The Man with the Book; or, The Bible Among the People.Weylland, John Matthias
History
The Man with the Book; or, The Bible Among the People.
Weylland, John Matthias
City missions; London City Mission
About ten days after, the visitor noticed several of the Irish residents
and the youth in an excited conversation. Upon inquiring the cause, they
told him that the young man had taken the blessed wafer round to infidel
meetings, where they had made fun of and pretended to pray to it. "Och,
an' shure," exclaimed a labourer, "an' his riverence never altered it at
all, at all; but howan'iver he says 'twas took by Mick, and 'twasn't
given, and it's himself to do penance!" And then he declared with a
bitter oath, that he would take it back to the priest. As the man had a
pick in his hand, and raised it in a threatening manner, and a crowd,
chiefly of his own countrymen, were assembling, the Missionary felt it
to be his duty to act as peacemaker, and therefore exclaimed with a
smile, "Try reason before the shillelagh: the youth and one of you had
better go with me and ask them to give it back to him!" This was agreed
to, and they made their way to the room of the six "translators," to
which place the young man had fled with his prize when he saw the storm
brewing. The men had pinned the wafer to the wall, and a filthy object
it looked. They were evidently prepared to defend it, but were
embarrassed by the presence of the Missionary, who addressing the young
man, said, "I heard you called a thief; now as positive morality is a
part of positive religion, I have come to ask you to restore the stolen
wafer." "Not I!" he replied, with a merry laugh, in which his companions
joined. "I shall rather try and find a priest, and get him to conjure it
into the Man of Nazareth, to the benefit of my paste as well as the
dough, and then we shall look upon and pray to--" Here, with profane
words, he uttered that name which is high above every name that is named
in heaven and in earth. A shout of derision from the group of infidels
was silenced by the visitor, who said firmly, "This is really bad of
you, to defend an immoral act by an outrage upon my feelings. That wafer
is not, and never can become the Saviour of the world. To believe that,
is no part of the Christian religion, that belief is a horrid corruption
added to the Christian system. Listen while I read from this book, the
standard of Christian faith, Christ's institution of His holy sacrament,
which the wafer-god profanes: 'The Lord Jesus, the same night in which
He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it,
and said, Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you: this do
in remembrance of Me. After the same manner He took the cup, when He had
supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood: this do ye,
as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me; for as oft as ye eat this
bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come.'"
And then, raising his voice, the reader said, "Be it known to you that
the perpetuity of this sacrament is one of the many external evidences
which support a truth in which each of you has a present and eternal
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account