Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-04-27
international Sunday-SehOOl Lessons.
SECOND QUARTER 1876.
Thorough Study of the Bible.

Thorough Study of the Bible.
One of the things we lack in the pres
ent day is more Bible study 1 think this
Nation is just waking up TO the fact that
we have had famine. 1t is not the man
now that makes a fine Grafton in the pull
pit so much as it is the man who eX-
pounds the Word of God that we need.
A boy once asked another boy how he
caught all the pigeons there were in that
neighbOrhOod. He said: "Wen, | tell
you; it is because | feed them we'll" If
you feed the people we'll they will come;
and the people have got tired Of hearing
little more or less eloquence. The
preachers have hitherto used the Bible
merely as textbook. They have taken
their texts out of the Bible, and they have
gone all over Christendom after their SER
mons. The result is that our churches
are weak in spiritual power. But it is be-
ginning to improve already. The church.
es are not now hunting after man that
will make a grand Grafton so much as
they are for man that will unfold to
them the Word of God That is what the
people want. If they can only get back
to the Word of God, then we will have
not here and there a revival, but we will
be in a revival all the time The church
will be constantly in 4 revived state. 1t is
those Christians that are feeding on the
Word of God that are revived all the
while. There is something fresh about
them, and people are glad to hear them
talk.
AS we come to talk of this Word of God
to-day, we want to keep in mind that it is
the Word of God, not the word of man;
and that as the Word of God, it is true. |
have not come here to day with any argu-
ment about it. | think the coiored man
was about as near the truth as one need
be, when some infdel came to him and
told him the Bible was not true. THAT
Book not true? Massa, [ was once q
murderer, and a thief and blasphemer,
and that Book made me a good man.
That Book must be true! If it was IA bad
book, it could not make such bad man
good" That is argument enough; we do
not need any more. Look around us: if
man becomes a profigate, he begins to
talk against the Bible; if he is upright, he
takes it as a lamp to his feet. We are
never afraid of man that tries to live ac-
cording to the teachings of this book.
This book is Gods Word, and it will
stand. Over the new Bible House re-
Gently built in London, England, are
written these words: "The Word of the
Lord endureth forever" That building
will pass away, that city may pass away,
like Babylon and Nineveh, and other
cities that once flourished, but the Word
of God shall endure forever Not one
word that God has spoken shall fall to the
ground.
We want also to bear In mind that the
Bible is not dry, uninteresting book, as
a'great many skeptics try to make out.
They say, we want something new: we
have outgrown that" Why, the Word
of God is the only new book in the
world. All that the.neWspapers can do is
to tell OF things as they have taken place,
but the Bible will tell Of things that will
take place. We do not consider the BIZ
bic enough as a whole. We just take up
a word here and word there, and a verse
here and there, and chapter here and
there, and never take it up in any sys-
tematic way. We therefore know very
little about the Bible l will guarantee
that the bulk of Christians in America
only read the Bible at family worship;
and you will notice, too, that they have
TO put a book-mark in to tell where they
left off the day before. You ask them an
hour after what they have read, and they
have forgotten all about it. OF course we
cannot get much knowledge of the Bible in
that way.
In order to understand the Bible we
will have to study it carefully. | was
told in California that the purest and best
gold that they get they have to dig the
deepest for; and so in studying the Bible,
we must dig deep. And there are great
many Christians walking on crutches in
their Bible studying. They do not dare
to examine for themselves. They go Won
dering what others say, what Edwards
says, what the commentators say. Sup
pose you look and see for yourselves. God
has given you your own mind to use. If
we will 20 to the Word Of God and be
willing to be taught by the Holy Ghost,
God will teach US and will unfold His