Here’s the final installment of my abridgment of William’s Evans’ book on Scripture memory:

Chapter 8: Analyzing What You Desire to Memorize

It is a mistake to seek to memorize anything that has not been analyzed. To simply repeat the matter to be learned over and over again without any reference to the analysis of it is practically a waste time so far as effective memory work is concerned. The best way to proceed is to arrange the matter to be learned analytically and synthetically. Take it to pieces and put it together again. By this process you will have almost learned the selection with scarcely any noticeable effort at memorizing. To memorize John 3:16, for example, find the shortest clause in the verse: God loved. Write that down. Write it again adding the next logical word. Write it again with the next logical work, and add one word after another until you have analyzed the whole verse. By then you will probably have practically memorized it. Be sure to write the words; it is not enough to merely repeat them aloud. Write them. WRITE. WRITE.

Chapter 9: Suggestive Association

Whatever has been perceived or conceived in connection with some other object or thought is afterwards suggestive of the other. Suggestive association is the connecting of a thought that is remote or abstract with others more obvious and familiar. In memorizing new matter, therefore, you must link it with a thought already in mind. Develop and use mnemonics. Psalm 37 and 73, for example—are simply reversed numerals, and both Psalms deal with the question of the prosperity of the wicked. Matthew 20:28 and Acts 20:28 have the same numerical reference and both talk about being ransomed or purchased by the blood of Christ.

 Chapter 10: The Power to Recall from Memory What You Have Learned

Recalling is different from reviewing. Recalling is an act of pure memory; reviewing, by the use of the text. Recalling must be absolutely from memory alone. Review during your study time, but seek to recall frequently.

Chapter 11: The Constant Practice of Reviewing

The lapse of time weakens the memory. Review daily. Suppose you determine to learn three verses a day. Having carried out your determination, review your newly-acquired possession the same day. With each new daily lesson don’t forget to review the lesson of the previous day and days. Continue this for a month, then spend a day reviewing. After three months, spend a week reviewing. As you make more progress, judge for yourself how much time you need for review. To review, make cards of uniform size. On one side write the reference. On the other, write the text in full. Review first from one side then from the other, so you learn both reference and verse. If, after having accumulated so many passages, you find it impossible to review every card, pick out a card here and there at random and review it. As you review a particular verse, note any cross-references that you can memorize and associate with that verse. You can learn the general contents of entire books by giving a one or two-word word titles to each chapter, using word associations, then mastering the list.

  Here is the continuation of my condensation of William Evan’s 1909 book on Scripture memory–How to Memorize.

Chapter 3: The Possibilities of the Memory

 The memory can be trained. There is no need of constantly forgetting. It’s possible to acquire knowledge, learn  names, and identify faces in such a way as to be able to recall them at pleasure. How pleased people are when we remember them. There is no need of forgetting what we have learned, providing we have learned it in the right way. There is no limit to the capacity of the memory. No one has ever learned so much that he cannot learn more. History furnishes wonderful accounts of memory achievements. Muretus, the French teacher of the sixteenth century, states he had a pupil, a young Corsican, who could repeat forward and backward 36,000 unconnected words after hearing them but once. It was said of Dr. Johnson that he never forgot anything he had seen, heard, or read. Cyrus is said to have known the name of every soldier in his army. Tertullian, the great Church Father, devoted days and nights to memorizing the Scriptures, and got much of them by heart so accurately that he knew the very punctuation of them. To show the possibilities of memory training in old age, I refer to a New York editor who stated how, at age seventy-four, he began in a systematic way to commit Scriptures to memory. In a short time was able to repeat a considerable part of the New Testament. Age is no barrier to success in memory training.

Chapter 4: What is Memory?

 Memory is our natural power of retaining what we learn and of recalling it on every occasion. It is a distinct faculty of the mind, different from perception, judgment, and reason. A good memory has three qualities: (1) the power to receive with comparative ease the words and phrases to be learned; (2) the power to store and retain them in the mind for an indefinite length of time; and (3) the reliableness to recall upon every proper occasion the words learned. Bad memories and weak memories can be overcome by strengthening and training.

 

 

  I’d like to devote a few blogs over the next couple of weeks to offering a condensation of a 1909 book, How to Memorize. It’s by the prolific author, William Evans, an English-born Bible teacher connected with the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago and the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA). His ministry spanned the first half of the twentieth century. I’m indebted to friend, Dr. Lee Cope of Jackson, Mississippi, for giving me a copy of this classic book about Scripture memory, published by The Bible Institute Colportage Association of Chicago. Since it’s out of print and because most readers don’t have time to search out and read the whole thing, I’ve prepared a “reader’s digest” version. Here are chapters 1 and 2.

Chapter 1: The Importance of Having a Good Memory

Of what profit is all our wisdom, reading, and study if we are unable to preserve the knowledge we’ve acquired? Memory enriches the mind by preserving the results of our study and learning. It’s the basis of all knowledge and the treasurer of the mind.

Chapter 2: The Need of Cultivating the Memory

The inability to recall a thought or passage when needed has been a source of discomfort to many students. How often, on the other hand, has the ability to recall the desired passage been a means of strength in argument and a lifting up to a high place of worth in the estimation of those with whom we deal and among whom we work.  The other day a letter came from a minister in Michigan speaking of the value of knowing the Scriptures by heart. An infidel in his town had been able to argue successfully with all the ministers in the place. He gloried in the fact that he had beaten the ministers in their own arguments and that they had failed to convince him of the truth of the Bible. At last, however, he met his equal. It was a young student who knew much of the Bible by heart and had been taught the value of memory training. Said the infidel, “That young fellow seems to know every page in the Bible. He quoted Scripture to meet every objection I made. I am now convinced I was wrong, and I believe what I before doubted. Further, I am going to have this young man teach me more about the Bible.”

 Jesus broke the lance of the tempter by saying, “It is written….” He confounded His enemies more completely by His ready use of their own Scriptures than by His amazing miracles.

 

Yesterday I received  a note from my friend, Dr. Lee Cope, of Jackson, Mississippi, about a friend of his who said, “The Andrew Murray book on humility changed my life, possibly more than any single thing outside of the Bible itself.  It has haunted me.  I memorized the passage in Philippians (on having the mind of Christ as a servant) and rehearse it in my mind and prayer life regularly.”   In my last two entries, I’ve described this 1858 book.  Now here are some excerpts, which are particularly good, not only for personal meditation, but for use when preaching or teaching on this subject.

From the Introduction:

There is nothing so divine and heavenly as being the servant and helper of all.  The faithful servant, who recognizes his position, finds a real pleasure in supplying the wants of the master and his guests.

I stand amazed at the thought of how little humility is sought after as the distinguishing feature of the discipleship of Jesus.

From Chapter 1

Humility, the place of entire dependence of God, is… the root of every virtue.   And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil….

Hence it follows that nothing can be our redemption, but the restoration of the lost humility, the original and only true relation of the creature to its God.  And so Jesus came to bring humility back to earth…

Humility is the only soil in which the graces grow.

In the life of earnest Christians, of those who pursue and profess holiness, humility ought to be the chief mark of their uprightness.

From Chapter 2

When the Old Serpent, he who had been cast out from Heaven for his pride, whose whole nature as devil was pride, spoke his words of temptation into the ear of Eve, those words carried with them the very poison of hell.

All the wretchedness of which this world has been the scene, all its wars and bloodshed among the nations, all its selfishness and suffering, all its ambitions and jealousies, all its broken hearts and embittered lives, with all its daily unhappiness, have their origin in what this cursed, hellish pride, either our own, or that of others, has brought to us.

Study the humility of Jesus.  This is the secret…

From Chapter 3

Because Christ had thus humbled himself before God, and God was ever before Him, He found it possible to humble Himself before men too, and to be the Servant of all.  His humility was simply the surrender of Himself to God, to allow Him to do in Him what He pleased, whatever men around might say to Him, or do to Him.

From Chapter 4:

Just as water ever seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds the creature abased and empty, his glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless.

From Chapter 5

We find many professors and ministers, evangelists and workers, missionaries and teachers, in whom the gifts of the Spirit are many and manifest, and who are the channels of blessing to multitudes, but of whom, when the testing time comes, or closer intercourse gives fuller knowledge, it is only too painfully manifest that the grace of humility, as an abiding characteristic, is scarce to be seen.

From Chapter 6

The humble man feels no jealousy or envy.  He can praise God with others are preferred and blessed before Him.  He can bear to hear others praised and himself forgotten….

From Chapter 7

The holiest will ever be the humblest…

PS – I have one last quote from this book that I’d like to share in tomorrow’s blog.  Stay tuned.

In yesterday’s blog, I tried to give a simple definition for humility.  It is not a low self-image; it’s a high Jesus-image.

Today I’d like to tell you about a man who wrote with humility about humility.  His name is Andrew Murray, and his book, Humility, was originally published in 1859.

Murray was born to Scottish (Dutch Reformed) missionaries serving in South Africa.  Place of birth- Cape Town.  Year – 1828.  When he was ten years old, Andrew was sent back to Scotland for schooling, and he later pursued university studies in the Netherlands.  There he was exposed to a spiritual revival that deeply affected him.  After being ordained by the Dutch Reformed Church, he returned to South Africa to minister.  In 1856, he married his wife, Emma, and they had four boys and four girls.

During the course of his ministry Murray pastored several churches in South Africa and helped advance the South Africa Revival of 1869.  Perhaps his most lasting legacy is his print ministry – his books and tracts.  He authored a whopping 240 of them, some of which have proven to be genuine classics on the Deeper Christian Life.

When he was in his fifties, Andrew was stuck by a mysterious throat ailment that rendered him unable to speak for two years.  It was a traumatic period for a preacher, but it affected his personality for the good, giving him a kinder, gentler spirit.  Out of this experience, he wrote twelve messages on the subject of humility, which became the basis for this book.

Tomorrow, I’ll share some excerpts from Humility by Andrew Murray.

I don’t have enough humility to write a book on the subject, and I’ve got too much pride to attempt it.  How could I promote it?  “Hey, buy my fantastic best-seller about humility!”  I’d be like the author who wrote a book called Humility and How I Attained It, by I. M. DeMann.  For most of us, preaching about humility is an exercise of instant hypocrisy, or so we feel.

The fact is—true humility is the pith of Christlikeness.  Biblical humility is the sap and spirit of verdant Christian living.  It’s not a matter of developing an unhealthy self-image, but of developing a healthy image—not of ourselves—but of the Lord Jesus.  It’s thinking realistically of ourselves and optimistically of Him.  Someone said that humility isn’t thinking little of ourselves; it’s not thinking of ourselves at all, and of Him more and more.

The person who is biblically humble doesn’t go around groveling in the dirt and saying, “I’m an idiot, I’m no good, I’m cheap, I’m worthless.”  After all, we’re the climax and crown of His creative genius.  We’re made in His image.  We’re worth more than many sparrows; we’re worth so much Christ He died for us.  We’re heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ.  We’re the King’s Kids.  We’re gifted by His grace and destined for His glory.

Humility isn’t at matter of saying, “I’m worthless!”  It’s saying, “He is worthy!”

It’s a matter of saying, “I’m a sinner, and He’s my Savior.  I’m nothing without Him, but I can do all things through Him who gives me strength, for His strength is made perfect in my weakness.  Though I’m not what I was, I’m not yet what I long to be.  He’s perfecting that which concerns me.  He who has begun a good work in me will carry it on to completion.”

If pride is the soil of sinfulness, humility is the heart of holiness.  It’s the basic bread-and-butter attiude of:  Jesus first, others second, and I’ll take the leftovers.  I’m sent to serve.

If the serpent’s pride messed us up, the Savior’s humility can set us straight.  If the pride of sin killed us, the Suffering Servant can raise us up.

Getting back to books on the subject….  There’s only one author I know whom I’d trust with this subject, and he wrote a remarkable book on humility, which was published in 1859.  In my next post, I’d like to introduce him to you.

I’ve just finished Yogi Berra’s autobiographical account of his ten World Series Championships with the New York Yankees.  It wasn’t exactly a page-turner, but three things impressed me about the famous Yankee catcher.

1.  His ability to shrug off insults.  When he began his career, other players made cruel jokes about his odd appearance, speech patterns, and penchant for comic books.  They said he looked like a Neanderthal man.  Sports writers painted him as stupid.  He was called Ugly.  At five-feet-eight-inches, 190 pounds, knock-kneed and barrel-shaped, he was dubbed “the Ape.”  “Some of the veterans didn’t know what to make of me,” he said.  “I guess it was because of my stumpy build, and my speech and grammar weren’t always the best, and because I sometimes read comic books by my locker.”  Yogi’s response:  “I’d just brush that stuff off and tell anyone it didn’t matter if you’re ugly in this racket, because all you’ve got to do is hit the ball and I never saw anybody hit one with his face” (p. 26).

2.  His Morale.  He learned to keep his spirits up, no matter what.  It was a lesson taught him by Joe DiMaggio.  “Once I was unhappy after I popped up and sort of moped out to right field after the inning.  Joe trotted over to me and said, ‘Always run out to your position, kid.  It doesn’t look good when you walk.  The other team may have gotten you down, but don’t let ‘em know it’” (p. 31).  It was a moment Yogi never forgot.

3.  His perseverance.  If there is one recurring theme to the book, it’s keep pressing on and plugging away, win or lose:  “One thing I learned in baseball is you don’t panic, just do what you’re supposed to do” (p. 149).  “If ever I learned anything in baseball, it’s don’t give up and don’t let up” (p. 167).  “When you go slack in something, I don’t care if it’s baseball or business or badminton, it’s hard to get that crispness back” (p. 170).

My favorite Yogi-Quote in the book is on page 207.  “Sometimes in baseball, you don’t know nothing.”

The book is titled Ten Rings:  My Championship Seasons by Yogi Berra with Dave Kaplan.