BARNEY was a poor street arab who lived years ago in one of the large cities of England. His father and mother had died and Barney had to get along as best as he could. At times he earned a penny or two in one way or another, and he slept behind a store in a big barrel that was turned on its side. He was all right in the warm weather, but when the winter came it was cold and Barney often shivered in his barrel wrapped only in his ragged coat.
One winter, which was very cold and windy, Barney caught a bad cold, which soon made him very ill. He could only lie in his barrel and moan with the pain until at last a policeman who was going his rounds heard him, He followed the sound of the boy’s crying and soon found Barney lying ill in his barrel. Barney was taken to a hospital where he was cared for, but he was going to a better home than any down here—a home where he would never be cold or hungry or tired anymore.
The nurses were very good to Barney and they often asked him if there was anything he would like. His answer was always the same. He would say, “Bring me a Bible and read to me, please, and won’t you pray with me?” But none of the nurses wanted to read God’s Word or pray, and so they would put him off, only to have him ask again and again. At last, one of the nurses, when she saw that Barney hadn’t long to live, got a Bible and read to him. She read of the Lord Jesus and how kind and good He was when He was here on earth, then of how He died a cruel death on the cross for Barney, for you and me. Barney’s tears flowed at the story of His love and of His death, and he loved the Lord Jesus with all his heart, because the Lord Jesus first loved him, Before Barney died his loving trust had won two nurses and a doctor to know and love the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, as their own Lord and Saviour too.
Won’t you come to Him too, dear boys and girls, and thank Him for dying for you, and then go on to love and serve Him and tell others what He has done for you? Though Barney was poor yet he had great riches, greater than all the treasures of this poor world. Of such as he it is said in the Bible:
ML-09/11/1960