Jewels #6 (May 3, 2008)
My Jewels # 6
"Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name." (Malachi 3:16)
Hi, to all my dear grandchildren,
No doubt you have all heard of large ships sinking. One story that we are often told about is the Titanic. But there is another large ship that I would like to tell you about, it sank about 90 years ago.
On Saturday, May 1, 1915, the giant Cunard liner, Lusitania, one of the largest and fastest ships afloat in her day, sailed out of New York harbor with 2000 people on board.
It was wartime, but most of the passengers, seemingly confidant that the great swift ship could escape and outrun any enemy submarine, were having lunch. As they neared the coast of Ireland, suddenly, without warning two torpedoes, fired from a German submarine, crashed into her starboard side, and in a very sort time the huge ship sank with a frightful loss of 1400 lives.
Harold Boulton, a young Englishman, was one of those who were saved. When he heard that the ship had been struck by torpedoes, he quickly put on a life belt, jumped into the ocean, and started swimming away from the ship. From the water he saw the Lusitania sink. Later Harold was saved by some fishermen who pulled him out of the water and took him to England. He wrote:
When the lifeboats were just about to be lowered, I saw Captain Turner appear on the bridge, shouting loudly and waving his hands. "Don't lower the boats!" he called at the top of his voice. "The ship can't sink. She is all right. Kindly assist in getting the women out of the boats and off the upper deck!"
I believe that the loss of many lives is chargeable to the captain's orders to empty the lifeboats, for later there was not time to reload them. I saw that the second-class passengers had ignored the captain's orders and were loading the lifeboats; they had launched four of them. This is why, I think more second-class than first class passengers were saved.
The captain made a terrible mistake. How sorry he was later that he told passengers on the Lusitania they were safe, when they were not. Clergymen, preachers, teachers and parents can make terrible mistakes too. Often they tell people they are safe when they are not. Do not rest, young people, in the thought that you are saved from judgment, and saved for heaven, until you have God's word for it.
"If YOU confess with YOUR mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in YOUR heart that God as raised Him (Jesus) from the dead YOU shall be saved." "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:9,13)
Harold Boulton also wrote:
I asked a woman and her daughter if there was anything I could do for them, and the mother replied, "Not a thing, thank you. We're not going to get excited, but remain clam and stay here. The captain says the Lusitania cannot sink." They were both drowned.
Why were they drowned? Because they thought they did not need to be saved. But they did need to be saved, and so does every child of Adam's fallen race.
"All have sinned. . . ." and "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 3:23).
"Except YOU repent, YOU shall all likewise perish"
(Luke 13:3).
