Prayer.

V.

THE MEANS OF GRACE.

I say

66 as a

THE Holy Spirit acts upon us, as a rule,
through the means of grace.
rule," because being God He is not tied to
the use of means, but can work quite inde-
pendently of them, if He chooses to do so,
-and, I think, that sometimes He does choose
to do so; but ordinarily His gracious in-
fluences flow into our souls through certain
channels, which He has Himself appointed
and laid down. It is about some of these
channels that I wish to speak in the present
paper.

I. I suppose that one of the earliest proofs we give of being really living souls, is by breathing the breath of prayer. "Behold, he prayeth!" was said of Saul of Tarsus shortly after his conversion; because, although

Saul had uttered thousands upon thousands of forms of prayer in his previous lifetime, and had been a very earnest and devout man, he had never yet offered what God considered to be prayer. Saul had been too much like the Pharisee, and too little like the Publican. He thought he could claim what he asked for. He considered himself very good. But now all this was altered: he had come to know what a sinner he really was, and how undeserving he was of God's goodness; and here he is with broken voice, and streaming eyes, prostrate on the ground, pouring out his very heart before the throne. of grace, and beseeching the Lord, against Whom he had rebelled, to have mercy upon him. This is real prayer; and this is a proof that he is alive,-alive unto God.

We must distinguish, then, when we speak about prayer. There is praying which is nothing more than the utterance of a form of words. And there is praying which is a speaking with God: speaking as one who knows that he is heard, and who expects to receive a reply. It is that latter kind of prayer with which we are concerned just now. You, if you are led and taught by the

The Bible.

Bible-study rather than Bible read

ing.

II. We turn now to the subject of Holy Scripture; and here, as in the case of prayer, it may be well to begin with a distinction. Let us say, then, that Biblereading is one thing, and Bible-study is another. By "Bible-reading," I mean just letting the mind slip hastily over the surface of the passage, without taking any great amount of pains to ascertain the meaning. But "Bible-study" implies careful attention and thought, the comparing of Scripture with Scripture, the searching for truth as for hid treasure; in fact, the doing all that we can to find out what in the particular passage is the mind of the Spirit. This would be a wearisome task if we were engaged with any merely human book. But it is not so with the Bible; for the Bible is inexhaustible: it is a mine, the riches of which can never be wholly drawn out; and come as often as we will to the study of the Book of God, we may always reckon upon finding something fresh in it, some new idea, or some new shade of an idea that has never been revealed to us before.

Now, of course, it is "Bible-study" that I want to persuade you to adopt. Some of

you, perhaps, may urge that you have got no commentaries, no books to explain the Bible to you; and that, in consequence, you are often greatly disheartened when you come to a difficulty, and are obliged, after long thinking, to leave it unsolved. Well, I do not despise commentaries: indeed I have every reason to be thankful for them. But I do assure you, you will be surprised how much of the Bible you will be able to understand, to your great comfort and blessing, even if you have no such helps, provided, of course, you read with an earnest desire to get at the meaning, and with an earnest cry for the teaching of God's Holy Spirit. Then you will not be quite without human assistance; for, probably, you will have the opportunity of belonging to a Bible-Class; and, certainly, you will have many things explained to you in the sermons delivered in Church; and then, you will have friends to talk with. Anyhow, believe me when I say that if you are in downright earnest about understanding the Bible, you will be surprised to discover how many things will open up to you after a time, and how many difficulties will gradually vanish out of your path.

How to study the Bible.

The house

of God and

Now, how to study the Bible is the question. There are different ways of doing it. Some read the Bible through from cover to cover in the course of a year, and that is a plan which has its advantages; for we are, many of us, tempted to have favourite parts of the Scripture, and to keep to them. Others read one of the lessons for the day,—an excellent plan for us Church people. I doubt if you will easily find a better one. Others take a book, and study it slowly and carefully for a long time, and then drop it, and take up another, to be dealt with in the same way. Well, no one wishes to dictate to you. Choose your own plan, we say; form one for yourself if you like. Only have a plan; and when you have made it, abide by it. With regard to the Bible, as with regard to prayer, be as regular, punctual, systematic, and orderly as you possibly can. To act by fits and starts is not a wise proceeding in any business, least of all in the business of religion.

III. Next, let us pass on to the house of the Sunday. God and the Sunday. I take for granted that you will respect God's day and keep it holy.