“You are in need, or you are ill, or you are in want of a friend,” said the clergyman with kind sympathy in his manner.
“Oh, sir, it is not that—” began Mark, and stopped.
“Come nearer to me, and tell me frankly, my boy, what is weighing on your heart. It is the duty, it is the privilege of the minister of Christ to speak comfort to those who require comfort.”
“Can you tell me,” cried Mark, with a great effort, “the way for sinners—to be saved?”
“The Saviour is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Gate by which alone we enter into salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The just shall live by faith.”
“What is faith?” said Mark, gathering courage from the gentleness with which he was addressed.
“Faith is to believe all that the Bible tells us of the Lord, His glory, His goodness, His death for our sins, to believe all the promises made in His Word, to rest in them, hope in them, make them our stay, and love Him who first loved us. Have you a Bible, my friend?”
“I have.”
“And do you read it?”
“Very often,” replied Mark.