Reader, go to Christ when the world laughs at you, and ask Him to strengthen you against temptation. He is well able to do so, for when He was on earth, men "laughed Him to scorn." He suffered the rebukes of many, for "He bare the sin of many. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed[#]." [#] Isaiah liii. 5. *THE BIBLE.* "There is a Book, who runs may read, Which heavenly truth imparts; And all the lore its scholars need, Pure eyes and Christian hearts." _Keble._ There is no book that is so frequently given as a present as the Bible. It has been translated into every tongue, and carried to every shore. In the king’s palace, and in the lonely hut, from one end of the world to the other, wherever Christianity is preached, the Bible is read. I have often seen a picture of a lady reading a book intently. She is represented as sitting near a table, with a shawl thrown loosely round her, and a widow’s cap upon her head. That lady is the Queen of England, the greatest woman in the world; and the book she is reading is the Bible, the Word of a greater than she. Underneath is written, "The Secret of England’s greatness." Yes, the Holy Bible, or rather the study of the Bible, is indeed the secret of England’s greatness, just as drunkenness is the secret of England’s weakness. It is not because the Queen of England alone reads the Bible, but it is because the Bible is read in so many English homes. Now there are several ways of reading the Bible. It is quite possible for a very clever man to read the Bible, and not understand it; and it is quite possible, too, for a poor unlettered man, if he have faith, to read, and understand. Some people read the Bible as a history, and a very good history it is, and so they get what they want. Some, again, read it to try to find fault with what they read. Some read it to try and draw out words in support of their own peculiar views, and if they can get only a few words, which they can so twist as to satisfy their easy consciences, then they are quite content that their religion is right, and all else wrong. But some there are, quite different from any of these, who read the Bible, not to make out some new doctrine, or plan of salvation, but as the Word of the Living God. To these, every word they read is as the voice of God, and every text a guide on the way which ends in Christ. Instead of picking put texts and founding a new sect upon them, and so adding to the already too numerous divisions amongst us, they diligently "search the Scriptures[#]," and by them they make proof of their religion. Love to Christ as their Head, and obedience to His laws, these are their two great doctrines; and these shall inherit the promises, and "sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven[#]." [#] S. John v. 39.