Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/386

334 him to tell his own story. Writing at a subsequent date, he says—

“Hear me without astonishment, and I will tell you my history. Formerly, I and my parents were heathen. I left my parents young, and went to Ceylon. The Lord called me when travelling there among the jungles with my master. Under the bush, through the great gift of wisdom, even the Gospel, the Lord called me. On the road from Colombo to Kaderakamam, at the foot of a hill, in a wonderful way, the book was given to me. I read it, believed what I read, and was convinced that all my religion was great folly. The Lord gave the Spirit to teach me to know the Saviour before I got to the end of the ninth chapter of Matthew. I soon learned to cry to God in prayer; but all my thoughts and ways of serving him were very childish. I greatly wanted some person to teach me to understand this book; but, after many inquiries, could meet with no one able to explain it to me in my own language.

“I became very anxious to see the ministers of God's word, but I knew not where to find any missionary or native Christians. After a time, however, I discovered that the Gospels