The Bible! There It Stands!

Where childhood needs a standard
   Or youth a beacon light,
Where sorrow sighs for comfort
   Or weakness longs for might,
Bring forth the Holy Bible,
   The Bible! There it stands!
Resolving all life's problems
   And meeting its demands.

Though sophistry conceal it,
   The Bible! There is stands!
Though Pharisees profane it,
   Its influence expands;
It fills the world with fragrance
   Whose sweetness never cloys,
It lifts our eyes to heaven,
   It heightens human joys.

Despised and torn in pieces,
   By infidels decried—
The thunderbolts of hatred
   The haughty cynics' pride—
All these have railed against it
   In this and other lands,
Yet dynasties have fallen,
   And still the Bible stands!

To paradise a highway,
   The Bible! There it stands!
Its promises unfailing,
   Nor grievous its commands;
It points man to the Saviour,
   The Lover of his soul;
Salvation is its watchword,
   Eternity its goal.

—J.M. Gray

Don't Neglect the Word

Let a Christian neglect the Word of God and prayer, and it will soon be said of the life of God in his soul, "It withered away because it lacked moisture" (Luke 8:6).