nd the moon
and the stars, which Thou hast ordained, can still be studied, even
when all the imitations of the universe have been swept away. We
desire for ourselves an emancipation from all that is merely
traditional in the religious life; we would refer back our lives to the
original thought of God concerning them. Our life needs emendation,
which can only take place satisfactorily by reference to the original
design. We are often perplexed in our study of Scripture, by various
readings and incorrect texts, and we wish that we could attain to
something like the possession of an exact copy, if it were only of a
single gospel. We read of Tischendorf finding the precious Codex in
the monastery on Mount Sinai, and cannot forbear wishing that, perhaps,
in some of the waste places of the East, there might be found a copy,
not of the fourth or fifth century, but, if possible, of the first.

Suppose, for example, that a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew, signed
with his own hand, should come into our possession, in which it should
be stated that "I, Matthew, sometime a tax-gatherer for the Romans, and
now a collector of dues for the Almighty, and one of them that are set
to ask, 'How much owest thou unto my Lord?' have written this book, by
the aid of the Holy Spirit; wherein may be heard many voices of the
Lord; and lo! some of them have already come to pass, and the rest must
shortly be done. And may the peace of him that wrote this book abide
also with them that read." The supposition is not so very absurd, and
if it could be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the learned (a
people hard to persuade) that the Book and the hand were genuine, what
a number of questions would be settled. An end would be made of all
glosses and emendations of the text over which there have been so many
disputes, and there would be an excision of all parts that have been
added by later hands.

But we must admit that the corruptions of the sacred text are
insignificant in comparison with the deviations that we find in our own
lives from the original thought of God concerning us. Registered and
chronicled in heaven is the mind and will of our Father about us;
registered and chronicled also are the defects which have marred the
handiwork of God in the soul. We do not always set out with the
intention of spoiling our souls, and of keeping them from being holy
books, in which he that runs may read; but as a matter of fact what
self writes