The Sacred Oracles
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"You search the Scriptures because you believe they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to Me!" John 5:39.
Unspeakably great are our obligations to the God of all grace for His holy Word. Truly wretched would our situation have been without it. The unhappy mariner, tossed to and fro on the tempestuous ocean without chart or compass — affords only a faint emblem of our condition — if destitute of this precious treasure. We are indebted to it for all the light that ever chased the thick gloom of ignorance, or cheered the darkness of despondency and despair. From it is derived whatever can give confidence to faith, energy to hope, ardency to love, and fervency to devotion.
God's Word embodies everything that the child of God can possibly require during his pilgrimage through this valley of tears. In trouble — it is his solace; in difficulty trouble — it is his guide; in danger trouble — it is his protection; in conflict trouble — it is his shield; and, when descending the dark valley — it is the day-star which illumines his solitary pathway, brightening his pallid countenance with unearthly joy, and cheering his departing spirit with the prospect of a blissful immortality! And when death will be swallowed up in victory, it will furnish the glorious company of the redeemed with themes of adoring contemplation, while eternal ages will be rolling their ceaseless rounds!
O blessed book! It is the gift of infinite love, to sinful men! How ardently should we prize it, and how diligently should we search it. Millions of our fellow-creatures have never been blessed with this priceless blessing, having nothing but the dim and flickering light of nature. But we are favoured with the lamp of life — a lamp lighted at the altar of heaven, to guide our feet in the ways of peace.
Reader, imitate the conduct of the noble Bereans, of whom it is said, "that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily." With them the perusal of the sacred volume was not an occasional employment — but one in which every returning day found them engaged. And if we are anxious that our soul should prosper and be in health — we shall no more allow a day to pass without reading some portion of it, than a person who wished to be strong and vigorous in body, would allow a day to pass without partaking of his necessary food. To advance in the divine life is altogether impossible — if the Scriptures are neglected by us. Hence the apostle's exhortation, "As new-born babies, desire the sincere milk of the Word — that you may grow thereby."
And, above all, let us not forget to implore the illuminating influences of the Divine Spirit, through whose inspiration it was first given. We are sure to read the Bible without profit — if we read it without prayer. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law!"
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