JOHN WESLEY was once stopped by a highwayman, who demanded his purse. He gave it to him, and as the robber was going away, Wesley called him back and said, “Let me speak one word to you: the time may come when you may regret the course of life in which you are engaged: remember this, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.” He said no more: but years after that verse was the means of the conversion of the robber, who came to Wesley and told him his history: and he lived for years afterwards as becometh a Christian.
Look up to God for a blessing, for God’s promise is, “My word shall not return unto Me void” (Isa. 55:11). “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” “Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9).
BIBLE reading is the best and surest antidote and preservative against skepticism about the Bible, if it is carried on at once thoroughly, intelligently, and as before the Lord. Vain without it—worse than vain—will be the most diligent and successful study of the apologetics of the Bible. For the Bible was given to be, not a battlefield, but a field of wheat and pasturage and flowers, and a goldfield also all the while.