{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36655/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36655","id":"gutenberg_36655","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36655","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Study and teaching","Category: How To ...","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Keith G Richardson\n\n\n\n\nPleasure & Profit in Bible Study\n\nBY\n\nD. L. MOODY\n\nThe statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart . . . More to be\ndesired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than\nhoney and the honey-comb.--_Psalm xix:8-10_.\n\nFleming H. Revell Company\n\nChicago, New York Toronto\n\n_Publishers of Evangelical Literature_\n\n\n\n\nCOPYRIGHTED 1895, by FLEMING H. REVELL CO.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nIt is always a pleasure to me to speak on the subject of this volume. I\nthink I would rather preach about the Word of God than anything else\nexcept the Love of God; because I believe it is the best thing in this\nworld.\n\nWe cannot overestimate the importance of a thorough familiarity with the\nBible. I try to lose no opportunity of urging people by every means in\nmy power to the constant study of this wonderful Book. If through the\npages that follow, I can reach still others and rouse them to read their\nBibles, not at random but with a plan and purpose, I shall be indeed\nthankful.\n\nD. L. Moody.\n\n\n\n\n   When thou goest, it shall lead thee;\n   When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee;\n   When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.\n                           --Prov. vi. 22.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nClose Contact with the Word of God--Word and Work--The Christian's\nWeapon--Young Converts and Bible Study--Up to Date--Every Case\nMet--\"Great Peace\"--Starving the Soul--The Guide-Book to Heaven.\n\nA QUICKENING that will last must come through the Word of God. A man\nstood up in one of our meetings and said he hoped for enough out of the\nseries of meetings to last him all his life. I told him he might as well\ntry to eat enough breakfast at one time to last him his lifetime. That\nis a mistake that people are making; they are running to religious\nmeetings and they think the meetings are going to do the work. But if\nthese don't bring you into closer contact with the Word of God, the\nwhole impression will be gone in three months. The more you love the\nScriptures, the firmer will be your faith. There is little backsliding\nwhen people love the Scriptures. If you come into closer contact with\nthe Word, you will gain something that will last, because the Word of\nGod is going to endure. In the one hundred and nineteenth psalm David\nprayed nine times that God would quicken him--according to His word, His\nlaw, His judgment, His precepts, etc.\n\nIf I could say something that would induce Christians to have a deeper\nlove for the Word of God, I should feel this to be the most important\nservice that could be rendered to them. Do you ask: How can I get in\nlove with the Bible? Well, if you will only arouse yourself to the study\nof it, and ask God's assistance, He will assuredly help you.\n\nWORD AND WORK.\n\nWord and Work make healthy Christians. If it be all Word and no work,\npeople will suffer from what I may call religious gout. On the other\nhand if it be all work and no Word, it will not be long before they will\nfall into all kinds of sin and error; so that they will do more harm\nthan good. But if we first study the Word and then go to work, we shall\nbe healthy, useful Christians. I never saw a fruit-bearing Christian who\nwas not a student of the Bible. If a man neglects his Bible, he may pray\nand ask God to use him in His work; but God cannot make use of him, for\nthere is not much for the Holy Ghost to work upon. We must have the Word\nitself, which is sharper than any two-edged sword.\n\nWe have a great many prayer meetings, but there is something just as\nimportant as prayer, and that is that we read our Bibles, that we have\nBible study and Bible lectures and Bible classes, so that we may get\nhold of the Word of God. When I pray, I talk to God, but when I read the\nBible, God is talking to me; and it is really more important that God\nshould speak to me than that I should speak to Him I believe we should\nknow better how to pray if we knew our Bibles better. What is an army\ngood for if they don't know how to use their weapons? What is a young\nman starting out in the Christian work good for it he does not know how\nto use his Bible? A man isn't worth much in battle if he has any doubt\nabout his weapon, and I have never found a man who has doubts about the\nBible who has amounted to much in Christian work. I have seen work after\nwork wrecked because men lost confidence in the spirit of this Old Book.\n\nYOUNG CONVERTS.\n\nIf young converts want to be used of God, they must feed on His Word.\nTheir experience may be very good and very profitable at the outset, and\nthey may help others by telling it; but if they keep on doing nothing\nelse but telling their experience, it will soon become stale and\nunprofitable, and people will weary of hearing the same thing over and\nover again. But when they have told how they have been converted, the\nnext thing is to feed on the Word. We are not fountains ourselves; but\nthe Word of God is the true fountain.\n\nAnd if we feed on the Word, it will be so easy then to speak to others;\nand not only that, but we shall be growing in grace all the while, and\nothers will take notice of our walk and conversation. So few grow,\nbecause so few study. I would advise all young converts to keep as much\nas they can in the company of more experienced Christians. I like to\nkeep in the society of those who know more than I do; and I never lose a\nchance of getting all the good I can out of them. Study the Bible\ncarefully and prayerfully; ask of others what this passage means and\nwhat that passage means, and when you have become practically acquainted\nwith the great truths it contains, you will have less to fear from the\nworld, the flesh, and the devil. You will not be disappointed in your\nChristian life.\n\nSOMETHING NEW.\n\nPeople are constantly saying: We want something new; some new doctrine,\nsome new idea. Depend upon it, my friends, if you get tired of the Word\nof God, and it becomes wearisome to you, you are out of communion with\nHim.\n\nWhen I was in Baltimore last, my window looked out on an Episcopal\nChurch. The stained-glass windows were dull and uninviting by day, but\nwhen the lights shone through at night, how beautiful they were! So when\nthe Holy Spirit touches the eyes of your understanding and you see\nChrist shining through the pages of the Bible, it becomes a new book to\nyou.\n\nA young lady once took up a novel to read, but found it dull and\nuninteresting. Some months afterwards, she was introduced to the author\nand in the course of time became his wife. She then found that there was\nsomething in the book, and her opinion of it changed. The change was not\nin the book, but in herself. She had come to know and love the writer.\nSome Christians read the Bible as a duty, if they read it at all; but as\nsoon as a man or woman sees Christ as the chiefest among ten thousand,\nthe Bible becomes the revelation of the Father's love and becomes a\nnever-ending charm. A gentleman asked another, \"Do you often read the\nBible?\" \"No,\" was the answer, \"I frankly admit I do not love God.\" \"No\nmore did I.\" the first replied, \"but God loved me.\"\n\nA great many people seem to think that the Bible is out of date, that it\nis an old book, and they think it has passed its day. They say it was\nvery good for the dark ages, and that there is some very good history in\nit, but it was not intended for the present time; we are living in a\nvery enlightened age and men can get on very well without the old book;\nwe have outgrown it. Now you might just as well say that the sun, which\nhas shone so long, is now so old that it is out of date, and that\nwhenever a man builds a house he need not put any windows in it, because\nwe have a newer light and a better light; we have gaslight and electric\nlight. These are something new; and I would advise people, if they think\nthe Bible is too old and worn out, when they build houses, not to put\nwindows in them, but just to light them with electric light; that is\nsomething new and that is what they are anxious for.\n\nEVERY CASE MET.\n\nBear in mind there is no situation in life for which you cannot find\nsome word of consolation in Scripture. If you are in affliction, if you\nare in adversity and trial, there is a promise for you. In joy and\nsorrow, in health and in sickness, in poverty and in riches, in every\ncondition of life, God has a promise stored up in His Word for you. In\none way or another every case is met, and the truth is commended to\nevery man's conscience. It is said that Richard Baxter, author of \"The\nSaints' Everlasting Rest,\" felt the force of miracles chiefly in his\nyouth; in maturer years he was more impressed by fulfilled prophecy; and\ntowards the end of his life he felt the deepest satisfaction in his own\nripe experience of the power of the Gospel.\n\n\"If you are impatient, sit down quietly and commune with Job.\n\nIf you are strong-headed, read of Moses and Peter.\n\nIf you are weak-kneed, look at Elijah.\n\nIf there is no song in your heart, listen to David.\n\nIf you are a politician, read Daniel.\n\nIf you are getting sordid, read Isaiah.\n\nIf you are chilly, read of the beloved disciple.\n\nIf your faith is low, read Paul.\n\nIf you are getting lazy, watch James.\n\nIf you are losing sight of the future, read in Revelation of the\npromised land.\"\n\n\"GREAT PEACE.\"\n\nIn Psalm 119:165, we find these words: \"Great peace have they which love\nThy law; and nothing shall offend them.\" The study of God's Word will\nsecure peace. Take those Christians who are rooted and grounded in the\nWord of God, and you will find they have great peace; but those who\ndon't study their Bible, and don't know their Bible, are easily offended\nwhen some little trouble comes, or some little persecution, and their\npeace is all disturbed; just a little breath of opposition and their\npeace is all gone.\n\nSometimes I am amazed to see how little it takes to drive all peace and\ncomfort from some people. A slandering tongue will readily blast it. But\nif we have the peace of God, the world cannot take that from us. It\ncannot give it; it cannot destroy it. We must get it from above the\nworld, it is the peace which Christ gives. \"Great peace have they which\nlove Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.\" Christ says, \"Blessed is\nhe, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.\" Now, you will notice that\nwhere ever there is a Bible-taught Christian, one who has his Bible well\nmarked, and who daily feeds upon the Word with prayerful meditation, he\nwill not be easily offended.\n\nSuch are the people who are growing and working all the while. But it is\nthe people who never open their Bibles, who never study the Scriptures,\nwho become offended, and are wondering why they are having such a hard\ntime. They are the persons who tell you that Christianity is not what it\nhas been recommended to them; that they have found it is not all that we\nclaim it to be. The real trouble is, they have not done as the Lord has\ntold them to do. They have neglected the Word of God. If they had been\nstudying the Word of God, they would not be in that condition, they\nwould not have wandered these years away from God, living on the husks\nof the world. They have neglected to care for the new life, they haven't\nfed it, and the poor soul, being starved, sinks into weakness and decay,\nand is easily stumbled or offended. If a man is born of God, he can not\nthrive without God.\n\nI met a man who confessed his soul had fed on nothing for forty years.\n\"Well,\" said I, \"that is pretty hard for the soul--giving it nothing to\nfeed on!\" That man is a type of thousands and tens of thousands to-day;\ntheir poor souls are starving. We take good care of this body that we\ninhabit for a day, and then leave; we feed it three times a day, and we\nclothe it, and deck it, and by and by it is going into the grave to rot;\nbut the inner man, that is to live on and on forever, is lean and\nstarved. \"Man shall not Live by bread alone, but by every word that\nproceedeth out of the mouth of God.\"\n\nTHE GUIDEBOOK TO THE CHRISTIAN'S HOME.\n\nIf a man is traveling and does not know where he is going to, or how he\nis going to get there, you know he has a good deal of trouble, and does\nnot enjoy the trip as much as if he has a guidebook at hand. It is not\nsafe traveling, and he does not know how to make through connections.\nNow, the Bible is a guidebook in the journey of life, and the only one\nthat points the way to Heaven. \"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a\nlight unto my path.\" Let us take heed then not to refuse the light and\nthe help it gives.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nDoubting and Inquiring--Proving--A Savour of Life unto Life, or Death\nunto Death--Understanding the Scriptures--Cavilling--Using the\nPenknife--The Supernatural--Inspiration.\n\nWE DO NOT ask men and women to believe in the Bible without enquiry. It\nis not natural to man to accept the things of God without question. If\nyou are to be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a\nreason of the hope that is within you, you must first be an enquirer\nyourself. But do not be a dishonest doubter, with your heart and mind\nproof against evidence. Do not be a doubter because you think it is\n\"intellectual;\" do not ventilate your doubts. \"Give us your\nconvictions,\" said a German writer, \"we have enough doubts of our own.\"\nBe like Thomas who did not accept Jesus' offer to feel the nail-prints\nin His hand and side; his heart was open to conviction. \"Faith,\" says\nJohn McNeill, \"is not to be obtained at your finger-ends.\"\n\nIf you are filled with the Word of God, there will not be any doubts. A\nlady said to me once, \"Don't you have any doubts?\" No, I don't have\ntime--too much work to be done. Some people live on doubt. It is their\nstock in trade. I believe the reason there are so many Christians who\nare without the full evidence of the relationship, with whom you only\nsee the Christian graces cropping out every now and then, is that the\nBible is not taken for doctrine, reproof and instruction.\n\nPROVING.\n\nNow the request comes: \"I wish you would prove to me that the Bible is\ntrue.\" The Book will prove itself if you will let it; there is living\npower in it. \"For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because\nwhen ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it\nnot as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which\neffectually worketh also in you that believe.\" It does not need defence\nso much as it needs studying. It can defend itself. It is not a sickly\nchild that needs nursing. A Christian man was once talking to a skeptic\nwho said he did not believe the Bible. The man read certain passages,\nbut the skeptic said again, \"I don't believe a word of it.\" The man kept\non reading until finally the skeptic was convicted; and the other added:\n\"When I have proved a good sword, I keep using it.\" That is what we want\nto-day. It is not our work to make men believe: that is the work of the\nHoly Spirit.\n\nCONVICTED--LOST--SAVED.\n\nA man once sat down to read it an hour each evening with his wife. In a\nfew evenings he stopped in the midst of his reading and said: \"Wife, if\nthis Book is true, we are wrong.\" He read on, and before long, stopped\nagain and said: \"Wife, if this Book is true, we are lost.\" Riveted to\nthe Book and deeply anxious, he still read on, and soon exclaimed:\n\"Wife, if this Book is true, we may be saved.\" It was not many days\nbefore they were both converted. This is the one great end of the Book,\nto tell man of God's great salvation. Think of a book that can lift up\nour drooping spirits, and recreate us in God's image!\n\nIt is an awful responsibility to have such a book and to neglect its\nwarnings, to reject its teachings. It is either the savour of death unto\ndeath, or of life unto life. What if God should withdraw it, and say: \"I\nwill not trouble you with it any more?\"\n\nCAN'T UNDERSTAND.\n\nYou ask what you are going to do when you come to a thing you cannot\nunderstand. I thank God there is a height in that Book I do not know\nanything about, a depth I have never been able to fathom, and it makes\nthe Book all the more fascinating. If I could take that Book up and read\nit as I can any other book and understand it at one reading, I should\nhave lost faith in it years ago. It is one of the strongest proofs that\nthat Book must have come from God, that the acutest men who have dug for\nfifty years have laid down their pens and said, \"There is a depth we\nknow nothing of.\" \"No scripture,\" said Spurgeon, \"is exhausted by a\nsingle explanation. The flowers of God's garden bloom, not only double,\nbut seven-fold: they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance.\" A\nman came to me with a difficult passage some time ago and said, \"Moody,\nwhat do you do with that?\" \"I do not do anything with it.\" \"How do you\nunderstand it?\" \"I do not understand it.\" \"How do you explain it?\" \"I do\nnot explain it.\" \"What do you do with it?\" \"I do not do anything.\" \"You\ndo not believe it, do you?\" \"Oh, yes, I _believe_ it.\" There are lots of\nthings I do not understand, but I believe them. I do not know anything\nabout higher mathematics, but I believe in them. I do not understand\nastronomy, but I believe in astronomy. Can you tell me why the same kind\nof food turns into flesh, fish, hair, feathers, hoofs, finger-nails\n--according as it is eaten by one animal or another? A man told me a\nwhile ago he could not believe a thing he had never seen. I said,\n\"Man, did you ever see your brain?\"\n\nDr. Talmage tells the story that one day while he was bothering his\ntheological professor with questions about the mysteries of the Bible,\nthe latter turned on him and said: \"Mr. Talmage, you will have to let\nGod know some things you don't.\"\n\nA man once said to an infidel: \"The mysteries of the Bible don't bother\nme. I read the Bible as I eat fish. When I am eating fish and come\nacross a bone. I don't try to swallow it, I lay it aside. And when I am\nreading the Bible and come across something I can't understand, I say,\n'There is a bone,' and I pass it by. But I don't throw the fish away\nbecause of the bones in it; and I don't throw my Bible away because of a\nfew passages I can't explain.\"\n\nPascal said, \"Human knowledge must be understood in order to be loved;\nbut Divine knowledge must be loved to be understood.\" That marks the\npoint of failure of most critics of the Bible. They do not make their\nbrain the servant of their heart.\n\nCAVILLERS.\n\nDid you ever notice that the things that men cavil most about are the\nvery things to which Christ has set His seal? Men say, \"You don't\nbelieve in the story of Noah and the flood, do you?\" Well, if I give it\nup, I must give up the Gospel, I must give up the teachings of Jesus\nChrist. Christ believed in the story of Noah, and connected that with His\nreturn to earth. \"As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of\nthe Son of man be.\" Men say, \"You don't believe in the story of Lot and\nSodom, do you?\" Just as much as I believe the teachings of Jesus Christ.\n\"As it was in the days of Lot . . . . . even thus shall it be in the day\nwhen the Son of man is revealed.\" Men say, \"You don't believe in the\nstory of Lot's wife, do you?\" Christ believed it. \"Remember Lot's wife.\"\n\"You don't believe the story of Israel looking to a brass serpent for\ndeliverance, do you?\" Christ believed it and connected it with His own\ncross. \"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must\nthe Son of man be lifted up: that whosever believeth in Him should not\nperish but have eternal life.\" Men say, \"You don't believe the children\nof Israel were fed with manna in the desert, do you?\" \"Our fathers did\neat manna in the desert; . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses\ngave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true\nbread from heaven.\" Men say, \"You don't believe they drank water that\ncame out of a rock?\" Christ believed it and taught it. Men say, \"You\ndon't believe in the story of Elijah being fed by the widow, do you?\"\nCertainly. Christ said there were many widows in the days of Elijah, but\nElijah was fed by only one widow. Christ referred to it Himself, He set\nHis seal to it. The Son of God believed it, and, \"shall the servant be\nabove his master?\"\n\nJONAH AND THE WHALE.\n\nMen say, \"Well, you don't believe in the story of Jonah and the whale,\ndo you?\" I want to tell you I _do_ believe it. A few years ago there was\na man whom some one thought a little unsound, and they didn't want him\nto speak on the Northfield platform. I said, \"I will soon find out\nwhether or not he is sound.\" I asked him, \"Do you believe the whale\nswallowed Jonah?\" \"Yes,\" he said, \"I do.\" I said \"All right, then I want\nyou to come and speak.\" He came and gave a lecture on Jonah. In Matthew\nthey twice asked Jesus for a sign, and He said the only sign this\ngeneration shall have shall be the sign of Jonah in the whale's belly.\nHe connected that with His resurrection, and I honestly believe that if\nwe overthrow the one, we must overthrow the other. As you get along in\nlife and have perhaps as many friends on the other side of the river as\nyou have on this side, you will get about as much comfort out of the\nstory of the resurrection as any other story in the Bible. Christ had no\ndoubt about the story. He said His resurrection would be a sign like\nthat given unto the Ninevites. It was the resurrected man Jonah who\nwalked through the streets of Nineveh. It must be supposed that the men\nof Nineveh had heard of Jonah being thrown overboard and swallowed by a\ngreat fish. I think it is a master-stroke of Satan to make us doubt the\nresurrection. But these modern philosophers have made a discovery. They\nsay a whale's throat is no larger than a man's fist, and it is a\nphysical impossibility for a whale to swallow a man. The book of Jonah\nsays that _God prepared a great fish_ to swallow Jonah. Couldn't God\nmake a fish large enough to swallow Jonah? If God could create a world,\nI think He could create a fish large enough to swallow a _million_ men.\nAs the old woman said, \"Could He not, if He chose, prepare a man that\ncould swallow a whale?\" A couple of these modern philosophers were going\nto Europe some time ago, and a Scotch friend of mine was on board who\nknew his Bible pretty well. They got to talking about the Bible, and one\nof them said: \"I am a scientific man, and I have made some investigation\nof that Book, and I have taken up some of the statements in it, and I\nhave examined them, and I pronounce them untrue. There is a statement in\nthe Bible that Balaam's ass spoke. I have taken pains to examine the\nmouth of an ass and it is so formed that it could not speak.\" My friend\nstood it as long as he could and then said, \"Eh, mon, you make the ass\nand I will make him speak.\" The idea that God could not speak through\nthe mouth of an ass!\n\nCLIPPING THE BIBLE.\n\nThere is another class. It is quite fashionable for people to say, \"Yes,\nI believe the Bible, but not the supernatural. I believe everything that\ncorresponds with this reason of mine.\" They go on reading the Bible with\na pen-knife, cutting out this and that. Now, if I have a right to cut\nout a certain portion of the Bible, I don't know why one of my friends\nhas not a right to cut out another, and another friend to cut out\nanother part, and so on. You would have a queer kind of Bible if\neverybody cut out what he wanted to. Every adulterer would cut out\neverything about adultery; every liar would cut out everything about\nlying; every drunkard would be cutting out what he didn't like. Once, a\ngentleman took his Bible around to his minister's and said, \"That is\nyour Bible.\" \"Why do you call it _my_ Bible?\" said the minister. \"Well,\"\nreplied the gentleman, \"I have been sitting under your preaching for\nfive years, and when you said that a thing in the Bible was not\nauthentic, I cut it out.\" He had about a third of the Bible cut out; all\nof Job, all of Ecclesiastes and Revelation, and a good deal besides. The\nminister wanted him to leave the Bible with him; he didn't want the rest\nof his congregation to see it. But the man said, \"Oh, no! I have the\ncovers left, and I will hold on to them.\" And off he went holding on to\nthe covers. If you believed what some men preach, you would have nothing\nbut the covers left in a few months. I have often said that if I am\ngoing to throw away the Bible, I will throw it all into the fire at\nonce. There is no need of waiting five years to do what you can do as\nwell at once. I have yet to find a man who begins to pick at the Bible\nthat does not pick it all to pieces in a little while. A minister whom I\nmet awhile ago said to me, \"Moody, I have given up preaching except out\nof the four Gospels. I have given up all the Epistles, and all the Old\nTestament; and I do not know why I cannot go to the fountain head and\npreach as Paul did. I believe the Gospels are all there is that is\nauthentic.\" It was not long before he gave up the four Gospels, and\nfinally gave up the ministry. He gave up the Bible, and God gave him up.\n\nA prophet who had been sent to a city to warn the wicked, was commanded\nnot to eat meat within its walls. He was afterwards deceived into doing\nso by an old prophet, who told him that an angel had come to him and\nsaid he might return and eat with him. That prophet was destroyed by a\nlion for his disobedience. If an angel should come and tell a different\nstory from that in the Book, don't believe it. I am tired and sick of\npeople following men. It is written, \"though an angel from heaven preach\nany other gospel, let him be accursed.\" Do you think with more light\nbefore us than the prophet had that we can disobey God's Word with\nimpunity?\n\nTHE SUPERNATURAL IN THE BIBLE.\n\nIt is a most absurd statement for a man to say he will have nothing to\ndo with the supernatural, will not believe the supernatural. If you are\ngoing to throw off the supernatural, you might as well burn your Bibles\nat once. You take the supernatural out of that Book and you have taken\nJesus Christ out of it, you have taken out the best part of the Book.\nThere is no part of the Bible that does not teach supernatural things.\nIn Genesis it says that Abraham fell on his face and God talked with\nhim. That is supernatural. If that did not take place, the man who wrote\nGenesis wrote a lie, and out goes Genesis. In Exodus you find the ten\nplagues which came upon Egypt. If that is not true, the writer of Exodus\nwas a liar. Then in Leviticus it is said that fire consumed the two sons\nof Aaron. That was a supernatural event, and if that was not true we\nmust throw out the whole book.\n\nIn Numbers is the story of the brazen serpent. And so with every book in\nthe Old Testament; there's not one in which you do not find something\nsupernatural. There are more supernatural things about Jesus Christ than\nin any other portion of the Bible, and the last thing a man is willing\nto give up is the four Gospels. Five hundred years before His birth, the\nangel Gabriel came down and told Daniel that He should be born. \"And\nwhiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen\nin the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me\nabout the time of the evening oblation.\" Again, Gabriel comes down to\nNazareth and tells the Virgin that she should be the mother of the\nSaviour. \"Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son,\nand shalt call his name Jesus.\" We find, too, that the angel went into\nthe temple and told Zacharias that he was to be the father of John the\nBaptist, the forerunner of the Messiah; Zacharias was struck dumb for\nnine months because of his unbelief. Then when Christ was born, we find\nangels appearing to the shepherds at Bethlehem, telling them of the\nbirth of the Saviour. \"Unto you is born this day in the city of David a\nSaviour, which is Christ the Lord.\" The wise men seeing the star in the\neast and following it was surely supernatural. So was the warning that\nGod sent to Joseph in a dream, telling him to flee to Egypt. So was the\nfact of our Lord's going into the temple at the age of twelve,\ndiscussing with the doctors, and being a match for them all. So were the\ncircumstances attending His baptism, when God spake from heaven, saying:\n\"This is my beloved Son.\" For three and a half years Jesus trod the\nstreets and highways of Palestine. Think of the many wonderful miracles\nthat He wrought during those years. One day He speaks to the leper and\nhe is made whole; one day He speaks to the sea and it obeys Him. When He\ndied the sun refused to look upon the scene; this old world recognized\nHim and reeled and rocked like a drunken man. And when He burst asunder\nthe bands of death and came out of Joseph's sepulchre, that was\nsupernatural. Christmas Evans, the great Welsh preacher, says: \"Many\nreformations die with the reformer, but this reformer ever lives to\ncarry on His reformation.\" Thank God we do not worship a dead Jew. If we\nworshipped a dead Jew, we would not have been quickened and have\nreceived life in our souls. I thank God our Christ is a supernatural\nChrist, and this Book a supernatural Book, and I thank God I live in a\ncountry where it is so free that all men can read it.\n\nSome people think we are deluded, that this is imagination. Well, it is\na glorious imagination, is it not? It has lasted between thirty and\nforty years with me, and I think it is going to last while I live, and\nwhen I go into another world. Some one, when reading about Paul, said he\nwas mad. Well, it was replied, if he was he had a good keeper on the\nway, and a good asylum at the end of the route. I wish we had a lot of\nmad men in America just now like Paul.\n\nINSPIRATION.\n\nWhen Paul wrote to Timothy that _all_ Scripture was given by inspiration\nof God and was profitable, he meant what he said. \"Well,\" some say, \"do\nyou believe all Scripture is given by inspiration?\" Yes, every word of\nit; but I don't believe all the actions and incidents it tells of were\ninspired. For instance, when the devil told a lie he was not inspired to\ntell a lie, and when a wicked man like Ahab said anything, he was not\ninspired; but some one was inspired to write it, and so all was given by\ninspiration and is profitable.\n\nInspiration must have been verbal in many, if not in all, cases. Peter\ntells us, regarding salvation through the sufferings of Christ:\n\n\"Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently,\nwho prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. Searching what or\nwhat manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify,\nwhen it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory\nthat should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves,\nbut unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto\nyou by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost\nsent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.\"\n\nSo that the prophets themselves had to enquire and search diligently\nregarding the words they uttered under the inspiration of the Spirit.\n\nA man said to a young convert: \"How can you prove that the Bible is\ninspired?\" He replied, \"Because it inspires me.\" I think that is pretty\ngood proof. Let the Word of God into your soul, and it will inspire you,\nit can not help it.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n_The Old and the New Testaments_.\n\nI WANT to show how absurd it is for anyone to say he believes the New\nTestament and not the Old. It is a very interesting fact that of the\nthirty-nine books of the Old Testament, it is recorded that our Lord\nmade quotations from no less than twenty-two. Very possibly He may have\nquoted from all of them; for we have only fragments reported of what He\nsaid and did. You know the Apostle John tells us that the world could\nscarcely contain the books that could be written, if all the sayings and\ndoings of our Lord were recorded. About eight hundred and fifty passages\nin the Old Testament are quoted or alluded to in the New; only a few\noccurring more than once.\n\nIn the Gospel by Matthew there are over a hundred quotations from twenty\nof the books in the Old Testament. In the Gospel of Mark there are\nfifteen quotations taken from thirteen of the books. In the Gospel of\nLuke there are thirty-four quotations from thirteen books. In the Gospel\nof John there are eleven quotations from six books. In the four Gospels\nalone there are more than one hundred and sixty quotations from the Old\nTestament. You sometimes hear men saying they do not believe all the\nBible, but they believe the teaching of Jesus Christ in the four\nGospels. Well, if I believe that, I have to accept these hundred and\nsixty quotations from the Old Testament. In Paul's letter to the\nCorinthians there are fifty-three quotations from the Old Testament;\nsometimes he takes whole paragraphs from it. In Hebrews there are\neighty-five quotations, in that one book of thirteen chapters. In\nGalatians, sixteen quotations. In the book of Revelation alone, there\nare two hundred and forty-five quotations and allusions.\n\nA great many want to throw out the Old Testament. It is good historic\nreading, they say, but they don't believe it is a part of the Word of\nGod, and don't regard it as essential in the scheme of salvation. The\nlast letter Paul wrote contained the following words: \"And that from a\nchild thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are _able to make thee\nwise unto salvation_ through faith which is in Christ Jesus.\" All the\nScriptures which the apostles possessed were the Old Testament.\n\nWhen skeptics attack its truths, these find it convenient to say, \"Well,\nwe don't endorse all that is in the Old Testament,\" and thus they avoid\nan argument in defence of the Scriptures. It is very important that\nevery Christian should not only know what the Old Testament teaches, but\nhe should accept its truths, because it is upon this that truth is\nbased. Peter said the Scriptures are not given for any private\ninterpretation, and in speaking of the Scriptures, referred to the Old\nTestament and not to the New.\n\nIf the Old Testament Scriptures are not true, do you think Christ would\nhave so often referred to them, and said the Scriptures must be\nfulfilled? When told by the tempter that He might call down the angels\nfrom heaven to interpose in His behalf, he said: \"Thus it is written.\"\nChrist gave Himself up as a sacrifice that the Scriptures might be\nfulfilled. Was it not said that He was numbered with the transgressors?\nAnd when He talked with two of His disciples by the way journeying to\nEmmaus, after His resurrection, did He not say: \"Ought not these things\nto be? am I not to suffer?\" And beginning at Moses He explained unto\nthem in all the Scriptures concerning Himself, for the one theme of the\nOld Testament is the Messiah. In Psalm 40:7, it says: \"In the volume of\nthe book it is written of me.\" \"What _Book?_\" asks Luther, \"and what\n_Person?_ There is only one book--the Bible; and only one person--Jesus\nChrist.\" Christ referred to the Scriptures and their fulfillment in Him,\nnot only after He arose from the dead, but in the book of Revelation He\nused them in Heaven. He spoke to John of them on the Isle of Patmos, and\nused the very things in them that men are trying to cast out. He never\nfound fault with or rejected them.\n\nIf Jesus Christ could use the Old Testament, let us use it. May God\ndeliver us from the one-sided Christian who reads only the New Testament\nand talks against the Old!\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\"My Word shall not Pass Away\"--Printing the Revised Version in\nChicago--Circulation of the Bible.\n\nCHRIST speaking of the law, said: \"One jot or one tittle shall in no\nwise pass from the law until all be fulfilled.\" In another place He\nsaid: \"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass\naway.\" Now, let us keep in mind that the only Scripture the apostles and\nChrist had was the Old Testament. The New Testament was not written. I\nwill put that as the old and new covenant. \"One jot or tittle of the law\nshall in no wise pass away until all be fulfilled,\"--the old covenant;\nand then Christ comes and adds these words: \"Heaven and earth shall pass\naway, but my Word shall not pass away,\"--the new covenant. Now, notice\nhow that has been fulfilled. There was no short-hand reporter following\nHim around taking down His words; there were no papers to print the\nsermons, and they wouldn't have printed His sermons if there had been\nany daily papers--the whole church and all the religious world were\nagainst Him. I can see one of your modern free-thinkers standing near\nHim, and he hears Christ say: \"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my\nWord shall not pass away.\" I see the scornful look on his face as he\nsays: \"Hear that Jewish peasant talk! Did you ever hear such conceit,\nsuch madness? He says Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his Word\nshall not pass away.\" My friend, I want to ask you this question--have\nthey passed away? Do you know that the sun has shone on more Bibles\nto-day than ever before in the history of the world? There have been\nmore Bibles printed in the last ten years than in the first eighteen\nhundred years. They tried in the dark ages to chain it, and keep it from\nthe nations, but God has preserved it, and the British and American\nBible Societies print thousands of Bibles every day. One house in New\nYork has sold one hundred thousand Oxford Bibles during the last year.\n\nPRINTING THE REVISED VERSION.\n\nSuppose some one had said that when we had a revised version of the New\nTestament, it was going to have such a large circulation--men reading it\nwherever the English language is spoken--the statement would hardly have\nbeen believed. The new version came out in New York on a Friday--on the\nsame day that it was published in London. Chicago did not want to be\nbehind New York. At that time the quickest train between the two cities\ncould not accomplished the journey in less than about twenty-six hours.\nIt would be late on Saturday afternoon before the copies could reach\nChicago, and the stores would be closed. So one of the Chicago daily\npapers set ninety operators at work and had the whole of the new\nversion, from Matthew to Revelation, telegraphed to Chicago on Friday;\nit was put at once into print and sold on the streets of that city next\nday. If some one had said years ago, before telegraphs were introduced,\nthat this would be done, it would have been thought an impossibility.\nYet it has been done.\n\nNotwithstanding all that skeptics and infidels say against the old Book,\nit goes on its way. These objectors remind one of a dog barking at the\nmoon; the moon goes on shining just the same. Atheists keep on writing\nagainst the Bible; but they do not make much progress, do they? It is\nbeing spread all abroad--silently, and without any blasts of trumpets.\nThe lighthouse does not blow a trumpet; it goes on shedding its light\nall around. So the Bible is lighting up the nations of the earth. It is\nsaid that a lecturer on Secularism was once asked, \"Why can't you let\nthe Bible alone, if you don't believe it?\" The honest reply was at once\nmade, \"Because the Bible won't let me alone.\"\n\nCIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE.\n\nThe Bible was about the first book ever printed, and to-day New\nTestaments are printed in three hundred and fifty-three different\nlanguages, and are going to the very corners of the earth. Wherever the\nBible has not been translated, the people have no literature. It will\nnot be long before the words of Jesus Christ will penetrate the darkest\nparts of the earth, and the darkest islands of the sea. When Christ\nsaid, \"The Scriptures can not be broken,\" He meant every word He said.\nDevil and man and hell have been in league for centuries to try to break\nthe Word of God, but they can not do it. If you get it for your footing,\nyou have good footing for time and eternity. \"Heaven and earth shall\npass away, but my Word shall not pass away.\" My friends, that Word is\ngoing to live, and there is no power in perdition or earth to blot it\nout.\n\nWhat we want to-day is men who believe in it from the crown of their\nheads to the soles of their feet, who believe the whole of it, the\nthings they understand and the things they do not understand. Talk about\nthe things you understand, and leave the things you do not. I believe\nthat is one reason why the English and the Scotch Christians have got\nahead of us, because they study the whole Bible. I venture to say that\nthere are hundreds of Bible readings in London every night. You know\nthere are a good many Christians who are good in spots and mighty poor\nin other spots, because they do not take the whole sweep of the Bible.\nWhen I went to Scotland I had to be very careful how I quoted the Bible.\nSome friend would tell me after the meeting I was quoting it wrong.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nFulfilled Prophecy--Unexplored\nCountry--Babylon--Tyre--Jerusalem--Egypt--The Jew.\n\nI KNOW nothing that will upset an honest skeptic quicker than _fulfilled\nprophecy_. There are very few Christians who think of studying this\nsubject. They say that prophecies are so mysterious, and there is\nquestion about their being fulfilled. Now the Bible does not say that\nprophecy is a dark subject, to be avoided; but rather that \"we have a\nmore _sure word_ of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as\nunto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the\ndaystar arise in your hearts.\" Prophecy is history unfulfilled, and\nhistory is prophecy fulfilled.\n\nWhen I was a boy I was taught that all beyond the Mississippi river was\nthe great American desert. But when the first pick-axe struck into the\nComstock lode, and they took out more than one hundred million dollars'\nworth of silver, the nation realized that there was no desert: and\nto-day that part of the country--Nevada, Colorado, Utah and other\nwestern states--is some of the most valuable we possess. Think of the\nbusy cities and flourishing states that have sprung up among the\nmountains! So with many portions of the Bible: people never think of\nreading them. They are living on a few verses and chapters. The greater\npart of the Bible was written by prophets, yet you never hear a sermon\npreached on prophecy.\n\nBetween five and six hundred Old Testament prophecies have been\nremarkably and literally fulfilled, and two hundred in regard to Jesus\nChrist alone. Not a thing happened to Jesus Christ that was not\nprophesied from seventeen hundred to four hundred years before He was\nborn.\n\nTake the four great cities that existed in the days when the Old\nTestament was written, and you will find that prophecies regarding them\nhave been fulfilled to the letter. Let me call your attention to a few\npassages.\n\nBABYLON.\n\nFirst regarding Babylon--\"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty\nof the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and\nGomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from\ngeneration to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there;\nneither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of\nthe desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful\ncreatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And\nthe wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and\ndragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her\ndays shall not be prolonged.\" And again: \"The word that the Lord spake\nagainst Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the\nProphet. Declare ye among the nations, and publish and set up a\nstandard; publish and conceal not; say, Babylon is taken, Bel is\nconfounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her\nimages are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh a nation\nagainst her; which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell\ntherein; they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.\"\n\"Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it\nshall be wholly desolate; every one that goeth by Babylon shall be\nastonished, and hiss at all her plagues.\" \"How is the hammer of the\nwhole earth cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation\namong the nations! I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art taken, oh\nBabylon, and thou wast not aware; thou art found, and also caught,\nbecause thou hast striven against the Lord.\"\n\nA hundred years before Nebucadnezzar ascended the throne, it was\nforetold how Babylon should be destroyed, and it came to pass. Scholars\ntell us that the city stood in the midst of a large and fruitful plain.\nIt was enclosed by a wall four hundred and eighty furlongs square. Each\nside of the square had twenty gates of solid brass, and at every corner\nwas a strong tower, ten feet higher than the wall. The wall was\neighty-seven feet broad, and three hundred and fifty feet high. These\nfigures give us an idea of the importance of Babylon. Yet nothing but\nruins now remain to tell of its former grandeur. When Babylon was in its\nglory, the queen of the earth, prophets predicted that it would be\ndestroyed; and how literally was it fulfilled!\n\nA friend going through the valley of the Euphrates tried to get his\ndragoman to pitch his tent near the ruins, and failed. No Arabian\npitches his tent there, no shepherd will dwell near the ruins.\n\nNINEVEH.\n\nNow take Nineveh. \"And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make\nthee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to\npass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say,\nNineveh is laid waste; who will bemoan her? Whence shall I seek\ncomforters for thee?\" Now, how are you going to cover the city up? \"I\nwill cast upon her abominable filth.\" How are you going to cast\nabominable filth upon the city? And yet for 2,500 years Nineveh was\nburied and an abominable filth lay upon her. But now they have dug up\nthe ruins, and brought them to Paris and London, and you go into the\nBritish museum, and there is not a day except the Sabbath but what you\ncan see men from all parts of the world gazing upon the ruins. It is\njust as the prophets prophesied. For 2,500 years Nineveh was buried, but\nit is no longer buried.\n\nTYRE.\n\nThen look at Tyre: \"Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am\nagainst thee, Oh Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against\nthee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy\nthe walls of Tyrus and break down her towers; I will also scrape her\ndust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place\nfor the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it,\nsaith the Lord God, and it shall become a spoil to the nations.\" Coffin,\nwho was correspondent of the Boston _Journal_ during the war, went round\nthe world after the war was over in '68. One night he came to the site\nof old Tyre, and he said the sun was just going down, and he got his\ndragoman to pitch his tent right over by the ruins, where the rocks were\nscraped bare, and he took out his Bible and read where it says, \"It\nshall be a place for the spreading of nets.\" He said the fishermen had\ndone fishing and were just spreading their nets or the rocks of Tyre,\nprecisely as it was prophesied hundreds and hundreds of years before.\nNow mark you! When they prophesied against these great cities, they were\nlike London, Paris and New York in their glory, but their glory has\ngone.\n\nJERUSALEM.\n\nNow take the prophecy in regard to Jerusalem: \"And when He was come\nnear, He beheld the city, and wept over it saying, If thou hadst known,\neven thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy\npeace: But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come\nupon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and\ncompass thee round, and keep thee in on every side.\" Didn't Titus do\nthat? Didn't the Roman Emperor do that very thing? \"And shall lay thee\neven with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not\nleave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time\nof thy visitation.\"\n\nI have read of two Rabbis going up to Jerusalem, and they saw a fox\nplaying upon the wall; one began to weep when he thus looked at the\ndesolation of Zion. The other smiled and rebuked him, saying that the\nspectacle was a proof that the Word of God was true, and that this was\none of the prophecies which should be fulfilled--\"Because of the\nmountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.\" It was\nalso said that Jerusalem should be as a ploughed field. This prophecy\nhas also been fulfilled. The modern city is so restricted that outside\nof the walls, where part of the old city stood, the plough has been\nused.\n\nEGYPT.\n\nNow take the prophecies regarding Egypt: \"It shall be the basest of the\nkingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; for\nI will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.\"\nNow, mark you! Egypt was in its glory when this was prophesied. It was a\ngreat and mighty empire, but for centuries it has been the basest of all\nnations. They have not got a native prince or king to reign over them.\nThe man that is reigning over them now is not an Egyptian, but he is\nsome foreigner, and so it has been.\n\nTHE JEWS.\n\nThen, again, the prophecy of Balaam with regard to the Jews has been\nalready greatly fulfilled. \"Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall\nnot be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and\nthe number of the fourth _part_ of Israel?\" The Jews were not to be\nreckoned amongst the nations. There is something in this people's looks\nand habits that God continues to perpetuate, just, as I believe, to make\nthem witnesses in every land of the truth of the Bible.\n\nThe race has remained all these centuries separate and distinct from\nother nations. In America there are all kinds of nationalities. Take an\nIrishman, and in a generation he will have forgotten his nationality.\nSo, too, with the Germans, Italians, and French; but the Jew is as much\na Jew as he was when he came over one hundred years ago. See how the\nrace has been persecuted, yet the Jews control the finances of the world\nand can not be kept down. Egypt, Edom, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Rome,\nand all the leading nations of the earth have sought to crush out the\nJews. Frederick the Great said, \"Touch them not, for no one has done so\nand prospered.\" The people are the same now as they were in the days of\nPharaoh, when he tried to destroy all the male children. The prophecy is\nfulfilled--God has made the nation numerous and united. The time is\ncoming when God will reinstate the Jew. \"For the children of Israel\nshall abide many days without a King, and without a Prince, and without\na sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without\nteraphim.\" Are they not without a King, without a nation, and without a\nsacrifice? Are they not scattered among the nations of the earth, a\nseparate and distinct people? and they do not bow down to idols. Their\nlast King they crucified, and they will never have another until they\nrestore Him. He was Jesus Christ, as inscribed upon His cross, \"The King\nof the Jews.\"\n\nOTHER PROPHECIES.\n\nWe see how it was prophesied that Eli should suffer. He was God's own\nhigh priest, and the only thing against him was that he did not obey\nGod's word faithfully and diligently. He was like a good many nowadays.\nHe was one of these good-natured old men who don't want to make people\nuncomfortable by saying unpleasant things, so he let his two boys go on\nin neglect, and did not restrain them. He was just like some ministers.\nOh! let every minister tell the truth, though he preach himself out of\nhis pulpit. Everything went all right for twenty years, but then came\nfulfilment of the prophecy. God's ark was taken, the army of Israel was\nrouted by the Philistines; Hophni and Phineas, old Eli's two sons, were\nkilled, and when the old man heard of it, he fell back in his chair,\nbroke his neck and died. So with King Ahab, taking the sinful advice of\nJezebel. Naboth would not sell him that piece of land, so they got him\nout of the way. Three years afterwards the dogs licked Ahab's blood from\nhis chariot in the very spot where Naboth's had been murderously shed.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nText Preaching and Expository Preaching--Peter and Paul at\nJerusalem--Oratorical Preaching\n\nHERE is a word of counsel for young men who have their eye on the\nministry. If you take my advice, you will seek not to be a text\npreacher, but an expository preacher. I believe that what this country\nwants is the Word of God. There is no book that will draw the people\nlike the Bible. One of the professors of the Chicago University gave\nsome lectures on the Book of Job, and there was no building large enough\nto hold the people. If the Bible only has a chance to speak for itself,\nit will interest the people. I am tired and sick of moral essays. It\nwould take about a ton of them to convert a child five years old. A man\nwas talking of a certain church once, and said he liked it because the\npreacher never touched on politics and religion--just read nice little\nessays. Give the people the Word of God. Some men only use the Bible as\na text book. They get a text and away they go. They go up in a balloon\nand talk about astronomy, and then go down and give you a little\ngeology, and next Sunday they go on in the same way, and then they\nwonder why it is people do not read their Bibles. I used to think\nCharles Spurgeon was about as good a preacher as I ever knew, but I used\nto rather hear him expound the Scripture than listen to all his sermons.\nWhy is it that Dr. John Hall has held his audience so long? He opens his\nBible and expounds. How was it that Andrew Bonar held his audience in\nGlasgow? He had a weak voice, people could hardly hear him, yet thirteen\nhundred people would file into his church twice every Sabbath, and many\nof them took notes, and they would go home and send his sermons all over\nthe world. It was Dr. Bonar's custom to lead his congregation through\nthe study of the Bible, book by book. There was not a part of the Bible\nin which he could not find Christ. I preached five months in Glasgow,\nand there was not a ward or a district in the city in which I did not\nfind the influence of that man.\n\nA REMINISCENCE OF DR. ANDREW BONAR.\n\nI was in London in '84 and a barrister had come down from Edinburgh. He\nsaid he went through to Glasgow a few weeks before to spend Sunday, and\nhe was fortunate enough to hear Andrew Bonar. He said he happened to be\nthere the Sunday Dr. Bonar got to that part of the Epistle of Galatians\nwhere it says that Paul went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. \"Then after\nthree years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him\nfifteen days.\" He let his imagination roam. He said one day he could\nimagine they had been very busy and they were tired, and all at once\nPeter turned to Paul and said, \"Paul, wouldn't you like to take a little\nwalk?\" And Paul said he would. So they went down through the streets of\nJerusalem arm in arm, over the brook Cedron, and all at once Peter\nstopped and said, \"Look, Paul, this is the very spot where He wrestled,\nand where He suffered and sweat great drops of blood. There is the very\nspot where John and James fell asleep, right there. And right here is\nthe very spot where I fell asleep. I don't think I should have denied\nHim if I hadn't gone to sleep, but I was overcome. I remember the last\nthing I heard Him say before I fell asleep was, 'Father, let this cup\npass from me if it is Thy will.' And when I awoke an angel stood right\nthere where you are standing, talking to Him, and I saw great drops of\nblood come from His pores and trickle down His cheeks. It wasn't long\nbefore Judas came to betray Him. And I heard Him say to Judas so kindly,\n'Betrayest thou the Master with a kiss?' And then they bound Him and led\nHim away. That night when He was on trial I denied Him.\" He pictured the\nwhole scene. And the next day Peter turned again to Paul and said,\n\"Wouldn't you like to take another walk to-day?\" And Paul said he would.\nThat day they went to Calvary, and when they got on the hill, Peter\nsaid, \"Here, Paul this is the very spot where He died for you and me.\nSee that hole right there? That is where His cross stood. The believing\nthief hung there and the unbelieving thief there on the other side. Mary\nMagdalene and Mary His mother stood there, and I stood away on the\noutskirts of the crowd. The night before when I denied Him, He looked at\nme so lovingly that it broke my heart, and I couldn't bear to get near\nenough to see Him. That was the darkest hour of my life. I was in hopes\nthat God would intercede and take Him from the cross. I kept listening\nand I thought I would hear His voice.\" And he pictured the whole scene,\nhow they drove the spear into His side and put the crown of thorns on\nHis brow, and all that took place.\n\nAnd the next day Peter turned to Paul again and asked him if he wouldn't\nlike to take another walk. And Paul said he would. Again they passed\ndown the streets of Jerusalem, over the brook Cedron, over Mount Olivet,\nup to Bethphage, and over on to the slope near Bethany. All at once\nPeter stopped and said, \"Here, Paul, this is the last place where I ever\nsaw Him. I never heard Him speak so sweetly as He did that day. It was\nright here He delivered His last message to us, and all at once I\nnoticed that His feet didn't touch the ground. He arose and went up. All\nat once there came a cloud and received Him out of sight. I stood right\nhere gazing up into the heavens, in hopes I might see Him again and hear\nHim speak. And two men dressed in white dropped down by our sides and\nstood there and said, 'Ye men of Galilee, why stand Ye gazing into\nheaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so\ncome in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.'\"\n\nMy friends, I want to ask you this question: Do you believe that picture\nis overdrawn? Do you believe Peter had Paul as his guest and didn't take\nhim to Gethsemane, didn't take him to Calvary and to Mount Olivet? I\nmyself spent eight days in Jerusalem, and every morning I wanted to\nsteal down into the garden where my Lord sweat great drops of blood.\nEvery day I climbed Mount Olivet and looked up into the blue sky where\nHe went to His Father. I have no doubt, Peter took Paul out on those\nthree walks. If there had been a man that could have taken me to the\nvery spot where thy Master sweat those great drops of blood, do you\nthink I wouldn't have asked him to take me there? If he could have told\nme where I could find the spot where my Master's feet last touched this\nsin-cursed earth and was taken up, do you think I wouldn't have had him\nshow it to me?\n\nORATORICAL PREACHING.\n\nI know there is a class of people who say that kind of preaching won't\ndo in this country. \"People want something oratorical.\" Well, there is\nno doubt but that there are some who want to hear oratorical sermons,\nbut they forget them inside of twenty-four hours.\n\nIt a good thing for a minister to have the reputation of feeding his\npeople. A man once made an artificial bee, which was so like a real bee\nthat he challenged another man to tell the difference. It made just such\na buzzing as the live bee, and looked the same. The other said, \"You put\nan artificial bee and a real bee down there, and I will tell you the\ndifference pretty quickly.\" He then put a drop of honey on the ground\nand the live bee went for the honey. It is just so with us. There are a\nlot of people who profess to be Christians, but they are artificial, and\nthey don't know when you give them honey. The real bees go for honey\nevery time. People can get along without your theories and opinions,\n\"Thus saith the Lord\"--that is what we want.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nReading and Studying--At Family Prayers--A Word in Season--Helpful\nQuestions.\n\nMERELY reading the Bible is not what God wants. Again and again I am\nexhorted to \"search.\"\n\n\"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received\nthe word with all readiness of mind, and _searched_ the Scriptures\ndaily, whether those things were so.\"\n\n\"So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the\nsense, and caused them to understand the reading.\"\n\nWe must study it thoroughly, and hunt it through, as it were, for some\ngreat truth. If a friend were to see me searching about a building, and\nwere to come up and say, \"Moody, what are you looking for? have you lost\nsomething?\" and I answered, \"No, I haven't lost anything; I'm not\nlooking for anything particular,\" I fancy he would just let me go on by\nmyself, and think me very foolish. But if I were to say, \"Yes, I have\nlost a dollar,\" why, then, I might expect him to help me to find it.\nRead the Bible, my friends, as if you were seeking for something of\nvalue. It is a good deal better to take a single chapter, and spend a\nmonth on it, than to read the Bible at random for a month.\n\nI used at one time to read so many chapters a day, and if I did not get\nthrough my usual quantity I thought I was getting cold and backsliding.\nBut, mind you, if a man had asked me two hours afterward what I had\nread, I could not tell him; I had forgotten it nearly all. When I was a\nboy I used, among other things, to hoe corn on a farm; and I used to hoe\nit so badly, in order to get over so much ground, that at night I had to\nput down a stick in the ground, so as to know next morning where I had\nleft off. That was somewhat in the same fashion as running through so\nmany chapters every day. A man will say, \"Wife, did I read that\nchapter?\" \"Well,\" says she, \"I don't remember.\" And neither of them can\nrecollect. And perhaps he reads the same chapter over and over again;\nand they call that \"studying the Bible.\" I do not think there is a book\nin the world we neglect so much as the Bible.\n\nFAMILY WORSHIP.\n\nNow, when you read the Bible at family worship or for private devotions,\nlook for suitable passages. What would you think of a minister who went\ninto the pulpit on Sunday and opened the Bible at hazard and commenced\nto read? Yet this is what most men do at family prayers. They might as\nwell go into a drug store and swallow the first medicine their eye\nhappens to see. Children would take more interest in family prayers if\nthe father would take time to search for some passage to suit the\nspecial need. For instance, if any member of the family is about to\ntravel, read Psalm 121. In time of trouble, read Psalm 91. When the\nterrible accident happened to the \"Spree\" as we were crossing the\nAtlantic in November, 1892, and when none on board ship expected to live\nto see the light of another sun, we held a prayer-meeting, at which I\nread a portion of Psalm 107:\n\n\"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great\nwaters;\n\nThese see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.\n\nFor he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the\nwaves thereof.\n\nThey mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their\nsoul is melted because of trouble.\n\nThey reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their\nwits' end.\n\nThen they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out\nof their distresses.\n\nHe maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.\n\nThen are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their\ndesired haven.\n\nOh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderful\nworks to the children of men!\"\n\nA lady came to me afterwards and said I made it up to suit the occasion.\n\nHELPFUL QUESTIONS.\n\nI have seen questions that will help one to get good out of every verse\nand passage of Scripture, They may be used in family worship, or in\nstudying the Sabbath School lesson, or for prayer meeting, or in private\nreading. It would be a good thing if questions like these were pasted in\nthe front of every Bible:\n\n1. What persons have I read about, and what have I learned about them?\n\n2. What places have I read about, and what have I read about them? If\nthe place is not mentioned, can I find out where it is? Do I know its\nposition on the map?\n\n3. Does the passage refer to any particular time in the history of the\nchildren of Israel, or of some leading character?\n\n4. Can I tell from memory what I have just been reading?\n\n5. Are there any parallel passages or texts that throw light on this\npassage?\n\n6. Have I read anything about God the Father? or about Jesus Christ? or\nabout the Holy Spirit?\n\n7. What have I read about myself? about man's sinful nature? about the\nspiritual new nature?\n\n8. Is there any duty for me to observe? any example to follow? any\npromise to lay hold of? any exhortation for my guidance? any prayer that\nmay echo?\n\n9. How is this Scripture profitable for doctrine? for reproof? for\ncorrection? for instruction in righteousness?\n\n10. Does it contain the gospel in type or in evidence?\n\n11. What is the key verse of the chapter or passage? Can I repeat it\nfrom memory?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nHow to Study the Bible--Feeding one's self--The Best Law--Three Books\nEvery Christian Should Possess--The Bible in the Sabbath School.\n\nSOMEONE has said that there are four things necessary in studying the\nBible: Admit, submit, commit and transmit. First, admit its truth;\nsecond, submit to its teachings; third, commit it to memory; and fourth,\ntransmit it. If the Christian life is a good thing for you, pass it on\nto some one else.\n\nNow I want to tell you how I study the Bible. Every man cannot fight in\nSaul's armor; and perhaps you cannot follow my methods. Still I may be\nable to throw out some suggestions that will help you. Spurgeon used to\nprepare his sermon for Sunday morning on Saturday night. If I tried\nthat, I would fail.\n\nFEED YOURSELF.\n\nThe quicker you learn to feed yourself the better. I pity down deep in\nmy heart any men or women who have been attending some church or chapel\nfor, say five, ten, or twenty years, and yet have not learned to feed\nthemselves.\n\nYou know it is always regarded a great event in the family when a child\ncan feed itself. It is propped up at table, and at first perhaps it uses\nthe spoon upside down, but by and by it uses it all right, and mother,\nor perhaps sister, claps her hands and says, \"Just see, baby's feeding\nhimself!\" Well, what we need as Christians is to be able to feed\nourselves. How many there are who sit helpless and listless, with open\nmouths, hungry for spiritual things, and the minister has to try to feed\nthem, while the Bible is a feast prepared, into which they never\nventure.\n\nThere are many who have been Christians for twenty years who have still\nto be fed with an ecclesiastical spoon. If they happen to have a\nminister who feeds them, they get on pretty well; but if they have not,\nthey are not fed at all. This is the test as to your being a true child\nof God--whether you love and feed upon the Word of God. If you go out to\nyour garden and throw down some sawdust, the birds will not take any\nnotice; but if you throw down some crumbs, you will find they will soon\nsweep down and pick them up. So the true child of God can tell the\ndifference, so to speak, between sawdust and bread. Many so-called\nChristians are living on the world's sawdust, instead of being nourished\nby the Bread that cometh down from heaven. Nothing can satisfy the\nlongings of the soul but the Word of the living God.\n\nTHE LAW OF PERSEVERANCE.\n\nThe best law for Bible study is the law of perseverance. The Psalmist\nsays, \"I have _stuck_ unto thy testimonies.\" Application to the Word\nwill tend to its growth within and its multiplication without. Some\npeople are like express-trains, they skims along so quickly that they\nsee nothing.\n\nI met a lawyer in Chicago who told me he had spent two years in studying\nup one subject; he was trying to smash a will. He made it his business\nto read everything on wills he could get. Then he went into court and he\ntalked two days about that will; he was full of it; he could not talk\nabout anything else but wills. That is the way with the Bible--study it\nand study it, one subject at a time, until you become filled with it.\n\nRead the Bible itself--do not spend all your time on commentaries and\nhelps. If a man spent all his time reading up the chemical constituents\nof bread and milk, he would soon starve.\n\nTHREE BOOKS REQUIRED.\n\nThere are three books which I think every Christian ought to possess.\n\nThe first, of course, is the Bible. I believe in getting a good Bible,\nwith a good plain print. I have not much love for those little Bibles\nwhich you have to hold right under your nose in order to read the print;\nand if the church happens to be a little dark, you cannot see the print,\nbut it becomes a mere jumble of words. Yes, but some one will say you\ncannot carry a big Bible in your pocket. Very well, then, carry it under\nyour arm; and if you have to walk five miles, you will just be preaching\na sermon five miles long. I have known a man convicted by seeing another\ncarrying his Bible under his arm. You are not ashamed to carry\nhymn-books and prayer-books, and the Bible is worth all the hymn-books\nand prayer-books in the world put together. If you get a good Bible you\nare likely to take better care of it. Suppose you pay ten dollars for a\ngood Bible, the older you grow the more precious it will become to you.\nBut be sure you do not get one so good that you will be afraid to mark\nit. I don't like gilt-edged Bibles that look as if they had never been\nused.\n\nThen next I would advise you to get a Cruden's Concordance. I was a\nChristian about five years before I ever heard of it. A skeptic in\nBoston got hold of me. I didn't know anything about the Bible and I\ntried to defend the Bible and Christianity. He made a misquotation and I\nsaid it wasn't in the Bible: I hunted for days and days. If I had had a\nconcordance I could have found it at once. It is a good thing for\nministers once in a while to tell the people about a good book. You can\nfind any portion or any verse in the Bible by just turning to this\nconcordance.\n\nThirdly, a Topical Text Book. These books will help you to study the\nWord of God with profit. If you do not possess them, get them at once;\nevery Christian ought to have them.[1]\n\nSUNDAY SCHOOL QUARTERLIES AND THE BIBLE.\n\nI think Sunday school teachers are making a woeful mistake if they don't\ntake the whole Bible into their Sunday school classes. I don't care how\nyoung children are, let them understand it is one book, that there are\nnot two books--the Old Testament and the New are all one. Don't let them\nthink that the Old Testament doesn't come to us with the same authority\nas the New. It is a great thing for a boy or girl to know how to handle\nthe Bible. What is an army good for if they don't know how to handle\ntheir swords? I speak very strongly on this, because I know some Sabbath\nschools that don't have a single Bible in them. They have question\nbooks. There are questions and the answers are given just below; so that\nyou don't need to study your lesson. They are splendid things for lazy\nteachers to bring along into their classes. I have seen them come into\nthe class with a question book, and sometimes they get it wrong side up\nwhile they are talking to the class, until they find out their mistake,\nand then they begin over again. I have seen an examination take place\nsomething like this:\n\n\"John, who was the first man?\"\n\n\"Methuselah.\"\n\n\"No; I think not; let me see. No, it is not Methuselah. Can't you guess\nagain?\"\n\n\"Elijah.\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Adam.\"\n\n\"That's right, my son; you must have studied your lesson hard.\"\n\nNow, I would like to know what a boy is going to do with that kind of a\nteacher, or with that kind of teaching. That is the kind of teaching\nthat is worthless, and brings no result. Now, don't say that I condemn\nhelps. I believe in availing yourself of all the light you can get. What\nI want you to do, when you come into your classes, is to come prepared\nto explain the lesson without the use of a concordance. Bring the word\nof God with you; bring the old Book.\n\nYou will often find families where there is a family Bible, but the\nmother is so afraid that the children will tear it that she keeps it in\nthe spare room, and once in a great while the children are allowed to\nlook at it. The thing that interests them most is the family\nrecord--when John was born, when father and mother were married.\n\nI came up to Boston from the country and went into a Bible class where\nthere were a few Harvard students. They handed me a Bible and told me\nthe lesson was in John. I hunted all through the Old Testament for John,\nbut couldn't find it. I saw the fellows hunching one another, \"Ah,\ngreenie from the country.\" Now, you know that is just the time when you\ndon't want to be considered green. The teacher saw my embarrassment and\nhanded me his Bible, and I put my thumb in the place and held on. I\ndidn't lose my place. I said then that if I ever got out of that scrape,\nI would never be caught there again. Why is it that so many young men\nfrom eighteen to twenty cannot be brought into a Bible class? Because\nthey don't want to show their ignorance. There is no place in the world\nthat is so fascinating as a live Bible class. I believe that we are to\nblame that they have been brought up in the Sunday school without Bibles\nand brought up with quarterlies. The result is, the boys are growing up\nwithout knowing how to handle the Bible. They don't know where Matthew\nis, they don't know where the Epistle to the Ephesians is, they don't\nknow where to find Hebrews or any of the different books of the Bible.\nThey ought to be taught how to handle the whole Bible, and it can be\ndone by Sunday school teachers taking the Bible into the class and going\nright about it at once. You can get a Bible in this country for almost a\nsong now. Sunday schools are not so poor that they cannot get Bibles.\nSome time ago there came up in a large Bible class a question, and they\nthought they would refer to the Bible, but they found that there was not\na single one in the class. A Bible class without a Bible! It would be\nlike a doctor without physic; or an army without weapons. So they went\nto the pews, but could not find one there. Finally they went to the\npulpit and took the pulpit Bible and settled the question. We are making\nwonderful progress, aren't we? Quarterlies are all right in their\nplaces, as helps in studying the lesson, but if they are going to sweep\nthe Bibles out of our Sunday schools, I think we had better sweep them\nout.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nThe Telescopic and Microscopic Methods--Job--The Four\nGospels--Acts--Psalm 52:1.\n\nTHERE are two opposite ways to study the Bible. One is to study it with\na telescope, taking a grand sweep of a whole book and trying to find out\nGod's plan in it; the other, with a microscope, taking up a verse at a\ntime, dissecting it, analyzing it. If you take Genesis, it is the\nseed-plant of the whole Bible; it tells us of _Life, Death,\nResurrection;_ it involves all the rest of the Bible.\n\nTHE BOOK OF JOB.\n\nAn Englishman once remarked to me: \"Mr Moody, did you ever notice this,\nthat the book of Job is the key to the whole Bible? If you understand\nJob you will understand the entire Bible!\" \"No,\" I said, \"I don't\ncomprehend that. Job the key to the whole Bible! How do make that out?\"\nHe said: \"I divide Job into seven heads. The first head is: _A perfect\nman untried_. That is what God said about Job; that is Adam in Eden. He\nwas perfect when God put him there. The second head is: _Tried by\nadversity_. Job fell, as Adam fell in Eden. The third head is: _The\nwisdom of the world_. The world tried to restore Job; the three wise men\ncame to help him. That was the wisdom of the world centred in those\nthree men. You can not,\" said he, \"find any such eloquent language or\nwisdom anywhere, in any part of the world, as those three men displayed,\nbut they did not know anything about grace, and could not, therefore,\nhelp Job.\" That is just what men are trying to do; and the result is\nthat they fail; the wisdom of man never made man any better. These three\nmen did not help Job; they made him more unhappy. Some one has said the\nfirst man took him, and gave him a good pull; then the second and third\ndid the same; the three of them had three good pulls at Job, and then\nflat down they fell. \"Then in the fourth place,\" said he, \"in comes _the\nDaysman_, that is Christ. In the fifth place, _God speaks;_ and in the\nsixth, _Job learns his lesson_. 'I have heard of Thee by the hearing of\nthe ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and\nrepent in dust and ashes.' And then down came Job flat on the dunghill.\nThe seventh head is this, that _God restores him_.\" Thank God, it is so\nwith us, and our last state is better than our first.\n\nA friend of mine said to me: \"Look here, Moody, God gave to Job double\nof everything.\" He would not admit that Job had lost his children; God\nhad taken them to heaven, and He gave Job ten more. So Job had ten in\nHeaven, and ten on earth--a goodly family. So when our children are\ntaken from us, they are not lost to us, but merely gone before.\n\nNow, let me take you through the four Gospels. Let us begin with\nMatthew.\n\nMATTHEW.\n\nMen sometimes tell me when I go into a town: \"You want to be sure and\nget such a man on your committee, for he has nothing to do and he will\nhave plenty of time.\" I say: \"No, thank you, I do not want any man that\nhas nothing to do.\" Christ found Matthew sitting at the receipt of\ncustom. The Lord took some one He found at work, and he went right on\nworking. We do not know much about what he did, except that he wrote\nthis Gospel. But, what a book! Where Matthew came from we do not know,\nand where he went to we do not know. His old name, Levi, dropped with\nhis old life.\n\nThe Key. The Messiah of the Jews and the Saviour of the world. Supposed\nto have been written about twelve years after the death of Christ, and\nto be the first Gospel written. It contains the best account of the life\nof Christ. You notice that it is the last message of God to the Jewish\nnation. Here we pass from the old to the new dispensation.\n\nMatthew does not speak of Christ's ascension, but leaves Him on earth.\n\nMark gives His resurrection and ascension.\n\nLuke gives His resurrection, ascension and the promise of a comforter.\n\nJohn goes a step further and says he is coming back.\n\nThere are more quotations in Matthew than in any of the others; I think\nthere are about a hundred. He is trying to convince the Jews that Jesus\nwas the son of David, the rightful king. He talked a good deal about the\n_kingdom_, its mysteries, the example of the kingdom, healing the sick,\netc., the principles of the kingdom as set forth in the sermon on the\nmount; also, the rejection of the king. When anyone takes a kingdom they\nlay down the principles upon which they are going to rule or conduct it.\n\nNow, let me call your attention to five great sermons. In these you have\na good sweep of the whole book:\n\n1. The sermon on the mount. See how many things lying all around Him He\nbrings into His sermon, salt, light, candle, coat, rain, closet, moth,\nrust, thieves, eye, fowls, lilies, grass, dogs, bread, fish, gate,\ngrapes, thorns, figs, thistles, rock, etc.\n\nSomeone, in traveling through Palestine, said that he did not think\nthere was a solitary thing there that Christ did not use as an\nillustration. So many people in these days are afraid to use common\nthings, but don't you think it is better to use things that people can\nunderstand, than to talk so that people can't understand you? Now, a\nwoman can easily understand a candle, and a man can easily understand\nabout a rock, especially in a rocky country like Palestine. Christ used\ncommon things as illustrations, and spoke so that everyone could\nunderstand Him. A woman in Wales once said she knew Christ was Welsh,\nand an Englishman said, \"No, He was a Jew.\" She declared that she knew\nHe was Welsh, because He spoke so that she could understand Him. Christ\ndid not have a short-hand reporter to go around with Him to write out and\nprint His sermons, and yet the people remembered them. Never mind about\nfinished sentences and rounded periods, but give your attention to\nmaking your sermons clear so that they stick. Use bait that your hearers\nwill like.\n\nThe Law was given on a mountain, and here Christ lays down His\nprinciples on a mountain. The law of Moses applies to the outward acts,\nbut this sermon applies to the inward life. As the sun is brighter than\na candle, so the sermon on the mount is brighter than the law of Moses.\nIt tells us what kind of Christians we ought to be--lights in the world,\nthe salt of the world, silent in our actions but great in effect.\n\n\"I say unto you,\" occurs twelve times in this sermon.\n\n2. The second great sermon was delivered to the twelve in the tenth\nchapter. You find over and over again the sayings in this sermon are\nquoted by men viz.: \"Shake off the dust off your feet against them.\"\n\"Freely ye have received, freely give,\" etc.\n\n3. The open air sermon. You want the best kind of preaching on the\nstreet. You have to put what you say in a bright, crisp way, if you\nexpect people to listen.\n\nYou must learn to think on your feet. There was a young man preaching on\nthe streets in London when an infidel came up and said: \"The man who\ninvented gas did more for the world than Jesus Christ.\" The young man\ncould not answer him and the crowd had the laugh on him. But another man\ngot up and said: \"Of course the man has a right to his opinion, and I\nsuppose if he was dying he would send for the gasfitter, but I think I\nshould send for a minister and have him read the fourteenth chapter of\nJohn;\" and he turned the laugh back on the man.\n\nThis sermon contains seven parables. It is like a string of pearls.\n\n4. The sermon of woes; Christ's last appeal to the Jewish nation.\nCompare these eight woes with the nine beatitudes. You notice the\nclosing up of this sermon on woes is the most pathetic utterance in the\nwhole ministry of Christ. \"Your house is left unto you desolate.\" Up to\nthat time it had been \"_My Father's_ house,\" or \"_My_ house,\" but now it\nis \"_your house_.\" It was not long until Titus came and leveled it to\nthe ground. Abraham never loved Isaac more than Jesus loved the Jewish\nnation. It was hard for Abraham to give up Isaac, but harder for the Son\nof God to give up Jerusalem.\n\n5. The fifth sermon was preached to His disciples. How little did they\nunderstand Him! When His heart was breaking with sorrow, they drew His\nattention to the buildings of the temple.\n\nThe first sermon was given on the mount; the second and third at\nCapernaum; the fourth in the Temple; the fifth on Olivet.\n\nIn Matthew's Gospel there is not a thing in hell, heaven, earth, sea,\nair or grave that does not testify of Christ as the Son of God. Devils\ncried out, fish entered the nets under His influence, wind and wave\nobeyed Him.\n\nSummary:--Nine beatitudes; eight woes; seven consecutive parables; ten\nconsecutive miracles; five continuous sermons; four prophecies of His\ndeath.\n\nMARK.\n\nThe four Gospels are independent of each other, no one was copied from\nthe other. Each is the complement of the rest, and we get four views of\nChrist, like the four sides of a house.\n\nMatthew writes for Jews.\n\nMark writes for Romans.\n\nLuke writes for Gentile converts.\n\nYou don't find any long sermons in Mark. The Romans were quick and\nactive, and he had to condense things in order to catch them. You'll\nfind the words \"Forthwith,\" \"Straightway,\" \"Immediately,\" occur\nforty-one times in this gospel. Every chapter but the first, seventh,\neighth and fourteenth begins with \"And,\" as if there was no pause in\nChrist's ministry.\n\nLuke tells us that Christ received little children, but Mark says He\ntook them up in His arms. That makes it sweeter to you, doesn't it?\n\nPerhaps the high water mark is the fifth chapter. Here we find three\nvery bad cases, devils, disease and death, beyond the reach of man,\ncured by Christ. The first man was possessed with devils. They could not\nbind him, or chain or tame him. I suppose a good many men and women had\nbeen scared by that man. People are afraid of a graveyard even in\ndaylight, but think of a live man being in the tombs and possessed with\ndevils! He said: \"What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the\nmost high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not.\" But Jesus\nhad come to do him good.\n\nNext, the woman with the issue of blood. If she had been living to-day,\nI suppose she would have tried every patent medicine in the market. We\nwould have declared her a hopeless case and sent her to the hospital.\nSome one has said: \"There was more medicine in the hem of His garment\nthan in all the apothecary shops in Palestine.\" She just touched Him and\nwas made whole. Hundreds of others touched Him, but they did not get\nanything. Can you tell the difference between the touch of faith and the\nordinary touch of the crowd?\n\nThirdly, Jarius' daughter raised. You see the manifestation of Jesus'\npower is increasing, for when He arrived the child was dead and He\nbrought her to life. I do not doubt but that away back in the secret\ncouncils of eternity it was appointed that He should be there just at\nthat time. I remember once being called to preach a funeral sermon, and\nlooked the four gospels through to find one of Christ's funeral sermons,\nbut do you know He never preached one? He broke up every funeral He\never attended. The dead awaked when they heard His voice.\n\nLUKE.\n\nWe now come to Luke's gospel. You notice his name does not occur in this\nbook or in Acts. (You will find it used three times, viz.; in\nColossians, Timothy and Philemon). He keeps himself in the background.\nI meet numbers of Christian workers who are ruined by getting their\nnames up. We do not know whether Luke was a Jew or a Gentile.\n\nThe first we see of him is in Acts 16:10 \"And after he had seen the\nvision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly\ngathering that the Lord had called _us_ for to preach the gospel unto\nthem.\" He did not claim to be an eye-witness to Christ's ministry nor\none of the seventy. Some think he was, but he does not claim it. It is\nsupposed that his gospel is of Paul's preaching, the same as Mark's, was\nof Peter. It is also called the Gospel of the Gentiles, and is supposed\nto have been written when Paul was in Rome, about 27 years after Christ.\nOne-third of this gospel is left out in the other gospels. It opens with\na note of praise: \"And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall\nrejoice at His birth;\" \"And they worshipped Him, and returned to\nJerusalem with great joy. And were continually in the temple, praising\nand blessing God;\" and closes the same way.\n\nCanon Farrar has pointed out that we have a seven-fold gospel in Luke:\n\n1. It is a gospel of praise and song. We find here the songs of\nZacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon, the angels, and others. Some one has\nwritten beautifully of Simeon as follows: \"What Simeon wanted to see was\nthe Lord's Christ. Unbelief would suggest to him, 'Simeon you are an old\nman, your day is almost ended, the snow of age is upon your head, your\neyes are growing dim, your brow is wrinkled, your limbs totter, and\ndeath is almost upon you: and where are the signs of His coming? You are\nresting, Simeon, upon imagination--it is all a delusion.' 'No,' replied\nSimeon, 'I shall not see death till I have seen the Lord's Christ; I\nshall see Him before I die.' I can imagine Simeon walking out one fine\nmorning along one of the lovely vales of Palestine, meditating upon the\ngreat subject that filled his mind. Presently he meets a friend: 'Peace\nbe with you; have you heard the strange news? What news?' replies\nSimeon. 'Do you not know Zacharias the priest?' 'Yes, well.' 'According\nto the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense in the\ntemple of the Lord, and the whole multitude of the people were praying\nwithout. It was the time of incense, and there appeared unto him an\nangel, standing on the right side of the altar, who told him that he\nshould have a son, whose name should be called John; one who should be\ngreat in the sight of the Lord, who should go before the Messiah and\nmake ready a people prepared for the Lord. The angel was Gabriel who\nstands in the presence of God, and because Zacharias believed not, he\nwas struck dumb.' 'Oh,' says Simeon, 'that fulfills the prophecy of\nMalachi. This is the forerunner of the Messiah: this is the morning\nstar: the day dawn is not for off: the Messiah is nigh at hand.\nHallelujah! The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple!' Time rolls on.\nI can imagine Simeon accosted again by one of his neighbors: 'Well,\nSimeon, have you heard the news?' 'What news?' 'Why there's a singular\nstory in everybody's mouth. A company of shepherds were watching their\nflocks by night on the plains of Bethlehem. It was the still hour of\nnight, and darkness mantled the world. Suddenly a bright light shone\naround the shepherds, a light above the brightness of the midday sun.\nThey looked up, and just above them was an angel who said to the\nterrified shepherds, Fear not, I bring you glad tidings of great joy,\nwhich shall be to all people!' 'This is the Lord's Christ,' said Simeon,\n'and I shall not taste death till I have seen him.' He said to himself,\n'They will bring the child to the Temple to present Him to the Lord.'\n\nAway went Simeon, morning after morning, to see if he could get a\nglimpse of Jesus. Perhaps unbelief suggested to Simeon, 'You had better\nstop at home this wet morning: you have been so often and have missed\nHim: you may venture to be absent this once.' 'No,' said the Spirit, 'go\nto the Temple.' Simeon would no doubt select a good point of\nobservation. See how intently he watches the door! He surveys the face\nof every child as one mother after another brings her infant to be\npresented. 'No,' he says, 'That is not He.' At length he sees the Virgin\nappear, and the Spirit tells him it is the long-expected Saviour. He\ngrasps the child in his arms, presses him to his heart, blesses God and\nsays: 'Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to\nThy word. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast\nprepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles,\nand the glory of Thy people Israel.'\"\n\n2. It is a gospel of thanksgiving. They glorified God when Jesus healed\nthe widow's son at Nain, when the blind man received sight, etc.\n\n3. It is a gospel of prayer. We learn that Christ prayed when he was\nbaptised, and nearly every great event in His ministry was preceded by\nprayer. If you want to hear from Heaven you must seek it on your knees.\nThere are two parables about prayer--the friend at midnight and the\nunjust judge.\n\n4. Here is another thing that is made prominent, namely, the gospel of\nwomanhood. Luke alone records many loving things Christ did for women.\nThe richest jewel in Christ's crown was what he did for women. A man\ntried to tell me that Mohammed had done more for women than Christ. I\ntold him that if he had ever been in Mohammedan countries, he would be\nashamed of himself for making such a remark. They care more for their\ndonkeys than they do for their wives and mothers.\n\nA man once said that when God created life He began at the lowest forms\nof animal life and came up until He got to man, then he was not quite\nsatisfied and created a woman. She was lifted up the highest, and when\nshe fell, she fell the lowest.\n\n5. This is the gospel of the poor and humble. When I get a crowd of\nroughs on the street I generally teach from Luke. Here are the\nshepherds, the peasant, the incident of the rich man and Lazarus. This\ngospel tells us He found the place where it was written, \"The Spirit of\nthe Lord is upon me--to preach the gospel to the poor.\" It is a dark day\nfor a church when it gets out that they do not want the common people.\nWhitfield labored among the miners, and Wesley among the common people.\nIf you want the poor, let it get out that you want them to come.\n\n6. It is a gospel to the lost. The woman with the seven devils, the\nthief on the cross illustrate this. Also, the parables of the lost\nsheep, the lost piece of silver, and the lost son.\n\n7. It is a gospel of tolerance.\n\n\"He that winneth souls is wise.\" Do you want to win men? Do not drive or\nscold them. Do not try to tear down their prejudices before you begin to\nlead them to the truth. Some people think they have to tear down the\nscaffolding before they begin on the building. An old minister once\ninvited a young brother to preach for him. The latter scolded the\npeople, and when he got home, asked the old minister how he had done. He\nsaid he had an old cow, and when he wanted a good supply of milk, he fed\nthe cow; he did not scold her.\n\nChrist reached the publicans because nearly everything he said about\nthem was in their favor. Look at the parable of the Pharisee and\npublican. Christ said the publican went down to his house justified\nrather than that proud Pharisee. How did He reach the Samaritans? Take\nthe parable of the ten lepers. Only one returned to thank Him for the\nhealing, and that was a Samaritan. Then there is the parable of the Good\nSamaritan. It has done more to stir people up to philanthropy and\nkindness to the poor than anything that has been said on this earth for\nsix thousand years. Go into Samaria and you find that story has reached\nthere first. Some man has been down to Jerusalem and heard it, and gone\nback home and told it all around; and they say \"If that Prophet ever\ncomes up here, we'll give Him a hearty reception.\" If you want to reach\npeople that do not agree with you, do not take a club to knock them down\nand then try to pick them up. When Jesus Christ dealt with the erring\nand the sinners, He was as tender with them as a mother is with her sick\nchild. A child once said to his mother, \"Mamma, you never speak ill of\nany one. You would speak well of Satan.\" \"Well,\" said the mother, \"you\nmight imitate his perseverance.\"\n\nJOHN.\n\nJohn was supposed to be the youngest disciple, and was supposed to be\nthe first of all that Christ had to follow Him. He is called the bosom\ncompanion of Christ. Someone was complaining of Christ's being partial.\nI have no doubt that Christ did love John more than the others, but it\nwas because John loved him most. I think John got into the inner circle,\nand we can get in too if we will. Christ keeps the door open and we can\njust go right in. You notice nearly all his book is new. All of the\neight months Christ spent in Judea are recorded here.\n\nMatthew begins with Abraham; Mark with Malachi; Luke with John the\nBaptist; but John with God Himself.\n\nMatthew sets forth Christ as the Jew's Messiah.\n\nMark as the active worker.\n\nLuke as a man.\n\nJohn as a personal Saviour.\n\nJohn presents Him as coming from the bosom of the Father. The central\nthought in this gospel is proving the divinity of Christ. If I wanted to\nprove to a man that Jesus Christ was divine, I would take him directly\nto this gospel. The word _repent_ does not occur once, but the word\n_believe_ occurs ninety-eight times. The controversy that the Jews\nraised about the divinity of Christ is not settled yet, and before John\nwent away he took his pen and wrote down these things to settle it.\n\nA seven-fold witness to the divinity of Christ:\n\n1. Testimony of the Father. \"The Father that sent me beareth witness of\nme.\"\n\n2. The Son bearing testimony. \"Jesus answered and said unto them, Though\nI bear record of myself, yet my record is true; for I know whence I\ncame, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I came, and whither I\ngo.\"\n\n3. Christ's works testify: \"If I do not the works of my Father, believe\nme not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works, that\nye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in Him.\"\n\nNo man can make me believe that Jesus Christ was a bad man; because He\nbrought forth good fruit. How any one can doubt that He was the Son of\nGod after eighteen centuries of testing is a mystery to me.\n\n4. The Scriptures: \"Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me,\nfor he wrote of me.\"\n\n5. John the Baptist: \"And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of\nGod.\"\n\n6. The Disciples: \"And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been\nwith me from the beginning.\"\n\n7. The Holy Ghost: \"But when the comforter is come, whom I will send\nunto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth\nfrom the Father, he shall testify of me.\"\n\nOf course there many others that show His divinity, but I think these\nare enough to prove it to any man. If I went into court and had seven\nwitnesses that could not be broken down, I think I would have a good\ncase.\n\nNotice the \"I am's\" of Christ.\n\n\"I am from above.\"\n\n\"I am not of this world.\"\n\n\"Before Abraham was, I am.\"\n\n\"I am the bread of life.\"\n\n\"I am the light of the world.\"\n\n\"I am the door.\"\n\n\"I am the Good Shepherd.\"\n\n\"I am the way.\"\n\n\"I am the truth.\" Pilate asked what truth was, and there it was standing\nright before him.\n\n\"I am the resurrection and the life.\"\n\nIn the gospel of John, we find eight gifts for the believer: the bread\nof life; the water of life; eternal life; the Holy Spirit; love; joy;\npeace; His words.\n\nACTS.\n\nA good lesson to study is how all through the book of Acts defeat was\nturned to victory. When the early Christians were persecuted, they went\nevery where preaching the Word. That was a victory, and so on all\nthrough.\n\nLuke's gospel was taken up with Christ in the body, Acts with Christ in\nthe church. In Luke we read of what Christ did in His humiliation, and\nin Acts what He did in His exaltation. With most men, their work stops\nat their death, but with Christ it had only begun. \"Greater works than\nthese shall ye do, because I go to My Father.\" We call this book the\n\"Acts of the Apostles,\" but it is really the \"Acts of the Church\n(Christ's body).\"\n\nYou will find the key to the book in chapter 1:8: \"But ye shall receive\npower, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be\nwitnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria,\nand unto the uttermost part of the earth.\"\n\nWe would not have seen the struggles of that infant church if it had not\nbeen for Luke. We would not have known much about Paul either if it had\nnot been for Luke.\n\nThere were four rivers flowing out of Eden; here we have the four\ngospels flowing into one channel.\n\nThree divisions of the Acts:--\n\nI. Founding of the church.\n\nII. Growth of the church.\n\nIII. Sending out of missionaries.\n\nI believe that the nearer we keep to the apostles' way of presenting the\ngospel, the more success we will have.\n\nNow there are ten great sermons in Acts, and I think if you get a good\nhold on these you will have a pretty good understanding of the book and\nhow to preach. Five were preached by Peter, one by Stephen and four by\nPaul. The phrase, \"We are witnesses,\" runs through the entire book. We\nsay, to-day, \"We are eloquent preachers.\" We seem to be above being\nsimple witnesses.\n\nI. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. Someone said that now it\ntakes about three thousand sermons to convert one Jew, but here three\nthousand were converted by one sermon. When Peter testified of Christ\nand bore witness that he had died and had risen again, God honored it,\nand he will do the same with you.\n\nII. Peter preaches in Solomon's porch. A short sermon, but it did good\nwork. They did not get there till three o'clock, and I believe the Jews\ncould not arrest a man after sundown, and yet in that short space of\ntime five thousand were converted. What did he preach? Listen:\n\n\"But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be\ngranted unto you;\n\nAnd killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead:\nwhereof we are witnesses.\n\nRepent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted\nout, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the\nLord.\"\n\nIII. Peter preaches to the high priests. They had arrested them and were\ndemanding to know by what power they did these things. \"By the name of\nJesus Christ, . . . doth this man stand here before you whole.\" When\nBunyan was told he would be released if he would not preach any more, he\nsaid, \"If you let me out I will preach to-morrow.\"\n\nIV. Peter's testimony before the council. They commanded them not to\npreach in the name of Christ. I don't know what they could do if they\nwere forbidden that. Some ministers to-day would have no trouble; they\ncould get along very well. About all the disciples knew was what they\nhad learned in those three years with Jesus, hearing His sermons and\nseeing His miracles. They saw the things and knew they were so, and when\nthe Holy Ghost came down upon them, they could not help but speak them.\n\nV. Stephen's sermon. He preached the longest sermon in Acts. Dr. Bonar\nonce said, \"Did you ever notice, Brother Whittle, that when the Jews\naccused Stephen of speaking blasphemous words against Moses, the Lord\nlit up his face with the same glory with which Moses' face shone?\"\n\nAn old Scotch beadle once warned his new minister, \"You may preach as\nmuch as ye like about the sins of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but stick to\nthem and don't come any nearer hand if ye want to stay here.\" Stephen\nbegan with them, but he came right down to the recent crucifixion, and\nstirred them up.\n\nVI. Peter's last sermon and the first sermon to the Gentiles. Notice the\nsame gospel is preached to the Gentiles as to the Jews, and it produces\nthe same results. \"To him give all the prophets witness, that through\nHis name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.\nWhile Peter spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which\nheard the word.\"\n\nNow the leading character changes and Paul comes on.\n\nVII. Paul's sermon at Antioch, in Pisidia. An old acquaintance once said\nto me, \"What are you preaching now? I hope you are not harping on that\nold string yet.\" Yes, thank God, I am spreading the old gospel. If you\nwant to get people to come to hear you, lift up Christ; He said, \"I, if\nI be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.\" \"Be it known unto you,\ntherefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you\nthe forgiveness of sins.\"\n\nVIII. Paul's sermon to the Athenians. He got fruit at Athens by\npreaching the same old gospel to the philosophers.\n\nIX. Paul's sermon at Jerusalem.\n\nX. Paul's defence before Agrippa. I think that is the grandest sermon\nPaul ever preached. He preached the same gospel before Agrippa and\nFestus that he did down in Jerusalem. He preached everywhere the mighty\nfact that God gave Christ as a ransom for sin, that the whole world can\nbe saved by trusting in Him.\n\n\"Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day,\nwitnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those\nwhich the prophets and Moses did say should come:\n\nThat Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should\nrise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people and to the\nGentiles.\"\n\nTHE MICROSCOPIC METHOD.\n\nLet me show what I mean by the microscopic method by taking the first\nverse of Psalm 52: \"Why boastest thou thyself in iniquity, O mighty man?\nThe goodness of God endureth continually.\" This verse naturally falls\ninto two divisions, on the one side being--man, on the other--God.\nMan--mischief; God--goodness. Is any particular man addressed? Yes: Doeg\nthe Edomite, as the preface to the psalm suggests. You can therefore\nfind the historic reference of this verse and Psalm in 1 Samuel 22:9.\nNow take a concordance or topical text-book, and study the subject of\n\"boasting.\" What words mean the same thing as \"boasting\"? One is\nglorifying. Is boasting always condemned? In what does Scripture forbid\nus to boast? In what are we exhorted to boast? \"Thus saith the Lord: Let\nnot the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the rich man glory in his\nriches; but let him that glorieth glory in this: that he understandeth\nand knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindness,\njudgment and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight,\nsaith the Lord.\" Treat the subject \"mischief,\" in a similar manner. Then\nask yourself is this boasting, this mischief, always to last? No: \"the\ntriumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for\na moment.\" \"I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself\nlike a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: Yea, I\nsought him, but he could not be found.\" The other half of the text\nsuggests a study of goodness (or mercy) as an attribute of God. How is it\nmanifested temporally and spiritually? What Scripture have we for it? Is\nGod's goodness conditional? Does God's goodness conflict with His\njustice? Now, as the end of Bible study as well as of preaching is to\nsave men, ask yourself is the Gospel contained in this text in type or\nin evidence? Turn to Romans 2:4: \"Despiseth thou the riches of his\ngoodness and forbearance and long suffering: not knowing that _the\ngoodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?_\" Here the verse leads\ndirectly to the subject of repentance, and you rise from the study of\nthe verse ready at any time to preach a short sermon that may be the\nmeans of converting some one.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nOne Book at a Time--Chapter Study--The Gospel of John.\n\nI KNOW some men who never sit down to read a book until they have time\nto read the whole of it. When they come to Leviticus or Numbers, or any\nof the other books, they read it right through at one sitting. They get\nthe whole sweep, and then they begin to study it chapter by chapter.\nDean Stanley used to read a book through three separate times: first for\nthe story, second for the thought, and third for the literary style. It\nis a good thing to take one whole book at a time.\n\nHow could you expect to understand a story or a scientific text-book if\nyou read one chapter here and another there?\n\nDr. A. T. Pierson says: Let the introduction cover five P's; place where\nwritten; person by whom written; people to whom written; purpose for\nwhich written; period at which written.\n\nHere it is well to grasp the leading points in the chapters. The method\nis illustrated by the following plan by which I tried to interest the\nstudents at Mt. Hermon school and the Northfield Seminary. It provides\na way of committing Scripture to memory, so that one can call up a\npassage to meet the demand whenever it arises. I said to the students\none morning at worship: \"To-morrow morning when I come I will not read a\nportion of Scripture, but we will take the first chapter of the Gospel\nof John and you shall tell me from memory what you find in that chapter\nand each learn the verse in it that is most precious to you.\" We went\nthrough the Whole book that way and committed a verse or two to\nmemory-out of each one.\n\nI will give the main headings we found in the chapters.\n\nTHE GOSPEL OF JOHN, BY CHAPTERS.\n\nChapter 1. The call of the first five disciples.\n\nIt was about four o'clock in the afternoon that John stood and said,\n\"Behold, the Lamb of God.\" Two of John's disciples then followed Jesus,\nand one of them, Andrew, went out and brought his brother Simon. Then\nJesus found Philip, as he was starting for Galilee, and Philip found\nNathaniel, the skeptical man. When he got sight of Christ his skeptical\nideas were all gone. Commit to memory verses 11 and 12: \"He came unto\nhis own and his own received him not, but as many as received him, to\nthem gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe\non his name.\" Key word, Receiving.\n\nChapter 2. \"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.\" We had a good time in\nthis chapter on Obedience, which is the key word.\n\nChapter 3. This is a chapter on Regeneration. It took us more than one\nday to get through this one. This gives you a respectable sinner, and\nhow Jesus dealt with him. Commit verse 16: \"God so loved the world, that\nHe gave His Only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not\nperish, but have everlasting life.\" Key word, Believing.\n\nChapter 4. A disreputable sinner, and how Jesus dealt with her. If we\nhad been dealing with her, we would have told her what Jesus told\nNicodemus, but He took her on her own ground. She came for a water-pot\nof water, and, thank God, she got a whole well full. Key word,\nWorshipping. Memorize verse 24: \"God is a Spirit; and they that worship\nhim must worship him in spirit and in truth.\"\n\nChapter 5. Divinity of Christ. Commit verse 24: \"Verily, verily, I say\nunto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,\nhath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is\npassed from death unto life.\" Key word, Healing.\n\nChapter 6. We called that the _bread_ chapter. If you want a good loaf\nof bread, get into this sixth chapter. You feed upon that bread and you\nwill live forever. Key verse: Christ the bread of life. \"I am the living\nbread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he\nshall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I\nwill give for the life of the world.\" Key word, Eating.\n\nChapter 7 is the _water_ chapter. \"If any man thirst let him come unto\nme and drink.\" You have here living water and Christ's invitation to\nevery thirsty soul to come to drink. Key word, Drinking.\n\nChapter 8. The _Light_ chapter. \"I am the light of the world.\" Key,\nWalking in the light. But what is the use of having light if you have no\neyes to see with, so we go on to\n\nChapter 9. The Sight chapter. There was a man born blind and Christ made\nhim to see. Key word, Testifying. Memory verse: \"I must work the works\nof Him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh when no man can\nwork.\"\n\nChapter 10. Here you find the Good Shepherd. Commit to memory verse 11:\n\"I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the\nsheep.\" Key word, Safety.\n\nChapter 11. The Lazarus chapter. Memorize verse 25: \"I am the\nresurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead,\nyet shall he live.\" Key word, Resurrection.\n\nChapter 12. Verse 32: \"I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.\"\nHere Christ closes up his ministry to the Jewish nation. Key word,\nSalvation for all.\n\nChapter 13. The Humility chapter. Christ washing the feet of his\ndisciples. Learn verse 34: \"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye\nlove one another.\" Key word, Teaching.\n\nChapter 14. The Mansion chapter. Commit to memory verse 6: \"I am the\nway, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.\"\nKey words, Peace and comfort.\n\nChapter 15. The Fruit chapter. The vine can only bear fruit through the\nbranches. Verse 5: \"I am the vine; ye are the branches: He that abideth\nin me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me\nyou can do nothing.\" Key word, Joy.\n\nChapter 16. The promise of the Holy Ghost. Here you find the secret of\nPower, which is the key word.\n\nChapter 17. This chapter contains what is properly the \"Lord's prayer.\"\nLearn verse 15: \"I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the\nworld, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.\" Key word,\nSeparation.\n\nChapter 18. Christ is arrested.\n\nChapter 19. Christ is crucified.\n\nChapter 20. Christ rises from the dead.\n\nChapter 21. Christ spends some time with his disciples again, and\ninvites them to dine with him.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nStudy of Types--Types of Christ--Leprosy a Type of Sin--Bible\nCharacters--Meaning of Names.\n\nANOTHER way of studying is to take five great divisions--History, Type,\nProphecy, Miracle, Parable.\n\nIt is a very interesting thing to study the types of the Bible. Get a\ngood book on the subject and you will be surprised to find out how\ninterested you will become. The Bible is full of patterns and types of\nourselves. That is a popular objection against the Bible--that it tells\nabout the failings of men. We should, however, remember that the object\nof the Bible is not to tell how good men are, but how bad men can become\ngood. But more especially the Bible is full of types of Christ. Types\nare foreshadowings, and wherever there is a shadow there must be\nsubstance. As John McNeill says, \"If I see the shadow of a dog, I know\nthere's a dog around.\" God seems to have chosen this means of teaching\nthe Israelites of the promised Messiah. All the laws, ceremonies and\ninstitutions of the Mosaic dispensation point to Christ and His\ndispensation. The enlightened eyes see Christ in all. For instance, the\ntabernacle was a type of the incarnation of Jesus; John 1:14, \"and the\nword was made flesh, and _tabernacled_ amongst us.\" The laver typified\nsanctification or purity: Ephesians 5:26, \"that he might sanctify and\ncleanse the Church with the washing of water by the word.\" The\ncandlesticks typified Christ as the Light of the world. The shewbread\ntypified Christ as the Bread of Life. The High Priest was always a type\nof Christ. Christ was called of God, as was Aaron; He ever liveth to\nmake intercession; He was consecrated with an oath, and so on. The\nPassover, the Day of Atonement, the Smitten Rock, the sacrifices, the\nCity of Refuge, the Brazen Serpent--all point to Christ's atoning work.\nAdam was a beautiful type. Think of the two Adams. One introduced sin\nand ruin into the world, and the other abolished it. So Cain stands as\nthe representative natural man, and Abel as the spiritual man. Abel as a\nshepherd is a type of Christ the heavenly Shepherd. There is no more\nbeautiful type of Christ in the Bible than Joseph. He was hated of his\nbrethren; he was stripped of his coat; he was sold; he was imprisoned;\nhe gained favor; he had a gold chain about his neck; every knee bowed\nbefore him. A comparison of the lives of Joseph and Jesus shows a\nstartling similarity in their experience.\n\nThe disease of leprosy is a type of sin. It is incurable by man; it\nworks baneful results; it is insidious in its nature, and from a small\nbeginning works complete ruin; it separates its victims from their\nfellow-men, just as sin separates a man from God; and as Christ had\npower to cleanse the leper, so by the grace of God His blood cleanseth\nus from all iniquity.\n\nAdam represents man's innate sinfulness.\n\nAbel represents Atonement.\n\nEnoch represents communion.\n\nNoah represents Regeneration.\n\nAbraham represents Faith.\n\nIsaac represents Sonship.\n\nJacob represents Discipline and Service.\n\nJoseph represents Glory through suffering.\n\nBIBLE CHARACTERS.\n\nAnother good way is to study Bible characters--take them right from the\ncradle to the grave. You find that skeptics often take one particular\npart of a man's life--say, of the life of Jacob or of David--and judge\nthe whole by that. They say these men were queer saints; and yet God did\nnot punish them. If you go right through these men's lives you will find\nthat God did punish them, according to the sins they committed.\n\nA lady once said to me that she had trouble in reading the Bible, that\nshe seemed to not feel the interest she ought. If you don't keep up your\ninterest in one way, try another. Never think you have to read the Bible\nby courses.\n\nPROPER NAMES.\n\nAnother interesting study is the meaning of proper names. I need hardly\nremark that every name in the Bible, especially Hebrew names, has a\nmeaning of its own. Notice the difference between Abram (a high father),\nand Abraham (father of a multitude), and you have a key to his life.\nAnother example is Jacob (supplanter), and Israel (Prince of God). The\nnames of Job's three daughters were Jemima (a dove), Kezia (cassia), and\nKeren-happuch (horn of paint). These names signify beauty; so that Job's\nleprosy left no taint.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nStudy of\nSubjects--Love--Sanctification--Faith--Justification--Atonement\n--Conversion--Heaven--Revivals--Separation--Grace--Prayer--Assurance\n--God's Promises.\n\nI FIND some people now and then who boast that they have read the Bible\nthrough in so many months. Others read the Bible chapter by chapter, and\nget through it in a year; but I think it would be almost better to spend\na year over one book. If I were going into a court of justice, and\nwanted to carry the jury with me, I should get every witness I could to\ntestify to the one point on which I wanted to convince the jury. I would\nnot get them to testify to everything, but just to that one thing. And\nso it should be with the Scriptures.\n\nI took up that word \"_Love_\" and I do not know how many weeks I spent in\nstudying the passages in which it occurs, till at last I could not help\nloving people. I had been feeding so long on Love that I was anxious to\ndo everybody good I came in contact with.\n\nTake _Sanctification_. I would rather take my concordance and gather\npassages on sanctification and sit down for four or five days and study\nthem than have men tell me about it.\n\nI suppose that if all the time that I have prayed for _Faith_ was put\ntogether, it would be months. I used to say when I was President of the\nYoung Men's Christian Association in Chicago, \"What we want is faith; if\nwe only have faith, we can turn Chicago upside down\"--or rather, right\nside up. I thought that some day faith was going to come down, and\nstrike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read\nin the tenth chapter of Romans, \"Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing\nby the Word of God.\" I had closed my Bible, and prayed for faith. I now\nopened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever\nsince.\n\nTake the doctrine that made Martin Luther such a power,\n_Justification_--\"The just shall live by faith.\" When that thought\nflashed through Martin Luther's mind as he was ascending the Scala Santa\non his knees (although some people deny the truth of this statement), he\nrose and went forth to be a power among the nations of the earth.\nJustification puts a man before God as if he had never sinned; he stands\nbefore God like Jesus Christ. Thank God, in Jesus Christ we can be\nperfect, but there is no perfection out of Him. God looks in His ledger,\nand says, \"Moody, your debts have all been paid by Another; there is\nnothing against you.\"\n\nIn New England there is perhaps no doctrine assailed so much as the\n_Atonement_. The Atonement is foreshadowed in the garden of Eden; there\nis the innocent suffering for the guilty, the animals slain for Adam's\nsin. We find it in Abraham's day, in Moses' day; all through the books\nof Moses and the prophets. Look at the fifty-third of Isaiah, and at the\nprophecy of Daniel. Then we come into the Gospels, and Christ says, \"I\nlay down My life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me,\nbut I lay it down of Myself.\"\n\nCONVERSION.\n\nPeople talk about _Conversion_--what is conversion? The best way to find\nout is from the Bible. A good many don't believe in sudden conversions.\nYou can die in a moment. Can't you receive life in a moment?\n\nWhen Mr. Sankey and myself were in one place in Europe a man preached a\nsermon against the pernicious doctrines that we were going to preach,\none of which was sudden conversion. He said conversion was a matter of\ntime and growth. Do you know what I do when any man preaches against the\ndoctrines I preach? I go to the Bible and find out what it says, and if\nI am right I give them more of the same kind. I preached more on sudden\nconversion in that town than in any town I was in in my life. I would\nlike to know how long it took the Lord to convert Zaccheus? How long did\nit take the Lord to convert that woman whom He met at the well of\nSychar? How long to convert that adulterous woman in the temple, who was\ncaught in the very act of adultery? How long to convert that woman who\nanointed His feet and wiped them with the hairs of her head? Didn't she\ngo with the word of God ringing in her ears, \"Go in peace\"?\n\nThere was no sign of Zaccheus being converted when he went up that\nsycamore tree, and he was converted when he came down, so he must have\nbeen converted between the branch and the ground. Pretty sudden work,\nwasn't it? But you say, \"That is because Christ was there.\" Friends,\nthey were converted a good deal faster after He went away than when He\nwas here. Peter preached, and three thousand were converted in one day.\nAnother time, after three o'clock in the afternoon, Peter and John\nhealed a man at the gate of the Temple, and then went in and preached,\nand five thousand were added to the church before night, and Jews at\nthat. That was rather sudden work. Professor Drummond describes a man\ngoing into one of our after-meetings and saying he wants to become a\nChristian. \"Well, my friend, what is the trouble?\" He doesn't like to\ntell. He is greatly agitated. Finally he says, \"The fact is, I have\noverdrawn my account\"--a polite way of saying he has been stealing. \"Did\nyou take your employer's money?\" \"Yes.\" \"How much?\" \"I don't know. I\nnever kept account of it.\" \"Well, you have an idea you stole $1,500 last\nyear?\" \"I am afraid it is that much.\" \"Now, look here, sir, I don't\nbelieve in sudden work; don't you steal more than a thousand dollars\nthis next year, and the next year not more than five hundred, and in the\ncourse of the next few years you will get so that you won't steal any.\nIf your employer catches you, tell him you are being converted; and you\nwill get so that you won't steal any by and by.\" My friends, the thing\nis a perfect farce. \"Let him that stole, steal no more,\" that is what\nthe Bible says. It is right about face.\n\nTake another illustration. Here comes a man and he admits that he gets\ndrunk every week. That man comes to a meeting and he wants to be\nconverted. I say, \"Don't you be in a hurry. I believe in doing the work\ngradually. Don't you get drunk and knock your wife down more than once a\nmonth.\" Wouldn't it be refreshing to your wife to go a whole month\nwithout being knocked down? Once a month, only twelve times in a year!\nWouldn't she be glad to have you converted in this new way! Only get\ndrunk after a few years on the anniversary of your wedding, and at\nChristmas; and then it will be effective because it is gradual. Oh! I\ndetest, all that kind of teaching. Let us go to the Bible and see what\nthat old Book teaches. Let us believe it, and go and act as if we\nbelieved it, too. Salvation is instantaneous. I admit that a man may be\nconverted so that he can not tell when he crossed the line between death\nand life, but I also believe a man may be a thief one moment and a saint\nthe next. I believe a man may be as vile as hell itself one moment, and\nbe saved the next.\n\nChristian growth is gradual, just as physical growth is; but a man\npasses from death unto everlasting life quick as an act of the mind--\"He\nthat believeth on the Son _hath_ everlasting life.\"\n\nPeople say they want to become heavenly-minded. Well, read about\n_heaven_ and talk about it. I once preached on \"Heaven,\" and after the\nmeeting a lady came to me and said, \"Why, Mr. Moody, I didn't know there\nwere so many verses in the Bible about heaven.\" And I hadn't taken one\nout of a hundred. She was amazed that there was so much in the Bible\nabout heaven.\n\nWhen you are away from home, how you look for news! You skip everything\nin the daily paper until your eye catches the name of your own town or\ncountry. Now the Christian's home is in heaven. The Scriptures contain\nour title-deeds to everything we shall be worth when we die. If a will\nhas your name in it, it is no longer a dry document. Why, then, do not\nChristians take more interest in the Bible?\n\nThen, again, people say thy don't believe in _revivals_. There's not a\ndenomination in the world that didn't spring from a revival. There are\nthe Catholic and Episcopal churches claiming to be the apostolic\nchurches and to have sprung from Pentecost; the Lutheran from Martin\nLuther, and so on. They all sprung out of revivals, and yet people talk\nagainst revivals! I'd as soon talk against my mother as against a\nrevival. Wasn't the country revived under John the Baptist? Wasn't it\nunder Christ's teachings? People think that because a number of\nsuperficial cases of conversion occur at revivals that therefore\nrevivals ought to be avoided. They forget the parable of the sower,\nwhere Jesus himself warns us of emotional hearers, who receive the word\nwith joy, but soon fall away. If only one out of every four hearers is\ntruly converted, as in the parable, the revival has done good.\n\nSuppose you spend a month on _Regeneration_, or _The Kingdom of God_, or\n_The Church_ in the New Testament, or the _divinity of Christ_ or the\n_attributes of God_. It will help you in your own spiritual life, and\nyou will become a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the\nword of truth.\n\nMake a study of the _Holy Spirit_. There are probably five hundred\npassages on the Holy Spirit, and what you want is to study this subject\nfor yourself. Take the _Return of our Lord_. I know it is a controverted\nsubject. Some say He is to come at the end of the Millennium, others say\nthis side of the Millennium. What we want is to know what the Bible\nsays. Why not go to the Bible and study it up for yourself; it will be\nworth more to you than anything you get from anyone else. Then\n_Separation_. I believe that a Christian man should lead a separated\nlife. The line between the church and the world is almost obliterated\nto-day. I have no sympathy with the idea that you must hunt up an old\nmusty church record in order to find out whether a man is a member of\nthe church or not. A man ought to live so that everybody will know he is\na Christian. The Bible tells us to lead a separate life. You may lose\ninfluence, but you will gain it at the same time. I suppose Daniel was\nthe most unpopular man in Babylon at a certain time, but, thank God, he\nhas outlived all the other men of his time. Who were the chief men of\nBabylon? When God wanted any work done in Babylon, He knew where to find\nsome one to do it. You can be in the world, but not of it. Christ didn't\ntake His disciples out of the world, but He prayed that they might be\nkept from evil. A ship in the water is all right, but when the water\ngets into the ship, then look out. A worldly Christian is just like a\nwrecked vessel at sea.\n\nI remember once I took up the _grace of God_. I didn't know the\ndifference between law and grace. When that truth dawned upon me and I\nsaw the difference, I studied the whole week on grace and I got so\nfilled that I couldn't stay in the house. I said to the first man I met,\n\"Do you know anything about the grace of God?\" He thought I was a\nlunatic. And I just poured out for about an hour on the grace of God.\n\nStudy the subject of _Prayer_. \"For real business at the mercy seat,\"\nsays Spurgeon, \"give me a homemade prayer, a prayer that comes out of\nthe depths of your heart, not because you invented it, but because the\nHoly Spirit put it there. Though your words are broken and your\nsentences disconnected, God will hear you. Perhaps you can pray better\nwithout words than with them. There are prayers that break the backs of\nwords; they are too heavy for any human language to carry.\"\n\nSome people say, \"I do not believe in _Assurance_.\" I never knew anybody\nwho read their Bibles who did not believe in Assurance. This Book\nteaches nothing else. Paul says, \"I know in whom I have believed.\" Job\nsays, \"I know that my Redeemer liveth.\" It is not \"I hope,\" \"I trust.\"\n\nThe best book on Assurance was written by one called \"John,\" at the back\npart of the Bible. He wrote an epistle on this subject. Sometimes you\njust get a word that will be a sort of key to the epistle, and which\nunfolds it. Now if you turn to John 20:31, you will find it says, \"These\nare written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of\nGod; and that, believing, ye might have life through His name.\" Then if\nyou turn to 1 John 5:13, you will read thus: \"These things have I\nwritten unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may\n_know_ that ye have eternal life; and that ye may believe on the name of\nthe Son of God.\" That whole epistle is written on assurance. I have no\ndoubt John had found some people who questioned about assurance and\ndoubted whether they were saved or not, and he took up his pen and said,\n\"I will settle that question;\" and he wrote that last verse in the\ntwentieth chapter of his gospel.\n\nI have heard some people say that it was not their privilege to know\nthat they were saved; they had heard the minister say that no one could\nknow whether they were saved or not; and they took what the minister\nsaid, instead of what the Word of God said. Others read the Bible to\nmake it fit in and prove their favorite creed or notions; and if it does\nnot do so, they will not read it. It has been well said that we must not\nread the Bible by the blue light of Presbyterianism; nor by the red\nlight of Methodism; nor by the violet light of Episcopalianism; but by\nthe light of the Spirit of God. If you will take up your Bible and study\n\"assurance\" for a week, you will soon see it is your privilege to know\nthat you are a child of God.\n\nThen take the _promises of God_. Let a man feed for a month on the\npromises of God, and he will not talk about his poverty, and how\ndowncast he is, and what trouble he has day by day. You hear people say,\n\"Oh, my leanness! how lean I am!\" My friends, it is not their leanness,\nit is their _laziness_. If you would only go from Genesis to Revelation,\nand see all the promises made by God to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob,\nto the Jews and the Gentiles, and to all His people everywhere; if you\nwould spend a month feeding on the precious promises of God, you would\nnot go about with your heads hanging down like bulrushes complaining how\npoor you are; but you would lift up your heads with confidence and\nproclaim the riches of His grace, because you could not help it. After\nthe Chicago fire a man came up to me and said in a sympathizing tone, \"I\nunderstand you lost everything, Moody, in the Chicago fire.\" \"Well,\nthen,\" said I, \"some one has misinformed you.\" \"Indeed! Why I was\ncertainly told you had lost all.\" \"No; it is a mistake,\" I said, \"quite\na mistake.\" \"Have you got much left, then?\" asked my friend. \"Yes,\" I\nreplied, \"I have got much more left than I lost; though I can not tell\nhow much I have lost.\" \"Well, I am glad of it, Moody; I did not know you\nwere that rich before the fire.\" \"Yes,\" said I,\" \"I am a good deal\nricher than you could conceive; and here is my title-deed, 'He that\novercometh shall inherit all things.'\" They say the Rothschilds can not\ntell how much they are worth; and that is just my case. All things in\nthe world are mine; I am joint heir with Jesus the Son of God. Some one\nhas said, \"God makes a promise; Faith believes it; Hope anticipates it;\nand Patience quietly awaits it.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nWord Study--\"Blesseds\" of Revelation--\"Believings\" of John--\"The Fear of\nthe Lord\" of Proverbs--Key Words.\n\nANOTHER way to study the Bible is to take one word and follow it up with\nthe help of a concordance.\n\nOr take just one word that runs through a book. Some time ago I was\nwonderfully blessed by taking the seven \"_Blesseds_\" of the Revelation.\nIf God did not wish us to understand the book of Revelation, He would\nnot have given it to us at all. A good many say it is so dark and\nmysterious that common readers cannot understand it. Let us only keep\ndigging away at it, and it will unfold itself by and by. Some one says\nit is the only book in the Bible that tells about the devil being\nchained; and as the devil knows that, he goes up and down Christendom\nand says, \"It is no use your reading Revelation, you can not understand\nthe book; it is too hard for you.\" The fact is, he does not want you to\nunderstand about his own defeat. Just look at the _blessings_ the book\ncontains:\n\n1. \"_Blessed is_ he that readeth, and they that hear the words of\nthis prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the\ntime is at hand.\"\n\n2. \"_Blessed_ are the dead which die in the Lord. . . . . Yea, saith the\nSpirit, that they may rest from their labors.\"\n\n3. \"_Blessed_ is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments.\"\n\n4. \"_Blessed_ are they which are called to the marriage supper of the\nLamb.\"\n\n5. \"_Blessed_ and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.\nOn such the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God\nand of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.\"\n\n6. \"_Blessed_ is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this\nbook.\"\n\n7. \"_Blessed_ are they that do His commandments, that they may have\nright to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the\ncity.\"\n\nOr you may take the eight \"_overcomes_\" in Revelation; and you will be\nwonderfully blessed by them. They take you right up to the throne of\nheaven; you climb by them to the throne of God.\n\nI have been greatly blessed by going through the \"_believings_\" of\nJohn. Every chapter but two speaks of believing. As I said before, he\nwrote his gospel that we might believe. All through it is \"Believe!\n_Believe!_\" If you want to persuade a man that Christ is the Son of God,\nJohn's gospel is the book for him.\n\nTake the six \"_precious_\" things in Peter's Epistles. And the seven\n\"_walks_\" of the Epistle to the Ephesians. And the five \"_much mores_\"\nof Romans V. Or the two \"_receiveds_\" of John I. Or the seven \"_hearts_\"\nin Proverbs XXIII, and especially an eighth. Or \"_the fear of the Lord_\"\nin Proverbs:--\n\n\"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.\n\nThe fear of the Lord is to hate evil.\n\nThe fear of the Lord prolongeth days.\n\nIn the fear of the Lord is strong confidence\n\nThe fear of the Lord is a fountain of Life.\n\nBetter is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and\ntrouble therewith.\n\nThe fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom.\n\nBy the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.\n\nThe fear of the Lord tendeth to life.\n\nBy humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.\n\nBe thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.\"\n\nKEY WORDS.\n\nA friend gave me some key words recently. He said Peter wrote about\n_Hope:_ \"When the Chief Shepherd shall appear.\" The keynote of Paul's\nwritings seemed to be _Faith_, and that of John's, _Love_. \"Faith, hope\nand charity,\" these were the characteristics of the three men, the\nkey-notes to the whole of their teachings. James wrote of _Good Works_,\nand Jude of _Apostasy_.\n\nIn the general epistles of Paul some one suggested the phrase \"_in\nChrist_.\" In the book of Romans we find justification by faith _in\nChrist_. Corinthians presents sanctification _in Christ_. The book of\nGalatians, adoption or liberty _in Christ_. Ephesians presents fulness\n_in Christ_. Philippians, consolation _in Christ_. In Colossians we have\ncompleteness _in Christ_. Thessalonians gives us hope _in Christ_.\n\nDifferent systems of key words are published by Bible scholars, and it\nis a good thing for every one to know one system or other.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nBible Marking--Borrowing and Lending Bibles--Necessity of\nMarking--Advantages--How to Mark and What to Mark--Taking Notes--\"Four\nthings which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding\nwise\"--\"Every eye shall see Him\"--Additional Examples--Suggestions.\n\nDON'T be afraid to borrow and lend Bibles. Some time ago a man wanted to\ntake my Bible home to get a few things out of it, and when it came back\nI found this noted in it:\n\nJustification, a change of state, a new standing before God.\n\nRepentance, a change of mind, a new mind about God.\n\nRegeneration, a change of nature, a new heart from God.\n\nConversion, a change of life, a new life for God.\n\nAdoption, a change of family, new relationship towards God.\n\nSanctification, a change of service, separation unto God.\n\nGlorification, a new state, a new condition with God.\n\nIn the same hand-writing I found these lines:\n\n_Jesus only;_ the light of heaven is the face of Jesus.\n\nThe joy of heaven is the presence of Jesus.\n\nThe melody of heaven is the name of Jesus.\n\nThe theme of heaven is the work of Jesus.\n\nThe employment of heaven is the service of Jesus.\n\nThe fulness of heaven is Jesus himself.\n\nThe duration of heaven is the eternity of Jesus.\n\nBIBLE MARKING: ITS NECESSITY.\n\nAn old writer said that some books are to be tasted, some to be\nswallowed, and some to be chewed and digested. The Bible is one that you\ncan never exhaust. It is like a bottomless well: you can always find\nfresh truths gushing forth from its pages.\n\nHence the great fascination of constant and earnest Bible study. Hence\nalso the necessity of marking your Bible. Unless you have an uncommon\nmemory, you cannot retain the good things you hear. If you trust to your\near alone, they will escape you in a day or two; but if you mark your\nBible and enlist the aid of your eye, you will never lose them. The same\napplies to what you read.\n\nITS ADVANTAGES.\n\nBible marking should be made the servant of the memory. If properly\ndone, it sharpens the memory; rather than blunts it, because it gives\nprominence to certain things that catch the eye, which by constant\nreading you get to learn of by heart.\n\nIt helps you to locate texts.\n\nIt saves you the trouble of writing out notes of your addresses. Once in\nthe margin, always ready.\n\nI have carried one Bible with me a great many years. It is worth a good\ndeal to me, and I will tell you why; because I have so many passages\nmarked in it, that if I am called upon to speak at any time I am ready.\nI have little words marked in the margin, and they are a sermon to me.\nWhether I speak about _Faith, Hope, Charity, Assurance,_ or any subject\nwhatever, it all comes back to me; and however unexpectedly I am called\nupon to preach, I am always ready. Every child of God ought to be like a\nsoldier, and always hold himself in readiness. If the Queen of England's\narmy were ordered to India to-morrow, the soldier is ready for the\njourney. But we can not be ready if we do not study the Bible. So\nwhenever you hear a good thing, just put it down, because if it is good\nfor you it will be good for somebody else; and we should pass the coin\nof heaven around just as we do the coin of the realm.\n\nPeople tell me they have nothing to say. \"Out of the abundance of the\nheart, the mouth speaketh.\" Get full of Scripture and then you can't\nhelp but say it. It says itself. Keep the world out of your heart by\ngetting full of something else. A man tried to build a flying machine.\nHe made some wings and filled them with gas. He said he couldn't quite\nfly, but the gas was lighter than the air and it helped him over lots of\nobstructions. So when you get these heavenly truths, they are lighter\nthan the air down here and help you over trouble.\n\nBible marking makes the Bible a new book to you. If there was a white\nbirch tree within a quarter of a mile of the home of your boyhood, you\nwould remember it all your life. Mark your Bible, and instead of its\nbeing dry and uninteresting, it will become a beautiful book to you.\nWhat you see makes a more lasting impression on your memory than what\nyou hear.\n\nHOW TO MARK AND WHAT TO MARK.\n\nThere are many methods of marking. Some use six or eight colored inks or\npencils. Black is used to mark texts that refer to sin; red, all\nreferences to the cross; blue, all references to heaven; and so on.\nOthers invent symbols. When there is any reference to the cross, they\nput \"+\" in the margin. Some write \"G\", meaning the Gospel.\n\nThere is danger of overdoing this and making your marks more prominent\nthan the scripture itself. If the system is complicated it becomes a\nburden, and you are likely to get confused. It is easier to remember the\ntext than the meaning of your marks.\n\nBlack ink is good enough for all purposes. I use no other, unless it be\nred ink to draw attention to \"the blood.\"\n\nThe simplest way to mark is to underline the words or to make a stroke\nalongside the verse. Another good way is to go over the printed letters\nwith your pen, and make them thicker. The word will then stand out like\nheavier type. Mark \"only\" in Psalm 62 in this way.\n\nWhen any word or phrase is oft repeated in a chapter or book, put\nconsecutive numbers in the margin over against the text. Thus, in the\nsecond chapter of Habakkuk, we find five \"woes\" against five common\nsins; (1) verse 6, (2) verse 9, (3) verse 12, (4) verse 15, (5) verse\n19. Number the ten plagues in this way. When there is a succession of\npromises or charges in a verse, it is better to write the numbers small\nat the beginning of each separate promise. Thus, there is a seven-fold\npromise to Abraham in Gen. 12, 2-3: \"(1) I will make of thee a great\nnation, (2) and I will bless thee, (3) and make thy name great; (4) and\nthou shalt be a blessing; (5) and I will bless them that bless thee, (6)\nand curse him that curseth thee: (7) and in thee shall all families of\nthe earth be blessed.\" In Prov. 1, 22, we have (1) simple ones, (2)\nscorners, (3) fools.\n\nPut a \"x\" in the margin against things not generally observed: for\nexample, the laws regarding women wearing men's clothes, and regarding\nbird-nesting, in Deut. 22, 5-6; the sleep of the poor man and of the\nrich man compared, Ecc. 5, 12.\n\nI also find it helpful to mark: 1. cross-references. Opposite Gen. 1, 1,\nwrite \"Through faith, Heb. 11, 3\"--because there we read--\"Through faith\nwe understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.\" Opposite\nGen. 28, 12, write--\"An answer to prayer, Gen. 35, 3.\" Opposite Matt. 6,\n33, write \"1 Kings 3, 13\" and \"Lu. 10, 42,\" which give illustrations of\nseeking the kingdom of God first. Opposite Gen. 37, 7, write--\"Gen. 50,\n18\"--which is the fulfilment of the dream.\n\n2. Railroad connections, that is, connections made by fine lines running\nacross the page. In Daniel 6, connect \"will deliver\" (v. 16), \"able to\ndeliver\" (v. 20), and \"hath delivered\" (v. 27). In Ps. 66, connect \"come\nand see\" (v. 5) with \"come and hear\" (v. 16).\n\n3. Variations of the Revised Version: thus Romans 8, 26 reads--\"the\nSpirit Himself\" in the R. V., not \"itself.\" Note also marginal readings\nlike Mark 6, 19, \"an inward grudge\" instead of \"a quarrel.\"\n\n4. Words that have changed their meaning; \"meal\" for \"meat\" in\nLeviticus. Or where you can explain a difficulty: \"above\" for \"upon\" in\nNum. 11, 31. Or where the English does not bring out the full meaning of\nthe original as happens in the names of God: \"Elohim\" in Gen. 1, 1,\n\"Jehovah Elohim\" in Gen. 2, 4, \"El Shaddai\" in Gen. 17, 1, and so on.\n\n5. Unfortunate divisions of chapters. The last verse of John 7\nreads--\"And every man went unto his own house.\" Chapter 8 begins \"Jesus\nwent unto the mount of Olives.\" There ought to be no division of\nchapters here.\n\n6. At the beginning of every book write a short summary of its contents,\nsomething like the summary given in some Bibles at the head of every\nchapter.\n\n7. Key words and key verses.\n\n8. Make a note of any text that marks a religious crisis in your life. I\nonce heard Rev. F. B. Meyer preach on 1 Cor. 1, 9, and he asked his\nhearers to write on their Bibles that they were that day \"called unto\nthe fellowship of His Son Christ our Lord.\"\n\nTAKING NOTES.\n\nWhen a preacher gives out a text, mark it; as he goes on preaching, put\na few words in the margin, key-words that shall bring back the whole\nsermon again. By that plan of making a few marginal notes, I can\nremember sermons I heard years and years ago. Every man ought to take\ndown some of the preacher's words and ideas, and go into some lane or\nby-way, and preach them again to others. We ought to have four ears--two\nfor ourselves and two for other people. Then, if you are in a new town,\nand have nothing else to say, jump up and say: \"I heard someone say so\nand so;\" and men will always be glad to hear you if you give them\nheavenly food. The world is perishing for lack of it.\n\nSome years ago I heard an Englishman in Chicago preach from a curious\ntext: \"There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they\nare exceeding wise.\" \"Well,\" said I to myself, \"what will you make of\nthese 'little things'? I have seen them a good many times.\" Then he went\non speaking: \"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their\nmeat in the summer.\" He said God's people are like the ants. \"Well,\" I\nthought, \"I have seen a good many of them, but I never saw one like me.\"\n\"They are like the ants,\" he said, \"because they are laying up treasure\nin heaven, and preparing for the future; but the world rushes madly on,\nand forgets all about God's command to lay up for ourselves\nincorruptible treasures.\"\n\n\"The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make these their houses in the\nrocks.\" He said, \"The conies are very weak things; if you were to throw\na stick at one of them you could kill it; but they are very wise, for\nthey build their houses in rocks, where they are out of harm's way. And\nGod's people are very wise, although very feeble; for they build on the\nRock of Ages, and that Rock is Christ.\" \"Well,\" I said, \"I am certainly\nlike the conies.\"\n\nThen came the next verse: \"The locusts have no king, yet go they forth\nall of them by bands.\" I wondered what he was going to make of that.\n\"Now God's people,\" he said, \"have no king down here. The world said,\n'Caesar is our king;' but he is not _our_ King; our King is the Lord of\nHosts. The locusts went out by bands; so do God's people. Here is a\nPresbyterian band, here an Episcopalian band, here a Methodist band, and\nso on; but by and by the great King will come and catch up all these\nseparate bands, and they will all be one; one fold and one Shepherd.\"\nAnd when I heard that explanation, I said; \"I would be like the\nlocusts.\" I have become so sick, my friends, of this miserable\nsectarianism, that I wish it could all be swept away.\n\n\"Well,\" he went on again, \"the spider taketh hold with her hands, and is\nin kings' palaces.\" When he got to the spider, I said, \"I don't like\nthat at all; I don't like the idea of being compared to a spider.\"\n\"But,\" he said, \"If you go into a king's palace, there is the spider\nhanging on his gossamer web, and look-down with scorn and contempt on\nthe gilded salon; he is laying hold of things above. And so every child\nof God ought to be like the spider, and lay hold of the unseen things of\nGod. You see, then, my brethren, we who are God's people are like the\nants, the conies, the locusts, and the spiders, little things, but\nexceeding wise.\" I put that down in the margin of my bible, and the\nrecollection of it does me as much good now as when I first heard it.\n\nA friend of mine was in Edinburgh and he heard one of the leading Scotch\nPresbyterian ministers. He had been preaching from the text, \"Every eye\nshall see Him,\" and he closed up by saying: \"Yes, every eye. Adam will\nsee Him, and when he does he will say: 'This is He who was promised to\nme in that dark day when I fell;' Abraham will see Him and will say:\n'This is He whom I saw afar off; but now face to face;' Mary will see\nHim, and she will sing with new interest that magnificat. And I, too,\nshall see Him, and when I do, I will sing: 'Rock of Ages, cleft for me,\nLet me hide myself in Thee.'\"\n\nADDITIONAL EXAMPLES.\n\nTurn to Exodus 6:6-7-8. In these verses we find seven \"I wills.\"\n\n_I will_ bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians.\n\n_I will_ rid you out of their bondage.\n\n_I will_ redeem you with a stretched-out arm.\n\n_I will_ take you to me for a people.\n\n_I will_ be to you a God.\n\n_I will_ bring you in into the land [of Canaan].\n\n_I will_ give it to you for a heritage.\n\nAgain: Isaiah 41:10. \"Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not\ndismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help\nthee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.\"\nMark what God says:\n\nHe is _with_ His servant.\n\nHe is his _God_.\n\nHe will _strengthen_.\n\nHe will _help_.\n\nHe will _uphold_.\n\nAgain: Psalm 103:2: \"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his\nbenefits.\" If you can not remember them all, remember what you can. In\nthe next three verses there are five things:\n\nWho _forgiveth_ all thine iniquities.\n\nWho _healeth_ all thy diseases.\n\nWho _redeemeth_ thy life from destruction.\n\nWho _crowneth_ thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.\n\nWho _satisfieth_ thy mouth with good things.\n\nWe can learn some things about the mercy of the Lord from this same\nPsalm:\n\nv. 4.--Its quality, \"tender.\"\n\nv. 8.--Its measure, \"plenteous.\"\n\nv. 11.--Its magnitude, \"great,\" \"according to the height of the heaven\nabove the earth.\" See margin.\n\nv. 17.--Its duration, \"from everlasting to everlasting.\"\n\nTwenty-third Psalm. I suppose I have heard as many good sermons on the\ntwenty-third Psalm as on any other six verses in the Bible. I wish I had\nbegun to take notes upon them years ago when I heard the first one.\nThings slip away from you when you get to be fifty years of age. Young\nmen had better go into training at once.\n\nWith me, the Lord.\n\nBeneath me, green pastures.\n\nBeside me, still waters.\n\nBefore me, a table.\n\nAround me, mine enemies.\n\nAfter me, goodness and mercy.\n\nAhead of me, the house of the Lord.\n\n\"Blessed is the day,\" says an old divine, \"when Psalm twenty-three was\nborn!\" It has been more used than almost any other passage in the Bible.\n\nv. 1.--A happy life.\n\nv. 4.--A happy death.\n\nv. 6.--A happy eternity.\n\nTake Psalm 102:6-7: \"I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an\nowl of the desert. I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.\"\nIt seems strange until you reflect that a pelican carries its food with\nit, that the owl keeps its eyes open at night, and that the sparrow\nwatches alone. So the Christian must carry his food with him--the\nBible--and he must keep his eyes open and watch alone.\n\nTurn to Isaiah 32, and mark four things that God promises in verse 2:\n\"And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from\nthe tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great\nrock in a weary land.\" There we have:--\n\nThe hiding place from danger.\n\nThe cover from the tempest.\n\nRivers of water.\n\nThe Rock of Ages.\n\nIn the third and fourth verses of the same chapter: \"And the eyes of\nthem that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall\nhearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the\ntongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.\" We have eyes,\nears, heart and tongue, all ready to pay homage to the King of\nRighteousness.\n\nNow turn into the New Testament, John 4:47-53.\n\nThe noble _heard_ about Jesus.\n\n   _went_ unto Him.\n   _besought_ Him.\n   _believed_ Him.\n   _knew_ that his prayer was answered.\n\nAgain: Matthew 11:28-30:\n\n\"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give\nyou rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly\nin heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy,\nand my burden is light.\" Someone has said these verses contain the only\ndescription we have of Christ's heart.\n\nSomething to do, come unto Jesus.\n\nSomething to leave, your burden.\n\nSomething to take, His yoke.\n\nSomething to find, rest unto your soul.\n\nAgain: John 14:6. \"I am the way, the truth, and the life.\"\n\nThe way, follow me.\n\nThe truth, learn of me.\n\nThe life, abide in me.\n\nSUGGESTIONS.\n\nDo not buy a Bible that you are unwilling to mark and use. An\ninterleaved Bible gives more room for notes.\n\nBe precise and concise: for example, Neh. 13, 18: \"A warning from\nhistory.\"\n\nNever mark anything because you saw it in some one else's Bible. If it\ndoes not come home to you, if you not understand it, do not put it down.\n\nNever pass a nugget by without trying to grasp it. Then mark it down.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nPersonal Work--Three Kinds of Church Services--Church\nMembers--Individual Experience--One Inquirer at a Time--Those who lack\nAssurance--Backsliders--Not Convicted of Sin--Deeply Convicted--The\nDivinity of Christ--Can't Hold Out--No Strength--Feelings--Can't\nBelieve--Can't be Saved all at Once--Not Now--Further Suggestions.\n\nPERSONAL dealing is of the most vital importance. No one can tell how\nmany persons have been lost to the Kingdom of God through lack of\nfollowing up the preaching of the Gospel by personal work. It is\ndeplorable how few church-members are qualified to deal with inquirers,\nyet that is the very work in which they ought most efficiently to aid\nthe pastor. People are not usually converted under the preaching of the\nminister. It is in the inquiry-meeting that they are most likely to be\nbrought to Christ. They are perhaps awakened under the minister, but God\ngenerally uses some one person to point out the way of salvation and\nbring the anxious to a decision. Some people can't see the use of\ninquiry-meetings, and think they are something new, and that we haven't\nany authority for them. But they are no innovation. We read about them\nall through the Bible. When John the Baptist was preaching he was\ninterrupted. It would be a good thing if people would interrupt the\nminister now and then in the middle of some metaphysical sermon, and ask\nwhat he means. The only way to make sure that people understand what he\nis talking about is to let them ask questions. I don't know what some\nmen, who have got the whole address written out, would do if some one\nshould get up and ask: \"What must I do to be saved?\" Yet such questions\nwould do more good than anything else you could have. They would awake a\nspirit of inquiry. Some of Christ's sweetest teachings were called forth\nby questions.\n\nTHREE KINDS OF CHURCH SERVICES.\n\nThere ought to be three kinds of services in all churches: one for\nworship--to offer praise, and to wait on the Lord in prayer; another for\nteaching; and at these services there needn't be a word to the\nunconverted, (although some men never close any meeting without\npresenting the Gospel), but let them be for the church people; and a\nthird for preaching the Gospel. Sunday morning is the best time for\nteaching, but Sunday night is the best night in the whole week, of the\nregular church services, to preach the simple Gospel of the Son of God.\nWhen you have preached that, and have felt the power of the unseen\nworld, and there are souls trembling in the balance, don't say, as I\nhave heard good ministers say: \"_If_ there are any in this, place\nconcerned--at all concerned--about their souls, I will be in the\npastor's study on Friday night, and will be glad to see them.\" By that\ntime the chances are the impression will be all wiped out. Deal with\nthem that night before the devil snatches away the good seed. Wherever\nthe Gospel is proclaimed, there should be an expectation of immediate\nresults, and if this were the case the Church of Christ would be in a\nconstant state of grace.\n\n\"Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious\nproselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded\nthem to continue in the grace of God.\" How much would Paul and Barnabas\nhave accomplished if they had pronounced the benediction and sent these\npeople home? It is a thing to weep over that we have got thousands and\nthousands of church members who are good for nothing towards extending\nthe Kingdom of God. They understand bazaars, and fairs, and\nsewing-circles; but when you ask them to sit down and show a man or\nwoman the way into God's kingdom, they say: \"Oh, I am not able to do\nthat. Let the deacons do it, or some one else.\" It is all wrong. The\nChurch ought to be educated on this very point. There are a great many\nchurch-members who are just hobbling about on crutches. They can just\nmake out that they are saved, and imagine that is all that constitutes a\nChristian in this nineteenth century. As far as helping others is\nconcerned, that never enters their heads. They think if they can get\nalong themselves, they are doing amazingly well. They have no idea what\nthe Holy Ghost wants to do through them.\n\nNo matter how weak you are, God can use you; and you cannot say what a\nstream of salvation you may set in motion. John the Baptist was a young\nman when he died; but he led Andrew to Christ, and Andrew led Peter, and\nso the river flowed on.\n\nIn the closing pages of this book I want to give some hints in regard to\npassing on the good to others, and thus profiting them by your knowledge\nof the Bible. Every believer, whether minister or layman, is in duty\nbound to spread the gospel. \"Go ye into all the world and preach the\ngospel to every creature\" was the wide command of our parting Savior to\nHis disciples.\n\nThere are many Bible students, however, who utterly neglect the command.\nThey are like sponges, always sucking in the Water of Life, but never\nimparting it to thirsty souls around.\n\nA clergyman used to go hunting, and when his bishop reproved him, he\nsaid he never went hunting when he was on duty.\n\n\"When is a clergyman off duty?\" asked the bishop.\n\nAnd so with every Christian: when is he off duty?\n\nTo be ready with a promise for the dying, a word of hope for the\nbereaved and afflicted, of encouragement for the downhearted, of advice\nfor the anxious, is a great accomplishment. The opportunities to be\nuseful in these ways are numerous. Not only in inquiry-meetings and\nchurch work, but in our everyday contact with others the opening\nconstantly occurs. A word, a look, a hand-clasp, a prayer, may have an\nunending influence for good.\n\n\"Is your father at home?\" asked a gentleman of a doctor's child.\n\n\"No,\" he said, \"he's away.\"\n\n\"Where can I find him?\"\n\n\"Well,\" he said, \"you've got to look for him in some place where people\nare sick or hurt, or something like that. I don't know where he is, but\nhe's helping somewhere.\"\n\nThat ought to be the spirit animating every follower of Him who went\nabout doing good.\n\nLAYING DOWN RULES.\n\nI admit one can't lay down positive rules in dealing with individuals\nabout their religious condition. Tin soldiers are exactly alike, but not\nso men. Matthew and Paul were a good way apart. The people we deal with\nmay be widely different. What would be medicine for one might be rank\npoison for another. In the 15th of Luke, the elder son and the younger\nson were exactly opposite. What would have been good counsel for one\nmight have been ruin to the other. God never made two persons to look\nalike. If we had made men, probably we would have made them all alike,\neven if we had to crush some bones to get them into the mould. But that\nis not God's way. In the universe there is infinite variety. The\nPhilippian jailer required peculiar treatment. Christ dealt with\nNicodemus one way, and the woman at the well another way.\n\nYOUR OWN EXPERIENCE.\n\nIt is a great mistake, in dealing with inquirers, to tell your conversion\nexperience. Experience may have its place, but I don't think it has its\nplace when we are dealing with inquirers; for the first thing the man\nyou are talking to will do will be to look for your experience. He\ndoesn't want your experience. He wants one of his own.\n\nSuppose Bartimeus had gone to Jerusalem to the man that was born blind,\nand said:\n\n\"Now, just tell us how the Lord cured you.\"\n\nThe Jerusalem man might have said: \"He just spat on the ground, and\nanointed my eyes with the clay.\"\n\n\"Ho!\" says Bartimeus, \"I don't believe you ever got your sight at all.\nWho ever heard of such a way as that? Why, to fill a man's eyes with\nclay is enough to put them out!\"\n\nBoth men were blind, but they were not cured alike. A great many men are\nkept out of the kingdom of God because they are looking for somebody\nelse's experience--the experience their grandmother had, their aunt, or\nsome one in the family.\n\nONE INQUIRER AT A TIME.\n\nThen it is very important to deal with one at a time. A doctor doesn't\ngive cod-liver oil for all complaints. \"No,\" he says, \"I must seek what\neach one wants.\" He looks at the tongue, and inquires into the symptoms.\nOne may have ague, another typhoid fever, and another may have\nconsumption. What a man wants is to be able to read his Bible, and to\nread human nature, too.\n\nThose do best who do not run from one person in an inquiry-meeting to\nanother, offering words of encouragement everywhere. They would do\nbetter by going to but one or two of an afternoon or evening. We are\nbuilding for eternity, and can take time. The work will not then be\nsuperficial.\n\nTry first to win the person's confidence, and then your words will have\nmore weight. Use great tact in approaching the subject.\n\nIt will be a great help to divide persons into classes as much as\npossible, and bring certain passages of Scripture to bear upon these\nclasses. It is unwise, however, to use verses that you have seen in\nbooks until you are perfectly clear in your own mind of their meaning\nand application. Avail yourself by all means of suggestions from outside\nsources, but as David could not fight in Saul's armor, so you possibly\nmay not be able to make good use of texts and passages which have proved\npowerful in the hands of another. The best way is to make your own\nclassification, and select suitable texts, which experience will lead\nyou to adopt or change, according to circumstances. Make yourself\nfamiliar with a few passages, rather than have a hazy and incomplete\nidea of a large number.\n\nThe following classification may be found helpful:--\n\n1. Believers who lack assurance; who are in darkness because they have\nsinned; who neglect prayer, Bible study, and other means of grace; who\nare in darkness because of an unforgiving spirit; who are timid or\nashamed to confess Christ openly; who are not engaged in active work for\nthe Master; who lack strength to resist temptation and to stand fast in\ntime of trial; who are not growing in grace.\n\n2. Believers who have backslidden.\n\n3. Those who are deeply convicted of sin, and are seeking salvation.\n\n4. Those who have difficulties of various kinds. Many believe that they\nare so sinful that God will not accept them, that they have sinned away\ntheir opportunities and now it is too late, that the gospel was never\nintended for them. Others are kept back by honest doubts regarding the\ndivinity of Christ, the genuineness of the Bible. Others again are\ntroubled by the mysteries of the Bible, the doctrines of election,\ninstant conversion, etc., or they say they have sought Christ in vain,\nthat they have tried and failed, they are afraid they could not hold\nout. A large class is in great trouble about feelings.\n\n5. Those who make excuses. There is a wide difference between a person\nwho has a _reason_ and one who had an _excuse_ to offer.\n\nThe commonest excuses are that there are so many inconsistent\nChristians, hypocrites in the church; that it would cost too much to\nbecome Christians, that they could not continue in their present\noccupation, etc.; that they expect to become Christians some day; that\ntheir companions hold them back, or would cast them off if they were\nconverted.\n\n6. Those who are not convicted of sin. Some are deliberately sinful;\nthey want to \"see life,\" to \"sow their wild oats;\" others are\nthoughtless; others again are simply ignorant of Jesus Christ and His\nwork. A large number do not feet their need of a Savior because they are\nself-righteous, trusting to their own morality and good works.\n\n7. Those who hold hostile creeds, embracing sectarians, cranks, Jews,\nspiritualists, infidels, atheists, agnostics, etc.\n\nAlways use your Bible in personal dealing. Do not trust to memory, but\nmake the person read the verse for himself. Do not use printed slips or\nbooks. Hence, if convenient, always carry a Bible or New Testament with\nyou.\n\nIt is a good thing to get a man on his knees (if convenient), but don't\nget him there before he is ready. You may have to talk with him two\nhours before you can get him that far along. But when you think he is\nabout ready, say, \"Shall we not ask God to give us light on this point?\"\nSometimes a few minutes in prayer have done more for a man than two\nhours in talk. When the spirit of God has led him so far that he is\nwilling to have you pray with him, he is not very far from the kingdom.\nAsk him to pray for himself. If he doesn't want to pray, let him use a\nBible prayer; get him to repeat it; for example: \"Lord help me!\" Tell\nthe man: \"If the Lord helped that poor woman, He will help you if you\nmake the same prayer. He will give you a new heart if you pray from the\nheart.\" Don't send a man home to pray. Of course he should pray at home,\nbut I would rather get his lips open at once. It is a good thing for a\nman to hear his own voice in prayer. It is a good thing for him to cry\nout: \"God be merciful to me a sinner!\"\n\nUrge an immediate decision, but never tell a man he is converted. Never\ntell him he is saved. Let the Holy Spirit reveal that to him. You can\nshoot a man and see that he is dead, but you can not see when a man\nreceives eternal life. You can't afford to deceive one about this great\nquestion. But you can help his faith and trust, and lead him aright.\n\nAlways be prepared to do personal work. When war was declared between\nFrance and Germany, Count von Moltke, the German general, was prepared\nfor it. Word brought to him late at night, after he had gone to bed.\n\"Very well,\" he said to the messenger, \"the third portfolio on the\nleft\"; and he went to sleep again.\n\nDo the work boldly. Don't take those in a position in life above your\nown, but as a rule, take those on the same footing. Don't deal with a\nperson of opposite sex, if it can be otherwise arranged. Bend all your\nendeavors to answer for poor, struggling souls that question of all\nimportance to them. \"What must I do to be saved?\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nSUMMARY OF SUGGESTIONS.\n\n1. Have for constant use a portable reference Bible, a Cruden's\nConcordance, and a Topical Text Book.\n\n2. Always carry a Bible or Testament in your pocket and do not be\nashamed of people seeing you read it on trains, etc.\n\n3. Do not be afraid of marking it, or of making marginal notes. Mark\ntexts that contain promises, exhortations, warnings to sinners and to\nChristians, gospel invitations to the unconverted, and so on.\n\n4. Set apart at least fifteen minutes a day for study and meditation.\nThis little will have great results and will never be regretted.\n\n5. Prepare your heart to know the law of the Lord, and _to do it_.\nEzra 7:10.\n\n6. Always ask God to open the eyes of your understanding that you may\nsee the truth; and expect that He will answer your prayer.\n\n7. Cast every burden of doubt upon the Lord. \"He will never suffer the\nrighteous to be moved.\" Do not be afraid to look for a reason for the\nhope that is in you.\n\n8. Believe in the Bible as God's revelation to you, and act accordingly.\nDo not reject any portion because it contains the supernatural, or\nbecause you can not understand it. Reverence all Scripture. Remember\nGod's own estimate of it: \"Thou hast magnified thy Word above all\nthy Name.\"\n\n9. Learn at least one verse of Scripture each day. Verses committed to\nmemory will be wonderfully useful in your daily life and walk. \"Thy word\nhave I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.\" Some\nChristians can quote Shakespeare and Longfellow better than the Bible.\n\n10. If you are a preacher or a Sunday school teacher, try at any cost to\nmaster your Bible. You ought to know it better than any one in your\ncongregation or class.\n\n11. Strive to be exact in quoting Scripture.\n\n12. Adopt some systematic plan of Bible study: either topical, or by\nsubjects, like \"The Blood,\" \"Prayer,\" \"Hope,\" etc.; or by books; or by\nsome other plan outlined in the preceding pages.\n\n13. Study to know for what and to whom each book of the Bible was\nwritten. Combine the Old Testament with the New. Study Hebrews and\nLeviticus together, the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, the\nProphets and the historical books of the old Testament.\n\n14. Study how to use the Bible so as to \"walk with God\" in closer\ncommunion; also, so as to gain a working knowledge of Scripture for\nleading others to Christ. An old minister used to say that the cries of\nneglected texts were always sounding in his ears, asking why he did not\nshow how important they were.\n\n15. Do not be satisfied with simply reading a chapter daily. _Study_ the\nmeaning of at least one verse.\n\n\n\n\nFootnotes\n\n[1] _The New Topical Text Book_. An aid to topical study of the Bible.\nCloth, 25 cents; by mail, 30 cents.\n\n_The Bible Text Cyclopedia_, a complete classification of Scripture\ntexts in the form of an alphabetical list of subjects by Rev. James\nInglis. Large 8 vo. cloth, $1.75.\n\n_Both issued by the publishers of this volume_.","title":"Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":31487}