HERE is a special blessedness in being saved in early days—a place of peculiar nearness to Jesus, that only those who become His in youthful years have the promise of receiving. Concerning those who are in early days converted, and brought into his flock, it is said, “He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom” (Isa. 40:1111He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11)). Those “little ones who believe in Him” He takes into this place of special affection, near to His heart, and carries them safely along the way to the home of His love in heaven.
What a mistake for little boys and girls to refuse such a place, and to say they will come to Jesus when they are older. Even were this possible—and it is not always so, for they sometimes die—they lose the special place that the Shepherd would have given them, had they but come to Him when they were “little children.” Many pictures represent a shepherd, with a lamb in His bosom; but how much warmer and safer is the place that Jesus gives to those whom He carries in His bosom—the lambs of His flock.
ML-10/10/1920