Notes on Current Events [pp. 723-728]

NOTES ON CUPRBENT TOPICS.
thoughts in undl)-irng books, what must it be to bring one's whole heart
and mind andI soul under the influence of that divine wolrd, which under
the immeclate oper. etion of the sir it of God has power to quiclen an(i
animate thte soul as all other infiucnces put to;e her can never do.
Thlis xoc is' rILaDLe for doctrine, for reproof; for correctJon, for instruction in r tp eonusns, that the nan of Godi may he plerfict, thoroughl\v furnis' edi unto ail good wcorks.' He on)l tilt is mighty in tle
Scriptulres can do a mirg-ty x.-ork for Christ, Weakness here is fatal,.
It can be compensated by no possibe strength elsewhere.
WAVith the Gospels, and indeeld ihe New Testament generally, our nlative
preachers are ar-eadyv for -i most parL familiar. BuLt no one can know
even the New Te-t-aient well who hs not studied careb!lI,, to-e Old.
Augustine's failiar sayi;-l well expresses this: Ix Vetlro 2t,asmuzto
0,z"; Izdlt; i,, -ZAoTvo eVm'lsf a/et. The oreat dicti n suishing facs and
doctrines ot the later re-elation can nevTer be fully and clear'y appre
hendeci in all the iglght'w;hich God has thrown upon them, until we have
traced the cdevelop'rnent of the doctrines and the preparation for the
facts from thLe vely beginning. It was not without purpose that God revealed h's wvill alnd made known his purpose graldually and under various
forms and methoodl. Thle Bib'le is a culminatin,g book. The Chri.stian
dispensation is tle unfolding of what went before. We cnrirot dixvorce
the Old from the ew, or hope to understand completely ihe one wvithout the other. Clhrt's injunction, " Search the Scriptures,' i. e., the
Old Te-tament Sc-'pt.res, is as needful for us as for those to whom it
was first addressed. NIor iS th's tne onrly rea-on for urgilng close and
careful Old'Ies.a,ment study. It is of the greatest importance that
our Indian eoan-,illsfs shouild be familiar with the Hebrew 1pro,,bTets
and catch somewhlat of their spirit. We need their clear view of the
dreadfulness of sin, and the awfulness of the punishment xxhich it
mrust bring down upon the transgressor. We need their intense hatred
of idolatry, and their zeal for the glory of the name of the Lord of
Hosts. We need their sense of a holy and awful commission fromn
God himself, which must take precedence of exery other claim and
dominate the whole man. We need that authority, which can only
come from such a sense. We need a boldness and an utter self-renunciation like theirs. Not St. Paul himself is a better model for the
evangelists in India than is Elijah the Tishbite, coming from the quiet
retirement of the widow's house in Sarepta to face boldly the embittere-l king, challen gin Baal's four hundred and fifty priests to the trial
of their faitl, denouncing with burning tongue the idolatry of the
people, and as it were compelling them with irresistible spiritual power
to turn to the Lord their God. We need a ministry of reprehension
726
[Oct.