The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1917-08-16

dress q brief
study Of the books
Of the Bible, beginning with Genesis.
] tried to give each book a character
lstic name. for instance. Genesis is the
book of beginning. because II de-
scribes the beginning Of the universe,
the beginning Of this world, the be-
ginning OF man, the beginning Of Ian
guage, the beginning Of the Sabbath.
the beginning Of sin and the beginning
of grace.
without going into the subject In an
exhaustive way, I tried to tell the
story Of creation In popular style and
at the same time to show how the pic
ture accounts compared with the facts
Of modern science.
The temptation and fall Of man
opened up the subject Of origin Of sin.
and the story shows the effect of sin.
not only upon our first parents, but
upon the race as a whole, and there
fore It has a practical application to
everyone.
Genesis.
As the first two chapters Of Genesis
deal with generation. the third chapter
takes up the subject Of degeneration.
and the remainder OF the Bible, as
someone has said, Is devoted to the
subject Of regeneration.
The story of the food opens up
new theme of exceeding interest. and
Noah's deliverance Is a splendid type
| Of salvation. Babel with its confu-
sion Of tongues. suggests Pentecost,
where people of all tongues understood
Gods message, and the coming day
when all Gods people shall use the uni
versai language. Thus went on
touching the points which had the
greatest practical value.
Then briefly reviewing the book
called attention to the three principal
| Characterization. Noah and Abraham.
From them we can learn three prac-
teal lessons. From Adam we can
learn to obey God; from Noah to talk
to God; from Abraham to trust God.
At the close of the service I gave
to each person In the audience q four
page folder, containing a brief outline
OF my address. including the principal
facts, dates and outline. together with
the Sunday school lessons drawn from
the study Of the book.
I asked the people to read the book
1 OF Genesis through, and ut our next
meeting to come prepared to pass an
examination upon the outline I had
given. At the next service would
spend ten or fifteen minutes In ques-
tioning the congregation upon the book
: OF Genesis. briefly reviewing what we
had gone over before. Then took up
the book Of Exodus and gave an ad-
dress on that.
The Results.
At once there was perceptible In
crease In the size Of the congregation.
and In a short time the attendance on
the night OF the book study was the
largest during the whole month. Peo-
pie began to read their Bible more,
and to talk about It more, not only dur
ing my social calls. but In the mid
week service, and young peoples
meeting. The young folks especially
were eager to get the monthly fold
er containing the outline Bible study.
and II obliged to be absent they were
sure to send by someone else to secure
a copy. These they stitched together
as the months went on. making them
into a little book.
Fruit Of Bible Reading Habit
The habit of reading the Bible con-
stantly, however, proved Of great
value. II kept me full Of texts and
themes and Scriptural illustrations. !
had no trouble In finding topics for
sermons. My greatest difficulty was to
find opportunity to use the wealth of
material which was constantly accu-
mulating. Moreover In a few months
God gave us season Of spiritual re-
freshing which increased the church
membership about 80 per cent.
Moving to another church later. ]
began the same method Of giving a
book study once a month, asking the
congregation to read II In advance.
began this time with the New Tesla
ment, and found the results to be prac-
tically the same as before. And again
In q few months there followed a re-
vival which transformed the church.
and added greatly to its usefulness and
power.
Doubtless I have made as many
mistakes and blunders as the average
pastor, but as I look back over a long
and happy ministry ! can see that my
highest enjoyment and what little serv-
ice have been able to render to the
c.usa Of Ohrtsf IN lar0alv dina IN the