NOT very far from the house in which I live, there is a row of cottages, and a few months ago, if you had peeped into one of them in the evening, you might have seen seven bright, happy-looking boys gathered round the fire, the youngest of whom was quite small. One morning, after the elder ones had gone off to work or to school, the mother of these boys went out of her cottage to fetch some water from the pump, leaving the two youngest children playing on the sofa, out of the way of harm, as she thought. Think, then, of her horror when, on returning to the house, she heard terrible screams coming from within. On opening the door, she found her darling little Tom enveloped in flames, while some matches lying upon the floor beside him told their own tale. In vain did the little fellow’s hands battle with the cruel fire, and, before the poor mother was able to extinguish it, little Tom was terribly burnt.
Only a day or two had the dear boy’s mother the privilege of watching tenderly and lovingly over him, and of seeking to soothe his sufferings. God did not leave the child to suffer long, but took him away, giving the mother, in His tender love, to know that, at least, towards the close of his little life all pain was gone.
Four of Tom’s brothers, with their father and mother, followed the tiny coffin to the grave, and a touching sight it was as they stood around the body of their little brother, and saw it laid to rest until the voice of the Lord Jesus shall awake him from his long, long sleep.
The mother’s deep and earnest longing is that the account of the sudden death of her dear child may rouse others to a sense of the danger they are in if they are not ready to go, and may lead them to come to Christ whilst they can still do so.
Oh! dear young friends, as one who stood so lately by the little grave, and who feels at least in some measure the solemnity of such a warning, I do beseech you to come now to the Lord Jesus, who still says so lovingly, “Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out.” Believe on Him, and you will have the deep joy of knowing that neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. E. C. R.