CHAPTEE IX 



THE TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE 



WE have studied the teachings of science concern- 

 ing man and his environment, let us turn now to the 

 teachings of the Bible. And though eight chapters 

 have been devoted to the teachings of science, and 

 only one to the teachings of the Bible, it is not because 

 I underestimate the importance of the latter. It is 

 more difficult to clearly discover just what are the 

 teachings of Nature in science. The lesson is written 

 in a language foreign to most of us, and one requiring 

 careful study ; and yet once deciphered it is clear. 

 Science attains the laws of Nature by the study of 

 animal and human history. But this record is a his- 

 toiy of continually closer conformity to environment 

 on the part of all advancing forms. The animal king- 

 dom is the clay which is turned, as Job says, to the 

 seal of environment, and it makes little difference 

 whether we study the seal or the impression ; we shall 

 read the same sentence. Environment has stamped 

 its laws on the very structure of man's body and mind. 

 And the old biblical writers read these laws, guided 

 by God's Spirit, in their own hearts, and in those of 

 their neighbors, and in their national history, as the 

 record of God's working, and gave us concrete exam- 

 ples of the results of obedience and disobedience. 

 Hence the teaching of the Bible is always clear and 

 unmistakable. 

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