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The Fundamentals The word “reproof” comes after doctrine, because it has to do with the character which doctrine makes. The Bible is profitable not only for the doctrine which we get out of it, but it is the standard by which we try our doctrines. It proves and reproves. It is the plumb-line that we drop by the wall to see if it is straight. I t is the yard-stick by which we measure every creed. The word “correction” means restoration, and gives a thought in advance of doctrine and reproof. It has in it the thought of making right what we have found to be wrong. The plumb-line may show that the wall leans, but it cannot straighten it. The yard-stick may reveal that the cloth is too short, but it cannot lengthen it. The Bible, however, not only shows us wherein we are wrong, but it can right us. When Canova saw the piece of marble which, at great expense, had been secured for a celebrated statue, his practiced eye discov- ered a little piece of black running through it, and he rejected it. He could discover the black, but he could not make the black white. The Bible discovers the black and makes it white. The fourth word, “instruction,” means literally “child-cul- ture,” and has in it all that the parent needs for the growth, development and maturing of the child. The Bible is a training school in righteousness. Other books give training in music, rhetoric, oratory, but the specialty of the Bible is training in righteousness. III. A BIBLICAL METHOD OF BIBLE STUDY It is suggested by the two words “search” and “profitable.” Whatever is profitable is apt to cost labor. The worthless we can get without effort. Hence the strength of the phrase, “Search the Scriptures.” It means to “look through and through.” I t is the word used in the Scripture, “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” As God searches our hearts so let us search the Bible.
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