A HINDOO, on the coast of Malabar, having had his conscience awakened, inquired of various Fakeers (or devotees) and Brahmins, how be might make atonement to God for his sins. All agreed that it was by torturing and wasting his body that his guilt was to be expiated; and the mode of doing this, which was most confidently recommended, was the following: “Thou must drive,” said the Fakeer, “a number of iron spikes, somewhat blunted, through thy sandals; and on these sandals thou must place thy naked feet, and walk to the sacred station, at the source of the Godavery River (distant four hundred and eighty miles). If, through loss of blood, or weakness of body, thou art unable to proceed, thou mayest halt, and wait for healing and strength. When thou hast performed thy penance, thou mayest hope that thy soul will be cleansed.”
The poor Hindoo was in earnest to save his soul; and, severe as the penance was, he did not hesitate to undergo it, but immediately set out on his painful journey. At length he could go no further; and, though unwilling to lose time in so great a work, he felt himself absolutely compelled to halt beneath the inviting shade of a wide-spreading banyan tree.
It happened that a Christian missionary resided near the spot; and beneath the canopy of this very tree he had been accustomed to take his stand, and to proclaim the words of life, in the native language, to all who would gather to hear. The poor foot-sore devotee had not been there long before the missionary came to his wonted labor. He cried aloud, “The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth from all sin.” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7).) He began to describe what sin was in the sight of God; he appealed to the conscience of his hearers, and pressed guilt home upon them; he showed the utter hopelessness of man’s saving himself by any self-imposed doings or sufferings; and he proceeded to show the adequacy of God’s way of salvation, through the blood-shedding of his own well-beloved Son.
These glad sounds fell upon the ears of the attentive Malabar man like rain on the thirsty soil. He drank in every word; and at length, plucking off his torturing sandals, he sprang up, and cried out in exultation “This is what I want! this is the thing for me!” He followed the missionary home; gladly received the Word, and believed it; and became a living witness that the blood of Jesus Christ does indeed cleanse from all sin: and that it had cleansed him.