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STRONGHOLD OF TRUTH
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 the 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: "How can this be? Surely it is impos sible; the Church was in existence at least twenty years before the New Testament was written." The Church was certainly before the New Testament, but does it fol low that the Church is above it? That is where a fallacy may creep in. But first, was the Church without a Bible? For those twenty years had the Church no Bible? One of our greatest scholars, C. H . Turner, in the Jour_11al of Theolo gical Studies, has pointed out that while there is a truth in the statement that the Church is before the Bible, yet that if we had said it to any early Christian he would have stared at us with amazement. He would have said: "'vVe have got a Bible, the Old Testament, and it speaks to us of Christ." The Apostle Paul says concerning the Old Testament that, with the simple addition of faith in Christ Jesus, it "is able to make wise unto salvation." This is what St. Paul thought of the Old Testament. It is, however, perfectly true that the Church had no part of the New Testament for at least twenty years. If we would like to add another twenty years we may do so. There was no complete New Testament for a long time after they had the truth; but we ought to notice this: while they had not the written \,Vord they had the spoken Word from the day of Pentecost onwards. The Church came into existence by believing the spoken Word; and as long as the Apostles were at hand, the spoken Word was sufficient. But by and by, when they went from
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