This was the quiet and serious remark of a young woman who had recently taken a Bible course in college. Like many others, she was judging the Bible simply as a work of history, literature, and science. Its progressive revelation of religion she had largely overlooked. The Bible is not properly appreciated, even as literature, without taking into account its main purpose; namely, to teach religion, and not to write infallible history nor infallible science. The biblical writers undertook to set forth, in a perfectly human way, the religious ideas and sentiments that God awakened in their souls. Through succeeding centuries these truths grew clearer and more comprehensive until they culminated in the life and teachings of Jesus. The most elevated religious ideas and ideals found in the Scriptures constitute, in my opinion, the absolute and universal religion. Ideas and ideals superior to these are not known to man. That anything _could_ surpass them, I cannot conceive. To convey these inspired truths to the world, the writers wisely made use of poetry, fiction, tradition, history, and physical phenomena; they conveyed the divine treasure to us in earthen vessels; and though the vessels are beautiful, yet they bear the marks of human imperfection. We all know that an illustration may clearly illustrate without its own truth being verified. Our young college friend had lost the Bible of her childhood but, unfortunately, had not found the larger and better Bible easily within her reach if only she had known. As already intimated, even the religion of the Bible was not fully revealed at once. Certain crude ideas lingered until they were pushed aside by a fuller revelation. To be able to follow the inspired truths from their beginnings in the Scriptures until they appear full-orbed in Jesus is of very great value. Their full worth first appears when we know all the vicissitudes through which they passed while struggling for a place in the sinful, stupid lives of men. The history of a truth is just as important as the history of a man; and fortunately the Bible furnishes a fair human history of every great religious truth. As the streaks of morning light grow brighter and brighter unto the rising of the sun, so the rays of God's light shine through the Scriptures more and more until the Christ appears.