The following details may fittingly be added to the short history of our English Bible.
The learned Prince of Granada, heir to the Spanish throne, imprisoned by the order of the Crown for fear he should aspire to the throne, was kept in solitary confinement in the old prison at the Place of Skulls. Madrid. After thirty-three years in this living tomb death came to his release, and the following remarkable researches. taken from the Bible and marked with an old nail on the walls of his cell, told how his brain sought employment through the weary years of his imprisonment.
•In the Bible, the word "Lord" is found 1,853 times.
•The word "Jehovah" 6,855 times.
•The eighth verse of the 118th Psalm is the middle verse in the Bible.
•The ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Esther is the longest.
•The thirty-fifth verse of John 11 is the shortest.
•In Psa. 107, four verses are alike, the eighth, fifteenth, twenty-first and the thirty-first.
•Each verse of Psa. 136 ends alike.
•No names or words with more than six syllables are found in the Bible.
•The thirty-seventh chapter of Isaiah and the nineteenth chapter of 2 Kings are alike.
•The word "girl" occurs but once in the Bible-Joel 3, verse 3.
•There are in both parts of the Bible, 3,538,483 letters; 773,693 words; 31,373 verses; 1,189 chapters and 66 books.
•The twenty-sixth chapter of the Acts is the finest to read.
•The most beautiful chapter is Psa. 23.
•The first verse of Isa. 55 is the one for the new convert.
•All who flatter themselves with vain boastings should read Matt. 6.
•All humanity should learn the sixth chapter of Luke, from verse twenty to its ending.
We conclude, by the references to Acts 26, Psa. 23, John 14:22In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2) and 7:37, that the Prince not only found the Bible an interesting book during those thirty-three years, but that his weary soul found peace in believing. How the love of Christ would sustain his spirit, and the blessed promise of John 14:22In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)-which he quoted-would fix his heart upon a brighter crown than the Spanish throne could offer, and upon a heavenly kingdom.
What is the Word of God to you? Think for a moment. If you knew you were about to spend thirty-three years in solitary confinement and were allowed one book, what would you choose? Would it be the latest novel? Think of spending thirty-three years alone, with only a novel to fill up your time. Or would a book of science or philosophy be what you would choose to the exclusion of any other? I think not. Little as you may care for the Bible, you know right well that it alone could fill a vacuum, if every earthly thing were suddenly snatched from you.
Its words of comfort and cheer are as healing balm to the broken heart and when the light of life goes out, where the heart has taken in its blessed message, and found in Christ Jesus a Savior, the eventide is lighted with eternal hope.
It is indeed the Book of books, and will abide when every other book has passed into eternal oblivion. Its Author is God. Its theme is Christ. It is capable of satisfying every craving of the human heart, and opens up to the wondering gaze visions of the eternal. Well might the Prophet Jeremiah write: "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." Jer. 15:1616Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16). Reader, can you say this?