By The Rt. Rev. J. C. Roper, LL.D., D.D. Bishop of Ottawa.

VITAL IMPORTANCE OF THE TOPIC

The first word of the Layman's Library may properly be a message from
Laymen. These are the terms of it.

"The hope of a brotherhood of a humanity reposes on the deeper
spiritual truth of the Fatherhood of God. In the recognition of the
fact of that Fatherhood and of the divine purpose of the world, which
are central to the message of Christianity, we shall discover the
ultimate foundation for the reconstruction of an ordered and harmonious
life for all men."

These words have a theological ring about them. They are however the
words not of theologians, but of representative and responsible
statesmen in conference on urgent questions of public welfare. The
message was issued by the premiers of Great Britain and of all British
Dominions to all citizens of the British Empire. It forms a remarkable
confession of faith in the spiritual basis of human life. The peace of
the world depends on goodwill among men, and goodwill among men rests
on spiritual forces, and of these forces the source of all and the
greatest of all is the fact of God our Father and of His gracious
purpose for the world.

WHERE CAN WE LEARN OF GOD?

All who wish to know God truly must put themselves to school under
Christ the Master. A wonderful school it is. Little children are at
home in it and the greatest minds among men find in it always something
new to learn. The wonder of the school and the power of it lie not
only in the personality of the Teacher but in the fact also that He
Himself is what He teaches. What Jesus Christ was God is. The
revelation of God we possess in Christ is a revelation that is personal
and complete. "This is life eternal to know Thee the only true God and
Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent."

This does not mean that the knowledge of God--or even of God as
Father--is the exclusive possession of Christians. A long line of
Hebrew prophets, called and inspired by the spirit of God, revealed
God's Name and will and attributes in different ways and in different
portions to generation after generation of His chosen people. It was
the special privilege of Israel to receive the oracles of God. Christ
Jesus, Whose coming the prophets foretold, took over the revelation of
God that each had given, corrected it where it had been misapprehended,
endorsed it, set it in order, and completed it. In the fulness of the
knowl