Look, Christian! in thy _Bible_, and that glass Which sheds its sands through minutes, hours, and days, And years; it speaks not: yet methinks it says To every human heart--“so mortals pass On to their dark and silent grave!” Alas! For man:--an exile upon earth he stays, Weary, and wandering through benighted ways; To-day in strength, to-morrow like the grass That withers at his feet. Lift up thy head, Poor pilgrim, toiling in this vale of tears; That book declares whose blood for thee was shed, Who died to give thee life; and though thy years Pass like a shade, pointing to thy death-bed, Out of the deep thy cry an angel hears, And by his guiding hand to heaven thy steps are led. _W. Lisle Bowles._ A book there is, of ancient date, Where all the truly wise and great Have found the pearls of wisdom spread, Like gems upon the ocean-bed. Brighter than Californian gold, Are deeds inspired apostles told, Greater than all that Milton thought, Are truths that saints and prophets taught. Oh! be it ours from tender age, To gather wisdom from its page. _J. Burbidge._ The sacred page With calm attention scan! If on thy soul, As thou dost read, a ray of purer light Break in, O, check it not, give it full scope! Admitted, it will break the clouds which long Have dimmed thy sight, and lead thee, till at last, Convictions like the sun’s meridian beams, Illuminate thy mind. _Samuel Hayes._ Father! that book With whose worn leaves the careless infant plays, Must be the _Bible_. Therein thy dim eyes Will meet a cheering light; and silent words Of mercy breathed from Heaven, will be exhaled From the blest page unto thy withered heart. _John Wilson._ What is this world? a wildering maze Where sin hath tracked ten thousand ways, Her victims to ensnare. All broad, all winding, and aslope, All tempting with perfidious hope, All ending in despair. Millions of pilgrims throng those roads, Bearing their baubles or their loads, Down to eternal night; Our humble path that never bends, Narrow, and rough, and steep, ascends From darkness into light. Is there a guide to show that path? The _Bible_! He alone who hath The _Bible_, need not stray; Yet he who hath, and will not give That heavenly guide to all that live, Himself shall lose the way. _J. Montgomery._ The _Bible_? That’s the Book, The Book indeed, The Book of Books; On which who looks, As he should do, aright, shall never need Wish for a better light To guide him in the night.