For the Little Ones.
A LITTLE while ago I was called upon to attend the burial of a dear baby, who died when only a few days old. Its life was indeed a very short one, but short as it was, the poor thing had tasted what pain and suffering were, when the Lord in his tender mercy took it out of this world of sin and sorrow unto himself. I saw it in its tiny coffin, and it looked so calm and peaceful, that one might have supposed it had only been asleep in its cot; but its spirit had fled, and the cold damp of death was upon its smooth, unruffled forehead.
I dare say that some of my young readers have had a baby brother or sister die; and if not, they have known some little ones who have died very young. Now, why did they die? Perhaps you will say, because they had been sick and ill, or because it was the will of God. Well these would be true answers, and such as might rightly be given. But there is another reason, and a solemn one too, for their having died; and that is, that sin has entered into the world, and “death by sin.” So when we see or hear of an infant dying, like the one I am speaking of, it tells us of sin being in the world, or else there would not be death. But by-and-by, when God shall create “a new heaven and a new earth,” then “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain” (Rev. 21:44And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4)). But now it is not so, as every child well knows.
But why do very young babies die? Surely they have not sinned? Well, though they have not lived long enough to know what sin means, yet they are born in sin, and have sinful hearts. Ah, and how soon they begin to show it, by getting into a passion when they cannot do just as they please. Now, you who are older, know that you have many naughty ways and wicked thoughts, and God’s word tells us that unless you believe in Jesus you cannot be saved, and be with him, if you die.
I have sometimes asked grown up children, Do babies go to Jesus when they die? And they say, Yes. And when I have asked, Why do they go to him? They have generally answered, Because they are little innocent creatures, and have never sinned, But this is not why they go to Jesus. They go to him because he died on the cross to put away sin. So that not even an infant could be with Christ, if Christ had not died and put away the sin in which it was born.
But you, my dear reader, are older than this poor little infant old enough to understand what I now write, and therefore old enough to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, have you done so? If you have read much in Good News you know that Jesus loves little children. Is it kind of you to neglect one who loves you? is it right? Can you be happy while you do so, even in this world? And what if you should die as the baby did? Or what if, which is even more likely, the Lord should come, would you like to meet him? Or would you like to be left behind, while those you love, if they believe in Christ, were taken up to him? O then, delay no longer. Go to him at once. He says, “Come unto me... and I will give you rest.”
CONTRIBUTED.