THE KING’S BUSINESS
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bereft, orphaned,1 widowed, fatherless, motherless, childless—then, then, in that hour of grief and anguish, in that hour when death draws nigh, go throw yourself in your despair, your helplessness, your hopelessness, on your bended knee, open your Bible, and in the agony of your bruised, stricken, and smitten sioul, cry out: “O my Father, my God, my heart is broken; my spirit is crushed; the light of my life has gone out; everything is dark as Egyptian midnight; my hopes of life are all extinguished! O, comfort me from the Word! Let light from its pages bring courage to my depressed spirit! Come to my help, O God 8 Then you will find that forth from the Word of God there shall spring light for your darkness, healing for your wound, hope for your despair, com fort in your sorrow, and relief for your soul. You will hear God speaking to you in such words as these: “Fear thou not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the .waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt •not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God.” “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many man sions. I go to prepare a place for you.’’ “Yea, though I walk through fhe valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” And your troubled heart will be hushed and stilled as a little babe at its mother’s breast. To one with these experiences of the Bible, no doubt can shake, no criticisms invalidate, no sneer destroy the inspiration his life has received from this Book. To him, at least, it is the very Word of God, an inspired Book. Whatever others may say about it, it is the very Book of God to him. He has had the experience of its truth. The Bible has satisfied his long ings as nothing else could do.
scholars that we, their children, are; but they were the saints that we, their chil dren, never will be, unless we get hack to the Bible they loved to read, study, and' obey-—the Mother’s Bible is the Bible that we need today. “Never before,” says Newell Dwight Hillis, “has the Bible been so truly a God- inspired Book. Never before have scien tists and scholars alike felt the full fasci nation of its glorious pages. Young men need this Book once bedewed by the sweet mother’s tears. Young women and maidens need this Book that lent the revered' father his manhood and strength. Poverty needs this Book; childhood needs this Book; liberty and learning need this sacred volume. When its truths fail, if that day should- ever come, eloquence will lose its dignity; liberty will lose its glory; and civilization will lose its power. Not until the last wrong has been righted, the last wound healed, the last tear wiped away, will this Book have accomplished its mission. For it is the Book of hope, the Book of character and conduct, the Book of time, the Book of eternity, and, v therefore, it is the BOOK OF GOD.” WOULD YOU KNOW THE TRUTH? Then, when that restless, uneasy feel ing comes over you, when that sense of the utter -emptiness of life envelopes you, when1 the consciousness of your sin oppresses you, when enemies assail you and friends betray, when hopes deceive and fears annoy, when the sense of your sin and unworthiness hangs over you like a great pall, and you feel as though you were near to the pit of despair and ) destruction; when some great sorrow casts a gloorn over your home; when the sin of a prodigal son or wayward daughter has brought shame upon your honored name; when some loved one- in your family is stricken with illness, and you sit and watch ■ and wait fearfully and »apprehensively all the long nights through, and when, after all your watching and care, the death angel spreads its wings over the form of your precious loved one, and you are left
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