206 THK REV. CANON JAMKS 0. HANNAY, M.A., ON 



presumptuous for any of us to think that we can add to our know- 

 ledge of it. Yet I believe this to be altogether a mistake. Scripture 

 is, I must think, an unexhausted mine, from which many new aspects 

 of well-known truths will hereafter be unearthed. The belief of 

 every disciple of Christ, while here on earth, is imperfect. Nor is 

 this true only of the individual. Large masses of professing 

 Christians have held ideas of God which were not only imperfect 

 but seriously mistaken. For centuries man's conceptions of God 

 were coloured by Pagan ideas. And this state of things is by no 

 means at an end even yet. The jangling of Christians has continued 

 so long, and grown to such an extent of late, that every possible 

 idea of God, from the Loving Creator of heaven and earth and the 

 ever-blessed Saviour of mankind, to a Being Who, though He may 

 have made the world and all that is in it, is altogether incapable of 

 controlling it, is taught by somebody and accepted by those under 

 his influence. 



Is it wonderful that under these circumstances there are thou- 

 sands in England who do not fully understand Him Whom they 

 worship, or what He is doing for the salvation of the world ? What 

 can the guide of souls do in such a case ? Well, at least He can 

 do this. He sees that our belief after all these centuries is still 

 imperfect, and He must do the best He can with what there is of it. 

 It is most saddening, no doubt, to find that the Scripture picture of 

 the Word of the Eternal Father, descending to earth, taking our 

 nature and rescuing us from the bondage of sin, by the impartation 

 of the redeemed and exalted humanity of the Saviour, through the 

 agency of the Divine Spirit, does not at once win the heart and 

 produce the joyful and grateful submission of the perishing soul to 

 the influence of the living waters of pardon and the streams of 

 Divine life contained in the life, death, resurrection and ascension 

 of the Man, Christ Jesus. But what does He find instead ? He 

 finds in an unexpected number of hearts a desire to do God's will 

 as far as they can see it. He finds the unexpected believers ready 

 to offer their lives for the country's service. He finds them cheerful 

 and contented to live a life of exposure, wretchedness, and privation 

 so long as they can save their countrymen and women from the 

 horrors which the inhabitants of other countries have had to endure. 

 He finds them ready to risk their lives for their neighbours' welfare, 

 or for some of their comrades, or it may be for their regiment. But 



