Being.

The Lord be with you.

_Answer_. And with thy spirit.] This may be taken as the mutual
salutation of Minister and People at the close of the Praise Service.
It is therefore to be said before they kneel. In the Confirmation
Service, the Laying-on of Hands is concluded with the same words.
Compare the close of our Lord's words to the Apostles, S. Matth.
xxviii. 20: S. John xiv. 27: and the close of S. Paul's Epistles
without exception; also, close of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 1 Peter,
3 John, and Rev. In the Old English Services (Sarum Use), it closed
the Preces. In 1549 it was entirely omitted there, but replaced as it
now stands, when, in 1552, the Creed was taken out of the Prayers, and
placed immediately after the Canticles.

Let us pray.] This is the signal for kneeling, and commencing the
prayers.

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CHAPTER XI.

REASON, HISTORY, AND REVELATION.

It may be said with truth that the Bible is a book which reads History,
and the perplexities of Man, in the light of one great postulate, viz.
that there is a God. The natural sequences, which are now partially
explained by scientific discoveries, are in the Bible attributed to
God's guidance: and of course there is no contradiction between the
two. Science explains something of the ways of God's working: from it
we learn something of His principles, and also of His methods: when we
are surest of scientific laws, we are then confronted with the
assumption that there is, or that there is not, a God. The Bible is
the Book of Faith--Faith that there is a God. But, since it interprets
History, it plainly recognises History, as one of God's Lesson Books.
Also, since it appeals to Reason, and is consistent with Reason, it
recognises Reason, as another of the Lesson Books. In the present
chapter we indicate some of the Lessons to be learnt in these three
Books of God.

Much has been written, especially in recent times, showing the
marvellous working of what we call, at one time, the Laws of Nature,
and at another time, Laws of God. There is infinite interest, to a
thoughtful {101} mind, in the reading of Bell _On the Hand_, Argyll's
_Reign of Law_, Maury's _Physical Geography of the Sea_, even when
further discovery has improved upon their explanations. It must always
be remembered that God has given us Reason and Knowledge, as well as
Faith. Reason leads us to the threshold of Heaven, and Faith admits us
to the Presence. History a