“WHY is my little daughter so quiet tonight”? said Mr. B. one Lord’s Day evening to his daughter.
“Our Sunday-school teacher gave us each a slip of paper with a question on it, which we should answer by next Sunday.”
“A question you should answer? Let me see if it’s a hard one”, and taking the paper he read:
“Write the name of the greatest sinner you know.”
“Why, that isn’t hard”, said her father. “Run along now and think about it, and then let me read which name you put down.”
Gertrude was much perplexed, but finally thought of the names of two bad men of whom she had heard. But then it came to her that she did not know them, and so this would not do. Suddenly she had a good thought, and said to herself:
“Now, I know what I’ll do. I will get the Bible. Somewhere in a letter written by the apostle Paul, it says something about the greatest sinner.”
She took her father’s Bible, hurriedly turned over the pages, and as certain verses were printed in heavy type, she soon found the place where it is written:
Full of joy, Gertrude ran to her father.
“Father, look here, now I know who the greatest sinner is; it is the apostle Paul!”
“But Gertrude, you have forgotten that you are to write the name of the greatest sinner you know. Did you know the apostle Paul?”
Gertrude hung her head, and said disappointedly:
“Then, I really don’t know who it is, father.”
“Think it over once more, dear child, it will surely come to you.”
Again she thought it over; at last it dawned on her; she came nearer, laid her hand on her father’s, and said softly:
“See, father, now I know. It is I myself, and I have written my name on the paper.”
“That is right, dear Gertrude”, said her father, rejoicing. “Look also in your Bible, and see what it says in Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8), about God’s love to sinners,
“God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The next Sunday the class received another question which the children were told to answer. It was this:
“Are you saved?”
Gertrude answered the question immediately, and put the slip in her Bible. Her father had watched her, and asked what the question was this time.
“O, father, it is a most important question, although a very short one.”
With that she handed the slip, to her father. After the question, Gertrude had written in large plain letters, the word,
“Yes.”
“How do you know that you are saved, my child?”
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. but have everlasting life.”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
Her father thanked God as he saw how firmly his child trusted God’s Word, and not upon that which she might feel or think. He now knew that the Good Shepherd would take little Gertrude by the hand, and safely lead her; and in this her father was right; for a number of years have gone since she answered the two questions in faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, and she is still walking faithfully with Him.
What answers would you have given to these two questions, dear little readers?
ML 08/21/1927