“WELL, here is the snow at last,” said I, as I looked through the window of my cottage one morning in the middle of December. The snow had fallen heavily during the night, and had laid a coating on the earth of some inches in depth; and, as we looked upon it from the inside of the house, it formed a very pleasing sight. It was seen in all the beauty of its first whiteness, untarnished by any influence of the atmosphere, or by any other cause. Even my little girl, who is less than three years old, was delighted, and made her childish remarks upon it (see 1 Cor. 13:1111When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11)). At the back of my house is a field, over which there is no traffic; so that there the snow remains unsullied and unspotted for a much longer time than would be the case on the high road. I hope that my young friends derive pleasure from looking at the many works of God which are all around us. The Psalmist says, “The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.” He also says, “I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands.” And in the gospels we find that the Lord Jesus, in His many beautiful and instructive parables, made constant allusion to the works of God, as illustrations of the lessons and doctrines which He taught. The young are generally interested in looking at beautiful objects; and where can they see anything so beautiful as in the wonderful works of God? And, if they acquire a taste for the pleasures which the observation of those works affords (Psa. 111:22The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. (Psalm 111:2)), they will be less likely to be carried away by the many vanities and foolish sights which offer their attractions, in order to keep them from Christ, in Whom alone “pleasures for evermore” are to be found.
It is written in the book of Job (ch. 37), “He (that is, God) saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth.” So that we see that a fall of snow comes from God. He, who is the Giver of every good and of every perfect gift, sends the snow as a blessing to the earth, which is thus covered and protected by it during the cold weather, somewhat in the same way as we are by our warm clothing. The water of melted snow, too, is very penetrating, and contributes to the nourishment of the precious seeds which lie hidden in the earth, but which, in clue time, will spring up for the benefit both of man and beast. One of the questions which the Lord asked Job was, “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?” Surely, we may say, “The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psa. 145). “O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom Thou past made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches” (Psa. 104).
There are also some passages in the Scriptures which refer to snow as an emblem of whiteness and purity. There is that sweet and well-known one in the first chapter of Isaiah, where the Lord, speaking to His people Israel, says, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Now, what can make scarlet and crimson sins as white as snow, and as clean as wool, but the precious blood of Christ? David, too, says in the 51St Psalm, addressing God, “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Yes, the soul that is washed in that blood is indeed “whiter than snow.” Has your soul, dear child, been thus washed? I trust that it has; and it has, if you have really trusted in Jesus as your own Saviour. What a beautiful word that is in the first epistle of John, “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” But only those who have believed in Christ can truly say this, as applying to themselves. That, too, is a fine hymn of praise to Jesus Christ, in Revelation 1, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” I pray that the young reader may be enabled to sing this song in spirit and in truth now, while he is in this world, so that he may continue it in heaven for evermore, in company with all who have believed in the blessed name of Jesus.
As I stood looking upon the fresh-fallen snow, I could not see a particle of the earth upon which it had fallen, though I had seen it often before. It was entirely hidden from my sight. This simple fact reminded me of the way in which God looks upon the soul that is in Christ. Not only is that soul cleansed from all his sins, but he appears before God in all the beauty and perfection of that Holy One who shed His blood for the remission of sins. The 15th chapter of Luke may help us to understand this. When the prodigal son had repented and returned to his father, and had been received by him, and saluted with the kiss of love, the father said, “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him.” Then, when the father looked upon his son, he saw him in all the beauty of that garment in which he had clothed him. So it is written, “As He (that is, Christ) is, so are we (that is, all true believers) in this world” (1 John 4). And take notice, dear young believer, that it is true of us while we are in this world—that God sees as in Christ, and as Christ. Ought not this to make us happy, and to constrain us to seek to please Him, who loves us with such a perfect love ‘I Soon, too; we shall see Jesus face to face, and then we shall be really like Him, and never again have even the shadow of a thought which shall not be in unison with His own holy and blessed will.
“Oh, what delight, Him to see in His home;
Never from Him for a moment to roam;
Tasting of pleasures which never can cloy;
Fill’d to o’erflowing with heavenly joy!”
Dear young friend, if you have not believed in Jesus, you are like the field before it was covered with its beautiful garment of snow, and are thus naked, as a sinner, before God, May you receive Christ as your Saviour, and then you will not fear the day of judgment, but will even now be seen by God clothed in all the perfection of Him who “once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” T.