STRONGHOLD OF TRUTH
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if we do a little more trembling at God's Vvor~, t~at would be the highest criticism, and provide a ~n~enon that would settle almost everything for us. This 1s the trouble, that people take the lower and the higher crit icism, but forget the third, the highest. Yet on the other hand there are numbers of humble souls who know far more of the truth of Scripture than the greatest scholar?. As James Hamilton once said: "A Christian on his knees sees farther than a philosopher on his tip-toes." ·when these three are held together I have no fear about criticism. If you want to appreciate the pictures on stained-glass windows, you must go inside the c~ur~h; and if you want to know the Bible you must go mstde, and not judge from the outside. Nor with reason only, but with conscience, and heart, and soul, and will ; and when the whole nature responds to the highest criticism, rationalising critical theories can go on until doomsday without doing any harm. VII. The Work of the Bible. What does the Bible do? We are now coming to more personal matters. I can only barely mention this, though it is a Bible-reading in itself. The Bible is spoken of as God's seed. Luke 8:11; Jas. 1 :21 "The seed is the word of God ;" We are born of the word, 1 Pet. 1 :23. We grow by the word, 1 Pet. 2 :2. We are cleansed by the word, John 15 :3. We are sanctified by the word, John 17 :17. We are protected by the word, Eph. 6 :17, "The sword of the Spirit." We are edified by the word, Acts 20 :32, "Able to build you up." We are illuminated by the word, Psa. 119 :105, "Thy word is a lamp to my feet." We are converted by the word, Psa, 19 :11, and we are satisfied with the word, Psa. 119:103, "How sweet are Thy words to my mouth." Surely a word that can do all this must have power in it. There is a Latin phrase, solvitur amb1tla11do, which word of God in exper ience is the greatest proof we can have, and if we allow the things I have mentioned to become part and parcel of our life, we shall know what the power of God means.
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