At Dartmoor, in England, lived an old man who had earned his living by watching the cows and sheep in the vast pasture lands there. Having become old and blind, he had to seek shelter in an old people’s home for the remainder of his days.
One of his granddaughters often came to visit him and read portions to him from the Word of God. The old man had neglected the Bible during his lifetime but now always found the greatest pleasure in hearing it read.
One day she read to him the first chapter of the first epistle of John. Upon hearing the seventh verse, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin,” the old man suddenly stopped his young reader. Very seriously, he asked, “Are you very sure you did not make a mistake? How does that verse read?”
“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin,” replied the young girl.
“I have never heard that before,” replied the grandfather. “Never heard anything to equal it. You are very sure that it is written like that?”
“Yes, very sure.”
“Then, take my finger,” said the dear old man, “and place it on that beautiful passage. I should love to feel it.”
When the bony fingers of the blind man rested on the place, he said, “Now, read it to me once more.”
The sweet voice of the child read again, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Once again he asked, “Then you are perfectly sure of what you are reading?”
On the affirmative answer he received, the old man said, “Good, now if someone asks you how I have died, you can say, that I died trusting in this word, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’”
The old man withdrew his hand from the Bible. It was not long after this that he passed peacefully into the presence of the One whose “blood cleanseth us from all sin.”
ML 08/12/1956