If  it  is  thought  that  inerrant  documents  are  indispen-
sable for  the  conveying  of  truth,  the  suggestion  is  nega-
tived by  all  our  experience  in  learning  from   the   past.
SOURCES  OF  CHRIST! AX  THEOLOGY  37

We  have  learned  all  that  we  know  of  general  history  with-
out inerrant  documents.  Especially  should  we  remember
how  we  have  learned  concerning  Christ.  Our  historical
knowledge  of  him,  with  all  its  enlightening  effects,  has
come  through  the  four  Gospels,  which  are  indeed  harmon-
ious in  their  general  testimony,  but  which  indicate  their
lack  of  inerrancy  by  the  differences  that  students  have
always  found  between  them,  and  the  difficulty  that  has
always  been  experienced  in  harmonizing  their  details.
We  have  become  Christians  by  the  help  of  documents  to
which  inerrancy  does  not  belong.  The  Bible  as  it  is  has
shown  us  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  and
will  continue  to  show  that  glory  to  men.
Such  are  the  Scriptures,  the  book  of  God-in-man,  the
record  and  memorial  of  God's  historical  self-expression,
high  in  quality,  and  full  of  God.  They  are  various,  pro-
gressive, free;  various  in  form,  individuality,  religious
point  of  view,  and  spiritual  intensity;  progressive,  like
the  revelation  that  they  preserve,  belonging  to  their  own
times,  yet  leading  them;  free,  with  the  simplicity  and
naturalness  that  render  revelation  fresh  and  living  as
we  read.  Bringing  the  revelation  of  God,  they  become
practically  a  revelation,  or  a  means  of  revelation,  to  every
age.
