The Bishop of Lichfield tells the story of a Chinese Christian farmer

The Bishop of Lichfield tells the story of a Chinese Christian farmer who had been recently confirmed. This farmer went one day to see the English missionary who was a great friend of his.

Directly as he got into the house he sat down and repeated by heart the whole of the Sermon on the Mount, about no verses of the Bible. At the end of the recital the missionary said he thought it was very good but added that he supposed the point really was not just to know the Sermon by heart but to practise it.

“Oh,” said the Chinaman, “but that is exactly how I learnt it. You see, I’m only a simple farmer and when I tried to learn the words by heart they wouldn’t stick.

So I hit on this plan. I learnt two verses at a time and then went out and practised them on my neighbours until I got them right.

Then I went on doing it like this right through to the end of the Sermon. That’s how I learnt it.” That was just a simple Chinese Christian’s way of taking Jesus seriously.