"Worse than that," sighed Gopal, who, like most of his countrymen, thought little of lying. "A Jogi came to my door, and asked for alms. It was a time of scarcity. I had scarcely enough of food to keep soul and body together. The Jogi looked fat and well-fed. I told him I had nothing to spare. The Jogi sat at my door from morning till noon, with a loud voice demanding pica; and I gave him nothing—woe is me!—I gave him nothing. Then the holy man got up in a rage, and cursed me; from that day I have never been well. And now I feel sure that when I die, my soul will go into the body of an ass or a swine. I shall be punished in my next birth for the crime committed in this!" The poor superstition-enslaved Hindu groaned again at the thought.
"Oh, brother!" exclaimed Isa Dás. "If you were a Christian, you would be troubled by no such idle fears!"
"In your religion, do you not believe in new births?" asked the Hindu.
"Only one new birth, a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness. We believe in one great change, the change of heart which comes when he who knows himself to be a sinner believes from his heart in the Saviour of sinners."
Isa Dás had repeatedly spoken thus to the Hindu, but this was the first time that his words had seemed to have the slightest effect.
Gopal looked earnestly at his friend for some moments, and then said, "I know that you believe that Jesus Christ saves sinners, but I cannot see in what way."
Isa Dás had never found Gopal willing to listen to a verse from the Bible, so he thought that he would begin his explanation by an illustration from Indian history. "Have you ever heard of the love of the Emperor Babar for his son?" he inquired. "Or what he did when that son was thought sick unto death?"
The story is widely known, but the Hindu kahar had not heard it.
"The Emperor, from great love, resolved to take his son's sickness on himself," said Isa Dás. "He solemnly walked seven times round the prince's bed, and it was God's will that the son should recover and the loving father sicken and die."
"I wish that there were any one who loved me enough to die in my stead!" said the poor Hindu.