THE little incident I am about to relate to you took place many years ago over in the far east, in India, when microscopes were not as plentiful as they are now. A missionary there received one of those instruments from England, his native country. A young Hindu, who occasionally came to see the missionary looked with undisguised astonishment and delight at the instrument and the things it revealed.
The missionary took a drop of water, put it under the magnifying glass and let the Hindu look at it.
The expression of joy and delight disappeared from his face to give place to that of horror and fear. He begged to look at it a little more closely. What horror • filled him! Why, that water which he drank every day, in which he also performed his holy washings, was full of life—little horrid looking creatures twisted and squirmed and swam through the water.
“Does this thing speak the truth?” asked he earnestly, first’ looking at the glass then at the missionary.
“Even as God speaks the truth, so does this glass,” replied the missionary.
“If this be so, then I am destroying living creatures” cried he horrified, “and break the command of my religion! I, a good Hindu, a holy man!”
He went his way but returned the next day with a sack of corn, and with a sad erpression on his face offered to buy the microscope from the missionary. You children have no idea how that man suffered. He had hitherto been proud of his punctuality in keeping every command of his religion, but now had this awful microscope been showing him that he was guilty of one of the greatest and best known.
The missionary did not care to sell his microscope, but his young friend, like the widow in the 18th chapter of Luke, who would not be put off because of her importunity, continued.. to beg, until the missionary yielded, well knowing he could soon get another instrument from England.
Who was happier than the Hindu! He gladly paid the price and ran off with it as fast as he could into a thicket, the missionary following him, wondering what he was going to do with the instrument. The Hindu then cast it down to the ground with all his strength, thus breaking it in pieces; then stamping it with his feet in perfect joy and glee like a maniac.
The missionary stood looking at the man, wondering whether he had been bereaved of his senses. What did he mean?
When our Brahmin was somewhat quieted, he said: “That drop of water is to blame for it all. I could neither eat, drink nor sleep since I saw all those little animals in it. I said to myself, It can’t be true. I wished it was not true, therefore I wanted to destroy that wicked glass which has opened my eyes.”
He stopped speaking and looked with triumph at the missionary. Senseless man! there are many more microscopes in the world, though he destroyed this one, and even if there were no more, the little creatures would be there still and millions more. The microscope did not create them, it only showed them to the eye.
There are many ‘people just as foolish as this Hindu. Take King Ahab tor instance in I Kings 22,when he had to listen to unpleasant things about his sins, he threatened to cast the prophet into prison. The prophet was to him God’s microscope to make known his sins to him.
King Jehoiakim was another who would cast the book of Jeremiah into the fire to destroy it, because in it were written his sins and the punishment for them, and he did not want to hear about it.
Indeed the Bible, God’s word is like a microscope showing us the sins of our hearts and of our lives. Many people therefore hate the Bible, and all , tracts too, and gladly would destroy them all, because, they are exposed in them. But their sins would remain if they would destroy all the Bibles and tracts; what they need is a remedy for their sins,—a Saviour.
Messages of God’s Love 4/26/1908