Men may rail and scoff at Christianity as they please, yet the instincts of their hearts pay homage to the excellence of Christ’s teachings. They know, in spite of all their scoffing, that a godly man is a safer neighbor than an infidel; that life and property are more secure when men pray than when they blaspheme; and that a Bible or a Hymn book found in any house is a better sign than a rum bottle or a pack of cards.
Many years ago a Virginia banker, who was chairman of a noted infidel club, was traveling through Kentucky, having with him bank bills to the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars. When he came to a lonely forest, where robberies and murders were said to be frequent, he found that he was lost. Night came quickly over him, and how to escape from the threatened danger, he knew not.
In this state of alarm he suddenly espied in the distance a dim light, and urging his horse onward, he at length came to a wretched looking cabin, He knocked; the door was opened by a woman who said that her husband was out hunting, but would soon return and she was sure he would cheerfully give him shelter for the night. The gentleman put up his horse and entered the cabin, but with feelings that can better be imagined than described. Here he was with a large sum of money, and perhaps in the house of the robber whose name might he a terror to the whole country.
In a short time the man of the house returned. He had on a deerskin shirt, a bear-skin cap, and seemed much fatigued and in no talking mood. All this boded the infidel no good. He felt for his pistols in his pocket, and placed them so as to be ready for instant use. The man asked the stranger to retire to bed, but he declined, saying that he would sit by the fire all night. He felt that it was his last night on earth, but he determined to sell his life as dearly as he could. His infidel principles gave him no comfort, His fear grew into a perfect agony. What was to be done?
At length the backwoodsman arose, and reaching to a wooden shelf, took down an old Book and said, “Well, stranger, if you won’t go to bed, I will; but it is always my custom to read a chapter of the Holy Scriptures before I go to bed.”
What a change did these words produce! Alarm was at once removed from the skeptic’s mind, and though an avowed infidel, he had now confidence in the Bible. He felt safe. He knew that a man who kept the Bible in his house, and read it, and bent his knees in prayer, was no robber or murderer. He listened to the simple prayer of the good man, and at once dismissed his fears, and lay down and slept as calmly in that cabin as ever he did under his father’s roof. From that night he ceased to revile the Scriptures, later he became a sincere Christian, and often related the story of his wonderful journey to prove the folly of infidelity.
“The word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”
ML 03/26/1961