The Best and the Cheapest

Francis Bourdillon, 1873
 

Cheap and good do not always go together. Everybody who buys, knows that. But there is a thing which is both the cheapest and the best. Do you want to know what it is? It is a book. But not a common book. It is the Bible.

Now perhaps you are disappointed. Cheap and good is what you are always looking for, and you thought this thing might be some new kind of stuff for clothing perhaps, or something useful in housekeeping. And even when you found it was only a book, still you thought it might be some very cheap and amusing story-book. Perhaps you do not care about it, now that you find it is the Bible. Yet read on. See if I do not make good my words.

The Bible is the cheapest and the best of books.

It is the CHEAPEST. You may have a Bible for sixpence, a larger one for eightpence, one larger still for tenpence, and a very large one, such as any eyes can read that can read at all, for about two shillings. I do not think you could get any other book of the same size for so little.

It is the cheapest in another way. You may get a Bible almost anywhere. A poor man would often find it difficult to buy another book, even if he had the money, because there might be no bookseller's shop for miles. But he has only to go to the next minister or to speak to the next Christian person who visits him, and a Bible may be had at once.

It is the BEST book too. It is the best, because it is all true. We may safely depend upon all that we find in it, for it is the word of God. It is the best, because it tells us the best of news. It tells us of a Savior, Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. It tells us how God loves us, how ready He is to hear our prayers and to forgive us our sins for Christ's sake. It tells us of mercy, pardon, salvation, happiness and heaven—all offered to us freely, if we will seek them through Jesus Christ.

It is the best, because it is so plain. Some parts, it is true, we cannot fully understand at present. But most of it is plain, and especially those parts which tell us about our Savior. Much of it even a child can understand.

It is the best, because it is so full of comfort for us when we are in trouble. No book like it for that. Even a "broken heart" may find comfort in the Bible.

Thousands love the Bible. It is their comfort and delight, the food of their souls, supporting them, cheering them, and making them happy. Every day they go to it afresh. It is like God speaking to them—and they love His words.

Have you got a Bible? Whatever else you must do without—do not live without a Bible, the best of books, better than all the books in the world, and cheaper too. If you have a Bible, then where is it? Not always up on the shelf, I hope, or down in the chest. There is little use in having a Bible so. Get a Bible and read it daily and pray God to grant you His Holy Spirit to help you understand it. Have the Bible in your house and in your heart. It will lead you to Christ and make you happy—here and forever.