and suffering of some more saintly fellow-creature, God has graoiously considered this common human neceeeity, He bas not left his creatures to searoh for suoh a ~tandard in their blindness. In every age, in forms and terms such as at the time they could understand, God has given models of truth and duty, He has never left men to mere abstract speculations; in some kind of ordin:uily understood humau t.eaching, by word, or act, or example, God ha,s 111 ways set forth a standard; and so in every age he ca,n make his appeal and say, "To the Law and to the testimony." In t,he first ages of the world the standard was given in personal characters, such as Enoch Methuselah, Noah, Abraham. To this was by-and-by added the revelation of th~ Divine will iu written and spoken words, for which advancing civilization and culture - prepared men. At the very beginning, as the written revelation could not get into t.be hands and use of all men, it was presented for a time in the pictures of an elaborate ceremonial. La~r on it was expressed in the free speech of prophets and teacberN, and then the pictured ceremonials might fade away. At the very last the Divine standard of truth and morals for humanity was exhibited, in its completeness and per- fection, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Truth, duty, virtue, were here among men. Christ was the perfect realization of God's idea. of a moral being. The standard man is not on earth now, but his record remains. That record is in all our hands; it is as if we lived our daily life in the presence of the Divine ideal. We have in our Bible God's great rule of truth and duty. Consciously or unconsciously we do test every action by our standard; all the questions arising in connection with our moral life are brought to the test of the " Law a.nc. the testimony;" J. THE BIBLII EXERTS ITS llOBAL FORCE UPON UB BY THE TRUTHS WHICH IT CON- TAINS AND 'REVEALS. These trnths test all received opinions. Each man really is acoording to his opinions and beliefs; the whole temper and conduct are toned by the truths received. If they are according to the" Law and testimony," their fruit will be righteousness and mercy. The Bible does not, indeed, contain any formulated systeIQ. of theology or of morals, but it does contain such an harmonious setting forth of all nece.ssary truth as, in fact, constitutes a complete system both of doctrine and of duty. The Bible has its own sphere; within this it is infallible. It is the.sphere of character; it is no standard of appeal for geographers, or arithmeticians, or. astrop,omers, or-_ ethnologista, or literati, or philosophers. For all such the Bible is a book of the age,, in which it was written, and it embodies the thought which was the common pro~ perty of the men of the time. Man does not want a written revelation of science, for he has not lost the key which enables him to unlock its mysteries for hiw·self. Man., does need a written revelation of standard morals, because he flung away his key in' Eden, and, with ages of painful searching, he has failed to find it again. Il. THE BIBLE EXERTS IT8 MORAL FORCE BY THE PRINCIPLES WHICH IT EMBODiES, The structure of the Bible compelB us to search out its principles. They do not lie on the surface, like seeds on beaten paths, ready for every passing bird to pick up. They are given to us embodied in history, illustrated in iucidenta of individual li,ves, and in phases of personal experience. _Nothing seems to be said in the New Testa111ent about ecclesiastical politics, -or orders of Church government; but there a.re to be found great principles, which can be wisely adapted in their practical expression to the varying conditions of men in dilferent ages. 'l'liere are no announcements concerning social manners ; there is nothing taught in a direct way concerning monarchy or slavery, for instance; but the Bible gives principles which, gradually gaining sway over the minds of men, constitutionally attemper monarchy, and will after a while banish, slavery from the earth. A principle is more searching than a maxim. Men may think they could have done better with a Bible like the books of Confucius, full of_ maxims, shaping into order the whole minutim of life. Such a Bible could only mak~ automata, not living men. God gives a Bible full of quick effective principles; these,. getting into the soul, are the seeds whence come fiowerings and fruitings of righteous- ness. .A maxim wiU guide us in one case, a principle will put us right in ten thousand_. Circumstances may always limit the application of an express comrnan~ent; a principle fits and shapes itself to every new occasion, as the rising tide into every bay and nook and creek of the winding stream. Ill. THE BIBLE EXERTS 1T8 JIOBAL FOBOE llY THE ELUIPLE WHICH IT PRESENTS, ILs men, except the Lord Ohri~t, are fallible, 11truggling men. Their wrong-doing iij 011, IX. 1-21.) THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 165
never covered over. Yor. never get the impression of a character painted rose-colonr. Tho moral quality of a mRn's action is never confused. Evil is always evil. Wrong• doing in a good man is only worse wrong-doing in view of his goodness; and it is never palliated. There is found in the Bible virtue to incite us and evil to warn us; a great "cloud of witnesses'' putting to shame our meaner lives. But· the great stanrlard example is the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ. He" tries every man that cometh into the world," The final test of moral conduct for us all is the Lord Jesus Christ. Full acceptance with God can come only from being perfectly like Christ. And if the suggestion makes us feel that we a.re far down below him, only just climbing the first ridge of the mountain-side, this is our encouraging assurance," Then shall ye know, if ye follow on to know the Lord."-R. T.