“Yes, that is just what one may do, when one is sure of a right to claim the promise.”
“But what do you mean by having a right? And why should one have a right more than another?” asked Gertrude, impatiently. But all the time she was saying to herself that the quiet little maid before her was one of those who might be content.
“I don’t mean that any one has a right to claim the fulfilment of any promise, except the right that God gives. You know the verse says it is to them that love God for whose good all things work together. God’s people, it means—those who love Him, and those whom He loves.”
Looking into her earnest face, it was not easy for Gertrude to answer lightly, but in a little while she said:
“Well, Christians ought to be very happy people according to that.”
“Surely,” said Christie, earnestly, “and so they are.”
“Well, I know some of them who don’t seem very happy. And they strive for riches and greatness, and all that, just as though their happiness depended upon it.”
“But no real child of God does that,” said Christie, eagerly.
“Oh! as to that I can’t say. They call themselves Christians.”
“Well, we can’t always judge people by just seeing them,” said Christie. “There’s many a one who seems to be living just as other folk live, and going the round that other folk go, and all the time he may be really very different. I am not good at speaking about these things, but I know that to a child of God His simple promise is worth more than houses or lands, or anything that this world can give. No; we have nothing to fear. Only we forget and grow desponding.”