Page:Divine Selection or The Survival of the Useful.djvu/129

 great was the company of those that published it." Its divinity rests in the spirit of truth contained in and reflected through the literal narrative. Its purport is not to teach historical facts, but by means of historical facts and fiction to weave a garment that invests otherwise inexpressible, divine truth, and reflects it as the clouds do the colors that are in the sun.

The office of the Pentateuch would not be affected if there had never been a Moses, and the five books had been written by John the Baptist. Nor would the Word in one iota fail if it should be proved that Josephus wrote the entire volume, any more than the story of the Prodigal Son would lose its import if its historical facts were entire fiction.

The essence of the Word is entirely above and within the human authorship and form, just as a nut-meat is within the shell. Yet its essence rests upon the external form as the teach-