SOME years ago a long caravan was passing through the northern part of India, and among its number was found a godly and devoted missionary.
As they slowly passed along, the heat of the climate was so great that one old man was quite overcome, and could journey no further. He therefore sat down by the roadside and was left by his companions to die.
The missionary, however, saw him, and kneeling by his side he whispered something in his ear. It was this: “Brother, what is your hope for eternity?”
To his joy, yet great surprise, the dying man with great effort replied, “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin,” and then he lay down to die.
The man evidently knew what he was talking about, and the missionary felt sure by his calm and peaceful appearance that he was really trusting in Christ; but where could this man, who to outward appearance was a heathen, thus get a knowledge of the Saviour?
While he thought of this, he noticed a piece of paper which the man tightly grasped in his hand. This proved to be a single leaf of the Bible, which contained the first chapter of the first Epistle of John, in which the words of the text occur which he had quoted, and by that page the man had found the blessing of the gospel.
Now if this poor man found so much joy and comfort from a single leaf of Scripture, what should be the joy of those boys and girls who possess a whole Testament, and in whose houses there may be found several complete copies of the Bible?
Are we not reminded that the mere possession of God’s precious book is not sufficient, that it all depends on the way in which we read it? A single leaf read in the fear of God, and with a real desire for His blessing, will bring more good to our souls than having many Bibles and reading them in a careless way. It is a wonderful thing to know for ourselves that “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”
ML 04/16/1922