WILLIE hurry! or else you will be late for Sunday-school,” said Emily one morning to her brother, who was making no preparation for going there.
“I am not very well, and I am not going out today,” answered the boy.
“But a walk in this beautiful .weather will do you good,” said his sister, who could not understand that Willie was sick, but thought to herself, that he wanted to stay away from the Sunday school for once.
“No, I am too tired,” declared Willie.
“But then I would advise you to speak to father about it, and ask if you may remain at home,” said Emily.
Willie, however, did not listen to his sister’s advice. He had made up his mind to remain at home, and preferred not to speak about it to his father. He was afraid of a rigid examination, by which it would come out that his so-called indisposition was not so bad as to remain at home for it.
Willie remained at home. When the whole family had gone to hear God’s Word, and a great silence reigned around him, it seemed to him that he heard the words; “You are a liar.” He did not hear them with his ears, and no one spoke them. God had spoken them through the boy’s conscience; and they were so insistent within him that he could hear his heart beating. Poor Willie!
Uneasily the boy walked through the room. He thought of the solemn things that he had heard of in the Sunday-school; he thought how other children were listening at that moment to their godly teacher, while he must remain in his room. He thought of how his father would reproach him, and of the judgment of God, to whose eye nothing is hidden, but everything is naked and open. Sadly he gazed out of his window. It was such lovely, glorious weather; the fields and meadows so green; the trees so rich in fruit and . giving abundant shade. No, he could no longer remain in the stuffy atmosphere of the little room!
When his glance fell on the cherry-tree in the neighboring meadow, 0! how much the more was he tempted to go out in the free, beautiful out-of-doors. His indisposition vanished in a moment. And just like a bird from its cage, the boy flew from the room.
But where to? How tempting the red cherries looked! They belonged to the neighbor, but he was at church; and a handful of cherries he would not miss. So thought Willie, and walked slowly to the fence. But where was the all-seeing eye of God? The boy thought of that, and the voice of his conscience said: “You are a thief!”
So it goes. If you give the devil a finger, he takes the whole hand. One sin follows another. If Willie had listened to the voice of his conscience, if he had confessed his sin to God, we would not see him now on the way to his neighbor’s cherry-tree. Why does he walk so slowly? Why does he look all around him? Why does he stand still now and then? Ah, that bad conscience! He knows very well, that he is on the wrong path; and the voice of his conscience is still whispering: “You are a thief!” But the beautiful cherries smiled at him in such a friendly way, as if they were saying: “Come to us!” And this voice had a much pleasanter sound to the boy’s covetous heart, than the voice of the holy God.
He went there; the tree was soon reached. A flock of sheep was grazing in the meadow, and when they saw him approaching, they came trustfully to him, perhaps hoping to get something from him. But when they saw their mistake, they stood at a little distance, watching every movement of the boy, who, as several branches of the tree hung very low, could pick the cherries with ease. But scarcely had he filled his pockets, when he got such a violent blow from behind, that he was thrown on one side and fell on the ground.
Imagine Willie’s fright! His bad conscience told him in the first place, that the blow of an invisible hand came as a punishment for his bad conduct, and for quite a time he dared not open his eyes. O, if he could only undo everything now When he didn’t get a second or a third blow, and everything was quiet around him, and when the fright and the pain allowed him to rise up, what do you think he saw standing next to him? The ram of the flock with his two powerful horns, who stared at him with great dignity. Nov he understood who it was that had punished him for his theft. He waited no longer for the ram to give a second proof of his strength, but went home as quickly as possible. It was only when the danger was over, that he felt a severe pain in his right leg.
“The way of the transgressor is hard,” says the Word of God. O, if he had only gone to Sunday-school!
When the family came home, they found Willie in a pitiful condition. He was crying with pain, for his foot was so swollen up that he could scarcely move it. But there was still another reason for his tears. He acknowledged that it was God who had been acting with him. No one had seen his evil deeds, but God had seen right into the deepest recesses of his heart, and warned him by the voice of his conscience. He had not listened to that voice. This pained him deeply, and without making any excuses for himself, he told it all to his father. The latter shook his head, but said nothing, as he perceived, that God himself had spoken to his son. The next Sunday Willie limped on his still painful foot to—Sunday-school. He had had a good lesson.
O! children, pause, ere yet “too late;”
Now is the day of grace,
Now Jesus calls, O! do obey
His pleading, loving voice.
Messages of God’s Love 7/10/1921