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the sense o f the beautiful and sublime, to obtain for the Bible a new hold upon the attention o f cultivated people. But its sa cred character is thus lost. It is merely a book among books—o f value for intellec tual culture, but no more the one book, able to make us wise unto salvation, to which we come upon the bended knee, praying for that light from the Spirit who inspired it, without which we read in vain). INSEPARABLE BOOKS It is probable that some o f those who are undermining the faith o f men in the Old Testament, are desirous o f preserv ing a measure o f faith in the New. But' 1 the two cannot be { separated. W e can explain the appearing o f Jesus and His teachings only, by accepting the covenant relation o f the Jews, the law and ritual as Divinely appointed, and the Divine inspi ration o f their prophets. Taken as a whole, there is a beautiful unity, God’s purpose in the Incarnation, running like a golden thread through all. There is a beginning, middle, and end, but the end separated from the beginning is unintelligible. It is a loud modern cry that we give up the traditional Christ o f the Church, and go back to the historical Christ. W e must rediscover the long-lost Jesus. W e must by criticism of the gospels learn who He was, and how much o f what He is reported in them to have said and done, He did, in fact, say and do. W e can regard nothing as settled; all must be examined anew. Endless questions here arise: Who the writers o f the several Gospels, the time of their composition, their relations to one another, their accuracy, the rule o f inter pretation, and the like. The same ques tions arise as to the Epistles. The discus sions o f learned scholars have been minute and long drawn out, and, we may add, almost fruitless, because without any agreement o f results as to the one point in question, the person o f the Lord. Foot note— (It is to be noted that those who reject the personality o f God make; the knowledge o f Him to be intellectual only. As said by on e: “ Theology is not
them living from four to ten hundred years before Jesus, and belonging to a people we should now call half-civilized . . . .It, therefore, has no -authority, and if an appeal is made to some command in it, we answer that nobody knows when it was given, by whom or to whom. The physics o f the Bible are shown to be a false science, its metaphysics false philosophy, its history often mistaken.” A M ILLSTONE THEORY A very recent writer, Professor Gold- win Smith, in a magazine article (1895) entitled “ Christianity’s Millstone,” affirms the Old Testament to be this millstone. The New Testament must be separated from the O ld; the two should not be bound up in the same volume. “ The time has surely come when, as a supernatural revelation, the Old Testament should frankly, though reverently, be laid aside, and nevermore allowed to cloud the vision o f free enquiry, or to cast the shadow o f primal religion on our modern life.” Foot note— (Some ,are now making an attempt to accredit the Bible by present ing it as a book for literary study. It is said that by “a judicious selection” o f its most graphic and eloquent passages, it may be made a sourte o f literary, as well as spiritual, stimulation. As expressed by one writer: “Who shall say that it is not to be included in the curriculum o f polite learning as a. theme, perhaps o f equal moment with Shakespeare?” This is meant to do the Bible high honor. But how could we find a more significant sign that it is ceasing to be regarded as an inspired book, unfolding to men the character and purpose o f God, His mercy and grace in His Son, salvation from sin, and the, terrors o f judg ment? Instead o f being read as a book in which the voice o f God is heard calling all to repentance, to obedience, and to ' righteousness, a voice which no man may disregard, buj at the peril o f his soul, we are told to read it as literature—a collec tion o f elegant extracts, o f biblical master pieces. Doubtless the purpose is by appeal ing to the literary taste, the imagination,
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