"I wish you were afraid, Jim. You know what the Bible says, 'Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall;' and, 'Be not highminded, but fear.' I should like you to burn that bad book, and have a walk with me, or sit a bit, if you like, instead of going to hear that man."
"How do you know the book is a bad one, John, when you've never seen it?" asked Jim, with a laugh.
"Just as I know that clean water cannot come from a muddy pool or from a sewer. The fountain is unclean, Jim, and what comes out of it must be the same."
"That's not bad for you, John," said Jim, hesitating. After a little further kindly pressure, Jim made up his mind he would not go to the lecture; and surely he was no loser by his wise resolve.
[A RASH PROMISE, AND HOW IT ENDED.]
MRS. GREAVES was a Bible-woman, and her visits brought comfort to many a home where the roughest and least God-fearing in a great city had a welcome for her. We give the following narrative in her own words.
It is several years ago since I knew two young men who were frequent companions. One of them professed to be a Christian, was a Sunday-school teacher, and never missing from his place in the house of God on the Sabbath. He was very self-confident, too, and often expressed his belief that no arguments could affect him, or cause him to falter in his faith. Perhaps it was this over-confidence that made him careless in choosing his acquaintances, for the companion he chose was a professed infidel. He ridiculed the Bible, boasted of his own freedom from such weaknesses as church-going, prayer, observance of the Sabbath, and so on. But yet he was a good workman, sober, diligent, and leading a decent life, being neither impure in his conduct nor accustomed to use bad language.
I think he was anxious that no one should have cause of offence; for he made his decent life an argument in favour of his infidel opinions. "Here am I," he would say, "living a better life without praying than some of you psalm-singing folks lead with all your religion."