The Right Ethical and Spiritual Use of the Bible.

It is impossible to forget the noble enthusiasm with which this dangerous heretic, as he was regarded in England, grasped the small Greek Testament which he had in his hand as we entered and said:  “In this little book is contained all the wisdom of the world.”

   Stanley:  “History of the Jewish Church,” III. x. [Reminiscence of a
   visit to Ewald.]

   Truth, not eloquence, is to be sought for in Holy Scripture.  We should
   rather search after our profit in the Scriptures, than subtilty of
   speech.....  Search not who spoke this or that, but mark what is spoken.

   A Kempis:  “Imitation of Christ,” Ch.  V.

   Do not hear for any other end but to become better in your life, and to
   be instructed in every good work, and to increase in the love and
   service of God.

   Jeremy Taylor:  “Holy Living,” Ch.  IV.  Sect. iv.

    We search the world for truth:  we cull
    The good, the pure, the beautiful
    From graven stone and written scroll,
    From all old flower-fields of the soul;
    And, weary seekers of the best,
    We come back laden from our quest,
    To find that all the sages said,
    Is in the Book our mothers read.

    Whittier:  “Miriam.”

VII.

The Right Ethical and Spiritual Use of the Bible.

   “From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to
   make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
   Jesus.”—­2 Timothy, iii. 15.

The right use of the Bible is admirably stated by St. Paul.  These books do not make one learned in any knowledge—­they make one wise in life.  The Jewish tradition concerning Solomon’s choice expressed a deep truth.  Wisdom is the supreme benediction to be sought in life.  Invaluable as is knowledge, it is as a means to an end.  Knowledge provides for man the material out of which Wisdom, using “the best means to attain the best ends,” builds a noble life.  To have the mind clear, the judgment just, the conscience true, the will strong, so that we may sight the goal of life, may learn the laws by which it is to be won, and may firmly seek it, steadfast amid all seductions—­this is wisdom.

   Would that for one single day, we may have lived in this world as we
   ought.

Thus prays the author of the Imitation of Christ; and in so praying he is sighing after wisdom.

This culture of wisdom is the aim of the books which together form the Bible.  They reveal to our vision the best ends in life, and point us to the best means of winning those high aims.  They clear the atmosphere of mists, disclose to us our bearings, and fill our souls with the afflatus which wafts us toward “the haven where we would be.”  These books are rightly called by Paul, the “Holy Scriptures,”