In one of the coal-pits of the north, while a considerable number of the miners were dawn below, the top of the pit fell in, and the shaft was completely blocked up. Those who were in the mine, gathered to a spot where the last remains of air could be breathed. There they sat and sang and prayed after the lights had gone out because the air was unable to support the flame. They were in total darkness, but a gleam of hope cheered them when one of them said he had heard that there was a connection between that pit and an old pit which had been worked years ago. He said it was a long passage through which a man might get by crawling all the way, lying flat upon the ground; he would go and see if it were passable. The passage was very long, but they crept through it, and at last they came out to light at the bottom of the other shaft, and their li es were saved.
If my present way of access to Christ as a saint is blocked up by doubts and fears, if I, cannot go straight up the shaft and see the light of my Father's face, there is an old working, the old-fashioned way by which sinners have gone of old, by which poor thieves go, by which harlots go. I will creep along it, lowly and humbly; I will go flat upon the ground. i will humble myself till I see my Lord, and cry, 'Father, I am not worthy to be called thy son, make me as one of thy hired servants, so long as I may but dwell in thy house.' In our very worst case of despondency we may still come to Jesus as sinners. 'Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.' Call this to mind, and you may have hope.