The Law and the Testimony.
The object of law is obedience, to hold in subjection, while that of testimony is to produce faith. Without law there can be no obedience, neither can there be any faith without testimony. Peter's testimony was to as many facts as he stated. Paul's testimony is so many facts verified. We believe Paul just so far as he wrote; we believe Peter's testimony just as far as he records it. The fact of Jesus' birth is no less true than that of his death. The testimony is equally credible, and the faith just as strong. The certainty of these facts which we are to believe is dependent upon the testimony. The testimony being true, the faith must be right. About this there can be no doubts, no weakness, no leaning over. The only infallible creed, the Bible, the whole of it, all of its parts combined, must be the basis of the faith that is infallibly correct. It is to our spiritual and moral natures what the sun is to the planetary system. Without the Bible, there is no sunshine for the soul. Without "the one best Book," there can be no hope of eternal life, no joy in prospect, no divine fellowship, no communion, no prayer, no glorying in the Lord. From it we learn what God has done for us and what he will do. From it we learn what man is, what he ought to be, morally and religiously. It addresses itself to our intellect and affections. These it seeks to mould and fashion. It forms character—makes man what God wants him to be. It makes white character, and before God gives men white reputations. We therefore accept the Bible as the only great Book of facts, grand and sublime facts. It shows what man is, what he must be if he would escape the doom of the wicked. It presents to him all the essential rules of piety and righteousness, and warns him of the awful danger of continuing in sin. It is not a collection of opinions and theories of beings no higher than ourselves, but a volume of facts revealed by the Supreme Ruler himself.—Brethren at Work.