Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1902-04-10
TIE BULLET STOPPED THERE
FIippnnt Remark Of Soldier nnd
How IL Brought with Force TO
His Heart Gods Messags.

Stories Of pocket Bibles that have
saved HE in baltic are no novelty; but
their cummonuess does not cheaPen
them. II they are true, and II their moral
is not ovg!duue.
ln recruit Epworth league meeting
. returErd soldier told Lis experience
with Ills poysri Testament. il W'.~
handed to linn ou tie ears while on his
way to the aJu,I With Lis regiment.
lie had taken "t.,at" at tie last eta-
iiou, and TO Use lis own expression,
was feeling gay"
AN right. hcra!d laughingly, to the
donor Of the book I'm carry it. ltlI
be good 70 stop bullet
Some weeks -aftcrvard came the
flghtug cl Santiago. and on the day of
the famous charge OF the rough riders
the young soldier was hit, and lefl lying
among the wounded. He rrgaincd con
sciousucss while under the surgeons
hands and heard him say; THAT was
close call" 4 Mauser bullet in his
breast had been extracted. 1t had bare
ly reached his heart and stopped.
What is H. doctor?" lac whispered
but the busy surgeon had hurried on
to his next patient. Gen. Whet'ers
daughter was there, mnisterirE 'J IL,
bleeding men. and he beckoned to her
and asked her to tell him about his
wound. She brought his pocket resta-
ment, which he had carried in his
blouse. and showed him hole through
il, made by the deadly lead, and told
him how narrow his escape had been.
Piercing the book in an obliQue dire .
ton, the missile had found exactly rs-
sistance enough to arrest it at the dan
ger line.
For the first time the reckless soldier
took an interest in the gift he had ac-
cepted with n jest. He remembered
with strange throb the fippant re-
mark he had made on the train, He
kept the Testament near him, and in
the tedious hours Of his convalescenCe
he often turned the leaves and noted
the texts which had been crossed by the
bullet.
There was one verse that he could not
get beyond. The shot had cut through
the middle of it, and left its scar there
like an index.
"God so loved the world that lie gn.e
His only begotten Son, that whosoeyer
beleveth in Him might not perish, but
have everlasting life"
Many times a day he read the verse
over and thought about it. His life
must have been worth saving, he said tc
himself, else he would have been under.
ground with his buried comrades, But
everlasting lifel Something forever
beyond and above fatal wounds! That
meant more than the accident" that
saved one man. God has declared ever
lasting life to men, by Jesus Christ, His
Son. The soldier became the pupil OF
| his book. To believe is to accept. TC
accept is to be obedient. To obey is tC
make Christ the example and Iii.
teachings the rule OF life. II was nC
delusiou when his heart told him thai
he was willing to accept this formuly
and to live by IT,"
The story is not remarkable one
In material or initial incident ANY
other book than the New Testamen
would have diverted the shaft Of dentl
as easily; but its blow might not hav,
pointed him to word thut brouCh
a changed motive in life with it. Out @
. this distinction blossoms the lesson
aud natural circumstance takes al
eternal character. Whether the mean
were casual or divine, the effect must bI
left to testify The man who went e
the war scoircr came back change,
In moral purpose. He had become 4
Christian, because he had become fol
lower Of ChrisL-Youth's Companion