82 The True Riches.

merchant as he passes, and says to him, in
a tone of indignation and disgust; “ Man!
would you leave your wife?” and then
turning at once to the trembling, weeping
wife, he says: “There, woman ! there! take
my lot, and [ll take yours. Go with your
husband, and I'll take my chance with the
rest.” The noble-hearted sailor is not, how-
ever, to perish: almost at that very moment
a sail is discerned on the horizon, rapidly
making for the sinking ship. The passengers
are all secured from a watery grave, and not
very long after arrived safely in England.
Who can read this simple narrative
without admiring the noble, self-denying
generosity of the sailor, who was willing to
save this woman’s life at the risk, ‘and by
the intended sacrifice, of his own? It is
not often that we meet with the record of
any nobler deed than this. But, noble as it
was, it may not be compared with the act
of self-sacrifice and substitution on the part
of our Saviour, by which sinful and dying
men are not merely rescued from the horrors
of everlasting death, but are invested with
all the powers and privileges of an endless