discipline which can be found nowhere so well as in the languages, the logic and the mathematics of the classical college course. True, some of the diligent students of nature have risen above the plane of their disadvantages and stamped themselves upon the ages with a beneficial and everlasting impress. Dwight L. Moody, who was not a college man, addressed and probably impressed more millions upon the subject of religion than any other evangelist of the nineteenth century, and yet how much better he might have fought the good fight and finished his course had he been able to read his great message in the original tongue and deliver it in a better system and better method of theological thought.

These then, are a few of the factoral forces included in the conditions, construction and application of rotund Christian scholarship; and they imply the possession of natural ability or receptive capacity as necessary to successful intellectual diligence. Such scholarly symmetry is never attained in a sluggard's dream; and all the looms and flying shuttles in the college world could never weave a silk purse out of the cartaliginous fibers of a sow's ear. Furthermore, the individual possessed of such natural endowments expanded by unremitting diligence, must come to a consciousness of himself as such without suffering from the effects of explosive self-esteem or a false sense of self-importance. Such a catastrophe he may escape by acquainting himself with a fact according to the general law of heredity that he is largely indebted to his grandmother for the superior endowments of his soul. This point of departure will lead the individual by way of reflection to recognize the existence of a macrocosmic realm of being of which he is only an infinitesimally small organic part. He must come to see this organism in its solidarity of character. He will-he must come to recognize one all-pervasive life principle in the constitution and historic onflow of generic humanity. In such onflow he must also come to see history as the working out of God's great plan of the universe in the use of the free will of man for its accomplishment. This will lead the earnest and the devoutly disposed individual to observe and make a note of

the inseparable yet distinct relation between the objective and subjective, the two complemental forces that are ever mutually interactive in the unfolding of the world's history and in the solution of the problem of human destiny, the most momentous problem of the universe-the problem whose solution will run through all the progressive thinking of the future and parallel with all the unfolding years of time-the problem which will never be completely solved until the great angel shall stand with one foot on sea and one on land and swear that time shall be no

more.

And when the history of the world is written, and the contents of the scroll thereof is unrolled before the everlasting admiration of the spirits of the just made perfect, its most resplendent paragraphs will sparkle with the immortal names, not only of those heroes of gigantic faith who subdued mountains, quenched the violence of fire and put to flight the armies of the aliens ; but also the names of the world's profound, progressive and productive thinkers thinkers who are not afraid to do a little thinking upon their own responsibility-who take to their own intellectual diving bells and plunge beneath the surface of things into the ocean of God's revealing word and works-men whose thoughts sink their roots into the achievements of the past and stretch their branches out and up into the purer and more invigorating air of that great hereafter which is close at hand.

IV.

THE PURPOSE OF THE BIBLE AND FAITH IN ITS TEACHINGS.

BY J. W. LOVE, D.D.

It is claimed that the Bible is more read and studied to-day than any other book that has ever been published. It is also true that no book has ever been subjected to as severe tests of critics of all classes-friendly and unfriendly. The authorship, genuineness and integrity of each of its sixty-six books have been the study of the brainiest men of every age since they were written. In modern times, especially, there is a multitude of investigators from the "lower" to the "higher" critics, divided up into schools and cliques, for and against this written revelation of God to man. It must be admitted, too, that some of what are called the "destructive" critics are often very scholarly men, whose learning entitles them to a respectful hearing. But it is also true that there is a much larger number, equally as learned, who, after a patient and thorough investigation of all attainable facts, sincerely believe the Bible to be a revelation from God, made by men qualified and divinely inspired to communicate its truth to the race under the curse of sin. If, therefore, it comes to the question of whether we are to believe the friends or enemies of the Bible, or as to whose judgment is worthy of the greater confidence, the weight of authority is undoubtedly on the side of those who accept it as the word of God.

But with the believer in the genuineness and integrity of the Holy Scriptures it is not simply a question of which side of the controversy has the larger number of learned advocates, but also of experience in practically testing the truth taught by acceptance of and obedience thereto.

If we admit the existence of a divine sovereign and ruler of the universe, we can easily test the benefits of what purports to

be His will concerning man by living as the Bible teaches we should. Finding by experience that it brings peace and joy of heart to obey divine commands; that it promotes the comfort of the home and the welfare of society to live by this rule of practice will go very far towards confirming believers in the truth of what they have already accepted as true.

It may be said that it is begging the question to ask any one first to believe, and then act upon such belief in order that he may know of its truth. We reply that all knowledge must begin in belief. The old Latin fathers were undoubtedly right in saying: Credo ut intelligam. Froude but gives expression to a universal experience when he says: "The practical effect of a belief is the real test of its soundness.”

only know in part, course, the same is Our limitation, in It is impossible for

It is true, however, that at best we can even in the secular material world, and, of true in the religious and spiritual realm. things infinite and eternal, is a finite mind. us to compass the infinite. But, as has been so often said, “that which is above the finite is not necessarily contrary thereto." The infinite and eternal verities of divine revelation are never contrary to human reason, and may well be accepted by it, especially when, apprehended by the truth, we are lifted out of the lower, natural order of sin-fallen life to the higher planes of real, enjoyable spiritual life. To such an one the chief purpose of the Bible is to reveal the will of God concerning man's redemption from the guilt and consequences of sin.

Of course, in this article, we take for granted that man is a sinner. Whether he became a sinner by the actual fall and disobedience of his generic, natural head in Eden, or in some other way, we are not here called upon to discuss. But that the scriptures clearly teach natural depravity, seems very plain. Few will deny, however, that all men are sinners against the law of God-naturally and practically rebels against divine authority. Observation and experience, as well as scripture, teach this. It must logically follow therefore, that all men are under the condemnation of a violated divine law, and subject to its penalty.

How shall we get rid of a guilty conscience, and escape the penalty of our disobedience? The purpose of the Bible is to tell us.

Still further: We must take for granted that only believers can appreciate and understand God's wonderful love in the gift of His Son to save from the guilt and penalty of sin. If a man does not believe the Bible to be a revelation from God, he cannot, of course, see any purpose in it. It will appear to him only as a fraud, or, at best, as an enigma. He cannot be expected to understand its meaning. In this article we do not, therefore, write for that class. We aim only to suggest to believers what the purpose of God's revelation in the scriptures is for them. Neither do we make any attempt to answer criticism, or give reasons why we believe in the genuineness and integrity of the Bible. All that is assumed to be true, and accepted by those for whom we write. It is simply our desire to call attention to the fact, that the great and main purpose of the Bible is to reveal to man, conscious of sin and guilt, that his Creator and Sovereign has planned for his redemption from the guilt and penalty of sin. That is to say: it is the purpose of the Bible to give promise of a Saviour, and the assurance that this promise has its fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary and the Son of God. Of course, as believers, we accept the truth that this promise was already made in Eden, immediately after the fall and disobedience of our first parents; that they and their posterity might not be given over to eternal despair, but have hope in God to deliver them and theirs from the misery and death of their sin. If any one doubts whether the history of the fall is actual history; if he imagines that it is only fable, or a picture, to account for the universal sense of sin and its misery-as even some teachers of the Bible are willing to concede—he must admit that it was put in the book of Genesis to teach something of importance to know. Yea it is only to sinners under penalty of death that a Saviour can be offered-none others would need Him. To believers in the Bible as a whole, it must be evident, that a Saviour, answering to man's need, was promised very early in the history of the race. Whatever fanciful theory may be