A very long time ago, in the year A.D. 260, a boy was standing on one of the wharves at Caesarea. The sea was sparkling; the sun shone brightly on the white buildings of the city and on the white sails of a ship in the harbor. As the boy, Cyril, stood there, gazing around with interest, and a gravity somewhat bond his years, a man came along the wharf and signaled with his hand to the ship. Then he turned to the boy who by this time was regarding him with curiosity. He was a strange man, he preached strange doctrines, and Cyril had often stood with the crowd and listened to him. But he had never been so near to him as now. There would be a chance of asking him a question, for so few people were about then; they were practically alone.
So Cyril, when the man turned to him, put the question at once: “Is it really true, what you say, that the Son of God came down from heaven, to die for us, that our sins might be pardoned, and we go to heaven?” The man’s eyes shone with a great light as he laid his hand tenderly on Cyril’s head. “True, yes! He died for me, He died for you. You have not accepted Him as your Saviour?”
The boy shook his head, and pointed to a distant spot beyond the white buildings. “People have been burnt to death over there for that,” said he. “I am afraid.”
“Speak not of death in connection with such, dear child. They went to Him who had died to save them—they went to a glorious Home in heaven.”
“How good to be there!” the boy exclaimed. “For this is a wicked, sad world. The power of the Emperor is over everything like a black, black cloud.”
“So it seems. But He who died declared before His ascension: ‘All power is given unto Me, in heaven and in earth’ (Matt. 28:1818And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. (Matthew 28:18)). To His own He says: ‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo! I am with you alway.’ So we, His followers, obey His commands without fear of emperors. They may kill the body—the spirit goes to God, and a life of everlasting bliss.”
A boat approached the wharf as he spoke—the boat for which he had signaled to convey him on board the ship—and he took the boy’s hands firmly in his. “I must away; we may never see one another on earth again, but we can meet up there”—pointing to the blue sky overhead— “if you will trust in the Lord Jesus, and all will be well.” He went down the steps and took his seat in the boat, and the rowers swiftly plied their oars, bearing him across the glittering waters to the white-sailed ship, now weighing her anchors. Cyril watched till his friend was on board, watched even till the mastheads had disappeared below the horizon, thinking deeply over the truths he had so often heard from the preacher’s lips, and especially of the last glad parting words: “Trust in the Lord Jesus, and all will be well.”
By and by he clasped his hands and said: “Lord Jesus, I do trust in Thee.” Then, as he turned homewards, “joy unspeakable and full of glory” came into his heart. He knew that his Lord was near him, though he saw Him not. “All will be well,” he said again.
Next day he told his boy and girl companions of his Saviour. He must, he felt, obey the command, “Go ye,” as far as lay in his power. But the children derided him, and persecuted him, and threatened him with the terrors of the stake and the fire. “All will be well.” Cyril was not frightened by them, but testified to his faith in Jesus every day.
There were others in beautiful Caesarea who acknowledged that name, and with them Cyril had happy times. He learned much about those who in earlier years of the Christian era had given their lives for the faith he himself now held. He heard of Paul the Apostle, who had been brought to Caesarea as a prisoner. He heard how courageously Paul had testified before Festus and King Agrippa, and how the king had exclaimed: “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian!” (Acts 26:2828Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. (Acts 26:28)). But only “almost.” And so, day by day, Cyril ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ, boy though he was.
ML 08/22/1965