Women and children and unsaved into the lifeboats...
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"Women and children and unsaved into the lifeboats!" Note in this cry the rescuer's word "unsaved." Those who did not know salvation and the assurance of the kingdom of heaven should be saved from the sinking vessel to await the opportunity for a profound event -- being saved from one's sins. That was the conviction of Scottish evangelist John Harper as he raced across the decks of the sinking Titanic.
Harper was a renowned evangelist who in 1912 was sailing the Atlantic on his way to pastor the illustrious Moody Church in Chicago. Since his wife had recently died, he now traveled with his only child, his six-year-old daughter Nana. Having placed her in a lifeboat he refused a seat for himself, reserving yet one more place for another woman, child, or any individual who had not yet discovered the blessing of salvation. Surrendering his lifejacket to another man, he continued his crusade among the stricken aboard the doomed ocean liner.
Four years after his death, at a conference in Hamilton, Ontario, the final moments in the life of John Harper became public. A man stood before the assembly and offered this testimony: "I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a spar that awful night, the tide brought Mr. Harper, of Glasgow, also on a piece of wreck, near me. 'Man,' he said, 'are you saved?' 'No,' I said, 'I am not.' He replied, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.' The waves bore him away, but strange to say, brought him back a little later, and he said, 'Are you saved now?' 'No,' I said, 'I cannot honestly say that I am.' He said again, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,' and shortly after that he went down; and there, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper's last convert."
The man who offered this testimony was only one of six people retrieved from the freezing waters of the North Sea by lifeboats, as 1,522 others, including Harper, died amidst the floating ice. We know for sure that one of those rescued entered into the presence of Christ through a door held open by the evangelist.
John Harper lived a life that was "upright and godly."
Harper was a renowned evangelist who in 1912 was sailing the Atlantic on his way to pastor the illustrious Moody Church in Chicago. Since his wife had recently died, he now traveled with his only child, his six-year-old daughter Nana. Having placed her in a lifeboat he refused a seat for himself, reserving yet one more place for another woman, child, or any individual who had not yet discovered the blessing of salvation. Surrendering his lifejacket to another man, he continued his crusade among the stricken aboard the doomed ocean liner.
Four years after his death, at a conference in Hamilton, Ontario, the final moments in the life of John Harper became public. A man stood before the assembly and offered this testimony: "I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a spar that awful night, the tide brought Mr. Harper, of Glasgow, also on a piece of wreck, near me. 'Man,' he said, 'are you saved?' 'No,' I said, 'I am not.' He replied, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.' The waves bore him away, but strange to say, brought him back a little later, and he said, 'Are you saved now?' 'No,' I said, 'I cannot honestly say that I am.' He said again, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,' and shortly after that he went down; and there, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper's last convert."
The man who offered this testimony was only one of six people retrieved from the freezing waters of the North Sea by lifeboats, as 1,522 others, including Harper, died amidst the floating ice. We know for sure that one of those rescued entered into the presence of Christ through a door held open by the evangelist.
John Harper lived a life that was "upright and godly."
