It was a long promise, that Freddy should be allowed to go to Sunday school as soon as his sixth birthday was come. It was New Year week, and the snow lay thick upon the ground. But what of that, to Sunday school Freddy must go. So, well wrapped up in his overcoat, with his Testament, Freddy set off by his brother’s side, to school.
They had fully a mile to walk, in deep snow, from the country house where Freddy lived, to the village school-room. When they arrived, the first hymn was being sung, and Freddy thought it was grand. The words were:
Around the throne of God in heaven,
Thousands of children stand,
Whose sins through Christ are all forgiven,
A holy, happy band,
Singing glory, glory, glory.
He was put into a class, and the teacher told them about the paschal lamb slain in Egypt, and how its blood was put upon the doors; to shelter the firstborn child inside from the sword; then about “The Lamb of God” dying on the Cross, that sinners might be saved from death and hell. At the close, his teacher gave a pretty Text Card, on which the words,
“The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin” were printed. He was told to learn the text during the week, and to be able to repeat it when he came the following Lord’s day.
Freddy went home, greatly delighted with what he had seen and heard, that first day at school, and it was found after many days, that some of the good seed that was dropped into his young heart that day, took root, never to be forgotten. All through the week, the cottage rang with the precious words,
“The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin,” until Freddy could repeat them without a mistake. Not only so, but they became so familiar to him, that he kept thinking about them every day for long after. But Freddy did not know their meaning then, nor did he know how great a sinner he was, and how he needed the “blood of Jesus Christ” to cleanse him.
It was some time after this that Freddy came home from a Children’s Meeting one evening, really anxious to be saved, convinced that he was a sinful boy, unfit to be in heaven. His first text, these glorious words learned on his first school day, were brought to his memory; they had been there since the time they were sown, and Freddy trusted the precious blood, and was cleansed from all his sins, and made fit to be in heaven. How he loved then to trace along the pages of his Bible, the various things the precious blood of Christ has done, and is doing, for all who believe on Jesus. On a page in his well-read Bible, you might read,
Sheltered by the Blood (Ex. 12:1313And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:13)). Cleansed by the Blood (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)). Peace through the Blood (Col. 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20)). Made nigh in the Blood (Eph. 2:1313But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)). Victory through the Blood (Rev.12:11)
Dear boys and girls, have you known, like this dear boy, the cleansing of the blood of Christ? Are you made clean from all your sins, and fit for heaven in “the precious blood of Christ?”
ML 11/13/1938