regain his copy of the Word of God! (Text.)
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BIBLE REMEMBERED
Years ago when Bibles were scarce in
Mexico, a man chanced upon one, and it
seemed to him interesting and of good moral
tone, so he told his son he might read it.
The boy read and read and was delighted.
He memorized large portions of it, and came
to love it dearly. He thought it was the
only book of its kind in the world, and when
he was twelve or fourteen he carried his
book as a proud possession to school to
show it to his teacher. What was his consternation
when the teacher threw up his
hands in horror and cried, "Ave Maria, boy,
where did you get that book? Don't you
know it is one of those accurst Protestant
books? Give it to me this instant?"
He seized the volume and carried it to the priest. The boy went home inconsolable and wept most of the night. The next day he met the priest, who told him the book was a dangerous teacher of false doctrines and that he had burned it. From that day the boy lost interest in everything. He led a careless, dissolute life, wandering from place to place. At length he was working in El Paso, Texas, and was invited by a man to attend a gathering in a near-by hall. As he entered, a man was standing on a platform at a desk reading from a book. Instantly the boy recognized some of the words he had memorized from the Bible and in a trice he was down in front of the reader, demanding, "Sir, have the kindness to give me back my book. That is my book that you are reading from. They took it away from me years ago, but it is mine." As he stretched out his hand toward the preacher to receive his treasure he said, "I can prove to you that it is mine—I will tell you what it says." And he began and repeated passages that he had learned years before. They gave him "his book," as he truly thought it was—and it changed his life. He became an honored doctor in the city of Mexico and a member of an evangelical church.
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BIBLES REQUIRED
By act of Parliament in 1579 every Scotch
householder with $2,500 to his credit had to
provide, under penalty of $50, "a Bible and
Psalme buke in vulgare language in their
houssis for the better instruction of thame
selffis and their famelijes in the knowledge of
God." The condition of the times gave
added value to such a regulation. Books
were few and the Bible was a treat. Being
compelled to buy it may have been a financial
hardship, but having it and next to no
other book at all made opportunity for good
intellectual and spiritual delight.—Northwestern Christian Advocate.
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BIBLE STORIES, VALUE OF
Egerton Young tells how he interested the Indians of British Columbia through the Old Testament stories:
Some of the Indians are huge fellows, over
six feet tall, and they pride themselves on
their stature. As they talked about their
height, I would say, "Listen, I have a book
that tells about a man as tall as if one of
you were seated on the shoulders of the
tallest among you." "Oh, what a story;
what talk is that, missionary?" "Well, come
and listen." Then I talked to them about
Goliath, and got them interested, and the
gospel follows. In my work among these
people I found one reason, at least, why
those stories were in the Bible. Benjamin
would not listen, but he became interested
in the stories, and then he listened to the
gospel.—Pierson, "Miracles of Missions."
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BIBLE, TESTIMONY TO
In the district of Allahabad some conversions
had taken place among the women and
girls which had greatly stirred up the opposition
of the men. The reading circles in
the zenanas had to be stopt and the missionaries
were prohibited from visiting the
women. One old woman, explaining the situation,
said: "Our men say you come and
take us away. It is not you who take our
women away and make them Christians; it is
your Book. There are such wonderful words
in it; when they sink into the heart nothing
can take them out again."
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BIBLE, TRANSLATING THE
When the armies of King Philip of Spain
were seeking to crush liberty and life out of
the people of the Netherlands, an evangelist
named Philippe de Marnix was flung into
prison by the Spaniards. The captive acted
as did Luther in the castle of the Wartburg,
and as did John Bunyan in Bedford jail, for
he at once commenced the translation of the
Bible into his native Dutch language. And
just as Martin Luther's translation of the
Bible became the regenerating agency in Ger-
