en the
most womanly, and you will find it in those lands where the Bible is
exalted, not as the word of man, but, in deed and truth, as the Word
of God.

Find the men and women who know most of God, who have the deepest
consciousness of him in the soul, and who walk every day with the
assurance of his _real presence_--to whom the unseen becomes from
hour to hour the thing that is alone real--and who live as kings
above their prostrate passions--and they will be those who make this
book the supreme authority in their daily lives; who hear it when it
speaks to them as the very voice of God.

A book which thus inspires men _for_ God is, indeed, a book which,
by every law of logic, must have been inspired _by_ God.

From the evidence cited two things are apparent:

1. The Bible is not such a book as a man _would_ write if he
_could_.

2. The Bible is not such a book as a man _could_ write if he
_would_.

By these conclusions, therefore, the Bible is shown to be _not of
man_.

As the book is thus shown to be not of man--either by inclination or
ability; and as from the beginning to the end its object is to
glorify the unseen God in the revelation of his incarnate Son, then
this book _is of God_; and being the utterance of his mind and will,
is his Word; so that the statement of the apostle concerning it is
justified. It is to be received as he says: "Not as the word of man,
but as it is in truth, THE WORD OF GOD."

To him who so approaches it--who puts his shoes from off his feet as
on holy ground, and with the silence of expectant faith listens and
looks, it will disclose itself, speak to him, and so lay hold of the
inner recesses of the heart that he shall know he has been face to
face with God, has had glimpses of the delectable mountains and the
city foursquare that lies beyond; from henceforth he shall walk, not
as one in a vain show or in the mixing of darkness and light, but
where the night shineth as the day; where the road is no longer
paved with the stumbling stones of doubt, nor the signboards filled
with a guess, but where the way leadeth on and up--shining more and
more bright unto the perfect day.

Take up this book, O friend. Do not read it with a hurried glance.
Let thine eyes rest a while upon some single word, and if thou art
patient, it will bud and blossom and bloom and grow unto thee as a
tree of life; and the leaves shall be as medicine for the healing of
thy hurt. Take it into thy mouth a