August 27

When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. - 1 Thessalonians 2:13.

DO we thus receive the Scriptures? What have we realized of God in them? and what do we owe to these Scriptures in a way of duty? Surely, in the first place, we owe nothing less than to peruse them. David said, “The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver;” and the celebrated Robert Boyle said, “I would prefer a single twig of the tree of life to all the riches of the world.”

Secondly, We should believe them. The Scriptures will not profit unless they are mixed with faith in them that hear and read them. Are not many practical unbelievers? Could those trifle with its hallowed pages as sometimes they do, making them only a subject of curiosity, if they really believed the Scriptures?

Thirdly, And what less can this duty be than to understand them? It is a sad thing that many professors of religion are so shamefully ignorant of the Scriptures, in consequence of which they are so liable to err,-so liable to be led away with the error of the wicked, and carried away by every wind of doctrine, so as not to know the way wherein they should walk, or the things which they should do. Let us then “search the Scriptures,” and seek after more acquaintance with “Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

Fourthly, We should practise what the Scriptures teach. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” We shall never regard the Scriptures properly till we find them a “light unto our feet and a lamp unto our path.” There is nothing in the Bible but has a practical aim and tendency. Its “doctrines are according to godliness;” its exceeding great and precious promises are given us, that “by these we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of the world through lust.”

Fifthly, This duty cannot include less than our distributing them. The Scriptures were designed for all; they have not reached their end when they reached only us. As we have become possessors, we are also to become dispensers of them. The Scriptures are not given us as a legacy only to enjoy, but as a talent also to employ. We have them not for ourselves only, but also for others; therefore, as the apostle says, “Their debtors ye are.” And those professors are dishonest who withhold from them their rights, and embezzle what was only intrusted to them for the sake of others.