I believe that to-day all manner of evil passions are fostered,
and all the finer motions of the human spirit are retarded, by
the habit of reading those savage old books of the Jews as the
word of God.

I do not think the Bible, in its present form, is a fit book to
place in the hands of children, and it certainly is not a fit book
to send out for the "salvation" of savage and ignorant people.




OUR HEAVENLY FATHER


The Rev. T. Rhondda Williams, in _Shall We Understand the Bible?_
shows very clearly the gradual evolution of the idea of God amongst
the Jews from a lower to a higher conception.

Having dealt with the lower conception, let us now consider the higher.

The highest conception of God is supposed to be the Christian
conception of God as a Heavenly Father. This conception credits
the Supreme Being with supernal tenderness and mercy--"God is Love."
That is a very lofty, poetical, and gratifying conception, but it
is open to one fatal objection--it is not true.

For this Heavenly Father, whose nature is Love, is also the All-knowing
and All-powerful Creator of the world.