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diff --git a/41900-0.txt b/41900-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..44cc827 --- /dev/null +++ b/41900-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1472 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41900 *** + +HOW TO MASTER THE ENGLISH BIBLE + + + + +HOW TO MASTER THE ENGLISH BIBLE + + +AN EXPERIENCE, A METHOD + +A RESULT, AN ILLUSTRATION + + +BY + + +REV. JAMES M. GRAY, D.D. + +MINISTER IN THE REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH + +AUTHOR OF "SYNTHETIC BIBLE STUDIES" + +"THE ANTIDOTE TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE" + +"PRIMERS OF THE FAITH" ETC. ETC. + + +EDINBURGH AND LONDON + +OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER + +1907 + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + I. The Story of the Case + II. Explanation of the Method + III. The Plan at Work + IV. Results in the Pulpit + V. Expository Outlines + + + + +NOTE BY THE PUBLISHERS OF THE BRITISH EDITION + +The success of the author's book, _Synthetic Bible Studies_, has been +such that it is a pleasure to us to introduce this little book to +British Bible students. + + + + +NOTE BY THE PUBLISHERS OF THE AMERICAN EDITION + +The author of this book requires no introduction to the Bible-loving +people of our time. A time it is of unusual quickening in the study +of God's Word along spiritual and evangelical lines, toward which, as +the editor of a leading newspaper has said, no one man has contributed +more than Rev. James M. Gray, D.D. + +"He knows what is in the Book," says the _Christian Endeavour World,_ +"and when he sounds the clear, strong notes of God's love, of victory +over sin, of the believer's assurance, it is no wonder that thousands +of young people wax as enthusiastic over the Bible as others do over +athletics or art." + +The interdenominational Bible classes which he has carried on, and to +which his work directly and indirectly has given rise, are the +largest and in other respects the most remarkable known. His work has +revolutionised the method of teaching in some Sunday schools; it has +put life into dead prayer-meetings; in not a few instances it has +materially helped to solve the problem of the second service on the +Lord's day; it has been a boon to many pastors in the labours of +study and pulpit, whose gratitude is outspoken; it has contributed to +the efficiency of foreign missionary workers, whose testimony has +come from the uttermost parts of the earth; and it has reacted +beneficially on the instruction given in the English Bible in some of +our home academies, smaller colleges and seminaries. The secret of +these results is given in this book. + +Nor is it as a Bible teacher only, but also as a Bible preacher, that +Dr. Gray holds a distinguished place in the current history of the +Church. His expository sermons leave an impress not to be effaced. +Presbyteries and ministerial associations are on record that they +have stirred communities to their depths. Even secular editors, +commonly unmoved by ordinary types of evangelism, have written: "Here +is something new for the people, something fresh and suggestive for +every active mind, which the business interests of the city cannot +afford to neglect." The testimony of one pastor given at a meeting of +the presbytery is practically that of scores of others throughout the +country. He had attended a series of popular meetings conducted by +Dr. Gray, and said: "I learned more during the few days I listened to +Dr. Gray about the true character of preaching than I had learned in +all my seminary course and my twenty years of ministry. Because of +what I learned there of true expository preaching I shall hope to +make the last years of my ministry the very best of all." + +We are glad that this book contains a practical application of all +that the author has said and taught to the results which may be +gathered from it in the pulpit. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE CASE + + + + +HOW TO MASTER THE ENGLISH BIBLE + + +PART I + + +THE STORY OF THE CASE + + +[Sidenote: The Bible like a Farm] + +How to master the English Bible! High-sounding title that, but does +it mean what it says? It is not how to study it, but how to master +it; for there is a sense in which the Bible must be mastered before +it can be studied, and it is the failure to see this which accounts +for other failures on the part of many earnest would-be Bible +students. I suppose it is something like a farm; for although never a +farmer myself, I have always imagined a farmer should know his farm +before he attempted to work it. How much upland and how much lowland? +How much wood and how much pasture? Where should the orchard be laid +out? Where plant my corn, oats, and potatoes? What plot is to be +seeded down to grass? When he has mastered his farm he begins to get +ready for results from it. + + +Now there are many ways of studying the Bible, any one of which may +be good enough in itself, but there is only one way to master it, as +we shall see. And it is the Bible itself we are to master, not books +about the Bible, nor yet "charts." I once listened to an earnest and +cultivated young man delivering a lecture on Bible study, illustrated +by a chart so long that when he unrolled and held one end of it above +his head, as high as his arms could reach, the other curled up on the +floor below the platform. As the auditor gazed upon its labyrinthian +lines, circles, crosses and other things intended to illuminate it, +and "gathered up the loins of his mind" to listen to the explanation +following, it was with an inward sigh of gratitude that God had never +put such a yoke upon us, "which neither we nor our fathers were able +to bear." + +[Sidenote: The Vernacular and Bible Tongues] + +And it is the English Bible we are thinking about, the Bible in the +vernacular, the tongue most of us best understand. One is grateful to +have studied Hebrew and Greek, just to be able to tell others who +have not that they do not require either to hearken to our Heavenly +Father's voice. He has an advantage as a scholar who can utilise the +original tongues; but the Bible was not given to scholars, but to the +people, and "hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were +born" (Acts 2:8). It is not at all inconsistent to add that he who +masters the English Bible is possessed of the strongest inducement to +study it in Hebrew and Greek. + + +That which follows grows largely out of the writer's personal +experience. For the first eight or ten years of my ministry I did not +know my English Bible as I should have known it, a fact to which my +own spiritual life and the character of my pulpit ministrations bore +depressing witness. [Sidenote: The Bible in the Seminary] Nor was I +so fortunate as to meet with more than one or two brethren in the +ministry who knew their English Bible very much better than I knew +mine. They all declared that the theological seminaries did not +profess to teach the English Bible. They taught much about the Bible +of great importance for ministers to know, such as the Hebrew and +Greek tongues, the principles of exegesis and interpretation, the +history of the text, and the proofs and illustrations of Christian +doctrine; but, in the words of one of the ministers referred to (which +have appeared in print), "while we had some special lessons in one or +two of the epistles, several of the psalms, in some of the prophecies, +and in a few select portions of the gospels, other and vastly +important parts of the Bible were left out altogether. We had nothing +on the book of Revelation, no elaborate study of the Mosaic ritual and +its profound system of types, and especially were we left uninitiated +into the minute and wonderful co-ordination of parts in the various +books of the Old and New Testaments, which disclose a stupendous +divine plan running through the whole, linking them all together as an +indissoluble unit and carrying with them an amazing power of +conviction." + +The seminaries have assumed that students were acquainted with the +great facts of the English Bible and their relation to one another +before matriculation, but so competent an authority as President +Harper declares that "to indicate the line of thought and chief ideas +of a particular prophet, or the argument of an epistle, or to state +even the most important events in the life of our Lord, would be +impossible for the average college graduate." It is such an +unfortunate state of things which, to a certain extent, accounts for +the rise and maintenance of those excellent institutions, the Moody +Bible Institute in this country and Spurgeon's College in London, +with their almost countless offspring and imitators everywhere, +creating as they have a distinct atmosphere of biblical and +evangelistic teaching and preaching. It is commonly supposed, it may +be said in passing, that these institutions cater to or attract only +men or women of very limited educational attainments, but in the case +of the first-named, at least, an incidental census taken recently +disclosed the fact that one-third of the male students then on the +rolls or who had lately left were college-trained; one may safely +hazard the opinion that in the women's department the proportion of +college-trained students would have been still larger. + + +[Sidenote: Help from a Layman] + +The first practical help I ever received in the mastery of the +English Bible was from a layman. We were fellow-attendants at a +certain Christian conference or convention and thrown together a good +deal for several days, and I saw something in his Christian life to +which I was a comparative stranger--a peace, a rest, a joy, a kind of +spiritual poise I knew little about. One day I ventured to ask him +how he had become possessed of the experience, when he replied, "By +reading the epistle to the Ephesians." I was surprised, for I had +read it without such results, and therefore asked him to explain the +manner of his reading, when he related the following: He had gone +into the country to spend the Sabbath with his family on one +occasion, taking with him a pocket copy of Ephesians, and in the +afternoon, going out into the woods and lying down under a tree, he +began to read it; he read it through at a single reading, and finding +his interest aroused, read it through again in the same way, and, his +interest increasing, again and again. I think he added that he read +it some twelve or fifteen times, "and when I arose to go into the +house," said he, "I was in possession of Ephesians, or better yet, it +was in possession of me, and I had been 'lifted up to sit together in +heavenly places in Christ Jesus' in an experimental sense in which +that had not been true in me before, and will never cease to be true +in me again." + +I confess that as I listened to this simple recital my heart was +going up in thanksgiving to God for answered prayer, the prayer +really of months, if not years, that I might come to know how to +master His Word. And yet, side by side with the thanksgiving was +humiliation that I had not discovered so simple a principle before, +which a boy of ten or twelve might have known. And to think that an +"ordained" minister must sit at the feet of a layman to learn the +most important secret of his trade! + +[Sidenote: Dr. Stalker's Experience] + +Since that day, however, the writer has found some comfort in the +thought that other ministers have had a not unlike experience. In an +address before the National Bible Society of Scotland, the Rev. Dr. +Stalker speaks of the first time he ever "read a whole book of the +Bible straight through at a sitting." It was while as a student he +was spending a winter in France, and there being no Protestant church +in the town where he was passing a Sunday, he was thrown on his own +resources. Leaving the hotel where he was staying, he lay down on a +green knoll and began reading here and there as it chanced, till, +coming to the epistle to the Romans, he read on and on through to the +end. "As I proceeded," he said, "I began to catch the drift of Paul's +thought; or rather, I was caught by it and drawn on. The mighty +argument opened out and arose like a great work of art above me till +at last it enclosed me within its perfect proportions. It was a +revolutionary experience. I saw for the first time that a book of +Scripture is a complete discussion of a single subject; I felt the +force of the book as a whole, and I understood the different parts in +the light of the whole as I had never understood them when reading +them by themselves. Thus to master book after book is to fill the +mind with the great thoughts of God." + + +[Sidenote: The Author's Plan] + +Let me now speak of what I, personally, began to do after the +suggestion of the layman, for the results which, in the providence of +God, have grown out of it seem to warrant dwelling upon it even at +the risk of prolixity on the one hand or the suspicion of egotism on +the other. At first, supposing it more desirable to read the books in +the original than the vernacular, I began to memorise some of the +smaller epistles in Greek, but the Lord showed me "a more excellent +way" in view of the purpose which the event proved Him to have had in +mind in the matter. Accordingly, ignoring the Bible tongues for the +time, I read Genesis through in the English at a single reading, and +then repeated the process again and again until the book in its great +outlines had practically become mine. Then I took up Exodus in the +same way, Leviticus, Numbers, and practically all the other books of +the Old and New Testaments to Revelation, with the exception of +Proverbs, the Psalms and one or two others which do not lend +themselves readily to that plan of reading, and indeed do not require +it to their understanding and mastery. I am careful to emphasise the +fact that I did not read the Bible "in course," as it is commonly +understood. One might read it in that way a great many times and not +master it in the sense indicated above. The plan was to read and +re-read each book by itself and in its order, as though there were no +other in existence, until it had become a part of the very being. + + +[Sidenote: Joy and Power] + +Was the task tedious and long? No more than was Jacob's when he +served Laban for his daughter Rachel. There were compensations all +along the way and ever-increasing delight. No romance ever held sway +over the thought and imagination in comparison with this Book of +books. A better investment of time were never made by any minister; +and, shut me up to-day to a choice between all the ministerial lore I +ever learned elsewhere and what was learned in this synthetic reading +of the Bible, and it would not take me many minutes to decide in +favour of the latter. Nor did I know until lately how closely my +feeling in this respect harmonised with that of a great educator and +theologian of an earlier day. [Sidenote: Dean Burgon and Dr. Routh] +Dean Burgon tells of an interview he had in 1846 with the learned +president of Magdalen College, Oxford, Dr. Martin Joseph Routh, then +aged ninety-one. He had called upon him for advice as to the best way +of pursuing his theological studies. + +"I think, sir," said Dr. Routh, "were I you, sir--that I would--first +of all--read the--the Gospel according to St. Matthew." Here he +paused. "And after I had read the Gospel according to St. Matthew--I +would--were I you, sir--go on to read--the Gospel according to +St.--Mark." + +"I looked at him," says Dean Burgon, "anxiously, to see whether he +was serious. One glance was enough. He was giving me, but at a very +slow rate, the outline of my future course." + +"Here was a theologian of ninety-one," says the narrator of this +incident, "who, after surveying the entire field of sacred science, +had come back to the starting point, and had nothing better to advise +me to read than--the Gospel!" And thus he kept on until he had +mentioned all the books of the New Testament. Sad, however, that the +story should have been spoiled by his not beginning at Genesis! + + +[Sidenote: Lightening Labour] + +Words fail me to express the blessing that reading has been to +me--strengthening my conviction as to the integrity and plenary +inspiration of the whole Book, enlarging my mental vision as to the +divine plan along the line of dispensational truth, purifying my life +and lightening my labours in the ministry until that which before had +often been a burden and weariness to the flesh, became a continual +joy and delight. + +To speak of this last-named matter a little further. The claims on a +city pastor in these days are enough to break down the strongest men, +especially when their pulpit preparation involves the production of +two orations or finished theses each week for which they must "read +up in systematic treatises, philosophic disquisitions, works of +literature, magazine articles and what not, drawing upon their +ingenuity of invention and fertility of imagination all the time in +order to be original, striking, elegant and fresh." But when they +come to know their Bible, and get imbued with its lore and anointed +by the Spirit through whom it speaks, "sermonising" will give place +to preaching--the preaching that God bids us to preach, the +exposition of His own Word, which is not only much easier to do, but +correspondingly more fruitful in spiritual results. And, indeed, it +is the kind of preaching that people want to hear--all kinds of +people, the converted and the unconverted, the rich and the poor. A +wide experience convinces me of this. Here is the minister's field, +his specialty, his throne. He may not be a master in other things; he +may and should be a master in this. The really great preachers +to-day, the MacLarens, the Torreys, the Campbell Morgans, are Bible +expounders. George Whitefield, in Boston, had a congregation of two +thousand people at six o'clock in the morning to hear him "expound +the Bible." The people trod on Jesus to hear the Word of God, and if +pastors only knew it, it is the way to get and to hold the people +still. + + +[Sidenote: D. L. Moody and the International Bible Classes] + +My experience in the premises soon began to be that of others. Some +theological students under my care at the time undertook the mastery +of the English Bible in the same way and with the same blessing. Then +the work began to broaden, and God's further purpose to reveal +itself. Such Bible institutes as those already spoken of, organised +for the purpose of training Christian young men and women as +evangelists, pastors' helpers, missionaries and gospel workers +generally, were in need of some simple, yet practical, method of +putting their students in possession of the facts of the Word of God +for use among the people with whom they had to deal, and God had been +making ready to supply their need. But out of these institutes again +have grown those large interdenominational Bible classes which have +become a feature of our church life in different parts of the +country. Their origin is traceable, like that of so many other good +things of the kind, to the suggestion and support of the late D. L. +Moody. One summer, while conducting a special course of Bible study +in the Chicago Institute, he said to the writer: "If this synthetic +method of teaching the Bible is so desirable for and popular with our +day classes, why would it not take equally well with the masses of +the people on a large scale? If I arrange for a mass meeting in the +Chicago Avenue Church, will you speak to the people on 'How to Master +the English Bible' and let us see what will come of it?" The +suggestion being acted upon, as a result about four hundred persons +out of some one thousand present that evening resolved themselves into +a union Bible class for the synthetic study of the Bible under the +leadership of Mr. William R. Newell, then assistant superintendent +of the Institute. This class continued to meet regularly once a week +with unabated interest throughout the whole of that fall and winter, +and the next year had multiplied into five classes held in different +parts of the city, on different evenings of the week, but under the +same teacher, and with an aggregate membership of over four thousand. +The year following, this had increased to over five thousand, two or +three of the classes averaging separately an attendance of twelve +hundred to fifteen hundred. Since that time several similar classes +have attained a membership approaching two thousand, and one, in +Toronto, to nearly four thousand. At the time of this writing, in the +heat of the summer, such a class is being held weekly in Chicago. +From Chicago the work spread in other cities of the East and Middle +West, and under other teachers. Classes for briefer periods have been +carried on in Canada and Great Britain. A religious weekly organised +a class to be conducted through its columns, enrolling tens of +thousands in its membership, and through its influence many pastors, +Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A. workers have instituted classes in their own +fields which have, in turn, multiplied the interest in the popular +study of the English Bible in increasing ratio. + + + + +EXPLANATION OF THE METHOD + + + + +PART II + + +EXPLANATION OF THE METHOD + + +The contents of the preceding pages may be said to be preliminary to +the definition or description of what the synthetic study of the +Bible is; for by that name the method to be described has come to be +called. The word "synthesis" suggests the opposite idea to the word +"analysis." When we analyse a subject we take it apart and consider +it in its various elements, but when we "synthesise" it, so to speak, +we put it together and consider it as a whole. Now the synthetic +study of the Bible means, as nearly as possible, the study of the +Bible as a whole, and each book of the Bible as a whole, and as seen +in its relation to the other books. + +[Sidenote: A Coloured Critic] + +A very dear Christian friend and neighbour, the late A. J. Gordon, +D.D., used to tell an amusing story of a conversation with a deacon +of a church for coloured people in his proximity. He asked the deacon +how the people liked their new pastor, and was surprised to hear him +say, "Not berry much." When pressed for an explanation he added that +the pastor told "too many 'antidotes' in the pulpit." "Why," said the +doctor, "I'm surprised to hear that; I thought he was a great Bible +man." "Well," replied the deacon, "I'll tell yer how 'tis. He's de +best man I ebber see'd to tak' de Bible apart, but he dunno how to +put it togedder agin." Principal Cairns, I think it was, who heard +this story, said it was the best illustration of the distinction +between the constructive and destructive criticism to which he had +ever listened. The synthetic study of the Bible, it may be said in a +word, is an attempt to put it together rather than to take it apart. + + +[Sidenote: Illustrations of the Method] + +To illustrate, I have always felt a sort of injury in the way I was +taught geography; capes and bays, and lakes and rivers were sought to +be crowded on my understanding before I ever saw a globe. Should not +the globe come first, then the hemispheres, continents, nations, +capitals and the rest? Does not a view of the whole materially assist +in the comprehension of the parts? Is it not vital to it, indeed? And +history--what is the true method of its study? Is it not first the +outline history of the world, then its great divisions, ancient, +mediaeval, modern, then the separate peoples or kingdoms in each, and +so on? How could you hope to interest a child in botany who had never +seen a flower? How would you study a picture of a landscape? Would +you cover the canvas with a cloth and study one feature of it at a +time? What idea of it would you obtain under such circumstances? +Would you not rather say, "Hang it in the proper light, let me get +the right position with regard to it, and take it all in at a +single glance, fasten the whole of it at once on the camera of my +consciousness, and then I shall be able and interested afterward to +study it in detail, and to go into the questions of proportion, and +perspective, and shading, and colouring and all that"? Is it not the +failure to adopt the corresponding plan in Bible study which accounts +in large measure for the lack of enthusiastic interest in its +prosecution on the part of the people? + + +[Sidenote: The American Bible League] + +It is assuring to discover that the American Bible League, which +promises to do much to quicken Bible study among the people along +lines of faith in its integrity as the revealed Word of God, has +reached almost precisely the same conclusion as to method. The +esteemed secretary of that league, Rev. D. S. Gregory, D.D., LL.D., a +man of wide experience in educational and literary lines other than +those of the promulgation of Bible truth, charges the present +ignorance of the Bible, "everywhere in evidence," to the failure of +the old methods of its study. To quote his words in the _Bible +Student and Teacher_: + +"The fragmentary method was tried for a generation or two. We were +kept studying the comments upon verse after verse, on the tacit +assumption that no verse had any connection with any other verse, +until we wearied of that, and would have no more of it. + +"So the lesson systems came in, and we have had series upon series +of such systems, showing that men deeply felt that there was need of +system in the study of the Bible. But these systems have been +artificial, all of them; the latest of all the most so of all. The +men who have been engaged in preparing them deserve our gratitude. +They have done the best they could, doubtless; and we will look for +more light and improvement for the time to come. But you hear +everywhere that the people are weary of lesson systems. They are so +because the systems are artificial, and because they do not take you +directly to the Bible as the Word of God, but rather by means of most +useful lesson leaves and other devices take you away from it. + +"And it is impossible to grasp the system, however valuable it may +be. You study in seven years your three hundred and fifty lessons in +a so-called system; and at the end of the seven years the best memory +in Christendom has been found unable to hold that system so as to +tell what has been taught in that time. When you have passed on from +each lesson you have lost its connection with the Bible, and lost the +lesson, too." + +[Sidenote: Rationalism in the Sunday School] + +It is the judgment of this same observer that these "fragmentary +methods" account, in part, for the assault of the rationalistic +critics upon the work of the Sunday school. "There was a call for +something better, a 'vacuum' in the minds of teachers and professors +in charge of instruction in the Bible, and just at the psychological +moment there came all this German material--interesting, ingenious, +imaginative, ready to fill that vacuum. The two needs met, and so we +have had our recent development of the critical system of studying +and presenting the Bible, which they are seeking now to introduce +into all the schools and colleges and Sunday schools. + +"That critical method has taken the Bible apart into bits and scraps +and scattered it to the ends of the earth, as we have heard and have +reason to know. When one comes upon its results he feels that he does +not know exactly where he is." + +Men hate bits and scraps, as this writer says, and as Bible teachers +we should bring our methods into harmony with their natural +constructive sense. Like the expert mountain climber, let us take +them to the highest peak first, that they may see the whole range, +and then they can intelligently and enthusiastically study the +features of the lower levels in their relation to the whole. The +opposite plan is confusing and a weariness to the flesh. Give people +to see for themselves what the Bible is in the large, and then they +will have a desire to see it in detail. Put a telescope in their +hands first, and a microscope afterwards. [Sidenote: Luther and +the Apple Tree] Martin Luther used to say that he studied the Bible +as he gathered apples. He shook the tree first, then the limbs, then +the branches, and after that he reached out under the leaves for the +remaining fruit. The reverse order is monotonous in either case-- +studying the Bible or gathering apples. + + + + +THE PLAN AT WORK + + + + +PART III + + +THE PLAN AT WORK + + +[Sidenote: Begin at the Beginning] + +There are certain simple rules to be observed in the synthetic study +of the Bible if we want to master it, and the first is to begin to +study it where God began to write it, _i.e._ at the book of Genesis. +The newer criticism would dispute this statement about the primary +authorship of Genesis, but the best answer to the objection is to try +the plan. As Dr. Smith says in his _The Integrity of Scripture_: +"Inherent in revelation there is a self-witness. The latest portion +points to the beginning, and the beginning, with all that may be +limited and provisional, contains the germ of the end. God's +discovery of Himself is not an episode, but rooted in a vast breadth +of the world's life, intertwined with human history, and growing from +less to more, as in this divine education and discipline man became +capable of receiving the full self-unveiling of God." + +Dr. Ashmore, for fifty years an honoured missionary of the American +Baptist Missionary Union at Shanghai, relates the following, which +furnishes a practical illustration of this thought. At one time he +and his brother missionaries started a Bible school for their young +converts, and began to teach them the Epistle to the Hebrews. Now the +Chinese are remarkable for an inquiring disposition, and questions +began to descend upon the teachers to such a degree that they were +compelled to forego their purpose to teach Hebrews and go back to +Leviticus as explanatory of or introductory to it. But the teaching +of Leviticus produced the same result, and they went back to Exodus. +And from Exodus they were driven to Genesis, when the questions +materially abated. The Bible is wondrously self-interpretive if we +will give it an opportunity, and that opportunity is afforded if in +its perusal we will wisely and submissively follow the channel marked +out by its divine Author. + + +[Sidenote: Read the Book] + +The second rule is to read the book. It is not asked that it be +studied in the ordinary sense, or memorised, or even sought to be +understood at first; but simply read. The purpose is to make the task +as easy, as natural, and as pleasant as possible. It matters not, for +the time being, how rapidly you read it, if you but read it. But is +it not strange that this is one of the last things many really +earnest Christians and seekers after Bible truth are willing to do? +They will read books about the Bible almost without limit, but to +read the books of the Bible itself is another matter. But how could +one master any corresponding subject by such a method? And is it not +dishonouring to God for any reason to treat His authorship thus? We +are living in a time when, if only for good form, we feel an +obligation to be acquainted with the best authors. But shall we say +that Dante, or Shakespeare, or any other of the masters is able to +interest us in what he wrote, while He who created him is unable to +do so? Are we prepared to confess that God cannot write a book as +capable of holding our attention as that of one of His creatures? +What an indictment we are writing down against ourselves in saying +that, and how it convinces us of sin! + +I know a lady who once travelled a long distance on a railroad with +her trunk unlocked, and when she met her husband at the terminus and +reported the circumstance there was naturally some emotion in her +speech. She had been unable to find the key anywhere, she said, and +only discovered its loss at too late a moment to have another fitted +before she started upon her journey. And the trunk with all its +treasures had come that whole distance with only a strap around it. +"Why," exclaimed her husband, "do you not recall that when we come +home from a journey I always fasten the key of the trunk to one of +its handles? There's your key," pointing to the end of the trunk. The +incident is recalled by the so frequent inquiry one hears for a "key" +to the Bible. Its Author has provided one, and to the average person, +at least in this enlightened country, it is always at hand. Read the +book. + + +[Sidenote: Read It Continuously] + +The third rule is, read the book continuously. I think it is in his +lecture on "The Lost Arts" that Wendell Phillips tells the story of +the weaver who turned out so much more material from his loom than +any other workman in the mill. How was it done? In vain was the +secret sought, until one day a bribe from one of his employers +elicited the information, _"Chalk the bobbins."_ Each morning he had +carried a piece of chalk with him to his loom, and when unobserved, +applied it to that small but important part of the machinery. The +result was astonishing. The application of the chalk to every bobbin +of every loom of every workman made his employers rich. Who cannot +supplement this story with some other where a principle just as +simple wrought results as great? Try it in the case of the continuous +reading of a given book of the Bible, and see what it will do. + +But what is the meaning of "continuous" in this instance? The +adjective may not be the most lucid, but the idea is this: It stands +for two things--the reading of the book uninfluenced by its divisions +into chapters and verses, and the reading of the book in this way _at +a single sitting._ The divisions, it should be remembered, are of +human origin and not divine, and, while effecting a good purpose in +some particulars, are a hindrance to the mastery of the book in +others. Sometimes a chapter or a verse will cut a truth in half, +whose halves state a different fact or teach a different doctrine +from that intended by the whole, and necessarily affecting the +conception of the outline. As to the "single sitting," the reason for +it is this. Many of the books of the Bible have a single thread +running through the whole--a pivotal idea around which all the +subsidiary ones resolve--and to catch this thread, to seize upon this +idea, it is absolutely necessary to unravel or break up the whole in +its essential parts. To read Genesis in this way, for example, will +lead to the discovery that, large as the book is, it contains but +five great or outline facts, viz.: + + The history of creation. + The history of the fall. + The history of the deluge. + The history of the origin of the nations. + The history of the patriarchs. + + +It is, then, a book of history, and the larger part of it history of +the biographical sort. This last-named fact can be subdivided again +into four facts, viz., the histories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and +Joseph, and thus the whole book can be kept in mind in a very +practical way in eight words. Moreover, the reading necessary to have +gained the eight words will unconsciously have fastened upon the +understanding the subsidiary facts associated with each word, so that +a very satisfactory examination might be passed as to the contents of +the whole book. + + +[Sidenote: Read It Repeatedly] + +The fourth rule is to read the book repeatedly. The reader will +understand that by the "book" in every case is meant the particular +book of the Bible, Genesis, for example, which it is now being sought +to master, and which is not to be laid aside for any other succeeding +book of the Bible until the mastery is assured. This cannot usually +be accomplished by one reading, but only by repeated readings after +the manner designated. A stranger sailing along the New England coast +on a foggy morning could hardly believe there was a coast. But later, +when the sun rises and the fog begins to dissipate, there is, at +first, a line of sandy beach discernible, then a cluster or two of +rocks, then a little verdure, a house or two, a country road, the +wooded hillside, until at length the whole of the beautiful landscape +stands out in view. It is much the same in the synthetic reading of a +given book of the Bible. The first view is not always satisfactory, +and it requires a little courage to try again and again; but the +effort brings a wonderful and inspiring result at last. The first +reading of Genesis may not reveal what was spoken of above, but two +or three readings will reveal it. + +Leviticus is more difficult than Genesis or even Exodus, because it +is dealing with laws and ordinances rather than historic happenings; +but as soon as you discover that its theme is laws, these latter will +begin to differentiate themselves before your mind and naturally +suggest a simple classification such as this: + + The law of the offerings. + The law of the consecration of the priests. + The law of the clean and the unclean. + The law of the day of atonement. + The law of the feasts. + The law of the redemption of land and slaves. + The law of the year of jubilee. + + +What a great and indispensable aid such a classification is for any +further study of that book or, for that matter, any other part of the +Bible to which this revelation of the ceremonial law is particularly +related! Even the Old Testament prophets, which some have described +as "the desert of the Scriptures," will "rejoice and blossom as +the rose" under such treatment as this, the discourses readily +distinguishing themselves by structure and subject. And, of course, +the New Testament will possess far less difficulty than the Old. + + +[Sidenote: Read It Independently] + +The fifth rule is to read it independently--_i.e._ independently, at +first at least, of all commentaries and other outside aids. These are +invaluable in their place, of course, but in the mastery of the +English Bible in the present sense, that place is not before but +after one has got an outline of a given book for himself. Indeed, an +imperfect or erroneous outline of one's own is better than a +perfect outline of another. The necessity to alter it when, by +comparison, the error is discovered may prove a valuable discipline +and education. + +The independent reading of a book in this sense is urged because of +its development of one's own intellectual powers. To be ever leaning +on help from others is like walking on stilts all one's life and +never attempting to place one's feet on the ground. Who can ever come +to know the most direct and highest type of the teaching of the Holy +Spirit in this way? Who can ever understand the most precious and +thrilling experiences of spiritual illumination thus? Should you wish +to teach others, how could you communicate to them that sense of your +own mastery of the subject so vital to a pedagogue had you never +really dealt with it at first hand? One of our millionaires is +reported as carrying a cow around with him on his yacht because he +dislikes condensed milk. It is a great gain to so know the Bible for +yourself that, carrying it with you wherever you go, you may be +measurably independent of other books in its study and use. + +But there is another reason for the independent reading of the book, +and that is the deliverance from intellectual confusion which it +secures. The temptation is, when an interpretive difficulty is +reached, to turn at once to the commentary for light, which means so +very often that the reader has become side-tracked for good, or +rather bad, as the situation is now viewed. The search for the +solution of one little difficulty leads to searching for another, and +that for another, until, to employ F. B. Meyer's figure, we have +"become so occupied with the hedgerows and the copses of the +landscape as to lose the conception of the whole sweep and extent of +the panorama of truth." The "intensive" has been pursued to the great +disadvantage of the "extensive," and usually there is nothing to be +done but to begin all over again, for which every reader does not +possess the required courage. + +And there is an advantage in this independent reading from the +teacher's point of view, too, as well as that of the learner. How +many pastors through the country have spoken of the success the +synthetic method has been to them in attracting their people to the +house of God and awakening in them a real interest in Bible study! +That is, what a success it has been up to a certain point, when they +got "swamped," to use the very expressive word of more than one of +them! Swamped? How? Investigation has always revealed the one cause, +and brought the one confession--a failure to diligently and +faithfully pursue the method in consequence of the temptation to +investigate minutiae and multiply details. There is lying before +me at this moment the _debris_ of a collapse of this kind. A +devoted pastor sends me the printed syllabus of his work with his +congregation covering the Hexateuch. They were so delighted and so +helped by it until now, when there has come a "hitch." He fears he is +getting away from the plan, and giving and expecting too much. And +his work reveals the ground of his fears. Such work belongs to the +pastor in his study, but not on the platform before a popular +audience in Bible teaching. And if it will "swamp" the trained and +cultivated teacher, how much more the inexperienced learner! A +faithful reading of the various books on an independent basis will +secure a working outline, and this should be carried with one in his +mind, and on his notebook, as he proceeds from book to book, until +the work is done. Then he can successively begin his finer work, +and analyse his outline, and study helps, and gather light, and +accumulate material, without confusion of thought, without a false +perspective, and with an ever-increasing sense of joy and power. + + +[Sidenote: Read It Prayerfully] + +The most important rule is the last. Read it prayerfully. Let not the +triteness of the observation belittle it, or all is lost. The point +is insisted on because, since the Bible is a supernatural book, it +can be studied or mastered only by supernatural aid. In the words of +William Luff, + + "It is the Spirit's Bible! Copyright every word! + Only His thoughts are uttered, only His voice is heard!" + + +Who is so well able to illuminate the pages of a given book as the +author who composed it? How often when one has been reading Browning +has he wished Browning were at his side to interpret Browning! But +the Holy Spirit, by whom holy men of old wrote, dwells within the +believer on Jesus Christ for the very purpose of bringing things to +his remembrance and guiding him into all the truth. Coleridge +said, "The Bible without the Holy Spirit is a sundial by moonlight," +and a greater than he said, "We have received, not the spirit of the +world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things +that are freely given us of God" (1 Corinthians 2:12). That dear old +Scottish saint, Andrew Bonar, discriminated between a minister's +getting his text from the Bible, and getting it from God through the +Bible; a fine distinction that holds good not only with reference to +the selection of a text to preach upon, but with reference to the +apprehension spiritually of any part of the Word of God. "Eye hath +not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, +the things which God hath prepared for them that love him; but God +hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit" (1 Corinthians 2:9, 10). +The inspired apostle does not say God has revealed them unto us by +His Word, though they are in His Word; but by His Spirit through His +Word. "For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of +God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the +man which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but +the Spirit of God." + +There is a parallel passage to the above in the first chapter of +Ephesians which has always impressed the writer with great force. +Paul had been unveiling the profoundest verities of holy writ to the +Ephesians, and then he prays that the eyes of their heart (R.V.) +might be enlightened to understand, to know what he had unveiled. He +had been telling them what was the hope of their calling, and the +riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints, and the +exceeding greatness of His power toward them that believe; but how +could they apprehend what he had told them, save as the Holy Spirit +took of these things of Christ and showed them unto them? The Word of +God is not enough without the Spirit of God. In the light of the +foregoing, let the reader punctuate the reading of it and every part +of it with prayer to its divine Author, and he will come to know "How +to Master the English Bible." + + + + +RESULTS IN THE PULPIT + + + + +PART IV + + +RESULTS IN THE PULPIT + + +In the preceding pages the consideration of the lay reader has been +in the foreground, though the ministry has not been out of mind. But +in what follows the writer ventures to address his brethren of the +ministry, especially his younger brethren, most particularly. In vain +we seek to interest the people in Bible study in any permanent or +general way except as they are stimulated thereto by the instruction +and example of their ministers. + +[Sidenote: A Vitiated Taste] + +There must be even more than an example. In connection with a Bible +conference in a city of the Middle West, a private gathering of +pastors was held, at which one of them arose and with deep emotion +said: "Brethren, I have a confession to make. I know not whether it +will fit in with the experience of any others, but I have been guilty +of cultivating in my people _a vitiated taste_ for preaching, and +henceforth, by God's help, I intend to give them His own Word." To +search the Scriptures on their own account, the people of our +churches must acquire a taste for their contents. They must be +constantly fed with the bread of life to have an appetite for it. +They will "desire the sincere milk of the word," if so be "they have +tasted that the Lord is gracious." But to what extent do they "taste" +it in the ordinary pulpit ministrations of the day? + +[Sidenote: Secretary Shaw] + +The Honourable Leslie M. Shaw, Secretary of the Treasury, gave an +address recently in Washington, on the occasion of a Sunday school +jubilee, which interested the writer deeply. He was pleading for the +Sunday school on the ground that it was the only place at present in +which the Bible was taught. "It is not now taught in the public +schools," said he, "nor am I here to say that it ought to be taught +there. In our busy life it is not taught in our homes. The head of +the family ought to be a priest, but the Bible is seldom read, much +less taught, in the home. _It is seldom taught in the pulpit._ Not +that I am criticising the ministry. But take up a paper and see what +the sermons are to be about. You will learn about the plan of +salvation if you listen to the sermons, but you will not know much +about the Bible if you depend on getting your knowledge of it from +the pulpit." He then went on to say that "the only place on this +earth where the Bible is taught is in the Sunday school." When, +however, we consider the character of the average Sunday school, the +scraps and bits of the Bible there taught, the brief period of time +devoted to the teaching, the lack of discipline in the classes, and +the inadequate training and preparation of the average teacher, we +begin to inquire, Where is the Bible taught? and wonder whether we +have fallen on the times of the prophet: + + Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a + famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for + water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; and they shall wander + from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall + run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find + it.--Amos 8:11, 12. + + +[Sidenote: Professor Mathews on the Sunday School] + +I am with Professor Shailer Mathews, D.D., in some of his strictures +on the modern Sunday school, if only it be allowed that there are not +a few blessed exceptions to the rule he lays down. I do not know how +we should agree as to a remedy for present conditions, but one remedy +would be, where there is a Bible expositor in the pulpit, to do away +with certain features of the Sunday school altogether for the time +being. The infant or primary departments might be retained as they +are, and possibly the Bible classes for older adults, but the +intermediate classes would do well to be gathered together under the +instruction only of the pastor himself. In time, such a plan would +beget enough teachers of the right quality and spirit to return to +the former method if desired. The cabinet officer's warning and +appeal are timely, for an awful harvest of infidelity and its +attendant evils must be reaped in the next generation should the +Church fail to arise to her responsibility as to the teaching of the +unadulterated Word of God in the present one. + +It is for this reason that the writer pleads with his brethren to +make expository preaching the staple of their pulpit ministrations. +Should they have read the previous chapters in a sympathetic spirit, +they will begin to do this without much urging even where they have +been strangers to it hitherto. But if otherwise, then a further word, +before our concluding chapter, as to the history and practicality of +that kind of preaching, may throw them back on what has been said +before in such a way as to catch the spirit of it and be influenced +by it. + + +[Sidenote: Expository Sermons Defined] + +Expository sermons differ from the textual not so much in kind as in +degree. For example, the text is usually longer, and more attention +is given to the explanation of the words. The text, indeed, may cover +several verses, a whole chapter, or parts of more than one chapter. +And the treatment need not necessarily be confined to the definition +of words, but include the adjustment of the text to the context, and +the amplification and illustration of the various ideas suggested. + +Dr. James W. Alexander, from whose _Thoughts on Preaching_ I draw +generously in what follows, says: + +[Sidenote: The Notion of a Sermon] + +"Suppose a volume of human science to be placed in our hands as the +sole manual or textbook to elucidate to a public assembly, in what +way would it be most natural to go to work? Certainly we would not +take a sentence here, and another there, and upon these separate +portions frame one or two discourses every week! No interpreter of +Aristotle or Littleton would dream of doing that. Nor was it adopted +in the Christian Church, until the sermon ceased to be regarded in +its true notion, as an explanation of the Scripture, and began to be +viewed as a rhetorical entertainment, which might afford occasion for +the display of subtlety, research and eloquence." + +[Sidenote: Inspired Sermons] + +The same author recites some interesting facts that might be summed +up under the general head of the history of expository preaching. For +example, he reminds us that as early as the time of Ezra we find the +reading of the law accompanied with some kind of interpretation. See +Nehemiah 8. In the synagogues, moreover, after the reading of the +law and the prophets, it was usual for the presiding officer to +invite such as were learned to address the people, and it was in +this way that our blessed Lord Himself--as well as His apostles, +subsequently--was given the opportunity to open up the Scriptures. +See our Lord's discourse in the synagogue at Nazareth, reported in +the fourth of Luke, and observe that it was an expository treatment +of Isaiah 61. Notice, also, the discourses of Peter and Paul in the +book of the Acts. + + +[Sidenote: The Christian Fathers] + +The early Christian assemblies adopted this method in their religious +services, as we may judge from allusions and examples in the writings +of Justin Martyr, Origen, Augustine and Chrysostom. Their homilies, +especially in the instances of the last mentioned two, were usually +of the nature of "a close interpretation, or running commentary on +the text, followed by a practical application." Chrysostom, quoted by +Neander, says: "If anyone assiduously attend public worship, even +without reading the Bible at home, but carefully hearkening here, +he will find a single year sufficient to give him an intimate +acquaintance with the Scriptures." In how many of our churches could +the same be said to-day? But ought it not to be said in all? + +Dr. Alexander is further sponsor for the statement that it was about +the beginning of the thirteenth century when the method of preaching +from insulated texts came into vogue, and the younger clergy adopted +subtle divisions of the sermon. And he says, too, that it was warmly +opposed by some of the best theologians of the age, as "a childish +playing upon words, destructive of true eloquence, tedious and +unaffecting to the hearers, and cramping the imagination of the +preachers." He is not prepared to entirely accept this criticism of +the theologians, however, nor am I, believing that both the topical +and the textual methods of preaching have their attractions and +advantages. [Sidenote: The Reformation Period] Nevertheless, it is a +pleasure to record that "when the light of divine truth began to +emerge from its long eclipse, at the Reformation, there were few +things more remarkable than the universal return of evangelical +preachers to the expository method. Book after book of the Bible was +publicly expounded by Luther, and the almost daily sermons of Calvin +were, with scarcely any exceptions, founded on passages taken in +regular course as he proceeded through the sacred canon. The same is +true of the other reformers, particularly in England and Scotland." +In the times of the Nonconformists the textual method came into +practice again; but, notwithstanding, exposition was considered a +necessary part of ministerial labour. Matthew Henry is a conspicuous +example of this, who, although he frequently preached from single +texts, yet "on every Lord's day morning expounded a part of the Old +Testament, and in the evening a part of the New, in both instances +proceeding in regular order." + +[Sidenote: Modern Examples] + +In modern times Charles H. Spurgeon has followed the example of +Matthew Henry to a great extent. He preached topically, with great +interest and power, but at almost every service the exposition of +Scripture was made a distinctive, and always popular, feature of the +exercises. The late Dr. Howard Crosby was heard to say that, in the +course of his pastorate in New York, he had thus given instruction to +his people on every verse in the Bible. The writer, also, can add his +testimony to the fact that this method of preaching is delightful +both to pastor and people. Both need training for it, but when once +the taste has been acquired it demands constant gratification. + + +Let me now supplement these observations on the nature and history of +expository preaching with some remarks upon its practicality and +value. + +[Sidenote: The Easy Way] + +In the first place, when the art is learned, it is the easiest form +of preaching; and this is saying a good deal in an era of the +conservation of energy. The other day my attention was called to an +announcement of a series of Sunday evening discourses by a city +pastor, on "The Gospel in Recent Fiction," in the course of which he +proposed to speak of the spiritual and ethical teaching of some +half-dozen of the popular novels of the day. I could not but think if +he had put the same time and interest into the reading and analysis +of as many books of the Bible, he would have worked less and +accomplished more. It might be said he would not get as many people +to hear him, but I doubt the truth of that statement, if it were +known what he was going to do, and if he did it well. Moreover, there +is another side to the question. The _Watchman_ says: "Time and again +we have seen Sunday congregations increased greatly under the +stimulus of what is called 'up-to-date' preaching, but the church as +a spiritual body, effective for achieving the true ends of a church, +became progressively weaker. The outsiders said that it was doing a +tremendous work, but really it was not doing anything like the work +it did in the days of its comparative obscurity." + +At the risk of enlarging upon this idea beyond its due proportion, it +is difficult to resist the temptation to quote a further paragraph +from the _Interior_, to the effect that "nothing is of less value to +the church than a full house--except an empty one. We happened the +other morning," says the editor, "--it was Monday--to meet the +treasurer of an important city church whose doors had been crowded +the night before. We congratulated him upon the success of his pastor +in 'filling the pews.' 'Yes,' was the hesitating reply, 'he has +filled the pews, and filled the vestibule, and filled the pulpit +steps--but he has emptied the collection baskets. We have the biggest +audience in the city, and will soon have the biggest debt.' In +another city two thousand miles distant, and in another denomination, +we came upon a church from whose doors hundreds were turned nightly +away. Three years later we asked the principal layman how the church +was doing now, and he replied, with a tinge of sadness, 'We had a +grand debauch under Brother X., and we haven't quite recovered from +it yet.'" + + +[Sidenote: The Proper Way] + +It is not only the easiest but the most appropriate form of +preaching, _i.e._ it assumes and compels on the part of the preacher +a large knowledge of the Word of God and aptness in imparting it. As +was remarked in part, before, in another connection, where no +extended exposition is attempted the preacher is naturally induced to +draw upon systematic treatises, philosophical theories, works of mere +literature, or his own ingenuity of invention and fertility of +imagination; with the result that the rhetorical aspect of preaching +attracts undue attention, and the desire to be original, striking, +ingenious and elegant supersedes the earnest endeavour to be +biblical. There are few ministers, honest with their own souls, who +will not admit the truth and the seriousness of this implication. +Here, too, is how heresy comes to raise its head and grow apace. The +biblical preacher is always orthodox and evangelical, and has no +trouble in remaining so. + +And this is the same with his congregation, for here we have a rule +that works both ways. A biblical preacher comes, in time, to make a +biblical church, and should that not be the aim of every minister? +Should not his example be that of Paul, "teaching every man in all +wisdom, that he may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus"? The +truth, however, is, as the authority quoted above says, that "the +scriptural knowledge possessed by our ordinary congregations, amidst +all our boasted light and improvement, bears no comparison with that +of the Scottish peasantry of the last generation, who, from very +infancy, were taught to follow the preacher, in their little Bibles, +as he expounded in regular course." Why hear we so much in these days +of Bible Training Schools and Bible Conventions, and Union Bible +Classes and the like? They are good signs of the times, and bad +signs. They demonstrate a hunger on the part of some of the people +of God for His Word, and an inability to have it satisfied in the +place where they naturally belong. Every church should be more or +less truly a Bible Training School, and the pastor the head of it. + + +It is the most useful form of preaching. Dr. Alexander has some +excellent observations that fit in under this head, every one of +which I have experienced to be true in my own ministry, and earnestly +recommend to the prayerful consideration of my brethren. + +[Sidenote: The Useful Way] + +For example, expository preaching affords inducement and occasion to +the preacher to declare the whole counsel of God. It keeps him from +neglecting many important doctrines and duties which otherwise +would almost necessarily be overlooked. It gives a symmetry and +completeness to his pulpit efforts. It promotes variety and enables +him to escape ruts. To how many people are such biblical truths as +predestination and election unwelcome! Yet, how important they are, +how necessary to be discussed and explained by the minister of the +Gospel, and how likely to be avoided nonetheless! But let him be +expounding Romans, and he must deal with those difficulties, and +glorify God in the doing of it. I say glorify God; for the reason +that those doctrines, and some others, are abhorrent to the popular +mind, is chiefly that they are usually set forth in their "naked +theological form," and not in their scriptural connection. + +And then, too, there are certain sins which every pastor feels he +ought to inveigh against once in a while, but from which he is +prevented either from delicacy, or through fear of being considered +personal in his remarks. Let him adopt the expository method of +preaching, however, and his hesitation in these respects will be +removed as he comes across the very themes that should thus be +touched upon, in a natural way. + + +[Sidenote: The Popular Way] + +It may become the most popular form of preaching. Indeed, it should +become so. The fault is ours, _i.e._ the ministers', if such is not +the case. We should keep at it till we learn to do it well. We should +besiege the throne of grace for power and wisdom to do it well. Who +doubts that the Author of the Holy Scriptures would answer such +entreaties? Chalmers' lectures on Romans, Archbishop Leighton's +lectures on First Peter, F. W. Robertson's on First Corinthians, are +old, but standard types of what may be done in this respect. I doubt +not that Archbishop Trench delivered the substance of his book on the +_Epistles to the Seven Churches_ to his congregation before it +appeared in print; and so in the case of Bishop Ryle and his +_Expository Thoughts on the Gospels_, and Dr. Moule and his _Studies +in Philippians_. I, myself, have seen large congregations held from +week to week in city churches, where the chief attraction was the +exposition of the Bible text. God wrote the Bible for the "common +people," and it is irreverent to suppose that they cannot be +interested in the reading and explanation of it. There is no other +book in the world which sells like God's Book; it leads the market! +How short-sighted, then, are we ministers who fail to take advantage +of the fact, and utilise it to draw our audiences, and interest them, +and nourish them with the bread of life! [1] + +[1] A part of what the author has here written on the subject of +expository preaching formed the substance of a previous communication +from his pen in _Current Anecdotes_, a monthly magazine for +ministers, F. M. Barton, Cleveland. + + + + +EXPOSITORY OUTLINES + + + + +PART V + + +EXPOSITORY OUTLINES + + +Our concluding chapter has been reserved for one or two "sample" +expository outlines that may prove helpful as suggestions to +inexperienced beginners. The first is drawn from the author's own +store, and the second is that of Pastor F. E. Marsh, of Sunderland, +England, which has come under the author's observation and affords a +good illustration of another variety of the species. + +[Sidenote: How Obtained] + +The principle on which the first-named was obtained was that +explained in the previous chapters. The synthetic reading of Romans +led to certain discoveries, as follows: (1) That epistle contains a +single theme, viz., the gift of God's righteousness to men. (2) This +theme is developed along three main lines: its necessity, its nature, +and its effect upon man. (3) Its effect upon man is developed again +along three lines: his relations to God, his own experience, and his +relations to others. (4) The last-named subdivision (his relations +to others) covers chapters 12-16, and expands the idea socially, +politically, and ecclesiastically. + +[Sidenote: The Strong and the Weak] + +Some time before this final thought was arrived at, the consideration +of the epistle had already yielded material for several expository +discourses, but it was conceived that still a good one of a very +practical order lay embedded, say, in chapters 13:8 to 15:7, where +the inspired writer is dealing with the Christian in his church or +ecclesiastical relations. A sample better in some respects might +readily be given, but this is chosen because it lies at hand, and +also because it is not a "stock" piece got up for the occasion, but +such an one as lies upon the surface of the text, and which any young +beginner might evolve on his own account with a little pains. + +The theme decided on was this: + +_The Strong and the Weak, or the Christian's Debt to His +Brother._ Romans 13:8 to 15:7. + +1. We have here the command for Christians to love one another. +13:8-10. + +2. The urgency for its observance. 11-14. + +3. The particular call for its application (fellowshiping the weak). +14:1. + +4. The description of the weak (conscientious scruples as to eating, +and the observance of days). 14:2, 5. + +5. The way in which fellowship is to be shown: (_a_) by not judging +them, 3-12; (_b_) by not putting a stumbling-block in their way, +13-19; (_c_) by edifying them, 20-23. + +6. The motive in the premises (the example of Christ). 15:1-4. + +7. The object in view (the glory of God). 5-7. + +In developing division 5 it was shown (_a_) that we should not judge +the weak brother, for the following reasons: + +(1) God has received him. Verse 3. + +(2) He is accountable to God only. Verse 4, first part. + +(3) God can make him stand. Verse 4, last part. + +(4) Each man must be fully persuaded in his own mind. Verse 5. + +(5) The weak brother may be honouring and serving God even under the +conditions named. Verse 6. + +(6) Each one of us must give account of himself to God. Verses +10-12. + +It was shown (_b_) that we put a stumbling-block in the way of our +weak brother by an undue insistence on our liberty (verses 14, 15), +and that such insistence may itself become sin. 16-18. + +Finally it was shown (_c_) that we edify one another by following +after things which make for peace (verse 19), and that it makes for +peace sometimes to control our zeal. Verse 22. + + +[Sidenote: Some Practical Hints] + +Of course it is almost vital to the best results of expository +preaching that the people bring their Bibles to Church, and use them +more or less in following their minister. Frequently it is desirable +for them to read the text aloud with him responsively, or in unison. +A little gentle coaxing at first, preceded by private prayer, will +get them to do both these things, bring their Bibles and read the +text, while afterwards they will delight to do them. It will cause +church-going and sermon-hearing to become a new and living experience +to them. Young and old will like it, and sinners as well as saints. + +But another almost necessity is to select a subject and treat it in +such a way as to obviate as far as possible the turning over of the +leaves or pages of the Bible during the progress of the exposition. +The best plan is to limit the exposition, where you can, to the page +or two just before the reader's eye. But if turning must be done, let +it be on the principle of Edward Everett Hale's "Ten Times Ten" or +"Lend-a-Hand" Society, _i.e._ forward and not backward. It is +especially confusing and wearisome to a congregation to be turning +pages backward, and then forward, and then backward again, and will +not be relished as an innovation. Row with the tide. + +In the outline now to follow there are leaves to turn, for it covers +a whole epistle. And yet with a single (and perhaps unnecessary) +exception, there is progress in each division. The hearers are +stimulated by the thought of getting on, and that there is an end in +sight. It might be styled: + +_The Character of the New Born._ + +What kind of persons are those who are born again? We have only to +turn to the First Epistle of John for the answer. Mark the words +"born of him," or "born of God," which we have again and again in +the epistle. We get seven characteristics of those who are begotten +of God: + +1. The people who are born of God are righteous. "Every one that +doeth righteousness is born of him" (2:29). If I am not doing +righteously, what evidence have I that I am born of Him? + +2. Those born of God are an unsinning people. "Whosoever is born of +God doth not commit sin" (2:9). Sin is not the habit of life of the +one who has been born again. The trend of his life is not in the old +paths of sin. + +3. Those who are born of God are an abiding people. "His seed abideth +in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (3:9). + +4. Those who are born of God are a loving people. "Every one that +loveth is born of God" (4:7). + +5. They are a believing people. "He that believeth that Jesus is the +Christ is born of God" (5:1). It is not merely that they say that +Christ is Christ, but they know Him experimentally as the Christ in +power. + +6. Those who are born of God are an overcoming people. "Whatsoever is +born of God overcometh the world" (5:4). The evidence, therefore, of +being born of God is victory over the world. + +7. Those born of God are a preserved people. "Whosoever is born of +God sinneth not, but he that was begotten of God keepeth him" (5:18, +R.V.). + +Those who have been born of God are kept by the power of God. These +are the people who constitute the church of God, and they answer to +everything that is said of those who are found faithful, and who +escape the things that are coming on the world. + + +The author lingers over the closing word, for he is enamoured of the +theme and loath to leave it. No typewriting machine has ground out +these pages for the press; the subject has been too sacred for other +than his own pen. He covets the love of it for every fellow-member of +the body of Christ. He sees the regeneration of the Church in the +general adoption of the plan. He sees the sanctification of the +ministry. He sees a mighty quickening in the pews. He sees the +worldwide revival for which a thousand hearts are praying. He sees +the unmasking of a Christianised rationalism, and the utter rout of a +rationalised Christianism. He sees the first thing in the world +getting the first place in the world. He sees the solution of a score +of civic problems. He sees the protection of vested rights against +lawlessness, and the labourer receiving the due reward of his hire. +He sees the oppressed set free; no longer + + "Condemned by night, enchained by day, + Drowned in the depths of grim despair; + While running brooks sing roundelay, + And God's green fields are ev'rywhere." + +He sees the missionary treasuries repleted. He sees the hastening of +the day when this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached as a +witness to all nations, [1] and when He who is our life shall appear, +and we also shall appear together with Him in glory. [2] + +O brethren of the ministry and the laity, get back to the Bible! Let +the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. [3] Let us +preach the preaching that God bids us. [4] Diminish not a word. [5] +Let us be as His mouthpieces, nothing more, nothing less, taking +forth the precious from the vile, [6] for who knoweth if He will +return and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him? [7] + +[1] Matt. 24:14. + +[2] Col. 3:4. + +[3] Col. 3:16. + +[4] Jonah 3:2. + +[5] Jer. 26:2. + +[6] Jer. 15:19. + +[7] Joel 2:14. + + +_Printed by_ Morrison & Gibb Limited, _Edinburgh_ + + + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR. + +- - - - - + +SYNTHETIC BIBLE STUDIES. Containing an Outline Study of every Book of +the Bible, with Suggestions for Sermons, Addresses, and Bible +Exposition. New Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Demy 8vo, price 6s. +net. + +This book is intended as a guide to what is called the synthetic study +of the Bible, which means, as we use the term, the study of the Bible +as a whole, and each book of the Bible as a whole, and as seen in its +relation to other books. The word "Synthesis" has the opposite meaning +to "Analysis." When we analyse a subject we take it apart and consider +it in its various elements, but when we synthesise it we put it +together and consider it as a whole, which is what this book does in a +certain sense with the Word of God. + +THE ANTIDOTE TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE; or, How to deal with it from the +Bible and Christian point of view. Price 2s. 6d. net. + +As far as possible from being another of the virulent and unintelligent +attacks of which we have had too many. Marked by a sweet, forbearing +spirit, the author tries to show where Christian Science fails as a +religion. Since it professes to stand on the Bible, he shows how the +new faith antagonises the Bible, and how the Bible antagonises it, +concluding with the antidote for error, and a chapter on what the +Church may learn from Christian Science. + +PRIMERS OF THE FAITH. Price 3s. 6d. net. + I. How we Know the Bible is Genuine. + II. How we Know the Bible is Credible. + III. How we Know the Bible is Divine. + +Written, not for scholars, but for the average layman. It is intended +to help Sunday School teachers, Christian workers, and students. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's How To Master The English Bible, by James Gray + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41900 *** |