On a beautiful spring morning, Mary Jones left her native town to walk a distance of 25 miles. The morning was, as Mary said in after years, “the loveliest she had ever seen.” The birds sang in the trees, the lambs gambolled on the hillsides, and Mary herself made the echoes ring, as she tripped along the road, singing the song of redeeming love. Shall I tell you where she was going, and what was her errand?
Mary Jones had been converted in her very early years, and she had kept up all her spare pennies to buy a Bible of her own. Bibles were scarce in these days, and very costly. There was no Bible to be had in her native town; the nearest was in. B., where a man named Mr. Charles had received a few Bibles from London, At the end of her long walk, Mary Jones obtained the treasure she longed to possess, and with it the advice;
“Read it carefully; study it diligently; treasure it up in your memory.”
The girl walked back next day with her Bible, and read it all her life. She passed away at eighty-two, loving her Bible to old age.
Mary Jones loved the Book of God because she knew its Author. She treasured and read the Word, because her heart had been early won to the Lord Jesus of whom it speaks.
The people of her town would gather around her, and she would read to them as often as they wished her to, and many of the dear people, both young and old, were brought to the Saviour, rejoicing in the assurance of their salvation through Christ, and His work for them on the cross.
“The Word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” 1 Peter 1:25.
ML 03/19/1939