(To the Editor of the " Witness," Montreal.)

Sir,-The letter of Mr. H. on the "Higher Criticism,"in your issue of last Saturday, has suggested some thoughts to me for which I crave a small space in your paper.

The writer has given us some of his experiences in connection with the Bible, from the loyal belief of childhood through the struggles of later years, till he has reached what I suppose he would call the "solid ground of reverent higher criticism."May I give the experience of Another from early youth up to the time of His departure from this world, and crave for it the careful and prayerful attention of the reader? Your correspondent speaks of not being able to remember when he expected to lead other than a Christian life, and of having made a public profession at the age of twelve years. The Lord Jesus could say, "Thou didst make Me hope when I was upon My mother's breasts" (Psa. 22:6). When He was about twelve years of age He went up with His parents to Jerusalem, and on their returning He remained for a time, and was found by them in the temple with the teachers of the law, "both hearing them, and asking them questions" (Luke 2:46). In answer to the solicitous question of His mother, He replied, "How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" Here is one whom, I would fain believe, your correspondent would recognize in the fullest way as having an experience as far beyond his as the heaven is above the earth-Jesus, the Son of God.

No one can question, who has thoughtfully read the four Gospels, that absolute faith in the word of God as being that, and only that, marked our Lord's attitude towards the Scriptures. When He was tempted by Satan His only and sufficient reply was from the Scriptures, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God " (Matt. 4:4). In enunciating the principles of the Kingdom of heaven, He rests all that He has to say upon the law and the prophets. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled" (Matt. 5:17, 18).

Thus the time of temptation with Him was not a period of unrest about the word of God; it was the assault of Satan against One who never for one moment had a thought of self-will or unbelief. Therefore, when the time of His public ministry came, He reiterated and emphasized the absolute and divine authority of the word of God. That which your correspondent calls "Christ's higher criticism" was not a denial of the Word written, but an amplification of it:hatred was murder; a lustful look was adultery. For the hardness of their hearts Moses, in the law, permitted divorce under certain limitations. Our Lord reasserts the original word as to man and wife (Matt. 19:3-9).This was not a denial of the inspiration of the permission given by Moses, but showing that under the rule of the kingdom of grace a still closer conformity to God's will was to be had. And so with all the contrasts between law and grace. The holiness secured by the latter was deeper and wider reaching than that even demanded outwardly by the law. This is a wide subject, and will repay prayerful, reverent study. If the purpose of God is seen in it all, there will be no difficulty, only an adoring sense of His wisdom and goodness and love. But, if with higher critics, men begin by denying the inspiration of the word of God, they put out the light divine which love has given to be our guide.

Your correspondent rightly says the writers of the Scriptures were men separated from each other by time, circumstances, and knowledge, and then wrongly argues that they could not be expected to speak without human error. Our Lord quotes freely from Moses, David, and the prophets, without a hint of anything, but divine truth being in their writings. The life of Abraham was a reality to Him, and so Was the account of Jonah in the whale's belly. He quotes a rather obscure passage from the Psalms (82:6):"I said ye are gods," and in explaining it declares, " The Scripture cannot be broken " (John 10:34-36).And this absolute faith in every word of God marked His entire life, never more so than when about to go to the cross for our redemption, He refuses to ask His Father for defense (Matt. 26:54), and as He hung there upon the cross said, "I thirst," "that the Scripture might be fulfilled "(John 19:28). Nor does this loyalty to the word of God stop there, but after His resurrection He still turns His disciples to it:" These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets and in the Psalms' (the well-known threefold division of the Hebrew Scriptures) "concerning Me " (Luke 24:44).

This briefly is the "experience " of the Lord Jesus Christ in connection with the Bible. The writer speaks as though he loved Him; is there not an appeal from Him, the Saviour and Lord, to hear only the Shepherd's voice, and not that of "sages of the latter day," who refuse His testimony:"If ye believe not his (Moses) writings, how shall ye believe My words?" (John 5:47). S. R.