Devotional Column

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 154, 2 July 1938, Page 12

Devotional Column

REFORMATION OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. The fourth centenary of the reformation of the English Bible is being observed this year. The arrangements J aro in the hands of a national council ' which was set up on May 31st, 1935, ' at a meeting in London addressed by ! the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. J. Scott Lidgett and Dr. S. M. Berry. ! The work of this Widely spread repre- ' sontative council culminated recently ! when a day of thanksgiving was j celebrated throughout the world for the gift of the English Bible. Special scr-j mons were preached in many of the churches. In 1537, Miles Coverdalc issued a revision of the first English Bible and it received the King’s license. Archbishop Clin me r was anxious that the ! Bible should be set up in parish I churches. That was the beginning of j the “Chained Bible,” for in those days ! a book was so valuable that each copv of the Scriptures was chained to n pillar of the church as a protection 1 against thieves. Only a few could read, and the parishioners gathered round the Book in the church and listened to the reading of Holy Writ by the local reader. To-day, 40 years later, the Bible has been circulated in every country of the world. In 1936 the grand total of circulation was 23,267,181 copies. If all tho Bibles issued by the world’s three loading Bible socieiics in one year could be stacked one upon the other tho pilo would be more than five times thO height of Mt. Everest—the highest mountain in the world. Un the other hand, a report of a British Government committee on “The Teaching of English in Ehgland,” says that at the present time the Bible is probably less widely read and less directly influential in our life and literature than it has been since the Reformation.

Moro than ever before, then, it is realised that it is the serious responsibility of each succeeding generation to maintain at all costs the privilege of the “Open Bible,” as this liberty u being contested in many parts of the world. In the days of the chained Bible, the problem was to obtain enough Bibles to supply the needs of the people. To-day the problem is not to supply enough copies, but to have the contents of the Scriptures ycad and studied by the people more widely. All work towards this end is serving a noble purpose, for in the words of T. H. Huxley “The Bible is the Book that is woven into the life of all that U noblest and best m English history.”

••WE.” The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid!”—A flea and an elephant walked sido by side over a little bridge. Said the flea to the elephant, after they had cross- i ed: “Boy, we sure did shako that thing! ” KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD. (1 Peter I—s). God offers to be our Keeper, and His keeping means that, day by day, moment by moment, God is going to keep us. Let us pray: My God, let my life bo a proof of what the Omnipotent God can do. Jesus is my loving Saviour, Pilot, Helper, and Personal Friend. May be yours? AN ANCIENT OPwDER. At the national thanksgiving ser vice for England’s open Bible, held in St. Paul’s Cathedral, tho first Lesson was read by the Speaker of the House .»f Commons (Captain E. A. Fitzroy), and the second by the Lord President of the Council (Viscount Hailsham). i

The service was arranged as tho central point of the celebrations of the fourth centenary of the Royal In junction of 1538 addressed to tho parish priests throughout the country:

“Ye shall provydo . . . one boke of the Holy Bible of tho largyst volume in Englysho and the same ECt up in sum convenient placo wythin tho said church that ye have the eui*'* of whereas your parishioners may moste corn modiuously resortc to the same and rc-ado it. ” FELLOWSHIP. It has been said that solitude i$ the mother country of tho strong, and certainly no life can ever be strong without its great silences, its detachments, its brooding, self-communing, God-communiug-hours. But there are great qualities that need company lor their culture and development; they need tho stimulating contact of mind with mind, the interchange of the thought and commerce of life. On the higher levels of human life iucalculable advantages aro derived from fellowship. That is what Paul means when he says: “That yc may be able to comprehend with all saints.” Each one brings to that comprehension his own gift of insight and intelligence.—Dr. John Macbeatli. GOD’S MESSAGE IN DARKNESS. At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God’s hand until wc

r ~~ learn to hear Him. ! Are you in the dark just now in your 1 eircumstanecs, or in your life with | God? Then remain quiet. Darkness if* the time to listen. Don’t talk to other people about it, don’t read books to find out the reason tho darkness has come, but listen and heed. IC you talk to other people you cannot hear what GOd is saying. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light. Oswald Chambers.