The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young Part 14

"Do you, dear? Tell me why?"

"O, because she never loves me back again."

"And is _that_ why you love me?"

"That is _one why_, mamma; but not the first one, or the best one."

"And what is the first, and best?"

"Why, mamma, can't you guess?" and the little girl's blue eyes grew very bright, as they gazed earnestly into her mother's face. "It's because you loved me when I was too little to love you back; _that's_ why I love you so."

And what a reason this is why we should love Jesus! He loved us when we were too little to love him back. The Bible says--"We love him because _he first_ loved us." He loved us before we knew him, or had ever heard of him. He loved us before we were born. Before the world was made Jesus thought of you and me, and loved us. This is what he means when he says:--"I _have loved thee with an everlasting love."_ Jer. x.x.xi: 3. This means a love that never had a beginning, and that will never have an end. This is very wonderful. And when we think of it, we may well sing out our thankfulness in the words of the hymn:

"I am glad that our Father in heaven Tells of his love in the Book he has given; Wonderful things in the Bible I see; This is the sweetest, that Jesus loves me.

I am so glad that Jesus loves me, Jesus loves--_even me_"

And when we think of all the kind words and actions of Jesus, by which he showed his interest in little children, the first thing that we see in them is--great love.

_Now, let us take another look at this part of our Saviour's life, and the second thing that we see in it is_--GREAT WISDOM.

It is wise to take care of the children and try to bring them to Jesus when young, _because then they are easily controlled_.

Suppose we plant an acorn in a corner of our garden. After awhile a green shoot springs out from it. We go to look at it when it is about a foot high. We find it getting crooked; but with the gentlest touch of thumb and finger, we can straighten it out. We wish it to lean in a particular direction. We give it a slight touch, and it leans just that way. Afterwards we conclude to have it lean in the opposite direction. Another slight touch, and it takes that direction. It is true, as the poet says, "Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." But, suppose we let it grow for twenty or thirty years, and then come back to it. It is now a great oak tree. There is an ugly twist in its trunk. We try to straighten it out; but in vain. No power on earth can do that now. You can cut it down; or saw it up; or break it into splinters; but you cannot straighten it.

Suppose, that you and I should go to one of the highest summits of the Rocky Mountains. In a certain place there, we should find two little fountains springing up near each other. With the end of a finger we might trace the course in which either of those little springs should flow. We could lead one down the eastern side of the mountains, and the other down the western side. It would be very easy to control them then. But suppose now we travel down the side of the mountain till we reach the plain, at its base. Now see, yonder is a great river, rolling on its mighty flood of waters. That is what the little spring has grown to. It is too late to control it now. The time for controlling it was up yonder near the spring.

It is easy to control the spring; it is very hard to control the river. Jesus wished to control the spring when he directed us to bring the children to him. And in this he showed his wisdom.

It is wise to take an interest in children, and bring them early to Jesus--_because they have great influence in the world_.

Who can tell the influence that children are exerting in the world?

We have an ill.u.s.tration of this in the words that were once spoken by Themistocles, the celebrated Grecian governor and general. He had a little boy, of whom his mother was very fond and over whom the child had very great influence. His father pointed to him, one day, and said to a friend, "Look at that child; he has more power than all Greece. For the city of Athens rules Greece; I rule Athens; that child's mother rules me, and he rules his mother."

I feel sure our Saviour must have felt very much as some one has done, who writes in this way about

THE GOOD THAT CHILDREN DO.

"A dreary place would be this earth Were there no little people in it; The song of life would lose its mirth Were there no children to begin it;

"No little forms, like buds to grow, And make the admiring heart surrender; No little hands, on breast and brow, To keep the thrilling love-chords tender.

"No babe within our arms to leap, No little feet towards slumber tending; No little knee in prayer to bend, Our loving lips the sweet words lending.

"Life's song indeed would lose its charm, Were there no babies to begin it; A doleful place this world would be, Were there no little people in it."

And if children have so great an influence in the world it was wise in Jesus to desire to have them brought early to him that they might learn to use that influence in the best possible way.

And then it was wise in Jesus to desire this, again, _because bringing children to him prevents great trouble, and secures great blessing_.

We are all familiar with Dr. Watts' sweet hymn, which says:

"'Twill save us from a thousand snares To mind religion young."

Here is a striking ill.u.s.tration of this truth in the history of:

"One Neglected Child." A good many years ago, in one of the upper counties of New York, there was a little girl named Margaret. She was not brought to Christ, but was turned out on the world to do as she pleased. She grew up to be perhaps the wickedest woman in that part of the country. She had a large family of children, who became about as wicked as herself; her descendants have been a plague and a curse to that county ever since. The records of that county show that two hundred of her descendants have been criminals. In a single generation of her descendants there were twenty children. Three of these died in infancy. Of the remaining seventeen, who lived to grow up, nine were sent to the state prison for great crimes; while all the others were found, from time to time, in the jails, the penitentiaries, or the almshouses. Nearly all the descendants of this woman were idiots, or drunkards, or paupers, or bad people, of the very worst character. That one neglected child thus cost the county in which she lived hundreds of thousands of dollars, besides the untold evil that followed from the bad examples of her descendants.

How different the result would have been if this poor child had been brought to Jesus and made a Christian when she was young!

"The Result of Early Choice." Here is a short story of two boys, of the choice they made when young, and the different results that followed from that choice.

A minister of the gospel was preaching on one occasion to the convicts in the state prison of Connecticut. As he rose in the desk and looked around on the congregation, he saw a man there whose face seemed familiar to him. When the service was over he went to this man's cell, to have some conversation with him.

"I remember you very well, sir," said the prisoner. "We were boys in the same neighborhood; we went to the same school; sat beside each other on the same bench, and then my prospects were as bright as yours. But, at the age of fourteen, you made choice of the service of G.o.d, and became a Christian. I refused to come to Christ, but made choice of the world and sin. And now, you are a happy and honored minister of the gospel, while I am a wretched outcast. I have served ten years in this penitentiary and am to be a prisoner here for life."

Jesus knew what blessings would follow to those who were early brought to him, and we see that there was great wisdom in the words that he spake when he said--"Suffer the little children to come unto me."

_In the next place there was_--GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT--_in what Jesus did and said about children_.

If a company of boys or girls should try to get into the presence of a monarch, some great king, or emperor, they would find it a pretty hard thing to do. At the door of the palace they would meet with soldiers or servants, the guards of the queen or king. They would say to the children--"what do you want here?" And if the children should say, "Please sir, we wish to go into the palace and see the queen,"

the answer would be: "Go away; go away. The queen is too busy. She has no time to attend to little folks like you." And the children would have to go away without getting to see the queen.

But, Jesus is a greater king than any who ever sat upon an earthly throne. He has more to do than all the kings and queens in the world put together. And yet he never gave orders to the angels, or to any of his servants to keep the children away from him. On his great throne in yonder heavens he says still, what he said when he was on earth--"Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." And he says this on purpose to encourage the children to come to him. And the thought that Jesus loves them and feels an interest in them has encouraged mult.i.tudes of little ones to seek him and serve him. Here are some ill.u.s.trations of this:

"Learning to Love Jesus." "A little girl came to me one day," said a minister of the gospel, and said, "'Please sir, may I speak to you a minute?' I saw that she was in some trouble; so I took her kindly by the hand, and said, 'Certainly, my child. What do you wish to say?'

"'Please, sir,' said she, as her lip quivered and tears filled her eyes, 'it's a dreadful thing; but I don't love Jesus.'

"'And are you not going to love him?' I asked.

"'I don't know; but please sir, I want you to tell me how.' She spoke sadly, as if it was something she never could do.

"'Well,' I said, 'St. John, who loved our Lord almost more than any one else ever did, says that "we love him because he first loved us."

Now if you go home to-night, saying in your heart, "_Jesus loves me_," I think that to-morrow you will be able to say--"I love Jesus."'

"She looked up through her tears, and repeated the words very softly, 'Jesus loves me.' She began to think about it on her way home, as well as to say it. She thought about his life, about his death on the cross, and about his sweet words to the little ones, and she began to feel it too.

"The next evening she came to see me again; and, putting both her hands in mine, with a bright happy face, she said:

"'Oh! please sir, I love Jesus now; for I know he does love me so!'"

Here was a little one encouraged to come to Jesus by thinking of the interest he feels in children.

"Doesn't He Love to Save?" A mother had just tucked her little boy in bed, and had received his good-night kisses. She lingered awhile, at his bedside, to speak to him about Jesus, and to see if he was feeling right toward him. He was a good, obedient boy, but that day he had done something that grieved his mother. He had expressed his sorrow for it, and asked his mother's forgiveness. As she stooped down for the last kiss, he said--"Is it all settled, mother?"

"Yes, my child," she said, "it's all settled with me; but have you settled it all with Jesus?" "Yes, mother: I've asked him to forgive me: and I believe him when he says he will; for _doesn't he love to help and save children_?" "He does, my child, he does," said his mother, as she gazed on his happy little face, lighted up with the joy of that gospel, so often hidden from the wise and prudent, but revealed to babes.

Here we see how this little fellow was encouraged to seek Jesus from the a.s.surance that he feels an interest in children, and loves to help and bless them.