“Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, I do come to Thee! for I remember the text that says ‘Come,’ and I don’t know what to say except that Thou knowest, Lord Jesus, how lonely and miserable I am. My mother is far away, and papa too, and I do so want to feel her arms round me now; but I can’t, oh, I can’t! Lord Jesus, if thou wert here on the earth, and in this room, I would come to Thee, and sit at Thy feet; and Thou wouldst put Thine arms round me. Oh, do it now, Lord Jesus! for I feel as if I must have somebody taking care of me. The Bible says that Thou healest the broken-hearted, and I feel broken-hearted to-night, Lord Jesus, so heal me. Lord Jesus Christ, I belong to Thee, I am Thy lamb; gather me in Thine arms, and carry me in Thy bosom.”
It was in this way that little, lonely Arthur Vivyan poured his heart out before the Lord. He went and told Him exactly what was in it, and then he lay at His feet; and he felt as he had not felt before, what it was to be in His keeping, and to hear His voice saying, “Thou art mine,” to feel the everlasting arms enfolding him, and to know that One so strong, and kind, and true, loved him with an everlasting love. The Lord Jesus Christ was a real person to Arthur Vivyan. He had known Him before as his Saviour; he was knowing Him now as the lover of his soul.
And that night, as he lay in his white-curtained bed, he felt the sweet rest that the Lord gives when “He giveth His beloved sleep.”
The stars shone in their melting blue depths, and their trembling light fell on two who loved each other, and who were both loved by the blessed God, who neither slumbers nor sleeps; and though such time and space were separating them, they were both in His hand who “measures the water in the hollow of His hand.”
Is it not a happy thing to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ?
