" This Book, this holy Book, on every line Marked with the seal of high Divinity, On every leaf bedewed with drops of love; This Lamp, from off the everlasting throne, Mercy took down, and in the night of Time Stood, casting in the dark her gracious bow:And evermore beseeching men, with tears And earnest sighs to read, believe, and live."

It is sincere pleasure to write a few lines to fellow-students upon such a fruitful theme as "Bible study," for I am convinced that nothing in the world is so important and nothing is so much needed. I find as I journey on in life that Christians may be divided pretty generally into two classes, one of which does not study the Bible, and in consequence makes no definite progress in the spiritual life from year to year, while the other class feeds daily upon the Word and grows in stature in the knowledge and wisdom of God.

I do not wish to assert that many of the members of the first class do not "read the Bible" every day,
but that there is no seeking, heart-searching, appropriating study, and hence no assimilation, no growth, and no power for the Master's service. These Christians are often sweet and amiable and lovable in character, it is true. But they really know little or nothing of the wonders of the realms of grace. They cannot speak with certainty, from a definite personal experience of the work of the Holy Ghost, and as for a daily walk in the Spirit, they have not so much as heard of it. They often spend much time in philanthropy and in "trying to do good to others," yet when questioned by an unbeliever they are scarcely able to give substantial reasons for the hope that is in them.

I cannot do more in this brief letter to college men than state my personal and earnest convictions as to the necessity of Bible study without argument. I therefore declare again with absolute assurance that without a real, devout, persistent Bible study there can be no real growth in the Christian life. I make this assertion after a wearisome, fruitless experience in my own life without it, as well as after hearing the experiences of many fellow-Christians and listening to many sermons.

The second categorical statement to which I beg the attention of the students whom I am addressing, is that there is nothing in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, which needs any apology of any sort from any man. Since I have found out this vital fact, and have gone to my Bible day by day with prayer for guidance and simple faith in studying it, whole books which used to appear obscure have become luminously clear, and I am now able to take my portion day by day, led by Him whom Christ has sent to be His viceregent on earth until His own personal return.

If the Bible is in very truth the word of God and His appointed means for advance in the Christian life, the next important question is, what is the best way to study it ? I would! study my Bible prayerfully, looking to God alone to open up its meaning by His Holy Spirit, fully persuaded that these things cannot be understood by the natural man. He cannot receive them, for they are foolishness to him, for they are spiritually discerned; the gift of the Spirit is the supreme gift to His people in this age from God through Christ.

I would search the Scriptures regularly, taking my spiritual food with the same precision I apply to supplying the needs of the body. I find as the practical outcome of this honoring of the Spirit that I actually develop a positive spiritual appetite and even long for the time to come when I can be alone with my Bible and receive from my Father the heavenly food He sees good to give me for my day's needs. I find, too, that regular feeding develops a spiritual strength unknown before, and with it a fitness for His service not possessed by the fasting man.

I would study my Bible intently, eagerly, seeking under the guidance of the Spirit to realize fully the precious import of every word. If man's words are held to mean what they say in contracts and legal documents, how infinitely more valuable are the words of God in this inspired and blessed writing.

I would study the Bible with faith, and so happily wander through its great treasure stores made mine by the grace of God, gathering here and there the precious gems of truth richly strewn through its pages. I have yet to find that I can make a too minute analysis of the Bible. It is like some marvelous divine instrument which combines ten thousand beautiful instruments in one. You strike one note in one part and it awakens harmonies and sweet reverberations which run down through the ages; again close by you strike another note, and lo a different set of tones resounds, and so it keeps on day by day yielding its sweet, ever fresh, soul-satisfying melodies to those who care to stir them. It is like a cloth of gold with thousands of cords mutually independent yet all interwoven in one glorious whole; if you pull a cord in Genesis you can trace it consistently on to Revelation. A man's book is wonderful if the author carries out in it a few lines of thought consistently; in this Book there is one theme, Redemption through Christ, displayed with a variety which is infinite, as is the Author Himself.

We live in a day of multitudes of helps in Bible study, and it is often a great temptation to try to take the digested food of a help, and so more quickly to appropriate its truths; but I would here assert I with earnest conviction that the great expositor of the Bible is the Bible itself, and the one great commentator who enables us to understand the Bible is the Holy Spirit. This is His peculiar work; the Book is His, and the application of the word to the individual life is His, and no human agent, formula, or catechism dare supplant the divine Guide under penalty of utter failure of being able to exercise quickening faith and of understanding the message aright. It seems to me that the class of simply devotional books are even worse than useless, as they never turn out anything better than weak, lackadaisical Christians. The best books are those which continually send the student right back to the Bible to test the truth of their statements.

In conclusion, if I have gained the attention of any young Christians, let me again beg them to be Bible-loving, Bible-reading Christians. If they are weak, the Bible will make them strong; if they are ignorant, the Bible will build them up in the truth ; if they are assailed by doubts and criticisms, the Bible will dispel them as the mists of the morning melt away before the sun in his splendor. Do they desire to know more about Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? the Bible is the one place to seek for such wisdom. Are they among those who know not if there be any Holy Spirit ? they will never say so if they read their Bibles. Are the lusts of the flesh strong within them? here they learn how the flesh has been buried and they find their Christian privileges in a resurrection life. Is our earthly pilgrimage one of sore trials? here we find that we are seated in Christ in the heavenlies, and heaven has begun on earth for all who love the will of God above all else.

"O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord." "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."H. A. K.