HAVE you ever seen a hop garden, with its long rows of plants, hanging full of flowers, with men, women, and children all busy stripping off the flowers into baskets or "cribs?" It is a very pretty sight on a bright day, and the hum of many young voices singing hymns tell that some of the little hop-pickers know the Lord Jesus as their Savior and Lord. In one of these hop gardens, there was a meeting held every evening for the preaching of the Gospel, and many―both old and young―were brought to Jesus. One little girl especially was a bright case of conversion. She was a good way from her home, and when she came to the meeting first she had no Bible. Some one gave her a Testament, and marked several verses with red ink, among others, John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16), asking her to commit it to memory, and repeat it over every morning, remembering each time she did it that the word "whosoever" in the verse meant her. She set herself to do it, and before many days she could repeat the verse without looking on the word. This verse she continued to repeat morning after morning, remembering that "whosoever" meant her. One morning, while at her work in the hop garden, she was thinking over the words, when suddenly it dawned upon her, that if "whosoever meant her," then she had everlasting life, for she truly believed in Jesus. She never thought of it in that way before, as being meant for her, but when she took the words home to herself she was happy in the knowledge of her salvation. Often while busy picking hop flowers would she be heard sweetly singing―
"Happy day, happy day,
when Jesus washed my sins away.”
Dear young reader, have you, like the little hop-picker, taken the word “whosoever” to mean you, and Jesus to be your own Savior?