The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-02-15

truer OF wiser word was uttered in
that discussion. That is the final
test Of all inspirations. Does this
writing have power TO inspire men.
and women of earnestness and nobil-
ity of soul? Do the longings and
hopes and faith OF humanity find Mt.
terance In this book, in these scrip.
lures? II they do. there is no other
proof Of their inspiration and divinity
necessary. That makes any writing
sacred And 1t can have no higher
source or ground Of sanctity.
Where and what Is the real Bible
today? Is 1T limited to that collection
of literature which Is named the
Bible? We cannot say that without
repeating the old mistake of those
who murdered the prophets and cruel
fled the .Nazarene. The real Bible is
not contained within any canon. and
the time will never come when men
will attempt to define the limits of
the Bible. 1t is not necessary to label
the Bible. People will always discov-
or the real Bible. And 1t will always
be made up of those writings which
best and most completely utter forth
the ever-growing faith In humanity
In a nation whose literature was ex-
ceedingly small it was possible to se-
lect a certain number OF books and
call that collection Bible But in
this later day when the worlds lltera-
ture has grown almost beyond com
putation. no limits can be set 10 our
Bible. II contains many times sixty
six books The apostles of religion
number many multiples Of twelve.
You cannot read Victor Huso's Les
Miserables' and other great works of
fiction without being conscious OF the
fact that you are reading as holy
scripture as was ever written You
cannot know the lives and writings of
our modern prophets either OF the
past or the present without bearing
the same testimony to the impression
made upon you. as was borne by those
two disciples on the way to Emmaus
who said: Did not our hearts burn
within us, while he talked with us?
Now and then you will hear some one
deploring the lack of Bible study, the
decrease of interest in the reading OF
the scriptures How short-sighted
men must be who imagine that such
Is the case,
"The time never was in all the past
when so many people were searching
the scriptures as are doing that to-
day. But 1t is to larger Bible that
men and women are turning They
are finding in the splendid vision OF
Ruskin, in the wonderful revelations
of the men OF science, in the pro-
phetic messages OF Tolstoi and MAJ
zini and Morris and a host OF others
moral stimulus and a spiritual nutri-
ment for which they would look IN
vain elsewhere The task of the
church today is not at all TO attempt
to bring the world into acceptance of
the scriptures of the Old and New
Testaments as their Bible. Neither Is
II to define Just what constitutes the
Bible. 1t Is rather to find and emphar
size and eXalt every product OF hui
man mind that voices the spirit OF
justice and love. 1t is to propagate
the Idea that the life wee are living
is as divine life as was ever lived
that the hopes and aspirations which
even now are inspiring the souls OF
men and women and the longinSs
which are stirring in the common life
are as sacred n thing as ever oc-
Cured In this world. What you and
] need above all else to know is that
II any divine process was ever in op-
eratlon, IT is in operation now.
The thoughts and ideals which
burned In the soul of Jesus OF of any
other man that ever lived we're no
more true, no more divine. no more
authoritative. than are now filling the
souls OF men with faith in better
things. There was no more sacred
ness In the first century than there
is in the nineteenth. Indeed. there is
more of sanctity, more of truth. more
of everything that Is fine and high and
ennobling now than at any past mo-
ment of history And the sublimest
exhibition Of faith and religion is the
capacity 10 see and feel and respond
to the truth which lives at our sides
and in the very midst of our life
The movement of human life toward
justice and love In our relations TO
one another Is the very tissue out of
which a Bible is made"