THE BIBLE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. 



45 



his leader, and gave the first witness to the true position of our 

 Lord. Nazareth and Joseph could wait, to be cleared up later on. 



Here we close. Truth is one because God is one. The same 

 God who created the world of matter gave us His Son into the 

 world of the soul. He who so carefully formed the mind of man, 

 with all its desires after rationality, perfection, and eternity, also 

 put into our hands the Bible as we have it to-day. We must 

 always seek for the Unification of our knowledge, for we cannot 

 believe two contradictory things. We can therefore be grateful 

 to the experts for their searching examination into every nook 

 and corner of the varied regions on which the Bible touches, for 

 every bit of true discovery brings the Unification nearer; but we 

 ever remember that only the Spirit of God who wrote this Book 

 can read it, that the Bible not only was, but is inspired, and will 

 never lose its power. It is in this thought that w^e come on the 

 extraordinary value of the present. The rule is, " Iirst the blade, 

 then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. ' ' The critic may handle 

 ably enough the blade and the preparatory outer form, the ear 

 of straw, but if he suggests that is the whole, his judgment is 

 spiritually worthless, for he proves himself blind to the treasure 

 within. It is the " full corn in the ear," the ever-new and ever- 

 working life that lies hidden inside, that is received into the heart 

 and changes the conduct. All else is but means to this end. Here 

 is the one proof that never fails while the centuries come and go. 

 When our eyes are opened and we know Christ as our Saviour 

 and King, we see Him like a lighthouse in the middle of history, 

 throwing His long beams backward over the obscure and painful 

 details of the past, as well as forward over the unknown future. 

 There is nothing to fear either way. We came from the lowest, 

 and we are, by His grace, to rise to the highest. But His chief 

 work lies ever in the present. ' ' To-day if ye will hear His voice, " 

 and the only time over which we have control is to-day. " Behold, 

 now is the day of salvation," and our personal history is one 

 prolonged now. " The Spirit and the Bride say. Come." The 

 appeal to the human will to exert itself is made both by the 

 divine ever-present Spirit and by the living Church that walks 

 the earth in all humility, and by these voices God fulfils His 

 great purpose for mankind, that of " bringing many sons unto 

 glory," and gathering around His Throne " a great multitude that 

 no man can number." 



Discussion. 



Lt.-Col. BiDDULPH said, with reference to a God of Love and the 

 Imprecatory Psalms : The Divine Unity forbids us to regard the 

 Almighty in any single attribute at the expense of His other attri- 

 butes. Thus, if His love be taken regardless of His holiness, justice, 

 and hatred of sin, we should not get the God of Revelation. At 



