He was quite willing to go one hundred and fifty miles, and to take
the advice of this little maid. A good many people say, "Oh, I don't
like such and such a minister; I should like to know where he comes
from, and what he has done, and whether any bishop has laid his hands
on his head." My dear friends, never mind the minister, it is the
message you want. Why, if some one were to send me a telegraph
message, and the news were important, I shouldn't stop to ask about
the messenger who brought it. I should want to read the news; I should
look at the message, and not at the boy who brought it.
And so it is with God's message. The good news is everything, the
minister nothing. The Syrians looked down with contempt on the
Israelites, and yet this great man was willing to take the good news
at the hands of this little maiden, and listened to the words that
fell from her lips. Why, if I got lost in London, I should be willing
to ask anybody which way to go, even if it were only a shoeblack boy;
and, in point of fact, a boy's word in such a case is often better
than a man's. It is the way I want, not the person who directs me.