The Bible has come under intense scrutiny for more than a hundred years, and Satan has done all he can to discredit it. Consequently, it lies unopened and collecting dust on many a bookshelf. But it is a treasure of hope nonetheless.
Flawless
January 11, 2009
Back in 1852, when UNCLE TOM'S CABIN was written, the Bible was still seen as a spotless record of God's ways with man, and His words in printed form. Much has changed since then. Harriet Beecher Stowe reveals her love for the word of God, in a moment in the life of her main character, Uncle Tom.
Is it strange, then, that some tears fall on the pages of his Bible, as he lays it on the cotton-bale, and, with patient finger, threading his slow way from word to word, traces out its promises?
Having learned late in life, Tom was but a slow reader, and passed on laboriously from verse to verse. Fortunate for him was it that the book he was intent on was one which slow reading cannot injure,—nay, one whose words, like ingots of gold, seem often to need to be weighed separately, that the mind may take in their priceless value. Let us follow him a moment, as, pointing to each word, and pronouncing each half aloud, he reads,
"Let—not—your—heart—be—troubled. In—my—Father's—house—are—many—mansions. I—go—to—prepare—a—place—for—you."
Poor Tom's Bible, though it had no annotations and helps in margin from learned commentators, still it had been embellished with certain way-marks and guide-boards of Tom's own invention, and which helped him more than the most learned expositions could have done.
It had been his custom to get the Bible read to him by his master's children, in particular by young Master George; and, as they read, he would designate, by bold, strong marks and dashes, with pen and ink, the passages which more particularly ?gratified his ear or affected his heart.
His Bible was thus marked through, from one end to the other, with a variety of styles and designations; so he could in a moment seize upon his favorite passages, without the labor of spelling out what lay between them;—and while it lay there before him, every passage breathing of some old home scene, and recalling some past enjoyment, his Bible seemed to him all of this life that remained, as well as the promise of a future one.
I read a new Bible every year. Now when I pick one of my "old" ones up, I can trace my history, as in the margins I read of prayers prayed and answered, of quotes from books read and the way they come alongside a particular verse to validate their truth. Those Bibles in a way have become a kind of journal, validating the value of God's word for all of life.
May you discover the same joy and delight that I have found in the pages of those 66 books.