The Newtown bee., 1898-01-28

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books from Isaiah to Daniel inclusive,
while the latter contains u short books
beginning with the prophecy of Hosea
and ending with that of Malachi. II one
desires to fill the gap in the history
between the time of NAL
achi and the Advent of our
Lord he can do so by reading the books
Of the Maccabees in the Apocbrypha,
which in our large Bibles is inserted be-
tween the Old and New Tessaments.
Passing on now to consider the New
Testament, we lind four convenient di.
visions, biography. eccle siastical history,
correspondence, and prophecy. The
first, four books, called the four gospels,
givessfour accounts of the life sofs our
Lord, by as many different men; two of
them eyewitness and the other two
receiving their facts from eye-witne sses.
The second division. church history
gives an account of the establishment of
the church of Christ, together with the
doings and
TEACHINGS OF THE APOSTLES
for nearly seventy years after our Lords
Ascension. The department of CORE s
pondence embraces, nine official letters
by st Paul, to seven different churches,
three letters by the same to two Bishops,
one personal letter, and one general
letter to Hebrew Christians, by the same
apostle, and seven gene, al letters to
Christians throughout the world by four
of the apostles of our Lord, viz, James,
Peter, John and Jude. Lastly comes
the one prophetical book, that of the
Revelation which mingles predictions
regarding the church on earth, with
foretaste of theifinal consummation of all
things. Thus the reader mas before him
complete outline of the books of Holy
Scripture, which should be learned not
only in outline, but In detail, so that one
hearing book mentioned may have in
mind table OF ready reference which
will enable him to turn at once to any
particular book without stopping to
wonder where it is. Thus far our work
is purely mechanical. but we haven't
read a line. However,we are now ready
to read, and will proceed to consider the
direction and scope OF our reading.
In order to get the most possible out
of our Bible study, we must first have a
definite aim, and second systematic
method. The definite aim will be fixed
by The main subject of which the book
treats. Now the one all-absorbing sub
iect which runs all the way through the
Bible from Genesis to the Revelation is
the Christ. In the Old Testament, it is
the Christ of Prophecy, while in the New
Testament, it is the Chris If History
To illustrate my meaning let us follow as
briefly as may be, the course of both
prophecy and history in this regard.
Referring to the third chapter of Genesis,
we find, that even before God pronoun-
ced sentence upon our first parents for
their great sin, He proved the way for
mans restoration to divine favor in the |
promise that the seed of the woman |
should Conquer the serpent. This ia the
very vaguest possible intim9tion Of the
divine purpose; but by and by when
GOD MAKES HIS GREAT COVENANT WITH
ABRAHAM,
He speaks more plainly; SIN thy seed /
shall all the kindreds of the earth be
blessedn Even this was hard saying
for Abraham, as at that time he had no
child, to bless himself or anybody else;
but after time saac comes, and him.
self receives the same promise; but
Isaac has two sons, through which of the
two shall the great blessing come? The
question is answered, when Jacob fleeing
from his fathers house, hears In the
visions Of the night, the voice of God
to him the same promise in the
same words. The promise still continues
10 be somewhat ambiguous. for in the
process of tins Jacob has twelve sons,
md tie question would naturally arise,