| The Beauty of Self Control |
Chapter 6 |
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There is a striking little story by Henry van Dyke, called the Lost Word. It is a story of one of the early centuries. Hermas had become a Christian. He belonged to a wealthy and distinguished pagan family. His father disinherited him and drove him from his home when he accepted the new faith. From being one of the richest young men in Antioch he was now one of the poorest. In the Grove of Daphne one day he was sitting in sadness by a gushing spring, when there came to him a priest of Apollo, a pagan philosopher, who, seeing his unhappy mood began to talk with him. In the end the old man had made this compact with Hermas. He assured him of wealth, of favour, of success, and Hermas was to give him only a word – he was to part forever with the name of Him he had learned to worship. “Let me take that word and all that belongs to it entirely out of your life, so that you shall never need to hear it or speak it again. I promise you everything,” said the old man, “and this is all I ask in return. Do you consent?” “Yes, I consent,” said Hermas. So he lost the word, the Blessed Name.
He has sold it. It was not his anymore. He went back to Antioch, to his old home. There he found his father dying. For hours he had been calling for his son. The old man received him eagerly, said he had forgiven him, and asked his son for his forgiveness. He then asked Hermas to tell him the secret of the Christian faith which he had chose. “You found something that made you willing to give up life for it. What was it you found?” The father was dying and his pagan belief gave him no comfort. He wanted now to know the Christian’s secret. Hermas began to tell his father the secret of his faith. “Father,” he said, “you must believe with all our heart and soul and strength in –” Where was the word? What was the name? What had become of it? He groped in darkness, but could not find it. There was a lonely soul, crying out for the Name, but Hermas could not tell even his own dying father what it was. The word was lost.
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