There are a great many wonderful books in the present day that contain a vast amount of knowledge, and this knowledge has been gathered with endless pains and trouble, yet there is one book that more than any other, affects mankind for good, and that book is the Bible.
Many curious stories have been told from time to time about the effect this book has had in different ways, and the following is a striking incident of its power for good.
Two men were traveling in the far west, a young man and his uncle, who was known to be a banker, and when at night they were forced to stop at a small wayside cabin, they were not a little anxious for their safety.
There were only two rooms in the house, and the travelers had one, while the owner occupied the other. When they retired for the night they agreed that the young man should sit up till midnight with his pistols in hand, in case of any disturbance, and then he was to awaken his uncle to watch, while he took his turn to sleep.
Presently they looked through a crack in the wall and saw their host, a rough-looking old man in his bear-skin suit, reach up to a shelf and take down a book —A BIBLE.
After reading it awhile, he knelt and began to pray; and then the young man began to pull off his coat and prepare for bed. The uncle said,
“I thought you were going to sit up and watch.”
But the young man replied that there was no need to sit up and watch in a house where the Bible was read, and prayer was offered.
Now, perhaps no other book in the world would have had this effect on the two anxious travelers.
ML 02/15/1942