THE SILENCES OF SCRIPTURE. 



85 



independent daubings of a number of house-painters fitted 

 together to form a masterpiece worthy of the greatest artists. 

 The truth is that the critics have been far too narrow in their 

 microscopic study of the Scriptures. Intent on petty details 

 of variation of style, and what they regard as inconsistencies, 

 they have been unable to see the forest for the trees. It is as 

 though one were to concentrate his attention on the tiny frag- 

 ments which make up a great mosaic, peering into the cracks 

 and crevices which separate them, so intently as to lose sight 

 of the majestic Figure portrayed by the whole. 



What, then, is the delineation which in its grandeur transcends 

 a scrutiny too minute ? We have already seen that the silence 

 of Scripture about so much which would have been of interest, 

 which could hardly have been passed over by an ordinary 

 historian, shows that the true subject of these many differing 

 writings is the steady working out of God's providential design 

 in spite of the frequent failures of man, but there is something 

 more than this. The Scriptures combine to display a remarkable 

 and indeed quite unique representation of the character of God. 

 The study of Nature, now so immensely extended by modern 

 facilities for reaching out to distant worlds and for investigating 

 almost infinitesimal details, may lead, nay, has led thoughtful 

 minds to some conception of the Wisdom which could plan and 

 the Power which could execute so grand and so exquisitely 

 ordered a work. But the Creator might have been both mighty 

 and skilful without being good. It is true that there are many 

 indications in Nature which point to beneficence, such as the 

 lavish bounty which has provided for both the necessities and 

 the happiness of the creature, but there is also much which can 

 be interpreted as suggesting cruelty and ruthlessness. The 

 fury of the tempest, the raging of volcanic fires, the shattering 

 earthquake, the ravages of pestilence, the ravening beast of 

 prey and the venomous serpent, the myriad woes and sufferings 

 of mankind, all " Nature, red in tooth and claw," do not these 

 shriek aloud of some malignant Power ? Here where Natural 

 Religion utterly fails. Revelation steps in to present a very 

 different conception. It tells us indeed of a Being whose wrath 

 is terrible, but that wrath is directed against evil. He can 

 whelm the world in Deluge, but it is a world corrupt and filled 

 with violence : He can bring fiery overthrow on whole cities, 

 but they are cities whose " sin is very grievous," whose name 

 has passed into a byword for loathsome and unnatural lust : 



