GARAK was an Armenian boy, who lived in Tokat, a town of Asiatic Turkey. His father and mother prayed to pictures, with lighted candles before them, and they taught their little boy and his younger brother to do the same. Sometimes Garak would buy a candle with his pocket money, and burn it before a picture, and then he would kneel before it, and pray for a long time, thinking that in that way he was pleasing God.
When Garak was about twelve years of age his father took a Christian into his employ. This man was very poor, and, through temptation, had promised not to talk to anyone about his faith in Christ. This was very wrong, for, if we love the Saviour, we should not shrink from confessing His name before men. However, the man found he could not keep that promise, for, in a day or two, he took Garak into a corner, where he showed him a little Book of Psalms, which he lent him to read, and said, " You will find in this book the bread of life."
Garak took a long walk into the country, that he might read, without interruption, this precious book. After he had read it, he returned it to the man, who then showed him a New Testament. The boy begged for it, but the poor man said, “No, I dare not let you have it."
How could Garak get a New Testament? He began to save up his pocket money, and, in a few weeks, had enough to buy one. But how dare he go into the American missionary's shop to inquire for it? Someone would see him, and go and tell his father.
After walking backwards and forwards for some time Garak beckoned to a little boy, and sent him into the shop for it, promising him a small reward. It would be difficult to tell the joy Garak felt, with this priceless book in his hands.
It seemed to him as if he had all the world in his grasp. He now knows he had something better than the world. He hid the Testament in his bosom under his loose dress, and returning home, carefully searched all over his father's house for some place of concealment to hide his treasure. No place could be found, until he went into the stable, where, in a corner, he deposited the book, with candles and matches, meaning to rise at midnight to read it.
The first night beheld him in the stable, with no human friend near, hungering and thirsting for the knowledge of God. Garak first noticed in this book the many names mentioned. Some were similar to those of his schoolfellows and other friends. "And is my name here?” inquired the boy. He searched, but it could not be found. Then his eye fell on Rev. 20:15: “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
“Oh," thought Garak, in deep distress, "if I cannot find my name here there is no hope for me. Oh, that I had someone near to encourage me, to help me."
But God's eye of love rested on the lonely seeker, and His hand of love pointed out, as Garak restlessly turned over the pages of the Testament, John 3:16—you know the words, dear reader—" 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."
What a flood of light was poured out by those precious words! The boy, kneeling upon the floor of the stable, simply asked the Lord Jesus to take him. “Lord Jesus," he said,” I am a sinner, Thou knowest, and I wish to be saved."
He came in faith to Jesus, and was not cast out. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." This call we learn from the next verse (Rom. 10:14) is not a thoughtless cry, but the call of faith. After this, Garak spent many midnight hours in the stable, with the New Testament as his companion.
He read it for a whole year without being suspected. His parents saw a change in him, but they could not think what was the cause. Many times he nearly made up his mind to go and hear the missionary, but fear and shame prevented him. At last, one Sunday, he started with a run from his father's house, so that he might not have time to listen to the tempter's suggestions, and soon found himself in the chapel.
There he sat and feasted. How pleasant it was to hear God's word from the lips of His servant! But when the time came to return, he feared to re-enter his father's house. After wandering about the streets till quite late he went in. When he returned there were his parents, and several priests waiting for him. "How came you to disgrace your family, and go and hear the deceivers?" said they.
“What man induced you to go?”
"No man," said the boy; "it was the Lord Jesus. I cannot answer all your questions”— for they asked him many other things—" but if you will talk to the missionary's people, and prove them deceivers, I will not go and hear them any more." A meeting was appointed, and the priests thought they had gained a great victory, where there was really no victory at all. "Promise," said they, to the boy, "not to go to hear these people, and not to read the New Testament."
Through fear, Garak yielded; they rejoiced, but he was very sorrowful. He sought his room to pray, but found he could not say a word. Kneeling down, he burst into a flood of bitter tears, which, like Peter's tears of old were a true confession of his sin, and peace was again restored to his soul. He obtained another New Testament, the first having been taken from him. At last his parents, urged on by the priests, determined to turn him out into the street, if he still persisted in following the Lord.
Another meeting took place; the angry priests on one side, the weeping friends on the other, the youthful disciple in the midst. “Look at the tears of your friends," said one, after urging him to give up the truth. The tempter was near, but the Lord Jesus was nearer, and by His Spirit brought to his memory these words, " He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me." (Matt. 10:37). Garak was then enabled to confess that the blood of Christ was more precious to him than the love of his parents, His enemies scarcely waited to hear what he had to say, but turned him into the street.
Thus cast out for Christ's sake he found the promise fulfilled in his experience: “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." (Psa. 27:10). He is now a man, and a servant of Christ.
Before closing this little history, which I have had from Garak's lips, I think you will like to be reminded of Henry Martyn, a servant of the Lord, who labored in Persia for a short time, and fell asleep in Jesus, at Tokat, in 1812. His body was buried by an Armenian priest; but after the commencement of the American missionary work in that place, his mortal remains were removed to the Protestant cemetery, and a monument erected to mark the spot.
Near this monument Garak often sat reading as a student, but at the time he little thought that in the course of God's dealings with him he should be led to England, to speak of Christ in different places, one of which was Truro, in Cornwall, where that dear servant of Christ, Henry Martyn, was born.
M. E. T.