Part I
HAVE you ever been to London? If you have, you know what a great, crowded, busy -city it is, and if you have not, you have heard a good deal of it, for everybody has heard about London—of its wide streets, with the constant stream of coaches, omnibuses, wagons and carriages of all sorts—and of its beautiful shops, that look so splendid at night, when they are lighted up. You can almost fancy what London is like now; but three hundred years ago it was a very different city. What are now bustling streets, crowded with vehicles and foot passengers from morning to night, were then green fields, where the worthy citizens, with their wives and children, used to take their country walk on a summer’s evening, after the business of the day.
Then the streets with shops were very different from what they are now. f hey were very narrow, and the tall old-fashioned houses looked as if the upper stories were going to say, “How d’ye do,” to their opposite neighbors.
The storekeepers had their goods set out quite open to the street, and they used to call to the passers-by asking, “What d’ye lack?” and bawling out a description of the fine things they had to sell. Some of the best stores were in Cheapside.
Come with me into one of the largest houses in that street; you see the name over the door— “Gilbert Croft.” He is one of the richest merchants in the city, and buys shiploads of goods from foreign countries. His house is generally very quiet and orderly, for Gilbert Croft is a grave man, and but seldom permits his children’s voices to be heard. It is plain, to-day however, that something extraordinary has happened to disturb the wonted quiet of the house. The father’s voice is heard in loud, angry tones —the children are crying, and standing before him like guilty culprits—while their mother sits by, silently weeping. What can be the cause of all this? I will tell you.
Gilbert Croft had been away on a journey for a month. A few days after he was gone, a great quantity of goods arrived from the Continent. On the day it. was unpacked, Edmund the eldest boy, was in the warehouse. As one of the men was unrolling a bale of carpet, a little book fell out.
“Here young master,” said the man, “here’s a fine book that has got shipped in by mistake, I reckon; you had better take it away, for I be no scholar.”
Edmund picked up the book, and ran away to his own room, eager to examine his prize. Now, you must remember that books were not so common in those days as they are now. Printing had not long been invented, and books were scarce and dear, so you may imagine that it was a great delight to Edmund to get a new book.
He found that, though it had come from a foreign country, it was in English. On the title-page was printed, “The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Edmund had never heard of this book before. He knew who Jesus Christ was, because he had heard the priest at church mention His name, when all the people kneeled down before the great golden cross;. besides he knew that the suffering figure he had seen on the cross in pictures, represented Jesus, the Son of “the blessed virgin.” But this was nearly all he knew about Him.
He began to read at the first chapter of Matthew and read on without once looking up until he had finished the last chapter, which you know tells of Jesus ascending to heaven. Just then his mother came in. Edmund started.
“O, mother,” he cried “I have got such a beautiful book,” then he told her how he got it, and read over the title to her; for like many others at that time she could read very little.
She then said, “I have heard of that book before, and I believe it contains many beautiful stories; you shall read it to me my son, as I sit at my spinning wheel.”
Hour after hour, that night, and for many nights, did the boy read aloud this wonderful book, until long after the usual hour for retiring; and when it was laid down, each one had much to ask about what was read, but, alas! There was no One to answer the questions. The mother was nearly as ignorant as her children, of the blessed gospel, and felt how greatly she needed that some one should teach her.
She was especially struck with the words of Jesus in Matt. 11:28-30,28Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28‑30) “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” She thought they were very different words from what the priest taught. “When I confess .my sins to him,” she said, “I cone away. feeling the burden of them just as heavy as before. After I have said all the paternosters, and performed all the penances he has bid me, I never know whether God is satisfied with me or not. Now, here, Jesus says, ‘I will give you rest.’ That is just what I want —I wonder if He says it to me.”
(To be continued.)
Messages of God’s Love 8/30/1908