ABOUT a hundred and ten years ago a solitary horseman might often have been seen passing along the country roads in certain districts of Wales, and from time to time reining up his horse on meeting some poor man or woman, in order to put the unexpected question, "Can you read the Bible?”
The horseman referred to was a servant or Christ named Charles, and so much was he in the habit of doing this that he became generally known as " the gentleman who kindly asked the poor people about the Bible and their souls.''
Meeting an old man one day on one of the mountains, Mr. Charles said to him, "You are an old man, and very near another world.”
“Yes," he replied, "and I hope I am going to heaven.”
“Do you know the road there?" asked Mr. Charles; "do you know the Word of God?”
“Pray, are you Mr. Charles?" said the old man.
This was a frequent inquiry, for he scarcely ever passed a poor man on the road without talking to him about his soul, and questioning him as to his knowledge of the Bible.
When he found any whom he thus met, ignorant of the Word of God, and not able to read it, he represented to them, in a kind and simple manner, the duty and necessity of becoming acquainted with it, and feelingly and compassionately set before them the fearful state of those who pass out of the world without the knowledge of God's Word and the salvation for the soul which it re\ eels. Sometimes his earnest benevolence was crowned with success, and men hitherto wholly unlettered and indifferent as to "so great salvation," set about learning to read, with a view to entering into the enjoyment of the treasures of divine revelation which are contained in the Bible.
Of this Book of books, a great Oriental scholar (Sir William Jones) once wrote as follows: "Before I knew the Word of God in spirit and in truth, for its great antiquity, its interesting narratives, its impartial biography, its pure morality, its sublime poetry—in a word, for its beautiful and wonderful variety, I preferred it to all, other books; but since I have entered into its spirit, like the psalmist, I love it before all other things for its purity; and desire, whatever else I read, it may lead to increase my knowledge of the Bible, and strengthen my affection for its divine and holy truths.”
Another distinguished man, eminent through life as an orator and a statesman (Patrick Henry, once Governor of the State of Virginia), said a little before his death to a friend who found him reading the Bible: "Here is a book worth more than all other books which e\ er were printed; vet it is my misfortune never to have till lately found time to read it with proper attention and feeling.”
In contrast with the long-delayed attention to the Word of God shown by Patrick Henry, we may cite an inspired testimony to the example of a young servant of God of the apostolic age: "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim. 3:1515And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:15)).
Do YOU READ THE BIBLE? Are you “wise unto salvation "?