Power of the Word

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 8, 1910

Power of the Word

THERE are many avenues along which the Bible comes home to us in a different way from any other literature in the world. Modern reviewers are fond of telling us, for instance, that before we can appreciate any great book, or grasp its meaning, we must first of all sympathize with the idea and intention which inspired it; we must read it from its author's point of view. So also, before we can appreciate and understand the Scriptures, we must come into harmony with God's will, we must be informed and possessed by his Spirit, we must sympathize with his purpose for mankind. And concerning this Book we may say that the Author is never absent or out of reach: he would have us converse with him and inquire of him even while we read.

Again, it comes true concerning the gifts of this world, that they seem most golden when we first receive them; but in course of time they turn stale with keeping, they grow threadbare with use. Whereas the best wine of the Bible always seems reserved until the last. Its revelation remains unexhausted and inexhaustible. Has not the New Testament still many things to say unto us, as we are able to bear them? Why, we have never yet fathomed some of its simplest words about elementary Christian duties — about the virtue of absolute forbearance, of utterly forgiving our enemies, about the irresistible might of peacefulness, about the deadly danger of riches, about the beatitude of literal simplicity and poverty. The church has not outgrown the Gospels. Often we find that an old man has lost interest in the literature which entranced him when he was younger. But at the end of the day, as the shadows lengthen, the Bible becomes more and more wonderful to those who have loved it longest, who know it best. Amid all the disappointments and disillusionments of this world we may still hear it whisper: “Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” — Selected.