I Am the Lord’s

ONE evening, some years since, a little girl of about seven years of age lay upon a low couch by the fireside, while her sister and some merry brothers were trying to play quietly at the table. Every now and then some little shout of delight, or funny speech, would make her at first almost wish to join them in their game. But the loving Lord Jesus, looking down with tender pity upon her, so filled her young heart with a sense of His love for her, that she soon forgot their simple merriment.
Why could she not join them in their play? Because the dear child was very ill-indeed it was evident that unless relief were quickly obtained she could not live. She herself was fully aware of this, yet felt no fear whatever, for the Lord Jesus had said in His word, “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.” Another verse had come into her mind as a sort of sweet answer to the first. “We love Him because He first loved us.”
At this moment her dear mother entered the room, and, bending over her with tender caresses, and loving but anxious looks, said, “Do you know, my darling, that you are very ill? Although you have not been obliged as yet to keep to your bed, the doctor has told me today that he is afraid he can do nothing more, and that, if you do not soon get better he fears you cannot live. If it should be so (but, oh, I pray to the Lord that, if it be His will, He may spare you to me), if it should be so, tell me, dear, would you be afraid to die?”
Resting in the sweet sense of being one of the Good Shepherd’s little lambs, beloved and cared for by Him, she answered quickly; “No, mother dear, I am not in the least afraid to die, because I know that Jesus loves me, and that, living or dying, I am the Lord’s.”
She felt sure that the Lord Jesus had done everything that was necessary for her in life or in death. Hence the calm of her soul and the peace of her mind stayed upon Him.
“Did the little girl die?” some boy or girl may feel inclined to ask. No, the Lord save fit to answer prayer on her behalf, and to spare her life. Her throat became better, and though she remained pale and thin for some time, yet health and strength slowly returned, and she still lives, rejoicing in the knowledge that, “living or dying, she is the Lord’s.”
Many think that a child who, like this little one, is led by God’s Spirit to give her young heart to the Lord, and who is therefore happy in the knowledge of His love to her, must surely be going to die soon, and so some perhaps feel they would rather not be Christians just yet, for fear they should die young. Yet if they were ill in bed, of course then they would want to know their sins forgiven, so that they might, as they think, “die happy” — but why not want quite as much to live a happy life?
Is there one who does not wish to live a happy life, and, if called to die, to die a happy death? Let me tell you, then, that there is no such thing as real happiness anywhere in this world apart from Christ, but He can and does fill the heart of every one who believes on Him, whether a little child or a grown person, with such joy and peace that there is nothing else like it.
The Lord Jesus Himself, when upon earth, rejoiced in spirit, and thanked His Father for revealing these wonderful things unto babes; and, although now seated in glory, He still delights in the praises of children. He still is saying, My child, “My son, give Me thine heart,” and shall not your answer be, “Lord, take it, and keep it for Thine own forever”? so that whether you live, or whether you die, you maybe the Lord’s. E.G.

Bible Subjects. Redemption.
WE will spend a short time over some further New Testament texts on Redemption. In writing to the Hebrew strangers scattered abroad, the Apostle Peter says, “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation (or manner of life) received by tradition from your fathers.” (1 Peter 1:18.) For the precious blood of Christ, the spotless Lamb, sets us as pilgrims here, and we are making our heavenward journey under the Father’s eye. What a joyful, yet solemn word is this for any in christian days, whose manner of life denies the pilgrim position into which believers are brought by the precious blood of Christ.
The Apostle Paul writes of the law, and its curse, under which the Galatian believers were putting themselves: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” (Gal. 3:10.) He says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, ‘Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.’” (vs. 13.) Through the grace of God this word has come to us who believe, “Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ” (Rom. 7:4); and solemn indeed it is when a poor sinner addresses himself to the law and not to Christ for salvation. God says, “The just shall live by faith”; but the law is not faith, but doing; for “the man that doeth them shall live in them.” What then say the Scriptures to the doer “who continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them”? “Cursed is every one” who fails to do all that the law requires. Most blessed is the redemption from this awful curse for all for whom the blessed Lord Jesus Christ hung upon the tree!
Let us look at some of the passages which speak of the redemption of the body. We are now blessed with all spiritual blessings, but our bodies are still in this world where sorrow and death reign. The whole creation is in “bondage of corruption.” Even the dumb beasts suffer and die. But the day of liberty is coming for our bodies, and that will be the day of deliverance for creation.
Our hearts are often bitterly sorrowful, and it is needful that so it should be. It is impossible to live many years on earth without having a broken heart, but, through grace, glory awaits us― “Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Rom. 8:23.) These poor, dying frames will before long be redeemed out of this sorrow-stricken world, and from corruption, and will be made glorious like unto our Saviour’s. Then will be “the liberty of the glory of the children of God,” and the day of joy of the creation. We are sealed with the Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30) ―that is, the Holy Spirit dwells within us, as the Lord promised should be the case (John 14:17), and the Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. The Holy Spirit was promised by the Lord, and now in having Him in us we have the realized promise of Jesus; and as we have the earnest, so surely shall we have the promised glory. Looking on to that great day, the apostle says (1 Cor. 1:30) Christ Jesus is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We have the first three; the last, redemption, will soon be OUTS.
This contemplation brings us to the songs where the redeemed shall worship God and the Lamb. The word we read “redeem” is “buy” or “purchase” (see R.V.) in the texts in the Revelation. The purchased in glory shall ever sing the praises of their Redeemer, and this is our bright and joyous prospect. Our hearts awake on earth to sing His love, and praise His dear Name, Redeemer, the more we dwell on His dying love for us.