Part 2.
I TOLD you last week that when Henry was five years old, God raised him up a new friend.
She was a young lady who had recently come from England, and was now staying in the house, which Henry called his home. She loved the Lord Jesus, and she loved little children, too, and she had brought with her a box full of Bibles, and pretty little books of Bible stories for children.
When she saw poor little Henry sitting on the verandah, as his custom was, between his bearer’s knees, with many other native servants around him, she felt very sorry for him, and she longed to teach him something about Jesus. So she took some pretty colored pictures, and spread them on the floor of her room, the door of which happened to open on to the verandah.
When the little fellow saw the pictures, he was tempted by them to come into her room. At first he would not come without his bearer, but soon he lost all fear, and learned to love the kind young lady very dearly.
But the lady could not talk to Henry, and you will guess the reason why. She, of course, spoke English, and the little boy only spoke the language of the Hindus, however she resolved to teach him English, and this she accomplished by showing him pictures of different things, and telling him their names in English. Soon she began to teach him to read and spell, and as he was a clever little child, and very anxious to learn to talk to his dear new friend, it was not long before they could understand one another. Now the lady could begin to teach this poor little ignorant boy about God.
The first lesson she tried to teach him was, that there was only one true God, and that He made all things; that He made the glorious heaven, and the beautiful world, the sun, the moon, the stars and many other things. She would have taught him more about this, but as soon as little Henry understood what she meant, he got angry and told her she did not “speak one true word,” for there were a great many gods, and then he ran away, and would not come near her again that day.
But the young lady was not discouraged. She prayed very earnestly to God for the little boy, and her Father heard her prayer, for the next day Henry came back again, having quite forgotten his ill temper, and this time he was willing to listen to what she told him. She had provided herself with one of the Hindu gods, made of baked earth, and she bid him look at it well, then she threw it on the floor, and it was broken into a hundred pieces. Then she said, “Henry, what can this god do for you? It cannot help itself.” Little Henry saw that this was true, and he believed what the lady told him. Another day she taught him that; God is a spirit; that He is everywhere; that He can do everything; hear everything; see everything; that He knows the inmost thoughts of our hearts; that He hates evil and loves good.
Henry now began to take pleasure in hearing of God, and asked many questions. He was told how God made the world in six days, and then he heard the story of Adam and Eve, and how they disobeyed God, by taking the forbidden fruit, and how, by this means. sin entered into the world, and the nature of Adam becoming sinful, all we, his children, being born in his likeness, are sinful also. But Henry did not quite understand this. “What is sin?” he asked. “Sin,” said the lady, “is whatever displeases God. If you were to ask Boosey to carry you about, or fan you, and he did something quite different, would that be wrong?” “Yes, to be sure,” answered Henry. “Well, then, whatever you do contrary to the commands and wishes of God, displeases Him, and is sin.” But the lady found great difficulty in making Henry understand the nature of sin. You see he had never been taught right from wrong. He did not consider telling lies or stealing sinful, and he thought if any one hurt him, he should hurt them. What do You think about these things, my little child? Did you ever think how displeasing they are to God? This is the verse Henry learned about it. Would not you like to learn it too? “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none. that doeth good, no, not one.” Ps. 14:2-3.
ML 11/25/1906