About four hundred years ago it was considered a serious crime to own or read a Bible. Satan tried then, as he does today, to keep the light of the glorious gospel of Christ from shining into the hearts of men and women, boys and girls.
In the western part of England in the little village of Harrant, lived a blacksmith and his daughter. The man owned a Bible which he read to the villagers. He kept it hidden in his shop in a hollow block of wood.
Some soldiers in the next town heard about the blacksmith and his Bible and decided to go and burn the house and shop as the surest way to destroy the Bible. The blacksmith was away from home at the time but the young daughter crept into the shop unseen by the soldiers, and in spite of the blinding smoke, brought the big Bible from its hiding place. The flames scorched her dress and hair and blistered her hands. She ran to the garden in the darkness and taking off her jacket, wrapped up the Bible and buried it under a big cabbage, digging a hole with her hands.
This dear girl then crawled to a spring at the end of the garden where her father found her half unconscious with pain. The girl recovered from her burns and we know she valued that beloved Book more than anything else in the world. In fact, the great-granddaughter of that girl later brought that very same Bible to America.
Yes, the blessed Book of God — the Bible—has been the comfort and solace of sinners in all ages and none who ever welcomed its words, and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ of whom it bears witness, were ever sorry for their choice.
ML 11/04/1956