Thus the book reveals the fact that faith is the basis upon which God can work His will in man, and upon which man can realize the will of God. All this is carried out in greater detail in subsequent books of the Bible, but this is the simple and almost overwhelming message of Genesis to the men of this age. First, that man is not wholly of the dust, but that between him and God there is immediateness of relationship; and secondly, that man only finds himself, and realizes the true meaning of his own life as he places his confidence in God, and obeys Him with unquestioning loyalty.

Hear, then, the final message of the book. Oh, man, thou art of God. Thou canst only enter into thine own life and realize it as thy confidence is reposed in Him, and thy obedience is yielded to Him. That is the truth which this book utters to all men as a philosophy of life. To those who have fallen, and are excluded from their own life because they are out of fellowship with God, it declares that as they return to the principle of faith in God, they will find their feet placed again upon the highway that leads them home. Not that they will be able to rebuild the ruined temple, or reconstruct the

wasted years, but He will be able to do these things when they trust and obey. The book of Genesis declares that the just shall live by faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. These principles underlie every story, and constitute the living message of the whole book

I

THE MESSAGE OF EXODUS

N the book of Exodus nothing is commenced,

nothing is finished. To read it, having no

acquaintance with the book preceding it, or with those following, would be to be conscious of incompleteness. The first word "Now" might with equal accuracy be translated "And"; which immediately suggests relation to something which has gone before. The last phrase, "Throughout all their journeys," connects with what is to follow, for the book contains no account of the journeys referred to.

These facts help us to understand the message of the book. It is a part of a larger whole, and its supreme value is its revelation of the procedure of God in human history. There are two ways in which we may consider the story it tells. We may think of it as a record of the doings of men, or as the record of the doings of God. To adopt the former method is to be impressed with the sense of failure. The story of Moses is one of failure and weakness, save when he was victori