



Produced by Benjamin Klein





HOW TO MASTER THE ENGLISH BIBLE




HOW TO MASTER THE ENGLISH BIBLE


AN EXPERIENCE, A METHOD

A RESULT, AN ILLUSTRATION


BY


REV. JAMES M. GRAY, D.D.

MINISTER IN THE REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCH

AUTHOR OF "SYNTHETIC BIBLE STUDIES"

"THE ANTIDOTE TO CHRISTIAN SCIENCE"

"PRIMERS OF THE FAITH" ETC. ETC.


EDINBURGH AND LONDON

OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER

1907




TABLE OF CONTENTS

     I. The Story of the Case
    II. Explanation of the Method
   III. The Plan at Work
    IV. Results in the Pulpit
     V. Expository Outlines




NOTE BY THE PUBLISHERS OF THE BRITISH EDITION

The success of the author's book, _Synthetic Bible Studies_, has been
such that it is a pleasure to us to introduce this little book to
British Bible students.




NOTE BY THE PUBLISHERS OF THE AMERICAN EDITION

The author of this book requires no introduction to the Bible-loving
people of our time. A time it is of unusual quickening in the study
of God's Word along spiritual and evangelical lines, toward which, as
the editor of a leading newspaper has said, no one man has contributed
more than Rev. James M. Gray, D.D.

"He knows what is in the Book," says the _Christian Endeavour World,_
"and when he sounds the clear, strong notes of God's love, of victory
over sin, of the believer's assurance, it is no wonder that thousands
of young people wax as enthusiastic over the Bible as others do over
athletics or art."

The interdenominational Bible classes which he has carried on, and to
which his work directly and indirectly has given rise, are the
largest and in other respects the most remarkable known. His work has
revolutionised the method of teaching in some Sunday schools; it has
put life into dead prayer-meetings; in not a few instances it has
materially helped to solve the problem of the second service on the
Lord's day; it has been a boon to many pastors in the labours of
study and pulpit, whose gratitude is outspoken; it has contributed to
the efficiency of foreign missionary workers, whose testimony has
come from the uttermost parts of the earth; and it has reacted
beneficially on the instruction given in the English Bible in some of
our home academies, smaller colleges and seminaries. The secret of
these results is given in this book.

Nor is it as a Bible teacher only, but also as a Bible preacher, that
Dr. Gray holds a distinguished place in the current history of the
Church. His expository sermons leave an impress not to be effaced.
Presbyteries and ministerial associations are on record that they
have stirred communities to their depths. Even secular editors,
commonly unmoved by ordinary types of evangelism, have written: "Here
is something new for the people, something fresh and suggestive for
every active mind, which the business interests of the city cannot
afford to neglect." The testimony of one pastor given at a meeting of
the presbytery is practically that of scores of others throughout the
country. He had attended a series of popular meetings conducted by
Dr. Gray, and said: "I learned more during the few days I listened to
Dr. Gray about the true character of preaching than I had learned in
all my seminary course and my twenty years of ministry. Because of
what I learned there of true expository preaching I shall hope to
make the last years of my ministry the very best of all."

We are glad that this book contains a practical application of all
that the author has said and taught to the results which may be
gathered from it in the pulpit.




THE STORY OF THE CASE




HOW TO MASTER THE ENGLISH BIBLE


PART I


THE STORY OF THE CASE


[Sidenote: The Bible like a Farm]

How to master the English Bible! High-sounding title that, but does
it mean what it says? It is not how to study it, but how to master
it; for there is a sense in which the Bible must be mastered before
it can be studied, and it is the failure to see this which accounts
for other failures on the part of many earnest would-be Bible
students. I suppose it is something like a farm; for although never a
farmer myself, I have always imagined a farmer should know his farm
before he attempted to work it. How much upland and how much lowland?
How much wood and how much pasture? Where should the orchard be laid
out? Where plant my corn, oats, and potatoes? What plot is to be
seeded down to grass? When he has mastered his farm he begins to get
ready for results from it.


Now there are many ways of studying the Bible, any one of which may
be good enough in itself, but there is only one way to master it, as
we shall see. And it is the Bible itself we are to master, not books
about the Bible, nor yet "charts." I