Dear Rebekah,

Hello. These are three pieces by Frances Ridley Havergal for children, one poem and two prose pieces.

   Coming Into the Shade.

Out in the midsummer sunshine,

   Out in the golden light,

Merrily helping the gardener,

   Ever so busy and bright,—

With tiny barrow and rake and hoe,

Helena flitted to and fro.

But the midsummer sun rose higher

   Over the flowery spot;

“I must rest a little now,” she said,

   “I am so tired and hot.

Oh, let me come to you, and look

At the pictures in your beautiful book.”

Why we should leave the sunny lawn

   She did not understand,

But cheerily, trustfully, Helena laid

   In mine, her little brown hand,

And I led her away to a shady room,

To rest in the coolness and the gloom.

For she could not have seen the pictures

   Out in that dazzling light;

The book was there with its colours fair,

   But the sunshine was too bright.

But in the shade I could let her look

At the pictures in my beautiful book.

“I have never seen them before,” she said,

   “I am so glad I came !

And the gardener will manage the flowers, I think

   Without me, just the same !

And I need not trouble at all, you know,

About my barrow and rake and hoe.”

So page after page was gently turned,

   As I showed her one by one,

And told her what the pictures meant,

   Till the beautiful book was done.

And then—I shall not soon forget

The loving kiss of my tiny pet.

And now—I shall not soon forget

   The lesson she had taught,

How from the sunshine into the shade

   God’s little ones are brought,

That they may see what He could not show

Among the flowers in the summer glow.

               Frances Ridley Havergal October, 1875

This is the Thirty-first Day, the end, of Little Pillows by F.R.H. (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1875), the first of her three 31-day books for children, to be read by—or for a parent to read to—a child just before going to sleep, a “little pillow” to rest the child’s heart on till “He giveth His beloved sleep.”

31. CERTAINTY.

    “ Hath He said, and shall He not do it? ”—Numbers 23:19.

We have been thinking, night after night, of some of our Father’s promises, and very likely you have been hoping and wishing that they would come true for you. But being quite sure is better and happier than hoping and wishing, is it not? Now, how may you be quite sure that all these “exceeding great and precious promises” will come true for you? Just simply because God has spoken them ! and “hath He said, and shall He not do it?” Of course He will ! Surely that is enough!

   If your father had promised to give you a great treat, would you go about in a dismal way, saying, “Yes, it would be very nice? I hope papa will do it!” Would he be pleased at that? But if you came again, and reminded him of his promise, and he answered, “I have said it, and do you suppose I shall not do it?” what a silly child you would be if you still looked dismal, and went on only “hoping” he might do it! And what an ungrateful and unbelieving child you would be if you did not say brightly, “Thank you, dear papa!” and show him how glad you were about it, and try your very best to be good and please him all day, because he had made you such a kind and sure promise!

   When you read the Bible, or hear it read, keep looking out for God’s prom¬ises. They are scattered all over the Bible, like beautiful bright stars. Then, ev¬ery time you come to one of them, say to yourself, This will come true for me, for “hath He said, and shall He not do it?”

   Before you go to sleep, see if you can recollect as many promises as you are years old, and set upon every one this strong and shining seal, “Hath He said, and shall He not do it?”

   When you reach the heavenly Canaan, you will find, as Joshua said, that “Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.”—Joshua 23:14.

               “All that He hath spoken,

                  He will surely do!

               Nothing shall be broken,

                  Every word is true.”

Next is the Eighth Day of Morning Bells by F.R.H. (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1875), a 31-day for children, her companion volume published with Little Pillows. These 31 pieces were meant to be read by—or for a parent to read to—a child in the morning, “to waken up the little hearts, and to remind them that we must not only rest in Jesus, but walk in Him.” (from Frances’s brief preface or foreword to Morning Bells)

8. “ON MINE ACCOUNT.”

          “Put that on mine account.”—Philemon 18.

When St. Paul asked Philemon, in a most beautiful letter, to take back Onesimus, who had run away from him, he said, “If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on my account.” Onesimus had been a bad servant to Philemon; and being willing to come back and do better, would not pay for what he had wronged him in before, and would not pay his old debts. And he evidently had nothing himself to pay them with. But St. Paul offered to pay all, so that Onesimus might be received, “not now as a servant,” but as a “brother beloved.”

   This is an exquisite picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ does. He not only intercedes for us with Him from whom we have departed, and against whom we have sinned; but, knowing to the full how much we have wronged God, and how much we owe Him, He says, “Put that on mine account.”

   And God has put it all on His account, and the account has been paid, paid in blood. When “the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” Jesus saw and knew all your sins; and He said, “Put that on mine account.”

   Oh what wonderful “kindness and love of God our Saviour”! Let the remembrance of it be like a silver bell, ringing softly and clearly whenever you are going to do, or letting yourself feel or think, something that is not right.

   “Put that on mine account!” Yes, that sin that you were on the very edge of committing! that angry word, and the angry feeling that makes you want to say it; that untrue word, and the cowardliness which makes you afraid to speak the exact truth; that proud look, and the naughty pride of heart that made it come into your eyes: Jesus stands by and says patiently and lovingly, “Put that on mine account!”

   Can you bear that? does it not make you wish, ten times more than ever, to be kept from sinning against such a Saviour?

              “Jesus, tender Saviour,

                 Hast Thou died for me?

               Make me very thankful

                 In my heart to Thee;

               When the sad, sad story

                 Of Thy grief I read,

               Make me very sorry

                 For my sins indeed.”