By carefully comparing the Old with the New Testament we see that the law, moral and ceremonial, was a strong movement in the direction of Christ; but that, from the morals of Abraham and Moses to the morals of Jesus, the way was long and steep. We also see that the journey often deviates from a straight line, and that the road at times is almost obliterated by the drifting sands. It is, therefore, evident that one cannot select just any verse of the Bible and say behold! the perfect word of God. When Jacob reports to his wives that he has been able to cheat the father out of his flocks because the God of his father has been with him, neither Jesus nor the Christian conscience of to-day believes it. In the Old Testament times God was giving His chosen people as much of His law as they could understand. Sometimes the divine truth flashed out with great brightness; at other times, it was much beclouded by ignorance and passion. However, all the light that shines so brightly in the life of Jesus, began shining, with varying degrees of luster, through the prophets and teachers of Israel. It is just because the Scriptures enable us to see the _growth_ and the _vicissitudes_ of God's advancing light in the souls of men that they are so valuable to us. For this reason we should study all the Scriptures more faithfully, and more intelligently. The ceremonial law of Israel was their method of teaching reverence and purity. Though it strongly resembled the ceremonial law of their Semitic neighbors, yet it was a more useful method of worship for Israel, at that time, than if it had been farther removed from the customary worship of the day. When the Israelites fell into idolatry, they worshiped the other gods in much the same way that they worshiped Jehovah; and not essentially different from the manner in which the Canaanites worshiped their gods. But for enlightened peoples, this has long since ceased to be a useful method of worship. Slowly we are learning better methods; but we still have much to learn in the divine art of lifting men's souls to God. 5. The book of Job Passing by a number of historical books we shall next make a brief study of Job. I once had an interesting conversation with a middle-aged minister who, though uneducated, was a perfect gentleman. His mind was filled with an elaborate and ingenious scheme of religion falsely drawn from Job, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation. Tons of brain power had been consumed by those who developed the system. Yet a moderate amount of general information would have caused the entire system to fall in ashes. Ministers and Bible workers of this type still abound in astonishing numbers.