Leviticus 1:4 And he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. A friend of mine was master in a school of black children in Jamaica. He had made a law that every lie told in school should be punished by seven strokes on the palm with a strap. One day Lottie Patti told a lie, and was called up to receive the seven strokes. Lottie was a poor little thing, and pain was terrible to her. But the master must enforce his law. So Lottie had to hold out her hand and receive the seven strokes. But her cry of pain when she had received the first went to the master's heart. So he looked to the forms on which the boys were seated, and asked, "Is there any boy will bear the rest of Lottie's punishment?" And as soon as the words were out of his lips up started a bright little fellow called Jim, and said, "Please, sir, I will!" And he rose from his seat, stepped up to the desk, and received, without a cry, the six remaining strokes. What moved this brave boy to bear Lottie's punishment? It was his gentle heart. And it was the vision of a heart gentler still which filled the master's eyes with tears that day, and made him close his books, and bring his scholars round about his desk, and tell them of the Gentle One who long ago bore the punishment of us all. (Alex. Macleod, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. |
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