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   Mental and Spiritual Culture   
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   For the mind and the soul, as well as for the body, it is God's law that   
   strength is acquired by effort. It is exercise that develops. In harmony   
   with this law, God has provided in His word the means for mental and   
   spiritual development.   
      
   The Bible contains all the principles that men need to understand in order   
   to be fitted either for this life or for the life to come. And these   
   principles may be understood by all. No one with a spirit to appreciate its   
   teaching can read a single passage from the Bible without gaining from it   
   some helpful thought. But the most valuable teaching of the Bible is not to   
   be gained by occasional or disconnected study. Its great system of truth is   
   not so presented as to be discerned by the hasty or careless reader. Many of   
   its treasures lie far beneath the surface, and can be obtained only by   
   diligent research and continuous effort. The truths that go to make up the   
   great whole must be searched out and gathered up, "here a little, and there   
   a little." Isaiah 28:10.   
      
   When thus searched out and brought together, they will be found to be   
   perfectly fitted to one another. Each Gospel is a supplement to the others,   
   every prophecy an   
      
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   explanation of another, every truth a development of some other truth. The   
   types of the Jewish economy are made plain by the gospel. Every principle in   
   the word of God has its place, every fact its bearing. And the complete   
   structure, in design and execution, bears testimony to its Author. Such a   
   structure no mind but that of the Infinite could conceive or fashion.   
      
   In searching out the various parts and studying their relationship, the   
   highest faculties of the human mind are called into intense activity. No one   
   can engage in such study without developing mental power.   
      
   And not alone in searching out truth and bringing it together does the   
   mental value of Bible study consist. It consists also in the effort required   
   to grasp the themes presented. The mind occupied with commonplace matters   
   only, becomes dwarfed and enfeebled. If never tasked to comprehend grand and   
   far-reaching truths, it after a time loses the power of growth. As a   
   safeguard against this degeneracy, and a stimulus to development, nothing   
   else can equal the study of God's word. As a means of intellectual training,   
   the Bible is more effective than any other book, or all other books   
   combined. The greatness of its themes, the dignified simplicity of its   
   utterances, the beauty of its imagery, quicken and uplift the thoughts as   
   nothing else can. No other study can impart such mental power as does the   
   effort to grasp the stupendous truths of revelation. The mind thus brought   
   in contact with the thoughts of the Infinite cannot but expand and   
   strengthen.   
      
   And even greater is the power of the Bible in the development of the   
   spiritual nature. Man, created for fellowship with God, can only in such   
   fellowship find his real life and development. Created to find in God his   
      
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   highest joy, he can find in nothing else that which can quiet the cravings   
   of the heart, can satisfy the hunger and thirst of the soul. He who with   
   sincere and teachable spirit studies God's word, seeking to comprehend its   
   truths, will be brought in touch with its Author; and, except by his own   
   choice, there is no limit to the possibilities of his development.   
      
   In its wide range of style and subjects the Bible has something to interest   
   every mind and appeal to every heart. In its pages are found history the   
   most ancient; biography the truest to life; principles of government for the   
   control of the state, for the regulation of the household--principles that   
   human wisdom has never equaled. It contains philosophy the most profound,   
   poetry the sweetest and the most sublime, the most impassioned and the most   
   pathetic. Immeasurably superior in value to the productions of any human   
   author are the Bible writings, even when thus considered; but of infinitely   
   wider scope, of infinitely greater value, are they when viewed in their   
   relation to the grand central thought. Viewed in the light of this thought,   
   every topic has a new significance. In the most simply stated truths are   
   involved principles that are as high as heaven and that compass eternity.   
      
   The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the   
   whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human   
   soul of the image of God. From the first intimation of hope in the sentence   
   pronounced in Eden to that last glorious promise of the Revelation, "They   
   shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads" (Revelation   
   22:4), the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the   
   unfolding of this wondrous theme,--man's uplifting,--the power of   
      
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   God, "which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1   
   Corinthians 15:57.   
      
   He who grasps this thought has before him an infinite field for study. He   
   has the key that will unlock to him the whole treasure house of God's word.   
      
   The science of redemption is the science of all sciences; the science that   
   is the study of the angels and of all the intelligences of the unfallen   
   worlds; the science that engages the attention of our Lord and Saviour; the   
   science that enters into the purpose brooded in the mind of the   
   Infinite--"kept in silence through times eternal" (Romans 16:25, R.V.); the   
   science that will be the study of God's redeemed throughout endless ages.   
   This is the highest study in which it is possible for man to engage. As no   
   other study can, it will quicken the mind and uplift the soul.   
      
   "The excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have   
   it." "The words that I speak unto you," said Jesus, "they are spirit, and   
   they are life." "This is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only   
   true God, and Him whom Thou didst send." Ecclesiastes 7:12; John 6:63; 17:3,   
   R.V.   
      
   The creative energy that called the worlds into existence is in the word of   
   God. This word imparts power; it begets life. Every command is a promise;   
   accepted by the will, received into the soul, it brings with it the life of   
   the Infinite One. It transforms the nature and re-creates the soul in the   
   image of God.   
      
   The life thus imparted is in like manner sustained. "By every word that   
   proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4) shall man live.   
      
   The mind, the soul, is built up by that upon which it feeds; and it rests   
   with us to determine upon what it shall   
      
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   be fed. It is within the power of everyone to choose the topics that shall   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)