Ages. It may be said of the Revealed Word, as it is affirmed of the City of God,—"God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved: God shall help her and that right early."[1] Observe, that these questions merely affect the interpretation of Scripture: they do not touch the inspired Word itself. "If," justly remarks Dr. Hitchcock,—"geology, or any other science, proves to us that we have not fairly understood the meaning of Scripture, it merely illustrates, but does not oppose Revelation."[2] The Word of God stands on an immovable basis, and on one quite independent of all such considerations. These few obscure places have no more effect on the general light of the Divine Word, than motes in the sunbeams, or the spots on the sun itself, affect the light and warmth of that luminary. It is not for its few statements of natural or physical truth, that we chiefly value the Bible, but for its inexhaustible and saving spiritual truth. And this truth stands and shines quite apart from and independently of those records of natural facts. The Holy Word is given as a "lamp to our feet, and a light to our path,"—not to guide us downward through the earth, but upward to heaven; not to teach geology, geography, or natural history, but to teach that truth which shall save the soul; not to reveal the structure of the globe under our feet or the nature of the outward world, but to make known to us the structure and constitutions of our own hearts and minds, the nature and worth of the inner world, and the character of the God who made it. While then we have this great light shining to us out of the Word of God, we need care little for
Page:God Manifest.djvu/314
