ld. Now, friends, you
are in a worse case than any I have yet described. The tempest of sin
is roaring round and in you. This world is sinking beneath you, but
Jesus Christ, our Lifeboat, is alongside. Will you come? The fire is
burning under your very feet; there is no deliverance from the flames of
God's wrath, except by the Great Escape. Jesus is at hand to save.
Will you come? The battle is raging. Don't you _know_ it? Do you
forget that awful combat with the tempter when you fought your way past
the gin-shop, but were beaten and turned back? Or that terrible
assault, when passion after a deadly struggle laid you helpless on your
back? Oh! may God's Holy Spirit open your eyes to see Jesus--the
Captain of your Salvation--at your elbow this moment, waiting at the
door of your heart and knocking till you will open and let Him in to
lead you on to--Victory!"

Here the speaker dropped his voice again, and spoke tenderly of the love
of Jesus to the chief of sinners, and as he spoke, tears were seen
trickling down many a dirty face, and sobs broke the solemn stillness.

As the lame man was going home that night, a young girl ran after him
and seized his arm. Her eyes were swollen with weeping.

"Oh, sir," she cried in a low voice that trembled with emotion, "can--
will--Jesus save the like of me?"

"Assuredly, my poor girl. He says `Come unto me,' and `Whosoever
_will_,' let him come. If _you_ are willing, there is no doubt about
_His_ willingness. The difficulty only lies with you, not with Him.
Where do you live?"

"I have no home," sobbed the girl; "I have run away from my home, and
have no place to lay my head in here. But oh! sir, I want to be saved!"

The lame man looked with the deepest commiseration into the appealing
eyes. "Come," he said, "walk with me. I will tell you of One who had
no place where to lay His head."

She took his arm without a word, and the two hurried through the still
crowded streets. Arrived at his own door, the lame man knocked. It was
opened by a fair, soft, and exceedingly pretty little woman of about
thirty years of age, whose fresh face was the very personification of
goodness.

"Why, Jim!" she exclaimed, looking at the girl in surprise.

"Here we are, Molly," exclaimed the lame man, bustling into a snug room
in which a fire was blazing, and cheering preparations for tea were
going on, "and I've brought a friend to spend the night with us.
There's plenty of