Study of the Bible.

Prof. Lyon spoke last evening on the Study of the Bible. In the introduction he described the three views regarding the origin of the Bible. One of these treats the book as a revelation, the very words of God. A second denies the divine element altogether and points to what it considers the unscientific, unhistorical and impracticable elements of the book. The third, an intermediate view, finds the unique element of the Bible in the peculiar mission of the Hebrews as the religious teachers of the world, and in the remarkable work of the Bible in the history of civilization.

After these definitions the speaker considered the motives which lead to a study of the Bible. These motives were explained as the scientific, the polemical, the literary, the homiletical, and the devotional. The last-named was declared to be the highest and noblest use of the Bible, since it results in quickening the best impulses of the student. The need of the hour is not so much instruction as inspiration.