Poverty no Hindrance to Beneficence
S. R. Crockett. Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. A year or two ago a missionary in one of the South Sea Islands wished very much to get a translation of the Gospels printed in one of the languages of the island where he was working. It is not in the South Seas as it is with us. We have one language which can be understood nearly everywhere all over the United Kingdom. In the New Hebrides and other island groups, not only has every island a different language, but often different parts of the same island speak different languages. This missionary had translated the Gospels. He was going over to Sydney with some arrowroot and sago, which his poor people had contributed out of their scanty stores, in order that they might have the Gospels to read in their own tongues and in their own homes. He had saved a little of his own also to add to the offerings. But on board the steamer to Sydney he met a printer, and the printer proved to him that he had not one quarter enough money to pay for the printing. So the missionary was much cast down, and thought that he would have all his trouble and long journey for nothing. When he was landed on the quay at Sydney a little boy, the son of the gentleman with whom he was to stay in the city, met him, and holding out half a sovereign to the missionary, said, "This is to help to print your Bible. My father told me that you had come all this way to get the Bible printed for the poor natives. I had not any money, but father said I might run messages and carry parcels at the warehouse. So I did, and here is my week's pay." Brave boy and happy missionary! The half-sovereign did not of course print the Bible, but it helped, and it encouraged the missionary to trust God, who can raise up help for His servants among little boys and kings of great empires. So much interest was aroused in Sydney by the story of the little boy, which the missionary told at many a meeting, that not only were the Gospels printed, but money was gathered to print the whole Bible as soon as the missionary got time to translate it. So the missionary went away back to his island home, glad and thankful. (S. R. Crockett.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. WEB: But Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!"