The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-10-20
The Great Gmide Book.

The Great Gmide Book.
The tourist in a foreign country finde
n guide book we'll nigh indispensable.
1t must be written in language he can
understand, and the directions given in
it must be plain and specific. If be-
sides this it contains maps of the partic-
ular routes, with descriptions of various
places and friendly cautions as to the i'm
positions that may be practiced upon all
unwary traveller, it will be still NOR:
valuable.
The Bible is the great guide-boo IT.
it the hig ghwhy of holiness is so plainly
marked out that assurance is given Us
that "the wayfaring man, though fool,
shall not err thereiD." Many 'worldly
wise men" claim abundant competency
to be the leaders of Others, and insist Oh
our taking their morality or their philos-
ophy as substitute for Bible teaching.
But Gods book alone dispels our igno-
rance about mans duty and destiny, and
gives us the clew by which to make Cur
way through labyrinthine mazes of error
W IhC ldul VI pCltCS' iiSohNs
As the pilgrim to Zion is pursuing his
way thither he feels the need of guild
ancc in things temporal as well as things
eternal, and the sacred pages abound in
proverbs and in precepts and in incidents
and examples which arc just suited to
his needs in all secular affairs. Rulers
and subjects, buyers and sellers, parents
and children, teachers and taught, are
all amply as we'll rs particularly in
structcd. There is not foot of the
way where one need 60 amiss. The
Christian religion is not a mere Sunda,
and so the Christians Bible is
not mere Sunday book, but n
book adapted to every day
of the week. Make it the man Of
your counsel, then, in the everyday
events of life. Start on no journey, TN
dertake no business, enter on no rela-
tionship, begin no day, end no day in
any manner contrary to the revealed will
Of God.
But the greatest mountains to be
and the deepest and darkest
valleys to be threaded as we pass through
the world arc the moral crises we have
to meet, the terrible temptations, the
conflicts with the devil and his seed and
with our own souls. Here the great
guide book, if we will only
give heed to it, will assist US to the
full. There is no unforeseen emer-
gency for which it has not provided aid,
no poison for which it has not an anti
dotc, no darkness or shadow Of death on
which it cannot cast lights. Hence the
wisdom and necessity of obeying the
apostolic injunction, LET the word OF
Christ dwell in YOU richlyin all wisdom"
Read your Bible regularly and prayer
fully and thoughtfully through, and you
will be astonished Mt the amount and
variety of practical religious knowledge
you will have acquired. When you
have read it through once read it through
again AID again, and so continue to do
through your lifetime. At the same
time read those select Scriptures which
you have found most helpful to you over
and over again with ever-growing faith.
With every new look into your we'll
worn guide-book your path will be more
brightly illunincd and your steps firmer
the higher you mount up the hill of
God.
hear many mourning their lack of
opportunities for education. Be it re-
any and every one that can
read the Bible has within his reach the
means for the best education, yes, the
yery best. The Bible read in the man
ner above recommended will furnish and
polish the mind as no other book can, as
all other books indeed will fail to do;
md while it enlarges and improves the
intellect, it will at the same lime en-
large and improve the heart.
A Christian physician of my acquain-
tance, on account of the demands
of his profession, finds his opportunities
for attending public worship much less
frequent than he could desire;
but he carries his New Testament in his
pocket just as regularly as he carries his
case of medicines, and whenever oppor-
tunity offers he does not fail to consult
its pages. Thus he holds on his way as
one OF Zion's pilgrims and grows strong
er and stronger.
Very different from the views of this
pious physician are those of a certain
Young man who said to me not long since,
referring to his Bible, II never have time
TO read it." He could find plenty of
time for foolish talking and jesting, but
none for talking with God. Do you
treat your Bible and your God thus3--Dr.
Comalin in Madagascar.
III, q saved, risen man, do the works
of flesh, if I obey sin, shall not escape
the effects of my evil doings; but my Sc
curity is, that God has promised that sin
shall not have dominion over me, and he
will make good his word, if not by glad
consent on my part, then by sorrowful
constraint. He will chastcn me and bring
me back. When put myself under the
dominion of chastisement. This is Gods
method when his children depart from
''will visit their iniquity with
q rod, and their sin with scourges." God
has SAID sin shall not have dominion over
me. He will rescue me, tear me away
from it, though it be by the rcnding on
the hearts fibrcs. The separation mnst
be accomplished. Happy for us when
we voluntarily, nay gladly, acquiesce In
it.