This  searching  analysis,  this  rigid  test,  this  severe
requirement,  this  lofty  ideal,  may  well  inspire  awe
in  a  mind  conscious  of  its  own  imperfections  :  but  at
the  same  time  it  awakens  hope,  because  the  character
which  the  Bible  requires  of  men  commends  itself  to
their  moral  approbation,  and  brings  the  highest  in-
centives to  its  own  attainment.  "SATiile  a  .socialistic
philosophy  seeks  to  entertain  us  with  the  promise  of
"the  Coming  Man" — alas,  ever  a  vague  and  distant
vision— the  Bible  sets  before  us  the  XeiD  Man  in
Christ,  "which,  after  God,  is  created  in  righteousness
and  true  holiness"  (Eph.  iv,  24).'

I  have  reserved  until  now  the  most  convincing,  as

weU  as  the  most  inspiring  unity  of  the  Bible,  in  the

hope  it  ever  holds  up  to  humanity  through  the  re-

The  treatment  of  this  theme,


other  religious  system  of  antiquity,  the  doctrine  of  a
moral  government  of  God  over  individuals,  over  na-
tions, over  the  entire  race;  a  government  by  moral
law,  with  sanctions  of  good  and  evil  in  this  life,  and


especially  by  Paul   and   John,    blends   the   deepest

philosophy  of  religion   with  the  loftiest  poetry  of

devotion  ;   it  exhibits  the  unity  of  thought  in  the.
