MR. WILLIAMS, a Christian man, worked among the poor in a big city. One day he entered a tenement house and went up a flight of stairs at the top of which was a door which opened into a small attic room. He knocked, and a feeble voice said, "Come in." Gently he opened the door and went in.
There was no light, but in the corner lay Freddie, a boy about ten years of age, pale but with such a sweet face.
"What are you doing here?" he asked him.
"Ssh, ssh! I'm hiding!"
"Where is your mother?" "Mother is dead."
"Where is your father?"
"Ssh, ssh! don't tell him; I'm hiding."
"Hiding? What for?"
And he showed his white arms swollen and covered with bruises. "What happened?"
"Don't tell but Father got drunk, and beat me because I would not steal."
"Did you ever steal?"
"Yes sir; I used to be a thief."
These street boys never did hesitate to acknowledge they were thieves; it was their profession.
"Then why didn't you steal for him now?"
"Because I went to Sunday school and they told me, 'Thou shalt not steal'; and they told me about God end heaven. I wouldn't steal again, sir, even if my father kills me."
"I don't know what to say," said Mr. Williams. "But here's a quarter. I'll see what I can do for you."
The boy looked at it for a moment and then he said, "Please sir, wouldn't you like to hear me sing my little hymn?"
Mr. Williams thought it was strange that the boy, without anything to eat, without any heat in the room, bruised and beaten as he lay there, could sing a hymn. "Yes, I would like to hear you," he replied.
Then in a sweet voice Freddie sang -
"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child;
Pity my infirmity,
Suffer me to come to Thee.
Fain would I to Thee be brought;
Gentle Lord, forbid it not;
In the kingdom of Thy grace,
Give a little child a place."
"That's my little hymn, sir, goodbye."
Mr. Williams left him, but returned in the morning. He went up the stairs and again knocked at the door. There was no answer so he opened it and went in. The quarter lay on the floor. And there lay Freddie with that same sweet smile on his face, but he was "absent from the body," and his friend was sure that he was "present with the Lord." In the night he had gone from this world of sin, and sorrow and pain. The Good Shepherd had come and taken him home.
Thank God that He has said, "Suffer little children to come unto Me!"
He loves all — red or yellow, black or white, old or young. "Whosoever will may come."
Messages of the Love of God 5/11/1975