ers should not approach the Bible from the standpoint of experts. Men, regarded in the bulk, are not scholars and specialists. The reading of the Bible might in many cases be regulated as other reading is regulated. It might be useful to tell some people exactly where to begin. It may be that the historical books of the Bible should not be read until the very last. Why not begin with the Parables and the Beatitudes, and work backward? Enter the Bible by the Christ-gate. In this way we could in a sense reconstruct the canon without alarming conservative instincts. Let the Bible be put back again into its several parts, and let those parts be given out according to the age and circumstances of the reader. Give out the Parables as a first lesson; then the Christ Stories; then the history of the Crucifixion; then a selection of the Psalms; then some of the principal biographies. This would not only save many premature inquiries, it might prepare the mind to consider critical points and difficulties in a right spirit. It would certainly put these points in their proper place. It is undoubtedly difficult for some minds, inexperienced and untrained, to confront at once the problem of Creation, the history of the

Fall, and the intricacies of ancient and superseded ritual. There is no spiritual need to begin there. The infinite beauty of the gospel is that a beginning can be made at any point. Why not begin at the point nearest Jesus? What if the original text was meant to be read not only from right to left, but from last to first? What if the Origins should be an answer, not a puzzle? In some such way as this, always variable, I have come into the possession of my own steadfast faith in the Bible. I did not come into it by comparing Chaldean and Hebrew Cosmogony, or reading the clay tablets of Nineveh, or settling the parentage of Jotham, or adjusting the discrepancies as to the period between the birth of Arphacsad and the migration of Abram. These are questions for experts. They are to some minds deeply interesting questions. But I did not find them necessary to salvation. It is quite supposable that a man conscience-stricken on account of sin and directed to the Bible for guidance would impatiently put such questions aside; and almost instinctively find out the portions which bear immediately upon his own necessity. "There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him under

standing.' My belief in the Divine Sovereignty enables me to recognize guidance even in the selection of passages of Scripture. I see also the possibility of a man so finding Christ, and so accepting the precious gospel of his love, that he would find no difficulty in describing the book to which he owed all his saving knowledge as none other than the Word of God. The title would seem to suit the contents. He would think of those parts of the Book which gave him life and light and hope. He would rest hard by the cross.

pardon and

make his soul glad with the words of Jesus.

He would

And if

in the end he called the Book none other than the

Word of God, I think he might be understood and forgiven.

VIII.

AD CLERUM.

[As this book views the subject of Biblical Criticism almost wholly from the standpoint of a preacher, it has occurred to me that a few observations bearing upon Pastoral Theology might be useful. Incidental light may thus be thrown upon practical points. The Christian preacher is largely dependent upon the Bible. Without it what message has he? what unique authority? what standard of appeal? By approaching the Bible from the standpoint of the preacher's actual service we may see how pastoral Experience may become a critic and an annotator.]

RE you very much disheartened just now?

ARE

Are there no friendly faces shining upon you?

Come, then, let us talk to

gether, and let me be your

elder brother. I have been just

Discouragements

and Oppositions.

as much cast down as you can possibly be, yet I have lived to sing in the warm light and take the gift of peace from the right hand of Christ. The Saviour clearly saw that his servants would often be in trouble. So he laid up for them a rich store of comfort, one of

Did he not go to places
Had the Son of Man

the very first comforts being the lesson that is to be drawn from his own experience. The servant is to be as his Lord. If the Master of the house has been called Beelzebub, how can they who are of his household escape vituperation? Did not the people take up stones to stone him? that refused to receive him? where to lay his head? By thinking these things over I have often received great comfort. My sorrows are nothing to Christ's. He was despised and rejected of men. "He was a reproach of men and despised of the people." The people sneered at his ancestry; they questioned his credentials, saying, "Search and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet; " they said he had an unclean spirit; "he came unto his own, and his own received him not." Now, where are your little troubles? Some man has left your ministry in a resentful spirit; well, what of it? He will show his true colors some day, and the mystery will be made plain. Do your duty; do not be affected by his evil spirit; show by your forbearance what the grace of God has done for you, and then forget the injury and go on steadily with your work. Do not allow yourself to think of re