SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 October 1921, Page 9

SUNDAY READING.

“THE BEST AND THE WORST USED BOOK IN ALL THE WORLD.” “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul.” —Psalm XIX. 7. (By Rev. A. H. Collins, New Plymouth.) An old bookman of the seventeenth century, referring to the Bible, wrote: “The word of the Lord is a light to light you, a counsellor to counsel you, a comforter to comfort you, a sword to de- ' fend you, a phyavcian to cure you. T'.ii ; Word is a mind to enrich you, a robe to clothe you, and a crown to crown you. It is bread to strengthen you. and wine to cheer you, music to delight you, and a Paradise to entertain you.” The phrasing is quaint. But though the words were written 300 years ago, when copies of Holy Scripture were rare and costly,-they reveal an acquaintance with and an affection for the Book which strangely contrasts with our scandalous nqgiect in an age when the : Bible is cheap-and editions are multiplied. For deny it how we will, the Holy Book is the best and the worst used book in all the world. It is more

familiar than John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” or Goldsmith’s "Vicar of Wakefield, or Cowper’s “Task,” or Wards worth’s “Excursion.” It ie quoted more freely than Milton or Shakespeare, Maccczrfay or Carlyle. Its words and phrases haunt the fields and groves of our finest literature. There is a copy of the Bible in nearly every English speaking home. It has been translated into almost all the teaching tongues of the world; “the miracle of Babel reversed, the miracle of Pentecost chrysta! - ised into permanenee.” Yet no book is read more carelessly, and none more shamefully abused. Less time is given to Bible reading than to the daily Press. A bit is read here, and a bit there, as fancy or prejudice may incline, but with no serious attempt at regular and systematic study. Mere fragments of time are given to these “random readings,” and even thia much is at the fag end of the day, when the mind is too jaded to grapple with the august subjects of which the chapters treat, and as a result we have what Socrates would call “imaginary Scripture knowledge.” No doubt the Bible exerts widespread influ- ■ ence for good eVen 'though it be handicapped an this way, but unless we go further we content ourselves with a

mere smattering of Bible knowledge, when its wide and ample fields awak our footsteps. Never was a devout, consecutive, study of Scripture more necessary than now, and never were the helps to such a study more abundant, reHabie and accessible. “A little knowledge is, a dangerous thing,” and in no direction more so than here. Half the evils which afflict the Church are due to an imperfect knowledge of the Bible. What needed is honest and independent investigation, a candid treatment of difficulties, and a faithful following of the light we have. A ploughboy may gaze on the starlit sky, the spangled meadows, and the many-voiced sea, and be sensible in some degree of God’s handiwork; but without prolonged and patient study he will never experience the intense delight of a Kepler or a Newton. It is so with the Book. There needs to ba quiet and reverent and fearless contemplation. Love, the Mystic, must unfold the veiled wonders and beauties of the Bible, or we shall see no more of God in His Word than a rustic sees in a wooded bank of primroses in his native home. THE HELP OF THE BIBLE. And now I will assume that up to this point we are agreed. Humbly and ashamedly we confess our fault. Earnestly and devoutly resolve on a different course. “Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things outof Thy law ” is our prayer. But where shall we begin? Let us begin with ourselves. A doctor ha£ written on “man’s power over himself to prevent insanity.” It is a striking but very practical subject, for it is a. fact that man can and should control his thoughts and determine the direction they take, and in that* simple fact I find my first suggestion in Bible study. Bend your mind towards it. But you say a person cannot become interested in this or any other book simply by willing. That is true, if by witling you mean a single and casual effort of the will. But that is not what I mean. I plead for something much more -serious, and I am bold to say that we can awaken and sustain interest in /the Bible by the power of the will. We can read till we take pleasure in reading. “Our wishes are presentiments of our capabilities,” says Carlyle, and his words apply here. In the Kensington Museum there is an old harpsicord that once belonged to Handel. The inscription says it was from that instrument the great master fashioned the marvellous harmonies which still hold the world spellbound. Ask the reason, and those age-brown keys, worn hollow with use, will tell the secret. It was his loVed companion, and when be swept his fingers across its trembling strings they answered to his touch like a thing of life. The Bible will tell its secret to the men and women who love it. THE SECRET OF THE BIBLE. Next, I would say that ’in order to sustain interest in the Bible you must, know something of its history, for the natural history, no less than the supernatural, is one long succession of wonders. Remember, the people to whom these “lively oracles’ first came were few and' feeble. For a great part of their story they were without a local habitation or a name, and even when they possessed a kingdom it was no larger than one of the northern counties or England. They held nc place in the world of science, art, music, or literature. They built no ships, made no great discoveries, and were not a commercial people. They were proud, exclusive, idolatrous. Their moral lapses were frequent and shameful. Yet, amid all their wanderings, and in spit ? of prolonged captivity, the Bible grew, and its characteristic doctrines developed. The exclusiveness of the Jew was the salvation of the Bible. Think of its more recent history. It has been assailed by pledged and pHghted enemies. It has been subjected to repeated and microscopic criticism. It has been insulted by the patronage of kings, who, called “defenders of the faith,” lived stained and filthy lives. It has been locked up from the people in a foreign tongue. It has been quoted in defence of deeds, that shock our moral sense. It beenwounded in the house of its 'friends until, one evidence of its supernatural origrß. » the fact that it has survived the oe-' fenee of those who Joved it weH but not wisMy. If this Book is of human origin

of human intelligence. That so perfect a book should have appeared at so early a period, and that there is no other book in the most advanced civilisation that can compare with it, which appeared in a rude age and among an obscure people, is strong presumptive evidence of ite Divine authorship. The world is full of books, the creations of human intelligence, but they are stale and sterile compared with this. The Bible is a book that man could not write if he would, and would not write if he could. THE SUPREME STORY. I do not forget, and I would not have you forget, tliiat the supreme glory of the Bible is its revelation of Divine truth. But judged simply as an English classic, it is peerless. As the Koh-i-noor is amongst gems, co is the Bible in literature. “Its excellent learning, wisdom and use place it beyond all competitors, and it is want of understanding in them that speak otherwise.” If you have ever looked into the subject you will be surprised to find how commanding the influence of the Bible has been on the finest literature of the world. “The English tongue would lose its greatest monuments if the works inspired by the Bible were blotted out.” Shakespeare, Scott and Tennyson reveal a marvellous acquaintance with Holy Scripture. Ruskin confessed his debt for his literary style to the habit hie mother taught him of committing large parts of the Bible to memory in his youth. Goethe has the walls of his castle at. Wai mar covered with Bible maps and pictures, and he described the Book of Ruth as “the loveliest thing in the shape of an epic or an idyll which has come down to us from the centuries.” Max Mailer said that his most delightful hours were those spent with David. “The Bible,” said Emerson, “is like an old cremona; it has been played on by the devotion of thousands of until every word and particle is public and tunable.” On a voyage from America, Matthew Arnold spent a good part of his time reading from a small Moroccobound volume. A fellow-passenger enquired of him what book it was, end he answered: “The New Testament; I find it delightful reading.” It would be eaey to multiply examples, but the Bible does not need the .patronage of great names, and if I have quoted these it is because I would have you understand that in an age of boasted culture there is no need to blush for the Bible. It is a necessary part of a liberal education. of it confers as much credit on the intellect as on the piety of the reader. To sneer at the Bible is to proclaim ignorance. To despise the Book is to walk in darkness. Think of its peerless beauty. A GUIDE TO IMMORTALITY. In giving a guide to immortality, infinite wisdom did'not give a dictionary or a grammar, but a Book which reaches the heart, captivates the taste, and enlarges the mind. Ine pearl is of great price, but the casket which contains it is exquisite in its beauty. The sword of the spirit of ethereal temper, and nothing cuts like its double edge, but there are jewels rich and rare studding the hilt. The shekels are of pure gold and even the scrip containing them is exquisitely wrought. Think of the versatility of the Bible. Other books are only suited to a season, an age, a race. The Koran,®the Vedas, the Shatters, and the sacred books of the East do not circulate outside the Orient, whereas the Bible speaks a universal language. Everywhere and at all times, it is welcome as sunshine, as daily food, and dear mother love. It delights childhood with its narratives, it strengthens manhood with its counsels, and it comforts age with ife mighty consolations. It never grows old. It renews its youth from age to age. It is as suitable to-day as in the time of Zion’s captivity and Smithfield martyrdoms. It speaks to the sick in their weariness, to mourners in their sorrow, to youth in its inexperience, to age in its decrepitude, to the sinner in the iron grip of habit, and to the saint in his last aspiring.

THE DIVINE AUTHOR. " But to understand the Bible you needs must know the Divine Author. No man knows the Bible apart from God the Holy Ghost, for “spiritual things are spiritually discerned.” The main end Book is not to supply a standard of literary form. A man may admit all I have said of its beauty and its adaptation to human need, and still miss the central message of the Bible. For it speaks to the heart of sin, and it points’ the way of life. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy.” If you have ever listened to an author reading his own composition, you will know how he is able to develop fine shades of meaning by the modulation of his voice and the play of his features. The Bible will become a new book when you know God, not as a dim and shadowy presence, but as a dear familiar Friend. In one of the Italian cathedrals the graceful cartoons and lovely carrings on the roof are reflected in a mirror let into the marble floor, and, looking into the glass, the beholder is able to study the rieh coloring and graceful tracery of the artist’s skill. So in the Mirror of God’s Word, He who is afar off to our sight is made nigh. In the Bible we see Jesus and find God. ff This Book from off the feverlasting throne, (Mercy took down and an th© night of time Stood casting o’er the dark her gracious love, And evermore, beseeching aneii srith earnest cries and tears, To Shear, believe -and live.”