p. 37 | The Neglected Book

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 17, 1858

The Neglected Book.

Of Christ we sometimes sing, > "No other friend we treat so ill." Is not the sentiment applicable to the Bible? What book is half so much slighted?

Familiar indeed are the lines, > "How precious is the book divine > By inspiration given!" but to sing this, and to live it, are two things quite different. Alas! how few, by searching it daily, show that they esteem it as a "precious" book!

It is my deep and painful conviction, that the Bible was never so much neglected as now. The activity and stir of this age go to account for it. So does the multiplication of other books. The irregular habits of most Christians, in respect to all religious duties, aggravate the evil.

But be the causes what they may, the fact cannot be denied. The dust settles on the covers of the Holy Book; and it is kept as a parlor ornament, forsooth; or to give a kind of respectability, and orderly and religious appearance to the house. In how few instances is it kept to be read and studied? What sad records would appear, if facts as to the number of hours spent in reading and studying the Bible, each week, by most Christians, were ascertained.