I WILL relate to you a true, short story about a little girl of Only about three years of age. Her name is Gracie; one day when her governess was out for a walk with her, she saw a chimney sweep coming towards them, said to be more black than usual. My little friend asked permission of her governess to say something to the sweep. Liberty was granted, and to the amazement of governess and sweep, the little dear recited a verse of the well-known hymn, learned on her mother’s lap, which runs thus:—
“God in mercy sent His Son
To a world by sin undone;
Jesus Christ was crucified—
‘Twas for sinners Jesus died.”
The sweep replied, “Yes, that’s it, that’s it, my child; that’s enough for you, and me, and for us all!” Afterwards, when the dear child was asked why she wished to say her verse to the sweep, she answered to this effect, “that she thought as he looked so very black he must be a very bad, wicked sinner, and her verse might do him good!”
There is no harm, of course, in being black with soot, if it cannot be helped; but it is dreadful to be black with sin, which God hates. Soap and water, you know, remove soot, but not sin. When the sweep walks down the street on a Sunday you would not notice any difference between him and other people. Sin is of a deeper dye, and nothing short of the precious blood of Christ can wash it away. It was for guilty sinners that God in such boundless love and rich grace sent His Son to die. Dear child, if you are old enough, do you yet know what it is to be clear of your sins, and made as white as snow? You will remember that God in His word says, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they, shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isa. 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18).)
Some people really do try remedies of their own to get rid of their sin’s, such as good works, alms deeds, prayers, and such like (good things in their right place), as though sins were outside on the skin, like the sweep’s soot; but rest assured that God’s remedy is the only one, and His word also says, “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from ALL SIN.” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7).)
Then, my dear young reader, if you know yourself a needy sinner, and unfit for the presence of a holy God, we do beseech you to receive the Lord Jesus by faith now as your Saviour and God’s remedy for sin and ruin, thereby securing for yourself a relationship with God and an eternal portion—the Father’s house above, with Jesus, where Gracie, and her mother, and the governess, and, we trust, the sweep will be! May God in mercy grant it, for Christ’s sake Amen.
J. N. Selected.
ML 04/29/1900