ON a hot July day I was on a train. Across from me sat a boy of about 13 years, in simple but very neat attire. After we had been on the way for a while, he opened a bundle from which he took some buttered bread, and as he did so, tears rolled down his cheeks. I said to him,
“You, no doubt, think of your good mother who has so kindly provided this for you, and has given you all you needed for your journey?”
“Yes”, said he, “mother said as she told me good by, ‘Joseph, when you get hungry on your journey, open your bundle. There you’ll find all you need.’”
“Have you a long journey before you?” I asked him.
“Yes, sir,” he replied, “I am going to H., and take ship from there to New York. My dear mother is a widow, and I am her only son. Three of my sisters are still at home; two are in America. These two have written me to come to New York where I may earn some money. They have sent me the money for the journey.”
“Was it not hard for you, my dear boy, to leave your mother?”
“It was, indeed it was, especially for mother, but I think I can soon earn some money in America, and send it to my mother and this is a comfort to me.”
“It is nice that you think of your mother,” said I, “but have you no fear about going across the ocean, and into a distant and strange land?”
“Why should I fear? Mother said, God would care for and keep me on the way, and my sisters will be at the harbor to meet me. My sisters love me, and would not have sent for me if they did not think it was for the best.”
Dear children, I have told you of my conversation with the young immigrant, because you too are on the way to another country, but I do not know which one it is—heaven or hell. In the Bible, which is God’s Word, He gives you many warnings to keep you out of hell; and many an invitation to come to the Lord Jesus, and receive salvation through faith in Him and His precious blood. He says, “I am the Way”, —the way to the Father’s house. “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28).
As the sisters paid for their little brother for every mile of the way, so the Lord Jesus has done all that God requires to bring a poor repentant sinner to heaven.
O, my dear young friend, are you really on the upward, that is, the heavenward journey; or on the downward one? All those who have the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, are happy immigrants to a better, a heavenly country. They can speak with firmness and assurance of going to that better land, because God in His Word has promised to bring them there. Remember that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth from all (or every) sin. If yet unsaved you need the cleansing blood. Come, come now.
ML 08/09/1925