^ The other day I was reading a story of a Frenchman who was being entertained by a Christian chief in one of the Pacific Islands. The chief had a Bible, which the Frenchman sneered at, saying that in Europe they had got past that. The chief led his guest out of the house, showed him where they used to cook and eat their meals in cannibal days, and clinched everything by saying, " My friend, if it had not been for that Book, I should have been dining upon you now." ^
3. Understanding comes only to the simple-hearted : " Unto the simple." A simple person is often supposed to be a person who has no understanding or wisdom. But here " simple " means sincere, honest — a person who has a right aim, a right eye. What says the Saviour of such? "If thine eye be single" — rendered sometimes " simple " — if thine eye be simple, " thy whole body shall be full of light." There is the entrance of God's word. " But if thine eye be evil," — if it be double, if it be hypocritical, if it be deceitful, — " thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness ! " And how gracious it is of God, how merciful, that He should put the condition of our receiving the inward light, not upon intellectual and moral capacity. What if He had rested it on intellect, on philosophy, on science, or rank, or natural power of intellect : if He had promised it to the man who could muster different languages, or solve profound and difficult problems ! But, so far from this, it is just the reverse ; for this is what the Spirit of God tells us of His work, " Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called : but God hath chosen the foolish things of ^ J. Thomas, Concerning the King, 57. " J. R. Walker.
30 THE OPENING OF GOD'S WORD
the world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty ; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are : that no flesh should glory in his presence " ; and, it is added, " He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
^ A teacher eminent in scientific research in describing the wondrous beauty and the mysterious structure of a leaf, has said that any tyro can see the facts for himself if he is provided with a leaf and a microscope. But how helpless would the tyro be if he had only the leaf, and not the microscope ! The leaf would be perfect in all its parts, it would contain rare beauty of form, colour, and structure, though the tyro was ignorant of it, and had not a microscope to see it. Without the aid of a microscope, a scientific teacher even could not see the mysterious substance, the strange movements, and the beautiful structure of the leaf. The optical instrument is as necessary for the intelligent as for the ignorant, for the scientific as for the uneducated. If a man were to examine the leaf, without the aid of the instrument, and declare his inability to see any inner beauty, form, and structure in the leaf, the simple answer would be that these are things which can only be microscopically discerned. Now this is not merely the teaching of scientists, it is the teaching of the Apostle. Spiritual things can be seen and known only by a spiritual mind — a mind aided and strengthened by the higher power of vision which the Spirit of God imparts.^
^ There was a literary woman who stood high among book critics. One day in reviewing a book she said, " Who wrote this book ? It is beautifully written, but there is something wrong here and there ! " She proceeded to criticize with a good deal of severity. Some months afterwards this lady became acquainted with the author of the book, fell in love, and married him. She took the same book again aud said, "What a beautiful bookJ There are some mistakes here and there, but they ought to be overlooked." The book was just the same as it had been before, but the critic had changed. When she began to love the author it changed her attitude toward the book. So it is with us and the Bible. People do not love the Bible because they do not love Christ.*
^ W. Simpson. * G. Jackson.
Help from beyond the Hills.
Literature.
Brooks (P.), The Candle of the Lord, 270.
Butler (H. M.), Public School Sermons, 49.
Capen (E. H.), I%e College and the Higher Life, 59.
Cox (S.), The Pilgrim Psalms, 24.
Doney (C. G.), The Throne-Room of the Soul, 173
Hutton (J. A.), At Close QuaHers, 125.
Kelman (J.), Ephemera Eternitatis, 223.
King (T. S.), Christianity and Humanity, 285.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Psalms li.-cxlv., 335.
McNeill (J.), Regent Square Pulpit, iii. 249.