silenced beyond the confines of the pulpit, is loud within it. But the reaction will surely come. God's people will assert themselves and maintain their rights in the safeguarding of truth. Paul says, in this very letter, in which he laments the inroads of error, "Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth; having this seal"-like a twofold inscription on the sides of an impregnable rock— "The Lord knoweth them that are his"; and, "Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness." In that double seal rests our assurance of the final triumph of truth and righteousness.

HOW TO READ IT

Take, read! It should be read honestly.-Systematically.― Critically.- Practically.— Prayerfully.— The unfailing light.

Take, read! The most remarkable book of the fourth century was "The Confessions" of Augustine; the most remarkable man of that time was its learned author; and the most remarkable woman was Monica, his mother. She had dedicated him to the ministry in his infancy. When he left home to pursue his education she gave him a Bible with her fond farewell. As time passed, in the freethinking atmosphere of the Universities, he suffered a total eclipse of faith. He wandered farther and farther from the true religion until he found himself in the cold region of doubt and intellectual despair. He was sitting in a garden at Rome, lost in despondency, when a child's voice was heard in the distance singing a song with this refrain, "Tolle, lege." As he entered the house his eyes fell upon his neglected Bible, Tolle, lege! "Take, read!" And, reading, his faith came back to him.

I wonder how many Bibles there are inscribed with these words by a loving mother's hand: "Thy

Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path"? My mother wrote it on the fly-leaf of the Bible she gave me when I left home. I was going out into the world, away from the influence of home and the family altar, no more to be tethered by a mother's apron-strings. It was the best she could do: to give me a prayer and a light for my pathway.

Have you such a Bible? Where is it? In some forgotten place? On the top-shelf of your bookcase, covered with dust? Tolle, lege! Take it down, brush away the dust, and read it!

But why read the Bible? Because we need light; and this Book professes to be a light for the journey of life. We walk in darkness—the darkness of sin and sorrow, of doubt and unbelief. We stumble on the dark mountains. He is a singularly fortunate man who, in front of the great problems that have to do with life and immortality, does not feel the need of a light to walk by.

But how shall we read it? That depends altogether on whether we believe it or not. You may not be a Christian; you may never have accepted Christ as your Saviour, or the Bible as your spiritual guide. In any case, however, it would be well to read it.

It should be read honestly.-You say you want to know, to begin with, whether it is the Word of God. This is its claim; and the only way to refute or verify that claim is to open the Book and

search it. But you must do that without bias. The Bible is entitled to a "square deal." So much is due from you as an honest man.

It is, however, not an easy thing to approach the Bible without prejudice in these days. The air is so full of anti-Biblical sentiment that a hostile bias is almost inevitable, in the nature of the case. In some of our theological seminaries the students are exhorted to read the Bible as mere literature. They are advised beforehand that its trustworthiness is an old-wives' fable, a fond mother's dream, to be put away with other childish things. Thus the bias pro is supplanted by a bias contra; and fair dealing is practically out of the question.

It is obvious that if there is to be no bias in favor of the truth of Scripture there should certainly be no bias against it. So much is necessary in the interest of common honesty. If any man will thus address himself to the careful reading of this Book, with a mind open to conviction, his verdict is a foregone conclusion. He will surely come to regard it as the veritable Word of God. But suppose he decides that it is not so? Shall he then go on reading it? Just as he chooses. It then becomes a matter of relative unimportance whether he reads it or not. To be sure, it is the great masterpiece of literature and he would be wise to familiarize himself with its poetry, its eloquence, its philosophy, etc. But, after all, he will take only the same sort of interest in the Bible as in Plutarch's "Lives" or Shakespeare's plays or

"Æsop's Fables" or the "Arabian Nights." He reads only because he perceives that he can not be liberally educated without it.

But suppose that, on examination, the Book commends itself to him as the true and trustworthy Word of God? Then it follows that he must read it in a different way. As an honest man he stands now committed to its truth. If he be a minister, he must honestly maintain and defend it. If he be a church member he will find that loyalty to the Scriptures is involved in his covenant vow. The truth of the Book has ceased to be an open question for him. That has been settled. The Bible is no longer in the common category of books. It stands out, far and away, beyond and above them all, distinguished and differentiated by the fact of its inspiration. He thinks of the Bible as Moses thought of the burning bush. The desert of Midian was full of acacia bushes; but there was only one from which the voice called, "I Am that I Am!" So to the believer there is only one Book so inspired that God is its author in such a sense that it is divinely said to have been "breathed of God."

So then he reads with a prejudgment in its favor. He reads because he regards it as a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path. He reads not to discover whether the Book is true or not, but with the expectation of finding truth in it. It is his friend the Bible; and as a friend it clasps his hand and leads him along the way.