Reading the Bible

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 16, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 16.

Reading the Bible.

1. READ the Bible regularly. A good man of old says: "I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." This is the true idea. The Bible is daily bread, to be taken regularly that the soul may grow thereby.

2. Read the Bible attentively. The meaning of the Bible is in the Bible. Unless he that reads gets the meaning, it will do him no good. Hasty reading of a great many chapters at once is of no advantage. Read slowly, a little at a time, and think on what you read, and you will understand and remember it.

3. Read the Bible as God's book, not merely because father or mother wishes you to read it, but for a better reason,—because God speaks to you in the Bible. When I have seen a little girl run, her eyes sparkling with joy, crying, "O mother! here's a letter from father to me, for my name is on the outside," I always wish she might thus look on the Bible, for it is a letter from our Father in Heaven. So feel and read, and you will not grow weary of the Good Book.

These few hints are enough for once. Will not our young readers remember them, and read every day with great attention, the Book of God? I love to see a child, as I do sometimes, take her little Bible every morning and sit down to read a chapter, without waiting for any one to tell her to do it. This is a better habit than Willie's, for he only read occasionally, and had to be reminded often of his duty. Read often, and love to read, children, and you will not forget it.—The Golden Lesson.