Directions for Reading the Scriptures.
By M. M. O.
[DEAR BRO. ANDREWS: I find a note to the student of God's word appended by Tyndale to his version of the New Testament. The suggestions seem to me very good. I copy a part of it, and if you think proper you will please give it a place in the REVIEW.—M. M. O.] “To THE READER.—Give diligence reader (I exhort thee) that thou come with a pure mind, and as the Scripture saith, with a single eye unto the words of health, and of eternal life; by the which (if we repent and believe them) we are born anew, created afresh, and enjoy the fruits of the blood of Christ; which blood crieth not for vengeance as the blood of Abel, but hath purchased life, favor, grace, blessing, and whatsoever is promised in the Scriptures to those that believe and obey God; and standeth between us and wrath, vengeance, curse, and whatsoever the Scripture threateneth against the unbelievers, and disobedient, which resist, and consent not in their hearts to the law of God, that it is holy, just, and ought so to be. Mark the plain and manifest places of the Scriptures, and in doubtful places see thou add no interpretation contrary to them; but (as Paul saith) let all be conformable and agreeing to the faith. “Note the difference of the law and the gospel. The one asketh and requireth, the other pardoneth and forgiveth. The one threateneth, the other promiseth all good things to them that set their trust in Christ only. The gospel signifieth glad tidings, and is nothing but the promise of good things. All is not gospel that is written in the gospel book. For if the law were away, thou couldst not know what the gospel meant. Even as thou couldst not see pardon, favor, and grace, except the law rebuked thee, and declared unto thee thy sin, misdeed, and trespass. Repent and believe the gospel, as saith Christ in the first of Mark: Apply always the law to thy deeds, whether thou find lust in the bottom of thine heart to the lawward; and so shalt thou no doubt repent, and feel in thyself a certain sorrow, pain, and grief to thine heart, because thou canst not with full lust, (i. e., desire) do the deeds of the law. Apply the gospel, that is to say the promises, unto the deserving of Christ, and to the mercy of God and his truth, and so shalt thou not despair, but shalt feel God as a kind and merciful Father. And his Spirit shall dwell in thee, and shall be strong in thee; and the promises shall be given thee at the last, (though not by and by, lest thou shouldst forget thyself, and be negligent) and all threatenings shall be forgiven thee for Christ's blood's sake, to whom commit thyself altogether, without respect either of thy good deeds or of thy bad. “WILLIAM TYNDALE,” Who first printed the New Testament in English in 1525, and was martyred at Vilvoord, near Brussels, in 1536.