The Bible and the Modern Mind* By WILLIAM CARTER SECR ETA RY O F T H E IN T E R N A T IO N A L PEACE FORUM "The word of. the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.’’— First Samuel 3 : 1 . T HERE was no open vision! There could be none under such circumstances. Sin had blinded Israel’s eyes th a t. she could riot see. Evil had dulled her ears that she could not hear the celestial voices of the soul as she had heard before. Worldly pride had drawn the veil of dense materialism across all her senses and shut out the vision splendid that had been before so oft- times vouchsafed, so that Israel was turned perforce to the word of God, to gain her view, her vision, her perspective of God’s great plan, and eternal purpose concerning her, and the Word became the more precious, the more appreciated as'they investigated it and depended upon it more and more.We today are living in times when even the most sanguine of us must admit there is no open vision, no view, no perspective of God or of our everlasting home. Dense materialism-, sordid commercialism as well as sin and folly of every kind have blinded our eyes to the eternal. Men don’t expect now to walk with God in their gardens in the cool of the day and talk with Him familiarly as Adam talked. They don’t expect to sit in their doors at eventime and entertain celestial visitants as Abraham did. There is no open vision! We cannot have one under such conditions as we are under today. Sin is the obscuring screen. Worldly-mindedness it the veil that shuts us out from the eternal. There is no open vision! ♦ An address (abbreviated) delivered at the Graduating Exercises of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, June 20, 1913. But ah, remember the Word of the Lord remains! And, as we have fewer spiritual visions in this worldly-minded age, even as Israel in the midst of her folly and her sin, so may the faithful remnant of us, like Israel, find the Word of the Lord grow more precious to us day by day as we turn to it more and more for our comfort and encouragement. * * * * Now if such be true you would think that in this materialistic age when there is so little view, so little vision and perspective that the Word of the Lord would be precious unto all, as it is the only thing that will clear away the shadows, enlarge our view and give us at last a glorious vision of the Most High. Contra- wise, however, we find it is an age when doubt is rampant, the Bible most assailed and criticism, even rejection of the very fundamentals of our faith, the most common and familiar. This, however, is not to be wondered at, when we remember that doubt always feeds upon itself, as evil feeds on evil, folly on folly, and sin upon every form of sin and wickedness, Believe Your Beliefs Whenever, for instance, you find a young man saying: “I have my doubts concerning the Bible/’ you don’t, as a rule, find that young man trying to settle his doubts by a study of the Bible, but you find him rather increasing his doubts by a study of Tom Paine, Robert G. Ingersoll, Voltaire, Spencer, Huxley or Darwin. Now it’s
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