BIBLE.-Need of the

You cannot carry the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in your memory every day, and all day long. No man can do that. Nor is there need. We do not need all the Bible every day. The world needs it all. Individually we need it as we need corn in the granary; as we need clothes in the wardrobe; as in a journey we need the hostel, or way-side-house to rest in, when we come to it; as we need the boat to take us over the broad river which we can neither ford nor swim; as we need the lamp to go through the wood by night; as we need the guide across the mountains to the distant city. There is many a chapter, and many a precious verse, in the Bible, which lies thus in reserve for us. We glance at them to-day with a sincere, but with only a general interest, as knowing that they form part of the great treasure of divine truth given to the world; but the day will come, and may be near, when perhaps those chapters will be better unto us than thousands of gold and silver, and we shall read them through our tears.-Dr. Raleigh.

BIBLE. The Object of the

The object of the Bible is to show forth the character of God, especially as it is exhibited in the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ.-Dr. Brewer.

BIBLE.-The Office of the

The Bible is a divine preacher; it is the very voice of God speaking in human ears, recognizing man as a rational creature, and condescending to explain to him the very reasonableness of its revelations.-Dr. Skinner.

BIBLE.-Only One

There is a Bible, because there is a God; and there is only one Bible, because there is only one God.-Garbett.

BIBLE.-Parting with the

We can better afford to part with every other book from our libraries, our schools, our colleges, our sanctuaries, than this finished production of the Infinite Mind.-Dr. Spring.

BIBLE. The Perfecting Power of the

The Bible perfects man's reason by example and habit,-by enlisting and correcting his motives and impulses. It perfects his intellectual apprehension by perfecting his moral sense. It perfects the whole man; and perfects it for the highest object of his being-which is religion.—Bosanquet.

BIBLE. The Preservation of the

The ancient Greek and Latin classics, which minister to man's lusts and chime in with man's fallen propensities, have all of them been more or less mutilated or lost; but the Bible, which rebukes man in truth's own undaunted tones, and which man hates because it prophesies evil concerning his sins, remains perfectly whole and entire. Now how does it happen-that the books which men cherished with parental solicitude are mutilated or lost, and that the Book which men would have been too glad to have exterminated and destroyed is perfectly preserved ? Were a man to come into an assembly now, who had survived eighteen centuries of persecution,-who had been cast into the seas and not drowned,-who had been thrown into the fires, but was not burned,-who had been flung to wild beasts, but was not destroyed,-to whom prussic acid had been administered, but

he had not died,—who had been buried, and yet was not smothered;—would you not say-God must have sustained this man by a continuous miracle? The Bible is that man! The power of kings, the pride of nobles, the prejudices of priests, whatever learning could snatch from the arsenals of the past, or wit invent, or wickedness wield, have been hurled against it, and all have recoiled broken, and lie as trophies at its feet.-Dr. Cumming.

BIBLE. The Preciousness of the

O Book! infinite sweetness! let my heart
Suck every letter, and a honey gain,

Precious for any grief in any part,

To clear the breast, to mollify all pain.

豪

Thou art joy's handsel: heaven lies flat in thee,

Subject to every mounter's bended knee.

Stars are poor books, and oftentimes do miss :

This book of stars lights to eternal bliss.-G. Herbert.

BIBLE. Reading the

Some ministers read the Bible in a tame and deadening tone, as if they had mistaken insipidity for veneration; others read it with a theatrical rant which is shockingly impious; others again read it in a slovenly manner, as if the exercise was hardly worth attending to, in comparison with "their grand intellectual sermon." What is the remedy? We must, first of all, feel that the Word of God itself is actually before us, and our elocution will then be dictated by our veneration. In the next place, we must, by private study, prepare ourselves for the public reading of it. The indispensable requisite for good reading is an intelligent and sympathetic conception of the author's meaning; I say not only intelligent but sympathetic, because appreciation always suggests the best expression.-Dr. Parker.

The Bible is to be read patiently and laboriously, and it is to be read consecutively through. Not a single word may, on any account, be missed; not a single clause slurred over: and when a fresh chapter is begun, the concluding words of that which went before should be re-considered. We all read the Bible

too fast. We do not linger over the words as if we loved them, and were loth to pass on. "Oh how sweet are Thy words unto my throat; yea, sweeter than honey unto my mouth," said one of old time. Truly, the man must have delighted in the words of Holy Scripture who could so express himself! And yet, nothing knew he of the consolation of the Gospel! Now, I do not find that readers of the present day feel as he felt. Seldom is the attempt made to retain on the palate the flavour of the words of Inspiration. It follows-that we seldom notice the peculiarities of divine expression; seldom detect covert hints or allusions, or avail ourselves of the less obvious teaching of the Spirit. Hence when we come before the world, we "therefore do err, not knowing the Scriptures.”—Burgon.

Never read for the sake of feeling afterwards that you have accomplished a task. For what will it profit you to have run over with your eye a certain number of verses, if, like the butterfly which flits from flower to flower, you have scarcely gathered any nourishment? Be rather like the bee, which rests awhile and draws out the sweetness which lies deep within.-Bishop Ozenden.

BIBLE. The Religion of the

If this is not the true religion, one is very excusable in being deceived; for everything in it is grand and worthy of God.-Napoleon I.

BIBLE. Sceptics and the

The disciples plucked the wheat-heads, and rubbing them in their hands, they ate the grain. But our sceptical believers take from the Bible its supernatural element,-rub out the wheat, and eat the chaff.-H. W. Beecher.

BIBLE.-Science and the

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We are not in the least degree concerned to account for the marvels of the Bible to explain how they came to pass. What natural forces, at the bidding of the Author of Nature, brought about the Deluge, or overthrew Sodom, or delayed the phenomenon which astronomers inaccurately term "sunset," and prolonged the daylight, as recorded in Joshua x. 12-14;-the rationale of all these things, regarded as physical phenomena, we are altogether indifferent about. We should as soon think of demanding a scientific explanation of the dazzling glory which surrounded the Son of Man on the holy Mount, or of the mysterious darknes which attended His crucifixion. Consider the miracle of His Incarnation, whereby it came to pass that that holy thing which was born of the Virgin Mary was called the Son of God: behold Him crucified, dead, and buried; bursting the bonds of the grave on the third day, eating and drinking with His disciples, and finally ascending up into heaven! How utterly foreign to the great doctrine of the Ascension, for instance, would be the very best attempt to explain it on scientific principles ! Yet we believe all this on the sure word of God; nay, it is the foundation of our dearest hopes. We build upon these sacred truths our loftiest teaching also, and seek hereby to win men to Christ. But what has physical science to do with all these matters? They do not fall within her province; and if she should discourse of them ever so well, her comment would be tasteless and irrelevant. As well might it be expected that the

convulsions of Nature, which shake this lower world, will at last disturb the deep calm of Paradise, as that the fretful progress of mankind in investigating physical phenomena will produce any effect on the interpretation of God's Word !—Burgon.

BIBLE.-The Simplicity and Profundity of the

There are fords here for lambs, and there are deep waters where elephants swim.-Desmarets.

BIBLE-Spiritualizing the

The most insufferable departure from the principles of sound exposition is that perversion of the plain facts of the Bible which is called spiritualizing them; as if there were not passages enough which contain fairly and unequivocally, according to the laws of proper construction, every doctrine of the Gospel! as if the Spirit of God had not made His own Book spiritual enough! It is inconceivable what havoc this species of mania-for it deserves no better name-has made in the sober and dignified lessons of Divine Revelation. And it shows how powerful is the influence of an irrational fashion, when even great men are swept by it into the bog of absurdity.-Dr. Mason.

BIBLE. The Study of the

Among the chief pursuits of the preacher, indeed, the first, last, and midst, is the study of the Bible. As the great end of the sacred office is to impress the

contents of the Bible on the hearts of men, so, in subserviency to that end, the great business of those who exercise that office is to acquire, as perfectly as possible, the meaning and spirit of that Divine Book. And as He would fully develop the power of his function, he must not content himself, in his official ministrations, with a bare statement of the propositions which the Bible contains on the various topics of theology; but he must study that Book to make himself acquainted with its treasures of language, its eloquence, its poetry, it depths of learning. All books, in comparison, are poor of thought, of feeling, of expression, of whatever gives power and excellence to discourse. The study of the Bible, therefore, is, comprehensively, the only study of preachers. It is a study deep and ample enough to exhaust a thousand of the ordinary terms of human life. Dr. Skinner.

BIBLE. The Suggestiveness of the

The Bible is so rich in narrative, in illustration, in history, and in diversified allusions to natural objects in the visible world, that a Christian scholar ought not to find it difficult to adapt his style of address to any people, cultivated or uncultivated. No secular orators are furnished with such rich materials for their pleadings as we are who plead with men for God. Our difficulties arise, not from paucity of matter, but from the want of a large and more familiar acquaintance with the Word of God.-Dean Close.

BIBLE. The Suitability of the

This wonderful volume does not suit this age or that, this race or that; it suits all ages and all races and all men. It comes home alike to eastern and western nations; never gets out of date; never is outgrown by the increasing intelligence of educated men; contains not a sentence that even those who like it least can call nonsense; and expresses no feeling in which all Christian people cannot sympathize. And if we be believers in Christ in any good measure, how this blessed book, inspired by One who knows us, and understands us thoroughly-how it suits all our moods, all our circumstances! In every state of thought and feeling, we find what we want in the Bible.-Dr. Boyd.

BIBLE. The Superiority of the

Homer, Virgil, and other noble, fine, and profitable writers, have left us books of great antiquity; but they are nought to the Bible.-Luther.

BIBLE.-The Test of the

The Bible can bear to be looked at in daylight, and to be put to any test by honest men, yea, even by dishonest men, if those who love it are equal to what God requires of them as His servants, His workmen, His witnesses. Where the unrest is greatest, it will step in with its "Peace, be still!" where the billows roll highest, like the sea-bird in the storm, or the ark on the wild, dark waters of the deluge, it will ever rise to the top where the battle rages most furiously, it will send its champions into the thickest of the fight. It will ever be seen as most precious when it is set in fullest, brightest light. Diamond-like

:

"In depths of earth

Long hidden by its weight of clay,

Is, while obscured, of little worth,

But priceless in the beams of day."-Dr. Duns.

BIBLE.-The Translation of the

Time gives a venerable air to all things,-to men, to trees, to buildings, and to books. Sacred things acquire peculiar sanctity by long duration. A new Church, with all the embellishments of Grecian architecture, is far less venerable than the Gothic tower overgrown with moss. The present translation of the Bible derives an advantage from its antiquity greatly superior to any which could arise from the correction of its inaccuracies. Imagine a Roman senator, or warrior, dressed out like a powdered beau of modern times. Much more care is bestowed upon him in his present dress. He is nicely and accurately arrayed in every part. But what is the result? He is now pretty, and before he was majestic. Just so, were the Bible corrected and modernized, it would become more showy, and, perhaps, quite exact; but it would lose that air of sanctity which enables it to make an impression which no accuracy could possibly produce.-Dr. Knox.

BIBLE-Truths Gathered from the

There wilt thou learn what to thy ardent mind
Will make this world but as a thorny pass

To regions of delight;-man's natural life,
With all its varied turmoil of ambition,
But as the training of a wayward child

To manly excellence ;-yea, death itself

But as a painful birth to life unending.-Joanna Baillie.

BIBLE.-The Unity of the

The unity between the various parts of the Sacred Volume is one of its most wonderful features, and may be traced distinctly from the beginning to the end of it, running in three principal lines, namely, the historical, moral, and spiritual.— Dr. Davies.

BIBLE. Varieties in the

Some have said—that if the Bible had been written as a beautiful essay, it would have been far more satisfactory to the minds of the educated, and no less instructive to the unenlightened. I think not: it would have been a dull and dry book; it would have made a far feebler impression upon the hearts of the bulk of mankind; but by using men of every cast and turn of mind and thought, and pouring through these, as channels, the truth of God, we have God's truth in all the various idiosyncrasies of men-in all the formulas of human speech; so that there is no peculiarity of taste, of temperament, or talent, or character, that will not find something in the Bible suited to it, and calculated to inspire the soul of him who reads it.-Dr. Cumming.

BIBLE.-Veneration for the

The veneration we should feel for the Bible, as the depository of saving knowledge, will be totally distinct, not only from what we attach to any other book, but from that admiration its other properties inspire; and the variety and antiquity of its history, the light it affords in various researches, its inimitable touches of nature, together with the sublimity and beauty so copiously poured over its pages, will be deemed subsidiary ornaments-the embellishments of the casket which contains "the pearl of great price."-R. Hall.