from the rest to be the depositary of a clearer revelation, and its records have become available for the instruction of the world. Meantime the growth of the knowledge of the laws of nature has added enormously to the data on which we can reason; and at the same time there has come into our minds a loftier standard of morality in both its human and Divine aspects.

Thus there are three revelations made by God to man: firstly, at all times by His works, secondly in history by His Word, and thirdly always now by His Spirit communing with our spirit.

1. The first of these has been adverted to slightly in the last chapter, and will be further reviewed when we come to the story of Creation. But in truth it fills all the volumes of modern science, and every day new discoveries are disclosing to our view further testimony to the power, wisdom, and beneficence of God exhibited in every sphere of what we call nature. Every fresh contribution to our stock of knowledge is a new witness to the God Who prepared and Who maintains the amazing scheme of the universe.

But those who know most are the most deeply

CHAP. II]

BY WORKS

21

sensible how scanty, imperfect, and limited even our fullest knowledge is, and what fields of unknown perfection on every side lie beyond our utmost gaze. Therefore they are the first to acknowledge that the human mind is too feeble to penetrate the deep secrets of the infinite, and that even in what it is able partly to grasp it falls into frequent errors, which patient and gradual research from time to time enables us to discover and correct. Yet these errors, and these acknowledged limitations of our understanding in no degree impeach or diminish the great truth, that the study of the works of nature, the further it is pushed, brings ever a clearer and fuller demonstration of the infinite attributes of the Almighty Power which presides over them all.

2. A like degree of reserve and caution, guided by reverent inquiry, is incumbent on us when considering such revelations as God has been pleased to make in words to man or through man. These are chiefly contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. But we must remember that the selection of these writings was not made by God Himself, but only by human authority, in the persons of Jewish scribes or Christian ecclesiastics. They have, moreover, come down to us

at first in oral tradition; then by being committed to writing, and copied by a long series of transcribers, the earliest documents which we possess being not older than the fourth century of our era. But these ancient manuscripts differ from each other in numberless passages, not in general of much importance, but enough to show that there was no inspiration of infallible accuracy in the hands through which they have passed. Being also written in languages of which our knowledge is at best not perfect, there is confessedly a certain liability to error in the translation of them into English. All these circumstances render it necessary to examine the writings with scrupulous care, in order to disentangle them from the human errors which originally, or in the course of time, have tended to impair their correctness or authority.

But when we have thus arrived at a more or less accurate text, we have next to consider how far the contents can be said to be truly a Divine inspiration. Now they do not themselves claim this authority except in a very limited number of passages. We must indeed recognise it in the narrative of the Creation, as one that could not have been derived from human tradition. We must also accept it in what are expressly Divine

CHAP. II]

IN SCRIPTURE

23

commands or statements, whether in the Old Testament or the New, keeping, however, in mind that some of these are clearly allegorical, such as, for instance, those in the Books of Job and Jonah, or some of the sayings of the prophets, or it may be the account of the temptations of our Lord in the wilderness. But even in the case of what appear to be Divine commands we must be careful to distinguish between those which are absolute and for all time, and those which were only adapted to the conditions of the moment, such as those of ritual or those of which Christ said For the hardness of your heart Moses gave you this precept.' And further, all such narratives as are of merely human history must be subjected to the same tests as other human histories. Tried by these they are sometimes confirmed, sometimes proved to be to a certain degree inaccurate.

Last of all, it is to be remembered that, even when God Himself has spoken to men, those who have heard Him have sometimes failed to apprehend His true meaning. An example of this occurs in the Gospels in regard to our Lord's statement respecting the end of the world. It is quite clear from the evangelist's narrative that the disciples who heard it mixed up this announcement with the

1

declaration respecting the destruction of Jerusalem. St. Matthew, after recording our Lord's prediction relating to the latter, says: Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.' And so impressed were the apostles with the idea that this should come to pass in their time that St. Paul says: Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up into heaven.' 2 In other respects, too, they sometimes failed to comprehend their Lord's teaching. Although His last words to them before His ascension were 'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,' and the Holy Ghost had endowed them with tongues to enable them to fulfil this command, yet it needed a special vision to St. Peter to make them comprehend that their mission was to the Gentiles as much as to the Jews.

1 Matt. xxiv. 29.

2 1 Thess. iv. 17.