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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction retios. Those too lerge 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 fremes as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, plenches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmte A des taux de reduction diff Arents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est filmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de geuche A droite, et de haut en bes, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcesssire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 'n '^ -^ IN CONVOCATION HAUL, IN 1891, PUBLISHED B^- THE STUDENTS. C- » - '^ PREFATORY NOTE. The students of Queen's University who undertook the pub- lication of the present pamphlet did so out of a desire to have the addresses which it contains in a permanent form, for their own future reference, and to extend to the public outside of University circles, some of the benefits in suggestion and inspiration which were received in listening to them. While the printed page can- not convey the full life and momentum of oral delivery, yet it gives the advantage of that repeated perusal which is necessary to grasp the full significance of the addresses. With the patronage of the thinking public, and the co-opera- tion of the Professors, the students would like to make such a pam- phlet as this an annual publication. The delivery and publishing of a series of such addresses on vital religious questions would not only be of great benefit to students, but would also be an impor- tant step in line with University Extension Work. The Publishing Committee. ,1. 41 . \ ^o\JJ to I^ead the Bible. No. 1. The Bililo is not. road in onr day as it was in the sixteenth and seventeenth coutunes. Tluiii, in consequence of the invention of tho art of printinj.% it first became possible to multiply copies with ease, while a mighty poptilnr and religious movement made it the peoples' book in Germany and Britain. Men were charmed to find that they could not only understand its stories, but that it was far more interesting than the discourses which they had been accustomed to hear from Monks or even Bishops. It had, also, the great charm of novelty. In the parish church, to the book-board of which a copy was chained, crowds gathered every day of the week and listened for hours, when they were fortunate enough to secure a reader. That popular eagerness lasted for a century or two. The Scottish covenant was signed by peers and peasants, sometimes with blood instead of ink. The English Squire of the same date, Carlyle says, " wore his Bible-doctrine round him as our Squu-e wears his shot-belt ; went abroad with it I'othiug doubting." The language of the day was Biblical and it came from the heart. The sermons of the Pnx'itau Divines were filled with quotations from Scripture, and the hearers liked those parts the best, and when the hour-glass had run out, they rejoiced to see the preacher turn it up ttgain. It is not so now, either in home, or church, or any where else. The eagerness now is to read the daily and weekly newspaper, tho last periodical, or the new book that a popular novelist, poet, historian or man of science gives to the world. If you wish to see a crowd of men eagerly reading, you need not look for it in a church. You must go to the reading-room of a public library, a Mechanics' Institute, or a Young Men's Christian Association, and there— in all alike — you find men, young and old, at any hour in the day, poring over — not ne Bible -but the daily newspaper or other scrappy literature. If you wish to see a crowd eagerly listening, you must go to an election meeting in city, village or country, where not very eloquent speakers discuss the tariff to multitudes, who are willing to stand in crowded passages or round the doors till midnight, without showing the least sign of weariness. The changed condition of things is undeniable. And, whenever there is an effect, depend upon it there is a cause adequate to produce ) the effect. If the Bible is not read as eagerly and generally as it was three liundred years ago, the reason is not that people are less -va.-xnii — 4— intelligent, lens anxious for guidance, or less christian than they were then. Quite the contrary. The nineteenth century is far more truly christian in spirit tlian the sixteenth or seventeentli. The language of the J^ible does not enter into our sermons or daily speech as it did in the days of the Puritans and Covenanters, hut the ordinary Can- adian clergynum is surely as good a christian as Pound-tex*, Kettle- Irnmmle or Macliriar, and the christiaii laynuiti of to-day is quite up to the average Cavalier or lloundheud of the Cromwellian epoch. The reason of tlie change must he, eitl/er that the people get from other sources what they then got from the liihle, or that the IJible is not felt by them to be as truly related to their every day life as it was by the men who signed the Solemn League and Covenant. I believe that we must seek for the reason along both of these lines. You ask, is the ]iible then not to have its old place as the great factor in popular education and life '? I believe that it will never stand comparatively alone as it did three centuries ago. But, if its ideas mould character more thoroughly and extensively, its supremacy is the more complete. That this may be the case, and that the Bible may be read universally with interest and profit, men must feel that it bears upon their individual and national concerns as truly as it was believed to do in the days of the Reformers. I believe that another day of power for the JUble is dawning, and that it will be again read and studied, not as a religions duty merely, but with eager interest, as the great guide of life, by intelligent people and by seekers after God in all lands. 1 shall try to answer the question, how is this to be accomplished, or what is to be done that we may read the Bible with most profit / This afternoon I shall point out what we must not do. We must not— on pretence of honouring God's word — place it out of relation to reason. The Bible is not a mystery, but a revela- tion. Depend upon it, when you tell men that a book is mysterious and that their reason is quite inadequate to its consideration, they will very soon put it on the shelf and allow the dust to accumulate on its venerable binding. When we study the Word of God, reason should be at its best and conscience most tender. When we refuse to investigate fearlessly, when we muffle or mu/zle our intellect, we dishonour that in us which is highest and holiest, that which links us to God and is intended to raise us to Jlim. Again, we must not put the Bible in a position that it does not arrogate to itself. It does not profess to be the end, but simply a means. It takes a subordinate, not the supreme, place. If we put it first instead of second, we are guilty of the sin of Bibliolatry. By this I mean that to many people the Bible is valuable because it is a book. Now, that is what makes the Koran so valuable to the Mahometan. He believes that the Koran is word for word what God dictated verbally to Mahomet, what Mahomet wrote down in Arabic, —6— what believers still have in the Arabic that Mahomet wrote, and what therefuro ought not to bo trannlated into any other language. Thin in the conception that Konie christiaun have of lUblical inspiration. They believe that the Hebrew con.sonantH were dictated to the Hrst writers of the Old Testament, and that the Hebrew vowels, added by unbelieving Scribes centuries after Christ, were also inspired. This, they call a high view of inspiration. It is not oidy a low view, it is simply destructive of inspiration. The Bible is most valuable, because, unlike the Koran, it is more than a book. As a book it has liuman elements as well as the Divine element, and — so far as it is human— there must be limitation, imperfection, localism, growth, and the possibdity of erroi . The liible is a record of the revelations of Himself that (lod nade to many men in widely different times and circnmstances. This record is a glass through which we are to see how the living God guided men of like passions with ourselves, and guided a very imperfect community in former days. It is thus a signpost, pointing not to itself, but to Him who is as ready to reveal Himself unto men now as He was forty, thirty or twenty centuries ago, and who not only revealed Himself fully in His Son, but gave us the spirit of His Son to dwell with us forever. " Mahomet's truth lay in a Holy liook, Christ's in a sacred life. So while the world rolls on from change to change, And realms of thought expand. The letter stands without expanse or range, Stitl' as a dead man's liand. While as the life-blood fills the growing form, The Spirit Christ has shed Flows through the ripening ages fresh and warm, More felt than heard or read." A man is a Bibliolater who confines his view to the Book. When he does so, the Bible is just as effectual to intercept God and keep Him out of the soul as any other sacred idol. I wish to give very emplmtic waining on this point, because men are born idolaters. Take one idol away from them and they soon substitute another, more subtle it may be, but all the more dangerous on that account. Even doctrine which men specially call "the Gospel" has been used as a club to strike down others and a screen to hide God from the soul. Perhaps the best way in which to deliver ourselves from Biblio- latry is to reflect for how short a time in the history of the world or even of the Church, the Bible has been accessible to the people. We goraetiraes speak as if it were indispensable to the existence of religion -«— i and tliG Htndy of it esHciitial to nnyoiio lioing a christian. Kvidontly, (iod did not think HO, Where was the liihie diirinj^ the inilloniunis before Abraham, and the centuries l)etween Abraham and MoseH ? The Father of the faithful had three Inindred and eighteen trained men of war, born in his house. That great liousehold or tribe had not the nible, but it had (iod. J)nrn)B the tlionsand years between Moses !ind Ezra, with liow much of the Hibh; in its present shape was the Churcli bhissed ? In the next five hundred years, the three divisions of the Old Testament were codified, transcribed over and over again and lovingly studied, but notwithstanding, that was the least original and the most poverty-stricken time in the history of Israel. The most important New Testament period includes the ministry of .Jesus, the Pentecostal days of the Jerusalem (Miurch. and the extension of Chris- tianity to the great centres of civilization. How much of the Now Testament was written in those wonderful fifty years? None of it. During the fourteen centuries after the first century, the (iospel gain- ed its two great triumphs, — the conversion of the Korann Empire and the conversion of the nations that constitute Modern Christendom. Through all that long history the Hiblo was in existence, but was not generally accessible. Since the lleformation if. has been in the hands of the people, but what great work has Protestantism as yet done ? Net a single nation has been won for Clirist. America, is, of course, only the overspill of Europe. But the Asiatic civilizations with their teeming millions, and the continent of Africa remain, religiously, pretty much as they were in the sixteenth century. I do not depreci- ate what has been done in the last three or four hundred years, but I point to an outstanding startling fact in order that we may not l^e un- duly puffed up. Christendom is preparing, I believe, for a great advance all along the line, but for that, something more is neet^ed than simply the possession of the Bible or the use of traditional watchwords. Why have I given this brief historical sketch '? To impress upon you that we must use the Bible aright and that in order to do so we must not put it in a place in which God has not put it, but must allow it to do freely the work that He has intended it should do for our souls; The Bible does not profess to be indispensable. It does not arrogate to itself the first position. The God of grace, the God of redeeming love, is alone indispensable. He alone must have the first place. On Him the soul lives and without Him it does not live. The supreme \Nfact of religion is that the spirit of God can touch the spirit of man. The Bible reveals Him as doing so in past ages, and He is the Eternal, living and dealing with the world of men and things as truly now as I then. It reveals Him us inflexible righteousness in the Old and ex- haustless love in the ^ew Testament, as Jehovah in the Old and Jesus in the New. Hence its value, its altogether unique and extraordinary value. Hence too the fact that it ceases to be valuable when it is used -7— otliorwiso than aw a rIrsh through whidi to see the ovor-HviiiR Ood. On pretence of honouring', men soiuntinieH degrade it ; and wo who are Hving in the di.-vor, and what became of the Ark and the Cherubim and the tables of stone, no man knoweth. Centuries after, Stephen told all this to the Supremo Court of the Jewish Church, when be stood biforo them accused of speaking blasphemous words against the Holy Place and the Law ; and their answer wus to gnash on liinj with their teeth, and cast him out of tho city and ^itono him. Such an answer sutticed for Stephen, but it availed nothing against the legions of Titus. The teaching of Isaih, of Jeremiah, of Stephen is needed still. Whenever we identify God with anything of His handiwork, when we iliink that His presence and power are 1 limited to any shrine, relic, law or book, we materialise Him and become idolaters. This does not mean that it was not a good thing to have in its day brazen serpent, ark, tabernacle, temple or torah, j but it does mean that the presence of God is not limited to any one i symbol or shrine. Wo still need to hear the lofty words of the prophet addressed to the exultant Jews wlio had left Babylon with the pious but proud intention of rebuilding the house of Jehovah — • " The heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool ; what is this for a house that ye are building me, and what is this for a place for my rest ? Yoa, all these things my hand hath made, and so all these things came to be, saith the Lord ; but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word." Only to men of such spirit does God look now. Only with such does He dwell, miey may not own a Bible, they may not be able to read, but if they know that God is love, and look up to Him crying, Abba Father, He hears them, floods their souls with life and light and leads them in a plain path from day to day. As in days of old, He took away from His people those precious things that * t ]■■ — 1>— tcHtify ot'lliin, so will lie l.ilio from iih tlic Itililc if wv. do not iiHt; it ariKlit. Ilo Ih Inking it away, wlii'ii we iiHti it in tlio Hpirit of tlio Scril)os, wlion wo lutiipiet it in tlm Hliivish Hpirit of tuKlitioniiliHui, when we r«'f,'Hr»l it as a Htorchoust! of texts wln!rlo only is tho religion of I'rotestants," cannot bi docepted without explanation ; but tluTe is no doubt that tho llefu'-ners exalted the Scripture codo to a position which it had never i ;cup'otl hefore. and that i* has been accepted ever since us of p;irai fUnt anthoni^ ny the great l'rot*sNiut Clinrches. The greater is tho no- I inoreforo that it should be universally read, indorstood and •X" ronced ; and that all j)os.sible m'jans should be taken to ascer'ain flie fullness of its meaning. That was the position of the Jieformors. They wero the scholars of their day, in every country in iMiropc. They studied the Scriptures in the original Hebrew, Aramaic aiul (ireok, taking advi' igo (»f all tho light and all the helps that the sixteenth contary atTorded. Attempts were made to prejudice the ignorant and tho devout -igainst them on this very nccount. (Jreek was repres; ntcd to bo a dangerous bin<'uagc, and as to Hebrew, it was well known, sai*! i>no preacher tf> his con- gregation, *' that all who learned it became Jews." l]ut then.' soon came Lutheran's who had littlo of Luther's spirit. As tho Duko of Wellington put it, " there is many a red-coat who is not a soldiov." •* The innovations of one ago are always in danger of becoming tho traditional fetters of tho next," Dr. Hainy lately remarked. No better illustration of tliis can be found than in the attitude of tlie seventeenth or eighteenth as contrasted with that of the tixteonth century. In their very anxiety to exalt the Bible, many of tlr fol- lowers of the Reformers refused to seek further lis:ht as to its moaiiir ;>;, and they confused the two ideas of a code and the interpretation of a code. The Hible is the source of doctrine, but it can no more bo the interpreter or judge to say what the doctrine is than the civil law can exercise the functions of a judge. Wo must ascertain the meaning of the Bible, not by authority but by the exercise of the faculties of human knowledge, quickened, as Christ has ))romised they shall be, i)y tho Holy Spirit. We must use the same laws and principles of interpretation that we apply to the sacred books of other religions and these arc simply the principles used in the interpretation of all ancient docu- —10— ments. But, it may be said, the Bible is so plain that he who runs may read. To this, the a priori or, as Mr. Gladstone calls it, the /'domineering" arguraeut is sometimes added, that a book containing a I revelation from God must as a matter of course be easily understood. If all that is meant is that tlio great truths of the Bible, whether its fundamental facts or ideas, can be readily grasped by all, the state- ment is not only true, but one to be gladly insisted upon. That is the very reason why we give it to the people. As Arnold well I observes, if it is " hopelessly obscure," it is mockery to call it the ' "rule of faith." But if more is meant, then it must be pointed out that all parts of the Bible cannot be easily understood and cannot be read with profit by people who have no aids but their ordinary intelligence. It is not the fact that even skilled interpreters or great Churches have always understood its meaning. For centuries, every- one believed that the Scriptures taught that the earth was ^xed in the centre of the universe. They werf^ as sure of that as they were that Moses wrote the Pentateuch. We know how the Roman inquisitors treated Galileo for demonstrating the falsity of the geocentric theory, I but we may not all know that the Protestant theologians of Germany would have treated the old monk Copernicus in the very same way, if they could only have Inid their hands on him. The Church also inter- preted the Scriptures as teaching that men who held erroneous views concerning God should be fined, imprisoned or killed. Men fighting for liberty, like the Presbyterinns of Scotland and the Puritans of Eng- land, induced the Long Parliament to pass persecuting laws that we now read with wonder u,nd horror. Only a century ago, it was con- sidered a good reason to dissent from the Church of Scotland, that 'I the Church had become so lukewarm that it no longer petitioned Parliament to put in force tlie laws against witchcraft, in clear defiance of the Scripture which said " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." So, too, men implicitly accepted as religious truths, that the j universe was created in six days, that the earth was made six or ' seven thousand years ago, that man had existed on it only for that period, that creation took place by catastrophes rather than by dcvel- opement, that the flood was universal, and other dogmas which science has disproved or on which it alone can speak decisively. Savages, children, and illiterate people are quite sure that they come into immediate contact with external objects by their eyes, that they know distance by means of sight, that the sun revolves round the earth, j ) that the firmament is a solid vault, that the earth is a great plain, |! and that a great many other things are just what they seem to them to be. Their ignorance is not fatal. Their knowledge is sufficient for all the purposes of daily life. But, if they are willing to learn, they can be taught gradually that much of their so called knowledge is made up of illusions. And, as their old mistakes are corrected and /' l\ •^ I — n— ,1 ) discoveries of truth are made by them, their conceptions of the universe and of the wissdom, power and goodness of God are enlarged. Does not this suggest to us that ihere may be popular illusions also/if regarding the Bible. While knowing all that it is necessary to know^ in order to be saved, may nut portions of our fancied Scripture know- ledge be equally superficial, incomplete or erronoous, and, would not the truth widen our views, strengthen our faith and inspire our hearts with increased reverence and love ? At any rate, this is clear, that Protestantism must welcome scholarship and investigation in every direction as a condition of its A lii'e, and that a fearless Biblical criticism is the best proof that can be j given of our reverence for the Bible. We have rejected Christian tradition as a source of authority in opposition to evidence external or internal, and we cannot implicitly accept Jewish tradition. We know from the New Testament what kind of men the Scribes and j llabbis were and we cannot accept them as trustworthy critics or in- ; falhble witnesses, especially with regard to events that happened in ' times far removed from their own or concerning matters on which they had strong preconceptions. Our minds must be open to trutli from every side. We must be infinitely tolerant of theories that we dislike, when 1-^ they are put forward by scholars as the best explanation they can offer ' of facts. The facts must be explained. Let us master th.-m and sug- gest better theories. In this great work of truth-seeking, the lead is \ still held by Germany, that glorious land where truth is valued for its [ own sake as it is valued nowhere else. Germany, that gave us the Re- formation, still steks for truth with marvellous industry and honesty, and scouts the notion that truth needs any man's lie or enforced silence. Even destructive ratioiuilistic theories, let us remember, were the inevitable recoil of the human mind against attempts to sup- press it, to disrupt man into a thinking and believing being, and to in- sulate the truths of theology from thought and life, and .^Uow them to lie bedridden in the memory. Wheu th.o Jiible is regarded as a collection of mysterious oracles to be received in unquestioning silence, then ratiouflism is the swing of the pendulum to the other ex- treme, an extreme, .00, less degrading to man and less dishonouring to God than the other. We ask only that God's Word be left to its own in- herent strength and that we should be allowed to take away all that binds or obscures it or otherwise prevents it from exerting its full power on our souls. All through this c^niury new evidence has been coming into court that we never expected to get. We are becoming better acquaint- ed with Hebrew and the cognate languages and dialects. We are able to study other religions in their original sources. Ancient history is t being rewritten. Archaeological allusions, that once were riddles, are 1 understood. Criticism of language, style and thought has acknowledged canous. Allowance is made for the moral and literary ideas and cus- \ -12- toms of other times and lands. The mistakes an ^ errors of editors, rab- bis, transcribers, translators, interpreters and o.'er well-meaning but very fallible people can now be discounted. Dr. iiarper, editor of the Old and New Testament Student, referring to the raisfortunen of the Bible from this last source, says " of all unfortunate books m the his- tory of literature, m all respects, the most unfortunate is the Bible." Nothing shows the infinite strength of the divine element in it so strongly as the fact that it has survived those misfortunes. The evi- dence, moreover, that enables us to understand its full moaning, is be- ing added to from day to day. We are in consequence on a vantage ground that no former age occupied. Thousands of investigators are working for us. England, Scotland and America have as yet made little use of the new sources of light, but they are awakening. It is high time ; for as Dr Flint points out, '• during the last fifty years, theologians in other lands have been building "P almost from the foundation, entire theological sciences or disciplines. Not to speak of what they have done in biblical linguistics, exegetics and criticism, and in ecclesiastical history, they have raised into independent exis- tence such sciences as Biblical theology. Comparative theology and Christian Ethics, which have perhaps almost as materially changed and increased theological knowledge, as geology and biology have dur- ing the same period changed and increased physical knowledge." Thank God for all this. The Bible will become a greater power than ever it was before. We shall distinguish between the human in it and the divine, and the divine will, in consequence, shine with purer rays. We shall distinguish between the local and the universal and while that which is human or local will have value for us, just as every province of history has, the universal will be a priceless possession for ever unto humanity. We shall distinguish betwean the eternal idea 1 and the temporary dress which the prophet borrowed from his own ex- ' perience or the experience of his nation, and while we preserve the dress reverently in our museums, we shall enshrine the ideas in our souls, as the light and life which God in His great love has given to make earth like Heaven and human life sacred as the divine. The general principles which I have laid down with regard to the duty of using every possible means and sparing no pains to ascertain what Scripture teaches will probably be accepted readily enough, but — that you may understand what is involved — it is only right that I should go more into detail and give examples of the gains that have accrued in consequence of recent critical and historical study. There is an I ^uneasy feeling in some quarters that instead of gain there has been • loss, and as I am profoundly convinced of the contrary, I shall select, from all three divisions under which the Scribes classified Old Testa- ment literature, examples in connection with which this feeling is strongest. And first, — the Law. The traditional view is that the ». I -id- Pentateuch, in the form in whicli we have it was written by Moses, wliereas the view of the vast majority of competent critics is that the first six books of the Bible existed originally as four indepen- dent liarratives, and that these were codified, probably by Ezra and his fellow- Scribes during the exile, into the one account that we now have. Suppose that this is established, an illustration from the possible fate of the Gospels is sufficient to prove that we have in consequence gained enormously. How often have we been thankful that, instead of one life of Christ, no matter by whom written, we have four ! Well, what happened in the second century shows that we might have had only one. Tatian, a teacher of rhetoric, composed what we would call a Harmony of the four Gospels, known as the Diatessaron, and in writing it, he of course followed the literary niothods of the East. He cut up and pieced together his four sources, adding words and phrases of his ow)i so as to make one continuous story, and in doing so he paid little attention to the diversities, to chronological arrangement or other matters that a modern author would think of great importance. We learn too, from Theodoret, that he mutilated his sources to suit his Gnostic views. In spite of that, " the work was used not only by his own party, but also by those who followed the teaching of the Apostles, as they had not perceived the mischievous design of the composition, but in their simplicity made use of the book on account of its conciseness." Theodoret found more than two hundred copies in the churches of his diocese. He removed these and replaced them with the works of the four evangelists. Now, if the church in the second century had been like the church in Ezra's day, confined pretty much to one city and language, if the literary class had been confined to one guild of scribes, if Tatian had been a chief member of that guild and compiled his harmony honestly, in all probability his work would have been universally accepted and in consequence we would have had only one composite Gospel. Would that have been a gain ? Certain- ly not. If, then, in the nineteenth century, scholars detected the patchwork and pointed out the differences between the four docu- ments and in the main restored them, how would it have been possible to consider that a loss? This illustration seems to me conclusive. The Mosaic character of the Pentateuch as a whole is not lost by the discovery of its composite character, and tbe books will continue to be called " the books of Moses." The Psalms are " the Psalms of David," though according to the best modern judges most of them were written by other authors. The Proverbs Avill always be " the Proverbs of Solomon," though a cursory examination is sufficient to show that the book is composed of eight different sections, some, perhaps all of these, subsequent to Solomon's day. In each case the name of the man who was the original creative force, of the Law, the Psalter and the Wis- dom Literature of the people of revelation, is rightly stamped on the u \ l! ■14- ultiraate ibvm into whicli eacli code or collection was cast ; and par- ticularly as regards the Peutateuch, the Mosaic authorship of portions of it, and what is called its Egypticity, are acknowledged by all sober critics. In the second place, take an example from ono of the prophetic books. The traditional view is that Isaiah wrote all the sixty-six chapters in the book called by his name, whereas the vast majority of scholars believe that there is conclusive internal evidence to show that the author of the greatest part of the last twenty -seven chapters was a prophet who lived in Babylon during the exile. If Isaiah of Jerusalem wrote the sections that describe the political and social condition of the Jews during the captivity, their various phases of faith and unbelief, the hopes excited by the appearance of Cyrus on the stage of history, the prophecies of his success iigaiust the hitherto resistless Babylon and of Israel's return to rebuild the city and temple, the object of Jehovah in raising up Cyrus and the different pictures of the Servant of the Lord, we can only stand dumb before a miracle out of all relation to the prophet himself, to the time in which iie lived and to our own reason. It may be said that God can make a man write history in advance or do anything else that He pleases. No 4 one denies that, but Jehovah is not like the gods of the heathen. He yis wise, Isaiah tells us, and does nothing in vain or for mere display. When a missionary points out to a Hindoo, how capricious and use- less are the miracles that Ram is said to have performed, the answer is an appeal to the power of Ram or any other Incarnation of Vishnu. , The Maliommedau, too, silences the unbeliever by the pious phrase, j Allah ife great ! In both cases, reason is ruled out of court. On the ' other hand, rea 1 any of the modern works on Isaiah, such as Cheyne's or Driver's, or, better still for popular reading, George Adam Smith's two volumes lu the Expositor's ]iible, and see how luminous the whole book becoinos, It is brought into relation with our reason and our spiritual nature, as well as with the experience of the writer ; with our own time and all time ; and its inspiration has not to be dogmatically asserted, because it is felt. It is felt, liowever, not as something magical, but as the power of Jehovah working out His great purpose of redeeming love, through a chosen people in whose experiences inspired prophets saw the deep things of God and man. i Cold indeed must the Christian be who can read such volumss without } thanking God for the new ti'uth that He is making to break forth out of His word. With regard to the third collection of Old Testament literature, the part specially called the Scriptures, modern scholarship has thrown a flood of light on every book and roll. As an example of the gain to us, take the one little roll of the Song of Solomon. According to the Rabbis, it is an allegory teaching the mutual love of Jehovah .^ ■ —15— and Israel. According to Christian Rabbis, it is intended to teach the spiritual relations of Christ and the Christian. It is really a drama, celebrating by means oi a story the power of true love. A peasant girl of northern Israel has been offered a place in Solomon's harem, and at hist the King even offers her marriage. Without a mother and with unkind brothers, she is faitnful to her betrothed, and Solomon in all his glory is baffled by pure love. The fact that such a poem was a product of the ninth century before Christ shows the influence that the r<'hgion of Jehovah htid on Israel, the purity of its home life and the dignity of womanhood, which was understood at the time in no other corner of the world. What a tribute, too, to the comprehen- siveness of (lod's b(>ok, that no false delicacy makes it overlook that' mightiest passion .,f the heart which has been the inspiration to innumerable heroisms, and which when perverted has inflicted innumerable woes on mankind ! It may be asked here whether the novelties of interpretation to which I have been referring may not rob the plain man of the old Bible that has hitherto sustained his spiritual life ? He is not acquainted with history or criticism, and how can he study the scores of volumes in wiiich its results are found ? I answer that ho still has the old Bible and that there is nothing but gain for him besides. For instance, when he reads in the Pentateuch two accounts of the creation or of the deluge, or praises of Moses which Moses could not have written, or a list of the dukes that reigned in Edom " before there were any kings in Israel," cr of places with names that were given to them after the conquest by Joshua, or other passages that once puzzled him, it is surely something that he can bo now told that there is a satisfactory explanation of these things that he had formerly to accept, though they were unintelligible. Or again, let him master, as he can very easily, the book of Isaiah, with the helps that I have mentioned, and he will be so filled with joy at the new discoveries made to him of its beauty and power, that he will go on to study every other book in the Bible in the same way. He may not have time to investigate critical questions for himself, but that is no reason why others should not investigate or why he should not profit by their labours. The ordinary working man knows nothing of Physics and Biology, but it never occurs to him that therefore the book of nature should not be studied night and day. He knows, too, that in one way or another, he and all men will got some advantage from every discovery. Emphatically is this true of that marvellous literature which is called God's book because it is man's book. It must be studied fully and fearlessly, no matter what disturbances may result or may be feared. Those who drink its spirit most deeply know that they owe supreme allegiance to truth alone, that they dare not be false to it because they are told that temporary interests may suffer, 1) 1 \ -10- and that truth can be betrayed by mental shivery or by silence as truly as by speech. They know, too, that it is a mockery to call upon the politicians of the country to rise superior to party and smistor influences, and to dare to speak out when policy bids th( ni keep silence, if the teachers of the Churcii of God do not show something of the same spirit. I ask you then, my young fritnds, to use every moans that this wonderful century puts in your power for ascertaining the full meaning of the Bible, to study it with intellects wide awake ami hearts eager to commune witli God, to ropioduce the spirit of the holy men of old in your lives, and — as you have opportunity — to teach to others all the truth that you have made your own. I would not conceal from you that most men are impatient of now truth or new points of view ; but if you liave patience, reverence, self-control, as well as knowledge, they will listen, nnd in the end they will love you ; for, dei)end upon it, truth, after all, is what the people in their inmost souls cry for, and the minister of truth will be reverenced by them as the true minister of God. ' . M. Gkant. ^ow io f^ead tJpe Bible. NO. 3. We must avoid that idolatry of the letter to which human nature is always prone. We must fearlessly encourage historical and critical stuily and frankly accept their best results. I have tried to impress those lessons upon you. And now I can understand some one saying, all that you have told us is important, but is tliere not something more important '? There is. Why should men study the Bible at all ? Only in a minor degree for literary, historical or pro- fessional pui'poses. The all important question to nsk them, is, have you sought to fiTid God ? If not, you have missed the mark. The great object of the Bible is to reveal the true God, the God of grace and judgment. It does this as no other book, no other literature does. Hence its altogether unapproachable value. Hence, too, the obiect you should keep before you every time that you turn to its pages. The one thing needful for a man is that he should find God. Uhtil he finds Him, self will bo the centre of his existence ; and it would be little less absurd for a worm or a midge to fancy itself the centre of this wonderful universe than it is for the greatest king or queen on earth to indulge that fancy. Man is like to a breath. His days are as a shadow tluvt passeth away. But when he finds God, he learns his greatness and the glory of the universe. He rises above the bondage of self and the imperious demands of passion ajid desire. K —17— 1 • Ho finds spiritual iloliverance, pardon, strength, life and joy. This then is the lesson that I am roost anxious to teach. In studying the Bible, bring your souls into contact with the living God whom it reveals. The God of the Old Testament and of the Now is one. It is the fashion to-day to distinguish between Jehovah and Jesus, as Sir Edwin Arnold, in " The Light of the World," does. He distinguishes between — " that God of Abraham mild to His own, but smiting enemies," " that Lord of Moses" or " that dread Jah," and the universal Father, reveal 3d by -Tesus. If this means that men from the time of Abraham conceived of (rod either as tribal or national, no one disputes it ; but if it means more, it is not true. In revealing Himself to raon, God must either raise those whom he chose as his organs or media of revelation to His level, or suit His communica- tions to their faculties, and also to their times, conditions and circum- stances. As He did not do the former, we know that H. did the latter. But from first to last. He is the same, not yet fully understood, any more than the ordinary revelation that He gives of Himself in nature is fully understood. The God of Abraham, of Moses, of the prophets, and of Paul is one God, revealed in the Old Testament, by divers portions and in divers manners, and fully revealed in the Son of Man, who is the brightness of His glory and the express inuige of His Person. Stndyitjg the record of those revelations, we find that God has always been the Saviour and the Friend of man, and the lifting power in human history. There is not an epoch, from the beginning of that long historical movement which is the mirror of universal history and universal law to its consummation m Christ, in which our souls do not burn within us as we cjme in contact with Him. We know from the records on the Assyrian monuments, copied from much more ancient Akkadian inscriptions, that the Hamites who inhabited Babylonia up to the mountains of Armenia had attained to a high degree of civilization before Abraham's day ; and old eastern stories tell us that the migration of the Shemite Abraham and his tribe from the head- waters of the Euphrates to the south-west was because of the idolatries of the people among whom he had lived. That is the human side of the movement which was the origin of the Churcti of God. The divine side is given in the Book of Genesis. Abraham "went out, not knowing whither he went." He had God as his Saviour and Friend, and so that far-off, dimly-discerned epoch had implicit with- in it the Messianic or Christian. " Your Father Abraham," said Jesus to the Jews, " rejoiced to see my day ; and he saw it and was glad." Centuries pass away and the high thought that the God of their fathers is their Friend possesses a nation, so taking the only form in which, in those days, the idea could live. " That the Eternal God is the true deliverer is the fundamental thought of the Mosaic —18- economy," says Ewald. He is the deliverer because Ho is both loving and righteous. '• Whereas, among all the other nations, there was not as yet one nulividnal who grasped this thought of the divine spirit become the deliverance and life of the human spirit, here it not only exerts a living force over Moses, but becomes at the same time the possession and the innermost life of a whole people." This is the key to all that is best in the subsequent history of Israel. As chris- tians, we cannot sympathise with Deborah's exultation over Sisera's murder, or with the blessings she lavishes on Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite ; but none the less, Deborah's faith in Jehovah preserved the light and the life of the world. Strange Saviours some of the judges between the days of Joshua and Samuel seem to us, but none the less they had the root of the matter in them and they did save Israel. For centuries, Jehovah had a conti'oversy with Israel, for as He says, " Thou thonghtest that I was altogether such an one as thy- self" ; butthedivine features of His character cameout to them more and more clearly, and at last were wrought into the spiritual life of that saving I'emnant of the people of whom the prophets were the con- summate flower. Each step in that long process in which He *' drew them with cords of a man, with bands of lovo," each stage of that I marvellous development is worthy of the most patient study. All the time we are in a school in which God is the patient and perfect teucher of erring children. When we come to tiie pages of the evan- gelical prophet or to Pf-alms in which still later singers rapturously recite the loving-kindness of Jtliovah, it seems impossible that the heart of man can know, or his tongue tell, moreof the essence of God's character or of His wondrous identification of Himself witli His people. He trusts these poor children with the heroic confidence with which love refuses to believe any ill of its object— " For He said, surely they are my people, children that will not deal falsely ; so he was their Saviour. In all their aflliction, He was afilicted, and the angel of His presence saved them ; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them ; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old." And yet, all this was only preparatory to the full revelation of God. We have to wait till we come to the Incarnation and the Cross /before we know the heart of God, all that He is and that Ho is willing to do for us, all the depth of our siu and our spiritual weakness. " When we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." It is from this high point, from this observatory of the universe, that we have to review the past and look down the long aisles of the future ; that we have to study the Bible and the history of the church and the work that lies before ourselves. Deliverance from the life of self which is death, spiritual light and stroiij^th are what man has always needed and what he needs to-day as much as ever. The Bible is the record of how God has given these with Himself to man. and of how —ID— I Ho has given tons 11 is Son, in wljom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He who studies the Hiblo from any lower point of view than this is Hkoly to miss that which makes it of mestimablo value to seekers after Clod. It may be tiiat we have here the reason why some scholars, who have investigated the diJlicult questions of Biblical Introduction with admirable truth-loving spirit and taught us much in consecpicncc, have themselves failed to find Him to whom the whole volume point-, and who is found readily by the meek and lowly in heart. Before closing thia series of addresses, I must endeavour to give you a glimpse, for I can do little more, of how it is that Christ's death, more than anything else, infuses spiritual strength into the weak and delivers, them from the power of sin. Suppose that the Queen of our world-wide Empire had constitutionally all the power of the C/ar, and having purposed to do somethuig great for this land, had invited us to co-operate with her ; but that we disbelieving her, or not caring for her wishes, or not thinking that our prosperity could be advanced by anything she could do, went on in our old way of life, each engrossed with his own little matters, glad when things turned out as we had planned and grieved when they went against us. Now, if at this time ; she did something that captivated our hearts and made us sympathise j with the object she was cherishing, the result would be that we would fall in with her ideas and make them our own. We would be filled with her aims and thoughts and all our resources would be thrown in- to the common stock. We would be raiseJ out of self-seeking to a higher plane of life. We would have faith in her, and that faith would be one with love, and we would hope with a strength proportioned to our faith and love for the accomplishment of that high object on which her heart and ours was set. Does this illustration help you to con- ceive of the way in which the death of Jesus drew to God the great i apostle of the (Jentiles and lifted him out of the dead religiosity in ' which he had spent his life ? Previously, he had been apparently a profoundly religious man, but he was self-seeking to the core ; ap- parently enlightened, he was in darkness ; apparently zealous for Je- hovah, he was a blasphemer. He had practised self-denial, to the extent of doing violence to the best instincts of his nature, because he believed that duty so ordered. What was the motive with him all this time ? His thoughts never went beyond self. His object was to ac- \ quire for himself God's favour, and the best way of securing that was j to advance the interests of the church. He was faultless in the eyes of others and for a time his own conscience was at rest, lulled by the zeal and activity of a life that fancied itself in accord with God. But he had a noble nature, notwithstanding the self-seeking natural to man. The higher law asserted its claims, and a discord arose between it and the lower law that he had been obeying. It was *' hard for him -20— to kick nf^'iiinst tlie f,'()atlH." In tliiH way lio wah prepared for that re- voliitioi) of the Christ to and in him that made him a new man. Tlicreaftor, (vhriHt was to hnn the centre of the world's hintory and of his own hfe. Ilis different epistles sliow developments in his theolojjy into which I caimot enter now ; but at all times he could suy from the heart, " Tlio life that l live in thi! flesh, I live hy the faith of the Son of (lod who loved me and f^ave Himself for me." To Paul, as truly as to John, Christ was seen to mediate from all eternity the unseen God to the universn. Man, therefore, being sick, it became Him in the fulness of time to reveal (rod as a physician. Man beinp; sinful, it was necessary t'nat he should come as a Kedeemer. He is a perfect Mediator between (iod and man, because Ho has the natures of both. As our Head, He takes upon Him all our sickness and sin. And not only does the head receive all the pains of its members, but it also communicates its life to them. The truth of His headship explains His death and our life, His atonement and our repentance. His love and the strength we receive. All this is not only what is called a truth of faith. It is susceptible of verification whenever and wherever the conditions are complied with. It is the central fact of every christi'in's life. Our life reproduces His. We are, through our union to Him, redeemed from self and sin, and there is in each of us "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." This view of the work of Christ, along with his insight into the incurable weakness of his own spiritual nature, enabled Paul to present in his epistle to the Romans the first philosophy of universal history that we have. All men are sinners and unable to save themselves. Man can never puri- fy his nature by making self-culture the final end. But God has come to seek and save him in Jesus Christ. United to Him by faitli we have a new life, the characteristics of which are hope and love. Even if losses and crosses come, we rejoice. These trials test us and give us experience and hardihood. Each new victory makes our hope increase, and so we are gradually emancipated from the bondage of self-seeking. Here is the secret of existence— a man finds himself when he finds Christ. What happened in Paul's case has been reproduced in every generation suite in the experience of millions. We find in the cross the pardon of sin and the removal of the sense of guilt. We receive a life that is a daily repenting and a daily rising to newness of life. And what the Lord does for us now, we know to be only an earnest of what He will do, for hope is always combined with faith. Strictly speaking, hope has reference to the future and faith to the past and ! present. We are accustomed to associate uncertainty alike with hope and faith, because in the ordinary affairs of life both rest on probable evi- dence. But, make God the witness as to what He has done and is, and make Him the Promiser of what He will do, and all uncertainty —21- JH romovod, Fftitli tlioii bocomcfl tlin iinclior of the soul and Kivcs ua victory ()\(>r i\w world. We are saved liy hop(! and hope twwv puts to Hliamo, iiovor di.sappoint.s, hecauHO God's love is poured forth in our heartn. Tims furiiished internally, every cliristiaii oiit,'lit to l)e filled with calm coiitidenco and nf{ru){utiuiiH, HtutiuiiM and luiiUHtuiH, aixl to havo Hatisfactory HtatiHticH. (io(i natnod Lovo, wIjoho powor Thoii art I Thy crownlc'HH ohnrch before Thoo staiids, With too much hating in its luMirt, And too ranch Htriving in its handH. for loftior aims on tho part of tho individual and tlio (