A POOR little girl applied for admission into an Industrial school, and was received. Here she learned to read and sew, and was rather a promising pupil.
One day she refused to read the Bible, saying, “My mother told me not to read it.”
The teacher then said, “Tell your mother the Bible will do you no harm, but will make you wise unto salvation; and the rules of the school, which must be observed, require that every scholar able to read should read the Word of God.”
The mother, unwilling to deprive her child of the industrial training she was receiving, at length consented, and her little girl read the Bible daily, and committed portions of it to memory. With maternal anxiety for the welfare of her child, she resolved to keep a strict watch on what she learned, and counteract at home any influences of the school. For this purpose she had her each evening repeat the lessons she was taught, and questioned her regarding them. She was both surprised and disappointed. One evening she heard of Christ’s conversation with the woman of Samaria; another of His discourse with Nicodemus; another of His love for the family of Bethany, of His sympathy with Mary and Martha; and the death of their brother Lazarus, and of His raising him from the dead; again she heard of the full and free forgiveness of the repentant sinner, while the proud and self-righteous Pharisee is reproved; and so on. There was nothing against the Virgin, the Pope, or “the church” in all this. She had never heard these precious things before; they had all the charms of novelty, and, with a power peculiar to the Scriptures, commended themselves to her mind and heart.
After some time, the little girl was regularly absent from school. What had become of her? One evening a gentle knock was heard at the teacher’s dwelling, the door was opened, and there stood with anxious countenance the little pupil. After a kind recognition, she said, “Will you please lend me a Bible?”
“What do you want with a Bible?” asked the teacher.
“I want,” said the little girl, “to read it to my mother. She is sick now, and I cannot go to school. I used to tell her all my lesson every day. I have told them over and over, and now she wants that Book of which she has heard so much.”
The Bible was willingly given. The teacher visited the woman, and often found her little pupil reading the Word of God to her dying mother.
The woman departed, giving bright evidence that she received and rested on Christ, and Him alone for her salvation; no earthly priest attended her death-bed, and her anointing was that of the Holy Spirit. Thus she bore witness that the Word of God makes wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
ML 08/04/1918