A clergyman once paid a visit to a deaf and dumb asylum in London, for the express purpose of examining the children in the knowledge they possessed of divine truth. A little boy, on this occasion, was asked in writing: “Who made the world?” He took up the chalk, and wrote underneath the question: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

The clergyman then inquired in a similar manner: “Why did Jesus Christ come into the world?” The little fellow wrote: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.”

A third question was then proposed, eminently adapted to call his most powerful feeling into exercise: “Why were you born deaf and dumb, while I can hear and speak?”  “Never,” said an eye-witness, “shall I forget the look of holy resignation and chastened sorrow which sat on his countenance as he took up the chalk and wrote: ‘Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.’ ”

The account of ‘The Dumb Boy’s Examination’ was taken from a book entitled Gospel Gleanings for Young People, editor Kenneth Macleod. It was published by the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, in 1976. (Courtesy of Mrs. Valerie Gardner)

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