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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36655-h.zip b/36655-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4687c99 --- /dev/null +++ b/36655-h.zip diff --git a/36655-h/36655-h.htm b/36655-h/36655-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1676ac0 --- /dev/null +++ b/36655-h/36655-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5060 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" > +<title>Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study, by D. L. Moody</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + + body { + font-family:'Bookman Old Style', 'Book Antiqua', 'Garamond'; + text-align:justify; + margin-left:2em; + margin-right:2em + } + + p { + text-indent:1.5em; + margin-top:0; + margin-bottom:0 + } + + p.pnn { + text-indent:0; + margin-top:0; + margin-bottom:0 + } + + p.p3 { + margin-left:6em; + text-indent:-2em; + margin-top:0; + margin-bottom:0 + } + + p.p4 { + margin-left:7em; + text-indent:-2em; + margin-top:0; + margin-bottom:0 + } + + p.pt1 { + font-style:italic; + margin-left:2em; + text-indent:-2em; + margin-top:0; + margin-bottom:0.7em + } + + p.pt2 { + font-style:italic; + text-align:center; + margin-top:0; + margin-bottom:1em + } + + sup { + color:green; + font-size:75%; + font-weight:900 + } + + h1 { + text-align:center; + margin-top:1.5em; + margin-bottom:1em; + font-size:200%; + font-weight:normal + } + + h2 { + text-align:center; + margin-top:1.5em; + margin-bottom:0.5em; + font-size:117%; + font-weight:normal + } + + h3 { + text-align:center; + margin-top:0.5em; + margin-bottom:0.5em; + font-size:84%; + font-weight:normal + } + +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study, by Dwight Moody + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study + +Author: Dwight Moody + +Release Date: July 7, 2011 [EBook #36655] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLEASURE & PROFIT IN BIBLE STUDY *** + + + + +Produced by Keith G Richardson + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Preface">Preface</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap01">Chapter 1</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap02">Chapter 2</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap03">Chapter 3</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap04">Chapter 4</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap05">Chapter 5</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap06">Chapter 6</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap07">Chapter 7</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap08">Chapter 8</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap09">Chapter 9</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap10">Chapter 10</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap11">Chapter 11</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap12">Chapter 12</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap13">Chapter 13</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap14">Chapter 14</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap15">Chapter 15</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Chap16">Chapter 16</a></p> +<p class="pnn"><a href="#Footnotes">Footnotes</a></p> + + +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:200%;margin-top:3.0em;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study +</p> + +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:100%;margin-top:3.0em;margin-bottom:1.5em"> +BY +</p> + +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:142%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:2.5em"> +D. L. MOODY +</p> + +<p> +The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart . . . More to be +desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than +honey and the honey-comb.—<i>Psalm xix:8-10</i>. +</p> + +<div style="text-align:center"><img alt="Graphic" src= +"images/graphic.jpg" style= +"width: 6.7em; margin-top:3em;margin-bottom:3em"></div> + +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:125%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.2em"> +Fleming H. Revell Company +</p> + +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:113%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0.2em"> +Chicago, New York & Toronto +</p> + +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:100%;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:10em"> +<i>Publishers of Evangelical Literature</i> +</p> + + + + +<p style= +"text-align:center;font-size:88%;margin-top:3.0em;margin-bottom:13em"> +COPYRIGHTED 1895, by FLEMING H. REVELL CO. +</p> + + +<h2><a name="Preface"> +PREFACE. +</a></h2> + +<p> +It is always a pleasure to me to speak on the subject of this volume. I +think I would rather preach about the Word of God than anything else +except the Love of God; because I believe it is the best thing in this +world. +</p> + +<p> +We cannot overestimate the importance of a thorough familiarity with the +Bible. I try to lose no opportunity of urging people by every means in +my power to the constant study of this wonderful Book. If through the +pages that follow, I can reach still others and rouse them to read their +Bibles, not at random but with a plan and purpose, I shall be indeed +thankful. +</p> + +<div style="text-align:right"><img alt="Illustration: Signature" +src="images/Signature.png" style= +"width: 9.5em; margin-top:1.0em;margin-bottom:10em"></div> + + + + +<p class="p3"> + When thou goest, it shall lead thee; +</p> +<p class="p3"> + When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; +</p> +<p class="p3"> + When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. +</p> +<p style= +"text-indent:16em; text-align:left; margin-top:0;margin-bottom:13em"> + —Prov. vi. 22. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap01"> +CHAPTER I. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +Close Contact with the Word of God—Word and Work—The Christian’s +Weapon—Young Converts and Bible Study—Up to Date—Every Case +Met—“Great Peace”—Starving the Soul—The Guide-Book to Heaven. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +A QUICKENING that will last must come through the Word of God. A man +stood up in one of our meetings and said he hoped for enough out of the +series of meetings to last him all his life. I told him he might as well +try to eat enough breakfast at one time to last him his lifetime. That +is a mistake that people are making; they are running to religious +meetings and they think the meetings are going to do the work. But if +these don’t bring you into closer contact with the Word of God, the +whole impression will be gone in three months. The more you love the +Scriptures, the firmer will be your faith. There is little backsliding +when people love the Scriptures. If you come into closer contact with +the Word, you will gain something that will last, because the Word of +God is going to endure. In the one hundred and nineteenth psalm David +prayed nine times that God would quicken him—according to His word, His +law, His judgment, His precepts, etc. +</p> + +<p> +If I could say something that would induce Christians to have a deeper +love for the Word of God, I should feel this to be the most important +service that could be rendered to them. Do you ask: How can I get in +love with the Bible? Well, if you will only arouse yourself to the study +of it, and ask God’s assistance, He will assuredly help you. +</p> + +<h3> +WORD AND WORK. +</h3> + +<p> +Word and Work make healthy Christians. If it be all Word and no work, +people will suffer from what I may call religious gout. On the other +hand if it be all work and no Word, it will not be long before they will +fall into all kinds of sin and error; so that they will do more harm +than good. But if we first study the Word and then go to work, we shall +be healthy, useful Christians. I never saw a fruit-bearing 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 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. +</p> + +<p> +We have a great many prayer meetings, but there is something just as +important as prayer, and that is that we read our Bibles, that we have +Bible study and Bible lectures and Bible classes, so that we may get +hold of the Word of God. When I pray, I talk to God, but when I read the +Bible, God is talking to me; and it is really more important that God +should speak to me than that I should speak to Him I believe we should +know better how to pray if we knew our Bibles better. What is an army +good for if they don’t know how to use their weapons? What is a young +man starting out in the Christian work good for it he does not know how +to use his Bible? A man isn’t worth much in battle if he has any doubt +about his weapon, and I have never found a man who has doubts about the +Bible who has amounted to much in Christian work. I have seen work after +work wrecked because men lost confidence in the spirit of this Old Book. +</p> + +<h3> +YOUNG CONVERTS. +</h3> + +<p> +If young converts want to be used of God, they must feed on His Word. +Their experience may be very good and very profitable at the outset, and +they may help others by telling it; but if they keep on doing nothing +else but telling their experience, it will soon become stale and +unprofitable, and people will weary of hearing the same thing over and +over again. But when they have told how they have been converted, the +next thing is to feed on the Word. We are not fountains ourselves; but +the Word of God is the true fountain. +</p> + +<p> +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 in grace all the while, and +others will take notice of our walk and conversation. So few grow, +because so few study. I would advise all young converts to keep as much +as they can in the company 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 the good 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. You will not be disappointed in your +Christian life. +</p> + +<h3> +SOMETHING NEW. +</h3> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +When I was in Baltimore last, my window looked out on an Episcopal +Church. The stained-glass windows were dull and uninviting by day, but +when the lights shone through at night, how beautiful they were! So when +the Holy Spirit touches the eyes of your understanding and you see +Christ shining through the pages of the Bible, it becomes a new book to +you. +</p> + +<p> +A young lady once took up a novel to read, but found it dull and +uninteresting. Some months afterwards, she was introduced to the author +and in the course of time became his wife. She then found that there was +something in the book, and her opinion of it changed. The change was not +in the book, but in herself. She had come to know and love the writer. +Some Christians read the Bible as a duty, if they read it at all; but as +soon as a man or woman sees Christ as the chiefest among ten thousand, +the Bible becomes the revelation of the Father’s love and becomes a +never-ending charm. A gentleman asked another, “Do you often read the +Bible?” “No,” was the answer, “I frankly admit I do not love God.” “No +more did I.” the first replied, “but God loved me.” +</p> + +<p> +A great many people seem to think that the Bible is out of date, that it +is an old book, and they think it has passed its day. They say it was +very good for the dark ages, and that there is some very good history in +it, but it was not intended for the present time; we are living in a +very enlightened age and men can get on very well without the old book; +we have outgrown it. Now you might just as well say that the sun, which +has shone so long, is now so old that it is out of date, and that +whenever a man builds a house he need not put any windows in it, because +we have a newer light and a better light; we have gaslight and electric +light. These are something new; and I would advise people, if they think +the Bible is too old and worn out, when they build houses, not to put +windows in them, but just to light them with electric light; that is +something new and that is what they are anxious for. +</p> + +<h3> +EVERY CASE MET. +</h3> + +<p> +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, if you +are in adversity and trial, there is a promise for you. In joy and +sorrow, in health and in sickness, in poverty and in riches, in every +condition of life, God has a promise stored up in His Word for you. In +one way or another every case is met, and the truth is commended to +every man’s conscience. It is said that Richard Baxter, author of “The +Saints’ Everlasting Rest,” felt the force of miracles chiefly in his +youth; in maturer years he was more impressed by fulfilled prophecy; and +towards the end of his life he felt the deepest satisfaction in his own +ripe experience of the power of the Gospel. +</p> + +<p> +“If you are impatient, sit down quietly and commune with Job. +</p> + +<p> +If you are strong-headed, read of Moses and Peter. +</p> + +<p> +If you are weak-kneed, look at Elijah. +</p> + +<p> +If there is no song in your heart, listen to David. +</p> + +<p> +If you are a politician, read Daniel. +</p> + +<p> +If you are getting sordid, read Isaiah. +</p> + +<p> +If you are chilly, read of the beloved disciple. +</p> + +<p> +If your faith is low, read Paul. +</p> + +<p> +If you are getting lazy, watch James. +</p> + +<p> +If you are losing sight of the future, read in Revelation of the +promised land.” +</p> + +<h3> +“GREAT PEACE.” +</h3> + +<p> +In Psalm 119:165, we find these words: “Great peace have they which love +Thy law; and nothing shall offend them.” The study of God’s Word will +secure peace. Take those Christians who are rooted and grounded in the +Word of God, and you will find they have great peace; but those who +don’t study their Bible, and don’t know their Bible, are easily offended +when some little trouble comes, or some little persecution, and their +peace is all disturbed; just a little breath of opposition and their +peace is all gone. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes I am amazed to see how little it takes to drive all peace and +comfort from some people. A slandering tongue will readily blast it. But +if we have the peace of God, the world cannot take that from us. It +cannot give it; it cannot destroy it. We must get it from above the +world, it is the peace which Christ gives. “Great peace have they which +love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” Christ says, “Blessed is +he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.” Now, you will notice that +where ever there is a Bible-taught Christian, one who has his Bible well +marked, and who daily feeds upon the Word with prayerful meditation, he +will not be easily offended. +</p> + +<p> +Such are the people who are growing and working all the while. But it is +the people who never open their Bibles, who never study the Scriptures, +who become offended, and are wondering why they are having such a hard +time. They are the persons who tell you that Christianity is not what it +has been recommended to them; that they have found it is not all that we +claim it to be. The real trouble is, they have not done as the Lord has +told them to do. They have neglected the Word of God. If they had been +studying the Word of God, they would not be in that condition, they +would not have wandered these years away from God, living on the husks +of the world. They have neglected to care for the new life, they haven’t +fed it, and the poor soul, being starved, sinks into weakness and decay, +and is easily stumbled or offended. If a man is born of God, he can not +thrive without God. +</p> + +<p> +I met a man who confessed his soul had fed on nothing for forty years. +“Well,” said I, “that is pretty hard for the soul—giving it nothing to +feed on!” That man is a type of thousands and tens of thousands to-day; +their poor souls are starving. We take good care of this body that we +inhabit for a day, and then leave; we feed it three times a day, and we +clothe it, and deck it, and by and by it is going into the grave to rot; +but the inner man, that is to live on and on forever, is lean and +starved. “Man shall not Live by bread alone, but by every word that +proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” +</p> + +<h3> +THE GUIDEBOOK TO THE CHRISTIAN’S HOME. +</h3> + +<p> +If a man is traveling and does not know where he is going to, or how he +is going to get there, you know he has a good deal of trouble, and does +not enjoy the trip as much as if he has a guidebook at hand. It is not +safe traveling, and he does not know how to make through connections. +Now, the Bible is a guidebook in the journey of life, and the only one +that points the way to Heaven. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a +light unto my path.” Let us take heed then not to refuse the light and +the help it gives. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap02"> +CHAPTER II. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +Doubting and Inquiring—Proving—A Savour of Life unto Life, or Death +unto Death—Understanding the Scriptures—Cavilling—Using the +Penknife—The Supernatural—Inspiration. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +WE DO NOT ask men and women to believe in the Bible without enquiry. It +is not natural to man to accept the things of God without question. If +you are to be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a +reason of the hope that is within you, you must first be an enquirer +yourself. But do not be a dishonest doubter, with your heart and mind +proof against evidence. Do not be a doubter because you think it is +“intellectual;” do not ventilate your doubts. “Give us your +convictions,” said a German writer, “we have enough doubts of our own.” +Be like Thomas who did not accept Jesus’ offer to feel the nail-prints +in His hand and side; his heart was open to conviction. “Faith,” says +John McNeill, “is not to be obtained at your finger-ends.” +</p> + +<p> +If you are filled with the Word of God, there will not be any doubts. A +lady said to me once, “Don’t you have any doubts?” No, I don’t have +time—too much work to be done. Some people live on doubt. It is their +stock in trade. I believe the reason there are so many Christians who +are without the full evidence of the relationship, with whom you only +see the Christian graces cropping out every now and then, is that the +Bible is not taken for doctrine, reproof and instruction. +</p> + +<h3> +PROVING. +</h3> + +<p> +Now the request comes: “I wish you would prove to me that the Bible is +true.” The Book will prove itself if you will let it; there is living +power in it. “For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because +when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it +not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which +effectually worketh also in you that believe.” It does not need defence +so much as it needs studying. It can defend itself. It is not a sickly +child that needs nursing. A Christian man was once talking to a skeptic +who said he did not believe the Bible. The man read certain passages, +but the skeptic said again, “I don’t believe a word of it.” The man kept +on reading until finally the skeptic was convicted; and the other added: +“When I have proved a good sword, I keep using it.” That is what we want +to-day. It is not our work to make men believe: that is the work of the +Holy Spirit. +</p> + +<h3> +CONVICTED—LOST—SAVED. +</h3> + +<p> +A man once sat down to read it an hour each evening with his wife. In a +few evenings he stopped in the midst of his reading and said: “Wife, if +this Book is true, we are wrong.” He read on, and before long, stopped +again and said: “Wife, if this Book is true, we are lost.” Riveted to +the Book and deeply anxious, he still read on, and soon exclaimed: +“Wife, if this Book is true, we may be saved.” It was not many days +before they were both converted. This is the one great end of the Book, +to tell man of God’s great salvation. Think of a book that can lift up +our drooping spirits, and recreate us in God’s image! +</p> + +<p> +It is an awful responsibility to have such a book and to neglect its +warnings, to reject its teachings. It is either the savour of death unto +death, or of life unto life. What if God should withdraw it, and say: “I +will not trouble you with it any more?” +</p> + +<h3> +CAN’T UNDERSTAND. +</h3> + +<p> +You ask what you are going to do when you come to a thing you cannot +understand. I thank God there is a height in that Book I do not know +anything about, a depth I have never been able to fathom, and it makes +the Book all the more fascinating. If I could take that Book up and read +it as I can any other book and understand it at one reading, I should +have lost faith in it years ago. It is one of the strongest proofs that +that Book must have come from God, that the acutest men who have dug for +fifty years have laid down their pens and said, “There is a depth we +know nothing of.” “No scripture,” said Spurgeon, “is exhausted by a +single explanation. The flowers of God’s garden bloom, not only double, +but seven-fold: they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance.” A +man came to me with a difficult passage some time ago and said, “Moody, +what do you do with that?” “I do not do anything with it.” “How do you +understand it?” “I do not understand it.” “How do you explain it?” “I do +not explain it.” “What do you do with it?” “I do not do anything.” “You +do not believe it, do you?” “Oh, yes, I <i>believe</i> it.” There are lots of +things I do not understand, but I believe them. I do not know anything +about higher mathematics, but I believe in them. I do not understand +astronomy, but I believe in astronomy. Can you tell me why the same kind +of food turns into flesh, fish, hair, feathers, hoofs, finger-nails +—according as it is eaten by one animal or another? A man told me a +while ago he could not believe a thing he had never seen. I said, +“Man, did you ever see your brain?” +</p> + +<p> +Dr. Talmage tells the story that one day while he was bothering his +theological professor with questions about the mysteries of the Bible, +the latter turned on him and said: “Mr. Talmage, you will have to let +God know some things you don’t.” +</p> + +<p> +A man once said to an infidel: “The mysteries of the Bible don’t bother +me. I read the Bible as I eat fish. When I am eating fish and come +across a bone. I don’t try to swallow it, I lay it aside. And when I am +reading the Bible and come across something I can’t understand, I say, +‘There is a bone,’ and I pass it by. But I don’t throw the fish away +because of the bones in it; and I don’t throw my Bible away because of a +few passages I can’t explain.” +</p> + +<p> +Pascal said, “Human knowledge must be understood in order to be loved; +but Divine knowledge must be loved to be understood.” That marks the +point of failure of most critics of the Bible. They do not make their +brain the servant of their heart. +</p> + +<h3> +CAVILLERS. +</h3> + +<p> +Did you ever notice that the things that men cavil most about are the +very things to which Christ has set His seal? Men say, “You don’t +believe in the story of Noah and the flood, do you?” Well, if I give it +up, I must give up the Gospel, I must give up the teachings of Jesus +Christ. Christ believed in the story of Noah, and connected that with His +return to earth. “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of +the Son of man be.” Men say, “You don’t believe in the story of Lot and +Sodom, do you?” Just as much as I believe the teachings of Jesus Christ. +“As it was in the days of Lot . . . . . even thus shall it be in the day +when the Son of man is revealed.” Men say, “You don’t believe in the +story of Lot’s wife, do you?” Christ believed it. “Remember Lot’s wife.” +“You don’t believe the story of Israel looking to a brass serpent for +deliverance, do you?” Christ believed it and connected it with His own +cross. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must +the Son of man be lifted up: that whosever believeth in Him should not +perish but have eternal life.” Men say, “You don’t believe the children +of Israel were fed with manna in the desert, do you?” “Our fathers did +eat manna in the desert; . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses +gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true +bread from heaven.” Men say, “You don’t believe they drank water that +came out of a rock?” Christ believed it and taught it. Men say, “You +don’t believe in the story of Elijah being fed by the widow, do you?” +Certainly. Christ said there were many widows in the days of Elijah, but +Elijah was fed by only one widow. Christ referred to it Himself, He set +His seal to it. The Son of God believed it, and, “shall the servant be +above his master?” +</p> + +<h3> +JONAH AND THE WHALE. +</h3> + +<p> +Men say, “Well, you don’t believe in the story of Jonah and the whale, +do you?” I want to tell you I <i>do</i> believe it. A few years ago there was +a man whom some one thought a little unsound, and they didn’t want him +to speak on the Northfield platform. I said, “I will soon find out +whether or not he is sound.” I asked him, “Do you believe the whale +swallowed Jonah?” “Yes,” he said, “I do.” I said “All right, then I want +you to come and speak.” He came and gave a lecture on Jonah. In Matthew +they twice asked Jesus for a sign, and He said the only sign this +generation shall have shall be the sign of Jonah in the whale’s belly. +He connected that with His resurrection, and I honestly believe that if +we overthrow the one, we must overthrow the other. As you get along in +life and have perhaps as many friends on the other side of the river as +you have on this side, you will get about as much comfort out of the +story of the resurrection as any other story in the Bible. Christ had no +doubt about the story. He said His resurrection would be a sign like +that given unto the Ninevites. It was the resurrected man Jonah who +walked through the streets of Nineveh. It must be supposed that the men +of Nineveh had heard of Jonah being thrown overboard and swallowed by a +great fish. I think it is a master-stroke of Satan to make us doubt the +resurrection. But these modern philosophers have made a discovery. They +say a whale’s throat is no larger than a man’s fist, and it is a +physical impossibility for a whale to swallow a man. The book of Jonah +says that <i>God prepared a great fish</i> to swallow Jonah. Couldn’t God +make a fish large enough to swallow Jonah? If God could create a world, +I think He could create a fish large enough to swallow a <i>million</i> men. +As the old woman said, “Could He not, if He chose, prepare a man that +could swallow a whale?” A couple of these modern philosophers were going +to Europe some time ago, and a Scotch friend of mine was on board who +knew his Bible pretty well. They got to talking about the Bible, and one +of them said: “I am a scientific man, and I have made some investigation +of that Book, and I have taken up some of the statements in it, and I +have examined them, and I pronounce them untrue. There is a statement in +the Bible that Balaam’s ass spoke. I have taken pains to examine the +mouth of an ass and it is so formed that it could not speak.” My friend +stood it as long as he could and then said, “Eh, mon, you make the ass +and I will make him speak.” The idea that God could not speak through +the mouth of an ass! +</p> + +<h3> +CLIPPING THE BIBLE. +</h3> + +<p> +There is another class. It is quite fashionable for people to say, “Yes, +I believe the Bible, but not the supernatural. I believe everything that +corresponds with this reason of mine.” They go on reading the Bible with +a pen-knife, cutting out this and that. Now, if I have a right to cut +out a certain portion of the Bible, I don’t know why one of my friends +has not a right to cut out another, and another friend to cut out +another part, and so on. You would have a queer kind of Bible if +everybody cut out what he wanted to. Every adulterer would cut out +everything about adultery; every liar would cut out everything about +lying; every drunkard would be cutting out what he didn’t like. Once, a +gentleman took his Bible around to his minister’s and said, “That is +your Bible.” “Why do you call it <i>my</i> Bible?” said the minister. “Well,” +replied the gentleman, “I have been sitting under your preaching for +five years, and when you said that a thing in the Bible was not +authentic, I cut it out.” He had about a third of the Bible cut out; all +of Job, all of Ecclesiastes and Revelation, and a good deal besides. The +minister wanted him to leave the Bible with him; he didn’t want the rest +of his congregation to see it. But the man said, “Oh, no! I have the +covers left, and I will hold on to them.” And off he went holding on to +the covers. If you believed what some men preach, you would have nothing +but the covers left in a few months. I have often said that if I am +going to throw away the Bible, I will throw it all into the fire at +once. There is no need of waiting five years to do what you can do as +well at once. I have yet to find a man who begins to pick at the Bible +that does not pick it all to pieces in a little while. A minister whom I +met awhile ago said to me, “Moody, I have given up preaching except out +of the four Gospels. I have given up all the Epistles, and all the Old +Testament; and I do not know why I cannot go to the fountain head and +preach as Paul did. I believe the Gospels are all there is that is +authentic.” It was not long before he gave up the four Gospels, and +finally gave up the ministry. He gave up the Bible, and God gave him up. +</p> + +<p> +A prophet who had been sent to a city to warn the wicked, was commanded +not to eat meat within its walls. He was afterwards deceived into doing +so by an old prophet, who told him that an angel had come to him and +said he might return and eat with him. That prophet was destroyed by a +lion for his disobedience. If an angel should come and tell a different +story from that in the Book, don’t believe it. I am tired and sick of +people following men. It is written, “though an angel from heaven preach +any other gospel, let him be accursed.” Do you think with more light +before us than the prophet had that we can disobey God’s Word with +impunity? +</p> + +<h3> +THE SUPERNATURAL IN THE BIBLE. +</h3> + +<p> +It is a most absurd statement for a man to say he will have nothing to +do with the supernatural, will not believe the supernatural. If you are +going to throw off the supernatural, you might as well burn your Bibles +at once. You take the supernatural out of that Book and you have taken +Jesus Christ out of it, you have taken out the best part of the Book. +There is no part of the Bible that does not teach supernatural things. +In Genesis it says that Abraham fell on his face and God talked with +him. That is supernatural. If that did not take place, the man who wrote +Genesis wrote a lie, and out goes Genesis. In Exodus you find the ten +plagues which came upon Egypt. If that is not true, the writer of Exodus +was a liar. Then in Leviticus it is said that fire consumed the two sons +of Aaron. That was a supernatural event, and if that was not true we +must throw out the whole book. +</p> + +<p> +In Numbers is the story of the brazen serpent. And so with every book in +the Old Testament; there’s not one in which you do not find something +supernatural. There are more supernatural things about Jesus Christ than +in any other portion of the Bible, and the last thing a man is willing +to give up is the four Gospels. Five hundred years before His birth, the +angel Gabriel came down and told Daniel that He should be born. “And +whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen +in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me +about the time of the evening oblation.” Again, Gabriel comes down to +Nazareth and tells the Virgin that she should be the mother of the +Saviour. “Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son, +and shalt call his name Jesus.” We find, too, that the angel went into +the temple and told Zacharias that he was to be the father of John the +Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah; Zacharias was struck dumb for +nine months because of his unbelief. Then when Christ was born, we find +angels appearing to the shepherds at Bethlehem, telling them of the +birth of the Saviour. “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a +Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” The wise men seeing the star in the +east and following it was surely supernatural. So was the warning that +God sent to Joseph in a dream, telling him to flee to Egypt. So was the +fact of our Lord’s going into the temple at the age of twelve, +discussing with the doctors, and being a match for them all. So were the +circumstances attending His baptism, when God spake from heaven, saying: +“This is my beloved Son.” For three and a half years Jesus trod the +streets and highways of Palestine. Think of the many wonderful miracles +that He wrought during those years. One day He speaks to the leper and +he is made whole; one day He speaks to the sea and it obeys Him. When He +died the sun refused to look upon the scene; this old world recognized +Him and reeled and rocked like a drunken man. And when He burst asunder +the bands of death and came out of Joseph’s sepulchre, that was +supernatural. Christmas Evans, the great Welsh preacher, says: “Many +reformations die with the reformer, but this reformer ever lives to +carry on His reformation.” Thank God we do not worship a dead Jew. If we +worshipped a dead Jew, we would not have been quickened and have +received life in our souls. I thank God our Christ is a supernatural +Christ, and this Book a supernatural Book, and I thank God I live in a +country where it is so free that all men can read it. +</p> + +<p> +Some people think we are deluded, that this is imagination. Well, it is +a glorious imagination, is it not? It has lasted between thirty and +forty years with me, and I think it is going to last while I live, and +when I go into another world. Some one, when reading about Paul, said he +was mad. Well, it was replied, if he was he had a good keeper on the +way, and a good asylum at the end of the route. I wish we had a lot of +mad men in America just now like Paul. +</p> + +<h3> +INSPIRATION. +</h3> + +<p> +When Paul wrote to Timothy that <i>all</i> Scripture was given by inspiration +of God and was profitable, he meant what he said. “Well,” some say, “do +you believe all Scripture is given by inspiration?” Yes, every word of +it; but I don’t believe all the actions and incidents it tells of were +inspired. For instance, when the devil told a lie he was not inspired to +tell a lie, and when a wicked man like Ahab said anything, he was not +inspired; but some one was inspired to write it, and so all was given by +inspiration and is profitable. +</p> + +<p> +Inspiration must have been verbal in many, if not in all, cases. Peter +tells us, regarding salvation through the sufferings of Christ: +</p> + +<p> +“Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, +who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. Searching what or +what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, +when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory +that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, +but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto +you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost +sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.” +</p> + +<p> +So that the prophets themselves had to enquire and search diligently +regarding the words they uttered under the inspiration of the Spirit. +</p> + +<p> +A man said to a young convert: “How can you prove that the Bible is +inspired?” He replied, “Because it inspires me.” I think that is pretty +good proof. Let the Word of God into your soul, and it will inspire you, +it can not help it. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap03"> +CHAPTER III. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt2"> +<i>The Old and the New Testaments</i>. +</p> + +<p> +I WANT to show how absurd it is for anyone to say he believes the New +Testament and not the Old. It is a very interesting fact that of the +thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, it is recorded that our Lord +made quotations from no less than twenty-two. Very possibly He may have +quoted from all of them; for we have only fragments reported of what He +said and did. You know the Apostle John tells us that the world could +scarcely contain the books that could be written, if all the sayings and +doings of our Lord were recorded. About eight hundred and fifty passages +in the Old Testament are quoted or alluded to in the New; only a few +occurring more than once. +</p> + +<p> +In the Gospel by Matthew there are over a hundred quotations from twenty +of the books in the Old Testament. In the Gospel of Mark there are +fifteen quotations taken from thirteen of the books. In the Gospel of +Luke there are thirty-four quotations from thirteen books. In the Gospel +of John there are eleven quotations from six books. In the four Gospels +alone there are more than one hundred and sixty quotations from the Old +Testament. You sometimes hear men saying they do not believe all the +Bible, but they believe the teaching of Jesus Christ in the four +Gospels. Well, if I believe that, I have to accept these hundred and +sixty quotations from the Old Testament. In Paul’s letter to the +Corinthians there are fifty-three quotations from the Old Testament; +sometimes he takes whole paragraphs from it. In Hebrews there are +eighty-five quotations, in that one book of thirteen chapters. In +Galatians, sixteen quotations. In the book of Revelation alone, there +are two hundred and forty-five quotations and allusions. +</p> + +<p> +A great many want to throw out the Old Testament. It is good historic +reading, they say, but they don’t believe it is a part of the Word of +God, and don’t regard it as essential in the scheme of salvation. The +last letter Paul wrote contained the following words: “And that from a +child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are <i>able to make thee +wise unto salvation</i> through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” All the +Scriptures which the apostles possessed were the Old Testament. +</p> + +<p> +When skeptics attack its truths, these find it convenient to say, “Well, +we don’t endorse all that is in the Old Testament,” and thus they avoid +an argument in defence of the Scriptures. It is very important that +every Christian should not only know what the Old Testament teaches, but +he should accept its truths, because it is upon this that truth is +based. Peter said the Scriptures are not given for any private +interpretation, and in speaking of the Scriptures, referred to the Old +Testament and not to the New. +</p> + +<p> +If the Old Testament Scriptures are not true, do you think Christ would +have so often referred to them, and said the Scriptures must be +fulfilled? When told by the tempter that He might call down the angels +from heaven to interpose in His behalf, he said: “Thus it is written.” +Christ gave Himself up as a sacrifice that the Scriptures might be +fulfilled. Was it not said that He was numbered with the transgressors? +And when He talked with two of His disciples by the way journeying to +Emmaus, after His resurrection, did He not say: “Ought not these things +to be? am I not to suffer?” And beginning at Moses He explained unto +them in all the Scriptures concerning Himself, for the one theme of the +Old Testament is the Messiah. In Psalm 40:7, it says: “In the volume of +the book it is written of me.” “What <i>Book?</i>” asks Luther, “and what +<i>Person?</i> There is only one book—the Bible; and only one person—Jesus +Christ.” Christ referred to the Scriptures and their fulfillment in Him, +not only after He arose from the dead, but in the book of Revelation He +used them in Heaven. He spoke to John of them on the Isle of Patmos, and +used the very things in them that men are trying to cast out. He never +found fault with or rejected them. +</p> + +<p> +If Jesus Christ could use the Old Testament, let us use it. May God +deliver us from the one-sided Christian who reads only the New Testament +and talks against the Old! +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap04"> +CHAPTER IV. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +“My Word shall not Pass Away”—Printing the Revised Version in +Chicago—Circulation of the Bible. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +CHRIST speaking of the law, said: “One jot or one tittle shall in no +wise pass from the law until all be fulfilled.” In another place He +said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass +away.” Now, let us keep in mind that the only Scripture the apostles and +Christ had was the Old Testament. The New Testament was not written. I +will put that as the old and new covenant. “One jot or tittle of the law +shall in no wise pass away until all be fulfilled,”—the old covenant; +and then Christ comes and adds these words: “Heaven and earth shall pass +away, but my Word shall not pass away,”—the new covenant. Now, notice +how that has been fulfilled. There was no short-hand reporter following +Him around taking down His words; there were no papers to print the +sermons, and they wouldn’t have printed His sermons if there had been +any daily papers—the whole church and all the religious world were +against Him. I can see one of your modern free-thinkers standing near +Him, and he hears Christ say: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my +Word shall not pass away.” I see the scornful look on his face as he +says: “Hear that Jewish peasant talk! Did you ever hear such conceit, +such madness? He says Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his Word +shall not pass away.” My friend, I want to ask you this question—have +they passed away? Do you know that the sun has shone on more Bibles +to-day than ever before in the history of the world? There have been +more Bibles printed in the last ten years than in the first eighteen +hundred years. They tried in the dark ages to chain it, and keep it from +the nations, but God has preserved it, and the British and American +Bible Societies print thousands of Bibles every day. One house in New +York has sold one hundred thousand Oxford Bibles during the last year. +</p> + +<h3> +PRINTING THE REVISED VERSION. +</h3> + +<p> +Suppose some one had said that when we had a revised version of the New +Testament, it was going to have such a large circulation—men reading it +wherever the English language is spoken—the statement would hardly have +been believed. The new version came out in New York on a Friday—on the +same day that it was published in London. Chicago did not want to be +behind New York. At that time the quickest train between the two cities +could not accomplished the journey in less than about twenty-six hours. +It would be late on Saturday afternoon before the copies could reach +Chicago, and the stores would be closed. So one of the Chicago daily +papers set ninety operators at work and had the whole of the new +version, from Matthew to Revelation, telegraphed to Chicago on Friday; +it was put at once into print and sold on the streets of that city next +day. If some one had said years ago, before telegraphs were introduced, +that this would be done, it would have been thought an impossibility. +Yet it has been done. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding all that skeptics and infidels say against the old Book, +it goes on its way. These objectors remind one of a dog barking at the +moon; the moon goes on shining just the same. Atheists keep on writing +against the Bible; but they do not make much progress, do they? It is +being spread all abroad—silently, and without any blasts of trumpets. +The lighthouse does not blow a trumpet; it goes on shedding its light +all around. So the Bible is lighting up the nations of the earth. It is +said that a lecturer on Secularism was once asked, “Why can’t you let +the Bible alone, if you don’t believe it?” The honest reply was at once +made, “Because the Bible won’t let me alone.” +</p> + +<h3> +CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. +</h3> + +<p> +The Bible was about the first book ever printed, and to-day New +Testaments are printed in three hundred and fifty-three different +languages, and are going to the very corners of the earth. Wherever the +Bible has not been translated, the people have no literature. It will +not be long before the words of Jesus Christ will penetrate the darkest +parts of the earth, and the darkest islands of the sea. When Christ +said, “The Scriptures can not be broken,” He meant every word He said. +Devil and man and hell have been in league for centuries to try to break +the Word of God, but they can not do it. If you get it for your footing, +you have good footing for time and eternity. “Heaven and earth shall +pass away, but my Word shall not pass away.” My friends, that Word is +going to live, and there is no power in perdition or earth to blot it +out. +</p> + +<p> +What we want to-day is men who believe in it from the crown of their +heads to the soles of their feet, who believe the whole of it, the +things they understand and the things they do not understand. Talk about +the things you understand, and leave the things you do not. I believe +that is one reason why the English and the Scotch Christians have got +ahead of us, because they study the whole Bible. I venture to say that +there are hundreds of Bible readings in London every night. You know +there are a good many Christians who are good in spots and mighty poor +in other spots, because they do not take the whole sweep of the Bible. +When I went to Scotland I had to be very careful how I quoted the Bible. +Some friend would tell me after the meeting I was quoting it wrong. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap05"> +CHAPTER V. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +Fulfilled Prophecy—Unexplored +Country—Babylon—Tyre—Jerusalem—Egypt—The Jew. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +I KNOW nothing that will upset an honest skeptic quicker than <i>fulfilled +prophecy</i>. There are very few Christians who think of studying this +subject. They say that prophecies are so mysterious, and there is +question about their being fulfilled. Now the Bible does not say that +prophecy is a dark subject, to be avoided; but rather that “we have a +more <i>sure word</i> of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as +unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the +daystar arise in your hearts.” Prophecy is history unfulfilled, and +history is prophecy fulfilled. +</p> + +<p> +When I was a boy I was taught that all beyond the Mississippi river was +the great American desert. But when the first pick-axe struck into the +Comstock lode, and they took out more than one hundred million dollars’ +worth of silver, the nation realized that there was no desert: and +to-day that part of the country—Nevada, Colorado, Utah and other +western states—is some of the most valuable we possess. Think of the +busy cities and flourishing states that have sprung up among the +mountains! So with many portions of the Bible: people never think of +reading them. They are living on a few verses and chapters. The greater +part of the Bible was written by prophets, yet you never hear a sermon +preached on prophecy. +</p> + +<p> +Between five and six hundred Old Testament prophecies have been +remarkably and literally fulfilled, and two hundred in regard to Jesus +Christ alone. Not a thing happened to Jesus Christ that was not +prophesied from seventeen hundred to four hundred years before He was +born. +</p> + +<p> +Take the four great cities that existed in the days when the Old +Testament was written, and you will find that prophecies regarding them +have been fulfilled to the letter. Let me call your attention to a few +passages. +</p> + +<h3> +BABYLON. +</h3> + +<p> +First regarding Babylon—“And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty +of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and +Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from +generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; +neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of +the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful +creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And +the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and +dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her +days shall not be prolonged.” And again: “The word that the Lord spake +against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the +Prophet. Declare ye among the nations, and publish and set up a +standard; publish and conceal not; say, Babylon is taken, Bel is +confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her +images are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh a nation +against her; which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell +therein; they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.” +“Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it +shall be wholly desolate; every one that goeth by Babylon shall be +astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.” “How is the hammer of the +whole earth cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation +among the nations! I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art taken, oh +Babylon, and thou wast not aware; thou art found, and also caught, +because thou hast striven against the Lord.” +</p> + +<p> +A hundred years before Nebucadnezzar ascended the throne, it was +foretold how Babylon should be destroyed, and it came to pass. Scholars +tell us that the city stood in the midst of a large and fruitful plain. +It was enclosed by a wall four hundred and eighty furlongs square. Each +side of the square had twenty gates of solid brass, and at every corner +was a strong tower, ten feet higher than the wall. The wall was +eighty-seven feet broad, and three hundred and fifty feet high. These +figures give us an idea of the importance of Babylon. Yet nothing but +ruins now remain to tell of its former grandeur. When Babylon was in its +glory, the queen of the earth, prophets predicted that it would be +destroyed; and how literally was it fulfilled! +</p> + +<p> +A friend going through the valley of the Euphrates tried to get his +dragoman to pitch his tent near the ruins, and failed. No Arabian +pitches his tent there, no shepherd will dwell near the ruins. +</p> + +<h3> +NINEVEH. +</h3> + +<p> +Now take Nineveh. “And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make +thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to +pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, +Nineveh is laid waste; who will bemoan her? Whence shall I seek +comforters for thee?” Now, how are you going to cover the city up? “I +will cast upon her abominable filth.” How are you going to cast +abominable filth upon the city? And yet for 2,500 years Nineveh was +buried and an abominable filth lay upon her. But now they have dug up +the ruins, and brought them to Paris and London, and you go into the +British museum, and there is not a day except the Sabbath but what you +can see men from all parts of the world gazing upon the ruins. It is +just as the prophets prophesied. For 2,500 years Nineveh was buried, but +it is no longer buried. +</p> + +<h3> +TYRE. +</h3> + +<p> +Then look at Tyre: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am +against thee, Oh Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against +thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy +the walls of Tyrus and break down her towers; I will also scrape her +dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place +for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it, +saith the Lord God, and it shall become a spoil to the nations.” Coffin, +who was correspondent of the Boston <i>Journal</i> during the war, went round +the world after the war was over in ’68. One night he came to the site +of old Tyre, and he said the sun was just going down, and he got his +dragoman to pitch his tent right over by the ruins, where the rocks were +scraped bare, and he took out his Bible and read where it says, “It +shall be a place for the spreading of nets.” He said the fishermen had +done fishing and were just spreading their nets or the rocks of Tyre, +precisely as it was prophesied hundreds and hundreds of years before. +Now mark you! When they prophesied against these great cities, they were +like London, Paris and New York in their glory, but their glory has +gone. +</p> + +<h3> +JERUSALEM. +</h3> + +<p> +Now take the prophecy in regard to Jerusalem: “And when He was come +near, He beheld the city, and wept over it saying, If thou hadst known, +even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy +peace: But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come +upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and +compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side.” Didn’t Titus do +that? Didn’t the Roman Emperor do that very thing? “And shall lay thee +even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not +leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time +of thy visitation.” +</p> + +<p> +I have read of two Rabbis going up to Jerusalem, and they saw a fox +playing upon the wall; one began to weep when he thus looked at the +desolation of Zion. The other smiled and rebuked him, saying that the +spectacle was a proof that the Word of God was true, and that this was +one of the prophecies which should be fulfilled—“Because of the +mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.” It was +also said that Jerusalem should be as a ploughed field. This prophecy +has also been fulfilled. The modern city is so restricted that outside +of the walls, where part of the old city stood, the plough has been +used. +</p> + +<h3> +EGYPT. +</h3> + +<p> +Now take the prophecies regarding Egypt: “It shall be the basest of the +kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; for +I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.” +Now, mark you! Egypt was in its glory when this was prophesied. It was a +great and mighty empire, but for centuries it has been the basest of all +nations. They have not got a native prince or king to reign over them. +The man that is reigning over them now is not an Egyptian, but he is +some foreigner, and so it has been. +</p> + +<h3> +THE JEWS. +</h3> + +<p> +Then, again, the prophecy of Balaam with regard to the Jews has been +already greatly fulfilled. “Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall +not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and +the number of the fourth <i>part</i> of Israel?” The Jews were not to be +reckoned amongst the nations. There is something in this people’s looks +and habits that God continues to perpetuate, just, as I believe, to make +them witnesses in every land of the truth of the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +The race has remained all these centuries separate and distinct from +other nations. In America there are all kinds of nationalities. Take an +Irishman, and in a generation he will have forgotten his nationality. +So, too, with the Germans, Italians, and French; but the Jew is as much +a Jew as he was when he came over one hundred years ago. See how the +race has been persecuted, yet the Jews control the finances of the world +and can not be kept down. Egypt, Edom, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Rome, +and all the leading nations of the earth have sought to crush out the +Jews. Frederick the Great said, “Touch them not, for no one has done so +and prospered.” The people are the same now as they were in the days of +Pharaoh, when he tried to destroy all the male children. The prophecy is +fulfilled—God has made the nation numerous and united. The time is +coming when God will reinstate the Jew. “For the children of Israel +shall abide many days without a King, and without a Prince, and without +a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without +teraphim.” Are they not without a King, without a nation, and without a +sacrifice? Are they not scattered among the nations of the earth, a +separate and distinct people? and they do not bow down to idols. Their +last King they crucified, and they will never have another until they +restore Him. He was Jesus Christ, as inscribed upon His cross, “The King +of the Jews.” +</p> + +<h3> +OTHER PROPHECIES. +</h3> + +<p> +We see how it was prophesied that Eli should suffer. He was God’s own +high priest, and the only thing against him was that he did not obey +God’s word faithfully and diligently. He was like a good many nowadays. +He was one of these good-natured old men who don’t want to make people +uncomfortable by saying unpleasant things, so he let his two boys go on +in neglect, and did not restrain them. He was just like some ministers. +Oh! let every minister tell the truth, though he preach himself out of +his pulpit. Everything went all right for twenty years, but then came +fulfilment of the prophecy. God’s ark was taken, the army of Israel was +routed by the Philistines; Hophni and Phineas, old Eli’s two sons, were +killed, and when the old man heard of it, he fell back in his chair, +broke his neck and died. So with King Ahab, taking the sinful advice of +Jezebel. Naboth would not sell him that piece of land, so they got him +out of the way. Three years afterwards the dogs licked Ahab’s blood from +his chariot in the very spot where Naboth’s had been murderously shed. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap06"> +CHAPTER VI. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +Text Preaching and Expository Preaching—Peter and Paul at +Jerusalem—Oratorical Preaching +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +HERE is a word of counsel for young men who have their eye on the +ministry. If you take my advice, you will seek not to be a text +preacher, but an expository preacher. I believe that what this country +wants is the Word of God. There is no book that will draw the people +like the Bible. One of the professors of the Chicago University gave +some lectures on the Book of Job, and there was no building large enough +to hold the people. If the Bible only has a chance to speak for itself, +it will interest the people. I am tired and sick of moral essays. It +would take about a ton of them to convert a child five years old. A man +was talking of a certain church once, and said he liked it because the +preacher never touched on politics and religion—just read nice little +essays. Give the people the Word of God. Some men only use the Bible as +a text book. They get a text and away they go. They go up in a balloon +and talk about astronomy, and then go down and give you a little +geology, and next Sunday they go on in the same way, and then they +wonder why it is people do not read their Bibles. I used to think +Charles Spurgeon was about as good a preacher as I ever knew, but I used +to rather hear him expound the Scripture than listen to all his sermons. +Why is it that Dr. John Hall has held his audience so long? He opens his +Bible and expounds. How was it that Andrew Bonar held his audience in +Glasgow? He had a weak voice, people could hardly hear him, yet thirteen +hundred people would file into his church twice every Sabbath, and many +of them took notes, and they would go home and send his sermons all over +the world. It was Dr. Bonar’s custom to lead his congregation through +the study of the Bible, book by book. There was not a part of the Bible +in which he could not find Christ. I preached five months in Glasgow, +and there was not a ward or a district in the city in which I did not +find the influence of that man. +</p> + +<h3> +A REMINISCENCE OF DR. ANDREW BONAR. +</h3> + +<p> +I was in London in ’84 and a barrister had come down from Edinburgh. He +said he went through to Glasgow a few weeks before to spend Sunday, and +he was fortunate enough to hear Andrew Bonar. He said he happened to be +there the Sunday Dr. Bonar got to that part of the Epistle of Galatians +where it says that Paul went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. “Then after +three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him +fifteen days.” He let his imagination roam. He said one day he could +imagine they had been very busy and they were tired, and all at once +Peter turned to Paul and said, “Paul, wouldn’t you like to take a little +walk?” And Paul said he would. So they went down through the streets of +Jerusalem arm in arm, over the brook Cedron, and all at once Peter +stopped and said, “Look, Paul, this is the very spot where He wrestled, +and where He suffered and sweat great drops of blood. There is the very +spot where John and James fell asleep, right there. And right here is +the very spot where I fell asleep. I don’t think I should have denied +Him if I hadn’t gone to sleep, but I was overcome. I remember the last +thing I heard Him say before I fell asleep was, ‘Father, let this cup +pass from me if it is Thy will.’ And when I awoke an angel stood right +there where you are standing, talking to Him, and I saw great drops of +blood come from His pores and trickle down His cheeks. It wasn’t long +before Judas came to betray Him. And I heard Him say to Judas so kindly, +‘Betrayest thou the Master with a kiss?’ And then they bound Him and led +Him away. That night when He was on trial I denied Him.” He pictured the +whole scene. And the next day Peter turned again to Paul and said, +“Wouldn’t you like to take another walk to-day?” And Paul said he would. +That day they went to Calvary, and when they got on the hill, Peter +said, “Here, Paul this is the very spot where He died for you and me. +See that hole right there? That is where His cross stood. The believing +thief hung there and the unbelieving thief there on the other side. Mary +Magdalene and Mary His mother stood there, and I stood away on the +outskirts of the crowd. The night before when I denied Him, He looked at +me so lovingly that it broke my heart, and I couldn’t bear to get near +enough to see Him. That was the darkest hour of my life. I was in hopes +that God would intercede and take Him from the cross. I kept listening +and I thought I would hear His voice.” And he pictured the whole scene, +how they drove the spear into His side and put the crown of thorns on +His brow, and all that took place. +</p> + +<p> +And the next day Peter turned to Paul again and asked him if he wouldn’t +like to take another walk. And Paul said he would. Again they passed +down the streets of Jerusalem, over the brook Cedron, over Mount Olivet, +up to Bethphage, and over on to the slope near Bethany. All at once +Peter stopped and said, “Here, Paul, this is the last place where I ever +saw Him. I never heard Him speak so sweetly as He did that day. It was +right here He delivered His last message to us, and all at once I +noticed that His feet didn’t touch the ground. He arose and went up. All +at once there came a cloud and received Him out of sight. I stood right +here gazing up into the heavens, in hopes I might see Him again and hear +Him speak. And two men dressed in white dropped down by our sides and +stood there and said, ‘Ye men of Galilee, why stand Ye gazing into +heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so +come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.’” +</p> + +<p> +My friends, I want to ask you this question: Do you believe that picture +is overdrawn? Do you believe Peter had Paul as his guest and didn’t take +him to Gethsemane, didn’t take him to Calvary and to Mount Olivet? I +myself spent eight days in Jerusalem, and every morning I wanted to +steal down into the garden where my Lord sweat great drops of blood. +Every day I climbed Mount Olivet and looked up into the blue sky where +He went to His Father. I have no doubt, Peter took Paul out on those +three walks. If there had been a man that could have taken me to the +very spot where thy Master sweat those great drops of blood, do you +think I wouldn’t have asked him to take me there? If he could have told +me where I could find the spot where my Master’s feet last touched this +sin-cursed earth and was taken up, do you think I wouldn’t have had him +show it to me? +</p> + +<h3> +ORATORICAL PREACHING. +</h3> + +<p> +I know there is a class of people who say that kind of preaching won’t +do in this country. “People want something oratorical.” Well, there is +no doubt but that there are some who want to hear oratorical sermons, +but they forget them inside of twenty-four hours. +</p> + +<p> +It a good thing for a minister to have the reputation of feeding his +people. A man once made an artificial bee, which was so like a real bee +that he challenged another man to tell the difference. It made just such +a buzzing as the live bee, and looked the same. The other said, “You put +an artificial bee and a real bee down there, and I will tell you the +difference pretty quickly.” He then put a drop of honey on the ground +and the live bee went for the honey. It is just so with us. There are a +lot of people who profess to be Christians, but they are artificial, and +they don’t know when you give them honey. The real bees go for honey +every time. People can get along without your theories and opinions, +“Thus saith the Lord”—that is what we want. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap07"> +CHAPTER VII. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +Reading and Studying—At Family Prayers—A Word in Season—Helpful +Questions. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +MERELY reading the Bible is not what God wants. Again and again I am +exhorted to “search.” +</p> + +<p> +“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received +the word with all readiness of mind, and <i>searched</i> the Scriptures +daily, whether those things were so.” +</p> + +<p> +“So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the +sense, and caused them to understand the reading.” +</p> + +<p> +We must study it thoroughly, and hunt it through, as it were, for some +great truth. If a friend were to see me searching about a building, and +were to come up and say, “Moody, what are you looking for? have you lost +something?” and I answered, “No, I haven’t lost anything; I’m not +looking for anything particular,” I fancy he would just let me go on by +myself, and think me very foolish. But if I were to say, “Yes, I have +lost a dollar,” 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. +</p> + +<p> +I used at one time to read so many chapters a day, and if I did not get +through my usual quantity I thought I was getting cold and backsliding. +But, mind you, if a man had asked me two hours afterward 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 hoe corn on a farm; and I used to hoe +it so badly, in order 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 do not think there is a book +in the world we neglect so much as the Bible. +</p> + +<h3> +FAMILY WORSHIP. +</h3> + +<p> +Now, when you read the Bible at family worship or for private devotions, +look for suitable passages. What would you think of a minister who went +into the pulpit on Sunday and opened the Bible at hazard and commenced +to read? Yet this is what most men do at family prayers. They might as +well go into a drug store and swallow the first medicine their eye +happens to see. Children would take more interest in family prayers if +the father would take time to search for some passage to suit the +special need. For instance, if any member of the family is about to +travel, read Psalm 121. In time of trouble, read Psalm 91. When the +terrible accident happened to the “Spree” as we were crossing the +Atlantic in November, 1892, and when none on board ship expected to live +to see the light of another sun, we held a prayer-meeting, at which I +read a portion of Psalm 107: +</p> + +<div style="font-size:88%"> +<br> +<p> +“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters; +</p> + +<p> +These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. +</p> + +<p> +For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the +waves thereof. +</p> + +<p> +They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their +soul is melted because of trouble. +</p> + +<p> +They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their +wits’ end. +</p> + +<p> +Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out +of their distresses. +</p> + +<p> +He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. +</p> + +<p> +Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their +desired haven. +</p> + +<p> +Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderful +works to the children of men!” +</p> +<br> +</div> + +<p> +A lady came to me afterwards and said I made it up to suit the occasion. +</p> + +<h3> +HELPFUL QUESTIONS. +</h3> + +<p> +I have seen questions that will help one to get good out of every verse +and passage of Scripture, They may be used in family worship, or in +studying the Sabbath School lesson, or for prayer meeting, or in private +reading. It would be a good thing if questions like these were pasted in +the front of every Bible: +</p> + +<p> +1. What persons have I read about, and what have I learned about them? +</p> + +<p> +2. What places have I read about, and what have I read about them? If +the place is not mentioned, can I find out where it is? Do I know its +position on the map? +</p> + +<p> +3. Does the passage refer to any particular time in the history of the +children of Israel, or of some leading character? +</p> + +<p> +4. Can I tell from memory what I have just been reading? +</p> + +<p> +5. Are there any parallel passages or texts that throw light on this +passage? +</p> + +<p> +6. Have I read anything about God the Father? or about Jesus Christ? or +about the Holy Spirit? +</p> + +<p> +7. What have I read about myself? about man’s sinful nature? about the +spiritual new nature? +</p> + +<p> +8. Is there any duty for me to observe? any example to follow? any +promise to lay hold of? any exhortation for my guidance? any prayer that +may echo? +</p> + +<p> +9. How is this Scripture profitable for doctrine? for reproof? for +correction? for instruction in righteousness? +</p> + +<p> +10. Does it contain the gospel in type or in evidence? +</p> + +<p> +11. What is the key verse of the chapter or passage? Can I repeat it +from memory? +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap08"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +How to Study the Bible—Feeding one’s self—The Best Law—Three Books +Every Christian Should Possess—The Bible in the Sabbath School. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +SOMEONE has said that there are four things necessary in studying the +Bible: Admit, submit, commit and transmit. First, admit its truth; +second, submit to its teachings; third, commit it to memory; and fourth, +transmit it. If the Christian life is a good thing for you, pass it on +to some one else. +</p> + +<p> +Now I want to tell you how I study the Bible. Every man cannot fight in +Saul’s armor; and perhaps you cannot follow my methods. Still I may be +able to throw out some suggestions that will help you. Spurgeon used to +prepare his sermon for Sunday morning on Saturday night. If I tried +that, I would fail. +</p> + +<h3> +FEED YOURSELF. +</h3> + +<p> +The quicker you learn to feed yourself the better. I pity down deep in +my heart any men or women who have been attending some church or chapel +for, say five, ten, or twenty years, and yet have not learned to feed +themselves. +</p> + +<p> +You know it is always regarded a great event in the family when a child +can feed itself. It is propped up at table, and at first perhaps it uses +the spoon upside down, but by and by it uses it all right, and mother, +or perhaps sister, claps her hands and says, “Just see, baby’s feeding +himself!” Well, what we need as Christians is to be able to feed +ourselves. How many there are who sit helpless and listless, with open +mouths, hungry for spiritual things, and the minister has to try to feed +them, while the Bible is a feast prepared, into which they never +venture. +</p> + +<p> +There are many who have been Christians for twenty years who have still +to be fed with an ecclesiastical spoon. If they happen to have a +minister who feeds them, they get on pretty well; but if they have not, +they are not fed at all. This is the test as to your being a true child +of God—whether you love and feed upon the Word of God. If you go out to +your garden and throw down some sawdust, the birds will not take any +notice; but if you throw down some crumbs, you will find they will soon +sweep down and pick them up. So the true child of God can tell the +difference, so to speak, between sawdust and bread. Many so-called +Christians are living on the world’s sawdust, instead of being nourished +by the Bread that cometh down from heaven. Nothing can satisfy the +longings of the soul but the Word of the living God. +</p> + +<h3> +THE LAW OF PERSEVERANCE. +</h3> + +<p> +The best law for Bible study is the law of perseverance. The Psalmist +says, “I have <i>stuck</i> unto thy testimonies.” Application to the Word +will tend to its growth within and its multiplication without. Some +people are like express-trains, they skims along so quickly that they +see nothing. +</p> + +<p> +I met a lawyer in Chicago who told me he had spent two years in studying +up one subject; he was trying to smash a will. He made it his business +to read everything on wills he could get. Then he went into court and he +talked two days about that will; he was full of it; he could not talk +about anything else but wills. That is the way with the Bible—study it +and study it, one subject at a time, until you become filled with it. +</p> + +<p> +Read the Bible itself—do not spend all your time on commentaries and +helps. If a man spent all his time reading up the chemical constituents +of bread and milk, he would soon starve. +</p> + +<h3> +THREE BOOKS REQUIRED. +</h3> + +<p> +There are three books which I think every Christian ought to possess. +</p> + +<p> +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 +which you have to hold right under your nose in order 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 one will 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. If you get a good Bible you +are likely to take better care of it. Suppose you pay ten dollars for a +good Bible, the older you grow the more precious it will become to you. +But be sure you do not get one so good that you will be afraid to mark +it. I don’t like gilt-edged Bibles that look as if they had never been +used. +</p> + +<p> +Then next I would advise you to get a Cruden’s Concordance. I was a +Christian about five years before I ever heard of it. A skeptic in +Boston got hold of me. I didn’t know anything about the Bible and I +tried to defend the Bible and Christianity. He made a misquotation and I +said it wasn’t in the Bible: I hunted for days and days. If I had had a +concordance I could have found it at once. It is a good thing for +ministers once in a while to tell the people about a good book. You can +find any portion or any verse in the Bible by just turning to this +concordance. +</p> + +<p> +Thirdly, a Topical Text Book. These books will help you to study the +Word of God with profit. If you do not possess them, get them at once; +every Christian ought to have them.<sup><a href="#r1" id="f1" title="see footnote" name= +"f1">[1]</a></sup> +</p> + +<h3> +SUNDAY SCHOOL QUARTERLIES AND THE BIBLE. +</h3> + +<p> +I think Sunday school teachers are making a woeful mistake if they don’t +take the whole Bible into their Sunday school classes. I don’t care how +young children are, let them understand it is one book, that there are +not two books—the Old Testament and the New are all one. Don’t let them +think that the Old Testament doesn’t come to us with the same authority +as the New. It is a great thing for a boy or girl to know how to handle +the Bible. What is an army good for if they don’t know how to handle +their swords? I speak very strongly on this, because I know some Sabbath +schools that don’t have a single Bible in them. They have question +books. There are questions and the answers are given just below; so that +you don’t need to study your lesson. They are splendid things for lazy +teachers to bring along into their classes. I have seen them come into +the class with a question book, and sometimes they get it wrong side up +while they are talking to the class, until they find out their mistake, +and then they begin over again. I have seen an examination take place +something like this: +</p> + +<p> +“John, who was the first man?” +</p> + +<p> +“Methuselah.” +</p> + +<p> +“No; I think not; let me see. No, it is not Methuselah. Can’t you guess +again?” +</p> + +<p> +“Elijah.” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“Adam.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s right, my son; you must have studied your lesson hard.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, I would like to know what a boy is going to do with that kind of a +teacher, or with that kind of teaching. That is the kind of teaching +that is worthless, and brings no result. Now, don’t say that I condemn +helps. I believe in availing yourself of all the light you can get. What +I want you to do, when you come into your classes, is to come prepared +to explain the lesson without the use of a concordance. Bring the word +of God with you; bring the old Book. +</p> + +<p> +You will often find families where there is a family Bible, but the +mother is so afraid that the children will tear it that she keeps it in +the spare room, and once in a great while the children are allowed to +look at it. The thing that interests them most is the family +record—when John was born, when father and mother were married. +</p> + +<p> +I came up to Boston from the country and went into a Bible class where +there were a few Harvard students. They handed me a Bible and told me +the lesson was in John. I hunted all through the Old Testament for John, +but couldn’t find it. I saw the fellows hunching one another, “Ah, +greenie from the country.” Now, you know that is just the time when you +don’t want to be considered green. The teacher saw my embarrassment and +handed me his Bible, and I put my thumb in the place and held on. I +didn’t lose my place. I said then that if I ever got out of that scrape, +I would never be caught there again. Why is it that so many young men +from eighteen to twenty cannot be brought into a Bible class? Because +they don’t want to show their ignorance. There is no place in the world +that is so fascinating as a live Bible class. I believe that we are to +blame that they have been brought up in the Sunday school without Bibles +and brought up with quarterlies. The result is, the boys are growing up +without knowing how to handle the Bible. They don’t know where Matthew +is, they don’t know where the Epistle to the Ephesians is, they don’t +know where to find Hebrews or any of the different books of the Bible. +They ought to be taught how to handle the whole Bible, and it can be +done by Sunday school teachers taking the Bible into the class and going +right about it at once. You can get a Bible in this country for almost a +song now. Sunday schools are not so poor that they cannot get Bibles. +Some time ago there came up in a large Bible class a question, and they +thought they would refer to the Bible, but they found that there was not +a single one in the class. A Bible class without a Bible! It would be +like a doctor without physic; or an army without weapons. So they went +to the pews, but could not find one there. Finally they went to the +pulpit and took the pulpit Bible and settled the question. We are making +wonderful progress, aren’t we? Quarterlies are all right in their +places, as helps in studying the lesson, but if they are going to sweep +the Bibles out of our Sunday schools, I think we had better sweep them +out. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap09"> +CHAPTER IX. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +The Telescopic and Microscopic Methods—Job—The Four +Gospels—Acts—Psalm 52:1. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +THERE are two opposite ways to study the Bible. One is to study it with +a telescope, taking a grand sweep of a whole book and trying to find out +God’s plan in it; the other, with a microscope, taking up a verse at a +time, dissecting it, analyzing it. If you take Genesis, it is the +seed-plant of the whole Bible; it tells us of <i>Life, Death, +Resurrection;</i> it involves all the rest of the Bible. +</p> + +<h3> +THE BOOK OF JOB. +</h3> + +<p> +An Englishman once remarked to me: “Mr Moody, did you ever notice this, +that the book of Job is the key to the whole Bible? If you understand +Job you will understand the entire Bible!” “No,” I said, “I don’t +comprehend that. Job the key to the whole Bible! How do make that out?” +He said: “I divide Job into seven heads. The first head is: <i>A perfect +man untried</i>. That is what God said about Job; that is Adam in Eden. He +was perfect when God put him there. The second head is: <i>Tried by +adversity</i>. Job fell, as Adam fell in Eden. The third head is: <i>The +wisdom of the world</i>. The world tried to restore Job; the three wise men +came to help him. That was the wisdom of the world centred in those +three men. You can not,” said he, “find any such eloquent language or +wisdom anywhere, in any part of the world, as those three men displayed, +but they did not know anything about grace, and could not, therefore, +help Job.” That is just what men are trying to do; and the result is +that they fail; the wisdom of man never made man any better. These three +men did not help Job; they made him more unhappy. Some one has said the +first man took him, and gave him a good pull; then the second and third +did the same; the three of them had three good pulls at Job, and then +flat down they fell. “Then in the fourth place,” said he, “in comes <i>the +Daysman</i>, that is Christ. In the fifth place, <i>God speaks;</i> and in the +sixth, <i>Job learns his lesson</i>. ‘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. +The seventh head is this, that <i>God restores him</i>.” Thank God, it is so +with us, and our last state is better than our first. +</p> + +<p> +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; God +had taken them to heaven, and He gave Job ten more. So Job had ten in +Heaven, and ten on earth—a goodly family. So when our children are +taken from us, they are not lost to us, but merely gone before. +</p> + +<p> +Now, let me take you through the four Gospels. Let us begin with +Matthew. +</p> + +<h3> +MATTHEW. +</h3> + +<p> +Men sometimes tell me when I go into a town: “You want to be sure and +get such a man on your committee, for he has nothing to do and he will +have plenty of time.” I say: “No, thank you, I do not want any man that +has nothing to do.” Christ found Matthew sitting at the receipt of +custom. The Lord took some one He found at work, and he went right on +working. We do not know much about what he did, except that he wrote +this Gospel. But, what a book! Where Matthew came from we do not know, +and where he went to we do not know. His old name, Levi, dropped with +his old life. +</p> + +<p> +The Key. The Messiah of the Jews and the Saviour of the world. Supposed +to have been written about twelve years after the death of Christ, and +to be the first Gospel written. It contains the best account of the life +of Christ. You notice that it is the last message of God to the Jewish +nation. Here we pass from the old to the new dispensation. +</p> + +<p> +Matthew does not speak of Christ’s ascension, but leaves Him on earth. +</p> + +<p> +Mark gives His resurrection and ascension. +</p> + +<p> +Luke gives His resurrection, ascension and the promise of a comforter. +</p> + +<p> +John goes a step further and says he is coming back. +</p> + +<p> +There are more quotations in Matthew than in any of the others; I think +there are about a hundred. He is trying to convince the Jews that Jesus +was the son of David, the rightful king. He talked a good deal about the +<i>kingdom</i>, its mysteries, the example of the kingdom, healing the sick, +etc., the principles of the kingdom as set forth in the sermon on the +mount; also, the rejection of the king. When anyone takes a kingdom they +lay down the principles upon which they are going to rule or conduct it. +</p> + +<p> +Now, let me call your attention to five great sermons. In these you have +a good sweep of the whole book: +</p> + +<p> +1. The sermon on the mount. See how many things lying all around Him He +brings into His sermon, salt, light, candle, coat, rain, closet, moth, +rust, thieves, eye, fowls, lilies, grass, dogs, bread, fish, gate, +grapes, thorns, figs, thistles, rock, etc. +</p> + +<p> +Someone, in traveling through Palestine, said that he did not think +there was a solitary thing there that Christ did not use as an +illustration. So many people in these days are afraid to use common +things, but don’t you think it is better to use things that people can +understand, than to talk so that people can’t understand you? Now, a +woman can easily understand a candle, and a man can easily understand +about a rock, especially in a rocky country like Palestine. Christ used +common things as illustrations, and spoke so that everyone could +understand Him. A woman in Wales once said she knew Christ was Welsh, +and an Englishman said, “No, He was a Jew.” She declared that she knew +He was Welsh, because He spoke so that she could understand Him. Christ +did not have a short-hand reporter to go around with Him to write out and +print His sermons, and yet the people remembered them. Never mind about +finished sentences and rounded periods, but give your attention to +making your sermons clear so that they stick. Use bait that your hearers +will like. +</p> + +<p> +The Law was given on a mountain, and here Christ lays down His +principles on a mountain. The law of Moses applies to the outward acts, +but this sermon applies to the inward life. As the sun is brighter than +a candle, so the sermon on the mount is brighter than the law of Moses. +It tells us what kind of Christians we ought to be—lights in the world, +the salt of the world, silent in our actions but great in effect. +</p> + +<p> +“I say unto you,” occurs twelve times in this sermon. +</p> + +<p> +2. The second great sermon was delivered to the twelve in the tenth +chapter. You find over and over again the sayings in this sermon are +quoted by men viz.: “Shake off the dust off your feet against them.” +“Freely ye have received, freely give,” etc. +</p> + +<p> +3. The open air sermon. You want the best kind of preaching on the +street. You have to put what you say in a bright, crisp way, if you +expect people to listen. +</p> + +<p> +You must learn to think on your feet. There was a young man preaching on +the streets in London when an infidel came up and said: “The man who +invented gas did more for the world than Jesus Christ.” The young man +could not answer him and the crowd had the laugh on him. But another man +got up and said: “Of course the man has a right to his opinion, and I +suppose if he was dying he would send for the gasfitter, but I think I +should send for a minister and have him read the fourteenth chapter of +John;” and he turned the laugh back on the man. +</p> + +<p> +This sermon contains seven parables. It is like a string of pearls. +</p> + +<p> +4. The sermon of woes; Christ’s last appeal to the Jewish nation. +Compare these eight woes with the nine beatitudes. You notice the +closing up of this sermon on woes is the most pathetic utterance in the +whole ministry of Christ. “Your house is left unto you desolate.” Up to +that time it had been “<i>My Father’s</i> house,” or “<i>My</i> house,” but now it +is “<i>your house</i>.” It was not long until Titus came and leveled it to +the ground. Abraham never loved Isaac more than Jesus loved the Jewish +nation. It was hard for Abraham to give up Isaac, but harder for the Son +of God to give up Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +5. The fifth sermon was preached to His disciples. How little did they +understand Him! When His heart was breaking with sorrow, they drew His +attention to the buildings of the temple. +</p> + +<p> +The first sermon was given on the mount; the second and third at +Capernaum; the fourth in the Temple; the fifth on Olivet. +</p> + +<p> +In Matthew’s Gospel there is not a thing in hell, heaven, earth, sea, +air or grave that does not testify of Christ as the Son of God. Devils +cried out, fish entered the nets under His influence, wind and wave +obeyed Him. +</p> + +<p> +Summary:—Nine beatitudes; eight woes; seven consecutive parables; ten +consecutive miracles; five continuous sermons; four prophecies of His +death. +</p> + +<h3> +MARK. +</h3> + +<p> +The four Gospels are independent of each other, no one was copied from +the other. Each is the complement of the rest, and we get four views of +Christ, like the four sides of a house. +</p> + +<p> +Matthew writes for Jews. +</p> + +<p> +Mark writes for Romans. +</p> + +<p> +Luke writes for Gentile converts. +</p> + +<p> +You don’t find any long sermons in Mark. The Romans were quick and +active, and he had to condense things in order to catch them. You’ll +find the words “Forthwith,” “Straightway,” “Immediately,” occur +forty-one times in this gospel. Every chapter but the first, seventh, +eighth and fourteenth begins with “And,” as if there was no pause in +Christ’s ministry. +</p> + +<p> +Luke tells us that Christ received little children, but Mark says He +took them up in His arms. That makes it sweeter to you, doesn’t it? +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the high water mark is the fifth chapter. Here we find three +very bad cases, devils, disease and death, beyond the reach of man, +cured by Christ. The first man was possessed with devils. They could not +bind him, or chain or tame him. I suppose a good many men and women had +been scared by that man. People are afraid of a graveyard even in +daylight, but think of a live man being in the tombs and possessed with +devils! He said: “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the +most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not.” But Jesus +had come to do him good. +</p> + +<p> +Next, the woman with the issue of blood. If she had been living to-day, +I suppose she would have tried every patent medicine in the market. We +would have declared her a hopeless case and sent her to the hospital. +Some one has said: “There was more medicine in the hem of His garment +than in all the apothecary shops in Palestine.” She just touched Him and +was made whole. Hundreds of others touched Him, but they did not get +anything. Can you tell the difference between the touch of faith and the +ordinary touch of the crowd? +</p> + +<p> +Thirdly, Jarius’ daughter raised. You see the manifestation of Jesus’ +power is increasing, for when He arrived the child was dead and He +brought her to life. I do not doubt but that away back in the secret +councils of eternity it was appointed that He should be there just at +that time. I remember once being called to preach a funeral sermon, and +looked the four gospels through to find one of Christ’s funeral sermons, +but do you know He never preached one? He broke up every funeral He +ever attended. The dead awaked when they heard His voice. +</p> + +<h3> +LUKE. +</h3> + +<p> +We now come to Luke’s gospel. You notice his name does not occur in this +book or in Acts. (You will find it used three times, viz.; in +Colossians, Timothy and Philemon). He keeps himself in the background. +I meet numbers of Christian workers who are ruined by getting their +names up. We do not know whether Luke was a Jew or a Gentile. +</p> + +<p> +The first we see of him is in Acts 16:10 “And after he had seen the +vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly +gathering that the Lord had called <i>us</i> for to preach the gospel unto +them.” He did not claim to be an eye-witness to Christ’s ministry nor +one of the seventy. Some think he was, but he does not claim it. It is +supposed that his gospel is of Paul’s preaching, the same as Mark’s, was +of Peter. It is also called the Gospel of the Gentiles, and is supposed +to have been written when Paul was in Rome, about 27 years after Christ. +One-third of this gospel is left out in the other gospels. It opens with +a note of praise: “And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall +rejoice at His birth;” “And they worshipped Him, and returned to +Jerusalem with great joy. And were continually in the temple, praising +and blessing God;” and closes the same way. +</p> + +<p> +Canon Farrar has pointed out that we have a seven-fold gospel in Luke: +</p> + +<p> +1. It is a gospel of praise and song. We find here the songs of +Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon, the angels, and others. Some one has +written beautifully of Simeon as follows: “What Simeon wanted to see was +the Lord’s Christ. Unbelief would suggest to him, ‘Simeon you are an old +man, your day is almost ended, the snow of age is upon your head, your +eyes are growing dim, your brow is wrinkled, your limbs totter, and +death is almost upon you: and where are the signs of His coming? You are +resting, Simeon, upon imagination—it is all a delusion.’ ‘No,’ replied +Simeon, ‘I shall not see death till I have seen the Lord’s Christ; I +shall see Him before I die.’ I can imagine Simeon walking out one fine +morning along one of the lovely vales of Palestine, meditating upon the +great subject that filled his mind. Presently he meets a friend: ‘Peace +be with you; have you heard the strange news? What news?’ replies +Simeon. ‘Do you not know Zacharias the priest?’ ‘Yes, well.’ ‘According +to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense in the +temple of the Lord, and the whole multitude of the people were praying +without. It was the time of incense, and there appeared unto him an +angel, standing on the right side of the altar, who told him that he +should have a son, whose name should be called John; one who should be +great in the sight of the Lord, who should go before the Messiah and +make ready a people prepared for the Lord. The angel was Gabriel who +stands in the presence of God, and because Zacharias believed not, he +was struck dumb.’ ‘Oh,’ says Simeon, ‘that fulfills the prophecy of +Malachi. This is the forerunner of the Messiah: this is the morning +star: the day dawn is not for off: the Messiah is nigh at hand. +Hallelujah! The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple!’ Time rolls on. +I can imagine Simeon accosted again by one of his neighbors: ‘Well, +Simeon, have you heard the news?’ ‘What news?’ ‘Why there’s a singular +story in everybody’s mouth. A company of shepherds were watching their +flocks by night on the plains of Bethlehem. It was the still hour of +night, and darkness mantled the world. Suddenly a bright light shone +around the shepherds, a light above the brightness of the midday sun. +They looked up, and just above them was an angel who said to the +terrified shepherds, Fear not, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, +which shall be to all people!’ ‘This is the Lord’s Christ,’ said Simeon, +‘and I shall not taste death till I have seen him.’ He said to himself, +‘They will bring the child to the Temple to present Him to the Lord.’ +</p> + +<p> +Away went Simeon, morning after morning, to see if he could get a +glimpse of Jesus. Perhaps unbelief suggested to Simeon, ‘You had better +stop at home this wet morning: you have been so often and have missed +Him: you may venture to be absent this once.’ ‘No,’ said the Spirit, ‘go +to the Temple.’ Simeon would no doubt select a good point of +observation. See how intently he watches the door! He surveys the face +of every child as one mother after another brings her infant to be +presented. ‘No,’ he says, ‘That is not He.’ At length he sees the Virgin +appear, and the Spirit tells him it is the long-expected Saviour. He +grasps the child in his arms, presses him to his heart, blesses God and +says: ‘Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to +Thy word. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast +prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, +and the glory of Thy people Israel.’” +</p> + +<p> +2. It is a gospel of thanksgiving. They glorified God when Jesus healed +the widow’s son at Nain, when the blind man received sight, etc. +</p> + +<p> +3. It is a gospel of prayer. We learn that Christ prayed when he was +baptised, and nearly every great event in His ministry was preceded by +prayer. If you want to hear from Heaven you must seek it on your knees. +There are two parables about prayer—the friend at midnight and the +unjust judge. +</p> + +<p> +4. Here is another thing that is made prominent, namely, the gospel of +womanhood. Luke alone records many loving things Christ did for women. +The richest jewel in Christ’s crown was what he did for women. A man +tried to tell me that Mohammed had done more for women than Christ. I +told him that if he had ever been in Mohammedan countries, he would be +ashamed of himself for making such a remark. They care more for their +donkeys than they do for their wives and mothers. +</p> + +<p> +A man once said that when God created life He began at the lowest forms +of animal life and came up until He got to man, then he was not quite +satisfied and created a woman. She was lifted up the highest, and when +she fell, she fell the lowest. +</p> + +<p> +5. This is the gospel of the poor and humble. When I get a crowd of +roughs on the street I generally teach from Luke. Here are the +shepherds, the peasant, the incident of the rich man and Lazarus. This +gospel tells us He found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of +the Lord is upon me—to preach the gospel to the poor.” It is a dark day +for a church when it gets out that they do not want the common people. +Whitfield labored among the miners, and Wesley among the common people. +If you want the poor, let it get out that you want them to come. +</p> + +<p> +6. It is a gospel to the lost. The woman with the seven devils, the +thief on the cross illustrate this. Also, the parables of the lost +sheep, the lost piece of silver, and the lost son. +</p> + +<p> +7. It is a gospel of tolerance. +</p> + +<p> +“He that winneth souls is wise.” Do you want to win men? Do not drive or +scold them. Do not try to tear down their prejudices before you begin to +lead them to the truth. Some people think they have to tear down the +scaffolding before they begin on the building. An old minister once +invited a young brother to preach for him. The latter scolded the +people, and when he got home, asked the old minister how he had done. He +said he had an old cow, and when he wanted a good supply of milk, he fed +the cow; he did not scold her. +</p> + +<p> +Christ reached the publicans because nearly everything he said about +them was in their favor. Look at the parable of the Pharisee and +publican. Christ said the publican went down to his house justified +rather than that proud Pharisee. How did He reach the Samaritans? Take +the parable of the ten lepers. Only one returned to thank Him for the +healing, and that was a Samaritan. Then there is the parable of the Good +Samaritan. It has done more to stir people up to philanthropy and +kindness to the poor than anything that has been said on this earth for +six thousand years. Go into Samaria and you find that story has reached +there first. Some man has been down to Jerusalem and heard it, and gone +back home and told it all around; and they say “If that Prophet ever +comes up here, we’ll give Him a hearty reception.” If you want to reach +people that do not agree with you, do not take a club to knock them down +and then try to pick them up. When Jesus Christ dealt with the erring +and the sinners, He was as tender with them as a mother is with her sick +child. A child once said to his mother, “Mamma, you never speak ill of +any one. You would speak well of Satan.” “Well,” said the mother, “you +might imitate his perseverance.” +</p> + +<h3> +JOHN. +</h3> + +<p> +John was supposed to be the youngest disciple, and was supposed to be +the first of all that Christ had to follow Him. He is called the bosom +companion of Christ. Someone was complaining of Christ’s being partial. +I have no doubt that Christ did love John more than the others, but it +was because John loved him most. I think John got into the inner circle, +and we can get in too if we will. Christ keeps the door open and we can +just go right in. You notice nearly all his book is new. All of the +eight months Christ spent in Judea are recorded here. +</p> + +<p> +Matthew begins with Abraham; Mark with Malachi; Luke with John the +Baptist; but John with God Himself. +</p> + +<p> +Matthew sets forth Christ as the Jew’s Messiah. +</p> + +<p> +Mark as the active worker. +</p> + +<p> +Luke as a man. +</p> + +<p> +John as a personal Saviour. +</p> + +<p> +John presents Him as coming from the bosom of the Father. The central +thought in this gospel is proving the divinity of Christ. If I wanted to +prove to a man that Jesus Christ was divine, I would take him directly +to this gospel. The word <i>repent</i> does not occur once, but the word +<i>believe</i> occurs ninety-eight times. The controversy that the Jews +raised about the divinity of Christ is not settled yet, and before John +went away he took his pen and wrote down these things to settle it. +</p> + +<p> +A seven-fold witness to the divinity of Christ: +</p> + +<p> +1. Testimony of the Father. “The Father that sent me beareth witness of +me.” +</p> + +<p> +2. The Son bearing testimony. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Though +I bear record of myself, yet my record is true; for I know whence I +came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I came, and whither I +go.” +</p> + +<p> +3. Christ’s works testify: “If I do not the works of my Father, believe +me not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works, that +ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in Him.” +</p> + +<p> +No man can make me believe that Jesus Christ was a bad man; because He +brought forth good fruit. How any one can doubt that He was the Son of +God after eighteen centuries of testing is a mystery to me. +</p> + +<p> +4. The Scriptures: “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, +for he wrote of me.” +</p> + +<p> +5. John the Baptist: “And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of +God.” +</p> + +<p> +6. The Disciples: “And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been +with me from the beginning.” +</p> + +<p> +7. The Holy Ghost: “But when the comforter is come, whom I will send +unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth +from the Father, he shall testify of me.” +</p> + +<p> +Of course there many others that show His divinity, but I think these +are enough to prove it to any man. If I went into court and had seven +witnesses that could not be broken down, I think I would have a good +case. +</p> + +<p> +Notice the “I am’s” of Christ. +</p> + +<p> +“I am from above.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not of this world.” +</p> + +<p> +“Before Abraham was, I am.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am the bread of life.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am the light of the world.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am the door.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am the Good Shepherd.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am the way.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am the truth.” Pilate asked what truth was, and there it was standing +right before him. +</p> + +<p> +“I am the resurrection and the life.” +</p> + +<p> +In the gospel of John, we find eight gifts for the believer: the bread +of life; the water of life; eternal life; the Holy Spirit; love; joy; +peace; His words. +</p> + +<h3> +ACTS. +</h3> + +<p> +A good lesson to study is how all through the book of Acts defeat was +turned to victory. When the early Christians were persecuted, they went +every where preaching the Word. That was a victory, and so on all +through. +</p> + +<p> +Luke’s gospel was taken up with Christ in the body, Acts with Christ in +the church. In Luke we read of what Christ did in His humiliation, and +in Acts what He did in His exaltation. With most men, their work stops +at their death, but with Christ it had only begun. “Greater works than +these shall ye do, because I go to My Father.” We call this book the +“Acts of the Apostles,” but it is really the “Acts of the Church +(Christ’s body).” +</p> + +<p> +You will find the key to the book in chapter 1:8: “But ye shall receive +power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be +witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, +and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” +</p> + +<p> +We would not have seen the struggles of that infant church if it had not +been for Luke. We would not have known much about Paul either if it had +not been for Luke. +</p> + +<p> +There were four rivers flowing out of Eden; here we have the four +gospels flowing into one channel. +</p> + +<p> +Three divisions of the Acts:— +</p> + +<p> +I. Founding of the church. +</p> + +<p> +II. Growth of the church. +</p> + +<p> +III. Sending out of missionaries. +</p> + +<p> +I believe that the nearer we keep to the apostles’ way of presenting the +gospel, the more success we will have. +</p> + +<p> +Now there are ten great sermons in Acts, and I think if you get a good +hold on these you will have a pretty good understanding of the book and +how to preach. Five were preached by Peter, one by Stephen and four by +Paul. The phrase, “We are witnesses,” runs through the entire book. We +say, to-day, “We are eloquent preachers.” We seem to be above being +simple witnesses. +</p> + +<p> +I. Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. Someone said that now it +takes about three thousand sermons to convert one Jew, but here three +thousand were converted by one sermon. When Peter testified of Christ +and bore witness that he had died and had risen again, God honored it, +and he will do the same with you. +</p> + +<p> +II. Peter preaches in Solomon’s porch. A short sermon, but it did good +work. They did not get there till three o’clock, and I believe the Jews +could not arrest a man after sundown, and yet in that short space of +time five thousand were converted. What did he preach? Listen: +</p> + +<p> +“But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be +granted unto you; +</p> + +<p> +And killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead: +whereof we are witnesses. +</p> + +<p> +Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted +out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the +Lord.” +</p> + +<p> +III. Peter preaches to the high priests. They had arrested them and were +demanding to know by what power they did these things. “By the name of +Jesus Christ, . . . doth this man stand here before you whole.” When +Bunyan was told he would be released if he would not preach any more, he +said, “If you let me out I will preach to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +IV. Peter’s testimony before the council. They commanded them not to +preach in the name of Christ. I don’t know what they could do if they +were forbidden that. Some ministers to-day would have no trouble; they +could get along very well. About all the disciples knew was what they +had learned in those three years with Jesus, hearing His sermons and +seeing His miracles. They saw the things and knew they were so, and when +the Holy Ghost came down upon them, they could not help but speak them. +</p> + +<p> +V. Stephen’s sermon. He preached the longest sermon in Acts. Dr. Bonar +once said, “Did you ever notice, Brother Whittle, that when the Jews +accused Stephen of speaking blasphemous words against Moses, the Lord +lit up his face with the same glory with which Moses’ face shone?” +</p> + +<p> +An old Scotch beadle once warned his new minister, “You may preach as +much as ye like about the sins of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but stick to +them and don’t come any nearer hand if ye want to stay here.” Stephen +began with them, but he came right down to the recent crucifixion, and +stirred them up. +</p> + +<p> +VI. Peter’s last sermon and the first sermon to the Gentiles. Notice the +same gospel is preached to the Gentiles as to the Jews, and it produces +the same results. “To him give all the prophets witness, that through +His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. +While Peter spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which +heard the word.” +</p> + +<p> +Now the leading character changes and Paul comes on. +</p> + +<p> +VII. Paul’s sermon at Antioch, in Pisidia. An old acquaintance once said +to me, “What are you preaching now? I hope you are not harping on that +old string yet.” Yes, thank God, I am spreading the old gospel. If you +want to get people to come to hear you, lift up Christ; He said, “I, if +I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” “Be it known unto you, +therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you +the forgiveness of sins.” +</p> + +<p> +VIII. Paul’s sermon to the Athenians. He got fruit at Athens by +preaching the same old gospel to the philosophers. +</p> + +<p> +IX. Paul’s sermon at Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +X. Paul’s defence before Agrippa. I think that is the grandest sermon +Paul ever preached. He preached the same gospel before Agrippa and +Festus that he did down in Jerusalem. He preached everywhere the mighty +fact that God gave Christ as a ransom for sin, that the whole world can +be saved by trusting in Him. +</p> + +<p> +“Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, +witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those +which the prophets and Moses did say should come: +</p> + +<p> +That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should +rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people and to the +Gentiles.” +</p> + +<h3> +THE MICROSCOPIC METHOD. +</h3> + +<p> +Let me show what I mean by the microscopic method by taking the first +verse of Psalm 52: “Why boastest thou thyself in iniquity, O mighty man? +The goodness of God endureth continually.” This verse naturally falls +into two divisions, on the one side being—man, on the other—God. +Man—mischief; God—goodness. Is any particular man addressed? Yes: Doeg +the Edomite, as the preface to the psalm suggests. You can therefore +find the historic reference of this verse and Psalm in 1 Samuel 22:9. +Now take a concordance or topical text-book, and study the subject of +“boasting.” What words mean the same thing as “boasting”? One is +glorifying. Is boasting always condemned? In what does Scripture forbid +us to boast? In what are we exhorted to boast? “Thus saith the Lord: Let +not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the rich man glory in his +riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this: that he understandeth +and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindness, +judgment and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, +saith the Lord.” Treat the subject “mischief,” in a similar manner. Then +ask yourself is this boasting, this mischief, always to last? No: “the +triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for +a moment.” “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself +like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: Yea, I +sought him, but he could not be found.” The other half of the text +suggests a study of goodness (or mercy) as an attribute of God. How is it +manifested temporally and spiritually? What Scripture have we for it? Is +God’s goodness conditional? Does God’s goodness conflict with His +justice? Now, as the end of Bible study as well as of preaching is to +save men, ask yourself is the Gospel contained in this text in type or +in evidence? Turn to Romans 2:4: “Despiseth thou the riches of his +goodness and forbearance and long suffering: not knowing that <i>the +goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?</i>” Here the verse leads +directly to the subject of repentance, and you rise from the study of +the verse ready at any time to preach a short sermon that may be the +means of converting some one. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap10"> +CHAPTER X. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +One Book at a Time—Chapter Study—The Gospel of John. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +I KNOW some men who never sit down to read a book until they have time +to read the whole of it. When they come to Leviticus or Numbers, or any +of the other books, they read it right through at one sitting. They get +the whole sweep, and then they begin to study it chapter by chapter. +Dean Stanley used to read a book through three separate times: first for +the story, second for the thought, and third for the literary style. It +is a good thing to take one whole book at a time. +</p> + +<p> +How could you expect to understand a story or a scientific text-book if +you read one chapter here and another there? +</p> + +<p> +Dr. A. T. Pierson says: Let the introduction cover five P’s; place where +written; person by whom written; people to whom written; purpose for +which written; period at which written. +</p> + +<p> +Here it is well to grasp the leading points in the chapters. The method +is illustrated by the following plan by which I tried to interest the +students at Mt. Hermon school and the Northfield Seminary. It provides +a way of committing Scripture to memory, so that one can call up a +passage to meet the demand whenever it arises. I said to the students +one morning at worship: “To-morrow morning when I come I will not read a +portion of Scripture, but we will take the first chapter of the Gospel +of John and you shall tell me from memory what you find in that chapter +and each learn the verse in it that is most precious to you.” We went +through the Whole book that way and committed a verse or two to +memory-out of each one. +</p> + +<p> +I will give the main headings we found in the chapters. +</p> + +<h3> +THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, BY CHAPTERS. +</h3> + +<p> +Chapter 1. The call of the first five disciples. +</p> + +<p> +It was about four o’clock in the afternoon that John stood and said, +“Behold, the Lamb of God.” Two of John’s disciples then followed Jesus, +and one of them, Andrew, went out and brought his brother Simon. Then +Jesus found Philip, as he was starting for Galilee, and Philip found +Nathaniel, the skeptical man. When he got sight of Christ his skeptical +ideas were all gone. Commit to memory verses 11 and 12: “He came unto +his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him, to +them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe +on his name.” Key word, Receiving. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 2. “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” We had a good time in +this chapter on Obedience, which is the key word. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 3. This is a chapter on Regeneration. It took us more than one +day to get through this one. This gives you a respectable sinner, and +how Jesus dealt with him. Commit verse 16: “God so loved the world, that +He gave His Only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not +perish, but have everlasting life.” Key word, Believing. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 4. A disreputable sinner, and how Jesus dealt with her. If we +had been dealing with her, we would have told her what Jesus told +Nicodemus, but He took her on her own ground. She came for a water-pot +of water, and, thank God, she got a whole well full. Key word, +Worshipping. Memorize verse 24: “God is a Spirit; and they that worship +him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 5. Divinity of Christ. Commit verse 24: “Verily, verily, I say +unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, +hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is +passed from death unto life.” Key word, Healing. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 6. We called that the <i>bread</i> chapter. If you want a good loaf +of bread, get into this sixth chapter. You feed upon that bread and you +will live forever. Key verse: Christ the bread of life. “I am the living +bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he +shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I +will give for the life of the world.” Key word, Eating. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 7 is the <i>water</i> chapter. “If any man thirst let him come unto +me and drink.” You have here living water and Christ’s invitation to +every thirsty soul to come to drink. Key word, Drinking. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 8. The <i>Light</i> chapter. “I am the light of the world.” Key, +Walking in the light. But what is the use of having light if you have no +eyes to see with, so we go on to +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 9. The Sight chapter. There was a man born blind and Christ made +him to see. Key word, Testifying. Memory verse: “I must work the works +of Him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh when no man can +work.” +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 10. Here you find the Good Shepherd. Commit to memory verse 11: +“I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the +sheep.” Key word, Safety. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 11. The Lazarus chapter. Memorize verse 25: “I am the +resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, +yet shall he live.” Key word, Resurrection. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 12. Verse 32: “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” +Here Christ closes up his ministry to the Jewish nation. Key word, +Salvation for all. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 13. The Humility chapter. Christ washing the feet of his +disciples. Learn verse 34: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye +love one another.” Key word, Teaching. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 14. The Mansion chapter. Commit to memory verse 6: “I am the +way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” +Key words, Peace and comfort. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 15. The Fruit chapter. The vine can only bear fruit through the +branches. Verse 5: “I am the vine; ye are the branches: He that abideth +in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me +you can do nothing.” Key word, Joy. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 16. The promise of the Holy Ghost. Here you find the secret of +Power, which is the key word. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 17. This chapter contains what is properly the “Lord’s prayer.” +Learn verse 15: “I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the +world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.” Key word, +Separation. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 18. Christ is arrested. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 19. Christ is crucified. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 20. Christ rises from the dead. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter 21. Christ spends some time with his disciples again, and +invites them to dine with him. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap11"> +CHAPTER XI. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +Study of Types—Types of Christ—Leprosy a Type of Sin—Bible +Characters—Meaning of Names. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +ANOTHER way of studying is to take five great divisions—History, Type, +Prophecy, Miracle, Parable. +</p> + +<p> +It is a very interesting thing to study the types of the Bible. Get a +good book on the subject and you will be surprised to find out how +interested you will become. The Bible is full of patterns and types of +ourselves. That is a popular objection against the Bible—that it tells +about the failings of men. We should, however, remember that the object +of the Bible is not to tell how good men are, but how bad men can become +good. But more especially the Bible is full of types of Christ. Types +are foreshadowings, and wherever there is a shadow there must be +substance. As John McNeill says, “If I see the shadow of a dog, I know +there’s a dog around.” God seems to have chosen this means of teaching +the Israelites of the promised Messiah. All the laws, ceremonies and +institutions of the Mosaic dispensation point to Christ and His +dispensation. The enlightened eyes see Christ in all. For instance, the +tabernacle was a type of the incarnation of Jesus; John 1:14, “and the +word was made flesh, and <i>tabernacled</i> amongst us.” The laver typified +sanctification or purity: Ephesians 5:26, “that he might sanctify and +cleanse the Church with the washing of water by the word.” The +candlesticks typified Christ as the Light of the world. The shewbread +typified Christ as the Bread of Life. The High Priest was always a type +of Christ. Christ was called of God, as was Aaron; He ever liveth to +make intercession; He was consecrated with an oath, and so on. The +Passover, the Day of Atonement, the Smitten Rock, the sacrifices, the +City of Refuge, the Brazen Serpent—all point to Christ’s atoning work. +Adam was a beautiful type. Think of the two Adams. One introduced sin +and ruin into the world, and the other abolished it. So Cain stands as +the representative natural man, and Abel as the spiritual man. Abel as a +shepherd is a type of Christ the heavenly Shepherd. There is no more +beautiful type of Christ in the Bible than Joseph. He was hated of his +brethren; he was stripped of his coat; he was sold; he was imprisoned; +he gained favor; he had a gold chain about his neck; every knee bowed +before him. A comparison of the lives of Joseph and Jesus shows a +startling similarity in their experience. +</p> + +<p> +The disease of leprosy is a type of sin. It is incurable by man; it +works baneful results; it is insidious in its nature, and from a small +beginning works complete ruin; it separates its victims from their +fellow-men, just as sin separates a man from God; and as Christ had +power to cleanse the leper, so by the grace of God His blood cleanseth +us from all iniquity. +</p> + +<p> +Adam represents man’s innate sinfulness. +</p> + +<p> +Abel represents Atonement. +</p> + +<p> +Enoch represents communion. +</p> + +<p> +Noah represents Regeneration. +</p> + +<p> +Abraham represents Faith. +</p> + +<p> +Isaac represents Sonship. +</p> + +<p> +Jacob represents Discipline and Service. +</p> + +<p> +Joseph represents Glory through suffering. +</p> + +<h3> +BIBLE CHARACTERS. +</h3> + +<p> +Another good way is to study Bible characters—take them right from the +cradle to the grave. You find that skeptics often take one particular +part of a man’s life—say, of the life of Jacob or of David—and judge +the whole by that. They say these men were queer saints; and yet God did +not punish them. If you go right through these men’s lives you will find +that God did punish them, according to the sins they committed. +</p> + +<p> +A lady once said to me that she had trouble in reading the Bible, that +she seemed to not feel the interest she ought. If you don’t keep up your +interest in one way, try another. Never think you have to read the Bible +by courses. +</p> + +<h3> +PROPER NAMES. +</h3> + +<p> +Another interesting study is the meaning of proper names. I need hardly +remark that every name in the Bible, especially Hebrew names, has a +meaning of its own. Notice the difference between Abram (a high father), +and Abraham (father of a multitude), and you have a key to his life. +Another example is Jacob (supplanter), and Israel (Prince of God). The +names of Job’s three daughters were Jemima (a dove), Kezia (cassia), and +Keren-happuch (horn of paint). These names signify beauty; so that Job’s +leprosy left no taint. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap12"> +CHAPTER XII. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +Study of +Subjects—Love—Sanctification—Faith—Justification—Atonement +—Conversion—Heaven—Revivals—Separation—Grace—Prayer—Assurance +—God’s Promises. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +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 book. If I were going into a court of justice, and +wanted to carry the jury with me, I should 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 to that one thing. And +so it should be with the Scriptures. +</p> + +<p> +I took up that word “<i>Love</i>” and I do not 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 I came in contact with. +</p> + +<p> +Take <i>Sanctification</i>. I would rather take my concordance and gather +passages on sanctification and sit down for four or five days and study +them than have men tell me about it. +</p> + +<p> +I suppose that if all the time that I have prayed for <i>Faith</i> was put +together, it would be months. I used to say when I was President of the +Young Men’s Christian Association in Chicago, “What we want is faith; if +we only have faith, we can turn Chicago upside down”—or rather, right +side up. I thought that some day faith was going to come down, and +strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read +in the tenth chapter of Romans, “Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing +by the Word of God.” I had closed my Bible, and prayed for faith. I now +opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever +since. +</p> + +<p> +Take the doctrine that made Martin Luther such a power, +<i>Justification</i>—“The just shall live by faith.” When that thought +flashed through Martin Luther’s mind as he was ascending the Scala Santa +on his knees (although some people deny the truth of this statement), he +rose and went forth to be a power among the nations of the earth. +Justification puts a man before God as if he had never sinned; he stands +before God like Jesus Christ. Thank God, in Jesus Christ we can be +perfect, but there is no perfection out of Him. God looks in His ledger, +and says, “Moody, your debts have all been paid by Another; there is +nothing against you.” +</p> + +<p> +In New England there is perhaps no doctrine assailed so much as the +<i>Atonement</i>. The Atonement is foreshadowed in the garden of Eden; there +is the innocent suffering for the guilty, the animals slain for Adam’s +sin. We find it in Abraham’s day, in Moses’ day; all through the books +of Moses and the prophets. Look at the fifty-third of Isaiah, and at the +prophecy of Daniel. Then we come into the Gospels, and Christ says, “I +lay down My life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, +but I lay it down of Myself.” +</p> + +<h3> +CONVERSION. +</h3> + +<p> +People talk about <i>Conversion</i>—what is conversion? The best way to find +out is from the Bible. A good many don’t believe in sudden conversions. +You can die in a moment. Can’t you receive life in a moment? +</p> + +<p> +When Mr. Sankey and myself were in one place in Europe a man preached a +sermon against the pernicious doctrines that we were going to preach, +one of which was sudden conversion. He said conversion was a matter of +time and growth. Do you know what I do when any man preaches against the +doctrines I preach? I go to the Bible and find out what it says, and if +I am right I give them more of the same kind. I preached more on sudden +conversion in that town than in any town I was in in my life. I would +like to know how long it took the Lord to convert Zaccheus? How long did +it take the Lord to convert that woman whom He met at the well of +Sychar? How long to convert that adulterous woman in the temple, who was +caught in the very act of adultery? How long to convert that woman who +anointed His feet and wiped them with the hairs of her head? Didn’t she +go with the word of God ringing in her ears, “Go in peace”? +</p> + +<p> +There was no sign of Zaccheus being converted when he went up that +sycamore tree, and he was converted when he came down, so he must have +been converted between the branch and the ground. Pretty sudden work, +wasn’t it? But you say, “That is because Christ was there.” Friends, +they were converted a good deal faster after He went away than when He +was here. Peter preached, and three thousand were converted in one day. +Another time, after three o’clock in the afternoon, Peter and John +healed a man at the gate of the Temple, and then went in and preached, +and five thousand were added to the church before night, and Jews at +that. That was rather sudden work. Professor Drummond describes a man +going into one of our after-meetings and saying he wants to become a +Christian. “Well, my friend, what is the trouble?” He doesn’t like to +tell. He is greatly agitated. Finally he says, “The fact is, I have +overdrawn my account”—a polite way of saying he has been stealing. “Did +you take your employer’s money?” “Yes.” “How much?” “I don’t know. I +never kept account of it.” “Well, you have an idea you stole $1,500 last +year?” “I am afraid it is that much.” “Now, look here, sir, I don’t +believe in sudden work; don’t you steal more than a thousand dollars +this next year, and the next year not more than five hundred, and in the +course of the next few years you will get so that you won’t steal any. +If your employer catches you, tell him you are being converted; and you +will get so that you won’t steal any by and by.” My friends, the thing +is a perfect farce. “Let him that stole, steal no more,” that is what +the Bible says. It is right about face. +</p> + +<p> +Take another illustration. Here comes a man and he admits that he gets +drunk every week. That man comes to a meeting and he wants to be +converted. I say, “Don’t you be in a hurry. I believe in doing the work +gradually. Don’t you get drunk and knock your wife down more than once a +month.” Wouldn’t it be refreshing to your wife to go a whole month +without being knocked down? Once a month, only twelve times in a year! +Wouldn’t she be glad to have you converted in this new way! Only get +drunk after a few years on the anniversary of your wedding, and at +Christmas; and then it will be effective because it is gradual. Oh! I +detest, all that kind of teaching. Let us go to the Bible and see what +that old Book teaches. Let us believe it, and go and act as if we +believed it, too. Salvation is instantaneous. I admit that a man may be +converted so that he can not tell when he crossed the line between death +and life, but I also believe a man may be a thief one moment and a saint +the next. I believe a man may be as vile as hell itself one moment, and +be saved the next. +</p> + +<p> +Christian growth is gradual, just as physical growth is; but a man +passes from death unto everlasting life quick as an act of the mind—“He +that believeth on the Son <i>hath</i> everlasting life.” +</p> + +<p> +People say they want to become heavenly-minded. Well, read about +<i>heaven</i> and talk about it. I once preached on “Heaven,” and after the +meeting a lady came to me and said, “Why, Mr. Moody, I didn’t know there +were so many verses in the Bible about heaven.” And I hadn’t taken one +out of a hundred. She was amazed that there was so much in the Bible +about heaven. +</p> + +<p> +When you are away from home, how you look for news! You skip everything +in the daily paper until your eye catches the name of your own town or +country. Now the Christian’s home is in heaven. The Scriptures contain +our title-deeds to everything we shall be worth when we die. If a will +has your name in it, it is no longer a dry document. Why, then, do not +Christians take more interest in the Bible? +</p> + +<p> +Then, again, people say thy don’t believe in <i>revivals</i>. There’s not a +denomination in the world that didn’t spring from a revival. There are +the Catholic and Episcopal churches claiming to be the apostolic +churches and to have sprung from Pentecost; the Lutheran from Martin +Luther, and so on. They all sprung out of revivals, and yet people talk +against revivals! I’d as soon talk against my mother as against a +revival. Wasn’t the country revived under John the Baptist? Wasn’t it +under Christ’s teachings? People think that because a number of +superficial cases of conversion occur at revivals that therefore +revivals ought to be avoided. They forget the parable of the sower, +where Jesus himself warns us of emotional hearers, who receive the word +with joy, but soon fall away. If only one out of every four hearers is +truly converted, as in the parable, the revival has done good. +</p> + +<p> +Suppose you spend a month on <i>Regeneration</i>, or <i>The Kingdom of God</i>, or +<i>The Church</i> in the New Testament, or the <i>divinity of Christ</i> or the +<i>attributes of God</i>. It will help you in your own spiritual life, and +you will become a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the +word of truth. +</p> + +<p> +Make a study of the <i>Holy Spirit</i>. There are probably five hundred +passages on the Holy Spirit, and what you want is to study this subject +for yourself. Take the <i>Return of our Lord</i>. I know it is a controverted +subject. Some say He is to come at the end of the Millennium, others say +this side of the Millennium. What we want is to know what the Bible +says. Why not go to the Bible and study it up for yourself; it will be +worth more to you than anything you get from anyone else. Then +<i>Separation</i>. I believe that a Christian man should lead a separated +life. The line between the church and the world is almost obliterated +to-day. I have no sympathy with the idea that you must hunt up an old +musty church record in order to find out whether a man is a member of +the church or not. A man ought to live so that everybody will know he is +a Christian. The Bible tells us to lead a separate life. You may lose +influence, but you will gain it at the same time. I suppose Daniel was +the most unpopular man in Babylon at a certain time, but, thank God, he +has outlived all the other men of his time. Who were the chief men of +Babylon? When God wanted any work done in Babylon, He knew where to find +some one to do it. You can be in the world, but not of it. Christ didn’t +take His disciples out of the world, but He prayed that they might be +kept from evil. A ship in the water is all right, but when the water +gets into the ship, then look out. A worldly Christian is just like a +wrecked vessel at sea. +</p> + +<p> +I remember once I took up the <i>grace of God</i>. I didn’t know the +difference between law and grace. When that truth dawned upon me and I +saw the difference, I studied the whole week on grace and I got so +filled that I couldn’t stay in the house. I said to the first man I met, +“Do you know anything about the grace of God?” He thought I was a +lunatic. And I just poured out for about an hour on the grace of God. +</p> + +<p> +Study the subject of <i>Prayer</i>. “For real business at the mercy seat,” +says Spurgeon, “give me a homemade prayer, a prayer that comes out of +the depths of your heart, not because you invented it, but because the +Holy Spirit put it there. Though your words are broken and your +sentences disconnected, God will hear you. Perhaps you can pray better +without words than with them. There are prayers that break the backs of +words; they are too heavy for any human language to carry.” +</p> + +<p> +Some people say, “I do not believe in <i>Assurance</i>.” I never knew anybody +who read their Bibles who did not believe 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.” +</p> + +<p> +The best book on Assurance was written by one called “John,” at the back +part of the Bible. He wrote an epistle on this subject. 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 +<i>know</i> 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 questioned about assurance and +doubted whether they were saved or not, and he took up his pen and said, +“I will settle that question;” and he wrote that last verse in the +twentieth chapter of his gospel. +</p> + +<p> +I have heard some people say that 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 favorite creed or notions; and if it does +not do so, they will not read it. It has been well said that we must not +read the Bible by the blue light of Presbyterianism; nor by the red +light of Methodism; nor by the violet light of Episcopalianism; but by +the light of the Spirit of God. If you will take up your Bible and study +“assurance” for a week, you will soon see it is your privilege to know +that you are a child of God. +</p> + +<p> +Then take the <i>promises of God</i>. Let a man feed for a month on the +promises of God, and he will not talk about his poverty, and how +downcast he is, and what trouble he has day by day. You hear people say, +“Oh, my leanness! how lean I am!” My friends, it is not their leanness, +it is their <i>laziness</i>. 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 +would spend a month feeding on the precious promises of God, you would +not go 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 sympathizing 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 is 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 can not 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 can not +tell how much they are worth; and that is just my case. All things in +the world are mine; I am joint heir with Jesus the Son of God. Some one +has said, “God makes a promise; Faith believes it; Hope anticipates it; +and Patience quietly awaits it.” +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap13"> +CHAPTER XIII. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +Word Study—“Blesseds” of Revelation—“Believings” of John—“The Fear of +the Lord” of Proverbs—Key Words. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +ANOTHER way to study the Bible is to take one word and follow it up with +the help of a concordance. +</p> + +<p> +Or take just one word that runs through a book. Some time ago I was +wonderfully blessed by taking the seven “<i>Blesseds</i>” of the Revelation. +If God did not wish us to understand the book of Revelation, He would +not have given it to us at all. A good many say it is so dark and +mysterious that 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 Bible that tells about the devil being +chained; and as the devil knows that, he goes up and down Christendom +and says, “It is no use your reading Revelation, you can not understand +the book; it is too hard for you.” The fact is, he does not want you to +understand about his own defeat. Just look at the <i>blessings</i> the book +contains: +</p> + +<p> +1. “<i>Blessed is</i> he that readeth, and they that hear the words of +this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the +time is at hand.” +</p> + +<p> +2. “<i>Blessed</i> are the dead which die in the Lord. . . . . Yea, saith the +Spirit, that they may rest from their labors.” +</p> + +<p> +3. “<i>Blessed</i> is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments.” +</p> + +<p> +4. “<i>Blessed</i> are they which are called to the marriage supper of the +Lamb.” +</p> + +<p> +5. “<i>Blessed</i> and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. +On such the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God +and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” +</p> + +<p> +6. “<i>Blessed</i> is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this +book.” +</p> + +<p> +7. “<i>Blessed</i> 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.” +</p> + +<p> +Or you may take the eight “<i>overcomes</i>” in Revelation; and you will be +wonderfully blessed by them. They take you right up to the throne of +heaven; you climb by them to the throne of God. +</p> + +<p> +I have been greatly blessed by going through the “<i>believings</i>” of +John. Every chapter but two speaks of believing. As I said before, he +wrote his gospel that we might believe. All through it is “Believe! +<i>Believe!</i>” If you want to persuade a man that Christ is the Son of God, +John’s gospel is the book for him. +</p> + +<p> +Take the six “<i>precious</i>” things in Peter’s Epistles. And the seven +“<i>walks</i>” of the Epistle to the Ephesians. And the five “<i>much mores</i>” +of Romans V. Or the two “<i>receiveds</i>” of John I. Or the seven “<i>hearts</i>” +in Proverbs XXIII, and especially an eighth. Or “<i>the fear of the Lord</i>” +in Proverbs:— +</p> + +<p> +“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. +</p> + +<p> +The fear of the Lord prolongeth days. +</p> + +<p> +In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence +</p> + +<p> +The fear of the Lord is a fountain of Life. +</p> + +<p> +Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and +trouble therewith. +</p> + +<p> +The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. +</p> + +<p> +The fear of the Lord tendeth to life. +</p> + +<p> +By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. +</p> + +<p> +Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.” +</p> + +<h3> +KEY WORDS. +</h3> + +<p> +A friend gave me some key words recently. He said Peter wrote about +<i>Hope:</i> “When the Chief Shepherd shall appear.” The keynote of Paul’s +writings seemed to be <i>Faith</i>, and that of John’s, <i>Love</i>. “Faith, hope +and charity,” these were the characteristics of the three men, the +key-notes to the whole of their teachings. James wrote of <i>Good Works</i>, +and Jude of <i>Apostasy</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In the general epistles of Paul some one suggested the phrase “<i>in +Christ</i>.” In the book of Romans we find justification by faith <i>in +Christ</i>. Corinthians presents sanctification <i>in Christ</i>. The book of +Galatians, adoption or liberty <i>in Christ</i>. Ephesians presents fulness +<i>in Christ</i>. Philippians, consolation <i>in Christ</i>. In Colossians we have +completeness <i>in Christ</i>. Thessalonians gives us hope <i>in Christ</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Different systems of key words are published by Bible scholars, and it +is a good thing for every one to know one system or other. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap14"> +CHAPTER XIV. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +Bible Marking—Borrowing and Lending Bibles—Necessity of +Marking—Advantages—How to Mark and What to Mark—Taking Notes—“Four +things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding +wise”—“Every eye shall see Him”—Additional Examples—Suggestions. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +DON’T be afraid to borrow and lend Bibles. Some time ago a man wanted to +take my Bible home to get a few things out of it, and when it came back +I found this noted in it: +</p> + +<p> +Justification, a change of state, a new standing before God. +</p> + +<p> +Repentance, a change of mind, a new mind about God. +</p> + +<p> +Regeneration, a change of nature, a new heart from God. +</p> + +<p> +Conversion, a change of life, a new life for God. +</p> + +<p> +Adoption, a change of family, new relationship towards God. +</p> + +<p> +Sanctification, a change of service, separation unto God. +</p> + +<p> +Glorification, a new state, a new condition with God. +</p> + +<p> +In the same hand-writing I found these lines: +</p> + +<p> +<i>Jesus only;</i> the light of heaven is the face of Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +The joy of heaven is the presence of Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +The melody of heaven is the name of Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +The theme of heaven is the work of Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +The employment of heaven is the service of Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +The fulness of heaven is Jesus himself. +</p> + +<p> +The duration of heaven is the eternity of Jesus. +</p> + +<h3> +BIBLE MARKING: ITS NECESSITY. +</h3> + +<p> +An old writer said that some books are to be tasted, some to be +swallowed, and some to be chewed and digested. The Bible is one that you +can never exhaust. It is like a bottomless well: you can always find +fresh truths gushing forth from its pages. +</p> + +<p> +Hence the great fascination of constant and earnest Bible study. Hence +also the necessity of marking your Bible. Unless you have an uncommon +memory, you cannot retain the good things you hear. If you trust to your +ear alone, they will escape you in a day or two; but if you mark your +Bible and enlist the aid of your eye, you will never lose them. The same +applies to what you read. +</p> + +<h3> +ITS ADVANTAGES. +</h3> + +<p> +Bible marking should be made the servant of the memory. If properly +done, it sharpens the memory; rather than blunts it, because it gives +prominence to certain things that catch the eye, which by constant +reading you get to learn of by heart. +</p> + +<p> +It helps you to locate texts. +</p> + +<p> +It saves you the trouble of writing out notes of your addresses. Once in +the margin, always ready. +</p> + +<p> +I have carried one Bible with me a great many years. It is worth a good +deal to me, and I will tell you why; because I have so many passages +marked in it, that if I am called upon to speak at any time I am ready. +I have little words marked in the margin, and they are a sermon to me. +Whether I speak about <i>Faith, Hope, Charity, Assurance,</i> 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 of England’s +army were ordered to India to-morrow, the soldier is ready for the +journey. But we can not be ready if we do not study the Bible. So +whenever you hear a good thing, just put it down, because if it is good +for you it will be good for somebody else; and we should pass the coin +of heaven around just as we do the coin of the realm. +</p> + +<p> +People tell me they have nothing to say. “Out of the abundance of the +heart, the mouth speaketh.” Get full of Scripture and then you can’t +help but say it. It says itself. Keep the world out of your heart by +getting full of something else. A man tried to build a flying machine. +He made some wings and filled them with gas. He said he couldn’t quite +fly, but the gas was lighter than the air and it helped him over lots of +obstructions. So when you get these heavenly truths, they are lighter +than the air down here and help you over trouble. +</p> + +<p> +Bible marking makes the Bible a new book to you. If there was a white +birch tree within a quarter of a mile of the home of your boyhood, you +would remember it all your life. Mark your Bible, and instead of its +being dry and uninteresting, it will become a beautiful book to you. +What you see makes a more lasting impression on your memory than what +you hear. +</p> + +<h3> +HOW TO MARK AND WHAT TO MARK. +</h3> + +<p> +There are many methods of marking. Some use six or eight colored inks or +pencils. Black is used to mark texts that refer to sin; red, all +references to the cross; blue, all references to heaven; and so on. +Others invent symbols. When there is any reference to the cross, they +put “+” in the margin. Some write “G”, meaning the Gospel. +</p> + +<p> +There is danger of overdoing this and making your marks more prominent +than the scripture itself. If the system is complicated it becomes a +burden, and you are likely to get confused. It is easier to remember the +text than the meaning of your marks. +</p> + +<p> +Black ink is good enough for all purposes. I use no other, unless it be +red ink to draw attention to “the blood.” +</p> + +<p> +The simplest way to mark is to underline the words or to make a stroke +alongside the verse. Another good way is to go over the printed letters +with your pen, and make them thicker. The word will then stand out like +heavier type. Mark “only” in Psalm 62 in this way. +</p> + +<p> +When any word or phrase is oft repeated in a chapter or book, put +consecutive numbers in the margin over against the text. Thus, in the +second chapter of Habakkuk, we find five “woes” against five common +sins; (1) verse 6, (2) verse 9, (3) verse 12, (4) verse 15, (5) verse +19. Number the ten plagues in this way. When there is a succession of +promises or charges in a verse, it is better to write the numbers small +at the beginning of each separate promise. Thus, there is a seven-fold +promise to Abraham in Gen. 12, 2-3: “(1) I will make of thee a great +nation, (2) and I will bless thee, (3) and make thy name great; (4) and +thou shalt be a blessing; (5) and I will bless them that bless thee, (6) +and curse him that curseth thee: (7) and in thee shall all families of +the earth be blessed.” In Prov. 1, 22, we have (1) simple ones, (2) +scorners, (3) fools. +</p> + +<p> +Put a “x” in the margin against things not generally observed: for +example, the laws regarding women wearing men’s clothes, and regarding +bird-nesting, in Deut. 22, 5-6; the sleep of the poor man and of the +rich man compared, Ecc. 5, 12. +</p> + +<p> +I also find it helpful to mark: 1. cross-references. Opposite Gen. 1, 1, +write “Through faith, Heb. 11, 3”—because there we read—“Through faith +we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” Opposite +Gen. 28, 12, write—“An answer to prayer, Gen. 35, 3.” Opposite Matt. 6, +33, write “1 Kings 3, 13” and “Lu. 10, 42,” which give illustrations of +seeking the kingdom of God first. Opposite Gen. 37, 7, write—“Gen. 50, +18”—which is the fulfilment of the dream. +</p> + +<p> +2. Railroad connections, that is, connections made by fine lines running +across the page. In Daniel 6, connect “will deliver” (v. 16), “able to +deliver” (v. 20), and “hath delivered” (v. 27). In Ps. 66, connect “come +and see” (v. 5) with “come and hear” (v. 16). +</p> + +<p> +3. Variations of the Revised Version: thus Romans 8, 26 reads—“the +Spirit Himself” in the R. V., not “itself.” Note also marginal readings +like Mark 6, 19, “an inward grudge” instead of “a quarrel.” +</p> + +<p> +4. Words that have changed their meaning; “meal” for “meat” in +Leviticus. Or where you can explain a difficulty: “above” for “upon” in +Num. 11, 31. Or where the English does not bring out the full meaning of +the original as happens in the names of God: “Elohim” in Gen. 1, 1, +“Jehovah Elohim” in Gen. 2, 4, “El Shaddai” in Gen. 17, 1, and so on. +</p> + +<p> +5. Unfortunate divisions of chapters. The last verse of John 7 +reads—“And every man went unto his own house.” Chapter 8 begins “Jesus +went unto the mount of Olives.” There ought to be no division of +chapters here. +</p> + +<p> +6. At the beginning of every book write a short summary of its contents, +something like the summary given in some Bibles at the head of every +chapter. +</p> + +<p> +7. Key words and key verses. +</p> + +<p> +8. Make a note of any text that marks a religious crisis in your life. I +once heard Rev. F. B. Meyer preach on 1 Cor. 1, 9, and he asked his +hearers to write on their Bibles that they were that day “called unto +the fellowship of His Son Christ our Lord.” +</p> + +<h3> +TAKING NOTES. +</h3> + +<p> +When a preacher gives out a text, mark it; as he goes on preaching, 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 go into some lane or +by-way, and preach them 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 someone say so +and so;” and men will always be glad to hear you if you give them +heavenly food. The world is perishing for lack of it. +</p> + +<p> +Some years ago I heard an Englishman in Chicago preach from a curious +text: “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they +are exceeding wise.” “Well,” said I to myself, “what will you make of +these ‘little things’? I have seen them a good many times.” Then he went +on speaking: “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their +meat in the summer.” He said God’s people are like the ants. “Well,” I +thought, “I have seen a good many of them, but I never saw one like me.” +“They are like the ants,” he said, “because they are laying up treasure +in heaven, and preparing for the future; but the world rushes madly on, +and forgets all about God’s command to lay up for ourselves +incorruptible treasures.” +</p> + +<p> +“The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make these their houses in the +rocks.” He said, “The conies are very weak things; if you were to throw +a stick at one of them you could kill it; but they are very wise, for +they build their houses in rocks, where they are out of harm’s way. And +God’s people are very wise, although very feeble; for they build on the +Rock of Ages, and that Rock is Christ.” “Well,” I said, “I am certainly +like the conies.” +</p> + +<p> +Then came the next verse: “The locusts have no king, yet go they forth +all of them by bands.” I wondered what he was going to make of that. +“Now God’s people,” he said, “have no king down here. The world said, +‘Caesar is our king;’ but he is not <i>our</i> King; our King is the Lord of +Hosts. The locusts went out by bands; so do God’s people. Here is a +Presbyterian band, here an Episcopalian band, here a Methodist band, and +so on; but by and by the great King will come and catch up all these +separate bands, and they will all be one; one fold and one Shepherd.” +And when I heard that explanation, I said; “I would be like the +locusts.” I have become so sick, my friends, of this miserable +sectarianism, that I wish it could all be swept away. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” he went on again, “the spider taketh hold with her hands, and is +in kings’ palaces.” When he got to the spider, I said, “I don’t like +that at all; I don’t like the idea of being compared to a spider.” +“But,” he said, “If you go into a king’s palace, there is the spider +hanging on his gossamer web, and look-down with scorn and contempt on +the gilded salon; he is laying hold of things above. And so every child +of God ought to be like the spider, and lay hold of the unseen things of +God. You see, then, my brethren, we who are God’s people are like the +ants, the conies, the locusts, and the spiders, little things, but +exceeding wise.” I put that down in the margin of my bible, and the +recollection of it does me as much good now as when I first heard it. +</p> + +<p> +A friend of mine was in Edinburgh and he heard one of the leading Scotch +Presbyterian ministers. He had been preaching from the text, “Every eye +shall see Him,” and he closed up by saying: “Yes, every eye. Adam will +see Him, and when he does he will say: ‘This is He who was promised to +me in that dark day when I fell;’ Abraham will see Him and will say: +‘This is He whom I saw afar off; but now face to face;’ Mary will see +Him, and she will sing with new interest that magnificat. And I, too, +shall see Him, and when I do, I will sing: ‘Rock of Ages, cleft for me, +Let me hide myself in Thee.’” +</p> + +<h3> +ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES. +</h3> + +<p> +Turn to Exodus 6:6-7-8. In these verses we find seven “I wills.” +</p> + +<p> +<i>I will</i> bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. +</p> + +<p> +<i>I will</i> rid you out of their bondage. +</p> + +<p> +<i>I will</i> redeem you with a stretched-out arm. +</p> + +<p> +<i>I will</i> take you to me for a people. +</p> + +<p> +<i>I will</i> be to you a God. +</p> + +<p> +<i>I will</i> bring you in into the land [of Canaan]. +</p> + +<p> +<i>I will</i> give it to you for a heritage. +</p> + +<p> +Again: Isaiah 41:10. “Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not +dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help +thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” +Mark what God says: +</p> + +<p> +He is <i>with</i> His servant. +</p> + +<p> +He is his <i>God</i>. +</p> + +<p> +He will <i>strengthen</i>. +</p> + +<p> +He will <i>help</i>. +</p> + +<p> +He will <i>uphold</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Again: Psalm 103:2: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his +benefits.” If you can not remember them all, remember what you can. In +the next three verses there are five things: +</p> + +<p> +Who <i>forgiveth</i> all thine iniquities. +</p> + +<p> +Who <i>healeth</i> all thy diseases. +</p> + +<p> +Who <i>redeemeth</i> thy life from destruction. +</p> + +<p> +Who <i>crowneth</i> thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. +</p> + +<p> +Who <i>satisfieth</i> thy mouth with good things. +</p> + +<p> +We can learn some things about the mercy of the Lord from this same +Psalm: +</p> + +<p> +v. 4.—Its quality, “tender.” +</p> + +<p> +v. 8.—Its measure, “plenteous.” +</p> + +<p> +v. 11.—Its magnitude, “great,” “according to the height of the heaven +above the earth.” See margin. +</p> + +<p> +v. 17.—Its duration, “from everlasting to everlasting.” +</p> + +<p> +Twenty-third Psalm. I suppose I have heard as many good sermons on the +twenty-third Psalm as on any other six verses in the Bible. I wish I had +begun to take notes upon them years ago when I heard the first one. +Things slip away from you when you get to be fifty years of age. Young +men had better go into training at once. +</p> + +<p> +With me, the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +Beneath me, green pastures. +</p> + +<p> +Beside me, still waters. +</p> + +<p> +Before me, a table. +</p> + +<p> +Around me, mine enemies. +</p> + +<p> +After me, goodness and mercy. +</p> + +<p> +Ahead of me, the house of the Lord. +</p> + +<p> +“Blessed is the day,” says an old divine, “when Psalm twenty-three was +born!” It has been more used than almost any other passage in the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +v. 1.—A happy life. +</p> + +<p> +v. 4.—A happy death. +</p> + +<p> +v. 6.—A happy eternity. +</p> + +<p> +Take Psalm 102:6-7: “I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an +owl of the desert. I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.” +It seems strange until you reflect that a pelican carries its food with +it, that the owl keeps its eyes open at night, and that the sparrow +watches alone. So the Christian must carry his food with him—the +Bible—and he must keep his eyes open and watch alone. +</p> + +<p> +Turn to Isaiah 32, and mark four things that God promises in verse 2: +“And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from +the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great +rock in a weary land.” There we have:— +</p> + +<p> +The hiding place from danger. +</p> + +<p> +The cover from the tempest. +</p> + +<p> +Rivers of water. +</p> + +<p> +The Rock of Ages. +</p> + +<p> +In the third and fourth verses of the same chapter: “And the eyes of +them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall +hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the +tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.” We have eyes, +ears, heart and tongue, all ready to pay homage to the King of +Righteousness. +</p> + +<p> +Now turn into the New Testament, John 4:47-53. +</p> + +<p> +The noble <i>heard</i> about Jesus. +</p> + +<p class="p3"> + <i>went</i> unto Him. +</p> +<p class="p3"> + <i>besought</i> Him. +</p> +<p class="p3"> <i>believed</i> Him. +</p> +<p class="p3"> + <i>knew</i> that his prayer was answered. +</p> + +<p> +Again: Matthew 11:28-30: +</p> + +<p> +“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give +you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly +in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, +and my burden is light.” Someone has said these verses contain the only +description we have of Christ’s heart. +</p> + +<p> +Something to do, come unto Jesus. +</p> + +<p> +Something to leave, your burden. +</p> + +<p> +Something to take, His yoke. +</p> + +<p> +Something to find, rest unto your soul. +</p> + +<p> +Again: John 14:6. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” +</p> + +<p> +The way, follow me. +</p> + +<p> +The truth, learn of me. +</p> + +<p> +The life, abide in me. +</p> + +<h3> +SUGGESTIONS. +</h3> + +<p> +Do not buy a Bible that you are unwilling to mark and use. An +interleaved Bible gives more room for notes. +</p> + +<p> +Be precise and concise: for example, Neh. 13, 18: “A warning from +history.” +</p> + +<p> +Never mark anything because you saw it in some one else’s Bible. If it +does not come home to you, if you not understand it, do not put it down. +</p> + +<p> +Never pass a nugget by without trying to grasp it. Then mark it down. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap15"> +CHAPTER XV. +</a></h2> + +<p class="pt1"> +Personal Work—Three Kinds of Church Services—Church +Members—Individual Experience—One Inquirer at a Time—Those who lack +Assurance—Backsliders—Not Convicted of Sin—Deeply Convicted—The +Divinity of Christ—Can’t Hold Out—No Strength—Feelings—Can’t +Believe—Can’t be Saved all at Once—Not Now—Further Suggestions. +</p> + +<p class="pnn"> +PERSONAL dealing is of the most vital importance. No one can tell how +many persons have been lost to the Kingdom of God through lack of +following up the preaching of the Gospel by personal work. It is +deplorable how few church-members are qualified to deal with inquirers, +yet that is the very work in which they ought most efficiently to aid +the pastor. People are not usually converted under the preaching of the +minister. It is in the inquiry-meeting that they are most likely to be +brought to Christ. They are perhaps awakened under the minister, but God +generally uses some one person to point out the way of salvation and +bring the anxious to a decision. Some people can’t see the use of +inquiry-meetings, and think they are something new, and that we haven’t +any authority for them. But they are no innovation. We read about them +all through the Bible. When John the Baptist was preaching he was +interrupted. It would be a good thing if people would interrupt the +minister now and then in the middle of some metaphysical sermon, and ask +what he means. The only way to make sure that people understand what he +is talking about is to let them ask questions. I don’t know what some +men, who have got the whole address written out, would do if some one +should get up and ask: “What must I do to be saved?” Yet such questions +would do more good than anything else you could have. They would awake a +spirit of inquiry. Some of Christ’s sweetest teachings were called forth +by questions. +</p> + +<h3> +THREE KINDS OF CHURCH SERVICES. +</h3> + +<p> +There ought to be three kinds of services in all churches: one for +worship—to offer praise, and to wait on the Lord in prayer; another for +teaching; and at these services there needn’t be a word to the +unconverted, (although some men never close any meeting without +presenting the Gospel), but let them be for the church people; and a +third for preaching the Gospel. Sunday morning is the best time for +teaching, but Sunday night is the best night in the whole week, of the +regular church services, to preach the simple Gospel of the Son of God. +When you have preached that, and have felt the power of the unseen +world, and there are souls trembling in the balance, don’t say, as I +have heard good ministers say: “<i>If</i> there are any in this, place +concerned—at all concerned—about their souls, I will be in the +pastor’s study on Friday night, and will be glad to see them.” By that +time the chances are the impression will be all wiped out. Deal with +them that night before the devil snatches away the good seed. Wherever +the Gospel is proclaimed, there should be an expectation of immediate +results, and if this were the case the Church of Christ would be in a +constant state of grace. +</p> + +<p> +“Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious +proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded +them to continue in the grace of God.” How much would Paul and Barnabas +have accomplished if they had pronounced the benediction and sent these +people home? It is a thing to weep over that we have got thousands and +thousands of church members who are good for nothing towards extending +the Kingdom of God. They understand bazaars, and fairs, and +sewing-circles; but when you ask them to sit down and show a man or +woman the way into God’s kingdom, they say: “Oh, I am not able to do +that. Let the deacons do it, or some one else.” It is all wrong. The +Church ought to be educated on this very point. There are a great many +church-members who are just hobbling about on crutches. They can just +make out that they are saved, and imagine that is all that constitutes a +Christian in this nineteenth century. As far as helping others is +concerned, that never enters their heads. They think if they can get +along themselves, they are doing amazingly well. They have no idea what +the Holy Ghost wants to do through them. +</p> + +<p> +No matter how weak you are, God can use you; and you cannot say what a +stream of salvation you may set in motion. John the Baptist was a young +man when he died; but he led Andrew to Christ, and Andrew led Peter, and +so the river flowed on. +</p> + +<p> +In the closing pages of this book I want to give some hints in regard to +passing on the good to others, and thus profiting them by your knowledge +of the Bible. Every believer, whether minister or layman, is in duty +bound to spread the gospel. “Go ye into all the world and preach the +gospel to every creature” was the wide command of our parting Savior to +His disciples. +</p> + +<p> +There are many Bible students, however, who utterly neglect the command. +They are like sponges, always sucking in the Water of Life, but never +imparting it to thirsty souls around. +</p> + +<p> +A clergyman used to go hunting, and when his bishop reproved him, he +said he never went hunting when he was on duty. +</p> + +<p> +“When is a clergyman off duty?” asked the bishop. +</p> + +<p> +And so with every Christian: when is he off duty? +</p> + +<p> +To be ready with a promise for the dying, a word of hope for the +bereaved and afflicted, of encouragement for the downhearted, of advice +for the anxious, is a great accomplishment. The opportunities to be +useful in these ways are numerous. Not only in inquiry-meetings and +church work, but in our everyday contact with others the opening +constantly occurs. A word, a look, a hand-clasp, a prayer, may have an +unending influence for good. +</p> + +<p> +“Is your father at home?” asked a gentleman of a doctor’s child. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” he said, “he’s away.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where can I find him?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” he said, “you’ve got to look for him in some place where people +are sick or hurt, or something like that. I don’t know where he is, but +he’s helping somewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +That ought to be the spirit animating every follower of Him who went +about doing good. +</p> + +<h3> +LAYING DOWN RULES. +</h3> + +<p> +I admit one can’t lay down positive rules in dealing with individuals +about their religious condition. Tin soldiers are exactly alike, but not +so men. Matthew and Paul were a good way apart. The people we deal with +may be widely different. What would be medicine for one might be rank +poison for another. In the 15th of Luke, the elder son and the younger +son were exactly opposite. What would have been good counsel for one +might have been ruin to the other. God never made two persons to look +alike. If we had made men, probably we would have made them all alike, +even if we had to crush some bones to get them into the mould. But that +is not God’s way. In the universe there is infinite variety. The +Philippian jailer required peculiar treatment. Christ dealt with +Nicodemus one way, and the woman at the well another way. +</p> + +<h3> +YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE. +</h3> + +<p> +It is a great mistake, in dealing with inquirers, to tell your conversion +experience. Experience may have its place, but I don’t think it has its +place when we are dealing with inquirers; for the first thing the man +you are talking to will do will be to look for your experience. He +doesn’t want your experience. He wants one of his own. +</p> + +<p> +Suppose Bartimeus had gone to Jerusalem to the man that was born blind, +and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Now, just tell us how the Lord cured you.” +</p> + +<p> +The Jerusalem man might have said: “He just spat on the ground, and +anointed my eyes with the clay.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ho!” says Bartimeus, “I don’t believe you ever got your sight at all. +Who ever heard of such a way as that? Why, to fill a man’s eyes with +clay is enough to put them out!” +</p> + +<p> +Both men were blind, but they were not cured alike. A great many men are +kept out of the kingdom of God because they are looking for somebody +else’s experience—the experience their grandmother had, their aunt, or +some one in the family. +</p> + +<h3> +ONE INQUIRER AT A TIME. +</h3> + +<p> +Then it is very important to deal with one at a time. A doctor doesn’t +give cod-liver oil for all complaints. “No,” he says, “I must seek what +each one wants.” He looks at the tongue, and inquires into the symptoms. +One may have ague, another typhoid fever, and another may have +consumption. What a man wants is to be able to read his Bible, and to +read human nature, too. +</p> + +<p> +Those do best who do not run from one person in an inquiry-meeting to +another, offering words of encouragement everywhere. They would do +better by going to but one or two of an afternoon or evening. We are +building for eternity, and can take time. The work will not then be +superficial. +</p> + +<p> +Try first to win the person’s confidence, and then your words will have +more weight. Use great tact in approaching the subject. +</p> + +<p> +It will be a great help to divide persons into classes as much as +possible, and bring certain passages of Scripture to bear upon these +classes. It is unwise, however, to use verses that you have seen in +books until you are perfectly clear in your own mind of their meaning +and application. Avail yourself by all means of suggestions from outside +sources, but as David could not fight in Saul’s armor, so you possibly +may not be able to make good use of texts and passages which have proved +powerful in the hands of another. The best way is to make your own +classification, and select suitable texts, which experience will lead +you to adopt or change, according to circumstances. Make yourself +familiar with a few passages, rather than have a hazy and incomplete +idea of a large number. +</p> + +<p> +The following classification may be found helpful:— +</p> + +<p> +1. Believers who lack assurance; who are in darkness because they have +sinned; who neglect prayer, Bible study, and other means of grace; who +are in darkness because of an unforgiving spirit; who are timid or +ashamed to confess Christ openly; who are not engaged in active work for +the Master; who lack strength to resist temptation and to stand fast in +time of trial; who are not growing in grace. +</p> + +<p> +2. Believers who have backslidden. +</p> + +<p> +3. Those who are deeply convicted of sin, and are seeking salvation. +</p> + +<p> +4. Those who have difficulties of various kinds. Many believe that they +are so sinful that God will not accept them, that they have sinned away +their opportunities and now it is too late, that the gospel was never +intended for them. Others are kept back by honest doubts regarding the +divinity of Christ, the genuineness of the Bible. Others again are +troubled by the mysteries of the Bible, the doctrines of election, +instant conversion, etc., or they say they have sought Christ in vain, +that they have tried and failed, they are afraid they could not hold +out. A large class is in great trouble about feelings. +</p> + +<p> +5. Those who make excuses. There is a wide difference between a person +who has a <i>reason</i> and one who had an <i>excuse</i> to offer. +</p> + +<p> +The commonest excuses are that there are so many inconsistent +Christians, hypocrites in the church; that it would cost too much to +become Christians, that they could not continue in their present +occupation, etc.; that they expect to become Christians some day; that +their companions hold them back, or would cast them off if they were +converted. +</p> + +<p> +6. Those who are not convicted of sin. Some are deliberately sinful; +they want to “see life,” to “sow their wild oats;” others are +thoughtless; others again are simply ignorant of Jesus Christ and His +work. A large number do not feet their need of a Savior because they are +self-righteous, trusting to their own morality and good works. +</p> + +<p> +7. Those who hold hostile creeds, embracing sectarians, cranks, Jews, +spiritualists, infidels, atheists, agnostics, etc. +</p> + +<p> +Always use your Bible in personal dealing. Do not trust to memory, but +make the person read the verse for himself. Do not use printed slips or +books. Hence, if convenient, always carry a Bible or New Testament with +you. +</p> + +<p> +It is a good thing to get a man on his knees (if convenient), but don’t +get him there before he is ready. You may have to talk with him two +hours before you can get him that far along. But when you think he is +about ready, say, “Shall we not ask God to give us light on this point?” +Sometimes a few minutes in prayer have done more for a man than two +hours in talk. When the spirit of God has led him so far that he is +willing to have you pray with him, he is not very far from the kingdom. +Ask him to pray for himself. If he doesn’t want to pray, let him use a +Bible prayer; get him to repeat it; for example: “Lord help me!” Tell +the man: “If the Lord helped that poor woman, He will help you if you +make the same prayer. He will give you a new heart if you pray from the +heart.” Don’t send a man home to pray. Of course he should pray at home, +but I would rather get his lips open at once. It is a good thing for a +man to hear his own voice in prayer. It is a good thing for him to cry +out: “God be merciful to me a sinner!” +</p> + +<p> +Urge an immediate decision, but never tell a man he is converted. Never +tell him he is saved. Let the Holy Spirit reveal that to him. You can +shoot a man and see that he is dead, but you can not see when a man +receives eternal life. You can’t afford to deceive one about this great +question. But you can help his faith and trust, and lead him aright. +</p> + +<p> +Always be prepared to do personal work. When war was declared between +France and Germany, Count von Moltke, the German general, was prepared +for it. Word brought to him late at night, after he had gone to bed. +“Very well,” he said to the messenger, “the third portfolio on the +left”; and he went to sleep again. +</p> + +<p> +Do the work boldly. Don’t take those in a position in life above your +own, but as a rule, take those on the same footing. Don’t deal with a +person of opposite sex, if it can be otherwise arranged. Bend all your +endeavors to answer for poor, struggling souls that question of all +importance to them. “What must I do to be saved?” +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Chap16"> +CHAPTER XVI. +</a></h2> + +<h3> +SUMMARY OF SUGGESTIONS. +</h3> + +<p> +1. Have for constant use a portable reference Bible, a Cruden’s +Concordance, and a Topical Text Book. +</p> + +<p> +2. Always carry a Bible or Testament in your pocket and do not be +ashamed of people seeing you read it on trains, etc. +</p> + +<p> +3. Do not be afraid of marking it, or of making marginal notes. Mark +texts that contain promises, exhortations, warnings to sinners and to +Christians, gospel invitations to the unconverted, and so on. +</p> + +<p> +4. Set apart at least fifteen minutes a day for study and meditation. +This little will have great results and will never be regretted. +</p> + +<p> +5. Prepare your heart to know the law of the Lord, and <i>to do it</i>. +Ezra 7:10. +</p> + +<p> +6. Always ask God to open the eyes of your understanding that you may +see the truth; and expect that He will answer your prayer. +</p> + +<p> +7. Cast every burden of doubt upon the Lord. “He will never suffer the +righteous to be moved.” Do not be afraid to look for a reason for the +hope that is in you. +</p> + +<p> +8. Believe in the Bible as God's revelation to you, and act accordingly. +Do not reject any portion because it contains the supernatural, or +because you can not understand it. Reverence all Scripture. Remember +God's own estimate of it: “Thou hast magnified thy Word above all +thy Name.” +</p> + +<p> +9. Learn at least one verse of Scripture each day. Verses committed to +memory will be wonderfully useful in your daily life and walk. “Thy word +have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” Some +Christians can quote Shakespeare and Longfellow better than the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +10. If you are a preacher or a Sunday school teacher, try at any cost to +master your Bible. You ought to know it better than any one in your +congregation or class. +</p> + +<p> +11. Strive to be exact in quoting Scripture. +</p> + +<p> +12. Adopt some systematic plan of Bible study: either topical, or by +subjects, like “The Blood,” “Prayer,” “Hope,” etc.; or by books; or by +some other plan outlined in the preceding pages. +</p> + +<p> +13. Study to know for what and to whom each book of the Bible was +written. Combine the Old Testament with the New. Study Hebrews and +Leviticus together, the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, the +Prophets and the historical books of the old Testament. +</p> + +<p> +14. Study how to use the Bible so as to “walk with God” in closer +communion; also, so as to gain a working knowledge of Scripture for +leading others to Christ. An old minister used to say that the cries of +neglected texts were always sounding in his ears, asking why he did not +show how important they were. +</p> + +<p> +15. Do not be satisfied with simply reading a chapter daily. <i>Study</i> the +meaning of at least one verse. +</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="Footnotes"> +Footnotes +</a></h2> + +<p> +<sup><a href="#f1" id="r1" name="r1">[1]</a></sup> <i>The New Topical Text Book</i>. An aid to topical study of the Bible. +Cloth, 25 cents; by mail, 30 cents. +</p> + +<p> +<i>The Bible Text Cyclopedia</i>, a complete classification of Scripture +texts in the form of an alphabetical list of subjects by Rev. James +Inglis. Large 8 vo. cloth, $1.75. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Both issued by the publishers of this volume</i>. +</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study, by Dwight Moody + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLEASURE & PROFIT IN BIBLE STUDY *** + +***** This file should be named 36655-h.htm or 36655-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/5/36655/ + +Produced by Keith G Richardson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study + +Author: Dwight Moody + +Release Date: July 7, 2011 [EBook #36655] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLEASURE & PROFIT IN BIBLE STUDY *** + + + + +Produced by Keith G Richardson + + + + +Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study + +BY + +D. L. MOODY + +The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart . . . More to be +desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than +honey and the honey-comb.--_Psalm xix:8-10_. + +Fleming H. Revell Company + +Chicago, New York Toronto + +_Publishers of Evangelical Literature_ + + + + +COPYRIGHTED 1895, by FLEMING H. REVELL CO. + + + + +PREFACE. + +It is always a pleasure to me to speak on the subject of this volume. I +think I would rather preach about the Word of God than anything else +except the Love of God; because I believe it is the best thing in this +world. + +We cannot overestimate the importance of a thorough familiarity with the +Bible. I try to lose no opportunity of urging people by every means in +my power to the constant study of this wonderful Book. If through the +pages that follow, I can reach still others and rouse them to read their +Bibles, not at random but with a plan and purpose, I shall be indeed +thankful. + +D. L. Moody. + + + + + When thou goest, it shall lead thee; + When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; + When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. + --Prov. vi. 22. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Close Contact with the Word of God--Word and Work--The Christian's +Weapon--Young Converts and Bible Study--Up to Date--Every Case +Met--"Great Peace"--Starving the Soul--The Guide-Book to Heaven. + +A QUICKENING that will last must come through the Word of God. A man +stood up in one of our meetings and said he hoped for enough out of the +series of meetings to last him all his life. I told him he might as well +try to eat enough breakfast at one time to last him his lifetime. That +is a mistake that people are making; they are running to religious +meetings and they think the meetings are going to do the work. But if +these don't bring you into closer contact with the Word of God, the +whole impression will be gone in three months. The more you love the +Scriptures, the firmer will be your faith. There is little backsliding +when people love the Scriptures. If you come into closer contact with +the Word, you will gain something that will last, because the Word of +God is going to endure. In the one hundred and nineteenth psalm David +prayed nine times that God would quicken him--according to His word, His +law, His judgment, His precepts, etc. + +If I could say something that would induce Christians to have a deeper +love for the Word of God, I should feel this to be the most important +service that could be rendered to them. Do you ask: How can I get in +love with the Bible? Well, if you will only arouse yourself to the study +of it, and ask God's assistance, He will assuredly help you. + +WORD AND WORK. + +Word and Work make healthy Christians. If it be all Word and no work, +people will suffer from what I may call religious gout. On the other +hand if it be all work and no Word, it will not be long before they will +fall into all kinds of sin and error; so that they will do more harm +than good. But if we first study the Word and then go to work, we shall +be healthy, useful Christians. I never saw a fruit-bearing 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 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. + +We have a great many prayer meetings, but there is something just as +important as prayer, and that is that we read our Bibles, that we have +Bible study and Bible lectures and Bible classes, so that we may get +hold of the Word of God. When I pray, I talk to God, but when I read the +Bible, God is talking to me; and it is really more important that God +should speak to me than that I should speak to Him I believe we should +know better how to pray if we knew our Bibles better. What is an army +good for if they don't know how to use their weapons? What is a young +man starting out in the Christian work good for it he does not know how +to use his Bible? A man isn't worth much in battle if he has any doubt +about his weapon, and I have never found a man who has doubts about the +Bible who has amounted to much in Christian work. I have seen work after +work wrecked because men lost confidence in the spirit of this Old Book. + +YOUNG CONVERTS. + +If young converts want to be used of God, they must feed on His Word. +Their experience may be very good and very profitable at the outset, and +they may help others by telling it; but if they keep on doing nothing +else but telling their experience, it will soon become stale and +unprofitable, and people will weary of hearing the same thing over and +over again. But when they have told how they have been converted, the +next thing is to feed on the Word. We are not fountains ourselves; but +the Word of God is the true 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 in grace all the while, and +others will take notice of our walk and conversation. So few grow, +because so few study. I would advise all young converts to keep as much +as they can in the company 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 the good 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. You will not be disappointed in your +Christian life. + +SOMETHING NEW. + +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. + +When I was in Baltimore last, my window looked out on an Episcopal +Church. The stained-glass windows were dull and uninviting by day, but +when the lights shone through at night, how beautiful they were! So when +the Holy Spirit touches the eyes of your understanding and you see +Christ shining through the pages of the Bible, it becomes a new book to +you. + +A young lady once took up a novel to read, but found it dull and +uninteresting. Some months afterwards, she was introduced to the author +and in the course of time became his wife. She then found that there was +something in the book, and her opinion of it changed. The change was not +in the book, but in herself. She had come to know and love the writer. +Some Christians read the Bible as a duty, if they read it at all; but as +soon as a man or woman sees Christ as the chiefest among ten thousand, +the Bible becomes the revelation of the Father's love and becomes a +never-ending charm. A gentleman asked another, "Do you often read the +Bible?" "No," was the answer, "I frankly admit I do not love God." "No +more did I." the first replied, "but God loved me." + +A great many people seem to think that the Bible is out of date, that it +is an old book, and they think it has passed its day. They say it was +very good for the dark ages, and that there is some very good history in +it, but it was not intended for the present time; we are living in a +very enlightened age and men can get on very well without the old book; +we have outgrown it. Now you might just as well say that the sun, which +has shone so long, is now so old that it is out of date, and that +whenever a man builds a house he need not put any windows in it, because +we have a newer light and a better light; we have gaslight and electric +light. These are something new; and I would advise people, if they think +the Bible is too old and worn out, when they build houses, not to put +windows in them, but just to light them with electric light; that is +something new and that is what they are anxious for. + +EVERY CASE MET. + +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, if you +are in adversity and trial, there is a promise for you. In joy and +sorrow, in health and in sickness, in poverty and in riches, in every +condition of life, God has a promise stored up in His Word for you. In +one way or another every case is met, and the truth is commended to +every man's conscience. It is said that Richard Baxter, author of "The +Saints' Everlasting Rest," felt the force of miracles chiefly in his +youth; in maturer years he was more impressed by fulfilled prophecy; and +towards the end of his life he felt the deepest satisfaction in his own +ripe experience of the power of the Gospel. + +"If you are impatient, sit down quietly and commune with Job. + +If you are strong-headed, read of Moses and Peter. + +If you are weak-kneed, look at Elijah. + +If there is no song in your heart, listen to David. + +If you are a politician, read Daniel. + +If you are getting sordid, read Isaiah. + +If you are chilly, read of the beloved disciple. + +If your faith is low, read Paul. + +If you are getting lazy, watch James. + +If you are losing sight of the future, read in Revelation of the +promised land." + +"GREAT PEACE." + +In Psalm 119:165, we find these words: "Great peace have they which love +Thy law; and nothing shall offend them." The study of God's Word will +secure peace. Take those Christians who are rooted and grounded in the +Word of God, and you will find they have great peace; but those who +don't study their Bible, and don't know their Bible, are easily offended +when some little trouble comes, or some little persecution, and their +peace is all disturbed; just a little breath of opposition and their +peace is all gone. + +Sometimes I am amazed to see how little it takes to drive all peace and +comfort from some people. A slandering tongue will readily blast it. But +if we have the peace of God, the world cannot take that from us. It +cannot give it; it cannot destroy it. We must get it from above the +world, it is the peace which Christ gives. "Great peace have they which +love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them." Christ says, "Blessed is +he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me." Now, you will notice that +where ever there is a Bible-taught Christian, one who has his Bible well +marked, and who daily feeds upon the Word with prayerful meditation, he +will not be easily offended. + +Such are the people who are growing and working all the while. But it is +the people who never open their Bibles, who never study the Scriptures, +who become offended, and are wondering why they are having such a hard +time. They are the persons who tell you that Christianity is not what it +has been recommended to them; that they have found it is not all that we +claim it to be. The real trouble is, they have not done as the Lord has +told them to do. They have neglected the Word of God. If they had been +studying the Word of God, they would not be in that condition, they +would not have wandered these years away from God, living on the husks +of the world. They have neglected to care for the new life, they haven't +fed it, and the poor soul, being starved, sinks into weakness and decay, +and is easily stumbled or offended. If a man is born of God, he can not +thrive without God. + +I met a man who confessed his soul had fed on nothing for forty years. +"Well," said I, "that is pretty hard for the soul--giving it nothing to +feed on!" That man is a type of thousands and tens of thousands to-day; +their poor souls are starving. We take good care of this body that we +inhabit for a day, and then leave; we feed it three times a day, and we +clothe it, and deck it, and by and by it is going into the grave to rot; +but the inner man, that is to live on and on forever, is lean and +starved. "Man shall not Live by bread alone, but by every word that +proceedeth out of the mouth of God." + +THE GUIDEBOOK TO THE CHRISTIAN'S HOME. + +If a man is traveling and does not know where he is going to, or how he +is going to get there, you know he has a good deal of trouble, and does +not enjoy the trip as much as if he has a guidebook at hand. It is not +safe traveling, and he does not know how to make through connections. +Now, the Bible is a guidebook in the journey of life, and the only one +that points the way to Heaven. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a +light unto my path." Let us take heed then not to refuse the light and +the help it gives. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Doubting and Inquiring--Proving--A Savour of Life unto Life, or Death +unto Death--Understanding the Scriptures--Cavilling--Using the +Penknife--The Supernatural--Inspiration. + +WE DO NOT ask men and women to believe in the Bible without enquiry. It +is not natural to man to accept the things of God without question. If +you are to be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a +reason of the hope that is within you, you must first be an enquirer +yourself. But do not be a dishonest doubter, with your heart and mind +proof against evidence. Do not be a doubter because you think it is +"intellectual;" do not ventilate your doubts. "Give us your +convictions," said a German writer, "we have enough doubts of our own." +Be like Thomas who did not accept Jesus' offer to feel the nail-prints +in His hand and side; his heart was open to conviction. "Faith," says +John McNeill, "is not to be obtained at your finger-ends." + +If you are filled with the Word of God, there will not be any doubts. A +lady said to me once, "Don't you have any doubts?" No, I don't have +time--too much work to be done. Some people live on doubt. It is their +stock in trade. I believe the reason there are so many Christians who +are without the full evidence of the relationship, with whom you only +see the Christian graces cropping out every now and then, is that the +Bible is not taken for doctrine, reproof and instruction. + +PROVING. + +Now the request comes: "I wish you would prove to me that the Bible is +true." The Book will prove itself if you will let it; there is living +power in it. "For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because +when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it +not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which +effectually worketh also in you that believe." It does not need defence +so much as it needs studying. It can defend itself. It is not a sickly +child that needs nursing. A Christian man was once talking to a skeptic +who said he did not believe the Bible. The man read certain passages, +but the skeptic said again, "I don't believe a word of it." The man kept +on reading until finally the skeptic was convicted; and the other added: +"When I have proved a good sword, I keep using it." That is what we want +to-day. It is not our work to make men believe: that is the work of the +Holy Spirit. + +CONVICTED--LOST--SAVED. + +A man once sat down to read it an hour each evening with his wife. In a +few evenings he stopped in the midst of his reading and said: "Wife, if +this Book is true, we are wrong." He read on, and before long, stopped +again and said: "Wife, if this Book is true, we are lost." Riveted to +the Book and deeply anxious, he still read on, and soon exclaimed: +"Wife, if this Book is true, we may be saved." It was not many days +before they were both converted. This is the one great end of the Book, +to tell man of God's great salvation. Think of a book that can lift up +our drooping spirits, and recreate us in God's image! + +It is an awful responsibility to have such a book and to neglect its +warnings, to reject its teachings. It is either the savour of death unto +death, or of life unto life. What if God should withdraw it, and say: "I +will not trouble you with it any more?" + +CAN'T UNDERSTAND. + +You ask what you are going to do when you come to a thing you cannot +understand. I thank God there is a height in that Book I do not know +anything about, a depth I have never been able to fathom, and it makes +the Book all the more fascinating. If I could take that Book up and read +it as I can any other book and understand it at one reading, I should +have lost faith in it years ago. It is one of the strongest proofs that +that Book must have come from God, that the acutest men who have dug for +fifty years have laid down their pens and said, "There is a depth we +know nothing of." "No scripture," said Spurgeon, "is exhausted by a +single explanation. The flowers of God's garden bloom, not only double, +but seven-fold: they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance." A +man came to me with a difficult passage some time ago and said, "Moody, +what do you do with that?" "I do not do anything with it." "How do you +understand it?" "I do not understand it." "How do you explain it?" "I do +not explain it." "What do you do with it?" "I do not do anything." "You +do not believe it, do you?" "Oh, yes, I _believe_ it." There are lots of +things I do not understand, but I believe them. I do not know anything +about higher mathematics, but I believe in them. I do not understand +astronomy, but I believe in astronomy. Can you tell me why the same kind +of food turns into flesh, fish, hair, feathers, hoofs, finger-nails +--according as it is eaten by one animal or another? A man told me a +while ago he could not believe a thing he had never seen. I said, +"Man, did you ever see your brain?" + +Dr. Talmage tells the story that one day while he was bothering his +theological professor with questions about the mysteries of the Bible, +the latter turned on him and said: "Mr. Talmage, you will have to let +God know some things you don't." + +A man once said to an infidel: "The mysteries of the Bible don't bother +me. I read the Bible as I eat fish. When I am eating fish and come +across a bone. I don't try to swallow it, I lay it aside. And when I am +reading the Bible and come across something I can't understand, I say, +'There is a bone,' and I pass it by. But I don't throw the fish away +because of the bones in it; and I don't throw my Bible away because of a +few passages I can't explain." + +Pascal said, "Human knowledge must be understood in order to be loved; +but Divine knowledge must be loved to be understood." That marks the +point of failure of most critics of the Bible. They do not make their +brain the servant of their heart. + +CAVILLERS. + +Did you ever notice that the things that men cavil most about are the +very things to which Christ has set His seal? Men say, "You don't +believe in the story of Noah and the flood, do you?" Well, if I give it +up, I must give up the Gospel, I must give up the teachings of Jesus +Christ. Christ believed in the story of Noah, and connected that with His +return to earth. "As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of +the Son of man be." Men say, "You don't believe in the story of Lot and +Sodom, do you?" Just as much as I believe the teachings of Jesus Christ. +"As it was in the days of Lot . . . . . even thus shall it be in the day +when the Son of man is revealed." Men say, "You don't believe in the +story of Lot's wife, do you?" Christ believed it. "Remember Lot's wife." +"You don't believe the story of Israel looking to a brass serpent for +deliverance, do you?" Christ believed it and connected it with His own +cross. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must +the Son of man be lifted up: that whosever believeth in Him should not +perish but have eternal life." Men say, "You don't believe the children +of Israel were fed with manna in the desert, do you?" "Our fathers did +eat manna in the desert; . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses +gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true +bread from heaven." Men say, "You don't believe they drank water that +came out of a rock?" Christ believed it and taught it. Men say, "You +don't believe in the story of Elijah being fed by the widow, do you?" +Certainly. Christ said there were many widows in the days of Elijah, but +Elijah was fed by only one widow. Christ referred to it Himself, He set +His seal to it. The Son of God believed it, and, "shall the servant be +above his master?" + +JONAH AND THE WHALE. + +Men say, "Well, you don't believe in the story of Jonah and the whale, +do you?" I want to tell you I _do_ believe it. A few years ago there was +a man whom some one thought a little unsound, and they didn't want him +to speak on the Northfield platform. I said, "I will soon find out +whether or not he is sound." I asked him, "Do you believe the whale +swallowed Jonah?" "Yes," he said, "I do." I said "All right, then I want +you to come and speak." He came and gave a lecture on Jonah. In Matthew +they twice asked Jesus for a sign, and He said the only sign this +generation shall have shall be the sign of Jonah in the whale's belly. +He connected that with His resurrection, and I honestly believe that if +we overthrow the one, we must overthrow the other. As you get along in +life and have perhaps as many friends on the other side of the river as +you have on this side, you will get about as much comfort out of the +story of the resurrection as any other story in the Bible. Christ had no +doubt about the story. He said His resurrection would be a sign like +that given unto the Ninevites. It was the resurrected man Jonah who +walked through the streets of Nineveh. It must be supposed that the men +of Nineveh had heard of Jonah being thrown overboard and swallowed by a +great fish. I think it is a master-stroke of Satan to make us doubt the +resurrection. But these modern philosophers have made a discovery. They +say a whale's throat is no larger than a man's fist, and it is a +physical impossibility for a whale to swallow a man. The book of Jonah +says that _God prepared a great fish_ to swallow Jonah. Couldn't God +make a fish large enough to swallow Jonah? If God could create a world, +I think He could create a fish large enough to swallow a _million_ men. +As the old woman said, "Could He not, if He chose, prepare a man that +could swallow a whale?" A couple of these modern philosophers were going +to Europe some time ago, and a Scotch friend of mine was on board who +knew his Bible pretty well. They got to talking about the Bible, and one +of them said: "I am a scientific man, and I have made some investigation +of that Book, and I have taken up some of the statements in it, and I +have examined them, and I pronounce them untrue. There is a statement in +the Bible that Balaam's ass spoke. I have taken pains to examine the +mouth of an ass and it is so formed that it could not speak." My friend +stood it as long as he could and then said, "Eh, mon, you make the ass +and I will make him speak." The idea that God could not speak through +the mouth of an ass! + +CLIPPING THE BIBLE. + +There is another class. It is quite fashionable for people to say, "Yes, +I believe the Bible, but not the supernatural. I believe everything that +corresponds with this reason of mine." They go on reading the Bible with +a pen-knife, cutting out this and that. Now, if I have a right to cut +out a certain portion of the Bible, I don't know why one of my friends +has not a right to cut out another, and another friend to cut out +another part, and so on. You would have a queer kind of Bible if +everybody cut out what he wanted to. Every adulterer would cut out +everything about adultery; every liar would cut out everything about +lying; every drunkard would be cutting out what he didn't like. Once, a +gentleman took his Bible around to his minister's and said, "That is +your Bible." "Why do you call it _my_ Bible?" said the minister. "Well," +replied the gentleman, "I have been sitting under your preaching for +five years, and when you said that a thing in the Bible was not +authentic, I cut it out." He had about a third of the Bible cut out; all +of Job, all of Ecclesiastes and Revelation, and a good deal besides. The +minister wanted him to leave the Bible with him; he didn't want the rest +of his congregation to see it. But the man said, "Oh, no! I have the +covers left, and I will hold on to them." And off he went holding on to +the covers. If you believed what some men preach, you would have nothing +but the covers left in a few months. I have often said that if I am +going to throw away the Bible, I will throw it all into the fire at +once. There is no need of waiting five years to do what you can do as +well at once. I have yet to find a man who begins to pick at the Bible +that does not pick it all to pieces in a little while. A minister whom I +met awhile ago said to me, "Moody, I have given up preaching except out +of the four Gospels. I have given up all the Epistles, and all the Old +Testament; and I do not know why I cannot go to the fountain head and +preach as Paul did. I believe the Gospels are all there is that is +authentic." It was not long before he gave up the four Gospels, and +finally gave up the ministry. He gave up the Bible, and God gave him up. + +A prophet who had been sent to a city to warn the wicked, was commanded +not to eat meat within its walls. He was afterwards deceived into doing +so by an old prophet, who told him that an angel had come to him and +said he might return and eat with him. That prophet was destroyed by a +lion for his disobedience. If an angel should come and tell a different +story from that in the Book, don't believe it. I am tired and sick of +people following men. It is written, "though an angel from heaven preach +any other gospel, let him be accursed." Do you think with more light +before us than the prophet had that we can disobey God's Word with +impunity? + +THE SUPERNATURAL IN THE BIBLE. + +It is a most absurd statement for a man to say he will have nothing to +do with the supernatural, will not believe the supernatural. If you are +going to throw off the supernatural, you might as well burn your Bibles +at once. You take the supernatural out of that Book and you have taken +Jesus Christ out of it, you have taken out the best part of the Book. +There is no part of the Bible that does not teach supernatural things. +In Genesis it says that Abraham fell on his face and God talked with +him. That is supernatural. If that did not take place, the man who wrote +Genesis wrote a lie, and out goes Genesis. In Exodus you find the ten +plagues which came upon Egypt. If that is not true, the writer of Exodus +was a liar. Then in Leviticus it is said that fire consumed the two sons +of Aaron. That was a supernatural event, and if that was not true we +must throw out the whole book. + +In Numbers is the story of the brazen serpent. And so with every book in +the Old Testament; there's not one in which you do not find something +supernatural. There are more supernatural things about Jesus Christ than +in any other portion of the Bible, and the last thing a man is willing +to give up is the four Gospels. Five hundred years before His birth, the +angel Gabriel came down and told Daniel that He should be born. "And +whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen +in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me +about the time of the evening oblation." Again, Gabriel comes down to +Nazareth and tells the Virgin that she should be the mother of the +Saviour. "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son, +and shalt call his name Jesus." We find, too, that the angel went into +the temple and told Zacharias that he was to be the father of John the +Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah; Zacharias was struck dumb for +nine months because of his unbelief. Then when Christ was born, we find +angels appearing to the shepherds at Bethlehem, telling them of the +birth of the Saviour. "Unto you is born this day in the city of David a +Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." The wise men seeing the star in the +east and following it was surely supernatural. So was the warning that +God sent to Joseph in a dream, telling him to flee to Egypt. So was the +fact of our Lord's going into the temple at the age of twelve, +discussing with the doctors, and being a match for them all. So were the +circumstances attending His baptism, when God spake from heaven, saying: +"This is my beloved Son." For three and a half years Jesus trod the +streets and highways of Palestine. Think of the many wonderful miracles +that He wrought during those years. One day He speaks to the leper and +he is made whole; one day He speaks to the sea and it obeys Him. When He +died the sun refused to look upon the scene; this old world recognized +Him and reeled and rocked like a drunken man. And when He burst asunder +the bands of death and came out of Joseph's sepulchre, that was +supernatural. Christmas Evans, the great Welsh preacher, says: "Many +reformations die with the reformer, but this reformer ever lives to +carry on His reformation." Thank God we do not worship a dead Jew. If we +worshipped a dead Jew, we would not have been quickened and have +received life in our souls. I thank God our Christ is a supernatural +Christ, and this Book a supernatural Book, and I thank God I live in a +country where it is so free that all men can read it. + +Some people think we are deluded, that this is imagination. Well, it is +a glorious imagination, is it not? It has lasted between thirty and +forty years with me, and I think it is going to last while I live, and +when I go into another world. Some one, when reading about Paul, said he +was mad. Well, it was replied, if he was he had a good keeper on the +way, and a good asylum at the end of the route. I wish we had a lot of +mad men in America just now like Paul. + +INSPIRATION. + +When Paul wrote to Timothy that _all_ Scripture was given by inspiration +of God and was profitable, he meant what he said. "Well," some say, "do +you believe all Scripture is given by inspiration?" Yes, every word of +it; but I don't believe all the actions and incidents it tells of were +inspired. For instance, when the devil told a lie he was not inspired to +tell a lie, and when a wicked man like Ahab said anything, he was not +inspired; but some one was inspired to write it, and so all was given by +inspiration and is profitable. + +Inspiration must have been verbal in many, if not in all, cases. Peter +tells us, regarding salvation through the sufferings of Christ: + +"Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, +who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. Searching what or +what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, +when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory +that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, +but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto +you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost +sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into." + +So that the prophets themselves had to enquire and search diligently +regarding the words they uttered under the inspiration of the Spirit. + +A man said to a young convert: "How can you prove that the Bible is +inspired?" He replied, "Because it inspires me." I think that is pretty +good proof. Let the Word of God into your soul, and it will inspire you, +it can not help it. + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +_The Old and the New Testaments_. + +I WANT to show how absurd it is for anyone to say he believes the New +Testament and not the Old. It is a very interesting fact that of the +thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, it is recorded that our Lord +made quotations from no less than twenty-two. Very possibly He may have +quoted from all of them; for we have only fragments reported of what He +said and did. You know the Apostle John tells us that the world could +scarcely contain the books that could be written, if all the sayings and +doings of our Lord were recorded. About eight hundred and fifty passages +in the Old Testament are quoted or alluded to in the New; only a few +occurring more than once. + +In the Gospel by Matthew there are over a hundred quotations from twenty +of the books in the Old Testament. In the Gospel of Mark there are +fifteen quotations taken from thirteen of the books. In the Gospel of +Luke there are thirty-four quotations from thirteen books. In the Gospel +of John there are eleven quotations from six books. In the four Gospels +alone there are more than one hundred and sixty quotations from the Old +Testament. You sometimes hear men saying they do not believe all the +Bible, but they believe the teaching of Jesus Christ in the four +Gospels. Well, if I believe that, I have to accept these hundred and +sixty quotations from the Old Testament. In Paul's letter to the +Corinthians there are fifty-three quotations from the Old Testament; +sometimes he takes whole paragraphs from it. In Hebrews there are +eighty-five quotations, in that one book of thirteen chapters. In +Galatians, sixteen quotations. In the book of Revelation alone, there +are two hundred and forty-five quotations and allusions. + +A great many want to throw out the Old Testament. It is good historic +reading, they say, but they don't believe it is a part of the Word of +God, and don't regard it as essential in the scheme of salvation. The +last letter Paul wrote contained the following words: "And that from a +child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are _able to make thee +wise unto salvation_ through faith which is in Christ Jesus." All the +Scriptures which the apostles possessed were the Old Testament. + +When skeptics attack its truths, these find it convenient to say, "Well, +we don't endorse all that is in the Old Testament," and thus they avoid +an argument in defence of the Scriptures. It is very important that +every Christian should not only know what the Old Testament teaches, but +he should accept its truths, because it is upon this that truth is +based. Peter said the Scriptures are not given for any private +interpretation, and in speaking of the Scriptures, referred to the Old +Testament and not to the New. + +If the Old Testament Scriptures are not true, do you think Christ would +have so often referred to them, and said the Scriptures must be +fulfilled? When told by the tempter that He might call down the angels +from heaven to interpose in His behalf, he said: "Thus it is written." +Christ gave Himself up as a sacrifice that the Scriptures might be +fulfilled. Was it not said that He was numbered with the transgressors? +And when He talked with two of His disciples by the way journeying to +Emmaus, after His resurrection, did He not say: "Ought not these things +to be? am I not to suffer?" And beginning at Moses He explained unto +them in all the Scriptures concerning Himself, for the one theme of the +Old Testament is the Messiah. In Psalm 40:7, it says: "In the volume of +the book it is written of me." "What _Book?_" asks Luther, "and what +_Person?_ There is only one book--the Bible; and only one person--Jesus +Christ." Christ referred to the Scriptures and their fulfillment in Him, +not only after He arose from the dead, but in the book of Revelation He +used them in Heaven. He spoke to John of them on the Isle of Patmos, and +used the very things in them that men are trying to cast out. He never +found fault with or rejected them. + +If Jesus Christ could use the Old Testament, let us use it. May God +deliver us from the one-sided Christian who reads only the New Testament +and talks against the Old! + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"My Word shall not Pass Away"--Printing the Revised Version in +Chicago--Circulation of the Bible. + +CHRIST speaking of the law, said: "One jot or one tittle shall in no +wise pass from the law until all be fulfilled." In another place He +said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass +away." Now, let us keep in mind that the only Scripture the apostles and +Christ had was the Old Testament. The New Testament was not written. I +will put that as the old and new covenant. "One jot or tittle of the law +shall in no wise pass away until all be fulfilled,"--the old covenant; +and then Christ comes and adds these words: "Heaven and earth shall pass +away, but my Word shall not pass away,"--the new covenant. Now, notice +how that has been fulfilled. There was no short-hand reporter following +Him around taking down His words; there were no papers to print the +sermons, and they wouldn't have printed His sermons if there had been +any daily papers--the whole church and all the religious world were +against Him. I can see one of your modern free-thinkers standing near +Him, and he hears Christ say: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my +Word shall not pass away." I see the scornful look on his face as he +says: "Hear that Jewish peasant talk! Did you ever hear such conceit, +such madness? He says Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his Word +shall not pass away." My friend, I want to ask you this question--have +they passed away? Do you know that the sun has shone on more Bibles +to-day than ever before in the history of the world? There have been +more Bibles printed in the last ten years than in the first eighteen +hundred years. They tried in the dark ages to chain it, and keep it from +the nations, but God has preserved it, and the British and American +Bible Societies print thousands of Bibles every day. One house in New +York has sold one hundred thousand Oxford Bibles during the last year. + +PRINTING THE REVISED VERSION. + +Suppose some one had said that when we had a revised version of the New +Testament, it was going to have such a large circulation--men reading it +wherever the English language is spoken--the statement would hardly have +been believed. The new version came out in New York on a Friday--on the +same day that it was published in London. Chicago did not want to be +behind New York. At that time the quickest train between the two cities +could not accomplished the journey in less than about twenty-six hours. +It would be late on Saturday afternoon before the copies could reach +Chicago, and the stores would be closed. So one of the Chicago daily +papers set ninety operators at work and had the whole of the new +version, from Matthew to Revelation, telegraphed to Chicago on Friday; +it was put at once into print and sold on the streets of that city next +day. If some one had said years ago, before telegraphs were introduced, +that this would be done, it would have been thought an impossibility. +Yet it has been done. + +Notwithstanding all that skeptics and infidels say against the old Book, +it goes on its way. These objectors remind one of a dog barking at the +moon; the moon goes on shining just the same. Atheists keep on writing +against the Bible; but they do not make much progress, do they? It is +being spread all abroad--silently, and without any blasts of trumpets. +The lighthouse does not blow a trumpet; it goes on shedding its light +all around. So the Bible is lighting up the nations of the earth. It is +said that a lecturer on Secularism was once asked, "Why can't you let +the Bible alone, if you don't believe it?" The honest reply was at once +made, "Because the Bible won't let me alone." + +CIRCULATION OF THE BIBLE. + +The Bible was about the first book ever printed, and to-day New +Testaments are printed in three hundred and fifty-three different +languages, and are going to the very corners of the earth. Wherever the +Bible has not been translated, the people have no literature. It will +not be long before the words of Jesus Christ will penetrate the darkest +parts of the earth, and the darkest islands of the sea. When Christ +said, "The Scriptures can not be broken," He meant every word He said. +Devil and man and hell have been in league for centuries to try to break +the Word of God, but they can not do it. If you get it for your footing, +you have good footing for time and eternity. "Heaven and earth shall +pass away, but my Word shall not pass away." My friends, that Word is +going to live, and there is no power in perdition or earth to blot it +out. + +What we want to-day is men who believe in it from the crown of their +heads to the soles of their feet, who believe the whole of it, the +things they understand and the things they do not understand. Talk about +the things you understand, and leave the things you do not. I believe +that is one reason why the English and the Scotch Christians have got +ahead of us, because they study the whole Bible. I venture to say that +there are hundreds of Bible readings in London every night. You know +there are a good many Christians who are good in spots and mighty poor +in other spots, because they do not take the whole sweep of the Bible. +When I went to Scotland I had to be very careful how I quoted the Bible. +Some friend would tell me after the meeting I was quoting it wrong. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Fulfilled Prophecy--Unexplored +Country--Babylon--Tyre--Jerusalem--Egypt--The Jew. + +I KNOW nothing that will upset an honest skeptic quicker than _fulfilled +prophecy_. There are very few Christians who think of studying this +subject. They say that prophecies are so mysterious, and there is +question about their being fulfilled. Now the Bible does not say that +prophecy is a dark subject, to be avoided; but rather that "we have a +more _sure word_ of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as +unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the +daystar arise in your hearts." Prophecy is history unfulfilled, and +history is prophecy fulfilled. + +When I was a boy I was taught that all beyond the Mississippi river was +the great American desert. But when the first pick-axe struck into the +Comstock lode, and they took out more than one hundred million dollars' +worth of silver, the nation realized that there was no desert: and +to-day that part of the country--Nevada, Colorado, Utah and other +western states--is some of the most valuable we possess. Think of the +busy cities and flourishing states that have sprung up among the +mountains! So with many portions of the Bible: people never think of +reading them. They are living on a few verses and chapters. The greater +part of the Bible was written by prophets, yet you never hear a sermon +preached on prophecy. + +Between five and six hundred Old Testament prophecies have been +remarkably and literally fulfilled, and two hundred in regard to Jesus +Christ alone. Not a thing happened to Jesus Christ that was not +prophesied from seventeen hundred to four hundred years before He was +born. + +Take the four great cities that existed in the days when the Old +Testament was written, and you will find that prophecies regarding them +have been fulfilled to the letter. Let me call your attention to a few +passages. + +BABYLON. + +First regarding Babylon--"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty +of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and +Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from +generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; +neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of +the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful +creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And +the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and +dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her +days shall not be prolonged." And again: "The word that the Lord spake +against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the +Prophet. Declare ye among the nations, and publish and set up a +standard; publish and conceal not; say, Babylon is taken, Bel is +confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her +images are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh a nation +against her; which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell +therein; they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast." +"Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it +shall be wholly desolate; every one that goeth by Babylon shall be +astonished, and hiss at all her plagues." "How is the hammer of the +whole earth cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation +among the nations! I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art taken, oh +Babylon, and thou wast not aware; thou art found, and also caught, +because thou hast striven against the Lord." + +A hundred years before Nebucadnezzar ascended the throne, it was +foretold how Babylon should be destroyed, and it came to pass. Scholars +tell us that the city stood in the midst of a large and fruitful plain. +It was enclosed by a wall four hundred and eighty furlongs square. Each +side of the square had twenty gates of solid brass, and at every corner +was a strong tower, ten feet higher than the wall. The wall was +eighty-seven feet broad, and three hundred and fifty feet high. These +figures give us an idea of the importance of Babylon. Yet nothing but +ruins now remain to tell of its former grandeur. When Babylon was in its +glory, the queen of the earth, prophets predicted that it would be +destroyed; and how literally was it fulfilled! + +A friend going through the valley of the Euphrates tried to get his +dragoman to pitch his tent near the ruins, and failed. No Arabian +pitches his tent there, no shepherd will dwell near the ruins. + +NINEVEH. + +Now take Nineveh. "And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make +thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to +pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, +Nineveh is laid waste; who will bemoan her? Whence shall I seek +comforters for thee?" Now, how are you going to cover the city up? "I +will cast upon her abominable filth." How are you going to cast +abominable filth upon the city? And yet for 2,500 years Nineveh was +buried and an abominable filth lay upon her. But now they have dug up +the ruins, and brought them to Paris and London, and you go into the +British museum, and there is not a day except the Sabbath but what you +can see men from all parts of the world gazing upon the ruins. It is +just as the prophets prophesied. For 2,500 years Nineveh was buried, but +it is no longer buried. + +TYRE. + +Then look at Tyre: "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am +against thee, Oh Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against +thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy +the walls of Tyrus and break down her towers; I will also scrape her +dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place +for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it, +saith the Lord God, and it shall become a spoil to the nations." Coffin, +who was correspondent of the Boston _Journal_ during the war, went round +the world after the war was over in '68. One night he came to the site +of old Tyre, and he said the sun was just going down, and he got his +dragoman to pitch his tent right over by the ruins, where the rocks were +scraped bare, and he took out his Bible and read where it says, "It +shall be a place for the spreading of nets." He said the fishermen had +done fishing and were just spreading their nets or the rocks of Tyre, +precisely as it was prophesied hundreds and hundreds of years before. +Now mark you! When they prophesied against these great cities, they were +like London, Paris and New York in their glory, but their glory has +gone. + +JERUSALEM. + +Now take the prophecy in regard to Jerusalem: "And when He was come +near, He beheld the city, and wept over it saying, If thou hadst known, +even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy +peace: But now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come +upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and +compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side." Didn't Titus do +that? Didn't the Roman Emperor do that very thing? "And shall lay thee +even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not +leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time +of thy visitation." + +I have read of two Rabbis going up to Jerusalem, and they saw a fox +playing upon the wall; one began to weep when he thus looked at the +desolation of Zion. The other smiled and rebuked him, saying that the +spectacle was a proof that the Word of God was true, and that this was +one of the prophecies which should be fulfilled--"Because of the +mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it." It was +also said that Jerusalem should be as a ploughed field. This prophecy +has also been fulfilled. The modern city is so restricted that outside +of the walls, where part of the old city stood, the plough has been +used. + +EGYPT. + +Now take the prophecies regarding Egypt: "It shall be the basest of the +kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; for +I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations." +Now, mark you! Egypt was in its glory when this was prophesied. It was a +great and mighty empire, but for centuries it has been the basest of all +nations. They have not got a native prince or king to reign over them. +The man that is reigning over them now is not an Egyptian, but he is +some foreigner, and so it has been. + +THE JEWS. + +Then, again, the prophecy of Balaam with regard to the Jews has been +already greatly fulfilled. "Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall +not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and +the number of the fourth _part_ of Israel?" The Jews were not to be +reckoned amongst the nations. There is something in this people's looks +and habits that God continues to perpetuate, just, as I believe, to make +them witnesses in every land of the truth of the Bible. + +The race has remained all these centuries separate and distinct from +other nations. In America there are all kinds of nationalities. Take an +Irishman, and in a generation he will have forgotten his nationality. +So, too, with the Germans, Italians, and French; but the Jew is as much +a Jew as he was when he came over one hundred years ago. See how the +race has been persecuted, yet the Jews control the finances of the world +and can not be kept down. Egypt, Edom, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Rome, +and all the leading nations of the earth have sought to crush out the +Jews. Frederick the Great said, "Touch them not, for no one has done so +and prospered." The people are the same now as they were in the days of +Pharaoh, when he tried to destroy all the male children. The prophecy is +fulfilled--God has made the nation numerous and united. The time is +coming when God will reinstate the Jew. "For the children of Israel +shall abide many days without a King, and without a Prince, and without +a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without +teraphim." Are they not without a King, without a nation, and without a +sacrifice? Are they not scattered among the nations of the earth, a +separate and distinct people? and they do not bow down to idols. Their +last King they crucified, and they will never have another until they +restore Him. He was Jesus Christ, as inscribed upon His cross, "The King +of the Jews." + +OTHER PROPHECIES. + +We see how it was prophesied that Eli should suffer. He was God's own +high priest, and the only thing against him was that he did not obey +God's word faithfully and diligently. He was like a good many nowadays. +He was one of these good-natured old men who don't want to make people +uncomfortable by saying unpleasant things, so he let his two boys go on +in neglect, and did not restrain them. He was just like some ministers. +Oh! let every minister tell the truth, though he preach himself out of +his pulpit. Everything went all right for twenty years, but then came +fulfilment of the prophecy. God's ark was taken, the army of Israel was +routed by the Philistines; Hophni and Phineas, old Eli's two sons, were +killed, and when the old man heard of it, he fell back in his chair, +broke his neck and died. So with King Ahab, taking the sinful advice of +Jezebel. Naboth would not sell him that piece of land, so they got him +out of the way. Three years afterwards the dogs licked Ahab's blood from +his chariot in the very spot where Naboth's had been murderously shed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Text Preaching and Expository Preaching--Peter and Paul at +Jerusalem--Oratorical Preaching + +HERE is a word of counsel for young men who have their eye on the +ministry. If you take my advice, you will seek not to be a text +preacher, but an expository preacher. I believe that what this country +wants is the Word of God. There is no book that will draw the people +like the Bible. One of the professors of the Chicago University gave +some lectures on the Book of Job, and there was no building large enough +to hold the people. If the Bible only has a chance to speak for itself, +it will interest the people. I am tired and sick of moral essays. It +would take about a ton of them to convert a child five years old. A man +was talking of a certain church once, and said he liked it because the +preacher never touched on politics and religion--just read nice little +essays. Give the people the Word of God. Some men only use the Bible as +a text book. They get a text and away they go. They go up in a balloon +and talk about astronomy, and then go down and give you a little +geology, and next Sunday they go on in the same way, and then they +wonder why it is people do not read their Bibles. I used to think +Charles Spurgeon was about as good a preacher as I ever knew, but I used +to rather hear him expound the Scripture than listen to all his sermons. +Why is it that Dr. John Hall has held his audience so long? He opens his +Bible and expounds. How was it that Andrew Bonar held his audience in +Glasgow? He had a weak voice, people could hardly hear him, yet thirteen +hundred people would file into his church twice every Sabbath, and many +of them took notes, and they would go home and send his sermons all over +the world. It was Dr. Bonar's custom to lead his congregation through +the study of the Bible, book by book. There was not a part of the Bible +in which he could not find Christ. I preached five months in Glasgow, +and there was not a ward or a district in the city in which I did not +find the influence of that man. + +A REMINISCENCE OF DR. ANDREW BONAR. + +I was in London in '84 and a barrister had come down from Edinburgh. He +said he went through to Glasgow a few weeks before to spend Sunday, and +he was fortunate enough to hear Andrew Bonar. He said he happened to be +there the Sunday Dr. Bonar got to that part of the Epistle of Galatians +where it says that Paul went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. "Then after +three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him +fifteen days." He let his imagination roam. He said one day he could +imagine they had been very busy and they were tired, and all at once +Peter turned to Paul and said, "Paul, wouldn't you like to take a little +walk?" And Paul said he would. So they went down through the streets of +Jerusalem arm in arm, over the brook Cedron, and all at once Peter +stopped and said, "Look, Paul, this is the very spot where He wrestled, +and where He suffered and sweat great drops of blood. There is the very +spot where John and James fell asleep, right there. And right here is +the very spot where I fell asleep. I don't think I should have denied +Him if I hadn't gone to sleep, but I was overcome. I remember the last +thing I heard Him say before I fell asleep was, 'Father, let this cup +pass from me if it is Thy will.' And when I awoke an angel stood right +there where you are standing, talking to Him, and I saw great drops of +blood come from His pores and trickle down His cheeks. It wasn't long +before Judas came to betray Him. And I heard Him say to Judas so kindly, +'Betrayest thou the Master with a kiss?' And then they bound Him and led +Him away. That night when He was on trial I denied Him." He pictured the +whole scene. And the next day Peter turned again to Paul and said, +"Wouldn't you like to take another walk to-day?" And Paul said he would. +That day they went to Calvary, and when they got on the hill, Peter +said, "Here, Paul this is the very spot where He died for you and me. +See that hole right there? That is where His cross stood. The believing +thief hung there and the unbelieving thief there on the other side. Mary +Magdalene and Mary His mother stood there, and I stood away on the +outskirts of the crowd. The night before when I denied Him, He looked at +me so lovingly that it broke my heart, and I couldn't bear to get near +enough to see Him. That was the darkest hour of my life. I was in hopes +that God would intercede and take Him from the cross. I kept listening +and I thought I would hear His voice." And he pictured the whole scene, +how they drove the spear into His side and put the crown of thorns on +His brow, and all that took place. + +And the next day Peter turned to Paul again and asked him if he wouldn't +like to take another walk. And Paul said he would. Again they passed +down the streets of Jerusalem, over the brook Cedron, over Mount Olivet, +up to Bethphage, and over on to the slope near Bethany. All at once +Peter stopped and said, "Here, Paul, this is the last place where I ever +saw Him. I never heard Him speak so sweetly as He did that day. It was +right here He delivered His last message to us, and all at once I +noticed that His feet didn't touch the ground. He arose and went up. All +at once there came a cloud and received Him out of sight. I stood right +here gazing up into the heavens, in hopes I might see Him again and hear +Him speak. And two men dressed in white dropped down by our sides and +stood there and said, 'Ye men of Galilee, why stand Ye gazing into +heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so +come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.'" + +My friends, I want to ask you this question: Do you believe that picture +is overdrawn? Do you believe Peter had Paul as his guest and didn't take +him to Gethsemane, didn't take him to Calvary and to Mount Olivet? I +myself spent eight days in Jerusalem, and every morning I wanted to +steal down into the garden where my Lord sweat great drops of blood. +Every day I climbed Mount Olivet and looked up into the blue sky where +He went to His Father. I have no doubt, Peter took Paul out on those +three walks. If there had been a man that could have taken me to the +very spot where thy Master sweat those great drops of blood, do you +think I wouldn't have asked him to take me there? If he could have told +me where I could find the spot where my Master's feet last touched this +sin-cursed earth and was taken up, do you think I wouldn't have had him +show it to me? + +ORATORICAL PREACHING. + +I know there is a class of people who say that kind of preaching won't +do in this country. "People want something oratorical." Well, there is +no doubt but that there are some who want to hear oratorical sermons, +but they forget them inside of twenty-four hours. + +It a good thing for a minister to have the reputation of feeding his +people. A man once made an artificial bee, which was so like a real bee +that he challenged another man to tell the difference. It made just such +a buzzing as the live bee, and looked the same. The other said, "You put +an artificial bee and a real bee down there, and I will tell you the +difference pretty quickly." He then put a drop of honey on the ground +and the live bee went for the honey. It is just so with us. There are a +lot of people who profess to be Christians, but they are artificial, and +they don't know when you give them honey. The real bees go for honey +every time. People can get along without your theories and opinions, +"Thus saith the Lord"--that is what we want. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Reading and Studying--At Family Prayers--A Word in Season--Helpful +Questions. + +MERELY reading the Bible is not what God wants. Again and again I am +exhorted to "search." + +"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received +the word with all readiness of mind, and _searched_ the Scriptures +daily, whether those things were so." + +"So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the +sense, and caused them to understand the reading." + +We must study it thoroughly, and hunt it through, as it were, for some +great truth. If a friend were to see me searching about a building, and +were to come up and say, "Moody, what are you looking for? have you lost +something?" and I answered, "No, I haven't lost anything; I'm not +looking for anything particular," I fancy he would just let me go on by +myself, and think me very foolish. But if I were to say, "Yes, I have +lost a dollar," 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. + +I used at one time to read so many chapters a day, and if I did not get +through my usual quantity I thought I was getting cold and backsliding. +But, mind you, if a man had asked me two hours afterward 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 hoe corn on a farm; and I used to hoe +it so badly, in order 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 do not think there is a book +in the world we neglect so much as the Bible. + +FAMILY WORSHIP. + +Now, when you read the Bible at family worship or for private devotions, +look for suitable passages. What would you think of a minister who went +into the pulpit on Sunday and opened the Bible at hazard and commenced +to read? Yet this is what most men do at family prayers. They might as +well go into a drug store and swallow the first medicine their eye +happens to see. Children would take more interest in family prayers if +the father would take time to search for some passage to suit the +special need. For instance, if any member of the family is about to +travel, read Psalm 121. In time of trouble, read Psalm 91. When the +terrible accident happened to the "Spree" as we were crossing the +Atlantic in November, 1892, and when none on board ship expected to live +to see the light of another sun, we held a prayer-meeting, at which I +read a portion of Psalm 107: + +"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters; + +These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. + +For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the +waves thereof. + +They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their +soul is melted because of trouble. + +They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their +wits' end. + +Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out +of their distresses. + +He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. + +Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their +desired haven. + +Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderful +works to the children of men!" + +A lady came to me afterwards and said I made it up to suit the occasion. + +HELPFUL QUESTIONS. + +I have seen questions that will help one to get good out of every verse +and passage of Scripture, They may be used in family worship, or in +studying the Sabbath School lesson, or for prayer meeting, or in private +reading. It would be a good thing if questions like these were pasted in +the front of every Bible: + +1. What persons have I read about, and what have I learned about them? + +2. What places have I read about, and what have I read about them? If +the place is not mentioned, can I find out where it is? Do I know its +position on the map? + +3. Does the passage refer to any particular time in the history of the +children of Israel, or of some leading character? + +4. Can I tell from memory what I have just been reading? + +5. Are there any parallel passages or texts that throw light on this +passage? + +6. Have I read anything about God the Father? or about Jesus Christ? or +about the Holy Spirit? + +7. What have I read about myself? about man's sinful nature? about the +spiritual new nature? + +8. Is there any duty for me to observe? any example to follow? any +promise to lay hold of? any exhortation for my guidance? any prayer that +may echo? + +9. How is this Scripture profitable for doctrine? for reproof? for +correction? for instruction in righteousness? + +10. Does it contain the gospel in type or in evidence? + +11. What is the key verse of the chapter or passage? Can I repeat it +from memory? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +How to Study the Bible--Feeding one's self--The Best Law--Three Books +Every Christian Should Possess--The Bible in the Sabbath School. + +SOMEONE has said that there are four things necessary in studying the +Bible: Admit, submit, commit and transmit. First, admit its truth; +second, submit to its teachings; third, commit it to memory; and fourth, +transmit it. If the Christian life is a good thing for you, pass it on +to some one else. + +Now I want to tell you how I study the Bible. Every man cannot fight in +Saul's armor; and perhaps you cannot follow my methods. Still I may be +able to throw out some suggestions that will help you. Spurgeon used to +prepare his sermon for Sunday morning on Saturday night. If I tried +that, I would fail. + +FEED YOURSELF. + +The quicker you learn to feed yourself the better. I pity down deep in +my heart any men or women who have been attending some church or chapel +for, say five, ten, or twenty years, and yet have not learned to feed +themselves. + +You know it is always regarded a great event in the family when a child +can feed itself. It is propped up at table, and at first perhaps it uses +the spoon upside down, but by and by it uses it all right, and mother, +or perhaps sister, claps her hands and says, "Just see, baby's feeding +himself!" Well, what we need as Christians is to be able to feed +ourselves. How many there are who sit helpless and listless, with open +mouths, hungry for spiritual things, and the minister has to try to feed +them, while the Bible is a feast prepared, into which they never +venture. + +There are many who have been Christians for twenty years who have still +to be fed with an ecclesiastical spoon. If they happen to have a +minister who feeds them, they get on pretty well; but if they have not, +they are not fed at all. This is the test as to your being a true child +of God--whether you love and feed upon the Word of God. If you go out to +your garden and throw down some sawdust, the birds will not take any +notice; but if you throw down some crumbs, you will find they will soon +sweep down and pick them up. So the true child of God can tell the +difference, so to speak, between sawdust and bread. Many so-called +Christians are living on the world's sawdust, instead of being nourished +by the Bread that cometh down from heaven. Nothing can satisfy the +longings of the soul but the Word of the living God. + +THE LAW OF PERSEVERANCE. + +The best law for Bible study is the law of perseverance. The Psalmist +says, "I have _stuck_ unto thy testimonies." Application to the Word +will tend to its growth within and its multiplication without. Some +people are like express-trains, they skims along so quickly that they +see nothing. + +I met a lawyer in Chicago who told me he had spent two years in studying +up one subject; he was trying to smash a will. He made it his business +to read everything on wills he could get. Then he went into court and he +talked two days about that will; he was full of it; he could not talk +about anything else but wills. That is the way with the Bible--study it +and study it, one subject at a time, until you become filled with it. + +Read the Bible itself--do not spend all your time on commentaries and +helps. If a man spent all his time reading up the chemical constituents +of bread and milk, he would soon starve. + +THREE BOOKS REQUIRED. + +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 +which you have to hold right under your nose in order 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 one will 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. If you get a good Bible you +are likely to take better care of it. Suppose you pay ten dollars for a +good Bible, the older you grow the more precious it will become to you. +But be sure you do not get one so good that you will be afraid to mark +it. I don't like gilt-edged Bibles that look as if they had never been +used. + +Then next I would advise you to get a Cruden's Concordance. I was a +Christian about five years before I ever heard of it. A skeptic in +Boston got hold of me. I didn't know anything about the Bible and I +tried to defend the Bible and Christianity. He made a misquotation and I +said it wasn't in the Bible: I hunted for days and days. If I had had a +concordance I could have found it at once. It is a good thing for +ministers once in a while to tell the people about a good book. You can +find any portion or any verse in the Bible by just turning to this +concordance. + +Thirdly, a Topical Text Book. These books will help you to study the +Word of God with profit. If you do not possess them, get them at once; +every Christian ought to have them.[1] + +SUNDAY SCHOOL QUARTERLIES AND THE BIBLE. + +I think Sunday school teachers are making a woeful mistake if they don't +take the whole Bible into their Sunday school classes. I don't care how +young children are, let them understand it is one book, that there are +not two books--the Old Testament and the New are all one. Don't let them +think that the Old Testament doesn't come to us with the same authority +as the New. It is a great thing for a boy or girl to know how to handle +the Bible. What is an army good for if they don't know how to handle +their swords? I speak very strongly on this, because I know some Sabbath +schools that don't have a single Bible in them. They have question +books. There are questions and the answers are given just below; so that +you don't need to study your lesson. They are splendid things for lazy +teachers to bring along into their classes. I have seen them come into +the class with a question book, and sometimes they get it wrong side up +while they are talking to the class, until they find out their mistake, +and then they begin over again. I have seen an examination take place +something like this: + +"John, who was the first man?" + +"Methuselah." + +"No; I think not; let me see. No, it is not Methuselah. Can't you guess +again?" + +"Elijah." + +"No." + +"Adam." + +"That's right, my son; you must have studied your lesson hard." + +Now, I would like to know what a boy is going to do with that kind of a +teacher, or with that kind of teaching. That is the kind of teaching +that is worthless, and brings no result. Now, don't say that I condemn +helps. I believe in availing yourself of all the light you can get. What +I want you to do, when you come into your classes, is to come prepared +to explain the lesson without the use of a concordance. Bring the word +of God with you; bring the old Book. + +You will often find families where there is a family Bible, but the +mother is so afraid that the children will tear it that she keeps it in +the spare room, and once in a great while the children are allowed to +look at it. The thing that interests them most is the family +record--when John was born, when father and mother were married. + +I came up to Boston from the country and went into a Bible class where +there were a few Harvard students. They handed me a Bible and told me +the lesson was in John. I hunted all through the Old Testament for John, +but couldn't find it. I saw the fellows hunching one another, "Ah, +greenie from the country." Now, you know that is just the time when you +don't want to be considered green. The teacher saw my embarrassment and +handed me his Bible, and I put my thumb in the place and held on. I +didn't lose my place. I said then that if I ever got out of that scrape, +I would never be caught there again. Why is it that so many young men +from eighteen to twenty cannot be brought into a Bible class? Because +they don't want to show their ignorance. There is no place in the world +that is so fascinating as a live Bible class. I believe that we are to +blame that they have been brought up in the Sunday school without Bibles +and brought up with quarterlies. The result is, the boys are growing up +without knowing how to handle the Bible. They don't know where Matthew +is, they don't know where the Epistle to the Ephesians is, they don't +know where to find Hebrews or any of the different books of the Bible. +They ought to be taught how to handle the whole Bible, and it can be +done by Sunday school teachers taking the Bible into the class and going +right about it at once. You can get a Bible in this country for almost a +song now. Sunday schools are not so poor that they cannot get Bibles. +Some time ago there came up in a large Bible class a question, and they +thought they would refer to the Bible, but they found that there was not +a single one in the class. A Bible class without a Bible! It would be +like a doctor without physic; or an army without weapons. So they went +to the pews, but could not find one there. Finally they went to the +pulpit and took the pulpit Bible and settled the question. We are making +wonderful progress, aren't we? Quarterlies are all right in their +places, as helps in studying the lesson, but if they are going to sweep +the Bibles out of our Sunday schools, I think we had better sweep them +out. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The Telescopic and Microscopic Methods--Job--The Four +Gospels--Acts--Psalm 52:1. + +THERE are two opposite ways to study the Bible. One is to study it with +a telescope, taking a grand sweep of a whole book and trying to find out +God's plan in it; the other, with a microscope, taking up a verse at a +time, dissecting it, analyzing it. 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. + +THE BOOK OF JOB. + +An Englishman once remarked to me: "Mr Moody, did you ever notice this, +that the book of Job is the key to the whole Bible? If you understand +Job you will understand the entire Bible!" "No," I said, "I don't +comprehend that. Job the key to the whole Bible! How do make that out?" +He said: "I divide Job into seven heads. The first head is: _A perfect +man untried_. That is what God said about Job; that is Adam in Eden. He +was perfect when God put him there. The second head is: _Tried by +adversity_. Job fell, as Adam fell in Eden. The third head is: _The +wisdom of the world_. The world tried to restore Job; the three wise men +came to help him. That was the wisdom of the world centred in those +three men. You can not," said he, "find any such eloquent language or +wisdom anywhere, in any part of the world, as those three men displayed, +but they did not know anything about grace, and could not, therefore, +help Job." That is just what men are trying to do; and the result is +that they fail; the wisdom of man never made man any better. These three +men did not help Job; they made him more unhappy. Some one has said the +first man took him, and gave him a good pull; then the second and third +did the same; the three of them had three good pulls at Job, and then +flat down they fell. "Then in the fourth place," said he, "in comes _the +Daysman_, that is Christ. 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. +The seventh head is this, that _God restores him_." Thank God, it is so +with us, and our last state is better than our first. + +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; God +had taken them to heaven, and He gave Job ten more. So Job had ten in +Heaven, and ten on earth--a goodly family. So when our children are +taken from us, they are not lost to us, but merely gone before. + +Now, let me take you through the four Gospels. Let us begin with +Matthew. + +MATTHEW. + +Men sometimes tell me when I go into a town: "You want to be sure and +get such a man on your committee, for he has nothing to do and he will +have plenty of time." I say: "No, thank you, I do not want any man that +has nothing to do." Christ found Matthew sitting at the receipt of +custom. The Lord took some one He found at work, and he went right on +working. We do not know much about what he did, except that he wrote +this Gospel. But, what a book! Where Matthew came from we do not know, +and where he went to we do not know. His old name, Levi, dropped with +his old life. + +The Key. The Messiah of the Jews and the Saviour of the world. Supposed +to have been written about twelve years after the death of Christ, and +to be the first Gospel written. It contains the best account of the life +of Christ. You notice that it is the last message of God to the Jewish +nation. Here we pass from the old to the new dispensation. + +Matthew does not speak of Christ's ascension, but leaves Him on earth. + +Mark gives His resurrection and ascension. + +Luke gives His resurrection, ascension and the promise of a comforter. + +John goes a step further and says he is coming back. + +There are more quotations in Matthew than in any of the others; I think +there are about a hundred. He is trying to convince the Jews that Jesus +was the son of David, the rightful king. He talked a good deal about the +_kingdom_, its mysteries, the example of the kingdom, healing the sick, +etc., the principles of the kingdom as set forth in the sermon on the +mount; also, the rejection of the king. When anyone takes a kingdom they +lay down the principles upon which they are going to rule or conduct it. + +Now, let me call your attention to five great sermons. In these you have +a good sweep of the whole book: + +1. The sermon on the mount. See how many things lying all around Him He +brings into His sermon, salt, light, candle, coat, rain, closet, moth, +rust, thieves, eye, fowls, lilies, grass, dogs, bread, fish, gate, +grapes, thorns, figs, thistles, rock, etc. + +Someone, in traveling through Palestine, said that he did not think +there was a solitary thing there that Christ did not use as an +illustration. So many people in these days are afraid to use common +things, but don't you think it is better to use things that people can +understand, than to talk so that people can't understand you? Now, a +woman can easily understand a candle, and a man can easily understand +about a rock, especially in a rocky country like Palestine. Christ used +common things as illustrations, and spoke so that everyone could +understand Him. A woman in Wales once said she knew Christ was Welsh, +and an Englishman said, "No, He was a Jew." She declared that she knew +He was Welsh, because He spoke so that she could understand Him. Christ +did not have a short-hand reporter to go around with Him to write out and +print His sermons, and yet the people remembered them. Never mind about +finished sentences and rounded periods, but give your attention to +making your sermons clear so that they stick. Use bait that your hearers +will like. + +The Law was given on a mountain, and here Christ lays down His +principles on a mountain. The law of Moses applies to the outward acts, +but this sermon applies to the inward life. As the sun is brighter than +a candle, so the sermon on the mount is brighter than the law of Moses. +It tells us what kind of Christians we ought to be--lights in the world, +the salt of the world, silent in our actions but great in effect. + +"I say unto you," occurs twelve times in this sermon. + +2. The second great sermon was delivered to the twelve in the tenth +chapter. You find over and over again the sayings in this sermon are +quoted by men viz.: "Shake off the dust off your feet against them." +"Freely ye have received, freely give," etc. + +3. The open air sermon. You want the best kind of preaching on the +street. You have to put what you say in a bright, crisp way, if you +expect people to listen. + +You must learn to think on your feet. There was a young man preaching on +the streets in London when an infidel came up and said: "The man who +invented gas did more for the world than Jesus Christ." The young man +could not answer him and the crowd had the laugh on him. But another man +got up and said: "Of course the man has a right to his opinion, and I +suppose if he was dying he would send for the gasfitter, but I think I +should send for a minister and have him read the fourteenth chapter of +John;" and he turned the laugh back on the man. + +This sermon contains seven parables. It is like a string of pearls. + +4. The sermon of woes; Christ's last appeal to the Jewish nation. +Compare these eight woes with the nine beatitudes. You notice the +closing up of this sermon on woes is the most pathetic utterance in the +whole ministry of Christ. "Your house is left unto you desolate." Up to +that time it had been "_My Father's_ house," or "_My_ house," but now it +is "_your house_." It was not long until Titus came and leveled it to +the ground. Abraham never loved Isaac more than Jesus loved the Jewish +nation. It was hard for Abraham to give up Isaac, but harder for the Son +of God to give up Jerusalem. + +5. The fifth sermon was preached to His disciples. How little did they +understand Him! When His heart was breaking with sorrow, they drew His +attention to the buildings of the temple. + +The first sermon was given on the mount; the second and third at +Capernaum; the fourth in the Temple; the fifth on Olivet. + +In Matthew's Gospel there is not a thing in hell, heaven, earth, sea, +air or grave that does not testify of Christ as the Son of God. Devils +cried out, fish entered the nets under His influence, wind and wave +obeyed Him. + +Summary:--Nine beatitudes; eight woes; seven consecutive parables; ten +consecutive miracles; five continuous sermons; four prophecies of His +death. + +MARK. + +The four Gospels are independent of each other, no one was copied from +the other. Each is the complement of the rest, and we get four views of +Christ, like the four sides of a house. + +Matthew writes for Jews. + +Mark writes for Romans. + +Luke writes for Gentile converts. + +You don't find any long sermons in Mark. The Romans were quick and +active, and he had to condense things in order to catch them. You'll +find the words "Forthwith," "Straightway," "Immediately," occur +forty-one times in this gospel. Every chapter but the first, seventh, +eighth and fourteenth begins with "And," as if there was no pause in +Christ's ministry. + +Luke tells us that Christ received little children, but Mark says He +took them up in His arms. That makes it sweeter to you, doesn't it? + +Perhaps the high water mark is the fifth chapter. Here we find three +very bad cases, devils, disease and death, beyond the reach of man, +cured by Christ. The first man was possessed with devils. They could not +bind him, or chain or tame him. I suppose a good many men and women had +been scared by that man. People are afraid of a graveyard even in +daylight, but think of a live man being in the tombs and possessed with +devils! He said: "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the +most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not." But Jesus +had come to do him good. + +Next, the woman with the issue of blood. If she had been living to-day, +I suppose she would have tried every patent medicine in the market. We +would have declared her a hopeless case and sent her to the hospital. +Some one has said: "There was more medicine in the hem of His garment +than in all the apothecary shops in Palestine." She just touched Him and +was made whole. Hundreds of others touched Him, but they did not get +anything. Can you tell the difference between the touch of faith and the +ordinary touch of the crowd? + +Thirdly, Jarius' daughter raised. You see the manifestation of Jesus' +power is increasing, for when He arrived the child was dead and He +brought her to life. I do not doubt but that away back in the secret +councils of eternity it was appointed that He should be there just at +that time. I remember once being called to preach a funeral sermon, and +looked the four gospels through to find one of Christ's funeral sermons, +but do you know He never preached one? He broke up every funeral He +ever attended. The dead awaked when they heard His voice. + +LUKE. + +We now come to Luke's gospel. You notice his name does not occur in this +book or in Acts. (You will find it used three times, viz.; in +Colossians, Timothy and Philemon). He keeps himself in the background. +I meet numbers of Christian workers who are ruined by getting their +names up. We do not know whether Luke was a Jew or a Gentile. + +The first we see of him is in Acts 16:10 "And after he had seen the +vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly +gathering that the Lord had called _us_ for to preach the gospel unto +them." He did not claim to be an eye-witness to Christ's ministry nor +one of the seventy. Some think he was, but he does not claim it. It is +supposed that his gospel is of Paul's preaching, the same as Mark's, was +of Peter. It is also called the Gospel of the Gentiles, and is supposed +to have been written when Paul was in Rome, about 27 years after Christ. +One-third of this gospel is left out in the other gospels. It opens with +a note of praise: "And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall +rejoice at His birth;" "And they worshipped Him, and returned to +Jerusalem with great joy. And were continually in the temple, praising +and blessing God;" and closes the same way. + +Canon Farrar has pointed out that we have a seven-fold gospel in Luke: + +1. It is a gospel of praise and song. We find here the songs of +Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon, the angels, and others. Some one has +written beautifully of Simeon as follows: "What Simeon wanted to see was +the Lord's Christ. Unbelief would suggest to him, 'Simeon you are an old +man, your day is almost ended, the snow of age is upon your head, your +eyes are growing dim, your brow is wrinkled, your limbs totter, and +death is almost upon you: and where are the signs of His coming? You are +resting, Simeon, upon imagination--it is all a delusion.' 'No,' replied +Simeon, 'I shall not see death till I have seen the Lord's Christ; I +shall see Him before I die.' I can imagine Simeon walking out one fine +morning along one of the lovely vales of Palestine, meditating upon the +great subject that filled his mind. Presently he meets a friend: 'Peace +be with you; have you heard the strange news? What news?' replies +Simeon. 'Do you not know Zacharias the priest?' 'Yes, well.' 'According +to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense in the +temple of the Lord, and the whole multitude of the people were praying +without. It was the time of incense, and there appeared unto him an +angel, standing on the right side of the altar, who told him that he +should have a son, whose name should be called John; one who should be +great in the sight of the Lord, who should go before the Messiah and +make ready a people prepared for the Lord. The angel was Gabriel who +stands in the presence of God, and because Zacharias believed not, he +was struck dumb.' 'Oh,' says Simeon, 'that fulfills the prophecy of +Malachi. This is the forerunner of the Messiah: this is the morning +star: the day dawn is not for off: the Messiah is nigh at hand. +Hallelujah! The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple!' Time rolls on. +I can imagine Simeon accosted again by one of his neighbors: 'Well, +Simeon, have you heard the news?' 'What news?' 'Why there's a singular +story in everybody's mouth. A company of shepherds were watching their +flocks by night on the plains of Bethlehem. It was the still hour of +night, and darkness mantled the world. Suddenly a bright light shone +around the shepherds, a light above the brightness of the midday sun. +They looked up, and just above them was an angel who said to the +terrified shepherds, Fear not, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, +which shall be to all people!' 'This is the Lord's Christ,' said Simeon, +'and I shall not taste death till I have seen him.' He said to himself, +'They will bring the child to the Temple to present Him to the Lord.' + +Away went Simeon, morning after morning, to see if he could get a +glimpse of Jesus. Perhaps unbelief suggested to Simeon, 'You had better +stop at home this wet morning: you have been so often and have missed +Him: you may venture to be absent this once.' 'No,' said the Spirit, 'go +to the Temple.' Simeon would no doubt select a good point of +observation. See how intently he watches the door! He surveys the face +of every child as one mother after another brings her infant to be +presented. 'No,' he says, 'That is not He.' At length he sees the Virgin +appear, and the Spirit tells him it is the long-expected Saviour. He +grasps the child in his arms, presses him to his heart, blesses God and +says: 'Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to +Thy word. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast +prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, +and the glory of Thy people Israel.'" + +2. It is a gospel of thanksgiving. They glorified God when Jesus healed +the widow's son at Nain, when the blind man received sight, etc. + +3. It is a gospel of prayer. We learn that Christ prayed when he was +baptised, and nearly every great event in His ministry was preceded by +prayer. If you want to hear from Heaven you must seek it on your knees. +There are two parables about prayer--the friend at midnight and the +unjust judge. + +4. Here is another thing that is made prominent, namely, the gospel of +womanhood. Luke alone records many loving things Christ did for women. +The richest jewel in Christ's crown was what he did for women. A man +tried to tell me that Mohammed had done more for women than Christ. I +told him that if he had ever been in Mohammedan countries, he would be +ashamed of himself for making such a remark. They care more for their +donkeys than they do for their wives and mothers. + +A man once said that when God created life He began at the lowest forms +of animal life and came up until He got to man, then he was not quite +satisfied and created a woman. She was lifted up the highest, and when +she fell, she fell the lowest. + +5. This is the gospel of the poor and humble. When I get a crowd of +roughs on the street I generally teach from Luke. Here are the +shepherds, the peasant, the incident of the rich man and Lazarus. This +gospel tells us He found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of +the Lord is upon me--to preach the gospel to the poor." It is a dark day +for a church when it gets out that they do not want the common people. +Whitfield labored among the miners, and Wesley among the common people. +If you want the poor, let it get out that you want them to come. + +6. It is a gospel to the lost. The woman with the seven devils, the +thief on the cross illustrate this. Also, the parables of the lost +sheep, the lost piece of silver, and the lost son. + +7. It is a gospel of tolerance. + +"He that winneth souls is wise." Do you want to win men? Do not drive or +scold them. Do not try to tear down their prejudices before you begin to +lead them to the truth. Some people think they have to tear down the +scaffolding before they begin on the building. An old minister once +invited a young brother to preach for him. The latter scolded the +people, and when he got home, asked the old minister how he had done. He +said he had an old cow, and when he wanted a good supply of milk, he fed +the cow; he did not scold her. + +Christ reached the publicans because nearly everything he said about +them was in their favor. Look at the parable of the Pharisee and +publican. Christ said the publican went down to his house justified +rather than that proud Pharisee. How did He reach the Samaritans? Take +the parable of the ten lepers. Only one returned to thank Him for the +healing, and that was a Samaritan. Then there is the parable of the Good +Samaritan. It has done more to stir people up to philanthropy and +kindness to the poor than anything that has been said on this earth for +six thousand years. Go into Samaria and you find that story has reached +there first. Some man has been down to Jerusalem and heard it, and gone +back home and told it all around; and they say "If that Prophet ever +comes up here, we'll give Him a hearty reception." If you want to reach +people that do not agree with you, do not take a club to knock them down +and then try to pick them up. When Jesus Christ dealt with the erring +and the sinners, He was as tender with them as a mother is with her sick +child. A child once said to his mother, "Mamma, you never speak ill of +any one. You would speak well of Satan." "Well," said the mother, "you +might imitate his perseverance." + +JOHN. + +John was supposed to be the youngest disciple, and was supposed to be +the first of all that Christ had to follow Him. He is called the bosom +companion of Christ. Someone was complaining of Christ's being partial. +I have no doubt that Christ did love John more than the others, but it +was because John loved him most. I think John got into the inner circle, +and we can get in too if we will. Christ keeps the door open and we can +just go right in. You notice nearly all his book is new. All of the +eight months Christ spent in Judea are recorded here. + +Matthew begins with Abraham; Mark with Malachi; Luke with John the +Baptist; but John with God Himself. + +Matthew sets forth Christ as the Jew's Messiah. + +Mark as the active worker. + +Luke as a man. + +John as a personal Saviour. + +John presents Him as coming from the bosom of the Father. The central +thought in this gospel is proving the divinity of Christ. If I wanted to +prove to a man that Jesus Christ was divine, I would take him directly +to this gospel. The word _repent_ does not occur once, but the word +_believe_ occurs ninety-eight times. The controversy that the Jews +raised about the divinity of Christ is not settled yet, and before John +went away he took his pen and wrote down these things to settle it. + +A seven-fold witness to the divinity of Christ: + +1. Testimony of the Father. "The Father that sent me beareth witness of +me." + +2. The Son bearing testimony. "Jesus answered and said unto them, Though +I bear record of myself, yet my record is true; for I know whence I +came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I came, and whither I +go." + +3. Christ's works testify: "If I do not the works of my Father, believe +me not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works, that +ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in Him." + +No man can make me believe that Jesus Christ was a bad man; because He +brought forth good fruit. How any one can doubt that He was the Son of +God after eighteen centuries of testing is a mystery to me. + +4. The Scriptures: "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, +for he wrote of me." + +5. John the Baptist: "And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of +God." + +6. The Disciples: "And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been +with me from the beginning." + +7. The Holy Ghost: "But when the comforter is come, whom I will send +unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth +from the Father, he shall testify of me." + +Of course there many others that show His divinity, but I think these +are enough to prove it to any man. If I went into court and had seven +witnesses that could not be broken down, I think I would have a good +case. + +Notice the "I am's" of Christ. + +"I am from above." + +"I am not of this world." + +"Before Abraham was, I am." + +"I am the bread of life." + +"I am the light of the world." + +"I am the door." + +"I am the Good Shepherd." + +"I am the way." + +"I am the truth." Pilate asked what truth was, and there it was standing +right before him. + +"I am the resurrection and the life." + +In the gospel of John, we find eight gifts for the believer: the bread +of life; the water of life; eternal life; the Holy Spirit; love; joy; +peace; His words. + +ACTS. + +A good lesson to study is how all through the book of Acts defeat was +turned to victory. When the early Christians were persecuted, they went +every where preaching the Word. That was a victory, and so on all +through. + +Luke's gospel was taken up with Christ in the body, Acts with Christ in +the church. In Luke we read of what Christ did in His humiliation, and +in Acts what He did in His exaltation. With most men, their work stops +at their death, but with Christ it had only begun. "Greater works than +these shall ye do, because I go to My Father." We call this book the +"Acts of the Apostles," but it is really the "Acts of the Church +(Christ's body)." + +You will find the key to the book in chapter 1:8: "But ye shall receive +power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be +witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, +and unto the uttermost part of the earth." + +We would not have seen the struggles of that infant church if it had not +been for Luke. We would not have known much about Paul either if it had +not been for Luke. + +There were four rivers flowing out of Eden; here we have the four +gospels flowing into one channel. + +Three divisions of the Acts:-- + +I. Founding of the church. + +II. Growth of the church. + +III. Sending out of missionaries. + +I believe that the nearer we keep to the apostles' way of presenting the +gospel, the more success we will have. + +Now there are ten great sermons in Acts, and I think if you get a good +hold on these you will have a pretty good understanding of the book and +how to preach. Five were preached by Peter, one by Stephen and four by +Paul. The phrase, "We are witnesses," runs through the entire book. We +say, to-day, "We are eloquent preachers." We seem to be above being +simple witnesses. + +I. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. Someone said that now it +takes about three thousand sermons to convert one Jew, but here three +thousand were converted by one sermon. When Peter testified of Christ +and bore witness that he had died and had risen again, God honored it, +and he will do the same with you. + +II. Peter preaches in Solomon's porch. A short sermon, but it did good +work. They did not get there till three o'clock, and I believe the Jews +could not arrest a man after sundown, and yet in that short space of +time five thousand were converted. What did he preach? Listen: + +"But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be +granted unto you; + +And killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead: +whereof we are witnesses. + +Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted +out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the +Lord." + +III. Peter preaches to the high priests. They had arrested them and were +demanding to know by what power they did these things. "By the name of +Jesus Christ, . . . doth this man stand here before you whole." When +Bunyan was told he would be released if he would not preach any more, he +said, "If you let me out I will preach to-morrow." + +IV. Peter's testimony before the council. They commanded them not to +preach in the name of Christ. I don't know what they could do if they +were forbidden that. Some ministers to-day would have no trouble; they +could get along very well. About all the disciples knew was what they +had learned in those three years with Jesus, hearing His sermons and +seeing His miracles. They saw the things and knew they were so, and when +the Holy Ghost came down upon them, they could not help but speak them. + +V. Stephen's sermon. He preached the longest sermon in Acts. Dr. Bonar +once said, "Did you ever notice, Brother Whittle, that when the Jews +accused Stephen of speaking blasphemous words against Moses, the Lord +lit up his face with the same glory with which Moses' face shone?" + +An old Scotch beadle once warned his new minister, "You may preach as +much as ye like about the sins of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but stick to +them and don't come any nearer hand if ye want to stay here." Stephen +began with them, but he came right down to the recent crucifixion, and +stirred them up. + +VI. Peter's last sermon and the first sermon to the Gentiles. Notice the +same gospel is preached to the Gentiles as to the Jews, and it produces +the same results. "To him give all the prophets witness, that through +His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. +While Peter spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which +heard the word." + +Now the leading character changes and Paul comes on. + +VII. Paul's sermon at Antioch, in Pisidia. An old acquaintance once said +to me, "What are you preaching now? I hope you are not harping on that +old string yet." Yes, thank God, I am spreading the old gospel. If you +want to get people to come to hear you, lift up Christ; He said, "I, if +I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." "Be it known unto you, +therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you +the forgiveness of sins." + +VIII. Paul's sermon to the Athenians. He got fruit at Athens by +preaching the same old gospel to the philosophers. + +IX. Paul's sermon at Jerusalem. + +X. Paul's defence before Agrippa. I think that is the grandest sermon +Paul ever preached. He preached the same gospel before Agrippa and +Festus that he did down in Jerusalem. He preached everywhere the mighty +fact that God gave Christ as a ransom for sin, that the whole world can +be saved by trusting in Him. + +"Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, +witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those +which the prophets and Moses did say should come: + +That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should +rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people and to the +Gentiles." + +THE MICROSCOPIC METHOD. + +Let me show what I mean by the microscopic method by taking the first +verse of Psalm 52: "Why boastest thou thyself in iniquity, O mighty man? +The goodness of God endureth continually." This verse naturally falls +into two divisions, on the one side being--man, on the other--God. +Man--mischief; God--goodness. Is any particular man addressed? Yes: Doeg +the Edomite, as the preface to the psalm suggests. You can therefore +find the historic reference of this verse and Psalm in 1 Samuel 22:9. +Now take a concordance or topical text-book, and study the subject of +"boasting." What words mean the same thing as "boasting"? One is +glorifying. Is boasting always condemned? In what does Scripture forbid +us to boast? In what are we exhorted to boast? "Thus saith the Lord: Let +not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the rich man glory in his +riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this: that he understandeth +and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindness, +judgment and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, +saith the Lord." Treat the subject "mischief," in a similar manner. Then +ask yourself is this boasting, this mischief, always to last? No: "the +triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for +a moment." "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself +like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: Yea, I +sought him, but he could not be found." The other half of the text +suggests a study of goodness (or mercy) as an attribute of God. How is it +manifested temporally and spiritually? What Scripture have we for it? Is +God's goodness conditional? Does God's goodness conflict with His +justice? Now, as the end of Bible study as well as of preaching is to +save men, ask yourself is the Gospel contained in this text in type or +in evidence? Turn to Romans 2:4: "Despiseth thou the riches of his +goodness and forbearance and long suffering: not knowing that _the +goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?_" Here the verse leads +directly to the subject of repentance, and you rise from the study of +the verse ready at any time to preach a short sermon that may be the +means of converting some one. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +One Book at a Time--Chapter Study--The Gospel of John. + +I KNOW some men who never sit down to read a book until they have time +to read the whole of it. When they come to Leviticus or Numbers, or any +of the other books, they read it right through at one sitting. They get +the whole sweep, and then they begin to study it chapter by chapter. +Dean Stanley used to read a book through three separate times: first for +the story, second for the thought, and third for the literary style. It +is a good thing to take one whole book at a time. + +How could you expect to understand a story or a scientific text-book if +you read one chapter here and another there? + +Dr. A. T. Pierson says: Let the introduction cover five P's; place where +written; person by whom written; people to whom written; purpose for +which written; period at which written. + +Here it is well to grasp the leading points in the chapters. The method +is illustrated by the following plan by which I tried to interest the +students at Mt. Hermon school and the Northfield Seminary. It provides +a way of committing Scripture to memory, so that one can call up a +passage to meet the demand whenever it arises. I said to the students +one morning at worship: "To-morrow morning when I come I will not read a +portion of Scripture, but we will take the first chapter of the Gospel +of John and you shall tell me from memory what you find in that chapter +and each learn the verse in it that is most precious to you." We went +through the Whole book that way and committed a verse or two to +memory-out of each one. + +I will give the main headings we found in the chapters. + +THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, BY CHAPTERS. + +Chapter 1. The call of the first five disciples. + +It was about four o'clock in the afternoon that John stood and said, +"Behold, the Lamb of God." Two of John's disciples then followed Jesus, +and one of them, Andrew, went out and brought his brother Simon. Then +Jesus found Philip, as he was starting for Galilee, and Philip found +Nathaniel, the skeptical man. When he got sight of Christ his skeptical +ideas were all gone. Commit to memory verses 11 and 12: "He came unto +his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him, to +them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe +on his name." Key word, Receiving. + +Chapter 2. "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." We had a good time in +this chapter on Obedience, which is the key word. + +Chapter 3. This is a chapter on Regeneration. It took us more than one +day to get through this one. This gives you a respectable sinner, and +how Jesus dealt with him. Commit verse 16: "God so loved the world, that +He gave His Only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not +perish, but have everlasting life." Key word, Believing. + +Chapter 4. A disreputable sinner, and how Jesus dealt with her. If we +had been dealing with her, we would have told her what Jesus told +Nicodemus, but He took her on her own ground. She came for a water-pot +of water, and, thank God, she got a whole well full. Key word, +Worshipping. Memorize verse 24: "God is a Spirit; and they that worship +him must worship him in spirit and in truth." + +Chapter 5. Divinity of Christ. Commit verse 24: "Verily, verily, I say +unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, +hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is +passed from death unto life." Key word, Healing. + +Chapter 6. We called that the _bread_ chapter. If you want a good loaf +of bread, get into this sixth chapter. You feed upon that bread and you +will live forever. Key verse: Christ the bread of life. "I am the living +bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he +shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I +will give for the life of the world." Key word, Eating. + +Chapter 7 is the _water_ chapter. "If any man thirst let him come unto +me and drink." You have here living water and Christ's invitation to +every thirsty soul to come to drink. Key word, Drinking. + +Chapter 8. The _Light_ chapter. "I am the light of the world." Key, +Walking in the light. But what is the use of having light if you have no +eyes to see with, so we go on to + +Chapter 9. The Sight chapter. There was a man born blind and Christ made +him to see. Key word, Testifying. Memory verse: "I must work the works +of Him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh when no man can +work." + +Chapter 10. Here you find the Good Shepherd. Commit to memory verse 11: +"I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the +sheep." Key word, Safety. + +Chapter 11. The Lazarus chapter. Memorize verse 25: "I am the +resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, +yet shall he live." Key word, Resurrection. + +Chapter 12. Verse 32: "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." +Here Christ closes up his ministry to the Jewish nation. Key word, +Salvation for all. + +Chapter 13. The Humility chapter. Christ washing the feet of his +disciples. Learn verse 34: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye +love one another." Key word, Teaching. + +Chapter 14. The Mansion chapter. Commit to memory verse 6: "I am the +way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." +Key words, Peace and comfort. + +Chapter 15. The Fruit chapter. The vine can only bear fruit through the +branches. Verse 5: "I am the vine; ye are the branches: He that abideth +in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me +you can do nothing." Key word, Joy. + +Chapter 16. The promise of the Holy Ghost. Here you find the secret of +Power, which is the key word. + +Chapter 17. This chapter contains what is properly the "Lord's prayer." +Learn verse 15: "I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the +world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil." Key word, +Separation. + +Chapter 18. Christ is arrested. + +Chapter 19. Christ is crucified. + +Chapter 20. Christ rises from the dead. + +Chapter 21. Christ spends some time with his disciples again, and +invites them to dine with him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Study of Types--Types of Christ--Leprosy a Type of Sin--Bible +Characters--Meaning of Names. + +ANOTHER way of studying is to take five great divisions--History, Type, +Prophecy, Miracle, Parable. + +It is a very interesting thing to study the types of the Bible. Get a +good book on the subject and you will be surprised to find out how +interested you will become. The Bible is full of patterns and types of +ourselves. That is a popular objection against the Bible--that it tells +about the failings of men. We should, however, remember that the object +of the Bible is not to tell how good men are, but how bad men can become +good. But more especially the Bible is full of types of Christ. Types +are foreshadowings, and wherever there is a shadow there must be +substance. As John McNeill says, "If I see the shadow of a dog, I know +there's a dog around." God seems to have chosen this means of teaching +the Israelites of the promised Messiah. All the laws, ceremonies and +institutions of the Mosaic dispensation point to Christ and His +dispensation. The enlightened eyes see Christ in all. For instance, the +tabernacle was a type of the incarnation of Jesus; John 1:14, "and the +word was made flesh, and _tabernacled_ amongst us." The laver typified +sanctification or purity: Ephesians 5:26, "that he might sanctify and +cleanse the Church with the washing of water by the word." The +candlesticks typified Christ as the Light of the world. The shewbread +typified Christ as the Bread of Life. The High Priest was always a type +of Christ. Christ was called of God, as was Aaron; He ever liveth to +make intercession; He was consecrated with an oath, and so on. The +Passover, the Day of Atonement, the Smitten Rock, the sacrifices, the +City of Refuge, the Brazen Serpent--all point to Christ's atoning work. +Adam was a beautiful type. Think of the two Adams. One introduced sin +and ruin into the world, and the other abolished it. So Cain stands as +the representative natural man, and Abel as the spiritual man. Abel as a +shepherd is a type of Christ the heavenly Shepherd. There is no more +beautiful type of Christ in the Bible than Joseph. He was hated of his +brethren; he was stripped of his coat; he was sold; he was imprisoned; +he gained favor; he had a gold chain about his neck; every knee bowed +before him. A comparison of the lives of Joseph and Jesus shows a +startling similarity in their experience. + +The disease of leprosy is a type of sin. It is incurable by man; it +works baneful results; it is insidious in its nature, and from a small +beginning works complete ruin; it separates its victims from their +fellow-men, just as sin separates a man from God; and as Christ had +power to cleanse the leper, so by the grace of God His blood cleanseth +us from all iniquity. + +Adam represents man's innate sinfulness. + +Abel represents Atonement. + +Enoch represents communion. + +Noah represents Regeneration. + +Abraham represents Faith. + +Isaac represents Sonship. + +Jacob represents Discipline and Service. + +Joseph represents Glory through suffering. + +BIBLE CHARACTERS. + +Another good way is to study Bible characters--take them right from the +cradle to the grave. You find that skeptics often take one particular +part of a man's life--say, of the life of Jacob or of David--and judge +the whole by that. They say these men were queer saints; and yet God did +not punish them. If you go right through these men's lives you will find +that God did punish them, according to the sins they committed. + +A lady once said to me that she had trouble in reading the Bible, that +she seemed to not feel the interest she ought. If you don't keep up your +interest in one way, try another. Never think you have to read the Bible +by courses. + +PROPER NAMES. + +Another interesting study is the meaning of proper names. I need hardly +remark that every name in the Bible, especially Hebrew names, has a +meaning of its own. Notice the difference between Abram (a high father), +and Abraham (father of a multitude), and you have a key to his life. +Another example is Jacob (supplanter), and Israel (Prince of God). The +names of Job's three daughters were Jemima (a dove), Kezia (cassia), and +Keren-happuch (horn of paint). These names signify beauty; so that Job's +leprosy left no taint. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Study of +Subjects--Love--Sanctification--Faith--Justification--Atonement +--Conversion--Heaven--Revivals--Separation--Grace--Prayer--Assurance +--God's Promises. + +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 book. If I were going into a court of justice, and +wanted to carry the jury with me, I should 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 to that one thing. And +so it should be with the Scriptures. + +I took up that word "_Love_" and I do not 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 I came in contact with. + +Take _Sanctification_. I would rather take my concordance and gather +passages on sanctification and sit down for four or five days and study +them than have men tell me about it. + +I suppose that if all the time that I have prayed for _Faith_ was put +together, it would be months. I used to say when I was President of the +Young Men's Christian Association in Chicago, "What we want is faith; if +we only have faith, we can turn Chicago upside down"--or rather, right +side up. I thought that some day faith was going to come down, and +strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read +in the tenth chapter of Romans, "Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing +by the Word of God." I had closed my Bible, and prayed for faith. I now +opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever +since. + +Take the doctrine that made Martin Luther such a power, +_Justification_--"The just shall live by faith." When that thought +flashed through Martin Luther's mind as he was ascending the Scala Santa +on his knees (although some people deny the truth of this statement), he +rose and went forth to be a power among the nations of the earth. +Justification puts a man before God as if he had never sinned; he stands +before God like Jesus Christ. Thank God, in Jesus Christ we can be +perfect, but there is no perfection out of Him. God looks in His ledger, +and says, "Moody, your debts have all been paid by Another; there is +nothing against you." + +In New England there is perhaps no doctrine assailed so much as the +_Atonement_. The Atonement is foreshadowed in the garden of Eden; there +is the innocent suffering for the guilty, the animals slain for Adam's +sin. We find it in Abraham's day, in Moses' day; all through the books +of Moses and the prophets. Look at the fifty-third of Isaiah, and at the +prophecy of Daniel. Then we come into the Gospels, and Christ says, "I +lay down My life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, +but I lay it down of Myself." + +CONVERSION. + +People talk about _Conversion_--what is conversion? The best way to find +out is from the Bible. A good many don't believe in sudden conversions. +You can die in a moment. Can't you receive life in a moment? + +When Mr. Sankey and myself were in one place in Europe a man preached a +sermon against the pernicious doctrines that we were going to preach, +one of which was sudden conversion. He said conversion was a matter of +time and growth. Do you know what I do when any man preaches against the +doctrines I preach? I go to the Bible and find out what it says, and if +I am right I give them more of the same kind. I preached more on sudden +conversion in that town than in any town I was in in my life. I would +like to know how long it took the Lord to convert Zaccheus? How long did +it take the Lord to convert that woman whom He met at the well of +Sychar? How long to convert that adulterous woman in the temple, who was +caught in the very act of adultery? How long to convert that woman who +anointed His feet and wiped them with the hairs of her head? Didn't she +go with the word of God ringing in her ears, "Go in peace"? + +There was no sign of Zaccheus being converted when he went up that +sycamore tree, and he was converted when he came down, so he must have +been converted between the branch and the ground. Pretty sudden work, +wasn't it? But you say, "That is because Christ was there." Friends, +they were converted a good deal faster after He went away than when He +was here. Peter preached, and three thousand were converted in one day. +Another time, after three o'clock in the afternoon, Peter and John +healed a man at the gate of the Temple, and then went in and preached, +and five thousand were added to the church before night, and Jews at +that. That was rather sudden work. Professor Drummond describes a man +going into one of our after-meetings and saying he wants to become a +Christian. "Well, my friend, what is the trouble?" He doesn't like to +tell. He is greatly agitated. Finally he says, "The fact is, I have +overdrawn my account"--a polite way of saying he has been stealing. "Did +you take your employer's money?" "Yes." "How much?" "I don't know. I +never kept account of it." "Well, you have an idea you stole $1,500 last +year?" "I am afraid it is that much." "Now, look here, sir, I don't +believe in sudden work; don't you steal more than a thousand dollars +this next year, and the next year not more than five hundred, and in the +course of the next few years you will get so that you won't steal any. +If your employer catches you, tell him you are being converted; and you +will get so that you won't steal any by and by." My friends, the thing +is a perfect farce. "Let him that stole, steal no more," that is what +the Bible says. It is right about face. + +Take another illustration. Here comes a man and he admits that he gets +drunk every week. That man comes to a meeting and he wants to be +converted. I say, "Don't you be in a hurry. I believe in doing the work +gradually. Don't you get drunk and knock your wife down more than once a +month." Wouldn't it be refreshing to your wife to go a whole month +without being knocked down? Once a month, only twelve times in a year! +Wouldn't she be glad to have you converted in this new way! Only get +drunk after a few years on the anniversary of your wedding, and at +Christmas; and then it will be effective because it is gradual. Oh! I +detest, all that kind of teaching. Let us go to the Bible and see what +that old Book teaches. Let us believe it, and go and act as if we +believed it, too. Salvation is instantaneous. I admit that a man may be +converted so that he can not tell when he crossed the line between death +and life, but I also believe a man may be a thief one moment and a saint +the next. I believe a man may be as vile as hell itself one moment, and +be saved the next. + +Christian growth is gradual, just as physical growth is; but a man +passes from death unto everlasting life quick as an act of the mind--"He +that believeth on the Son _hath_ everlasting life." + +People say they want to become heavenly-minded. Well, read about +_heaven_ and talk about it. I once preached on "Heaven," and after the +meeting a lady came to me and said, "Why, Mr. Moody, I didn't know there +were so many verses in the Bible about heaven." And I hadn't taken one +out of a hundred. She was amazed that there was so much in the Bible +about heaven. + +When you are away from home, how you look for news! You skip everything +in the daily paper until your eye catches the name of your own town or +country. Now the Christian's home is in heaven. The Scriptures contain +our title-deeds to everything we shall be worth when we die. If a will +has your name in it, it is no longer a dry document. Why, then, do not +Christians take more interest in the Bible? + +Then, again, people say thy don't believe in _revivals_. There's not a +denomination in the world that didn't spring from a revival. There are +the Catholic and Episcopal churches claiming to be the apostolic +churches and to have sprung from Pentecost; the Lutheran from Martin +Luther, and so on. They all sprung out of revivals, and yet people talk +against revivals! I'd as soon talk against my mother as against a +revival. Wasn't the country revived under John the Baptist? Wasn't it +under Christ's teachings? People think that because a number of +superficial cases of conversion occur at revivals that therefore +revivals ought to be avoided. They forget the parable of the sower, +where Jesus himself warns us of emotional hearers, who receive the word +with joy, but soon fall away. If only one out of every four hearers is +truly converted, as in the parable, the revival has done good. + +Suppose you spend a month on _Regeneration_, or _The Kingdom of God_, or +_The Church_ in the New Testament, or the _divinity of Christ_ or the +_attributes of God_. It will help you in your own spiritual life, and +you will become a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the +word of truth. + +Make a study of the _Holy Spirit_. There are probably five hundred +passages on the Holy Spirit, and what you want is to study this subject +for yourself. Take the _Return of our Lord_. I know it is a controverted +subject. Some say He is to come at the end of the Millennium, others say +this side of the Millennium. What we want is to know what the Bible +says. Why not go to the Bible and study it up for yourself; it will be +worth more to you than anything you get from anyone else. Then +_Separation_. I believe that a Christian man should lead a separated +life. The line between the church and the world is almost obliterated +to-day. I have no sympathy with the idea that you must hunt up an old +musty church record in order to find out whether a man is a member of +the church or not. A man ought to live so that everybody will know he is +a Christian. The Bible tells us to lead a separate life. You may lose +influence, but you will gain it at the same time. I suppose Daniel was +the most unpopular man in Babylon at a certain time, but, thank God, he +has outlived all the other men of his time. Who were the chief men of +Babylon? When God wanted any work done in Babylon, He knew where to find +some one to do it. You can be in the world, but not of it. Christ didn't +take His disciples out of the world, but He prayed that they might be +kept from evil. A ship in the water is all right, but when the water +gets into the ship, then look out. A worldly Christian is just like a +wrecked vessel at sea. + +I remember once I took up the _grace of God_. I didn't know the +difference between law and grace. When that truth dawned upon me and I +saw the difference, I studied the whole week on grace and I got so +filled that I couldn't stay in the house. I said to the first man I met, +"Do you know anything about the grace of God?" He thought I was a +lunatic. And I just poured out for about an hour on the grace of God. + +Study the subject of _Prayer_. "For real business at the mercy seat," +says Spurgeon, "give me a homemade prayer, a prayer that comes out of +the depths of your heart, not because you invented it, but because the +Holy Spirit put it there. Though your words are broken and your +sentences disconnected, God will hear you. Perhaps you can pray better +without words than with them. There are prayers that break the backs of +words; they are too heavy for any human language to carry." + +Some people say, "I do not believe in _Assurance_." I never knew anybody +who read their Bibles who did not believe 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 this subject. 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 questioned about assurance and +doubted whether they were saved or not, and he took up his pen and said, +"I will settle that question;" and he wrote that last verse in the +twentieth chapter of his gospel. + +I have heard some people say that 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 favorite creed or notions; and if it does +not do so, they will not read it. It has been well said that we must not +read the Bible by the blue light of Presbyterianism; nor by the red +light of Methodism; nor by the violet light of Episcopalianism; but by +the light of the Spirit of God. If you will take up your Bible and study +"assurance" for a week, you will soon see it is your privilege to know +that you are a child of God. + +Then take the _promises of God_. Let a man feed for a month on the +promises of God, and he will not talk about his poverty, and how +downcast he is, and what trouble he has day by day. 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 +would spend a month feeding on the precious promises of God, you would +not go 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 sympathizing 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 is 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 can not 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 can not +tell how much they are worth; and that is just my case. All things in +the world are mine; I am joint heir with Jesus the Son of God. Some one +has said, "God makes a promise; Faith believes it; Hope anticipates it; +and Patience quietly awaits it." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Word Study--"Blesseds" of Revelation--"Believings" of John--"The Fear of +the Lord" of Proverbs--Key Words. + +ANOTHER way to study the Bible is to take one word and follow it up with +the help of a concordance. + +Or take just one word that runs through a book. Some time ago I was +wonderfully blessed by taking the seven "_Blesseds_" of the Revelation. +If God did not wish us to understand the book of Revelation, He would +not have given it to us at all. A good many say it is so dark and +mysterious that 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 Bible that tells about the devil being +chained; and as the devil knows that, he goes up and down Christendom +and says, "It is no use your reading Revelation, you can not understand +the book; it is too hard for you." The fact is, he does not want you to +understand about his own defeat. Just look at the _blessings_ the book +contains: + +1. "_Blessed is_ he that readeth, and they that hear the words of +this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the +time is at hand." + +2. "_Blessed_ are the dead which die in the Lord. . . . . Yea, saith the +Spirit, that they may rest from their labors." + +3. "_Blessed_ is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments." + +4. "_Blessed_ are they which are called to the marriage supper of the +Lamb." + +5. "_Blessed_ and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. +On such the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God +and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." + +6. "_Blessed_ is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this +book." + +7. "_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." + +Or you may take the eight "_overcomes_" in Revelation; and you will be +wonderfully blessed by them. They take you right up to the throne of +heaven; you climb by them to the throne of God. + +I have been greatly blessed by going through the "_believings_" of +John. Every chapter but two speaks of believing. As I said before, he +wrote his gospel that we might believe. All through it is "Believe! +_Believe!_" If you want to persuade a man that Christ is the Son of God, +John's gospel is the book for him. + +Take the six "_precious_" things in Peter's Epistles. And the seven +"_walks_" of the Epistle to the Ephesians. And the five "_much mores_" +of Romans V. Or the two "_receiveds_" of John I. Or the seven "_hearts_" +in Proverbs XXIII, and especially an eighth. Or "_the fear of the Lord_" +in Proverbs:-- + +"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. + +The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. + +The fear of the Lord prolongeth days. + +In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence + +The fear of the Lord is a fountain of Life. + +Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and +trouble therewith. + +The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. + +By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. + +The fear of the Lord tendeth to life. + +By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life. + +Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long." + +KEY WORDS. + +A friend gave me some key words recently. He said Peter wrote about +_Hope:_ "When the Chief Shepherd shall appear." The keynote of Paul's +writings seemed to be _Faith_, and that of John's, _Love_. "Faith, hope +and charity," these were the characteristics of the three men, the +key-notes to the whole of their teachings. James wrote of _Good Works_, +and Jude of _Apostasy_. + +In the general epistles of Paul some one suggested the phrase "_in +Christ_." In the book of Romans we find justification by faith _in +Christ_. Corinthians presents sanctification _in Christ_. The book of +Galatians, adoption or liberty _in Christ_. Ephesians presents fulness +_in Christ_. Philippians, consolation _in Christ_. In Colossians we have +completeness _in Christ_. Thessalonians gives us hope _in Christ_. + +Different systems of key words are published by Bible scholars, and it +is a good thing for every one to know one system or other. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Bible Marking--Borrowing and Lending Bibles--Necessity of +Marking--Advantages--How to Mark and What to Mark--Taking Notes--"Four +things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding +wise"--"Every eye shall see Him"--Additional Examples--Suggestions. + +DON'T be afraid to borrow and lend Bibles. Some time ago a man wanted to +take my Bible home to get a few things out of it, and when it came back +I found this noted in it: + +Justification, a change of state, a new standing before God. + +Repentance, a change of mind, a new mind about God. + +Regeneration, a change of nature, a new heart from God. + +Conversion, a change of life, a new life for God. + +Adoption, a change of family, new relationship towards God. + +Sanctification, a change of service, separation unto God. + +Glorification, a new state, a new condition with God. + +In the same hand-writing I found these lines: + +_Jesus only;_ the light of heaven is the face of Jesus. + +The joy of heaven is the presence of Jesus. + +The melody of heaven is the name of Jesus. + +The theme of heaven is the work of Jesus. + +The employment of heaven is the service of Jesus. + +The fulness of heaven is Jesus himself. + +The duration of heaven is the eternity of Jesus. + +BIBLE MARKING: ITS NECESSITY. + +An old writer said that some books are to be tasted, some to be +swallowed, and some to be chewed and digested. The Bible is one that you +can never exhaust. It is like a bottomless well: you can always find +fresh truths gushing forth from its pages. + +Hence the great fascination of constant and earnest Bible study. Hence +also the necessity of marking your Bible. Unless you have an uncommon +memory, you cannot retain the good things you hear. If you trust to your +ear alone, they will escape you in a day or two; but if you mark your +Bible and enlist the aid of your eye, you will never lose them. The same +applies to what you read. + +ITS ADVANTAGES. + +Bible marking should be made the servant of the memory. If properly +done, it sharpens the memory; rather than blunts it, because it gives +prominence to certain things that catch the eye, which by constant +reading you get to learn of by heart. + +It helps you to locate texts. + +It saves you the trouble of writing out notes of your addresses. Once in +the margin, always ready. + +I have carried one Bible with me a great many years. It is worth a good +deal to me, and I will tell you why; because I have so many passages +marked in it, that if I am called upon to speak at any time I am ready. +I have little words marked 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 of England's +army were ordered to India to-morrow, the soldier is ready for the +journey. But we can not be ready if we do not study the Bible. So +whenever you hear a good thing, just put it down, because if it is good +for you it will be good for somebody else; and we should pass the coin +of heaven around just as we do the coin of the realm. + +People tell me they have nothing to say. "Out of the abundance of the +heart, the mouth speaketh." Get full of Scripture and then you can't +help but say it. It says itself. Keep the world out of your heart by +getting full of something else. A man tried to build a flying machine. +He made some wings and filled them with gas. He said he couldn't quite +fly, but the gas was lighter than the air and it helped him over lots of +obstructions. So when you get these heavenly truths, they are lighter +than the air down here and help you over trouble. + +Bible marking makes the Bible a new book to you. If there was a white +birch tree within a quarter of a mile of the home of your boyhood, you +would remember it all your life. Mark your Bible, and instead of its +being dry and uninteresting, it will become a beautiful book to you. +What you see makes a more lasting impression on your memory than what +you hear. + +HOW TO MARK AND WHAT TO MARK. + +There are many methods of marking. Some use six or eight colored inks or +pencils. Black is used to mark texts that refer to sin; red, all +references to the cross; blue, all references to heaven; and so on. +Others invent symbols. When there is any reference to the cross, they +put "+" in the margin. Some write "G", meaning the Gospel. + +There is danger of overdoing this and making your marks more prominent +than the scripture itself. If the system is complicated it becomes a +burden, and you are likely to get confused. It is easier to remember the +text than the meaning of your marks. + +Black ink is good enough for all purposes. I use no other, unless it be +red ink to draw attention to "the blood." + +The simplest way to mark is to underline the words or to make a stroke +alongside the verse. Another good way is to go over the printed letters +with your pen, and make them thicker. The word will then stand out like +heavier type. Mark "only" in Psalm 62 in this way. + +When any word or phrase is oft repeated in a chapter or book, put +consecutive numbers in the margin over against the text. Thus, in the +second chapter of Habakkuk, we find five "woes" against five common +sins; (1) verse 6, (2) verse 9, (3) verse 12, (4) verse 15, (5) verse +19. Number the ten plagues in this way. When there is a succession of +promises or charges in a verse, it is better to write the numbers small +at the beginning of each separate promise. Thus, there is a seven-fold +promise to Abraham in Gen. 12, 2-3: "(1) I will make of thee a great +nation, (2) and I will bless thee, (3) and make thy name great; (4) and +thou shalt be a blessing; (5) and I will bless them that bless thee, (6) +and curse him that curseth thee: (7) and in thee shall all families of +the earth be blessed." In Prov. 1, 22, we have (1) simple ones, (2) +scorners, (3) fools. + +Put a "x" in the margin against things not generally observed: for +example, the laws regarding women wearing men's clothes, and regarding +bird-nesting, in Deut. 22, 5-6; the sleep of the poor man and of the +rich man compared, Ecc. 5, 12. + +I also find it helpful to mark: 1. cross-references. Opposite Gen. 1, 1, +write "Through faith, Heb. 11, 3"--because there we read--"Through faith +we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." Opposite +Gen. 28, 12, write--"An answer to prayer, Gen. 35, 3." Opposite Matt. 6, +33, write "1 Kings 3, 13" and "Lu. 10, 42," which give illustrations of +seeking the kingdom of God first. Opposite Gen. 37, 7, write--"Gen. 50, +18"--which is the fulfilment of the dream. + +2. Railroad connections, that is, connections made by fine lines running +across the page. In Daniel 6, connect "will deliver" (v. 16), "able to +deliver" (v. 20), and "hath delivered" (v. 27). In Ps. 66, connect "come +and see" (v. 5) with "come and hear" (v. 16). + +3. Variations of the Revised Version: thus Romans 8, 26 reads--"the +Spirit Himself" in the R. V., not "itself." Note also marginal readings +like Mark 6, 19, "an inward grudge" instead of "a quarrel." + +4. Words that have changed their meaning; "meal" for "meat" in +Leviticus. Or where you can explain a difficulty: "above" for "upon" in +Num. 11, 31. Or where the English does not bring out the full meaning of +the original as happens in the names of God: "Elohim" in Gen. 1, 1, +"Jehovah Elohim" in Gen. 2, 4, "El Shaddai" in Gen. 17, 1, and so on. + +5. Unfortunate divisions of chapters. The last verse of John 7 +reads--"And every man went unto his own house." Chapter 8 begins "Jesus +went unto the mount of Olives." There ought to be no division of +chapters here. + +6. At the beginning of every book write a short summary of its contents, +something like the summary given in some Bibles at the head of every +chapter. + +7. Key words and key verses. + +8. Make a note of any text that marks a religious crisis in your life. I +once heard Rev. F. B. Meyer preach on 1 Cor. 1, 9, and he asked his +hearers to write on their Bibles that they were that day "called unto +the fellowship of His Son Christ our Lord." + +TAKING NOTES. + +When a preacher gives out a text, mark it; as he goes on preaching, 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 go into some lane or +by-way, and preach them 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 someone say so +and so;" and men will always be glad to hear you if you give them +heavenly food. The world is perishing for lack of it. + +Some years ago I heard an Englishman in Chicago preach from a curious +text: "There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they +are exceeding wise." "Well," said I to myself, "what will you make of +these 'little things'? I have seen them a good many times." Then he went +on speaking: "The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their +meat in the summer." He said God's people are like the ants. "Well," I +thought, "I have seen a good many of them, but I never saw one like me." +"They are like the ants," he said, "because they are laying up treasure +in heaven, and preparing for the future; but the world rushes madly on, +and forgets all about God's command to lay up for ourselves +incorruptible treasures." + +"The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make these their houses in the +rocks." He said, "The conies are very weak things; if you were to throw +a stick at one of them you could kill it; but they are very wise, for +they build their houses in rocks, where they are out of harm's way. And +God's people are very wise, although very feeble; for they build on the +Rock of Ages, and that Rock is 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 by bands." I wondered what he was going to make of that. +"Now God's people," he said, "have no king down here. The world said, +'Caesar is our king;' but he is not _our_ King; our King is the Lord of +Hosts. The locusts went out by bands; so do God's people. Here is a +Presbyterian band, here an Episcopalian band, here a Methodist band, and +so on; but by and by the great King will come and catch up all these +separate bands, and they will all be one; one fold and one Shepherd." +And when I heard that explanation, I said; "I would be like the +locusts." I have become so sick, my friends, of this miserable +sectarianism, that I wish it could all be swept away. + +"Well," he went on again, "the spider taketh hold with her hands, and is +in kings' palaces." When he got to the spider, I said, "I don't like +that at all; I don't like the idea of being compared to a spider." +"But," he said, "If you go into a king's palace, there is the spider +hanging on his gossamer web, and look-down with scorn and contempt on +the gilded salon; he is laying hold of things above. And so every child +of God ought to be like the spider, and lay hold of the unseen things of +God. You see, then, my brethren, we who are God's people are like the +ants, the conies, the locusts, and the spiders, little things, but +exceeding wise." I put that down in the margin of my bible, and the +recollection of it does me as much good now as when I first heard it. + +A friend of mine was in Edinburgh and he heard one of the leading Scotch +Presbyterian ministers. He had been preaching from the text, "Every eye +shall see Him," and he closed up by saying: "Yes, every eye. Adam will +see Him, and when he does he will say: 'This is He who was promised to +me in that dark day when I fell;' Abraham will see Him and will say: +'This is He whom I saw afar off; but now face to face;' Mary will see +Him, and she will sing with new interest that magnificat. And I, too, +shall see Him, and when I do, I will sing: 'Rock of Ages, cleft for me, +Let me hide myself in Thee.'" + +ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES. + +Turn to Exodus 6:6-7-8. In these verses we find seven "I wills." + +_I will_ bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. + +_I will_ rid you out of their bondage. + +_I will_ redeem you with a stretched-out arm. + +_I will_ take you to me for a people. + +_I will_ be to you a God. + +_I will_ bring you in into the land [of Canaan]. + +_I will_ give it to you for a heritage. + +Again: Isaiah 41:10. "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not +dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help +thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." +Mark what God says: + +He is _with_ His servant. + +He is his _God_. + +He will _strengthen_. + +He will _help_. + +He will _uphold_. + +Again: Psalm 103:2: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his +benefits." If you can not remember them all, remember what you can. In +the next three verses there are five things: + +Who _forgiveth_ all thine iniquities. + +Who _healeth_ all thy diseases. + +Who _redeemeth_ thy life from destruction. + +Who _crowneth_ thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. + +Who _satisfieth_ thy mouth with good things. + +We can learn some things about the mercy of the Lord from this same +Psalm: + +v. 4.--Its quality, "tender." + +v. 8.--Its measure, "plenteous." + +v. 11.--Its magnitude, "great," "according to the height of the heaven +above the earth." See margin. + +v. 17.--Its duration, "from everlasting to everlasting." + +Twenty-third Psalm. I suppose I have heard as many good sermons on the +twenty-third Psalm as on any other six verses in the Bible. I wish I had +begun to take notes upon them years ago when I heard the first one. +Things slip away from you when you get to be fifty years of age. Young +men had better go into training at once. + +With me, the Lord. + +Beneath me, green pastures. + +Beside me, still waters. + +Before me, a table. + +Around me, mine enemies. + +After me, goodness and mercy. + +Ahead of me, the house of the Lord. + +"Blessed is the day," says an old divine, "when Psalm twenty-three was +born!" It has been more used than almost any other passage in the Bible. + +v. 1.--A happy life. + +v. 4.--A happy death. + +v. 6.--A happy eternity. + +Take Psalm 102:6-7: "I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an +owl of the desert. I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop." +It seems strange until you reflect that a pelican carries its food with +it, that the owl keeps its eyes open at night, and that the sparrow +watches alone. So the Christian must carry his food with him--the +Bible--and he must keep his eyes open and watch alone. + +Turn to Isaiah 32, and mark four things that God promises in verse 2: +"And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from +the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great +rock in a weary land." There we have:-- + +The hiding place from danger. + +The cover from the tempest. + +Rivers of water. + +The Rock of Ages. + +In the third and fourth verses of the same chapter: "And the eyes of +them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall +hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the +tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly." We have eyes, +ears, heart and tongue, all ready to pay homage to the King of +Righteousness. + +Now turn into the New Testament, John 4:47-53. + +The noble _heard_ about Jesus. + + _went_ unto Him. + _besought_ Him. + _believed_ Him. + _knew_ that his prayer was answered. + +Again: Matthew 11:28-30: + +"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give +you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly +in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, +and my burden is light." Someone has said these verses contain the only +description we have of Christ's heart. + +Something to do, come unto Jesus. + +Something to leave, your burden. + +Something to take, His yoke. + +Something to find, rest unto your soul. + +Again: John 14:6. "I am the way, the truth, and the life." + +The way, follow me. + +The truth, learn of me. + +The life, abide in me. + +SUGGESTIONS. + +Do not buy a Bible that you are unwilling to mark and use. An +interleaved Bible gives more room for notes. + +Be precise and concise: for example, Neh. 13, 18: "A warning from +history." + +Never mark anything because you saw it in some one else's Bible. If it +does not come home to you, if you not understand it, do not put it down. + +Never pass a nugget by without trying to grasp it. Then mark it down. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Personal Work--Three Kinds of Church Services--Church +Members--Individual Experience--One Inquirer at a Time--Those who lack +Assurance--Backsliders--Not Convicted of Sin--Deeply Convicted--The +Divinity of Christ--Can't Hold Out--No Strength--Feelings--Can't +Believe--Can't be Saved all at Once--Not Now--Further Suggestions. + +PERSONAL dealing is of the most vital importance. No one can tell how +many persons have been lost to the Kingdom of God through lack of +following up the preaching of the Gospel by personal work. It is +deplorable how few church-members are qualified to deal with inquirers, +yet that is the very work in which they ought most efficiently to aid +the pastor. People are not usually converted under the preaching of the +minister. It is in the inquiry-meeting that they are most likely to be +brought to Christ. They are perhaps awakened under the minister, but God +generally uses some one person to point out the way of salvation and +bring the anxious to a decision. Some people can't see the use of +inquiry-meetings, and think they are something new, and that we haven't +any authority for them. But they are no innovation. We read about them +all through the Bible. When John the Baptist was preaching he was +interrupted. It would be a good thing if people would interrupt the +minister now and then in the middle of some metaphysical sermon, and ask +what he means. The only way to make sure that people understand what he +is talking about is to let them ask questions. I don't know what some +men, who have got the whole address written out, would do if some one +should get up and ask: "What must I do to be saved?" Yet such questions +would do more good than anything else you could have. They would awake a +spirit of inquiry. Some of Christ's sweetest teachings were called forth +by questions. + +THREE KINDS OF CHURCH SERVICES. + +There ought to be three kinds of services in all churches: one for +worship--to offer praise, and to wait on the Lord in prayer; another for +teaching; and at these services there needn't be a word to the +unconverted, (although some men never close any meeting without +presenting the Gospel), but let them be for the church people; and a +third for preaching the Gospel. Sunday morning is the best time for +teaching, but Sunday night is the best night in the whole week, of the +regular church services, to preach the simple Gospel of the Son of God. +When you have preached that, and have felt the power of the unseen +world, and there are souls trembling in the balance, don't say, as I +have heard good ministers say: "_If_ there are any in this, place +concerned--at all concerned--about their souls, I will be in the +pastor's study on Friday night, and will be glad to see them." By that +time the chances are the impression will be all wiped out. Deal with +them that night before the devil snatches away the good seed. Wherever +the Gospel is proclaimed, there should be an expectation of immediate +results, and if this were the case the Church of Christ would be in a +constant state of grace. + +"Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious +proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded +them to continue in the grace of God." How much would Paul and Barnabas +have accomplished if they had pronounced the benediction and sent these +people home? It is a thing to weep over that we have got thousands and +thousands of church members who are good for nothing towards extending +the Kingdom of God. They understand bazaars, and fairs, and +sewing-circles; but when you ask them to sit down and show a man or +woman the way into God's kingdom, they say: "Oh, I am not able to do +that. Let the deacons do it, or some one else." It is all wrong. The +Church ought to be educated on this very point. There are a great many +church-members who are just hobbling about on crutches. They can just +make out that they are saved, and imagine that is all that constitutes a +Christian in this nineteenth century. As far as helping others is +concerned, that never enters their heads. They think if they can get +along themselves, they are doing amazingly well. They have no idea what +the Holy Ghost wants to do through them. + +No matter how weak you are, God can use you; and you cannot say what a +stream of salvation you may set in motion. John the Baptist was a young +man when he died; but he led Andrew to Christ, and Andrew led Peter, and +so the river flowed on. + +In the closing pages of this book I want to give some hints in regard to +passing on the good to others, and thus profiting them by your knowledge +of the Bible. Every believer, whether minister or layman, is in duty +bound to spread the gospel. "Go ye into all the world and preach the +gospel to every creature" was the wide command of our parting Savior to +His disciples. + +There are many Bible students, however, who utterly neglect the command. +They are like sponges, always sucking in the Water of Life, but never +imparting it to thirsty souls around. + +A clergyman used to go hunting, and when his bishop reproved him, he +said he never went hunting when he was on duty. + +"When is a clergyman off duty?" asked the bishop. + +And so with every Christian: when is he off duty? + +To be ready with a promise for the dying, a word of hope for the +bereaved and afflicted, of encouragement for the downhearted, of advice +for the anxious, is a great accomplishment. The opportunities to be +useful in these ways are numerous. Not only in inquiry-meetings and +church work, but in our everyday contact with others the opening +constantly occurs. A word, a look, a hand-clasp, a prayer, may have an +unending influence for good. + +"Is your father at home?" asked a gentleman of a doctor's child. + +"No," he said, "he's away." + +"Where can I find him?" + +"Well," he said, "you've got to look for him in some place where people +are sick or hurt, or something like that. I don't know where he is, but +he's helping somewhere." + +That ought to be the spirit animating every follower of Him who went +about doing good. + +LAYING DOWN RULES. + +I admit one can't lay down positive rules in dealing with individuals +about their religious condition. Tin soldiers are exactly alike, but not +so men. Matthew and Paul were a good way apart. The people we deal with +may be widely different. What would be medicine for one might be rank +poison for another. In the 15th of Luke, the elder son and the younger +son were exactly opposite. What would have been good counsel for one +might have been ruin to the other. God never made two persons to look +alike. If we had made men, probably we would have made them all alike, +even if we had to crush some bones to get them into the mould. But that +is not God's way. In the universe there is infinite variety. The +Philippian jailer required peculiar treatment. Christ dealt with +Nicodemus one way, and the woman at the well another way. + +YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE. + +It is a great mistake, in dealing with inquirers, to tell your conversion +experience. Experience may have its place, but I don't think it has its +place when we are dealing with inquirers; for the first thing the man +you are talking to will do will be to look for your experience. He +doesn't want your experience. He wants one of his own. + +Suppose Bartimeus had gone to Jerusalem to the man that was born blind, +and said: + +"Now, just tell us how the Lord cured you." + +The Jerusalem man might have said: "He just spat on the ground, and +anointed my eyes with the clay." + +"Ho!" says Bartimeus, "I don't believe you ever got your sight at all. +Who ever heard of such a way as that? Why, to fill a man's eyes with +clay is enough to put them out!" + +Both men were blind, but they were not cured alike. A great many men are +kept out of the kingdom of God because they are looking for somebody +else's experience--the experience their grandmother had, their aunt, or +some one in the family. + +ONE INQUIRER AT A TIME. + +Then it is very important to deal with one at a time. A doctor doesn't +give cod-liver oil for all complaints. "No," he says, "I must seek what +each one wants." He looks at the tongue, and inquires into the symptoms. +One may have ague, another typhoid fever, and another may have +consumption. What a man wants is to be able to read his Bible, and to +read human nature, too. + +Those do best who do not run from one person in an inquiry-meeting to +another, offering words of encouragement everywhere. They would do +better by going to but one or two of an afternoon or evening. We are +building for eternity, and can take time. The work will not then be +superficial. + +Try first to win the person's confidence, and then your words will have +more weight. Use great tact in approaching the subject. + +It will be a great help to divide persons into classes as much as +possible, and bring certain passages of Scripture to bear upon these +classes. It is unwise, however, to use verses that you have seen in +books until you are perfectly clear in your own mind of their meaning +and application. Avail yourself by all means of suggestions from outside +sources, but as David could not fight in Saul's armor, so you possibly +may not be able to make good use of texts and passages which have proved +powerful in the hands of another. The best way is to make your own +classification, and select suitable texts, which experience will lead +you to adopt or change, according to circumstances. Make yourself +familiar with a few passages, rather than have a hazy and incomplete +idea of a large number. + +The following classification may be found helpful:-- + +1. Believers who lack assurance; who are in darkness because they have +sinned; who neglect prayer, Bible study, and other means of grace; who +are in darkness because of an unforgiving spirit; who are timid or +ashamed to confess Christ openly; who are not engaged in active work for +the Master; who lack strength to resist temptation and to stand fast in +time of trial; who are not growing in grace. + +2. Believers who have backslidden. + +3. Those who are deeply convicted of sin, and are seeking salvation. + +4. Those who have difficulties of various kinds. Many believe that they +are so sinful that God will not accept them, that they have sinned away +their opportunities and now it is too late, that the gospel was never +intended for them. Others are kept back by honest doubts regarding the +divinity of Christ, the genuineness of the Bible. Others again are +troubled by the mysteries of the Bible, the doctrines of election, +instant conversion, etc., or they say they have sought Christ in vain, +that they have tried and failed, they are afraid they could not hold +out. A large class is in great trouble about feelings. + +5. Those who make excuses. There is a wide difference between a person +who has a _reason_ and one who had an _excuse_ to offer. + +The commonest excuses are that there are so many inconsistent +Christians, hypocrites in the church; that it would cost too much to +become Christians, that they could not continue in their present +occupation, etc.; that they expect to become Christians some day; that +their companions hold them back, or would cast them off if they were +converted. + +6. Those who are not convicted of sin. Some are deliberately sinful; +they want to "see life," to "sow their wild oats;" others are +thoughtless; others again are simply ignorant of Jesus Christ and His +work. A large number do not feet their need of a Savior because they are +self-righteous, trusting to their own morality and good works. + +7. Those who hold hostile creeds, embracing sectarians, cranks, Jews, +spiritualists, infidels, atheists, agnostics, etc. + +Always use your Bible in personal dealing. Do not trust to memory, but +make the person read the verse for himself. Do not use printed slips or +books. Hence, if convenient, always carry a Bible or New Testament with +you. + +It is a good thing to get a man on his knees (if convenient), but don't +get him there before he is ready. You may have to talk with him two +hours before you can get him that far along. But when you think he is +about ready, say, "Shall we not ask God to give us light on this point?" +Sometimes a few minutes in prayer have done more for a man than two +hours in talk. When the spirit of God has led him so far that he is +willing to have you pray with him, he is not very far from the kingdom. +Ask him to pray for himself. If he doesn't want to pray, let him use a +Bible prayer; get him to repeat it; for example: "Lord help me!" Tell +the man: "If the Lord helped that poor woman, He will help you if you +make the same prayer. He will give you a new heart if you pray from the +heart." Don't send a man home to pray. Of course he should pray at home, +but I would rather get his lips open at once. It is a good thing for a +man to hear his own voice in prayer. It is a good thing for him to cry +out: "God be merciful to me a sinner!" + +Urge an immediate decision, but never tell a man he is converted. Never +tell him he is saved. Let the Holy Spirit reveal that to him. You can +shoot a man and see that he is dead, but you can not see when a man +receives eternal life. You can't afford to deceive one about this great +question. But you can help his faith and trust, and lead him aright. + +Always be prepared to do personal work. When war was declared between +France and Germany, Count von Moltke, the German general, was prepared +for it. Word brought to him late at night, after he had gone to bed. +"Very well," he said to the messenger, "the third portfolio on the +left"; and he went to sleep again. + +Do the work boldly. Don't take those in a position in life above your +own, but as a rule, take those on the same footing. Don't deal with a +person of opposite sex, if it can be otherwise arranged. Bend all your +endeavors to answer for poor, struggling souls that question of all +importance to them. "What must I do to be saved?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SUMMARY OF SUGGESTIONS. + +1. Have for constant use a portable reference Bible, a Cruden's +Concordance, and a Topical Text Book. + +2. Always carry a Bible or Testament in your pocket and do not be +ashamed of people seeing you read it on trains, etc. + +3. Do not be afraid of marking it, or of making marginal notes. Mark +texts that contain promises, exhortations, warnings to sinners and to +Christians, gospel invitations to the unconverted, and so on. + +4. Set apart at least fifteen minutes a day for study and meditation. +This little will have great results and will never be regretted. + +5. Prepare your heart to know the law of the Lord, and _to do it_. +Ezra 7:10. + +6. Always ask God to open the eyes of your understanding that you may +see the truth; and expect that He will answer your prayer. + +7. Cast every burden of doubt upon the Lord. "He will never suffer the +righteous to be moved." Do not be afraid to look for a reason for the +hope that is in you. + +8. Believe in the Bible as God's revelation to you, and act accordingly. +Do not reject any portion because it contains the supernatural, or +because you can not understand it. Reverence all Scripture. Remember +God's own estimate of it: "Thou hast magnified thy Word above all +thy Name." + +9. Learn at least one verse of Scripture each day. Verses committed to +memory will be wonderfully useful in your daily life and walk. "Thy word +have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." Some +Christians can quote Shakespeare and Longfellow better than the Bible. + +10. If you are a preacher or a Sunday school teacher, try at any cost to +master your Bible. You ought to know it better than any one in your +congregation or class. + +11. Strive to be exact in quoting Scripture. + +12. Adopt some systematic plan of Bible study: either topical, or by +subjects, like "The Blood," "Prayer," "Hope," etc.; or by books; or by +some other plan outlined in the preceding pages. + +13. Study to know for what and to whom each book of the Bible was +written. Combine the Old Testament with the New. Study Hebrews and +Leviticus together, the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, the +Prophets and the historical books of the old Testament. + +14. Study how to use the Bible so as to "walk with God" in closer +communion; also, so as to gain a working knowledge of Scripture for +leading others to Christ. An old minister used to say that the cries of +neglected texts were always sounding in his ears, asking why he did not +show how important they were. + +15. Do not be satisfied with simply reading a chapter daily. _Study_ the +meaning of at least one verse. + + + + +Footnotes + +[1] _The New Topical Text Book_. An aid to topical study of the Bible. +Cloth, 25 cents; by mail, 30 cents. + +_The Bible Text Cyclopedia_, a complete classification of Scripture +texts in the form of an alphabetical list of subjects by Rev. James +Inglis. Large 8 vo. cloth, $1.75. + +_Both issued by the publishers of this volume_. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Pleasure & Profit in Bible Study, by Dwight Moody + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLEASURE & PROFIT IN BIBLE STUDY *** + +***** This file should be named 36655.txt or 36655.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/6/5/36655/ + +Produced by Keith G Richardson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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