The Precious Bible

 •  5 min. read  •  grade level: 5
 
A beautiful woman lay sick on her bed.
“Read me something new,” she said impatiently to her friends who were trying to divert her with interesting books.
While her sister went out to search for “something new,” the nurse took out her pocket Bible, and began to read the sermon on the mount. The dear woman paid close attention to the end.
“Beautiful,” she said. “That will create quite a sensation. Who wrote it?”
“Why,” replied the astonished nurse, “that is the sermon on the mount, in the Bible, you know.”
“The Bible! Anything so good and beautiful as that in the Bible?”
“Surely; What else but good did you think could be in it?”
“O! I don’t know, I have never looked into a Bible in my life. My father wouldn’t have one in the house.”
“But you have certainly heard the Bible read in church.”
“I have never been in church. Sunday was always our holiday. We went to all the places of amusement but never went to church. I have never thought much about the Bible. I have never supposed it contained such beautiful things. I wish I had known it before.”
She begged the nurse to read more of that precious Bible, it was so new to her. She said,
“I wish I had known it before.”
This book contains: the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers.
Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.
Read it to be wise. Believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.
It contains light to direct you; good to support you, and comfort to cheer you.
It is the traveler’s, map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter.
Here, heaven is opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.
Christ is its grand subject.
Our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.
Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully.
It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure.
It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and be remembered forever.
It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the smallest labor, and condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:”
Dear readers, can you imagine a man dying slowly from starvation, weaker and weaker every day, anguishing for what he knows would give him renewed strength and keep him from death, while beside him lies a casket hiding a costly diamond worth thousands of dollars, and which would bring him more than enough sustenance and all else for his necessities for life? No, not if that man was in his right mind.
Can you imagine a man shivering in the winter cold at midnight, while a few steps before him is a home he may call his own, and warmth and light and rest?
Or a person tossing in a fever and anguish week after week, while close at hand lies the remedy which would cool his veins and soothe his pains?
Nay, nay, and yet! and yet! That precious Word of God has wondrous food for starving hearts. There is love and light and pardon there for you.
There is a home in the sheltering heart of God revealed there for you. No storms can shake it, no earthquake destroy it, no stranger chill its rest and radiance.
There is healing told of there. If your disease is described – the disease of sin – and you shudder and shiver as you realize its power shown by the physician, there is the perfect remedy before you.
“The Lamb as it had been slain" (Rev. 6) in the glory for you. Substitute for you, the Justifier for you in heaven.
O, take that Bible, look at the pictures there of yourself, of your Saviour, of your need of His love, of the joy and light and the peace for you, of the feasting and the dancing and gladness over you, of the welcome and the robe and the ring for you.
Look at Calvary. Hear His piercing cry, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me.” Look around and within and hear the answer:
“Because of your many sins.”
See your heart and God’s; gaze into heaven and hell, and take His letter, His message,
His revelation; take Himself, and read and believe, and rejoice, and follow Him.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass away.” Matthew 24:3535Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:35).
“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8).