1:21). Because they were moved by the Holy Spirit, they spoke with accuracy and with the truth of God Himself. There may have been mistakes in copying, and there may have been mistakes in translation, as shown by revisions, but these do not materially change the phraseology and do not at all change the vital truths of the Bible. The assaults that are made upon the Bible to-day are not attacks upon copying or upon translation; they are attacks upon that which the Old and New Testaments offer as Divine truth. The dispute is not over the language of the Bible; it is over the inspiration that directed the utterances. The most important passages rejected are rejected not because of lack of proof that they are true, but on the ground that they cannot possibly be. true, regardless of proof.

Orthodox Christians believe in plenary inspiration; that is, that all of the Bible was given by inspiration. They believe in verbal inspiration; that is, that the words used in the original manuscripts were the actual words of God as spoken by holy men of God "as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." They accept the Bible as true and divinely inspired, beginning with belief in God as Creator of all things, continuing Ruler of the universe which He made, and Heavenly Father to all His chil

dren. They believe that God is a personal God, who loves, and is interested in, all His creatures. They believe that He revealed His will unto men, and they accept the testimony of the writers of the Bible when they declare that the Holy Ghost spoke through them or through those whom they quote.

Those who deny that the Bible is true and infallible may be divided into several groups.

First: atheists reject the Bible because they deny the existence of God. Believing that there is no God, they are consistent in believing that there is no Bible or Word of God.

Second: agnostics profess ignorance; they do not know whether there is a God or not, and they consistently reject the Bible because they cannot believe there is a revealed will of God unless they believe there is a God with a will to reveal. Darwin was consistent when, in a letter written in his old age, after he declared himself an agnostic, he also declared that he believed there never had been any revelation. It is useless to argue either with an atheist or an agnostic in favour of an inspired Bible. They must first be brought to believe in a God before it is worth while to talk to them about God's Word-although the Bible itself is proof of the existence of God.

Third: there are some who believe in God

but do not believe that He ever revealed His will to men except through Nature. They profess to know God through what they call Nature, and through Nature alone.

Where the Real Conflict Lies

Here are three classes made up of those who deny that the Bible is an inspired book, but they are not the ones who are to-day doing the greatest harm. The atheists are few in number, relatively speaking, and are so unreasonable as to exert little influence. Their denial of the existence of God in the face of overwhelming evidence that He does exist discredits their intelligence and reduces their influence to a minimum.

The agnostics, by professing ignorance, forfeit their right to advise on the subject. They become a mere negative force, unwilling to accept the evidence in favour of the existence of God, and yet confessedly unable to furnish proof of the non-existence of God. And, as they do not attempt to prove that there is no God, they cannot consistently assert that the Bible is not the revealed will of God. They simply do not know.

And so with those who affirm belief in God but deny all revelation. Their denial of a revelation rests upon an assumption that God

would not speak directly to man, which is combatted by proof that God did actually speak to man, as proved not only by the words themselves but by the influence the words have exerted on hearts and lives. The Christian need not be alarmed by any efforts that can be put forth by the members of the third class-those who deny all inspiration or refuse to believe in any inspiration.

The real conflict to-day is between those, on the one hand, who believe in God, in the Bible as the Word of God, and in Christ as the Son of God, and those, on the other hand, who believe in God but who believe that the Bible is inspired only in part-differing among themselves as to how much of it is inspired and as to what passages are inspired. The latter set up standards of their own, and there are nearly as many different standards as there are believers in partial inspiration. When they deny the infallibility of the Bible, they set up a standard that they regard either as infallible or as more trustworthy than the Bible itself. They really transfer the presumption of infallibility from the Bible to themselves, for either they say, "I believe this part of the Bible to be untrue because my own reason or my own judgment tells me that it is untrue," or they say, "I believe it untrue because So

and-So, in whose judgment I have confidence, tells me it is untrue." Whether one trusts in his own judgment as to the truthfulness of a passage, or trusts the judgment of some one else who denies the truthfulness of a passage, he is, in fact, trusting his own judgment, because if he does not rely on his own judgment in rejecting the passage it is his own judgment that substitutes the authority of the individual selected by him for the authority of the Bible.

It need hardly be added that such a rejection of the Bible, however the objector tries to limit it, is equivalent to a total rejection of the Bible as an authority, because an authority which is subject to be overruled on any point on any subject by anybody who cares to take the responsibility of overruling it, ceases to be of real value.

To illustrate: The orthodox Christian says to his child: The Bible is the Word of God. It contains the truth about the science of How to Live, and all the truth that it is necessary for one to know. Accept it and follow it, and it will be “a lamp to your feet and a light to your path." Trust it and you will make no mistake.

What is the attitude of the parent who believes that the Bible contains error? It de pends upon how much error he thinks there is