A little shepherd boy in Africa heard the story of Jesus the Son of God; how He was born as a little child in Bethlehem. He went, and told the lovely story to another shepherd boy. This one was so delighted with it that he stood up and said, “I will go to Bethlehem, I must see that little child; where is He now?” The first boy answered: “At the Mission Station at K.” “Have you then seen that little child there?” asked the boy further.
“No,” said the first, “I have not seen Him yet, but I know He is there, for the pious people there talk to Him, and sing beautiful hymns to Him.”
As the boy heard that, he left his work, and trudged over a hundred miles, by dangerous roads, to find Jesus, the Child of Bethlehem. God watched over the poor boy and allowed him to reach the Mission at K. in safety, on a Saturday evening.
An old woman, who had become a Christian, took the boy in, and gave him his evening meal. The next morning he went with her to hear the word of God. Eagerly did he look around to see the little child.
At a distance from him, near the man who spoke to the people and then prayed, sat a little white boy, with fair hair and blue eyes. Such a child the shepherd boy had never seen before, for in Africa the people are black.
That is surely the Child of Bethlehem, thought he, and he scarcely took his eyes off the fair child.
When the preaching was over, and they were on their way home, he inquired of the old woman, “That child that was sitting back of the man of God was the Child of Bethlehem, was he not?”
At first the old woman did not understand the boy. But when she realized what he meant she began to tell him who the Child of Bethlehem was, what He had done and where He was now.
The boy listened and listened, it seemed as though he could not hear enough; for God opened his heart to believe the glorious gospel of Jesus. How his little heart was stirred as he heard that the Child of Bethlehem had become a man, and out of love to us had died for our sins on the cross, that He had, hover, risen from the grave and gone back to God His Father in heaven.
And as he heard further that every one who believed on Jesus, from the heart, would receive forgiveness of sins, and go to be with Him in heaven, his black eyes shone with gratitude and joy, and he desired no more to return to his place, but he remained at the Mission, learned to read the Bible, that precious word of God, read and studied it diligently, taking it really to heart. He became a true and earnest Christian, and as he grew up to be a man, he told out the story of the Child of Bethlehem to other heathen, and preached the gospel of His grace to them.
And now you, my dear young friends, need not to take such a long and wearisome journey to seek the Child of Bethlehem. You have—most of you—heard all about Him, how He came as a little child to this earth, how He died on the cross to save us from our sins, and how He has gone back to heaven now, and that “whosoever” turns to Him, and believes from the heart in Him, “shall be saved.”
And does not the account of this dear African boy and his eagerness to see, or hear about the blessed Babe of Bethlehem shame many of you, dear children, who care so little to hear about Him? Oh, let his example stir you up to more earnestness! E. R.
ML 11/26/1899