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“I would advise you, sir,” repeated the elder, “to read the Bible. And I will give you my reasons. Most infidels are very ignorant of the Scriptures. Now, to reason on any subject with correctness, we must understand what it is about which we reason. In the next place, I consider the internal evidence of the truth of the Scriptures stronger than the external.”
“And where shall I begin?” inquired the unbeliever; “at the new Testament?”
“No,” replied the other; “at the beginning—at Genesis.”
The infidel bought a Commentary, went home, and sat down to the serious study of the Scriptures. He applied all his strong and well-disciplined powers of mind to the Bible, to try rigidly but impartially its truth. As he went on in his perusal he received occasional calls from the elder. The infidel freely remarked on what he had read, and stated his objections He liked this passage, he thought that touching and beautiful, but he could not credit a third. One evening the elder called, and found the unbeliever at his house, or office, walking the room with a dejected look, his mind apparently absorbed in thought. He continued, not noticing that anyone had come in, busily to trace and retrace his steps. The elder at length spoke:
“You seem, sir,” said he, “to be in a brown study; of what are you thinking?”
“I have been reading,” replied the infidel, “the moral law.”
“Well, what do you think about it?” asked the elder.
“I will tell you what I used to think,” answered the infidel; “I supposed that Moses was the leader of a horde of banditti; that, having a strong mind, he acquired great influence over a superstitious people; and that on Mount Sinai he played off some sort of fireworks, to the amazement of his ignorant followers, who imagined, in the mingled fear and superstition, that the exhibition was supernatural.”
“But what do you think now?” interposed the elder.
“I have been looking,” said the infidel, “into the nature of that. I have been trying to see whether I could add anything to it, or take anything from it, so as to make it better, sir. I cannot; it is perfect. The first commandment directs us to make the Creator the object of our supreme love and reverence. That is right. If He be our Creator, Preserver, and supreme Benefactor, we ought to treat Him, and none other, as such. The second forbids idolatry. That certainly is right. The third forbids profanity. The fourth fixes a time for religious worship, and if there be a God, He ought surely to be worshipped. It is suitable that there should be an outward homage, significant of our inward regard. If God be worshipped, it is proper that some time should be set apart for that purpose, when all may worship Him harmoniously and without interruption. One day in seven is certainly not too much, and do not know that it is too little. The fifth defines the peculiar duties arising from family relations. Injuries to our neighbor are there classified by the moral law. They are divided into offences against life, chastity, property, and character. And I notice that the greatest offence in each class is expressly forbidden. Thus the greatest injury to life is murder; to chastity, adultery; to property, theft; to character, perjury. Now, the greatest offence must include the less of the same kind. Murder must include every injury to life; adultery, every injury to purity; and so of the rest. And the moral code is closed and perfected by a command forbidding every improper desire in regard to our neighbors. I have been thinking, where did Moses get this law? I have read history. The Egyptians and the adjacent nations were idolaters: so were the Greeks and Romans; and the wisest and best Greeks or Romans never gave a code of morals like this. Where did Moses get this law, which surpasses the wisdom and philosophy of the most enlightened ages? He lived at a period comparatively barbarous; but he has given a law in which the learning and sagacity of all subsequent time can detect no flaw. Where did he get it? He could not have soared so far above his age as to have devised it himself. I am satisfied where he obtained it. It came down from heaven. I am convinced of the truth of the religion of the Bible.”
The infidel—infidel no longer—remained to his death a firm believer in the truth of Christianity.
“Anecdotes of Martyrs.”
Dear young reader, do not wait until years have advanced, as this unbelieving lawyer did. It may then be, for you, forever too late. Accept now the truth of God’s word, and let it have power over your heart, and in your life.
ML 08/16/1903