GOD declares that “the way of transgressors is hard,” also, that “the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” How often souls in their distance from God, prove the truth of these verses!
Mr. and Mrs. J. were no exception to this; over and over again it was their bitter experience. They could only reap what they had sown. (Gal. 6:77Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)). Drunkenness, with its attendant quarreling, made their home everything but what a home ought to be. Their only child, of whom the father was very fond, had been sick for several weeks, and had been visited by a Christian lady.
When this little Mary was recovering, she called as usual, and was surprised to find the home changed. Mrs. J. neatly dressed, received her with a happy face and hearty welcome. All this so struck the visitor, that she congratulated her on her altered appearance.
“Fresh people live here now,” Mrs. J. explained, and then she told what had brought about the change. Mr. J. had come home sober the same day that little Mary got up, and to please her, he said he would play with her.
“O, papa, let us have a game of Sunday-school, will you?” Mary said. “I’ll be teacher, and you be the scholar; you stand there, and I’ll give you an easy lesson first. You must say what I say; won’t you, papa?”
“Yes,” answered the father, his mind going to years ago, when he was in a Sunday-school class.
“Now, papa, say ‘Jesus.’”
No answer came from the scholar, but a something like a rising in his throat.
“Now, papa, you promised you would say what I told you, and it is an easy lesson.”
Mr. J. stood still; for that name he had only mentioned when using it in oaths and cursing. How he wished the lesson was over, and as little Mary sat on her cot, patiently waiting, he, in a snappish and quick manner, repeated the lesson.
“O, papa, you mustn’t say His name like that; you must say it soft and low like this”—and little Mary said His name in her sweetest manner, and the father softly repeated the lesson, till little Mary said, “Papa, I don’t want to play no more, I feel so tired,” and with that she dropped her head on her pillow and went off to sleep.
But not so with Mr. J.; he found no rest till God by His Spirit led him to cry for mercy and forgiveness to the One who has never turned a seeking sinner away.
Dear reader, I will ask you to repeat little Mary’s lesson. What does that name speak to you of? Does it cause your heart to rejoice at the sound of the Saviour’s name? Does it speak to you of forgiveness of sins, through His blood? (Col. 1:1414In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:14)). Does it remind you of One who was delivered for your offences and raised for your justification? (Rom. 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25)).
If the above be true of you, praise and worship to God will fill your heart for such wondrous grace and mercy.
A young convert writes: “I can never cease to thank God for what He has done for me through His Son Jesus Christ. I cannot tell you how great is my joy; neither tongue, nor pen can express it. My heart is too full for words, but I know this, that I am far happier than I was before I found my Saviour.”
ML 01/17/1909