THE next day grandmother turned over the page of her little book. There was no black; all was red. "And now," said grandmother, "we will turn over one page more." There was no black, and no red—all was white.
“Before I tell you about the red page," said grandmother,” I wish you to look at the white, white page—all white; no spot in it. You see, it is just the opposite of the black page we looked at first. What can it be a picture of?"
“I know," Winnie said. “It must be a picture of good people, with good hearts."
“But, you know," grandmother said, " we learnt the last time, There is none that doeth good: no, not one.' Yet there are many people of whom this white page is a picture. You do not understand how this can be. You will understand it better when I have told you about the red page that comes between. So, now, we will turn back to the red page, and I want you to attend with all your might to what I am going to say. I am going to tell you about the most wonderful thing that ever happened.
“Perhaps you have often heard about it before, but I want you to think about it, and to listen to every word, that you may know why this wonderful thing happened, and what it has to do with you. First, tell me what you know already about the Lord Jesus Christ."
Winnie, and Helen, and Mary all said they knew that Jesus came down from heaven, and was once a little baby, and was laid in a manger, and that then He grew up, and did wonderful things; He made sick people well,
and He made blind people see, and even He made dead people alive ; and after that wicked people nailed Him to a cross, and He died, and then He became alive again, and at last He went up to heaven.
All this the three little girls knew.
Then grandmother said, “I want you to tell me who Jesus is. You say He came down from heaven. Who is Jesus?
“I know," one of the little girls said.” He is the Son of God."
“Yes," grandmother said, “Jesus is God Himself, and He is the Son of God the Father. But there are not two Gods. The Father and Jesus His Son are both God; and, besides, the Holy Spirit is God: yet all three—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—are only one God."
Winnie said, “I can't understand that at all. I don't see how three can be one." “Nor can I," grandmother said,” nor can anybody. It is one of the many, many things which no one understands. But I want you now to remember that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all God; besides I want you to remember that Jesus, the Son of God, is man, besides being God. He was not always man. He was always God, but He only became a man 1881 years ago. Since then He has been a man as well as God, and He will always be a man as well as God.
“The Father is only God, not a man; the Holy Spirit is only God, not a man; but Jesus is God, and He is a man, too. Now want you to listen whilst I tell you why the Son of God became a man. He became a man that He might die, and you know how He died, nailed upon the cross. But why did He want to die?
“Winnie said, “I know. He died to save sinners."
Grandmother said, “Yes. But I want you to tell me what that means. How could sinners be saved by His dying? And what did it save them from?
“Winnie said, “I don't know why His dying saved them. I know that we are saved from going to hell, but I don't know why He had to die."
Grandmother said, “God said these words a long time ago, The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' If men had never sinned they would never have died. Death is the punishment for sin. Say these words six times over,
The soul that sinneth it shall die.' "
Winnie, and Helen, and Mary said these words six times.
Then grandmother said, “Dying is not the end of the punishment. Men and women and children never, never come to an end, even when they die. But those who die with their hearts like the black page can only be unhappy and wicked always, so that there could be nothing but unhappiness for us all for ever and ever, if God had not done something to save us from our sins, and from the punishment of our sins.
F. B