The Anvil of God’s Word

Last eve I paused beside a I And the anvil ring the vesper chime;

Then looking in, I saw upon the floor, Old hammers worn with beating years of time.

“How many anvils have you had,” said I, “To batter all these hammers so?” “Just one,” said he, with twinkling eye, “The anvil wears the hammers know. ” “And so,” I thought, “The Anvil of God’s’ ages skeptic blows have beat upon, Yet, though the falling blows was heard, The Anvil is unchanged, the hammers gone.”

Public opinion polls have revealed that the average person’s knowledge of the Bible is extremely limited. Few of those questioned could name a dozen of its leading characters. Fewer still could list its sixty-six books. Many had but the vaguest concept of its origin or purpose and were utterly confused about its teachings. They could not distinguish between the books of the Old and New Testaments and were” completely at a loss to find a familiar text.

How is it with you and your Bible? Do you read it? Do you enjoy it?

Some people start out in earnest to read the Bible, only to give up after glancing at the first few chapters. Unable to find anything of gripping interest, or bored by some unfamiliar phraseology, they set it aside as if it were completely beyond their understanding.

There must be millions o? Bibles lying around in Christian homes, unopened and unread, save possibly on special occasions such as weddings and funerals.

Yet down through the centuries the Bible has proved itself to be a book of high spiritual potency. Many of the finest men and women known to history have drawn their inner strength from its pages. Time and again it has demonstrated a mysterious power to change lives, ennoble the spirit, enrich the mind, enlarge the vision, broaden the sympathies, and transform the desires. Great preachers have found it to be a treasure house of truth, while statesmen, teachers, and writers have never ceased to mine its literary riches.

Here, then is a strange paradox. We have a book that everybody is willing to admit is the best, the greatest, and the most wonderful ever written; a book that has lasted longer than any other; a book that has been circulated more widely than any other; a book that has done more good than any other; and yet one of the least read of all books published today.

From ancient Greece comes the story of a rich farmer who on his deathbed said to his sons, “My treasure is buried in my fields. If you would be rich, dig for it. ” .. Upon the old man’s death the two sons, presuming that their father had hidden his money in an ironbound chest somewhere on his farm, set out eagerly to find it.

Equipped with spades and mattocks, they dug with great enthusiasm and perseverance, but seemingly without success. Carefully they turned over the soil in every field, digging to a depth no plow had ever reached. But no sign of a treasure chest did they discover.

When spring came !:”the search was abandoned in order that the land might be sown with c6′.rn. Then came summer’; and harvest. And what a harvest! The like had never been seen before. In digging the land so thoroughly the boys had won the riches they had sought. Their wise old father’s plan had succeeded!

You,. too, have inherited a precious heirloom that has come down to you through many generations. It, too, is buried. Not in a field but in a book. And He who bequeathed it to you, says,. “If you would be rich in all the best and most beautiful things life has to offer, search this book. Dig into it with all the spiritual tools at your command. Read it. Study it. Meditate upon it. Pray over it. And within it you will find the richest of treasures..”

From the beginning of “Your Bible and You “