(For the Little Ones.)
WHEN the traveler again stepped upon the heath, on his homeward journey, the whole scene was changed. Instead of the bright sunlight of an early summer’s day, the waning moonbeams threw shadows on the dark moorland. Instead of the singing of countless birds and the querulous call of the lapwing, the fitful sighing of the night wind was the only sound that fell upon the ear; and when that was still, the silence was like the silence of the grave. The little birds were all asleep in that “sea of green and gold,” which now, in the doubtful moonlight, looked more like rolling mounds of darkness, stretching far away into the dim and shadowy distance. The very hares and rabbits, the partridges and the land-rails, though they feed at night, had forsaken the scene, to find in richer lands the food they needed. Not a living thing was moving; all was one vast solitude. How would the little reader have liked to be alone in such a scene? Some little ones are greatly afraid of being alone, especially at night. But why should they be so? God is everywhere, and those that love God never feel alone. They know they are not alone, for “God is with them.” But perhaps the reader does not love God? Ah, that is the secret of your fear then! You cannot look up, and say, “My Father with me.” But why not? Because you have never yet truly come to Jesus. He is “the Way” to the Father; and if you really wish to have that “rest” of heart which the consciousness of the Father’s love will give you, you must come to Jesus. Therefore he says, “Come unto me... and I will give you rest.”
The writer had been warned by the kind friend he had visited, not to trust the heath that night, but rather to go round by the road. But that was much the longest way, the hour was late, and he did not know that the waning moon would soon set, and leave the heath in total darkness. He was a stranger in those parts, and had never crossed it before that morning, therefore knew not that at that season of the year a strong mist rises at night from the marshy flats, which, together with the naturally dark green of the moorland, renders the ground quite invisible except under a bright light, an effect which only those who have witnessed it can understand. Had he known these things, he would not have felt it right to go that way, because we must “not tempt the Lord our God.”A simple child-like confidence in our heavenly Father is a very blessed thing for those who have it by grace through faith in Christ Jesus but such confidence never leads its happy possessor to rush into dangers on the pretense that God can deliver. Knowing therefore of no other reason for avoiding the heath than its extreme loneliness, and the possible “perils by robbers,” the traveler passed on. To find the narrow footpath was not difficult, for the moon, now near her setting, poured a flood of light upon the dark green turf. The scene was very beautiful. The deep silence, the silver light, the utter lonesomeness, were favorable to communion with him who is the ever-gracious, never-failing Companion of those who, “washed from their sins” in his own blood, seek to “walk in the light as he is in the light.” What a precious sight it is to see a little one in this blessed place! Does the little reader know anything of it yet? If not, it is your own fault, for he who when on earth took little ones up into his arms, laid his hands upon them, and blessed them, is the same gracious Saviour still, and even now is waiting for you to come to him, and calling you by his word. The traveler thought much of him as he hurried on his lonely way amid the lengthening shadows of the gorse. But as the moon neared the edge of the horizon, those shadows grew darker, and son began to impede his way. More than once he mistook a long strip of shade for the path he should have trodden, as believers, young and old, are sometimes led astray by the shadows which their own hearts throw upon their path. Now and then he got partially entangled in the gorse, and had to retrace his steps, or splashed through an unseen pool of water, or Mumbled into a hollow, hidden in the growing darkness. The uncertain light deceived him, and was worse than none at all. For not only did it cause him at times, to walk in shadows, instead of the true path, or make hollows look like level ground, or pools of water like to the turf, with the moonlight lying on it, but it raised imaginary obstacles right in the straight homeward way. Strange and fantastic shapes seemed to stand at times before him, as the gnarled trunk or widespread arms of some old tree took gigantic proportions in the fitful light, and cast its outline on the mist. Falsehood in the guise of truth is more dangerous than total ignorance. The little reader is too young yet to understand the fearful mischief men and. Satan have done by putting “darkness for light, and light for darkness;” but when he is older, he will know more about these things. If, then, he should ever be tempted to take the opinions of men, the fitful fancies of his own heart, the leanings of his own understanding, for God’s own light, let him recall the waning moonlight on the heath, and the many ways in which it hindered and deceived the traveler, turning him often from the narrow way that would have led him home, and detaining him until all light was gone, and gross darkness had settled down upon the entire scene.
Perhaps even now, young as you are, “a deceived heart has turned you aside.” It may be that you are a very good child, obedient to your parents, kind to brothers and sisters, and your little playmates, willing to oblige friends and elders, and attentive to your teachers. All this is surely right. Yet none of these things will save you. Perhaps you are tempted to think they will. Perhaps some have told you that if you are a good boy or a good girl, God will love you, a thing often said, but utterly untrue. These are some of the shadows that hide or turn aside from the “narrow way.” God does love you; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth IN HIM might not perish, but have everlasting life.” Yet it is only through the blood of Christ that you can be saved. Nothing else will make you nigh to God; nothing else will put away your sins. Let not the uncertain light of mere human teachings turn you from Christ, or keep you wandering hither and thither until it is TOO LATE. Go to Jesus “while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you.”
The conclusion of our journey must be left to a future paper.