When you speak of God, or of his attributes, let it be

seriously and in reverence.

though they be poor.

Honor and obey your parents,

Let your recreations be manful, not sinful.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.

VII.—THE BOOK, AND HOW TO READ IT.

THE

HERE is but one Book, was the death-bed testimony of Sir Walter Scott; and he had ransacked the world's literature, and made himself master of its best stores of wisdom and knowledge.

"Viewed merely as a human or literary production, the Bible is a marvellous book, and without a rival. All the libraries of theology, philosophy, history, antiquities, poetry, law, and policy, would not furnish material enough for so rich a treasure of the choicest gems of human genius, wisdom, and experience. It embraces works of about forty authors, representing the extremes of society, from the throne of the king to the boat of the fisherman. . It was written during a long period of sixteen centuries; on the banks of the Nile, in the desert of Arabia, in the Land of Promise, in Asia Minor, in classical Greece, and in imperial Rome. It commences with the creation, and ends with the final glorification, after describing all the interesting stages in the revelation of God and spiritual

development of man. It uses all forms of literary composition; it rises to the highest heights, and descends to the lowest depths, of humanity; it measures all states and conditions of life; it is acquainted with every grief and every woe; it touches every chord of sympathy; it contains the spiritual biography of every heart; it is suited to every class of society, and can be read with the same interest and profit by the king and the beggar, by the philosopher and the child; it is as universal as the race, and reaches beyond the limits of time into the boundless regions of eternity."

So says the learned Dr. Schaff; and yet how few of the millions who now have the Bible in their homes think of it as a continuous history of the human race from the creation to the final judgment-day! Is not the unity of the narrative overlooked, owing to the variety of means employed for the same end, and also to the many changes of agents by whom God was carrying onward his great design of salvation?

As this is the paper for our Sunday series, perhaps we cannot do better than examine into the mode in which the Bible should be read. Many of us have seen, and all of us have read, accounts of the pictures of mosaic-work in other lands, marvellous in their beauty, and wonderful in their execution.

For the formation of these pictures, unity of design, harmony of coloring, and correct blending of the shades, are the principal requisites. The artist must keep before

him the end he has in view throughout the work; viz., to form a perfect and complete whole. As each separate piece of glass or precious stone, as it may be, is of the same color throughout, the gradation of tints, the melting-off of any one color from its highest light to its darkest shadow, can be obtained only by an immense number of small pieces, arranged with a view to the general effect. It is said that forty thousand different tints, all of which must be kept methodically sorted and arranged, are requisite for this kind of mosaic-work.

So is it with the Bible. It is a uniform whole, composed of various parts, smaller or larger; but each, in its appointed place and sphere, going to make up the one design, which is to show how man is to be saved. The one idea running throughout the whole volume may be found in the words of the Lord God to the Tempter: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." . Gen. iii. 15.

To show the manner of the fulfilment of this promise is the purpose of the Book.

All the inspired writers, each in his own manner, and with the impression of his own times, have set forth the same truths. They never conflict in their testimony to the holiness of God, and to his requirement of holiness in men. They all testify of human wickedness, and all teach of a Mediator.

In the Old Testament he is promised. In the New Testament he is come.

The history of man's redemption is the golden thread of divine revelation: its light shines out most clearly inthe miracles, the parables, and the preceptive teachings of our Saviour.

Is it not usually the case that children, and even adults, lose the connecting thread of God's Word, that is, the history of man's salvation, by the manner in which they read, and the delays they are obliged to make?

But let the idea of this continuity be once firmly fixed in the mind, and then all the other portions of Scripture will be found to harmonize with the history, and also contribute to the development and elucidation of the same idea.

This is no new thought, originated for these articles. It has been the result of the study and the conviction of years. This may be seen by a reference to the "BibleReading-Book," which we selected and arranged some years since with this precise view. The plan of our work-one never before attempted· was to abridge the

sacred volume in such a way as to retain portions most essential to the understanding of "the ways of God to man," while avoiding the numerous repetitions, and omitting the long lists of names, the obsolete laws (of the Jews), and such collateral histories, that of Ishmael for instance, as were not absolutely essential in understanding the scope of the divine purpose.

We would by no means be understood to say that the whole Bible is not indispensable as it stands; but just as

the deserts and waste places of the earth have their uses, and yet may not be personally profitable to us, so with the portions here omitted. It is not that they are not equally inspired; but they may not be as personally profitable for our study, or for our use in family instruction.

To mothers and teachers who would like to know this short-hand way of Bible reading, so as to grasp the idea of consecutive history, we say, study the first three chapters of Genesis; then read the story of the Flood; of Babel; of the three patriarchs; of Joseph and Moses; also the Book of Exodus, so as to remember all the miracles of God's mercy to the Hebrew people, and his divine laws of the Decalogue for all mankind; then the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, with the 33d and 34th chapters and you will be furnished with such an outline of the plan and purpose of the Old-Testament history, as will enable you to discern the correspondence of all other portions in this same plan.

Take, for instance, all the prophets, sixteen in number, from Isaiah to Malachi, whose writings fill over one-fourth of the Old Testament.

What is the burden of their books? There are but three grand themes: all agree in these, and all teach substantially the same ideas and the same results,

1st. Of the Jews, as God's chosen people.

2d. Of the Messiah, and his kingdom on earth.

3d. Of the punishments of the heathen nations, who oppress and hate God's people.