h value that Gordon placed on the Word of God, we shall
not be surprised to hear that he took intense pains to study the sacred
volume. He incidentally mentions that one page of his Bible had been so
worn by use that he could hardly read the words. The energy and
thoroughness ever evinced in his professional duties, he also practised
in the earnest search for God's truths. He used to apply the text, "In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," to the soul as well as to
the body, to the living Bread of Life as well as to the bread that
sustains physical life. At one time he devoted a great deal of time to
studying the book of Revelation, although he admitted that it was the
most difficult book in the Bible to understand. He did not profess to
understand it all, but he used to quote that saying of Dr. Mackie's,
"The blessing to be looked for does not come by comprehension, but by
the reading of the revelation God has given us in His Word, Rev. i. 3."
But though he read and studied his Bible as earnestly as he would any
other book, he never forgot the fact that only the Holy Spirit can
teach us the truths contained in it.

"We can see the _history_ of the Bible, and may understand it, but
we forget that we are blind to its secret mysteries, unless God
shows them to us; our Saviour says, 'Unto you it is _given_.' Only
the Spirit _in_ man finds God."

He contended, moreover, that there could be but little benefit from a
mere theoretical study of the Bible, and that consequently the best
school in which to learn the sacred truths it contained was that of the
discipline of life.

"I feel sure that no study without trial is of avail; life must be
lived to learn these truths. I believe, if a man knows his Bible
fairly, and then goes forth into the world, God will show him His
works. The Jews learnt the Scripture by heart, and so I expect our
Saviour did; He therefore had no need to study it. He applied its
teachings to life and its trials."

Nor did Gordon study his Bible only when he was alone, for he was very
fond of reading it in company with those who, like himself, valued it.
Thus Mr. Pearson, of the Church Missionary Society, who was at Nyanza,
gives a brief account of his visit to Khartoum in 1878, and says,
"After the work of the day was finished, Gordon would say, 'Let us have
reading and prayer;' and in that very palace which was, perhaps, the
scene of his death, we used