we should have a Book of which it would not be too much to say that it invited the mind of man to its perusal, and at the same time repelled it. Canon Farrar has justly said that "something would be lacking to any revelation which proved itself, even in outward expression, inferior to other human writings." It is a matter of the highest importance that the world should feel that the Word of God is the best possible, that it possesses in an unusual degree the elements of attractiveness and interest. Nor should any teacher of the Bible be content to rest the case of the Bible with the people alone upon its authority. Its authority, its supernatural origin, inspiration, and power, constitute the final appeal. But there is a large area outside of this final court in which much may be done to quicken interest, to heighten respect, to inspire study.

2. The relevancy of the question is further emphasized by a frank consideration of the state of the popular mind on the subject. This is realized at once when we remember that it does not readily occur to the average person, even among its friends, to think of the Bible as an interesting Book. Many indeed might seriously question it. It has not been presented often enough in this light to make us familiar with the conception. There is everywhere high respect for it. Its authority is denied only in exceptional cases. Its permanent value to the race is freely acknowledged. That it is "part of the national mind and the anchor of national seriousness" is willingly admitted.

Despite all this, it will be confessed that the average reader reads the Bible rather with a sense of

duty than with a sense of relish. That this should be true in a reading age, in a time when the love of literature is increasing rather than decreasing, in a time also when many educational influences are at work to foster the love of language, and the fascination of literature, is, to say the least, a phenomenon in the mental life of the world worth studying from the historical standpoint, if not from the standpoint of the advocate or the alarmist. No one would dream of saying that the Bible is intended to furnish mere entertainment to the mind, a sort of stately Arabian Nights' Tales. Nor would any be willing to say that it is designed as a literary feast, for the antiquary, for the enthusiast in language study, for the student of literary modes and varieties. Such an estimate of the Holy Scripture, as Canon Farrar suggests, would deserve the boundless contempt which Wordsworth expressed for the man who could "peep and botanize upon his mother's grave."

But the simple fact, bluntly stated, is, that in the popular mind the Bible is not generally enough known as an interesting Book. It is too infrequently read with interest. People set themselves a daily "task" of Bible reading. They worry through by dint of perseverance, or, closing it altogether, they depend for their knowledge of the Book upon public teachers. It is needless to add that this popular feeling about the Bible as an uninteresting Book, as dull and unenlivening, is a palpable injustice that deals a deep hurt, too little recognized, to the cause of religion. If this false impression could be removed, the point of contact would be established, for the point of contact with the Bible, in view of the

laws of the human mind, must be the same as with any other book. This is interest.

3. It is not then a needless question-rather a very important one-for those to consider who have the task of dividing the Word of Truth aright— How can popular interest in the Bible be quickened? How can the popular point of contact with the Bible be renewed and intensified? How can the barriers of indifference, of preoccupation, of misconception be removed? How can the Word be made to find entrance, that it may give its light, and open the way for the Kingdom of God?

It is not unlikely that the divine revelation will be found to contain many or all of those elements of human interest which make it more than any other book of the world the Book of the people, calculated by its external powers of attraction, as well as by its inner and transcendent message, to feed both intellect and heart. Neither is it improbable that the spiritual message of the Book, intensely important as it is, may have obscured a little its native human interest, and caused it to lose for some the touch of kinship, the joy of discovery, the fascination of interest. The Bible, though the most divine of books, is at the same time intensely, dramatically, humanly interesting.

II

THE ARGUMENT OF NEED

WHAT are the facts that throw light upon pres ent-day interest in the Bible?

They are both encouraging and discouraging. Encouragement is found in the permanency of the pulpit message, and its strong hold upon the people; in the printing and sale of increasing numbers of copies of the Scripture; in a great world Bible Class of over twenty-five millions studying the International Lessons from week to week; in the work of young people's organizations for the promotion of Bible Study; in the rise of new and strong organi zations intended to foster interest in the Bible as the greatest single factor of the spiritual life; and in the opening of the curriculum in many colleges and universities to the study of biblical literature.

It is no doubt true that no age of the world has exceeded this one in extensive devotion to the Word of God. Yet these encouraging facts do not furnish sufficient reason for complacency on the subject.

The critical spirit of the age has produced a twofold result. With the critic himself it has often brought him into closer touch with the Bible, and, though with changed ideas in many particulars, it has convinced him more deeply than before of the Bible's rare attractions, its uncommon beauty, its

sweet and reasonable humanity, "that lives on the ear like music which can never be forgotten."

The misfortune of criticism has appeared for the most part among the people, where the sound of the fray within the schools has been heard from afar. Not a few have turned away from the Scripture to seek instruction and comfort in some Bible of humanity. Some have learned the language of hostility. The present generation, unfortunately, has experienced many obstacles to faith. Despite this the spirit of recovery is at work, and many are returning from their foreign quest, some indeed with intellectual changes that can never be surrendered,

"To find that all the sages said

Is in the Book our mothers read."

Whatever the final effect of criticism may be, it must be evident that a critical age more than any other is in need of strong and wise methods of maintaining the wholesome influence of the Scripture. No critic can be so destructive as to desire to destroy the helpful power of the Bible in human life.

The real danger lies not in criticism, but in indifferent friendship. The Kingdom of God can endure hostility better than neglect. The "leaden instinct" which Herbert Spencer declared to be the real peril of politics, is also the peril of religion. We have long since discovered the fallacy of St. Augustine's dictum, "The ignorant take the Kingdom of Heaven." One is reminded of Emerson's definition of distant and formal friendship-"Knowing a friend by his buttons." The Bible has a multitude of