NOT long ago I was sitting in a carriage with a little girl two and a half years old, waiting at the door of a friends house, to which her mamma had gone to make a call. The child was nestling close to me, holding her tiny hand in mine. I saw that she was looking up to the deep-blue sky, and then at the coachman’s whip, which was hanging behind him. A thoughtful expression was passing over the dear little face while she was looking from the sky to the whip. Presently she said, Does God keep a whip. The coachman how heard the funny question from the child’s clear voice turned round, smiling, evidently waiting to hear my answer.
“Yes, Maudy, dear,” I said; “God keeps a whip.”
“Where? up in the sky, and have you seen it?” continued the anxious enquirer.
“I have never seen it, but have felt it sometimes when I have been disobedient to God’s loving voice and will. You know, Maudy, when you give way to a naughty passionate temper, or when you tell a story, and will not do as mamma or nurse tells you, you are punished, are you not?”
“Yes, I am,” she said.
“And then when you feel very sorry and cry, and tell mamma that you will try and be a good girl, she wipes your tears and kisses you, and forgets all about it. Every day you are a little naughty, and often need to be forgiven.
“Now God loves His children very much, but He will not let them be disobedient. If they are self-willed, and forget His words, He is obliged to chasten them; but when they come to Him confessing their sins, He forgives them. God is a kind and loving Father, who always hears us when we speak to Him. He will listen even to a little child like you, and you may tell Him all you want. God tells us in His book, that ‘if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’” (1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).)
I then told my little hearer how that she might become one of God’s children, adding— “Then, Maudy, dear, you will be so happy, and Jesus the Saviour will help you to please God and do the things your mamma wishes.”
The child’s question made me think of the words of scripture addressed to the Hebrew Christians— “And, ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” Therefore let us, through His grace and help, willingly and with cheerful surrender of ourselves to Him, accept the love that deals with us as with sons, and let us seek to please the One in whose love we confide. J. L. M.