CHARLEY was a cripple, and the only child of poor parents. One day as Charley was sitting by his window, unable to move, a young lady paid him a visit, saying:
“I heard that a little invalid lived here, and I have come to cheer one of his lonely hours.”
After chatting a while with him, the lady asked Charley if he would like to come to a Sunday school.
“I can’t walk, Miss,” was the poor lad’s reply; but when he heard that the young lady’s father would send his carriage for him every Sunday, poor little Charley’s face brightened up with delight.
When Charley’s mother came home, he told her all about the visit, and his mother promised him that if the carriage came, he should go to the school. And, sure enough, on Sunday morning the beautiful carriage drove up to the door, with the kind young lady seated in it, and Charley was driven off to the school.
You may guess why this young lady took all this trouble about the poor child. It was because she wished that he might indeed know the love of Jesus and be happy forever. One day the boy said to her:
“Miss Caroline, do you think Jesus loves me?”
“He loved you so much that He came down from His home in Heaven to die upon the cross for sinners,” was the reply; and very simply did the poor boy receive in his heart the sweet story of Jesus’ love. God gave him power to believe on the Lord, and Charlie was enabled to say to his kind teacher:
“O, I am so happy, so very happy, I have found Jesus. Everything looks bright now;” and he pointed from his poor little window to the trees and fields— “The trees are more beautiful now, and I am so happy.”
And the poor little sufferer would say, “I shall very soon be with Jesus, and then I shall not suffer any more pain: and shall I not be happy up there?”
My little friends, are you as happy as poor Charley, the cripple?
“Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” (1 Pet. 1:7, 87That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: (1 Peter 1:7‑8).)
ML 12/02/1917