When Ed was just a little fellow, he had fallen down a stone stairway and became a cripple for life. He could not run and jump like other boys, and it was sad to see the pale-faced boy sitting by the door or window, unable to move unless someone helped him. Hover, the children passing on their way to and from school often stopped and spoke a cheering word.
Next to Ed’s home was a building where Sunday school was held every Sunday afternoon. Sitting in his chair by the door, Ed could hear children singing, and on summer afternoons when the windows were open, he could hear the words spoken and the hymns sung. Ed had a good ear for music and learned to sing several of the hymns. When the teachers learned that Ed was a listener, they would leave a window open, and he was given a hymn book for his own. Now he could sing with the others. His favorite hymn was: There is life in a look At the crucified One.
Through what he heard and perhaps through the words he sang, Ed learned his need of the Saviour, and he became most anxious to be saved. Some of the teachers visited him and spoke to Him about Jesus and of His love and power to save. But Ed still thought he must do something and feel different before he could know that Jesus was his Saviour.
One Sunday afternoon Ed’s favorite hymn was given out, and before the children began to sing the teacher said:
We are healed by His stripes;
Would you add to the Word?
And He is our righteousness made;
The best robe of heaven He bids you put on;
Oh could you be better arrayed?
The teacher went on to explain that the best robe of heaven was put on every one who trusts in Jesus, for God counts as righteous every one who believes in Him. He explained how that Adam and Eve were clothed in those garments prided for them by God. They had no part in making them.
So it was the prodigal found when he came back in his rags. The father ran and put his arms around the boy and kissed him. But he couldn’t bring him into the house with those filthy rags on him, so he called for the best robe which he had kept all that time and told them to put it on his son, together with the ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. The best robe speaks of Christ. God’s own righteousness is unto all and upon every believing sinner and makes him fit for His presence in that home above.
Ed heard these words and trusted the Lord Jesus as his own Saviour that day. He could hardly sleep that night because he was so happy. When all was quiet he sang:
The best robe of heaven
He bids me put on—
O could I be better arrayed?
The next morning he said, “Mother, I have on the best robe of heaven.” When one of the teachers called to see Ed, he told him the same story, and if you had seen the happy smile on his pale face, you would know that his heart was happy.
Ed grew stronger and soon with the help of crutches he was able to go to Sunday school. Before long he became a teacher there, telling others of the “best robe of heaven” which he had put on.
And have you got that best robe on too, dear reader? It is yours if you will have it, and there is no other which will fit you for heaven. But you must receive it as God’s free gift.
Childhood Days
ML-12/31/1978