ents the
characteristics of the several writers. The truths revealed are all "given
by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16); yet they are expressed in the words
of men. The Infinite One by His Holy Spirit has shed light into the minds
and hearts of His servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols and
figures; and those to whom the truth was thus revealed, have themselves
embodied the thought in human language.

The ten commandments were spoken by God Himself, and were written by His
own hand. They are of divine, and not of human composition. But the Bible,
with its God-given truths expressed in the language of men, presents a
union of the divine and the human. Such a union existed in the nature of
Christ, who was the Son of God and the Son of man. Thus it is true of the
Bible, as it was of Christ, that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us." John 1:14.

Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in rank and
occupation, and in mental and spiritual endowments, the books of the Bible
present a wide contrast in style, as well as a diversity in the nature of
the subjects unfolded. Different forms of expression are employed by
different writers; often the same truth is more strikingly presented by
one than by another. And as several writers present a subject under varied
aspects and relations, there may appear, to the superficial, careless, or
prejudiced reader, to be discrepancy or contradiction, where the
thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer insight, discerns the
underlying harmony.

As presented through different individuals, the truth is brought out in
its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed with one phase
of the subject; he grasps those points that harmonize with his experience
or with his power of perception and appreciation; another seizes upon a
different phase; and each, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, presents
what is most forcibly impressed upon his own mind--a different aspect of
the truth in each, but a perfect harmony through all. And the truths thus
revealed unite to form a perfect whole, adapted to meet the wants of men
in all the circumstances and experiences of life.

God has been pleased to communicate His truth to the world by human
agencies, and He Himself, by His Holy Spirit, qualified men and enabled
them to do this work. He guided the mind in the selection of what to speak
and what to write. The treasure was intrusted to earthen vessels, yet it
is