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them comes from God. They are what Tennyson calls “broken lights.” They are lights, but they are broken. But there is one great difference be tween them and Christianity: in each of these, man is : seeking God; in. Christianity, God is seeking man. These religions are aspirations; Christianity is a revelation. And so, we conclude that God has spoken, and this message is in the Bible or nowhere else. It calls for a personal test from every one of us. In the present day a great deal is said, and rightly, about the argu ment from experience. In 2 Peter 1: 16-21, we see three things—(1) Christ, (2) prophecy, and (3) expe rience—Christ as revealed to the Apostles on the Mount of Transfigur ation; then the “word of prophecy; and then the word of prophecy made more sure by the light shining, until the day dawn and the day star arises in our hearts. These are the three things—Prophecy in the Old Testa ment. | Christ in the New, and both together verified by personal experi ence—“In your hearts.” If we will put them to the test, we shall have a verification in our own souls, and then will come the strongest possible proof that the Bible comes from God. There is no other Book in tne world that will so verify itself to human experience, because it con tains and embodies a Divine revela tion. And thus we have the matter entirely in our own hands. What ever may be said about history and philosophy and morality, the crown ing point is : What is the Bible to me? And when the Bible is really and truly in my own heart and life, I cannot oossibly doubt that it comes from God. “Father of mercies, in Thy word Whaf endless glory shines ; For ever by Thy Name adored For these celestial lines!”
great phrilosophers, great poets, and great writers of prose, and yet not one of them has given an ethical idea that we cannot find' in this Book. Then, too, we notice, as Professor Romanes has said, that the world out grows the teaching of other men, but it has not outgrown the teaching of Jesus Christ. One of the most strik ing things is that'we have not out grown the teaching of the Man who lived and died in one of the narrow est countries—that of the Jews. All this is an attestation. (c) Here is the third of these proofs or attestations, namely, the re sults of Christianity. Observe the effects of Christianity on life—the Father revealing, the Son saving, and the Spirit equipping. Life is the problem, and Christ is the solution; life is the question, and Christ is the answer. If you want to see the re sults of Christianity, test it by other religions. If we would know what Confucianism has done, let us look at China; if we would know what Budd hism has done, let us look at India; if we would know what Islam has done, let us look at Turkey and Per sia. Some years ago when I wasAn Damascus, looking oyer that magnifi cent mosque which used to be a Christian church, I noticed that the Turkey carpets on the ground were all fastened together roughly with thread, and I said to the dragoman: >“Why are all these carpets fastened like this?': He said:. “To keep those who come to pray from stealing them!” This is what Islam means in the matter of ethics—it has no idea of the connection between cause and effect, between principle and prac tice. BROKEN LIGHTS. Of course, we do not despise any of these religions to which ! have re ferred. Everything that is good in
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