to test it after it was done; the increal'ed knowledge of the Greek language and lite- rature-a knowledge that, in view of the growing disregard for the languages of anti• quity, was not likely to be ever greater than at present; the deepfelt love for the English of our Bible, thus ensuring the preservation to a great extent of its present tone and style; the spirit of concord which the proposal has elicited between this country and America., and between all sections of the Christian Church. Hence for all these reasons it was felt to be a favourable time to set out a.fresh on the search for the very words of God, in order that men might be enabled to" find" them the more readily. And we may gratefully believe that to e. large extent the ends proposed have been secured, and that by the labours of the revisionists God's words in the New Testament Scriptures have been" found" as thev have not been heretofore. 2. But this which others have done for us we must do for ·ourselves. We must " find" God's Word. We must study it., diligently read it, exercise ourselves in the Scriptures by careful, frequent, continuous reading, resolved that we will not merely read over the words, but know their meaning. For the Word of God needs finding. It is hidden away beneath the sound of familiar words and phrases which, from frequent hearing or repetition, have lost their power either to arrest or arouse our thought. And prejudice, formality, indolence, indifference, and other besetments of the soul beside, all do their part to hide from us the true sense of God's Word. 3. .ilnd, when found, God's Word shculd be spiritual,ly "eaten," i.e. we must take his words so into our soul's life that, as our daily food ministers to our bodily life, these words of God shall minister to our soul's life. By the strength derived from our daily food all the organs of our body, all its functions and forces, are sustained in health and in working power-brain, heart, limbs, etc. And so, when God's words are "eaten," they sustain and strengthen the functions and forces of the soul-its faith, courage, hope, joy, etc. Abraham so believed God's word that he was able to offer up his son Isaac in obedience to what he believed was God's command. Job, by the same means, bore in glorious patience his heavy trials. Our blessed Lord b2frled and vanquished the tempter by his threefold thrust of the sword of the Spirit- "lt is written." And all the heroes of the faith have become heroes by reason of this same "eating" of God's Word. Now, God's Word is thus fa.ken into and made the life of our souls, not by memory alone. Mere learning page after page by heart, as we say, will not feed the soul. Let Sunday school teachers remember this. Nor will medita- tion and reflection upon it be sufficient. There must be addedfervent prayer that, by the Divine Spirit, God's Word may be so inwrought in us that it shall be for us as a sacrament, a veritable eating of the flesh of Christ. Now, if the Word of God be 11,us found and eaten, see- IL Row Goo's Wonn WILL DEAL WITH ue. It will become" the joy and rejoicing of our hearts." True religion is ever a joyful thing. " Her ways are ways of pleasant- ness, and," etc. What is that entire hundred and nineteenth psalm but one con- tinuous affirmation of joy in God's Word ? We shall see in the histories which the Bible records the evidence of a. Divine overruling, in its prophecies the proof that the future as well as the past is under the same control ; in its precepts and its holy Law the :ighteousness of the Divine rule; and in the Gospels the love that is beneath, around,· amidst, and above all. And to the man of God, what can all this be but "the joy and rejoicing of his heart"? God's words have done much for us when they have brought us to repentance, more when we are led to trust in God, yet more when they enable us to live the life of obedience; but they have not done all they were designed and are able and willing to do, until they have become" the joy," etc. But we cannot have the joy first; repentance, trust.,'. obedience, must precede and accompany; let these be lacking, and joy cannot be. III. THE GROUND OF THIS JOY AND REJOIOING, "For I am co.lied by thy Name," etc. The propoot was known as the " man of God." He was so identified with God, so noLoriously consecrated to him, as to be called by his Name. It was the prophet'sjoy aud delight to be so called, e.nd yet more to be so in reality. Therefore everything that was the Lord's had interest for him, as an affectionate child rejoices in the letters of his parents, reads them over and over again, treasures them, obeys them. And he would joy in these words also because by them he had been led to the joy of hi~ 1Jresent favour with God, and by them he was sustained therein. Hence, he being so unreservedly and joyfully the Lord's, all the Lord's words could not but be whnt they Cl!. xv. 1~21.J 'l'llE BOOK OF ·rH.m PJWPHJ£'1' JE!n;M!Al:1.
were to him. And it Is ever so, in proportion as we are the Lord's by a living, lovincr consecration, will his words be " the joy and," etc.-C. - "