The Bible and National Life. By G. CAMPBELL MORGAN. G OD'S two-fold purpose in this.dispensation is to call out the church, and to prepare ' this world for the coming kingdom. The Church's first duty is to bring individual souls to Christ, but its wider influence is to bear testimony to the nations. Its final responsi- bility is 'to preach the Living Word. It is significant to notice the prox- imity of two great houses in Queen Victoria Street. The symbol of The Times Publishing House is a clock with a figure of time; that of the Bible House is an open Bible with the words: "The Word of the Lord endureth forever." The Times is a mirror in which we see daily change, the Bible is a mirror in which we see things that never change—the practices of Time contrasted with the principles of Eternity. The Value of the Bible in National Life. The Book is God- breathed, and only inspired people can understand its spiritual teaching. But it has values for men whose eyes have not been opened to see these deeper things. , It .has set up moral standards which produce great civil- izations But we are in grave peril of loosening these, standards. We are largely acting in our national life as though we had o'utgrown the B l ^God's Word declares that the bedrock of morality is to know and love Him From His Word we learn the sacredness of life, the sanctity of marriage, the position of the child—"in the midst"—the conceptions of God which issue in love for the,helpless. A policeman lifts, his hand in the busy thoroughfare by the Mansion House and London's traffic is stopped—for the safety of one chi]5l! Where did the , man learn the value of that child? Where were .our great philantnropies born? No country where the Bible has not come has ever made provision for the unfit but has rather gone on the principle of the survival of the fittest. , t h e Biblical Conception of Man Makes for His Uplifting. When we see how he was created, his capacity, and God's high purpose for every human ife; then we are appalled at his ruin and degradation. Apart from the Bible, we might ,be content with an animal life, with amusements, and even with drunkenness. But when we learn that man was made to' "be filled with the Spirit," we understand the yearning that filled the Apostle Paul as he looked at Athens—fair and cultivated in ap- pearance, but failing to fulfill the divine conception: J The Bible Alone Contains the Evangel of the Forgiveness of bins. This doctrine is demonstrated by experience,, and proved, not by power to sin, but by hatred of it. No one can gain mastery over sin except by consciousness of sins forgiven. . This Evangel Begets a Passion for Souls. A critic may explain the conversion of a drunkard by the theory of "mental therapeutics, ' the in- fluence of mind upon mind. ' Yes, but the argument peculiar to Christian- ity is that the man who is set free from his sin becomes a. flaming mis- sionary to get others, converted. . . What is the responsibility of the Church in this matter? It is to in- carnate and proclaim the Bible. The abiding need is knowledge of the Word, obedience to the Word, and thus proclamation of the Word. — T H E LONDON CHRISTIAN.
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