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STRONGHOLD OF TRUTH
a believer, as a result of this revelation. "The word of the Lord came to Abraham" (Gen. 15 :1). Indeed, we can go back to Adam, and find that everything presup poses a Divine revelation, which is the foundation of all the religion, whether individual or corporate, that the world has ever seen. Divine revelation, it is difficult to see how it can be the seat of authority. The Church can not embody, certainly cannot create its Creator. So we come back to this, that the seat of authority is the Bible. And if God has spoken pre-eminently through the Bible, then the Bible is pre-eminently our authority. 'vVe believe the Bible to be our authority, the seat of authority, because it preserves the revelation of Christ in its purest and clearest form. Christianity is an historic religion. We are a long way from the commencement of Christianity. It started centuries ago, and has been ever since an historic religion. Now what we need today, in this twentieth century, is the very best form of that his toric religion which we can find. It does not at all matter where it is, or what it is, or how it has come, so Jong as we can make sure that we have the best available form of God's revelation in Christ. It might come through a man, or it might come through an institution, or through a book; but we need not mind in the least about the vehicle, so long as we can make sure that we have got the genuine revelation. Greatest Book Now Christianity is at once life and literature. The life seems to require the literature for its nourishment. As already noticed, it is at least significant that all the great religions of the world have their books. It has seemed as though a book were really necessary for the ~aintenance and continuation of all religion. Literature 1~ the nearest possible approach to reliability. Truth in literary form has four qualities which are pre-eminently ~ecessary. for a world-wide religion : (a) Durability; litera scnpta manet; the Written Word abides. There is a durability about any written form of communication
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