and the apostles.

The church in which I preached my first sermon was the same in which I
made the confession, and near which I was reared. For it I did my first
regular monthly preaching, while in college, and in it held a number of
successful protracted meetings, one annually, during the early years of
my ministry. The old church is dear to me yet; its old members are my
devoted friends, and I delight to visit them when Providence permits.

Immediately after obeying the Saviour I bought a family Bible and a
pocket Testament; not that we had none before, but they were not such
as suited my convenience. At home and abroad, in the city or the
country, in the store or on the road, I had my Testament. As I drove
all day along the highway, I would look at it occasionally to see how a
certain passage read, and then study its meaning. I have never read the
Bible largely, as some do, but I have studied it every day since I knew
the way of life, unless I was too sick to have anything in mind. I have
studied, doubtless, a hundred times as much without the book in my
hands as with it. The idea that one can study the Bible only as he has
opportunity to sit down with the book in his hands, is a great mistake.
Hence many people complain of having no time to study the Bible, when
the fact is they have nearly all their time, if they only knew it. I
early learned to study the Bible at any time or under any
circumstances, and the advantages of this to me have been beyond
estimation.

As soon as I got my family Bible, I wrote on a flyleaf a few simple

RULES OF LIFE.

1. To study this book carefully and prayerfully every day.

2. To try to understand its teaching, regardless of the theories
and traditions of men.

3. To make it the man of my counsel, the source and limit of my
knowledge of divine things, and to speak on such matters only as it
speaks.

4. To measure myself in everything by this standard, and bring my
life, in all respects, in subjection to its divine authority.

5. To strive to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth,
that I may become strong in the Lord, be a blessing to my fellow
men, and at last obtain a home in heaven.

These rules, in some respects, have been closely observed; especially
the first three. While in the others I have fallen immeasurably short,
I feel that, upon the whole, the rules have been of great advantage to
me.

CHAPTER