I WILL tell you what happened a long time ago to a little boy of about five years of age. His name was James, and his parents loved the Lord Jesus and taught their child of Him, seeking to make him understand that the Bible is the word of God. But little James heeded not his kind parents’ instructions. Upon one occasion, when a boy somewhat older than himself formed the plan of what the children called “running away,” James thought it would be a very grand thing to do. So on a Saturday afternoon, in the bright early summertime, when the birds were singing and teaching their little ones how to fly, James and his companion started through the lanes, running away from home. For the first few hours it seemed very pleasant to the two boys as they tripped along under the trees and picked the sweet flowers, but presently dusk came on. They had wandered to a small village, a considerable distance from their homes, and very fortunate for them it was so, for had they gone over the hills and into the woods they might both have been lost. Some people stopped them, and wanted to know where the two little children, dressed only in hats and pinafores, were going. Of course, James and his companion could not tell—all they knew was where they had come from. While the villagers were talking to the runaways, a messenger from home found them, and carried little James back on his shoulders.
Surely this simple anecdote recalls to our minds what the Bible says about all having gone astray, and had we been left to ourselves we must have been lost forever. Like the kind messenger who sought and found little James, Jesus has come from God in heaven to “seek and to save that which was lost.” Dear child, do you believe what the Bible says—that you are lost? Remember that when the shepherd found the lost one, he carried it home on his shoulders rejoicing, just as the kind brother carried James; and I should be glad to be quite sure that you, little child, are safe in the arms of Jesus. J. W. A.