{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71382/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71382","id":"gutenberg_71382","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71382","summary":null,"tags":["Brothers -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Novels","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life -- Juvenile fiction","Grandparent and child -- Juvenile fiction","Short stories"],"text":"Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.\n\n[Illustration: NEW STORIES BY A \u2219 L \u2219 O \u2219 E]\n\n[Illustration: HOLD FAST.\n \"Hold fast, brother, hold fast!\" shouted poor Sam in mortal\n  terror at my danger.]\n\n\n\n\n                      HOLD FAST.\n\n                  New Stories No. 5.\n\n\n\n                          BY\n\n                     A. L. O. E.\n\n\n\n                 T. NELSON AND SONS.\n\n          LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: HOLD FAST. BY A \u2219 L \u2219 O \u2219 E]\n\n\n\n                      HOLD FAST.\n\n                          BY\n                     A \u2219 L \u2219 O \u2219 E\n\n\"NAY, my child, I've nothing else to hold by, either in life or death,\nbut the great truth, that Christ died for sinners. It's a joyful thing\nto hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which God hath given\nus through our Lord Jesus Christ!\"\n\nThe speaker was Peter Ross, a blind and aged man, with bald head\nand silvery beard, who, clad in a pauper's dress, had come, as he\nwas allowed once a fortnight to do, to visit the house of his son.\nThe listener was a rosy-checked girl, about nine years of age, who,\nseated at his feet, and resting her little arms on his knee, looked up\nlovingly into his face.\n\n[Illustration: He that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise]\n\n\"Ah! grandfather,\" said Rose, \"if you did not hope to go to heaven,\nI don't know who else could! You are so good, so patient, so kind;\nyou have served God all your life long; you have never been given to\ndrinking and swearing, like the wicked men in our court, and I really\nthink that you know nearly half of the Bible by heart! I'm certain that\nyou deserve heaven!\"\n\n\"Rose, Rose,\" cried the old man earnestly, \"my only plea for heaven\nis this,\u2014\"\n\n   \"I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all;\n    But Jesus Christ is my all in all!\"\n\n\"I can't tell how it is,\" said Rose, looking into his face with a\npuzzled expression, \"the best people seem to think themselves the\nworst. If I was half as good as you are, grandfather, I'd be quite sure\nof getting to heaven.\"\n\n\"By your good works, my child!\"\n\n\"Yes, by my good works,\" repeated Rose. \"I can see why bad people hope\nto be saved only by the Lord; but it must be so very different with\npious people like you!\"\n\n\"Rose,\" said the blind old man, \"do you think that I ever pass one day\nwithout sin?\"\n\n\"I'm sure that you do,\" replied Rose, \"I never knew you do anything\nwrong.\"\n\n\"If my salvation were to depend upon my passing one waking hour without\nsin, Rose, my poor soul would be lost! Remember that God looks at the\nheart. His pure eyes read the evil thought; he knows not only the\nsinful things that we do, but the duties which we leave undone. All our\nrighteousnesses are as filthy rags; that truth is written in the Bible.\"\n\n\"But I can't see,\" persisted the little girl, \"that you need to be\nsaved by the Lord just in the same way as Luke Dobson did, who was run\nover by a cart when he was drunk. He lay ill for months and months,\nand father says that he repented, and hoped to go to heaven at last,\nbecause the Lord died for sinners. Now there must be a very great\ndifference between his case and yours, for he was once a very bad man,\nand treated his wife very cruelly when he had been at the public.\"\n\n\"My dear child,\" said the aged Christian, laying his thin hand on the\ncurly head of Rose, \"I have no more power to reach heaven by my works\nthan poor Luke Dobson had by his. The blood of Jesus Christ which\ncleanseth from all sin, is just as much needed to wash away mine as it\nwas to wash away his. He depended on the mercy of the Saviour, and I\nhave nought else to depend on.\"\n\n\"I can't understand that,\" said Rose.\n\n\"I'll tell you what happened to me in my youth, Rose, nigh three score\nyears ago, when I was not much older than you are. It seems to me a\nsort of picture, as it were, of the way in which sinners are saved, and\nhow there's nothing that we have to trust to but God's mercy in Christ.\"\n\n\"I should like to hear what happened to you, grandfather; but I want\nto ask just one question first. If the wicked and the steady all need\nmercy alike, where's the use of doing good, and trying to put away our\nsins? Why should we not live as we choose, and trust that all will come\nright in the end?\"\n\nOld Peter looked grave as he replied. \"Because no one who really\nbelongs to the Saviour can bear to continue in wickedness. The Lord\ndied not only to save His people from hell, but from sin; and they hate\nand dread the one as they hate and dread the other. I'll try and show\nyou what I mean by my story.\"\n\n\"It's nigh sixty years ago, as I said, when I was a young, strong,\nactive lad, that I lived for some months by the sea-shore. Our dwelling\nwas near the beach, in a place where the cliffs were rugged and high\u2014so\nhigh, that when we looked front the top of one of them, men walking on\nthe sands beneath seemed little bigger than crows.\"\n\n\"I set out one day to gather shells\u2014for that was a wonderful place for\nshells\u2014and the gentry as came to the village hard by, used often to buy\nthem from us. I wasn't going alone. I took with me my brother, poor\nSam.\"\n\n\"He and I went together, each with a bag to hold the shells, which was\nhung by a long string round our necks, so as to leave our hands quite\nfree. The last thing our mother said to us afore we started was this,\n'Mind, lads, and don't go too far; for the tide is on the turn, and\nthe waves be running high, and if ye go as far as High cliff, there's\ndanger that ye both may be drowned.'\"\n\n\"'No fear, mother!' said I; 'even if the tide should come in upon us,\nI reckon that I'm active and strong enough to climb to the top of the\ncliff; but I could not say as much for Sam, with his weak arms and the\nswelling on his ankle, I know he has no chance of climbing, so I'll\nkeep out of harm's way for his sake.'\"\n\n\"'And for your own, too, Peter,' said Sam, as we walked along the beach\ntogether; 'you are strong and active, to be sure, but you are no more\nable than I be, to climb up such a mighty high cliff.'\"\n\n\"'There may be two opinions as to that,' said I, for I had a great\nnotion of my own powers, and prided myself on being agile as a goat on\nthe rocks. Well,\" pursued the blind pauper, \"we had plenty of luck that\nday in finding shells on the shore; both of us filled our bags, and we\nwere so eager and pleased with our success, that we wandered on farther\nand farther, and scarce gave a thought to the tide, till we saw the\nwhite creamy foam tossed on the sand from the waves that came rolling\nand tumbling in shore, and we looked up and saw the great white cliff\nrising high and bluff before us!\"\n\n\"'I say, Sam,' cried I, 'just see how the tide's coming in! 'Tis time\nfor us to make the best of our way back to mother!'\"\n\n\"My brother turned white as a sheet. ''Tis too late for that,' said\nhe, giving a wildered gaze at the waste of heaving billows. For the\ncoast just there made a bend like a crescent, and though we stood upon\ndry land still, the white-topped waves, both afore and ahind us, were\nrolling right up to the cliff! Where we had walked dry-shod not an hour\nbefore, there was nothing to be seen but the waters which soon would\ncover the place where we were!\"\n\n\"'What's to be done!' cried my brother, as he looked up at the great\nrocky wall before us.\n\n\"'Keep a good heart!' said I, 'I'll climb up to the top o' the cliff,\nand then I'll get help and a rope, and we'll draw you up to safety.'\"\n\n\"So I put down my bag, and I pulled off my jacket, for it was clear\nenough that I could not climb with them. I knew well, though I didn't\nchoose to say it, that it would be hard work to get to the top of so\nhigh and steep a cliff; but I did not know, I would not believe that\nit was impossible for me to do so. By dint of straining every muscle,\nclasping, clutching at every jutting crag or little rock-plant that\noffered a hold, I managed to struggle up a few yards. But the way grew\nsteeper and harder. I could scarcely find place for my foot, or hold\nfor my hand; the earth was slipping beneath me! I panted\u2014I gasped\u2014I\nstrained\u2014feeling myself falling, I tried, with a violent effort, to\ncatch hold of a little stump that secured to be just beyond my reach. I\ncaught it, but lost my footing\u2014hung for a moment by one hand, then the\nstump gave way, and with a cry of fear I fell heavily down the rock!\"\n\n\"Oh! grandfather, were you much hurt?\" exclaimed Rose, who had listened\nwith breathless interest to Peter's account of his perilous adventure.\n\n\"Not badly hurt,\" said the blind man; \"but enough bruised and shaken to\nbe kept from the folly of trying the climbing again.\"\n\n\"Then you were just in the same case as your brother, though you had\nfancied yourself so much better able to get to the top than he.\"\n\n\"That's it; that's what I wished you to see,\" cried Peter. \"It is for\nthat I tell you the story. We were alike helpless, my child, the strong\nand the weak, the active and the maimed, neither could reach the top;\nboth were just in the same danger of being drowned by the coming tide.\nAnd so it is with the matters of the soul. One man seems wiser, another\nbetter, another bolder than his fellows; but the wisest, the boldest,\nthe best, can never reach heaven by their efforts. The way is too high,\ntoo steep, to be climbed! Their good deeds break away; they can't\nsupport them; they can't hold them up from destruction!\"\n\n\"But how were you saved?\" exclaimed Rose, more eager to hear the story\nthan to gather its moral.\n\n\"My brother and I felt that there was but one thing which we could\ndo\u2014we must loudly call out for assistance. We cried aloud again and\nagain; we lifted up our voices with all our might, and as God in his\nmercy ordered, the sound of our cry was heard from the top of the\ncliff. And so it is with the sinner, my child, when he feels that he\nis in danger of eternal death, when he finds that he has no power in\nhimself to help himself, and that unless God come to his aid, he is\nlost and ruined for ever. The cry, God be merciful to me a sinner! is\nheard even above the heavens, and mercy comes to the rescue!\"\n\n\"Was a rope let down from the top of the cliff?\" asked the impatient\nRose.\n\n\"A rope was let down,\" replied Peter, \"and it was long enough, and\nstrong enough to save us. It was let down not a minute too soon, for\nalready the sand on which we stood was washed by every advancing wave!\nSam, who was terribly frightened, at once caught hold of the rope, and\nclung to it as for his life. Nay, if I remember right, he fastened it\nround his body. But my courage, or rather presumption, had risen once\nmore, as soon as I found that means were provided to draw us up safely\nbeyond the reach of danger. I put on my jacket again, and passed the\nstring of my bag of shells round my neck. 'Since I have not to climb,'\ncried I, 'there's no use in leaving them behind; I've no mind to part\nwith one of 'em!' Now, mark my words, Rose, my child, I was thinking in\nan earthly matter as you thought just now when you said, 'if the wicked\nand the steady all need mercy alike, what's the use of doing good, and\nputting away our sins?' I believed that the rope was enough to save me;\nand so in truth it was; but how could I hold fast by the rope, when I\ncarried a weight round my neck!\"\n\n\"I see\u2014I see!\" exclaimed Rose; \"you must leave your heavy bag behind\nyou; for though the rope might not break, you could not keep your hold\non it, while the weight was dragging you down!\"\n\n\"No more than any man who wilfully keeps one sin, can continue safely\nto hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. He but deceives\nhimself if he ever tries to do so. I soon found out, as I was drawn\nupwards, what a fearful mistake I had made! I had not risen many feet\nabove the sands when a horrible dread arose in my mind that I should\nnever be able to hold on till I had reached the top of the cliff! The\nmuscles of my arms ached terribly, my fingers could scarcely keep their\ngrasp, and the string round my neck seemed to choke me, like the gripe\nof an iron hand!\"\n\n\"'Make haste!' I gasped out in agony, scarce able to bring out the\nwords. 'Oh! be quick\u2014be quick\u2014or I shall be forced to let go!'\"\n\n\"'Hold fast, brother, hold fast!' shouted poor Sam in mortal terror\nat my danger. The men above were straining every nerve to pull us up\nbefore my strength should fail me; but oh, how fearfully slowly we\nseemed to ascend!\"\n\n\"The strain on my arms now was torture! My brain grew dizzy. I could\nscarcely breathe. I had but one thought\u2014one maddening wish\u2014to get rid\nof the fatal bag! It seemed to grow heavier every moment; it was as if\nsome barbarous foe were pulling me down to destruction! I felt that\nunless I could be relieved of the weight, I must let go, and be dashed\nto pieces! I dared not attempt to cling by one weary hand, so as to use\nthe other to untie the fatal string! I cried in despairing agony to\nGod, for I was beyond all help from man. I know not to this day how his\nmercy wrought,\u2014whether the weight on it snapped the string, or whether\nin my struggles the knot was untied; but never, till my dying hour\nshall I forget the sense of relief, when suddenly something gave way,\nI felt that the weight was gone; I heard a splash in the waters below,\nand in another minute was firmly grasped by a hand stretched out from\nabove!\"\n\n\"Oh! grandfather, what a mercy!\" exclaimed Rose, drawing a long breath.\nHer heart had beat fast at the account of such terrible danger.\n\n\"A mercy, indeed!\" said the old man solemnly, clasping his hands\ntogether, as memory recalled the awful scene. \"Had that bag, instead\nof shells, contained all the wealth of the world, how thankful should\nI have been to have dropped it into the sea for ever! As that weight\nwas to my body, so is sin to the soul! In vain do we grasp the hope of\nsalvation, in vain do we seem to be raised from a state of danger by\nthe mercy of Christ, if we resolve not to try to cast from us every sin\nthat our God condemns! Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. We\nmust cast away every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us;\nnot in our own poor strength, but in the power of prayer, looking to\nGod, trusting to God, ready to give up everything for God! Then will\nHis love never fail us; He will never leave us to perish. By His grace\nshall we hold fast to the end, and rejoice for ever in His presence!\"","title":"Hold fast","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":2756}