{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_41900/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_41900","id":"gutenberg_41900","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41900","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Study and teaching","Category: How To ...","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Teaching & Education"],"text":"HOW TO MASTER THE ENGLISH BIBLE\n\n\n\n\nHOW TO MASTER THE ENGLISH BIBLE\n\n\nAN EXPERIENCE, A METHOD\n\nA RESULT, AN ILLUSTRATION\n\n\nBY\n\n\nREV. JAMES M. GRAY, D.D.\n\nMINISTER IN THE REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH\n\nAUTHOR OF \"SYNTHETIC BIBLE STUDIES\"\n\n\"THE ANTIDOTE TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE\"\n\n\"PRIMERS OF THE FAITH\" ETC. ETC.\n\n\nEDINBURGH AND LONDON\n\nOLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER\n\n1907\n\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n     I. The Story of the Case\n    II. Explanation of the Method\n   III. The Plan at Work\n    IV. Results in the Pulpit\n     V. Expository Outlines\n\n\n\n\nNOTE BY THE PUBLISHERS OF THE BRITISH EDITION\n\nThe success of the author's book, _Synthetic Bible Studies_, has been\nsuch that it is a pleasure to us to introduce this little book to\nBritish Bible students.\n\n\n\n\nNOTE BY THE PUBLISHERS OF THE AMERICAN EDITION\n\nThe author of this book requires no introduction to the Bible-loving\npeople of our time. A time it is of unusual quickening in the study\nof God's Word along spiritual and evangelical lines, toward which, as\nthe editor of a leading newspaper has said, no one man has contributed\nmore than Rev. James M. Gray, D.D.\n\n\"He knows what is in the Book,\" says the _Christian Endeavour World,_\n\"and when he sounds the clear, strong notes of God's love, of victory\nover sin, of the believer's assurance, it is no wonder that thousands\nof young people wax as enthusiastic over the Bible as others do over\nathletics or art.\"\n\nThe interdenominational Bible classes which he has carried on, and to\nwhich his work directly and indirectly has given rise, are the\nlargest and in other respects the most remarkable known. His work has\nrevolutionised the method of teaching in some Sunday schools; it has\nput life into dead prayer-meetings; in not a few instances it has\nmaterially helped to solve the problem of the second service on the\nLord's day; it has been a boon to many pastors in the labours of\nstudy and pulpit, whose gratitude is outspoken; it has contributed to\nthe efficiency of foreign missionary workers, whose testimony has\ncome from the uttermost parts of the earth; and it has reacted\nbeneficially on the instruction given in the English Bible in some of\nour home academies, smaller colleges and seminaries. The secret of\nthese results is given in this book.\n\nNor is it as a Bible teacher only, but also as a Bible preacher, that\nDr. Gray holds a distinguished place in the current history of the\nChurch. His expository sermons leave an impress not to be effaced.\nPresbyteries and ministerial associations are on record that they\nhave stirred communities to their depths. Even secular editors,\ncommonly unmoved by ordinary types of evangelism, have written: \"Here\nis something new for the people, something fresh and suggestive for\nevery active mind, which the business interests of the city cannot\nafford to neglect.\" The testimony of one pastor given at a meeting of\nthe presbytery is practically that of scores of others throughout the\ncountry. He had attended a series of popular meetings conducted by\nDr. Gray, and said: \"I learned more during the few days I listened to\nDr. Gray about the true character of preaching than I had learned in\nall my seminary course and my twenty years of ministry. Because of\nwhat I learned there of true expository preaching I shall hope to\nmake the last years of my ministry the very best of all.\"\n\nWe are glad that this book contains a practical application of all\nthat the author has said and taught to the results which may be\ngathered from it in the pulpit.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE CASE\n\n\n\n\nHOW TO MASTER THE ENGLISH BIBLE\n\n\nPART I\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE CASE\n\n\n[Sidenote: The Bible like a Farm]\n\nHow to master the English Bible! High-sounding title that, but does\nit mean what it says? It is not how to study it, but how to master\nit; for there is a sense in which the Bible must be mastered before\nit can be studied, and it is the failure to see this which accounts\nfor other failures on the part of many earnest would-be Bible\nstudents. I suppose it is something like a farm; for although never a\nfarmer myself, I have always imagined a farmer should know his farm\nbefore he attempted to work it. How much upland and how much lowland?\nHow much wood and how much pasture? Where should the orchard be laid\nout? Where plant my corn, oats, and potatoes? What plot is to be\nseeded down to grass? When he has mastered his farm he begins to get\nready for results from it.\n\n\nNow there are many ways of studying the Bible, any one of which may\nbe good enough in itself, but there is only one way to master it, as\nwe shall see. And it is the Bible itself we are to master, not books\nabout the Bible, nor yet \"charts.\" I once listened to an earnest and\ncultivated young man delivering a lecture on Bible study, illustrated\nby a chart so long that when he unrolled and held one end of it above\nhis head, as high as his arms could reach, the other curled up on the\nfloor below the platform. As the auditor gazed upon its labyrinthian\nlines, circles, crosses and other things intended to illuminate it,\nand \"gathered up the loins of his mind\" to listen to the explanation\nfollowing, it was with an inward sigh of gratitude that God had never\nput such a yoke upon us, \"which neither we nor our fathers were able\nto bear.\"\n\n[Sidenote: The Vernacular and Bible Tongues]\n\nAnd it is the English Bible we are thinking about, the Bible in the\nvernacular, the tongue most of us best understand. One is grateful to\nhave studied Hebrew and Greek, just to be able to tell others who\nhave not that they do not require either to hearken to our Heavenly\nFather's voice. He has an advantage as a scholar who can utilise the\noriginal tongues; but the Bible was not given to scholars, but to the\npeople, and \"hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were\nborn\" (Acts 2:8). It is not at all inconsistent to add that he who\nmasters the English Bible is possessed of the strongest inducement to\nstudy it in Hebrew and Greek.\n\n\nThat which follows grows largely out of the writer's personal\nexperience. For the first eight or ten years of my ministry I did not\nknow my English Bible as I should have known it, a fact to which my\nown spiritual life and the character of my pulpit ministrations bore\ndepressing witness. [Sidenote: The Bible in the Seminary] Nor was I\nso fortunate as to meet with more than one or two brethren in the\nministry who knew their English Bible very much better than I knew\nmine. They all declared that the theological seminaries did not\nprofess to teach the English Bible. They taught much about the Bible\nof great importance for ministers to know, such as the Hebrew and\nGreek tongues, the principles of exegesis and interpretation, the\nhistory of the text, and the proofs and illustrations of Christian\ndoctrine; but, in the words of one of the ministers referred to (which\nhave appeared in print), \"while we had some special lessons in one or\ntwo of the epistles, several of the psalms, in some of the prophecies,\nand in a few select portions of the gospels, other and vastly\nimportant parts of the Bible were left out altogether. We had nothing\non the book of Revelation, no elaborate study of the Mosaic ritual and\nits profound system of types, and especially were we left uninitiated\ninto the minute and wonderful co-ordination of parts in the various\nbooks of the Old and New Testaments, which disclose a stupendous\ndivine plan running through the whole, linking them all together as an\nindissoluble unit and carrying with them an amazing power of\nconviction.\"\n\nThe seminaries have assumed that students were acquainted with the\ngreat facts of the English Bible and their relation to one another\nbefore matriculation, but so competent an authority as President\nHarper declares that \"to indicate the line of thought and chief ideas\nof a particular prophet, or the argument of an epistle, or to state\neven the most important events in the life of our Lord, would be\nimpossible for the average college graduate.\" It is such an\nunfortunate state of things which, to a certain extent, accounts for\nthe rise and maintenance of those excellent institutions, the Moody\nBible Institute in this country and Spurgeon's College in London,\nwith their almost countless offspring and imitators everywhere,\ncreating as they have a distinct atmosphere of biblical and\nevangelistic teaching and preaching. It is commonly supposed, it may\nbe said in passing, that these institutions cater to or attract only\nmen or women of very limited educational attainments, but in the case\nof the first-named, at least, an incidental census taken recently\ndisclosed the fact that one-third of the male students then on the\nrolls or who had lately left were college-trained; one may safely\nhazard the opinion that in the women's department the proportion of\ncollege-trained students would have been still larger.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Help from a Layman]\n\nThe first practical help I ever received in the mastery of the\nEnglish Bible was from a layman. We were fellow-attendants at a\ncertain Christian conference or convention and thrown together a good\ndeal for several days, and I saw something in his Christian life to\nwhich I was a comparative stranger--a peace, a rest, a joy, a kind of\nspiritual poise I knew little about. One day I ventured to ask him\nhow he had become possessed of the experience, when he replied, \"By\nreading the epistle to the Ephesians.\" I was surprised, for I had\nread it without such results, and therefore asked him to explain the\nmanner of his reading, when he related the following: He had gone\ninto the country to spend the Sabbath with his family on one\noccasion, taking with him a pocket copy of Ephesians, and in the\nafternoon, going out into the woods and lying down under a tree, he\nbegan to read it; he read it through at a single reading, and finding\nhis interest aroused, read it through again in the same way, and, his\ninterest increasing, again and again. I think he added that he read\nit some twelve or fifteen times, \"and when I arose to go into the\nhouse,\" said he, \"I was in possession of Ephesians, or better yet, it\nwas in possession of me, and I had been 'lifted up to sit together in\nheavenly places in Christ Jesus' in an experimental sense in which\nthat had not been true in me before, and will never cease to be true\nin me again.\"\n\nI confess that as I listened to this simple recital my heart was\ngoing up in thanksgiving to God for answered prayer, the prayer\nreally of months, if not years, that I might come to know how to\nmaster His Word. And yet, side by side with the thanksgiving was\nhumiliation that I had not discovered so simple a principle before,\nwhich a boy of ten or twelve might have known. And to think that an\n\"ordained\" minister must sit at the feet of a layman to learn the\nmost important secret of his trade!\n\n[Sidenote: Dr. Stalker's Experience]\n\nSince that day, however, the writer has found some comfort in the\nthought that other ministers have had a not unlike experience. In an\naddress before the National Bible Society of Scotland, the Rev. Dr.\nStalker speaks of the first time he ever \"read a whole book of the\nBible straight through at a sitting.\" It was while as a student he\nwas spending a winter in France, and there being no Protestant church\nin the town where he was passing a Sunday, he was thrown on his own\nresources. Leaving the hotel where he was staying, he lay down on a\ngreen knoll and began reading here and there as it chanced, till,\ncoming to the epistle to the Romans, he read on and on through to the\nend. \"As I proceeded,\" he said, \"I began to catch the drift of Paul's\nthought; or rather, I was caught by it and drawn on. The mighty\nargument opened out and arose like a great work of art above me till\nat last it enclosed me within its perfect proportions. It was a\nrevolutionary experience. I saw for the first time that a book of\nScripture is a complete discussion of a single subject; I felt the\nforce of the book as a whole, and I understood the different parts in\nthe light of the whole as I had never understood them when reading\nthem by themselves. Thus to master book after book is to fill the\nmind with the great thoughts of God.\"\n\n\n[Sidenote: The Author's Plan]\n\nLet me now speak of what I, personally, began to do after the\nsuggestion of the layman, for the results which, in the providence of\nGod, have grown out of it seem to warrant dwelling upon it even at\nthe risk of prolixity on the one hand or the suspicion of egotism on\nthe other. At first, supposing it more desirable to read the books in\nthe original than the vernacular, I began to memorise some of the\nsmaller epistles in Greek, but the Lord showed me \"a more excellent\nway\" in view of the purpose which the event proved Him to have had in\nmind in the matter. Accordingly, ignoring the Bible tongues for the\ntime, I read Genesis through in the English at a single reading, and\nthen repeated the process again and again until the book in its great\noutlines had practically become mine. Then I took up Exodus in the\nsame way, Leviticus, Numbers, and practically all the other books of\nthe Old and New Testaments to Revelation, with the exception of\nProverbs, the Psalms and one or two others which do not lend\nthemselves readily to that plan of reading, and indeed do not require\nit to their understanding and mastery. I am careful to emphasise the\nfact that I did not read the Bible \"in course,\" as it is commonly\nunderstood. One might read it in that way a great many times and not\nmaster it in the sense indicated above. The plan was to read and\nre-read each book by itself and in its order, as though there were no\nother in existence, until it had become a part of the very being.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Joy and Power]\n\nWas the task tedious and long? No more than was Jacob's when he\nserved Laban for his daughter Rachel. There were compensations all\nalong the way and ever-increasing delight. No romance ever held sway\nover the thought and imagination in comparison with this Book of\nbooks. A better investment of time were never made by any minister;\nand, shut me up to-day to a choice between all the ministerial lore I\never learned elsewhere and what was learned in this synthetic reading\nof the Bible, and it would not take me many minutes to decide in\nfavour of the latter. Nor did I know until lately how closely my\nfeeling in this respect harmonised with that of a great educator and\ntheologian of an earlier day. [Sidenote: Dean Burgon and Dr. Routh]\nDean Burgon tells of an interview he had in 1846 with the learned\npresident of Magdalen College, Oxford, Dr. Martin Joseph Routh, then\naged ninety-one. He had called upon him for advice as to the best way\nof pursuing his theological studies.\n\n\"I think, sir,\" said Dr. Routh, \"were I you, sir--that I would--first\nof all--read the--the Gospel according to St. Matthew.\" Here he\npaused. \"And after I had read the Gospel according to St. Matthew--I\nwould--were I you, sir--go on to read--the Gospel according to\nSt.--Mark.\"\n\n\"I looked at him,\" says Dean Burgon, \"anxiously, to see whether he\nwas serious. One glance was enough. He was giving me, but at a very\nslow rate, the outline of my future course.\"\n\n\"Here was a theologian of ninety-one,\" says the narrator of this\nincident, \"who, after surveying the entire field of sacred science,\nhad come back to the starting point, and had nothing better to advise\nme to read than--the Gospel!\" And thus he kept on until he had\nmentioned all the books of the New Testament. Sad, however, that the\nstory should have been spoiled by his not beginning at Genesis!\n\n\n[Sidenote: Lightening Labour]\n\nWords fail me to express the blessing that reading has been to\nme--strengthening my conviction as to the integrity and plenary\ninspiration of the whole Book, enlarging my mental vision as to the\ndivine plan along the line of dispensational truth, purifying my life\nand lightening my labours in the ministry until that which before had\noften been a burden and weariness to the flesh, became a continual\njoy and delight.\n\nTo speak of this last-named matter a little further. The claims on a\ncity pastor in these days are enough to break down the strongest men,\nespecially when their pulpit preparation involves the production of\ntwo orations or finished theses each week for which they must \"read\nup in systematic treatises, philosophic disquisitions, works of\nliterature, magazine articles and what not, drawing upon their\ningenuity of invention and fertility of imagination all the time in\norder to be original, striking, elegant and fresh.\" But when they\ncome to know their Bible, and get imbued with its lore and anointed\nby the Spirit through whom it speaks, \"sermonising\" will give place\nto preaching--the preaching that God bids us to preach, the\nexposition of His own Word, which is not only much easier to do, but\ncorrespondingly more fruitful in spiritual results. And, indeed, it\nis the kind of preaching that people want to hear--all kinds of\npeople, the converted and the unconverted, the rich and the poor. A\nwide experience convinces me of this. Here is the minister's field,\nhis specialty, his throne. He may not be a master in other things; he\nmay and should be a master in this. The really great preachers\nto-day, the MacLarens, the Torreys, the Campbell Morgans, are Bible\nexpounders. George Whitefield, in Boston, had a congregation of two\nthousand people at six o'clock in the morning to hear him \"expound\nthe Bible.\" The people trod on Jesus to hear the Word of God, and if\npastors only knew it, it is the way to get and to hold the people\nstill.\n\n\n[Sidenote: D. L. Moody and the International Bible Classes]\n\nMy experience in the premises soon began to be that of others. Some\ntheological students under my care at the time undertook the mastery\nof the English Bible in the same way and with the same blessing. Then\nthe work began to broaden, and God's further purpose to reveal\nitself. Such Bible institutes as those already spoken of, organised\nfor the purpose of training Christian young men and women as\nevangelists, pastors' helpers, missionaries and gospel workers\ngenerally, were in need of some simple, yet practical, method of\nputting their students in possession of the facts of the Word of God\nfor use among the people with whom they had to deal, and God had been\nmaking ready to supply their need. But out of these institutes again\nhave grown those large interdenominational Bible classes which have\nbecome a feature of our church life in different parts of the\ncountry. Their origin is traceable, like that of so many other good\nthings of the kind, to the suggestion and support of the late D. L.\nMoody. One summer, while conducting a special course of Bible study\nin the Chicago Institute, he said to the writer: \"If this synthetic\nmethod of teaching the Bible is so desirable for and popular with our\nday classes, why would it not take equally well with the masses of\nthe people on a large scale? If I arrange for a mass meeting in the\nChicago Avenue Church, will you speak to the people on 'How to Master\nthe English Bible' and let us see what will come of it?\" The\nsuggestion being acted upon, as a result about four hundred persons\nout of some one thousand present that evening resolved themselves into\na union Bible class for the synthetic study of the Bible under the\nleadership of Mr. William R. Newell, then assistant superintendent\nof the Institute. This class continued to meet regularly once a week\nwith unabated interest throughout the whole of that fall and winter,\nand the next year had multiplied into five classes held in different\nparts of the city, on different evenings of the week, but under the\nsame teacher, and with an aggregate membership of over four thousand.\nThe year following, this had increased to over five thousand, two or\nthree of the classes averaging separately an attendance of twelve\nhundred to fifteen hundred. Since that time several similar classes\nhave attained a membership approaching two thousand, and one, in\nToronto, to nearly four thousand. At the time of this writing, in the\nheat of the summer, such a class is being held weekly in Chicago.\nFrom Chicago the work spread in other cities of the East and Middle\nWest, and under other teachers. Classes for briefer periods have been\ncarried on in Canada and Great Britain. A religious weekly organised\na class to be conducted through its columns, enrolling tens of\nthousands in its membership, and through its influence many pastors,\nY.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A. workers have instituted classes in their own\nfields which have, in turn, multiplied the interest in the popular\nstudy of the English Bible in increasing ratio.\n\n\n\n\nEXPLANATION OF THE METHOD\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\n\nEXPLANATION OF THE METHOD\n\n\nThe contents of the preceding pages may be said to be preliminary to\nthe definition or description of what the synthetic study of the\nBible is; for by that name the method to be described has come to be\ncalled. The word \"synthesis\" suggests the opposite idea to the word\n\"analysis.\" When we analyse a subject we take it apart and consider\nit in its various elements, but when we \"synthesise\" it, so to speak,\nwe put it together and consider it as a whole. Now the synthetic\nstudy of the Bible means, as nearly as possible, the study of the\nBible as a whole, and each book of the Bible as a whole, and as seen\nin its relation to the other books.\n\n[Sidenote: A Coloured Critic]\n\nA very dear Christian friend and neighbour, the late A. J. Gordon,\nD.D., used to tell an amusing story of a conversation with a deacon\nof a church for coloured people in his proximity. He asked the deacon\nhow the people liked their new pastor, and was surprised to hear him\nsay, \"Not berry much.\" When pressed for an explanation he added that\nthe pastor told \"too many 'antidotes' in the pulpit.\" \"Why,\" said the\ndoctor, \"I'm surprised to hear that; I thought he was a great Bible\nman.\" \"Well,\" replied the deacon, \"I'll tell yer how 'tis. He's de\nbest man I ebber see'd to tak' de Bible apart, but he dunno how to\nput it togedder agin.\" Principal Cairns, I think it was, who heard\nthis story, said it was the best illustration of the distinction\nbetween the constructive and destructive criticism to which he had\never listened. The synthetic study of the Bible, it may be said in a\nword, is an attempt to put it together rather than to take it apart.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Illustrations of the Method]\n\nTo illustrate, I have always felt a sort of injury in the way I was\ntaught geography; capes and bays, and lakes and rivers were sought to\nbe crowded on my understanding before I ever saw a globe. Should not\nthe globe come first, then the hemispheres, continents, nations,\ncapitals and the rest? Does not a view of the whole materially assist\nin the comprehension of the parts? Is it not vital to it, indeed? And\nhistory--what is the true method of its study? Is it not first the\noutline history of the world, then its great divisions, ancient,\nmediaeval, modern, then the separate peoples or kingdoms in each, and\nso on? How could you hope to interest a child in botany who had never\nseen a flower? How would you study a picture of a landscape? Would\nyou cover the canvas with a cloth and study one feature of it at a\ntime? What idea of it would you obtain under such circumstances?\nWould you not rather say, \"Hang it in the proper light, let me get\nthe right position with regard to it, and take it all in at a\nsingle glance, fasten the whole of it at once on the camera of my\nconsciousness, and then I shall be able and interested afterward to\nstudy it in detail, and to go into the questions of proportion, and\nperspective, and shading, and colouring and all that\"? Is it not the\nfailure to adopt the corresponding plan in Bible study which accounts\nin large measure for the lack of enthusiastic interest in its\nprosecution on the part of the people?\n\n\n[Sidenote: The American Bible League]\n\nIt is assuring to discover that the American Bible League, which\npromises to do much to quicken Bible study among the people along\nlines of faith in its integrity as the revealed Word of God, has\nreached almost precisely the same conclusion as to method. The\nesteemed secretary of that league, Rev. D. S. Gregory, D.D., LL.D., a\nman of wide experience in educational and literary lines other than\nthose of the promulgation of Bible truth, charges the present\nignorance of the Bible, \"everywhere in evidence,\" to the failure of\nthe old methods of its study. To quote his words in the _Bible\nStudent and Teacher_:\n\n\"The fragmentary method was tried for a generation or two. We were\nkept studying the comments upon verse after verse, on the tacit\nassumption that no verse had any connection with any other verse,\nuntil we wearied of that, and would have no more of it.\n\n\"So the lesson systems came in, and we have had series upon series\nof such systems, showing that men deeply felt that there was need of\nsystem in the study of the Bible. But these systems have been\nartificial, all of them; the latest of all the most so of all. The\nmen who have been engaged in preparing them deserve our gratitude.\nThey have done the best they could, doubtless; and we will look for\nmore light and improvement for the time to come. But you hear\neverywhere that the people are weary of lesson systems. They are so\nbecause the systems are artificial, and because they do not take you\ndirectly to the Bible as the Word of God, but rather by means of most\nuseful lesson leaves and other devices take you away from it.\n\n\"And it is impossible to grasp the system, however valuable it may\nbe. You study in seven years your three hundred and fifty lessons in\na so-called system; and at the end of the seven years the best memory\nin Christendom has been found unable to hold that system so as to\ntell what has been taught in that time. When you have passed on from\neach lesson you have lost its connection with the Bible, and lost the\nlesson, too.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Rationalism in the Sunday School]\n\nIt is the judgment of this same observer that these \"fragmentary\nmethods\" account, in part, for the assault of the rationalistic\ncritics upon the work of the Sunday school. \"There was a call for\nsomething better, a 'vacuum' in the minds of teachers and professors\nin charge of instruction in the Bible, and just at the psychological\nmoment there came all this German material--interesting, ingenious,\nimaginative, ready to fill that vacuum. The two needs met, and so we\nhave had our recent development of the critical system of studying\nand presenting the Bible, which they are seeking now to introduce\ninto all the schools and colleges and Sunday schools.\n\n\"That critical method has taken the Bible apart into bits and scraps\nand scattered it to the ends of the earth, as we have heard and have\nreason to know. When one comes upon its results he feels that he does\nnot know exactly where he is.\"\n\nMen hate bits and scraps, as this writer says, and as Bible teachers\nwe should bring our methods into harmony with their natural\nconstructive sense. Like the expert mountain climber, let us take\nthem to the highest peak first, that they may see the whole range,\nand then they can intelligently and enthusiastically study the\nfeatures of the lower levels in their relation to the whole. The\nopposite plan is confusing and a weariness to the flesh. Give people\nto see for themselves what the Bible is in the large, and then they\nwill have a desire to see it in detail. Put a telescope in their\nhands first, and a microscope afterwards. [Sidenote: Luther and\nthe Apple Tree] Martin Luther used to say that he studied the Bible\nas he gathered apples. He shook the tree first, then the limbs, then\nthe branches, and after that he reached out under the leaves for the\nremaining fruit. The reverse order is monotonous in either case--\nstudying the Bible or gathering apples.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PLAN AT WORK\n\n\n\n\nPART III\n\n\nTHE PLAN AT WORK\n\n\n[Sidenote: Begin at the Beginning]\n\nThere are certain simple rules to be observed in the synthetic study\nof the Bible if we want to master it, and the first is to begin to\nstudy it where God began to write it, _i.e._ at the book of Genesis.\nThe newer criticism would dispute this statement about the primary\nauthorship of Genesis, but the best answer to the objection is to try\nthe plan. As Dr. Smith says in his _The Integrity of Scripture_:\n\"Inherent in revelation there is a self-witness. The latest portion\npoints to the beginning, and the beginning, with all that may be\nlimited and provisional, contains the germ of the end. God's\ndiscovery of Himself is not an episode, but rooted in a vast breadth\nof the world's life, intertwined with human history, and growing from\nless to more, as in this divine education and discipline man became\ncapable of receiving the full self-unveiling of God.\"\n\nDr. Ashmore, for fifty years an honoured missionary of the American\nBaptist Missionary Union at Shanghai, relates the following, which\nfurnishes a practical illustration of this thought. At one time he\nand his brother missionaries started a Bible school for their young\nconverts, and began to teach them the Epistle to the Hebrews. Now the\nChinese are remarkable for an inquiring disposition, and questions\nbegan to descend upon the teachers to such a degree that they were\ncompelled to forego their purpose to teach Hebrews and go back to\nLeviticus as explanatory of or introductory to it. But the teaching\nof Leviticus produced the same result, and they went back to Exodus.\nAnd from Exodus they were driven to Genesis, when the questions\nmaterially abated. The Bible is wondrously self-interpretive if we\nwill give it an opportunity, and that opportunity is afforded if in\nits perusal we will wisely and submissively follow the channel marked\nout by its divine Author.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Read the Book]\n\nThe second rule is to read the book. It is not asked that it be\nstudied in the ordinary sense, or memorised, or even sought to be\nunderstood at first; but simply read. The purpose is to make the task\nas easy, as natural, and as pleasant as possible. It matters not, for\nthe time being, how rapidly you read it, if you but read it. But is\nit not strange that this is one of the last things many really\nearnest Christians and seekers after Bible truth are willing to do?\nThey will read books about the Bible almost without limit, but to\nread the books of the Bible itself is another matter. But how could\none master any corresponding subject by such a method? And is it not\ndishonouring to God for any reason to treat His authorship thus? We\nare living in a time when, if only for good form, we feel an\nobligation to be acquainted with the best authors. But shall we say\nthat Dante, or Shakespeare, or any other of the masters is able to\ninterest us in what he wrote, while He who created him is unable to\ndo so? Are we prepared to confess that God cannot write a book as\ncapable of holding our attention as that of one of His creatures?\nWhat an indictment we are writing down against ourselves in saying\nthat, and how it convinces us of sin!\n\nI know a lady who once travelled a long distance on a railroad with\nher trunk unlocked, and when she met her husband at the terminus and\nreported the circumstance there was naturally some emotion in her\nspeech. She had been unable to find the key anywhere, she said, and\nonly discovered its loss at too late a moment to have another fitted\nbefore she started upon her journey. And the trunk with all its\ntreasures had come that whole distance with only a strap around it.\n\"Why,\" exclaimed her husband, \"do you not recall that when we come\nhome from a journey I always fasten the key of the trunk to one of\nits handles? There's your key,\" pointing to the end of the trunk. The\nincident is recalled by the so frequent inquiry one hears for a \"key\"\nto the Bible. Its Author has provided one, and to the average person,\nat least in this enlightened country, it is always at hand. Read the\nbook.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Read It Continuously]\n\nThe third rule is, read the book continuously. I think it is in his\nlecture on \"The Lost Arts\" that Wendell Phillips tells the story of\nthe weaver who turned out so much more material from his loom than\nany other workman in the mill. How was it done? In vain was the\nsecret sought, until one day a bribe from one of his employers\nelicited the information, _\"Chalk the bobbins.\"_ Each morning he had\ncarried a piece of chalk with him to his loom, and when unobserved,\napplied it to that small but important part of the machinery. The\nresult was astonishing. The application of the chalk to every bobbin\nof every loom of every workman made his employers rich. Who cannot\nsupplement this story with some other where a principle just as\nsimple wrought results as great? Try it in the case of the continuous\nreading of a given book of the Bible, and see what it will do.\n\nBut what is the meaning of \"continuous\" in this instance? The\nadjective may not be the most lucid, but the idea is this: It stands\nfor two things--the reading of the book uninfluenced by its divisions\ninto chapters and verses, and the reading of the book in this way _at\na single sitting._ The divisions, it should be remembered, are of\nhuman origin and not divine, and, while effecting a good purpose in\nsome particulars, are a hindrance to the mastery of the book in\nothers. Sometimes a chapter or a verse will cut a truth in half,\nwhose halves state a different fact or teach a different doctrine\nfrom that intended by the whole, and necessarily affecting the\nconception of the outline. As to the \"single sitting,\" the reason for\nit is this. Many of the books of the Bible have a single thread\nrunning through the whole--a pivotal idea around which all the\nsubsidiary ones resolve--and to catch this thread, to seize upon this\nidea, it is absolutely necessary to unravel or break up the whole in\nits essential parts. To read Genesis in this way, for example, will\nlead to the discovery that, large as the book is, it contains but\nfive great or outline facts, viz.:\n\n    The history of creation.\n    The history of the fall.\n    The history of the deluge.\n    The history of the origin of the nations.\n    The history of the patriarchs.\n\n\nIt is, then, a book of history, and the larger part of it history of\nthe biographical sort. This last-named fact can be subdivided again\ninto four facts, viz., the histories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and\nJoseph, and thus the whole book can be kept in mind in a very\npractical way in eight words. Moreover, the reading necessary to have\ngained the eight words will unconsciously have fastened upon the\nunderstanding the subsidiary facts associated with each word, so that\na very satisfactory examination might be passed as to the contents of\nthe whole book.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Read It Repeatedly]\n\nThe fourth rule is to read the book repeatedly. The reader will\nunderstand that by the \"book\" in every case is meant the particular\nbook of the Bible, Genesis, for example, which it is now being sought\nto master, and which is not to be laid aside for any other succeeding\nbook of the Bible until the mastery is assured. This cannot usually\nbe accomplished by one reading, but only by repeated readings after\nthe manner designated. A stranger sailing along the New England coast\non a foggy morning could hardly believe there was a coast. But later,\nwhen the sun rises and the fog begins to dissipate, there is, at\nfirst, a line of sandy beach discernible, then a cluster or two of\nrocks, then a little verdure, a house or two, a country road, the\nwooded hillside, until at length the whole of the beautiful landscape\nstands out in view. It is much the same in the synthetic reading of a\ngiven book of the Bible. The first view is not always satisfactory,\nand it requires a little courage to try again and again; but the\neffort brings a wonderful and inspiring result at last. The first\nreading of Genesis may not reveal what was spoken of above, but two\nor three readings will reveal it.\n\nLeviticus is more difficult than Genesis or even Exodus, because it\nis dealing with laws and ordinances rather than historic happenings;\nbut as soon as you discover that its theme is laws, these latter will\nbegin to differentiate themselves before your mind and naturally\nsuggest a simple classification such as this:\n\n    The law of the offerings.\n    The law of the consecration of the priests.\n    The law of the clean and the unclean.\n    The law of the day of atonement.\n    The law of the feasts.\n    The law of the redemption of land and slaves.\n    The law of the year of jubilee.\n\n\nWhat a great and indispensable aid such a classification is for any\nfurther study of that book or, for that matter, any other part of the\nBible to which this revelation of the ceremonial law is particularly\nrelated! Even the Old Testament prophets, which some have described\nas \"the desert of the Scriptures,\" will \"rejoice and blossom as\nthe rose\" under such treatment as this, the discourses readily\ndistinguishing themselves by structure and subject. And, of course,\nthe New Testament will possess far less difficulty than the Old.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Read It Independently]\n\nThe fifth rule is to read it independently--_i.e._ independently, at\nfirst at least, of all commentaries and other outside aids. These are\ninvaluable in their place, of course, but in the mastery of the\nEnglish Bible in the present sense, that place is not before but\nafter one has got an outline of a given book for himself. Indeed, an\nimperfect or erroneous outline of one's own is better than a\nperfect outline of another. The necessity to alter it when, by\ncomparison, the error is discovered may prove a valuable discipline\nand education.\n\nThe independent reading of a book in this sense is urged because of\nits development of one's own intellectual powers. To be ever leaning\non help from others is like walking on stilts all one's life and\nnever attempting to place one's feet on the ground. Who can ever come\nto know the most direct and highest type of the teaching of the Holy\nSpirit in this way? Who can ever understand the most precious and\nthrilling experiences of spiritual illumination thus? Should you wish\nto teach others, how could you communicate to them that sense of your\nown mastery of the subject so vital to a pedagogue had you never\nreally dealt with it at first hand? One of our millionaires is\nreported as carrying a cow around with him on his yacht because he\ndislikes condensed milk. It is a great gain to so know the Bible for\nyourself that, carrying it with you wherever you go, you may be\nmeasurably independent of other books in its study and use.\n\nBut there is another reason for the independent reading of the book,\nand that is the deliverance from intellectual confusion which it\nsecures. The temptation is, when an interpretive difficulty is\nreached, to turn at once to the commentary for light, which means so\nvery often that the reader has become side-tracked for good, or\nrather bad, as the situation is now viewed. The search for the\nsolution of one little difficulty leads to searching for another, and\nthat for another, until, to employ F. B. Meyer's figure, we have\n\"become so occupied with the hedgerows and the copses of the\nlandscape as to lose the conception of the whole sweep and extent of\nthe panorama of truth.\" The \"intensive\" has been pursued to the great\ndisadvantage of the \"extensive,\" and usually there is nothing to be\ndone but to begin all over again, for which every reader does not\npossess the required courage.\n\nAnd there is an advantage in this independent reading from the\nteacher's point of view, too, as well as that of the learner. How\nmany pastors through the country have spoken of the success the\nsynthetic method has been to them in attracting their people to the\nhouse of God and awakening in them a real interest in Bible study!\nThat is, what a success it has been up to a certain point, when they\ngot \"swamped,\" to use the very expressive word of more than one of\nthem! Swamped? How? Investigation has always revealed the one cause,\nand brought the one confession--a failure to diligently and\nfaithfully pursue the method in consequence of the temptation to\ninvestigate minutiae and multiply details. There is lying before\nme at this moment the _debris_ of a collapse of this kind. A\ndevoted pastor sends me the printed syllabus of his work with his\ncongregation covering the Hexateuch. They were so delighted and so\nhelped by it until now, when there has come a \"hitch.\" He fears he is\ngetting away from the plan, and giving and expecting too much. And\nhis work reveals the ground of his fears. Such work belongs to the\npastor in his study, but not on the platform before a popular\naudience in Bible teaching. And if it will \"swamp\" the trained and\ncultivated teacher, how much more the inexperienced learner! A\nfaithful reading of the various books on an independent basis will\nsecure a working outline, and this should be carried with one in his\nmind, and on his notebook, as he proceeds from book to book, until\nthe work is done. Then he can successively begin his finer work,\nand analyse his outline, and study helps, and gather light, and\naccumulate material, without confusion of thought, without a false\nperspective, and with an ever-increasing sense of joy and power.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Read It Prayerfully]\n\nThe most important rule is the last. Read it prayerfully. Let not the\ntriteness of the observation belittle it, or all is lost. The point\nis insisted on because, since the Bible is a supernatural book, it\ncan be studied or mastered only by supernatural aid. In the words of\nWilliam Luff,\n\n    \"It is the Spirit's Bible! Copyright every word!\n    Only His thoughts are uttered, only His voice is heard!\"\n\n\nWho is so well able to illuminate the pages of a given book as the\nauthor who composed it? How often when one has been reading Browning\nhas he wished Browning were at his side to interpret Browning! But\nthe Holy Spirit, by whom holy men of old wrote, dwells within the\nbeliever on Jesus Christ for the very purpose of bringing things to\nhis remembrance and guiding him into all the truth. Coleridge\nsaid, \"The Bible without the Holy Spirit is a sundial by moonlight,\"\nand a greater than he said, \"We have received, not the spirit of the\nworld, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things\nthat are freely given us of God\" (1 Corinthians 2:12). That dear old\nScottish saint, Andrew Bonar, discriminated between a minister's\ngetting his text from the Bible, and getting it from God through the\nBible; a fine distinction that holds good not only with reference to\nthe selection of a text to preach upon, but with reference to the\napprehension spiritually of any part of the Word of God. \"Eye hath\nnot seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,\nthe things which God hath prepared for them that love him; but God\nhath revealed them unto us by his Spirit\" (1 Corinthians 2:9, 10).\nThe inspired apostle does not say God has revealed them unto us by\nHis Word, though they are in His Word; but by His Spirit through His\nWord. \"For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of\nGod. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the\nman which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but\nthe Spirit of God.\"\n\nThere is a parallel passage to the above in the first chapter of\nEphesians which has always impressed the writer with great force.\nPaul had been unveiling the profoundest verities of holy writ to the\nEphesians, and then he prays that the eyes of their heart (R.V.)\nmight be enlightened to understand, to know what he had unveiled. He\nhad been telling them what was the hope of their calling, and the\nriches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints, and the\nexceeding greatness of His power toward them that believe; but how\ncould they apprehend what he had told them, save as the Holy Spirit\ntook of these things of Christ and showed them unto them? The Word of\nGod is not enough without the Spirit of God. In the light of the\nforegoing, let the reader punctuate the reading of it and every part\nof it with prayer to its divine Author, and he will come to know \"How\nto Master the English Bible.\"\n\n\n\n\nRESULTS IN THE PULPIT\n\n\n\n\nPART IV\n\n\nRESULTS IN THE PULPIT\n\n\nIn the preceding pages the consideration of the lay reader has been\nin the foreground, though the ministry has not been out of mind. But\nin what follows the writer ventures to address his brethren of the\nministry, especially his younger brethren, most particularly. In vain\nwe seek to interest the people in Bible study in any permanent or\ngeneral way except as they are stimulated thereto by the instruction\nand example of their ministers.\n\n[Sidenote: A Vitiated Taste]\n\nThere must be even more than an example. In connection with a Bible\nconference in a city of the Middle West, a private gathering of\npastors was held, at which one of them arose and with deep emotion\nsaid: \"Brethren, I have a confession to make. I know not whether it\nwill fit in with the experience of any others, but I have been guilty\nof cultivating in my people _a vitiated taste_ for preaching, and\nhenceforth, by God's help, I intend to give them His own Word.\" To\nsearch the Scriptures on their own account, the people of our\nchurches must acquire a taste for their contents. They must be\nconstantly fed with the bread of life to have an appetite for it.\nThey will \"desire the sincere milk of the word,\" if so be \"they have\ntasted that the Lord is gracious.\" But to what extent do they \"taste\"\nit in the ordinary pulpit ministrations of the day?\n\n[Sidenote: Secretary Shaw]\n\nThe Honourable Leslie M. Shaw, Secretary of the Treasury, gave an\naddress recently in Washington, on the occasion of a Sunday school\njubilee, which interested the writer deeply. He was pleading for the\nSunday school on the ground that it was the only place at present in\nwhich the Bible was taught. \"It is not now taught in the public\nschools,\" said he, \"nor am I here to say that it ought to be taught\nthere. In our busy life it is not taught in our homes. The head of\nthe family ought to be a priest, but the Bible is seldom read, much\nless taught, in the home. _It is seldom taught in the pulpit._ Not\nthat I am criticising the ministry. But take up a paper and see what\nthe sermons are to be about. You will learn about the plan of\nsalvation if you listen to the sermons, but you will not know much\nabout the Bible if you depend on getting your knowledge of it from\nthe pulpit.\" He then went on to say that \"the only place on this\nearth where the Bible is taught is in the Sunday school.\" When,\nhowever, we consider the character of the average Sunday school, the\nscraps and bits of the Bible there taught, the brief period of time\ndevoted to the teaching, the lack of discipline in the classes, and\nthe inadequate training and preparation of the average teacher, we\nbegin to inquire, Where is the Bible taught? and wonder whether we\nhave fallen on the times of the prophet:\n\n  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a\n  famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for\n  water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; and they shall wander\n  from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall\n  run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find\n  it.--Amos 8:11, 12.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Professor Mathews on the Sunday School]\n\nI am with Professor Shailer Mathews, D.D., in some of his strictures\non the modern Sunday school, if only it be allowed that there are not\na few blessed exceptions to the rule he lays down. I do not know how\nwe should agree as to a remedy for present conditions, but one remedy\nwould be, where there is a Bible expositor in the pulpit, to do away\nwith certain features of the Sunday school altogether for the time\nbeing. The infant or primary departments might be retained as they\nare, and possibly the Bible classes for older adults, but the\nintermediate classes would do well to be gathered together under the\ninstruction only of the pastor himself. In time, such a plan would\nbeget enough teachers of the right quality and spirit to return to\nthe former method if desired. The cabinet officer's warning and\nappeal are timely, for an awful harvest of infidelity and its\nattendant evils must be reaped in the next generation should the\nChurch fail to arise to her responsibility as to the teaching of the\nunadulterated Word of God in the present one.\n\nIt is for this reason that the writer pleads with his brethren to\nmake expository preaching the staple of their pulpit ministrations.\nShould they have read the previous chapters in a sympathetic spirit,\nthey will begin to do this without much urging even where they have\nbeen strangers to it hitherto. But if otherwise, then a further word,\nbefore our concluding chapter, as to the history and practicality of\nthat kind of preaching, may throw them back on what has been said\nbefore in such a way as to catch the spirit of it and be influenced\nby it.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Expository Sermons Defined]\n\nExpository sermons differ from the textual not so much in kind as in\ndegree. For example, the text is usually longer, and more attention\nis given to the explanation of the words. The text, indeed, may cover\nseveral verses, a whole chapter, or parts of more than one chapter.\nAnd the treatment need not necessarily be confined to the definition\nof words, but include the adjustment of the text to the context, and\nthe amplification and illustration of the various ideas suggested.\n\nDr. James W. Alexander, from whose _Thoughts on Preaching_ I draw\ngenerously in what follows, says:\n\n[Sidenote: The Notion of a Sermon]\n\n\"Suppose a volume of human science to be placed in our hands as the\nsole manual or textbook to elucidate to a public assembly, in what\nway would it be most natural to go to work? Certainly we would not\ntake a sentence here, and another there, and upon these separate\nportions frame one or two discourses every week! No interpreter of\nAristotle or Littleton would dream of doing that. Nor was it adopted\nin the Christian Church, until the sermon ceased to be regarded in\nits true notion, as an explanation of the Scripture, and began to be\nviewed as a rhetorical entertainment, which might afford occasion for\nthe display of subtlety, research and eloquence.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Inspired Sermons]\n\nThe same author recites some interesting facts that might be summed\nup under the general head of the history of expository preaching. For\nexample, he reminds us that as early as the time of Ezra we find the\nreading of the law accompanied with some kind of interpretation. See\nNehemiah 8. In the synagogues, moreover, after the reading of the\nlaw and the prophets, it was usual for the presiding officer to\ninvite such as were learned to address the people, and it was in\nthis way that our blessed Lord Himself--as well as His apostles,\nsubsequently--was given the opportunity to open up the Scriptures.\nSee our Lord's discourse in the synagogue at Nazareth, reported in\nthe fourth of Luke, and observe that it was an expository treatment\nof Isaiah 61. Notice, also, the discourses of Peter and Paul in the\nbook of the Acts.\n\n\n[Sidenote: The Christian Fathers]\n\nThe early Christian assemblies adopted this method in their religious\nservices, as we may judge from allusions and examples in the writings\nof Justin Martyr, Origen, Augustine and Chrysostom. Their homilies,\nespecially in the instances of the last mentioned two, were usually\nof the nature of \"a close interpretation, or running commentary on\nthe text, followed by a practical application.\" Chrysostom, quoted by\nNeander, says: \"If anyone assiduously attend public worship, even\nwithout reading the Bible at home, but carefully hearkening here,\nhe will find a single year sufficient to give him an intimate\nacquaintance with the Scriptures.\" In how many of our churches could\nthe same be said to-day? But ought it not to be said in all?\n\nDr. Alexander is further sponsor for the statement that it was about\nthe beginning of the thirteenth century when the method of preaching\nfrom insulated texts came into vogue, and the younger clergy adopted\nsubtle divisions of the sermon. And he says, too, that it was warmly\nopposed by some of the best theologians of the age, as \"a childish\nplaying upon words, destructive of true eloquence, tedious and\nunaffecting to the hearers, and cramping the imagination of the\npreachers.\" He is not prepared to entirely accept this criticism of\nthe theologians, however, nor am I, believing that both the topical\nand the textual methods of preaching have their attractions and\nadvantages. [Sidenote: The Reformation Period] Nevertheless, it is a\npleasure to record that \"when the light of divine truth began to\nemerge from its long eclipse, at the Reformation, there were few\nthings more remarkable than the universal return of evangelical\npreachers to the expository method. Book after book of the Bible was\npublicly expounded by Luther, and the almost daily sermons of Calvin\nwere, with scarcely any exceptions, founded on passages taken in\nregular course as he proceeded through the sacred canon. The same is\ntrue of the other reformers, particularly in England and Scotland.\"\nIn the times of the Nonconformists the textual method came into\npractice again; but, notwithstanding, exposition was considered a\nnecessary part of ministerial labour. Matthew Henry is a conspicuous\nexample of this, who, although he frequently preached from single\ntexts, yet \"on every Lord's day morning expounded a part of the Old\nTestament, and in the evening a part of the New, in both instances\nproceeding in regular order.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Modern Examples]\n\nIn modern times Charles H. Spurgeon has followed the example of\nMatthew Henry to a great extent. He preached topically, with great\ninterest and power, but at almost every service the exposition of\nScripture was made a distinctive, and always popular, feature of the\nexercises. The late Dr. Howard Crosby was heard to say that, in the\ncourse of his pastorate in New York, he had thus given instruction to\nhis people on every verse in the Bible. The writer, also, can add his\ntestimony to the fact that this method of preaching is delightful\nboth to pastor and people. Both need training for it, but when once\nthe taste has been acquired it demands constant gratification.\n\n\nLet me now supplement these observations on the nature and history of\nexpository preaching with some remarks upon its practicality and\nvalue.\n\n[Sidenote: The Easy Way]\n\nIn the first place, when the art is learned, it is the easiest form\nof preaching; and this is saying a good deal in an era of the\nconservation of energy. The other day my attention was called to an\nannouncement of a series of Sunday evening discourses by a city\npastor, on \"The Gospel in Recent Fiction,\" in the course of which he\nproposed to speak of the spiritual and ethical teaching of some\nhalf-dozen of the popular novels of the day. I could not but think if\nhe had put the same time and interest into the reading and analysis\nof as many books of the Bible, he would have worked less and\naccomplished more. It might be said he would not get as many people\nto hear him, but I doubt the truth of that statement, if it were\nknown what he was going to do, and if he did it well. Moreover, there\nis another side to the question. The _Watchman_ says: \"Time and again\nwe have seen Sunday congregations increased greatly under the\nstimulus of what is called 'up-to-date' preaching, but the church as\na spiritual body, effective for achieving the true ends of a church,\nbecame progressively weaker. The outsiders said that it was doing a\ntremendous work, but really it was not doing anything like the work\nit did in the days of its comparative obscurity.\"\n\nAt the risk of enlarging upon this idea beyond its due proportion, it\nis difficult to resist the temptation to quote a further paragraph\nfrom the _Interior_, to the effect that \"nothing is of less value to\nthe church than a full house--except an empty one. We happened the\nother morning,\" says the editor, \"--it was Monday--to meet the\ntreasurer of an important city church whose doors had been crowded\nthe night before. We congratulated him upon the success of his pastor\nin 'filling the pews.' 'Yes,' was the hesitating reply, 'he has\nfilled the pews, and filled the vestibule, and filled the pulpit\nsteps--but he has emptied the collection baskets. We have the biggest\naudience in the city, and will soon have the biggest debt.' In\nanother city two thousand miles distant, and in another denomination,\nwe came upon a church from whose doors hundreds were turned nightly\naway. Three years later we asked the principal layman how the church\nwas doing now, and he replied, with a tinge of sadness, 'We had a\ngrand debauch under Brother X., and we haven't quite recovered from\nit yet.'\"\n\n\n[Sidenote: The Proper Way]\n\nIt is not only the easiest but the most appropriate form of\npreaching, _i.e._ it assumes and compels on the part of the preacher\na large knowledge of the Word of God and aptness in imparting it. As\nwas remarked in part, before, in another connection, where no\nextended exposition is attempted the preacher is naturally induced to\ndraw upon systematic treatises, philosophical theories, works of mere\nliterature, or his own ingenuity of invention and fertility of\nimagination; with the result that the rhetorical aspect of preaching\nattracts undue attention, and the desire to be original, striking,\ningenious and elegant supersedes the earnest endeavour to be\nbiblical. There are few ministers, honest with their own souls, who\nwill not admit the truth and the seriousness of this implication.\nHere, too, is how heresy comes to raise its head and grow apace. The\nbiblical preacher is always orthodox and evangelical, and has no\ntrouble in remaining so.\n\nAnd this is the same with his congregation, for here we have a rule\nthat works both ways. A biblical preacher comes, in time, to make a\nbiblical church, and should that not be the aim of every minister?\nShould not his example be that of Paul, \"teaching every man in all\nwisdom, that he may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus\"? The\ntruth, however, is, as the authority quoted above says, that \"the\nscriptural knowledge possessed by our ordinary congregations, amidst\nall our boasted light and improvement, bears no comparison with that\nof the Scottish peasantry of the last generation, who, from very\ninfancy, were taught to follow the preacher, in their little Bibles,\nas he expounded in regular course.\" Why hear we so much in these days\nof Bible Training Schools and Bible Conventions, and Union Bible\nClasses and the like? They are good signs of the times, and bad\nsigns. They demonstrate a hunger on the part of some of the people\nof God for His Word, and an inability to have it satisfied in the\nplace where they naturally belong. Every church should be more or\nless truly a Bible Training School, and the pastor the head of it.\n\n\nIt is the most useful form of preaching. Dr. Alexander has some\nexcellent observations that fit in under this head, every one of\nwhich I have experienced to be true in my own ministry, and earnestly\nrecommend to the prayerful consideration of my brethren.\n\n[Sidenote: The Useful Way]\n\nFor example, expository preaching affords inducement and occasion to\nthe preacher to declare the whole counsel of God. It keeps him from\nneglecting many important doctrines and duties which otherwise\nwould almost necessarily be overlooked. It gives a symmetry and\ncompleteness to his pulpit efforts. It promotes variety and enables\nhim to escape ruts. To how many people are such biblical truths as\npredestination and election unwelcome! Yet, how important they are,\nhow necessary to be discussed and explained by the minister of the\nGospel, and how likely to be avoided nonetheless! But let him be\nexpounding Romans, and he must deal with those difficulties, and\nglorify God in the doing of it. I say glorify God; for the reason\nthat those doctrines, and some others, are abhorrent to the popular\nmind, is chiefly that they are usually set forth in their \"naked\ntheological form,\" and not in their scriptural connection.\n\nAnd then, too, there are certain sins which every pastor feels he\nought to inveigh against once in a while, but from which he is\nprevented either from delicacy, or through fear of being considered\npersonal in his remarks. Let him adopt the expository method of\npreaching, however, and his hesitation in these respects will be\nremoved as he comes across the very themes that should thus be\ntouched upon, in a natural way.\n\n\n[Sidenote: The Popular Way]\n\nIt may become the most popular form of preaching. Indeed, it should\nbecome so. The fault is ours, _i.e._ the ministers', if such is not\nthe case. We should keep at it till we learn to do it well. We should\nbesiege the throne of grace for power and wisdom to do it well. Who\ndoubts that the Author of the Holy Scriptures would answer such\nentreaties? Chalmers' lectures on Romans, Archbishop Leighton's\nlectures on First Peter, F. W. Robertson's on First Corinthians, are\nold, but standard types of what may be done in this respect. I doubt\nnot that Archbishop Trench delivered the substance of his book on the\n_Epistles to the Seven Churches_ to his congregation before it\nappeared in print; and so in the case of Bishop Ryle and his\n_Expository Thoughts on the Gospels_, and Dr. Moule and his _Studies\nin Philippians_. I, myself, have seen large congregations held from\nweek to week in city churches, where the chief attraction was the\nexposition of the Bible text. God wrote the Bible for the \"common\npeople,\" and it is irreverent to suppose that they cannot be\ninterested in the reading and explanation of it. There is no other\nbook in the world which sells like God's Book; it leads the market!\nHow short-sighted, then, are we ministers who fail to take advantage\nof the fact, and utilise it to draw our audiences, and interest them,\nand nourish them with the bread of life! [1]\n\n[1] A part of what the author has here written on the subject of\nexpository preaching formed the substance of a previous communication\nfrom his pen in _Current Anecdotes_, a monthly magazine for\nministers, F. M. Barton, Cleveland.\n\n\n\n\nEXPOSITORY OUTLINES\n\n\n\n\nPART V\n\n\nEXPOSITORY OUTLINES\n\n\nOur concluding chapter has been reserved for one or two \"sample\"\nexpository outlines that may prove helpful as suggestions to\ninexperienced beginners. The first is drawn from the author's own\nstore, and the second is that of Pastor F. E. Marsh, of Sunderland,\nEngland, which has come under the author's observation and affords a\ngood illustration of another variety of the species.\n\n[Sidenote: How Obtained]\n\nThe principle on which the first-named was obtained was that\nexplained in the previous chapters. The synthetic reading of Romans\nled to certain discoveries, as follows:  (1) That epistle contains a\nsingle theme, viz., the gift of God's righteousness to men.  (2) This\ntheme is developed along three main lines: its necessity, its nature,\nand its effect upon man.  (3) Its effect upon man is developed again\nalong three lines: his relations to God, his own experience, and his\nrelations to others.  (4) The last-named subdivision (his relations\nto others) covers chapters 12-16, and expands the idea socially,\npolitically, and ecclesiastically.\n\n[Sidenote: The Strong and the Weak]\n\nSome time before this final thought was arrived at, the consideration\nof the epistle had already yielded material for several expository\ndiscourses, but it was conceived that still a good one of a very\npractical order lay embedded, say, in chapters 13:8 to 15:7, where\nthe inspired writer is dealing with the Christian in his church or\necclesiastical relations. A sample better in some respects might\nreadily be given, but this is chosen because it lies at hand, and\nalso because it is not a \"stock\" piece got up for the occasion, but\nsuch an one as lies upon the surface of the text, and which any young\nbeginner might evolve on his own account with a little pains.\n\nThe theme decided on was this:\n\n_The Strong and the Weak, or the Christian's Debt to His\nBrother._  Romans 13:8 to 15:7.\n\n1. We have here the command for Christians to love one another.\n13:8-10.\n\n2. The urgency for its observance. 11-14.\n\n3. The particular call for its application (fellowshiping the weak).\n14:1.\n\n4. The description of the weak (conscientious scruples as to eating,\nand the observance of days). 14:2, 5.\n\n5. The way in which fellowship is to be shown: (_a_) by not judging\nthem, 3-12; (_b_) by not putting a stumbling-block in their way,\n13-19; (_c_) by edifying them, 20-23.\n\n6. The motive in the premises (the example of Christ). 15:1-4.\n\n7. The object in view (the glory of God). 5-7.\n\nIn developing division 5 it was shown (_a_) that we should not judge\nthe weak brother, for the following reasons:\n\n(1) God has received him.  Verse 3.\n\n(2) He is accountable to God only.  Verse 4, first part.\n\n(3) God can make him stand.  Verse 4, last part.\n\n(4) Each man must be fully persuaded in his own mind.  Verse 5.\n\n(5) The weak brother may be honouring and serving God even under the\nconditions named.  Verse 6.\n\n(6) Each one of us must give account of himself to God.  Verses\n10-12.\n\nIt was shown (_b_) that we put a stumbling-block in the way of our\nweak brother by an undue insistence on our liberty (verses 14, 15),\nand that such insistence may itself become sin. 16-18.\n\nFinally it was shown (_c_) that we edify one another by following\nafter things which make for peace (verse 19), and that it makes for\npeace sometimes to control our zeal.  Verse 22.\n\n\n[Sidenote: Some Practical Hints]\n\nOf course it is almost vital to the best results of expository\npreaching that the people bring their Bibles to Church, and use them\nmore or less in following their minister. Frequently it is desirable\nfor them to read the text aloud with him responsively, or in unison.\nA little gentle coaxing at first, preceded by private prayer, will\nget them to do both these things, bring their Bibles and read the\ntext, while afterwards they will delight to do them. It will cause\nchurch-going and sermon-hearing to become a new and living experience\nto them. Young and old will like it, and sinners as well as saints.\n\nBut another almost necessity is to select a subject and treat it in\nsuch a way as to obviate as far as possible the turning over of the\nleaves or pages of the Bible during the progress of the exposition.\nThe best plan is to limit the exposition, where you can, to the page\nor two just before the reader's eye. But if turning must be done, let\nit be on the principle of Edward Everett Hale's \"Ten Times Ten\" or\n\"Lend-a-Hand\" Society, _i.e._ forward and not backward. It is\nespecially confusing and wearisome to a congregation to be turning\npages backward, and then forward, and then backward again, and will\nnot be relished as an innovation. Row with the tide.\n\nIn the outline now to follow there are leaves to turn, for it covers\na whole epistle. And yet with a single (and perhaps unnecessary)\nexception, there is progress in each division. The hearers are\nstimulated by the thought of getting on, and that there is an end in\nsight. It might be styled:\n\n_The Character of the New Born._\n\nWhat kind of persons are those who are born again? We have only to\nturn to the First Epistle of John for the answer. Mark the words\n\"born of him,\" or \"born of God,\" which we have again and again in\nthe epistle. We get seven characteristics of those who are begotten\nof God:\n\n1. The people who are born of God are righteous. \"Every one that\ndoeth righteousness is born of him\" (2:29). If I am not doing\nrighteously, what evidence have I that I am born of Him?\n\n2. Those born of God are an unsinning people. \"Whosoever is born of\nGod doth not commit sin\" (2:9). Sin is not the habit of life of the\none who has been born again. The trend of his life is not in the old\npaths of sin.\n\n3. Those who are born of God are an abiding people. \"His seed abideth\nin him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God\" (3:9).\n\n4. Those who are born of God are a loving people. \"Every one that\nloveth is born of God\" (4:7).\n\n5. They are a believing people. \"He that believeth that Jesus is the\nChrist is born of God\" (5:1). It is not merely that they say that\nChrist is Christ, but they know Him experimentally as the Christ in\npower.\n\n6. Those who are born of God are an overcoming people. \"Whatsoever is\nborn of God overcometh the world\" (5:4). The evidence, therefore, of\nbeing born of God is victory over the world.\n\n7. Those born of God are a preserved people. \"Whosoever is born of\nGod sinneth not, but he that was begotten of God keepeth him\" (5:18,\nR.V.).\n\nThose who have been born of God are kept by the power of God. These\nare the people who constitute the church of God, and they answer to\neverything that is said of those who are found faithful, and who\nescape the things that are coming on the world.\n\n\nThe author lingers over the closing word, for he is enamoured of the\ntheme and loath to leave it. No typewriting machine has ground out\nthese pages for the press; the subject has been too sacred for other\nthan his own pen. He covets the love of it for every fellow-member of\nthe body of Christ. He sees the regeneration of the Church in the\ngeneral adoption of the plan. He sees the sanctification of the\nministry. He sees a mighty quickening in the pews. He sees the\nworldwide revival for which a thousand hearts are praying. He sees\nthe unmasking of a Christianised rationalism, and the utter rout of a\nrationalised Christianism. He sees the first thing in the world\ngetting the first place in the world. He sees the solution of a score\nof civic problems. He sees the protection of vested rights against\nlawlessness, and the labourer receiving the due reward of his hire.\nHe sees the oppressed set free; no longer\n\n    \"Condemned by night, enchained by day,\n        Drowned in the depths of grim despair;\n    While running brooks sing roundelay,\n        And God's green fields are ev'rywhere.\"\n\nHe sees the missionary treasuries repleted. He sees the hastening of\nthe day when this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached as a\nwitness to all nations, [1] and when He who is our life shall appear,\nand we also shall appear together with Him in glory. [2]\n\nO brethren of the ministry and the laity, get back to the Bible! Let\nthe word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. [3] Let us\npreach the preaching that God bids us. [4] Diminish not a word. [5]\nLet us be as His mouthpieces, nothing more, nothing less, taking\nforth the precious from the vile, [6] for who knoweth if He will\nreturn and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him? [7]\n\n[1] Matt. 24:14.\n\n[2] Col. 3:4.\n\n[3] Col. 3:16.\n\n[4] Jonah 3:2.\n\n[5] Jer. 26:2.\n\n[6] Jer. 15:19.\n\n[7] Joel 2:14.\n\n\n_Printed by_ Morrison & Gibb Limited, _Edinburgh_\n\n\n\n\nBY THE SAME AUTHOR.\n\n- - - - -\n\nSYNTHETIC BIBLE STUDIES. Containing an Outline Study of every Book of\nthe Bible, with Suggestions for Sermons, Addresses, and Bible\nExposition. New Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Demy 8vo, price 6s.\nnet.\n\nThis book is intended as a guide to what is called the synthetic study\nof the Bible, which means, as we use the term, the study of the Bible\nas a whole, and each book of the Bible as a whole, and as seen in its\nrelation to other books. The word \"Synthesis\" has the opposite meaning\nto \"Analysis.\" When we analyse a subject we take it apart and consider\nit in its various elements, but when we synthesise it we put it\ntogether and consider it as a whole, which is what this book does in a\ncertain sense with the Word of God.\n\nTHE ANTIDOTE TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE; or, How to deal with it from the\nBible and Christian point of view. Price 2s. 6d. net.\n\nAs far as possible from being another of the virulent and unintelligent\nattacks of which we have had too many. Marked by a sweet, forbearing\nspirit, the author tries to show where Christian Science fails as a\nreligion. Since it professes to stand on the Bible, he shows how the\nnew faith antagonises the Bible, and how the Bible antagonises it,\nconcluding with the antidote for error, and a chapter on what the\nChurch may learn from Christian Science.\n\nPRIMERS OF THE FAITH. Price 3s. 6d. net.\n    I. How we Know the Bible is Genuine.\n   II. How we Know the Bible is Credible.\n  III. How we Know the Bible is Divine.\n\nWritten, not for scholars, but for the average layman. It is intended\nto help Sunday School teachers, Christian workers, and students.","title":"How to Master the English Bible: An Experience, a Method, a Result, an Illustration","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":12864}