"If he was a real, true Christian, as I hope he was," said Amy, "then he left his earthly inheritance for one ten million times better! See, May, see, here is another description of it in this leaf torn from the Bible; listen how beautiful it is:
"'The street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.'" *
* Rev. xxi. 21, 22, 23.
"Who is the Lamb?" asked May, who had listened with a kind of wondering awe.
"The Lord Jesus Christ," replied Amy, pronouncing the sacred Name with reverence. "He is called the Lamb, because as a lamb was killed by the Jews in the old-old times as a sacrifice for sin, so the Blessed Saviour was killed as a Sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. He is 'the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.' † That is the wonderful history which I used to read in my Bible. May, the Lord suffered, willingly suffered all the pain that cruel men could inflict, that He might wash away our sins, and make us the heirs of Heaven. Was not that wonderful love! He lay, as a Babe, in a manger, and died, as a Man, on a cross, that we might dwell in glorious mansions and live for ever and ever. Was not that love—oh! Such love!"
† John i. 29.
Amy closed her eyes, and May, glancing up at her sister, could see that their lashes were moist with tears.
The little child laid her hand upon Amy's. "We will love the Lord too," said she.
Amy opened her eyes, and, smiling on May, softly murmured, "'We love Him because He first loved us.' * It is so sweet to love the Lord Jesus, and rest on His love; to serve Him now, and then see Him, as I hope to do—very soon."
* 1 John iv. 19.