of the Book of Acts, The Obscure People, The Boys and Girls of the Bible, The Men of Courage, etc.

6. The effect of the historical handling of the Scripture is nearly always the solidifying of interest. It is in fact building by intelligence, by reality. Our teaching of the Bible is very often taken away from the points of contact, it is made intangible and unreal, it suffers from too great distance, too remote perspective. The ultimate aim of historical teaching is to destroy the sense of distance, to bring the Book near. Interest comes with this,

and is likely to abide.

7. In short teach the Bible so that "the running sound of history" may be heard in the soul. Its impression of connection, continuity, and progress is one element of its power. Some great undercurrent is moving constantly forward. There is nothing of haphazard here. The parts of this Book are bound together in a connected whole. History in the Bible is its pulse-beat of life and energy. The teacher or preacher who can communicate this zest of history, who can create in the heart its "running sound," has already won a friend for the Book who will never cease to feel its charm and power.

VI

THE GRASP OF THE BOOKS*

ONE of the greatest misfortunes that ever befell the English Bible was its division into chapters and verses. Robert Stephens, who is said to have performed this doubtful service for the New Testament in the sixteenth century, during a horseback ride from Paris to Lyons, did indeed contribute much to the convenience of Bible reading. His work resulted also in making Scripture easily quotable. It must be remembered to his credit that no intelligent person is without his rubric of Bible verses and short expressions, such as "The Lord is my Shepherd," "The Wages of Sin is Death," "Come unto Me all ye that labor," "The greatest of these is Charity," "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver," which constitute for him a sort of philosophy and guide of life. It is a gain that is not to be despised that the verses of Scripture have been made to lodge so easily in the mind, to stick like thistles to the mem

*The title of this chapter is suggested by the title of a little volume by the Rev. Charles A. Fox of Eaton Chapel, London, The Spiritual Grasp of the Epistles. It is an excellent example of the method of teaching the Bible by books. The prototype, however, of all such volumes, dealing in a popular way with the books of the Bible en bloc, was Farrar's Messages of the Books. The chapters of this valuable book were originally given as sermons in St. Margaret's, Westminster.

ory, and to enter with such facility into every-day utterance.

On the other hand, there is a very heavy indictment to be brought against the method of chapter and verse division. The least of the counts in the indictment is the fact that the divisions are often so imperfectly made as to break the connection. A more serious effect is the impression created by the long habit of contemplating the Bible as fragmentary in its structure. It is an incalculable mental loss-a loss in judgment as well as in impression—to have formed the habit of thinking of the Scripture mainly in detached or isolated portions. We do not deny the value of these detached portions, nor the protection afforded by knowing them; but we insist that it is scant justice to the Word of God to think that it is best known in this way. It is to present to the mind the thin edge of Scripture, and to lose the effect of mass. It is like starting an army to march by ones and twos and threes, instead of by companies, regiments, and brigades.*

Our reading habits have so largely followed the

* " 'The misuse of isolated texts has ever been the curse of Christian truth, the glory of narrow intellects, and the cause of the worst errors of the worst days of the corrupted church. Tyranny has engraved texts upon her sword; oppression has carved texts upon her fetters; cruelty has tied texts around her faggots; ignorance has set knowledge at defiance with texts woven upon her flag; intemperance has been defended out of Timothy, and slavery has made a stronghold out of Philemon. Satan, as we know, can quote texts for his purpose. They were quoted by the Pharisees, not once or twice only, against our Lord himself; and when St. Paul fought the great battle of Christian freedom, he was anathematized with a whole Pentateuch of opposing texts."-Canon Farrar.

verse and chapter divisions as to bring upon us unawares many ill effects. In missing the quantitative force of Scripture something of its qualitative value has also been missed. We have been acquainting ourselves with the Bible by segments, instead of as a whole. We have lost thereby to a very considerable extent, the sense of continuity, as well as the impression of order, method, solidity, and weight. The relationship of part with part is often obscured, while the impression of the wholeness of Scripture is also lessened. Moreover this manner of knowing the Bible has failed to create a background for the mind, since it has taken little pains to look into questions of origin, occasion, and authorship. To the extent that it has neglected the whole matter of local color and atmosphere, it has suffered a distinct loss in reality. There are many Bible readers, for example, who have a fair degree of knowledge-quoting knowledge of the letters of Paul, who have nevertheless but faintly realized that Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, are letters of the apostle, each to a separate company of Christian believers, each with a separate and distinct gospel message; each with a special need or set of needs in view, and each with a local color or situation of its own. It is no railing accusation to say that there are not a few who are even better versed in Scripture knowledge than the ordinary person, who would find it difficult to answer such questions as these: "What is the message of the Epistle to the Colossians?" "Why were the first and second Epistles to the Thessalonians written, and what are their principal contents?" "What were the interesting circumstances connected with

the writing of the letter to the Philippians?" "What is the fascinating story that underlies the little letter to Philemon?" etc. The trouble is that the reading method that we have brought to the Bible has produced well-versed readers, but, except in relatively few instances, it has done little more.

The prevailing method of Bible teaching, it is needless to add, has conformed very largely to the verse and chapter divisions. Ninety-nine out of a hundred sermons are preached from separate texts. There is, of course, frequent explanation of the context, but these explanations are commonly limited to the immediate scope of the text. The methods that prevail in teaching the Bible to the young are alike fragmentary. Few indeed of the youth of the church grow up with well-rounded and connected ideas of the books of the Bible. In the public schools on the contrary, the pupils of the Grammar grades and High School have probably made such an acquaintance with "The Courtship of Miles Standish," "Hiawatha," "The Idyls of the King," or even "Paradise Lost," as will last them for a lifetime.

It is impossible to resist the conclusion that these imperfect methods are in part responsible for the sluggish interest of many in the Bible. Experienced educators understand that they cannot expect to produce in the mind any original feelings of interest or fascination unless they can underlay these feelings with a sense of mastery. The mind will fly off from that which it does not know thoroughly. The real fascination of the Book has not yet come upon one who only knows it by the easy facility and evi