When Israel through the desert pass'd,
A fiery pillar went before
To guide them through the dreary waste,
And lessen the fatigues they bore.

Such is thy glorious word, O God!
'Tis for our light and guidance given;
It sheds a lustre all abroad,
And points the path to bliss and heaven:

It fills the soul with sweet delight,
And quickens its inactive powers;
It sets our wandering footsteps right,
Displays thy love, and kindles ours:

It fills the soul with sweet delight,
And quickens its inactive powers;
It sets our wandering footsteps right,
Displays thy love, and kindles ours:

Its promises rejoice our hearts;
Its doctrines are divinely true;
Knowledge and pleasure it imparts;
It comforts and instructs us too.

Ye favor'd lands who have this word,—
Ye saints who feel its saving power,—
Unite your tongues to praise the Lord,
And his distinguish'd grace adore.
                      Beddome


I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.  Psalms 130:5

.....There is not a single crisis occurring in the entire history of the Church of God, not a single difficulty in the entire path of any individual believer, from beginning to end, which has not been perfectly provided for in the Bible.  We have all we want in that blessed volume, and hence we should be ever seeking:  to make ourselves more and more acquainted with what that volume contains, so as to be "thoroughly furnished" for whatever may arise, whether it be a temptation of the devil, an allurement of the world,  or a lust of the flesh; or, on the other hand, for equipment for that path of good works which God has afore prepared that we should walk in it.....
.....we do not sufficiently use the precious Word of God in this way; we quote it, at times, more for victory over the enemy than for power and authority for our own souls.  Thus it loses its power in our hearts.  We want to use the Word as a hungry man uses bread, or as a mariner uses his chart and his compass; it is that on which we live, and by which we move and act and think and speak.  Such it really is, and the more fully we prove it to be all this to us, the more we shall know of its infinite preciousness.  Who is it that knows most of the real value of bread?  Is it a chemist?  No; but a hungry man.  A chemist may analyze it, and discuss its component parts, but a hungry man proves its worth.  Who knows most of the real value of a chart? is it the teacher of navigation?  No; but the mariner as he sails along an unknown and dangerous coast.
     These are but feeble figures to illustrate what the Word of God is to the true Christian.  He cannot do without it.  It is absolutely indispensable, in every relationship of life and in every sphere of action.  His hidden life is fed and sustained by it; his practical life is guided by it.  In all the scenes and circumstances of his personal and domestic history, in the privacy of his closet, in the bosom of his family, in the management of his affairs, he is cast upon the Word of God for guidance and counsel.
     And it never fails those who simply cleave to it.....
                                                                                                                                       C. H. Mackintosh