or visionary speculation.

(3.) Do not task yourself with a certain _quantity_ of reading at the
regular seasons devoted to the study of the Bible. This may lead you to
hurry over it, without ascertaining its meaning, or drinking in its
spirit. You had better study one verse thoroughly, than to read half a
dozen chapters carelessly. The nourishment received from food depends
less on the quantity than on its being perfectly digested. So with the
mind; one clear idea is better than a dozen confused ones; and there is
such a thing as overloading the mind with undigested knowledge. Ponder
upon every portion you read, until you get a full and clear view of the
truth it contains. Fix your mind and heart upon it, as the bee lights
upon the flower; and do not leave it till you have extracted all the
honey it contains.

(4.) Read in course. By studying the whole Bible in connection, you will
obtain a more enlarged view of the plan of God's moral government. And
you will see how it all centres in the Lord Jesus Christ. But I would
not have you confine yourself entirely to the regular reading of the
whole Bible in course. Some portions of the historical part do not
require so much _study_ as that which is more argumentative and
doctrinal; and some parts of the word of God are more devotional than
others, and therefore better fitted for daily practical use. A very good
plan is, to read the Old and New Testaments in course, a portion in
each, every day. If you begin at Genesis, Job, and Matthew, and read a
chapter every day, at each place, omitting the first, and reading three
Psalms, on the Sabbath, you will read the whole Bible in a year, while
on every day you will have a suitable variety. Besides this, the more
devotional and practical books should be read frequently. The Psalms
furnish a great variety of Christian experience, and may be resorted to
with great profit and comfort, under all circumstances. This is the only
book in the Bible which does not require to be read in course. The
Psalms are detached from each other, having no necessary connection. The
other books were originally written like a sermon or a letter. They
have, for convenience, since been divided into chapters and verses. If
you read a single chapter by itself, you lose the connection; as, if you
should take up a sermon and read a page or two, you would not get a full
view of the author's subject. I would therefore recommend that, in
addition to your daily r