tures, for you
_think_ in them to have life everlasting, and the same are they that give
testimony to Me."(138) This passage is triumphantly quoted as an argument
in favor of private interpretation. But it proves nothing of the kind.
Many learned commentators, ancient and modern, express the verb in the
indicative mood: "Ye search the Scriptures." At all events, our Savior
speaks here only of the Old Testament because the New Testament was not
yet written. He addresses not the multitude, but the Pharisees, who were
the teachers of the law, and reproaches them for not admitting His
Divinity. "You have," He says, "the Scriptures in your hands; why then do
you not recognize Me as the Messiah, since they give testimony that I am
the Son of God?" He refers them to the Scriptures for a proof of His
Divinity, not as to a source from which they were to derive all knowledge
in regard to the truths of revelation.

Besides, He did not rest the proof of His Divinity upon the _sole_
testimony of Scripture. For He showed it First--By the testimony of John
the Baptist (v. 33), who had said, "Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who
taketh away the sins of the world." See also John i. 34.

Second--By the miracles which He wrought (v. 36).

Third--By the testimony of the Father (v. 37), when He said: "This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." Matt. iii. 16; Luke
ix. 35.

Fourth--By the Scriptures of the Old Testament; as if He were to say, "If
you are unwilling to receive these three proofs, though they are most
cogent, at least you cannot reject the testimony of the Scriptures, of
which you boast so much."

Finally, in this very passage our Lord is explaining the sense of Holy
Writ; therefore, its true meaning is not left to the private
interpretation of every chance reader. It is, therefore, a grave
perversion of the sacred text to adduce these words in vindication of
private interpretation of the Scriptures.

But when our Redeemer abolished the Old Law and established His Church,
did He intend that His Gospel should be disseminated by the circulation of
the Bible, or by the living voice of His disciples? This is a vital
question. I answer most emphatically, that it was by preaching alone that
He intended to convert the nations, and by preaching alone they were
converted. No nation has ever yet been converted by the agency of Bible
Associations.

Jesus Himself never wrote a line of Scripture. He never once