Petrarch’s works are said to have lain so long in the roof of a Church in Venice that they turned into stone. To many men it might well seem that the Word of God had become less creed; but a stone upon which to sharpen the daggers of controversy; a stumbling-block for young beginners; a millstone with which to break opponents’ heads, after the manner of Abimelech at Thebez.

Proclaimed without tenderness and argued without affection, the gospel from such men rather resembles a missile from a catapult than bread from a Father’s table. To turn stones into bread was the temptation of our Master, but how many of His servants yield readily to the temptation to turn Bread into stones!

The inspired word to us is spirit and life, and we cannot afford to have it hardened into a spiritual Stonehenge. Far rather would we have it as our own “household book,” our bosom companion, the poor man’s counsellor and friend.

Anonymous

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