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HINTS ON READING.

LETTER I.

You have asked for some directions concerning your reading. Instead of making you out a long list of suitable books, which, it is possible, supposing that you had leisure and inclination, you might not have the opportunity of reading, I prefer offering such remarks as I can make on your method of study, feeling assured that, if my suggestions do not prove really useful, you will accept them as having been made in the friendly intention that they should be so.

In the first place, I would affectionately remind you that the acquisition of knowledge is not an end but a means. Plain and simple as the fact is,

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I was very long in making this discovery, and I made it at the price of some severe, though wholesome discipline. Keep this point steadily in view: "Whatsoever ye do, do all things to the glory of God." And, believe me, unless this glory be the end and the object of your studies, they may minister to your vanity, and thus aid your spiritual adversary in one of his subtlest machinations or they may prevent your feeling the weariness of unemployed time, and thus more effectually close your eyes to the grand concerns of eternity.

Believing you to be entitled to that high and holy appellation, in which an apostle gloried, and in which intelligences higher than human rejoice, "A servant of Christ,"-I entreat you to remember that it is beneath your lofty calling, to concern yourself in the literature and science of this world, any further than to gather together materials for usefulness. I am not pleading for, or justifying ignorance; the faculties which God has given us are talents to be improved to his honour. I am speaking merely against the resting in earthly attainments and accomplishments; for I do sorrowfully believe that the Roman emperor who

ordered his soldiers to pick up shells on the seashore, instead of leading them to battle with their enemies, did not present a spectacle so inconsistent, as do many, who profess to contemn the things of earth, and to strive for the kingdom of heaven.

The first, the most important study is undoubtedly the study of the Holy Scriptures, “which are able to make you wise unto salvation." Read the Bible daily, but never open it without praying for the teaching of the Spirit. Remember the saying of a good man, "The sword of the Spirit is a mighty sword, but it must be wielded by omnipotence." Remember the words of inspiration, "The things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God;" and, feeling your own blindness and helplessness, ask, in the name of the Saviour, for "the promise of the Father." Pause sometimes and reflect. Apply to yourself the inquiry of Philip, "Understandest thou what thou readest?"

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There is such a thing as "the full assurance of understanding," (Col. ii. 2.) and it is one of the things at which we are to aim. Inquire with

1 Acts i. 4.

still deeper interest whether you are prepared to obey all that you are commanded in the word of God; whether you are willing to bring your every thought, word, and deed " to the law and to the testimony;" to take Christ for your sanctification as well as for your wisdom; for your Lawgiver, King, and Judge, as well as your Prophet and Instructor. If you hear and do not, you are no Christian; you may deceive others, you may deceive yourself, but you cannot deceive Him "before whom are hell and destruction, how much more the hearts of the children of men!" Read the scriptures with self-application, as if they were written for you only; read them with seriousness—it is not meet to trifle concerning things eternal; read them with attention-holy men of God are speaking to you, as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost; and, oh read them with the full intention of reducing them into practice!

I have confined myself hitherto to the devotional reading of the scriptures, strictly and properly so to speak. I might add something more, on what may be termed subordinate aids for understanding the word of God. The use of maps, a general knowledge of sacred chronology, some idea of eastern

manners and customs, and the consulting of marginal references, are all useful, and ought not to be neglected.

I may add the importance of following the histories and arguments of the sacred writers-of viewing the Bible as a whole, taking one part in connexion with another, considering the bearing of one passage upon another, its union with what precedes and with what follows, and not resting upon insulated texts, which, being thus detached from the context, are often wrested from their real meaning. I speak the more fully on this, because I am convinced that it is one of the errors of the day, and it is aided by the modern invention of division into chapters and verses; a division very useful for the purposes of reference; but which, it is to be feared, has had the effect of causing the Bible to be considered too much a book of reference.1 Your study of Hebrew will, in the Old Testament, prove to you the truth of John Newton's remark, that

1 This objection does not apply to the Oxford Bible, printed de suite. It is an exact copy of our authorized version; but with the exception of the Psalms and poetical portion of the Old Testament, no otherwise divided than as the sense points out into paragraphs. Chapters and verses are noted in the margin.

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