permeated the literature of Europe and America. More than that, the
Bible has been industriously for years securing its own translation
into hundreds of tongues and dialects of the globe. The Koran does not
take pains to translate itself, and, indeed, refuses to be translated;
but in contradistinction with such apathy of false faiths, the Bible
courts transcription into foreign tongues, loses nothing in the
process, but thereby gains for itself the homage of multitudes who, on
reading it for the first time, cry, "This is the book we long have
sought, that finds us out in the deepest recesses of our being and
satisfies the profoundest cravings of our souls." The Bible is the
comforting book. There is no volume like it for consolation. It is
the only sure and steady staff for pilgrim spirits to lean upon, and
the only book that is quoted at the bedside of the sick. It is a book
to wear next the heart in life, and upon which to pillow the head in
death. No other so-called "scriptures" of the world say the things
that the Bible says, or supply the hopes that its promises afford. The
Bible is not simply a book; it is The Book. It is the best book of any
kind that we have. We can not do without it, either here or hereafter.
There are many books in the world, but there is only one book. The
Bible is unique. It is in a class by itself. It seeks to control
everything, but it co-ordinates itself with nothing. It sets forth
imitable examples of character, but it is not itself imitable. No one
has ever written or ever will write a second Bible. The very phrase
which every one uses, "The Bible," signifies the uniqueness of this
book. It is a whole library in itself, and yet it is more than a
simple collection of books. There is a homogeneity and consistency to
the whole which lead us to speak of scripture as being a single story,
not many revelations. The Bible is the exhaustless book. It may
sometimes prove exhausting to its light-minded readers, but it never
exhausts itself. "It is the wonder of the Bible," observes Dr. Joseph