Lord" having spoken unto the person; or that God appeared to him in a dream, and "said," &c. Thus much allowance would be necessary on the part of a European reader for the figurative ideas and expressions of the people.'

When we go to the Bible, we find therein exactly what those who have some knowledge of its wonderful history might expect. It bears the traces of the long years through which it was slowly growing, book by book. In its earlier pages we find legends which, as already shown, are very like to those of nations with whom the Jew were connected by race or came in contact; we find there ideas about God which are coarse and degrading, which became lofty only as the Jews advanced in the thought of Him as pictured in the worthy language of the prophets, and which were altogether different from the ennobling teaching of Jesus and of Paul; we find how deeply human all its writers were; how each differs in his style of telling anything and is marked by it; how fully they shared the common beliefs of their time; nor is it easy to find in what they have

said truths which, in one form or another, have not been stated by the writers of some of the sacred books into which we have dipped.

The Bible records the experience of the wisest and best of men of the past in their search after truth, but it is hard to discover proof that the claim to inspiration which is made for them, and which they would perhaps not claim for themselves, is one that cannot be denied. And if it be admitted, the inspiration would be without value unless it was also bestowed upon the men who copied the manuscripts, upon the men who collected them together, upon the men who translated them, and in short, upon every one who in any way has had to do with placing the Bible in the hands of people of any age and clime.

It may appear a graceless thing to write any words which shall seem to lessen the value of a book which for hundreds of years has been so precious to men. But the loss is more seeming than real, since riddance of error leaves room for truth to enter, and it is far better to be quit of false notions in early life than to undergo the painful and weary task of uprooting them in after years.

The truths which are enshrined in the Bible are not less true because frail men spake them, nor is that, 'inspiration of the Almighty' which 'giveth understanding' a less mighty fact because we find that the writers of Scripture had it not different in kind to that which comes to every man who opens his soul to receive it. It dwelt in those earnest ones whose yearnings after the unseen found utterance in Bible, Rig-Veda, Zend-Avesta, Tripitaka, King and Korân, and it dwells in earnest souls to-day, wherever the love of truth abides. And for us, in whatever written or spoken word, or sound of many-voiced nature, we find that which speaks to our heart as true, there is for us an inspired truth.

CONCLUSION.

THIS outline sketch would have been more complete if an account had been given of some religions that have passed away, but of which fragments remain here and there in hoary rite and custom.

For example, there was the religion of EGYPT, land of marvel and of mystery: fountain of knowledge at which Assyrian, Greek and Hebrew drank; noted for its discoveries in science, and for the majesty, and withal the delicacy, of its art; for the highly civilized state of its people, whose daily life-the luxury and pleasures of the few-the toil and hardship of the manyis pictured on wall-paintings, preserved from decay by a rainless climate through five thousand years. That religion, standing in awe before the mystery of life, looked upon all life as divine, and had its upper gods of Nature, Space and Time; its sun and river deities; its worship of insect, bird, reptile and beast, chiefest of which was the Apis

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bull of Memphis; its belief in an immortal life, and a judgment after death, of which the proofs are near us in the mummies of animals and human beings, and in the great sacred book known as the Ritual of the Dead.' Behind the forms of that religion in pompous festivals, minute ceremonies, sacrifices, charms, and months and days each dedicate to the gods, there were secrets which the priests kept to themselves, through which the religion became a priestcraft.

There was the religion of GREECE, revelling in sunlight and gladness; its gods most strong and goddesses most fair, dwelling on Mount Olympus, were beings not free from the follies and vices of men, for they spent their lives in fighting, feasting, scheming and love-making. Ruling mankind, they were in their turn ruled by Fate, and therefore inspired neither fear nor respect. In the Greek religion the beautiful was the divine, and he was accounted most godlike who added by his art to all that pleased the eye, or that fell musically upon the ear. Lovely forms filled every nook and corner of that sunny land: the echoes of the nymphs' soft voices were heard among the