241 of hum an achievement of which th e race is proud, of which our people are proud, almost every such man has based his life-work largely upon th e teachings of th e Bible. Sometimes it h as been done unconsciously, miore often con sciously; and among th e very g reatest men a disproportionately large number have been diligent and close stud en ts of th e Bible a t first hand. If we read th e Bible arig h t, we read a book which teaches us to go fo rth and do th e work of th e L ord; to do th e work of th e Lord in th e world as we find it; to try to make things b e tte r in th is world, even if only a little b etter, because we have lived in it. T h at kind of work can be done only by th e m an who is n either a w eakling nor a coward; by th e man who in th e fu llest sense of th e word is a tru e Christian, like G reat H eart, Bun- yan ’s hero. We plead for a closer and w ider and deeper study of th e Bible, so th a t our people may be in fact as well as in theory “ doers of th e word and no t hearers only.” P residen t W ilson says: “ Let no man suppose th a t progress fan be divorced from religion, or th a t th ere is any other platform for th e m in isters of reform th a n th e p latform w rit ten in th e utterances of our Lord and Saviour. America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify th a t devotion to th e elements of rig h t eousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture. I have a very simple th ing to ask of you. I ask of every man and woman in th is audience th a t from th is n igh t on they will realize th a t p a rt of the destiny of America lies in th e ir daily perusal of th is g reat book of revelations— th a t if they would see America free and pure, they will m ake th e ir own sp irits free and pure by th is baptism of th e Holy S cripture.” ,
T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S to all th e law .” The best tran slation of th e Bible th a t we know of Is to tra n sla te it into action. Remember, th a t in Eph. 6:17, th e Word of God is called th e sword of th e spirit. To wield th e sp irit’s sword arigh t, th e man, himself, m ust he su rrendered to th e Holy Spirit. The Holy S pirit uses H is own weapon in His w ork of slaying men, in o rder to m ake them alive again. Heb. 4:12. A fter all, it is n o t your words, nor my words, th a t th e Holy Spirit can use to th e best advantage, b u t it is H is own words. R obert M urray McCheyne, Scotland’s g rea t Gospel preacher, was certain of th is and so he gave God’s Word th e g reatest place in his m inistry. Theoretically, we' all believe in the power of th e Word of God, to convict and convert sinners, b u t practically how often we act a t variance w ith our pro fessed belief and give God’s Word bu t little opportunity to do its work. Joshua 1:8, coupled w ith Acts 1: 8 shows w hat a m ighty equipment th e su rrend ered Christian has. How larg e a place has th e Word of God in your life and your work? The topic suggested for ad u lt classes, in th is lesson is, “ How to Serve One’s Country.” L et us read w h at two g reat American p atrio ts and leaders have said about th e Word of God. P residen t Roosevelt, said: “Every th ink ing man, when he th ink s, realizes w hat a very large num ber of people tend to forget th a t th e teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined w ith our whole civic and social life th a t it would be literally— I do not mean figuratively, I mean literally— impos sible for us to figure to ourselves what th a t life would be if these teachings were removed. We would lose almost all th e stand ard s by which we now judge both public and p rivate morals; all th e standard s tow ard which we, w ith more or less of resolution, strive to raise ourselves. Almost every man who has by his life-work added to the sum
The Lord spake unto Joshua. We can never accustom ourselves to this
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