HOW TO READ YOUR BIBLE F. B. MEYER, B.A. Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright 2002, Heritage Educational Systems.

. All Rights Reserved.

THE whole of Christian living hinges on how Christians read their Bible THE whole of Christian living, in my opinion, hinges on the way in which Christian people read the Bible for themselves. All sermons and addresses, all Bible readings and classes, all religious magazines and books, can never take the place of our own quiet study of God's precious Word. We may measure our growth in grace by the growth of our love for private Bible study. And we may be sure that there is something seriously wrong, when we lose our appetite for the Bread of Life. Perhaps we have been eating too many sweets; or taken too little exercise; or breathing too briefly in the bracing air, which sweeps over the uplands of spiritual communion with God. Happy are they who have learnt the blessed art of discovering for themselves the treasures of the Bible, which are hidden just a little below the surface, so as to test our real earnestness in finding them. No specimens are so interesting as those which the naturalist has obtained by his own exertions, and each of which has a history. No flowers are so fragrant as those which we discover for ourselves, nestling in some woodland dell, remote from the eye and step of men. No pearls are so priceless as those which we have sought for ourselves in the calm clear depths of the ocean of truth. Only those who know it can realise the joy that fills the spirit, when one has made a great "find;" in some hidden connection, some fresh reference,, or some railway lines from verse to verse. There are a few simple rules, which may help many more to acquire this holy art, and I venture to note them down. May the Holy Spirit Himself own and use them!

(1) Make time for Bible study. The divine Teacher must have fixed and uninterrupted hours for meeting His scholars. His words must have our freshest and brightest thoughts. We must give Him our best, and the first-fruits of our days. Hence there is no time for Bible study like the early morning. For we cannot give such undivided attention to the holy thoughts that glisten like diamonds on its pages after we have opened our letters, glanced through the paper, and joined in the prattle of the break-fast-table. The manna had to be gathered before the dew was off and the sun was up; otherwise it melted. We ought, therefore, to aim at securing at least half an hour before breakfast, for the leisurely and loving study of the Bible. To some this may seem a long time in comparison with what they now give. But it will soon seem all too short. The more you read the Bible the more you will want to read it. It is an appetite which grows as it is fed. And you will be well repayed. The Bible seldom speaks, and certainly never its deepest, sweetest words, to those who always read it in a hurry. Nature can only tell her secrets to such as will sit still in her sacred temple, till their eyes lose the glare of earthly glory, and their ears are attuned to her voice. And shall Revelation do what Nature cannot? Never. The man who shall win the blessedness of hearing her must watch daily at her gates, and wait at the posts of her doors. There is no chance for a lad to grow, who only gets an occasional mouthful of food and always swallows that in a hurry! Of course this season before breakfast is not possible for all. The invalid; the nurse with broken rest; the public servant, whose night is often turned into day. These stand alone; and the Lord Jesus can make it up to them; sitting with them at midday, if needs be, beside the well. in the case of such as can only snatch a few words of Scripture as they hasten to their work, there will be repeated the miracle of the manna. "He that gathered much had nothing over," i. e., all we get in our morning reading is not too much for the needs of the day; "and he that gathered little had no lack," i. e., when, by force of circumstances, we are unable to do more than snatch up a hasty handful of manna, it will last us all through the day; the cruse of oil shall not waste, and the barrel of meal shall not fail.

It would be impossible to name all who have traced their usefulness and power to this priceless habit. Sir Henry Havelock always spent the first two hours of each day alone with God; and if the encampment was struck at six A. M., he would rise at four. Earl Cairns rose daily at six o'clock to secure an hour and a half for the study of the Bible and for prayer, before conducting family worship at a quarter to eight; even when the late hours of the House of Commons left him not more than two hours for his night's rest. It is the practice of a beloved friend, who stands in the front rank of modern missionaries, to spend at least three hours each morning with his Bible; and he has said that he has often put aside pressing engagements that he may not only have time but be fresh for it. There is no doubt a difficulty in awakening and arising early enough to get time for our Bibles before breakfast. But these difficulties present no barrier to those who must get away early for daily business, or for the appointments of pleasure. If we mean to get up we can get up. Of course we must prepare the way for early rising, by retiring early to obtain our needed rest, though it be at the cost of some cosy hours by the fireside in the winter's night. But with due forethought and fixed purpose the thing can surely be done. "All things are possible to him that believeth." I never shall forget seeing Charles Studd, early one November morning, clothed in flannels to protect him from the cold, and rejoicing that the Lord had awaked him at four A. M. to study His commands. He told me then that it was his custom to trust the Lord to call him and enable him to rise. Might not we all do this? The weakest can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us. And though you have failed again and again when you have trusted your own resolutions, you cannot fail when you are simply trusting Him. "He wakeneth me morning by morning." " He took him by the right hand, and lifted him up; and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength."

(2) Look up for the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

No one can so well explain the meaning of his words as he who wrote them. Tennyson could best explain some of his deeper references in "In Memoriam." If, then, you want to read the Bible as you should, make much of the Holy Ghost, who inspired it through holy men. As you open the book, lift up your heart; and say: "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law. Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." It is marvellous what slender light commentaries cast on the inner meaning of Scripture. A simple-hearted believer, depending on the aid of the Holy Ghost, will find things in the Bible which the wisest have mistaken or missed. Well might St. John say of such: "Ye need not that any man should teach you; but the anointing, which ye have received, teacheth you of all things." What fire is to sympathetic ink, bringing the colourless fluid out black and clear, that the teaching of the Holy Ghost is to passages in the Bible, which had seemed meaningless and bare. We can never know too much of that literature which throws side-lights on the Bible; and which unfolds the customs of the people, difficult allusions, historical coincidences, geographical details. Geikie's "Hours with the Bible;" Kitto's "Daily Illustrations," edited by Dr. Porter; Dr. Smith's Bible Dictionary; books like these are invaluable. But we should study them at another time than in the sacred morning hour, which we give to the Holy Ghost alone.

(3) Read the Bible methodically. On the whole there is probably no better way than to read the Bible through once every year. There is a very good plan for doing this in the life of the sainted McCheyne, who drew it up for his people. Or it may be done by taking daily, in a Bagster's Bible, three columns of the Old Testament, two of the New Testament, and one of the Psalms. This system will more than do it. The next best plan to this is that adopted by Mr. Richardson's Bible Reading Union, which consists of tens of thousands of Christians in every part of the world, who read one chapter a day in regular rotation, and thus get through the Book in about three years. 1.1

It is wise to have a good copy of the Scriptures; strongly bound for wear and tear; of good clear print; and with as much space as possible for notes. A book of which you can make a friend and inseparable companion. But it is above all things wise at first to select one with copious marginal references; so that it may be easy to turn to the parallel passages. For myself, this plan has invested my Bible reading with new interest. I love to have in front of me one of the Paragraph Bibles of the Religious Tract Society, which abound in well-chosen references, and a small pocket Bible in my hand, that I may easily turn to any reference I desire; and very often I get more blessing from the passages to which I refer, and those to which these lead, than from the one I may be reading. After a while, we shall begin to make references for ourselves; and then we may use a copy of the Revised Bible; that we may not only be able to read God's word in the most approved English rendering, which is an immense advantage, but that we may also be able to fill up the empty margins with the notes of parallel passages. But whatever system is adopted, be sure to read the Bible through on some system as you would read any other book. No one would think of reading a letter, poem, or history, as many read God's Word. What wonder that they are so ignorant of its majestic prose, its exquisite lyric poetry, its massive arguments, its sublime imagery, its spiritual beauty- qualities which combine to make it the King of Books, even though the halo of inspiration did not shine like a crown about its brow! It is sometimes well to read a book at a sitting, devoting two or three hours to the sacred task. At other times, it is more profitable to take an epoch, or an episode, or a life, and compare all that is written of it in various parts of Scripture. At other times again, it is well to follow the plan, on which Mr. Moody has so often insisted, of taking one word or thought, as Faith, or Love, or Able, and tracing it, by help of a concordance, from end to end of the inspired volume. But in any case, let the whole Bible be your study; because "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable." Even the rocky places shall gush with water springs. The most barren chapters shall blossom as the rose. "Out of the eater shall come forth meat, and sweetness out of the strong."

Let us never forget that the Bible is one Book; the work of one Infinite Spirit, speaking through Prophet and Priest, Shepherd and King, the old-world Patriarch and the Apostle who lived to see Jerusalem levelled to the ground. You may subject its words to the most searching test, but you will find they will always bear the same meaning, and move in the same direction. Let the Bible be its own dictionary, its own interpreter, its own best commentary. It is like a vast buried city, in which every turn of the spade reveals some new marvel, whilst passages branch off in every direction calling for exploration.

(4) Read your Bible with your pen in hand. Writing of F. R. Havergal, her sister says: " She read her Bible at her study-table by seven o'clock in the summer, and eight o'clock in winter; sometimes, on bitterly cold mornings, I begged that she would read with her feet comfortably to the fire, and received the reply: ' But then, Marie, I can't rule my lines neatly; just see what a find I've got!' If only one searches, there are such extraordinary things in the Bible. She resolutely refrained from late hours, and frittering talks at night in place of Bible searching and holy communings. Early rising and early studying were her rule through life." None, in my judgment, have learnt the secret of enjoying the Bible until they have commenced to mark it, neatly. Underlining and dating special verses, which have cast a light upon their path on special days. Drawing railway connections, across the pages, between verses, which repeat the same message, or ring with the same note. Jotting down new references, or the catchwords of helpful thoughts. All these methods find plenty of employment for the pen, and fix our treasures for us permanently. Our Bible then becomes the precious memento of bygone hours, and records the history of our inner life.

(5) Seek eagerly your personal profit.

Do not read the Bible for others, for class or congregation; but for yourself. Bring all its rays to a focus on your own heart. Whilst you are reading, often ask that some verse or verses may start out from the printed page, as God's message to yourself. And never dose the Book until you feel that you are carrying away your portion of meat from that Hand which satisfieth the desire of every living thing. It is well sometimes to stop reading, and seriously ask, what does the Holy Spirit mean me to learn by this; what .bearing should this have on my life; how can I work this into the fabric of my character? Let not the Bible be to you simply as a history, a treatise, or a poem, but as your Father's letter to yourself; in which there are some things which you will not understand, till you come into the circumstances which require them; but which is also full of present help. There is a great difference between the way in which an absent child scans the parcel of newspapers, and that in which he devours the home-letter, by which the beloved parent speaks. Both are interesting, but the one is general, the other is all to himself. Read the Bible, not as a newspaper, but as a home-letter. Above all, turn from the printed page to prayer. If a cluster of heavenly fruit hangs within reach, gather it. If a promise lies upon the page as a blank cheque, cash it. If a prayer is recorded, appropriate it, and launch it as a feathered arrow from the bow of your desire. If an example of holiness gleams before you, ask God to do much for you. If a truth is revealed in all its intrinsic splendour, entreat that its brilliance may ever irradiate the hemisphere of your life like a star. Entwine the climbing creepers of holy desire about the latticework of Scripture. So shall you come to say with the Psalmist: "Oh, how I love Thy law, it is my meditation all the day!" It is sometimes well to read over, on our knees, Psalm 119., so full of devout love for the Bible. And if any should chide us for spending so much time upon the Old Testament, or the New, let us remind them of the words of Christ: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." The Old Testament must be worth our study since it was our Saviour's Bible, deeply pondered and often quoted. And the New demands it, since it is so full of what He said and did, not only in His earthly life, but through the medium of His holy apostles and prophets.

The advantages of a deep knowledge of the Bible are more than can be numbered here. It is the Storehouse of the Promises. It is the Sword of the Spirit, before which temptation flees. It is the all-sufficient Equipment for Christian usefulness. It is the believer's Guidebook and Directory in all possible circumstances. Words fail to tell how glad, how strong, how useful shall be the daily life of those, who can say with the prophet: "Thy words were found and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." But there is one thing, which may be said last, because it is most important, and should linger in the memory and heart, though all the other exhortations of this tractlet should pass away as a summer brook. It is this. It is useless to dream of making headway in the knowledge of Scripture, unless we are prepared to practise each new and clearly defined duty, which looms out before our view. We are taught, not for our pleasure only, but that we may do. If we will turn each holy precept or command into instant obedience, through the dear grace of Jesus Christ our Lord, God will keep nothing back from us; He will open to us His deepest and sweetest thoughts. But so long as we refuse obedience to even the least command, we shall find that the light will fade from the page of Scripture, and the zest will die down quickly in our own hearts. "This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." (Joshua 1:8.)

HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE "And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water-gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water-gate from the morning unto midday, before the men and the women, and those that

could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law." Nehemiah 8:1-3. THE children of Israel had been in captivity for seventy years, and now they had come back into their own land; and the description given in these verses is what we should call a Bible reading, just getting the people together and reading the Word of the Lord to them. And perhaps it would be a good thing if we could have more meetings where the Word of God is read and explained. It is better to hear God rather than man, and I believe we are living in a day when the Bible is neglected, although, we are living in a land of Bibles. The children of Israel had been in a strange land, and God wished them to understand His law. It says that they were attentive to the law, that is to say, they were just leaning forward and drinking in the words that were read them. You have sometimes seen a nest of birds, and the mother comes with a little worm to feed them, and in an instant every mouth is wide open; and in like manner every one of us ought to have our ears wide open to catch the meaning of the Word of God when it is read to us; and if there is anything we don't understand, we ought to go to the minister and have an inquiry-meeting with him, and ask him to explain it to us. We read in the 9th verse: "For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them: Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto the Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." What we want nowadays, brethren, is a joyful church. If we are in Babylon, with our harps hanging on the willow-trees and our heads bowed down, we are not likely to succeed in winning souls to. Christ. No; it is when we are back again on the resurrection ground that we may hope to succeed in that. A backslidden church is a nuisance in the world. It is just a stumbling-block, and nothing more. In the 17th verse we read: "And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness." And there always will be great gladness when a backsliding people come back to God.

HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE "And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water-gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water-gate from the morning unto midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law." Nehemiah 8:1-3. THE children of Israel had been in captivity for seventy years, and now they had come back into their own land; and the description given in these verses is what we should call a Bible reading, just getting the people together and reading the Word of the Lord to them. And perhaps it would be a good thing if we could have more meetings where the Word of God is read and explained. It is better to hear God rather than man, and I believe we are living in a day when the Bible is neglected, although, we are living in a land of Bibles. The children of Israel had been in a strange land, and God wished them to understand His law. It says that they were attentive to the law, that is to say, they were just leaning forward and drinking in the words that were read them. You have sometimes seen a nest of birds, and the mother comes with a little worm to feed them, and in an instant every mouth is wide open; and in like manner every one of us ought to have our ears wide open to catch the meaning of the Word of God when it is read to us; and if there is anything we don't understand, we ought to go to the minister and have an inquiry-meeting with him, and ask him to explain it to us. We read in the 9th verse: "For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them: Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto the Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." What we want nowadays, brethren, is a joyful church. If we are in Babylon, with our harps hanging on the willow-trees and our heads bowed down, we are not likely to succeed in winning souls to. Christ. No; it is when we are back again on the resurrection

ground that we may hope to succeed in that. A backslidden church is a nuisance in the world. It is just a stumbling-block, and nothing more. In the 17th verse we read: "And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness." And there always will be great gladness when a backsliding people come back to God.

THE WORD OF GOD IN THE HEART When the Israelites were going into Babylon, trodden down by their oppressors and led away into a foreign land, we read in Jeremiah 20:9: "Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." Yes, it is a good thing to have the Word of God in our hearts, so that it just burns within us, and we cannot hold our peace. When the psalmist said it was hidden in his heart, some one has remarked that it was a good thing in a good place, for a good purpose. We want the Word to burn right down into our souls; then a man cannot restrain himself, it begins to burn, so that it would actually burn him up if he held his peace and did not speak out. "Is not my Word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, and if you young converts want to be used of God you must feed on His Word. Your experience may be very good and very profitable at the outset, and you may help others by telling it to them; but if you keep on doing nothing else but telling your experience, it will soon become stale and unprofitable, and people will weary of hearing the same thing over and over again. But when you have told how you have been converted, the next thing is to feed on the Word. We are not fountains ourselves, but the Word of God is the fountain. And if we feed on the Word, it will be so easy then to speak to others, and not only that, but we shall be growing all the while in grace, and others will take notice of our walk and conversation. Now, I never saw a useful Christian who was not a student of the Bible. If a man neglects his Bible, he may pray and ask God to use him in his work, but God cannot make much use of him;

for there is not much for the Holy Ghost to work upon. We must have the Word itself, which is sharper than any two-edged sword. Now, if you read the sermon spoken by Moses before he left the children of Israel, you will find it was just a rehearsal of what God had done for them, and of their deliverance from the cruel hands of Pharoah; of the destruction of their enemies in the Red Sea, and their safe conduct through the wilderness; and yet I do not suppose there was a boy in the camp who could not have told it ten times over. And you will find that Joshua did the same; and when Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Lord was in him, and he went on quoting Scripture to the people, and that was the arrow that went down into their souls. Then, again, what did the devout and martyred Stephen do but just rehearse and expound the Scriptures from the time of Abraham downwards?

VICTORY BY THE WORD. People are constantly saying, We want something new; some new doctrine, some new idea. Depend upon it, my friends, if you get tired of the Word of God, and it becomes wearisome to you, you are out of communion with Him, What you want is some one who will unfold and expound the Scriptures to you. We cannot overcome Satan with our feelings. The reason why some people have such bitter experience is, they try to overcome the devil by their feelings and experiences. Christ overcame Satan by the Word. He simply said: "It is written;" and a second time, "It is written;" and Satan came again and tried to misquote the Scripture, but Christ said again, "It is written;" and that was the arrow that shot right into him, and drove him away. The devil does not care a bit about our feelings. He can play on our feelings just as a man can on a harp. He can make our feelings good or bad; he can take us up on the mountain, or down into the valley; and we can only vanquish him by the Word, which is the sword of the Spirit. And then bear in mind there is no situation in life for which you cannot find some word of consolation in Scripture. If you are in affliction, there is a promise for you; if you are in adversity and trial, there is a promise for you; in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness, in poverty or in riches, in every condition of life, God has a promise stored up in His Word for you.

THREE BOOKS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD HAVE. I can imagine some persons asking, How can I get to be in love with the Bible? Well, if you will only rouse yourselves to the study of it, and ask God's assistance, He will assuredly help you. There are three books which I think every Christian ought to possess. The first, of course, is the Bible. I believe in getting a good Bible, with a good plain print. I have not much love for those little Bibles you have to hold up right under your nose to read the print; and if the church happens to be a little dark you cannot see the Print; but it becomes a mere jumble of words. Yes; but some of you say you cannot carry a big Bible in your pocket. Very well, then, carry it under your arm; and if you have to walk five miles, you will just be preaching a sermon five miles long. I have known a man convicted by seeing another carrying his Bible under his arm. You are not ashamed to carry hymn-books and prayer-books, and the Bible is worth all the hymn-books and prayer-books in the world put together. And if you get a good Bible you are likely to take better care of it. Suppose you pay several dollars for a good Bible, the older you grow the more precious it will become to you. But be sure you don't get one so good that you will be afraid to mark it. Then next I would advise you to get Cruden's Concordance, and a "Bible text-book," not a "Birthday text-book." These books will help you to study the Word of God with profit. If you have not got them, get them to-morrow, for every Christian ought to have them.

STUDY TOPICALLY. Then I find one of the best ways to study the Scriptures is to study them topically. I used at one time to read so many chapters a day, and if I did not, I thought I was getting cold and backsliding; but mind you, if a man had asked me two hours afterwards what I had read, I could not tell him. I had forgotten it nearly all. When I was a boy, I used, among other things, to have to hoe turnips on a farm, and I used to hoe them so badly, to get over so much ground, that at

night I had to put down a stick in the ground so as to know next morning where I had left off. That was somewhat in the same fashion as running through so many chapters every day. A man will say: "Wife, did I read that chapter? " "Well," says she, "I don't remember," and neither of them can recollect, and perhaps he reads the same chapter over and over again; and they call that studying the Bible. I don't think there is a book in the world we neglect so much as the Bible. Merely reading the Bible is no use at all without we study it thoroughly, and hunt it through as it were for some great truth. If a friend were to see me searching about this building, and were to come up and say: "Moody, what are you looking for? have you lost something?" and I were to say, "No, I haven't lost anything, I 'm not looking for anything particular," I fancy he would let me go on by myself, and think me very foolish. But if I were to say: "Yes, I have lost a sovereign," why, then I might expect him to help me to find it. Read the Bible, my friends, as if you were seeking for something of value. It is a good deal better to take a single chapter and spend a month on it, than to read the Bible at random for a month.

WORK OUT SUBJECTS. " I find some people now and then who boast that they have read the Bible through in so many months. Others read the Bible chapter by chapter, and get through it in a year; but I think it would be almost better to spend a year over one chapter. If I were going into a court of justice, and wanted to carry the jury with me, I would get every witness I could to testify to the one point on which I wanted to convince the jury. I would not get them to testify to everything, but just on that one thing; and so it should be with the Scriptures. I took up that word "love," and I don't know how many weeks I spent in studying the passages in which it occurs, till at last I could not help loving people. I had been feeding so long on love that I was anxious to do everybody good that I came in contact with. Take up grace, take up faith, take up assurance. Some people say, I don't believe in assurance. I never knew anybody who read their Bible but believed in assurance. This book teaches nothing else. Paul says: "I know in whom I have believed." Job says: " I know that my Redeemer liveth." It is not, "I hope, I trust." The best book on assurance was written by one called "John," at the back part of the Bible. He wrote an

epistle on assurance. Sometimes you just get a word that will be a sort of key to the epistle, and which unfolds it. Now, if you turn to John 20:31, you will find it says: " These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name." Then, if you turn to 1 John 5:13, you will read thus: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." That whole epistle is written on assurance. I have no doubt John had found some people who doubted his assurance, and doubted whether they were saved or not, and he takes up his pen and says: "I will settle that question;" and he writes that last verse in the twentieth chapter of" his gospel. I have heard some people say it was not their privilege to know that they were saved; they had heard the minister say that no one could know whether they were saved or not, and they took what the minister said instead of what the Word of God said. Others read the Bible to make it fit in and prove their favourite creed or notions, and if it did not do so they would not read it. It has been well said, that they must not read the Bible by the blue light of Presbyterianism, nor the red light of Methodism, nor the violet light of Episcopalism, but by light of the Spirit of God. Now, if you will just take up your Bible and study assurance for a week you will soon find it is your privilege to know that you are a child of God.

FEED ON THE PROMISES. Then take another thing--the promises of God. Let a man feed for a month on the promises of God, and he will not be talking about how poor he is. You hear people say: "Oh, my leanness! how lean I am!" My friends, it is not their leanness, it is their laziness. If you would only go from Genesis to Revelation, and see all the promises made by God to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to the Jews and the Gentiles, and to all His people everywhere; if you were to spend a month feeding on the precious promises of God, you would not be going about with your heads hanging down like bulrushes, complaining how poor you are; but you would lift up your heads with confidence, and proclaim the riches of His grace, because you could not help it. After the Chicago fire a man came up to me, and said in a sympathising tone: "I understand you lost

everything, Moody, in the Chicago fire." "Well, then," said I, " some one has misinformed you." "Indeed! Why, I was certainly told you had lost all." "No; it's a mistake," I said; "quite a mistake." "Have you got much left, then?" asked my friend. "Yes," I replied; "I have got much more left than I lost, though I cannot tell how much I have lost." "Well, I am glad of it, Moody; I did not know you were that rich before the fire." "Yes," said I, "I am a good deal richer than you could conceive; and here is my title-deed." He that overcometh shall inherit all things."" They say the Rothschilds cannot tell how much they are worth, and that's just my case. All things in the world are mine; I am joint-heir with Jesus, the Son of God. Then suppose you spend a month on "prayer," run through the Scriptures on prayer; why, then the Bible becomes a new book to you. And then take up hope, and faith, and grace, and feed on them. I remember the first time I studied grace I got so full of it that I stopped every man and woman I met, and told them how God loved them. When Christ came with His message of grace to the Jews the bottles would not hold; it burst the bottles, and began to flow on to the Gentiles all around. And then they got angry with Him, and sought to put Him to death. You may pray for the blessing, but if you neglect your Bible you won't get it.

STUDY ONE BOOK AT A TIME. Then another way is to study one book at a time. If you take Genesis, it is the seed-plant of the whole Bible; it tells us of life, death, resurrection; it involves all the rest of the Bible. Or take just one word that runs through a book. Some time ago I was wonderfully blessed by taking the seven blessings of the Revelation. If God did not wish us to understand the Revelation, He would not have given it us at all. A good many say it is so dark and mysterious common readers cannot understand it. Let us only keep digging away at it, and it will unfold itself by and by. Some one says it is the only book in the whole Bible that tells about the devil being chained; and as the devil knows that, he goes up and down Christendom, and says: "It's no use your reading the Revelation; you cannot understand the book; it's too hard for you."

The fact is, he does not want you to understand about his own defeat. Just look at the blessings it contains. In Rev. 22:14, "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city; " Rev. 16:15, "Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth His garments;" Rev. 20:7, "Blessed is he that keepeth the saying of the prophecy of this book." Then there is a blessing on them that are kept from the world. We do not belong to the world, but belong to the new creation. God has taken us out of the old and put us in the new, and therefore we keep ourselves from the world. "Blessed are those that die in the Lord; for they shall rest from their labours." "Blessed are they that have part in the first resurrection; for on such the second death hath no power; and they shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years." "Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Or you may take the eight overcomes of Revelation, and you will get wonderfully blessed with them. They take you right up to heaven; you climb by them right up to the throne of God.

ASSURANCE. Then there is that word "know " which I mentioned just now. It occurs six times in 1 John 3. In 1 John 3:5 it says: "And ye know that He was manifest to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin." The next is in 1 John 3:19, "Hereby we know that we are of the truth." Some people tell us that it does not make any difference; that a lie is as good as the truth if we are only sincere. Why, no doubt those false prophets on Mount Carmel were sincere; but John says, " Hereby we know that we are of the truth." Then, in the 1 John 3:14: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." There's assurance for you. Then, in the 1 John 3:15: "He that hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye knew that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." The Christian is not full of jealousy, envy, hatred, and malice; but he is full of "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." These are the fruits I shall bear if I have got Christ in me. Yes, that 5th chapter of Galatians will soon tell us if we have got the right kind of fruit. Make the tree right, and you will soon have the right fruit. Then, in the 24th verse: "He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in

him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the spirit which He hath given us." Then, in the 2d verse: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him; for we shall see him as he is." There's assurance for you again! In that one chapter six assurances. Every truth I get, my friends, seems to make me lighter and lighter, till I expect to fly away by and by. I once heard Rev, Mr. Aitken tell a story about a boy who had some gas-bags fastened round him, and they were so light that when he came to a hedge or a ditch he had only just to touch the bags and away they carried him right over. And it is just the same when we read the Bible, it makes us lighter and lighter, and we leap over the obstacles in our way. The truth makes us freer and freer. A brother in the Lord gave me some keynotes recently. He said Peter wrote about hope, "When the chief Shepherd shall appear;" the keynote of Paul's writing appeared to be faith, and of John's love. "Faith, hope, and charity;" these were the three characteristics of the three men, the key-note to the whole of their teachings.

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. Then, again, I have been greatly blessed by going through the "believings" of John. As I said before, he wrote his gospel that we might believe. All through it is "believe, believe, believe." If you want to persuade a man that Christ is the Son of God, John is the gospel {or him. Take him right into and through the gospel of John. Matthew was a Jew, and he writes of Christ as a Jew-as the Son of David coming to take His throne. He commences with Abraham, and he treats of the kingdom all the way down to Christ. Mark begins with Malachi. He takes it up where the Old Testament left off, and speaks of Christ as a servant coming to do the will of God. Luke begins with Zacharias. He takes up the human side and speaks of Him as a physician, healing the sick, making the lame to walk, and giving sight to the blind. But John brings Him out of the bosom of the Father. He goes beyond Malachi, beyond Abraham, beyond Adam--away beyond the morning stars, and brings Him out of the Father's bosom, and with one stroke of the pen settles the question of Unitarianism forever. John was no Unitarian; every word he wrote was against it. He says the Son of God was manifest in the flesh. Go through John's gospel, and study the

"believes," the "verilys," the "I aim's," and go through the Bible in that way, and it becomes a new book to you.

MAKE MARGINAL NOTES. Another plan, and a good one too, is when a preacher gives out a text just take and mark it, and as he goes on preaching, just put a few words in the margin, key-words that shall bring back the whole sermon again. By that plan of making a few marginal notes, I can remember sermons I heard years and years ago. Every man ought to take down some of the preacher's words and ideas, and then go into some lane or alley and preach them out again to others. We ought to have four ears, two for ourselves and two for other people. Then, if you are in a new town, and have nothing else to say, jump up and say: "I heard some one say so and So," and they will always be glad to hear you if you give them heavenly food. The world is perishing for lack of it.

LITTLE AND WISE. Sometime ago, about eight years I think, I heard an Englishman in Chicago preach from a curious text (Proverbs 30:24): "There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise." "Well," I said to myself, "what will you make of these little things? I have seen them a good many times." Then he went on reading: "The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." He said God's people were like the ants. "Well," I said, "I have seen a good many of them, but I never saw one like me." They were like the ants, he said, because they were laying up treasure in heaven, and preparing for the future; but the world rushed madly on, and forgot all about God's command to lay up for ourselves incorruptible treasures. "The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks." He said the conies were very weak things; if you were to throw a stick at one of them you would kill it; but they were very wise, for they built their houses in the rocks, and where they are out of harm's way. And God's people are very wise, although very feeble, for they built on the Rock of Ages, and that Rock was Christ. "Well," I said, " I am certainly like the conies." Then

came the next verse: "The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them in bands;" and I wondered what he was going to make of that. Now, God's people, he said, had no king down here; the world said: "Caesar is our king;" but he was not our king, our king was the Lord of Hosts. The locusts went out by bands, so did God's people; here was a Presbyterian band, here an Episcopalian band, here a Methodist band, and so on; but, by and by, the great King would come and catch up all those separate bands and they would all be one, one fold and one Shepherd. And when I heard that explanation I said: "I would like to be the locusts." I have got so sick, my friends, of this miserable denominationalism, I wish it could all be swept away. Well, he went on again. " The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in the king's palaces." Well, when he got to the spider, I said: " I don't like that at all, and don't like the idea of being compared to a spider." But, he said, if you went into a king's palace there was the spider hanging on his gossamer web, and looking down with scorn and contempt on the gilded saloon; he was laying hold of things above. And so every child of God ought to be like a spider, and lay hold of the unseen things of God. "And so," he said, "you see, my brethren, we who are God's people are like the ants, the conies, the locusts, and the spider, little things, but exceedingly wise." I just put that down, my friends, and the recollection of it does me as much good this morning as when I first heard it. Now, I have carried this Bible with me a good many years. It is worth more to me than all the Bibles in this place, and I will tell you why; because I have got so many passages marked in it, and if I am called upon to speak at any time I am ready. I have got these little words in the margin, and they are a sermon to me. Whether I speak about faith, hope, charity, assurance, or any subject whatever, it all comes back to me; and however unexpectedly I am called upon to preach, I am always ready. Every child of God ought to be like a soldier, and always hold himself in readiness. If the Queen's army were ordered to India to-morrow, the soldier is ready for the journey; but we can't be ready if we don't study the Bible. So whenever you hear a good thing, just put it down, because if it's good for you it will be good for somebody else; and we should pass the coin of heaven round just as you do the sovereigns or other current coin of the realm.

JOB, THE KEY TO THE BIBLE. In 1872 an Englishman said to me: "Moody, did you ever notice this, that Job is the key to the whole Bible; if you understand Job you will understand the entire Bible? " "No," I said, "I don't understand that. Job the key to the whole Bible! How do you make that out?" He said: " I divide Job into seven heads. You know ministers generally have a great many heads to their sermons. The first head is: M perfect man untried. That's what God said about Job; that's Adam in Eden. He was perfect when God put him there. The second head is: Tried by adversity; and Job fell as Adam fell in Eden. The third head is: The wisdom of the world. The world tries to restore Job; the three wise men came to help Job. That was the wisdom of the world centred in those three men. You cannot," said he, " find any such eloquent language or wisdom anywhere in any part of the world as these three men had; but they did not know anything about grace, and could not therefore help Job." And that's just what men are trying to do, and the result is they fail. Take the scientific men of our day who talk against the Bible, Have they made the world any better? The wisdom of man never made man any better. These three men did not help Job, but they made him worse. Some one has said the first man took him and gave him a good pull, and then the second and the third did the same, and the three of them had three good pulls at Job, and then flat down they fell. Yes, my friends, and a good many men fall when they get into an argument. Very unprofitable things these arguments are. Job could stand anything better than those three men; he could even have stood a scolding wife better than his three friends. "Then in the fourth place," said he, "in comes the days-man," that is Christ. Then in the fifth place, God speaks, and in the sixth, Job learns his lesson. "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." And then down came Job flat on the dunghill. "I abhor myself," and down he went in the dust; he had learnt his lesson. "And the seventh head is this, that God restores him." Thank God, my friends, it is so with us, and,

OUR LAST STATE IS BETTER THAN OUR FIRST.

I would rather be a resurrected man with Christ than be Adam in Eden without Christ. Adam might have been in Eden ten thousand years, and then the devil might have come in and he might have fallen. But now Satan cannot get at us, so that we are better than Adam was in Eden. God came down and gave man an earthly kingdom, and Satan came and said: "I will mar the work of God and destroy it." But God came down again and said: "I will lift up Adam and all his sons higher, even unto the heavens, and will break the power of Satan;" and God kept His promise, when He gave His Son to die for us. A friend of mine said to me: "Look here, Moody, God gave to Job double of everything. He would not admit that Job had lost his children, He had taken them to heaven, and He gave him ten more." So Job had ten in heaven and ten on eartha goodly family. So when our children are taken from us they are not lost to us, but are merely gone before. I have not time to say more, but in conclusion I would advise all young converts to keep in the company as much as they can of more experienced Christians. I like to keep in the society of those who know more than I do, and I never lose a chance of getting all I can out of them. Study the Bible carefully and prayerfully, ask of others what this passage means, and what that passage means, and when you have become practically acquainted with the great truths it contains, you will have less to fear from the world, the flesh, and the devil.