On his last trip to England Dr. David Livingstone, the devoted African missionary-explorer, spoke at a service in Hamilton. Many school children listened to the missionary as he told of the vast need in Africa and of the great cruelty of the slave trade.
Among Livingstone’s hearers was a little boy named Frederick Stanley Arnot and his mother. He was just six years old, but he listened eagerly to all that was said and David Livingstone became his hero. He made up his mind that when he grew up he wanted to go to Africa and help the great man. From that day forward Africa drew Frederick like a magnet.
He was converted when he was ten years old. One day he and his friend Jimmie went into a neighbor’s garden and began helping themselves to some plums that were ripening on the tree. Jimmie’s older brother saw them from a window and shouted, “Thief! Thief!”
All day long Frederick heard those words ringing in his ears. The next day he had to pass the Hamilton prison and he was filled with terror at the thought he might be taken to jail as a thief. Just then he saw an officer bringing to the prison a boy who had stolen a pair of boots. Freddie rushed home and hid there until bedtime. Then when everyone else had gone to bed he got up.
“I must tell God about my sin,” he thought. “I must ask Him to forgive me.” Kneeling down he began to cry and felt he was too wicked for God to forgive him. Then he thought about the Lord Jesus dying on the cross for him.
“Jesus had to die for me because I am wicked,” he said to himself. Then while still on his knees, he repeated the verse his parents had taught him when he was still a tiny little fellow-John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16): “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Suddenly Freddie knew for sure that he believed on Jesus as his Saviour. He knew, too, that his sins were forgiven for he felt the load of his guilt was gone. The next morning he awoke with a happy heart—he was saved.
Freddie’s desire to go to Africa grew more rapidly than ever now. He knew he had a wonderful message for the African people, a message of God’s salvation and forgiveness of sin. When he was fifteen he said that God had called him to be a missionary. He learned to be a blacksmith, how to repair watches, and how to find his way with a compass when in a lonely far-off region. He preached frequently in the open air with his father.
In 1881, when he was 23 years old, he sailed for Africa. He knew that he would face difficulties, dangers, sickness and privation there, but he was not afraid. He said, “God’s promises are not mere words to be memorized and repeated. They are certainties to go by.”
For years Frederick labored for the Lord in Africa. After a busy life for Him and for others he died at the age of 55. His was not a long life, but it was filled with faithful service for the Saviour whom he had learned to love when he was just a boy.
ML-07/22/1979