July 31

The Bible—a treasure

“I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches” (Psa. 119:14).
The editor of a magazine sent out a questionnaire to “the hundred greatest men in Britain,” asking: “If for any reason you were to spend a year absolutely alone (in a prison, for instance), and could select from your library three volumes as your companions during your retirement, please inform us what those three books would be.”In the answers, it was found that ninety-eight of the hundred named the Bible first in the list of the three books to be chosen.


This holy Book I’d rather own
Than all the gold and gems
That e’er in monarch’s coffers shone,
Than all their diadems.

Nay, were all the seas one chrysolite,
The earth one golden ball,
And diadems all the stars of night,
This Book outweighs them all.

Ah, no, the soul ne’er found relief
In glittering hoards of wealth;
Gems dazzle not the eye of grief,
Gold cannot purchase health.

The Bible is a treasure. It contains enough to make us rich for time and eternity. It contains the secret of happy living. It contains the key of Heaven. It contains the title deeds of an inheritance incorruptible, and that fadeth not away. It contains the pearl of great price. It contains the Savior and the living God Himself.
—James Hamilton.

The Bible walks the ways of all the world with familiar feet and enters land after land to find its own everywhere. Children listen to its stories with wonder and delight, and wise men ponder them as parables of life. The wicked and the proud tremble at its warnings, but to the wounded and the penitent it has a mother’s voice. It has woven itself into our dearest dreams; so that love, friendship, sympathy, devotion, memory, hope, put on the beautiful garments of its treasured speech. No man is poor or desolate who has this treasure for his own.
—Henry Van Dyke.

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