"From end to end its every page reveals
The glories of Christ Jesus, and appeals
To every heart that throbs within the breast
Of mortal man, his conscience to arrest!
To read it, and to heed, yields light divine,
For Christ's fair beauty from its pages shine;
To shun its truths is but to court the woes
Its pages thunder o'er Jehovah's foes!”
ONE is often forced to ask the question as to why the holy scriptures of truth are in these days energetically attacked, not only by the ignorant or illiterate, but by those who claim to have advanced beyond most of their fellows, and who, furthermore, profess to stand for the God whose inspiration of the sacred volume they deny. Have we to seek far to secure an answer to such a question? Is not an explanation found in this: that its blessed pages are never opened without the truth in all its bare and untoned faithfulness confronting the reader? Is not the secret, that there is nothing from cover to cover that pampers the natural propensities of the human heart? More than once have I seen the scornful frown of resentment disfiguring the countenances of those who object to the plain soul-convicting assertions met with in that blessed book.
I readily admit, dear reader, that the word of God wounds, and often acutely, for many times have I been wounded with it myself, and writhed beneath its faithful lash.
But it is the intensest folly to turn away from that which, while it tells me the unpalatable truth about myself, is fraught with blessings for the one who is ready and willing to receive it as the distinct revelation of a God of light and love. Never does God through His word wound a human soul, but what He is, in compassion and pity, ready to administer the healing balm. He wounds, but to heal; He humbles, but to exalt; He causes sorrow, only that real, lasting, eternal joy may be known; He convicts of sin, that the sinner may be happy in hearing the word of forgiveness. An honest soul never resents the truth, hence it is a mark of fearful self-sufficiency on the part of those who depreciate the value of the word of God, simply because flattery is not its aim, but a clear unfolding of the truth of a holy, righteous, sin-abhorring God; truth, concerning themselves, concerning Himself; and the truth concerning that blessed, peerless Man, Christ Jesus, His adorable Son.
While the word tells me of my sin and the dreaded doom thereof, from which I well might shrink, it nevertheless also tells of God's sovereign remedy in and through His blessed Son. My sins were taking me down to the pit of destruction, but the sweet message of the gospel burst upon my ear from the ever gracious heart of a Saviour God; "Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom." I must have met death and eternal judgment on account of my sins, but the word of God assures me that Christ, the Lamb of God, sacrificed Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, suffering the judgment of God due to my sins.
Further, the infinite value of His blood is insisted upon as a worthy foundation for God's reception of me as a guilty, yet repentant sinner, if I plead its merits and eternal efficacy, for it cleanses from all sin; and is a witness to my soul that God has been forever satisfied in the accomplished redemption wrought by His beloved Son.
Oh, dear young reader, I would urge and encourage you to cling at all cost to your Bible, for it not only guides with regard to the salvation of your soul, but will direct you in every detail of life. Read it. Ponder over it. Meditate upon it. Receive it into your soul, and you will find it sweeter than honey to your taste.
W. G.