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THE KING’S BUSINESS
position ? It will be a medium. It will not be a hindrance, but a help. When a boy receives a letter „ from his mother, his school fellows may say: “Oh, how per fectly absurd for you to trouble about a bit of paper like th a t!” “Ah,” says the boy, “it is not the paper, it is what is on it. That paper represents my mother’s in terest, my mother’s love; and so far from being a hindrance, it represents and ex presses my mother’s love to me when I cannot be in her presence.” The. Scriptures do two things: They provide truth for our acceptance and ma terial for our experience. That brings us face to face with the Lord Jesus, Christ. So we conclude that it is not reason, not the Church, but the Bible which is the seat of authority. '4. The Nature of this Authority .—It is a spiritual authority.. Words familiar at least to some of us are these: “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation.” It is a bodk of salvation, it is*a guide to spiritual safety. It reveals the Lord Jesus Christ as bur Teacher, our Redeemer, and our Master; our Prophet, Priest, and King. SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY. Authority always declares itself by its 'moral and spiritual proofs. At one time in our Lord’s life His authority was defi nitely questioned: “By what authority doest Thou -these things? Who gave Thee this authority ?” And our Lord replied: “The baptism of John, was it from Heaven or of men?” They saw at once what the reply to that would involve, and said: “We cannot tell.” Quite so. The moral proofs of John’s authority were such, that if they had answered truly they would have com mitted apd condemned themselves. The authority of the Bible, therefore, is spirit ual, because it reveals Christ as the Saviour, and produces spiritual results. Then this authority is supreme. The Bible is supreme over reason. Reason is human. The Bible, though possessing human elements, is guaranteed by what we believe to be Divine inspiration. The Bible is our guide as the light of reason and of human thought. Revelation, because it
comes from God, cannot possibly dishonor reason, which also comes from God. Rea son is the judge of our need of revelation. Reason examines the claims of revelation; but once those claims are accepted, reason takes a subordinate place, and revelation is supreme. An illustration I read years ago on this point may help us to understand i t : One morning in one of the prisons a warrant comes to the governor ordering that a cer tain criminal, who has been condemned, should be executed. What is the governor to do ? He has to examine the warrant. He has to look at its seal; he has to be sure of its signature; he has to take every possible precaution to see that it is gen uine, that it is not a fraud, but that it actually does comes from those in author ity. | When he has thus made sure of that warrant, he has to obey it. He cannot alter the date of the execution; he cannot alter the form of the execution; he cannot do anything but submit himself to that warrant, of whose authenticity he has be come convinced. That shows the place reason has in religion. Reason examines, tests, sifts, inquires, but the moment rea son has become convinced that this or that comes from God, then, like Joshua of old, it says: “What saith my Lord unto His servant ?’’ So though revelation is su preme over reason, reason examines the credentials of revelation and then submits to them. You have this illustrated in a well-known passage. Even an Apostle was not accepted without his message being tested.” At Berea, though St. Paul was heard with respect, yet the people searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so (Acts xvii. 11). And when they were convinced that thq Apostle’s word and the Scriptures agreed, they bowed and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. So that Christ is our Authority, and when we are assured that the Bible is the form in which His word reaches us, we submit to it, and it becomes supreme over our reason and life. BIBLE IS SUPREME Again, the Bible is supreme over the Church. But some one says I “How can
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