Dearly Beloved Young Brethren and Sisters:

It seems strange to resume our little correspondence after a lapse of so many years, but our dear brother, Mr. Bloore, has so faithfully and efficiently filled the gap that my main hesitation is in taking the work out of his hands, which he very willingly resigns.

Just here I want to say that we are not going to lose Mr. Bloore's work for the young people. You will find in a later number of the magazine a continuation of his articles outlining the Bible books we are reading and I hope also continuing the Bible class studies in Colossians. You may ask, If he is going to continue this work, why does it not go on in the Young Believers' Department? Well, I am anxious to get in touch with you all again through this medium, and I will confess, anxious too, to hear from you as we used to do of old. So you will please understand that it is with the hope and expectation that you will be writing letters with your suggestions, accounts of meetings, and all work done; in fact, I hope that you will write whenever you wish and about any subject that may be on your minds.

We have, I was going to say, a new personnel among the young folks. During the past five years very many have grown from boyhood and girlhood into young men and women-above all, I thank God for many who have definitely passed out of darkness into light in that time, and who now, instead of indifference, as was formerly the case, have a real love for the Word of God, and a desire for growth in the knowledge of Him; so that in that way we look for increased numbers amongst our correspondents.

On the other hand perhaps some of you may think you have "graduated" from the class of "young believers" and have become matured men and women. No doubt a number of you have been married in that time; others have taken upon them more responsibility connected with their place in the Assembly and its various activities, and perhaps consider they can no longer be classed among the young people. But you will allow me to say that I still class myself with the "Young Believers," and so you must not put any age limit upon yourselves, but remember that we expect your continued interest, work, fellowship, counsel and service in connection with this, which I believe, has been a great help to many. So we will call you, if you wish, "post-graduates;" in fact, we never cease to be learners in the school of God. If we do, we cease to grow, and this, I hope, will not be the case with any of us. You remember the word in the Psalms, "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age" (Ps. 92:14).

But I must leave generalities and come down to a few particulars, and first I will speak of Memory Work. This has been discontinued for some time, but I feel so much the benefit of it in my own private life that I am loath to see it given up. Of course many of you have not ceased to memorize the precious Word of God, but I think that a continuance of our united work in this direction may be a stimulus to us all. Of course you have covered a good many of the Epistles, and may feel that you have sufficient laid up in your minds to excuse you from going further afield. I would just ask, Do you know by heart every portion of the Word which you would like to have ready for use? I do not think that many of us could say this. Now I thought that for the first part of this year, if the Lord please, we will do a little review work, and so I am going to suggest that we take up again the Epistle to the Galatians, and freshen our memories by going over it again. Those of you who find that there is little or no effort to recall it all may be very thankful. I think some of us will find we need to rub it up again to be letter-perfect. At the outset let us try the use of a note-book. Sit down and write out the first chapter in your note-book, without reference to the Bible. Then open to the Epistle and compare verse by verse and word by word, and make all your corrections with red ink. If you find many mistakes, go carefully over it until you are sure you have made all the corrections, then try writing it down again. You know Bacon said, "Writing maketh an exact man," and I think that you will find this will have removed many of the ordinary blemishes which we find in the quotations from the Word of God. We do not want to be pedantic, but we do want to give honor to every jot and tittle of this precious treasury of truth, so let us have Galatians, chapters one and two, for the month of January. I am hoping that a number of the new recruits will start in with us so that we will have a good list; and please do not say that you have lost your memory, because that is not the case. Many older persons who make this complaint would feel rather hurt if you intimated that they were in their dotage, and perhaps they would not even like it if you said that they did not have an interest in what they were reading. The truth is, that if we will pay steady attention to what we are reading and studying, it remains with us a great deal more definitely than it frequently does.

I do not mean that we shall go over all the Epistles which you have memorized in their order, but hope that we can make a nice selection before long of striking portions of the Word, both in the book of Psalms, Proverbs, the Prophets, and in the Gospels. I have had great plea sure in going through a number of the Psalms.

Daily Reading

We have been through the Bible perhaps twice, and yet do you not agree with me that we find it fresher than ever, fuller in every chapter than we had ever supposed? So far from wearying with repeated perusal, we find our interest sharpened and our profit increased.

I have just a word or two which I have learned through my own experience to suggest:make the Bible the first reading of the day. Do not allow any other book, and especially anything like a newspaper, to usurp the first place in point of time that the Word of God alone should occupy. BIBLE FIRST. The Bible on the breakfast table. As soon as you make this the habit of your life you will find that many supposed difficulties to regularity have vanished; in fact, you will find it a bracer for the whole day, giving tone and order to many things which have been left at loose ends.

I need not say much here about good reading, beyond suggesting what will be the next book to take up. A very few pages daily is about all that many of us have time for, so we will not try to go rapidly along, but rather to enjoy that which we read. I am going to suggest one of the most valuable little books that I know of-"The Moral Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ." I do not think that you can profitably read very much of this at a time. It is a book for meditation and prayer. If you read one or two pages daily it will be all that is expected, and I am sure if you are not familiar with this book you will be very thankful that your attention has been drawn to it. I have already spoken about correspondence. It will be a great pleasure to get your letters and I am going to set apart one letter-file for the Young Believers' Department writers, so please do not disappoint me by failing to supply material to fill this file. What shall you write about? First tell about all that you are doing in what we are suggesting-Memory Work, Good Reading, Daily Bible Reading. Then tell about your Young People's Meeting. This is very helpful, as we get many suggestions in that way. If you don't have a Young People's Meeting, possibly it may be the best thing for you to make the attempt. But perhaps you say, "There are so few of us that it is hardly worth while." I seriously believe that if we have only the minimum number which our Lord has given to us, "two or three," we will find His promise is fulfilled. Then any questions you may have on Scripture or any practical subject I will do my best to answer, either by letter or in the Department, or perhaps they will be of such a character that they may find a place in the "Answers to Correspondents" in the body of the magazine. Only please write.

Hints as to Service

I hope we can make this a distinctive part of our work, and that from time to time there will be helpful suggestions and little accounts of what is being done in various places. As I move about the country I am so grateful to find the young people are actively engaged in doing something for the Lord. Very much of this work can be done by all together. The Young People's Meeting, of course, is for all, but I think perhaps there may be some distinct work that the boys can do by themselves and others in which the girls alone can be engaged. For instance, everything that has to do with sewing is rather foreign to the masculine abilities, and yet here is where the girls can find a real sphere for their energies. I am not going into this fully just now, but merely as a hint would suggest for boys; Open-air Work, tract distribution, and for indoors, Bible Study. I have been very thankful to learn of a number of high-school "grads" or others, who are taking up the Greek New Testament. Some day we will get letters from these, and perhaps it will show a lot of the boys that this is not beyond their reach.

For the girls I do think that there is a very happy combination of real service in Sewing Meetings coupled with some helpful reading at the same time. We are gradually going to recommend a lot of intensely interesting books on the Foreign Mission work and other matters, and I believe that if the young folks can get together of an afternoon or evening, say once a month, or weekly, if they have time for it, and let one read while the others sew, the time will fly by very swiftly. In almost every place there are some dear folks who would greatly appreciate the fruit of your fingers, and then of course, we have the dearly beloved laborers abroad whom we can help in such ways. Let us have your suggestions on these and other matters.

There are many other matters to speak of but I think we have reached our limit for this number. I will only say in closing, how deeply thankful I am to our blessed Lord for restored health and ability to go on in some way with-what is very near to my heart. I am sure you will not take it amiss if I ask that you remember especially in prayer this work, and that God may make it a real blessing to us all.

Affectionately your brother in Him, 1138 East 7th St., Plainfield, N. J. S. Ridout.