ONE Sunday evening a devoted Christian mother sat by the bedside of her two sons, aged eight and nine years, for their usual “good-night chat.” The younger, who during infancy had been very delicate and irritable, said―
“Ma, dear” (his usual way of addressing her), “don’t you think I have been a better boy lately?”
“Yes, dear,” said the fond mother, “and I hope you will continue to strive against’ naughty temper.”
“You told me, ma, dear, if I asked God to help me for Christ’s sake He would. I have asked Him, and I feel He has helped me―is it not kind of Him?”
After a few more words and a loving kiss, the mother left her boys to sleep.
The two brothers of the boys were away from home with their nurse, who was not a Christian woman; the servant attending to the children was a Christian.
Ere the morning dawned, the cry of fire awakened the household. All the efforts of the distracted parents to rescue their beloved boys were unavailing; the dear children and the Christian servant were burnt to death―called to be with that dear Saviour who loved them. There were also two men sleeping in the house that terrible night, one a Christian, the other not; the Christian was burnt to death, the other was saved. God gave the unconverted members of that household a fresh opportunity of seeking His face.
To you, dear children, who are not yet truly the Lord’s we would earnestly say, seek to be ready for death at any moment; and to you who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, seek to overcome in yourselves all the little ways that cannot be pleasing in His sight. U.