Journal: Conservative Theological Journal
Volume: CTJ 04:11 (Apr 2000)
Article: How To Master The English Bible
Author: S. Boutwell

CTJ 4:11 (April 2000) p. 103

How To Master The English Bible

S. Boutwell

Introduction1

In a time when Bible expositing pulpits are the rarest of jewels there are some in the church today who wonder what has happened to her; they fail to connect the Wordless Pulpit with the Wordless Church. Now I know there are many who talk about the Bible Sunday after Sunday, but few teach it; and there is a difference. Some are such foreigners to Bible exposition that they would (more than likely) not even recognize it, if heard.

As she who loves to sit for hours and hear her lovers soothing words, the bride of Christ once was. My goal in republishing this book is to awaken a love lost; to set the object of LOVE on the Groom. We are not only to know about Him, we are to know Him; and we know Him by knowing His Word. With the church’s adoption of secular psychology, programs for church growth, and everything from Gnostic notions, to no regard for the Biblical languages, this book is long overdue.

Over the past five to six years it has been the habit and hobby of mine to acquire books published near the turn of the century. In that day and age, for one to be the “scholarly type” he had to know his Bible; these men had to be “Bible Men.” “A Bible Man” must (as Dr. Gray puts it) have his tool (the Bible) mastered. I hope and pray that this book will be used to revive this almost forgotten, but ever more timely technique of mastering God’s Word.

James M. Gray became the president of Moody Bible Institute in 1904. During his presidency, through World War I and the Great Depression, Dr. Gray urged the Body of Christ to get back to the Bible, to take hold of its contents, or rather, as he says, “let it take hold of you.”

There are several things about this book that the “would-be Bible student” will find quite valuable. First is it’s contents, for this must be a given, in light of the title. Then to take notice of those men whom Dr. Gray mentions as his contemporaries; such names as MacLaren, Torrey, Campbell Morgan, Spurgen and Moody.

CTJ 4:11 (April 2000) p. 104

The only changes made in the revision of the text are those sayings and words that are not congruent with our language today. Other than a few minor changes, the idea, message, and the power Dr. Gray intended to convey are preserved. There are phrases and statements that I have italicized for emphasis. I have also re-emphasized the important points made in parts three and four by listing them at the end of the section. There are those names of persons, and the organizations associated with them that are no longer with us, and I would like to make the reader aware that those or...