r IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4 /. y. l/.x 1.0 I.I Si-^ IIM 12.5 :32 M 1.8 1.25 1.4 1 6 - — — == 1 = „ 6" ► V] °1 % c^. e. o / /# Photographic Sciences Corporation #> ^ 4 '"^ V V \\ "% V O^ % V <^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 I/a CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiquetf The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. L'Institut a microfiimd le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les ddtnils de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage sont indiquds ci-dessous. D D D D D D □ D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommag6e Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaur6e et/ou pellicui6e I I Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int6rieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutdes lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 4tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6t6 film^es. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl6mentaires; n Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur D D D D D Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes Pages restored and/or laminated/ , Pages restauries et/ou pellicul6es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d^colordes, tachet^es ou piqudes Pages detached/ Pages ddtachdes Shovtfthrough/ Transparence I I Quality of print varies/ Quality indgale de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel suppldmentaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 filmies d nouveau de fapon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film6 au taux de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X J 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: National Library of Canada L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de: Bibliothdque nationaie du Canada The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les images suivantes ont 6x6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin. compte tenu de la condition et de la nettetd de l'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde sont film6s en commenqant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commenpant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol ^^> (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — »- signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN ". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmis d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmi d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 r THE Progressive Character OF Revelation BY HUGH S. DOUGALL, M.A., B.D. ToKoNTd M..NIRKA1, : c. W. COATRS 1H99 llKUfAX : s. F. HUESTIS ENTBiiKuaccorclinK to Act o( the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight huudrecT and ninety-nine, by William Brioos, at the Department of AKriculture. NOTE. This humble contribution to the increasingly ' absorbing study of Biblical questions is an eff.rt to give some support to the teaching that cori^pond- ence between the divine mind and the human results normally from the relationship which the Creator holds to His univei-se; moreover, that all God- breathed communicati, „s have been in perfect keep- ing with human functions and human conditions As a consequence, Revelation is, and has been, progressive. The book is published in accordance with the ■equest made by the Theological Union of Hamilton Methodist Conference, before which body selections were read during the session of 1899, St. Catharines Bright, Ont., August, 1899. Hugh S. Douoali «a R Thi CONTENTS. Definition of Terms CHAPTER I. Paob 9 TO ITS Author. PART r. The Relation of Revelation CHAPTER IJ. The Transcendence of God CHAPTER III. The Immanence of God f CHAPTER IV. Revelation a Normal Result of God's Immanence PART II. The Relation ok Revelation to the Homan Mind. - CHAPTER V. The Human Mind Patterned aftor the Divine 18 24 29 33 vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. Why Divine Communications are not Full and Constant 42 CHAPTER VI [. The Final Test of Truth . CHAPTER VIII. Selection of Material for a Purpose CHAPTER IX. Literary Forms and Mechanical Structures CHAPTER X. Disclosure of Personal Characteristics 48 fiS 58 63 CHAPTER XL The Human Element does not make Revelation less Divine 73 PART IIL Historic Conditions of Revelation. CHAPTER XIL Revelation is Primarily Adapted to its Age 77 CHAPTER XIII. The Book of Job, The Gospel of St. John, Illustrating the Historic Demand 82 CONTENTS CHAPTER XIV. Jesus Came in the " Fulness .)f Time " VU 88 PART IV. Some Ilmtstrations of Pkookessivk Rkvklation. CHAPTER XV. The Marriage Tie. Private Revenge CHAPTER XVI. DeveIopmer.t of the Divine Idea, and of the Mosaian.c 95 Idea 101 PAirr V SoMB Deductions fkom Our Theory. CHAPTER XVII. The Real Purpose of the Bible Becomes More Evident 109 CHAPTER XVIII. Biblical Inaccuracies Pertain to the Human Element 117 CHAPTER XIX. Christ's Teachings the Standard CHAPTER XX. Conclusion, and Author's Testimony • t 121 . 126 TIIR PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER OF REVELATION. CHAPTER I. DEFINITION OF TERMS. !^EFoUE we launch our little craft upon the restless sea of argument, two words in the title of our subject require some consideration. Rere- kUion is a term more easily described than defined. It comprises truths now in possession of humanity I'csulting from the operation of the divine mind upon the human. It has been usual to confine revelation to those truths which relate to man as a moral and spiritual being. That the revelation concerning the redemptive pur- pose of God is the heart of the Bible, and the most glorious disclosure which ever broke upon the horizon of human consciousness, is a state- ment beyonrl controversy ; but to add that it is .9 - 10 ?'/(« Proyrtssive Character of Revdation. the only disclosure is a supplement which we may find cause to question. The word profjressive is the one around which will circle the entire thought of this book. Not accidentally, but with full intention, will the term evolittion be avoided. First, be- cause respect is due the many noble and good men in whose minds is still lingering a strong but honest antipathy to the word : but more especially, in the second place, because of the difficulty in explaining it. As defined by many of its advocates, evolution is progress from lower to higher stages through forces resident in the thing progressing. Except protected by further explanation, to the uncritical mind, this view of evolution is in danger of becoming deistic — looking at the universe as something wound up, after which the Creator — if any Creator can be imported into the definition — retires from it, and without further interference observes it work out its own development. Or, if the word forces in the definition be interpreted as God in action, then there is the danger of plunging into another extreme— pantheism. The theory of evolution can, I believe, be expounded in utmost D'finilion of rem,. „ consistency with Christian theism l,„t -e-e,uire,that.ewi,i:2i\:;-'' The proaressive view of .-« , '-^. -t as ^PHn^injt:;,; : : ':j« ence, as di,i Minerva ho«.\t i , ""''■ •^^ - be,ng in it, p", ™" ."" ''^'''' "^ J"Piter. obscure and imbed/ ^"■""'"'''' °f'"' *-oreeren,::t^^^^^^^^^ lessor, until it exists in I ' P''"'"" '''•^'■•ne.andeieri^.:'::'';---^"''. -;.^^er that the ..ieornirL^rV''^""'^ ■■"'mediate control . ''"""'"="''«' fro'» the development ho ; J:: '''"■^' ;''-■" P-g--ve onous advance "I "th " ""'"'''"• "'o-'- that manner. Rath'" T' """''' '» "« '" «iet and readjusted :;"'''"™^<^"™^oon- '^n extreme iCicri c ? '" " '"""^^'^ ''^'^^^n - extreme of an L" '"" "'' ""'^ '>■"«' ^^ "- «- ~i:r:"^;:r ™''""''''^' '- '" «P"'tual revehui,,,, „e even '"■. ""'""''''"' ---bedi^cuh. ,::x';;;;;-- 1 2 The Progressive Character of Revelation. of one or five centuries and the advance becomes manifest. Tliere have been points when re- acti'^n, or retrograde action, was taking place, but it really meant that some neglected truth had been left behind and was being reasserted : or some error was harvesting its crop of evil and thus demonstrating its true nature. So it may be asserted that he who peers backward into the ever thickening gloom of the past may dis- cern the pathway of the Ancient of Days ever brightening until it bursts into the effulgence of Him who is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person. There are three great facts basic to our posi- tion which I hope so to expound as to secure your entire conviction of the truth of my thesis that revelation is progressive. After presenting these I shall conclude by giving some illustra- tions and inferences. The basic facts are : • 1 . The Relation of Revelation to its Author. ■ 2. The Relation of Revelation to the Human Mind, 3. The Relation of Revelation to Historic Conditions. Ill PART I. THE RELATION OF REVELATION TO ITS AUTHOR. CHAPTER II. THE TRANSCENDENCE OF (WD. " The Bible is the representation connnitted to writing of God's historical revelation of Him- self to the consciousness of man." This defini- tion, given by an editor of the Avilorpv Review, we will accept. Looking at the Bible from its human side, it is the history of a people in their origin and development eventually culminating in the birth of one Person who becomes the beginning, and still remains the centre and soul, of a new body of people, bound together, not by national, but by religious ties. Yet, no one will contend that the Bible was written simply as the history of a 13 14 The Progressive Character of Revelation. nation. We believe it rather to be the record of a national life which was the vehicle of the continuous revelation of the divine mind in its will and nature ; that the divine mind found its best opportunity of manifesting itself through the life and historic conditions of this people; that gleaming through it all, like a golden thread, is the out-shining of God's will, God's affection, and God's thought. The divine mind never disassociated itself from its medium — human nature. It always spoke to the human mind, for the human mind, and always in per- fect keeping with the nature and need of the human mind. In short, since the divine mind has been operating continuously upon the human, and since the human mind can grasp truth only when proceeding from the simple to the more complex, from the easy to the more difficult, from the lower to the higher, revelation must have, in the very nature of things, a pro- gressive history. There are two views of the manner in which revelation is imparted that are in constant riv- alry, and in their nature, utterly contradictory. The Transcendence of God. 15 Their losfical inferences are most diverse. Each is the product of a certain conception of the nature of inspiration, and in tlie last analysis each theory of inspiration is the outcome of an idea of the relation of God to the universe. These two theories are now before us. The first view of revelation to which I shall advert is the mechanical. Revelation, according to this conception, is the Bible, a library of sixty-six books, communications fi-om the Deity supernaturally imparted in a manner often inde- pendent of human consciousness and human reason. The reason of the person inspired was for the time being supplanted by the divine Spirit. He wrote in a sublime ecstasy, often perhaps unconscious of the purpose or purport of his writings. He was an amanuensis, a machine, as if he but held the pen while a divine, invisible hand grasped his wrist and guided his strokes. This theory involves as a logical sequence verbal inspiration. The very v.''ords, ipbisfii/nia verba, must also be given, for could it be possible for a writer to find words for ideas which he did not really possess, nor perhaps comprehend ? 16 The Progressive Character of Revelation. 1 • This theory of revelation and inspiration is the outcome of a view of the relation of the Deity to the univ^erse termed the Transcendence of God. This is one of the most important con- ceptions in the history of Christian thought, for every phase of the theological teaching has been affected by it. It views the Deity as existing apart from His creation, not only exalted above the world, but separated from it by infinite degrees of space. It asserts that between the human and the divine mind there is no natu> il affiliation, and any communication must be utterly independent of human conditions — must be miraculously supernatural, or, in a real sense, be unnatural, contra-natural. This is a bald statement of a fundamental, philosophic doctrine which enthrals, consciously or unconsciously, the thinking of many people to-day. It reaches back to earliest years of Christian history, and for many years so dom- inated the whole sky of theological thought from horizon to horizon that not a single dogma or institution has come down to us without some marks of its formative impact. So important, The Transcendence of God. 17 therefore, is this conception of the Infinite in relation to revelation, that we stop to look into its origin, history, and effects. The cogitations of the human mind in its earliest recorded movements show tracings which bring divinity into closest touch with humanity ; so close, indeed, that divinity was almost human- ized. This primeval idea of Deity received its profoundest modification in the reaction of Buddhism. In the Buddhist mind the conscious- ness of inherent personal evil was so great, and the infinite holiness of God so supreme, as to create a dualism most complete and opposed — a dualism represented by Light and Darkness. God was a Spirit infinitely pure and infinitely remote. All material, all flesh, was infinitely impure. The gulf between could be bridged only by myriads of emanations, the first from the Infinite One, then each from its predecessor, each possessing less of divinity and more of hu- manity, until the lowest could communicate with men. The Indian fakir to-day as he lacerates, starves, degrades his poor body, indicates his belief in the utter sinfulness of everything I 18 llie Progressive Character of Revelation. fleshly and material, and hopes by physical mortification to help his soul rise into somewhat closer reach of the far-away Divine One. This Oriental dualism reached Greece in the days of its philosophic greatness. The religion of the ancient Grecian had rested on a pantheis- tic basis wherein God, man, and the universe were in such intimacy that they were hardly distinguishable. Plato was influenced by Bud- dhism when he pictured God as the passive Deity at an infinite distance in the heavens, unable to come into immediate contact with a world the very materials of which were tainted and conducive to evil. Created things at the best were but faint images of what existed in the pure thought of the Deity. Aristotle, Plato's successor, recoiled somewhat from this extreme teaching, and prepared the way for the Stoic school, which appeared about 300 B.C. The Stoic philosophy swung back- wards to the more primitive Grecian idea — con- cerning the Divinity as indwelling in the world, penetrating it everywhere and filling it with His presence. - - . . The Transcendence of God. 19 So was originated these two great primal and rival conceptions of the relation of Divinity to tlie universe — one concerning Him as utterly external, the other as entirely indwelling. The struggle for pre-eminence has ever since con- tinued, and, as we shall see, eventually divided the Christian Church into two great factions — one the Greek Church, which has maintained the teaching of the Stoics, and the other the Latin Church, which is still under the sway of Platonism. These rival theories, with their resulting in- ferences and influences, met the early apostles of Christ. Gnosticism was but imported Buddhism, incipient Platonism. It taught the infinite remoteness of God, the impossibility of com- munication directly with men. So the infinite chain of emanations — archangels, angels, thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers — was as- serted. Christ was the detni-urgos, the last and lowest of these emanations. John, when residing in Ephesus, met this heresy, found it threatening to undermine faith in his Saviour, so he wrote the Gospel of St. John to combat it, therein asserting 20 The Proyressive Character of Revelation. I ♦ the absolute and perfect Deity of Jesus, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Paul writes the letter to the Colossians, who had been tinctured by the Gnostic teaching of the Judaizers. He maintains that Christ " is before all things, and by Him all things exist" (Col. i. 17), that " in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily " (Col. ii. 9). Strangely enough, the two great exponents and advocates of the externality or transcend- ence of God were Augustine and Calvin ; the one who has done most to mould the Roman Church into the organic form and doctrinal creed it possesses to-day, the other a prime mover in the Reformation, which was and still is a protest against the Roman or Latin Church. With both churchmen, the basis of their teach- ing is the deep consciousness of human sin and guilt, the utter depravity of human nature, as utterly unfitted as it is unworthy to be the chan- nel or recipient of divine and spiritual communi- cations. God exists apart from the world in the distant heavens, regulating human affairs from The Transcendence of God. 21 Bach- and e, as han- uni- the rom outside through the agency of commissioned delegates. St. Augustine bridged the distance on one side of death with saints and the Virgin Mary, to whom the 'living pray, and on the other side by human orders, graded from pope down through cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests to the ordinary people. Here are traces of the gnostic heresy. The divine gifts were a miraculous deposit with the hierarchy, through whom only salvation could be obtained. Even the gift of the Holy Spirit was to be found only in the external rites of the sacra- ments, so these sacraments were made as many as possible in number. This dualism or sever- ance between the divine and human underlies asceticisjn in all its forms, and creates and enforces distinctions between things sacred and secular, between days holy and common, between clergy and laity. Since both Augustine and Calvin assert that there can be no natural and constitutional com- munication between the mind of God and the mind of man, revelation must be a miraculous gift, above human attainment. God has super- *i"2 The Progressive Character of Neve.fntion. naturally interjected ideas into human thought, has dictated them. Revehition must be ac- cepted upon authority. Human reason is un- trustworthy and dangerous, and cannot always be trusted in the interpretation of Scripture. So it came to pass that the Roman Church thought it best to withdraw the Bible from the laity. At length to read it all became a heresy and was often punished by death. In this transcendent v^iew of God's relation- ship to the universe, and the doctrine of revela- tion logically proceeding from it, there can be no assurance of gradual and progressive growth. Growth is a quality of things imperfect. Im- perfection cannot be imputed to the Infinite One. Germinal truths, or truths developing naturally according to historic conditions and human mind and needs, are not necessary when God's method is to miraculously impart truth. Can He not use any man at any time in any way ?, Did He not once upon a time use an ass ? Few supporters of the inspiration of the Bible perhaps would care to rank as believers in the transcendent relationship of God ; nevertheless, lu. 2%e Transcendence of God. %^ those who pin their faith to any mechanical theory of inspiration should frankly recognize the transcendent theory as the true and logical progenitor of their inspirational creed. The Deists of the last century, who were full-fledged transcendentalists, logically and frankly denied anything supernatural in the formation of the Bible. CHAPTER III. THE IMMANENCE OF GOD. Thk second theory of revelation is that God speaks directly to the human consciousness in perfect conformity with the human faculties which He himself has implanted in the mind, and in accordance with human needs and his- toric conditions. This theory of inspiration might be termed the Naturalistic. This theory is also an outcome of an idea of the relation of the Creator to the universe, known as the Immanence of God. This idea views creation as a projection of the divine nature, the concrete embodiment of principles which are the expression of Deity and in absolute harmony with Him, just as a great organ would be the embodiment and manifestation of the musical nature and principles of the master musician who creates it. The universe being such, God can and does dwell in it as light can dwell in 24 m The Immanence of God. 25 the eye; or, a better parallel, as life can dwell in the body which itself has formed. Deity indwells and constitutes the essence and reality of all things. The universe is athrob with God. He dwells not afar, does not approach .occasionally with abrupt interferences and inter- positions, but directs the universe immediately and continuously as life pervades and controls the organism which embodies it. It is the breath of God which moves the tops of the mulberry trees in the evening quiet, or by Euroclydon lashes the ocean into tempest wild. It is the voice of God which at summer noon- tide is heard in the hum of bird and bee, resounds in the mighty organ-music of the forest when the tempest has drawn its stupendous diapason, or that angels hear when the morning stars sing together. It is the beauty of God which glistens in the pendant dewdrop, smiles radiant in the face of a lovely babe, or glorifies the western sky as the chariot of the Day King rolls onward. It is the power of God tha^t draws the snowflake from the sky, and holds in its place every particle of the universe, from the tiniest atom which follows in the wake of a 26 The Progretiaive Character of Rpvelation. meteor to the mightient sua which forms the centre of a system. It is the life of God which awakes the bud in the spring-time, and moulds and develops the infinite variations of things vegetable, animal, and human. It is the love of God heard in the cry of the mother bird pro- tecting the nestlings, in the lullaby- song of the mother crooning over a baby's crib, and in the tones of the patriot proclaiming that " it is sweet and good to die for one's country." It is the mind of God which has written mathe- matics in the heavens, in the arrangement of leaves upon the stem, in the molecules of a water-drop, and in the cranium of a boy. He it is who illuminates the thinking of the prophet, the poet, the artist, and the philosopher. They are all broken lights of Him. Says Goethe in one of his shorter poems : — " No ! such a God my worship may not win Who lets the world about his finger spin, A thing extern ; my God must rule within, And whom I own for Father, God, Creator, Hold nature in Himself, — Himself in nature ; And in His kindly arms embraced, the whole Doth live and move by His pervading soul. " ' ii The hnnumence uf God. 27 '31 Some one is saying " This is pantheism." By no means. The immanence of the Deity does not imply the rejection of divine transcendence. It is transcendent Deity indwelling His creation. He is infinitely greater than His creation, yet creation cannot exist apart from Himself. Nor does Deity dwell in nature slumbering uncon- sciously, gradually realizing Himself in nature's highest forms, but is Deity in the fulness of the infinite perfection of His incomparable attri- butes. The immanent Deity must not be spoken of as " it " but as " He." To this conception of the relation of God to His universe the writer gives his allegiance, for by it the facts of human experience and human nature, spiritually, mentally, and physically, can be best harmonized. The idea is by no means new. It had its crudest inception, as we have noted, in the Stoic school of philosophers, but moreover was the theory accepted by the earliest Christian theologians attempting to give syste- matic expression to the Christian doctrines and support them upon an intellectual foundation. I refer to that school of eminent men enrolling such names as Justin Martyr, Clement, Origen, II f- n ;< Jl ii ill- !ir !i I '!; r > 28 The Progressive Character of Revelation. and Athanasius, who flourished in Alexandria during the second and third centuries. For centuries after, and even up to the present, the intellect of the world has been under the dominance of the Latin or Roman theology — a theology which has for its central and crucial doctrine the transcendence or absenteeism of the Deity. Upon this false idea Augustine and his successors reared the majestic and imposing structure of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and church — an idea which this ancient clmrch is now forced to protect and support, despite the advancing tide of experience, conscience, and reason. Strangely enough, or perhaps better said, naturally enough — for truth though crushed will rise again — after the lapse of centuries the human thought has boxed the compass and is again reaching that quarter of spiritual vision bearing the birth-mark and seal of the first school of Christian philosophy — a school so near to the historic Christ that the purity and fervency of his life was still an inspiration, so near to the earliest Christian brotherhood that the fire of pentecost was still effectual. CHAPTER IV. REVELATION A NORMAL RESULT OF GOD'S IMMANENCE. There is no theological doctrine but is being vitally affected by the growing aversion to the old view of God s relationship to the universe,— that is, the doctrine of the divine transcendence, —by the increasing acceptance of the idea of the immanence of the Deity. Creation, the incarna- tion, miracle, prayer, regeneration, sanctification, the last things, and all other cardinal doctrines, are being exalted into a higher sphere, given a deeper, a more comprehensive and spiritual sig- nificance. And among those doctrines so vitally affected stands the one now interesting us, namely, Revelation. According to the view which constitutes Deity as the mind and force of the universe, God is in organic relationship with human nature. 29 m I: i i m J i ! ,1 li':l- 30 The Progressive Character of Revelation. Between the human and the divine there is no infinite and unbridgeable gulf. God is not far from every one of us. Religion is an essential, primitive action of the human soul, an intuition which is due to the union of man with God and the universal order of things. God has always dwelt in the human soul, so created as to receive Him. He can speak to men because of this spiritual aflfiliation and the constitutional like- ness of humanity to God's own image. Hence Revelation becomes part of an organic process, — a living, actual, ever-present process by which God has been revealing Himself to human understanding. The mind of man has always been in neces- sary and continuous contact with an infinite Spirit, by whose inspiration alone he is led to know and receive the truth. The reason or con- sciousness is endowed with power to read what God imparts, and as Dr. Allen, of Cambridge, asserts, as it is vain and irrational to attempt to define the line where the human and divine h/ive in Christ their most perfect union, and as (H vain to draw the line between the human s lii*i;J I; Revelation a Normal Result of God's Immanence. 3 1 reason acting for itself and the divine reason imparting a revelation, just as vain is it to deny the presence and action of the divine inind because it has liuman connections and meets with human limitations. • Such being the essential nature of revelation, looking at it from the divine side, it must have been universal and continuous. Never has the divine mind been sundered from the human. A light has always lighted every soul coming into the world. Never a region so secluded, a time so remote, but the essential principles of religion and morals have to some extent been in evi- dence. Diml3% doubtless, the light divine shone in the darkness of heathen teinples and crudi- ties of heathen philosophy, attempting to define itself in the minds of Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle ; yet the rays, which here and there penetrated dark clouds of ignorance and superstition, were broken though true rays radiating from the sun of infinite wisdom, good- ness, power, and righteousness. This view also secures the unity of revelation. The author is one and forever the same. And *; :' I- i' I i m 'i 32 l^he Progressive Character of Revelation. 111! since He changeth not, there has been no change in His purpose, no broken plan. He sees the end from the beginning. Every man in every epoch, though contributing to his own age and need, was, as the Deity intended, contributing to all men of after epochs. Now the last words under this department must be said. If revelation has been universal, if continuous, if unified, if we know more of God now than did the first-born man, then it follows as light from the sun that revelation is progressive. i'lr I. ■1 -^m '\ liiii m i ill \i III III ■ l; , i.rM j;lt I^HliuMd. i^a imiii tttmmmmBmmm i>'l PART II. THE RELATION OF REVELATION TO THE HUMAN MIND. nil '■' >; t4 CHAPTER V. THE HUMAN MIND PATTERNED AFTER THE DIVINE. The second argument for a progressive reve- lation is, that revelation is given to the human consciousness and through that consciousness ; or, in other words, God reveals Himself to human thought in perfect keeping with the inherent nature of the human constitution. Since truth can be acquired by l;he normal exercise of our intellectual functions only progressively, from the smaller to the greater, from the concrete to the abstract, from the simple to the more in- volved, God working in the human mind con- forms Himself to its nature, and therefore 3 33 ^i 34 The I'royresnivc Chmacter of Hevelation. m- ip'iw reveals Hiinseli: progressively. Such is the argunjent to be expanded. We need first clearly to discern that though all revelation is an impartation, yet it becomes a real, personal possession, received through me- diums which God created for such service, and is miraculous only in the same sense that every- thing is miraculous which is the direct product of God's activity. Revelation is not abitrary dictation received as Joseph Smith claimed to receive the book of Mormon. As the children of God, our Father from the beginning intended to have communication with us. Revelation was not an after-thought which found humanity without the natural facilities for its reception. As children of God, not only are we to have heavenly communication, but we are the inheritors of such qualities as not only imply our sonship, but furnish capacities for intercourse with the Father. Those beautiful words, " made in his own image," tell us that our mental and spiritual organism has been pat- terned after the divine. I am self-conscious, I know myself as some -m^ The Human Mind Patterned after the Divine. 35 one apart from everyone and everything else. I may not be sure of aught else in the universe, or whether beside myself there be a universe, yet one thing I know, " T am." To me this fact is first evidence of my divine relationship. In this I am like God. For this independent, separate, self-poised life is to be found in its absolute perfection only in God. I am — and I speak reverently — in this respect a miniature edition of the Almighty. Then, again, I have reaiion. All reasoning is an effort to find truth, and since all truth is of God, all thinking is an effort to think over again the thoughts of God. And that to some extent I can do so is proof that my mind, however limited, is after the pattern of my Father's. A lady holds in her hand an intricate piece of hand-wrought lace-work. Closely she examines it, following the pattern stitch by stich, slowly, laboriously. At length she understands it. She lias thouirht over again what was in the mind of the maker of that lace. Tlie same connected course of thinking whicli passes through two minds proves a likeness of mental quality, if not ^ Si Xv i ii 36 The Progressive Character of Revelatio-n. ,1111 quantity. All human inquiry is an effort to re- trace the thought of God in the intricate lace- work of this universe. For aojes innumerable men have gazed at the stars, and so far as astronomy is correct to-day — and what has been learned is remarkable — it is but a tabulated re- cord of how far the thoughts of the Infinite One engraven in the stars, have been read by man We do not invent our mathematics. We find them in the orbits of the planets, in the angles of a crystal, in the arrangement of leaves upon a stem. Our multiplication table is as true for the Deity as it is for us. We find it constantly employed in every phase and form of creation. When some Agassiz, finding upon an island a strange bone, and from it reproduces a skeleton of the whole animal, he is attempting to reason backwards along the line of God's thoughts. When Tyndall, climbing the summit of the Mat- terhorn, reads on that rock-page 'ill the geologic events of the ancient world, the mountain is dwarfed to an ant-hill, and becomes insignificant in the presence of him who can thus trace out the mind and work of God. Tyndall is what he '^illLiiMttbMM -ftrir " r,--r.^-» The Human Mind Patteryied after the Divine. 37 is because he is the son of the Maker of the mountain, and can think over again to an extent some of his Father's thoutjhts. His mind is the same in kind, thougli differing infinitely in degree. Men also have creative genius. " As the In- finite One, passing through space, leaves behind those shining footsteps called suns and stars, glowing and sparkling upon planets innumerable, so man's mind, moving through life, leaves behind a pathway all shining with books, laws, liberties, institutions, and homes. As our planet, and the harvests that cover it, are the thoughts of God rushing into visible expression, so all houses and ships, all cities and institutions, are man's thought taking on outer and material embodi- ment." Here is another likeness of the human to the divine mind. In our freedom of will there is a suggestion of omnipotence. One hesitates before saying so, but the human will can, and often sinfully does, antagonize and defeat the desires of the divine. Behold Jesus Christ standing on the hillside overlooking the Holy City. " Oh, Jerusalem, 11 ' 111 ; m : m I m \i ' i M^ 38 The tWoyreasive Character uf RfreXation, I Jerusalem, liow ol'ton would 1 have gathered thy children, but tliey would not." 1 would, but ye would not ; I willed, but ye willed otherwise. Surely it iy at this pinnacle of transcendent in- dependence we most nearly attain to the tirma- ment of God, and from which dizzy height, too, we may fall into the deepest pit of an abyssmal hell. Because we are sons of Uod, we, in oui* freedonj in the exercise of our wills, are capable of becoming the sons of perdition. Thi'ii tJiere is conscie}i(r ; that is, the still, email voice which from the inner solitudes of the soul speaks in all men fundamentally the same things about honesty, purity, justice and love. ]n some lives more and in others less, but in all the same intuitional voice speaks out in behalf of virtue and against vice. How explain this universal prompting to righteousness? In this way. Every man is born God's child, and, to some extent, God has transmitted to him some of the Father's characteristics. If, then, as we are persuaded, men are in possession of mental, moral, and spiritual char- acteristics which are after the imaue of the The Uuinaa Mind I'attt^riu'd r tfu' iHvine. .{9 Blather's, does it not become easy to believe thtit we possess avenues tlirough wliicli revolution may be received ;* Can we not grasp the possi- bility of the divine mind, to some extent at least, conveying truth to the human, and the human mind comprehending it ' Connnunication is only possible between i.iinds alike in mental constitution, minds for which truth will be the same. Rudyard Kipling, in his 'Jungle Stories," and the Philipinos in their poetry, make men to hold intercourse with beasts and birds. But this is possible only in fancy, for we do not attribute properties of rational con- ception and logical processes to animals low^er in the order of creation than ourselves. Com- munication is possible only between those of similar mental constitution. And believing this to exist between the human and divine, the possibility and likelihood of communication asserts itself. And from this assurance it will follow, as a caoital axiom in all true teachino; concerning inspiration, that every revelation is part of the mental possession of the receiver, and is obtained in a manner perfectly harmonious 'ii m m - i :f !ii:nl :i'| ''' i 40 7'Ae Proyretisive Chttracter oj ReveUuion. with the nature of his mind. Revelation is not truth dropped ready-made into our laps, and out of all relation to our ordinary way of obtain- ing truth. It consists of such a communion with the soul that the disclosure shall be in accordance with the full and proper action of all our mental powers. The essential qualities of human thought, affection, and will are akin to the same func- tions in the Divine Father. In this we can conceive an intelligent means for communion and revelation. Indeed we must conceive com- munication between the human and the divine Spirit as more easy and direct than that between man and man. Between human souls there is a great gulf fixed. This gulf we bridge over by signs and words. We must telegraph to one another over the lines of the senses — through eye, or ear, or touch, feeling or smell. We send some signal to be translated often imperfectly by the mind at the other end. Human soul never mingles with human soul directly. How difforont .when we turn towards the Spirit of God. " It lies touching, as it were, the The Human Mind Patterned after the Divine. 41 sou] of man, over, around and within," says Frederick Robertson. " On the outside of earth man stands with the boundless heaven above him, nothing between him and space — space around him, and above him, and enveloping him. So is the spirit of man to the Spirit of the Ever Near." They mingle. In every man this is true, however little conscious he may be. " God is not far from every one of us." Our souls are afloat in the immeasurable ocean of spirit. God lies all around us. At any time, if we did not prevent, we might be conscious of this contact. When we know it, we know God is speaking to us, and when we tell what He says to others, we become His prophets. CHAPTER VI. W iii!!! i'-'l' 1."! M 1'^! ii'i: f\ WHY DIVINE COMMUNIOATlONtS ARE NOT FULL AND CONSTANT. Because of the essential identity in kind, though not in degree, existing between the human and the divine mind, revelation can take place. In our thinking God can mingle His thoughts ; in our feeling He can instil His affec- tions ; our wills may be made stronger by His co-operation. The statement is to be made em- phatic, that it is only in the exercise of our human and proper functions of mind that Divinity finds opportunity for inspiration. Why is there not full and unbroken com- munion and communication / Why not perfect Revelation to every soul ? For at least two reasons: First, because in the economy of His grace God bestows only when gifts are needed and can be employed ; second, Deity is con- 42 m. ■1 Divine Coiumiinications. 43 ditioiied by the mental development and Bpiritual purity of each receiver. Heaven speaks rarely to fools or to inveterate sinners. Of the first reason we shall have much to say in our next department. We can defer further remark until then. Human ability to receive divine inspiration is measured by the mental capacity, knowledge, moral and spiritual iitness. The limitations are placed by the human factor. Every " good thing " which we receive is proportionate, not to the divine, but to the human element, and is conditioned by the human element, much as the water pure and unlimited in the great lakes feeding a Canadian city is conditioned by the size and cleanliness of the faucet in each home. To the same extent, and only to that extent, in which there is purity of mind as well as likeness of mind, can there be communication. All men are identical in the essential mental faculties, but for any of us it is much more difficult to communicate with some parsons than with others. Missionaries in China at tirst find it impossible to implant some ideas in the Si'; -H )iil] JKI 'ri , I- II 'l' i' ' 1 !:i V. "1 I 5! :: ^1 k -ill IP l'5'! III '4 I'.i i 44 T'Ae Progressive Character of Revelation. heathen mind. The Chinese have no words for these ideas, for the simple reason that the ideas are foreign to them. The Chinese mind must be elevated, educated, purified, brought more on a par with the mind of the missionary, before communication can take place. Or, taking a figure from the late invention of wireless tele- graphy, the Chinese pole must be made higher before the spi^i^^U'a' messages can appeal to it. Because of tb^ difference in experience and information, the woid " ice " will convey no idea to an inhabitant of the torrid zone, or if it does, the idea will likely be grossly false. Talk of blueness to one w^ho knows nothing about color ; justice to one essentially unjust; space to one imprisoned within four walls from infancy, and you fail in your intention. Mendelssohn's con- certos or Beethoven's sonatas would be alto- gether meaningless and harassing to an ear that finds its highest musical enjoyment in " Yankee Doodle." The idea communicated must be adapted to the experience and intelligence of the mind to which it is communicated. The little child stands in the presence of its teacher. It is not Divinn Communkations. 45 the knowledge of the teacher, but the degree of parity existing between the two minds, which measures the extent of the communication. The teacher must speak only of such things, and in such language, comprehensible by its small mind. We can conceive no other possibility of inter- course. These illustrations in a fair way indicate one reason why there has not been fulness and constancy of divine communications from all time and to all persons. Ignorance and sin have for the race, as they still do for many individuals, rendered the human mind incapable of more than a childish receptivity. What we now might know, had we always willed to do God's will, surpasses tlie most exalted imagination. ' But," queries some one, "could not God, who is all powerful, inject into the Imman mind ideas out of all relation to those it possessed before, and even out of all relation to the essential nature of the mind itself ?" In all reverence the answer must be — *' No." You can imagiix' Deity doing tilings, just as you can imagine w centaur, or you can imagine a witch riding a mid- night storm on a broom, but your imagination would not be a rational conception. And here J i ■■!: m : !':,;[ 46 77<« Progressive Character of Reoelation. is a nice distinction, wtiich some not making are led into error. Whatever action we attribute to the Divine One must have harmonic relation with all known facts of His nature and of our own. Then, too, we must beware lest we over anthro- pomorphize Deity. With us what may be possible physically may be impossible morally. The good mother could physically strangle the babe on her b som, but morally she could not. This human discrepancy^ or distinction must never be carried over and attributed to Him who is infinitely perfect. With Him whatever is not consistent with His nature could never be employed by His will as a method ; and, as we shall see, arbitrary interjection of ideas into the human consciousness would be a contradic- tion of the Divine nature. Every universal and necessary method of mind by which we obtain and hold in conscious possession a truth of any kind nmst be the method ordained by God, since He himself in- vested man with it. And to oppose this instituted nature of mind, to contradict it, would be, as anyone can see, to oppose and contradict Himself. You argue, certainly, for the possibility of a '«*. Divine Coininiuiicatioui^. 47 miracle — that is the suspension of the ordinary laws, this being your idea of a miracle. Cer- tainly you can imagine all this easily, but is it a rational possibility which in no way is a con- tradiction of your own highest thought of divine perfection ? God can and does perform miracles, but it has yet to be shown that a miracle is the suspension or contradiction of invested laws. It is rather the employment of a law' new to us or a new combination of old laws. A man seeing a balloon ascension for the first time might readily imagine it a miracle because seemingly a suspen- sion of the law of gravitation, when it is simply a new effect produced by law as old as creation. Now pray let it not be understood that in any words written there is anything but the fullest, gladdest confession, that " in old time holy men of God spake as they were moved ])y the Holy Ghost." Rather would the admission be made that the Holy Ghost has never ceased to speak to holy men. Such speaking is eminently com- prehensible and to be expected. The contention is that the inspiring powei- operates in fullest harmony with our mental and spiritual nature. !>;m| ■rM' jl iffel J ^' 'lil' U! f' ■:! n\ CHAPTER VII. THE FINAL TEST OF TRUTH. There is another remarkable fact contributing to the certainty that if the human soul is to receive truth or a fact, the communication must be made to the immediate consciousness of the soul, and in harmony with its constituted functions. The Bible contains the highest and fullest voice of God which humanity has received or is capable of receiving. Had our needs de- manded, or our capacities admitted more, that more would have been forthcoming. The Scriptures are the record of His word spoken to and in the deepest, noblest consciousness of man. That consciousness is not simply an inert medium through which Deity speaks ; it is an active^ spiritual faculty in knowing communion with God, and it tests the truth of those impressions, intentions, ideas, which come to it making 48 The Final Tenl of Truth. lU claim to divinity and truthfulness. This claim is sanctioned only when there is deepest and perfect harmony and accord with the moral and spiritual sense resident in the human nature. This perfect agreement is the foundation upon which rests all certitude of our religion, know- ledge, and faitli. That the final test of truth — truth for us, truth for the individual — lies in the human consciousness, is based upon the fact that men are the children of God, made in His image, and therefore possess an intellectual and spiritual constitution to which only such claimants for truthfulness as are divine can make successful appeal. The child has in him that which enables him to be spoken to by the father and by which he can hear the father's voice. Hence nothing can long retain acceptance as a divine revelation which does not appeal directly and successfully to the deepest fountains of human consciousness. The final test of truth lies deep within each man's own soul. The Bible itself is not exempt from this law. It cannot be forced upon a man's intellectual and spiritual acceptance by external authority. Truth is not a matter of credence. ■' 1 u 5, '■]' i !f 50 The Proyreasive Character of Revelation. It must make appeal for sanction to a \oice speaking deep witliin the sacred precincts of the human soul. No promise of reward or threat of punishment could induce the human mind to accept a book to the teaching of which the innate principles of the mind give a denial. Every book comes up to judgment before the bar of a man's soul. It must stand or fall, to him it will be true or false, according as it harmonizes with the intellectual and spiritual standards which, more or less perfect, are resident within himself. Nor can he force himself to act otherwise towards the book. His brain is not a motor-car which he can send forward, backward, or at an angle as he may wish, but a carriage which, if it moves, moves right on upon rails which, whether of gauge narrow or broad, are by himself im- movable. The Bible has received the consensus of human approval and become authoritative because men have intuitively and rationally recognized in it the highest, holiest, and fullest statements, sym- bols and toacliijigs of truth and right and love. Kacli book in our holy library of sixty-six books The Final Test of Truth. 51 presenting itself as a claimant for canonicity had to come under this scrutiny of human investi- gation, and was admitted to the canon only when it satisfied the deepest intellectual, moral, and religious consciousness that the doctrines pre- sented therein were true. No book came for- ward asserting its right to acceptance because of some overwelming name behind it which had power to enforce its assertions. Such methods may do very well for some of the revelations ui the Koran, or in the books of Mormon, but not for any book in our holy collection. Many have been the claimants to biblical canonicity, but not all have been successful by any means. The Epistle of Barnabas, the Shep- herd of Hermas, the Epistle of Papias, and the now lost Epistle to the Hebrews, and others less important, failed to meet the requirements which the Christian mind had gradually incorporated. Seven other books now in the canon, viz., Epistles of James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Hebrews and the Apocalypse, were admitted only when a general assent had been obtained after years of discussion and thinking. And I need not inform ^1 rr fe.j, .lii 52 The Progressive Character of He relation. any readintr person that even yet there are books of the Bible running the gauntlet of a hot criticism. It would be of interest to receive from biblical champions, who do not assent to the statement that the final test of truth lie j within the human soul, an answer to these questions : To what arsenal do they resort for their weapons of defence ? What are the arguments which they believe are final, to which there is no rebuttal ? Are they not all found in a depository lying deep within their own natures ? To be sure the Divine Mind has ever presided over the formation of our Testament canons, a presidency made possible because of the innate likeness of the human to the divine mind, a presidency made possible only on the same grounds that revelation itself is possible. CHAPTER VIII. SELECTION OF MATERIAL FOB A PURPOSE. I In further evidence that in revelation there is never the suppression or subversion of the free action of our mental and spiritual faculties, but rather always the co-operation of the divine with the human to the extent of the willingness and fitness of the inspired person, let us turn to the Bible itself. It will be through no lack of reverence, nor should irreverence be imputed to us, if we subject the Holy Text to the same rigid lic^^.rar}^ analysis which we never hesitate to apply to other l)ooks. Everywliere we will find the presence and activity of the human element. Tlie rationalist claims he can discover no other elements, but we who are the defenders of an inspired literature need not deceive ourselves in thinking we strengthen our cause by imitating our opponents in deliberate blindness to one of the factors in the production of the Seri]itures. 1 1 11 ii )' 54 The ProyreHHwe Character of Revelation. Note some of the literary methods and char- acteristics discernible in the various books. It is certainly a method peculiarly human whith an author employs, when, before writing, he takes notes, gathers fresh material, collects the writings of other men about him, and then selects this, rejects that, in keeping with his purpose. Driver asserts that the Hebrew historian, as we know him, is essentially a compiler or arranger of pre-existing documents. He is not himself an original investigator. No entire book of biblical history, excepting, perhaps, the shortest, as Ruth and Esther, consists of a single original work. Older writings or sources of in- formation have been combined in such a manner that the points of juncture are often plainly dis- cernible and the sources capable of being separ- ated from each other. Few authors rewrite their material in their own language ; they cut from the sources at their disposal such extracts as are suitable for their purpose, incorporate them in their works, making only such changes as are made necessary by the plan. Selection of Material J'or a Purpose. 55 Such is the opinion of jnany students concern- ing the authorship of the first five or six books of the Bible. They claim that these books are a compilation of two or three much older docu- ments, each with definite literary marks and a varied religious purpose. From these various documents extracts are made. At times they relate to the same subject, as in the two distinct histories of creation in the first and second chapters of Genesis, and the two versions of the decalogue as seen in Exodus xx. and in Deut. v. Another element is the linking matter supplied by the compiler himself, uniting in one continu- ous account the excerpts from the older MSS. It should, in fairness to the more common view of the Mosaic authorship of these early books, be said that the teachings of Professor Sayce, and the recent discovery of many ancient tablets, establish the certainty of there being an ancient Egyptian literature, and, if so, making it possible for Moses to be his own biographer, and the inspired historian of previous history. This will rob the somewliat extreme theory of the higher critics concerning the authorsliip of the Hexateuch of part of its force. Jl ■*:| I k 56 The Pro(/ressive Character of Revelation. But be this as it may concerning the Hexa- teuch, it is certain that the books of Judges, Kings, Samuel, and perhaps Chronicles, were constructed from pre-existent sources. Some of these sources are openly avowed, such as the book of the Acts of Solomon, book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah — government records evidently — the book of Joshua, the book of Iddo the Seer, the book of Gad, and the book of Nathan. Still others might be mentioned. In Luke we have a confessed follower of the method of selection for a purpose. Declaring himself to " have perfect understanding of all things from the first," and having personal intercourse with those " who from the begin- ing had been eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word," he gathered material as other his- torians gather material, and then sat down to write " in order " a history of the life of Christ and the inception of the Christian Church. Bernard declares there is not a book on earth in which the principle of intentional selection is more evident than in the Acts of the Apostles. m :'NiJ Selection of Material for a Purpose. 57 It is not to be supposed that Luke was un- acquaintad with the doings of James or John or that he recorded all he knew when some speech is by him but lightly touched. His purpose was to give a true idea of the infant Christian Church as it was emerging from the shadow of Judaism, and he selected his material accord- ingly. ft" !! ■;:■■' CHAPTER IX. LITERARY FORMS AND MECHANICAL STRUCTURES. One of the most remarkable works in the entire divine collection is Job. Nowhere is mechanical plan, as well as literary genius, more strikingly apparent. One can almost imagine that a " skeleton " had been constructed by the author before he beijan his real work. The book is in reality a thesis undertaking to disprove the ancient theoiy of divine providence — that suffer- ing is always heaven's judgment upon sin, and prosperity the reward of righteousness. It was contrary to the literary genius of the Hebrew to write an argument in the abstract. He must embody the spirit of his thought in some concrete and realistic expres.sion. So the author of Job chose for his book the form of a drama, just as many modern writers, having a 58 • • Literary Forms and Mechanical /Structures. 59 lesson to teach, choose the form of a novel. An old legend, or an actual bit of patriarchal history handed down by the Arab tribes and imported into Palestine, was made the distaff from which to spin his drama, the peg upon which to hang his argument. This story is simply but graphi- cally told in prose in an introductory paragraph. But when the author reaches the point where the development of his argument begins, he abandons prose and ascends into poetry. Three men, differing in temperament nnd mental abil- ity, and chosen as representatives arid defenders of the three prevailing types of thought, came forward in defence of the ancient theory of God's providence. Job is made to do duty as the advanced thinker no longer content with the old teachings. An order of speaking most conventional is employed. Job's opponents speak three times around, in the same order each time. Job replying to each speech. The effort throughout the cycles of debate is to effect a reconciliation between the old idea of retribution and the fact of a ri one of the most prominent of unquestioned doctrines. How, too, shall we account for the Grecian mode of philosophic thought, the class- ical and literary form, the presence of x\ramaic words, the developed Hebrew, the reference to kings and princes and priests, a disturbed politi- cal condition and a debased morality ? We can- not account for these things according to the old view, but the problem resolves itself, light floods the gloom, when the date is placed during the Babylonian exile. Now we can read the book by the aid which its true historic conditions bring us. We can understand why the old doc- trine that only the unrighteous sufl'er should be 84 The Proyressive Character of Revelation. questioned when so many righteous men con- scious of their integrity were in suffering? The purpose of the drama discloses itself — God would reconcile men to His providence, not by reasons appealing only to the intellect, but by such a manifestation of His wisdom and power as would raise their whole spiritual nature into closer communion with Himself; then, flushed with a sense of God, man believes, though he cannot explain. The lesson of Job is one of trust, of simple, unquestioning faith. How divinely opportune would that teaching be to the broken- hearted exiles whose harps were hanging on the willows by the rivers of Babylon ! Four accounts of the Christ-life have been left us. Why four ? If the mechanical idea of revelation be true, that the Spirit speaks inde- pendently of the character and consciousness of the inspired person, and of the historic conditions in which he lived, is it not natural to conceive that God, who is perfect, would have given us one histor}'^ of the life u'kI teachings of Jesus Christ, so divinely complete and absolutely cor- rect that nothing more could be wanted for the The Book of Job, the Gospal, of St. Johv. 85 fullest presentation of the Saviour ^ But we possess four records of the Christ-life, and all are needed. Four men viewed this life, and each saw only i;hat aspect of it which appealed to himself, recorded it for a particular purpose, and after a manner peculiar to himself. In a litho- grapher's shop, upon one stone you see one aspect and one coloring- of a scene, and another aspect and another coloring upon each of three or four other stones, but the impress of all must be put on the same paper before u true and finished picture is secured. So with the four histories of Christ. Matthew w^rites for his own people and presents Jesun as the fulfilment of Messianic prophecy. Mark's book is a simple pen-picture for the Gentiles, showing Jesus as He went about doing good, empliasizing par- ticularly His miracles. Luke is the most elaborate and ambitious of the Synoptists. As a disciple of Paul, he supports the missionary cause by a Gospel exhibiting a gratuitous and universal solvation. Each of these three writers manifestly selected the material which best suited his purpose. 86 IVte Progressive Charactt^r of Rt'celotion, But consider the (iospel of St. Jolin, around which tlie roar of controversy and the battle of the critics still resound. In it most strikingly is found the relation of revelation to the con- ditions of time and place. The first three Gospels are simple records of a Person and facts concernini;^ Him. It was in- evitable that as Christianity spread and became prominent, this Person would become the sub- ject of profound anf Job, the Gospel of St. John. f<7 hands had touched tlie word of life. Yet also one in whom were the deej)est spiritual intui- tions and conceptions, ripened by much thought and long experience. For this purpose God had preserved the disciple who first came to Jesus, who followed Him continually, who lay upon His bosom, who stood by His cross, who bolieved when others were confounded, whose keen spiritual vision beheld more fully the glory which belonged to his Lord. So John the beloved wrote the first great Christian apolo- getic, upholding and evidencing from Christ's own words the central truth of Christian dogmatics — Jesus and the Father are one. CHAPTER XIV. JESUIT CAME IN THK ''FULNESS OF TIME." In further support of the contention that revelation is alway true to historic conditions, it would lie interesting to note how each new step, each new religious idea in the history of the young Christian Church, as recorded in the Acts, resulted from a new emergency calling forth a new decision or action. Each epistle also was written to meet some specific demand. But passing all this we will have gathered sufficient evidence when we observe that Jesus, the Reve- lator and the Revelation Himself, came to earth in fullest harmony with historic conditions, and that during His earthly career His teachings were given as the occasions prompting them arose. In reminding you of the preparation in his- tory for the coming of Christ, it will be neces- sary^ by a few words only to indicate those 88 it I Jesus CaniH in tin' '^Fulnexs of Time.' 81) moulding forces, ccntrolling influences, lines of operation ever reaching toward " one far-off divine event," which culminated in Palestine nineteen hundred years ago. Then came the " fulness of time," the focal point in the history of the ages, and then, and therefore, came Jesus. Most carefully must we guard our statements lest it be thought that Jesus Himself was but the product of developing forces, the culmina- tion of historic tendencies, and Christianity but the flower of Judaism tempered with Grecian and Oriental philosophy. Not so. Nothing in previous history could account for Jesus or evolve His personality. He stands " supreme, solitary, unique, transcending all analogies of experience, all limitations of nationality or generation, determined before the world was, beyond the power of any antecedents to produce the entry of such a new thing into the world " {Lux Muiidi.) Yet, on the other hand. He appears at a point of time, at a certain conjunc- tion of historic conditions, giving splendid evi- dence of His compliance with human conditions by coming at a time best suited to Himself and His work. i 90 The J^royrnssive Character of Heve.lation. Every .student of Biblical liistory haw traced through the centuries the schooling of the chosen people by separation and chastisement, by types, ceremonies, and lips of prophets, until they were in possession of the purest existent ethical and religious conceptions, until Pales- tine became fitted to be the birth-place, and the Hebrews the birth-people, of the Saviour of the human race. Then, too, we observe the preparation for the coming of Christ in the shaping of the world- history toward the Christian era. Had Jesus come one hundred years earlier, He would have found himself among unconsolidated political debris, when the west and north was unsub- dued barbarism, when pirates disturbed the seas, and the Syrian and Macedonian wars filled the world with strife. Had He come one hundred years later, he would have found rival emperors in tierce contention, and the march of the Goths and Vandals presaging the end of the Roman Empire. But coming when He did, the world was singularly homogeneous, and when law and order united it into one majestic whole. North, m ./esuH Cnvin hi the ^'' Fuliv-ss of Time.^ 91 east, Houth, and west had the great Roman roads been constructed and thrown oj)en to tlie mis- sionaries of the cross. At that time, too, there sprang up witli the empire the idea of a great world-religion, as there was a great world-empire. Every little nation had possessed its own peculiar creeds and its array of gods, which it guarded as assiduously against change as it did its political boundaries asfainst invasion. But the change of religious spirit incident to the sweeping away of national barriers, and to the blending of the isolated peoples into a consolidated empire, pre- pared the w^ay, and at length created the demand, for a universal religion. This was indicated by the collection of all the varied national gods into one pantheon, and by the deification of the emperors. Greece, much more than Rome, prepared the world for Christ. It may be said that, un- wittingly to themselves, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were forerunners of Christ, preparing the way as truly as was John the Baptist. They made the first great inroads upon the provinces 'V IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I Wkw. 12.2 111 S^ 12.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 h 6" - ► rw VW ^/ 'e). > > '/ /«^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4503 92 The Proyressive Character of Revelation. of intellectual truth, and created the first great hunger for the conquest of these provinces. With the decline of their nation's greatness, the Greeks turned their thoughts to finding their happiness within their own bosoms by a frame of mind, a view of world-government, which, despite all external contingencies or con- ditions, would give rest to the mind and content- ment to the heart. So, three centuries before Christ, sprang up Stoic apathy, Epicurean self- contentment, and Skeptic imperturbability. But when these centuries had passed, when philo- sophy had taught people to suspect their own capacities and possibilities, and therefore how splendidly they themselves were worth saving, sad experience had also taught them that despite all their theories they were utterly unable them- selves to do so. And thus the Greeks showed the world the certainty of truth and the need of a Saviour. Add to these facts another, that the Greeks gave the world the most beautiful, the most perfect language and literature known — a language capable of conveying the highest spiritual conceptions, and understood in every Jesus Came in the ^* Fulness of Time." 93 city of the Roman world — and we gain a larger comprehension of the contribution of the Greeks to the conditions fitted to welcome the Christ. This coming in the " fulness of time " meant that had Christ come at any other time He would have f und the world unprepared to receive Him or His teachings. It meant that God suited Hia greatest revelation to the age and place most ready for the reception of salvation. In this there is nothing arbitrary, but rather a gracious recognition of human conditions. And the same harmony is remarked when the manner of Christ's revelations is studied. No teaching could be more natural, more incidental and unarranged. " It was drawn forth by occa- sions as they arose. It shaped itself to the character, the words, the acts of those whom He met in the highway of the world. It borrowed its imagery from the circumstances and scenery of the moment." Though having far-extended application, it always had immediate reference to existing local needs and circumstances. 'I'here was most perfect adaptation to the mental and religious conditions of those whom he desired WHrn m 94 The Progressive Character of Revelation. to edify. He was God then as He is now, and always has heen, teaching men concerning Him- self after a manner never contrary to their innate constitution, but always naturally, in keeping with conditions, progressively from the lower to the higher, from the more restricted to the fuller comprehension and application. Ililii L ' PART IV. SOME ILLUSTRATIONS OF PRO- GRESSIVE REVELATION. I CHAPTER XV. THE MARRIAGE TIE. PRIVATE REVENGE. We will follow the growth of the sanctity of the marriage tie. Before Moses, the Israelites held the same views regarding the position and rights of woman which were common to all their pagan neighbors. A wife was personal property. She was purchased captured in war, or other- wise obtained. The husband might treat her as he might treat any other chattel. He was at liberty to exercise his most arbitrary pleasure or displeasure towards her— kill her, if he chose, sell her, renounce or divorce her at his discretion. Moses desired to lessen the injury thus possible to woman, and to protect the family life ; but 96 96 Thv ProgreMim Character of Revelation. finding iiimself unable entirely to over-rule the ancient practices, he laid restrictions upon the power of the husband so far as this : that a man could not repudiate his wife without fii-st giving her a bill of divorce, in which were written the date, place, cause of repudiation, and permission to marry again when she pleased. It further enacted that the husband might again receive back the repudiated wife, provided that in the meantime she had not taken another husband (Deut. xxiv. 1-4.). Thus some limit was put to the husband's arbitrary prerogative, fuller recog- nition was given to woman's marital righi.s and protection to the home life. It was far from perfection, but it was a long step in that direc- tion, as long a step as the state of society then existing would demand or permit. The Mosaic divorce law received the endorsa- tion of Jehovah. He allowed it because of the hardness of the people's hearts. The Saviour, however, gave it an unqualified repeal. The semi-civilization, law, and moral development, which were formerly i-ii ' CHAPTER XVII. THE REAL PURPOSE OF THE BIBLE BE- COMES MORE EVIDENT. We believe that God has been revealing Him- self through mediums which are human, and that this revelation so imparted is now possessed by us in its purest, fullest collected form in the Holy Scriptures. The Bible is both human and divine, even as Christ was human and divine. It contains elements that are of men and ele- ments that are of God. We believe, too, that the formation of the Bible was not the result of a happy chance, is not an accretion of fortuitous and broken parts, but was devised, controlled, and closed under divine wisdom and guidance. It has a purpose— a pur- 100 m M 1^ 1 10 The Froyressive Character of Revelation. pose distinct and foreseen by the Deity before a single word was spoken or written. Every succeeding book of each succeeding age con- tributed in some manner to the evolvement of this purpose, so that running through our heaven bestowed and heaven-directed library there is a golden thread, a sustained purpose, which binds it together as one whole. This golden thread, ever enlarging, ever add- ing brighter lustre until it breaks into flashing coruscations in the tinie of Jesus, is conveyed n human elements, but these are subsidiary, secondary, only vehicles, the earthen pitchers containing and carrying the pure water. This thread, running through poetry and prose, through science, history, and philosophy, through prophecy and song, is the self -revelation of God, a revelation which culminates in Christ, its highest and fullest manifestation. This reve- lation is given to a race morally and religiously fallen and incapable of self- restoration. In a word, the purpose of the Bible is redemption, the salvation of humanity from sin in its power and results. ^ The Jieal Purpose of the Bible Moie Evident. 1 1 The spokesman for God, in delivering the mes- sage fitted to the age, will employ such language as will best convey his thought to his people, make reference to matters political, scientific, philosophic, historic, or literary, in terms in keeping with the intellectual progress of himself and people; but never must the mistake be made that these references had higher or other purpose than to be mediums, vehicles of a spiritual truth. They will be human, and may partake of the defective conceptions of the time or author. The purpose of the Bible is to teach morality and religion, and these alone. This is the divine element. Once for all this truth should take full possession of our habitual thought. The Bible is not a text- book on religion and morality in the ordinary sense of a text-book. It is rather a record of a people, its institutions, and of the prominent personages among that people, through whom gradually nobler and fuller ideas of morality and religion were educed. Not in the abstract, but in the con- crete, do we find theology and ethics taught in mmmm. 112 The Progressive Character of Revelation. the Bible. We find them lived out in the lives of statesmen and prophets, typified in sacred ceremony, illustrated in biography, moving the deep passions of the poet, formulated into maxims by the wise, and embodied in scientific and dramatic narrative. Moral and religious truth are to the Bible what life is to the body. Life requires a body in which to exist and express itself, but the body is not the life. They are distinct and not to be confused, and he who undertakes the dissection must handle his scalpel with extreme care, else it may be found, as many a theological anato- mist has found, that the life, the essential thing has escaped, and naught remains but bones, dead and dry. » It is to be noted, and never forgotten, that in every case where a writer lays claim to divine authority for his teachings, his claim applies only to religion and morality. Never once in the Holy Book is a claim made for infallibility in science or history. And I am tempted here to query — why should we'? , Keeping in mind the real purpose of the Bible, The Real Purpose of the Bible Morf Evident. 1 1 3 in ine lies in ity sre ile, and that this purpose is carried onward in an element always human, and often, therefore, defective, will do much to repulse the persistent attacks made upon the divine Word by enemies who find, or profess to find, errors in it. Keeping in mind the real purpose of the Bible will do much to liberate those who are still dominated by the ancient doctrine that the Bible has no human element and therefore must be absolutely infallible, absolutely perfect in every part, word, allusion, relating no matter to what. Under this old cast-iron theory of inspiration, every reference to history and science, no matter how incidental, must be regarded as infallibly correct. Now, suppose a believer in this theory should in his historic researches among extra-Biblical sources discover what seemed to him an insu- perable proof of a deviation, however slight, in the Bible, from a true date, number, or his- toric fact; or suppose in the comparison of one part of the Bible with another part he finds an inconsistency which he cannot harmonize; or suppose that modern scientific discovery stands out in bold denial of some ancient scientific view 114 The Progressive Character of Jievelation. incorporated in the Bible, what must that believer do? Sorry may be his dilemma, and many there be among earnest, reverent Bible students who to-day are in the dilemma. Well, if he still maintains unquestioned his faith in his ancient theory in face of these facts — and strangely enough this is how most of us are con- stituted — either he must stand by the Bible as he views it, defend it in toto against every historic and scientific advance, no matter how well these may be supported, shut his eyes to every Biblical inconsistency, however evident; or, on the other hand, he may throw his Bible in toto by the board, affirming that a proved error or incongruity in one part vitiates the whole, and thus he becomes infidel. There is no middle path to him who elects to retain the theory of mechanical and verbal inspiration, eliminating all human elements. He becomes a bigot or a sceptic. The first alternative was accepted by the Roman Catholic Church, and their doctrine of infallibility in the Churcli still binds them to their ancient position, struggle however tliey The Heal Purpose of tlte Bible More Evident. 115 may. It was not surprising, therefore, that the monk Capernicus was for a long time afraid to advance his theory that it is the earth, not the sun, moon, and stars, as the Bible seems to teach, which turns around once in twenty-four hours. It was perfectly consistent to force Galileo to recant his statement that the earth moves and then imprison him for the rest of his life lest he should tell any one that he did not believe his own recantation. It was a kindness to Christianity to burn Bruno at the stake because he would not renounce his heretical faith in Capernicus and Galileo. When Des Cartes, the founder of modern philosophy, pub- lished a view of the universe at variance with Biblical conceptions, he was thoughtful enough to flee to Holland to avoid unpleasant compli- cations. The other alternative, which leaps into atheism or unbelief, has often seemed the only road open to the honest student who, under the domination of the old theory of inspiration and unable to reconcile certain facts stark and staring in his Bible with the logical demands of 116 Tlie Proyreaaive Character of Revelation. his theory, has abandoued, not hia theory, but his Bible. His mistake to us is apparent, but, poor fellow, he does not see it. If some true friend would take liim by the hand and say, " Let me lead you out of your quandary. You cannot, constituted as you are, be a blinded bigot, you do not want to be a sceptic. Here is the key to your problem. Change your theory of inspiration. The Bible is all right. It is you that is wrong. Fit your theory to the facts. Do not distort or deny facts because they will not fit your theory. Change your theory." ■r. CHAPTER XVIII. BIBLICAL INACCURACIES PERTAIN TO THE t HUMAN ELEMENT. If an error, inaccuracy, inconsistency should be found in the Bible, it must not for a moment affect our faith in the Word of God. The error belonofs to the human element, not to the divine. No book in the sacred library is inspired more than its author was inspired. It is the work of a God-inspired man, but inspired only in matters of moral and spiritual truth. " The promises of our Lord guarantee inspiration only in respect to more and more apprehending the truth pre-eminent, the truth which is the essence of Christianity, and upon which the Church of Christ is founded. That the apostles would be made infallible in all details of history, in their judgments, in their policy or anticipations of the future fate of the Church, ia nowhere so 117 '■'i 118 The Progressive Character of Revelation. much as hinted at ; it certainly is by no means guaranteed or fairly to be inferred." (Ladd.) And what cannot well be averred of the apostles in the zenith of the pentecostal effulgence, can- not well be averred of their prophetic predeces- sors, all of whom might say : " We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." Everj^ writer is subject to the limitations of culture and knowledge peculiar to the age in which he lives. Doubtless, too, every Biblical writer was selected by Deity because of his superior intellectual acumen. This at least was one qualification, Doubtless, also, all his natural faculties and intuitions were clarified and inten- sified by his more perfect co-operation with the Spirit Divine, so that, standing like Saul above his fellows, his declarations were often received by them because they know the man. Witness the speeches of prophets nmjor and minor, after- wards reduced to writing. But all this ad- mitted, it remains that each man belonged to his own age, and was affected by its prevailing spirit. His literary methods, his science, his Biblical Inaccuracies. 119 history and philosopliy, were usually part of the common possession. And whatever of crude- ness or infirmity belonged to these will appear to some extent in his writings. Now, shall we repudiate any writer because he did not know everything ? A pilot was asked, as he guided his vessel into a difficult harbor, if he knew where all the rocks and sand- bars wft'e. " No," v/as his reply, " but I know where the deep water is." Was that enough ^ Would you demand that he know the tlora and fauna along the shores ^ Or, suppose he could not give a beautiful interpretation of Browning, or translate into easy terms the meaning of Emerson's " Over-soul," would you refuse to let him guide the vessel into the harbor ? One thing he knew, one thing his mission, one thing he did well. Was it not enough ? So, too. Biblical writers do not know all things, or profess to know. The Bible does not teach science, history, or philosophy, or art, or literature, though these are all there in a pro- fusion and beauty and truth found in no other literary collection. F^)Ut it does claim to teach 120 The Prof/ressice Character o/ Revelation. some things. It does teach that there is one God, and one only, as infinitely loving as He is infinitely holy, wise, and powerful. It does teach that all men are sinners unable to save themselves, and hence need a Saviour. It does teach that ever through the long and hazy ages of misconception a brighter light was penetrat- ing, until it broke into fulness when the Messiah, the perfect God, the perfect Man, was seen of men. It does teach that through faith, and knowledge of this Divine Man, and through co- operation with Him, the defaced image of God in humanity may not only be restored, but so glorified that it becomes fitted for communion with the Great Father throughout the ages eternal. Is all this worth having ? Shall this good news, this good will to men, be cast aw^ay because somewhere a human recorder may have misplaced a date, enlarged a number ? No ! Here is the living water of God ; perish we must if we have it not ! We shall drink, drink from the wells of salvation, even though at times the healing stream be carried to us in human pitchers, earthen, crude, and misshapen. CHAPTER XIX. CHRIST'S TEACHINGS THE STANDARD. The earlier teachings of the Bible are to be tested by the Saviour's, and any portions which fall below this standard we may consider partial, and are binding upon us only to the extent in which they harmonize in spirit with the life and words of our Lord. This axiom growing out of the doctrine of progressive revelation has been well illustrated by Professor George Fisher, of Yale : " A father corresponds with an absent son from his child- hood. The earliest of these letters will naturally contain injunctions and counsels adapted to the situation, needs, and temptations peculiar to a boy. He is exhorted, perhaps, to set apart definite hours for prayer, and a particular time for writing his letters. He is enjoined to retire to bed at nine o'clock in the evening Particular 121 122 The Progressive Character of Hfvelatioii. 'I ■■'■ ■ It. regulations are laid down relative to his clothing and expenses. The letters for a number of years are composed largely of rules of behaviour affectionately but imperatively urged, and inter- spersed with that sort of instruction in morals and religion which would be easily apprehended by an immature mind. At length the son arrives at the stfige of manhood, and shows the mould- ing agency of this continued guidance. Then the father addresses him as a full-grown man, and communicates to him in one final composi- tion the principles pertaining to life, duty, and man's destiny which he deems of highest im- portance. The son collects all these letters into a volume. They all discover in different degrees his fathers character, and throw light upon the path of his duty. But he would be a simpleton if he referred to the earliest and latest letters without discrimination, and confounded the injunctions given to the schoolboy with the truths of that final letter. Rather would he test everything previous b}'^ the contents of this final communication " The son in this illustration is the Jewish Christ's Teachings the Standard. 123 it is nation passing through all degrees of moral and religions growth from Abraham to Jesus Christ. The Bible is the biography of that national life and contains the records of God's teachings adapted at every point to its moral and religious development. In the childhood of the nation abstract principles and general rules are not suitable, because the people cannot be safely left to guide themselves by applying these general principles to practical and daily conduct. So God speaks to them with a definite command, Thou shalt not do this. Thou shalt do that, and definite rewards and punishments are attached. Such was the character of revelation during the time of the patriarchs and of Moses. When the prophets arose, we observe them looking under the particular injunction or con- crete restriction for the broader, underlying principles which gave the injunction validity. " They place less emphasis upon the innumer- able minute exactments for ritual and ecclesias- tical life, and exalt a relatively few principles of veracity, justice, mercy, piety, and faith," The teachings of Jesus Christ are the culmin- I* 124 The Progressive Character of Revelation. atioD of the Father's revelation to the matured Jewish people. This revelation is now alto- gether that of principle, not of definite concrete injunction. The Jews are now supposed to be able to apply these abstract laws to their daily life. Few indeed are the number of these laws, for in the broad, comprehensive grasp of the Saviour they have been expressed in a com- paratively small number of distinct but pregnant statements and maxims. In truth, on one occa- sion He summarized them all in the principle calling for love supreme to God and love im- partial to our neighbor. All teachings before Christ require comparison with the standards forever established by Him. Some of these pre-Christian teachings and laws were partial and imperfect, as fitted to a growing child. Some were specifically condemned by Jesus, and others He declared defective. All contained some truth, but few were final and perfect when tested witli the touchstone of Christ's words. His are the only infallibly true, never-to-be amended words of revelation. He alone is the ■ light of life," without spot or shadow. Believ- -■ .1 i Christ\s Teatihiuys the Standard. 125 iiig- this, for us it will not be difficult to find an answer to the query so beautifully put by Lyman Abbott in his "Evolution of Christi- anity,' " Is the Bible like a northern light flash- ing instantly and without premonition upon the world of darkness and setting all the heavens aglow with its resplendent fire : or is it like a sunrise, silvering first the mountain tops, gradu- ally creeping down the valleys, a progressive light, mingled, yet gradually vanquishing the darkness, its pathway like that of the righteous man, growing brighter and brighter until the perfect day ? " CHAPTER XX. CONCLUSION— A UTHOKS TESTIMONY. I HOPE my words may do for my readers what my study and thinking have done for myself — revealed the via media, the middle way, which carries safely past rank, uncritical bigotry on the one side, and brutal scepticism on the other. It has given me anew the Holy Book. I listen with reverence and gladness to him who, holding the Bible to his heart, declares it to be the very Word of God. I understand him, I can listen sympathetically, hopefully, to the student whose honest inquiry has led him into a labyrinth of trouble and darksome doubt. I know well that a pathway may be found which will lead to peace and faith, & path winding, mayhap, but which leads eventually to a cross from which, gazing at him tenderly, the face of Jesus Christ our Elder Brother shall bend, 126 Conclusion— Author's Testimony. 127 dropping into his open soul love, joy, peace, and righteousness in the Holy Ghost. I have learned tlmt he who mines the sacred Word and would so search that the golden veins of precious truth shall be uncovered and trans- ferred to the treasure-room of his own soul, must bend to his work in simple faith, holy, hopeful expectancy, yet with wise discernment. With the golden nuggets here and there may be thrown up a stone or a root, but the earnest miner cares not for these. Let the destructive critic make a museum, if he will, of these useless stones and rotted roots. As for the true student, he seeks truth, such truth as he at the time may need ; and He who has laid the hidden streams for the thirsty, and brings around the abundant harvest for the hungry, shall see to it that no chdd of His, crying, searching for the water of life and the bread come down from heaven, but shall find them.