe-because other multitudes go the same way. Men of '' science " say there is no danger, and they trust in what is popular. God has warned them that " the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned;" yet they trust in "natural" men-men who have never been born of God. True science has a grand sphere, yet its sphere is within the realms of nature. The spiritual sphere lies beyond this, and even a Nicodemus, "a master in Israel," could not enter here without being born of God.
Captains of "thought" are increasingly belittling the warnings given; but, as heedless of the warnings given, the Titanic, with its sixteen hundred souls, plunged into a fathomless sea, let the followers of those men of "thought" beware lest they suddenly and hopelessly find themselves engulfed in a far, far greater calamity. Enough of the word of God has already been fulfilled before the eyes of all to assure them of the fulfilment of all the rest.
"Heaven and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away" (Mark 13:31). A. T. E.