OH, how sad! some little one will say. Sad, but true, little children. Shall I tell you the story? It was the first day of the holidays; books were laid aside, and little Willie, a merry little fellow of eight years old, intended to enjoy the bright summer weather.
His home was close to the sea, and the children were accustomed to paddle and bathe as they pleased. They had kind, Christian parents, who had early taught them to read God's word, and they had reason to hope that Willie had learned to love it.
The dancing waves and bright sunshine seemed to call the little boy out to play; so kissing his mother, he ran off to join some school friends.
Soon they were in the water, and as the tide was low two of them proposed to wade out to a sand bank some distance away. This was covered at high water, but the boys knew that there was time to return before this. When they reached the sand bank they sat down to rest., and amused themselves by throwing pebbles into the water and hunting for crabs. They forgot the time, and that the tide must have turned.
Ah! boys, those merry, dancing waves will soon become a deep, strong current — too strong for even a man to swim across. Some fishermen saw their danger, and called out to them to hasten ashore, but either the boys did not hear them, or else they thought, like many another, that there was plenty of time. What a mistake this is!
Perhaps you, little children, are thinking the same thing. How often have you heard from your parents and teachers that the judgment of God is coming very soon upon this earth because men have rejected and cast out God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. All those who come to Him the Lord Jesus shelters by His own precious blood, for He came to seek and save the lost.
No one can do one single thing to save himself. Christ must do it all. He just takes the lambs up in His arms, and carries them all the way home.
The little boys at last started for the shore, but before they had gone many yards they had to return, as the current had now become so strong they could not stand against it. The poor little fellows now cried loudly for help, and one of the fishermen tried in vain to reads them, Meanwhile the water was rising higher and higher and no boat was within reach.
How many a despairing glance little Willie must have thrown towards his distaut home, but. no loving hand could reach him now, as one wave bigger than the rest rolled over the sand bank and swept the boys into the deep water, where they must soon have been drowned.
Their little bodies were picked up the next morning and taken to their poor mothers, but their spirits had gone back to God.
Now, I want each of you little ones to think what would have become of you if you, like those two little boys, had been suddenly swept away. Are you ready to go to God? Do you know, as I believe Willie did, that Jesus died for your sins? God is so holy that no one with a single sin upon him could stand before Him, and He stays in His Word that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.''' But God is love, and He sent His own dear Son down into this world to die for sinners, and now Jesus alone can wash away our sins and make us fit to live with God in heaven.
You have only to come to Him and He will do it, for He says: "Suffer little children to come unto Me."
Messages of God’s Love 11/17/1901