The fact that we find ourselves *loving God’s people* and having fellowship with them, is one of the most simple proofs that we are born of God. See pages 34 and 35 on *new birth*. Scriptures, The. *HOW TO READ them HELPFUL thoughts.* *1st.* Read it regularly. Have a certain time each day when you can read it without hurry. *2nd.* Read it prayerfully. God’s book cannot rightly be apprehended without the aid of God’s Spirit. “Open thou mine. eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." *3rd.* Read it studiously. When you come to something, you do not fully understand, stop and obtain light upon it from commentary, references, Bible dictionary, etc. *4th.* Read it consecutively. Aim to read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation in the course of a year, but do not hurry the reading in order to get through it in that time. *5th.* Read it sympathetically. Ask when, where, by whom, and for what purpose each book that you read was written. In that way get the standpoint of the sacred writer, and put yourself in sympathy with him. *6th.* Read it, noting its perspectives, observe the dates of events, by the aid of the Bible margin, and so keep them in your mind at their proper relative distances from each other; thus, Abraham, though he appears in Genesis 12, is halfway between Adam and Christ. *7th.* Read it topically. By the aid of a concordance and a Bible Text Book. See what it has to declare upon Faith, Love Justification, etc. *8th.* Read it in a spirit of obedience. Seek in it for direction. Make its precepts the rule of your life. *9th.* Read it in faith. Take it as God’s word to yourself. Look upon its promises as your own THIS book is the word of God showing the state of a man, the way of salvation the doom of sinners, the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe practice it to be holy, and live it to be happy. It contains light to direct you food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword and the christian’s charter. Scriptures, The. *Importance of Bible study.* Have a good print Bible, well bound of your own; keep it where you spend most of your time and then search it. *SEARCH the Scriptures*; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which *testify of me*. _John 5:39._ THESE were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and *searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so*. _Acts 17:11_