Ganesh Das, the Commissioner Sahib’s Sardar bearer, sat with the Bible on
his knee; for Ganesh Das could read, and he had been well instructed in
the Christian religion. He was convinced that that religion is true, but
he loved it not, because it also is pure and holy. Ganesh Das had read
the commandment, _Thou shalt not steal_ (Ex. xx. 15); his finger was now
on the words: _Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, and
to please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining,
but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God
our Saviour in all things_ (Titus ii. 9, 10). Ganesh Das with vexation
closed the Bible and pushed it aside.
“What!” he cried; “must I, if I be baptized, give up all cheating, get
nothing but my pay, never take from my rich master one pie that is
not lawfully mine! No, no; this is more than I can do! Let others be
Christians,—Ganesh Das cannot break off from the habit of years, and make
himself poor for the sake of the gospel!”
That night Ganesh Das had a dream. He dreamed that he and many others
stood in a slave-market, heavily chained, and the voice of wailing was
heard around. One who wore a black robe stood near, and to him Ganesh
Das addressed this question,—
“Why are we chained here? What hath brought us into this place of shame
and sorrow?”
“O lost one!” replied the stranger, “thou and all around thee have been
sold to a fearful tyrant, who, after ye have done his work, will cast you
into devouring flames, for thus he always treats his slaves when their
time of labour for him is ended.”
“How came we to be slaves? What villain hath sold us?” exclaimed the
indignant Sardar.
“O man!” the stranger replied, “no one is here that hath not sold himself
into bondage; and lo! the money which he hath received in exchange for
his soul is now the chain with which he is bound. Fools, fools! hath not
Christ said: _What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?_”
(Mark viii. 36.)
Even as he spoke there was a fearful noise of drums, mingled with shrieks
and howlings: the tyrant was coming to the slave-market to claim his
victims.
Ganesh Das in his dream trembled exceedingly, for never had he beheld a
form so horrible as that which he looked on now. The glare of the enemy’s
eyes was as the glare of the tiger’s when he rangeth the jungle at night
for his prey. The tyrant advanced to the first of the slaves, and Ganesh
Das saw a poor wretch crouching down in extreme terror at the feet of the
soul-destroyer.
Then he of the black robe said: “Behold! this wretch is a mighty vizier,
who became wealthy as a rajah through the bribes which he took. Look at
the gold and the jewels which bind him now, so that he cannot so much as
look up!”
Ganesh Das looked, and behold the golden chains were eating into the very
flesh of the man who had sold himself to the soul-destroyer.
“He is mine!” cried the tyrant; “bear him away!”
Then he advanced to the slave who was next to Ganesh Das,—a man who stood
with his eyes almost starting from his head with terror, whilst he vainly
tried to burst fetters made of silver rupees.
“This is a dacoit,”[57] said he of the black robe; “he hath sold himself
for the silver chain which thou seest.”
“He is mine!” cried the tyrant; “bear him away!”
“I shall be next,” thought the terrified dreamer. He looked down on his
own galling chains, and lo! they were formed of innumerable pice and
pies, the fruit of petty frauds for which he had sold his soul. The
destroyer approached; the trembling Sardar seemed already to hear the
doom, “He is mine! bear him away!” The poor wretch made so desperate an
effort to burst his chains, that lo! he awoke from his dream.
Ganesh Das still trembled, but he was thankful that his day of grace was
not yet past, that it was not yet too late to escape the soul-destroyer.
He fell on his knees, repeating words which he had learned from the
Bible: _Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon
him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon_ (Isa. lv. 7). _For
the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord_ (Rom. vi. 23).