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The Bible
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BEING THE SECOND SERIES OF
EXETER HALL LECTURES ON THE BIBLE
DELIVERED IN LONDON, ENGLAND, IN
THE MONTHS OF FEBRUARY, MARCH AND APRIL, 1904
*-
*A*
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aw
By ARTHUR T. PIERSON
NEW YORK: THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO.
33-37 EAST SEVENTEENTH ST., UNION SQUARE, North
Copyright, 1905, by
THE BAKER & TAYLOR Co.
Published, October, 1905
i
CONTENTS AND ANALYSIS.
THE BIBLE AND SPIRITUAL CRITICISM.
CHAPTER I.
SPIRITUAL FACULTIES . . . . . . . . . . 4
Right and wrong Methods of Bible study.
The Risks of Thinking.—Blessings perverted to Curses.—
“Higher Criticism.”—Obvious drift toward Rationalism.
—The Word of God fears nothing from investigation, but
rather courts it and commands it: Acts xviii., II.
Ignorance the Mother of Superstition.
Irreverent Bible Study forfeits a true knowledge, and incurs
judicial blindness. John v., 46–47. Luke xvi., 31.
The Bible Declares Itself the Product of Inspiration.
2 Timothy iii., 16; I Peter i., Io-I2; 2 Peter i., 16–21.
Here we are taught:—
(1) That all Scripture is inbreathed of God.
(2) Is not of man’s origination or planning.
(3) Was a problem even to the human writers.
(4) That they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Conditions of a Reverent Criticism.
1. Acceptance of the Supernatural Element—“Spiritual”
Criticism recognizes this, and
2. The need of a “Spiritual Man” to understand the Book.--
Compare Isaiah xxix., Io, I8; I Cor. i., 17 to iii., 21;
Matt. xi., 27; xvi., I6, 17; I Cor. xiv., 37.
375.407
V
Contents and Analysis
The incompetence of man by nature is taught plainly by
figures of speech: blindness, deafness, hardness, dead-
ness, darkness, &c.—Bible, like Tabernacle, with inner
and outer courts.
Encouragements to Reverent Study.
I. Humility of spirit.
2. Honesty, intellectual and moral.—Open to light and con-
viction.
3. Experience: John vii., 17.-Obedience the organ of spir-
itual knowledge.
4. Dependence on God.—Prayer: Psa. cxix., 18.
5. Security in Divine Guidance.
The Inspirer of the Word Becoming the Interpreter
of It.
6. Constant and growing confirmation in faith.
CHAPTER II.
SPIRITUAL METHODs . . . . . . . . . . 26
I. Basis of all: firm conviction that God is the Author of the
Book.
To hold to human authorship is to expect imperfection, to
need only mental training to understand, and to thus
dishonor the Book and God.
The great question is: “Hath God spoken?”
This is answered—(1) By fulfilled prediction. (2) By
high level of teaching.
Compare Deut. xiii., I-5; xviii., 15-22; Isaiah xli., 2I–
29; and Jeremiah xxviii., 9.
If prophets speak in harmony with the events of the history
they foretell, and other teaching of the Word, we may
accept them as mouthpieces of God.
2. If God is the author, there is but one speaker, however
many human media. Heb. i., I, 2. There is unity and
Continuity of utterance, and equal authority in all utter-
3.Il CéS.
3. We may expect the first mention of any subject to forecast
the after treatment of it. This is remarkably true.
Examples:— -
(I) In the Beginning, God. In all true beginnings, He
is the origin. ©
Vl
Contents and Analysis
(2) The Spirit of God brooded, etc. Ever since, He
has been the Creative Power to bring order out of
chaos.
(3) The Seventh Day. Seven represents here, and al-
ways after, completion and rest.
(4) Serpent more subtle. Satan’s leading character
henceforth is subtlety.
(5) Babel—a godless confederacy, with idolatry, mon-
opoly and human glory—it always stands for the
Samlé. -
(6) Egypt. When it first appears and always after, a
snare and trap to the believer. *
(7) Gen. xv., 6. First time “believed,” “counted,” and
“righteousness” are mentioned; henceforth faith is
always basis of imputed righteousness.
4. We may expect a Full mention of every leading subject
vitally connected with holy living. Some one place and
generally only one, where God reveals His full mind on
any theme. -
Hundreds of such instances are found. There is no repeti-
tion, unless for an obvious purpose. Apparent repeti-
tions prove on careful search to have differentiating
elements.
e.g. Importunity. Luke xi., xviii.
Talents and pounds. Matt. xxv., Luke xix.
Law. Exodus xx.; Deut. v.
Love. I. Cor. xiii.; I John iv.
Instances of Full Mention or Exhaustive Treatment.
. Decalogue. Exod. xx.
. Perfection of Law. Psalm czix.
. Vicarious Sacrifice. Isa. liii.
Regeneration. John iii.
. Laws of Kingdom. Matt. v.-vii.
. Godly Repentance. 2 Cor. vii.
. God’s Love for Lost. Luke xv.
. Sin of Neglect. Matt. xxv.
. Rest of Faith. Heb. iii., 7–iv., II.
. Christ and Water of Life. John iv.
. Christ as Bread of Life. John vi.
. Message to Troubled. John xiv.
. Intercessory Prayer. John xvii.
. Pentecost. Acts il.
. Panoply of God. Eph. vi.
. Creation. Gen. i.
. Believer and World. I John ii.
vii
Contents and Analysis
18. Tongue, Might and Malice of. Jas. iii.
19. Righteousness of Faith. Rom. iii.
20. God Man. Heb. i., ii.
21. Church as Body of Christ. I Cor. xii.
22. Resurrection. I Cor. xv.
23. Love. I Cor. xiii.
24. Perfect Love. I John iv.
25. Christian Giving. 2 Cor. viii., ix.
26. Faith and Unbelief. Heb. xi., xii.
27. Divine Chastening. Heb. xii.
28. Natural Man. I Cor. ii. :
29. Israel’s Future. Rom. xi.
3o. Great White Throne. Rev. xx.
CHAPTER III.
SPIRITUAL ORGANISM . . . . . . . . . 5o
Bible like an organic body. All parts having mutual relation,
necessary to completeness.
Example of First mention and Full mention, both in one:
Exod. xxv., 1–9. Making of a Sanctuary. All great condi-
tions there indicated for all coming time.
Additional Example of Illustrative mention: Job, as example
of Disciplinary Trial. Five tests: loss of property, family,
health, wifely sympathy, and good name; under the last he
broke down—restored by vision of God and collapse of self.
Now call attention to
5. Parallel Mention for (1) Comparison. (2) Contrast. (3)
Completeness.
Examples: (1) Comparison. -
Ephes. v., 19; Col. iii., 16. Filled with the Spirit, and
with the Word—results the same in individual life and
church life. -
Parables of Talents and Pounds. Note differences and
resemblances. -
Old Testament and New Testament units of measure of
God’s power in believer. Micah vii., 15; Ephes. i.,
I9–23. In each case, a passing over the blood, a tri-
umph over foes, a miracle of Power, a divine Leader-
ship, etc.
(2) Contrast. -
Satan as adversary; Christ as advocate.
Babel or Babylon and New Jerusalem.
viii
Contents and Analysis
(3) Completeness.
Vine. Isaiah v., Psalm lxxx.; John xv.
In first, God's disappointment; in second, outward foes
to fruitfulness; in last, secret of fertility.
Two Paracletes: Holy Spirit in heart; Christ at the
throne.
'Good works, wicked works, and dead works; the last
corresponding to wild fruit. -
The Bible as a whole like a perfect organism.
(1) All parts correspond mutually. Augustine said,
“Old Testament latent in the New; New latent
in the Old.”
(2) All parts mutually necessary. Complete and Com-
plement each other, like Leviticus and Hebrews.
(3) Nothing superfluous and nothing lacking; impossi-
ble to imagine a more perfect book for the purposes
for which designed.
CHAPTER IV.
SPIRITUAL STRUCTURE . . . . . . . . . 72
Prov. viii., I; Psa. xlviii., 12–14; Isa. xxviii., 16; I Cor. iii., 9–
II; Eph. ii., 20–22. -
Bible considered as a Building—Architectural figure.
A perfect structure involves: BEAUTY OF CONCEPTION, UNITY
OF PLAN, HARMONY OF PARTS, GROWTH TOWARDS CoM-
PLETION.
In all these the Word of God shows Perfection.
I. Bible Embodies a Divine Idea.
Compare different orders of architecture.—The one dominant
idea of the Bible: GoD SAVING MAN. Eph. i., Io.
II. Hence Unity of Plan. Form includes and excludes.
I. Includes “SEVEN PILLARs”: Man’s Creation and Fall—
Prophecy to inspire hope—Sacrifice to train Faith—Gos-
pels to present Redeemer—Pentecost to make Truth
effectual—Church to test and prove Grace—Apocalypse
to reveal final goal. Here are all factors supplied; and
in their necessary order.
ix
Contents and Analysis
2. Excludes all that is not germane to Redemption; mere
scientific information, secular history, rhetorical effect,
&c. *
The plan of the Bible explains what is and is not there.
III. Harmony of Parts. “Fifty framed together.”
I. Subordination of all else to main idea and purpose.—Some
truths very prominent like pillars: Jachin and Boaz.-
Such as God’s Righteousness and Love.—Some others
like “Towers”: Divine attributes.—Others like a cen-
tral window. Isa. liii. Middle chapter of the last 27
[xl.-lxvi.] or TRANSFIGURATION as an event, or TABER-
NACLE as an object lesson, or PENTECOST as an ex-
perience.
2. Solidarity. All parts connected, cemented in one.
Rev. John Urquhart: “How to read the Bible.” I.
chapter on unity of Genesis, &c. Phrase ‘IN CHRIST’
connects whole New Testament. Phrase ‘YE IN ME
AND I IN YOU” explains whole relation of believer to
Christ, standing and state.
Many lesser unities embraced in the greater: compare arches
in a building, each with keystone. Certain words are keys
to a whole book: “RIGHTEOUSNESS” to Romans; “SEP-
ARATE” to Corinthians; “WALK?’ to Galatians; “HEAVEN-
LIES” to Ephesians, &c.
LIFE, LIGHT, LOVE. Three Revelations of God, as sum of
all being, of all intellectual truth, and of all moral beauty.
Hence Indestructible. Luther's Text, Psa. cxix., 89.
Word of God essentially based in Heaven, and rises far be-
yond reach of human assault.—Satan may destroy men’s
Faith in it but cannot touch its true Life,
CHAPTER v.
SPIRITUAL PROGRESS . . . . . . . . . . 93
In a Building, part is added to part in orderly progress.
B. W. NEwTON, on “STRUCTURAL METHOD” of Study: Note
first and last mention, and trace what lies between on same
subject.
I First and Last mention often indicate what is between.
2 Intermediate matter is found fitly joined together.
X
Contents and Analysis
3 There is order and progress, regular consecutive additions,
etc. -
4 This is true, although canonical order is not order of pro-
duction. &
The form of a PYRAMID best illustrates Bible Structure. The
capstone is itself a little pyramid; there can be but one
headstone, and all the courses between cornerstone and
capstone must be in line with both, etc. Eph. i., 20, 2I;
Zech. iv., 7; I Pet. ii., 6, 7.
“Progress of Doctrine” may be illustrated:—
I. SINGLE VERSEs. Gal. v., 22, 23. Here are nine graces
—first three appear to look Godward, the next three
manward, and the last three self ward.
Titus ii., II–13. Here are the three forms of salva-
tion—the instantaneous, progressive, and final. Also
whole of New Testament suggested—“Grace of God,”
etc., Gospels and Acts. “Teaching us,” etc., Epistles.
“Looking for that blessed Hope,” Revelation.
II. PARAGRAPHS. T. 2 Peter i., 5–8. “Faith, Virtue, etc.”
Here the growth is regular: Faith—the childhood; Vir-
tue—Christian manhood, manly knowledge, self-control
in pleasure and pain, maturity of Godliness, and then
influence in the spheres of church and world.
Rev. xxii., 3, 5. From entire banishment of sin to
the glorious reign of Saints, seven successive stages.
III. CHAPTERs, ETC. Matt. vi.-viii. Character and influence;
Conduct and Motive; Destiny.
John xiv., 1–27. Four antidotes to Trouble—Faith in
God—in Christ—in Immortality, and in Indwelling
Spirit. º, * -
John xvii. Separation from world, Sanctification by
Truth, Unity, Glory. Each of these prepares for what
follows.
Rev. ii.-iii. Rewards to the Seven Churches. These
follow historic order from Eden to Solomon’s reign.
IV. WHOLE Book. John i., 4; xx., 31. Development of Idea,
Eternal Life.
Acts i., 8. Progress from Judea to Samaria, Rome,
Greece.
V. GROUPS OF Books. Examine progressive order of Christ's
miracles, particularly three of raising the dead.
* Christ's teachings as to Prayer, from Matt. vi., 6, to
John xvi., 24–26. There are ten progressive lessons.
xi
Contents and Analysis
Typical events in Life of Christ follow exact order of
Epistles from Romans to Thessalonians:—Death, Burial,
and Resurrection—Inbreathing of Spirit—Forty Days'
Walk in the Spirit—Ascension—Compensating Joy–
Session at Right Hand of God, and Second Coming;
and yet the last of these Epistles were the first written.
It seems that He who inspired the Word, ordered the
historic arrangement of the Canon, controlling by His
Providence the formation of the Bible as we have it.
CHAPTER VI.
SPIRITUAL PROGRESS.–Continued . . . . 116
I Kings vi., 7. All parts fit to structure, each in place and in
its order.
I. Old Testament.—Three main divisions. Historical Books,
17; Poetical, 5; Prophetical, 17. First and last sub-divided
into 5 major and I2 minor books, in each case.
The Progress is obvious: Genesis, the Beginning of Man
and of Sin; Exodus, the Separation to God; Leviticus, Ser-
vice and Fellowship; Numbers, Organization and Pil-
grimage; Deuteronomy, Rehearsal of the Law; Joshua,
Entrance and Occupation; Judges, Decline and Failure;
then the six books of the Monarchy displacing Theocracy,
and ending in division and captivity; then three books
about the Captives and the return, the last exhibiting Provi-
dence of God in National History, and preparing for
Job, first of the poetical group, which shows Providence
in Individual History. Then Psalms—the Believer speak-
ing to God; then three books showing consecutively the
World's Verdict (the outcome of its highest wisdom); the
World's Vanity, to him who seeks in it satisfaction; and the
World's Enmity, alluring the believer to forsake the Lord.
Then come the seventeen Prophetical Books; the five
major prophecies and the twelve minor. Isaiah begins with
Messiah as Servant of Jehovah and Suffering Saviour of
man; and Daniel ends this group, with Christ as Sovereign
of the world and Victor over all foes.
There is a curious parallel between the Old and New
Testament history. In the New, there is a New Beginning
in the Second Man; a New Separation—the Ecclesia, or
Church; a New Service and Fellowship, Organization and
Pilgrimage; a New Law of Self-Sacrifice and Dispersion;
XII
Contents and Analysis
then a New Occupation of the world begun for Christ; a
decline and failure, a worldly Kingdom under Constantine,
ending in division and dark ages of captivity, then a new
Restoration (Reformation), etc. The coincidence is most
striking.
II. New Testament shows similar progress: Matthew deals
with the Messiah King, and addresses the Hebrew; Mark
with the mighty Worker, and addresses particularly the
Roman; Luke with the Perfect Man and addresses the
Greek; and John fulfils a special mission after declension
had begun, and presents the perfect Deity of Christ. In
Acts, Christ by the Spirit continues to do and teach; and
in the Epistles, what He first taught in the germ, is ex-
panded into fulness, and what He could not say because
*~- disciples could not bear it, was by the Spirit taught by
epistle writers, when by His illumination they could bear
it. Revelation is the manifest keystone not only to the
New Testament but to the whole of the Word of God. We
have followed the perimeter of a golden ring, and come back
in Revelation to what was begun with in Genesis.
CHAPTER VII.
SPIRITUAL PROGRESS.–Continued . . . . 140
Progress of Doctrine as Seen in the Entire Bible.
Marked feature in the New Testament. Positions of Writ-
ings of John. Up to about 65 A.D. the Church preserves
primitive order. In one year there was a rapid decline.
After about year 7o no new inspired addition until after
twenty-five years, then John's Gospel and Revelation.
John’s writings intended to meet the period of declension.
Hence what he omits and emphasizes.
III. As to Whole Bible.—Note marked instances of Progres-
sive Teaching: -
I. REWARDS.—Emphasis in Old Testament on Temporal
good; in New on Eternal. Prosperity the blessing of
Old, adversity of New. *
2. LAW.—In Old preparing for, and introducing Dispensa-
tion of Grace.
3. DISPENSATIONS.—Seven definite Periods of Divine Dealing
with the Race. Each has seven successive features: New
Revelation, Declension, Union of Godly and Worldly,
xiii
Contents and Analysis
IO.
Worldly Civilization, Parallel Growth of Good and Evil,
Apostasy, Judgment. . -
. LEGISLATION.—Covenant, including family and state,
based on sacrifice, ratified in worship, involving conse-
cration of time, tithes, first-born, and self.
. SABBATIC LAw.—In Eden; then Rest from Toil, Festal
Rest in Sabbatic System, embracing seventh day, week,
month, year, seventh seven of years, &c. Then a Tran-
sition Sabbath (Isaiah lyiii.) of Rest from Self-Absorp-
tion; then in New Testament Rest in Worship, in
Resurrection Power, and Holy Spirit Peace (Heb. iii.,
7—iv., II). -
. IDEA OF GOD.—God of Nature, in His Works, then in
His Word, then in His Son, and finally in His Spirit—
the last the highest because an inward indwelling (John
xiv., 23). -
. TEMPLE OF GOD.—First, the Universe; then the Taber-
nacle built by Moses, &c.; then the Believer; and
finally the New City of God.
. SATAN.—As a Liar, Accuser (Job), Hinderer (Zech. iii., I),
Tempter (Matt. iv.), Sifter (Luke xxii.), Seducer (Acts
v.), Adversary (Rev. xx.). Compare Eph. vi., Io-17.
The Full armor, each piece fitted to meet Him in these
successive characters.
. CHRIST As SECOND MAN, LAST ADAM.–Compare Gen.
iii., I5; 2 Sam. vii., Psa. viii., Isa. liii., Rom. v., I Cor. xv.,
Ephes. v., and Coloss. iii., Heb. ii., Rev. xxi., xxii.
Steady Progress, the Seed of the Woman, Monarch of
Man, Lord of Creation, Spiritual Father, Saviour of
those who die without voluntary sin, like infants; giver
of Resurrection and So Lord of Death and the Devil.
LAMB of GoD.—This is one of the grand lines of truth that
run through and unite both Testaments. Again there
are ten marked steps of progress, every new one dis-
tinctly marking an advance (Gen. iv. 4, xxii.; Exod.
xii.; Lev. xvi.; Isa. liii.; John i., 29–33; Acts viii;
I Pet. i., 18–21; Rev. v., xxi., xxii.). Following this
development, we see first the simple idea of a Lamb
offered and accepted; then a God-provided Lamb; a
slain Lamb and sprinkled blood; two Lambs expressing
death and life; the Vicarious Suffering Lamb; then John
declares Christ to be the Lamb of God; Philip identifies
him with Isaiah’s prophecy; Peter first refers to His
Resurrection; and in Revelation we have the final dis-
closure of the Lion-Lamb, who makes Kings and
Priests, and is the centre of Heaven’s Life, Light, Wor-
ship and Service.
XIV
Contents and Analysis
CHAPTER VIII.
SPIRITUAL SYMMETRY. . . . . . . . . 162
A Master Mathematician and Geometer behind this
book; a system of exact arithmetic numbers and geometric
forms.
God in His Works of Nature.—Mathematical Proportion
everywhere.
PLANETARY WORLDS.—Distances, dimensions, periods, orbits,
all exactly adjusted. ‘Kepler's Laws.’
MINERAL WORLD.—Crystallization, exact symmetric forms
and angles. -
VEGETABLE WORLD.—System of numbers so accurate as to be
basis of classification by Linnaeus. Spiral arrangement of
leaf-buds, etc. - -
ANIMAL WORLD.—Mollusca, radiata, vertebrata, etc., muscu-
lar, vascular, and nervous system. Geometry: Hexagonal
cell and lenses in eye of the dragon fly, web of spider, etc.
CoLoR AND SOUND.—Solar Spectrum and musical octave.
All these marks of a mind that counts, weighs, measures
and proportions, analyzes and combines with absolute
exactness. Nature a vast clockwork. Paley.
God in His Word.—The same mathematician. Four lead-
ing numbers and forms, with their combinations, 1, 2, 3, 4;
3-H4 = 7, 3 X 4 = I2. Other numbers also show a purpose:
Io, 40, 7o, I44, 490, I, Ooo, etc. -
Curious Fact.—Where seven occurs, usually meant to be sum
of four and three, the distinction being marked by some
different features, as in Lord’s Prayer, Seven Petitions—
four pertaining to God and three to man. See Seven Para-
bles of Kingdom (Matt. xiii.) and Seven Epistles (Rev. ii.,
iii.), in both which cases three are different from the other
four.
Also Twelve is meant to be multiple of four and three. Com-
pare Watches of the night, four of three hours each; Breast-
plate, four rows of three each (Exod. xxvii., 16, 17); and
Tribal Standards about Tabernacle (Num. ii.).
There is undoubted MORAL MEANING in this Numerical Sys-
tem (compare Numbers xv. 34, Leviticus xxvi. 34, 35, &c.).
490 years from Saul to captivity, with 7o Sabbatic years, for
neglect of which God exacted 70 years of captivity. An-
other 490 years also followed from captivity to Christ, then
XV
Contents and Analysis
70 years from His birth to fall of Jerusalem, showing how
numbers pervade history also. .
THE DOMINANT GEOMETRICAL FORMs are the triangle or
pyramid, square or cube, circle or sphere. Example: Cube
in Holy of Holies, New Jerusalem, etc.
Possible significance of this Numerical System.—I. Identifies
Creator with Author of the Book. 2. Reveals exact math-
ematical mind; no chance product. 3. Hints a definite
plan in History of the Ages. 4. Verifies the Record and
the Canon, and may yet be found even to establish human
agencies used. 5. Shews a Harmonic Law which unites
the whole as the musical key, time, theme and movement
do a musical composition,
CHAPTER IX.
SPIRITUAL TYPES . . . . . . . . . . . 184
A type is an Anticipative Figure (Rom. v. I4).
Truth taught by figurative forecast. In New Testament sev-
eral words used to express this: parable, token, example,
shadow, order or rank, likeness or similitude, pattern, figure,
and allegory. Danger of fanciful interpretations; hence
two safeguards needful: (1) The authority of the Word
itself in interpreting types (Gal. iv. 24). (2) The clear
doctrinal teaching, apart from the type.
Bible full of Types, so interpreted by the Spirit. Examples:
Rock in the Desert, Manna, Paschal Lamb, Tabernacle,
Veil, etc. ... } -
We select a series of them, by which SALVATION FROM ITs
START TO FINISH is set forth. Note, as to salvation, the
following truths typically taught. .*
I. ITS STARTING PoſNT. Deliverance from Judgment
(Exod. xii.). God saw the blood and passed over the
Hebrew houses—the only condition. To take refuge
under atoning blood is absolute safety.
II. ITS BASIS: VICARIOUS SACRIFICE. Two classes of offer-
ings (Levit. i.-vii.). Ill savour and sweet savour. In
the first, the life of the innocent given for the guilty; in
the second, the life of the ransomed given back to the
ransomer. Here we are taught not only salvation from
penalty and guilt, but also a higher Salvation, sanctifi-
cation unto God.
XV1
Contents and Analysis
III. ITS PRIVILEGEs. Fellowship with God and with one an-
other. Tabernacle with God in midst, and Tribal
Standards ranged about (Num. ii.). In Tabernacle—
three courts: (1) In outer, Brazen Altar and Laver,
signifying TERMs of Communion, Blood Atonement
and Regeneration by the Spirit. (2) In Inner, Table
Shewbread, Candlestick, Altar of Incense, signifying
FoRMs of Communion, Offering of Substance, Wilness
to God, and Prayer, constituting service. (3) In
Holiest of all, the Ark and Mercy Seat, signifying IDEAL
of Communion in Christ, the Mercy Seat and Mediator,
His Obedience and Intercession. PRIVILEGES further
set forth in whole system of PRIESTHOOD, particularly
in onyx stones on shoulder-pieces of Ephod, and in the
Breastplate, and Holy Crown on forehead (Exod.
xxviii.), signifying Power, Love and Holiness of Christ
as at disposal of believer (Comp. Ephesians i., iii.).
IV. ITS PROGRESS.—Figure of Pilgrimage. Exodus to En-
trance. Egypt, the Life of Sin. Canaan, the Life of
Rest in God. Stages of Progress represented by vari-
ous stations on march, particularly Red Sea, Sinai,
Eadesh, Jordan. .
V. ITS PERILS.–Mainly Backsliding—Returning to Egypt.
Idolatry, as at Sinai; Disobedience and Murmuring, as
at Massah and Meribah; Unbelief towards God, as at
Radesh; and Compromise with the world, as in
Canaan, leading to Captivity and Idolatry (Comp.
Ezekiel xxxvi. 16–38). -
VI. ITS DUTIES.—Constructing and then compassing the
TABERNACLE both as Worshippers and Guards. Com-
passing JERICHO (Comp. 2 Corinth. x., 3–6). Latter
expressing the Work of God and its conditions: follow-
ing an Unseen Captain, Blowing Gospel Trumpet,
Using Spiritual not Carnal Weapons, Awaiting God’s
Signal, Faith in God’s Power, &c. How suggestive of
Holy Spirit's Presence. Foolishness of Preaching,
Conquest of Faith, &c.
VII. ITS PRESENT REST.-Canaan, intended as a Land of Fer-
tility, Victory over Foes (Caleb and Anakim), Settled
Habitation, Pure Worship and Holy Feasts (Comp.
Heb. iii., 7–iv., 11, New Testament application.)
VIII. ITS FINAL CONSUMMATION.—New Jerusalem (Rev. xxi.,
xxii.). (1) CITY OF GOD (a) Let down from God, (b)
Having glory of God, (c) Habitation of God, (d) Throne
XVll
Contents and Analysis
of God. (2) CITY OF MAN: (a) Its Walls and founda-
tions, names of Apostles, (b) Its gates, open to every
quarter, welcoming all, (c) A city or community of the
redeemed—a Bridal City, (d) A bond of brotherhood—
holy love and affinity. Here cubic symmetry—perfect
manhood; radiant gold and gems—perfect virtue, shin-
ing with inner light. Sevenfold perfection as a com-
munity (Rev. xxii., 3–5). No Temple, because God is
the Temple, and no visible symbols or material forms
longer needful when God is spiritually known.
To those who would further study types, we suggest the fol-
lowing: The Rock Smitten, Serpent on Pole, Year of Jubi-
lee, Olive Tree (Rom. xi.), First Fruits, Joshua, Leaven,
Honey and Salt, Mercy Seat, Tables of Stone, Pillar of
Cloud, etc.
CHAPTER X.
sPIRITUAL wisdom . . . . . . . . . . are

(James iii., 17; Prov. i., 22–33; iii., 13–18; viii., ix.)
Bible incomparable in: I. Concepts, or Ideas of Truth.
Theoretical. 2. Precepts, or Ideas of Duty. Practical.
These are so related as to be complementary to each other.
To exhibit this, we may take as the centre about which to
group Bible Teaching and Rules of Life, the conception of
The Universe.
I. This is presented to us in a fourfold aspect, as double
realms: I. Material and Immaterial. 2. Visible and
Invisible. 3. Temporal and Eternal. 4. Supreme
and Subordinate. Originally all was perfect, revolving
about God.
II. SIN entered as a Disturbing Force—a Revolt against God.
The Angelic Hierarchy apparently existed in seven
ranks, Archangels, Principalities, Powers, Thrones,
Dominions, &c. In the Revolt, Satan, probably an
Archangel, led a host of evil spirits, still existing in
ranks as before (Ephes. vi., I2).
III. MAN was created, innocent. Fell under Satan's Tempta-
tions. Created Body, Soul, Spirit—thus allied with
Matter, Life and God. After the Fall, the Body be-
came the seat of the flesh, the Soul subject to the allure-
ments of the world, the Spirit subordinate to the Devil.
tº dº tº
Contents and Analysis
IV. REDEMPTION was provided for sinners. The God-Man
uniting perfect divinity and humanity, bearing man's
penalty vicariously, &c. The Holy Spirit regenerating
man's nature, supplying a new element for the new life,
and thus providing for overcoming power of sin and
delivering from its presence, finally banishing it from
man’s redeemed home. >
V. DUTY is the outcome of universal Truth. All claims of
Duty centre about these truths and follow from them,
naturally and necessarily.
1. Repent, believe, obey. Sin, abandoned and re-
nounced—a vital bond formed with Christ, as
Redeemer, leading to holy obedience.
2. Submit to God, return to allegiance and make
God’s will supreme (Matt. vi., 33). -
3. Love not the world, which hides Eternal things by
the Temporal; mortify the flesh, which hinders
the Spirit; resist the Devil, who opposes God. .
4. Follow Holiness. Love God with all thy heart,
&c. Allow no compromise (Lev. xi., 20–33;
Deut. xiv., 19).
5. Aim at usefulness (Matt. xvi., 25; John xii., 25).
Take up the cross of self abnegation.
- 6. Live for eternity, not Time (1 John ii., 15–17).
Death becomes to a believer the gateway of glory. The
Father's House is the Universe. Death is going from
earthly to heavenly mansions or abodes.
CHAPTER XI.
SPIRITUAL VERDICTs . . . . 234
Psalm xii., 6. The Word of God subjected to Sevenfold Test
of Human Experience—Triumphant in every experimental
trial. Verdict alike of friend and foe. Deut. xxxii., 31.
Instance teaching about:
I.—CREATION.—Personal Creator. Certain unanswera-
ble facts:
1. Design demands a designer. Especially where
provision is made for a future stage of growth
—Caterpillar—Butterfly.
2. Natural law demands an administrator. Espe-
cially where exceptions to its operation exist.—
Water and Ice. -
xix
Contents and Analysis
3. Life can only come from life. No spontaneous
generation. -
4. Moral character must have a moral source.
II. SIN.—Depraved nature. Various confirmations of
Bible teaching:
I. Universality. Sin found everywhere.
2. Gravitation toward evil—requires effort to resist.
3. Irrepressible. Examples—Drink, Lust, Crime,
Lawlessness.
III. JUDGMENT.-Final Assizes of Universe. Confirma-
tory Facts: *
I. Human conscience reflects Great White Throne.
2. All present retribution partial and imperfect.
IV. Two SPHEREs.-Matter and Spirit.
I. Man represents both. Behind body and even
brain, mysterious force.
2. Life more than its organism. Precedes Organ-
ism and determines it.
3. Something that thinks—Harper more than harp
or harmony. -
V. SALVATION.—Embracing penalty of sin borne and
power broken.
I. Daily miracle.—Purged conscience. Peace of
pardon.
2. Transformed character. God’s everlasting sign.
Isa. lv.
VI. PRAYER.—Positive power to effect results.
1. Great crises of individual and national history
turned by prayer.
2. Great enterprises.—George Muller, Hudson Tay-
lor, &c.
3. Daily experience—fulfilled promises.
Verdicts in Favor of Bible from various impartial sources.
I. Science.—“Blood is Life.” Sanitary Laws of Pentateuch.
Agricultural Ant (Prov. vi., 6–8). Hiram of Tyre help-
ing Solomon.
Testimony of monuments. Palestine Exploration.
Sayce, &c.
Future Destruction by Fire (2 Pet. iii.). Composition of
air and water. Hydrogen, very combustible; Oxygen,
great feeder of combustion.
2. History.—Transforming Power. Isaac Taylor, “Nine So-
cial Evils.” Weak and small beginnings of Christianity,
and present outlook. Missions.
XX
Contents and Analysis
3. Experience of believers—Ruskin, Simeon, Faraday, &c.
Highest and humblest.
4. Confession of Unbelievers.-Gilbert West and Lord Lyt-
tleton.
Great body of testimony.—Herbert Spencer, Robert
Ingersoll.
Conclusions.
Here is the one Book of Books.--Living Book—Book of God
—exhibiting one perfect Life, secret of perfect peace, even
in death. The one indestructible Book. The one Vic-
torious Book. Never só much read and loved as now.
Voltaire threatened to destroy Christianity—his printing-press
now issuing Bibles. Every assault only makes Word of God
more triumphant. Peter Mackenzie sitting in Voltaire's
chair and singing, “Jesus shall reign.”
CHAPTER XII.
SPIRITUAL vBRITIES . . . . . . . . . 257
2 Peter, i., 16. “We have not followed cunningly devised
fables.” - -
Great difference between the sane and insane—one accepts
and acts on facts, the other, fancies. .
Present day marked by unparalleled prevalence of ‘cunning
fables’—EvoluTION, fruitful mother of numerous Progeny
such as: .
A Fable about CREATION. The Universe made itself.
All forms and potencies of Life found in matter—
takes only time, and highest products evolve from
lowest.
A Fable about MAN. His mother, a monkey, or more
remotely a codfish, or an Oyster, a monad or mite;
electricity acting on dead, gelatinous matter.
A Fable about the BIBLE, that it marks a stage in literary
evolution, and necessarily defective, because on the
way to final product. - -
A Fable about CHRIST. He was the most perfect man
thus far, but ignorant of much known to modern
‘critics’—reflecting errors of His day, &c.—best of
teachers yet not infallible, final authority.
Hence a general prevalence of DouBT and UNCERTAINTY even
xxi
Contents and Analysis
in the Church. Are there any FACTs? any VERITIES, or
are all VANITIESP WE BOLDLY STAKE EvKRYTHING on
the following simple CREED: *
I. I BELIEVE THERE IS A GOD. Even many sceptics com-
pelled to rest in this conclusion. Herbert Spencer:
“Religious Retrospect and Prospect,” Romaines, etc.
2. I BELIEVE THE BIBLE IS GOD’S BOOK. It has His Seven
Seals on it (Rev. v.). Seal of God’s Wisdom, power,
truth, eternity, righteousness, infinity and love. Prophecy
alone sufficient to attest it as Divine. Yet this only one
of many forms of evidence.
3. I BELIEVE JESUS CHRIST IS SON OF GOD AND SAVIOUR
of MEN. All His teaching and life consistent with His
claims. All prophecy fulfilled in Him, all transforming
power radiates from Him. The Living Word and Writ-
ten Word inseparable. He is forecast in Adam, Isaac,
Exodus, Tabernacle, Serpent on Pole, Smitten Rock, &c.
4. I BELIEVE IN SUPERNATURAL WORKING OF GOD. The
Resurrection of Christ is as well attested as any other
event, and the greater miracle makes all lesser credible.
Prayer evinces supernatural working.
5. I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD as source of all
new Life, power over Sin and in Service. He alone ac-
counts for the daily miracle of conversion, transformed
temper and holy living.
6. I BELIEVE THE CHRISTIAN FAITH alone meets man’s high-
est needs. (a) Salvation from sin; (b) Perfect pattern
of holiness; (c) Peace in present life and triumph over
death. Atheism and Infidelity leave the dying to
despair. -- -
Final Words.
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. Not only read but study, meditate,
compare.
PRAY IN SECRET. Communion with God admits of experi-
ment, and so of proof. This is what Chalmers called ‘The
Portable Evidence of Christianity.
READ STORY OF MISSIONS. Exhibits present power of the
Cross. A new record of God’s wonder working. New
“Acts of the Apostles.”
TRUST EXPERIMENT. Argument often sophistical and falla-
cious. “Taste and see.” You may KNOW whom you have
BELIEVED. -
xxii -
Contents and Analysis
HAVE No FEAR FOR THE BIBLE. It is an Indestructible Book.
The reason is, God is behind it, and it is inwrought into the
highest human experience. The Life of God permeates it
and it permeates the life of man.
LIVE UNTO GOD. Nothing is at once such a proof to your-
. or such a demonstration to others. The answer to all
oubt.
The Bible
and
Spiritual Criticism
IN T R O D U C T ORY
ONE of the ruling considerations which led to
the acceptance of the invitation to deliver a
second series of Lectures, in Exeter Hall, in 1904,
was that it was the Centenary year of the British
& Foreign Bible Society. It seemed a most
fitting time, while these anniversary exercises were
giving emphasis to such commemoration and cele-
bration, to call the attention of the public mind to
the contents of the Word of God, and its intrinsic
and unrivalled excellence.
The task which I set before me was much more
perplexing and complicated than that of the
previous year. The subject chosen was such as
was not susceptible of a similar division. In a
sense, these twelve lectures constitute one con-
I
The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
tinuous address, broken up into fragments; and,
partly on this account, with the co-operation of
my friend Mr. Putterill, there was published, each
week, a synopsis of the preceding lecture; and this
was freely distributed to those who entered the
Hall, in order that any who had not been present
at the previous lecture might thus reach the point
at which the lecturer took a new start, as well as
recalling that which had been heard, and preserv-
ing, without the trouble of taking voluminous
notes, the outline of the thought, and the texts of
scripture by which the positions were verified.
These synopses are reprinted in this book to
indicate its contents. The lectures being delivered
extemporaneously and reported Stenographically,
have a colloquial style natural to addresses which
have not been written. -
There is in the following chapters no appeal to
the love of the sensational, nor attempt at any
oratorical embellishment or entertainment. The
discussion of such a theme is a solemn business,
at one of the most serious crises the Church has
ever been compelled to face, and all that is at-
tempted is a simple, humble contribution to that
great cause, so dear to our Lord Jesus Christ—
the defence of the inspiration and integrity of the
Holy Scriptures. Those who heard these addresses.
2
Introductory
manifestly came with a prayerful and serious
spirit, not as curiosity seekers, like the Athenians,
looking for something new, but hoping to be in-
structed, informed and inspired by the consideration
of the truths that centre in the Word of God.
In giving the discussion a permanent form, help
has been sought from Almighty God, that the
writer may be faithful to the duty laid upon
him and not faint under the burden of his re-
sponsibility.
CHAPTER I
SPIRITUAL FAculties
EveRy thoughtful student must at times be
appalled by the risks of thinking—for thinking does
involve risks. The Mind is a great gift, but the
gift may be abused and perverted; and Thought
is a magnificent capacity, but it is possible to
work disaster and damage. If thought dwells
upon wrong themes, or pursues right themes in
a wrong method and spirit, profit is forfeited, and
injury may ensue—and even judgment from God
be incurred. The II 9th Psalm, which more than
any other passage of the Holy Scriptures presents
the blessedness and advantage of a reverent,
humble, obedient Bible Study, abounds also in
warnings addressed to the proud, the rebellious
and the profane. God’s Word is an Ark of the
Covenant, and the presence of the Shechinah Fire
glows in the Word, and God will not have irrev-
erent eyes looking into His Ark, nor irreverent
hands handling it. It is possible to do as the
Jews did, search the scriptures, and search them
diligently, and yet miss their essential teaching.
4.
Spiritual Faculties
There were scribes, familiar with the writings of
the Old Testament, who yet did not see that its
prophecy was fulfilled in the Messiah, and did
not discern even the real morality of God's com-
mands. They tithed mint and rue, and annis and
cummin, and passed over the weightier matters of
judgment, mercy, faith and the love of God; and
Christ said of them that they held the key of
Rnowledge, but neither entered into its temple,
themselves, nor suffered others to enter in.
An etching of Retzsch, in illustration of Faust,
represents a scene in Goethe's great dramatic
poem, in which the demons in the under world
are contending for the possession and control of
the soul of Faust; and the angels in heaven, in-
tensely interested in the struggle, are represented
as picking flowers, and throwing them down upon
the heads of the demons: and, as these roses pass
through the sulphurous fumes of the abyss, each
one of them turns into a burning coal of fire,
blasting the demons as it strikes them. There are
blessings that leave God’s hand like roses of heaven,
but, coming into the atmosphere of a disobedient,
ungrateful and irreverent heart, are turned into
the coals of hell; and so it is possible to pursue even
Bible study in such a manner as to make it a curse.
These words suffice to hint the subject and
5
The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
object of this chapter, whose purpose is to
discuss the relation of the intellectual powers to
spiritual truth. .
The phrase, “Higher Criticism,” has, in these
days, become very obnoxious to Orthodox believers,
because of the rapid and obvious drift of much
so-called critical study away from the foundations
of faith. There is a manifest trend in so-called
“Higher Criticism” toward the banishment from
the Bible of the entire supernatural element,
a trend, rationalistic in spirit and infidel in
tendency. Yet we must be very careful that we
do not take an attitude against Biblical criticism
as such; for “criticism” simply means the careful
and intelligent and scholarly study of a subject.
Higher Criticism is not necessarily hypercriticism,
which pursues study in a captious spirit, looking
for blemishes, and magnifying and exaggerating
them where they seem to exist. True criticism
is careful and intelligent examination, and we are
bound to conduct critical studies of the Word of
God, and the more critical the better. Let us
remember that the Word of God does not fear
any exposure from light; nay, more, it courts
and commands searching investigation. If the
Bible is the Book of God's truth, the God of Truth
is behind it; and Truth's kingdom is not divided,
6
Spiritual Faculties
—otherwise it could not stand; and there is no
declared truth in the Bible that can possibly collide
with any truth that is declared or exhibited by
God, outside of the Bible. His Book of Nature,
His Book of Providence and His Book of Grace
are in the same library, and from the same Author.
We are told of a Brahmin who, when he saw
through the lenses of his microscope that the
sacred water of the Ganges was full of filth and
germs of disease, dashed the lenses of his micro-
scope to pieces, because he could not stand the
disclosure and exposure of his errors and super-
stitions. But it would be a strange kind of
believer that ran away with his Bible into the dark
corners of the cave of traditionalism and super-
stition, because he feared that the search light of
Truth might expose blemishes in his sacred Book.
No. Locke says: “To abandon the use of Reason,
in matters of Revelation, is like putting out the
eyes, in order to use a telescope.” The Bible is
God’s precious gem, and, like any other gem, its
imprisoned flames Only burn brighter in the in-
tensest light. The most brilliant sunshine must be
concentrated and converged on the Word of God,
if we are to know what an infinite treasure it is.
False priests and false prophets have in all ages
been only magicians, practising upon the credulity
7
The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
of the people, and, if we would be God's “more
noble” believers, like those of Berea, we shall
search the scriptures daily. That word “search”
is in the Greek one of peculiar force. It is some-
times applied to the exploration of bays on a
coast, by triangulation, when every change in the
coast line is discovered and marked. The intensest
search into what the Word of God contains is
that which is needed, and especially should every
minister and teacher of the truth conduct the most
critical studies on the Word of God; for, if the
physician masters the art of medicine, and the
lawyer masters the science of legislation, and the
logician, the art of disputation, Surely the religious
teacher should master, as far as possible, the Book
that is the text book of his teaching and his
preaching.
While all this is true, much that goes by the
name of “Higher” Criticism is rather “lower”
criticism. It is not even critical, but most un-
critical; not philosophical, but unphilosophical,
as is seen when a subjective impression is allowed
to guide a man instead of the objective result.
It is specially obnoxious when, in the name of
Criticism, one arms himself with an axe, and goes
into the very sanctuary of God to break down the
carved work of His Temple of Faith.
8
Spiritual Faculties
There is a right and there is a wrong attitude
on this subject. Ignorance is the mother, not
indeed of devotion, but of superstition, and we
must encourage intelligence, especially in this era
of intelligence. But the Bible, while it encourages
all manner of investigation, insists upon a right
method and spirit in the conduct of investigation.
He who does not conduct his Bible study in such
spirit, forfeits all blessing in that study, and, as has
been intimated, may incur the judgment of God
in the infliction of judicial blindness; and the
ultimate effect of judicial blindness in the teacher
is widespread disaster to those who follow his
pernicious ways, as has been already seen in many
cases in the Church of Christ.
Notice how our Lord Jesus Christ, in less than
fifty words, has indicated the whole trend of
modern rationalistic criticism. It is one of the
most remarkable forecasts which the Word of God
contains. He said: “For had ye believed Moses,
ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me.
But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye
believe My words?” (John v: 46, 47.) And
He subsequently said: “If they hear not Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead.” (Luke XVI:31.)
Here the exact trend of rationalistic criticism
9
The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
was indicated nearly two thousand years ago; for
it began in disputing the authenticity of Moses'
writings; then it went on from that to dispute
the inspiration of the prophets; then it passed on
to question the authenticity and infallibility of
the words of Christ; and now it is disputing aS to
whether He even rose from the dead! Our Lord
thus gave us, prophetically, the whole drift of
this irreverent criticism, showing where it would
begin and where it would end.
There are a few great principles that should guide
us in the reverent study of the Word of God.
I. In the first place, we must face the fact
that the Bible absolutely declares itself to be the
product of Divine inspiration.
The Bible does not define inspiration; it
defines nothing, not even God. It gives the
materials from which to construct a definition,
but it constructs no definition. Yet it indirectly
defines, just as an artist indirectly defines a land-
scape when he puts it on canvas. There are three
texts that deserve careful consideration: they
supply a kind of key-note to the whole subject
of inspiration: II Tim. III: 16, “All scripture is
given by inspiration of God”—divinely inbreathed.
Here the reference seems to be to man's creation.
We are told in Genesis II: 7 that “God formed man
IO
Spiritual Faculties
out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life.” That is to say,
there was a form that was earthy, and there was
a breath that was heavenly and divine. There
is a similar combination in the Word of God:
there is a form that is human,—human letters,
language, paragraphs, writers and style; but there
is a breath that is Divine. Like that writing on
the wall that Belshazzar saw in his palace, it is
a man's hand, but the handwriting is God's.
Then in I Peter I: To-T2, and II Peter I: 16–21,
are two of the foremost passages of scripture to
throw light on the nature of inspiration. |
Of which salvation the prophets have enquired
and searched diligently, who prophesied of the
grace that should come unto you: searching what,
or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which
was in them did signify, when it testified before-
hand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that
should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that
not unto themselves but unto us they did minister
the things, which are now reported unto you by
them that have preached the gospel unto you with
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which
things the angels desire to look into.
For we have not followed cunningly devised
fables, when we made known unto you the power
and coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but were
eye-witnesses of His majesty. For He received
II
The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
from God the Father honour and glory, when there
came such a voice to him from the excellent glory,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And this voice which came from heaven we heard,
when we were with him in the holy mount. We
have also a more sure word of prophecy; where-
unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light
that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn,
and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is
of any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man; but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost.
That is a remarkable collation of testimony from
the Word of God itself, and let us notice what it
teaches: First, that the scriptures are Divinely
inspired, or inbreathed by God with the Spirit of
Life. Secondly, that they are not of private in-
terpretation. This word includes origination. The
idea is that the prophet did not, out of his own mind
or will, interpret the mysteries of the future; and
that their origination as well as interpretation is
not of human will. Thirdly, we are distinctly
told that these prophecies were not of human
planning. They came not by the will or mind of
man. When a man is going to do a work, he
plans it beforehand. But, when the prophets
gave their prophecies, there was no human fore-
I2
Spiritual Faculties
planning of the prophecy. They were working
according to a Divine plan that they themselves
did not understand, and hence the prophecy pre-
sented even to the prophets an insoluble problem.
They searched and enquired diligently to know
what they were prophesying, and what manner of
time they were indicating when these prophecies
were to be fulfilled. It is obvious that this would
not accord with that modern theory of inspiration
which many of our young men are being taught to
accept, that inspiration under the old covenant
was a knowledge of certain great principles of
God's moral government, such as that iniquity
must be punished, and that Israel must be saved
as His witnesses; and that the prophet Isaiah,
for instance, from a knowledge of these, was
enabled to predict the future of Israel.
Not only were the prophets confronted in their
prophecies with a problem that they could not
solve, but even the angels themselves desired to
look into them, and were not able to penetrate
the depths of the abyss of these mysteries; and
to the prophets it was specially revealed, we are
further told, that they were uttering prophecies
not for themselves but for future generations, but
that the events of history were to hold the key
that should unlock the chambers of prophecy. All
I3
The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
this is explained by the fact that they were borne
along by the Holy Ghost, like a boat which is
swept along by a resistless current.
As to the further conditions of a proper critical
study of the Word of God: -
In the first place, it is a divine book; and, as a
divine book, it stands unique and solitary, apart
from all other books, separated by a gulf that no
bridge can cover or span. A reverent student
thinks of the Word of God somewhat as of the
God-Man. God must smile in derision at some
attempts to philosophise about the God-Man.
There never was such a Being before, and never
will be again, -One perfectly combining divinity
and humanity in Himself. We can only stand
appalled before the mystery of His unique per-
sonality. So there never was or will be another
book that combines the human and divine element
as this Book does. When therefore we are told
that it must be studied just as other books are,
that is exactly what we deny. It must be studied
as no other book is, because it constitutes a class
by itself, and can be classed with no others.
Hence the term “Spiritual Criticism.” Historical
criticism depends upon the events of history;
literary criticism depends upon comparative lan-
guage; textual criticism, upon the keen study of
I4
Spiritual Faculties
the text and context; philosophical criticism,
upon the discernment of a philosophy which
pervades the Word of God. Spiritual criticism
is different from them all, but, when it qualifies
our study, modifies and regulates all the rest.
What is “Spiritual” criticism? It involves
(I) the recognition of a spiritual and supernatural
element in the book of God; and (2) implies the
necessity of the “Spiritual Man” to perceive, dis-
cern and apprehend the spiritual element in the
book. That is what we mean by “Spiritual
Criticism.” Let it be repeated, that we may get
it properly in mind, for all understanding of what
is yet to be considered depends upon the accept-
ance of this position,-that spiritual criticism is
the acknowledgment of a divine, spiritual and
supernatural element in the Bible; and of the
necessity for such spiritual faculties in those who
study it, as to discern this divine, spiritual and
supernatural element. -
We emphasize this possession of spiritual
“senses.” Truth demands the verifying faculty.
Christ says: “The light of the body is the eye,”
not because the eye gives the body light, but be-
cause the eye is the vehicle or organ by which the
light is transmitted to the body and becomes use-
ful to the body. All the light in the universe would
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
not do a man any good if he had no organ of
vision; and all the light of truth can practically
avail nothing to him who has no spiritual vision.
There are other eyes beside the eyes of the body
and mind. Paul speaks of the “eyes of the heart”
in the epistle to the Ephesians:–
“That the eyes of your heart (Revised) being
enlightened, ye may know what is the hope of
His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints . . . and what the exceed-
ing greatness of his power to usward who believe.”
One cannot recognise these things, and above all
cannot receive them, by any mere intellectual vision.
He must have spiritual faculties appropriate to
the spiritual truths that he is studying. We find
corresponding facts in other departments. We
cannot understand a book very well if we do not
know something about the author. Even Mor-
ley’s “Life of Gladstone” is not an illuminating
book, for the understanding of Gladstone's private
life or public career, to a reader who has no knowl-
edge of Mr. Gladstone or his biographer.
Moreover, we have all found out how love un-
locks many doors that even intelligence does not
unlock. Hatred shuts doors and double-locks
them. Love puts its key in and opens them wide.
Only love will interpret many mysteries, and only
Love can ever fully interpret God’s Book.
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Spiritual Faculties
One of the greatest defects of much modern
Bible study is the absence of Spiritual Criticism,
the virtual denial of the supernatural element in
the Word of God, and the judicial blindness of
many of those who study it, remaining in gross
ignorance of that which a little child by the Holy
Ghost sees clearly, and in which the humblest and
most unlettered believer rejoices more than all else.
That we may get firmer hold of this thought in
regard to being spiritually enlightened, some
passages of scripture should be considered most
closely.
Isaiah XXIX: 10–18. There is nothing more im-
portant in scripture in the way of testimony.
For the Lord hath poured out upon you the
spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes;
the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he
covered.
And the vision of all is become unto you as the
words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver
to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray
thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And
the book is delivered to him that is not learned,
saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I
am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Foras-
much as this people draw near me with their
mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have
removed their heart far from me, and their fear
toward me is taught by the precept of men:
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a mar-
vellous work among this people, even a marvellous
work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise
men shall perish, and the understanding of their
prudent men shall be hid. -
Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their
counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the
dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who
knoweth us?
Surely your turning of things upside down shall
be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the
work say of him that made it, He made me not?
or shall the thing framed say of him that framed
it, He had no understanding? -
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon
shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful
field shall be esteemed as a forest?
And in that day shall the deaf hear the words
of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out
of obscurity, and out of darkness.
Here the learned and the unlearned alike, un-
taught by the Holy Ghost, find the Bible a sealed
book. The learned cannot understand it because it
is sealed, and the reason is because the Lord hath
poured upon them a spirit of deep sleep—blinded
eyes and veiled faces, and this is because they have
not honoured Him with a pure worship and a holy
obedience. Such a passage of scripture as that
is a strong confirmation of the positions already
taken. + -
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Spiritual Faculties
This is referred to in the first epistle to the
Corinthians 1: 13–III: 21. A very remarkable
statement is made in chapter II: 8: “Which none
of the princes of this world knew.” Not the
ignorant, unlettered and uncultured only, but
the intellectual princes—the men who stood
foremost in the community for intellectual
power, even “the princes of this world " did not
know.
But, as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that
love Him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by His
Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God. *
Notice also, it is not that one eye has not seen,
or one ear has not heard, or one heart has not
imagined; but, if all that the eye has seen, that
the ear has heard, and that the heart of man has
conceived, were put together, they do not repre-
sent anything whatever of spiritual truth; and yet,
even these things God has revealed to every hum-
ble believer who is taught of the Holy Ghost.
That is the emphatic teaching of that scripture.
Notice one or two confirmatory passages: Matt.
xv.1: 16, 17, where Peter makes that grand con-
fession of Jesus Christ:
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed
art thou, Simon, son of Jona; for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father
which is in heaven. ,”
Peter, even after three years of constant, familiar
converse with the Lord Jesus Christ, could not un-
derstand the divinity, the deity of Christ, without
unveiled eyes; it had to be revealed to him by
the Father himself. -
Then look in Matt. xI: 27:
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and
earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them
unto babes. -
Even so, Father: for it seemed good in Thy sight.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father:
and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son shall reveal Him.
The worldly wise man is too wise to overlook what
he regards the faults and mistakes of the Bible;
and the worldly prudent man is too prudent to be
entangled in the snares of faith which he regards
as credulity; but the little child that comes to
God, depending on the Holy Ghost, to him God
reveals what the wise and the prudent have never
seen, and could not understand.
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There is a beautiful hint in the 14th chapter of
Ist Corinthians, verse 37, where Paul says, with
regard to his own inspiration:
If any man think himself to be a prophet,
or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things
that I write unto you are the commandments of
the Lord.
That is to say, one test that a man was spiritual
and prophetical in the early church was that he
recognised the voice of God in the testimony of
Paul. *
These are only part of the body of witness
which the Word of God gives to the necessity of
the spiritual eye to recognise spiritual truth.
The figurative form of speech used makes
more emphatic the necessity of an enlightened mind
and heart to understand the scriptures. A multi-
tude of figures is used,—blindness, deafness, hard-
ness, deadness, on the one hand, as the character-
istic qualities of the unillumined mind, and then,
outside of him, and apart from his own darkness, a
veil, a seal of mystery. The Author of the Word
of God does not intend that there shall be any
question with regard to the teachings of the Bible
on the subject of the necessity of the “spiritual
man” to understand spiritual truth.
How then shall we approach, with reverent
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spirit, the true study of the Word of God? A few
rules may help the reader, as they have helped
the writer for fifty years.
I. In the first place, Unquestionably accept the
supernatural element in the Word of God. Let
that be assumed in all studies as an absolutely
undoubted thing. This will beget a spiritual
humility, for the doors of God's Temple of Truth
are so low that no man can ever enter who does
not bow correspondingly low; and, like every other
great blessing that God has to give, Truth is
entered through “a strait gate and a narrow way,
and few there be that find it.” -
2. Then there must be intellectual honesty—
and candour is very rare. Oliver Wendell Holmes
said that the mind of a bigot is like the pupil of
the eye, the more light you pour upon it, the more
it contracts; and Goethe said that when readers
were inquiring as to the legibility of a document,
they should first ascertain if all is clear within.
The double effect of candour is that it makes us
insist not only that there shall be evidence for
truth, but that, when the evidence is found, there
shall be prompt and immediate concession and
submission to it.
3. There must be also moral honesty, because
if there be an object, morally, in resisting the
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Spiritual Faculties
truth, no amount of evidence will overcome that;
the moral obstacle must first be got out of the
way. Otherwise, one might as well flood a blind
eye with light, and expect thus to make up for
blindness. We cannot cure the eyes by an
Operation on the ears, and we cannot cure the
heart by an operation on the head. We have to
remove the moral obstacle itself.
Moreover, a great principle is enunciated by
Christ in John VII: 17, in regard to the necessity
of obedience in order to understanding the Word
of God: “If any man will do His will, he shall
know of the doctrine.” This is a law that prevails
only in the spiritual sphere, and does not hold
true in the intellectual. In the intellectual sphere
a man believes a thing because he knows it to be
true; in the spiritual a man knows a thing to be
true because he believes it. In the intellectual
sphere he does because he knows; in the spiritual
he knows because he does. “If any man will do
His will, he shall know of the doctrine.” It is only
the “undefiled in the way, who walk in the law
of the Lord,” who understand the riches. of the
truth of God, for He bars out from the Shechinah
presence, where the fire glows that was never
created or lit by man, those who do not come in
the obedient spirit that walks with God.
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The introduction to this text above quoted is
touching and pathetic. Those who heard Jesus
Christ discussing such marvellous mysteries, said:
“How knoweth this man letters?” and this was
His answer: “If any man will do His will, he shall
know of the doctrine.” Because He did His
Father's will perfectly, His knowledge of the will
of God was absolutely perfect. Disobedience shuts
the door and closes the shutter and prevents the
incoming of the light of God; and every act of
obedience opens the shutter wider, and lets in
new rays of light into the soul.
A cultivated minister of Christ was riding on
one of the trains that traverse the Pacific coast,
and he saw in front of him a coloured man,
evidently of much intelligence, reading in a re-
ligious review, an article on the higher criticism.
He said: “You seem to be reading an article on
the “Higher Criticism.” How do you manage to
keep up with such a subject?” “My dear sir, I
do not seek to keep up with it, I seek to keep
ahead of it.” “And how do you keep ahead of
it?” “By praying for Divine light to be thrown
by the Spirit of God upon the Holy Scriptures,
and then walking in obedience, and I find myself
undisturbed by all the rationalism of the Higher
Critics.” -
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Spiritual Faculties
A little girl in America, when she was asked by
the Church Committee as to her knowledge of
Jesus Christ, and asked to recite her experience,
said: “I do not know if I have any ‘experience.’
All I know is that Jesus said ‘Come unto Me,”
and I came, and He said 'I will give you rest,’ and
He gave me rest.” One of the older men said:
“But, my dear, you do not seem to know much
about the Slough of Despond.” She dropped a
curtsey and said: “Please sir, I did not come that
way.” There is a way to get to the true knowl-
edge of God without going through the Slough of
Despond. We have only to ask on our knees
for Divine guidance, and the Inspirer of the Word
shall become the Interpreter of the Word and then
indeed shall our feet walk safely and not stumble.
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CHAPTER II
SPIRITUAL METHODS
The Tabernacle was a typical structure. We
shall treat it more at length when we come to
speak of the typical teaching of the Old Testament,
but there are some features of it that should always
be before us, particularly the fact that it was made
in three Courts, an outer Court, an inner Court
(the holy place), and an inmost Court (the Holiest
of all). That 'to which we now specially advert
is the fact that each of these three courts was lit.
by a different means. The outer court was open
to the sky, and was lit by the sunlight. The inner
court, which was enclosed, and had neither door
nor window, was lit by the golden candlestick.
And the inmost court was lit by the Shechinah
fire, the uncreated fire of God.
These three courts may represent to us three
courts that we meet in the holy scriptures. There
is the outer court of Natural Truth, lit up by nat-
ural light, and perfectly apprehensible to the natural
mind. There is the inner court, lit up by the Word
of God itself, and demanding a comparison of
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Spiritual Methods
scripture with scripture in order to understand its
mystery. But there is still an inmost shrine, lit up
by the uncreated Shechinah fire, where few ever
venture, but which is the sublimest sphere of divine
revelation. It is in this inmost shrine and sphere
that the disciple finds the impregnable confidence
and assurance that he is dealing directly with God.
The mysteries of spiritual illumination are, like
all other mysteries of God, inscrutable to any
human mind, but however inexplicable, they are
explorable by the humblest and lowliest disciple.
Though God has His exoteric and esoteric
schools, they are not founded upon the principle
of Pythagoras, who took only his intellectual
favourites into the inner circle of his confidence.
Our Lord's only favourites are the most hum-
ble-minded, childlike, teachable pupils; and those
who are willing to become as little children,
to reverse the natural order—which is to advance
from childhood to manhood—and go back from
manhood to childhood, will find themselves able
to enter into the holiest of all, and there enjoy
the illumination that comes only from the
Holy Ghost.
It is a necessity that, as in the outer court,
there was a natural light that depended on natural
Sources, so in the holy scriptures there must be
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natural truth addressed to the natural man; other-
wise, he would never become, by any preparatory
process of education, a spiritual man. It is per-
fectly obvious that the reason should first of all be
overwhelmed by rational evidence that this is
the Book of God. Then, as the investigator finds
outward evidence to satisfy the reasoning powers
that he is dealing with a supernatural Book, he is
prepared to submit himself to the teaching of a
supernatural Guide. Therefore it is of first con- -
sequence—and we return to this point, previously
emphasised, for we are dealing now with the be-
ginnings of faith—that we should go back to the
rudiments of all rational conviction and look at
the rock of reasonable proofs upon which the
whole system of Christian doctrine and Christian
life must ultimately rest. f
So, like a little child, seeking to get back to the
beginnings, we ask every reader to go back and
start anew, so that he may unlearn any error that
he has learned, and be confirmed in any truth
in which he has been definitely instructed.
With what amazing pains and patience God
has furnished outward rational proofs that in
the book which is called the Bible, we have His
Word. His great seal upon the holy scriptures,
intended for the natural man, is the seal of
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Prophecy, and Prophecy is used in holy scripture
in two senses. The word does not necessarily
mean “foretelling the future.” A prophet is a
divine teacher, one who speaks in behalf of God:
he may foretell the future, or he may not; but
ordinarily the full gift of Prophecy included (1)
the forecast of the future, to instruct men as
to coming events, and (2) insight into present needs,
with the Divine remedy by which those needs are
to be rhet.
In the Word of God we are told also what are
the criteria by which we are to judge of prophecy,
and hence, able to judge of prophecy, we are also
able to judge of the Word of God of which it is
the seal. - - -
First of all, let us note most carefully the
scriptural teaching on this subject.
In Deut. XVIII: I 5–22 we have a significant pas-
sage of scripture with regard to the great coming
representative Prophet that was to be in the likeness
of Moses. In the 21st verse, the hearer or the
reader is supposed to ask that natural and legiti-
mate question, “How shall we know the word
which the Lord hath not spoken?” Or, as Jeremiah
puts it positively (xxvii.1:9), “How shall we know
the word which the Lord hath spoken?” And
here is the answer: “When the word of the prophet
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shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be
known, that the Lord hath truly sent him.” Here
it is taken for granted that any sensible and
rational man, when he hears a prophet professing
to speak in the name of God, will challenge
him: “How am I to know that the word you speak
is the word of God?” If that which he pro-
phesies comes to pass, we shall know that God
has spoken; if not, we shall know that God
'has not spoken. -
There is, however, one qualification of this
test, and that is stated in the 13th chapter of
Deuteronomy, not very far off, so that even such
a test as this may be closely linked to its proper
qualification (XIII: I-5.):
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer
of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
And the sign or the wonder come to pass, where-
of he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other
gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve
them. -
Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that
prophet, or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord
your God proveth you (puts you to the test.)
Mark this condition: even though a man should
perform a miracle of utterance in prophecy, or a
miracle of performance in action, if he is at the
same time teaching doctrine contrary to the Word
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Spiritual Methods
of God, we are not to heed him. There are some
things greater than miracles, as testimonies to God,
and He distinctly tells us that a true prophet
must be known by two great criteria: (1) the
harmony of his predictive teaching with historic
events; and (2) the higher harmony of his pre-
ceptive teaching with the mind and will of God
as already revealed in scripture.
In the early part of my ministry in the State of
New York, I came across a most devout and
godly woman in my congregation, a leader in
prayer and faith and good works; but I discovered,
before I had been long in the field, that she had
been entangled in spiritualism, and had been walk-
ing contrary to the Word of God for a time, in
consorting with spiritual media in meetings that
were by no means altogether reputable for their
spiritual character or their adhesion to the Word
of God. I ventured one day to say to her: “I
have heard this, and would like to know how it is
possible that you ever got entangled in the Snares
of spiritualism.” She replied that her husband
had been taken from her, and she was told that
he was appearing night after night and calling
for his wife, and at last she said: “It can be no
harm to go and see, and if it is he, I shall very
readily find it out.” So she went, and she gave
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this test: “If this is my husband, let him tell me
what we were doing on the 19th March, 1864.”
The response came through the medium, “That
was our wedding day, and we went together to
S to celebrate it.” Nobody knew this fact
but herself, and she seemed to be convinced at
Once that her husband was communicating with
her. She forgot that she knew the fact, and that,
if there were any subtle and unknown law of
communication between her mind and the mind of
the medium, it was very easy for the medium to
tell her what she knew already. I then said to her: *
“How did you come to leave that circle, when all
this glamour of supposed communication with
your husband was attracting you to the seances?”
She gave this remarkable answer: “I found they
were teaching doctrine contrary to the holy
scriptures. And I said to myself, I cannot ex-
plain these mysteries and wonders, but I can test
them by the scripture principle,_if a prophet
shall perform a sign or wonder in your eyes, either
by utterance, predicting future events, or by action,
performing some inexplicable wonder, if he teaches
error, anything contrary to the truth, as already
revealed and sanctioned in the Word of God, then
you are to consider he is worthy to be put to
death, rather than to be followed by you.”
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It is well to keep these great principles always be-
fore us, for the time is coming when Satan shall
perform lying wonders to deceive if possible even
the elect; and the fact that we cannot explain a
wonder by no means justifies following either a
practice or a teaching upon which God has thus set
in advance the distinct seal of His disapprobation.
We may safely challenge any man on earth to
show that the great predictions of the prophetic
scriptures have failed of fulfilment. There are in
the prophecies in the Old and New Testaments
together nearly a thousand separate predictions
of future events, of which perhaps eight \undred
are in the Old Testament and the rest in the New.
All of them (except those which relate specifically
to the last days, the days immediately before
and accompanying the second coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ and His millennial reign, and the
events at the conclusion of the millennial reign)
have already been fulfilled or are now in the
process of their fulfilment; and this body of fulfilled
prophecy constitutes an impregnable rock for our
confidence—evidence to the force of which even
the natural man is susceptible, and by which any
honest doubter may be led to the rational ac-
ceptance of this Word as inspired of God.
The Bible distinctly challenges any representa-
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tives of false faiths to produce any such phe-
nomena as these. We look once more at this
scripture challenge before passing on to other
points in the argument. In Isaiah XLI: 21–29,
we read these words:
Produce your cause, saith the Lord: bring forth
your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
Let them bring them forth, and show us what
shall happen: let them show the former things,
what they be, that we may consider them, and
know the latter end of them; or declare us things
for to come. -
Show the things that are to come hereafter,
that we may know that ye are gods; yea, do good,
or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold
it together.
Behold ye are of nothing, and your work of
nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.
I have raised up one from the north, and he
shall come; from the rising of the Sun shall he
call upon my name; and he shall come upon
princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth
clay. -
Who hath declared from the beginning, that
we may know? and before time, that we may say
He is righteous; yea, there is none that showeth;
yea there is none that declareth; yea, there is
none that heareth your words.
The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold
them; and I will give to Jerusalem one that
bringeth good tidings.
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For I beheld, and there was no man; even
among them, and there was no counsellor, that,
when I asked of them, could answer a word.
Behold, they are all vanity; their works are
nothing; their molten images are wind and
confusion.
Here then stands the double challenge of God:
(1) Find Me prophecies in holy scripture that
have not been fulfilled, if the time of their fulfil-
ment is come; and
(2) Find Me successfully predicted events lying
in the distant future that have ever been indicated
by prophets who represent false faiths.
This double challenge stands absolutely without
answer in this beginning of the twentieth century
of the Christian era; and yet there are carping fools
that are tossing the Bible to and fro, or kicking
it about like a football, as though they were
absolutely insusceptible to the divine proofs that
this Word of God belongs on the infinitely exalted
level of a divinely inspired Book; and that to this
level no other so-called sacred book of any other
so-called religion of the globe can by any means
reasonably aspire by way of competition. t
It is no easy thing to foretell future events,
as an example may show. Having been study-
ing prophecy for many years, I have taken pains
35
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
to notice some human predictions, and see how
far they were accomplished,—and all of them
have had most disastrous failure. For instance,
there was Professor Adolph Falb, the Meteoro-
logist. His name was associated with a number
of predictions of approaching catastrophies.
Great consternation was created in Chili by his
prediction of a severe earthquake in 1895, and
crowds flocked out of Valparaiso to take refuge
until the fatal day had passed. He predicted that
the world would come to an end on the 13th
November, 1899, by a collision with Temple's
comet. We have no recollection of that having
taken place!
Suppose that in the Book of God there were such
ignominious failures as these! Yet Professor Falb
had assistance that bible prophets never had. He
had the records of meteorological disturbances, ex-
tending back hundreds of years, and not only so,
but he was an accurate observer of the times, of
the storms, and the winds, and the spots on the
sun, etc. He had a scientific basis for his pre-
dictions, and yet they all came to nought—they
were “wind and confusion.”
The Lord God says to us: “Produce your cause.
Show your case. Vindicate your claims. Look
backward with the vision of retrospective
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prophecy, and tell us about former things, as Moses
did about creation; look forward, and tell us of
coming things, as John did. But no, your back-
ward glances are erroneous, and your forward
glances are delusive.” So He set His Divine seal
to His own holy Book, and the natural man may
perceive and receive all the evidence that is neces-
sary for its authentication if he will be honest
with himself and the Truth. .*
Much every way depends upon this, for the
moment we establish the fact that these prophecies
are divine, we establish also the fact that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, for they concentrate
on and converge in His wonderful personality;
and this is the reason that we read in the Acts
of the Apostles that the preaching of Apollos
mightily convinced the Jews, showing by the
scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
Some say: “Back to Christ!” as though we
could have Christ without the Word. Even
those that know experimentally what it is to
have Christ revealed within, how would they
ever have been introduced into that holy experi-
ence if they had not first come to the outer court
of the Holy Scriptures, and there, under natural
light, been able to see that the seal of God was
put upon Him as the centre of prophecy? The
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
written Word and the living Word are linked in-
separably, inevitably and eternally, and he that
despises this Book despises Him; he that denies
its infallibility denies His infallibility; he that
denies its inspiration denies His deity; every blow
at the Book is practically a blow at Him. This
is the voice of God as with seven thunders in this
day of defection, warning us that he who, with
any word of contempt, speaks of this Book, is
by the same word of contempt speaking of His
Son. -
Several things follow, the moment we accept
the Bible as the Word of God, and God as its
true and proper Author. Certain methods, con-
ditions and rules of Bible study having been
tried, may be recommended with the greater con-
fidence, as by experiment they have proved the
means of insight into the Word of God.
The leading principle is this, that in the Word
of God, He is to be regarded as the one and only
Speaker. Hebrews I: 1–2. -
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners
(or, more properly translated, “God, who in sundry
operations, and in divers modes of communication”)
spake, in time past, unto the fathers, by the
prophets,
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His
Son.
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Spiritual Methods
The grand thought here is this, -that, back of all
the prophets, and even of His own Son, the one
Speaker is GoD. Many mouths, but one presiding,
governing, controlling Mind. Even our Lord
Himself takes His humble place as only the greatest
among the prophets: “The words that I speak unto
you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that
dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.” And He
says in the intercessory prayer: “I have given unto
them the words which thou gavest me; and they
have received them.” He, as the last and great-
est of Prophets, is the divine mouthpiece,—by
way of pre-eminence THE Word of God, as
closely associated with the Father as the word
of the tongue is with the thought which that word
embodies—the incarnation of the thought of God,
and the love of God, and the will of God as to a
dying world. Behind all these more than forty
speakers, there was the one infinite and divine
Speaker, so that theirs were not merely human
utterances, but divine utterances through human
lips and human media.
This point cannot be emphasised unduly, for
We are hearing in these days a great deal about
“Pauline” and “Johannean” and “Petrine” the-
ology and doctrine, and we know not what else.
This is all delusive and misleading language. These
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men all came as the representatives of God, and
each spoke His message. When different men
work on a cathedral, no man builds after his own
fashion, or on his own plan, but each carries on
the work according to specifications; they all follow
a given plan, and perhaps they do not know how
the building is going to look when it is completed
—there are many builders, but one architect. This
Book is one structure with many workmen, and the
whole structure was in the mind of God before
the first workman began even to lay the founda-
tions; and all this talk about Paul teaching Neo-
platonic theology, and Peter teaching his own
particular style of Christian doctrine, is virtually
making the whole Bible a hodge-podge of human
notions, instead of a divine, consistent declaration
of infinite and eternal principles. Throughout,
God is the one Speaker.
When you admit that the Book is from One
divine Author, you are compelled to admit the
unity of its divine Authority; and then there are
two or three things that naturally follow, to which
we will refer later.
We now give some practical rules for the study
of the Word of God, which, as we have said, have
been put to practice, and found to be most helpful.
1. The first is the law of FIRST MENTION.
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Spiritual Methods
The late Benjamin Wills Newton, a most devout
student of scripture, says:
I find in scripture a principle of interpretation
which I believe, if conscientiously adopted, will
serve as an unfailing guide as to the mind of God
as contained therein. The first mention of a
thing, the very first words of any subject of which
the Holy Spirit is going to treat, are the keystone
of the whole matter. -
Thus the first mention of a thing generally gives
character to most posterior occurrences of the same
thing. Since there is but one Speaker through-
out, He knows from the beginning what He is
going to say, and can so shape His utterances as
to forecast at the very outset what is to follow.
This we often find in other books. An author
may in the first few paragraphs indicate the whole
drift of his work, and hint the peculiar sense in
which certain leading words used by him are to be
understood by the reader.
We have applied this in hundreds of instances
in the Word of God, and never knew it yet to fail.
We give a few instances, just as they occur to
the mind, in which this principle is illustrated:
(1) Take the first words of the Old Testament:
“In the beginning God.” Is there any right be-
ginning in which God does not lead? That is the
forecast of the entire teaching of the Word of God,
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
—that, from the beginnings of repentance in the
penitent soul, through all the operations of faith,
choice of the Saviour, committal to Him, abandon-
ment of evil, recognition of the claims of the law
of God and the Grace of God upon him, through
every stage in the process of sanctification, until
he comes to glory, God leads; and if at any time
man leads, there is disastrous failure.
We believe that this is the sum and substance
of that doctrine of “election,” about which there
has been a great deal of controversy, and a great
deal of difference of opinion. -
I remember a case of a lady, who was very much
afraid that she would be in some way identified
with this doctrine, which she misconceived. Her
husband was converted in a very remarkable way,
and she was very desirous that he should join the
church. The pastor went to see her, and said:
“Mrs. P
in the conversion of your husband.” “Oh, it is
glorious,” said she. “You believe the Lord con-
verted him?” “Certainly.” “He did not convert
himself?” “Of course not.” “Well, did the Lord
intend to convert him before He did?” “Of course.”
, I understand that you are rejoicing
“Was there ever a time when He did not intend
to?” “Well, I suppose not.” The pastor said:
“Why, Mrs. P
, you believe in election!” She
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Spiritual Methods
replied: “Is that election?” “Yes,” said he, “that
is election, and practically all there is of it.” The
doctrine of election teaches us that God loved
me before I loved Him, chose me before I chose
Him, made the first advances to me before I
advanced toward Him: and that in everything
in my life that is good, He is the divine and ever
blessed Beginner.
(2) Then we read in Genesis I: 2: “And the
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
The Hebrew word means “brooded,” like a bird.
What has been the grand leading aspect of the
Spirit's work ever since? He has always been the
brooding Dove, settling down over the chaos of
our moral nature, and bringing order out of con-
fusion, light out of darkness, and life out of death.
The first reference to Him in the New Testa-
ment is consonant with the first in the Old: “The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee.”. (Luke 1:35.)
The Holy Ghost is still like a brooding dove, and
under His divine influence there is the miracu-
lous conception of our Lord in the womb of the
Virgin Mary.
(3) The first time we meet the number seven
is in connection with the seventh day, and then
it stands for completion, cessation, rest, finished
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
work: the number is found hundreds of times in
the Bible, and it means substantially this in every
Ca,S62.
(4) A little further we read that the serpent was
more subtle than any beast (Gen. III: I), and from
that time the great characteristic of “the old
Serpent,” the Devil, is subtlety; as Paul says to
the Corinthians (II: XI: 3), “lest, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity which is
in Christ.”
(5) When we read the record of the first tempta-
tion what do we find? That the process which the
devil employed was, first, to suggest a doubt as
whether God had spoken; second, to deny what
God had said; and third, to lead to disobedience;
and that has been his method ever since,—first
doubt, then denial and then disobedience. Follow
this through, it is most remarkable, and can be
traced perhaps in thirty instances.
(6) In Genesis xv. 6, we read that “Abram
believed in the Lord and He counted it to him for
righteousness.” This is the first time the words
? ) ( &
“believe,” “count” and “righteousness” occur, and
we are taught—what is the pervading principle in
the entire Book—that Faith is imputed for Right-
eousness, the first mention again indicating the
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Spiritual Methods
entire mind of God for all the rest of the Book.
Illustrations of this might be indefinitely multi-
plied.
II. A second law is that of FULL MENTION.
It is very natural that, if there be one Speaker
behind the various books in the Word of God, He
should, once for all, somewhere, declare to us His
full mind upon any subject vital to our spiritual
life, that the scattered fragments shall Once for
all be gathered together in an exhaustive state-
ment of His mind with regard to that particular
thing. i -
It is a most significant fact that, in the Word
of God we find again scores and hundreds of in-
stances of this, and with almost no cases of repeti-
tion, unless there be special cause or reason for such
repetition, as in the case of the Law. (Exodus
xx; and Deut. v.) Even then there is found some
differentiating factor, which shows that it is not
absolutely repetition. Take the subject of Temp-
tation, in I Cor. x, and James I. In the first
passage the great emphasis is on escaping tempta-
tion, and in the second on enduring.
We have two parables on Importunity in Luke
xI and xvi II. In the former is the man who desired
three loaves, and in the latter the woman that be-
sought the judge to avenge her of her adversary.
*
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But in the latter case is one that is importuning
for her own sake, and, in the other, is one that
is importuning for the sake of others; the woman
seems to stand for the Church or believer seek-
ing to be avenged of the great adversary, and the
Imall, the Church, standing before God pleading for
a hungry and perishing world.
Such cases of Full Mention are so abundant
that it is hard to find a single subject that has to
do with spiritual life, upon which the Word of
God does not give once, and generally only once,
a full exhaustive statement of His will.
For instance, the blessings that attend obedience:
Deut. xxvi II; Vicarious sacrifice, Isaiah LIII; Laws
and Principles of the Kingdom, Matt. v.-vi.1; the
Last Things, xxiv.; the sin of Neglect, xxv, over
the whole chapter we might write the word
“Neglect” and explain it all.
In Luke, God's love for the lost, chapter xv;
God's mind about covetousness; almost the whole
twelfth chapter is an expansion of the motto :
“Take heed and beware of covetousness.” The
contrast between the Here and the Hereafter, is in
the last part of chapter xvi.
Pass on to John: About regeneration there is a
full statement in ch. III; about Christ as the Water
of Life, Iv; as the Bread of Life, VI; the work of the
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Spiritual Methods
Holy Ghost for the disciple, xiv.; the Holy Ghost
for the world, xvi; prayer in Christ's name,
through XIV, XV and XVI, and nowhere else fully.
Do we need to understand with regard to the
great principle of righteousness by faith? read in
Romans III, Io-2I ; about the restoration of Israel,
x1, and fully nowhere else. The septiform of
unity in Christ, Ephesians IV; the mystery of
Christ and the Church, v, latter part; the full
panoply of God, VI, Io—17, “Put on the whole
armour of God.” -
About the principle of Christian loss and Chris-
tian compensation, read Phil. III; about the peace
of God, IV ; about the Anti-Christ, II Thess. II.
The nature of the God-Man, Hebrews I and II;
trials and triumphs of faith, XI ; peril of unbe-
lief, XII; about God’s discipline of His children,
XII, I–II. The inspiration of hope, and holy life?
I Peter I; the final Ordeal of fire? II Peter III.
As to the malice and mischief and misery of
the tongue, James III; the “caste” spirit, and
the ruin it works in the churches, chapter II.
About the great White Throne—once only—
Rev. xx; about the final consummation of the
Saints, XXI and XXII.
These are a few examples of the way in which
there is a full mention once for all given in the
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Word of God on important subjects having regard
to the life of the disciple.
III. ILLUSTRATIVE MENTION.
Once for all God has spoken by way of judgment
upon men for the violation of His individual com-
mandments, and generally only once. Why?
because God, as a Law-Giver, thus gives, once for
all, decisive signs of displeasure with regard to every
specific form of evil-doing, and then forbears and
keeps silence until the final day of reckoning; for,
if He should visit every sin at once with condign
punishment, He would depopulate the globe.
The first commandment is: “Thou shalt have
no other gods before Me.” Refer to the judgment
of Babel, where a false god was undoubtedly set
up. If you seek God's judgment about graven
images, look at Sinai and the golden calf. As to
profaning holy things, the case of Korah, Dathan
and Abiram. As to the violation of Sabbath Law,
the case of the man that gathered sticks on the
Sabbath day. As to honouring parents, the case
of Absalom. As to murder, turn back to Cain.
Judgment of family impurity, look at Sodom.
Theft? Look at Achan. False witness? Look
at the case of Jacob, paying for it by twenty years'
exile. Covetousness? Read the story of Ahab
and Elijah. |
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Spiritual Methods
So we have one Speaker, giving us in First
Mention the indication of what He means to say
hereafter; and in Full Mention giving us Divine
guidance for every particular circumstance and
duty and danger and peril of life; and, in Illus-
trative Mention, exhibiting His displeasure at
various forms of disobedience.
|
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CHAPTER III
SPIRITUAL ORGANISM
THE Science of Comparative Anatomy, as its
name implies, depends upon comparison, for its
results. That exquisitely cultured scientist who
modelled the animal figures in the Crystal Palace
grounds, which represent various antediluvian ani-
mals whose species are now extinct, I once saw
demonstrate on the blackboard with masterly skill
how it was that, with a single bone of an extinct
species of animal, a scientific Comparative Anato-
mist could construct an accurate model of the
whole animal. For instance, take that tooth of
the lion, which corresponds to man’s “eye tooth.”
It is very large and heavy at the root, sharp
pointed, and curved inwardly. It must have
been set in a very strong and powerful jaw, and
that jaw must have been a part of a very compact
and bony head, which head must have been set
upon a thick, short, muscular neck, and that neck
mounted upon broad and massive shoulder blades;
and then, inasmuch as it is curved inward, and
evidently is meant for a flesh-eating animal, with
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which to tear a carcass asunder, there must be on
the foot a claw with another curve outward, with
which to take hold of the carcass at the other
extremity, so that there will be coöperation be-
tween the two; and this argues a strong paw,
armed with strong talons, and a rotary movement.
Continuing this subject of rules for Bible study,
for lack of another and better term, there is what
we may call “Comparative Mention.” That is to
say, the Bible is a kind of organism. Its parts so
fit into each other, as that none can be dispensed
with, all being complementary, each to the other;
so that if we knew enough of the Bible, and had
divine insight into its contents and structure, we
should be able from one part of the book to fore-
cast the rest,--as from one bone to build up a
model of the entire form.
We have seen the law of First Mention,-that
the first time the Holy Spirit uses terms, or refers
to a subject or a theme in the Bible, He generally,
if not always, forecasts His future treatment of
that theme; and the law of Full Mention,--that
Once, and generally but once, the Holy Spirit ex-
presses Himself in the Word exhaustively upon
every great vital theme that has to do with holy
living; and then Illustrative Mention, where, by
way of illustration, God gives us His opinion or
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
judgment upon various crimes against God and
man generally, by once visiting those crimes with
condign punishment, in order to reveal to us His
mind on all such sins, even though afterward they
may be for the time passed over in silence.
An example both of First and Full Mention in
one, is found in Exodus xxv.
It is the first time that there is any mention in
the Word of God of making a Sanctuary for God
to dwell in among men, and it is also the first time
that any reference is made distinctly to a public
and formal offering to the Lord for any such pur-
pose. - - f
Now, upon the ground of the First Mention, we
should expect to find here a forecast of the mind of
God as it will appear later on; and secondly, as
this is remarkably full, and really extends through
all the remainder of the book of Exodus, we might
expect that here once for all God would exhaust-
ively treat the subject; and we find in this passage
as complete a setting forth of the mind of God upon
the subject of making a sanctuary and how it
shall be done, as can be imagined.
We observe here at least ten particulars. Note
them: (1) A Sanctuary, that God may dwell in
it; (2) a pattern to which everything, even to the
slightest detail, is to be conformed; (3) an appeal to
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Spiritual Organism
His people only; (4) a condition, that none shall
bring an offering, except of their own free will; (5)
as to the givers, they shall embrace all the people
that are willing; (6) as to gifts, they shall embrace
all the gifts that they are able to bring, of what-
ever sort; (7) as to quality, always the best of its
kind,-no refuse of any sort; if it is gold, it must
be perfect gold, if it is goat's hair, it must be
perfect goat's hair; (8) as to quantity, more than
enough; (9) as to dedication, set apart for the
glory of God; and finally (Io) as to consecration,
consecrated by the glory of God.”
We commend this earliest example of making a
sanctuary to modern builders of churches. It is
no marvel that so little blessing comes in so-called
sanctuaries, when every distinctive principle set
down in the twenty-fifth and following chapters
of Exodus is systematically violated. Think of
it! What is our pattern ? The models of an archi-
tect or an artist. Sometimes a lot of the seats in
a so-called sanctuary should be given to the Blind
Asylum, for nobody can see; and others of them to
the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, for nobody can hear.
Atrocious failures, for all the purposes of speaking
and hearing, and some of them simply grand
architectural monuments, without any reference
whatever to the Divine glory. Think of the appeals
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even to ungodly people, without any reference to
their character, anybody that will give money.
And as to the quality of gifts, how often without
any regard to giving the best we have; oftentimes
the gifts of a few, the multitude taking no part;
sometimes of grudging necessity and constraint,
and without any free will. And as for quantity,
so deficient as that what we call Houses of God
are saddled with mortgages that sometimes cause
them to be turned over to the purposes of the Devil.
Suppose that in building houses for God we look
back to the Book of Exodus and see what God's
mind is, and then, when we have brought a house
to Him under all the conditions here laid down,
solemnly and sweetly set it apart for His glory,
and look for Him to sanctify by His glory what we
have sanctified to His glory.
Another example of Illustrative Mention may be
taken from the Book of Job. That is the one Book
in the Bible that exhaustively treats the subject of
disciplinary suffering, and there is nothing that
remains to be said on the great general subject,
after the Book of Job has been mastered.
In the first place, there are five trials of Job:
(1) The loss of property; (2) the loss of family;
(3) loss of health; (4) loss of his wife's sympathy,
who said: “Curse God and die,”—more bitter it
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would be to some of us than all the rest, to lose
a wife's sympathy in trial—and then last of all,
(5) the loss of his good name, when the three
friends who came to console him, sat like a coro-
ner's jury on his case, and unanimously decided
that he was a bad man, and that these trials were
a punishment for his evil-doings. It shows us how
dear to all of us is the pride of our reputation.
But notice that the narrative does not leave us
there, but tells us the way in which Job was re-
covered. He saw God, and that vision of God
broke down even his pride of reputation, for be-
fore the holiness of God self collapsed, and self-
righteousness collapsed, and he saw himself to be
filthy and vile, and his only study then was to
be approved of God even if he was disapproved of
man; and then came blessing and victory, and
greater prosperity than ever.
The specific theme of this chapter, as has been
said, is Comparative Mention, or Parallel Mention;
for it is that method of study in which we set
side by side different passages of the Word of God;
first, for the purpose of comparing them as to the
things in which they resemble each other; and
secondly, to compare them in things in which they
are unlike, and learn a lesson from contrast; and
third, to see how one adds to and completes or
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complements that which is contained in the others.
We give a few illustrations, for in this matter
illustration is demonstration. -
For instance, compare the parable of the Talents
and the parable of the Pounds, one in Matthew XXV,
and the other in Luke xIx. The superficial reader
says that the two are alike; that they are different
versions by Matthew and Luke of one discourse;
but a careful and prayerful examination reveals
quite as many points of dissimilarity as of simi-
larity. In the case of the Talents there was an
unequal distribution, an equal improvement, and
an equal reward. In the case of the Pounds there
was an equal distribution, and an unequal im-
provement and unequal reward. It is by putting
the two together, that we learn God’s principle
of adjudication in the matter of reward. So far
as endowments have been similar and identical,
but have been unequally improved and put to use,
the rewards will be unequal; but, so far as endow-
ments have been unequal, but the improvement
proportionate, the reward will be the same. But,
without both of these parables, we would be left
in darkness as to one part of the philosophy of
God’s dealing with men. **
Another example is found in the similarity be-
tween the fulness of the Holy Ghost in Ephesians
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v: 19 and following verses, and the fulness of the
Word of God in Colossians III: 15, etc. In those
two passages almost identical language is found:
the same overflowing of song to God; the same
spirit of thanksgiving; the same spirit of mutual
submission; the same regulation of all our do-
mestic and social ties and relationships, husbands
and wives, parents and children, masters and ser-
vants. But one of these passages begins with
the command or injunction to “be filled with the
Spirit,” and the other with the injunction: “Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wis-
y
dom,” and it is only when we put the two com-
mands together that we understand the full mind
of God. The same results in Christian, private
domestic and social life will be developed when
we are filled with the Spirit, as when we are filled
with the Word of God. But, more than that, no
man is ever filled with the Spirit, in whom the
Word of Christ does not dwell richly in all wisdom;
and no man is ever indwelt richly in all wisdom
with the Word of God if he is not filled with the
Holy Spirit. -
There is one other illustration of comparative
mention which is one of the most beautiful in
the Word of God. It is the comparison between
the unit of measurement in the Old Testament,
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and the unit of measurement in the New Testa-
ment, as to the power of God in the believer.
The first you will find in Micah v11: 15: -
According to the days of thy coming out of the
land of Egypt, will I show unto him marvellous
things.
Whenever God wanted to impress His people of
old with the mightiness of His power to interpose
in their behalf, He always referred them back to
the wonders of the Exodus. But, when He comes
to the New Testament, the Old Testament unit of
measurement is cast aside as wholly inadequate,
and now we read in Ephesians I: 19–23:
“. . . according to the working of his mighty
power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised
him from the dead, and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion,” &c., &c.
That is the new unit of measurement in the New
Testament. “According to My doings when I
brought you out of the land of Egpyt,” He says
two or three hundred times in the Old Testament.
to the people of Israel; “According to the energy
of the power of His might,” He says to the New
Testament disciple, “as it was exemplified in the
resurrection and ascension.” Let us compare
these two. -
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What are the peculiarities of the Old Testament
history of the Exodus? A marvel of judgment in
visiting the Egyptians with death and overwhelm-
ing them in the Red Sea. A marvel of grace in pass-
ing by the bloodstained doorway. A marvel of
power in heaping up the waters of the Red Sea on
either side. A marvel of leadership in the pillar of
cloud and fire. A marvel of condescension in dwell-
ing among them in His tabernacle. And a marvel
of faithfulness in continuing their Covenant God.
Look in the New Testament: A marvel of judg-
ment, overwhelming Satan and all his hosts. Of
grace, passing by the bloodstained cross and the
believer identified with it. Of power, raising up
Christ from the dead. Of guidance, giving the
Holy Ghost as the new pillar of cloud and fire.
Of condescension, dwelling in the believer himself
as His temple. And of fidelity, keeping him safe
in the life of Jesus Christ to the very end. -
These are some of the things that we learn by
comparison of scripture with scripture, Let any
man answer this question: Different men wrote the
different books of the Bible; how comes it to pass
that, where the human writers are different, there
is this marvellous correspondence, when by com-
parison we learn that a truth foreshadowed in the
Old Testament is grandly and gloriously fulfilled
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in the New The moment that you admit that
there is one Speaker behind all the human mouths,
and one Author behind all human writers, you are
prepared to accept this correspondence, which is
an inexplicable mystery and problem, otherwise.
Comparative Mention often develops Contrast,
—points of unlikeness as well as points of likeness.
A few instances will cover a large territory.
Take, for example, the Adversary the Devil, and
the Advocate Jesus Christ. This contrast ex-
tends throughout the whole of the Word of God,
from Genesis III: I 5, where the Seed of the woman
and the Serpent and his seed first appear in sharp
contrast, to the very end of the Apocalypse. And
how magnificent is the contrast!
The Adversary eternally against the believer and
God; the Advocate eternally in favour of God and
the believer.
The Adversary entangling and ensnaring the be-
liever by the things seen and temporal; The Advo-
cate alluring him by the things unseen and eternal.
The Adversary accusing the believer day and
night; the Advocate defending the believer day
and night. The Adversary sending forth evil
spirits to possess men: the Advocate sending the
Holy Spirit to inhabit the believer.
The contrast might be multiplied to a score of
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points, and that Contrast is one of the keys that
unlock the chambers in the House of the Inter-
preter, from Genesis to Revelation.
Take another, and perhaps the most complete
example of Contrast—the contrast between Babel
or Babylon (I am inclined to think that Babel is
the City, and Babylon the system which develops
out of it), and the New Jerusalem. Can there be
any sharper contrast in the Word of God? This
is another of the keys that unlock holy Scripture.
We first meet Babel in Genesis XI, and there,
what is it? The centre of a Godless civilisation;
its basis, concentration rather than diffusion; its
motive self-interest and self-glory, rather than
the glory of God; it has a religious cult, but it is
idolatrous; it is the home of wealth and luxury
and elegance and human pleasure, and every
form of human indulgence, but there is no God
there; and it ends in confusion, though it began
in comparative order.
Now look over into the book of the Revelation,
and what do you see in the New Jerusalem? In
every respect the exact contrast with Babel. The
glory of God lightens it, and He alone is the tem-
ple of it, and is the God that is worshipped there;
nothing enters that defiles or works abomination,
or makes a lie; its law is not self-interest, but
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worship, obedience and service; everything about
it is different; even the gold is different, the
gold of Babel was opaque, but the gold of the
New Jerusalem is transparent; the gold of Babel
you could not see God through, but the gold in
the New Jerusalem you can see Him through;
the gold of Babel was worshipped; the gold in the
New Jerusalem is a pavement, and when you put
the gold under your feet and tread on it, it is in
its right place.
Notice where the transition is found—on the
day of Pentecost. How significant ' They began
to build Babel out of clay, and they aspired to
build toward heaven. But, on the day of
Pentecost, when the New Jerusalem began to
appear, it was let down from God out of heaven;
no earthly materials, but heavenly materials;
no earthly plan, but a heavenly plan; not made of
earthly clay, its gems and its gold celestial.
We talk boastingly about our “twentieth cen-
tury civilisation,” but it is a Babel civilisation,--
there is no use of denying it. In the description of
Babylon in Revelation xv.11 and xvi.II, all the
leading features of this boasted civilisation of the
twentieth century are delineated—luxury, mon-
opoly, wealth, pleasure, treasure seeking, human
glory, concentration, the bond of self-interest.
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And what becomes of Babylon? It perishes, not
by outward assault, but by its own inward rotten-
ness. And that is exactly what is going to destroy
our boasted modern civilisation,-its inward rotten-
ness; and yet even Christian people are often
blind to the fact that this civilisation is essentially
Selfish, Godless, Satanic.
Moreover, when you compare scripture with
Scripture, you get not only likeness and unlike-
ness, but you get Complementary Growth,
additions from time to time to that which you
have learned before, so that these various parts
of the scripture become complementary and
Supplementary to each other. You look at the
right hand and at the left hand, and you observe
that there are points of similarity and points of
dissimilarity. The points of similarity indicate that
they are for the same uses; the points of dis-
similarity indicate that they are intended to co-
operate. Suppose the thumb of the left hand were
at the other side of the hand, how could the two
hands co-operate? Sir Charles Bell's “ Bridge-
water Treatise ’’ on the human hand, shows how
a learned man can take this one member of the
body, and write hundreds of pages, and not begin
to exhaust his theme. When we come to under-
stand our Bibles, we shall find that there are
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right hands and left hands in this organic body of
truth, and that their very dissimilarities as well
as similarities indicate their places in the body,
and that they co-operate to complete our views of
truth, of duty, of service.
We give some illustrations of this from a wide
and almost illimitable sphere, calling attention to
a few things that perhaps some may not have
noticed.
There are three kinds of works represented in
the Bible: Good works; Wicked works; and
Dead works. Dead works and wicked works are
not the same. Far from it. We all know what
good works are and what wicked works are, but as
to Dead works, they are the works that have the
outward form and appearance of good works,
but they lack their vitality and spiritual energy.
Twice we are warned against dead works: once
in Hebrews VI: I, and again later in Ix: 14. The
first reference being probably to the dead works
of the unbeliever, and the second to the dead
works of the believer.
Those are dead works which have not the Spirit
of God in them; that are done in carnal energy
with carnal motives, with carnal ends, and with
a carnal spirit. If you do not know what dead
works are, it is very important you should under-
64 * * * *
Spiritual Organism -
stand, for largely the whole device of ritualism
is based upon the illusion of dead works. It is
but a form of Godliness in the place of its power;
and it is trusting to rites and ceremonies and
ordinances in the absence of the inspiring Spirit.
But do not you think you are not Ritualists be-
cause your worship is very simple! Because behind
the simplest worship may hide the same dead
works,—just as a woman may be just as proud of
her Quaker drab as she is of all the colours of the
rainbow. - - -
In fruit, we find the same three-fold division,-
good, bad and wild. Wild fruit is not the same
as bad. Wild has the form of good, but lacks its
flavour and savour; so that the good works
correspond to the good fruit, the wicked works
to the bad fruit, and the dead works to wild fruit.
We can only learn this by careful comparison.
In three great passages in scripture the Vine
appears: Isaiah v, Psalm Lxxx; and John xv.
The lesson taught in each of these passages is quite
different from the lessons taught in the others,
but you have to take the three together to learn
what God would have to say to His people with
regard to the Vine that He brought out of Egypt,
casting out the heathen, and planted. -
In Isaiah v the great emphasis is upon God's
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utter chagrin and disappointment in His Vine,
that, after He had searched out a good soil, and
given it every opportunity to bear fruit, hedged
it about and protected it, and built a tower in
the midst of it, He looked that it should bring
forth good grapes, and it brought forth nothing
but wild fruit, nothing but dead works.
The emphasis in the 8oth Psalm is on the external
injury done to the Vine, as in the 5th of Isaiah
it is on the lack of internal vitality.
. The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and
the wild beast of the field doth devour it, . . .
and there is no hope but in the living God. The
enemy is seeking to destroy it.
Now when you come to John XV, that matchless
parable of Jesus Christ, you find that there are
seven words about which the whole parable and
its lessons turn: Vine, Branch, Fruit; Abide, Ask;
Love, Joy. - *
The secret of Life is to be a Branch on the True
Vine. -
The secret of Fertility is to abide in Christ,
and the result of such abiding is that we partici-
pate in His love and His joy. ..
We add a single example more with regard to
this complementary treatment, and that is the
Two Paracletes. Very few things present, to my
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Spiritual Organism
mind, a more magnificent theme of thought and
study than the office of the Two Paracletes,
(1) the Holy Spirit, the word being translated
“Comforter’’ in John XIV; (2) Jesus Christ, the
word being translated “Advocate ’’ in the first
epistle of John. -
There are some words which should not be
translated, like “Jehovah,” and “Abba” and “Alle-
y 5 y
luia,” and “Paraclete,” is one of them. There
is no English word that can properly represent
the word “Paraclete,” and if it were simply
transferred into the language as an untranslated
word, the imagination and the knowledge of the
believer could invest it with those thoughts that
belong to it, as shown by the context in va-
rious places where it is found in the New Testa-
ment.
The significant thing is that both the Holy
Spirit and Christ are called by the same name,
Paraclete, and it is a very peculiar word, never, to
my knowledge, used about anything else, never ap-
plied if I remember rightly to anyone but the Holy
Spirit and the Lord Jesus. Look at the beautiful
conception:
The Holy Spirit as the Paraclete dwells within;
Jesus Christ as the Paraclete dwells on high.
The Holy Spirit comes from God to represent
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God to me; Jesus Christ goes from me to God to
represent me to God. - ..
The Holy Spirit becomes the Energy of life in
me for service and suffering; Jesus Christ is to
be the Energy of defence for me against all ac-
cusation and condemnation, in the presence of
God.
The Holy Spirit becomes to me the repre-
sentative of Jesus Christ on earth; Jesus Christ
becomes the representative of my soul and spirit
in Heaven.
How beautifully they co-operate in the matter
of prayer. In one place the three persons of the
Godhead are brought into their proper connection
in the matter of prayer, that is, in Eph. II: 18, “For
through Him (Christ) we both (Jew and Gentile)
have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”
Through Christ, by the Spirit, unto the Father.
Did you ever ask yourself why it is necessary to
have a Paraclete within for prayer, and a Paraclete
at the Throne also for prayer? -
Here is a stream. It starts in a pure spring,
and it empties into your own drinking vessel in
your own house. But it passes meanwhile through
a channel, where it takes up corruption. It starts
pure, but it will not come to you pure unless you
filter it after it has passed through its channel.
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True prayer starts in the groans of the Holy Spirit
in the heart of the believer: - -
We know not what we should pray for as we
Ought, but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession
for us (i.e., within us) with groanings which cannot
be uttered. -
But that prayer which the Holy Spirit awakens
passes through the channel of our consciousness
and individuality; it takes the taint of our self-
ishness, Our sensuality, corruption, carnality; and
in order to come to God pure, as it began in the
suggestion of the Spirit, it must pass through a
refining and filtering channel, and that is the
Paraclete above. So far as we are in fellow-
ship with the Spirit on earth, He can truly pray
within us; and so far as we are in fellowship with
the Paraclete above, He can truly represent us;
and in such cases, prayer is as sure to be answered
as that there is no conflict between the persons
of the Deity; for the prayer that starts with the
Spirit, and passes to its goal through the Person-
ality of Christ, must come to the Father with the
double recommendation that it was begotten by
the Spirit, and presented by His dear Son.
There are many things in this divine book that,
to the merely intellectual man who approaches
them in a scientific spirit, remain abstruse and
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
difficult and perplexing, but to the little child
who comes to the Word of God simply as a little
child, to know for the sake of knowing the truth
and doing his duty, everything becomes easy and
simple and natural. If you do not come to the
word in the spirit of little children, it will do you
little good. The Bible demands no intellectuality,
or scholarship, or learning, but it does require,
to some extent, the spirit of a little child, and such
readers find it the Man of their counsel, and the
Guide of their steps.
How awful is that warning in the conclusion of
the Book of Revelation:
If any man shall add unto these things, God
shall add unto him the plagues that are writ-
ten in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words
of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away
his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy
city, and from the things which are written in
this book.
In this book there is nothing to be taken away,
and to this book there is nothing that can be added.
In this graciously and gloriously complete organ-
ism, there is neither a superflous member, nor is
there a lacking member. No man can show any-
thing that can be dispensed with, and no man can
show anything that for human guidance in truth
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Spiritual Organism ^-.
and duty should be within these pages, that is
not there. And so, the more we study, the more
we love, and, while others criticise, we worship
and adore.
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CHAPTER IV
SPIRITUAL STRUCTURE
THE Word of God shows its magnificence and
grandeur partly from the fact that there is no
point of view from which its wonders can be fully
seen or fully described. You may look at it on
the one side as a continuous utterance of the will
of God; you may look at it as an organic body
pervaded by the Divine Life, in which every part
is like a member of an Organism; or you may
look at it, as we are to look at it now, as a
Structure, not a body, but a building.
Some aspects of the Word of God can be best
presented under the figure of an imposing edifice.
There is one passage in the Book of Proverbs that
has caused much controversy among commenta-
tors as to just what it means,—Proverbs VIII and
Ix,−and it is known as the “Impersonation of
Wisdom.” In chapter Ix: I we read these re-
markable words:
“Wisdom hath builded her house,
She hath hewn out her seven pillars.”
Wisdom would naturally construct a house of
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Truth. Possibly this, the Bible, is the house
Infinite Wisdom has built, and the seven pillars
may express the seven-fold completeness of those
great and glorious doctrines which make up, to-
gether, the sum and substance of the teaching of
the Word of God; there are many hints in the
Bible which seem to point to the Word as a struc-
ture, built up upon principles of eternal Wisdom:
Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and
Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
Corner-stone, in whom the whole building, fitly
framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord.—Eph. II: 20–21.
If that, on the one hand, is true of the Church of
Jesus Christ, on the other hand, it is equally true
of the Word of the living God. -
We consider the Word of God now under the
figure of a structure, an architectural figure.
All perfection in building implies four things:
(1) Perfect Beauty, which is found in the embodi-
ment of an idea or conception; (2) perfect Unity,
which depends upon form, and form is both in-
clusive and exclusive, it takes in and it leaves out,
—that is what constitutes perfect form; (3) in
every building there must be perfect Harmony, and
that implies a plan which extends to all the parts
of the building, and which unites them in serving
*** * ~ **** -
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one great purpose; (4) and finally, there must be
Growth, or advance, from corner-stone to capstone:
“In whom the whole building, fitly framed to-
gether, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.”
That last idea, that of Growth, will occupy us
hereafter, but let us first run rapidly over the first
three of these points, and notice the Beauty, the
Unity, and the Harmony of the Word of God.
The Beauty of an edifice, as has been said, de-
pends upon the embodiment of some one great
controlling idea. Not everyone that looks upon a
building understands what is really the charm of
any edifice that approaches to perfection. Take
the leading orders of Architecture—each stands for
something: the Egyptian, for massiveness and
strength; the Doric, for simplicity and sublimity;
the Ionic, for grace and delicacy; the Corinthian, •
for elaborate beauty and splendour; while the
pointed Gothic has been associated with buildings
appropriated and consecrated to religious ends,
partly because pointed Gothic, especially, suggests
peculiarly religious ideas. The Roman arch starts
from the earth, and, at its highest reach, sweeps
back again, but the pointed Gothic arch, though
it starts from the earth on each side, at its highest
reach points forever upward, never returning to
the earth. Whenever you see a pointed Gothic
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Spiritual Structure
building, you will always see a finger that points
upward. Pinnacles, spires, arches, all the details
of a pure specimen of pointed Gothic, suggest a
still upward aspiration.
The word of God is a magnificent specimen of
Divine Architecture, and it embraces and embodies
One great overmastering conception,-Salvation:
God working out salvation; man receiving salva-
tion. And there is a very fine expression of the
whole ultimate object of this dominating idea of
the holy scriptures, where in Eph. I we read:
That he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, even in Him.
That is the dominating conception of this holy
building of God.
Indispensable to this conception of perfect
Beauty, the embodiment of some great thought,
is Unity which consists in the form, techni-
cally so-called; which shall include everything .
that is essential to this great idea, and exclude
everything that would mar it or prevent its de-
velopment. So we shall be prepared to under-
stand why it is that the Word of God includes
what it does, and excludes what it does; and this
a.11SWeTS many difficulties which have been sug-
gested by sceptical and infidel minds, and to which
we have not perhaps always a ready answer. It
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
is very plain why the Bible includes certain things,
but how few ever think how all-inclusive it is!
Suppose we take the whole structure of Biblical
truth, from the opening book, Genesis, to the closing
book, the Apocalypse, did you ever think of what
you have included there, and of the order in which
these things are found?—an order which can in no
case be interrupted or changed without a manifest
loss to this high, Divine Unity. Remember that
the dominant idea is man's Salvation, Redemption
by Blood, Gathering together in one all things in
Christ. Now what is the first thing you meet in
the Bible? - - -
(1) Man's creation and fall. Why? Because
that demonstrates both man's capacity for Re-
demption, and man's awful ruin that needs Re-
demption.
(2) Then the next thing you meet is the promise
of Redemption, afterwards amplified in many pro-
phetic utterances. And why should this be next?
Because the first thing that man needs in his ruin
is to have set before him distinctly the hope and
expectation of a Redeemer. -
(3) Then the next thing you find is an elaborate
system of sacrifices and offerings. And why that?
Because it typically presents before man what Re-
demption is and what it accomplishes, and what
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Spiritual Structure
are the terms upon which Redemption is realised;
and, just as the promise and the prophecy inspire
hope, sacrifice and offering incite and educate
faith.
(4) Then, in the beginning of the New Testa-
ment are the fourfold Gospel narratives, and what
are they for? They present to the thought those
great facts upon which the reality of Redemption
is based, that Jesus Christ was incarnate; that
He died for men, according to the scriptures; that
He rose the third day, according to the scriptures;
—the great facts which Paul tells us in I Cor. xv,
are the substance of his preaching, and the basis
of the faith of the disciple.
(5) What is the next thing? Pentecost, because
the facts of Redemption and the truths of Re-
demption will save no human soul without the
power of God to apply them, and Pentecost is the
revelation of the power.
(6) Then you have, following, the history of the
Church through one generation, in the Acts of the
Apostles, and what is that for? It is the practical
test and proof that Redemption is adequate to
work its great result.
(7) And the last thing you have is the glimpse
of the coming Kingdom, and the final triumph,
when all things are brought together in one in
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Christ, and what is that? That is the Goal of
Redemption.
There is nothing left out that ought to be there,
and there is nothing there that ought not to be
there. And all are exactly in the order in which,
as we see, Infinite Wisdom planned that they
should be, and in which the necessity of things
demands that they should be, (I) Man's ruin;
(2) a promise of Redemption; (3) typical setting
forth of Redemption; (4) the facts in the history
of Jesus Christ upon which the Redemption is
actually based; (5) the power which makes the
truth and the blood of Christ effective; (6) the
history of the Church that shows it is effective;
(7) and the Kingdom that opens up to us the
goal of Redemptive history.
All this is very remarkable, and it is all there.
It is no fancy, but a fact; no invention, but a
discovery that many a child of God has made in
the patient and prayerful study of the holy scrip-
tureS.
Let this suffice to show what is meant by the
exclusiveness of form.
When God was setting forth the great truth of
Redemption by Blood, and making that the forma-
tive idea of this great building, He left out every-
thing that would not contribute towards the de-
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velopment of that idea. Hence the Bible passes
silently over the great mysteries of Science; it
is not a book to reveal scientific truth, and Only
touches it casually and incidentally. This has
been a stumbling block to philosophers, who have
thought it a very strange thing that a Book that
professes to be Divine should make man the lord
of the universe: “Why, the universe is the master
of man, not man of the universe.” Not so thought
God. God considers that one man is greater than
all the planets and stars that roll through the
firmament, because, when they shall perish, he
shall look on the wreck of matter and the crash
of worlds, as unending in existence as God Him-
self.
For similar reasons, the Bible passes by History.
We have no secular history in the Bible. The
great world empires, like Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria
and Persia, the Bible never refers to them ex-
cept in the most incidental way; and in a few
chapters, mostly devoted to prophecy about their
ruin. But here is a miserable little tribe of a
few thousand people, on a narrow strip of land. On
the Mediterranean, about as broad as Wales, and
the Bible expends the most of its space in dealing
with this little contemptible tribe of Jews! Vol-
taire thought that was a perfectly obvious proof
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that the Bible could not be the Book of God.
“Why,” he said, “just think of these great em-
pires. How gladly we could afford to be in
ignorance of this little tribe, for the sake of know-
ing more about the great civilisation of Egypt,
and the splendid empire of Persia.” But not so
does the Lord regard it. One little village; one
ruined inn; one despised stable; one manger that
has long ago rotted into dust, is more precious in
His eyes than all Babylon and Nineveh and
Thebes. No metropolitan city of the world, no
magnificent palace of its monarchs, ever had the
importance in God’s eyes which that stable and
that manger in Bethlehem have.
The Bible passes Art by. Of all the works of
Human Art, there is nothing that God ever looked
upon with the same Divine emotion that he did on
two crosspieces of wood that were erected on Gol-
gotha. No great rhetorical efforts in His book, no
attempts at great epic poems. In the grandest
edifices we never construct ornament, but we or-
nament construction; and God never constructs
Ornament in His Bible. He constructs His Bible
and ornaments the construction. Ornament is
never an object. Did you ever look at the taber-
nacle? No beauty there, that men should desire
it. From an artistic point of view not an object
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Spiritual Structure
of real beauty in it. The sharply contrasted
colors of blue and purple and scarlet, people of
refined taste would think were gaudy; and those
cherubic figures, which mingled men and cattle
and birds all together in one mongrel form,
violated all the canons of art. Beauty was not
the object, it was the teaching of Divine truth,
and the beauty gave way before the utility. God
was not seeking after beauty, He was not seeking
to magnify Art and satisfy artistic temperament.
And Philosophy—if men had written the Bible,
they would have packed it full of Pythagoras and
Socrates and Plato, but the Lord never makes
mention of human wise men, and when the Epi-
cureans and the Stoics are mentioned, it is casually.
The Lord was not writing a Book of Philosophy,
except the philosophy of the plan of salvation, and
that is foolishness to the wise, as their wisdom is con-
summate foolishness with the Author of the Bible.
Let us be sure that, when God makes the Bible,
He knows what to leave out as well as what to
put in, and He never violates the law of Unity
of form for the sake of pleasing the people who
are to look at the building. There is all included
that ought to be there to express God's Divine
idea, and there is nothing that would divert
attention from the purpose He had in view.
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
Not only is there Beauty in the Bible, con-
summate and perfect, —not only is there Unity in
the Bible, consummate and perfect; but there is
Harmony, and that implies a plan that extends to
all the parts, and makes them in accord with one
another. There are many things in a building
that are subordinate, but they are also co-ordinate,
that is, if it is a true building, they all tend and
help to emphasise that which is designed to be
the dominant idea.
In the Bible the supreme idea is Redemption by
Blood; but many other things stand out very
conspicuously, like great towers. As the 48th
Psalm reads:
Walk about Zion, and go round about her:
tell the towers thereof.
Mark ye well her bulwarks.
Consider her palaces.
That language may be applied to the Word of
God. Walk about the Bible; go round about it;
tell the towers thereof, the great soaring doctrines
that rise above all other truths like mountain
tops. Mark well its bulwarks, its impregnable
defenses; consider its palaces, its unparalleled
delights; all are to be found in this Book-un-
rivalled teachings, impregnable defenses, unparal-
leled delights. In this great building of God
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mighty towers rise, as, for instance, the Righteous-
ness of God on one hand, and the Love of God on
the other, the two apposite attributes of God that
together make up His perfection. His Righteous-
ness with an Infinite loathing of sin, and His
Benevolence with an Infinite love towards the
sinner. And all the subordinate parts of this
blessed Book contribute to these its great domi-
nant ideas, while every little part has, as it were,
a unity in itself, as we shall see hereafter.
There is a grand reason why certain facts and
truths are so prominent. Take the New Testa-
ment, for instance. The great prominent events
of the New Testament are the Incarnation of
Christ, His Transfiguration, His Crucifixion, His
Resurrection and Ascension, and His Coming
again.
The Incarnation, because that was the Redeemer
coming to earth. -
The Transfiguration, because that was the one
occasion upon which that Redeemer manifested
forth His full glory as the Deity, at no time
before, and at no time after, while He was on
earth, did He ever sweep aside His human dis-
guise, and reveal that Imperial Star of Royalty
On His breast, and that Diadem of universal Em-
pire on His brow.
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The Crucifixion of Christ, because that was the
occasion when His atoning blood was shed.
The Resurrection, because then He showed Him-
self the Prince of Life, who could not be holden
under the power of death. - -
The Ascension, when He went up above all
heavens to take His place on the right hand of God.
The Second Coming, when He comes to finish
and consummate the Redemptive work.
These facts belong to God's scheme, as the great
keys to the whole system. .
There are certain Truths that come forth into
prominence, just as there are certain facts. Let
us recur to one of them,-Vicarious Atonement.
At the risk of repetition of what has often been
treated before, let us look again at the 53rd chapter
of Isaiah. In the second portion of this prophecy,
from the 4oth to the 66th chapters, twenty-seven
chapters are entirely occupied with the suffering
and the triumph of the Messiah. They constitute
one great Messianic Poem in the Old Testament.
In the Hebrew there are no chapters, but there are
three divisions, marked by a refrain, at the end
of the 48th and 57th chapters, “There is no
peace, saith my God, to the wicked,” and the same
sentiment, expanded in a fuller form, at the end
of the 66th: - ... •
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Spiritual Structure
For their worm shall not die, neither shall their
fire be quenched, -
which is another way of saying, there is no peace
to the wicked. This refrain divides the poem in-
to three about equal parts. In the exact centre
of the middle part is the 53rd chapter which is
entirely devoted to setting forth the doctrine and
fact of Vicarious Suffering. There are only twelve
verses in it, but fourteen times is the fact announced
that this suffering was borne for others. The
chapter is divided into four parts of three verses
each: these successive parts treat of Christ (1)
as a rejected Servant of God; (2) as a Vicarious
Sufferer; (3) as an outraged Victim; (4) as a
triumphant Victor.
Looking into the chapter carefully, we find seven
statements of Vicarious Atonement in the first
part, such as: -
(1) “He hath borne our griefs;”
(2) “Carried our sorrows;”
(3) “He was wounded for our transgressions;”
(4) “Bruised for our iniquities;”
(5) “The chastisement of our peace was upon
Him;”
(6) “With His stripes we are healed;”
(7) “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of
us all.” - .
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Then, in the latter part, there are seven more
statements of Vicarious Suffering .
(1) “For the transgression of my people was He
Smitten;” - -
(2) “Make His soul an offering for sin;”
(3) “By His knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many;” 4 -
(4) “He shall bear their iniquities;”
(5) “He was numbered with the transgressors;”
(6) “He bare the sins of many;”
(7) “Made intercession for the transgressors.”
And, midway between, almost the exact literal
centre of the chapter, are these words:
“Brought as a lamb to the slaughter.”
Now this is most significant, Twenty-seven
chapters; a middle section of nine chapters; the
middle chapter in the nine the 53rd; in the 53rd,
four representations of Christ, with fourteen
mentions of vicarious sacrifice, seven in the fore
part and seven in the latter part, and, between
the two: “Brought as a lamb to the slaughter,”
which identifies that chapter with the sacrifice
of the lamb, from Abel's lamb on to the end.
This reminds one of some great rose window in
the front of a cathedral, with its symmetrical
sections all radiating from One centre, but, in that
centre of all, one ruby pane of glass, with a repre-
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Spiritual Structure
sentation of a slain Lamb. God meant to have
that great truth stand out so conspicuously, that
none could look at the Word of God without seeing
it, and without thinking of the central position it
Occupies in that great prophecy, as itself a demon-
stration of what God thinks of the importance of this
truth. When a man says, “Away with the blood!”
ask him whether he has ever read the 53rd chapter
of Isaiah. The blood stain is upon every page
of scripture. The blood is the scarlet line on
which all the promises and prophecies, like pearls,
are strung. To do away with the Blood is to do
away with the Bible and the Christ and Salvation.
As there are many things that are prominent
in the Bible, there are many things that are sub-
Ordinate, and yet even these present their own
little unities. Take that phrase: “In Christ.”
The effect of that one phrase is to link together
the whole of the New Testament. It is very
short, only two words,-yet that one phrase helps
to explain every book in the New Testament. And
if one other word be added to this short phrase, it
will express that which differentiates every one of
the books from all the rest:
Romans, “In Christ, justified.” Corinthians,
“In Christ, sanctified.” Galatians, “In Christ,
crucified.” Ephesians, “In Christ, ascended.”
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
Philippians, “In Christ, satisfied.” Colossians, “In
Christ, complete.” Thessalonians, “In Christ,
Victorious.” Hebrews, “In Christ, bettered.”
(The word “better” occurs thirteen times in that
Epistle, at the critical points in the argument.)
And so you may go on through till you get to Jude:
“In Christ, preserved.” So that little phrase “In
Christ” interprets every one of those books. It is
the link that unites them all: “That he may
gather together in one, all things in Christ.” He
is the unifying Bond.
One phrase of seven words, John XIV: 20: “Ye
y
in Me and I in you,” comprehends the whole of
Christian life. “Ye in Me” for standing, “I in
you” for state. “Ye in Me” for justification, for
exaltation to the heavenlies, for the complete fol-
lowing after God, and for the final glory in victory
over all foes. “I in you” for sanctification, for
the energy of a new life, and for the peace of God
that passeth all understanding.
In the Rev. John Urquhart's recent book “How
to read the Bible,” he has shown that there is a
little link that unites the Old Testament books
together in a divine arrangement, the philosophy
of which he has endeavored to show. The smallest
letter in the Hebrew alphabet, except one, is the
letter known as “Vav,” commonly translated
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Spiritual Structure
“and.” It is shaped like a hook, and it hooks on
One book to another, in the Old Testament, which
God has joined together, and where it does not
occur, it naturally implies that this intimate
connection does not exist.
The Book of Exodus commences with that letter,
translated “Now,” which should be translated
“And,” as in Leviticus and Numbers. But Deute-
ronomy, which we should expect to be linked with
the other four, lacks this connective “vav”; but
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I & II Samuel and I & II
Kings, all begin with that letter. In I Chron. the
first word is “Adam,” but in II Chron. the “And”
reappears, as also in Ezra; Nehemiah and Esther
being connected in the same way. *
Mr. Urquhart, with his simple, childlike faith
that there is a reason for everything God does, and
that the smallest jot or tittle shall not pass without
a reason, suggests that the reason Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus and Numbers are thus associated together
is because they are the books that appertain to
Israel, outside the Land; that Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judges, I & II Samuel, and I and II Kings
are associated with Israel, inside the Land; Chron-
icles and Ezra, joined because appertaining to re-
turning captives; and Nehemiah and Esther, be-
cause they have to do with the captives that did not
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
return,-Nehemiah being an instance of those that
in the land of captivity mourned over their exile,
and Mordecai and Esther of those that were indiffer-
ent, and content not to return. Hence the name of
God is not foundin Esther; as Mr. Urquhartsuggests
because God would not couple His name with His
people, when they were indifferent to His cause.
Thus there is a reason for the minutest things in
holy scripture, a reason why a “vav” connective
should be used on One occasion and not on another;
why God should hook together certain books, and
leave out the hook where the books should be
dissociated. - -
Again there must not only be this subordination
of all the books to the great end that God has in
view, and this unity of the lesser parts among
themselves, but, as in an arch a keystone both
completes the stones in the arch and holds all
the rest in place, so the student will be able to
find generally, if not always, in every book of the
Bible, some one word which is a key to its entire
contents. To stimulate studies in this direction,
we suggest a few of these key words.
For instance, in the Epistle to the Romans, the
key word is “Righteousness”; I & II Corinthians,
“Separate”; (“come ye out from among them.
and be ye separate”); in Galatians, “faith”; in
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Ephesians, “heavenlies”; in Philippians, “gain”—
worldly gain renounced, heavenly gain received in
consequence of the renunciation; in Colossians
“filled”, Christ was filled with God, and believers
are filled in Christ; and so on, One may go
through the whole of the New Testament. As
already mentioned, the keynote to Hebrews is the
word “better”, everything is shown to be better
in the Christian dispensation than in the Jewish,
and hence the argument: “You must not go back
to Judaism, lest you forsake the better for
the worse.” I & II Peter, “Precious”—precious
promises, precious blood of Christ, like precious
faith, precious trial of faith; in the three epistles
of John, especially the first, the great word that
unlocks the entire epistle is “walk.”
Three words interpret the whole of the Bible,
Life, Light and Love. They are the successive
revelations of God; Life, the sum of all being;
Light, the sum of all intellectual excellence; Love,
the sum of all moral excellence. And if there is One
in whom all being, all intellectual excellence, and
all moral excellence are combined, there is nothing
that can be added to such a portrait of God, and
that is God’s Own portrait of Himself.
It is not a matter of wonder that Luther took
the 119th Psalm, verse 89, as his favourite text.
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
He had it inscribed on the walls of his chamber,
and embroidered on the garments of his servants:
“For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven”—
far above the reach of all disturbing causes. As
well try to put out the stars with a watering-pot
as to destroy the Bible by human assaults. It
is the assailants who are going to perish, but they
are not going to destroy this Book. Be afraid for
yourselves, but do not be afraid for this Bible.
There was a great man in America, now dead,
who said once, after he had heard a sermon in
which the speaker seemed to fear that all Truth
was going to disappear before the assaults of in-
fidels: “As well attempt to plant your shoulder
against the burning wheel of the mid-day sun and
roll it back behind the horizon!”
Walk about Zion, and go round about her, tell
the towers thereof. Mark well her bulwarks.
Consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the
generation following. For this God is our God
for ever and ever. He will be our guide, even unto
death.
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CHAPTER V
SPIRITUAL PROGRESS
THE idea of a building also suggests PERFECT
GROWTH.
For this reason the building better represents
Some facts about the Bible than the Body, for
every organic body is, from its birth, complete,
having all its parts. Growth in a body is only
the development of the parts, which were there
from the beginning; but growth in a building is
the addition of part to part, from foundation to
culmination:
In whom the whole building (unity), fitly
framed together (harmony), groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord (growth).
This subject is vast, it has a vital and funda-
mental relation to successful Bible study, and
deserves patient attention. There is scarcely any
greater manifestation and demonstration of the
inspiration of this Book of God, and of the fact
that, behind the multitude of human writers and
the multitude of human productions, there is the
Divine hand and the Divine mind, than may be
found in the study of this subject of Growth.
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
We have before quoted from Benjamin Wills
Newton, and now make another quotation from
this spiritual and devout student of holy scrip-
ture :
The only unfailing method of interpreting
scripture is the Structural method. Where do
you first hear of any matter, and where the end
of it? Then compare the beginning and the end,
in order to get a firm grasp of the general character
of all that intervenes.
The Book is thus a building, and the Author
the Architect. To find the first mention of a
matter is to find the corner-stone; to find the
last is to reach the capstone. Then, by tracing the
connection between the two, we discover the
relation of pillars and arches and all that lies
between.
Let us endeavour to get hold of this thought
first of all, that we may understand what it means.
There are four things that are connected with
this subject of Growth:
(1) The first and last mention of any subject in
the Bible generally, if not always, hint what lies
between.
(2) What lies between is generally, if not always,
found to be fitly joined together, articulated.
(3) There is order and progress. Each new
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Spiritual Progress
mention adds to what has gone before, and pre-
pares for what shall come after.
(4) This development proceeds in the Bible, as
we have it, although the books are not always
in chronological order. This is the more amazing
fact, that such progress or development of doc-
trine exists, notwithstanding that chronological
sequence in the canon is so often disregarded;
and the only explanation we can give of it is
that He who inspired the Word has guided in
the compilation of the canon, permitting certain
books to be admitted into it, with reference to
such order in the presentation of truth, rather
than with regard to the order of time in their
production. As we come to study some examples
of these remarkable facts, a problem faces us that
it is very difficult to solve unless we believe that
the Divine Author has taken oversight of the way
in which the books of the Bible have been put
together, though it has been done through human
minds and hands. -
First we take up only such developments as do
not include either the whole of a Testament, or
the whole of the Bible itself, leaving such for sub-
sequent treatment. In order that we may get
this thought thoroughly before us, the building,
the form of which we shall keep before us, would
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
best be conceived as pyramidal—a form often
suggested in the scripture. For instance, in Zech.
Iv: 7 we have that expression of God unto Zerub-
babel: -
Who art thou, O great mountain? Before
Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he
shall bring forth the headstone thereof with
shoutings, crying, Grace, Grace unto it.
The headstone here is construed as the last
stone in the building, indicating its completeness,
and the shout of “Grace, Grace unto it” as the
triumphant shout of tribute to Grace when the +
building is thus completed.
In I Peter II: 6-7, two words are used:
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect,
precious . - -
The stone which the builders disallowed, the
same is made the head of the corner. -
The question arises whether the “corner-stone”
in the 6th verse, and the stone which is the “head
of the corner,” in the 7th verse, are the same. If
one is the corner-stone, and the other the cap-stone,
the structure must be conceived as a pyramid.
Whether this be so or not, in this case, the figure
of the pyramid is very suggestive and helpful in
conveying the conception that we have in mind.
In a pyramid, so important are the corner-stone
and the capstone, that, from those two, we could
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Spiritual Progress
tell exactly what the pyramid was to be; because
the corner-stone will indicate by its angles and
shape what the size and shape of the pyramid
must be which is erected upon it, and all the stones,
between, must at once be in line with the corner-
stone and with the capstone. Moreover, in any
Other building there may be a thousand pinnacles,
as in the cathedral at Milan,—there may be spire
upon spire—but in the pyramid there is only one
headstone, which is itself a little pyramid; and
there can be no rivalry, for there is only one stone
that will fit the summit of a pyramid. If the
sacred writer was guided by the Holy Spirit to use
this figure of form, what a conception it conveys
of the whole system of Salvation! He Who is
its corner-stone is also its capstone. It is a sublime
‘pyramid, “built upon the foundations of the
Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being
the Chief Corner-stone, in whom the whole building,
fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple
in the Lord.” And that Corner-stone and that
Capstone determine the size, and the angle, and
the position, of every other stone between.
This growth of truth has sometimes been called
“Progress of Doctrine,” a phrase used to express
the fact that there is an orderly progress of teach-
ing in the holy scriptures.
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
Let the writer undertake to illustrate this sub-
ject, beginning at the beginning. If some things
seem trite, commonplace and familiar, what is so
to one may not always be to another, and a few
examples from every department may at once
illustrate and demonstrate the facts.
We begin with two examples of Single Verses:
Gal. v.: 22–23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance.
When we first look at that, it seems as though it
were like a cluster of nine grapes, without any
reference to order whatever. We look again and
see that there appear to be in the nine graces or
virtues mentioned, three groups, each of them em-
bracing three of the graces; that the first three
seem to have special reference to God, “love, joy,
peace,” that concern our relation to Him; the next
three seem to represent our relations to our fellow
men, “long-suffering, gentleness, goodness”; the
last three, “faith (or more properly ‘fidelity')
meekness, temperance (or self-control)” seem to
have special reference to ourselves. Three having
mainly the outlook Godward; three having mainly
the outlook manward; and three having mainly
the outlook selfward. It is the inverted order of:
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Spiritual Progress
“Soberly” (as to oneself), “righteously” (as to
one's fellow men) and “Godly” (as to God).
Titus II: II—13:
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men (or, ‘‘the grace of God
that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared,
—hath had its epiphany”) teaching us that, deny-
ing ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
SOberly, righteously and Godly in this present
world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glo-
rious appearing of the great God, and Our Saviour
Jesus Christ.
The word “Salvation” is used in the New Testa-
ment in three senses:
(1) The salvation that comes instantaneously:
“To-day is salvation come to this house” (Luke
XIX: 9).
(2) The salvation which is progressive: “Work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling”
(Phil. II: I.2).
(3) The salvation which comes at the reappear-
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ: “Receiving the end
of your faith, even the salvation of your souls”
(I. Pet. I: 9).
Above we have the three salvations in their
proper order:
(1) “The grace of God, that bringeth salvation
to all men, hath appeared.” . . . .
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
(2) “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously
and Godly in this present world.”
(3) “Looking for the glorious appearing.”
Notice again, we have here the entire contents
of the New Testament suggested in the order that
is found in these verses:
(1) The gospel narratives and the Acts of the
Apostles: “The grace of God that bringeth salva-
tion to all men hath appeared.”
(2) The Epistles: “Teaching us,” &c.
(3) The Apocalypse: “Looking for that blessed
hope.”
Is there not a regular progressive development
of doctrine from beginning to end, and can the
order of any phrases in these verses be changed
without interrupting the progress of doctrine?
II. Let us pass on to paragraphs, including more
than one verse, again choosing one or two examples
only, and from the New Testament.
II. Pet. 1: 5-8:
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to
your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and
to knowledge temperance; and to temperance
patience; and to patience godliness; and to godli-
ness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kind-
ness charity:. . .
" . . IOO
Spiritual Progress
How obvious the Order here! Faith is the
Christian's childhood. What is needed first is to
add to childhood, manhood, that is, virtue. We
expect a man to know more than a child,—he is
to add to virtue, knowledge. We expect a man
to exercise self-control in pleasure, that is tem-
perance. We expect a man to exercise self-control
in Sorrow or pain—that is patience. A man grows
from manhood to maturity—that is godliness.
Godliness exercises its influence within the bounds
of the brotherhood—that is brotherly kindness; then
wields a wider influence in the larger circle of the
world—that is charity. It would not do to change
the Order of any one of these; for example, putting
patience before temperance, because pain is the
later experience, patience the later development.
Nor can godliness and virtue exchange places be-
cause manhood comes first, and maturity comes
after. Charity follows brotherly kindness, because
the circle of the brotherhood is narrower than the
circle of the world.
Then, beyond all this there is an ultimate re-
sult:
For if these things be in you and abound, they
make you that ye shall be neither barren nor un-
fruitful . . .
Here is character growing to maturity; here is
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
influence extending itself into larger and larger
spheres; and here is fruitfulness as the final result.
Revelation xxII: 3-5: Here is both a remark-
able classification, and an equally remarkable
order:
“And there shall be no
more curse” . e . Perfect Sinlessness.
“But the throne of God and
of the Lamb shall be in
it” . * ſº & . Perfect Government.
“And his servants shall
serve him” . © . Perfect Service.
“And they shall see his
face” e tº g . Perfect Communion.
“And his name shall be inſ
their foreheads” . . Perfect Possession.
“And there shall be no
night there” . g . Perfect Blessedness.
“And they shall reign for
ever and ever’’ * . Perfect Glory.
And in that seven-fold enumeration of the final
perfection of the Saints, you cannot change one
item in the order. There must be perfect sinless-
ness before there can be undisputed rule. There
must be perfect rule before there can be perfect
obedience and service. There must be perfect
obedience before there can be perfect communion.
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Spiritual Progress
There must be perfect communion before there
can be perfect consecration. There must be all
these before there can be perfect blessedness, and
there must be all these before there can be perfect
glory.
There is thus a regular, orderly progress of
doctrine in these paragraphs.
III. We take illustrations from chapters or from
discourses.
First of all, the so-called “Sermon on the Mount.”
Matt. V, VI and VII.
Most people who read this great discourse of
Our Lord's think it is a very happy combination
of disjointed proverbs, but the accurate and care-
ful student, day by day, perhaps after many read-
ings, begins to discover a plan, and after he gets
the key to the discourse, the plan becomes per-
fectly plain.
(1) First of all, there are eight specifications as
to the character of a perfect citizen of the King-
dom, called the Beatitudes.
(2) Secondly, we have reference to influence, and
it is represented in two or three ways: By the
light that pervades the darkness; by the city that
is visible from all points; by the salt that both
savours and saves.
(3) Then our Lord begins to discourse on con-
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
duct; first external conduct, which is outward
righteousness; then unseen righteousness, which is
righteousness of motive.
(4) Then He speaks of motives that are double
and single, motives that are directed Godward
and manward at the same time, and in contrast to
them the motives that are single, where the eye
is simply set on God, and on God alone.
(5) Then He tells us what it is that interferes
with this singleness of motive, aiming for human
applause on the One hand, and being troubled about
our own support on the other.
(6) And He closes this sublime discourse by
showing us what is real and unreal, what is tran-
sient and what permanent; and recommends us
to dig deep, and lay the foundation on the Rock,
so that when the ordeal comes, the building will
not fall, but will stand.
All through that discourse, there is not a viola-
tion of orderly progress in teaching, from first to
last: Character, influence, conduct, motive, double
motive, single motive, the real and the unreal, the
transient and the permanent; and so we advance -
from character to influence, and conduct to destiny.
In the other discourse in John XIV is a message
to troubled souls. The first sentence is “Let not
your heart be troubled,” and in verse 27 we have
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Spiritual Progress
exactly the same words repeated. Between these
two, which constitute a refrain, dividing the dis-
course into sections, the reasons are given for not
being troubled, and what are they?
There are four classes of problems referred to
in order, and four remedies that are given to these
problems.
(1) The problem of creation and Providence:
“Believe in God.”
(2) The problems of sin and salvation: “Be-
lieve in Me.”
(3) The problems of death and the hereafter:
“In My Father's house are many mansions. I go
to prepare a place for you.” And then
(4) The problems of the present interval, be-
tween conversion and the final gathering together
in Christ,-problems of fear of sin, old habits of
sin, Christ gone away, the unseen world shut out
from us by the curtain of obscurity. And the
answer to these problems is the Holy Spirit, Who
becomes to us as the personal Christ, coming back
and indwelling, and Who becomes to us also the
secret of constant communion between the visible
and invisible world, so that the joys of heaven
are anticipated upon earth, and the power of God
is realised over sinful habits; all our problems are
thus answered, and the progress of thought is
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
perfectly preserved: (1) Creation and Providence;
(2) sin and salvation; (3) death and the here-
after; (4) power of indwelling sin, present con-
duct, and communion with the unseen world. One
may read that discourse a thousand times before
he sees this; but once having seen it, can no more
lose sight of it.
Another example is the Intercessory prayer in
John XVII. We do not look for system in prayer.
It is perhaps a mistake that we do not, and that
praying is so often simply a jumbling together
of sentences. There never was a discourse pro-
nounced in the ears of man that pursued the
progress of doctrine more than the intercessory
prayer of Jesus Christ. There are four great
divisions: (1) Separation: Disciples taken out of
the world to be given to Christ; (2) Sanctifi-
cation: “Sanctify them in Thy Truth; Thy Word
is truth.” (3) Unification: “That they all may
be one.” (4) Glorification: “And the glory which
Thou gavest Me, I have given them.”
We cannot change that order. The separation,
which is negative, must come before the Sancti-
fication, which is positive, and both must come
before there is a possibility of the unity of disciples,
for all true unity depends upon our closeness of
relationship to Him; and all these must come
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Spiritual Progress
before we can enter into or enjoy His glory.
In Rev. II and III we have seven minor epistles
to Seven churches, and in the conclusion of each
Of these letters we have a reward promised to
those who overcome. These rewards are couched
in very peculiar language, in every case drawn
from the history of the Children of Israel ; but
there is a progress in the order of these rewards,
and again, you cannot in a single instance interrupt
that progress. -
(1) For instance, unto the Church of Ephesus
the reward is:
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of
the tree of life, which is in the midst of the para-
dise of God.
That refers to Eden.
(2) The reward to the Church of Smyrna is
“shall not be hurt of the second death.”
That suggests the Fall, with the penalty of
Death. - .
(3) The reward to the Church of Pergamos is
the “hidden manna.” -
That reminds of the Children of Israel in the
desert.
(4) To the Church of Thyatira:
To him will I give power over the nations;
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron,
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
That refers to Moses fighting with Amalek, and
prevailing as long as the hand with the sacred
rod was upheld. - -
(5) The promise to the Church of Sardis is
“White Raiment,” recalling the Priesthood, with
their white garments, and the Levitical order in
connection with the Tabernacle.
(6) To Philadelphia:
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in
the temple of my God.
That brings us to the era of the Temple.
(7) To the Laodicean Church: -
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit
with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame,
and am set down with My Father in His throne.
Here is progress again, for remember that al-
though, when Solomon began to reign, he sat
on David's throne, we have the account in I Kings
x: 18, of how he made his own throne, magnificent
as it was, and at that time (years after he had
assumed the government, reigning as it were joint-
ly with his father), he ascended his own throne;
and so there is a regular progress of doctrine here,
and it cannot be disputed. These rewards traverse
the whole of the history of God's people from Eden
until the Hebrew nation reached the height of its
prosperity and progress in the peaceful reign of
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Spiritual Progress
Solomon, the type of Jesus Christ, the Prince of
Peace.
Some of the most triumphant answers to the
errors of rationalistic modern criticism are to be
found in this discovery of the progress of doctrine
in the Word of God. It bears the seal and stamp
of Divine inspiration, and the Mind of God, and,
as we shall see when we examine Numerical
Structure, this connection and progress of thought
so pervades the scriptures as to take out of the
mouths of rationalists some of the principle argu-
ments against the Word of God.
IV. Having called attention to a few examples
of single Verses, then of Paragraphs; then of
Chapters or whole discourses, we now look at
instances in which a whole Book presents a study
of the Progress of Doctrine.
Take for instance the Gospel of John: In I: 4
you have the first mention of Life: “In Him, was
life”; and in xx: 31 you have the last mention of
Life: “These things are written . . . that be-
lieving, ye might have life through His name.”
Between the two, there are about fifty instances
in which we find either the word “Life,” or the
expression “Eternal Life,” and in every case
each new mention adds something to the develop-
ment of the thought that has gone before, and pre-
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
pares for the after development of the conception
in following verses.
“In Him was life.” That tells the source from
Whom life comes. This life is the gift of God. It
is to be received as a gift by believing. It is to
be received as a gift at once: “He that believeth
hath.” It is an inner spring, as in the 4th chapter.
It is an outer stream, as in the 7th. It is both
present and permanent, as in the Ioth. And you
see you cannot change the Order of any of these
great truths. They proceed by a regular pro-
gressive development, as from a corner-stone to a
capstone.
In Acts I: 8:
But ye shall receive power after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses
unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and
in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth. Acts I: 8.
There the progress is indicated at the beginning,
and is the Order that is exactly followed all
the way through the Acts: First, Jerusalem; then
Judea; then (chapter VIII) Samaria; (x) among
the Romans, as in Caesarea; (XIX) among the
Greeks, as in Ephesus; and so right out to the
utmost parts of the earth, a very familiar fact
that every student of the Book of the Acts under-
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stands. We cannot take any chapter, and change
its place for that of any other without destroying
and impairing this progressive teaching of the
Book.
V. We look now at groups of Books. For in-
stance, in the four Gospel narratives, the miracles
of Jesus Christ have a progressive order.
The first of His miracles showed His power
Over nature, to do in an instant with the water
in the waterpots (changing it into wine) what
nature takes a whole season to do through the
grape. ."
The second miracle demonstrates His power
Over disease.
The third, over animate nature, in the draught
of fishes, as the first over inanimate nature.
The fourth, over demons.
The fifth, over death; and there is a progressive
development in regard to the miracles concerning
death, three cases of resuscitation: (a) Jairus's
daughter, that had just died; (b) the son of the
Widow of Nain, that was on the way to burial;
(c) Lazarus, who had been dead four days. Sup-
pose the order of those miracles of resuscitation
should be changed, how manifestly the progress
of doctrine would be destroyed. If the raising
of Lazarus came first, and the others afterwards,
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
the most stupendous miracle of raising the dead
would come before the lesser ones which demon-
strate Almighty power less forcibly.
When all the teachings of our Lord on the sub-
ject of Prayer are arranged in their chronological
order, we find that they separate themselves into
ten distinct lessons, advancing from the most
primitive to the most sublime; for He says in
regard to the last lesson—“Ye shall ask in My
name”—that this is a new lesson. He hints that in
no case about any of the other lessons, but, when
He comes to put the capstone on all His own
revelations on the subject of prayer, He says:
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name;
ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be
full. Jno. XVI: 24.
It was a new lesson to them, and to all believers.
These ten lessons on the subject of Prayer fol-
low the Order indicated below. -
(1) Secrecy, as opposed to display;
(2) Quality of prayer, as opposed to quantity;
(3) The matter and manner appropriate to prayer;
(4) Forgiveness as opposed to vindictiveness;
(5) Faith, as opposed to unbelief;
(6) Importunity, as opposed to fainting;
(7) The filial spirit in prayer, confidence in the
Father;
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(8) Humility as opposed to pride; as shown in
the case of the Pharisee and the Publican;
(9) Agreement with other praying Souls;
(ro) Identity with Jesus Christ: “Ask in My
Name.”
Again here is Progress of Doctrine. The first
three regard the nature of prayer as an act of
supplication; the next five refer to conditions of
prayer as found in the spiritual attitude and con-
dition of the suppliant; and the last two lessons
have reference to the high level of prayer, found
in a spiritual unity between suppliants who pray
together, and a spiritual unity between suppliants
and Jesus Christ when they ask in His name.
In the records of the life of Our Lord there are
manifestly groups of typical events: (1) His death,
burial and resurrection; (2) His breathing of the
Spirit on the Disciples on the night of His resur-
rection. “He Breathed on them.” (3) His forty
days' walk among them; (4) His ascension; (5)
The compensation for His sufferings, “the joy
that was set before Him.” (6) His sitting at the
right hand of God. (7) His coming again in glory.
No one will dispute this order of leading events.
There are also seven great church epistles
which Paul wrote, Romans to Thessalonians.
Grouping together two Epistles which go to the
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same Church, we thus get a seven-fold group of
epistles.
(1) Romans is occupied with death, burial and
resurrection; (2) Corinthians with the Holy
Ghost inbreathed as an indwelling life and power;
(3) Galatians with the walk in the Spirit; (4)
Ephesians with ascension to the heavenlies; (5)
Philippians with the joy that is set before the
disciple in compensation for his losses; (6) Colos-
sians with his being seated with Christ at the
right hand of God; and (7) Thessalonians with
his coming again with Him in glory.
II Thessalonians was written first in the series,
and yet it is one of the last two as the series is
found in our Bible, yet the Order must be as it is
in the canon to secure a regular progress of
doctrine. To change the order of any of these
epistles is to interfere with the typical order of
the events of our Lord’s life; but, if we read con-
secutively from Romans to Thessalonians, we are
conducted straight through all these great con-
secutive events. We follow the Lord in death,
burial, resurrection; we receive the Holy Ghost
from His inbreathing; we follow Him in forty
days of Holy walk; we ascend with Him to the
heavenlies; we participate in His compensation,
the joy that was set before Him; we sit down
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Spiritual Progress
with Him at the right hand of the throne of God;
and we look forward to the coming again with
Him in glory.
II5
CHAPTER VI
SPIRITUAL PROGREss (Continued)
THE topic for present consideration is the “Pro-
gress of Doctrine’’ in the Old and New Testaments
—one of the greatest of themes—and we must not
dishonour the Word of God by a hasty and super-
ficial glance at a matter which deserves the pro-
foundest study.
In I Kings v1: 7, we read:
And the house (temple of God), when it was in
building, was built of stone made ready before it
was brought thither; so that there was neither
hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in
the house while it was in building.
There must have been consummate planning
and preparation in the building of the Temple.
There were quarries round about Jerusalem and
underneath the site of the Temple, and there were
quarries in Tyre and Sidon, for some of the stones
bear to-day the marks of the Tyrian workmen;
the stones were brought from all quarters, and
so also were the timbers of cedar and of olive
and other wood; and, when brought to the Temple
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\
site, there was nothing to do but to lift them to
their places, no chipping, trimming, adjusting, as
though some blunders or some mistakes had been
made in preparation. It was not necessary to use
a hammer or axe or any iron tool in that whole
process of building, but silently and noiselessly
everything slipped into its appointed and predes-
tined place.
We know no more fitting expression of the very
thought we desire to bring before the reader (and
for every thought that is worth bringing to men
there is some expression in this Book) than we
have read here. This Book is a Temple of Truth.
Its stones and timbers have been prepared in many
quarries and by many workmen; but, when they
were brought to the place of the structure, they
were lifted into their predestined and appointed
place without any human adjustment whatever.
One of the most remarkable proofs of this is that
to which already we have called attention—that
these Books are not in the order of their composi-
tion; no regard being paid, in a large part of what
We call “The Canon,” to the historical or chrono-
logical order in which these writings were produced
under the pen of inspired men. Yet, notwithstand-
ing this fact, the Bible as we have it, violating
chronological order, pursues a logical order. There
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
is generally observable a steady progress in the
development of truth from Genesis to Malachi,
and from Matthew to Revelation. As we have
already said, we know of but one satisfactory
way to account for this, which is that God, who
by His Spirit, first inspired men to write these
books, then, by His Providence, in human history,
controlled as far as needful the order in which they
have been arranged in the canon. There is an order
here that reveals a superintending Divine Hand.
Human Councils are said to have settled the order
of the canon. But they did no such thing. The
utmost that councils of the Church have ever done
has been to recognise the fact that certain books
were fully attested as inspired books, and then to
decree that they should be read and studied in the
Churches; but they had already been admitted, in
the vicinities where they were produced, or the
Churches to which they were sent.
Another remarkable fact pertaining to this is
that the circumstances which delayed the incor-
poration of certain books in the Canon, so that
they came in comparatively late, were circum-
stances that no human being could control. Some-
times a book was disputed or doubted, because it
was supposed to recognise or favour some heretical
opinion which had sprung up in the Church, and
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it took a while to clear the atmosphere, and to
See that the book was not partisan, that it was
not produced in the interest of any heretical opin-
ion; as in the case of the slow acceptance Of the
Apocalypse into the canon. But be it remembered
that the Apocalypse sets the natural and necessary
capstone to the New Testament, and that it could
in no case properly be anywhere else; and it will be
seen why God permitted these controversies to
arise with regard to this book, in order that its
entrance into the New Testament should be de-
layed until it could thus become the completing
capstone of the whole Bible.
These, then, are a few of the remarkable facts
and features of the subject, which, like many
others, demand close and careful attention, in order
to leave the matter beyond a controversy or a
reasonable doubt that this Bible is from beginning
to end God’s Book, and not man's book.
Having already searched somewhat into the Pro-
gress of Doctrine from one step to another in dis-
tinct sentences or verses; then in paragraphs;
then in chapters; then in whole discourses cover-
ing several chapters; then in entire books; then
in groups of books, like the four gospel narratives,
we are prepared now to look at the Progress of
Doctrine, where it covers still larger territory—
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
such as the whole of the Old Testament; then
the whole of the New Testament; and then the
whole Bible, Old and New Testaments together.
With regard to the Old Testament, it would seem
that to trace the progress of doctrine here were a
great undertaking. In fact, it has never been un-
dertaken thoroughly. A book has been written
by Oehler in which the development of doctrine
in the Old Testament at its beginnings has been
stated in part, but we know of no treatise covering
the whole ground; and cannot but hope that some-
one will arise in these latter days who will do for
the Old Testament the splendid work that Bernard
did for the New Testament, in that book which is
perhaps the greatest treatise, without exception, on
this subject, “The Progress of Doctrine in the
New Testament: The Bampton Lectures for 1886.”
Now as to the Old Testament: Here are thirty-
nine books, often out of their chronological order,
yet with a general Progress of Doctrine from be-
ginning to end. -
Look first of all at the Numerical progression
in these books.
They are in three general divisions: (1) The His-
torical books, which are 17 in number, from
Genesis to Esther; (2) The Poetical books, which
are 5 in number, from Job to Solomon's Song;
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(3) The prophetical books proper, which again are
I7 in number, from Isaiah to Malachi.
Then, is it not very noticeable that the first 17
should be divided into 5 and 12 —the 5 major
historical books from Genesis to Deuteronomy, and
the 12 minor historical books from Joshua to
Esther; and that the last 17 should be divided in
the same way into 5 and 12,-5 major prophecies
and 12 minor prophecies. That alone is very
singular and striking. Here we find proportions
like those of a building, in which we can trace,
in the different parts, the same general mathe-
matical laws of proportion and geometrical lines of
construction. This, however trifling a thing in
comparison, since it concerns only numbers, is
only an introduction to that other progress of doc-
trine which no one can dispute who carefully looks
at these books. -
For instance, at the beginning stands Genesis,
the book of the Beginnings: The beginning of
creation, of man, of sin, and of salvation.
We should next expect to find, in Exodus,
sin and salvation presented before us in a
progressive way. And accordingly Exodus is
the book of Separation. It is the calling out
of God’s people from the world into fellowship
with Him. *
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
Leviticus follows, and is the book of Fellowship,
and of Service on the basis of sacrifice.
Then in the book of Numbers, we have the book
of organisation and discipline and progress; but
it is also the book of wanderings. Unbelief and
idolatry enter into its records and so, when we
COme to
Deuteronomy, we naturally have a rehearsal of
the Law, as becomes necessary when people have
forgotten their obligations to God, and their re-
lationships to Him; and this again is the prepara-
tion for
Joshua, which is the book of entrance, of occu-
pation, of possession of Canaan by dispossession of
the tribes that dwelt there. But before we get
through Joshua we see signs again of a moral and
political declension, and the book of
Judges, which follows, is the book of failure and
of anarchy, when “every man did that which was
right in his own eyes.” All this prepares us for
the six books that follow:
I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, and I and II
Chronicles; and what are they but the story of
how the Theocracy or government of God, was
displaced by the Monarchy, or government of man,
—God crowded out from control because the peo-
ple lusted for a human king; and the kingdom
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Spiritual Progress
develops, and declines, and divides, and then comes
the captivity.
Then follow the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and
Esther:
Ezra is the story of captives coming back to
build the Temple.
Nehemiah is the story of captives coming back
to build the City.
Esther is the story of captives still in the land
Of the captivity, with apparently little yearning
towards the sacred city and the House of God.
Esther is also the exhibition of God’s Provi.
dence in national history, setting forth that provi-
dence in a seven-fold light, which we cannot now
stop to examine. Suffice it to add that the general
idea of the book is that there is a Hidden Hand
behind human history. It shows us good men in
adversity for the time, but their adversity ending
in prosperity; and it shows us evil men in pros-
perity for a time, but their prosperity ending in
judgment. It shows us that the Hand that guides
human history is a hidden hand, and does not ap-
pear on the surface of things, but, as in the case
of the sleeplessness of the king, works down be-
neath all the machinations of men for the develop-
ment of God’s own plan.
In Job, the first of the poetical books, we have
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Divine Providence in individual life, as in Esther,
Divine Providence in national life. -
Then follows the Book of Psalms, the unique
book that, for the first and only time in the Old
Testament, represents man as speaking to God;
the other books are rather God speaking to men.
All through the 150 Psalms we have these varieties
of human experience finding expression and relief
in communication with Almighty God.
When we come to the book of Proverbs, we have
the wisdom of this world, at its highest, collated
and compared to show that it tends towards God;
that when we have found real wisdom—not sham
wisdom—its highest verdict leads upwards to Him,
that is, wisdom coincides in its ultimate verdict
with the teaching of holy scripture.
Then, in the book of Ecclesiastes, as we have had
the world’s verdict in Proverbs, we have its vanity
here.
The book of Solomon's Song, or the Canticles,
exhibits the world’s hostility to the believer. Let
us tarry here, for this is one of the most mis-
understood books in the Bible. Solomon has been
taken to represent Jesus Christ, and Shulamith,
the maiden, to represent the believer; and there
have been various efforts made to reconcile some
of the language of Solomon's Song with morality,
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Spiritual Progress
not to say spirituality. This can with difficulty be
done upon the basis of such a construction of the
poem; but there is a basis which Godet and others
have pointed out, which absolutely explains that
book and relieves all this difficulty. It is to repre-
sent by the maiden the believer or the Church; by
the royal court of Solomon, the world; by the
poor Shepherd to whom the maiden is affianced,
but who is not yet in a condition to take her to
himself as his betrothed wife, the Lord Jesus
Christ during the period of His absence and with-
drawal. And, as the royal court is seeking by
voluptuous charms to win the maiden from the
poor shepherd, and drag her into the harem of the
polygamous king, but she has visions of the shep-
herd, in which he appears, reproaching her, and
reminding her of her nuptial vow, so that she ends
by going faithfully after the shepherd, and leaving
the attractions of the harem,-so the believer,
though vacillating between the world and God, is
held fast in the embrace of His love, and finally
ends by bidding adieu to the world’s attractions,
and turning to the Lord Jesus Christ. So con-
strued, those expressions in Solomon's Song that
are offensive, because they seem to appeal to
bad passions, it is not necessary to “spiritualise” in
Some mysterious and unnatural way, to interpret
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
them, if possible, into pure yearnings of the be-
liever toward the Lord. They become rather the
diabolical and damnable efforts of a corrupt, las-
civious world to draw the believer away from the
pure loyalty to Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom of
the church; and all expressions of enraptured
admiration, and enthusiastic adoration of that
which is true and good, come to represent the true
attitude of the believer when, thinking of his
Master and Saviour, the power of the world
ceases to attract and he feels the magnetic drawing
of the love of the Lord. -
The 17 Prophetical books follow. There is, no
doubt, a concealed progress of doctrine in them all,
but it is very noticeable in the 5 major prophecies,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and
Daniel.
In Isaiah, for instance, we have the Messiah
represented as God’s suffering Servant, and man's
vicarious Saviour; but when we come to
Daniel, we have that same Messiah represented
as a conquering Sovereign of this world; no longer
the Victim led to the slaughter, but the Victor
achieving final conquest over the world, the flesh
and the Devil. The beginning is where it ought
to be, in the sufferings, and the end is where it
ought to be, in the glory. And if we examine
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closely the intermediate books of Jeremiah, Lamen-
tations and Ezekiel, it will be seen that they are
about equally divided between the lamentation
Over, and the rebuke of, the children of God in
their disloyalty to Him; and the pronouncement
of judgments, of “burdens” of doom, upon the
various nations that have conspired against the
Lord and against His Christ; these naturally
belonging between the first glimpses of the Messiah
as the suffering Servant and the last glimpses of
the Messiah, in the major prophecies, as the final
Victor. -
It could be shown that, from Hosea to Malachi,
there is somewhat the same progress of doctrine,
from beginning to end, but such examination of
these twelve books would require more extended
treatment than is practicable in this volume.
We may, however, give a passing glance at
the book of Malachi. Plainly that sets the key-
stone of the arch to the Old Testament scriptures.
In the last chapters we have the clearest refer-
ences to the first Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ
that are found in the Old Testament, with a
glimpse even of the “Forerunner” that is to pre-
pare the way before Him. And let us remember
that the book of Malachi stands for the end of a
legal dispensation. It is the closing book of the Old
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Testament, the great word of which is “Law”;
and, as in the third of Genesis we meet the word S,
3.
“curse,” so the last word of Malachi is the word
“curse;” “Lest I come and Smite the earth with
a curse.” For disobedience to the law brings
curse at first, and the law, even at the last, can
leave behind nothing else. , ,
What a suggestive contrast there is in the end
of the New Testament: “The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all.” We have gone
from the curse to grace, and not only so, but we
read: “And there shall be no more curse,” and
so the book of Revelation as obviously sets the
key-stone in the arch of the New Testament as
the book of Malachi does in the arch of the Old.
Before we advance any further, let us notice one
thing: if we pass over into the New Testament
territory, and compare the progress of doctrine,
we find the most amazing correspondence in the
order of events as they are portrayed there. In
the early books we have a new Genesis, a new be-
ginning. The second Man, the last Adam, appears
on the stage of history, and, like the first Adam, is
on a probation, and goes through with His tempta-
tion. How like Genesis that is!—but where Adam
fell, He stood. -
And now His work is to lead out a people for
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God, and so the next thing that we meet in the
New Testament is the Exodus, the new separation,
the Ecclesia, the called-out disciples and the
called-out Church; and just as in Exodus they
passed under the blood-stained doorway, so in the
New Testament they pass under the shelter of
the blood-stained cross, and there is no entrance
on the new pilgrimage except like the entrance
on the old—by the way Of the Blood. *
Then we have set before us in the four gospels
the new Leviticus, of fellowship and communion
with God, on the basis of atoning sacrifice; then
in the Acts, we have the new book of Numbers,
organisation and pilgrimage begun, and the new
book of Deuteronomy, the new law, not of con-
centration now, but of dispersion, of self-sacrifice,
—a new law of love.
The Acts of the Apostles corresponds also to
Joshua—entrance, occupation, possession of this
world in the name of Jesus Christ; but, alas, it also
suggests a new period of Judges, for we do not close
the Acts of the Apostles before we find the de-
clension and the failure of the Church already in
progress. Heresy and iniquity are creeping in,
and every man is seeking to do that which is
right in his own eyes. - -
And so, as, in the Old Testament, we have the
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
six books dealing with the kingdom, so in historical
Christianity, we find Constantine merging the
theocracy into a human monarchy; then come the
awful dark ages for a thousand years, and then, as
in Ezra and Nehemiah, there comes the great
Reformation in England and Switzerland and
Germany, and a few anointed men of God seek to
rebuild His temple, and to dig up from the debris
of the ages the very doctrines of Justification
by . Faith, and kindred truths. But just as in
Esther you find some captives still remaining
in the land of their captivity, you find a very
large proportion of nominal Christians still hug-
ging their idols, and content in their captivity to
the world.
Thus in the Old Testament and in the N ew; in
the history of Israel and the history of the modern
Church, we have almost side by side, step by step,
the same development precisely; and we may lay
one Testament over the other, and the history of
the Church of God in our own times over the history
of ancient Israel, and we shall find that, point by
point, there is a coincidence,—alas, that there
should be!
In the New Testament, examined by itself,
there is a similar development of doctrine quite
as manifest, perhaps even more so, because of the
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Smaller territory over which to trace this marvellous
doctrinal growth.
Take for instance what are called the synoptic
Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke.
How plainly Matthew belongs at the beginning,
and could be nowhere else; for Matthew treats
the Messiahship, and the Royal Law-giving Power
of the Messiah. Matthew has also to do with
Christ as the fulfilment of prophecy; hence it
belongs at the beginning to join New Testament
scriptures with Old. It begins with the prepara-
tion for Christ's coming in John the Baptist, and
the opening of Christ's marvellous ministry,
linking the New Testament directly on to the Old,
Malachi and Matthew being specially joined. He
is addressing the Hebrew mind. t
Then Mark, who is the companion of Peter,
and addresses the Roman mind, deals especially
with Christ as the mighty Worker. The word of
Mark is “straightway”; he emphasises the im-
mediateness of movement and of power as exerted
on the part of Christ.
Then Luke, who was especially the companion
of Paul, and particularly addresses the Greek
mind, deals with the perfect Humanity of Jesus
Christ, the Friend of sinners, the sympathising
Man, Who could say “I am a Man, and nothing that
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
is human is foreign to me” in a far greater sense
than an old Roman said it many centuries ago.
Then follows the gospel according to John.
The separate position which the writings of John
occupy in the New Testament, demands special
consideration, hereafter, for it is a most remark-
able thing that this last of the Gospel narratives,
separated in time and separated in character from
the rest, had a particular office to perform, after
the period of decline had begun in the Church, and
had so rapidly matured that, in one year, the time
between the writing of I Timothy and II Timothy,
—most alarming developments of apostacy had
taken place ; and so, John undertakes to supplement
the synoptic gospels with a special gospel narrative,
in which he deals with the Deity (not simply
Divinity) of Jesus Christ. He addresses the
Church, the great body of believers, and writes
the gospel narrative in fact for the whole world.
In the Acts of the Apostles the same progress
is noticeable as in the gospels, first, the Gospel
preached to, Hebrews in Jerusalem and Judea;
then to the Romans as Mark addresses the Romans;
then to Greeks, as Luke addresses the Greeks.
Some would say there cannot be any further
progress of doctrine after Our Lord ascended.
But that is a great mistake, for it forgets the
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fact that our Lord Himself said, in John XVI:
“I have many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when the Spirit
of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth,
for He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto
you. All things that the Father hath are Mine;
therefore said I unto you that He shall take of
Mine and show it unto you.”
How wonderfully we are let into the secrets of
the Word of God by that very Word itself. What
does our Lord say? “There are things to be said
unto you as disciples, that you are not now able
to bear; for their disclosure you must wait until
the Holy Spirit comes.” But observe He does not
say He did not know those things, Himself. He
does not say He was not able to teach them
those things, had they been prepared, for all that
the Holy Spirit shall afterward reveal to them he
declares is already “Mine” and “all that the Father
hath is Mine,” and therefore “whatever He shall
show to you is only what I possess already in My
own knowledge and capacity to teach.” And so,
when we come to the latter part of the New
Testament we shall find that, as in the gospel
narratives “Jesus began both to do and to teach”,
(which is the language of Luke), so in the Acts of
the Apostles and Epistles He continues to do and
teach, until the Canon of the Bible is corripleted,
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
and nothing more is to be added, and nothing to
be taken from it. - . •.
Notice again what is the philosophy of this
progress of doctrine, after Our Lord ascended.
Observe two things: First, that what He spoke in
germ should be expanded in fuller treatment; and
second, that that which He could not disclose to
the disciples, because they were not ready to bear
it, should, under the illumination of the Spirit,
be made plain to them after the wondrous Pente-
costal bestowment.
There is therefore this very remarkable feature,
which Mr. Bernard has so grandly brought out in
his book: Whatever you find taught by Paul,
Peter, James and John fully, you can trace back
to the teaching of Jesus Christ, germinally. This
deserves emphasis because, as has been said before,
all this talk about the “types of doctrine” in the
New Testament as belonging to human schools—the
Pauline and Johannean and Jacobite schools—is
a misleading device of the Devil. If such were the
case, then the reader of the New Testament scrip-
tures could make his choice as to what type he
would select—whether to follow the teaching of
Paul, or Peter, or James, or of John. And there
is a good deal of talk nowadays about going “Back
to Christ,” which sounds very plausible, and is
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exceedingly popular, but what does it imply?
That in so far as we follow Paul, or Peter, james,
or john, we are getting away from jesus Christ.
That is what it practically means. But it is a
mistake. There is not a single great doctrine an-
nounced by Paul or Peter, or any of the rest of
them, but is already found, in germ, in the teach-
ings of Jesus Christ. -
Take a few examples and compare:—
Atonement: “He bare our sins in His own body
on the tree,” says Peter. What does Christ say?
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, shall draw
all Men unto Me. This He said signifying by
what death. He should die.
Justification, by Faith:
Being justified by faith, we have peace with
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. -
This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him
Whom He hath sent. He that believeth is not
condemned, but He that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God.
Liberty:
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith
Christ shall make you free.
If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye
shall be free indeed.
There is an obnoxious doctrine which Paul
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
brings out strongly, about “election” and “pre-
destination.” But what does our Lord say?
No man can come unto Me, except the Father
which hath sent Me, draw him. John VI.
Ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep,
as I said unto you. (x: 26.) -
Can the doctrine of the perseverance of the
saints which Paul teaches in Romans VIII be
found in Christ's teaching?
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and
they follow me; and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. My Father,
which gave them Me, is greater than all, and no
man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand.
If believers are held between the hand of Jesus
Christ and the hand of the Father, how is even
the Devil going to pluck them out?
It is very true that there are some doctrines in
the Word of God that are more clearly and fully
stated in the Epistles than by Our Lord Jesuse
Christ and some of them are scarcely found even in
germ in his teaching, but the reason is that they
could not be understood until Christ had gone
and the Spirit had come. Take, for instance,
the doctrine of Forgiveness of Sins and its basis.
Christ makes God's forgiveness largely conditional
upon our forgiveness: i
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For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
(Matt. VI: 14–15.)
But, when we come into the later portions of the
New Testament, we find that forgiveness is made
to rest ultimately upon the atoning work of Christ.
This phase of the truth could not be understood
until the atoning work of Christ had been ful-
filled.
Again, the doctrine of the Presidency and
Administration of the Holy Spirit, in the Church,
could not be understood until the Church was
formed on the day of Pentecost, and the Holy
Ghost became the indwelling and inworking
Spirit. -
The idea of victory over sin through the power
of the indwelling Spirit of Life could not be un-
derstood until the Holy Spirit, taking His place
in the believer, exercised His life-giving energy to
displace the former spirit of evil.
And so with regard to the Holy Spirit in prayer.
Our Lord emphasises praying in His name, but
He says nothing, or very little, about the necessity
of our praying in the Holy Ghost, for praying in
the Holy Ghost could not be understood until the
{ - I37
The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
Holy Ghost became the new element which is in
US, and we in Him.
Likewise such doctrines as those about the Anti-
Christ and the Millennial reign, and the Judgment
Seat of Christ and its relation to the Great White
Throne,—these waited to be taught the Church
when the Holy Spirit Himself came to fill believers
with His light and His love, and to take of the
things of Christ, to magnify Christ, to glorify
Christ, to irradiate His Divine Person with a new
halo which never could have been seen or recog-
nised until the Holy Ghost glorified it.
There is a progress of doctrine in the whole
of the Word of God. When we study this
book, we seem to be following the perimeter
of a golden ring. We start in Genesis with Eden
and the Tree of Life, and God walking with man
and talking with man, and the river watering
the garden; and then sin comes, and the curse.
We come round in the end to Paradise in the last
of the Revelation, and there is the same Tree of
Life, there is “the River of the Water of Life clear
as crystal,” there is the tabernacle of God with
men, and there shall be no more curse. Thus, when
we have gone from Eden to Paradise, we meet
again the Tree of Life, and another greater River
of God; again the Tabernacle of God, but no more
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curse. It was a Garden then, it is a City now.
It was a Garden into which sin might enter; it
is a City into which nothing enters that defiles
or works abomination or makes a lie.
CHAPTER VII
SPIRITUAL PROGREss (Continued)
REFERENCE has been made to the supplementary
character of the Gospel according to John. This
is another of the conspicuous evidences of a
Divine Hand in the structure of the New Testa-
ment. Judging by the probable approximate
dates of the different books in the New Testa-
ment, the Church appears to have continued in
its primitive simplicity until about the year 65
or 66 A. D. Up to that time Bishops or Elders
and Deacons were the recognised official heads
of the Church's administration, with the Holy
Ghost always supremely recognised as behind any
visible human leader. In about one year, 65–66
Or thereabouts, there took place an amazing de-
cline, the beginnings of what has since been de-
veloping into apostacy. If the first and second
epistles to Timothy be compared, and then we read
Second Peter and Jude, it will appear that, within
a year or two, this apostate condition had an
alarming development. There were various signs
of this declension. The Holy Spirit was crowded
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out from His unquestioned administration in the
Church, and human leaders were elevated into un-
due prominence. Men began to be ambitious, SO
that like Diotrephes, they even refused to receive
the Apostle John himself, as he tells us in his third
epistle. There began to be church factions and
schisms and divisions into sects. Heresies began to
creep in, in doctrine, especially about the Person
of Jesus Christ, and about the believer's judicial
standing. Legalism invaded the church, so that
believers were in fear of the judgment, although
we are distinctly told that the believer shall not
enter into the judgment of the Great Day. Then
began also various iniquitous practices, especially
those that hid behind antinomianism, or the abo-
lition of all law with regard to the child of God.
There were perversions even of the Lord's Supper,
such as are hinted at in the first epistle to the
Corinthians. Satan came into the Church to in-
troduce his lawlessness in opposition to the truth,
and the spirit of hatred in opposition to love, and
the Anti-Christ spirit began to appear, as John
tells us in his first epistle, manifesting itself even
in the Church.
The moment we understand this fact—that, from
the time when Jude wrote his epistle, about 70 A.D.
till the time when the Gospel of John and the Reve-
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
lation were written, about twenty-five years passed
without one inspired book being added to the
Canon; and that then John's writings came, in
the shape of the Gospel and the Book of the Reve-
lation, to supplement the synoptic gospels and to
meet this new condition of things in the Church,
—this will explain largely what it means that, in
his Gospel narrative, there is no direct reference to
the Lord's supper, and that he does not get any
further than the Paschal Supper which preceded
that ; and it will also account for the fact that
we find so much in his narrative that we do not
find prominently in the others, the great doctrine
of the Holy Spirit, the Deity of Jesus Christ, the
Unity of all Believers as in chapter xv.11, etc. These
and other things John emphasises because of the
particular condition of the Church when he wrote
his gospel narrative.
We come now to our present subject, which is the
Progress of Doctrine in the two Testaments, taken
together, and here we are simply embarrassed by
the riches of the theme.
We pass by with a simple mention the obvious
connection between the words “Law” and “Grace,”
the Old Testament specially exhibiting Law, and
the New Testament, Grace; and the Law prepar-
ing for Grace, and becoming the schoolmaster to
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Spiritual Progress
lead the Child of God to the teachings of Christ.
We also pass by the difference between Old
Testament and New Testament Rewards, the Old
Testament specially emphasising temporal re-
wards, and the New, eternal rewards; or, the Old
Testament material rewards, and the New, spiritual
compensations; the blessing of the Old Testament
being prosperity, and the blessing of the New
Testament adversity,+a very marked distinction
in the general drift of the two Testaments; and
obviously we cannot change the order here, for we
ascend from the inferior to the superior, from the
material to the spiritual.
But a word should be added with regard to
the progressive unfolding of the idea of God, for
very noteworthy it is. - “s
The first conception that we have of God is in
His works, manifested in Creation, but especially, of
course, His natural attributes, because His moral
attributes are not revealed in Creation, to any
extent. We could not infer God’s love or grace,
or forgiveness, from nature. We might infer His
power and wisdom, and to some extent His good-
ness, though there are many things in the natural
world that would seem to argue that some malevo-
lent power is at work, if we had no other revelation.
The second revelation of God is in His Word.
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
The third is God in His Son jesus Christ, Who
specially reveals to us the grace of God. The
emphasis of the Old Testament scripture is par-
ticularly upon His righteousness, truth, justice,
holiness, but when we come into the New Testa-
ment, the special revelation through Christ is the
revelation of grace.
The final revelation is that through the Spirit,
which transcends all the others, even the revelation
in the Person of Jesus Christ, because the Holy
Spirit so glorifies Christ, and magnifies Christ, that
it is a greater thing to know Christ by the Spirit.
than it was to know Him in the flesh, as Paul
teaches in II. Cor. v. And moreover, this last
revelation of God is an inward revelation in the
believer's own spiritual life.
Here again it would not do to change the order.
To attempt to make any alteration in it is to
lose the progress of doctrine entirely.
Then again, there are the successive revelations
of God’s Temple. . tº,
First, the Universe itself, as in Psalm xxIx, which
is the Psalm of the Universal Temple, in which,
as we are told in verse 7, “every whit shouts
glory to God,”—not every “person,” but every
whit of creation. -
Then the second “Temple” is that tabernacle
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Spiritual Progress
built in the desert, and the permanent structure
built by Solomon on Moriah.
The third is the Temple of the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, “Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will build it up.”
The fourth is the temple of the believer, as is
revealed to us in I. Cor. II and III, and VI, and II
Cor. vi.
And the last temple is the Temple which can
only be expressed as being God Himself, there
is “no Temple” in the New Jerusalem, God Al-
mighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it; God
Himself becoming a Temple in Whom the believer
eternally dwells.
Here again is a clear progress of doctrine:
Creation; a building erected by man; the in-
carnate Word; the believer in Jesus Christ indi-
vidually, and the true Church collectively as the
body of believers; and finally God Himself.
Notice, also, Dispensational Teaching—we intro-
duce this word with some hesitation, because very
few people study “dispensations”—but the word
really means God's method of dealing spirit-
ually with the race; and attentive students of
scripture have traced at least seven great periods
which are called Dispensations, beginning with
Adam, Noah, Abraham, and so on. It has been
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
said that there are seven features to every dis-
pensation: (1) A new revelation, or greater light
(2) Declension into Darkness; (3) Union between
the believer and the world; (4) Gigantic worldly
civilisation, brilliant and progressive and aggres-
sive, but Godless; (5) Parallel development Of
good and evil, like tares and wheat; (6) Apostacy;
and (7) A catastrophe of Judgment. These seven
features may be traced in every one of the dis-
pensational periods, from the time of Adam until
now—another indication of a progress of doctrine,
keeping pace with Historical development. :
Notice again the Legislation of the Bible, and
the progress of doctrine with regard to it. In the
Old Testament we find certain principles that are
laid down as the basis of all God's dealings with
men. For instance, a Covenant relationship,
which involves not only the individual, but the
family, and in the Original state of things, even
the community. Then this covenant relationship
is represented as being based on sacrifice; and
third, as being expressed in worship; (4) as in-
volving the consecration of time; (5) the conse-
cration of substance, as represented in tithes,
offerings and first fruits; (6) the dedication of
offspring, as represented in the consecration of
the first-born; (7) consecration of self, as repre-
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sented in the burnt offering. When we follow
these through scripture, they help to explain the
whole fabric of the Word of God. Much in the
New Testament finds its key in these principles,
laid down in the early books of the Old Testament,
only that a new spiritual meaning comes to invest
them. Higher revelations of God come to us in
the New Testament scriptures, which illumine the
types of the Old; as, for instance, in the twelfth
of Romans:
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service (more properly, “your spiritual
service).” ,-
Notice, also, the advance of the Sabbatic Law,
the essential principles of which are just as
important and just as binding to-day as they
ever were, so that all trifling with God's Sab-
batic Law means damage to the individual
destruction to the family, declension to the Church,
and ruin to the nation. Now what is the essential
law of all Sabbatic legislation? It is REST. It
does not hang upon the seventh day observance
but upon one day in seven, given to rest. -
By the way, in a recent congress of Engineers
from all parts of the world in Paris, France, one
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
of the decisions arrived at was that machinery
will last much longer if it is used but six days out
of the seven. That was not a decision rendered
by any ecclesiastical tribunal or Believers’ Con-
ference, but a conference of Engineers, without
reference to laws of God, but simply with regard to
mechanical facts in the material world. And it
has been found by investigation that millstones
and grindstones which run seven days of the week
explode by the effect of centrifugal force very
much earlier than when they are run but six days
a week. So that God has somehow impressed a
Sabbatic Law even upon material nature.
Now notice the growth of this Sabbatic Law,
it is most instructive.
First we have it announced in Eden. Some
say it belongs to “Mosaic Legislation,” just as
though the Sabbath Law did not antecede even
sin, not to say, Moses. It is One of two things that
come down to us from a sinless Eden, Marriage
being the other, and these two should be sacredly
guarded as the only relics we have of man's
unfallen state.
Then there is the Sabbath of man, after the
fall, and the one thing emphasised then was simply
rest from physical labour for man and beast.
Advancing to the Mosaic system, so-called, we
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find a Festal Rest there made conspicuous, a
Rest in Sabbatic Festivals. Then a full Sabbatic
System, involving not only the seventh day, but
seventh week, month, year, seventh seven of
years, and seventy times seven years—the grand
jubilee.
In Isaiah Lv1II, representing the “Prophets”
as Moses, the “Law,” you have the great tran-
Sition from the old Sabbath to the new:
If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call
the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honour-
able; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own
ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking
thine own words;
Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord . . .
Here the emphasis is on a rest from Selfish
pleasure, from self-seeking, and even from the
thoughts and occupations which self-will suggests.
It is obviously the transition line. All the Levitical
features have disappeared, and we have now the
forecast of what may be called the spiritual
features.
In the New Testament we have passed the
transition stage, and have now Rest in Worship,
even the Lord Himself going into the synagogue,
and engaging in acts of worship “as His custom
3 *
WaS.
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And finally we have the Rest of faith, in that
remarkable passage, Heb. III: 7–IV: II, the final
interpretation of all preceding Sabbatic types being
found in the cessation “from our own works, as
God did from His,” and entering into the present
rest which is given to faith, when we learn to
depend upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the inworking of the Holy Ghost.
Something more deeply interesting than all
we have thus far noticed, is the two progressive
revelations in the Bible, first with regard to Satan,
and second, with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ.
From every direction we reach the climax only
in the Person, Work and Glory of the Immaculate
Son of God.
The progressive teaching about Satan is to our
mind one of the most remarkable features of the
Bible. There are perhaps eight or ten great
stages of development in the unfolding of the
character of Satan. They run into each other, and
yet there is some feature in each one of these
stages that is particularly prominent.
For instance, in Genesis III, Satan appears as a
Liar. “He was a liar from the beginning.” Christ
refers to that. He denied what God said, and he
misled the human race by a lie.
Then we find him specially in the first two
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chapters of Job, appearing as the Accuser; he
is accusing man to God.
Then there is the revelation of him as a Hinderer,
as in Zech. III: 2, where Joshua stood at the altar,
and Satan was at his right hand to resist him.
The word in the Hebrew corresponds very closely
to the word used by Paul in I Thess. II: 18: “But
Satan hindered us.” Satan is a Hinderer.
Then in Matt. Iv we have Satan as the Arch
Tempter, trying his audacious and three-fold
temptation on the Son of God.
Next we have him as the Sifter, the Denier
and the Betrayer, as in Luke XXII: 31:
“Satan hath desired to have you, that he may
sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not.”
We have in that immediate connection his
entering into Judas; becoming in one disciple
the Denier of Christ, and in another the Betrayer
of Christ.
In Acts v he appears in a comparatively new
rôle:
Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the
Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of
the land?
There he appears as the Instigator of lies, and
the Seducer of saints into Robbery of God.
And last of all, we have him represented in
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II Thess. as the Instigator of all Lawlessness and
Anarchy, incarnated in the Man of Sin; as, again,
in Revelation coming forth to conduct the last
great persecution and war against Christ and the
saints.
There is thus plainly a progressive revelation of
the character of Satan; but what strikes us as very
noticeable is that, in Eph. VI: Io–20, all these
characteristics of Satan seemed to be referred to ;
and each of the pieces of armour in the Christian's
panoply seems exactly adapted and intended to
stand over against these different characteristics
of Satan, and substantially in the order in which
those characteristics are unfolded in the Word of
God.
The girdle of truth, obviously to protect us
against him as the liar. The breast-plate of
righteousness, against him as the accuser. The
sandals of alacrity, to leap over, or fly over ob-
stacles, as the provision against him as the hinderer.
The shield of faith, against him as the master
tempter. The helmet of salvation, when he seeks
to make us deny or betray the Lord. The sword
of the Spirit, when he puts it into our hearts to
lie to the Holy Ghost and keep back part of what
belongs to God. And the prayerful and watchful
frame which follows the rest, as our help when
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he comes in the form of the subtle Man of Sin,
to seduce if possible the very elect.
Such lines of study have been the means of
confirming the faith of many in the inspiration of
this Book, and assuring them beyond a doubt
that God is behind it from beginning to end, until
no more doubt remains than of their own exist-
ence. It is possible thus to pass beyond the point
of questioning on this subject, and by the grace
of God be prepared to help others to pass likewise
into the realm of assured certainty.
The progressive revelations with regard to our
Lord Jesus Christ are even more engrossing:
First, as the Second Man and the last Adam,
and finally as the Lamb of God. Nothing impresses
us more with regard to the progress of doctrine in
the Word of God than this. -
Gen. III: 15, first of all, The Seed of the woman
prophesied as to bruise the head of the serpent.
Then II. Sam. VII, which, properly interpreted,
marks a most important stage in the development
of this truth. The Prophet Nathan came to
David and said, when David wanted to build God
a Temple and God would not allow him to do it
because he had been a man of blood (VII: 2):
And the Lord telleth thee that he will make
thee an house.
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt
sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after
thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and
I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build an house for my name, and I will
establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son.
If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the
rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of
Iſle]] .
But my mercy shall not depart away from him,
as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before
thee.
And thine house and thy kingdom shall be
established for ever before thee; thy throne shall
be established for ever.
Now if this referred to Solomon, it was not ful-
filled. If it refers to Jesus Christ, the language
“if he commit iniquity” seems highly out of place.
And yet there seems to be more than a reference
to Solomon here, for we are told a little further
on that David went in and sat before the Lord, as
in holy meditation, and said:
Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house,
that thou hast brought me hitherto P
And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O
Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy
servant’s house for a great while to come. And is
this the manner of man, O Lord God? -
There must have been something that made a
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tremendous impression upon David. This seems
to have been one of the occasions when David
rejoiced, foreseeing the day of Christ, like Abraham
before him. -
Bishop Horsley contends that the passage
should be rendered: “If iniquity be laid upon him,”
committed to him, as a vicarious sufferer, not
committed by him. And he also thinks that the
19th verse should read: “And is this the decree of
the Second Adam, O Lord God?" As if David
got a forecast of a future Seed that was to spring
out of his bowels, and who was to reign for ever
and ever, and that this was the “house” that God
was “building for him” that should never fail.
As we follow this remarkable development
further, we come to the 8th Psalm:-—“What is man,
that thou art mindful of him?” We learn in Heb.
II that this refers to Jesus Christ; that it was not
realised in Adam, but is realised in the Second
Man, the Last Adam. - *
Then in Isaiah LIII we have Him represented
to us as the Progenitor of a seed of believers: “He
shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be
satisfied.” * -
Then in Romans v we have him as the
Representative of those who died without moral
responsibility, like infant children, not having
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
committed sin after the similitude of Adam's
transgression,-they all enter heaven through
the blood of Jesus Christ; His atonement is
absolutely applied to them, without the necessity
for faith. -
In I Cor. xv we have Him represented as Lord
over death and the grave.
In Ephesians and Colossians as the New Man
that in us triumphs over the power of sin.
In Hebrews II we have Him as the great Repre-
sentative Adam, coming down to man's level,
taking man's nature, suffering man's temptations,
tasting death on behalf of man, and overcoming
man's mortal enemy, paying man's death penalty,
and restoring man's sceptre. .
And in Revelation xx.1 and xxII. He is the Final
Restorer, under Whose power all things are made
new. -
What obvious progress of doctrine! (1) The
revelation of another seed of the woman. (2) Of
a human king, reigning over all the earth. (3) Of
One Whose sceptre is over the whole visible
creation (in Psalm VIII). (4) Of One who is
, Parent of a special seed, begotten by His agonies.
(5) Of One Who is Representative even of unborn
children who will die in infancy, without moral
responsibility having been assumed by voluntary
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moral action. (6) The Destroyer of death and
the grave. (7) The Destroyer of spiritual death,
the Imparter of life-giving power in the new man.
(8) The seven-fold Representative, covering the
whole ground of man's sin, temptation, death
and disaster. (9) And finally as the seven-fold
Restorer, making all things new.
Again, we cannot change this order in any case.
It would be to put these items out of their normal
position in the Word of God and the progress of
truth. And yet what a magnificent development
Of thought there is from the first to the last!”
Once more let us compare the development of
doctrine in both Testaments, as seen in regard to
the Lamb of God.
Here is a steady progress, without a single check
or break from Genesis IV to Rev. xxLI, about the
Lamb. Every new stage of treatment adds
something to what has gone before, and that has
not been before mentioned, which prepares for
something that is coming after, that otherwise we
are not ready to understand. -
*Speaking of Christ as the Representative of unborn children, we give
once more that remarkable epitaph in St. Andrews to comfort many who
have buried little infant children:
Bold Infidelity, turn pale and die.
Beneath this stone four infants' ashes lie;
Say, are they lost or saved 2
If death’s by sin, they’ve sinned, for they are here;
If heaven's by works, in heaven they can’t appear.
Reason 1 Oh, how depraved
Turn to the Bible's sacred page, the knot's untied,—
They died, for Adam sinned ; they live, for Jesus died.
- - - (CoLºRIDGE.)
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In Genesis IV, when Abel brought his lamb to the
altar, we are not even told that it was slain. It
was slain, and undoubtedly burnt, but it is not so
stated. He brought of the firstlings of his flock,
and the Lord accepted the offering. That is all
we know about it—simply the fact that a
lamb was brought in the spirit of t faith, and was
accepted by the Lord.
But when we come to the 22nd chapter of
Genesis, we have a strange intimation that prob-
ably Abraham himself did not understand:
God Himself will provide a lamb for a burnt-
offering. . • .
Abel brought his own lamb; God is going to
provide His Lamb in a very mysterious way.
In Exodus XII the great emphasis is upon the
fact that the lamb was slain, and the blood was
sprinkled on the side posts and the upper door
posts. For the first time now the emphasis is
upon the death and sprinkled blood.
In Leviticus xv.1 we have two kids, and kids
are always the equivalents of lambs, in sacrifice.
One kid dies, the other lives, and this seems to
express two aspects of Christ's work in turn:
what He does as a dying Saviour; what He does
as a living Saviour. .
Then we come to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah,
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Spiritual Progress
and there we have a Person as the lamb slain for
the salvation of God’s people. It has not been
distinctly stated before, but it is emphatically
stated there.
In John I: 29 and 33, is the first distinct revela-
tion that this personal Lamb of God is jesus:
Behold the Lamb of God, which beareth away
the sin of the world.
Here for the first time the Lamb of the Old
Testament sacrifices is identified with Him.
Then in Acts VIII., Philip, discoursing with the
eunuch, for the first time distinctly declares that
the Lamb, prophesied by Isaiah, is the jesus Who
died on Calvary. In John the historic Messiah
is the Lamb of God, but in the Acts the prophesied
Messiah is the Jesus of Calvary. * * *
I Peter I: 18–21, gathers up all the loose threads
and winds them in one:
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not re-
deemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition
from your fathers;
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
Lamb without blemish and without spot:
Who verily was foreordained before the founda-
tion of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you.
Who by him do believe in God, that raised him
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your
faith and hope might be in God.
Here is an immense advance over anything that
has been taught before: (1) The foreordination
of Christ to be the Lamb of God. (2) The
historic manifestation of Christ as the Lamb of
God; (3) The fact that to Christ we owe the
fact of faith in God; (4)—and for the first time— -
the resurrection of the slain Lamb is referred to;
hitherto it has been death, now it is resurrection.
“. . . who raised him up from the dead”—
glorification,
“. . . and gave him glory.”
. . . that your faith and hope might be in
God.”
Before this, it is especially faith in Jesus Christ;
now it is hope in His resurrection and His glory,
& &
a very distinct advance in doctrine.
When we reach Revelation v, we find the Lamb
of God absolutely identical with the Lion of the
tribe of Judah. The Lion of Judah, and the Lamb
of God are one and the same. God’s Lion is a
Lamb, and God’s Lamb is a Lion. As a Lion-
King He has the right and power to make kings.
As a slain but risen Lamb—sacrificial priest and
victim at once—He has power to make priests;
and so to Him is attributed the power to solve the
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Spiritual Progress
mysteries of the sacred Book, and unloose its
seven seals; and ascriptions of glory are made
to Him Who makes us kings and priests unto God
and the Father. That is obviously new teaching
in connection with the Lamb of God.
Last of all, when we come to Revelation XXI
and XXII, we find that the Lamb, that was typified
on Abel's altar; forecast as provided by God at
Abraham's altar; slain and His blood sprinkled
in the Paschal ceremonies; living and yet dying,
dying and yet living, in the ceremonies of the
great Day of Atonement; the sacrificial substitute
in Isaiah LIII—the Lamb of the Mosaic Ritual
identified as Jesus in John I; identified as the sub-
ject of Isaiah prophecies, in Acts VIII; represented as
foreordained, manifested, slain, risen and glorified,
by Peter; as the Interpreter of the Book, and the
Lion and the Lamb united, in Revelation v —in
Rev. xx1, xx11, seen to be the centre of the glory
of heaven, the light of it and the temple of it
and the throne of it, so that none can enter whose
names are not in His Book of Life. Glory to the
Lamb that was slain! To Him be all honour, and
power, and dominion, and might, with our God
and Father, for ever and ever!
16I
CHAPTER VIII
SPIRITUAL SYMMIETRY
WE now take up more fully the numerical
structure of the Bible, or the mathematical plan
that pervades the Word of God, first as to num-
bers, and second as to geometrical forms, showing
that behind this book there is a Master Mathe-
matician and Geometer.
Let us take as a starting point a few verses in
Isaiah XL: I.2 and 26:
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow
of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a
measure, and weighed the mountains in scales,
and the hills in a balance?
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath
created these things, that bringeth out their host
by number; he calleth them all by names, by the
greatness of His might, for that he is strong in
power; not one faileth. - -
The subject we are now approaching, although
it may seem to some speculative and fanciful,
is another important line of study that should be
followed in connection with this Book of God.
Few lines of proof, properly followed out, carry
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Spiritual symmetry
more decided verification of the Divine Authorship
of this Book. *
In these two texts attention is called to number
in nature and symmetrical proportion, as the evi-
dences of creative intelligence.
God is manifested in creation. The very fact that
there is a creation implies a Creator. The very
marks of design imply designer. The forecast
of coming needs that could not be anticipated by
plant or animal indicate an Intelligence that
makes provision; and there are many other things
that indicate this Creator's hand. But, among
all such evidences, none perhaps is greater than
the proofs of a mathematical Mind in the Kingdom
of Nature and in the universe of God. Among
terrestrial objects as well as celestial objects we
find this infallible numerical system prevailing,
and it is well to get the mind fully occupied for
a little time with this fact.
Many do not have time to study the natural
sciences, and perhaps do not look into this uni-
versal system of numbers.
Take, for instance, the celestial worlds: The
distances, the dimensions, the proportions, the
times of revolution, are all adjusted in the planet-
ary and the stellar worlds with the nicest possible
mathematical exactness; so that, stretching the
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
fibre of a spider's web across the centre of the
object glass of a telescope, we can accurately
calculate, to the fraction of a second, what time a
given star in the firmament will cross that line.
Kepler's Laws, among the greatest of astronomical
discoveries, are all founded upon this most sur-
prising mathematical system, which reveals a
ratio between the proportions of the planets and
their distances from the Sun and the periods of
revolution.
In the mineral realm, in the department of
crystallization, we find squares, circles, triangles,
all these with their corresponding solid forms,
cubes, cylinders, pyramids and others, sometimes
base to base, exact angles, beautiful proportion, -
remarkable symmetry.
Then in the Vegetable realm we find a fixed num-
ber of stamens and of pistils in plants, and a remark-
able recurrence of numbers, as of I, 2, 3 and 5, in
the spiral arrangement of leaves around the stem;
that is to say, if we notice where one leaf bud is
on the stem, and follow the spiral round the stem,
we find that the second leaf is either on the first
circuit of the spiral, or the second or fifth, so that
botantists actually classify plants according to
the intervals of the recurrence of the leaf bud on
the circuit of the spiral. - *
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Spiritual Symmetry
Again in the animal realm. In the molluscs,
how wonderful is the way in which the shells of
shellfish are devised. Look at their shape, look
at their lines, beautifully defined. Look at the
radiata, as in the Star Fish, with its marvellous
formation. .
In the Vertebrata—the animals that have a
backbone—how beautifully everything is pro-
portioned! These bones have a fixed relation,
have a fixed number, and that number is never
violated in a perfect organism. Witness the five
fingers on the hand, the five toes on the foot.
What do these and similar facts mean but a
numerical system? - - 4.
In the department of Light, we use the prism
to separate the rays of light, and we get what?
Seven colors. In the science of Music, what do we
find? Seven notes in the complete scale that we
call the octave. -
We shall see presently, what we now anticipate,
that there is a remarkable correspondence between
the numerical system of Nature and the numerical
system of the Bible. .
Where we find seven in nature, in certain con-
spicuous positions, it is divided into 4 and 3, as on
the keyboard of the piano in the octave of notes.
There stand visibly 3 and there stand 4, and it
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
helps us to know how to strike the chords correctly,
that the arrangement of three and four can never
be got out of the mind when the keyboard is
thought of, the recurrence of the 3 and the 4 being
determined by the recurrence of the half tone or
half note at certain intervals in the octave.
In the 7 colors of the spectrum 3 are primary,
4 are secondary. Yellow, blue and red are the
primary; and from their combinations come the
other colors of the spectrum.
Where we find 12 in the most conspicuous
positions in the material world, there we find it as
the multiple of 3 and 4. Take a triangle: It has 3
angles and 3 sides; and in the pyramid there are
4 sides in the quadrangular foundation, and 3
triangular sides at every elevation. In the cube
we have 4 and 3 again,_length, and breadth and
height, as we approach any side of the cube; and
4 sides from which to approach it, 4 and 3
again multiplied into each other.
So close is the numerical and geometrical corres-
pondence between what is found in nature and in
the Bible, that wherever we find 7 in conspicuous
positions in the Bible, it is again the sum of 4 and 3,
and where we find I2 it is the multiple of 4
and 3. *
The possible bearing of all this is we are yet to
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Spiritual Symmetry
See, but for the present we are content thus to fortify
confidence in this Book as something that is beyond
human production; and afterward we shall seek
in the concluding chapters to apply these matters
to the spiritual life.
The point now is that in Nature we find the
leading numbers, to which we have already
referred,—1, 2, 3, 4 (4 and 3 added together making
7, multiplied together making 12), and their com-
binations. In Nature we find four leading forms,
triangle, square, circle and spiral; and when we
look at the solid forms, we find the pyramid and
the cube, the sphere and the cone. And we
shall find exactly the same things hinted in the Word
of God. What does all this show 2 That, behind
Nature, there is a Mind that measures, counts,
weighs, strictly proportions, determines ratios,
and constructs the universe on a definite mathe-
matical principle, where numbers and forms are
in His eye continually.
When you come to the Word of God, you will
find exactly the same facts and laws to prevail,
the four numbers, I, 2. 3 and 4, with their com-
binations (the sum of 4 and 3 making 7, their mul-
tiple making 12), the number Io, which is the sum
of 1, 2, 3 and 4, and therefore suggests time, because
it is the result of successive additions; and their
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- The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
multiples 4o and 70 and Ioo and 144 and 490 (7
times 70) and Iooo and 1260. All of these num-
bers prevail in the Word of God, and prevail at
such points and in such connections as make it
impossible that they should come there by chance.
It is not our province now to undertake to
frame any adequate philosophy of the system of
numbers and forms in the Bible, seeing we have
no authoritative revelation as to the meaning of
it; but each student must determine by his per-
sonal research what God intends shall be learned
from it. It is important however to notice the
existence of such numerical system itself.
For instance, the number one. One seems to
stand very conspicuously in the Bible for the
wnity of singularity and exclusion. Where there
can be only one, where the fact of there being one
forbids that there should be more than one, one
is very conspicuous.
Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one God.
Deut. VI: 4.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Ex. XX: 3.
One and only one. “This one thing I do.”
(Phil. III: 13) one thing and one only. “Thou art
careful and troubled about many things, but one
thing is needful.” (Luke X: 41–42.) These ex-
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Spiritual Symmetry
amples will give an idea of how “one” is used,
Two is used either for combination or division;
Comparison or contrast; confirmation or opposition
—as light and darkness, good and evil, love and
hate, two contrasted. Two agreeing, two com-
bining, and confirming each other, like two
witnesses. “That in the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word should be established.”
(Mat. xv.111: 16.)
Three shows combination for unity, as in the
Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost; Spirit,
Water, Blood. This is a special number for Deity.
Four seems obviously the number of the world.
The first time it occurs in a marked way is where
Abraham separates from Lot, and God says to
him:
Lift up now thine eyes and look . . . northward
and southward and eastward and westward.
Gen. XIII: 14.
And from that time on 4 is generally the number
of this world—of material Space.
Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain. Ezek. xxxv.11: 9.
That is, the four points of the compass. The city
of God (Rev. xxi.1), standing north, south, east
and west, facing in a fourfold direction.
As has been already noted, in the conspicuous
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
places where we meet the number 7, it will be found
to be divisible into 4 and 3.
We meet it first in the creation, where there are
four of the days of creation given to the inanimate,
and three to the animate. -
Then we meet 7 in connection with the Lord’s
prayer; three petitions have to do with God, four
with man.
Again, in the seven parables of the Kingdom,
in Matthew XIII, four were spoken to the multitude
and three privately to the disciples.
Then, again in the seven epistles in Rev. II and
III, where at first no division between 4 and 3 is
seen, we find that in four in stances the reward
follows the injunction: “He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches”;
and in the other three cases the order is reversed.
Thus, the more carefully we study, the more cer-
tainly we find that, in conspicuous places where the
number 7 recurs, the division into four and three
is suggested, showing that seven stands in the
Bible, not for I and 6, or 2 and 5, but for 3 and 4.
There must be some reason, and, if 3 is the number
of Trinity, and 4 the number of the world, we
can understand why seven should represent
completeness, because it represents God and man,
united for some great end.
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Spiritual Symmetry
It is also remarkable that where we find 12 in
the Bible, it usually is the multiple of 4 and 3.
This is no mere fancy, but is confirmed by careful
study of the Word of God. For example, the first
time the breastplate is referred to (and this is
curiously the twelfth time that the number 12
occurs in the holy scripture, Ex. xxvi.11: 16–20),
it is very definite, plainly brought out as though
there were a design in it, that it should represent
4 times 3:—
Four square it shall be . . . four rows of stones
. . . four rows of three each.
Then in Numbers II, where the arrangement of
the tribal standards about the camp is shown, the
Camp is Square, and the standards are ranged so
that from every point of view there shall be three
of the tribal standards confronting us—four sides,
three standards belonging to each side. We cannot
believe that all this is accidental. There must be
Some reason for it, and devout students of the
Word of God, like Bishop Wordsworth, have sug-
gested that 4 multiplied into 3 represents the
Divine interpenetrating the human, and therefore
it is the number of the tribes, because God came
to dwell in the midst of men, and to permeate the
whole camp with His presence; and hence 12 is
also the number of the Apostles of the Lamb, be-
I7I i
**** * *w is ..w - - - - - … . ~~~~
* {{!}} nº.
The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
cause Christ, dwelling with, and with His presence
permeating the apostles, sent them to carry His
gospel and Spirit into the midst of the world. If
there is thus a spiritual significance in the numbers,
we cannot afford to neglect the study of this numer-
ical system.
Geometrical forms have something to do with
the interpretation of scripture. Take, for instance,
where the cube occurs so very markedly, as where
Moses was bidden to set up the tabernacle,
particularly the holiest of all, which was to be ten
cubits in every direction; and in fact the whole
tabernacle was but as three cubes set up together,
for in front of the holiest of all there was the holy
place, which was 20 cubits long, Io broad and Io
high, SO that it was like setting up three cubes in
a row.
When we come to the New Jerusalem, what do
we find? The length, breadth and height of it
are equal; it is still the absolutely perfect cube.
Nothing can be added to it; nothing can be
taken from it. From whichever way we ap-
proach it, from this or that side, or survey it from
above, we find still the same uniform and perfect
cubic symmetry. Nobody supposes that the City
of God will be actually and literally 12,000
furlongs long and broad and high. These are
IZ2
Spiritual Symmetry
typical numbers. And the 144,000 of the sealed
ones in Revelation may be likewise a typical num-
ber. I44 is the square of 12, and 1,000 is the cube
of Io; Io the number of time, 12 the number
of space. When we look at that number typic-
ally it may represent the complete company
of the sealed ones, as gathered from all the ages, and
from all parts of the globe. If so, the number has a
beautiful spiritual significance.
Without affirming this interpretation of numbers
to be correct, we feel convinced that there is noth-
ing in this Book that does not mean Something; and
that it is our privilege to study and prayerfully
Compare and investigate, if so be that, by such
comparison of scripture with scripture, we learn
that there is a Master Mathematician behind the
Book, and that no man can account for these things
by chance any more than he can so account for
the world. As well take the letters of the Greek
alphabet and fling them broadcast on the ground,
expecting them by accident to form a sublime epic.
Whether we look at this Book, or at Nature, we can
say with the Psalmist that only “the Fool hath
said in his heart there is no God” in creation; and
so only the fool can say in his heart, there is no
God in the Bible. . -
That God in history, as well as in nature, pro-
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
ceeds upon mathematical principles, is more than
hinted at in two or three conspicuous passages of
scripture, for from the beginning we have sought
to fortify every position taken by a reference to
some conclusive word of God. Look in Numbers
XIV: 34:
After the number of days in which ye searched
the land, even forty days, each day for a year,
shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years;
and ye shall know my breach of promise.
Forty days were spent in searching the land and
when the children of Israel sympathised with the
ten spies that gave the discouraging report as to
entering the land; God says: You shall wander
in these wilderness paths until the whole of the
people shall perish in the wilderness—a year for
a day—forty years.
Look at Leviticus XXVI: 34–35:
Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long
as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies'
land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her
sabbaths.
As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because
it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt
upon it.
What does that mean? There were 490 years that
elapsed from the time when Saul was clamoured
for as a king to the time when the children of Israel
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Spiritual Symmetry
went into captivity. During these 490 years
there would be 70 sabbatical years, one in each
Seven; and, because they had failed to keep the
Seventh years set apart as years of rest, God ex-
acted 70 years in the captivity, during which the
land should lie at rest and have the sabbaths that
they would not give to God during those 490
years, a numerical system even in His dealings
with the sins of men. So that not only have we
a God of number in nature and in scripture, but
in history also.
When we come to know more about history, we
shall find that the whole of sacred history may be
divided into periods of 490 years; for example:
490 years from the time when they clamoured
for a king to the time of the captivity. Then 70
years' captivity.
490 years from the time of the going forth of
the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the
Messiah. Then 70 years from the birth of Christ
to the fall of Jerusalem.
7 times 7o, and 7o; 7 times 7o and then 70
again. Has God no reference to number in His
Word, His Works, and the events of History?
Why should it be stated to us that Enoch lived
365 years before his translation? It was the inten-
tion of God without doubt to present to us in Enoch
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
the pattern of a complete life. He “Walked with
God.” He started with God, and he came round
in the end to the God with Whom he started.
There are 365 days in the complete circle of a year,
and therefore 365 naturally stands for a complete
orbit, and 365 years stands for a complete life of
grace, ending in glory.
It seems surprising that anyone can read the
Bible, and not see a meaning in these things.
How often the number 4o occurs in the Bible.
Has it no significance?
In the first place, 4o days and nights of the
deluge. Then Moses’ life, divided into three
periods of 40 years each, 4o in Egypt, 40 in Midian,
4o in the wilderness. The three reigns of the
kings, Saul, David and Solomon, each of them
40 years; Saul's reign being the type of the period
of apostacy, David's the type of the militant
period, Solomon's the type of the triumphant
period of the Church, when the Prince of Peace
shall reign.
There were 4o days of Elijah's journey to Ho-
reb; 4o days of Christ's temptation, 4o days of
Christ's walk in the Spirit after the resurrection
and before the ascension. Have these things no
significance? Then how comes it to pass that
this number is so repeatedly put before us in
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Spiritual Symmetry
the Word of God as that we cannot read Old Or
New Testament without continually confronting
it, P -
There is a booklet called “Number in Nature as
Evidence of Creative Intelligence,” by Mr. Edward
White, which is very instructive. H. L. Hastings,
of Boston, produced a book on the “Arithmetic
of Nature,” and Colonel Roberts has published also
a little book called “A Double Portion.” Without
being yet prepared to verify the result of others’
study, some suggestions made, for example by
Colonel Roberts, are worth notice. He assumes
that, when Elisha asked for a double portion of
Elijah's spirit, it was granted to him to perform
twice as many miracles as are recorded as the
miracles of Elijah, and counting up those of Elijah
he finds 8, and those of Elisha I6. Then in the
miraculous draught of fishes we have 153 fishes, L
a remarkable fact that so odd a number should
be distinctly noted by the Apostle John—but
Colonel Roberts carefully examines, and makes a
list of 153 individual instances of blessing through
the miraculous works of Jesus Christ. Taking it
for granted that Paul was a type of Elisha, he
examines again, and finds recorded 306 cases of
individuals blessed through the ministry of Paul.
There is a department of study here that no critic
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
so far has ever explored thoroughly. We are all
Only beginning to understand the numerical and
geometrical system of nature, and are even farther
off from understanding and comprehending the
numerical system of the Bible. But to incite
others who can perhaps carry this study much
further than has been done, and reach much
greater results, and to encourage more careful and
prayerful study of this numerical system, we indi-
cate what may possibly be some of the benefits
of such study: -
First, it may serve to identify the Creator of
the Universe with the Divine Author of this Book;
and to show that He Who counts and weighs and
measures in a balance everything that is in this
wonderful creation of His, weighs and numbers
and proportions everything in this Book.
Second, it may show that the Mathematical
Mind that is behind the Book cannot be the mathe-
matical mind of the human writers. All of us
have found the number 7 continually reappearing
in the Bible. Sometimes where it is not stated
as a number, if the reader makes a computation,
he will find there are seven particulars—a con-
cealed number. In I Thess. v, the seven Godly
and spiritual frames are given; there is no ex-
pressed number 7, but there are seven things
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Spiritual Symmetry
enumerated, and we cannot add anything to
them,--it is a complete presentation of the spiritual
and seven-fold Godly frame. The Biblical bearing
of all this is: Where there is a seven-fold enumera-
tion; where, for instance, seven times only some
prominent word appears in the New Testament,
we may have to trace it, not in one book, or even in
the books of one author, but sometimes in the books
of all the writers of the New Testanment; that is,
all these writings must be put together before we
find the seven-fold use of a word or phrase. This
would bind the whole Bible in one great system, and
show God behind the human writers, who could
not confer and agree that they would refer to some
specific matter of great importance just so many
times, God’s mathematical mind and divine
purpose being back of all human instruments.
What is meant by the “fulness of times” may be
suggested by the 4o days' searching of the land and
the 4o years' wandering in the wilderness, the 70
years and 7 X 7 o years. Possibly also this numeri-
cal system may be used to verify the canon of the
Bible, showing that doubtful books that have
been assailed, like the Gospel of John, must belong
to the scripture to complete its numerical system.
The late F. W. Grant was editing what he called
the “Numerical Bible,” which reveals a marvellous
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
symmetry in God's Word. The author, an emi-
nently spiritual man, traced, in the entire structure
of the Bible, a numerical system which he found
permeating all parts of Old and New Testaments
alike, oftentimes determining the record as a
verified record, and the canon as the accurate
C3.I] OI] .
There is one use of a numerical system which
may help in other departments. It has been a
matter of some doubt whether Paul wrote the
Epistle to the Hebrews. Was Paul the author, and
does the epistle come down to us as the product
of his inspired mind and pen? There are seven
“mysteries” declared in the epistles only, and one
of these seven is in Hebrews and in no other,
the mystery of the God-Man. Here is one remark-
able numerical side-light.
In the 8th of Romans, in that grand “perora-
y
tion,” where Paul reaches the climax of his argu-
ment, he gives successively 7 and then Io particu-
lars: .
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?—Seven.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come:
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
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Spiritual Symmetry
shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.—Ten.
Here the great numbers of completeness 7 and
Io, one following the other in immediate succession.
In that other “peroration”—the conclusion of
that grand 12th chapter of Hebrews—we find
again 7 and then Io particulars:
For ye are not come unto the mount that might
be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto
blackness, and darkness, and tempest.
And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of
words:—Seven.
But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels.
To the general assembly and church of the first-
born, which are written in heaven, and to God the
Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect.
And to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better
things than that of Abel.—Ten.
No two separate human writers, following the
idiosyncrasies of their natural style, would be apt
to use such exactly similar methods of summing
up ; but Paul, writing to the Romans of seven things
and then of ten others in immediate succession,
likewise in the Epistle to the Hebrews, when he
reaches again another grand climax, exhibits the
y - I8I.
The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
same peculiarity of style, accumulating items in
the same masterly way—first seven things and
then ten. -
If we should search the Bible and compare
scripture with scripture till we discovered this
numerical system as pervading the Word of God,
many of the blasphemous assaults of rationalistic
criticism might be answered in our minds by the
discovery of such mathematical plan pervading
the whole scripture, and sometimes serving to
accredit even those parts of it that are assailed.
Perhaps the greatest argument of all in its
favour is that such study may show one harmonic
purpose pervading this Divine Book from begin-
ning to end,-a symmetrical plan. We all know
enough about human compositions of music to
know that there are four things upon which the
identity of a musical composition depends,-key,
time, rhythm of movement and musical theme.
These are musical terms that everyone under-
stands who has ever studied music, and One can
often identify a passage in an Oratorio because it
corresponds to the general theme and plan of the
composition as it was in the mind of the composer.
This precious Book is one grand oratorio. We
listen and hear a song by Moses, who is chanting
a solo about the wonders of creation. We continue
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Spiritual Symmetry
to listen, and hear successive strains that have to
do with this great musical theme, various instru-
ments and performers taking up their successive
parts in the performance. Now it is David's
Psalter; again it is Isaiah’s golden lute; then
Ezekiel's iron harp; then the quartette of the
Evangelists; then the various strains of the
epistles, Some in the major and some in the minor
key, but all variations on the one theme; till at
last, in the Apocalypse, we hear all the hosts of
heaven and earth combining in a grand final
“Halleluiah Chorus,”—“Hallelujah, for the Lord
God Omnipotent reigneth.” There is the same
redemptive theme, the same beat of time, the
Same rhythmic movement, the same great plan
and purpose of redemption and same controlling
Leader, from first to last!
x83
CHAPTER IX
SPIRITUAL TYPES
IN the Word of God there is much teaching of
truth through the form of types.
A type is a general name for a forecast of truth
or fact, by way of figure, using the word “figure”
in its general sense. It may be a material object
that is chosen, an event, a person, a rite or cere-
mony, or it may be a precept; but, if there be
in any of these a meaning that is deeper than that
which appears, or if some future development of
truth or of fact is thereby foreshadowed, we call
it a type.
One of the peculiar difficulties confronted in
discussing types, is the popular prejudice against
the entire study. It is supposed to lead one more
or less into the realm of fanciful absurdities, which
sometimes reach a climax in the ridiculous; and
unhappily some who aspire to be expositors of
Bible truth have too often “given occasion for the
enemy to blaspheme” or deride.
For example, a clergyman was speaking on that
passage in Mark (IV: 36–41) where, having narrated
the remarkable miracle of Christ in stilling the sea,
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Spiritual Types
it is added that “there were also with Him other
little ships.” This “expositor” took occasion to
remark, in his zeal for his own denomination, that
the ship, in which Christ was, represented his
church (the Anglican), and that Christ was in the
church, and not in any other of the so-called
“churches”; therefore the word that went forth,
calming the sea, went forth from that particular
ship, and not from the other little ships that were
gathered around, which corresponded to the various
other sects; Christ was not in any of them, and
they really owed their safety to the fact that He
was in the other ship, a very illuminating ex-
position and application of scripture!!
Another interpreter of the word contends that
the woman of Samaria was typical, that she repre-
sented the Samaritan people, and that the five
husbands she had had represented the five religions
which we are told in II Kings were brought by
these immigrants from other countries; and that
the religion that then prevailed in Samaria, which
was a mixed adulterated form of Jehovah worship,
was represented by him with whom she was then
living, who was not her husband.
One feels tempted to compare all this kind of
“exposition” with Mr. Taylor's parody on “Mother
Goose's Melodies,” in which he satirically argues
ºr.
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
that the “Song of Sixpence,” about the four-and-
twenty blackbirds baked in the pie, is really a song
about the sunrise, the crust of the pie is the firma-
ment, and the blackbirds, twenty-four in number,
of course are the 24 hours of the day; the breaking
of the crust is the dawn, and the clothes hanging out
on the line are the clouds; that the maid is retiring
Night, the king is the sun, and the queen is the
moon; and the particular blackbird that snipped
off the maid’s nose so tragically is the hour of
sunrise!—such a travesty of typical teaching Only
makes ridiculous what Ought to be laughed at.
It is not only into ridicule that such methods
of interpretation bring the holy scriptures, but
some such interpretations lead to heresy, as in the
case of the famous “Sun-myth.” It was sug-
gested, not many years ago, that Christ was after
all nothing but a new incarnation of the Sun-god
that the twelve disciples were the twelve hours of
the day; and that the reason why he was repre-
sented as being born about Christmas time was
because the days are shortest at the Winter solstice.
and the year may be said to be reborn about that
time—and actually this Sun theory won not a
few disciples, even in Christian Britain.
How then shall we safely deal with types? and
why should we deal with them at all?
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Spiritual Types
In the first place, typical teaching permeates
the whole scripture, like a golden thread running
through a string of pearls. And furthermore, we
are distinctly taught to interpret certain things
as types. But there are at least two safeguards
which may and should be put about all typical
teaching. - -
The first is that, in many cases, the Bible itself
supplies the key to the interpretation of types, as,
for instance, when we are told in I Cor. x: 4 that
the “Rock” in the desert “was Christ”; and in
Heb. x: 20, that the second veil, immediately before
the Mercy Seat, that was rent asunder from top to
bottom when Christ uttered His dying cry, was
the “flesh” of Christ.
Wherever in scripture a key is hung by a lock,
there need be no hesitation in putting the key into
the lock, for we may be assured that it will open
the door into some chamber of God's mystery.
There is still another case in which we are
perfectly safe in typical teaching, viz.: Where
the doctrine taught is derived from distinct and
definite doctrinal statements of holy scripture,
and the type is employed only as an illustration of
doctrine, elsewhere taught. That is to say, if we
do not primarily draw the doctrine from the
type, unsustained by other passages of Scripture,
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but first draw the doctrine from definite doctrinal
teaching, and then revert to the type as a con-
firmation of the doctrine, and a pictorial or figura-
tive expression of it, we are within perfectly safe
limits. -
Within some such careful limitations as these
we undertake to show somewhat of the value of
typical teaching in holy scripture.
The materials, gathered together for this depart-
ment of study, are much more than it is possible to
use within moderate space, but a few examples may
show how the study of this theme opens before
us a territory worthy of exploration, and of most
beneficial and instructive suggestion.
Out of this large body of types we select only
such as centre about Salvation,-and particularly
about what may be called the experimental history
of the believer, from the time when he first finds
salvation, until salvation is consummated in Glory.
And, in order to be as brief and as pertinent as
possible, even in this line of truth we confine our-
selves to a few prominent mountain peaks of
Biblical teaching. We have selected, as most
honouring to the Word of God, the following:
I. The Starting Point of Salvation. II. Its
Basis. III. Its Consummate Privilege. IV. Its
Historic Progress. V. Its Imminent Perils. VI.
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Spiritual Types
Its Important Duties. VII. Its Present Rest-
Life in God. VIII. Its Final Consummation in
Glory. -
It is practicable only to touch lightly even upon
these, but they all represent necessary steps in
the demonstration of the fact that in holy scripture
there had been taught typically as well as doc-
trinally The Pilgrim's Progress from this World
to the Next, long before John Bunyan was lodged
in Bedford Jail. Moses himself outlined, under the
guidance of the Spirit, this original “Pilgrim's
Progress.”
I. The Starting Point of Salvation. Let us recur
Once more to that remarkable type in the Twelfth
of Exodus—the sprinkling of the blood on the
right and left hand door posts and on the upper
door posts of the Hebrew houses. It is hard to see
how to avoid the conclusion that God meant here
to emphasise the Starting Point of Salvation, which
is, -what? Deliverance from Judgment. That is
the first thing a sinner needs. Judgment impends
Over him. God distinctly says in the chapter
referred to that the blood shall be sprinkled on the
side and upper door posts. “For,” He says, “I
will pass through the land of Egypt this night,
and, when I see the blood, I will pass over you,
and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy
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you.” There is thus deliverance from Judgment
by the sprinkled blood. Thus early does God
in types thunder out this great truth, which He
bids us proclaim to the world, that the refuge
of any sinner, however vile, is under the Blood,
and that, when the Blood is between him and the
just anger of God, the Destroying wrath of God
cannot touch him. The blood is the life, and the
sprinkled blood means that the penalty has been
paid for sin, so that, when the sinner comes under
the shelter of that blood, and puts it above him,
upon the right hand and upon the left hand, so that
he is surrounded by it, God cannot pass over the blood
to judgment, for that would be exacting a penalty
a second time. O for a voice loud enough and
piercing enough to reach every human soul on
earth, and assure a sinner that whatever his sin is,
however long he has sinned, and however terribly
he has sinned, and even though he thinks he has
passed the limits of forgiveness, if he will take
his shelter under the blood, all that there is in
the God-head is pledged that no judgment shall
touch him! He is perfectly safe.
That typical truth could not be taught more
impressively and conclusively by any type than
it was taught by the Passover.
II. If we pass on to ask as to the Basis of this
- I90
DIAGRAM of the TABERNACLE
AND ITS FURNITURE
HOLY OF HOLIES
SECOND VEIL
GOLDEN
ALTAR OF INCENSE
HOLY PLACE
Golpen
CANDústick SHEW BREAD
FIRST VEIL
ouTER COURT
BRAZEN





Al TAR
Spiritual Types
great salvation, we find a system of sacrifices,
separated into two classes. In the first seven
chapters of Leviticus are presented the five great
sacrificial offerings, two of them of ill-savour,”
three of them of “sweet savour.”
In the former is expressed typically the idea
that the life of an innocent victim is sacrificed for
the guilty; and in the second group of these sacri-
fices is the complementary truth that the life of
She ransomed is given back in service to the Ransomer.
When these two great aspects of sacrifice are ap-
preciated, we have two mutually complementary
truths set before us. First, the sinner comes to
Jesus Christ to avail himself of His atoning Blood,
so that though guilty and condemned he may,
through that vicarious offering of an innocent
life, secure his own salvation. Then, having been
thus saved by His blood, he presents himself as
a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God,
which is his reasonable service, and offers himself
to God in grateful obedience and service, not in
recompense, but in recognition of this infinite
love.
III. The supreme privilege of this new and holy
life is expressed by two things, the Tabernacle and
the Priesthood. te
In the simple diagram on the preceding page,
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X*.
The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
pains are taken, as far as may be, to give the
proportions of the parts of the Tabernacle, and the
prominent vessels and furniture of the Tabernacle,
so that the reader may get some conception of it,
and keep it before his eyes as an object lesson.
There was in the Tabernacle an outer court,
and, in that outer court, in front of the first veil,
there stood two articles of furniture, the brazen
altar of sacrifice and the laver. Then the first
veil, and within that three other articles of fur-
niture, the table of Shewbread, or the bread of
Divine presence, the golden candlestick, and beyond
them and nearer to the second veil, the golden
altar of incense. Within the second veil rested the
Ark, having for its cover the Mercy Seat with the
two cherubim facing each other and bowing over
the ark.
Every believer should have that picture en-
graved on the tablet of his mind. More room is
taken up in the Bible in the description of the
Tabernacle and its belongings than with any
other one subject treated it its pages, and every
detail of the Tabernacle, to the smallest minutiae, is
described with amazing particularity. Seven times
in the Bible do we read these words addressed to
Moses or to David: “That it shall be made after the
pattern showed in the Mount,” or given “inwriting.”
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
There is a meaning in all this, for there must
be some reason for this pattern being placed
before us with such conspicuousness and in such
detail.
We venture to give a tentative interpretation
of these features of the Tabernacle; it may not
concur with the views of every reader, but it is
the fruit of many years of Biblical study, and is
suggested for consideration.
Let the three Courts together represent the way
of approach to jehovah.
The Outer Court may then represent the terms
of communion with Him.
The Inner Court, the Holy Place, may represent
the Forms of Communion.
The Holiest of All may represent the Ideal of
such Communion.
In the three together are represented a graded
sanctity, and the successive Stages of acceptable
drawing near into the Divine Presence. There is
only one way of approach. It was possible to
enter the holy place only by way of the brazen altar
and laver and through the first veil, and to enter
into the inmost court, and Holiest of All, only
through the second veil; for there was neither door,
nor window, nor skylight; nor method of entrance
save by this one way. Even the High Priest, in
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Spiritual Types
approaching the Shechinah must go step by step
along this one definite path.
In the Outer Court, first of all, the worshipper
met the Brazen Altar, which was inseparable from
the idea of expiation by blood. That is therefore
the first of the terms of approach to God. The
sinner comes by way of the Cross; by way of
atoning Blood, just as we have seen in Exodus.
Back of the Brazen Altar was the Brazen Laver,
with water in it, and so far as we can interpret
it from the keys given us in scripture, this seems
to stand for the joint work of the Word of God and
the Spirit of God, in imparting the divine nature
to the sinner in regeneration. After he has availed
himself of expiation by blood, he must also avail
himself of this Regeneration by the Word and
Spirit. He thus becomes a new creation, “old things
are passed away, and all things are become new.”
These are the two terms of approach, and there are
no others given in the Word of God—the Atoning
Blood, the Renewing Spirit. -
When one has availed himself of expiatory blood
and regenerating power, he has become a disciple,
and now he is prepared and permitted to enter
within the first veil. Let us stop to observe this;
that the Holy Place stands for the forms of service,
and God never expects or accepts any service except
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
from a blood-washed and regenerate disciple. The
Church may, but He does not. It is only when one
is saved by the blood and renewed by the Spirit
that he is entitled or capacitated to enter into this
department of service, as it is called in Hebrews IX,
6: “Accomplishing the service of God,” referring to
the duties of priests in the Holy Place.
In the Holy Place were three articles of furniture:
The Table of Shewbread, or Bread of the Divine
Presence, renewed weekly, expressing consecrated
substance.
The Golden Candlestick, standing for the Light
of Testimony.
And further on, the Altar of Incense, which
undoubtedly suggests supplication and inter-
cession.
What lessons on service are here taught! The
three forms of service are giving, living and pray-
ing. Giving of our substance, and, better still,
self-giving with whatever has been committed to
us as stewards; Witnessing to God by our lips,
and, more important still, by our lives, “Ye are
the light of the world.” And, still further on,
Prayer and supplication and intercession for all
men, and especially for the household of Saints.
As is no doubt true, all these have primary
reference to the person and work of the Lord
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Spiritual Types
Jesus, yet this does not exclude, but rather in-
cludes, a secondary for subordinate reference to
all who are in Christ Jesus; for in the New Testa-
ment what is affirmed of Him in the major sense
is commonly affirmed of those who are by faith
members of His mystical Body.*
These are the forms of service, and there are no
others. When a child of God gives as he ought,
lives as he ought, and prays as he ought, what
else could he do? And the fact that the Golden
Altar of Incense stands nearest the second veil
and the Holies of All, is a possible hint to us that
even grander than giving and witnessing is a life
of perpetual prayer; it implies that the true sup-
plicator is nearer to heaven, and nearer to God;
it represents the sublimest form of service.
Entering within the second veil, we find the Ark
and the Mercy Seat. What did the Ark contain?
First of all, and significantly, the two tables of
stone; upon the Ark the Mercy Seat, with the cheru-
bim meeting over it, and the Shechinah fire burn-
ing between them. We need not look very far
in the New Testament to find what all this means.
The believer sees in this Holiest Place of All the
symbols of the obedience of Christ, and the inter-
cession of Christ, in whom the Ideal of communion
*Comp. John v111: 12; Matt. v.: 14; John xvii.1: 37; xv.: 27; Ephes. II:
20-22; x Pet. II: 4, 5.
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and union with God is reached,—the believer there
learning that he is by grace so absolutely identi-
fied with Christ's obedience, that he may approach
directly to God through Christ's mediation and
intercession. There seems nothing fanciful about
such an understanding of the types; such is
their most natural interpretation, and abundantly
verified by passages of scripture which might be
given by the score.
In addition to this outline of the structure and
furniture of the Tabernacle, the main facts
about the priests' garments demand also a cursory
glance. The washing and anointing of the priests,
the touching of the ear, and of the thumb, and
also of the great toe of the right foot, and all like
things undoubtedly have a typical significance.
But Exodus xxvi II suggests some of the highest
typical lessons. This chapter contains an elabor-
ate description of three things that pertain to the
High Priest's attire:
First, the onyx stones on the shoulder pieces of
the Ephod.
Second, the Breastplate, that was suspended
from these onyx stones or shoulder pieces by
golden chains attached to the rings of the breast-
plate.
Third, the Golden Crown that was put on the
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Spiritual Types
forefront of the Mitre, and which bore the in-
scription “Holiness to the Lord.” (See verse 36.)
No one chapter in the Old Testament is more
abundant in great types of the Lord Jesus Christ
than this 28th chapter of Exodus, and many have
found unspeakable joy in reading that chapter and
seeing reflected in it His offices in our behalf.
Why is all this detailed description given of
such minute matters as the two Onyx stones, the
twelve stones in the Breastplate, and the golden
forefront of the Mitre with the sentence engraved.
upon it “Holiness to the Lord?” That it may
appear that there is a heavenly meaning in
it, the Holy Spirit caused to be written and
recorded in the 38th verse of this chapter:
And the holy crown “shall be upon Aaron's
forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of
the holy things which the children of Israel shall
hallow in all their holy gifts, and it shall be always
upon his forehead, that they may be accepted by
the Lord.”
Observe the change of pronoun, “And it shall
be always upon HIS forehead, that THEY may be
accepted before the Lord.”
When the High Priest was fully attired, these
objects, described in this chapter, confronted the
gaze of the observer:
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First, there were these onyx stones, each of
them containing Six names of the tribes of Israel.
Then, closely connected with these, and in fact
supported by them, was the breastplate, each of
whose twelve stones contained the name of one
of the tribes of Israel.
Then, on the forefront of the Mitre, most con-
spicuous, on the brow, which is the distinguishing
feature of man, and therefore represents the noblest
of all his physical features—was “Holiness to
the Lord.” The Mitre could scarcely be seen for
the forefront that was upon it.
The shoulder is the place of strength, and sug-
gests upholding power. It is used throughout the
Bible for the bearing of burdens of responsibility
and government. (Isaiah IX: 6.)
What does the Breastplate stand for? The
breast is the place of the heart and suggests love.
It is where the heart beats, where the emotions
were supposed to reside—near the solar plexus—
and it is inseparable from the thought of the
affections.
Thus in the attire of the High Priest is conveyed
the suggestion that the Lord Jesus Christ on His
shoulders bears up the burdens of His believing
disciples; that on His breast of love he bears them
individually, in a sympathetic union with Himself;
2OO
Spiritual Types
and that, because of the “Holiness unto the Lord”
which He represents in His whole being, we are
accepted before the Lord. In other words, in
the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ we
have the assurance of our acceptance; in His might
and power we find our support and strength; in
His love we find our solace and our sympathy.
In the Epistle to the Ephesians, is not all this
taught us doctrinally? We read in the first chapter:
“He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
Whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of His grace.” Then, in the latter part of the
chapter, Paul prays, as is recorded, that they might
know “the exceeding greatness of His power to
usward who believe, according to the working of
His mighty power.” Again, in the third chapter,
in the other prayer for the Ephesians: “That they
might know the love,” as in the first chapter that
they might know the “power.” Here, as it seems,
the interpretation is to be found of the three
types already referred to, in the garments and
adornments of the High Priest: The holiness of
Christ, that we may be accepted; the power of
Christ, that we may be sustained in duty and sup-
ported in temptation; the love of Christ, that we
may be confident of sympathy, that we may be
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism
solaced in sorrow, and that we may be emboldened
in prayer. The names of all the saints are en-
graven on His heart, as though every beat of that
heart and every upheaval of that bosom speaks
of His love for us.
So looking at the Tabernacle we get suggestions
as to the terms and forms and ideal of communion;
and looking at the High Priest's attire, we get sug-
gestions as to the grounds of acceptance before
the Lord, and strength and Solace and sympathy
in all burdens of duty and conflicts with tempta-
tion and trial.
IV. Have we no typical hints of the advance of
the believer in that “Pilgrim's Progress,” first
written at the dictation of the Spirit, by Moses?
A remarkable “Pilgrim's Progress” it is. The
stations in the journey from Egypt to Canaan
represent, every one of them, stages of growth
or declension in spiritual life, and this may be
plainly seen if the progress of events is carefully
observed in the narrative.
The Exodus: Egypt is treated in the Bible as
the type of the land of sin, and of the world, out
of which the disciple is called to be a child of God
and follower of Christ.
Then at the Red Sea, they were “baptised unto
Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” We are not
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Spiritual Types
at risk of running into fanciful interpretation, for
we derive our key from I Cor. x: 2. The Red Sea
stood for the baptism of water and the baptism of
the Holy Spirit.
Then Israel comes to Sinai; that is the place Of
holy law.
From Sinai to Kadesh on the Borders of the
Land of Canaan; that place is the type of the
foretaste of the Divine rest-life, reserved for the
trustful and obedient believer in this world.
So one by one we trace the stages of progress
in the desert, until the Israelites come to the
Jordan, which they cross—type of self-surrender—
and to Jericho, where the first great representative
conquest takes place in the land of Canaan. God
says: “I brought you out, that I might bring you
in.” And again, to show that the whole pilgrimage
from Egypt to Canaan, the period of the Exodus
and the Wanderings in the Desert, have a typical
teaching, in the Epistle to the Hebrews from III: 7
to Iv:11, God gives us His own interpretation of
what was meant that we should learn by that
journey from Egypt to Canaan. It is all treated
there as a type of the disciple's advance from the
first knowledge of Christ, in Deliverance from
Judgment, till he enters by faith into the present
rest that remains for the children of God—notice, a
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present rest, for Canaan is never treated in
the Bible as a type of heaven, it stands always
for a present rest to be realised in this life,
to be enjoyed by the appropriation of Divine
promise, and by passing over the Jordan of self-
dedication, as already the believer is supposed
to have passed over the Red Sea of baptism.
Asto all minute details, every reader will interpret
for himself; all we seek to do is to lead out the
mind of the intelligent student of the scripture
into the examination of the subject, that he may
form his own conclusions under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit.
V. As the Bible gives a hint of the progress of the
child of God, it gives us also a hint of his perils
and dangers, which are set forth typically and
very vividly in the Old Testament
Thus, Backsliding, as in the proposition to re-
turn to Egypt.
Idolatry, as exemplified under the very brow of
Sinai.
Rebellion, as manifested in the disgraceful mur-
murs against God, and unwillingness to submit
to His leadership.
Unbelief, as shown at Kadesh Barnea, where
they stood within an appreciable reach of the holy
land, and could have passed over into it within a
2O4.
Spiritual Types
few hours; but they feared and refused to go up,
and were about to stone Caleb and Joshua be-
cause they encouraged them to do so, depending
upon God. - -
Profanation, as exhibited in Korah and his com-
pany, Dathan and Abiram.
Sensuality, the great peril that entangled them
in Moab. And finally
Compromise, the great temptation that they
met and yielded to in Canaan. -
Backsliding, Idolatry, Rebellion, Unbelief, Prof-
anation, Sensuality, Compromise with the world,
these are all there, and they are presented con-
secutively in the history of the Children of Israel
from the time they left Egypt till the time they
settled in Canaan. .
Notice further, how their compromise with the
Canaanitish idolaters ultimately drove them into
captivity, and the interpretation of that part of
this history is clearly given in the 36th chapter of
Ezekiel. In this unique and marvellous chapter
(verses 16–38), God solemnly arraigns His people.
He tells them that, while they were in the land of
promise, they brought into that land the corruption
of the idolatrous nations about them; and that
therefore, as they craved the idolatries of these
heathen nations and imported them in their own
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land, He, in turn, exiled them from their own land
into these very heathen countries, that they might
have enough of their coveted idolatries. That is
exactly what God always does with His Church.
When the Church compromises with the world,
He gives His people over into captivity to the
world, that in such captivity they may get enough
of the idols they have sought. -
VI. The duties of the holy life are also forecast
in the recorded history of Israel; and those duties are
typically included and foreshadowed in the construc-
tion and encompassing of the Tabernacle, and then
in the encompassing marches around Jericho in the
land of Canaan; the construction of the Sanctuary,
that God might dwell among them; the encompass-
ing of the Tabernacle by their own camps, that they
might keep close to God and to one another. For if
disciples keep near to God, they must get and keep
near to each other; and therefore, the best way to
cultivate good fellowship with fellow disciples is to
cultivate close fellowship with the Lord Himself.
As to the way in which they took Jericho, who
can read that story without seeing that it was
somehow an indication of the way in which God's
warfare must be carried on? Read II Cor. x: 3–6,
those remarkable words which no doubt refer to
the taking of that first stronghold.
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For though we walk after the flesh, we do not
war after the flesh; -
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strongholds;) -
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ; -
And having in a readiness to revenge all dis-
obedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
If the story of Jericho be carefully read, there
is found in it an amazing suggestiveness. First, in
the appearance of the invisible Leader, who called
himself the “Captain of the Lord's Host,” and
from whom Joshua took the details of directions as
to every step taken afterwards in the siege and
capture of the city. Then notice the march round
Jericho. The armed men and priests going before;
the Ark in the midst; the blowing of the ram's
horns; the waiting for the Divine signal; the
shout of victory; then, without striking a blow
with a carnal weapon, the fall of the walls. If
this is not an exhibition, typically, of the way in
which God’s work of missions is to be carried on,
there is at least a remarkable analogy—the en-
compassing of the world field with its strongholds
of error, under the invisible Leader, and exactly
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according to His directions; the carrying of the
Ark of God in the midst—jealousy for the truth
and worship and service of God; the proclamation
of the Gospel, typified in the blowing of the ram's
horns; doing “everything with prayer,” typified
in the waiting upon God for His signal; the
abandonment of all carnal weapons for spiritual,
and the anticipative shout of triumph. If the
Church had done all her work in that way, no one
can tell what her conquests might have been at
this hour. -
The 21st and 22nd chapters of Revelation are
amongst the most important writings that the
Holy Spirit has ever submitted to the reading and
study of man. They are all highly symbolical
and typical. What do they mean?
Here is a City of God, and it is at the same time
a city of man. No reader thinks for a moment
that it is literally described here in the dimensions
of equal length and breadth and height; in the
gates, each of one massive pearl; in the gold of
the streets and gems of the walls; in the fact that
there is no temple, and so on. This is a figurative
description, meant to convey spiritual conceptions.
Four things about it impress us as far as God
is concerned:
I. God built it. It was not built from earth
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towards heaven, but let down from heaven to
earth. -
2. God dwells in it. It is His habitation.
3. The Glory of God lightens it.
4. The Throne of God is in it.
Thus, it is built by God. His Glory lightens
it. He Himself dwells in it. And His will is
absolutely done in it by every inhabitant.
It is also the City of Man.
I. It is curiously described as though it were
built of men. It is a community. It is a City, and
a city is built of citizens, not of brick and mortar
and stones and timbers, and hence we read of
the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb as
being on those precious stones.
What kind of building material is found there?
In its cubic symmetry is suggested the perfection
of development and form; in its glory is hinted
the virtue, that is radiant with a light within,
not like a painted outside that conceals rottenness.
The gold of the New Jerusalem is not opaque gold
that hides God; God can be seen through it, and
is glorified in it. Even the gems burn with an
imprisoned flame. It is built of holy and redeemed
saints, radiant with God’s beauty and glory.
Again, it is open to all. It has three gates on
each side, and, as there is “no night there,” and
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they are never “shut by day,” they must be always
open. From whatever quarter any pilgrims come,
if only their face is set in the right direction, they
will all get there alike. No man can say you
cannot come from the east or west, north or south;
it matters not from what point of the compass, if
you only move steadily Godward.
Again, there is nothing to prevent going out
if you are in and there is nothing to prevent your
coming in, if you are out, except the fact that
you do not desire to: The essential bond is affinity.
“Fire ascending seeks the sun,
Rivers to the ocean run,
So a soul that’s born of God
Pants to view His glorious face,
Upward tends to His abode
To rest in His embrace.”
There would be nothing to prevent your leaving
that city if you did not feel at home, and what is
there to prevent your entering if you are at home
nowhere else but in the presence of God? Not-
withstanding that men fight against the Bible
doctrine of the eternal state, are not the foundations
of this teaching laid in every man's conscious
inner life? The simple fact is that the holy
citizens of heaven are held together, not by ex-
ternal restraints, but by spiritual affinity. And
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Spiritual Types
fallen souls, if they were invited to enter, not one
of them would accept the invitation. They could
not bear the light and glory of heaven, any more
than a diseased and inflamed eye can confront
without agony the blazing sun of the mid-day, or
even the fainter lustre of diffused light. This
city, built of redeemed men, is open to all men,
but only such as have an affinity for God will go in.
It is also a Bridal City. The New Jerusalem is
the Bride of the Lamb, and those who do not
belong to the Lamb as a wife belongs to her
husband, by the sacred espousal of faith and love,
will never have, nor desire to have, a part in this
City of God!
2II
CHAPTER X
SPIRITUAL WISDOM
“THE Wisdom that is from above.” This ex-
pression, taken from James III: 17, is a noteworthy
phrase. In Proverbs [II, III, IV, VIII and Ix] Wisdom
is personified; and by a sort of sublime allegory
referred to as a Royal Personage building a palace,
and setting forth a banquet, to which she invites
all the sons of men, that she may draw them from
the ensnaring Feast of Folly. --
Wisdom, as used in the Word of God, includes
two things: Concepts and Precepts. Concepts, or
ideas of truth; Precepts, or rules of conduct. In
both of these respects the Bible stands preeminent,
and beyond all comparison. It contains the
sublimest conceptions of truth, and it supplies
the most complete and comprehensive rules for
the conduct of life.
Another thing that is very peculiar to the Bible
is that all these Concepts, or ideas of truth, and
Precepts, or rules of duty, are so inseparably
bound together, like the members of one organic
body, that each implies and necessitates the other;
so that to tunderstand God’s ideas of truth is to
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understand His rules of conduct; and inversely
not one of either could be severed from this body
of Truth without maiming the whole body, with-
out losing something that could not be dispensed
with.
Moreover, it follows that if we truly get hold of
any great central idea presented in the Bible,
and follow it as a clue, it will interpret all the rest.
To trace out one great doctrine or precept in all
its various branches will reveal all the rest of
truth and duty, as a complete system, arranged
round a grand centre.
The subject is too great to treat properly in a
brief compass, the wisdom that is in the Word,
in the way of Concepts and Precepts, and so,
following the plan already indicated, we may take
a central conception, and then see what is in-
volved in it; and, having outlined the truth as
the Bible presents it, see what duties inevitably
follow.
We select first the conception of THE UNIVERSE,
and observe what grows out of it, and what duties
come from the truth that is presented in that great
theme.
What is meant by the Universe? We now use
the word as the most comprehensive word that
we know of to embrace the total sphere of truth.
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There is a Universe of Being, embracing God and
all other beings. There is a Universe of Space,
embracing the planets and the stars. There is a
Universe of Duration, which embraces time and
eternity.
The doctrine which the Bible presents of the
, Universe is one of the most unique of all its un-
foldings of truth. It will richly repay us to spend
a life in studying what the Bible has to say about
this threefold Universe of Being, of Space, of
Duration.
In the first place, Head over all else, is God
Himself, in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy
Ghost; yet not three Gods, but one God.
Then God is represented as having what we
call natural perfections: such as Power, Wisdom,
Knowledge, Infinity, Eternity, Immutability, Om-
nipresence; and Moral attributes, such as Right-
eousness, Truth, Justice, Holiness, Benevolence.
Can any other conception of God be found any-
where else that at all compares with that? Is any-
thing left out that should be put in 2 or anything
put in that ought to be left out? Here is presented
a Supreme Being, with Absolute Perfection.
Then, in connection with this Universe, there
is a material and an immaterial department; there
is that which is temporal and that which is eternal;
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Spiritual Wisdom
that which is changeable and that which is un-
changeable; that which is living and that which is
dead; that which is present and that which is future.
Thus it begins to be apparent what a sublimely
wonderful subject we have to contemplate.
In this Universe there is a department of Being,
about which it especially becomes us to inform
ourselves.
The Bible represents God, of course, as the
Head of all Being, but, underneath Him, a vast
Hierarchy of Angels. These Angelic intelligences
appear to exist in seven ranks or orders: Arch-
angels, of which there seem to have originally been
three—Gabriel, who has the special charge of the
message of salvation, and Michael, who has
specially to do with the jews (Dan. XII) and the
bodies of God’s saints, and Satan, the fallen arch-
angel, head of the revolted angels.
Underneath the Archangels, apparently, are
principalities, powers, authorities, thrones, domin-
ions, and among the fallen angels also world rulers
of this darkness, and wicked spirits or demons,
as they are called in Ephesians VI. The general
word “spirits” doubtless represents the lowest of
the Orders, both of angels that are obedient to
God, and that are subject to Satan—underneath
the rest in rank.
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The Bible and Spiritual Criticism .
Into this Universe of Being, which God, when
He made it, pronounced good, and which was per-
fect for its purposes, sin entered. How it entered
we know not, but it did, and caused a revolt, first
among the angels of God, so that they became
divided into two classes, the unfallen angels, and
the fallen angels, and the latter appear to have
carried over into their revolt the same ranks and
orders which existed among them in their condition
of innocence; for we read of fallen principalities
and powers and thrones and dominions, just as
of the unfallen. At the head of these fallen angels
is Satan. As already intimated, Satan was prob-
ably one of the original three Archangels like
Gabriel and Michael; but whoever thinks of
Satan as an inferior being, belonging to a low
class of intelligence, has not properly read his
Bible. All those current representations of the
Devil as a repulsive being, a monster, half animal,
half human, with horns and hoofs, and such like,
are most misleading and false. Satan is probably
incomparably the greatest created Being that God
has ever made, and next to the Lord Jesus Christ
in majesty and dignity, intelligence and power.
We certainly ought to understand the character
of Satan. We call especial attention to that
passage in Ezekiel that most commentators be-
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lieve to be a description, not of any human “Prince
of Tyrus,” but of Satan as the tutelary deity of
Tyrus, Ezek. xxviiI: 12–19:
Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and
perfect in beauty.
Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God;
every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius,
topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and
the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald and the
carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of thy
tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in
the day that thou wast created.
Thou are the anointed cherub that covereth;
and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy
mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down
in the midst of the stones of fire.
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day
that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in
thee.
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty;
thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy
brightness, etc.
If that is not a description of Satan, we know
not what it can be; and if it be a description of
Satan, let us observe that the language here used
about him could be used of no created being beside
him that we have any knowledge of, and approxi-
mates very closely to the language elsewhere used
of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
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Let us understand then that there is a great
Hierarchy of unfallen Angels, countless in number
(Revelation v: 2), and another Hierarchy of fallen
Angels led on by Satan, who is a fallen Archangel;
and that this Arch Rebel has introduced eternal
enmity into the Universe of Being between God
and obedient creatures on the one hand, and himself
and disobedient, creatures on the other; but God
will show Himself triumphant at the last; when
Satan with His fallen angels, and all that obey and
serve him, will be turned into Hell. (Rev. xx.)
The next great factor in this truth about the
|Universe, is MAN. Man was created in inno-
cency, body, soul, spirit. His body allied him
with the earth; his soul allied him with all living
creatures that God had made; and his spirit
allied him with God himself, and constituted,
doubtless, the majesty of his likeness to God.
Satan tempted man successfully, and he fell,
and all man's powers and purposes and being
were diverted and perverted from their originalends,
just as in the case of Satan and the fallen angels.
His body became his snare, because it was the
home of the flesh with its lusts; his soul became
his snare, because it was allured by the charms
of the world; his spirit became his snare, because
it was in practical alliance with the Devil.
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The Bible teaches us that God had planned a
Redemption that was adequate in every respect
to the fall of man, and this Redemption included
mainly two great factors, the God-Man and the
Holy Spirit. Thus there were two Persons of the
Trinity that gave themselves up to the applica-
tion of the Redemption that God the Father had
planned. Jesus Christ, uniting in Himself perfect
Divinity and perfect humanity, descended to the
earth. He took upon Himself not simply the
body of man, but united with His Divine na-
ture the nature of man. He did this because
there was not a being in the Universe that could
cope with Satan but the Son of God Himself.
He became Man, that He might be a representative
Man before God, that He might take man's place,
that He might bear man's sin, that He might
unite man with Himself; and, as in coming down to
the earth in His Incarnation. He brought God
down to man, in His resurrection and ascension
He bore man up to God.
As to the work of the Holy Spirit, after Christ
has borne the sins of men in His own body on the
tree, the Holy Spirit takes of the things of Christ,
and shows them to man; He testifies to, magnifies,
glorifies Christ; He makes Him attractive; and
He imparts to believers the very faculties whereby
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they apprehend, and receive, and enjoy Christ.
Then the Holy Spirit becomes within them the
indwelling power for regeneration and sanctification
and equipment for service.
There is a very unique form in which the truth
about the Holy Spirit is presented that is specially
worthy of consideration, and if it seems at first a
difficult subject to grapple with, it is a grand
truth to apprehend.
The Holy Spirit is represented as the Christian's
element. What do we mean by an element? It
is that in which we live, and move, and have
our being. It is the only thing of which it
can be said we are in it while at the same
time it is in us. The fish is in the water, and
the water in the fish, the bird is in the air and
the air in the bird; the iron in the fire and the
fire in the iron. “Ye are in the Spirit, if so be that
the Spirit is in you.” “Abide in Me, and I in you.”
Here is language appropriate only to an element.
The Holy Spirit is the personal element in which
the believer as such is to live and move and have
his being.
There are certain peculiarites about an element.
For instance, it is infinite. It is boundless, like
the atmosphere. It is indispensable to that which
lives in it, yet it is independent of that which it
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sustains. It is inexhaustible. It is vital. And it
has this remarkable peculiarity, that it imparts
to that which lives in it all that there is in itself,
and yet retains all that there is in itself for every
Other being that lives in it. When we inhale the
atmosphere, we inhale everything that the atmos-
phere has for the support of life, and yet all this
Sustaining power is equally at the disposal of all
Others who breathe it, and all get the same
benefit.
And so the Holy Spirit is infinite. He is inex-
haustible. He is independent of us, yet He is
indispensable to us. He imparts His whole Self
to every believer, yet He has His whole Self left
for every other believer. We abide in Him, yet at
the same time He abides in us. And just as the
iron is put in the fire, in order that the fire may
be in the iron, we are to abide in the Lord Jesus
Christ in order that He may abide in us; and abide
in the Holy Spirit, that He may abide in us, just
as we abide in the atmosphere, in order that the
atmosphere may abide in us.
These are not human ideas, very far from it;
these are the thoughts of God, found in holy
scripture, and illustrate the fact that the wisdom
of the Divine conceptions has never been paralleled
by any human mind. We find these things no-
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where else but in the holy scripture. (Isaiah Lv. 8).
Thus far we have looked at the Universe. We
have seen God at the head of it. We have seen a
great company of angels in distinct orders. We
have seen sin entering into the universe, and
making a revolt in this vast angelic company;
and we have seen these armies of fallen and un-
fallen angels arrayed against each other. We have
seen Man created, body, soul and spirit, and falling
into sin under the seductive power of Satan. And
then we have seen God the Father planning Re-
demption ; God the Son becoming God-Man to
execute the Redemption; and we have seen God,
the Holy Spirit, applying the blood, and the truth,
and conferring the new nature, and becoming the
element in which the new-born soul lives and
moves and has his being. We have seen the
secret, therefore, of the penalty of sin being paid
in the blood of Christ; and the power of sin being
broken by the indwelling efficiency and energy
of the Holy Ghost. We have seen that God has
made a divine preparation for the new life to be
daily nourished and cherished and strengthened
and renewed. And so by and bye, Sin, whose
penalty has been paid, and whose power has been
broken, shall be banished even as to its presence,
for in that future home of which we read “nothing
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entereth that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh
abomination, or maketh a lie.”
And so there is one more truth about this great
Universe of Truth that must be added to the
rest, and that is the doctrine of the Here and the
Hereafter.
We need to tarry a little at this stage of our
thought; for this is one of the most solemn of
all the truths of holy scripture. Here, probation
beyond, destiny. Here, the opportunity; there,
the judgment. Here, the offer of salvation;
there, the condemnation or eternal salvation.
Here, a mixed society, the good and the bad to-
gether, that the bad may discipline the good, and
the good may restrain the bad; there, an unmixed
Society,+every man goes “to his own place,” and
“to his own company”; and the companionship
and association and aggregation of the bad makes
Hell, and the congregation and association and
companionship of the good makes heaven; and
no power can banish Hell, any more than it can
banish Heaven, until it can banish sin.
When we come to consider these truths, we see
that all these concepts or ideas of truth imply pre-
cepts. If God had not given us a single precept,
but we could gather together and comprehend
these great conceptions for ourselves, we could
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make our own rules for holy living, for they would
inevitably follow.
For instance, if all this is true, if man is a
sinner, and has fallen under the power of Satan,
and God has provided a redemption, it is perfectly
obvious that the very first thing a man has to
do is to “repent and believe the gospel.” That is
Christ's own message, as given in Mark I: I 5. But
repentance is the negative side, and believing is
the positive side of one great act of choice. Re-
pentance is not simply a feeling, even as faith is
not a feeling. Repentance is a change of mind
or will towards sin and towards God, and faith
is a change of attitude of heart towards sin and
towards God. Repentance is like coming out of
the room one has been in and shutting the door
behind him, while faith is like entering into a new
room. One is an abandonment, and the other is
an acceptance. One is a renunciation, and the
other is an appropriation. In one case we break
the bond that has bound us to sin; in the other we
accept a new and vital bond that re-unites God
in Jesus Christ.
The next step naturally is, “Submit yourselves
therefore unto God,” another Biblical rule
(James IV: 7). That is to say, as sin is a revolt
against His authority, obedience is a surrender
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to His authority. Give God His right, that is,
give Him the Kingship voluntarily over the
whole being. That is holy obedience. “Seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteous-
ness,” that is, put first things first. That is
all. It is giving the first place in thought, in
affection, in choice, to that which, in the nature
of the case, ought to have the first place, which
is the Kingdom of God—the righteousness of
God. This is allying oneself with God, from Whom
we have revolted. It is accepting His authority,
which we have despised. It is seeking the interests
of His kingdom. Faith so allies you with Him, that
His kingdom becomes your kingdom, His victory
your victory, His destiny is your destiny, as a
believer.
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength.”
Napoleon took the idea of the military square in
warfare from the Macedonian Phalanx, and it
was not until other generals discovered his device
and applied it themselves to warfare that Napoleon
was successfully defeated. What is the military
square? It is a four-sided array of soldiers, so
that from whatever point you approach you find
them facing you. You cannot come up from
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behind, for there is no rear. There can be no
flank movement, for they confront you as you
advance from the right or the left. Thus they
face toward the front or rear, and toward the
right and left, alike.
That is somewhat the way God wants men to
serve Him. He wants each follower to present
the square, intellect, affections, conscience, will
so that, from whatever side evil approaches, it shall
find a solid resistance, and it can never come up,
as it were, from behind or the side and take by
surprise. So, whichever way Duty approaches, it
will find the disciple meeting it face to face, the
intellect with its convictions, the heart with its
affections, the conscience with its moral decisions,
the will with its controlling choice. That is the
only way to live, and God wants the whole of
every man for Himself, He will have no half and
half surrender. Otherwise there is no obedience
at all; no love at all. A divided heart is no
heart, God-ward, at all.
We notice some strange precepts in the law of
Moses, and often wondered why they were put
before us in such detail. Look, for instance, at
Lev. XI: 2O:
All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall
be an abomination unto you.
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f
And in order that we may understand that this
is an important prohibition, in Deut. XIV: 19
we find it repeated in a different form:
And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean
unto you.
It One case it is everything that creeps and also
flies; in the other case it is everything that flies
and also creeps. What does this mean? It is not
needful to study anatomy or physiology much to
understand that there is one kind of flesh of men,
another of fishes, another of beasts, another of
birds. Each created thing has its own organization
form, fitness and purpose. The bird is made to
fly in the air, and the reptile to creep on the earth.
A reptile that simply creeps can do first-class
creeping, and a bird that simply flies can do first-
class flying; but the flying creature that creeps,
and the creeping animal that flies, can neither do
flying nor creeping of the best sort.
God wants everywhere first-class work. He wants
the whole of us, and at our very best. He would
not have us to be creeping along on the earth
like a reptile, while we also try to fly like a bird.
He would have us out and out, and know no
mixed character; to be either saints or sinners,
He says: “I would thou wert cold or hot. So then,
because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor
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hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Some so-
called disciples are neither one thing nor the other,
neither bird nor reptile, but like a reptile that is
trying to fly, or a bird that is trying to creep.
Here then is duty: Repent, believe the gospel.
That sunders relations with sin, and establishes
relation with Christ. Then submit yourselves
unto God—that is a life of obedience. Then seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and
put first things first. Love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength. That is the moral
square, with the man showing himself directly
face to face to God, from whatever direction God
approaches him; and face to face with Tempta-
tion, from whatever quarter it assails him. That
is whole-soul devotion, where he does not attempt
to be two things at Once,—to worship the Lord,
and serve his own god.
Certain other commandments naturally follow:
“Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world.” Why? Because the snare of the
world is found in this, that it hides by material
things the immaterial, by the visible the invisible,
by the temporal the eternal, by the things that
are, the things that are hereafter. We have
already seen that the believer is in alliance with
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God, that he belongs to Jesus Christ, that he lives
in the element of the Holy Spirit; and therefore
God says: Love not the world, because if you do
it will put between you and eternal things its
temporal fascinations and hallucinations.
Boys often entrap and catch sparrows by a
simple device. They roll up a piece of paper into
the form of a funnel and stick it in the ground,
putting seed at the bottom. The bird thrusts
its head down into the funnel to get at the seed,
and when it lifts its head the funnel sticks on, and
it cannot see to direct its flight. The Devil is
continually getting men ensnared in his funnels
to get at his seed, and so he blinds them and they
cannot fly. Of a great many worldly pleasures,
the victims of Satan say to themselves, “I will
pursue these pleasures of sin for a season, but I
shall not care for them by and bye, and then I
am going to abandon them.” But they find
themselves by and bye incapable of doing so.
As Coleridge suggests, in building a stone arch,
a wooden framework is used over which are set
stones or bricks; and when the key-stone is set
in, the wooden arch is knocked away, split up,
and burned for fuel; but the stone or brick arch
stands for centuries. Worldly pleasures are the
wooden arches; we expect by and bye to discard
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them as rubbish, but the arch of character and
habit that has been built on this temporary frame-
work of worldly amusements and sinful pleasures
has taken shape and will stand as long as God lives.
“Love not the world.” The world will hide eternal
things from your view, and give false form to
character.
We are to “mortify and crucify the flesh with
the affections and lusts.” Why? Because the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one
to the other; so that, as a child of God, led by
the Spirit, one may not do things that he inclines
to do under the sway of the flesh. We are to
“keep the body under, and bring it into sub-
jection,” and to “resist the Devil.” Let us not
forget the divine and correct order of things.
“Submit yourselves therefore unto God.” Resist
the Devil. To attempt to resist the Devil before
submitting to God will bring failure every time;
but he who first submits himself unto God has
God on his side, and so it is man plus God meeting
and resisting the Devil; and then Satan will surely
be worsted. But to try to resist the Devil in
one’s own strength, without such alliance and
affiance with God, brings only defeat to ourselves.
Alliance with God is what strengthens us in our
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defiance of the Devil; and he who is one with God
‘may quietly, as with folded arms, look even the
great adversary in the face, and say: “I fear thee
not. My Lord Jesus Christ has met thee in the
conflicts of temptation and has broken thy power.”
No man when in league with Jesus Christ needs
to be afraid of the Devil, for he can do no harm
to him who is in Christ.
We are not to forget that there is a Here and
a Hereafter, and that we are called to serve now,
and wait for our reward, then. The same great
universal truth that demands that we repent, and
believe, and submit to God; that we seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness; that we
love Him with all the heart; that we love not the
world, that we mortify the flesh, and resist the
Devil, demands also that, even beyond salvation
and sanctification, we aim at unselfish service.
Hence one other great precept: “Take up the
cross and follow Me,” says Jesus. What is the
cross but another name for Self-abnegation?
“He that saveth his life shall lose it, but he
that loseth his life for My sake and the gospels,
the same shall save it.”
This is a word, not to the unsaved, about
Salvation, but rather to the disciple about his
reward. “Life,” in the sense here used, is the
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sum of all present possibilities of serving God
and blessing man. The grain of wheat must fall
into the ground and die, otherwise it abides alone;
but dying, brings forth much fruit. He who plans
to save life, for purposes of self-indulgence, loses
it for the higher purpose of serving man and
glorifying God. He who voluntarily loses life,
as far as self-advantage is concerned, saves life in
service to God and blessing to men. If life be
thus wasted in self-indulgence, then, even though
the whole world were gained, life has been lost
in God's eyes; and the time will come when,
having to give up life, the world that has been
purchased at such price must also be surrendered,
and then “what shall it profit a man to have
gained the whole world and lost his own life; or
what shall he give in exchange for his life”—to buy
back his lost opportunity? The opportunity has
been lost for this world; it is also lost for the
world to come! Even a believer may at the Last
Day find that he has bartered for a mess of pot-
tage what even God Himself can never give him
back; for even God cannot restore a lost hour,
or bring back a forfeited opportunity, or make up
for a waste of substance. Such things lie not
within the range of power.
And so the final lesson of this great universal
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truth is that the truly wise will live, first of all,
for God, and, secondly, for humanity; and con-
sider himself nothing but grain of God, like the
Divine Son of Man, to fall into the ground and
die—die to self-indulgence, and self-gratification,
to self-honour and self-glory; that he may live
for all that is great and glorious in the eternal
purpose of the kingdom of God, and share with all
other obedient beings eternal reward!
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CHAPTER XI
SPIRITUAL VERDICTs
ONE of the most singular evidences of the Divine
origin of the scriptures is found in the verdict
which has been given concerning the Word of
God, not only by its friends, but by its foes.
Though we may not enter very largely into the
compilation of this testimony, which pervades
much of the literature of the eighteenth century,
we may indicate how, in every department, this
testimony has been given to the Word of God.
In the 12th Psalm, at the 6th verse, may be
found our starting point:
The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver
tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
The Revised Version Reads:
... as silver tried in a furnace on earth,
purified seven times.
The idea seems to be that like thoroughly
purified metal the Bible has been subjected to a
seven-fold test in human experience, and that, in
every case, it has come out of the trial magnificently
triumphant, and has betrayed no alloy or dross.
This then is the starting point.
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Spiritual Verdicts
This subject alone might command the entire
space at our disposal. If we take up the Word of
God, and look at its leading doctrinal teachings,
and then seek for verification of them outside of
that Word, we shall find it in every case; and it
needs only a candid and impartial mind to see the
evidence and admit its force. And where the
Word of God is not received as such, there is
frequently, if not always, not only an intellectual
but moral obstacle in the way,+that is to say,
some reason, in the heart, why the Holy Scriptures
should not be received and welcomed as the rule
of faith and conduct.
For instance, let us take a few leading teachings
of the Word of God. Take the teaching about
Creation, the centre of which is that creation is
the work of a personal and infinite Creator. By a
multitude of human devices men have sought to
get rid of a personal Creator. Pantheism, and
Materialism, and Deism, and many other “isms”
—such as the doctrine of Chance, the doctrine
of Evolution, and other like devices and inventions
of men—take the place of the true doctrine of
Deity, a personal Creator.
But certain absolutely indisputable facts argue
in favor of a personal Creator. As we have seen,
Design demands a Designer, and most particularly
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where such design indicates and forecasts the future
condition of growth, eitherinthe vegetable or animal.
Note, as an example, that strange metamor-
phosis that takes place when the caterpillar passes
through the chrysalis state. During a certain pe-
riod or interval its condition is known as the cocoon.
The caterpillar wraps itself round with a mys-
terious covering, and after some weeks, or possibly
months, it emerges a butterfly or moth, materially
different in the sphere of its being, and the materials
on which it feeds, from its previous state. It began
life as a crawling creature, feeding upon leaves;
it ends life as a winged and soaring creature, living
its short life on honey. Now here is an entirely
different order of existence. The caterpillar
could have had no knowledge of its future, for it
has never been a winged creature, it has never
lived in the air, and it has never fed on honey.
And yet, if with a lance you cut down the sides of
the cocoon, you will find in the chrysalis state the
future organs of the butterfly, folded up like
weapons within their sheath. Without a personal
Creator, who can explain this forecast of the
future in the caterpillar's structure? It is simply
absurd to attempt to account for it in any other
way; surely only a fool can say, even in his heart,
“There is no God.”
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Spiritual Verdicts
Take a second fact and illustration, Natural
law demands an administrator, and most of all
when there must be exceptions to natural law, to
prevent its malignant and harmful working.
Here is a natural law that has but two or three
exceptions that we know of, in the whole realm of
the Universe. That law is that Heat expands,
and Cold contracts. For instance, if water be
subjected to the influence of cold, by removing the
caloric element from it, it begins to contract,
and steadily continues to contract, till just before
it reaches the freezing point, when it mysteriously
begins to expand. What is the effect? The ice
is lighter than the water, and so floats instead of
sinks. If the law were without exception, when
the water formed into solid ice, the ice, being
heavier than the water, would sink, and, during
the long winter the streams would become a solid
bed of ice, especially in cold climates, so that the
warmest summer sun would only create a shallow
body of water over an eternal bed of ice, and all
vegetable and animal life in the streams would dis-
appear, and the earth would become so far unin-
habitable by man. How came it to be as it is?
and who was it, that, when such exception to
this uniform law became nesessary for benevo-
lent purposes, interposed to make an exception?
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The Law itself certainly could not do it,
that is utterly impossible. A watch or clock,
as long as it goes at all, will continue to move its
hands round in a certain direction. By the law of
the watch, that direction is never changed; but,
if the owner finds his watch is running too fast,
as an intelligent being, he pulls out the stem and
reverses the hands. The watch itself could never
have made that correction, or provided for that
exception to its uniform law of motion; but there is
a provision in the watch by which, when necessary,
that uniform law can be suspended or reversed
for the time, in order to serve the servicable
purpose for which the watch is invented; and all
this was provided for by the inventor. So He
Who made the clockwork of the Universe pro-
vided for exceptions to its uniform working, when
such exceptions were demanded in the interests
of benevolence. This is an impregnable argument
for a Divine Creator.
Again, life never comes except from life. One
of the most pathetic of all experiments tried in
modern times was that of Professor Huxley, when
he put matter under a bell glass receiver, ex-
hausted the air, and waited vainly for spontaneous
life to develop! Though man can trace life from
offspring to parent, he comes to a point where
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Spiritual Verdicts
there must have been a universal and infinite
Parent, or there is no accounting for the beginning
of life. Where did the first man come from, the
first animal egg or germ, the first vegetable seed?
Then we have to find a beginning for conscience.
Even were evolution an ascertained finality—even
many evolutionists concede it is only a theory—there
are certain gaps in the evolutionary theory that have
never been bridged yet: such as the beginning of
all things; the beginning of life; the beginning
of consciousness; the beginning of conscience;
all these are chasms in evolution that even philoso-
phers do not know how to fill up, and which, as
evolutionists confess, baffle them. But in the Bible,
we find all this provided for in one eternal
Source of all being—One from Whom all intelli-
gence proceeds, all conscience proceeds, and all
spiritual life proceeds. And there is no adequate
hypothesis to meet these facts except the hypothe-
sis that is given us in the Word of God.
Take the doctrine of Sin. The Bible doctrine
of sin is substantially this, that it is not so much
a matter of the conduct as it is of the character;
that there is a depraved tendency in the human
soul which develops and manifests itself in words
and deeds, in thoughts and motives. How can
anybody look at this world and not believe the
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Bible doctrine of sin? Theodore Parker said that
“sin is a fall forward,” but it is a very disastrous
fall, and one does not covet that kind of fall.
What an absurdity! As though by sinning one
gets on further than he would if he had not sinned.
Look at the facts in the history of the human
race. Is there any room for question in any sane
mind that there is in humanity a gravitation
downward? Mark the solitary fact that it is
always easy to do wrong, but it always requires
effort to do right. That shows a native tendency to
evil. If one wishes to be truthful, virtuous, up-
right, honest and brave, he has to summon all the
powers of his manhood, and even then call on
God to help him; but if he wants to lie and steal,
and do acts of violence, he does not need any help,
except the help that is in his own miserable self.
There is evidence in this world that sin is not
only innate, but is irrepressible. All the forces
that society has yet been able to wield have never
coped with drunkenness, with lust, with crime, and
with anarchy; and we seem, even in this boasted
y
“twentieth century” of the Christian era, further
if possible than ever from grappling successfully
with these gigantic evils. It is because sin is in
the world. It is because sin is in the human soul.
It is because sin is innate and universal, irre-
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Spiritual Verdicts
pressible and invincible by any power but that
of God.
Then again, notice the Bible doctrine of judg-
ment, which is substantially this, that, while, in
this world, God forbears with men, allowing much
that is evil to go unrecompensed, and much that
is good to go unrewarded, the scales of His justice
are seen to be absolutely balanced, when we get a
glimpse of the Great White Throne, and the
adjudications of the future state. Is not that a
reasonable doctrine?
Moreover, have we not all a forecast in our-
selves of future judgment? Man has majestic
Assizes in his own soul. Memory summons and
brings her witnesses from, as it were, the ends of
the earth and the remotest time, and calls upon
all Our previous history to testify against us, and
we cannot silence the witnesses. The more we
try to silence memory, the more loud voiced she
is. There is also in the soul a jury ready to hear
the evidence, and bound to give judgment accord-
ing to the evidence, and pronounce an impartial
verdict of “guilty” or “not guilty.” There is the
judge sitting on the bench, and he cannot be
bribed, and he cannot be blinded; and there is
the sheriff—Remorse—ready, as with a whip of
Scorpions, to chastise and punish the soul that has
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been arraigned before this inner bar of judgment.
And if every man has the body of a court in his
own conscience, why should he doubt that there
is a “day in which God shall judge the secrets of
men's hearts according to His Law and His Gospel”f
Man has the reflection of the Great White Throne
right here, in himself.
Then again, there is need of a future judgment,
for, as is plain in human history, God does not
deal equitably with men, this life only being the
standard; the scales of justice do not hang evenly
in this world. There is much good that remains
unrewarded, and there is much evil that goes
unpunished; and how shall every man get all his
deserts in this life?
Not long ago a man murdered a whole family,
in cold blood, for the sake of a little money that
had been taken at a toll gate; and when the whole
neighborhood was aroused, and he was pursued,
and found that he was going to be captured, he
shot his brains out. Now where could that mur-
derer get his retribution, for the slaughter of a
whole family, with suicide immediately after? He
could not have received his punishment before his
crime; and if he does not get it in the world to
come, there is something wrong and out of gear
with this moral Universe.
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The moment we take such difficulties and per-
plexities to the Word of God for solution, we learn to
interpret the silence of God now in this age, by the
Speech of God then in the coming crisis; the ap-
parent inaction of God now, by the tremendous
action—the adjustment at the final Bar of God.
And he who flings himself against the doctrine of
Divine Judgment rushes on the bosses of Jehovah's
buckler, and will be torn to pieces in the conflict
with the Almighty and Just One.
Then there is a Bible doctrine of the two spheres;
Matter and Spirit, to which reference has already
been made. Is there anything more rational,
Sensible, in accordance with experience? Look
at another man. What do you see? You do
not see the man, himself. There is not an eye so
penetrating in this world that it sees the real
man—but only the tabernacle that he inhabits.
You see the form which is visible, but the force
is invisible. What is it that talks to you? Not
the mouth and lips, but something that guides
the mouth and lips. That something you never
saw, for it is evasive, spiritual, invisible. What
nonsense to talk about man as though there
were nothing in him but an organism of matter, so
that, when that material organism is dissolved and
disappears, there is nothing more left of the man!
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You have heard a harper play upon a harp?
You can distinguish between the harp and the
harper, between the hand and the , harmony.
Before the harp was framed and when the harp
is shattered, the harper still exists. The hand
that plays it may be paralysed, but the harper
himself still survives, and even the harmony that
has been set in motion by him is still echoed in
ever widening vibrations of ether, and these
ethereal pulses will never cease while the Universe
lasts!
The Word of God tells us that all our faculties
are but as the harp, and we the harpers, and that
what is produced by the contact of the harper
with the harp is the harmony. Compare this
sublime conception with the infidel materialistic
theory—that man is “only a gill of water, enclosed
in a glass phial; and death is the breaking of the
glass phial and nobody knows what becomes of
the contents!” He who prefers such a philosophy
of life and death to that found in the Word of
God shows himself a fool. “Then shall the dust
return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall
return to God Who gave it.” I must confess I
prefer such a creed to the morbid cant of the
infidel.
Look at the Bible doctrine of Salvation. Two
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Spiritual Verdicts
things, sin’s penalty borne; sin’s power broken!
And where is there a Christlike man or woman
that cannot say “I know both of these things to
be true” 2 You have known what it was to be
bowed down under a burden of conscious guilt
and unforgiven sin, and you know what it is to
look up and be thankful, and bless Almighty God
for the peace that passes understanding, the peace
of a forgiven and cleansed soul. Many know even
more than this, what it is to experience that
marvellous transformation of inward character
which is the basis of transformation of outward
conduct, so that the things that they once did
they no longer do, and the things that they once
loved they now hate, and the things that they
hated they now love. That renewal of the spirit
of the mind has come to many, which is the
greatest experience that any man or woman
undergoes in this world—the transfiguration of
character.
This is that miracle of a transformed life, which
God calls in Isaiah Lv His “everlasting sign.”
Other signs may cease, but this is God’s “ever-
lasting sign that shall not be cut off.” “Instead
of the thorn, comes up the fir tree, instead of the
brier comes up the myrtle tree.” Instead of
damaging and noxious and hurtful growths in
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the human soul and in society, in regenerate men
and women, sprout up where grew the signs of
the curse—thorns and briers—trees of Godliness,
which call attention to themselves as “the planting
of the Lord that He might be glorified.” How
blessed are those evidences of life to every true
preacher of the gospel and Christian worker that
has come into contact with saved souls!
Some years since, a man came to beseech me
to go and get his wife to continue to live with
him. She had said she would go home to her
father's house. He had been drinking, and was
yet but half sober.
“Why don't you give up this infernal drink?”
“I cannot do it.”
“Have you tried?” ~-
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“For many years.”
“Have you no hope of succeeding?”
“No.” -
“I am afraid you do not know my Master.
When you get into trouble, it drives you to drink;
but when trouble comes upon me, it drives me to 4
prayer, and there is a great difference. If you
will get down on your knees and confess to the
Lord, and simply cast yourself upon His Almighty
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Spiritual Verdicts
power, He will take even that craving away.”
Almost the last thing, when I left the city, he
came to me, and said: “My wife would not leave
me for all the world, and I have had no desire for
drink since that day.” He was a saved man,
and his was a transformed life.
What merely human resolve on the part of a
man, and what combination of reformatory in-
fluences on the part of society, can bring forth
fruit such as that? It cannot be done; and it is
the everlasting sign of God, that He is a mighty
God, and an Everlasting Saviour, and if men will
trust themselves to His power, He will show what
He can do for them.
Take the Bible doctrine of prayer. What is
it? That, when I cry to my Father in the name of
Jesus Christ for things that are agreeable to His
will, and for my best well-being, I shall have what
I ask for. It may be a very difficult truth to
demonstrate from the argumentative side, but from
the experimental it is easy; for the simple fact is
that prayer does effect positive results. There is a
positive power in prayer. John Wesley and his
fellow students in Lincoln College formed their
little “Holy Club,” and the prayers that were
offered in Lincoln College have transformed the
face of the world to-day-the stream of history
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has flowed in different channels from those which
it would have followed if that little company had
not known what it is to pray. Jonathan Edwards,
feeling that religion was well-nigh dying in America,
sent out that great trumpet call to the whole habit-
able globe, and to the disciples of God everywhere,
to unite in prayer for a remarkable and visible
effusion of the Holy Ghost. That pamphlet came
over to England, got into William Carey's hands,
was republished in Northampton in 1784, and was
the ultimate means of the organization of the
Baptist Missionary Society, and the birth of
foreign missions in these latter times; and thus
great crises of the church, from that time to this,
hung on the prayers of Wesley and Edwards.
In 1886, Minnesota and Dakota had been so long
devastated by the “locust” or grasshopper, that
those vast wheat fields—the granary of the world
—were in danger of absolutely coming to nought,
and the people were in distressing suspense and
fear of famine. The Christian Governor of Minne-
sota ordered and decreed a day of fasting and
prayer, and recommended all the people to come
together in their various places of worship to
beseech God to annihilate this grasshopper pest.
The secular papers, and even some of the religious
papers, ridiculed it, “As though God were going
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to interfere with the order of natural law just to
Save these wheat fields!” Nevertheless, the Gov-
ernor persisted, and the day of prayer was held.
In the spring, with the wheat, appeared the locusts
also, and excited new sneers and satires: “You see
that your prayers, after all, did not move the arm of
the great God to interpose.” But now notice. No
sooner had the locusts appeared than there ap-
peared also, fastening to the bodies of those locusts,
a parasite that in the first place destroyed their
power to propagate their species, and in the second
place prevented them from doing further damage;
and there has not been a grasshopper in Minne-
Sota from that day until now, as many attest
who have been in those wheat fields since the pest
disappeared.
Look at George Müller's Orphanages and other
benevolent work. No greater honour was ever
given to the writer than to prepare the biography
of this remarkable man. There are now about
two thousand orphans and their helpers in those
homes, and for some seventy years this work has
gone forward; yet never an appeal to a man or
woman throughout the world for a penny of help;
and never a necessity of going without a meal
because there was not sufficient provision for
those orphans. And thousands of times George
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Muller went to bed at night without enough in
the house to feed that great family in the morning,
and never but twice in the whole of that time was
a meal postponed, and then only for a half hour
at a time! and there this monument stands-
the monument of an ever-present Helper. It has
been suggested to some infidels who scoff at
prayer, that there is a field for their experiments.
Let some of them undertake to erect five massive
buildings for Orphans anywhere in the world
without an appeal to any human being.
When a statesman in America, who was inclined
to apologise for the slavery of the South, said to
an escaped slave: “Why, it seems to me you are
a fool. You were better off in slavery than you
are in freedom,” he replied: “Well, Sir, the situa-
tion is open to you!” It was observed the states-
man did not enter it.
The writer has in his possession a letter from
the President of the United States; having had
occasion at One time to communicate with
him privately, he returned his very courteous
and gentlemanly answer. I did not see the way
my letter went to him; I did not see the way
his letter came to me. How do I know that he
ever received my letter, and how do I know that
this reply is his? Because there is a coincidence
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as to the subject of my letter, as to the time when
it was written, as to the purpose for which it
was written. The date of his letter is exactly
the date when he would have received mine and
answered it, and the place from which it was dated
is the place where he was at the time.
How do I know that God hears prayer? I
send up a request to God. I do not know how it
gets to Him, but some answer comes back to me.
I do not know how it comes, but the coincidence
between my message and the answer, the time of
my message and the time of the answer, the sub-
ject of my message and the substance of my
answer, make me as sure that I have communi-
cated with God, as this letter, that I have com-
municated with President Roosevelt.
During the transmission of a wireless message
from the Campania to the shore of America,
in 1903, I heard the message sent forth from the .
Marconi Tower. The operator said: “Now you
must be very quiet,” and we almost hushed our
breathing, and presently we heard something that
was almost inaudible. He attached the intensi-
fier to the receiver, and in a few moments
we had the message written out on the paper
ribbon. I felt very solemn, as I stood in the
presence of the greatest illustration of the wireless
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telegraphy of prayer that I have ever had in my
life.
Have you ever tried this wireless telegraphy
by which you communicate with the throne of
God? If you have not, one of the greatest privi-
leges and one of the most august of all the delights
of the sons of men you have never yet tasted.
“This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.” “Oh,
taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is
the man that trusteth in Him.”
Before closing this chapter, let us venture a
little into the testimony even of science to the
Word of God, and call attention to one or two
things.
It has been said by some of those wise pseudo-
critics about whom our friend, Sir Robert Ander-
son, is laying us under obligation by exposing
their fallacious conclusions,—“It is unhistorical to
represent Hiram of Tyre as helping Solomon build
the Temple, for it is well known that Tyre and
Judea had no friendly contact in those days.”
A few years ago the Palestine Exploration Society,
sinking a perpendicular shaft at the corner of
the wall of Jerusalem, were surprised to find on
the face of those huge foundation stones some
mysterious characters in crimson paint. They
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took exact copies of a few of them, and sent
them to a score of learned men of Europe,
who gave the opinion that they were the marks
of Tyrian workmen, having reference to stones in
a quarry. It is very remarkable. See what pains
the Lord takes to make certain to us that His
Word is true. The drippings from the brushes
were in this case above the characters instead
of below, which shows that those characters were
painted on the stone while in the quarry; and
that, when they were brought to the building site,
those who had to put them in place, not under-
standing the characters, accidently got them upside
down, for no one will find it easy to make the
drippings from a paint brush go up instead of
down.
There are prophecies about the world’s being
destroyed by fire, in II Peter III. Scientific facts,
not known in Peter's day, make all that possible.
This atmosphere that encompasses the earth,
perhaps a hundred miles high, is composed of
nitrogen, four-fifths, and oxygen, one-fifth, and
the nitrogen is “the lazy giant,” holding the
Oxygen in check. These waters are composed of
Oxygen and hydrogen in about equal quantities.
God has only to separate the oxygen and the
hydrogen in the water, and to neutralise the effect
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of the nitrogen in the atmosphere, and there
would be a conflagration that would wrap this
earth in flame, that would melt the hardest rocks
and the toughest metals with incredible rapidity.
Thus scientific facts, founded on modern chemical
analysis, and unknown in the day when Peter
wrote his second Epistle, remarkably bear out
the predictions of the Word of God.
On one occasion, the infidel, Ingersoll, was to
lecture on the “Foundations of the Christian
Faith.” There was living, in the same city, a
former schoolmate who had started upon the
legal profession with great promise, wedded a
lovely woman, and was the father of two chil-
dren. Drink had dragged him down so low that
it broke up his home, broke the heart of his wife,
sent his children into the street, and lost him his
good name, character and friends.
He was found, one night, lying drunk in an
alley, taken to a home, washed, fed and put to
bed, by a Christian worker in the slums, who then
besought him to change his course. Lifting his
hand to heaven, he vowed that, with God's help,
he would never again touch drink. God’s grace
transformed him into a sober and Christian man.
He rebuilt his shattered home, brought back his
children from the streets, restored the roses to his
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Spiritual Verdicts
wife's cheeks, and attained again to respectability
in his calling. Reading in the newspapers the
notice of Ingersoll's lecture, he wrote him:
“My Dear Old Friend:
-- “I see that to-night you are to deliver a
lecture against Christianity and the Bible. Per-
haps you know some of my history since we
parted, how I disgraced my home and family, lost
my character, and all that a man can hold dear in
this world. You may know that I went down and
down until I was a poor despised outcast, and
when I thought there was none to help and none
to save, there came one in the name of Jesus, who
told me of His power to help, of His loving kind-
ness and His tender sympathy, and through the
story of the cross of Christ I turned to Him. I
brought my wife back to my home and gathered
my children together again, and we are happy
now and I am doing what good I can.
“And now, old friend, would you stand to-night
before the people of Pittsburg, and tell them what
you have to say against the religion that will come
down to the lowest depths of hell and find me and
help me up and make my life happy and clothe
my children and give me back my home and
friends, will you tell them what you have to say
against a religion like that?”
Mr. Ingersoll read, that letter before his audience,
and he said: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I have
nothing to say against a religion that will do this
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for a man. I am here to talk about a religion
that is being preached by the preachers. You can
find fault with the church, but there stands one,
supreme, and no man has ever dared to point his
finger at the character of Christ and find any fault
with Him.”
For once in his life Robert Ingersoll had, in a
way, to confess Christ; and this incident reminds
one how Peter Mackenzie, the Cornish miner, when
he was going through Madame Tussaud's gallery,
and saw the chair of Voltaire, in a moment leaped
over the railing, and sitting down there began to
sing:
Jesus shall reign where e'er the sun
Doth his successive journeys run;
His kingdom spread from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
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CHAPTER XII
SPIRITUAL VERITIES
LET us now gather together some of the threads
of thought which have on previous occasions been
merely touched on, and, in a sense, give com-
pleteness to the impressions which may already
have been produced. The Word of God has a
divine mission in this world; and, first of all, its
mission is to proclaim to men the unchangeable
verities of God. They are in everlasting contrast
to the vanities of this world and even of so-called
wise men. Those who have known this book,
and have found it in personal experience a lamp
to their feet and a light to their path can say
with confidence, “We have not followed cunningly
devised fables.”
There are many “fables” in this world, and not
a few scholars who like the late Principal Dawson
venture to say that one of these fables, imposed on
the human race, is the theory of Evolution. Not-
withstanding the arrogance of scientific men—so-
called—what has been the “profound conviction”
of some who have been called “authorities” has
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afterwards been seen to be a pure figment of human
folly and fancy.
What is the substance of Evolution? That
everything can be traced to a primitive germ,
and has developed or evolved from it. That
all the forms, possibilities and potencies of life
are contained in matter, and that they need only
time to develop into all the varieties of form,
colour, function and faculty that we see about us
in this wonderful Universe of God. The trouble
with this doctrine is that, carried to its logical
conclusion, it lands us in Atheism; that it makes
matter self-existent and eternal, and banishes
the Creator from His Universe. There are modi-
fied forms of evolutionary philosophy that Christian
scholars claim that they can hold in perfect con-
sistency with the faith in a personal creative in-
telligence. For the present we refer to the system,
as a whole, and particularly to its bearing upon
spiritual truth, its relation to the verities of the
Word Of God.
This great fable includes other fables. For in-
stance, a fable about Creation. It makes matter
self-existent and eternal, and one of the remark-
able features about it is its denial of the whole
argument from design, upon which Paley, Butler
and others base their great systems of evidence,
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One of the most curiously incredible positions
of Evolution is, that all the marvellous adapta-
tions that we find in plant life, animal life and
human life are the result of two things: First,
of a desire for some new organ or function;
and second, of habits which tend to cultivate or
develop some new organ. Dr. Mark Hopkins,
One of the finest men that America ever produced,
called attention to the fact that in Darwin's
“Origin of Species,” he says:
“In North America, the black bear was seen by
Hearne, swimming for hours with widely open
mouth, thus catching, like a whale, insects in the
Water. Even in so extreme a case as this, if the
Supply of insects were constant, and if better
adapted competitors did not already exist in the
country, I can see no difficulty in a race of bears
being rendered, by natural selection, more and
more aquatic in their structure and habits, with
larger and larger mouths, till a creature was pro-
duced as monstrous as a whale.”
In the later editions this sentence seems to have
been eliminated. Perhaps Mr. Darwin found it
aroused too severe criticism.
But the main difficulty about evolution is that
it has passed the bounds of mere science, and
invaded the sphere of Christian truth. It has
made not only Creation, but man himself, to be
* American edition, 1870, p. 165.
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a product of evolution. Your mother is a
monkey, more remotely a codfish,_more re-
motely still, an oyster, and beyond that a monad
or mite; electricity working on dead gelatinous
matter, and so starting all the mysteries of life,
by a kind of spontaneous generation.
Evolution makes the Bible nothing but a product
of “natural selection,” only in the course of
development, the best book so far, but by no
means the final word upon moral issues or spiritual
themes. In this case we have in it no final court of
appeal for doctrine or duty. Any book on the way
to the final perfect Book will be liable to errors
and imperfections and defects, according to the
evolutionary theory, and all infallibility in its
teaching becomes of course impossible.
The same teaching makes Christ only a product
of evolution,-the best of men so far, but not the
final product. The human race is working on
towards its last and greatest and most perfect
consummation of manhood.
One does not see how a Christian can consistently
believe such doctrine. And yet we are amazed
to find many Christian men, and even ministers
and professors of theology, holding such views.
Few understand the extent to which dangerous
doctrine drawn from infidel sources is pervad-
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Spiritual Verities
ing even Christian teaching. Rev. Dr. Howard
Osgood, of Rochester, one of the Committee of
Revision in America, and fully the peer of any
Other of his fellow revisers, was present at a meet-
ing where “Higher Critics” were ventilating their
rationalistic views. He heard them as patiently
as possible, and the next morning he arose in the
assembly and said: “I wish to ask these representa-
tives of so-called critical opinion to listen to two
extracts which I am going to read. He read them.
“Now,” he said, “I would like to ask whether
they consider these extracts properly and fairly
to represent the position of the Higher Critics,”
and the question being put to them one by One,
they assented.
“Very well,” he said, “all I have to add is, that
the first of those two extracts is from “Voltaire's
Philosophical Dictionary,’ and the second is from
Tom Paine’s “Age of Reason’l”
My friend Rev. Dr. Campbell Morgan told me
that, when preaching in Chicago, he was asked to
attend a ministers' meeting, where a paper on
“The Results of Higher Criticism” was read by a
theological professor. He attended, and being
asked his opinion, remarked there was no time
to discuss the contents of the paper, but he would
like to ask the author in a few words what he
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regarded the latest and most established result
of Higher Criticism, and he gave such as these:
(1) That Moses did not write the Pentateuch.
(2) That the whole system known as Levitical,
with the priesthood and the Tabernacle, did not
exist until after the exile.
(3) That David did not write the Psalms.
(4) That the Lord Jesus Christ set His sanction
upon current and popular error.
Dr. Morgan was very much shocked, and he
said: “I would like to ask one more question. Do
you believe that on such subjects Professor
George Adam Smith, of Glasgow, for instance,
Knows more than the Lord Jesus Christ knew P”
“Yes,’’ he said, “he does, because he has access
to sources of information to which the Lord Jesus
Christ did not have access!” And this is the kind
of teaching to which young men in theological
seminaries are subjected, and then are expected to
come out and preach the glorious gospell
While avoiding controversial words, one cannot
deliver his conscience from the solemn responsi-
bility of warning young men, especially, against
dabbling with the literature of rationalistic criti-
cism, and then expecting their faith to survive.
All such let me urge to read the Bible, and on their
knees in prayer seek of God illumination, and then
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translate its truths into holy living; and let all
Such practically infidel teaching, by whatever
name it is christened, or by whatever authority
sanctioned, severely alone. Some may like the
Agnostics’ creed; I prefer the Apostles' creed.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker
of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only
Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried;
the third day. He rose from the dead; He ascended
into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of
God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall
come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic
Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness
of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life
everlasting.
And let all the people say “Amen.”
Not only does the Bible come to us to proclaim
the verities of God, but the verities are self-evi-
dencing. You have only to put the doctrines of
infidels and agnostics and sceptics and rationalistic
critics over against the doctrines of the Word of
God, to see that the stamp of error is on the former,
and the stamp of truth on the latter.
Think of the doctrine of the Word of God:—
That there is an infinite personal God, the Foun-
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tain of all intelligence, of all conscience, of all
spiritual life; the Creator of man and of the Uni-
verse, the providential Ruler of all history, and
the final Judge of all intelligent being; that creation
is His handiwork, and that all the adaptations of
the Universe are marks of His designing mind
and constructive hand;
That man is made in the image of God; that
sin has defaced that image, but has not effaced
it; that man is more than a mere animal,—that,
while the animals have a body and an animal
Soul, man has something more than both, he has
Spirit, which no animal has, and which links him
particularly with a spiritual God, so that the
lowest man is infinitely above the highest animal
in his capacities and powers and possibilities of
development.
In New York City, in Dr. Richard’s Retreat,
there was a little half idiotic boy, known as the
“oyster boy,” because he seemed to be living the
life of a bivalve, no intelligence, nothing but the
exercise of animal functions; and it seemed, at
first, impossible to awaken that boy to any con-
sciousness of intellectual or spiritual things.
One day Mrs. Richards dropped her thimble, and
as it rang on the wooden floor, he turned quickly
about, as he was lying there, his tongue lolling
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Spiritual Verities
out; and Dr. Richards said: “That is the first
sign of intelligence. Do not drop that again, it
is too much for that awakening mind.” Through
the sense of hearing, and especially through the
sense of musical sounds, that “oyster boy” began
to develop, and the first thing that Dr. Richards
sought to impress upon him was the connection
between cause and effect. He brought in a shoe-
maker, with his tools, and a shoe was made before
him, and he was taught to say: “Shoemaker makes
shoe.” Then a tailor made before him a suit of
clothes. “Tailor makes clothes.” And so he
was led on, step by step, until one day his Christian
instructor took him into the bay window of the
dining-room, as the sun was mounting upward
in the heaven; and, pointing to the sun, he said:
“God made the sun.” He could not easily get
that boy away from the window. Two hours after-
Wards he came there, and found him still standing
in rapt fascination, with uplifted hands, reverently
saying: “God made Sun!” By and bye that
“Oyster boy” had developed so far, under this
Christian teaching, that when the Bishop of New
York came in and heard him recite the Lord's
Prayer, he said: “I have said that thousands of
times, but I have never said it, or heard it said,
with the intelligence, appreciation and emotion
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with which it has been uttered by that boy.” Who
could educate a dog or a horse in any such fashion
as that? Is not the lowest man far higher in the
scale of being than the highest animal, having
capacities of development that cannot be measured?
That is the Bible doctrine as to man.
And, as to the Word of God, it has the seal of
God upon it, the seal of His Omniscience in
prophecy, His omnipotence in miracle, His omni-
presence in its unity, His providence in its history,
His truth in its accuracy, His righteousness and
holiness in its morality and spirituality, and His
love in its benevolent mission and power. There
never was another book like it, and from be-
ginning to end it has upon it the stamp of its
its Author.
The Bible teaches us that Christ was the Son
of God, becoming the Son of Man,—perfect God
and perfect man; that the object of His in-
carnation was that He might bring God down to
man, and then lift up man toward God, and that
Salvation, as wrought out by Him, is an ellipse
with two foci, the first advent and the second
advent, having a marked relation to each other,
and jointly to all events in the history of human
Redemption.
The Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit, the
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third Person of the blessed Trinity, is the Source
of all life, but preeminently the Source of spiritual
life; and that there is no regeneration without Him,
and that there is no santification without Him.
And if you will put this sublime system of Chris-
tian teaching over against the absurdities of infidelity
and the fables of evolution, you will conclude that,
if this is not the truth it ought to be, and that if
they are not errors they strangely resemble them.
But the Bible comes to challenge us to a reason-
able faith and an experimental knowledge. It
does not ask us to accept blindly what other people
have believed, or what our parents have taught us,
but to examine for ourselves and get a reasonable
basis for our faith. The Bible teaches us that
the most rational explanation of the Universe,
of the Bible, and of the Christ, is the explanation
which the Word of God itself gives.
There is one fact about the Bible which of itself
is enough to prove that it is a Divine Book, and
that is its prophetic forecast. That prophetic -
forecast has already been treated very fully in
a previous series of addresses,” but as yet we
have touched only on the fringe of the garment
of this theme. There are hundreds of prophecies
in the Old Testament alone, all of which—save
*Living Oracles of God, 1904.
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those that pertain to times yet future—have, as
we have seen, already been fulfilled, and are ful-
filling before our very eyes; these prophecies
pervade all the books of the Old Testament,
embracing not only direct prediction, but indirect
prediction, such as rites and ceremonies, historic
events, historic personages, and even the precepts
of the Law; all these having aforecast of a prophetic
character. God has thus permeated the Bible with
His life, and this is only one of the evidences and
examples of this permeating life. .
As to the Son of God, there is one all-convin-
cing Fact: He stands forth, ever the unequalled and
tncomparable Being. There has never been another
like Him on the face of the earth.
When Gilbert West and Lord Lyttleton, about
the middle of the eighteenth century, planned an
attack on the Christian religion, and then met to
consider the defences of the faith, that they might
know the pregnable points of attack, they made
up their minds that they must examine the New
Testament with care. They gave months to this
study, and when they met again, were both con-
verted men. Those who were to have assaulted the
Book now defended it. Let us again remind our-
selves what arguments they found in the Word of
God? Mainly two: The resurrection of Christ and
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Spiritual Verities
the conversion of Saul. They found the resur-
rection to be as well supported as a historic
event as any other event of history, and the
resurrection of Christ carried every other miracle
with it! All other miracles became possible when
the greatest of all miracles became credible.
And, as to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus,
they saw that there was no possibility of accounting
for this sudden and remarkable change in a man
who had even his own conscience with him in his
methods of persecution, and who had lived blame-
lessly as a Pharisee, and therefore had no special
ground for conscientious accusation as to an out-
wardly wicked life, except the reason that he
himself gave, that he had seen the risen Christ -
in the way. One of these men has left us a mono-
graph on the Resurrection of Christ, and the other
a companion treatise on the Conversion of the
Apostle Paul.
The Bible challenges the reader to an experi-
mental knowledge. It tells him that if he will
search the scriptures, he will find that they con-
tain the testimony to Jesus Christ; and he needs
not read another book if he will search the Bible
properly, for the Bible is its own evidence,
and contains its own demonstration and veri-
fication. Jesus Christ says in forty words the
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whole substance of the Gospel. (Mat. XI: 28–30):
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for
I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find
rest unto your souls. -
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
It is a very simple thing to come and see whether
we do find rest; to sit at His feet, and see whether
we do learn the inward rest; to take His yoke
upon us, and see whether we learn the rest that
comes from companionship with Him in service.
As to the power of prayer, Chalmers calls that the
“portable evidence of Christianity.”
Then look at the Christian’s death. You re-
member the dying Atheist, when one of his fellow
Atheists said to him: “John, hold on.” “Yes,”
he said, “but what shall I hold on to?” When
the millionaire of America, Cornelius Vanderbilt,
was dying, he provided for the disposition of
twenty million pounds sterling to his family and
heirs, and then turning to his Christian wife said:
“My dear, sing
“‘Come ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and power.’”
The millionaire had to become a beggar in the
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dying hour, and take his place with other sinners,
humbly suing for the boon of salvation.
The Bible comes to this world to uplift the
whole fabric of society. That German historian
that attempted to write the history of the world,
and was converted by his study, left in one sen-
tence the conclusion that he had reached,—that
the hand that bled on Calvary had lifted from their
hinges the gates of the ages. -
Isaac Taylor tells us that there are ten social
evils that have cursed the race from the very be-
ginning of sin: (1) Polygamy, (2) Adultery,
(3) Legalised impurity, (4) Capricious divorce,
(5) Infanticide, (6) Capacious and offensive wars,
(7) Bloody and brutal games, (8) Death and
punishment by torture, (9) Caste, and (Io) Sla-
very. And wherever this Blessed Book goes, these
flee, and in proportion as it permeates the Com-
munity, they retire like birds of the night before
the dawning day and rising sun.
After eighteen hundred years, the power of
the Cross is greater than ever, and the story
of the Christ has never lost its charm. When one
of the missionaries in the remote East was amidst
a company of people that threatened to stone him,
he said: “Just wait till I tell you a story.” And
he told the story of Calvary, and soon every stone
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dropped out of the hands, and tears began to
run down the faces of that antagonistic and assault-
ing multitude. Years ago, there was a German
in Boston who had received a wound in war, and
whenever he attempted to sing (being a fine
musician, and especially fond of singing what
was pathetic and stirred the deepest emotions),
that wound would open again, and it was very
difficult to staunch it. And, whenever the old
story of the Cross is sung in human ears, there is
a new out-gush of gratitude, and emotion and
affection and resolution, and men that nothing
else would touch, that no law would restrain, and
no prison bars confine, yield before the mystery
of the vicarious atonement.
The history of Missions furnishes many a stimu-
lating illustration. In 1875 Stanley wrote, on the
I 5th November (the letter was published in the
“Daily Telegraph”), about Mtesa in Uganda
asking for Christian teachers, and straightway
Christian teachers went to Uganda; and Alexander
Mackay, the beloved Scotch engineer, went out,
and as soon as he got a Smattering of the language,
he knew that the one thing to do for the Baganda
was to give them the precious Word of God. He
printed the Lord’s Prayer, the ten commandments,
and a few verses of holy Scripture, and that was
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the foundation of the civilisation of Uganda.
Presently persecution came, and Sembari, who was
One of the first converts, and who wrote that
charming letter to Mackay in which he said: “I
have great news to communicate to you, -I want
to be baptised,” led the way in a host of converts,
thirty of whom were burned on one funeral pyre;
but they could not stop the work, because it was
based on the Word of God. And the original
Bible of Uganda (known as the “biscuit tin Bible,”
because it is the size and shape of one of Huntley
& Palmer's biscuit tins, so that it could be placed
inside of the tin case, and kept from the white
ants that are so destructive), that became the
corner-stone of the new Uganda. We all know
about the “Readers” of Uganda, and the Reading
Houses that have been put up by the hundred,
and the thousands of people in Uganda that have
gathered simply to read the precious Book of
God; and this most wonderful story of trans-
formation, found in all the centuries, may all be
explained by the living Word of the living God.
Incarnate the Bible in your life. The difference
between a sane man and an insane man is this, -
the insane man accepts fancies as facts, and acts
accordingly, but the sane man accepts facts,
and rejects the fancies, and acts accordingly.
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If you would be spiritually sane, accept the fact
that this is the Book of God, and that Christ is
the Son of God, and that the Spirit is the regen-
erating Power of God, and act accordingly.
We may safely trust experiment. The power
to mould spiritual consciousness is one of the
greatest powers of the Holy Ghost, and there is
nothing in the Universe that is mightier than moral
conviction, grounded and established upon ex-
periment. Let us distrust all arguments that con-
tradict our own experience. If we have tasted
and seen that the Lord is good, no man can take
away that confidence from us.
In the great crisis of American history, when
the liberty of the slave was the engrossing topic,
Wendell Phillips said on one occasion: “You may
build your capitol of granite, and grout it with
iron; the pulses of a girl's heart will wear it down,
—only give her time enough.”
So, of all the fabrics of scepticism and philosophy,
you may buttress them up by scholarship and
learning, and the claims of so-called great men,
but the pulses of a believer's heart will wear them
down, for they cannot survive the testimony
of one who “knows Whom he has believed, and
is persuaded that He is able to keep that which
he has committed unto Him against that day.”
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And it is because the Bible can be incarnated
in human experience that it is indestructible.
It is woven into the woof and warp of society, it
is braided into the fabric of conviction and affec-
tion and resolution and conscience.
Hawthorne, in his amusing pen picture of “The
Holocaust,” represents men as being taken with
the mad passion to burn everything up, so that all
the trappings of the vain and of the gay go into
the bonfire; and then he saw the passion for burn-
ing madly triumph, until, by and bye, poetry,
and fiction, and philosophy, and all literature was
heaped on the fire, and at last the Bible itself
was put into the flame; but Hawthorne says that,
although he observed that even commentaries
were very inflammable, and that where there had
been glosses on the holy page itself they were
burned up, not one single word or letter of the
book itself could be consumed. :
Libanius, the sceptic, said to the earliest Chris-
tians: “What is your Carpenter doing now?”
And one of the humblest preachers of that day
said: “Making a coffin.” A little while after, the
Emperor Julian died, who was the idol of Libanius,
and the early Christians thought that the answer
that was given to Libanius was prophetic of
Julian's death,
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Jesus Christ is “making a coffin,” and into that
coffin will go all the false systems of faith, and
philosophy, and idolatry, and iniquity that the
world has ever known, and they will have an ever-
lasting burial. ,
We remember many facts about this precious
Book, and here we record one of them. When the
revised New Testament was completed and an-
nounced as for sale, 2,250,000 copies were ordered or
bought within forty-eight hours, and the entire Re-
vised New Testament was cabled across three thou-
sand miles of the Atlantic, and appeared the next
day in the columns of the “Chicago Tribune”!
The Bible is not a worn-out Book yet. The
Statue of Liberty in the Harbour of New York,
lifts its great light for the guidance of mariners,
and, though the birds of the night fling them-
selves madly against its crystal, as if to put Out
its flame, they only beat themselves into insensi-
bility, and fall dead at its base; so, whatever
antagonism there may be to this, God's Beacon
Light, those who assault it will Only damage them-
selves, while the light shines on, safe and serene!
agó

THE MODERN MISSION
CENTURY
VIEWED AS A CYCLE
OF DIVINE WORKING
Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D.,
Author of “Geo. Müller,” “AWew Acts of the
Apostles,” etc.
Crown 8vo, cloth, $1.50 met
This is by all odds Dr. Pierson's strongest and most
important work. It deals with the last century in the
mission field. Its aim is not so much to give the
annals of the century as to find the philosophy of its
history—the centre about which all its events revolve.
It studies the men and women, occurrences and devel-
opments, as divinely appointed and adjusted to mission
work.
“Dr. Pierson has written this book with fulness of
detail, yet with such a judicious grouping of his mate-
rials and with so much fervor and enthusiasm as to
make the reading of his narrative at once easy and
inspiring. It is a noble and convincing record of
Christian faith and achievement.”—Ziving Age.
“A large personal element in copious illustrations drawn
from the experiences of a multitude of men and women
in the mission field imparts peculiar interest to this
volume.”—Outlook.
The Baker & Taylor Co., Publishers —n
33–37 E. 17th Street, Union Square North, New York
*º-
------- * --"

THE NExt GREAT
AWAKENING
–
By Rev. JosLAH STRONG, D.D.
12mo, cloth gº ſº 75 cents
Paper edition - gº tº 35 cents -
There were great religious awakenings in the six-
teenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. In each instance these great awaken-
ings came in connection with the preaching of
a neglected scriptural truth or truths, which
were peculiarly adapted to the needs of the
times. The beginning of the twentieth century
naturally suggests to the churches a new for-
ward movement.
The late Pres. JOHN H. BARROWS, of Oberlin, College :
“‘The Next Great Awakening' has moved me deeply.
It is written in Dr. Strong’s best and most vigorous style.
The book not only stirs the conscience and gladdens the
heart with hope, but it satisfies the mind. It is eminently
wise. Its positions are more than defensible; they are im-
pregnable. The practical acceptance of the teachings of this
book by the Christians of America would send the Kingdom
of God forward more rapidly, perhaps, than it has ever gone
in the history of Christianity. Dr. Strong’s account of the
Kingdom of God is so much more satisfactory than Harnack’s
in his recent book, ‘What Is Christianity ?’ that I have felt
in reading both that America does not need to go to Ger-
many for the best enlightenment on some of the most import-
ant religious questions.”
E-
The Baker & Taylor Co., Publishers
33–37 East 17th St., Union Square North, New York

THE TIMES AND
YOUNG MEN
JOSIAH STRONG
12mo, cloth º- *E- 75 cents
Paper edition - º 35 cents
WM. E. DoDGE.-'It is admirable in every way,
packed full of common sense, and written with a
convincing and kindly logic. It is very cheery
and hopeful and ought to do great good.”
Prof. JESSE MACY, of Iowa College.—“It con-
tains just the guidance which the youth of the
age need. You are to be congratulated upon the
production of so timely a book.”
Pres. JoHN HENRY BARRows, of Oberlin Col.
lege.—In an article in Leslie's Week/y, Pres.
Barrows cited “The Times and Young Men” as
one of the three most notable books of the year.
He said: “Dr. Strong's book is the best volume
of practical religion that can be put in the hands
of the young men at this time. It deals with the
great laws of service, self-sacrifice and love,
which never change, and with great directness
and marvelous clearness of statement applies
them to personal and social problems.”
Pres. W. H. P. FAUNCE, of Brown University.—
“It is a sane, wholesome and inspiring message
born of personal experience, and sure to reach the
minds and hearts of young men. What our
young men chiefly need to-day is not good advice
on this or that subject, but the right view of the
world and the right attitude toward life. In
gaining and keeping this, your book cannot fail
to help them.”
The Baker & Taylor Co., Publishers
33–37 East 17th St., Union Square North, New York

--&-4---- * -º-º- ~~~~~~ *-*. -
LIVING ORACLES
BY
ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.
Author of “The New Acts of the Apostles,” “George Müller of
Bristol,” “The Modern Mission Century,” etc., etc.
I2mo, net, $1.00. Postage 8 cents.
This book comprises the Exeter Hall lectures delivered
by Dr. Pierson in London in 1903. They repre-
sent perhaps the most mature work of his life, and
altogether make a volume in which every Christian
will find comfort and strength. The oracles of God,
generally speaking, are the evidences of infallibility
within the Bible, which seem especially necessry
in this age of doubt and scepticism.
The quality of Dr. Pierson's work has been familiar to
the reading public for many years. His Mission
books and his life of Müller have been among the
most important books issued in recent years. The
present one will strike a popular note among Biblical
students as simple, direct, and helpful works by
one whose faith is strong, and whose loyalty to plain
Christianity as opposed to modern fads is unflinching.
The Baker & Taylor Co., Publishers
33–37 E. 17th St., Union Sq., North, New York
7
MAY 17 1921
|NIVERSIT #Mºhaw
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