“Of equal value, Edward?”

“I mean that it was not reckoned a higher prize, and it would have been a nicer book for me.”

“Then you had a Bible already?”

“Why, no, uncle, not of my own, but it is easy to borrow one on the Sabbath; and I had gone through all my Scripture proofs, and do not want it on other days.”

“Read these four verses for me,” said Mr. Lewis, pointing to the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy “commencing with the sixth verse.”

Edward read:  “And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

“To whom did the Lord give this command, Edward?”

“To the Jews, uncle.”

“Yes; and the word of God, which cannot pass away, is as much binding on us as on them, in everything excepting the sacrifices and ceremonies, which foreshowed the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and which were done away.  For by His death He fulfilled all those types and shadows.”

“Then,” said Edward, “we are commanded to write the Bible on our hands and on our doorposts.”

“No, my dear boy, not literally, but in a figure of speech; as the Lord, when declaring he never will forget Zion, says, ’I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me.’

“The meaning of the passage you first read is, that we must have the word of God as continually present in our minds as anything written on our hands, and on every object around us, would be to our bodily sight.  And how are we to get our thoughts so occupied by it, Edward?”

“By continually reading it I suppose,” replied Edward, rather sullenly.

“By reading it often, and meditating on it much,” said his uncle; “and that we can do without interfering with our other business.  Without prayer, you cannot obtain any spiritual blessing, nor maintain any communion with God; and without reading the Scriptures you will have but little desire to pray.

“We are like people wandering in the dark, while the Bible is as a bright lamp held out to direct us in the only safe path.  You cannot be a child of God if you do not His will; you cannot do it unless you know it, and it is by the Bible that He is pleased to have that knowledge known.  Do you begin to see, Edward, that the Bible is more suitable as an every-day book than your profane history?”

“Why, yes, uncle; but the Bible is a serious book, and if I read it so constantly, I never should be merry.”

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“There is no merriment among the lost, Edward; and that dreadful lot will be your portion if you neglect the great salvation which the Scriptures set forth.  Besides, there is no foundation for what you suppose to be the effect of reading the Bible.  I have known people naturally melancholy and discontented, become cheerful and happy by studying it; but I never in my life saw an instance of persons becoming unhappy because they had a hope of going to heaven.”