The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-08-03

ress exceedingly slow even at home, but
especially so inaforeign lands without
the missionaries. The Bible cause is
essentially missionary cause, and the
Bible itself missionary. There are nu-
merouS Instances recorded where this
silent teacher has found its way unher-
aided into pagan communities and with
none to voice The gospel it reveals nor
press It's claims to recognition as the
Word of the living God, has sent ts
simple truths straight to the heart of
the lamcst seeker after truth and led to
the conversion Of hundreds Of souls to
the worship cf God and to the christian
religion.
or our English Bible, one has said,
1T lives on the ear like music that can
never he forgotten. Its felicitics often
seem to be almost things rather than
words. 1t is part Of the national mind,
and the author OF national seriousness.
The memory Of the dead passes into it.
The power Of all the gricfS and trials of
a man ale laid beneath it's wolds. 1t is
the representa- tative Of his best moments.
and all that there has been about him of
soft and gentle and pure and pcnitcnt
and good, speaks to him forever out of
his Protestant Bible" 1t is the mirror
Of our human nature in which we NAV
behold the heart Of man swayed and
torn by the evil passions that are ours
by inheritance, throbbing with the im-
pulses and aspirations and lohgings Of
the soul that fain would stand ever pure
before the eyes Of its Makcr,-the bat
tie ground OF good and evil through all
the ages. The truths Of that Book have
power to make the heart quake with fear
or ache with keen remOrSe or melt with
the tenderness Of christian charity. All
that is good in our nature NAV he called
forth to active life by single line from
its pages. Some years ago three small
children, aged respectively ten. seven
and four, We're compcled' 20 20 from
Eastern Prussia to the United States to
rejoin their parents who had found a
home in the new world by the banks of
the Missouri. There was no older per-
son to accompany them, and they must
therefore make the journey alone. A
female relative in Berlin gave to each of
them small volume in which she wrote
on the first page the name, age, birth
place and destination Of the bearer, and
below in German and French and Eng
lish she wrote a single sentence. taken
from that Book. She told the children
if at any time they were in need Of as
sistance just to stand still and open
their little Books and hold them up be-
fore them. The young travellers started
from their German home, reached the
seaport, embarked on board the steamer,
crossed the great Atlantic, landed in
America. travelled by rail over thou
sand miles westward into the heart of
Missouri and safely reached their home
in that far off land. Whenever needfnl
they showed their little passports to all
with whom they came in contact. and
every where they received every kind
ness and protection and tenderest care
All hearts warmed with love and every
hand stretched forth to help the little
ones thus cast upon the kindness OF
passing Strangers. That book was
copy of the New Testament, that line
which proved for them the open pass
Of our Saviour, ""Inasmuch as yc have
done it unto one of the least Of these, We
have done 1t unto me-
For the hcathen mind cnslaved in
darkness, cnyironed by wall Of ignor-
ance, lost in the labyrinth OF supcrsti-
ton and error which the evil one knows
so well how to weave out of the way
wardness and fears and deprayity of the
heart Of man, the Bible is u great light
and a guide to free him from his thral-
dom and bring him to knowledge Of
the Way. the Truth and the Life For
civilized society it is a treasure house
where may be drawn object lessons in
all the virtues that make up the Christ
ian life, and warnings and terrible ex-
amples Of all the vices that draw in their
train the decay Of civilization, the sever
nnce Of the social tie, the destruction Of
the family, the death of patriotism, the
overthrow Of government and the night
Of human despair. Given civiliZati".
built upon the principles inculcated by
a general and constant reading and study
of Gods Word,-a civilization whose
germ is in the bosom Of the family );
whose bnlwark is the purity of the
home; whose ethics is the observance
Of the Sabbath, the sacredness and bind
dom and temperance and fair dealing
and adherence to that rule of right con-
duct which the whole world has named
The Golden; civilization whose tenn,
Piles are reared by laymen ordained Of
God to life of virtue and purity and
tender, watchful and compassionate re-
gard for the well-being of all their fell
low men, whose sacrifices are meek
and quiet spirit and an open confession
If that Saviour whose life thrills through
the heart Of the centuries like the divine
strains Of heavenly music a civilization
whose polity recognizes the universal
brotherhood Of man and contains the
hospitable entertainment of strangers
whose politics ia submission to the es.