The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 97

;

THE HOLY SCRIPTURE and

life,

which were invisible

essentials.

his

57

to us because our hearts lacked the appeals to the child is not in the picture, but in and imagination; the cooperation of the features in

What

memory

the painting and the father's

image

in his heart

makes the

likeness

speak.

This comparison will explain the mysterious effect of the ScripGuido de Bres spoke of it in his debates with the Baptists That which we call Holy Scripture is not paper with black im-

ture. "

pressions, but that

impressions."

which addresses our spirits by means of those Those letters are but tokens of recognition; those

words are only the clicks of the telegraph-key signaling thoughts to our spirits along the lines of our visual and auditory nerves.

And the thoughts so signaled are not isolated and incoherent, but parts of a complete system that is directly antagonistic to man's thoughts, yet enters their sphere. Reading the Scripture brings to our minds the sphere of divine thoughts so far as needful for us as sinners, in order to glorify God, love our neighbor, and save the soul. This is not a mere collection of beautiful and glttering ideas, but the reflection of the divine life. In God life and thought are united there can be no life without :

thought, no thought not the product of life. Not so with us. Falsehood entered us, i.e., we can sever thought from life. Or rather, they are always severed, unless we have voluntarily established the former unity. Hence our cold abstractions; our speak-

ing without doing; our words without power; our thoughts without working; our books that, like plants cut off from their .^oots, wither before they can blossom, much less bear fruit.

The difference between divine and human life gives Scripture uniqueness and precludes antagonism between its letter and its spirit, such as a false exegesis of 2 Cor. iii. 6 might suggest. If its

the

Word

of

God were dominated by

into our hearts,

and

in the

the falsehood that has crept midst of our misery continues to place

word and life in opposition as well as separation, then we would take refuge in the standpoint of our dissenting brethren, with their exaltation of the life above the Word. But we need not do so, for the opposition and separation are not in the Scripture. For this reason it is the Holy Scripture for it was not lost in the

unholy

;

tearing asunder of thought and life, and is therefore distinct from writings in which yawns the gulf between the words and the reality of life. What other writings lack is in this Book perfect agree;

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