Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/66

 pression, "So as no fuller on earth can whiten them," often came to mind in the old days, when out of the little squalid huts came forth coats that shone like polished marble.—The above four illustrations from, "Korea in Transition."

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BIBLE, EFFECT OF

The Rev. E. W. Burt, of the Baptist mission in Shantung, says that three men came from a distant village in the hills begging the missionary to visit them. He expected to find some lawsuit at the bottom of their eagerness, but instead found a chapel built and everything ready for a splendid work in their midst. Three years before a colporteur of the British and Foreign Bible Society had sold them Bibles, and without any human instruction they had come to believe in Christ.

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Bible for Missions—See. BIBLE FROM GOD  At a large dinner given in New York, Mrs. Margaret Bottome, for a long time head of the King's Daughters Circle, sat beside a German professor of science. In the course of conversation, Mrs. Bottome said quite naturally for her: "The Bible says so and so." "The Bible," remarked the professor. "You don't believe the Bible!" "Yes, indeed, I believe it," replied Mrs. Bottome. "Why, I didn't suppose that any intelligent person to-day believed the Bible!" "Oh, yes," Mrs. Bottome said, "I believe it all. I know the Author." (227)  BIBLE FROM HEATHEN VIEWPOINTS   Certain parts of the Bible appeal with unexpected force to various races, and to men in different stages of civilization, who read the Scriptures with other eyes than ours. We may illustrate this point by a few actual examples. When Dr. Kilgour was translating the Old Testament into Nepali (India), he found it an arduous, not to say a tedious, task, to render the long chapters of ritual regulations in Leviticus; he was surprized, however, to discover that his Nepalese assistant considered these chapters to be among the most interesting and important in the whole Pentateuch. So, again, the Chinese, who lay enormous stress on reverence for ancestors, are profoundly imprest by the first chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, because it begins with the genealogy of our Lord, which, as a colporteur wrote last year, "goes back to our Chinese Hsia dynasty." In Egypt, Moslems are attracted by the Book of Genesis, which they call "the history of the creation of the world." In the south of Europe the Book of Proverbs is often purchased eagerly by Freemasons, who look back to King Solomon as the legendary founder of their craft. In heathen countries it is by no means uncommon for the missionaries, who are translating the Old Testament, first to make a version of the Psalter and perhaps of Genesis, and then to translate the Book of Jonah before attempting any other of the prophets. They realize—what we sometimes forget—that Jonah is the one thoroughly missionary book in the Old Testament, and they find that its message comes home to their converts with peculiar power.—The Lutheran.

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BIBLE FRUIT

The following incident is related in an issue of the Illustrated Missionary News:

One day a Chinese scholar named Ch'u paid a visit to an old friend, Chang, who was priest of a Buddhist temple among the mountains of Shansi. As he looked over the library his eye fell upon a book of unusual appearance lying on a dusty shelf, and he inquired of the priest what book it was. "Ah," replied his friend, "that is a strange book I picked up on a journey—a foreign classic. You will not think much of it." It was a copy of the Gospel of Mark, and Ch'u became interested in some things he read in it. He had never heard of Christ before, and now that life so simple and sublime laid hold on him. He came again and again to the temple to read that little book until he knew it almost by heart. But no one else could tell him more, for no Christian had ever penetrated to that lonely mountain. Could all this story about Jesus be true? If so, when did it happen? Where were His followers whom He told to preach His gospel? Could Jesus help men now? At length, after long waiting and much inquiry, he learned that there were some Christians in a town three days' journey away, and he set off to seek them. There he met Pastor Hsi, a Chinese evangelist, who was able to tell him that Jesus Christ was alive and he could