The Blacksmith and His Bible

By Harold Smith

You know, boys and girls, many years ago in England it was hard to be a Christian. There was terrible persecution, even from the government. Anybody that didn't belong to a certain church were terribly persecuted. There was a Christian blacksmith and his little daughter, Elsie. Elsie's mother had died when she was very young. Some wicked soldiers would come around trying to find out who were Christians and who had Bibles. They wanted to get the Bible out of the land. Elsie's father had a Bible which he loved to read to Elsie and read for himself every night. Elsie was a Christian and so was her father. The father kept the book hidden in his blacksmith shop in a hole in the ceiling. Elsie knew where it was - only three people knew where that Bible was. The soldiers heard that he was a Christian so they came and tried to find that Bible. They couldn't find it, so they took Elsie's father away and put him in prison. They searched all over for the Bible but they couldn't find it. They thought it must be in the blacksmith's shop somewhere, so they decided to burn the blacksmith's shop to the ground, just to get rid of that Bible! So they did, they set the blacksmith's shop on fire and they left. Little Elsie was watching, and was determined she was going to save her father's Bible. She dashed through the smoke and flames and got on a chair and took the Bible down from its hiding place. She was badly burned, yet she was able to dig a hole in the ground. She wrapped the Bible up and buried it in the ground so nobody could find it until the soldiers all left. Sometime later the village people came to see the blacksmith's shop and found Elsie lying in the garden. She was badly burned, but she got better, and she had saved her father's Bible. That's a good story about a little girl who loved the Word of God. I hope you love the Word of God, boys and girls. The Bible says, "The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes" - Psalm 19:8. "More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" - Psalm 19:10. "Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward" - Psalm 19:11. You can read that in Psalm 19, a nice psalm to read. I hope you'll read God's Word every day. If you're not saved, I hope hope you'll put your trust in the God of the Bible, who sent His Son into the world to die on the cross for your sins and mine. You do it, and you'll be glad that you did!