316 THE VEX. ARCHDEACON POTTEK^ M.A.. OX THE IXFLUENCE 



If we had reason to believe that real spiritual truth could not 

 be conveyed except through the medium of perfect human 

 knowledge, then the discovery of derivation from myth or 

 imperfect tradition might spoil our faith. But this is a wrong 

 conception. Our Lord himself must have been limited in his 

 historical and scientific knowledge, for, if not, why did He sit at 

 the feet of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions : 

 but if His human knowledge was imperfect, much more that of 

 the ancient writers of the Jewish Scriptures. Inspired they 

 were, doubtless : and yet not so perfectly as was the Perfect 

 Man. But as in His case, so in theirs, their inspiration was of 

 things concerning the soul and spiritual life, not of matters which 

 concern the intellect and material things. 



But we may go further, and hold that in Old Testament 

 records the writers showed their special and higher inspiration 

 by framing their record into a form which taught nobler and 

 higher truth.* This was notably so with regard to the 

 oneness of God, which comes out clearly in the Hebrew and 

 very dimly, and only occasionally, in the Babylonian records. 

 If men would only clearly perceive and grasp this fact that 

 revelation and inspiration do not convey certain knowledge of 

 any kind to man except that which directly acts on human 

 will, desires and life, many misconceptions would be cleare<l 

 away. We should no longer seek for the impossible and 

 unrealizable attainment of infallible truth of a non-spiritual 

 kind, the search for which has led into divisions and strife and 

 false pretensions all through the history of the Christian church 

 and now divides the Christian world. But we should attain 

 that real unity which our Lord prayed for, based upon a 

 common acceptance of common truths, which, however, contain 

 no element at all in them, l>\\t that which acts directly r.n 

 spiritual life. 



A clear grasp of this principle would also aid in solving a 

 (juestion now exeici.sing the minds of those in authority in the 

 Church, viz., when and liow far is it their duty to inhibit 



* In saying thi.s, however, I do not mean to imply that the Bahy Ionian 

 myths and legends were not also a form in which revelation was 

 conveyed. I do not think we have any right to assume that revelation 

 or inspii'ation are limited to Jewish and Christian writers. Through 

 history, myth, and legend, all nations have expressed truths revealed bv 

 God's Spirit to man's spirit. But Judaism and Christianity were higher 

 forms in which these truths were conveyed, as men had been prepared 

 by other teachers to receive these higher truths. 



