A GOOD many years ago, in Nantes, a Bible was given to a beggar. Unlike the most of his class, the man could read, and when he found that the book was not known in the towns and villages which he passed through in his wanderings, he conceived the idea of adding to his meagre income by reading a portion to those who would be willing to pay for it.
One day he stopped before the little shop of an old man who made shoes worn by French peasants, and begged alms of the shoemaker.
“You ask charity of me!” exclaimed the old man, “I am just as needy as you are.”
The beggar replied: “If you are not willing to give me alms, then give me a sou (a French coin of the same value as our penny,) and I will read a chapter of the Bible to you.”
“A chapter of what?”
“Of the Bible.”
“What book is that? I never heard of it before.”
“It is a book which speaks of God.”
The old shoemaker, curious to know something of the contents of the book, gave the beggar a sou, upon which the latter produced his wonderful book, and sitting down on a stone seat in front of the house, began to read. He opened the Bible at the third chapter of John’s Gospel, and the poor old man listened with delight to the words of grace and truth, which fell on his ear with all the attraction of something entirely new.
The narrative of the interview of Nicodemus with the Lord Jesus deeply impressed him, and especially was he struck with the words which Luther called “the Bible in miniature.”
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish; but have everlasting life.” Before the reader concluded the words: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him,” the old man was full of anxiety to hear more, and cried, “Go on! go on!”
“O! no,” replied the beggar, “only on chapter for a sou.”
Another sou was quickly handed over, and then the old man hearkened with speechless joy to the sweet story of the Saviour at Sychar’s well, and felt as he had never felt before when he heard for the first time the Divine words: “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The time soon came, however, when the fourth chapter of John had been all read, and the beggar would read no more without another sou.
The old man could not go on paying sous, for he was very poor; but he begged the man to tell him where he had got such a marvelous book. The beggar said that he had got it from a pastor in Nantes and then went his way.
The book went with him, but its words remained, and through the night as well as by day the old shoemaker repeated to himself, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
One morning, about two weeks after the beggar passed through the village, he rose early and told his son that the little shop would be left in his care, as he was going to Nantes.
“To Nantes, father,” said his son, “you cannot think of it. It is much too long a journey for you, for it is more than sixty miles.”
“I know, but I have made up my mind to go to Nantes.”
All efforts to dissuade him from his purpose were unavailing, so he started off on the long walk to Nantes, where he arrived at length. He sought out and found the pastor who had a depot at which Bibles were sold.
“What do you wish?” asked the pastor, as he entered the depot.
“Sir,” he replied, “I have been told that one could obtain from you a book that tells about God.”
“Is it a Bible you wish?”
“O! yes, sir, that’s it! I should like to have one.”
“At what price?”
“Price sir,” said the old man.
“Certainly; we do not give away Bibles.”
“Well, I am unable to buy one, sir. A beggar told me that you gave him one, and I am as poor as he is.”
“Where do you come from, my friend?”
He told the name of the village in which he lived. The pastor knowing it was at a great distance, inquired, “How did you come?”
“On foot.”
“How are you going back?”
“On foot again.”
“What! Have you, old as you are, undertaken a walk of more than a hundred and twenty miles to get a Bible?”
“Yes, sir; and I shall think myself amply rewarded if I get one.”
“If that be so, although I should never give away another Bible, you shall certainly have one. What size would you like to have? Probably one with fairly large type? You read pretty well, I suppose?”
“Ah! no; I do not know a letter.” “But what are you to do with a Bible if you cannot read?”
“O! sir, my daughter can read, and there are three other people in our village who can read. I do beg you to give me the Book.”
The pastor gave him a Bible, and after thanking him heartily, he carried it homewards with joy. On reaching his native village, he invited the people to come to his house in the evenings, when those who could read did so by turns, while the others listened.
The old shoemaker followed all that was read with the greatest attention, and committed many parts of the Scriptures to memory. The words, however, did not rest in his mind only, but touched the inmost chords of his heart.
Some six months after his journey to Nantes, he is found there again. The pastor, astonished at seeing him, exclaimed: “My old friend! Whatever brings you so far again?”
The old man replied, “O! sir, I’ve been all wrong—all wrong, sir.”
“But who told you that you were wrong?”
“The Book, sir; the Bible says it.”
“O, really, and what does it say?”
“It says that I’ve been wrong all my life I, a poor sinner, have been praying all my life to the Virgin Mary.
I find in the Book that she needed a Saviour just as much as I do.”
“How do you know that?”
“Well, sir, the Book says that she rejoiced in God her Saviour—her Saviour. So she needed a Saviour just as I do.”
The pastor proceeded to ask the old man a number of questions.
“What do you know of the Lord Jesus Christ?”
He answered: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
“What have you to say about His death?”
“The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
“What are the privileges of those who believe in Christ?”
“There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”
“What would you say was the duty of the believer in Christ?”
“Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s.”
The old man showed, by the confession of his lips and the change in his life, the wonderful results that follow on hearing the Word of God, if received in simple faith.
ML 06/23/1918