“Is it the wicked man, papa?” asked the little boy.
“Yes, it is the sinner, who does not love the Saviour. Jesus Christ is the only hope of the soul. I know I often tell you this; but I do it because I want you always to remember this great truth. Jesus here compares himself to a rock. When we learn to love the Saviour as we ought, then we are set upon this rock; and God will not let sorrow, or even death, remove us from that safe resting-place.
“Last summer I saw something which made me think of what we have just read.
“It had rained hard in the night, but cleared off early in the morning. The sun was very hot. About ten o’clock I saw quite a smoke arise from the flat, tin roof of the wing of the house. I looked, and found it covered with water. I wondered what it could mean. Upon examination, I found a bird’s nest, very neatly made of hair, and lined with feathers, placed directly over the hole which led into the spout. It filled it up entirely, and so prevented the water running into the spout.
“Poor foolish bird, to take so much pains to build its nest in that insecure place! She had thought, I suppose, that she would keep house very snugly there; and there bring up her little ones, and give them their first lesson in flying from the house to the big willow-tree, which stands alongside of it.
“How frightened she must have been when she felt the waters overflowing her nest! How much she must have wished that she had put it in the right place! My dear boy, we must make a better provision for our heavenly home than this poor bird did for her nest; so that we may not be surprised and disappointed, like her, at last.”
CHAPTER XIX
JOY IN HEAVEN—THE LITTLE RUNAWAYS.
These pretty babes, with hand in hand,
Went wandering up and down.