A LITTLE SCOTCH BOY was lying one day in the heather bide a mountain stream. He was looking up at the white fleecy clouds that wandered like flocks of sheep over the fields of the sky. The mountain brook beside him bubbled and sang a pretty song and before he knew it he was fast asleep.
He dreamed that he saw a glorious light and a golden chariot came down from the sky. Then he heard a sweet voice saying “Come up hither, I have work for thee to do.” The little boy rose up to follow the golden chariot, but awoke to find it was only a dream.
In olden times God often spoke to people in dreams or visions, but now that we have the Holy Scriptures, He speaks to us through His word. However, He may still be pleased to speak to one in a dream. The little Scotch boy believed that God had spoken to him, and one day he went to his room, and locking the door, he kneeled down beside his bed and gave his heart to the Lord. Then he prayed: “Oh Lord, Thou knowest that silver and gold I have none, but what I have I give unto Thee. I offer myself; wilt Thou accept the gift?” God did accept the gift and Alexander Duff, the Scotch boy, became a missionary of the gospel and went to India.
The Lord Jesus is still calling children, the older folks, too, and when we hear His voice speaking to us, we ought to follow Him. He says to the sin-burdened ones: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28).
Alexander Duff became a good student and in college later on he won many honors. In his poverty he collected together what was his dearest possession — a library of 800 volumes.
However, on the voyage to India, the ship on which he sailed was wrecked near the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, and he lost everything — his clothes, his trunks, and what he valued most, his books. All were gone!
When they were safe on land, on a bleak and barren coast, they looked a desolate and unhappy company.
Walking along the shore the missionary hoped he might still find something from the wreck floating on the sea. And he did spy something. It was very small, however, but when it was washed upon the shore, he found it was his own Bible. He thought it very strange that of his 800 volumes only one book was saved and that was the Bible. He felt that God wanted him to know that that one Book was worth more than all the 799 books that he had lost, and that the study of the Scriptures was to be his chief object in life. He opened it there on the lonely shore and to his shipwrecked friends he read one of the beautiful psalms from the Old Testament. How sweet were those words from Psalm 107!
“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble....
“Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven.
“Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.”
Alexander Duff reached India and soon began his work for the Lord. He started a school for boys and in that school they studied the Bible. To him it was now the most precious of all books and his greatest desire was to teach it to others. His first Sunday, school was under a banyan tree, and, the first day there were just five boys, present. At the end of the first week, 300 asked to be taught, and every day, as they studied the precious Book, many learned to love it. If you had been there, you would have heard the scholars sing:
“Holy Bible! Book divine,
Precious Treasure, Thou art mine;
Mine to tell me whence I came,
Mine to tell me what I am.”
The Bible is God’s word for boys and girls, and men and women, everywhere. It tells us that we are all sinners before God, but He has provided a Saviour in His own blessed Son.
ML-07/14/1963