Proverbs 4:1-9, My Bible – Thou Truest Friend
February 10, Proverbs 4:1-9
Psalm 119:97-112; 2 Tim. 4:9-18 “Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever.”
My Bible – Thou Truest Friend
It seems almost all the “wise” of the earth have been pitted against the Bible, and only an obscure few for it. Yet is still stands! Testimonies to the value of the bible could be multiplied many times over. We will share just two from quite different sources.
- In Simple Poem: Your writer bought an old volume in an antique bookstore, and found a newspaper clipping, yellowed with age, containing this poem. Now seems like a good time to share it.
My Mother’s Bible: This Book is all that’s Left Me Now!
Tears will unbidden start-with faltering lips and throbbing brow.
I press it to my heart; for many generations past, here is our family tree;
My mother’s hand this Bible clasped; she, dying gave it me.
Ah! Well do I remember those whose names these records bear;
Who round the hearthstone used to close after the evening prayer,
And speak of what these pages said in tones my heart would thrill!
Though they are with the living dead, here are they living still.
My father read this holy book to brothers, sisters dear;
How calm was my dear mother’s look who leaned, God’s word to hear!
Her angel face – I see it yet! What vivid memories come!
Again that little group is met within the halls of home!
Thou truest friend man ever knew, thy constancy I’ve tried;
Where all were false I found thee true, my counsellor and guide.
The mines of earth no treasure give that could this volume buy;
In teaching me the way to live, it taught me how to die.
- In Stately Prose: Godly Samuel Chadwick testified after a lifetime studying the Bible:
“I have worked over the Bible, prayed over the Bible, and I have guided my life by the Bible for more than sixty years, and I tell you there is no book like the Bible. It is a miracle of literature, a perennial spring of wisdom, a wonder of surprises, a revelation of mystery, an infallible guide of conduct, and an unspeakable source of comfort. Pay no attention to the people who discredit it, for I tell you that they speak without knowledge. It is the Word of God Himself. Study it according to its own direction. Live by its principles, believe its message, and follow its precepts. No man is uneducated who knows the Bible, and no one is wise who is ignorant of its teachings.”
For Praise:
“How precious is the Book Divine,
By Inspiration given!
Bright as the Lamp its doctrines shine,
To Guide our Souls to Heaven.” (John Fawcett)