[47] _Nineteenth Century_, July, 1890, p. 20. The bulk of his argument is directed against a position different from mine. Here I am only concerned with a single point. [48] The proper name 'Lazarus' is presumably used because of its meaning. It should be noticed that the story is not a _parable_ proper like that of the Sower or the Prodigal Son. [49] It may be remarked that to regard 'the flood' as a representative or typical expression of a whole class of divine judgments, helps us in interpreting S. Peter's use of it in 1 Peter iii. 19-20. There is no reason for an exceptional treatment of those who perished in one particular flood, but there is every reason why 'the Gospel should have been preached to those who died' under God's physical judgments of old times, supposing these, as we must suppose them, not to represent God's final moral judgment on individuals: see 1 Peter iv. 6. [50] These words are Bishop Steere's: see the _Memoir_ of him by R. M. Heanley, London, 1888, p. 404. He admirably characterizes the true function of the Bible in the Church. It is (1) a criterion, not a teacher; (2) a record of the proclamation of the revelation, not the revelation itself. [51] See pp. 29 ff., 229 ff., 337 ff. [52] Cp. pp. 338-341, where this is explained. The 'logical' order of belief is often no doubt not the order of experience. The Bible can draw men to itself, and through itself to Christ, before they take any heed of the Church. But to feel the power of inspiration is a different thing from having reasoned grounds for calling certain books inspired. SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. I. FAITH. PAGE I. Faith; its situation; its behaviour; challenged by novel experiences; alarmed at its own perplexity 3-5 Yet why alarmed? 5 Perplexity consistent with faith, when faith is stripped of its habitual corroborations from without: and summoned to submit itself to internal observation 5-8 For faith is an elemental act of personal self: and, therefore, like all such acts, e.g. of thought; will; love; is, necessarily, incapable of offering itself for scientific examination 8-11 II. What is faith? 11-12 The motion in us of our sonship in the Father; the conscious recognition, and realization, of our inherent filial adhesion to God 13-15 This intimacy of relationship is capable of indefinite growth, of 'supernatural' development 15 The history of faith is the gradual discovery of this increasing intimacy 16-18