THE MINISTRY OF NATURE. 253 



which bars its way, makes a clear path through 

 error and confusion into the open spaces of truth. 



VI. Even in regard to our study of the Scriptures, 

 we owe much to the friendly offices of science. 

 The Bible is inspired, but not so all its readers ; 

 and the most diligent among these will be the 

 readiest to admit that with regard to Biblical 

 criticism, grammar, and rhetoric, the customs of 

 the times in which the various books of Scripture 

 were written, and the state of knowledge to which 

 the peoples had attained who first received those 

 books, the researches of Christian scientists have 

 been of the utmost value. The old-world forms 

 of speech which the inspired writers used as their 

 vernacular, and as the only expressions which 

 would be understood by the men of their times, 

 need to be transfused with the fuller knowledge 

 which we now possess. There is a wide distinction 

 between the real significance of a word or doctrine 

 and its human interpretation ; hence there are 

 passages of Scripture in which there lies a divinely- 

 born truth, perfect and unchanging in its essence, 

 but presented to the mind of man under varying 

 forms in successive ages, just as the beautiful 

 water-insect is unchanged in form although its 

 outline appears distorted from the refraction of 

 the rays of light which make it visible. No one 

 now thinks that the Bible teaches us to believe 

 in the existence of a metal firmament around the 

 confines of our atmosphere. Here, and in many 

 other instances, we owe it to science that now we 

 have truer and more beautiful interpretations of 



