Esther 8:5-6 And said, If it please the king, and if I have favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king… It is one of the results of sin that it deadens the spiritual side of our nature so that, while in theory we admit the danger of the unsaved, in fact we fail to realise it. How anxious parents are about the health of their children! If they have any fatal disease, what care and pains they will take until they feel that they are out of danger. Or if on a steamer that was reported in the city to be in danger, how distressed they would feel until they learned of their safety. When the ocean steamer Atlantic was wrecked some years ago on the Banks of Nova Scotia, a gentleman from Chicago was reported among the lost. Then came the telegram "Saved," and his name under it. His business partner had it framed and hung up in the store. If the members of a family really felt the true condition of every one in it who is not a Christian, they would never rest until all were safe. But the true condition is not realised. A mother will say, "My boy is steady, industrious, no bad habits, stays at home, is kind and good." All well Many a son is the opposite, disgraces his family and breaks his parents' hearts. But is your son a Christian? Is he saved? It would be a pity that a good boy should be lost. When one of the family is lying on the brink, what a concentration of effort is put forth to rescue him from the grave. The ventilation, temperature, quiet of the house; the exclusion of all excitement, consultation of physicians, all the ordering of household affairs to one end. Then in convalescence moving from one place to another. Oh, if the same care and skill and devotion were employed to save the soul as is put forth to save the body, how many holy, happy Christian homes there would be — father and mother, son and daughter, all one in Christ! (G. H. Smyth, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces: |
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