I WAS on a visit to some friends in the country, when word came to the house in which I was staying, that the old shepherd was very ill, and obliged to keep his bed. Indeed, he had been ill for several days, but, his cottage being some distance from any other dwelling, no one had been aware of his illness.
In the afternoon of the same day, as my friends were starting to take him some nourishment, I asked to be allowed to accompany them, to which they gladly consented. On our arrival at the cottage, we, with some difficulty, ascended the broken stairs, and found the old man, about seventy years of age, in bed. After he had partaken of some of the refreshments we had brought him, I thought I might have a word with him. Seeing a Bible lying upon an old chest, I took it in my hand, asking him if he knew anything of its contents, to which he replied, “I cannot read.”
“Well,” said I, “that is your misfortune, no doubt, not your fault. Do you know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ?”
The poor old man seemed anxious to hear what I said, and raised his head towards me inquiring, “Who did you say, sir?”
I replied, “The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, the Saviour of sinners.”
He said, “No. Where does He live? I never hered of He afore.”
My feelings at this unlooked-for ignorance I cannot describe. I was speechless. Lifting my heart to God in silent prayer that He would give me words to speak, I opened the Bible in my hand at the third chapter of John’s Gospel. I read several verses, and explained to him, as best I could, our state before God as sinners, and God’s great love to us in giving His Son. As I was talking the tears ran down his cheeks, and, clapping his hands together, he exclaimed, “Sir, if that be true, then I be a lost sinner!”
I assured him it was God’s word, and that God cannot lie. He repeated again and again that he was a lost sinner, and asked if I thought that God would look in mercy upon such an old sinner as he was. I assured him Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. The old man fully realized his lost condition, and I have no doubt that the seeking Saviour found and rejoiced over this lost one.
May this incident be used to stir up God’s servants to spread abroad His truth in the villages and lonely cottages of the country. How little do Christians realize the awful amount of practical heathenism that prevails in this Christian land!
ML 12/16/1917