chapterFIVE: bible-reading

Praying = most important in practical religion
Bible-reading = nothing more important, except praying

Happy is that man who possesses a Bible!
Happier still is he who reads it !
Happiest of all is he who not only reads it, but obeys it, and makes it the rule of his faith and practice.

to have the Bible is one thing, and to read it quite another.

8 reasons why you should value the Bible highly, study it regularly, and make yourself thoroughly acquainted with its contents:

I.     There is no book in existence written in such a manner as the Bible.

• The Bible was " given by inspiration of God." (2 Timothy 3:16)
• When you read it, you are not reading the self-taught compositions of poor imperfect men like yourself, but the words of the eternal God.
• It proves nothing against inspiration, as some have asserted, that the writers of the Bible have each a different style. The handwriting and style of the writers differ enough to prove that each had a distinct individual being ; but the Divine Guide who dictates and directs the whole is always one.
• What art thou doing with the Bible? Dost thou read it at all?

II.    There is no knowledge absolutely needful to a man's salvation,
        except a knowledge of the things which are to be found in the Bible.

• We live in days when the words of Daniel are fulfilled b
• efore our eyes: "Many run to and fro, and knowledge is increased." (Daniel 12:4). Though an ignorant population is 
• a perilous and expensive burden to any nation (and easy prey to Satan), we must never forget that all the education a man's head can receive, will not save his soul from hell, unless he knows the truths of the Bible.
• A man may have prodigious learning, and yet never be saved.
No earthly philosophy ever supplied hope in death. 
No natural theology ever gave peace in the prospect of meeting a holy God.
• A man may be a very ignorant man, and yet be saved.

If that very man has heard Bible truth with his ears, and believed it with his heart, he knows enough to save his soul.

III.   No book in existence contains such important matter as the Bible.

• How glorious and soul-satisfying is the description it gives us of God's plan of salvation, and the way by which our sins can be forgiven!
• How comforting is the account it gives us of the great Mediator of the New Testament, the man Christ Jesus.
• How encouraging are the examples the Bible gives us of good people! It tells us the God and Saviour of these men and women still waits to be gracious, and is altogether unchanged.
• It tells us of many who were of like passions with ourselves,—men and women who had cares, crosses, families, temptations, afflictions, diseases, like ourselves,—and yet " by faith and patience inherited the promises," and got safe home. (Hebrews 6:12)
• How instructive are the examples the Bible gives us of bad people! And it warns us that God never alters, and that there is a hell.
• It tells us of men and women who had light, and knowledge, and opportunities, like ourselves, and yet hardened their hearts, loved the world, clung to their sins, would have their own way, despised reproof, and ruined their own souls for ever.
• How precious are the promises which the Bible contains for the use of those who love God!
• How blessed are the hopes which the Bible holds out to the believer in Christ Jesus!
• How striking is the light which the Bible throws on the character of man!

IV.   No book in existence has produced such wonderful effects on mankind at large as the Bible.

• Turned the world upside down in the days of the Apostles.
• Apostles famished idolatry, increased standards of morality, altered standards of purity & decency, put an end to cruel customs
• For extent, for completeness, for results, for permanence, there are no victories like the victories of the Bible.
• Turned Europe upside down in the days of the glorious Protestant Reformation.
• Right before the Protestant Reformation, the Church of Christ was so covered in darkness, that if the apostles were to have risen they would've thought heathenism had been revived; the Church was made an idol.
• By the reading of the Bible the public mind became gradually leavened with the principles of true religion; eyes were opened; the abomination of popery became distinct & excommunications followed

V.    No book in existence can do so much for every one who reads it rightly as the Bible.

• The Bible is "able to make a man wise unto salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus." (2 Tim 3:15)
• The Bible applied to the heart by the Holy Ghost, is the grand instrument by which souls are first converted to God.
• The Bible more or less is always teaching/addressing these 3 things:
• The majesty of God
• The beauty of Christ
• Our own hearts 
• The Bible applied to the heart by the Holy Ghost, is the chief means by which men are built up and stablished in the faith, after their conversion.

VI.   The Bible is the only rule by which all questions of doctrine or of duty can be tried.

• Make it a leading principle never to act contrary to the Word. Remember you serve a strict and holy God... remember that by the Bible we shall all be judged at the last day, and let them learn to judge themselves by it here, lest they be judged and condemned by it hereafter.

VII.  The Bible is the book which all true servants of God have ahvays lived on and loved.

• This is the common mark of all the children of God--they "delight in the law of the Lord" (Ps. 1:2)

VIII. The Bible is the only book which can comfort a man in the last hours of his life.

• There are no comforts for the soul but Bible comforts, and he who has not got hold of these, has got hold of nothing at all. 

now..

1) To those who can read but never do read the Bible at all:

• You are in danger, because your neglected Bible is a plain evidence that you do not love God.
• Beware lest you go on saying "Men do very well without all this Bible-reading," and find at length, to your cost, that men do very ill, and end in hell.

2) To those who are willing to begin reading the Bible, but want advice on the subject:

• begin reading your Bible this very day
• read the Bible with an earnest desire to understand it
• read the Bible with child-like faith and humility 
• read the Bible in a spirit of obedience and self-application
• read the Bible daily
• read all the Bible, and read it in an orderly way ("All Scripture is profitable." 2 Tim 3:16)
• read the Bible with Christ continually in view

3) To those who love and believe the Bible, and yet read it but little:

• You are likely ...
• to get little comfort from the Bible in time of need
• never to be established in the truth
• to make mistakes in life
• to be carried away by some specious false teacher for a season
• A religion of deep Bible knowledge, is a firm and lasting possession. It enables a man not merely to say, "I feel hope in Christ," --but "I know whom I have believed." (2 Tim 1:12)

4) To those who read the Bible much, and yet fancies they are no better for their reading:

• Do not think you are getting no good from the Bible just because you do not see that good day by day. 
• The Word may be gradually producing  deep impressions on your heart, of which you are not at present aware.
• The Bible may be restraining you from some sin or delusion into which you would otherwise run.

5) To those who really love the Bible, live upon the Bible, and read it very much:

• read the Bible more and more
• be more watchful over our Bible-reading
• honour the Bible more in our families
• meditate more on the Bible
• talk more to believers about the Bible
• live by the Bible more and more

Ryle, J. C. "Bible-Reading." 2009. Practical Religion. Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1998. 98-139. Print.