I told you last week of how little I Theodore was brought up in the beautiful Waldensian valley. But when he was twelve years old, one evening a stranger came to the quiet home of Claude. He brought a letter from Theodore’s father, the Marquis of Bellemont, asking that the young lad be at once returned to his parents.
When the letter was read, all the family began to cry. Poor little Theodore could not speak for some time from sorrow. He looked on his dear father and mother, as he had always called Claude and Maria, he looked on the two boys who had been to him as brothers, and on the hills and valleys that he had loved so well and cried out, “Oh! must I leave you? Can’t I always stay here and serve God in this happy home?”
“No, my dear boy, you must go,” said Claude, “the Marquis is your father, and you must obey him; but my heart aches to lose you, and to think of the temptations that are before you.”
“And yet,” said Maria, wiping he: eyes, “we may have confidence in God that our boy for whom we have prayed so much will be kept from evil. Surely He is able to keep that which we commit to Him.”
The next day, Claude took him by the hand and led him away into a solitary place among the hills. There he talked long and lovingly to him of the dangers and temptations which were before him. After explaining to him that his parents had no thought of God, or of the life to come, he pointed out to him how he might, by walking before them in humility and holiness, be used of God to their salvation. Before he returned to the cottage, he gave Theodore a little Bible in a small velvet bag which he himself had received from his father. In these days, through the mercy of God, Bibles are so coon that every little boy and girl may have one. But in those days Bibles were very scarce and very difficult to get, and Theodore knew this.
But the time came all too quickly for the sad parting. Theodore was dressed in a fine suit and mounted on a horse, and was taken away to the carriage of the Marquis. As they passed down the valley the poor child’s heart was ready to break, and he did not heed the words of the servant who kept telling him of all the grand things he would see and do in Paris.
After several days’ journey they arrived in Paris. Theodore’s father and mother were delighted with their little son. They hugged and kissed him, and praised his appearance and his good manners. But the boy felt very shy and as soon as they would let him go, he went right off to bed. He was shown to a beautiful large bedroom, and as soon as the servant left him, he knelt down and asked earnestly that God would keep him in the midst of all this temptation. Then, reading a chapter in his little Bible, his heart was comforted and he soon fell asleep.
The next morning his mother asked him many questions, and he told her of his happy life with Maria and Claude and the boys, and he also told her of the Lord Jesus who had saved him, and whom he wished to serve. His mother laughed at him and said, “You need not think of religion yet for many years. All you have to do is enjoy all the pleasures around you.”
“But,” said Theodore, “are there not many children who die when they are no older than I am?” His mother had no answer.
And so the boy was kept very busy with all the things that his parents wished him to learn and do.
ML 04/08/1951