God, Jesus Christ the Son (John 1 : 1). Paul constantly appeals to the Old Testament: "The gospel of God, which he promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son" (Rom. I 2). He supports his terrible indictment against sins by quotations from the ancient Scriptures (Rom. 2 : 17-29; 3: 1–20; 4 : 3; 9 : 4).

The real Logos (Word) of God is our Lord Jesus Christ, who is "the effulgence of his glory and the very image of his substance" (Heb. I : 3).

"God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son” (Heb. I : 1, 2).

The direct revelation of the idea of an architect is the edifice which completely embodies his plan: so Christ is the incarnation of God's essential character in a genuine human form and life. But as the "White City," once built, though soon taken down, will remain for the delight and instruction of the world through descriptions and pictures, so the Incarnate Christ will ever speak to mankind in the Scriptures. The Bible is like a telescope: we should not merely look upon it, but rather look through it and "then the heavens espy."

Being it reveals.

We do not worship the Bible, but the Christ is "the Word of Life" (1 John II). The truth which reveals him is, secondarily, a word of him (1 John 2 : 14).

The Old Testament in the Epistles.—In writing to Jews we find that the Hebrew Scriptures are quoted; but not so often in sermons or letters addressed to the Gentiles, as Paul's address in Acts 17, at Athens. These are the "Scriptures" which Paul uses as authority among his fellowHebrews (2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 1 : 1-3. Compare 1 Peter 1 :

10-12). The prophecies anticipate the coming of Messiah and his reign in righteousness. "For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21).

The Gospels are not quoted in the Epistles because when these letters were written the story of Jesus' deeds and words was current as oral tradition (1 Cor. 15 : 1-9; 11 : 2). Thousand of persons, familiar with the contents of our Gospels, were still scattered over the world. "So then, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word, or by epistle of ours" (2 Thess. 2: 15. Compare 1 Thess. 4 : 15-17; 5 : 2, 3; 2 Thess. 3: 6; 1 Cor. 11:23).

The Epistles became a part of the Sacred Scriptures. Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit to guide his apostles into all truth (John 16: 12-15). Paul had seen the ascended Lord and received instructions from him (1 Cor. 15 3, 8). The apostles were conscious of speaking and writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and with direct knowledge of the facts and truths contained in their messages:

"That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life. . . declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us" (1 John 1 : 1-3). "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye-witnesses of his majesty' (2 Peter 1 : 16).

Peter, carrying no grudge for Paul's rebuke (Gal. 1) declares that the Epistles of the Apostle to the Gentiles are to rank among the holy writings:

"Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the

wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction" (2 Peter 3: 15, 16; cf. 1 Thess. 2: 13).

The authority of the Sacred Scriptures, inclusive of the epistles of apostles, is strongly asserted. It is proved by signs, miracles, and spiritual power. "God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will” (Heb. 2 : 4). The discriminating, judging, convicting power of a sacred letter is evidence of its divine origin and authority.

"The word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4 : 12; cf. John 6:63; Rev. 1 : 16; Eph. 6 : 17).

It is by showing without mask the "ungodly men" who turn "the grace of God into lasciviousness, denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ,' that the gospel proves itself the "faith once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3, 4; cf. 1 Peter 2: 1–22).

The purpose and scope of all the Scriptures, including the Epistles themselves, is immediately and specially moral and spiritual.

"Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Tim. 3 : 16).

A truly "inspired" book demonstrates its divine origin by this evidence of power to make men holy in life.

"My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye may not sin" (1 John 2 : 1). Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope" (Rom. 15: 4). "They were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come" (1 Cor. 10:11).

The Epistles notice the variety, unity, and humanity of all sacred writings.

God spake in divers manners and divers portions by the fathers. There is a progress in the revelation of the Bible. In the Old Testament there is a transitory element in which the eternal truth is carried, as a diamond is carried in a temporary case. God has provided "better things" for us than for the ancients (Heb. 11:40). Mount Zion is better than Mount Sinai (Heb. 12: 18-24). Jesus is a higher messenger than Moses (Heb. 3 : 3). The old gives place to the new and the unshaken kingdom (Heb. 12 27, 28; compare Heb. 7: 18; 8: 6–13; 10: 9). The ministration of death in the Old Testament gives place to the covenant of the Spirit which quickeneth (2 Cor. 3:6-11).

The mode of revelation is indicated in the Epistles. It is not a mere revelation of some material appearance made to eye and ear, but the more clear, certain, and conscious experience of the soul itself.

"Paul, an apostle (not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead)" (Gal. I: I). Paul was conscious of knowing God, through Christ, as the Father, and hence he speaks with immediate authority. But in this he does not contradict the consciousness of other Christians, nor feel isolated from them. So he says: "And all the brethren which are with me. The gospel came to him through revelation of Jesus Christ. . . "It was the good pleasure of God to reveal his Son in me." Therefore he did not need to confer "with flesh and blood" Gal. 1:11–16). Further:

"That life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God" (Gal. 2: 20). It is this kind of revelation which is confirmed by the spiritual intelligence and love of all Christian people.

The Canon.-We see in the very earliest of the Epistles the beginnings of preservation and collection of the apostolic writings. First Thessalonians is one of the very earliest writings of the apostles which have come down to us, and in this Paul says:

"I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the brethren" (1 Thess. 5 : 27). Later he writes to the Colossians : And when this epistle hath been read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye also read the epistle from Laodicea" (Col. 4: 16). Peter alludes to Paul's earlier letters as familiar documents in Asia Minor (2 Peter 3: 15, 16). We have also clear expression of the need of committing to writing the rich treasures of doctrine and memory of Jesus then in possession of the early leaders of the church. "I will give diligence that at every time ye may be able after my departure to call these things to remembrance" (2 Peter 1 : 15). The sources of all inspired and authoritative writings are mentioned in 2 Peter 3: 2: "That ye should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles." This includes the Old and the New Testaments, prophetic and apostolic.

SUMMARY.

Revelation. The revelation of God is in his works, in nature. The spirit of man is a light of knowledge. Human history shows the thoughts of Providence. The sacred Scriptures are the standard of all religious truth. Contain all that is essential. Exclude and correct all errors. The Epistles bear witness to other portions of Holy Writ. The revelation is spiritual in mode and contents. The Epistles show the beginnings of a Canon.