ST PATRICK - MESSENGER OF HOPE
Saint Patrick first set foot in Ireland when, as a boy of sixteen years old he was brought to this country by Irish raiders who had kidnapped him and some of his father’s servants when they attacked the villa of his father, Calpurnius, a deacon in the Christian church. The raiders sold Patrick at a slave market in Ireland, where he was purchased by a sheep farmer. Patrick spent the next six years of his life tending this man’s sheep out on the wild Irish mountainsides. His master did not treat him very well, which resulted in him suffering hunger and hardship which brought him almost to the point of death. He had no hope of things improving...
Sinner
Though his physical condition was miserable, his spiritual state was far more serious. Patrick had wandered away from God. Now, like a lost sheep, he found himself, as the hymn writer depicted, “Out on the mountains wild and bare, far from the tender Shepherd’s care.” In his writings, Patrick refers to his spiritual condition at that time. He says, “I did not know God…I lay in death and unbelief…I took no thought for my salvation…I turned my back upon God” Here was a young man who had grown up in a Christian home and was familiar with the Scriptures. Unfortunately, he had chosen to ignore the religious instruction he had received both from his parents and the Christian
Saint Patrick first set foot in Ireland when, as a boy of sixteen years old he was brought to this country by Irish raiders who had kidnapped him and some of his father’s servants when they attacked the villa of his father, Calpurnius, a deacon in the Christian church. The raiders sold Patrick at a slave market in Ireland, where he was purchased by a sheep farmer. Patrick spent the next six years of his life tending this man’s sheep out on the wild Irish mountainsides. His master did not treat him very well, which resulted in him suffering hunger and hardship which brought him almost to the point of death. He had no hope of things improving...
Sinner
Though his physical condition was miserable, his spiritual state was far more serious. Patrick had wandered away from God. Now, like a lost sheep, he found himself, as the hymn writer depicted, “Out on the mountains wild and bare, far from the tender Shepherd’s care.” In his writings, Patrick refers to his spiritual condition at that time. He says, “I did not know God…I lay in death and unbelief…I took no thought for my salvation…I turned my back upon God” Here was a young man who had grown up in a Christian home and was familiar with the Scriptures. Unfortunately, he had chosen to ignore the religious instruction he had received both from his parents and the Christian