error is the first step towards reaching truth. The old vulgar theory of the resurrection made the universe appear contemptible, — made the Deity Himself an object for our scorn. A physical resurrection would stultify the whole course of evolution. What God is going to do with us, we do not know. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered, neither can it enter, into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared. But if we know-as know we may-that He will certainly do nothing unworthy of Himself or of us, then we can die, as we have lived, in full assurance of faith. With our last expiring breath we can say

calmly, hopefully, triumphantly—

"To Him I yield my spirit,

On Him I lay my load;

Fear ends with death; beyond it

I nothing see but God."

233

The Gods of the Bible.

"I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me."-Ex. xx. 5, 6.

"If ye love them that love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, hoping to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest for He is kind unto the unthankful and the evil."-LUKE vi. 32-35.

OME people think the Bible is a single book.

SOME

If you asked them why, they would be rather puzzled. They might perhaps say, because it is bound by a single cover. I cannot think of any other reason. With the exception of the cover, everything connected with the Bible tends to show that it is a collection of many books, written by very different men, with very different ideas

and motives.

The opinions which the writers

hold upon moral and religious subjects are frequently opposed and contradictory. Let me repeat what I said when I preached upon the subject of Inspiration. We cannot possibly overestimate the difference-it is practically infinite -between the God of Samuel who ordered infants and sucklings to be slaughtered, and the God of the Psalmist whose tender mercies are over all His works; between the God of the patriarchs who was always repenting, and the God of the apostles who is the same yesterday, to-day and for ever, with whom there is neither variableness nor shadow of turning; between the God of the Old Testament who walked in the garden in the cool of the day, and the God of the New Testament whom no man hath seen nor can see; between the God of Leviticus who was so particular about the sacrificial furniture and utensils, and the God of the Acts who dwelleth not in temples made with hands; between the God who hardened Pharaoh's heart, and the God who will have all men to be saved. We find in the Bible theological opinions as diverse

and contradictory as have ever existed in the world.

The passages which I read just now as a text afford an interesting illustration of this extreme discrepancy. The conduct which in the first passage is said to be characteristic of the Deity is in the second passage attributed to sinners. According to the author of the twentieth chapter of the Book of Exodus, God is merciful only to those who love Him. According to Christ, that would be a poor kind of mercy; the true God, the Heavenly Father, is kind unto the unthankful and the evil. It seems scarcely credible that for centuries men should have read these passages without seeing their discrepancy, without seeing that they represented different stages in the evolution of the idea of God. Even now the very suggestion of such discrepancy would by many persons be considered heresy. But-heresy or not the discrepancy is palpable, self-evident, undeniable, for all who will attend to the meaning of words. The mischief is, people will not attend to the meaning of words. They are the slaves of a foregone conclusion. They have made up their

minds that the Bible is one book, not many; and they proceed to interpret, or rather misinterpret, everything in the Bible, so as to harmonise with their false and foolish hypothesis.

I know it may be said that-Christ notwithstanding what the second commandment tells us about the visitation of iniquity to the third and fourth generation is true. I do not deny it; it is true. It is but the scientific doctrine of heredity. And in fact we should now state the truth much more strongly. The consequences of iniquity descend from the fathers to the children far beyond the third and fourth generations. They will be transmitted to the end of time. But there is an heredity of goodness as well as an heredity of evil; and in the second commandment this is altogether ignored. Further, the very heredity of evil is not, as seems to be implied in Exodus, vindictive and retaliative. is, after all, a merciful law; for there is no greater stimulus to right-doing than the clear recognition of the fact that our descendants will suffer for our sins. The writer in Exodus gives, you see, only a one-sided statement of the doctrine of heredity,.

It