repelled in so far as the Scriptures were believed or rejected. And so it will ever be. It is

vain to seek Him, and forsake the Word in which He is revealed.

At another time we must consider Paul's remarkable words:--

As they stand, however, they speak of a possible knowledge and fellowship with

Christ that transcends the personal and intimate acquaintance of the Gospels.

Returning to our subject, I Pet. 1: 8, let us not forget that, though we have never seen

Him, we may love Him, and rejoice with joy unspeakable. The link between the love and

the joy is faith--"yet believing". And we know that "faith cometh by hearing and

hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10: 17). Prayer alone is not sufficient. To avoid the

written Word is to turn from the path of God's appointment. We must, therefore, be

patient, and accept the problems associated with the study of the Scriptures as so many

small tests of our willingness to endure, if so be we may find Him. His name is "The

Word". May He speak to our hearts, and may we have ears to hear.

In a communication at one time made to the writer, it was stated that after studying

Paul's epistles the reader was quite unmoved, and still cried out for the person of Christ,

and not for doctrines and theological arguments.

It would appear that there is something wrong with any child of God who can read

Paul's epistles and fail to see at every turn the personal Christ. Paul, with all the doctrine

and deep argument that is associated with his name, was first of all a preacher of the

personal Christ. First, look at his conversion. We have the record in Acts 9:, and

Paul's comment in Gal. 1: His first words, on the road to Damascus, were:--

Here, at the commencement, we have vividly set forth Paul's contact with the living

The Lord's own words, too, in this same chapter, bind Paul very closely to Himself:--