Life in the Word 157 says: “This completes my work as a connected argument, founded wholly upon the facts and principles accumulated by modern science; and it leads, i f my facts are substantially correct and my reasoning sound, to one great and definite con clusion, that man, the culmination of conscious organic life, has been developed HERE ONLY in the whole vast material universe we see around us.” Thus we have the surprising fact that one of the foremost living exponents of the teachings of science, a man who cer tainly attaches no importance to the teachings of Scripture, has been at great pains to show that the earth is, after all, the center of, and most important place in, the whole universe ; and that, so far as any purpose can be detected in it, the universe may well be supposed to exist for the sole benefit of the earth, and for the sake of producing therein those peculiar conditions necessary for the existence and maintenance of life. We may say then that, considered merely as a book of in struction, the Bible is, as to every subject whereof it treats, not merely abreast of, but far ahead of, the learning of these and all other times, whether past or future. The impressions it makes upon believing minds are the impressions of truth, even though (as in the instance we have just been considering) contemporary science may give, as its settled conclusions, im pressions directly to the contrary. Unlike other books of instruction THE BIBLE DOES NOT BECOME OBSOLETE.' This is a fact of immense significance; and its only explanation is that the Bible is a LIVING book, the Word of the living God. All other books partake of the infirmity of their authors, and are either dying or dead. On the other hand, “The Word of God is living.” VI. THE BIBLE IS INDESTRUCTIBLE The Bible manifests the possession qf inherent and im perishable life in that it survives all the attempts that have been made to destroy it.
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