ONE Sunday evening, not long ago, the writer found himself in the south of London, where a number of little folks of from three to eight years of age were assembled for a children’s service. In order to gain their attention he had the words, “Lord, save me,” put on a board. As the children were reading it over, a little maid came up and said, “I say my prayers every night at mother’s knee.”
“Do you, my dear, and what is the prayer?” To which the child replied by repeating the verse— “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep: And if I die before I wake, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take. Amen.”
And then she added, “When I have finished my prayers to night I shall say, ‘Lord, save me.’”
The little child’s simplicity charmed me very much. She seemed to speak from her heart, and speaking from the heart to Himself is what the Lord Jesus loves to see. I am quite sure it pleases Him to hear this little prayer, “Lord, save me,” when it comes from the very bottom of the heart. He delights in mercy, and He is mighty to save. I know that such of you as have truly called on the Lord to save you are the happy children, and that you feel like singing all the time, and that the burden of your song is this—
“I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!
He loved me ere I knew Him!
He drew me with the cords of love.
And thus He bound me to Him.
And round my heart still closely twine
Those ties which naught can sever,
Since I am His, and He is mine,
Forever and forever.”
I’ve found a Friend, O such a Friend!
He bled, He died to save me;
And not alone the gift of life,
But His own self He gave me.
Naught that I have my own I call,
I hold it for the Giver:
My heart, my strength, my life, my all,
Are His, and His forever.
I’ve found a Friend, O such a Friend!
So kind, and true, and tender,
So wise a Counselor and Guide,
So mighty a Defender.
From Him who loves me now so well,
What power my soul can sever?
Shall life? or death? or earth? or hell?
No. I am His forever.
I want my young readers to go to the blessed Jesus, believing He hears them, and to say from their hearts to Him, “Lord save me.”
ML-10/03/1920