In days gone by, before the introduction of the splendid concrete roads which we now have in this country, it was a common sight to see the stonebreakers by the roadside. It was their business to break up big lumps of stone to a suitable size, ready for road mending.
The squire one day, out for a walk, was passing an old stonebreaker at work, and heard him saying, “Oh, Adam! Oh, Adam!” The sun was hot and the work very dreary and tiring. He took off his hat and mopped the perspiration from his brow, and repeated, “Oh, Adam!”
The squire stopped, and with a cheery, “Good morning, John,” said, “Why do you say, ‘Oh, Adam’?”
“Well, sir,” said the man, “if it hadn’t been for Adam, I shouldn’t have to be doing this weary job.”
“How is that?” asked the squire.
He replied, “Why, if Adam had not sinned, we should not have to earn our living by the sweat of our brow. He disobeyed God, and brought sin into the world, and we are all suffering from it.”
“But,” said the squire, “if you had been in the Garden of Eden, don’t you think you would have done the same thing?”
“No, I’m sure I shouldn’t,” said he. “My missus and I have often talked it over, and we would have been content with all the good things God had given us, and shouldn’t have touched just the one tree He had forbidden.”
“I’m not so sure of that,” said the squire; and after a few more words, he went on his way.
Now the squire was a Christian, and he wondered how best to help the old man. He had learned something of his own heart, and knew that he was a sinner and deserving of God’s just punishment. He had learned too, that Jesus had borne the punishment in his stead — that God had “laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all,” which is true of all who believe in Christ; and he had thanked God from his heart and accepted Jesus as his Saviour. Have you done so too, my dear reader?
A day or two after, a messenger called at the old man’s cottage. “The squire wants you and your wife to come to dinner with him tomorrow evening at six o’clock.” The old people were delighted at this honor, and the next day, dressed in their best clothes, they arrived in good time at the squire’s mansion.
The squire made them very welcome, and soon they were seated with him at the table, on which were a number of tempting dishes. When they had finished the first course, the butler entered and said that someone wanted to see the squire on important business, and could not wait.
So he apologized to his guests, and asked them to excuse him, and that, as he might be detained some little time, he begged them to go on with their meal, and to help themselves to anything they liked, “except that one,” said he, pointing to one covered over with a dish cover, which he asked them not to touch. To this of course they readily agreed.
Left to themselves, they continued to enjoy the good things on the table, saying to each other that they had never had such a dinner in their lives before. “I wonder what’s under that dish cover,” said the wife; “it’s very strange that he should keep just that one back when he told us to help ourselves to everything else.”
The more they talked about it, the more curious they became. “Let’s just peep and see what it is,” said she; “we won’t take any of it, of course; just lift the cover, John.” So, after some persuasion, John lifted the cover an inch or two, and, lo and behold! an empty dish, but out ran a little white mouse!
Then there was a scramble to try and catch it, and in doing so they knocked over a water jug and several other things, and the mouse got away safely. Imagine their feelings as they realized how foolish they had been. “Well,” John said, “we promised not to touch it, and now we’re found out.”
Just then the squire came in, and glancing at the table and seeing the look on their faces, guessed what had happened. Old John began to say something but soon stopped, for he could find no excuse. The squire listened quietly, and then said, “Now, if you had been in Adam’s place, would you not have done as he did?”
“Yes, sir,” said John, looking very downcast, “I expect I should have done so”; and both husband and wife went home sad, but wiser than when they came.
This is just a lesson for us all. Satan knows just how to tempt us, some in one way, and some in another. Not only did Adam sin, but we “all have sinned,” and “the wages of sin is death.” Though it is true that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin”; the same verse goes on to say, “so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 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).
But, thank God, we are also told that “By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous,” and those who own they are sinners, and put their trust in Jesus, are accounted righteous by God.
ML 11/12/1961