I KNOW three little girls called Helen, Winnie, and Mary. Grandmother liked them to come to her every day for half an hour, to hear about the word of God. They were not old enough to read well themselves.
The first thing they were taught was this: God sent His dear Son, the Lord Jesus, to save bad people. And we were all bad, not one good amongst us. Not one, even, who was partly good, and partly bad. Each one was all bad; men, women, and children all alike.
“That isn't true of me," said Winnie; "I am not all bad. I have some bad things in me, and some goodness besides.”
“And I'm good," said Mary.
"I have some badness, and some goodness," repeated Winnie.
“You are quite wrong, Winnie," said Helen, "your goodness is all badness; God says so.”
Was Helen right? Yes, God has said so. He has told us very plainly that we are all bad. He has said that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually, that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. This means that all our thoughts, and plans, and wishes, and likings are bad, not good. He has given us a long list of bad things that come out of man's heart, but not one good thing; He has told us that what we call our goodness, He calls our "filthy rags.”
Winnie did not like to hear this. But grandmother told her Helen was quite right, and that she, and Helen, and Mary, and grandmother herself, were all born with bad hearts, that never got any better. Mary looked very angry when grandmother said this. She frowned, and pouted her lips, and said "I'm good! I know I'm good!”
“But you are not good, Mary," said Helen.
"I am good! I am good!" said Mary, in a very loud voice; "if you don't say I'm good I will kick you and beat you I" And Mary raised her hand to beat poor little Helen with all her might, but grandmother stopped her and said, "We all see now, Mary, that you are not good." Then Mary sat still, and looked at the floor with a very cross face, and said nothing more for some time; anyone who had seen her then would have thought, "What a naughty little girl that must be" Grandmother felt quite sure that neither of these three little girls really believed and felt that she was bad. Perhaps you may think from what I have told you that Helen believed and felt it. But grandmother knew something about Helen, which you have not been told. It was this. Not long before, Helen had come into the drawing-room looking very much pleased about something. She said to grandmother, "I want you to give a new doll to Bertha, and a new doll besides to poor, naughty, silly little me.”
Grandmother did not answer her at first, and then Helen said, "The reason I say poor, naughty, silly little me, is because I am not proud, like the Pharisees. I beat my doll Florence, and sent her to bed after her tea yesterday, because she would be a Pharisee lam not!" And Helen looked as before, very much pleased with herself because she was not proud. That is, she thought she was not. You can now understand why grandmother did not think that Helen really believed, any more than Winnie and Mary, that she was all bad, with no goodness in her. I think if you look into your own heart you will very likely find that you are either like Helen, Winnie, or Mary. Either you think you are good, like Mary, or you think you are partly good and partly bad, like Winnie, or you are proud of knowing, or of saying, that you are not good. Only God the Holy Ghost can make us truly believe and feel that we are lost, bad, and proud sinners, with no love of God in our hearts. I hope and pray that God will show it to you, dear little children, whoever you are that hear this story. Next time I will tell you of something more which these little girls had to learn. F. B.