Unity of the Bible to Its Inspiration 61 tracing the “Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament.” He shows that although the books of the New Testament are not even arranged in the order of their production, that order could not, in one instance, be changed without impairing or destroying the symmetry of the whole book; and that there is a regular progress in the unfolding of doctrine from the Gospel according to Matthew to the Revelation of St. John. A wider examination will show the very same progress of doctrine in the whole Bible. Most wonderful of all, this moral and didactic unity could not be fully understood till the Book was completed. The progress of preparation, like a scaffolding about a building, obscured its beauty; but when John placed the cap-stone in position and declared that nothing further should be added, the scaffolding fell and a grand cathedral was revealed. 8. T h e u n i t y i s s c i e n t i f i c . The Bible is not a scien- tific book, but it follows one consistent law. Like an engine on its own track, it thunders across the track of science, but is never diverted from its own. ■ No direct teaching or anticipation of scientific truth is here found. (2). No scientific fact is ever misstated, though common, popular phraseology may be employed. (3).. An elastic set of terms is used, which contain, in germ, all scientific truth as the acorn enfolds the oak. These statements deserve a little amplification, as this has been supposed to be the weak side of the Bible. Yet, after a study of the Word on the one hand and natural science on the other, I believe we tnay safely challenge any living man to bring one well-established fact of science against which the Bible really and irreconcilably militates 1 God led inspired men to use such language, as that with- out revealing scientific facts in advance, it accurately accom- modates itself to them when discovered. The language is so elastic and flexible as to contract itself to the narrowness of ignorance, and yet expand itself to the
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