Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-03

the four gospels closes with very plain
and practical definition of just what the
gospel claims to be and what 1t does not
claim to be, and the purpose for which IL
is given. In all mans reflections on this
vast and mysterious problem-the possloil-
ity of a divine revelation to man. or OF
book written by God in human language
there can be nothing more helpful to bear
in mind than just these plain words of self
limitation with which the sublime gospel
of John the Evangelist closes. AS II not
content with the explanatory words uttered
closing the next and last chapter, these
words. to the same import:
And there are many other things which
Jesus did. the which, If they should be
written. every one 1 suppose that even the
world itself could not contain the books
that should be written. Amen"
1t is clear that the Evangelist means here
to define the necessary human limitations
in all revelations of the divine and infinite
TO man. and also to declare the sufficiency
for mans need of the revelation thus linn
tied. Let us examine these two points in
their practical relation to the experience
Of ourselves and mankind in general.
Some have found il difficult to think of
any book being really revelation from an
Infinite Being, or so written as TO contain
infinite and absolute truth. They say, and
very truly. that everything revealed to
man must be made capable of being seen
and thought of by man. whose capacities
are finite and imperfect, and therefore, in
revelation, the infinite things must lose
that much of their infinite and divine per-
lection: and hence they conclude, that God
cannot reveal Himself to mans vision or
understanding and still be the infinite God.
And they also conclude that as God cannot
make Himself known while He is God He
must therefore remain unknown ara un-
thinkable to men. and that in thinking of God
or knowing Him we thereby detract from
his divinity. Now the evangelist meets and
satisfies this objection perfectly; first by
admitting the premise and then by show
ing that the conclusions do not necessarily
follow according to human experience He
admits that the things done by Jesus Christ,
as God incarnate on earth, exceeded any
power OF man to write. He expresses this
imposslbllity by the simple and seemingly
childlike figure: II suppose the world itself
could not contain the books that should be
written II they told all that Jesus did,
Imagine the universe filed solidly full of
books and crowding out indefinitely more,
and compare these vastly many books with
lists hands he wrote, and we see what
he meant literally to imply as to the meager
portion OF revelation of God that he. the
evangelist, could presume to have given.
But this childlike and very human COM
parson means vastly more than this. The
world not big enough to contain the re-
violation OF an Infinite God, means the nmi-
tations which space and time, as forms or
human thought, put upon all things spirit
ual and divine. It means that man. living
in a natural world. only think in nat
ural images and methods, and that these are
necessarily limited and are rather the SYM
bols and Appearances of reality rather than
reality itself. And so we see that there is
profound principle involved In the Diff
ference between the finite and the infinite.
the human and the divine, the natural and
the spiritual that the beloved evangelist
OF eagle vision does not really declare
In this simple utterance about world not
big enough to hold the books that should
be written.
Written with what, It is asked? Written
with the things which Jesus did, 1t was
not merely that. The things which Jesus
did were SO impossible to record because.
indeed, they were too vast to find room
for"--that is, to find space for. In nat
ural sphere, And does not that mean that
they belonged to the spiritual world. nay.
10 the whole vast reach of the divine sway
over the world. natural and spiritual, and
could not be confined to any literal. nat
ural expression as an adequate or COM
plete revelation. We see therefore how the
evangelists word exalts at once the Lord
Jesus into that august and majestic figure
which His Gospel first presents Him-name-
ly. as that divine and infinite word who
was God. therefore the Infinite Wisdom
Itself. that wisdom by which all things
were made; how this infinite word became
flesh and dwelt among us. and how He was
the true light of the world, and how from
Him shone forth the glory as of the only
begotten OF the. Father. full of grace and
truth. This infinite divine light this pow
er of God-Emanuel was what made the
things that Jesus did impossible to write
out in books. 1t is because the Bible is a
divine book that its contents cannot be
wholly written out in the natural sense OF
the letter. any more than a mans words
can tell all the thoughts and feelings of his
soul. II is because Jesus was God that His
assumed human nature had to be glorificd
and pass away out of the realm of nature
into the hidden glory of the Father. 1t is
because what He did was in It's meaning
and in Its redeeming power divine and