Born in the East and clothed in Oriental form and imagery
the Bible walks the ways of the world with familiar feet
and enters land after land to find its own everywhere.
It has learned to speak in hundreds of languages to the heart of man. Children listen to its stories with wonder and delight,
and wise men ponder them as parables of life.
The wicked and the proud tremble at its warnings,
but to the wounded and penitent it has a mother's voice.
It has woven itself into our dearest dreams;
so that Love, Friendship, Sympathy, Devotion, Memory, Hope,
put on the beautiful garments of its treasured speech.
No man is poor or desolate who has this treasure for his own.
When the landscape darkens,
and the trembling pilgrim comes to the Valley of the Shadow,
he is not afraid to enter;
he takes the rod and staff of Scripture in his hand;
he says to friend and comrade, "Goodbye; We Shall Meet Again"; and, comforted by that support, he goes toward the lonely pass
as one who walks through darkness into light.
~Henry Van Dyke
© 2011 by Melani Brady Shock
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