LEMUEL was such a bright pretty little boy, just such a curly headed, bright eyed little fellow, as you would like to play With. He was a good child, too, and tried to obey his mother, whom he loved very dearly. One thing his mother liked him to do every day, was, to repeat over all the beautiful verses, which hung round the kitchen. Lemuel did not mind doing this, though sometimes the words seemed long and hard to him. He did his best to repeat the texts after his dear mamma, and before he was quite four years old, he could say seven or eight verses from the Bible, quite correctly. It is a great thing for children to learn to repeat the Scripture when they are young. The Lord tells us in the sixth, chapter of Deuteronomy, “These words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.” And again when the Apostle Paul was writing to his dearly beloved Timothy, he reminds him, that “from a child thou halt known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Lemuel’s mother not only taught her little son to repeat the verses, but she explained to him what they meant, and I think he understood a good deal of what she told him, though he was so young. One verse he used to love to repeat was this, “Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Lemuel’s mother taught him that the One who loved, was Jesus, and the one He loved and died for, was little Lemuel, Mamma’s wee son. Lemuel thought this was very nice, and when he said the verse, he always said it in this way, “Who loved me, (Mamma’s wee son) and gave Himself for me (Mamma’s wee son.) I wonder whether you could say this verse and put your name in, for you know He loved you and gave Himself for you, as well as for little Lemuel. Is it not a blessed thing to think that Jesus loves you, and loves you so much that He gave Himself for you? He did not give money or gold, or precious things, that would not have cost Him anything, but He came down here, and gave Himself. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”
ML 11/11/1906