ON opening one of a series of volumes dated 1797, containing the famous Commentary of Matthew Henry, one unexpectedly came across the above title to a poem written on the fly-leaf. The volumes evidently changed owners in 1808, and the handwriting of the poem is identical with that of the second owner, and with that of a sheet of notepaper (dated 1862) bearing the inscription of a grave-stone in Bo’ness. While the writing is somewhat shaky, and many mistakes in spelling occur, it is evident that great care and patience had been exercised in transcribing, and one receives the impression that the love of God’s Word guided the hand of the writer, now in Eternity. One has good grounds for concluding that Bo’ness in those days contained at least one God-fearing sinner, after study of little scattered jottings throughout the six volumes, especially in the fifth, where this is to be found on the fly-leaf:—
When torn in bosom by sorrow and care,
Be it ever so simple, there’s nothing like prayer.
It eases, soothes, softens, subdues, yet sustains,
Gives vigour to Hope, and puts Passion in chains,
While strangers to Prayer, we are strangers to Bliss,
Heaven pours its full streams through no medium but this.
The “Bible Lesson” given below, with but few slight changes, shows a mastery of the Word of God of rare merit, expressed in simple yet stately grandeur of language, which makes many modernistic hymns and Higher Critical imaginings appear as dross. From the first word to the last it acknowledges the unerring Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures.—J. M. J.