has grown rapidly--immensely--and the estimation of the Bible has been
reduced in nearly every field. Many a pious Christian, while rejoicing
in the first fact, is greatly troubled by the second. Has the Bible
ceased to be authoritative? Has it lost its infallibility? If the Bible
is not true from cover to cover, then it seems to be not trustworthy at
all. We had better put it aside and leave it to deserved oblivion. That
is an argument frequently brought forward nowadays, both by people who
disbelieve in the authority of the Bible and the truth of the Christian
religion and by those who eagerly try to assert the old authority of the
Bible as the inspired Word of God which reveals everything. They argue,
and apparently not without plausibility, that if you destroy the
authority of the Bible at any point, it is lost altogether; there is no
limit to the destructive energy of our time. Therefore do not touch this
question; leave the Bible as it stands--the sacred book, undisturbed by
profane hands. It is the book by which our fathers were taught. Why
should we disbelieve in it? Both these positions seem to be logically
consistent: everything or nothing; infallible or no authority. But, in
fact, the truth is never on one side. Hard as it may sound to our
philosophers, the truth is very seldom logical. What seems to be
consistency is, in fact, a confusion of two different aspects which
ought to be kept separate. The Bible is not a text-book for any
science--nay, not even for the science of theology. It is the book for
Christian devotion. This was its original intention, and I venture to
think that it is not a loss but a gain if the Bible is once more applied
to its proper purpose.
* * * * *
As we have seen in the first chapter, the Bible proved itself to be an
inexhaustible source of comfort and strength, of exhortation and
inspiration to the Christians of the first period. They would not leave
this book for any consideration--nay, they would even die for it. And so
whenever the Bible was read by a pious Christian a new stream of life
flowed through him and through the church. And this new life has always
caused a strong desire for the Bible. There is a reciprocal influence
between Bible and piety; the Bible creates piety, and piety demands the
Bible. This is the experience of nineteen centuries; it is impossible
that the twentieth century should alter it. As long as a pious Christian
lives on earth, the Bible will exercise its influence upon him, and as
long as there is such thing as the Bible there will be Christians. That
is sure! It is not always easy to measure this private influence of the
Bible on individual piety and devotion. People who read the Bible for
edification usually do not talk much about it. In biographies it is not
mentioned, either because the biographer took it for granted or because
he did not care for it himself. Seldom do we have an opportunity, like
the one given in Bismarck's letters to his wife, where he mentions
frequently what Psalm or passage of the Bible he read before going to
bed and discusses some points which have struck him. It is impossible to
say how many people read the Bible privately for their own edification.
Seeing how few know the Bible thoroughly, we might suppose that very few
read it, but it is said that Bible reading among the boys in the English
public schools is again increasing. And I feel sure that the time must
come, and will come, when private reading of the Bible will again be a
common practice among Christians.
But the Bible's task is not only to sustain individual piety; it has a
second duty to perform. Christianity is not a mere aggregation of
Christian individuals but a community--a church, if you will. It is
necessary for any community to have a standard, for any church to have a
creed. It is the Bible which has to supply this. Herein lies the danger
of aberration, as we have seen in the second and the following chapters.
The history of the church and of its doctrine gives ample proof of the
fact that, taking the Bible as a rule for the church's dogma,
Christianity not only missed the right path for the development of
doctrine, but even lost the right use of the Bible. It is only by
aiming at an historical orientation that the church can gain from the
Bible the right direction for the setting forth of its doctrine. The
doctrine of the church never can be, and never has been, identical with
the doctrine of the Bible, because it is impossible to stop the
development of history; besides, there are as many doctrines in the
Bible itself as men who wrote the several books of the Bible, or even
more. Saint Paul has not one doctrine of the atonement but half a dozen
theories about it. The church has to formulate its own doctrine
consistently with the Bible; that means a doctrine which keeps to the
main line of religious development as testified to by the Bible; or,
rather, to do justice to the variety of Biblical doctrines, permits a
modern adaptation of the several modes in which religious experience is
expressed. This seems vague, but it is the path which Christianity is
bound to follow; and it promises success.
The modern view is that it is the religious experience of men, as
testified to in the Bible, from which both the individual and the church
take their start. But Christians believe that through this human
experience God himself is revealing his grace. Therefore it is still, as
our fathers said, God's Word. And God will teach the church to
formulate the common experience by the help of his Word. That is the
present position.
* * * * *
But now what of the influence of the Bible on civilisation? Has it gone?
It seems under present conditions reduced to very small proportions, if
not made impossible altogether. I am prepared, however, to declare that
just the opposite is true. The influence of the Bible on civilisation
still continues, and it will grow greater the more the Bible is used in
the proper way, as an influence not on outward form but in inward
inspiration.
The results of the influence exerted by the Bible in former centuries,
when it was an outward rule of life, still go on. We cannot imagine what
would have become of mankind if there had been no Bible. We cannot drop
the previous history out of our life. We still speak the language which
was modelled by our Bible; we still quote many proverbs which originate
in the Bible, even without knowing that they come from the Bible. Our
artists will go on choosing motifs from the Bible. The civilised nations
will never give up Sunday, although not keeping it as a Sabbath. They
will continue to aim at a fuller measure of legal and social equality,
convinced as many may be that it is impossible to create an outward
equality among men as long as there is no equal sense of responsibility
and duty in all members of the nation.
The influence of the Bible in its present position as the book of
devotion is of supreme importance for civilisation. Progress in
civilisation is guaranteed not by constitution nor by law but only by
the spirit which rules the individual and through the individual the
community. We need strong characters who know the great truth of
self-sacrifice. Such characters are formed by the inward inspiration
given by devotional reading of the Bible. Making men devout, it makes
them strong and influential in the common effort to promote civilisation
by removing everything which is contrary to the welfare of others. That
is the most important influence which the Bible can have; and that
influence it still exerts and ever will exert on civilisation.