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62

LITTLE LIFE-BOAT HELPERS.

LITTLE LIFE-BOAT HELPERS.

THE

HE life-boat is going out to practise at ten o'clock!

So away we hurried to the harbour. The Union Jack was flying on the top of the large shed where the life-boat was kept, and a crowd had collected opposite the great doors when we reached the quay.

Presently the doors were opened, and we got a peep of the bright boat, as white as the foam it was to ride over, with gay blue and scarlet sides and keel; and forth-with a great excitement arose among several dozen little boys, who set up a very lively hurrah. Then the crew gradually appeared, twelve strong fellows in dark blue clothes and scarlet caps with a rather Turkish look about them, each with a cork jacket fastened round them, so that sinking in any sea was out of the question.

In a few minutes, the life-boat, mounted on high wheels, was pulled and pushed slowly out of the shed on to the quay, and the small boys cheered more energetically still. There she was, ready to save in any sea, with festoons of rope all round her sides, so that any poor drowning man could catch and hold on if once within reach; and the brave, bronze-faced crew, ready to go out in the wildest storm and stretch out their strong hands to those who must perish without such help.

But there she was, with her blue and white oars lying useless, for she was a hundred yards from the water. And how was she to be dragged to the edge, where she could be launched out and row away to her work?

Those little fellows knew all about it, and were eagerly looking out for their share in the work! All at once one of the scarletcapped men threw a long thick rope from the boat into the road, and in a minute at least thirty little urchins had seized it, run it out to its full length with another cheer, and waited the signal to pull. Some of the rest looked disappointed because there was not room for them to get hold of it, but none of them went away; and in another minute a second rope was flung from the

other side of the boat, hardly touching the ground before it was pounced upon by those who had missed the chance of the first rope. Then the red caps gave a great push all together, while the little lads watched the moment and pulled at the two ropes with all their might, and the great life-boat, which would carry thirty shipwrecked men besides its own crew, began to move quite easily and quickly towards the beach.

It was splendid to see those sixty little fellows, hearty little Britons, enjoying the work which nobody set them or asked them to do, cheering and tugging away, not a single grown man among them, and yet doing what one would have expected to see grown men or even horses doing. There was one scrap of a boy in knickerbockers, not above five years old, slanting his body and straining his wee arms at the rope, as if the launch of the life-boat depended on him. There were two or three shoeless mites, planting their bare toes against the stones, and pulling as hard as the most comfortably shod schoolboy among them.

In a very little while they had dragged the good boat to the beach; and then they scampered along the pier and had the delight of seeing her rowed fast and steadily by the red-caps out among the wild white waves, where, not so very far from the mouth of the harbour, many and many a collier vessel and fishing smack had been wrecked, within sight of safety, but out of reach of any help till the life-boat was provided.

Very likely some of those little lads will grow up, and go out in the life-boat themselves; but they don't wait for that, they come and help all they can now. Don't you think that when she comes back to the harbour with sailors and little cabin boys saved from drowning in that fierce roaring sea, these Whitby boys must be ten times more delighted than if they had had no hand in it, but had stood idly looking on, and letting other people do all the pulling!

Now, what life-boats are there to which you can give a pull? Quite certain to be

HEAR, LEARN, KEEP, AND DO.

one, very likely several, within your reach. There are wrecks going on night and day in the great sea of life, terrible wrecks of souls on every heathen shore, numbers drowning in sin close at hand. And brave men and women leave their warm homes and go out to them with the life-boat of salvation, go right away into the waves, and stretch out their hands to draw them into the life-boat. You are not old enough to go yet, but you can help to start the life-boats.

Every time a Missionary Meeting or a Bible Meeting is held, and the speaker tries to persuade you to do what you can, to have a collecting box, to give what you would spend on your own pleasure, and get others to do the same, it is like throwing out a rope for the little ones to pull at. And when many pull together, it is surprising what a difference it makes. I have heard that twenty thousand pounds a year comes to the Church Missionary Society in sixpences alone. There must have been a good many little ones pulling at that rope! What are you going to do? Stand by, with your hands in your pockets, and see the others pull, and say, Yes, it is very interesting, and I hope the life-boat will save a great many people!' No! look out for the ropes (they are always being thrown out), and shout to all your companions to come too, and then give a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull all together,' and then even you will be little fellow-workers in the great, glorious, happy work of saving souls from a more terrible death than they would meet in the cold waves of the North Sea at Whitby.

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FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL.

HOME LESSONS ON THE OLD PATHS.
HEAR, LEARN, KEEP, AND DO.

HOW is the word to be read and heard,

that it may become effectual to salvation? 'Mamma, what does become effectual to salvation mean?' asked Charley, when he had read this question.

'It means that it may have the effect of saving us. God's Word is the medicine

63

He has given to heal our souls. The Scriptures are the leaves of the tree of life for the healing of the nations. Read Psa. cvii. 20.'

"He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions."

'God's Word was written to heal the soul, and it never fails to heal those who use it aright. It is a powerful medicine, and must produce some effect. Does it save all who read and hear it?'

"O no, mamma. Some people know the Bible quite well who are not good people at all.'

That is why we should be very careful how we read and hear. If the Word is not effectual to salvation, if it does not heal the soul, it will destroy it. Read what Paul says of his ministry, 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16.'

"For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life."

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'The Word is like one of those powerful remedies which must be used with great care, or it will kill instead of curing. Peter tells us of some in his day who used the Scriptures so as to destroy their own souls (2 Pet. iii. 16.); and many still wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction. It is therefore very important that we should remember the Saviour's command, "Take heed how ye hear." When a physician prescribes a medicine, what does he usually give along with it?'

'He gives directions how we are to use it.'

Yes; and if the medicine is of a kind which may prove hurtful, he is careful to give very minute directions regarding it. The Great Physician, along with His Word, gives us plain instruction for its use. What would you think of a patient who never minded the physician's directions?'

"That would be very foolish, mamma; perhaps the medicine would kill him.'

"Those who neglect the directions God has given us regarding the soul's medicine are still more foolish. Four of these directions are given in the answer you have learned. Repeat it, Nelly.'

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HEAR, LEARN, KEEP, AND DO.

'That the word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation, and prayer, receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practise it in our lives.'

'Do you know what it is, to attend thereunto with diligence? Charley.'

'That means to read the Bible every day, and go to church every Sabbath.'

And what is preparation??

'It is to stop thinking of other things and pray to God.'

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We should read the Bible every morning and evening; and I think you all know a prayer which you should offer when you do so.'

'I know the one you mean, mamma. It is, "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.""

'What is, to receive it with faith and love?' 'That is to believe that it is really God's message to us; and to be glad that Jesus loves us.'

'It is to be like Mary, who sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word; or like him who said, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!""

'But, mamma, what is it, to lay it up in our hearts?'

That is to keep it in our memory; not to forget it, but to hide it in our hearts. We should commit Christ's words to memory, and keep His sayings in our heart. Luke ii. 51. We must not forget the last direction. What is it?'

'Practise it in our lives.'
'What is that? Charley.'

'It is to do what the Bible tells us.' "That is the way to get good from the Bible, to do what it tells us. Jesus says, If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. If we would be Christ's disciples we must HEAR, LEARN, KEEP, and Do His Word. These four little words, all found in one verse, tell us our whole duty to the Word of God. They correspond to the four directions in the Catechism. Read the verse, Charley.

""And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them." (Deut. v. 1.)

'Mr Muller, of Bristol, in an address to young converts said, "Read the Word of God regularly through. As an earthly will is always read through with great care, so God's will ought to be read entirely through with reverence and godly fear. In forty-six years I have read my Bible through a hundred times; yet it is always fresh and new when I begin it again."

'If you wish to become like Jesus, you must love the Bible. It is the mirror which shews us His image. I will tell you of a blind girl who valued the Word of God as we all ought to do.

'A colporteur visited the cottage where she lived, became interested in the blind girl, and got her taught to read with her fingers the books prepared for the blind. He got a Bible for her, which she read with intense delight. She would sit hour after hour reading her Bible, and really meditated upon it day and night. Her father was poor, and, as soon as the blind girl was old enough, she was obliged to go to work in the fields; but she expected she would still be able to read her highly prized treasure in the evenings. But in a short time the skin of her fingers got hardened, and she could not feel the letters. She cut off part of the hardened skin, and felt the letters, but it soon hardened again, and she knew not what to do. To be unable to read her Bible was a sore trial to the poor girl. With a sorrowful heart and a tearful eye she took the Book in her arms to give it a farewell kiss, when, to her great joy, she discovered that she could read it with her lips.'

And did she read it with her lips after that, mamma?' asked little Alice.

Yes, my dear, she read it with her lips, and found it sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.

"Holy Bible, Book Divine,

Precious treasure thou art mine."'

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