and logic should teach one thing, and the spiritual sense another. There can be no spiritual sense that does not accord with the results thus far attained in the exegetical process. The true spiritual sense comes before the inquiring soul as the product of the true exegetical methods that have been described. As the differences of material become manifest in the handling of it, the doctrine stands forth as divine and infallible in its own light. Any other spiritual sense is false to the Word of God, whether it be the conceit of Jewish cabalists or Christian mystics.

7. The seventh and final effort of exegesis is Practical Exegesis, the application of the text to the faith and life of the present. And here we must eliminate not only the temporal bearings from the eternal, but also those elements that apply to other persons and circumstances than those in hand. Everything depends upon the character of the work, whether it be catechetical, homiletical, evangelistic, or pastoral. All Scripture may be said to be practical for some purpose, but not every Scripture for every purpose. Hence, practical exegesis must not only give the true meaning of the text, but also the true application of the text to the matter in hand. Here we have to deal with a false method of seeking edification and deriving pious reflections from every passage of Holy Scripture without regard to the time, the place, or the persons to whom it was written. This method of constraining the text to meanings that it cannot bear, does violence to the Word of God, which is not only not to be added to or taken from as a whole, but also as to all its parts. This spirit of interpretation, while nominally most reverential, is really very irreverential. It originates from a lack of knowledge of the Scriptures, and the neglect to use the proper methods of exegesis. It is born of the presumption that the Holy Spirit will reveal the sacred mysteries of religion to the indolent, if only he is sufficiently pious. He may indeed hide the truth from the irreverent critic, but He will not reveal it except to those who not only have piety, but who also search for it as for hidden treasures. This indolence and presumptuous reliance upon the Holy Spirit, which too often proves to be a dependence upon one's

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own conceits, fancies, and self-will, has brought disgrace upon the Word of God, as if it could be manifold in sense, or were able to prove anything that might be asked of it. Nay, still worse, it leads the preacher to burden his discourse with material which, however good it may be in itself, not only has no connection with the text, but no practical application to the circumstances of the hour, or the needs of his people. Over against this abuse of the Scriptures, the exegete learns to use it properly, and while he cannot find everywhere what he needs, yet he may find, by searching for it, far more and better than he needs; yes, he learns, as he studies the Word of God, that it needs no forcing, but that it aptly and exactly satisfies with appropriate material every phase of Christian experience, gently clears away every shadow of difficulty that may disturb the inquiring spirit, proving itself sufficient for each and every one, and ample for all mankind.

We have endeavoured to consider the various processes of exegesis by which results are attained of essential importance to all the other departments of theology. The work of the exegete is foundation work. It is the work of the study, and not of the pulpit, or the platform. It brings forth treasures new and old from the Word of God, to enrich the more prominent and public branches of theology. It finds the nugget of gold that they are to coin into the current conceptions of the times. It brings forth ore that they are to work into the vessels or ornaments, that may minister comfort to the household and adorn the home and the person. It gains the precious gems that are to be set by these jewellers, in order that their lustre and beauty may become manifest and admired of all. Some think it strange that the Word of God does not at once reveal a system of theology, or give us a confession of faith, or catechism, or liturgy. But Holy Scripture withheld these with beneficent purpose.1

1 "Since no one of the first promulgators of Christianity did that which they must, some of them at least, have been naturally led to do, it follows that they must have been supernaturally withheld from it. . . . Each Church, therefore, was left through the wise foresight of Him who alone knew what is in man,' to provide for its own wants as they should arise; -to steer its own course by the chart and compass which His holy Word supplies, regulating for

For experience shows us that no body of divinity can answer for more than its generation. Every catechism and confession of faith will in time become obsolete and powerless. Liturgies are more persistent, but even these are changed and adapted in the process of their use by successive generations. All these symbols of Christian Worship and Christian Truth remain as historical monuments and symbols, as the worn and tattered banners that our veterans or honoured sires have carried victoriously through the campaigns of the past; but they are not suited entirely for their descendants. Each age has its own peculiar work and needs, and it is not too much to say, that not even the Bible could devote itself to the entire satisfaction of the wants of any particular age, without thereby sacrificing its value as the book of all ages. It is sufficient that the Bible gives us the material for all ages, and leaves to man the noble task of shaping that material so as to suit the wants of his own time. The Word of God is given to us in the Bible, as His truth is displayed in physical nature, in an immense and varied storehouse of material. We must search the Bible in order to find what we require for our soul's food, not expecting to employ the whole, but recognizing that as there is enough for us, so there is sufficient for all mankind and for all ages. Its diversities are appropriate to the various types of human character, the various phases of human experience; and no race, no generation, no man, woman, or child, need fail in finding in the Scriptures the true soul-food, for it has material of abounding wealth, surpassing all the powers of human thought and all the requirements of human life.

III. BIBLICAL HISTORY

The work of the study of Holy Scripture does not end with the work of Biblical Exegesis, but advances to higher stages in Biblical History and Biblical Theology. In the department of Biblical Exegesis our discipline produces the material to be used in the other departments of theology, but it also has as its itself the sails and rudder according to the winds and currents it may meet with." -See Whately, Essays on Some of the Peculiarities of the Christian Religion. Fifth edition, London, 1846. Essay vi. pp. 349, 355.

own highest problem, to make a thorough arrangement of that material in accordance with its own synthetic method in its own departments. As there is a history in the Bible, an unfolding of divine revelation, a unity and a wonderful variety; so our study of Holy Scripture cannot stop until it has arranged the biblical material in accordance with its historical position, and its relative value in the one structure of divine revelation. And here, first, we have to consider the field of Biblical History.

It has been the custom in many theological schools to treat Biblical History under the head of Church History. This custom is based on a theory that the Christian Church embraces the whole historical life of the people of God, which ignores the differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament.1 Many theologians treat Biblical History as a section of Historical Theology and exclude it from Exegetical Theology.2 But the line separating Exegetical Theology from Historical Theology is not a line that divides between Exegesis and History; for Historical Theology cannot get on without an exegesis of the sources of Church History, and if Exegesis is to determine what is to belong to Exegetical Theology, then Christian Archæology, Patristics, Christian Epigraphy and Diplomatics should all go to Exegetical Theology as truly as Biblical History to Historical Theology. But in fact the adjectives Exegetical and His

1 The Church of Christ did not exist, in fact, before the day of Pentecost. The people of God during the Old Testament dispensation were in the kingdom of God as established at Mount Horeb by the Old Covenant, and there was an Old Testament congregation, a Church of Yahweh; but the Church of Christ came into being first with the establishment of the New Covenant and the gift of the Holy Spirit by the enthroned Messiah. See Briggs, Messiah of the Apostles, pp. 21 seq. There is a continuity between the Old Testament institution and the New, but the differences of dispensations should not be ignored.

2 So Hagenbach (Encyklopädie, 11 Aufl., 1884, s. 219 seq.). He regards Biblical History as the transition from Exegetical to Historical Theology. But he makes Biblical Archæology to include Biblical Geography and Natural History, and classes it under Exegetical Theology. This distribution of the material is without sufficient reason, and is inconsistent. Heinrici (Theologische Encyklopädie, 1893, s. 25 seq.) makes the Biblical Discipline and Church History the two parts of Historical Theology, and classifies Biblical History and Biblical Archaology with the Biblical Discipline. Cave (Introduction to Theology, 2d edition, 1896) uses Biblical Theology as the general title for all biblical studies, and includes Biblical History and Biblical Archæology among them.

torical do not adequately discriminate the departments. Hence the tendency among many scholars to use Historical Theology as the general term to cover both the Bible and the Church. There is at present no consensus among scholars as to the best terms to be used for the several departments; but there is a general agreement among more recent students that Biblical History and all related subjects must be classed with the biblical studies whatever term may be used as a general title of these studies.1

Under the general head of Biblical History we have first to consider Historical Criticism, the proper method of testing and verifying the material of Biblical History. We have next to study the auxiliary disciplines of Biblical History, namely: Biblical Archæology, Biblical Geography, Biblical Chronology, and the Natural History of the Bible. Most writers include all these, except Biblical Chronology, under the general head of Biblical Archæology, but without sufficient reasons.2

The third section of Biblical History will present the history of the people of God as contained in the Bible. And here we must distinguish Biblical History as a biblical discipline from the History of Israel as a section of universal history. The methods of dealing with the history contained in the Bible from those two different points of view is very great, and they cannot be confused without detriment to both departments. Biblical History limits itself strictly to the biblical material and uses the whole of that material from the biblical point of view. Whereas General History uses so much of the biblical material as suits its purpose, and organizes it, with all other material it can obtain, from the point of view of the general history of the world. It is also necessary to distinguish Biblical History from the recent discipline entitled Contemporary History of the Bible. This discipline sets the biblical material in the light of material gathered from all other sources. much as it uses all the biblical material and gathers all other material in the interest of the study of the Bible, it should be

1 See my article in the American Journal of Theology, January, 1897.

Inas

* So Hagenbach, l.c., Heinrici, l.c., and especially Benzinger, Hebr. Archäologie, 1894. See Chap. XXII. pp. 533 seq.