ook.

It is the book we need when the fire of sin gleams in our eye and
its poison burns in our veins. It is the book we need when the heart
is sore, when our soul is troubled, and when peace is no longer a
guest in our home.

It is the book we need; for from its pages alone do we behold the
light which shines from a Saviour's empty grave; from its pages
alone do we receive assurance of the resurrection of the dead, of
immortality and the life to come; and from its pages alone do we
hear the tender and welcoming words which seek to greet us and to
comfort us while we struggle here ofttimes beneath the burden's
growing weight, those words of heavenly music: "Come unto me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."

What author on earth would think his book dead and out of date if
year after year the publication of it taxed the printing presses of
the world? What author would deem his book out of date when the
voices of everywhere proclaimed it the book of books, and multitudes
unnumbered confessed that from its pages alone they found the way of
life and peace?

Such a book is neither out of date nor dead; and its throbbing
vitality tells of a life impulse and inspiration that are not of
man.

And, finally,

This book inspires men for God.

Every year books on morality and essays on conduct are written and
published. They get as far as a first edition and are never heard of
again; but this book, which binds all its parts about the person,
the work, the office and the glories of Christ, changes the life,
the character, the time and the eternity of men.

Place this book in the midst of the vilest and most abandoned
community of desperate and devilish men and, sooner or later, you
will hear a cry coming from the depths of sin and shame, bitter
cries of repentance and yearnings after God; and by and by that
community will be transformed, men will no longer be demon filled,
but possessed with a spirit of truth and love; and God will be found
to reign and rule in the midst.

Whatever there is of sweetness and truth and righteousness in the
world to-day; whatever there is that gives hope and comfort on earth
and holds men back from very madness and despair, is due directly
and indirectly to this book.

Take up a map and find the lands where sin and vice skulk in the
darkness; where virtue is honored and purity enthroned; go mark on
the map the lands where the men are the most manly and the wom