Much has been said about the power of the gospel. It is
"the power of God unto salvation." By it millions have been
redeemed and cheered and comforted and inspired. Others have
been warned in tones of thunder to awakened consciences. It
has been the greatest civilizer known. But however great its
power and influences, however wonderful its accomplishments,
there are conditions under which, it is pitifully helpless,
under which it can do nothing to help the perishing masses.
You may take your Bible into a heathen land or to a race of
another language, and though all its truth, its promises and
warnings, its light and glory, are within its lids, yet it is
dumb. It speaks not to them. They perish all around it. They
remain in darkness, when light is there, heavenly, glorious
light. Not a ray reaches them. It is helpless. It is
voiceless; it speaks not to them its story of love. In your
own home it may lie closed and silent. Visitors come and go,
but it helps them not. Your children hear not its voice. Your
neighbors receive not its counsel, warnings, nor promises. How
helpless it is! Oh the many dumb Bibles in our land! If they
only had tongues, what messages they would speak to the
people! You have a tongue. Do you not often use it in a way
that is of little profit either to you or to others? The Bible
has no tongue to use. Will you lend it yours? Will you let it
speak its message with your tongue? Must your neighbors be
lost because your Bible has no voice? O brother, sister, let
your Bible be no longer dumb. Give it a tongue. There are
hearts all around you needing its truth. Will you speak for
it? A silent and voiceless Bible--what can be more helpless?
Again, if a tongue
were lent it and its message be spoken and repeated again and
again, what can it do if it is not believed? It is the power
of God in this world only to "them that believe." If we will
not believe it, it can do us no good. It cannot save or
comfort or heal unless it is believed. Will you give it a
believing heart? Unless you do, it is absolutely powerless to
help you. Oh, how helpless is an unbelieved Bible!
And though it have
a voice and speak ever so clearly, what can it do if the ears
were closed against? If "having ears, we hear not," but close
our minds and hearts against its voice, it will profit us
nothing. It can help not the least. Oh, give it a listening
ear and heart!
The bible has no
hands. It cannot reach out to the needy or go about doing
good. It cannot clothe the naked or feed the hungry. Why not
give your hands to the gospel's use, that it may not be longer
helpless?
It has no feet. It
cannot go from place to place, but must remain supine wherever
it is put. It is a poor "shut-in." Who will pity its
helplessness and give it feet, that I may go to the nations?
It has no money. It
is as poor as a pauper. It can not pay its way to the
yearning, hungry souls that await its coming. It needs its way
paid to India, to Africa, to China. It needs to go to the ends
of the earth. You can send some of its messages afar for a few
cents, and perchance thus help it to reach a soul ready and
waiting that will otherwise be lost. There are tongues ready
to speak for it; there are feet ready to run with it; but who
will pay its fare? Have you money and houses and cattle and
lands, and yet are not helping this helpless gospel on its
mission of mercy? Must it fail to reach the people; that you
may consume your means for the gratification of the flesh?
Might not the money you have spent the past year needlessly,
have sent the gospel to a number of lost souls?
Oh! Pity the poor
Bible, which has no tongue, no hands, no feet, and no money!
How will it reach the lost? Give it your hands, your feet,
your tongue, your pocketbook. Behold the countless throngs
going down the broad way. Listen to the groans of the lost.
Behold your own friends and neighbors and perhaps your own
kindred on the way to hell. Can you longer let the gospel be
helpless and voiceless? What would you answer the lost in the
judgment were they to say to you, "You had the Bible, but you
did not tell us its truths. You did not carry or send it to
us, and so we perish?" What will you do to help the Bible to
save the world? The time is short. The shades of the evening
are falling around us. "The night cometh, when no man can
work."
