The Lord be with you.
Answer. And with thy spirit.] This may be taken as the mutual salutation of Minister and People at the close of the Praise Service. It is therefore to be said before they kneel. In the Confirmation Service, the Laying-on of Hands is concluded with the same words. Compare the close of our Lord's words to the Apostles, S. Matth. xxviii. 20: S. John xiv. 27: and the close of S. Paul's Epistles without exception; also, close of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 1 Peter, 3 John, and Rev. In the Old English Services (Sarum Use), it closed the Preces. In 1549 it was entirely omitted there, but replaced as it now stands, when, in 1552, the Creed was taken out of the Prayers, and placed immediately after the Canticles.
Let us pray.] This is the signal for kneeling, and commencing the prayers.
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CHAPTER XI.
REASON, HISTORY, AND REVELATION.
It may be said with truth that the Bible is a book which reads History, and the perplexities of Man, in the light of one great postulate, viz. that there is a God. The natural sequences, which are now partially explained by scientific discoveries, are in the Bible attributed to God's guidance: and of course there is no contradiction between the two. Science explains something of the ways of God's working: from it we learn something of His principles, and also of His methods: when we are surest of scientific laws, we are then confronted with the assumption that there is, or that there is not, a God. The Bible is the Book of Faith—Faith that there is a God. But, since it interprets History, it plainly recognises History, as one of God's Lesson Books. Also, since it appeals to Reason, and is consistent with Reason, it recognises Reason, as another of the Lesson Books. In the present chapter we indicate some of the Lessons to be learnt in these three Books of God.
Much has been written, especially in recent times, showing the marvellous working of what we call, at one time, the Laws of Nature, and at another time, Laws of God. There is infinite interest, to a thoughtful {101} mind, in the reading of Bell On the Hand, Argyll's Reign of Law, Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea, even when further discovery has improved upon their explanations. It must always be remembered that God has given us Reason and Knowledge, as well as Faith. Reason leads us to the threshold of Heaven, and Faith admits us to the Presence. History assures us that Jesus Christ lived in Judaea, founded Christianity as a Kingdom not of this world, and transformed the Kingdoms of this world: Faith admits us to Personal Communion with Him through the Holy Spirit.
I. (a) What Reason has to say about God.
The Athanasian Creed distinguishes between the teaching of the Catholick Religion and the teaching of the Christian Verity. A moment's thought shows that many who do not hold the Christian Verity, i.e. the Truth as revealed in Christ, do nevertheless hold the Truth as to the Unity of God. For amongst those who believe in The One God are Jews, Turks and many Hereticks, besides those Agnostics whose hesitation, about accepting the Revelation in Christ, is united to a readiness to believe in God. The Belief in One God therefore is more Universal than the Belief in the Holy Trinity. The word Catholick is used within the Church of those who hold the doctrine of the Church. But it may be also used in a more general sense of those who hold the supreme Truth of Godhead.