p. 82 | The Bible

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 28, 1871

The Bible.

“WHEN in Paris, some years ago,” (related Mr. Webster,) “I received an account of a French infidel, who happened to find in a drawer of his library some stray leaves of an unknown volume. Although in the constant habit of denouncing the Bible, like most infidel writers, he had never read any part of it. These fugitive leaves contained the prayer of Habakkuk. Being a man of fine literary taste, he was captivated with its poetic beauty, and hastened to the club-house to announce the discovery to his associates. Of course, they were anxious to know the name of the gifted author, to which inquiries the elated infidel replied: ‘A writer by the name of Hab-ba-kook—of course a Frenchman.’ Judge of the infidel’s surprise when informed that the passage he was so enthusiastically admiring was not produced by one of his own countrymen, nor even by one of his own class of so-called Free Thinkers, but was penned by one of God’s ancient prophets, and was contained in that much despised book—the Bible.”