In the island of Ceylon there is a religion much followed by the people, called Buddhism. Some years ago a little boy there went to a Buddhist temple wherein lay a very large figure of the founder of that religion. This figure was about thirty yards long.
The boy went to the face of the idol, and put down his wreath of flowers which he had brought as a present, saying as they usually do, “I take rufuge in Buddha.”
He then waited to hear what the idol would say in reply, but was much astonished when he found that Buddha did not notice him in the least, as he had hoped he would. The figure did not open its eyes, nor appear to take the least notice of the offering he had brought.
Not long after this, the same boy was sent by his father to the missionary school. He heard many things there that were new to him, and amongst others a song which gave the Christians in Ceylon much joy. We will translate two lines of the refrain:
“Jesus, Lord, I come to Thee: Thou wilt all my Refuge be!”
This was just what the boy wanted, a refuge —and he learned the truth in the words of this hymn. He saw that Buddha could not be a refuge, for it had not even life itself; he therefore became a Christian. Later on he was a teacher in the missionary school, and has now, for four years, been a preacr on the island; and his joy in being able to preach the gospel to his countren is exceedingly great. His highest delight is to point them—not to Buddha for sympathy, consolation, or salvation but to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the right and only refuge any defense for all lost and burdened sinners.
Yes, dear children, Jesus is our only refuge, and it is when we know Hitu, that the words of the prophet are fulfilled in us:
“And a Man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as. rivers of water in a dry place, as tile shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” Isaiah 32:2.
ML 02/13/1944