There was a time when our little boy did not like to go to church, and
would get up in the morning and say to his mother:
"What day is to-morrow?"
"Tuesday."
"Next day?"
"Wednesday."
"Next day?"
"Thursday"; and so on, till he came to the answer, "Sunday."
"Dear me," he said.
I said to the mother, "We cannot have our boy grow up to hate Sunday
in this way; that will never do. That is the way I used to feel when I
was a boy. I used to look upon Sunday with a certain amount of dread.
Very few kind words were associated with the day. I don't know that
the minister even noticed me, unless it was when I was asleep in the
gallery, and he had some one wake me up. This kind of thing won't do.
We must make the Sunday the most attractive day of the week; not a day
to be dreaded, but a day of pleasure."
Well, the mother took the work up with this boy. Bless those mothers
in their work with the children! Sometimes I feel as if I would rather
be the mother of John Wesley or Martin Luther or John Knox than have
all the glories in the world. Those mothers who are faithful with the
children God has given them will not go unrewarded.
My wife went to work, and took Bible stories and put those blessed
truths in a light that the boy could comprehend, and soon his feeling
for the Sabbath was the other way.
"What day's to-morrow?" he would ask.
"Sunday."
"I am glad."
If we make Bible truths interesting, and break them up in some shape
so that these children can get at them, then they will begin to enjoy
them.
Missed At Last!
In one of the tenement houses in New York City a doctor was sent for.
He came, and found a young man very sick. When he got to the bedside
the young man said:
"Doctor, I don't want you to deceive me; I want to know the worst. Is
this illness to prove serious?"
After the doctor had made an examination, he said, "I am sorry to tell
you you cannot live out the night."
The young man looked up and said, "Well, then, I have missed it at
last!"
"Missed what?"
"I have missed eternal life. I always intended to become a Christian
some day, but I thought I had plenty of time, and put it off."
The doctor, who was himself a Christian man, said: "It is not too
late. Call on God for mercy."
"No; I have always had a great contempt for a man who repents when he
is dying; he is a miserable coward. If I were not sick, I would not
have a thought about my soul, and I am not going to insult God now."
The doctor spent the day with him, read to him out of the Bible, and
tried to get him to lay hold of the promises. The young man said he
would not call on God, and in that state of mind he passed away. Just
as he was dying the doctor saw his lips moving. He reached down, and
all he could hear was the faint whisper:
"_I have missed it at last!_"
Dear friend, make sure that you do not miss eternal life at last.