The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-05-02

SIe1A anu p6tSOHdI- WHICH are tuG
carriers of Divine Truth, much of
which man can test, some of which is
beyond his present powers either to
analyZe or to comprehend. The BIZ
bic must have literary form and fol
low literary rules in order to be in
telligible to u.s. II polished and un-
usual in places, we rejoice IN its per
fections; If seemingly crude and COM
monplace IN others, we hail its con-
descension.
God did the human and logical
thing. God is an Author, just as any
other author. He seeks to become q
popular author. Every person who
wants to be known, or has a truth TO
tell, or viewpoint to advocate, or
would have his ideas become the cur
rent thought of the day, writes q
book about 1t, or a magazine article,
or gets 1t into the newspapers. He
publishes and advertises himself and
his Thought That Is what God did.
He had His own reporters and aman-
uenses- He put His thought in
to human hearts by the medium of
language, ing before US what He
would have ue 7nw, with enough of
mystery in it to II s IL the more
inquisitive and stL But the
important thing to rec ,bar is that
God is willing to have /, infinite
truth shrunken to the fini. easure
of human language, if thefe1y men
might have light. So the Eternal
Truth OF God was compressed into
words; that is, literature. Words,
while obscuring the full majesty of
the truth, rendering unintelligible
many phases of it, nevertheless are
the medium through which it became
known IN measure to man; that is,
IN mans measure The majesty of
the known vouches for the claims of
the unknown
The word of God is not only a rec
ord of certain important events in the
history of His revelation of Himself
to man, but also and especially
channel through which the grace of
that same God is offered to the world
Paul says, "Our gospel came not in
word only, but also IN power, and in
the Holy Ghost, and in much assur-
ance." That is, our gospel is not lit
erature only, but also a dynamo, an
| oracle, pledge or guarantee. But
| 1t must be approached and apprehend-
ed first as literaturei or it cannot be
these other things. All sound inter
probation of the Bible is based upon
the grammatical-historic method,
that is, upon the Bible as lit
! SIdIuIS ana
Gus interpretations are those
which ignore this logical and
| sensible method. The Bible as lit
erature is peculiar in this that God
| has provided this particular body of
writings as a special medium through
| which He makes known to men Ger
| tain needful truths, truths man could
| not find out by himself, but a know
| ledge of which is necessary for his
greatest spiritual well-being and
safely, truths whose operation it un-
der the direct administration of the
| Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, 1t
seems, cannot ''take the things of
Christ and show them unto US" as
Christ promised, unless they are
| first written owni Christianity itself
| depends upon a literature written in
| the language of the world it would
reach The Spirit must work in US
Iaccording to the laws of the mental
life, and God Himself respects these
laws of Hiw own making by con-
forming to them in His own person,
| in all His activities to redeem and to
sanctify man.
II. Christianity affects other lit
eratures.
Christianity, through its own liter
ature, has vitality affected the form
and content Of all literatures When
we speak of christianity and Litera-
ture," we refer to the influence of
the Christian-that is, the Biblical
viewpoint upon the world of letters.
The Christian viewpoint, as recorded
in the Bible, is obtained only from
Christ Himself. By christianity
we always mean His recorded views
respecting both theory and practice
This naturally includes the Old Tes-
lament Scriptures, on which Christ
was fed and with which He was filed
which he endorsed and never repud-
lated, which He came mot to destroy
but to fulfil" Christ has a very defin-
ite thory about His own person and
work, which He left for His disciples
to record, develop, and apply under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This
body of literature Old Testa-
ment on which He was fed, and the
New Testament which especially He
would have US add to our feeding
has done much to alter and improve
the content and form of other litera.
lures. Prof. Bowen of Harvard, says
''These books (the Bible) contain z
body of history, poetry and philoso-
| ply, the study of which has done
more than any other single cause to
modify the course and happiness Of
thinking men on the earth, and tc
color and direct the whole course OF
modern civilization. Their i'm
: print is on most of the literature
the philosophy, the legislation and the
history of the last LOO years" Lit
: erature is indeed infinitely Older
than Christianity, but Christianity
the comparative newcomer, raises lit
erature to the highest levels. Chris
: tianity is essentially religious and hu
: manitarian in its content Christian.
ity is the first friend to culture. To
= introduce these higher elements OF
) refinement into culture Of all kinds
: is surely included in the great tasl
) which Christianity has set for herself
. How Familiarity we quote the words
'tTheSon of Man is come to seek anC
: to save that which was lost" failins
J to notice particularly that 'fthai
: which was lost" is In the neuteF gen
| der. It refers not only to man, bu
: to things as we'll Much besides tn
soul of man was Iosti IN the merl
; theological sense. Christ's work o.
: salvation goes beyond the individua
and the personal and enters into tn
, general and the impersonal. Ideal
2 were lostI Whether or not we accep
2 the Adam aud Eve story and tn
| fffjaninp sword" that kent them fror