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Read Ebook: The Little Child's Book of Divinity or Grandmamma's Stories about Bible Doctrines by Macduff John R John Ross
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Ebook has 184 lines and 17823 words, and 4 pages
THE LITTLE CHILD'S
BOOK OF DIVINITY.
LITTLE Emma was one Sabbath evening alone in the room with her grandmamma. Good old Mrs Allan was seated in her arm-chair, beside a blazing winter fire. A small table was before her, with a Bible and a pair of spectacles lying upon it.
Emma came jumping up upon her grandmamma's knee, and kissed her, and said--
"Dear grandmamma, there is much in that large Bible I do not understand; I should like so much to know all it tells about. When I was at church this forenoon, I heard Mr R., our clergyman, speak to the people about what he called 'doctrines;' and when he was telling about them, there were many things the people liked to hear which were too difficult for me. Do you think you could tell me about them in very simple words, and make them plain to me? I will promise to be very attentive to all that you say."
"I shall be truly happy," said the other, looking with a kindly smile on her little grandchild, "to do what you ask me. And if you will come to me for a few minutes every Sabbath night, I will try to explain these Bible doctrines to you as simply as I can."
So saying, she put aside her spectacles, and drawing her chair closer by the fire, with her arm round little Emma's neck, began as follows:--
FIRST NIGHT.
"There was a time, my dear child, far, far back in eternity, when no one lived but the Great God, when no angel waved his wing, and no star glittered in the sky.
"This ever-living God did not need angels or worlds to make Him happy. He was quite glorious without them.
"This Great God resolved on making angels and worlds; and He just said, 'I wish them to be,' and they were all made by the word of His power. And it was not a few that He made, but a very great many. He made large armies of angels; and such a number of stars and worlds, that they cannot be counted.
"Among these crowded worlds which you see in the dark sky at night, there was a very little one--so little, as scarcely to be seen or noticed amid those around it.
"I shall tell you, my child," said her grandmamma. "It is an agreement, or bargain, between two people. In the garden of Eden, the two parties were God and Adam; their covenant or agreement was this;--God said to Adam, 'If you do what I ask you, you shall live and be happy. If you disobey me, you must "surely die."'
"God told him not to eat of the fruit of one of the trees in the garden; but though Adam had all the rest of the trees in Eden to eat of, he forgot God's command, and took of the forbidden one; and he was driven out of his happy home, and became a lost and ruined creature."
"How sad for poor Adam," said Emma, "to be banished from his beautiful garden!"
"Yes," said the other; "and sadder still to be banished from his God, with nothing before him but certain death!"
"But how was it, grandmamma," inquired Emma, "that Adam did not die all at once? How did he continue to live after God had said that, if he disobeyed Him, he should 'surely die'?"
"I was just going to explain this to you, my dear," said Mrs Allan. "Our first parents could not have lived for one moment after their 'Fall,' if it had not been for another and more glorious covenant the Bible tells us of."
"And what was the name of that covenant?" inquired Emma, eagerly.
Little Emma was again very attentive, and her grandmamma proceeded:
"God and Adam," replied Emma.
"Yes, dear, you are right. And in this new covenant or agreement I am going to speak about, there were two parties also. Do you think you could tell me who they were?"
"Was it God and Adam again?" inquired the little girl.
"No, my child," said the old lady. "Man, having broken the first covenant, could no longer enter into terms with God. There was some one who came in the place of guilty man. Can you tell me who this was?"
"It was the Lord Jesus Christ," said Emma.
"How wonderful!" said Emma, "for the great God of heaven to come down to dwell with man on the earth--to be called the 'Man of Sorrows'--to be poor and hated, and have 'nowhere to lay His head,' till He laid it on the Cross, and there died a cruel death!"
"Wonderful indeed," replied her grandmamma. "Can you tell me, my dear child, what became of Jesus after He died?"
"Yes," answered Emma; "I think He was laid in a grave in the middle of a garden in Jerusalem. A stone was put at the mouth of it, and soldiers were made to watch it. But after lying dead three days, He rolled away the stone, and came forth alive."
"And where is the Lord Jesus now?" inquired Emma.
"He who once was 'despised and rejected of men,'" said her grandmother, "is seated on a very glorious throne in the skies, where blessed spirits without number adore Him. But He has not forgotten poor sinners on earth. He is engaged in praying to God for them; and whatever He asks on their behalf, His Father is ready to give; for Him He 'heareth always.'"
"I should like you," said Emma, "to tell me what you mean by 'seeking Jesus.' I fear I may never yet have sought Him in earnest."
The little child knelt down on her grandmother's lap, to offer up her evening prayer. The aged Christian entreated earnestly that Jesus would early give her an interest in His "covenant of grace," that she might be found at last on His right hand, at the great day, an heir of glory!
SECOND NIGHT.
Sabbath evening again returned; and when the shutters were closed, and fresh wood had been piled on the fire, little Emma climbed on her grandmamma's knee, and asked her to explain some more "Scripture doctrines."
"I shall do so with pleasure, my child," said Mrs Allan; "and I must ask you to give me to-night your close attention, as I am going to speak to you about some very important and precious truths."
Emma thanked her for her great kindness, in being at so much pains to instruct her; and her grandmamma thus began:--
"You will remember, my dear, that the Bible tells us we are all condemned by nature--in a lost and ruined state. In order to make us understand what this state is, it represents,--
"God as a great Judge, 'of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,' and who cannot look upon sin.
"It represents the sinner as standing at His bar, called to answer for his many thousand transgressions.
"And, as in a court of earthly justice witnesses are brought in to condemn the prisoner, so Satan accuses the sinner--his own heart accuses him--God's Law, which he has broken, accuses him."
"And what more?" said Emma.
"But is there no hope," said little Emma, "for the poor sinner? Must he die in that state of condemnation and misery?"
"But what do you mean by that word?" said Emma.
"Listen to me," said the other, "and I will endeavour to explain. I have already told you that the sinner, standing in the court-room of justice, with the chains of condemnation fastened round him, cannot answer a word for himself; his 'mouth is stopped,' and he has become 'guilty before God.'
"God the Judge asks, 'Sinner! can you say anything to justify yourself?' The sinner says, 'Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O God! for in Thy sight no flesh living can be justified.'
"This is a wonderful doctrine indeed!" said little Emma, "and"--
"Stay, my child," interrupted her grandmamma, "I have not yet told you the most wondrous part of it:--
"Surely," said Emma, "this explains the meaning of that verse I was reading to you this morning in Isaiah--'He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; He hath covered me with a robe of righteousness'?"
"How kind is God," exclaimed Emma, "to do all this for vile sinners!"
"Luther, the great father of the Reformation, said, that a church could not stand for a moment without this doctrine. Like a house without a foundation, it would fall to pieces. And an older saint than Luther--the apostle Paul--had his mind so full of it, that you cannot read his writings, and understand them, without keeping this blessed doctrine constantly in view."
"Oh how peaceful, and safe, and joyous," exclaimed Emma, "must the justified sinner be!"
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