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The Fundamentals were serious words, too, and weighty, as human utterances go. They dealt with the most important affairs and interests of the nation that regards itself as the greatest on earth. But they were not “the words of eternal life.” And for all that the occasion was So recent, and the subject matter so impor tant, it is doubtful if any person can now recall a single sen tence of that great message. Few, indeed, would care to do so, or would receive the slightest benefit therefrom, if they could. The words of kings, and emperors, and presidents, are dying words. From the moment of their utterance they begin to perish; but “the Word of God is living.” Being the utter ance of the living God that Word can never pass away. The last of the three passages which speaks of the growth of the Word of God is in Acts 19; and again the context adds greatly to the impressiveness of the lesson taught by the pas sage. - The scene of the first of the three incidents was in Jerusa lem, of the second in Caesarea, just west of Galilee, and of the third in Ephesus, a Gentile city. Thus there is special men tion made of the growth of the Word of God in Judea, in Palestine outside of Judea, and in the Gentile regions beyond. This would seem to signify that the Word of God was not to be limited to territorial boundary, but was to spread and grow in every part of the earth. The Apostle Paul had spent two years ip Ephesus, preach ing to such purpose that “all they which dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” And God, moreover, “wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul” (Acts 19:10, 11). One result of this ministry was that “many of them which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men; and they counted the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed” (verses 19, 20).
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