The World’s Book of Comfort
"To comfort all that mourn." -- Is. 61:2
As no other book, the Bible comes "to comfort all that mourn." When trouble overtakes us, when the grave covers our dead, and we wander aimlessly in the broken household, it is the Bible that comes to comfort and console us.
In times of affliction and sorrow the Bible is peculiarly adapted to our wants. It teaches us to say, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." It says: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." It says: "Let not your heart be troubled: in my Father’s house are many mansions." And the soul responds: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulations."
For a good many years I have been a minister, and a very large part of my work has been that of ministering comfort to troubled and sorrowing hearts. In this ministry I have relied wholly on the Bible. Without that blessed book I would be at a loss as a comforter. When people are in trouble, when they are stricken with grief, and send for their minister, they want him to come with his Bible—and not any other book. There is no other book that will take its place in the house of mourning.
O blessed Book of consolation! Who can tell of the millions it has comforted in their sorrows? Who can tell of the heartaches it has alleviated, the tears it has dried away, the clouds it has turned into sunshine? Of all books, the Bible is the world’s great book of comfort.
