Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-04-11
THE BIBLE,

"Take it and read!' said the voice
to Augustine, as he lay in the garden
with a roll of the Gospels by his side.
He obeyed, and the dissipated skeptic
became a Christian preacher.
The best way to acquire faith in the
Bible is to read it. The book is its own
evidence.
A few years ago, a Bible distributor,
while passing through avillage in West
ern Massachusetts,, was told Of a family
in whose home there was not even the
cheapest copy Of the Scriptures-so in
tense was the hostility of the husband to
Christianity.
The distributor started at once to Wis
it the family, and found the wife hang
ing out her weeks washing. In the
course of a pleasant conversation, he
offered her a neatly-bound Bible.
With a smile which said 'Thank
you!' she held out her hand, but in
stantly withdrew it. She hesitated to
accept the gift, knowing that her hus-
band would be d%ispleased if she took it.
A few pleasant words followed, in
which the man spoke of the need of the
mind of Divine direction, and of the
adaptation of the Bible to that need,
and the woman resolved to take the
gift. just then, her husband came from
behind the house with an ak on his
shoulder.
Seeing the Bible in his wife's hand,
he looked threateningly al her, andthen
said to the distributor: "What do YOU
want. sir, with my wifeP'
The frank words of the Christian
man, spoken in a manly way, SO far
softened his irritation that he replied to
him with civility. But stepping up to
his wife, he took the Bible from her
hand, saying:
,''We have always had everything in
common, and We'll have this, foo."0
Placing the Bible OH the choppino-
block, he cut it in two parts with one
blow of the.ax. Giving one part to his
wife. and putting the otheri in his pocket,
he walked away.
Several days after this division of the
Bible, he was in the forest choppino
wood. At noon he seated himself on a
log and began eating his dinner. The
discovered Bible suggested itself. He
took it from his coat-pocket, and his Y
fell on the last page. He began read
ing, and soon was deeply interested in
the story of the Prodigal Son. But his
part ended with the sons exclamation
~ will arise and 60 to my father"
At night he said to his wife, with af-
fected carelessness: "Let me have your
part OF that Bible. I've been reading
about a boy who ran away from home,
n after having a hard time decided to
go back. There my part of the book
ends, and l want to know if he ever
got back, and how the old man received
| him." oo''oo
The wife's heart beat violently, but
she mastered her Joy and quietly hand
Ell the husband her part, without a word.
He read the story through, and then
re-read it. He read on, far into the
night But not a word did he saw to
his wife.
During the leisure moments of tho
next day, his wife saw him reading the
now-Joined parts, and at night he Said.
abruptly: '"lo'
'Wife! I think that's the hest boo,-
l ever read"
Day after day he read it. His wife
noticed his few words, which indicated
that ne was becoming attached to It
One day he said:
"Wlte: I'm going to try and live bv
that book; [ guess it's the best sort Of =
guide for a man."
And he did. A strono nrei,d;oo
against religious truth, growing out Of
a partial conviction of its necessity, is
often followed by a changed life. and
such was this mans experience
Youths Communion.