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THE KING’S BUSINESS
did not know. Then I put to. her another question, “Are you studying your Bible every day?” She answered, “ No, not every day, some days I put a great deal of time into Bible study, and then I go days with out studying it at all.” Her little babe lay in the baby carriage near her. I turned to the baby and said: “Mrs. N., suppose you should feed that baby every two hours today, every four hours the next day, then two or three times in the whole day the next day, then let it go two or three days without feeding it at all, then feed it every two hours the next day, and then let it g o ' two or three days without feeding it at all, how do you think the baby would grow?” She replied, “Why the baby would not grow at all, the baby would die.” I said, “ That is just the way you are treat- * ing your soul: some days you spend a good deal o f time in Bible study, then you go days without studying it at all.” She was like many. They wonder at their not growing in the Christian life, but there is no mystery about it. The Bible must not only be studied, but it must be studied reg ularly, it must be studied daily, and there must be a regular time and system o f Bible study. IV. Must Be Plenty of Good Air. In the next place if we are to grow> we ■must haye plenty of good air. Good birth and good food are not enough, we must have good air to breathe. During the last ten years there has been a great awakening among physicians and all intelligent people, to the importance o f plenty o f good air for health and growth. A woman who was at the head o f a home for defective chil dren in Scotland, once told me that almost all the children in that institution qwed their physical weakness to breathing the air in their homes that had been contami nated by the tobacco smoke of their fathers. How pale and puny are the children who are cooped up in stuffy houses. One reason why Californians are so healthy is because they live in the open. People come to Cal ifornia sickly and puny and grow strong because they sleep out o f doors and live out
Bible study. No amount o f reading good books, even the very best books, the books o f Andrew Murray or any other devotional writer, will take the place of direct, per sonal Bible study. Fenerbach, the German materialist, said, “Mann isst was er ist,” or to put it into English, omitting the pun, which is not translatable, “a man is what he eats.’’ This is certainly emphatically true in the spiritual life. Jeremiah said, “ Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy words were unto me a joy and the rejoicing o f mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God o f hosts,” (Jer. 15:16), and the Psalmist says, “ Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat o f the scorn ful. But his delight is the law o f the LORD ; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams o f water, that bring- eth forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also doth not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (Ps. 1:1-3). But it is not enough that we feed on the Word of God, although that is the right kind o f food, we should feed regularly Many study the Bible and do not grow much because they study so irregularly and so unsystematically. W e should study the Bible every day, never letting a single day pass by under any circumstances, that we do not give some time to Bible study. W e read o f the believers o f Berea that “ These were more noble than those in Thessalon- ica, in that they received the word with all readiness o f mind, examining the scriptures daily whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). W e should have a regular time each day set apart and kept sacredly for Bible study. I was once calling upon a member o f our church in Minneapolis, one o f the most intelligent women in the church. I put to her the question, “ How are you getting on in your Christian life?” She replied, “ I am not getting on at all. My life is a disgrace to me, a disgrace to the church, and a disgrace to Jesus Christ.” I asked her why that was. She replied she
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