thin a Church which has now for
centuries, in every possible official way, pressed home the reading of
the Bible upon her every member, and of course upon her every Minister,
there is material for similar anxieties, _mutatis mutandis_. Bible
study, such as our Lord and the Apostles enjoined and encouraged, is not
on the increase amongst us, to say the least of it; certainly the
ignorance of the blessed Book even among candidates for holy Orders is
sometimes, is not seldom, very great indeed. Nay more, there is
sometimes, however rarely as yet, an ominous disposition even in
clerical circles to shelve the Bible. Quite lately I heard, on excellent
authority, that a certain large Clerical Society, revising its rules,
deliberately decided that the meetings shall _not_ in future be begun
with the reading of Scripture. My friend and Brother, do not swim even
on the edges of such a current. Swim with all your might, in your
Master's might, against it.

READ IT FOR YOUR OWN NEEDS.

Then lastly I put in my plea, as I sought to do when we were considering
the matter of secret prayer, for such a secret study of the Word of God
as shall be _unprofessional, unclerical, and simply Christian_. Resolve
to "read, mark, and inwardly digest" so that not now the flock but the
shepherd, that is to say you, "may embrace and ever hold fast the
blessed hope of everlasting life." It will be all the better for the
flock. Forget sometimes, in the name of Jesus Christ, the pulpit, the
mission-room, the Bible-class; open the Bible as simply as if you were
on Crusoe's island, and were destined to live and die there, alone with
God. You will be all the fresher, all the more sympathetic and to the
point, when you do come to speak to the listening people about the Book.
The discoveries which we make in it for our own souls are just the
things which we cannot help reporting so as to interest and attract our
brethren; as least, that is the sure tendency of things.

BRIDGES AND WITSIUS ON BIBLE STUDY.

Let me write out a slightly abbreviated extract from a golden book,
unhappily no longer in print, _The Christian Ministry_, by that diligent
student, loving and laborious Pastor, and heavenly-minded man, the
remembrance of whom shines on me like a ray reflected from the Chief
Shepherd's face, the late Rev. Charles Bridges.[2]

[2] He died at Hinton Martell, in Dorset, 1869.

"The maxim, _Bonus textuarius est bonus theologus_, marks a grand
ministeria