authority. To place the example of the patriarchs or of David, who lived
when ethical standards and religious beliefs were only partially
developed, on an equality with the exalted ideals of the later prophets,
is to misinterpret those ancient Scriptures and to reject the leadership
of the Great Teacher. At the same time, studied from the newer point of
view, the examples of those early heroes are found to illustrate vital
principles in human life and to inspire and warn the child of to-day as
effectively as they did far back in the childhood of the race.

[Sidenote: _The Old Testament not a fetish but a spiritual guidebook_]

In these later days God has taken the Bible from the throne of
infallibility on which Protestantism sought to place it. By a gradual
yet benign process, which we were nevertheless at first inclined
bitterly to resent, he has opened our eyes to its true character and
purpose. Again, he has pronounced his _Thou shall not_ to the natural
and yet selfish human desire to transfer moral and intellectual
responsibility from the individual conscience to some external
authority. Again, he has told us that only in the sanctuary of the human
soul is the Infallible One to be found. Yet in order that we each may
find him there, the cumulative religious experience of the countless
thousands who have already found him is of inestimable value. The Old
Testament contains not merely the word of God, but, together with its
complement the New, is the great guide-book in finding and knowing him,
It blazes the way which, the pilgrim of to-day, as in the past, must
follow from his cradle to the throne of God. At each point it is richly
illustrated by the actual religious experiences of real men and women.
Their mistakes and their victories, are equally instructive. From
many vantage-points reached by prophets and priests and psalmists,
we are able to catch new and glorious visions of God's character and