The Bible

"...for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." Psalm 138:2

What must I think, or what believe,
And what must now my refuge be?
On every side they would deceive,
And take God's blessed Word from me;
And yet man's life is pain and woe,
In this his pilgrimage below.

One makes a pen to suit his hand,
Applies the knife, now here, now there;
But that God's Word, who all things planned,
Should be so handled anywhere,
Is that indeed which should surprise
An age like this, reputed wise.

The Book of books, th' Eternal Word,
Which God's own Spirit gave to me,
Is, in these times, by ways unheard,
Attack'd by infidelity;
And Satan's craft, in this our age,
Obtains more conquests than his rage.

For boasted reason sits enthroned,
And intellect's pretensions high
Have well-nigh Deity disowned,
And hurled defiance at the sky;
Planting their shafts of wit and sense
Against Thy truth, Omnipotence!

Oh! if what these 'Enlightened' say,
About my hope in God most just;
And they could reason all away
My shelter, confidence, and trust;
And make God's Word a seeming lie,
And revelation quite deny!

What must I think, what must I do,
For peace or comfort anywhere?
If what the sceptic says is true,
I've trusted visions light as air.
If Moses wrote untruths on earth,
What can his song [Rev. 15:3] in heaven be worth?

Away, deceivers! mark it well,
Ye boast a mission pure and wise;
It needs no skill or wit to tell,
Nor should it cause the least surprise,
That Satan, who man's ruin sought,
Would Revelation set at naught.

The Bible teaches man to fear
The very God who gave him breath;
To love his neighbor far and near;
Commands the conscience, "Thus God saith!"
Tells of man's ruin to his face,
And shews a remedy in grace.

Thrice welcome is my precious Book!—
My Bible!—thousand-fold more dead—
It bids me hope, and upward look
To regions pure, and bright, and clear;
Where the redeem'd walk in and out,
Without a conflict or a doubt.

And for believers there is rest,—
A long eternal Sabbath-day;
Secure in Jesus, fully blest,
Himself the Light, the Life, the Way;
There shall we hear our God proclaim
His Word is higher than His Name.

—Author unknown (copied from The Bible in the Wall published 1870?).

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