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THE' KING’S BUSINESS
now the pages are illuminated by this un looked-for instructor. The strange, sweet, sacred story o f the slain sheep and the dumb lamb; the innocent victim hurriedly cut off from His generation! The wounded, bruised, chastened Substitute is shown to be the Messiah o f the Jews. The Spirit-filled teacher lays one hand on this passage in Isaiah, then some six centuries old, and the other on Jesus Christ some six months before crucified without the gate o f Jerusa lem, and identifies the one as the atoning work of the other. The eunuch perceives the one Person essential to salvation, the Son o f God, the Saviour o f men, Calvary’s crucified One, as his own Saviour. PRACTICAL POINTS (1) The soul-winner’s theme “ Christ cruci fied for sinners.” (2) The eunuch, an inquirer, was awak ened, then anxious, then assisted; he then accepted and acknowledged. (3) The treasurer found a treasure. (4) The Bible was a casket, and Philip had the key. (5) The eunuch saw no more o f Philip, but he saw more and more o f the Lord, ( 6 ) A pertinent question for all: “Do you read?” “ Do you understand?” “Do you obey ?” Bible?’ My short reply would be, ‘Every thing.’ But if, as I suppose, I am addressed as a man o f letters, I will simply say that I owe my education as a writer more to the Bible than to any other hundred books that could be named. I had read the Bible through three times over before I was twelve year's old.” When you read this wonderful book, you are reading sixty-six books, covering over 1500 years to be written, by more than 40 men o f different ranks in life; law givers, kings, princes, physicians, peasants, fishermen. This book says over 200 times, “Thus saith the Lord.” It tells about the
men to reach men. Most men are won by one, and if we get near enough to them, we will be more likely to win them. W e need to have a personal interest, a personal sym pathy and a personal contact. There are seventeen interviews recorded in John’s Gospel, and all are with individ uals, and in connection with each o f these interviews there is revealed deep spiritual truths. Philip’s question “Understandeth thou?” led to an invitation to take a seat in the chariot. God saw the eunuch was looking for light and He sent His servant to teach hiiq the truth. Look at the remarkable providences which led up to this interview: The dispersion of the disciples' at Jerusalem had brought Philip to Samaria and had resulted in bring ing the prepared preacher and the engrossed eunuch into conjunction upon a public high way in the unity of the Spirit. There are no accidents in God’s sphere; there is no chance. Here is a man anxious to know the way o f life, and another man anxious to make the way o f life plain. These men are essential to each other. God brings them together. Philip opened his mouth'and God filled it. It was a marvellous passage to which the unseen Hand had guided the eunuch, and
PERTINENT
By W . H. Pike.
R EADING and studying the Bible is time gained. You cannot afford not to read it. Reading the Bible. —“ Read it thro,
Pray it in, Live it out. Pass it on.”
Read the Word of God.frPrayerfully, carefully, constantly, consistently, systemat ically, patiently, and reverentially. Read the Bible to find its author, to see yourself, to see the world, to know the path o f life. Sir Edwin Arnold said, “You ask me to respond to the query, ‘What I owe to the
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