The Growth of the Bible Student.
By Rev. S. Robson
THE thoughtful man always grows. He is continually getting new light, seeing things in new relations, and adding to his stock of permanent knowledge. The Bible student is always a thoughtful man. He cannot help but be thoughtful, for he is stirring his heart with the profoundest thoughts ever penned, even the will and wisdom of the Almighty, and in his eager desire is making that will and wisdom his own. The Bible is a mirror—now revealing our deformities, and now the perfections of Christ to be our own through faith—now holding up as nowhere else the iniquities of a sinful heart, and then by a skillful turn shedding full upon us the glory of God and transforming us into that "same image from glory to glory, even as from the Spirit of the Lord." Every Christian, if he would grow, must have the high standard of the Bible set before him, and that too by continuous study. The standard of the world is very low—lower than it at first sight appears. He who mingles much with different classes of men and becomes familiar with the prevailing actual moral standard of society, and by this intimacy is powerfully influenced, feels a dead weight resting on him. His soul is confined and shackled. He needs to turn to the word of God and behold the perfections there revealed; and more, he needs the encouragements of God's promises—he needs to hear God speaking to him and comforting him. God now speaks to men only through the Bible. The Holy Spirit sanctifies through the truth, i. e., his word. Just so much, then, of the word of God as we allow our hearts to hold and feed upon, just that much material has the Spirit with which to work to sanctify us. The greater one's actual knowledge of the Bible, other things being equal or anywhere near equal, the richer and more holy his Christian character. When our hearts are empty of the word of life, we need not expect to grow, because there is no material for the Spirit to work upon. We need to see God as he is revealed in his word, and look upon him, being always assured that there is something in our hearts that, through the aid of the Spirit, will respond to the perfections of God with anxious yearnings to be like him.—Rev. S. Robson, in Examiner.