Chapter VIII. The Church And The Bible. 89 and do."137 It is true our Lord said on one occasion "Search the Scriptures, for you think in them to have life everlasting, and the same are they that give testimony to Me."138 This passage is triumphantly quoted as an argument in favor of private interpretation. But it proves nothing of the kind. Many learned commentators, ancient and modern, express the verb in the indicative mood: "Ye search the Scriptures." At all events, our Savior speaks here only of the Old Testament because the New Testament was not yet written. He addresses not the multitude, but the Pharisees, who were the teachers of the law, and reproaches them for not admitting His Divinity. "You have," He says, "the Scriptures in your hands; why then do you not recognize Me as the Messiah, since they give testimony that I am the Son of God?" He refers them to the Scriptures for a proof of His Divinity, not as to a source from which they were to derive all knowledge in regard to the truths of revelation. Besides, He did not rest the proof of His Divinity upon the sole testimony of Scripture. For He showed it First — By the [080] testimony of John the Baptist (v. 33), who had said, "Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who taketh away the sins of the world." See also John i. 34. Second — By the miracles which He wrought (v. 36). Third — By the testimony of the Father (v. 37), when He said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." Matt. hi. 16; Luke ix. 35. Fourth — By the Scriptures of the Old Testament; as if He were to say, "If you are unwilling to receive these three proofs, though they are most cogent, at least you cannot reject the testimony of the Scriptures, of which you boast so much." Finally, in this very passage our Lord is explaining the sense of Holy Writ; therefore, its true meaning is not left to the private 137 Matt, xxiii. 2, 3.