I ONCE read a story of a little boy named Willie, who had a very bad temper, and when anything happened that he didn’t like he would get into a passion, and say and do things that were very wrong. He would scold and hit his little sister, and speak rude to his mamma, throw his toys around the room, and shut the doors hard, so as to make as much noise as he could. How naughty it was for him to act in this way. He forgot that there was One who was looking on and saw all he did, and heard all he said. His father and mother loved the Lord Jesus and it grieved them very much to see the way their little boy acted. They would often try and show him how very wrong it was for him to do such things, and would pray with him and when he would be asleep they would pray together and ask the Lord to tell them the best way to teach their little Willie the evil of his ways. So one day his father called Willie to him and gave him a hammer and some nails and said, “I want you, every time you get angry, to come to this door and with this hammer, put a nail into it.” Willie said he would do as he was told, and ran off to his play. But it was not long before something took place that he did not like, so he got angry, and of course, he had to go to the door and hammer in a nail. And soon he was angry again, and that meant another nail. Every time he got angry, he went and drove in a nail. Each night his father and mother would go to the door, to see how many nails were there, and they were very sorry to see how fast the door was being covered with the nails. Then they would kneel down and pray for their little boy, for they were very anxious he should learn the lesson they wanted to teach him.
At last all the nails were in the door, and Willie came to his father and told him, and said he was sorry and asked him if he might take them out again. His father spoke kindly to him and said, “I will let you take them out in this way; every time you overcome an angry feeling, you may come to the door and draw a nail.” This pleased Willie and he thanked his father and away he went.
In a little while his playmate did something that did not please him, and just as he felt like getting angry, he thought of what his father had said, and gained the victory over his temper, so he went to the door and drew a nail. This he did many times and at last the nails were all out. Willie went to his father and told him so. But his father noticed that though the nails were all out of the door, Willie did not look happy and he asked him why it was. Willie said, “But papa the marks are all there yet.” So his father took him on his knee, and explained to him how that every time he got angry God took note of it and it left a mark that nothing but the blood of Jesus could wipe out. It was right for him to do better but that would not cleanse him from his sins. Nothing but the precious blood of Jesus could do that, and if all his sins were to be put away, he should believe on the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. And, my dear little reader, I would say to you that if you want all your sins put away from God’s eye, you, too, must believe on the Lord Jesus as your Saviour. The blood of Jesus can cleanse away every stain so that God can say of all who believe in Him, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 10.17. How much joy there would be in the presence of the angels of God, if some little reader of this paper would trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and know that his or her sins are forgiven, through faith in Him. E. B. H.
ML 11/12/1899