LITTLE HUGH, a boy eight years old, when at his music lesson one day with his teacher, was playing the hymn, “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.” When he had finished it he said to her, “I can’t bear to hear anyone sing that hymn.”
“Why not?” asked the teacher.
“Because,” he answered, “I can’t help feeling that I am not ‘Safe in the Arms of Jesus,’” and then he covered his face with his hands and began to cry.
It was a long time before his teacher could comfort him, or get him to listen to her, but after a while his sobs grew quieter.
“Hugh, there is no reason Why you should not be safe, too,” she said. “What is it that keeps you away from Jesus?”
Hugh thought a moment, and then answered, “The sin in my heart.”
Now Hugh was the son of Christian parents, and he had often been told about the Lord, and how He died to save us, but he could not yet say, “Jesus has saved me.” So his teacher reminded him of all Jesus had done for him, that his sins might be washed away; and Hugh listened, thinking to himself, “I have heard all that lots of times; I know all about it.”
But presently his teacher asked him, “Hugh, do you believe that Jesus died to save sinners? You have only to believe on Him, and you will be safe.” Hugh was quiet for a little while, and then told his teacher he would think about what she had said, and went on with his music. That night when she went to read to him after he was in bed, she said: “Well, Hugh, are you ‘Safe in the Arms of Jesus yet?’” He answered with a bright smile, “Yes, I can say it now, and I have been saying it over all day—Jesus has saved me.”
I ask my little readers, “Are you safe? Has He saved you?”
ML 03/19/1916