and purifying power.  To tell him that the Bible is a cunningly devised fable, is like telling a man who daily feeds on “the finest of the wheat,” and is nourished and strengthened by it, that the field of golden grain which waves before his door is only wormwood and gall; or that the pure water from the bosom of the earth which daily quenches his thirst is a deadly poison; or that the blessed air of heaven which fans his lungs is a pestilential vapor.  Not until error becomes the nutriment of the soul and truth its destruction, can this argument from personal experience be set aside or gainsaid.

7.  The argument from the character of Jesus has already been considered at length in chap, 4, No. 8.  It is sufficient to repeat here that the very description of such a character, so gloriously perfect, so far above all that the greatest minds of antiquity ever conceived, is itself a proof of its reality.  Very plain men may describe what they have actually seen and heard.  But that any man left to himself—­and God would not help in a work of error and delusion—­should have conceived of such a character as that of Jesus of Nazareth, without the reality before him, is impossible; how much more that four unlettered men should have consistently carried out the conception in such a life as that recorded by the four evangelists.

8.  Passing now from individual to general experience, we find another proof of the divine origin of the Bible in the power of the gospel—­which includes in itself the whole word of God—­over the human heart.  This is closely connected with the preceding head, since the Christian’s religion takes the shape of personal love towards the Saviour—­love which is awakened in the sinner’s soul, as the New Testament teaches, by the Holy Spirit revealing to him his lost condition and the character and offices of the Redeemer, whereby he is drawn into an inward spiritual union with him.  This love of Jesus is the mightiest principle on earth for both doing and suffering.  The man of whose soul it has taken full possession is invincible, not in his own strength, but in the strength of Him to whom he has given his supreme confidence and affection.  No hardships, privations, or dangers can deter him from Christ’s service; no persecutions can drive him from it.  In the early days of Christianity, at the period of the Reformation, in many missionary fields in our own time, not only strong men, but tender women and children, have steadfastly endured shame and suffering in every form—­banishment and the spoiling of their goods, imprisonment, torture, and death—­for Christ’s sake.  In times of worldly peace and prosperity, the power of this principle is dimly seen; but were the Christians of this day required, under penalty of imprisonment, confiscation, and death, to deny Christ, it would at once manifest itself.  Many would apostatize, because they are believers only in name; but true believers would remain steadfast,