Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

BIBLE TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
'but the face and manner of an old, blind woman who sits in
one of the front rows. I supported her one day as she was
groping along, and, putting out her hand to me, she asked, "Do
you love my blessed Saviour?" Her look of deep content, her
triumphant tones, made me realise as never before that He who
could suffice to make one so helpless bright and glad must be a
"blessed Saviour" indeed.' "
463. "In 1802, Paine thus replied to an infidel admirer: 'I am
sorry that that work, "The Age of Reason," ever went to press.
I wrote it more for my own amusement, and to see what I could
do, than with any design of benefiting the world. I would give
worlds, had I them at my command, had "The Age of Reason"
never been published.' "
464. "The infidel who, by his cavils, would undermine the
foundations of Christian hope, is like the madman who recklessly
pushes from him the lifeboat which is his only hope of
rescue from the wreck. Christianity does hold out hope ; it is
a hope which has proved substantial and consolatory to thousands;
but what has infidelity done? Its highest achievement is
to produce temporary insensibility to a fate which cannot be
averted, and which, when it does come, will crush the obdurate
unbeliever into perdition."
465. "A London minister met an infidel who 'wished all the
churches were swept from the land, beginning with Spurgeon's.'
'Then, which of you infidels will be the first to take upon himself
the responsibility of Mr. Spurgeon's orphanage?' was the
minister's reply. The silence following the question was very
expressive."
INFLUENCE
466. It is impossible to rid one's self of the power of influence.
"For none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself"
(Rom. 14:7). The most insignificant and the most isolated are
of influence, affecting others in one way or another. Influence is
ineradicable. None can dispossess themselves of this power.
All that can be done is to direct it, for good or evil.
One of the old writers thus illustrates it: "A vessel sailing
163