( Concluded from page 266. )

"That ye may grow thereby." The intelligent 1 Christian has a twofold object in the reading or study of the Scriptures :one of these is to inform and familiarize himself with its teachings, in order that he may by this means not only defend himself against the attacks of the enemy, but be able also to assist others against the assaults of the evil one. This we learn from the following passages:"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth " (2 Tim. 2 :15) ; also in chap. 3:15, "The Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation " – the salvation or deliverance from all that would oppose our progress in the Christian life, draw us aside or drag us down into the pitfalls of Satan. There is a like thought in Ps. 174:" By the words of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer."

This is a very necessary use which the believer in Christ should make of his Bible; by it he meets the adversary and overcomes the tempter, even as our Lord and Master met him with the scriptures- " It is written." Thus the word or sayings of God is called " The sword of the Spirit."

But this is not all; there is another and very important object attained by the Christian's habitual reading of Scripture; it is that the soul may be fed – "nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine." All real growth of soul is by the truth. Growth in the truth is essential to the believer's happiness and security from spiritual decay, or backsliding; just as plants to be saved from succumbing to harmful fungus growths and insect pests, must be kept in a state of continuous growth and vigor. The wise husbandman knows this, and uses all means and puts forth every effort to keep his plants in a healthful growing condition, in order that they may resist and throw off those diseases and plagues to whose attacks they are exposed. It is the same with the human body. We are constantly exposed to germs of disease of various kinds ; they are almost everywhere – in the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, the things we handle. And the best safeguard against contagion is to keep the body in a good condition, well nourished, follow regular habits, with cleanliness both of body and mind.

And so it is with the believer's soul; the diseases to which it is constantly exposed may easily arrest its progress and bring decay. Only a vigorous growth can preserve it from falling before the spiritual contagion found everywhere to – day-in books, in the lyceum, the class-room, social meetings, the market, the street, the playground, and where not ! It is even found in the pulpit and religious assemblies; it is, in fact, here most prevalent, and that in its most virulent forms – as " Higher Criticism," coupled with a subtle denial of eternal punishment, denial of miracles and what is beyond the mind of man, and the all-but-universal conception of the Unitarian "All-Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man."

And what is the remedy, the antidote for all this Anti-Christian teaching of the last days ? It is given us by this same apostle Peter in his second epistle. In the second and third chapters he warns us of the false teachers that were to come in the last days; and he says, "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness." But how can the believer avoid this ? What is the safeguard or protection against this deadly doctrinal and moral contagion ? Listen, hear him, or God, rather, speaking to us through him :"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3 :18). Only this will be our sure protection against being drawn after or into the error of the wicked, or from becoming ensnared, by some one of the many false doctrines and cults and denials of faith now so fearfully prevalent.

And so we read, "That ye may grow thereby." It is not by keenness of intellect or breadth of knowledge that souls are preserved from being deceived and carried away by some of the multitudinous heresies and false teachings of the times in which we live, but by feeding on and growing by the nourishment supplied us in the Word of God.

And this is also the believer's safeguard against moral defection, falling into various sins, as, alas, so often happens with God's blood-bought children. "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee," the psalmist says (Ps. 119:11). By God's word treasured in his heart (from whence are "the issues of life,") he was preserved from sinning against the Author of his being, and the God of his salvation. In a world of moral defilement, found everywhere, in the midst of a scene of universal revolt against God, where the spiritual atmosphere is contaminated, and with the propensity in our very nature to respond to the temptations, what need there is earnestly and constantly to resort to the " sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow thereby," escape the temptations of the wicked, and by God's grace be kept from falling! But if we cease to grow, if we no longer progress in our souls, that moment decline begins, and unless checked by repentance and restoration, we are on the road to shipwreck, either of faith or morals-if not both ; or if blameless still as to the outward life, a backslider in heart and atrophied in soul, all joy and power gone, with nothing left but a name to live while dead!

There is a third, a minor object, we may have in the reading of the Bible. The Christian not only reads, studies and searches the Scriptures to prepare himself against the onslaught of the enemy, and to feed his soul and be kept in a healthy growing state, as we have before pointed out, but he also reads it for his enjoyment. How intensely interesting he finds its well-told histories, how beautiful its poetry, how pungent its moral sayings, how apt and illuminating its parables, how wonderful and grand are its prophecies, its doctrines, enforced by arguments, backed up by examples, and illustrated by things of earth, sea and sky. No doubt God intended we should be charmed and encouraged to the reading of His precious book by the very beauty of its composition, the lure of its matchless literature. Even men of the world, men of culture and of good taste, have recognized this literary excellence of the Bible, as many of them have testified. A president of one of the great mid-west railway systems never left his home without having his Bible in his valise, though making no pretense of being a Christian.

Physiologists tells us how much more digestible, and therefore more beneficial, food becomes to us when eaten with relish or good appetite; and so, when God's Word is read with pleasure, when it is sweet to our taste, its preciousness and sanctifying power will then be realized. We are sanctified by the truth-by God's word (Jno. 17 :17), whether in its formal study, with eager searching, or reading it with pleasure and delight.

Fellow-believer, let us feed upon the precious Word of God as a "feast of fat things;" let us earnestly desire it, that we may ever "grow thereby." Amen. C. Knapp.