24:2 THE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 



The Bible treats of three subjects Nature, Man, and 

 God and the relations of each of these to the others. 

 I have tried to present to you in the first chapter the 

 biblical conception of Nature and its relation to God. 

 In its relation to man it is his manifestation to us, 

 and, in its widest sense, the sum of the means and 

 modes through which he develops, aids, and educates 

 us. And in this conception I find science to be 

 strictly in accord with scripture. 



Now what is the scriptural idea of man ? Man in- 

 terests us especially in three aspects. He is a cor- 

 poreal being ; he is an intellectual being ; he is a moral 

 being, with feelings, will, and personality. 



Man's body. Plato considered the body as a source 

 of evil and a hindrance to all higher life. And Plato 

 was by no means alone in this. The Bible takes a 

 very different view. Neglect of the body is always 

 rebuked. The only place, so far as I can find, where 

 the body is called vile is where it is compared with the 

 glorious body into which it is to be transformed. 

 "Your bodies," writes Paul to the Corinthians, "are 

 members of Christ," "temples of the Holy Ghost." 

 But the Bible teaches that the body is to be the ser- 

 vant, not the ruler, of the spirit. " I keep under my 

 body, and bring it into subjection," continues Paul. 

 Here again science is strictly in accord with scripture. 



Man is an intellectual being. I need not quote the 

 praises of knowledge in the Old Testament. They 

 must be fresh in your mind. But the practical Peter 

 writes, " giving all diligence add to your faith virtue ; 

 and to virtue knowledge." And Paul prays that the 

 love of the Ephesians may " abound more and more in 

 knowledge and in all judgment." But the important 



