How to Memorize??

How to Memorize, - by: William Evans published by The Bible Institute Colportage Association of Chicago in 1909.
 Since it has long been out of print, I’m including this condensation as an appendix to my own book.

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 treasure 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.

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 thirty-six thousand unconnected words after hearing them but once. It was said of Dr. Johnson that he never forgot anything he had seen, heard, or read.  Both Napoleon and  Cyrus were said to have known the name of every soldier in their 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 their very punctuation. 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 he 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.

Chapter 5: Preliminary Suggestions for the Training of the Memory

1. Each suggestion must be followed to the letter.
2. There should be daily practice to ensure the greatest possible amount of benefit. Set aside, if possible, the same hour each day in the same place. The morning is the best.
3. Be content, at first, with the mastery of a little each day. Many people fail in memory work by trying to accomplish too much at one sitting. Word upon word, line upon line, precept upon precept—let this be your rule.
4. Take pleasure in your study. Make yourself believe you like it whether you do or not. We learn easiest what we enjoy. Delight yourself, therefore, in your work, and great results can be expected.
5. Learn your lesson with the intention of remembering it forever. Many students learn a lesson merely for the recitation in class or for examination. Never cram for an occasion, but learn forever.
6. Remember that the aim is not the accumulation of a mass of memorized material, but to build up, strengthen, and train the memory to do its appointed work.
7. Be sure not to take up a second verse until you have thoroughly mastered the first.

Chapter 6: Attention, or Fixity of Thought

A poor memory has its origin in inattention.
The secret of a good memory is our interest in and attention to a subject, as we rarely forget what has strongly impressed our minds. Attention is the directing of the mental powers to a specific object to the exclusion of all other objects. It means the setting of the mind upon a certain definite task.
 It is the power of mental concentration.
The ability to fix our thought on what we desire to memorize is the first essential principle in the training of a good memory. To pin the thought, to fasten the attention on, and to allow no mind-wandering from the subject, to determine that the mind shall stretch itself over the subject under consideration in such a way as to shut out every intruding thought—this is to make memorizing possible, interesting, and delightful. A good memory is not to be expected until this power of attention is attained.
 If your mind wanders, bring it back again, and again, and yet again. Train your mind to read without wandering. Practice reading long passages of Milton, Shakespeare, or Emerson without letting your thoughts wander. The human mind is a great tramp; cure it of its vagrancy by keeping it at home. History tells us that so great was the power of concentration possessed by a writer in the time of the French Revolution that, although people were being massacred right under the window of the room in which he was engaged in writing a book, yet so absorbed was he in his subject that he knew nothing of what was happening on the outside until told afterward.

Chapter 7: A Clear Conception of the Matter to Be Memorized

You must have a clear conception of the matter you desire to memorize.
Nothing less than a clear grasp and a definite understanding of the matter will suffice. Be sure you grasp it. It’s a grievous mistake to think words are the only things to be memorized. 
We must obtain a clear conception of the thought contained in the words. Convert the text to a word picture and develop a visual memory.
For example, in memorizing Psalm 15 we should read it over thoughtfully, noting the theme of the psalm, which is the person deemed worthy to abide in the temple of God. Form a mental picture of this person—what he is, what he does, what he does not do. Let your mental eye meet him. Listen to how he speaks. Having studied the passage and formed this mental picture, you may then proceed to take up the words of the psalm and memorize them.
This you will now find to be a comparatively easy task. Most of the psalm has been learned in the very act of word-picturing. This pictorial faculty is essential to a good memory.
 It’s also vital to read the passage aloud. 
Go into the open air, into the woods, or into the fields, and repeat it. Each repetition strengthens the impression made upon the memory. As a rule, do not memorize silently. If you do not have privacy, manipulate the lips and control the breath so as to whisper; but memorize with the mouth.

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 of 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 merely to 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 one- or two-word word titles to each chapter, using word associations, then mastering the list.

 ** {DO not waste much time on learning frivolous and nonsensical songs and phrases - of which there are too many in the world today! All these will tend to simply load your mind down and keep you from learning or dealing with the real lessons or issue in your life!}


100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart.