portion in each, every day.  If you begin at Genesis, Job, and Matthew, and read a chapter every day, at each place, omitting the first, and reading three Psalms, on the Sabbath, you will read the whole Bible in a year, while on every day you will have a suitable variety.  Besides this, the more devotional and practical books should be read frequently.  The Psalms furnish a great variety of Christian experience, and may be resorted to with great profit and comfort, under all circumstances.  This is the only book in the Bible which does not require to be read in course.  The Psalms are detached from each other, having no necessary connection.  The other books were originally written like a sermon or a letter.  They have, for convenience, since been divided into chapters and verses.  If you read a single chapter by itself, you lose the connection; as, if you should take up a sermon and read a page or two, you would not get a full view of the author’s subject.  I would therefore recommend that, in addition to your daily reading in the Old and New Testaments, you have also some one of those books which require most study, in a course of reading, to take up whenever you have an occasional season of leisure to devote to the study of the Bible.  But, when you have commenced one book, finish it before you begin another.  You will find great advantage from the use of a reference Bible and concordance.  By looking out the parallel passages, as you proceed, you will see how one part of the Scriptures explains another, and how beautifully they all harmonize.  This will also give you a better view of the whole Scriptures than you can obtain in any other way.  But if you are a Sabbath-school teacher or scholar, your regular lesson will furnish as much study of this description as you will be able thoroughly to accomplish.

(5.) In reading the Scriptures, there are some subjects of inquiry which you should carry along with you constantly:  1.  What do I find here which points to Christ?  Unless you keep this before your mind, you will lose half the interest of many parts of the Old Testament.  Indeed, much of it will otherwise be almost without meaning.  It is full of types and prophecies relating to Christ, which, by themselves, appear dry, but, when understood, most beautiful and full of instruction. 2.  Remember that the Bible contains a history of the church.  Endeavor, then, to learn the state of the church at the time of which you are reading.  For the sake of convenience, and a clearer view of the subject, you may divide the history of the church into six periods:  (1.) From the fall of Adam to the flood. (2.) From Noah to the giving of the law. (3.) From that time to David and the prophets. (4.) From David to the Babylonish captivity. (5.) From that time till the coming of Christ. (6.) From Christ to the end of time, which is called the gospel dispensation.  From the commencement you will see a gradual development of God’s designs of mercy, and a continually