“Pray and Pump;” or, Faith and Works.
In a seaman's prayer-meeting, lately, in New York, one of the speakers thanked God that he had been a sailor. He had been in some tight places at sea, but he never hid his religion, or lost his confidence in God. He had learned to call upon God in trouble, and had not been disappointed. But then, faith must be joined with practice. Praying only, without using effort, is not enough. “We were once,” said he, “driven to great straits in a gale. The wind blew a perfect hurricane, and our ship sprung a leak. It seemed as if we must go to the bottom in a few minutes. Our men worked hard at the pumps. The water gained on us. Death stared us in the face. I ran down below, and on my knees asked Jesus to save us, and give me a token. I opened my Bible, lying before me, and Isaiah 41:10, met my eyes. The words are these, and the first I saw: ‘Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed; for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’” “‘That was enough. I ran on deck and told the men. I said, ‘Men, we are going somewhere, but we are not going down.’ I reported to them what I had asked of the Lord, and how he had answered me.
“‘Now,’ said I, ‘men, pump and pray, and pray and pump.’ And they did it with a will. And we pumped and prayed our vessel into Cork, as I believe, in answer to prayer and promise. But what is the use of praying, with a leak in the ship, without pumping? It must ever be, work and pray, and pray and work.’—Sel.