Charlie, Harry, Bertha, and little Jane were often hungry, but nearly always happy. They made the woods ring with their shouts of fun and laughter, but suddenly they became quiet as they neared home and saw their poor crippled sister Louise, sitting in her special chair, watching their play with weary pain-filled eyes.
Poor Louise had fallen from a tree when she was very small, and she had never been able to walk since. Her poor little body was often tortured with severe pain, and it made her so irritable and unhappy.
Her father and mother had no words of cheer for her, although they loved her dearly, for neither of them knew the comfort of the Saviour’s love and kindness. They lived in lonely isolation on the edge of a thick forest in Germany, in those long ago days when Bibles were not often seen.
One evening, as Louise was sitting outside the house, she saw a stranger coming through the wood toward the house. He was an old man, and poorly clothed. A stick and bundle were all he had with him, and as he drew near, the children crowded around their mother in alarm, for a visitor was something so unusual that they were frightened. The mother was as much surprised as they were, and wondered what had brought him there. But the old man soon explained. He had lost his way in the dark forest, and guided by the smoke that rose from the chimmey, he had made his way to the cottage to beg a night’s lodging.
The mother gladly received the old man into her house, and gave him a cup of milk and a thick slice of her bread for his supper. Before partaking of this he reverently thanked the Lord for His mercies, while the children gazed at him in silent wonder, until their mother told them to run away to play. Louise, who had for a moment forgotten her pain, called out to be taken into the house; and the kindly old man immediately said, “I will carry you in, little one; my old arms are strong enough for such a light burden.”
On the following morning the stranger prepared to depart. After thanking the woman for her kind hospitality, he said, “The Lord will bless you, but before I go let me tell your children a little story.”
All listened readily; and the good old man, leaning on poor Louise’s chair, began to tell them how God created the heaven and the earth; how He made man in His own image; how Adam fell and became a sinner; and how it was that thus “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12).
After this he went on to tell them how the Lord Jesus Christ “came into the world to save sinners.” 1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15). He told them of His compassion for the sorrowing and the afflicted; how “He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil”; how He suffered so patiently such contradiction of sinners against Himself; how at last He went to the cross, and there suffered the Just One for us the unjust ones that He might bring us to God, being made sin for us, and bearing the wrath of God in our stead, so that all who believe in Him might not perish but have eternal life; how He now waits to be gracious to all who will look to Him and believe in His name; and how “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12). He quoted other scriptures from the Bible too.
ML 12/20/1953