parents are to the welfare of their children. He is our Savior, our companion. our best friend. He is laying himself out for us. We should own his claims, co-operate with his plans and respond to his overtures.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THE BIBLE?

Every scripture is inspired by God, and is useful for teaching, for convincing, for correction of error, and for instruction in right doing, so that the man of God may himself be complete and may be perfectly equipped for every good work.-2 Timothy, 3:16-17.

THIS passage of scripture has long been the subject of

religious controversy. With all the influx of light which has come with enlightened, scholarly biblical criticism, its true exegesis is still an open question. Around its meaning theological war has long been waged, and over its true interpretation many a polemical battle has been fought. If we were to wade through all the rubbish which has been heaped upon it, in the effort to understand its meaning, we would find ourselves engaged in an endless task, but if we were to stand off from it, because its teaching has frequently been distorted and misconstrued, we would leave untouched one of the richest mines of biblical truth. The apostle Paul, that eminent champion of the Christian faith and brilliant expositor of Christianity, here pays a glowing tribute to the value of the scriptures. He assures us that their chief function is to make men wise unto salvation. Their supreme value lies in their instruction in righteousness, the aim of which instruction is to thoroughly equip the man of God for every good work. They are not only valuable on account of what they contain, but on account of the divine influence entering into their production. They are profitable because they were inspired by God, and in turn inspire human thought and life. Although the apostle here asserts the inspiration of the scriptures as a fact, he does not explicitly define the manner in which it took place, nor the length to which it extended.

Touching the manner and extent of inspiration, two theories have long been in the field, both of which have had able advocates. One is that the soul of the scriptures

is of God, but the body was constructed by man. It is maintained that God inspired the thought, but left men at liberty to express the thought as they understood it, and in words most intelligible to them and their contemporaries. When, therefore, errors are found, and inaccurate statements are encountered, they may be explained on the ground of elementary knowledge, or judged by the date when they were written. The other theory contends for verbal and plenary inspiration. Its advocates hold that the divine energy so completely absorbed and controlled the human composers as to insure absolute truth in the most unimportant details, thus rendering the slightest inaccuracy impossible. When, therefore, any errors are met, whether scientific, historic or moral, it is maintained that they either crept in through copyists, or else they are regarded as error because we do not understand them. This theory makes the Bible flawlessly perfect and absolutely inerrant. In this view it is of equal value and authority from Genesis to Revelation, and is not only inspired in every part, but in every word.

Whatever view, however, of inspiration we may take, it must be admitted that as an authority on religion, the Bible is the most valuable book in the world. It is valuable because it outlines the great principles of conduct and points out the path of right. It is valuable because it discloses to us the character of God, and holds before us the highest conceivable destiny. It is valuable because it corrects moral and religious error, and throws a flood of light upon the problems of life, which we can get from no other source. It is profitable because it instructs men in the great subjects of righteousness and incites them to the noblest achievement and most unselfish endeavor.

I remark first: The Bible did not fall out of heaven, but grew from heavenly seed, in human soil. It is not an exotic in human life, coming to us from some distant clime, but it came up from human life, through the inspiration of God, and therefore, contains elements, both human and divine. Unfortunately, there are those who have all but deified this book. Their reverence almost amounts to idolatry. They look upon it as a book fallen down from God. Its pages are to them as sacred as the truth it contains, and its very leaves are the gift of God. They imagine it was written by men as holy as angels, and by hands unstained by sin. To many it possesses a sort of

magic which would make one safer if placed under his pillow at night, and would keep spooks away if placed on the door step. They do not regard it as a gradual evolution, growing through the centuries, until it reached its present form, but look on it as an immediate creation. They forget it has a physical body, as well as a divine soul. They overlook its eventful, unique history, because absorbed by its gracious ministry. They handle it as if it were swung out from the battlements of heaven by a golden cord. They treat it as if it were guarded by angels as it lies on the center table. In their judgment man had little, or no part in its composition and preservation. They think it was produced by the hand of God, and has been preserved by a special providence. They ignore the human elements entering into its composition, except as they were absolutely absorbed and dominated by the divine. They are not satisfied with inspiration of its thought, but read divinity into its every word, its vowels, consonants, its minutest details. They make all its parts of equal value and authority, and look on it as a compendium of knowledge on all subjects.

We still cling to the worth of the Bible, but have moved away from this sort of worship. The attitude of our day may seem less reverent, but it is more intelligent. We know that the Bible did not fall out of heaven. We know that its pages are no more sacred than those of any other book. Its leaves are no more the gift of God than the leaves on the trees. We know that it was not written by men as holy as angels, nor by hands unstained by sin; but by men no better than many men today. We know that it does not possess any magic. One would be no more safe with the Bible under his pillow than with Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. It would not keep spooks away if placed on the door step any more than the old blue back speller. We know that the seed from which the Bible grew were heavenly, but the soil was human. The soul is of God, but the body was constructed by man. The truth inbreathed into the thought of man was divine, but the expression was given by and through man.

What is the Bible? It is a gradual and progressive revelation of God. It is a collection of the most spiritual utterances, of the most spiritual race of the past.* It

*"Signs of Promise," Chap. XVI.