John 16:26-27 At that day you shall ask in my name: and I say not to you, that I will pray the Father for you:… A mother, whose daughter had behaved very badly, and at length had run away from home, thought of a singular plan in order to find the wanderer and draw her back to her home. After having exhausted the ordinary means, she had her own portrait fixed on a large handbill, and pasted on the walls of the town where she supposed her daughter to be concealed. The portrait, without name, had these words — "I love thee always." Crowds stopped before the strange handbill, trying to guess its meaning, Days elapsed, when a young girl at last passed by, and in her turn, lifted her eyes to the singular placard. "Can it be? Yes, truly it is the picture of my mother. Those eyes full of tenderness, I know them from childhood. Why is it here?" She approaches nearer and reads, "I love thee always." She understood; this was a message for her. Her mother loved her — pardoned her. Those words transformed her. Never had she felt her sin or ingratitude me deeply. She was unworthy of such love. "She loves me always," she cried. If she had ever doubted that love, if in moments of distress she had feared to return home, those doubts were all gone now. She set out for the house of her mother; at last she crosses the threshold, is in her mother's arms. "My child!" cried the mother, as she presses her repentant daughter to her heart; "I have never ceased to love thee." (La bonne Nouvelle.) Parallel Verses KJV: At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:WEB: In that day you will ask in my name; and I don't say to you, that I will pray to the Father for you, |
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