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