Some time ago a little girl about eight years old was one day sitting on the grass in front of her father’s cottage in Prussia. Her father was a common laborer. They were very poor, and the little girl was dressed in well-worn clothes, but she was a little Christian. She loved Jesus and it made her very happy to think about Him, and sing sweet hymns to His praise. This was just what she was doing at the time of which I am speaking. She was singing about Jesus, and her eyes were filled with tears. While she was singing, a gentleman, who lived in that neighborhood, passed by. He was very rich and indulged in all kinds of wicked pleasures. He was an infidel, too, and was very fond of making fun of religion and Christians. He heard the little girl’s voice as she was singing, and saw her happy-looking face, and yet her eyes filled with tears, and he stopped to talk with her.
“Why do you weep, my little girl?” asked the gentleman. “Are you sick?” “No, sir, but I am so happy!”
“How can you weep if you are happy?”
“Because I love the Lord Jesus Christ so much.”
“Why do you love Him so much? He has been dead a long time: He can do you no good.”
“O yes, sir! He died but He lives again in heaven.”
“Well, suppose He does, what benefit is that to you? If He could help you, He would give money to your mother, that she might buy you better clothes.”
“I don’t wish for money; but the Lord Jesus Christ will take me one day to heaven.”
“Oh! nonsense,” said the gentleman. “Your grandmother, or some foolish person has told you this.”
“No, sir: it’s not nonsense,” cried the child, “but it’s true. I know it’s true, and it makes me glad.”
The gentleman turned away, but he could not forget what he had seen and heard. The happy face of that sweet child, with her bright eyes filled with tears, seemed to be before his mind all the time.
These words rang in his ears for a long time, and it was after a long and hard struggle he gave up his infidelity, and became an earnest and devoted Christian.
ML 01/03/1954