appearance and habits of men in the heart of Africa whom we have never seen, the Bible, if it is authentic, ought to satisfy as to the existence of God. For it is the narrative of His dealings with the race. If we do not accept its testimony, we might as well burn our books of history.

But what is this book that boldly asserts God and his relations with man? For one thing it is the source of the law of the civilized world. For every just law since Sinai has its root in Moses' law. For another thing, it is the source of the morality of the civilized world. And the world confesses that the moral standards of the Bible are right. And shall not such a book speak the truth? And what is its word? "In the beginning, God."

Surveying the road we have come, we find that we have looked into our consciousness, and there we have found the fact that we are conscious of God. Our intuition tells us of God.

Turning to the reason, we have traveled three pathways. The first of these was from the effect to the cause; the second was from the design to the designer; the third was from the testimony of the Scriptures to the reality certified. there.

Our intuition gives us a consciousness of God. Our reason tells us about God. But there is another line of approach, and by this we shall

learn to know God. The difference is deep and wide.

IV. THE THIRD LINE OF APPROACH

For here we are met by Christ. And this is his message: "The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Pause for a moment and think upon that statement. No other man ever said it. None ever dared. Only one man could say it, and He must be the Son of God. But if the Son of God said it, shall we dare do otherwise than believe Him? Shall we dare deny Him? And if we dare not deny Him, we must accept Him. And this is his testimony: "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

What more? Could there be any thing more? Is not this the God we want? Is not this the God our hearts cry out for? Is not this the testimony our ears rejoice to hear? Is not this the message our hearts leap forth to know?

Oh, what an Evangel! The soul of man is like a sheep lost on the mountains. And the shepherd goes forth, and tarries not through the darkness of the night until he finds it.

"And there is joy in the presence of the angels of God."

Oh, what a gospel! This is our salvation: a seeking, suffering, travailing, sin-bearing God: A Christ, a Saviour, who paused not at Gethsemane nor drew back from Calvary if so be the world might be reconciled to God.

Oh, what a salvation! Deliverance from sin; victory over death; triumph over the grave. "And the end, everlasting life." What more can desire seek? What more can aspiration hope? What more can the soul know?

Oh, what a price to pay! For He died that we might live. "He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.” One winter night when the snow lay deep and winds blew cold, over the hills of the highlands, the shepherd missed three lambs from the fold. The faithful collie lay stretched by the fire, feeding her young. The master opened the door upon the bitter night and raised three fingers, and said, "Go," and the seeker went and one was brought home. Again the master opened the door and raised two fingers and said, "Go," and the seeker went over the lonely hills and another was brought home. Again the master opened the door and raised one finger, and said, "Go," and again the seeker rose and went forth, facing the wintry blast and treading the cold snow and searching the

weary wastes until the last one was safe within the fold. But when the morning came a cold, dead form lay silent and still, stretched beside the hearth. But the lambs were safe within the fold.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

CHAPTER III

WHAT ARE THE SCRIPTURES?

The word "Bible" is from the Greek word "Biblia," meaning a roll or scroll. That was the ancient form of a book made from the inner bark of the papyrus, or from parchment.

I. THE WRITING OF THIS BOOK

In some of its parts it is by far the most ancient record that we have; but nearly twenty centuries separate these parts from those written last. And this is matched by the variety of the writers. For sovereign and slave, prince and peasant, scholar and novice, learned and unlearned, contributed to its pages. And this again by the conditions under which the writers performed their work. Some were rich, some were poor, some lived at courts, some lived in poverty, some wrote of the present, some of the past, some of the limitless future, all going on record as to things fundamental between Deity and humanity, and the final realities of human existence.

And yet the harmony is one, and the object