ad in astonishment and adoration. There's nothing like studying
the book itself--asking God, of course, to give one the guidance of his
Holy Spirit. The more I read, the more I find verses that just as
exactly fit into my own experience as if they had been penned especially
in reference to the history, circumstances, character, and wants of
William Foster; and no doubt they were, for that's a most wonderful
thing about the Bible, and shows that it is God's book,--I mean that it
as much suits each individual man's case as if it had been originally
written for that man only.

"I remember there was an American in our country some years ago, who
said he would open any lock you could bring him; and so I believe he
did, by making ingenious picks that would get into the most complicated
locks. But that's nothing to the Bible; for without any force or
difficulty it comes as one universal key that will unlock every heart,
and open up its most secret thoughts and feelings, and then throw light
and peace into the darkest corners. This is what the Bible has been and
is to me; it shows me daily more of myself, and more of Christ and his
love, and more of a heaven begun on earth.

"Now I would just advise and urge you all to take up this blessed book
in a humble and teachable spirit, and you'll find it to be to you what
God in his mercy has made it to me. And I'll tell you how to deal with
difficulties, and hard places, and so on. Now, mind, I'm only just
giving you a leaf out of my own experience. I'm not setting myself up
as a teacher. I'm not saying a word to disparage God's ministers, for
they are specially appointed by him to study, and unfold, and expound
the Word; and I can only say with sincere thankfulness that I come home
with new light on the Bible from every sermon which I hear from our
earnest and deeply taught clergyman. But, as regards our own private
reading, just let me say, if you come to a hard place, read it again;
and if you don't understand it then, read it again; and if you don't
understand it then, why, read somewhere else in the book, and you'll
find that the more you study the Word throughout, the more one passage
will throw light upon another, the more your mind and heart will expand
and embrace and understand truths which were wholly hidden or only
imperfectly seen before. This, at any rate, is my own happy experience,
and my dear wife's also. May God make it the experience of every one of
you.