A friend and I were recently discussing the idea of what is “beautiful” as he heard someone else waxing eloquently on the “beauty” of certain literary works in the context of Christian ministry. Al Mohler discussed the issue of what the secular considers “beautiful” on the Briefing a couple of days ago. While there are certainly many different literary works that have much to offer to excite and stimulate the senses, all works of human origin pale in comparison to the inherent beauty of the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God as found in His infallible, holy Word.
“The attentive study of the Scriptures has a sort of constraining power. It fills the mind with the most splendid form of heavenly truth, which it teaches with purity, solidarity, certainty, and without the least mixture of error. It soothes the mind with an inexpressible sweetness; it satisfies the sacred hunger and thirst for knowledge with flowing rivers of honey and butter; it penetrates into the innermost heart with irresistible influence; it imprints its own testimony so firmly upon the mind, that the believing soul rests upon it with the same security, as if it had been carried up into the third heaven, and heard it from God’s own mouth; it touches all the affections, and breathes the sweetest fragrance of holiness upon the pious reader, even though he may not perhaps comprehend the full extent of his reading.”
– Charles Bridges
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