William Borden was from the wealthy Borden
family. For his eighteen birthday he was
given a trip around the world. That trip
changed his life. There is a tragic
story in the book about a Hindu woman in India, whom William Borden came across
in his travels. Having means of her own,
she had visited all the most important temples in India to try to escape the
burden of sin. She carried awful guilt
over her husband’s death at a young age, when she was only a child of
thirteen. She attributed it to some
wickedness on her part in a previous life.
To atone for this unknown sin and to obtain relief for heart and conscience
she spend seven long years traveling on foot from shrine to shrine, facing
untold hardship and danger; but the burden grew only heavier as time went on.
She then determined to become a fakir (a Hindu
ascetic). Deciding that she had not suffered enough, she gave three years to
self-inflicted torture, honoring the formulas in the sacred books for pleasing
the gods. She carried out her plan,
though the sufferings she endured seemed incredible.
For one period of six months she sat without
shelter in the sun all day with five fires burning around her, perspiration
streaming from every pore. Even wealthy
men brought wood and kept the fires burning as an act of merit. With no clothing but a loin-cloth, her body
smeared with ashes, and her long hair dubbed with cow-dung, she was an object
of veneration to the pilgrims, many of whom worshiped her as they fed the
fires. At night she took her place in
the temple, standing before the idol on one foot from midnight until daylight,
her hands pressed together in the attitude of prayer, imploring the god to
reveal himself to her.
Then, to increase her sufferings, when the cold
season came with chilly nights, she went down at dark to the sacred pond and
sat with water up to her neck, counting her beads hour after hour till dawn
appeared. And so she called upon Ram day
and night with no response.
“If thou art God,” she used to plead, “reveal
thyself to me. Reach forth and take the
offering I bring. Let me see, hear, or
feel something by which I may know that I have pleased thee, and that my sin is
pardoned”--but there was no sign, no rest, no peace.
When the years of her long struggles were
finished, she went to Calcutta, cut off her once-beautiful hair, and threw it
into the Ganges as an offering, exclaiming, “There--I have done and suffered
all that can be required of mortal man, yet without avail!”
She lost her faith in the idols and ceased to
worship them. “There is nothing in
Hinduism,” was the conclusion forced upon her, “or I would have found it.”
There is no record of what became
of her, but the experience was a part of what God used to change William
Borden’s life. He returned home with the
desire to become a missionary. He went
off to Yale and as a student gave himself to sharing the gospel with his fellow
students. He formed Bible studies,
started prayer meetings, and shared the gospel with the homeless and in the
rescue missions. He gave himself to the
preaching of the gospel. Why? Because the gospel, the good news of
salvation through faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross, provides the
sole means of cleansing from sins. The
person who is born-again through faith in Christ is forgiven, transformed, and
given assurance of a future home in heaven.
