re has existed no true
external Church and no efficacious sacraments."[31]

His valuation of Scripture fits perfectly into this religion of the
inward life and the invisible Church. The true and essential Word of God
is the divine revelation in the soul of man. It is the _prius_ of all
Scripture and it is the key to the spiritual meaning of all Scripture.
To substitute Scripture for the self-revealing Spirit is to put the dead
letter in the place of the living Word, the outer Ark in place of the
inner sanctuary, the sheath in place of the sword, the horn-pane Lantern
in place of the Light.[32] This letter killed Christ in Judea; it is
killing Him now. It has split the Church into fragments and sects and is
splitting it now.[33] It always makes a "Babel" instead of a Church. It
kept the Pharisees from seeing Moses face to face; it keeps men now from
seeing the Lord face to face.[34] Franck insists that, from its inherent
nature, a written Scripture cannot be the final authority in religion:
(_a_) It is outward, external, while the seat of religion is in the soul
of man. (_b_) It is transitory and shifting, for language is always in
process of change, and written words have different meanings to different
ages and in different countries, while for a permanent religion there
must be a living, eternal Word that fits all ages, lands, and conditions.
(_c_) Scripture is full of mystery, contradiction, and paradox which only
"The key of David"--the inner experience of the heart--can unlock.
Scripture is the Manger, but, unless the Holy Spirit comes as the day
star in the heart, the Wise man will not find the Christ.[35] (_d_)
Scripture at best brings only knowledge. It lacks the power to deliver
from the sin which it describes. It cannot create the faith, the desire,
the love, the will purpose which are necessary to win that which the
Scriptures portray. No book--no amount of "ink, paper, and letters"--can
make a man good, since religion is not knowledge, but a way of living, a
{61} transformed life, and _that_ involves an inward life-process, a
resident creative power. "In Pentecost all books are transcended."[36]

As Franck pushes back through "the ink, paper, and letters of Scripture"
to the Spirit and Truth which these great writings reveal, when they are
read and apprehended in the light of an inward spiritual experience, so,
too, he is always seeking, _through_ the historical Christ, to find the
Eternal Chris