,the ,right and ,wrong ,uses of the ,bible ,by ,r4 ,heber ,newton4 ,in it is contained ,god's true ,word4--,homily on the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,new ,york3 ,john ,w4 ,lovell ,company1 #ad #af ,vesey ,street4 ,works by the ,same ,author4 ,the ,morals4 #a4 ,vol4 #abmo1 cloth1 gilt1 #a4jj ,studies of ,jesus4 #a vol4 #abmo1 cloth1 gilt1 #a4jj ,womanhood4 #a vol4 #abmo1 cloth1 gilt1 #a4be ,the above all will be sent by mail1 postpaid1 on receipt of price1 by ,john ,w4 ,lovell ,co4 #ad and #af ,vesey ,st41 ,new ,york4 ,copyright1 #ahhc ,contents4 ,i4 ,the ,unreal ,bible4 ,,ii4 ,the ,real ,bible4 ,,iii4 ,the ,wrong ,uses of the ,bible4 ,,iv4 ,the ,wrong ,uses of the ,bible4 ,v4 ,the ,right ,critical ,use of the ,bible4 ,,vi4 ,the ,right ,historical ,use of the ,bible4 ,,vii4 ,the ,right ,ethical and ,spiritual ,use of the ,bible4 ,the ,gospel doth not so much consist in verbis as in virtute4 ,john ,smith4 ,liberty in prophesying1 without prescribing authoritatively to other men's consciences1 and becoming lords and masters of their faith--a necessity derived from the consideration of the difficulty of ,scripture in questions controverted1 and the uncertainty of any internal medium of interpretation4 ,jeremy ,taylor4 ,to those who follow their reason in the interpretation of the ,scriptures1 ,god will either give his grace for assistance to find the truth1 or ,his pardon if they miss it4 ,lord ,falkland4 ,rational ,theology in ,england in the ,seventeenth ,century2 ,john ,tulloch1 ,d4,d41 ,,ii3 #aha1 ,i3#cih1 ,i3#afj ,preface4 ,it has been my custom for several years to give occasionally a series of sermons1 having in view some systematic instruction of the people committed to my care4 ,such a series of sermons on the ,bible had been for some time in my mind4 ,with the recurrence of ,bible-,sunday in our ,church year1 this thought crystallized in the outline of a course that should present the nature and uses of the ,bible1 both negatively and positively1 in a manner that should be at once reverent and rational4 ,in the course of this parochial ministration public attention was called to it in a way that has rendered a complete report of my words desirable4 ,the views set forth in these sermons were not hastily reached or lightly accepted4 ,they represent a growth of years4 ,their essential thought was stated in a sermon that was preached and published eight years ago4 ,my positions concerning certain books1 etc41 have been taken in deference to what seems to me the weight of judgment among the master critics4 ,they are open to correction1 as the young science of ,biblical criticism gains new light4 ,the general view of the ,bible herein set forth rests upon the conclusions of no new criticism4 ,in varying forms1 it has been that of an historical school of thought in the ,english ,church and in its ,american daughter4 ,it is a view that has been recognized as a legitimate child of the mother ,church2 and that has been given the freedom of our own homestead1 in the undogmatic language of the sixth of the ,articles of ,religion of the ,protestant ,episcopal ,church4 ,it is distinctly enunciated in the first sentence of the first sermon in the ,book of ,homilies1 set forth officially for the instruction of the people in both of these ,churches4 ,unto a ,christian man there can be nothing more necessary or profitable than the knowledge of holy scripture1 forasmuch as in it is contained ,god's true word1 setting forth his glory1 and also man's duty4 ,the whole controversy in ,protestantism over the ,bible may be summed into the question whether the ,bible is ,god's word or contains ,god's word4 ,on this question ,i stand with the ,book of ,homilies4 ,these sermons were meant for that large and rapidly growing body of men who can no longer hold the traditional view of the ,bible1 but who yet realize that within this view there is a real and profound truth2 a truth which we all need1 if haply we can get it out from its archaic form without destroying its life1 and can clothe it anew in a shape that we can intelligently grasp and sincerely hold4 ,to such alone would ,i speak in these pages1 to help them hold the substance of their fathers' faith4 ,r4 ,heber ,newton4 ,all ,souls' ,church1 ,march #a1 #ahhc4 ,i4 ,the ,unreal ,bible4 ,the ,bible1 and the reading of the ,bible as an instrument of instruction1 may be said to have been begun on the sunrise of that day when ,ezra unrolled the parchment scroll of the ,law4 ,it was a new thought that the ,divine ,will could be communicated by a dead literature as well as by a living voice4 ,in the impassioned welcome with which this thought was received lay the germs of all the good and evil which were afterwards to be developed out of it3 on the one side1 the possibility of appeal in each successive age to the primitive1 undying document that should rectify the fluctuations of false tradition and fleeting opinion2 on the other hand1 the temptation to pay to the letter of the sacred book a worship as idolatrous and as profoundly opposed to its spirit as once had been the veneration paid to the sacred trees or the sacred stones of the consecrated groves or hills4 ,dean ,stanley3 ,history of the ,jewish ,church1 iii4 #aeh4 ,i4 ,the ,unreal ,bible ,forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us1 even as they delivered them unto us1 which from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word2 it seemed good to me also1 having traced the course of all things accurately from the first1 to write unto thee in order1 most excellent ,theophilus1 that thou mightest know the certainty concerning the things which thou wast taught by word of mouth4--,luke i4 #a-d4 ,this day1 in our ,church year1 calls us to think upon the influence of the ,bible on the advance of man into the ,kingdom of ,god4#a ,since the growth of written language great books have been the well-springs of thought and feeling for mankind1 from which successive generations have drawn the water of life4 ,since the introduction of the printing-press books have been1 beyond all other agencies1 the educators of men4 ,and of all books of which we have any knowledge1 those together constituting the ,bible form incomparably the most potent factors in the moral and religious progress of the western world2 and as all other progress is fed from moral and religious forces1 ,i may add1 in the general advance of ,christian civilization4 ,from these books the lisping lips of children have learned the tales of beautiful goodness which have nourished all noble aspirations4 ,over these charming stories of ,hebrew heroism and holiness the imagination has caught sight of the infinite mysteries amid which we walk on earth4 ,their touch has quickened conscience into life4 ,through their voices the whispers of the ,eternal ,power have thrilled the soul of youth1 and men have learned to worship1 trust1 and love the ,father-,god4 ,these books have preserved for us the story of the ,life which earth could least afford to lose1 the image of the ,man who1 were his memory dropped from out our lives--our religion1 morals1 philanthropy1 laws and institutions would lose their highest force4 ,these books have taught statesmen the principles of government1 and students of social science the cardinal laws of civilization4 ,the fairest essays for a true social order which ,europe and ,america have known have laid their foundations on these books4 ,they have fed art with its highest visions1 and have touched the lips of poesy that they have opened into song4 ,they have voiced the worship of ,christendom for centuries1 and have cleared above progressive civilization the commanding ideals of ,liberty1 ,justice1 ,brotherhood4 ,men and women during fifty generations have heard through these books the words proceeding from out the mouth of ,god1 on which they have lived4 ,amid the darkness of earth1 the light which has enabled our fathers to walk upright1 strong for duty1 panoplied against temptation1 patient in suffering1 resigned in affliction1 meeting even death with no treacherous tremors1 has shone from these pages4 ,in their words young men and maidens have plighted troth each to the other1 fathers and mothers have named their little ones1 and by those children have been laid away in the earth in hope of eternal life4 ,all that is sweetest1 purest1 finest1 noblest in personal1 domestic1 social and civic life1 has been fed perennially from these books4 ,the ,bible is woven into our very being4 ,to tear it from our lives would be to unravel the fair tapestry of civilization--to run out its golden threads and crumble its beautiful pictures into chaos4 99 99 99 99 99 ,yet we are threatened to-day with no less a loss than this4 ,the ,bible is certainly not read as of old4 ,it is not merely the distraction of our busier lives1 or the multiplicity of books upon our shelves1 that turns men and women away from these classics of our fathers4 ,men and women no longer regard these books as did their fathers4 ,they can no longer use them as their parents did2 they see no other way to use them1 and so they leave them unopened on their tables4 ,an intelligent lady said to me some time since3 ,my children don't know anything about the ,bible4 ,i cannot read it to them1 for ,i do not know what to say when they ask me questions4 ,i no longer believe as ,i was taught about it3 what1 then1 can ,i teach them8 ,a confession which1 if all parents were as frank1 would have to be made in many other households4 ,where it is still used in home readings1 it is1 in hosts of houses1 with the pain which mothers know when their children's honest questions cannot be as honestly answered4 ,such a state of things is sad and dangerous4 ,unless some way be found to read these books without equivocation1 they will gradually cease to be used in home instruction1 and the coming generations will grow up without their holy influence4 ,this state of things ought not to have been brought upon us4 ,the reverent reading of the ,bible alone would never have led us into such straits4 ,it is the old story of all human reverence4 ,that which we revere1 we exaggerate4 ,glamor gathers around it4 ,the symbol is identified with the spiritual reality4 ,the image becomes an idol4 ,the wonderful thing becomes a fetish4 ,so we end in an irrational reverence of that which is worthy of a real and rational reverence4 ,then we have a superstition4 ,superstition always results in destroying the rightful belief of which it is the exaggeration and distortion4 ,this is the common story of superstition1 from the totemism of savage tribes and the image-worship of semi-civilized peoples on to the heathenism of the ,mass4 ,men who felt the reality of a mystic communion with ,christ1 of which the ,supper of the ,lord was the symbol1--who felt the strengthening of their characters as their thoughts fed upon the words and life of ,jesus1--naturally came to speak of the sacrament in terms of awe1 which magnified the mystery1 until at last they bowed down before the veritable body and blood of ,christ1 and trembled with fear as the tinkling of the silver bell announced that the priest was bringing ,god down into a wafer6 ,they had really heard ,god speaking to them through the sacrament2 and this never could have done them harm4 ,but when they tried to express what they felt1 they exaggerated and distorted the simple symbol of the ,infinite ,presence1 identified it with the spiritual reality1 and set up a ,christian idol1 a civilized fetish1 which has done incalculable harm to men4 ,the spiritual truth became an intellectual lie1 and in every ,catholic country superstition has eaten out faith1 and reason refuses to reverence the sacrament4 ,the ,bible has repeated this common story4 ,the spiritual influence felt forth-flowing from it1 the voice of ,god heard speaking through it1 drew man's natural reverence to it4 ,in trying to express the reasons for this reverence he has over-stated and mis-stated the nature of these books4 ,the symbol has been identified with the reality4 ,the ,bible has become an idol1 a fetish4 ,bibliolatry1 the worship of the ,bible1 is responsible for the lack of the reasonable reverence these sacred writings merit4 ,this reasonable reverence can be recovered only by frankly putting away the unreasonable reverence4 ,we must exorcise a superstition to save a faith4 ,we must part with the unreal ,bible if we would hold the real ,bible4 ,iconoclasm is not pleasant to any but the callow youth4 ,it may be none the less needful2 and then the sober man must not shrink from shivering the most sacred shrine4 ,as runs the ,hindu thought1 the ,destroyer is one of the forms of the ,divine ,power4 ,god is continually destroying worlds and creeds alike2 but in order to rebuild4 ,whose voice then shook the earth3 but now he hath promised1 saying1 yet once more ,i shake not the earth only1 but also heaven4 ,and this word1 ,yet once more1 signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken1 as of things that have been made1 that those things which cannot be shaken may remain4 ,according to its root-meaning1 learning is a shaking4 ,every new learning shakes society1 now as in the days past4 ,as the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews saw1 it is ,god who is shaking society in every such new learning1 to the end that those things which cannot be shaken may remain4 ,man need not fear to follow in the steps of ,god4 ,there is danger now in shaking men's faiths4 ,there is danger1 too1 in leaving men's faith unshaken--unless the ,divine process of progress is wrong4 ,in the stress and storm of the tossing sea1 ,faith may go down in the waters4 ,it may also die of dry rot by the old wharves4 ,there is danger in rash utterance1 but there is at least equal danger in timid silence4 ,the time never comes when a reconstruction does not imperil some great interest4 ,none the less the reconstruction must go on4 ,delay in pulling down may make building up of the old structure impossible4 ,as the story of past civilizations sadly shows1 the gulf between the popular superstitions and the thoughts of scholars may widen until no bridge can span it1 and religion perishes in it4 ,it seems to me that the time has come when the pulpit must keep no longer silence4 ,its silence will not seal the lips of other teachers4 ,books and papers are everywhere forcing the issue upon our generation4 ,men's minds are torn asunder1 their souls are in the strife4 ,it behoves the ,churches to remember that great word of ,luther3 ,it is never safe to do anything against the truth6 ,when the venerable cathedral1 in which our forefathers sought ,god and found ,him1 grows dangerously unsound2 when its columns have crumbled and its arches have sprung1 and its stout oaken timbers have dried into dust2 the guardians of the sacred pile must plan its restoration as best they can4 ,they must shore up its treacherous walls1 take out its dead materials1 carve new heads for the saints in the niches of the doors1 build up the edifice anew1 following faithfully as may be the old lines1 and striving for the old spirit4 ,when the scaffolding comes down1 we may feel a shock of pain at the strange raw look of that which ,time had stained with sacredness4 ,but the minster has been saved for our children2 and1 when they shall gather within its historic walls1 those walls will have grown venerable again with age1 and they will not feel the loss which we have suffered1 while as of old1 they1 too1 shall hear the voice of ,god and find ,his ,holy ,presence4 ,i propose to consider with you1 carefully but frankly1 the real nature and the true uses of the ,bible4 99 99 99 99 99 ,let us examine to-day the traditional view of the ,bible4 ,it is not easy to define the popular theory of the ,bible4 ,like its kindred theory of ,papal ,infallibility1 it is a true chameleon1 changing constantly in different minds1 always denying the absurdity of which it is made the synonym1 ever qualifying itself safely1 yet never ceasing to take on a vaguely miraculous character4 ,various theories are given in the books in which theological students are mis-educated1 all of which unite in claiming that which they cannot agree in defining4 ,the ,westminster ,confession of ,faith may be taken as the dogmatic petrifaction of the notion which lies1 more or less undeveloped and still living1 in the other ,protestant ,confessions4 ,this ,confession opens with a chapter ,of the ,holy ,scriptures1 which affirms in this wise3 ,the light of nature and the works of creation and ,providence 4444 are not sufficient to give that knowledge of ,god and of ,his will1 which is necessary to salvation4444 ,the authority of the ,holy ,scripture4444 dependeth4444 wholly upon ,god1 the ,author thereof2 and therefore it is to be received1 because it is the ,word of ,god4444 4444and the entire perfection thereof are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the ,word of ,god1 and establish our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof4 ,the whole counsel of ,god concerning all things necessary for ,his own glory1 man's salvation1 faith1 and life1 is either expressly set down in ,scripture1 or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from ,scripture1 unto which nothing at any time is to be added by new revelations of the ,spirit4 ,being immediately inspired by ,god1 and by ,his singular care and providence kept pure in all ages4444 in all controversies of religion the ,church is finally to appeal unto them4 ,the notion which the learned divines set forth so elaborately at ,westminster1 art has expressed in forms much better understanded of the people4 ,medival illuminations picture the evangelists copying their gospels from heavenly books which angels hold open above them4 ,a book let down out of the skies1 immaculate1 infallible1 oracular--this is the traditional view of the ,bible4 ,let me lay before you some of the many reasons why this theory of the ,bible is not to be received by us4 ,i4 ,this theory has no sufficient sanction by the ,church4 ,the ,catholic or ,o,ecumenical ,creeds make no affirmation whatever concerning the ,bible4 ,this theory is found alone1 in formal official statement1 in the creeds of minor authority1 the utterances of councils of particular churches2 as1 for example1 in the ,tridentine ,decrees and the ,protestant ,confessions of ,faith4 ,there is no unanimity of statement among these several ,confessions4 ,some of the ,protestant ,confessions of the ,reformation era state this theory moderately4 ,some of them hold it implicitly1 without exact definition4 ,one at least is wholly silent upon the subject4 ,the later creeds of ,protestantism vary even more than the ,reformation symbols4 ,such important ,churches as the ,church of ,england1 our own ,protestant ,episcopal ,church1 and the ,methodist ,church have nothing whatever of this theory in their official utterances4 ,these three ,churches unite in this simple1 practical1 undogmatic statement 7the sixth of the thirty-nine articles73 ,holy ,scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation3 so that whatsoever is not read therein1 nor may be proved thereby1 is not to be required of any man1 that it should be believed as an article of the faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation4 ,,ii4 ,the ,bible nowhere makes any such claim of infallibility for itself4 ,the prophets did indeed use the habitual formula1 ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,so did the false prophets1 as well as the true4 ,it was the common formula of prophetism1 indeed1 of the ,easterns generally when delivering themselves of messages that burned in their souls4 ,the eastern mind assigns directly to ,god actions and influences which we ,westerns assign to secondary causes4 ,we are scientific1 they are poetic4 ,we reach truth by reasonings1 they by intuitions4 ,no one can follow the processes of the intuitions4 ,to the mystic mind they are immediate illuminations from on high1 inspirations of the ,spirit of ,god4 ,in the realm of law we trace the action of natural forces1 and are apt to think there is nothing more4 ,in the realm of the unknown we feel the supernatural1 and are apt to think it all in all4 ,the great prophets themselves did not accept this language of other prophets unquestioningly4 ,they denied the claim unhesitatingly when satisfied that the messages were not from on high4 ,they distinguished between those who came in the name of the ,lord2 and so must we4 ,they tried the spirits whether they were of ,god2 bidding us therefore do the same4 ,tried by the severest scrutiny of successive centuries1 of different races1 the great prophets prove to have spoken truly when they declared1 of their ethical and spiritual messages1 ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,if ever messages from on high have come to men1 if ever the ,spirit of ,god has spoken in the spirit of man1 it was in the minds of these men of the spirit4 ,but they made no claim to infallibility1 or if they did1 took pains to disprove it4 ,every prophet who goes beyond ethical and religious instruction1 and ventures into predictions1 makes mistakes1 and leaves his errors recorded for our warning4 ,we must try even the inspired men1 and when1 overstepping their limitations1 they err1 we must say1 ,thus saith ,isaiah1 ,thus saith ,jeremiah4 ,no biblical writer shows any consciousness of such supernatural influences upon him in his work as insured its infallibility4 ,nearly all these authors begin and end their books without any reference to themselves or their work4 ,the writer of the ,gospel according to ,luke thus prefaces his book3 ,forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us1 even as they delivered them unto us which from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word1 it seemed good to me also1 having traced the course of all things accurately from the first1 to write unto thee in order1 most excellent ,theophilus1 that thou mightest know the certainty concerning the things which thou wast taught by word of mouth4 ,this is the only personal preface to any of the ,gospels1 and it is thoroughly human4 ,there is not even such an invocation as introduces ,milton's great poem4 ,these writers at times1 after the fashion of the older prophets1 affirm that they speak with divine authority2 but they also as expressly disclaim such authority in other places4 ,st4 ,paul is sure1 in one matter referred to him1 of the mind of ,god1 and writes3 ,unto the married ,i command1 yet not ,i1 but the ,lord1 etc4#b ,immediately after he writes1 as having no such assurance3 ,to the rest speak ,i1 not the ,lord4#c ,later on in the same letter he is so uncertain as to add to his judgment3 ,and ,i think also that ,i have the spirit of ,god4#d ,again1 in the same connection1 being conscious of no divine authorization1 he gives his own opinion as such3 ,now1 concerning virgins ,i have no commandment of the ,lord1 but ,i give my judgment4#e ,eighteen hundred years after he wrote1 men insist that they know more about ,st4 ,paul's inspirations than he did himself4 ,against his modest1 cautious discriminations1 our doctors set up their theory of the ,bible1 clothe all his utterances with the divine authority1 and honor him with an infallibility which he explicitly disclaims4 ,the ,new ,testament writers use language which seems1 to our theory-spectacled eyes1 to ascribe an infallible inspiration to the ,old ,testament books4 ,but the words have no such weight4 ,the ,epistle to the ,hebrews opens with the words3 ,god1 who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets1 etc4#f ,the author of the ,second ,epistle of ,peter writes3 ,for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man2 but holy men of ,god spake as they were moved by the ,holy ,ghost4#g ,such passages as these command the instant assent of all who reverence an ethical and spiritual inspiration in the prophets1 and a real revelation through them1 and they command no other belief4 ,in the first ,epistle ,general of ,peter we read3 ,concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you2 searching what time or what manner of time the spirit of ,christ which was in them did point unto1 when it testified beforehand the sufferings of ,christ and the glories that should follow them4#h ,any idea of a progressive revelation implies that there was a light coming on into the world1 which to them of olden time showed dimly a mystery into which they strove to look further4 ,a vision of ideal goodness rose before them4 ,it rested above the ideal ,israel1 chosen and called of ,god for a holy work4 ,it shadowed that righteous servant of ,god with sorrow4 ,the lot of the elect one was to be suffering4 ,thus the world was to be saved to ,god4 ,this the great ,prophet of the ,exile saw4 ,christ's coming filled out this mystic vision1 and it is fairly translated into the terms the ,epistle uses4 ,the prophets were1 in such lofty visionings1 under an influence beyond their consciousness4 ,the passive master lent his hand ,to the vast soul that o'er him planned4 ,all other passages claimed in support of the notion of an infallible ,bible fail on the witness-stand4 ,there is positively nothing in the ,new ,testament which lends a reasonable countenance to such an amazing theory4 ,even the stock argument1 used when all other quotations failed1 disappears in the honesty of the ,revised ,new ,testament4 ,people who know no ,greek see now that ,paul did not write ,all ,scripture is given by inspiration of ,god2 but ,every ,scripture inspired of ,god is also profitable for teaching for reproof1 for correction1 for instruction in righteousness4#i ,this is precisely the claim to be made for the ,bible1 as against the exaggerated notions cherished about it4 ,it is good for--all forms of character-building4 ,its inspiration is ethical and spiritual4 ,the test of the inspiration of any writing in it is its efficacy to inspire life with goodness4 ,,iii4 ,the ,bible carries the refutation of this claim upon the face of its writings4 ,they thrust upon the attention of all who are not blind the traces of human imperfection1 of a kind and an extent which precludes any notion of a clean copy of a perfect script let down from the skies4 ,the ,old ,testament historians contradict each other in facts and figures1 tell the same story in different ways1 locate the same incident at different periods1 ascribe the same deeds to different men1 quote statistics which are plainly exaggerated1 mistake poetic legend for sober prose1 report the marvellous tales of tradition as literal history1 and give us statements which cannot be read as scientific facts without denying our latest and most authoritative knowledge4 ,i shall not enumerate these mistakes of ,moses1 and of others4 ,that is an ungracious task for which ,i have no heart4 ,it may be needful to remind the children of a larger growth1 who persist in believing a saintly mother's beliefs to be final authority in their studies1 that she is not infallible4 ,but one does not care to catalogue her mistakes and taunt her with them4 ,that which carries no such reproach in it1 but is1 when rightly read1 an honor to the ,bible1 may be pointed out1 as the ,biblical writers1 indeed1 do for us themselves4 ,the marks of a patient and noble literary workmanship are in every writing4 ,we can see this as our fathers could not see it1 because the glasses through which to read literature critically have been ground within our century4 ,literary criticism is the study of literature by means of a microscopic knowledge of the language in which a book is written1 of its growth from various roots1 of its stages of development and the factors influencing them1 of its condition in the period of this particular composition1 of the writer's idiosyncrasies of thought and style in his ripening periods1 of the general history and literature of his race1 and of the special characteristics of his age and of his contemporary writers4 ,every educated person knows something of the working of this criticism on other books4 ,you have read your ,shakespeare with intelligence1 and have felt many misgivings as to the genuineness of a few plays1 and of passages in many plays4 ,the brutalities and beastlinesses of ,titus ,andronicus seemed impossible to the author of ,the ,tempest and the ,midsummer ,night's ,dream4 ,the historic plays seemed to you often padded4 ,but there was nothing more than guess-work in your conclusions1 and1 you suspected1 in the more pretentious opinions of others4 ,you take up1 however1 the lectures of ,hudson or the charming study of ,dowden1 and you find that criticism is becoming1 not merely an art1 depending on certain instincts and tastes1 but a science1 building slowly a well-settled body of laws and rules1 and shaping already a well defined consensus of judgment4 ,the growth of the ,english language and literature1 the characteristics of society1 of language and of literature in the ,elizabethan era1 the idioms of ,shakespeare's contemporaries1 the manner of ,shakespeare himself1 in his different periods1 have all been so minutely studied as to form a distinct specialty in knowledge4 ,the ,shakespearian scholar is a well differentiated species of the genus scholar1 and speaks with a substantial authority upon what is now a real science4 ,you can follow this teacher into ,shakespeare's work-shop1 watch the building of his plays1 distinguish the hands which toiled over them and mark their journeyman's work1 till quite sure where the ,master's own inimitable touch caressed them into noble form1 and in what period of his life he thus wrought4 ,there is a new revelation of ,shakespeare to our age4 ,this criticism turned upon the great books of the ancients4 ,niebuhr led the way in reconstructing the early history of the ,romans4 ,dr4 ,arnold predicted that a ,niebuhr of ,jewish literature would arise4 ,he came duly4 ,his name was ,ewald4 ,successors have followed in abundance4 ,the principles and processes of literary criticism were applied to the ,hebrew writings4 ,in the present immature stage of this science of ,biblical ,criticism there are1 of course1 plenty of speculations and guesses1 of hasty generalizations and crude opinions4 ,time will correct these4 ,meanwhile there is already so much that may claim to be well established as to constitute a new knowledge of these old books4 ,the historical books are seen to be the work of many hands in many ages4 ,they gather up the popular traditions of the race1 carry down on their slow streams fragments from such far back ages that we have almost lost the clue to their story--glacial boulders that now lie strangely out of place in the rich fields of later eras2 songs of rude periods1 nature myths1 legends of semi-fabulous heroes1 folk lore of the tribes1 scraps from long-forgotten books1 entries from ancient annals1 pages torn from the histories of other peoples to fill out the story2 the whole worked over many times by many hands in many generations4 ,just as ,thirlwall and ,grote give us studies of ,grecian history from the standpoint of ,monarchism and ,republicanism1 so in the ,kings and ,chronicles we have studies of ,hebrew history from a prophetic and priestly point of view4 ,the legislation of the ,pentateuch1 supposed formerly to have been drawn up by ,moses1 appears1 as it now stands1 to be a codification1 made as late as the period of the ,babylonian exile1 under the influence of the hierarchical and ritual system1 then crystallizing into the form familiar to us all4 ,this codification1 like its famous parallel in ,roman history1 the code of ,justinian1 collated the decisions and decrees already in existence from various periods1 and reissued them as one body of laws4 ,it brings together the ,judgments of early days upon questions of civil life--the decisions of tribal heads concerning the rights of person and property1 the counterparts of the ,dooms of ,english history2 the moral rules of the local priests in a simple state of society2 and the ritual and discipline of a late ecclesiastical age4 ,the compilation is not very skilfully done1 so that we pass from the minuti of a priest's vade mecum in a highly developed hierarchical period to the civil statutes of a rude patriarchal society1 whose very crimes are archaic4 ,the prophecies break up into fragmentary collections1 in which the words of many different and obscure prophets are grouped under the name of some great prophet1 as was quite natural in an uncritical age2 the whole mass being arranged with little chronological order4 ,the ,psalter separates into several books of sacred song1 dating from different periods4 ,they repeat the same ,psalm1 and divide one ,psalm into two and join two into one1 on principles by no means apparent to us4 ,some of these ,psalms are of a highly artificial and mechanical structure4 ,there are acrostics1 in which the couplets begin with the successive letters of the ,hebrew alphabet2 double acrostics1 and other refinements of literary ingenuity2 the sure signs of a flamboyant and decadent literature4 ,the other writings of the ,old ,testament and the books of the ,new ,testament have yielded similar general results to the touchstone of criticism2 concerning which it is needless to speak further4 ,our critical glasses bring out1 clear and strong1 the fact of a human1 literary craft in these books1 the signs on every hand of the labor of brain and skill of pen through which the literature of a venerable nation1 and of the infant church born of it1 took slow shape into our ,bible4 ,such a work needs must have in it the traces of human imperfection2 and these limitations of thought and knowledge1 these mistakes of fallible writers1 are to be seen by every one1 save those who will not see4 ,it is impossible after such a study to rest in the illusion of an infallible book1 of which1 as a book1 ,god can be said to be the author4 ,,iv4 ,the growth of this theory is plain to us1 and discredits its authority4 ,the explanation that ,max ,mller makes of the growth of superstitious reverence for ancient traditions in ,hindu history is suggestive on this point4 ,in an age when there was nothing corresponding to what we call literature1 every saying1 every proverb1 every story handed down from father to son received very soon a kind of hallowed character4 ,they became sacred heir-looms1 sacred because they came from an unknown source1 from a distant age4 ,there was a stage in the development of human thought when the distance that separated the living generation from their grandfathers or great-grandfathers was as yet the nearest approach to a conception of eternity1 and when the name of grandfather and great-grandfather seemed the nearest expression of ,god4 ,hence what had been said by these half human1 half divine ancestors1 if it was preserved at all1 was soon looked upon as a more than human utterance4 ,some of these ancient sayings were preserved because they were so true and so striking that they could not be forgotten4 ,they contained eternal truths1 expressed for the first time in human language4 ,of such oracles of truth it was said in ,india that they had been heard1 ,sruta1 and from it arose the word ,sruti1 the recognized term for divine revelation in ,sanskrit4#aj ,how1 in later times1 the great writings of the ,hebrews came to acquire the same exaggerated sacredness1 we can also observe4 ,we read in one of the historical books of the ,jews that ,nehemiah founded a library and gathered together the writings concerning the ,kings1 and of the prophets1 and the 7songs7 of ,david and epistles of ,kings concerning temple gifts4#aa ,this formation of a ,national ,library was really the germ out of which grew the ,old ,testament4 ,it was a purely civic act by a layman1 but it expressed the honor in which the national writings were coming to be held4 ,it is coincident with this that we find a priestly movement to draw a sacred line around the more important writings of the nation4 ,tradition has credited ,ezra1 the priestly coadjutor of ,nehemiah1 with the first formation of the ,old ,testament ,canon4 ,the two traditions express one and the same fact from the secular and ecclesiastical points of view4 ,in the exile1 the stricken nation came to value and honor its national heritage as never before4 ,its literary sense was quickened by close contact with the civilization of ,babylonia1 whose great library constituted one of the chief treasures of the central city4 ,it was natural that on their return to their native land the ,jews should gather their race-writings and found a ,national ,library4 ,the genius of ,israel had always been religious4 ,its very literature was pre-eminently religious4 ,that their venerable writings should be received as sacred was thus wholly natural4 ,they were in reality sacred writings4 ,moreover1 a large part of these writings1 and that part largely drawn from very ancient times1 was composed of judicial decisions1 legislative codes1 etc41 around which veneration properly gathered4 ,this veneration was heightened by the popular traditions which assigned to ,moses the bulk of their legislation1 and traced it through him to ,jehovah himself4 ,during the exile a remarkable priestly development1 which had been running on through two centuries1 at least1 culminated in a completely organized hierarchy and an elaborate cultus4 ,in the process of this final development in ,babylonia the legislation and histories of the nation were worked over by priestly hands in the priestly spirit4 ,the law of ,moses was now for the first time completely set before the people1 and on the restoration to ,judea was made the law of the land4 ,it became1 therefore1 in a new sense sacred4 ,the fresh1 free inspirations of the prophets--inspirations most real and divine--died out in the exile1 smothered partly by this priestly development4#ab ,when no living prophet arose to make men hear the voice of ,god1 men had to hearken for that voice in the words of the dead prophets4 ,in the synagogues or meeting-houses which developed during the exile1 when the holy temple was in ruins1 and which1 having been found useful1 were continued in the restoration1 the writings of the prophets were read each ,sabbath4 ,the true writings of the chief prophets had therefore to be indicated4 ,thus came the canon of the prophets4 ,the freedom with which the author of the ,chronicles used the material of the older historians which had been taken up into the sacred writings1 shows that the sacredness attached to them had not isolated them into extra-human writings even a century and a half after ,ezra4 ,the process of exaltation was at work1 however1 and continued thenceforth through the national history1 increasing as the life of the nation ebbed4 ,it was the period immediately following the destruction of ,jerusalem by the ,romans1 which busied itself in closing the canon of ,jewish ,scriptures ,death bound up that ,bible4 ,no new chapters could be added1 because there was no more life left to write them4 ,in its dotage this noble nation became known1 by its superstitious reverence for the law1 as the people of the book4 ,learned doctors gravely taught their pupils that ,god himself studies the law for the first three hours of every day4 ,the superstitious exaltation of the sacred writings1 coincident with the lapsing life of the nation1 was partially responsible for it1 as it discouraged the fresh inspirations of the soul1 and suppressed all free spiritual thought4 ,the genesis of the similar theory concerning the ,christian ,scriptures repeats the story told above4 ,the formation of the ,christian ,church was a period of astonishing literary productivity1 commensurate in extent and worth with the importance of ,christianity4 ,it was a creative epoch in history4 ,the life and teachings of ,jesus stirred the minds and thrilled the souls of men4 ,the higher spheres brooded low upon our world4 ,spiritual influences of unparalleled magnitude were working in society4 ,the ,spirit of ,god moved upon the face of the waters4 ,writings of all sorts abounded4 ,they carried such weight as their author's name or their intrinsic worth imparted to them4 ,even the most valuable were not so prized or guarded as to prevent some of them from being lost4 ,paul's own letters suffered from this neglect4 ,had a few copies of these inestimable letters been made by the churches to whom they were sent such a fate could not have befallen any of them4 ,these writings were quoted freely by the early fathers1 who rarely cared to give the exact language even of the great apostle4 ,as the churches multiplied and organized1 the need of selection from the multitudinous literature of ,christianity was felt4 ,genuine letters had to be distinguished from spurious letters4 ,accurate knowledge of the life and teachings of ,christ had become a vital necessity4 ,the growth of legend and fable1 in the ,apocryphal ,gospels1 threatened to swallow up the memory of the real ,jesus4 ,a sifting process went on in the churches1 by which the unimportant and objectionable writings were gradually winnowed out and the wheat retained4 ,the ,christian consciousness tried and tested every writing1 accepting those which approved themselves inspired by inspiring4 ,in the course of time this thoroughly vital process1 through which public opinion passed upon the ,christian writings1 was recorded officially in the legislative action of councils1 and thus1 after many incertitudes and vacillations1 the selection of sacred writings was finished and the ,new ,testament canon was closed4 ,it was closed1 as in the case of the canon of the ,old ,testament1 by the gradual loss of free spiritual and literary productivity2 closed1 as the visions fade and the tides fall within the soul1 and the period of criticism follows the period of creation4 ,these writings became rightly sacred as the mementoes of the ,divine ,man1 and the counsels of the great apostles2 a shrine in which men drew near to the supreme manifestation of ,god upon earth4 ,but they became wrongly sacred also1 as the lengthening lapse of time isolated these precious heirlooms of the ,christian household into relics it was blasphemy to criticise2 as the falling waters of the river of life stranded high above men's reach the thoughts and experiences of the inspired fisher-folk of ,galilee4 ,in the ,dark ,ages1 when to read was a sign of distinction1 and to write a schoolboy history like ,eginhard's ,charlemagne was a prodigy2 when to lead clean lives1 and to labor as hosts are doing now for their fellows made a man a saint2 the literary and spiritual power of the apostles was nothing less than preternatural4 ,in the ,reformation the old story repeated itself4 ,in the days of fresh inspiration men surely did not fail to prize the blessed books whence had come their new life4 ,but the sense of the divine life in their own spirits enabled them to judge of the inspiration of the ,apostles at once reverently and rationally4 ,they did not hesitate to criticise freely the sacred books4 ,erasmus wrote of the ,revelation3 ,i certainly can find no reason for believing that it was set forth by the ,holy ,spirit4444 ,moreover1 even were it a blessed thing to believe what is contained in it1 no man knows what that is4444 ,but let every man think of it as his spirit prompts him4#ac ,luther wrote of the ,epistle of ,james1 ,in comparison with the best books of the ,new ,testament1 it is a downright strawy epistle4#ad ,the ebbing tide again left the second generation critical and not creative4 ,after the sages and prophets of ,protestantism came the scribes and doctors1 and they were concerned not so much with the manly religion of free learning which ,erasmus cherished1 or the ethical and spiritual religion which ,luther roused1 as with establishing ,protestantism and waging its doctrinal controversies4 ,they wanted an authority for faith and morals to set over against the authority of ,rome4 ,the age knew of no other authority than external1 extra-natural official authority1 the king by divine right in the realm of thought4 ,in the place of the authority of the ,church rose the authority of the ,bible2 an oracular1 infallible1 miraculous ,book1 instead of an oracular1 infallible1 miraculous ,church4 ,men could only sustain the elaborate speculative system they had spun out of the ,new ,testament letters1 by insisting upon the authority of the apostles in metaphysics as strongly as upon their authority in ethical and spiritual principles4 ,when dogma became divine1 the books whence it was drawn were deified4#ae ,we simply enter into the heritage of the men who spent two and a half years in elaborating the ,westminster ,confession1 the first chapter of which petrified this superstitious theory of the ,bible4 ,profoundly as we reverence these truly sacred books1 for the real revelation they record as coming in the spirits of holy men who spake as they were moved of the ,holy ,ghost1 and supremely in the person of the ,son of ,man2 and rightly as we recognize a ,providential purpose in the preparation of these books for the guidance of human life2 the history of these same thoughts and feelings in the past should warn us from renewing ancient exaggerations1 injurious to the best influence of the ,bible4 ,v4 ,this theory is incapable of a statement which is not self-stultifying4 ,to be an infallible authority upon all the matters upon which it treats1 a book must not only be guaranteed in its thought4 ,thought changes more or less in finding an expression4 ,no two statements of an idea or of a fact can be exactly alike4 ,there are no real synonyms4 ,interchangeable words have each a special shade of meaning4 ,the guarantee must cover the phraseology of the original language in which the book is written4 ,the words must be dictated to amanuenses4 ,the thorough-going verbal inspirationists are the only logical defenders of infallibility4 ,but the guarantee would need to be pushed still further in the case of a book written as was the ,bible4 ,the best stenographers make mistakes in filling out their abbreviations and in distinguishing the similar signs which stand for very dissimilar sounds4 ,early ,hebrew was a language of abbreviations4 ,no vowels were used4 ,consonants stood alone1 and their conjunction1 aided by memory1 was expected to suggest the proper vowel accompaniments4 ,vowel points were added to the written language centuries after the last book of the ,old ,testament was written4#af ,their insertion demanded a guarantee1 if infallibility was to be secured4 ,this guarantee must then have followed every copyist in the original tongues1 every translation of the ,hebrew and ,greek into other tongues1 every copyist in modern tongues through the ages before the printing-press1 every printer1 who1 since ,gutenberg1 has issued a ,bible--if we are to be absolutely sure of having an oracular and an infallible ,book4 ,the ,westminster ,confession1 indeed1 seems to follow its theory through most of these lengths1 and a ,protestant ,council in ,geneva in #afge1 with a magnificent courage of conviction1 actually affirms this supernatural direction of the translators of the ,bible4 ,but such notions are of the same nature with the preposterous traditions of the ,jews1 as to the translation of the ,septuagint2 according to which1 seventy elders1 separated from each other1 produced seventy versions1 which1 on comparison1 agreed exactly2 whereby men knew that the ,scriptures were translated by the inspiration of ,god4 ,with such tales we must leave the theory they seem necessary to authenticate in the lumber-loft of superstitions4 ,,vi4 ,this theory of our ,bible is1 in our age1 seen to be the same theory which all peoples have entertained of their bibles4 ,for the first time in the history of ,europe1 ,christian people have the knowledge by which they can correct their ideas about the ,bible1 in what may be called a comparative science of ,bibliolatry4 ,we know that nearly every race has had its own ,sacred ,book4 ,these ,sacred ,books are now within the easy reach of all4 ,any one can examine for himself the ,vedas1 the ,zend-,avesta and the other ,bibles of humanity4 ,every one can readily form a just judgment of these ,bibles4 ,the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world shines from many pages in all of these books4 ,there are profound thoughts of ,god1 noble ethical ideals1 deep perceptions of sin1 yearning desires for human good1 gleams of life beyond the grave4 ,there are prayers we could use here with a few verbal changes1 and you would not recognize their pagan source4 ,there are songs of praise which might be made our canticles4 ,there are parables that the ,master ,himself might have spoken4 ,but the light which shines from heaven through these books does not disguise their earthly character4 ,having no glamor of tradition over our eyes1 we can see them to be histories1 poems1 philosophies1 rituals1 counsels of religion1 hallowed by age into ,sacred ,books4 ,yet we find precisely the same notions current in each race about its ,bible that we have cherished concerning our own ,bible4 ,the ,hindu talks of his ,vedas as the ,christian talks of his ,testaments4 ,nay1 we find our conceits quite outdone in the dogmas of these heathen4 ,mohammedan doctors of divinity divided into fiercely contesting parties over the question whether the ,koran was created or uncreated2 the latter theory1 as most highly magnifying their ,sacred ,book1 of course1 becoming the orthodox doctrine4 ,these learned orthodox divines assured men that the ,koran was verily eternal and uncreated1 and of the very essence of ,god2 that the first transcript of it had been from everlasting by ,his throne2 that a copy1 in one volume1 on paper1 was1 by the hands of the angel ,gabriel1 sent down to the lowest heaven in the month of ,ramadan2 from whence ,gabriel revealed it to ,mohammed in instalments1 giving him the privilege1 however1 of beholding the heavenly volume1 bound in silk and adorned with gold and precious stones1 once a year4 ,we cannot mistake the fact that thoroughly human writings have been exaggerated into super-human scriptures by the deference rightly called forth towards these venerable books1 so influential in the histories of nations1 so potent in the lives of men2 and we can study the phases through which a wholesome reverence degenerated into a puerile superstition4 ,bibliolatry is pushed to a reductio ad absurdum in these pagan worships of their ,sacred ,books4 ,men will see their folly in the reflected light of these kindred follies1 and another superstition will disappear from ,christendom4 99 99 99 99 99 ,on these grounds1 as on others1 the unreal ,bible must be expected to pass away4 ,the ,church at large never properly authenticated it4 ,the ,bible nowhere calls for such a view of itself4 ,scripture reveals to a critical study manifest tokens of its human fallibility1 its thoroughly literary character4 ,we can trace the growth of this theory1 and account for it naturally4 ,as a theory it cannot be stated reasonably4 ,it is a theory which is shown to be a superstition in the bibliolatries of other peoples4 ,our bibliolatry is disappearing none too fast4 ,it has always wrought evil as well as good on civilization ,like all other anachronisms1 its original helpfulness to progress has now become a hindrance4 ,the day when it was of service is past for educated people1 whose minds are open1 and the evils it has caused flow from it still4 ,it has bred a superstitious use of the ,bible which has always made mischief1 though a mischief never realized as sensibly as now4 ,it has taught men to turn to these holy books and accept unquestioningly all therein recorded as authoritative on our thought and life4 ,it has barred all research which even seemed to contradict its history or science1 and has held ,europe in mental swaddling-bands1 preventing normal growth4 ,it has taught ,most ,christian ,kings to war with easy consciences1 after the fashion of the ,israelites in ,canaan1 and priests to sing solemn ,te ,deums over battle-fields where men lay weltering in one another's blood4 ,it has given slave-owners the coveted proof that the peculiar system was a divine institution1 and has founded the auction block for human cattle solidly upon the laws of ,god4 ,it has supplied ,joseph ,smith with a warrant for polygamy in the social usages of the ,arab sheiks three thousand years ago4 ,it has opened a sacred refuge for every lie and wrong2 no wildest form of which could fail to find some precedent within these ,hebrew histories1 which tell the story of a people's upward growth from savagery4 ,it has furnished an arsenal stocked with proof texts1 from which1 through many generations1 priests and doctors have armed themselves to war with one another2 exhausting in ecclesiastical and theological strife the holy energies of ,christian enthusiasm1 which might else have changed the face of the earth4 ,it has arrayed faith against reason1 by the necessity it has imposed of reconciling every new discovery with the cosmogony of ,genesis1 or the metaphysics of ,romans2 putting asunder those whom ,god hath joined together1 in the needless conflict of science and religion4 ,it has driven away from the real revelation held in these sacred writings increasing numbers1 in the growing generations2 deafening their ears by its irrational clamor to the voice of the ,living ,god which whispers in these pages1 through the holy men who spake as they were moved of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,it has fathered the doubt which to-day sits1 cheerless and chill1 within the hearts and homes of thousands who once rejoiced in the warmth and light of ,god1 but who now accept the alternative their teachers thrust upon them--all or none--and throw away the ,blessed ,book wherein ,god of old revealed ,himself to them4 ,it has made the sacred ark of ,israel so vulnerable that its defenders dare not challenge the great ,goliath of the ,philistines1 who1 year by year1 comes forth to strut before the armies of the saints in ridicule of that they hold so dear2 and thus it is to be held responsible for the loss of the young men who throw away their ancestral faith and go over to the apparently victorious side of ,unbelief4 ,it has slid in a false bottom to men's faith2 shoving in a supposititious revelation of miracle above the real revelation which is in nature and in man1 and in the ,christ as the ideal man2 and thus holds back that reconstruction of belief which ,providence is forcing on1 as ,it is shaking all things1 to settle faith upon the everlasting verities3 whereon religion1 planting its feet on the solid rock1 may lift its head into the skies1 and worship ,him in whom we live1 and move1 and have our being1 the ,god and ,father of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 ,our ,father who art in ,heaven4 ,in the name of religion let it die6 ,then there will be a resurrection1 and the ,bible will live again1 clothed in a higher form for our most rational reverence4 ,all that ever made the ,bible a ,sacred ,book1 lives on to-day and will live on while these books exist4 ,holy men of old spake as they were moved of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,they were most truly inspired4 ,the ,biblical writers recorded a real revelation4 ,these books hold for us the words of ,god4 ,the ,word of ,god speaks to us in the person of ,jesus ,christ4 ,these spiritual realities1 no criticism can touch4 ,and these spiritual realities make the ,bible4 ,book of our ,fathers1 venerable and sacred1 speak still to our souls those words proceeding from out the mouth of ,god on which man liveth6 ,,ii4 ,the ,real ,bible4 ,out from the heart of nature rolled ,the burdens of the ,bible old2 ,the litanies of nations came1 ,like the volcano's tongue of flame1 ,up from the burning core below1-- ,the canticles of love and woe4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the passive ,master lent his hand ,to the vast soul that o'er him planned4 99 99 99 99 99 ,himself from ,god he could not free4 ,the ,problem4 ,the most original book in the world is the ,bible4444 ,the elevation of this book may be measured by observing how certainly all observation of thought clothes itself in the words and forms of speech of that book4444 ,whatever is majestically thought in a great moral element instantly approaches this old ,sanscrit4444 ,people imagine that the place which the ,bible holds in the world it owes to miracles4 ,it owes it simply to the fact that it came out of a profounder depth of thought than any other book4--,emerson1 ,the ,dial1 ,october1 #ahdj4 ,,ii4 ,the ,real ,bible4 ,holy men of ,god spake as they were moved by the ,holy ,ghost4--#b ,peter1 i4 #ba4 ,men of the ,scriptures was the title assumed by the ,karaites1 a sect of devout ,jews1 who1 about the middle of the eighth century of our era1 threw aside tradition1 and accepted as their sole authority the canonical writings of the ,old ,testament4 ,seeing the good that the ,bible has wrought for man in the past1 we may well emulate the reverence of these ,karaites2 while1 seeing the unreality of the traditional notion of the ,bible that they held1 and the mischiefs it has bred1 we may well disown their superstitiousness4 ,can we gain a view of the ,bible which1 without stultifying our intellectual nature1 may satisfy our spiritual nature1 and leave us free to call ourselves men of the ,scriptures8 ,the only road to such an end must be that which our age is opening so successfully through every field of study2 as1 dismissing preconceptions1 it builds with care and candor1 upon solid facts1 the causeway to a certain knowledge4 ,let us take up the ,bible as we would any other collection of books1 and see if1 without assuming anything concerning it1 we cannot find our way to a rational reverence for it1 as real as that which our fathers had4 ,the lines of our inquiry have been projected by a hand you own as high authority4 ,the results of the survey are in the text4 ,real men wrote real books2 holy men wrote holy books2 and1 when we come to account for their holy1 human power1 we can only say--,the ,divine ,spirit stirred in them2 holy men of old spake as they were moved of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,the ,bible is a collection of many writings1 in many forms1 by many hands1 from many ages4 ,genuine letters these1 whether they be belles-lettres or not2 by every mark and sign most human writings1 whether they be holy ,scriptures or not2 the product of honest toil of brain and hand4 ,whatever more they are1 these are bona fide books1 of men of like passions and infirmities with ourselves4 ,what is there in these books which has led ,christendom to assign to them so high an honor8 ,i4 #a4 ,these books have the venerableness which belongs to ancient writings4 ,with what interest and care we handle a very old book1 and turn its well-worn pages1 thumb-marked and dog-eared by men of ,oxford or of ,florence in the ,middle ,ages6 ,unless we are the baldest materialists1 we will not reserve for the parchment body of some old book the respect called forth by its soul4 ,the latest re-embodiment of an ancient writer1 fresh from the presses of ,putnam or of ,appleton1 merits the honor belonging to the book given to the world so many centuries ago1 and fed upon by successive generations4 ,thus ,i look at the ,plato on my shelves4 ,how venerable these writings6 ,over their great words1 on which ,i rest my eyes1 my fathers bent1 as their fathers had done before them2 generation after generation finding inspiration where still it flows fresh and full for me4 ,thus every reverently minded man ought to feel concerning the ,bible4 ,the latest of these books is probably seventeen hundred years old1 and the earliest has been written twenty-seven hundred years2 while in the more ancient of these writings lie bedded some of the oldest fragments of literature known to us4 ,these books have been the constant companions of men and women through two or three score of generations4 ,the crawling centuries have carried these books along with them--the solace and the strength of myriad millions of our kind4 ,forms1 now turning into dust1 holy in our memories1 read these familiar pages4 ,men whose names carry us back through ,english history knew and prized these writings2 ,cromwell1 ,shakespeare1 ,chaucer1 and the ,great ,alfred4 ,when ,rome was the seat of empire1 ,constantine heard them in his churches4 ,aurelius informed himself about them4 ,in the lowly hamlet hidden away among the hills of ,galilee1 the boy ,jesus listened to these tales of ,hebrew heroism and holiness from ,his mother's lips4 ,judas1 the hammerer1 fired his valiant soul from them2 and1 while wandering in the hill country of ,judaea1 ,david chanted1 to his harp's accompaniment these legends of the childhood of his race4 ,the ,bible is hallowed by the reverent use of ages4 #b4 ,these books form the literature of a noble race4 ,the ,old ,testament is a ,library of ,jewish ,letters4 ,the germ of the collection was planted by ,nehemiah when he1 founding a library1 gathered together the acts of the kings1 and the prophets1 and of ,david1 and the epistles of the kings concerning the holy gifts4#ag ,this germ grew gradually into its present shape4 ,the ,apocrypha belongs to it1 and is rightly bound up in our ,bibles1 for reading in our churches4 ,these books of the ,canonical and ,apocryphal writings do not cover the whole literature of the ,hebrew nation4 ,many writings have been lost inadvertently4 ,many have been dropped as unworthy of preservation4 ,we have the garnered grain of ,hebrew literature in our ,bible--a winnowed national library4 ,it includes histories1 juridical codifications1 dramas of love and destiny1 patriotic songs and state anthems1 the hymnal of a people's worship1 philosophic writings of the sages1 collections of proverbial sayings1 works of religious fiction1 orations of statesmen1 and oracles of mystic seers4 ,the ,new ,testament is the literature of the ,christian ,church in its creative epoch2 the work still1 in the main1 of ,jewish hands1 as ,judaism was blossoming into a universal religion4 ,it is thus the literature of the most important religious movement civilization has experienced2 a movement whose unspent forces we are feeling still1 in the flooding tides of progress4 ,it1 too1 forms a winnowed library2 the siftings of ,sayings of ,jesus1 lives of ,christ1 apostolical and other letters1 visions and romances2 and holds the choicest mental products of this fertile era4 ,in it are gathered memoirs of the ,founder of ,christianity1 doctrinal and ethical treatises from the hand of the man who1 under ,christ1 was the chief factor in the early ,church2 similar essays1 in the form of letters1 from other more or less important leaders1 representing the various phases of original ,christianity2 a fragmentary and free sketch of the apostolic labors1 and the last great effort of apocalyptic genius1 in the ,revelation of ,st4 ,john1 the ,divine4 #c4 ,this literature of the ,jewish nation and of the ,christian ,church is intrinsically noble4 ,the ,bible has lost much of its fresh charm for us1 with whom its finest sayings are household words4 ,we parsed ,virgil and ,homer in our boyhood until the aroma of poetry exhaled from their hackneyed pages1 and we can scarce think of them now save as grammatical exercises4 ,the ,bible has thus palled upon our imagination1 through the uninspiring familiarity of early task-work4 ,but were it possible to read it in our manhood for the first time1 how the blood would beat and the nerves thrill over some of its pages4 ,we should then understand the sensations of a ,french salon upon a certain occasion4 ,our shrewd philosopher-minister ,franklin1 had previously heard the literati wont to gather there ridiculing the ,bible1 and had guessed that they knew little of it4 ,upon this evening he observed that he would much like to have the judgment of the assembly on a certain ,eastern tale he had lately come across1 unknown probably to most of those there present1 though long ago translated into their own tongue4 ,whereupon1 drawing from his pocket a copy of the ,bible1 he had a ,parisienne1 let into the secret1 read in her sweet tones the book of ,ruth4 ,the company was thrown into raptures over the charming tale1 which lasted until they found its name4 ,how fresh1 with the crisp air of morning1 are these tales of primitive tradition6 ,how naif these simple stories of ,hebrew heroes6 ,what so fine in religious poetry as some of the strains from the ,jewish ,hymnal8 ,what a noble drama is ,job1 the ,hebrew ,faust6 ,how wise the proverbial sayings6 ,what pure passion and lofty imagination stir through the pages of the greater prophets6 ,where are to be found letters like those of ,paul8 ,what biographies have the artless simplicity of the ,synoptic ,gospels1 or the mystic spirituality of the ,gospel according to ,st4 ,john6 ,no critic of our age has finer literary feeling or more dispassionate judgment than ,matthew ,arnold2 and he has edited the second section of ,isaiah as a text book for the culture of the imagination in ,english schools4 ,in the introduction to this ,primer he observes3 ,what a course of eloquence and poetry is the ,bible in our schools4 ,goethe shared ,arnold's love of the ,bible1 and was so constant a reader of it that his friends reproached him for wasting his time over it4 ,burke owned his indebtedness to the ,bible for his unique eloquence4 ,webster confessed that he owed to its habitual reading much of his power4 ,ruskin looks back to the days when a pious aunt compelled him to learn by heart whole chapters of the ,bible1 for his schooling in the craft of speech1 in which he stands unrivaled among living ,englishmen4 ,emerson writes3 ,the most original book in the world is the ,bible4 ,this old collection of the ejaculations of love and dread1 of the supreme desires and contritions of men1 proceeding out of the region of the grand and eternal seems 444 the alphabet of the nations1 and all posterior writings1 either the chronicles of facts under very inferior ideas1 or when it rises to sentiment1 the combinations1 analogies1 or degradation of this4 ,the elevation of this book may be measured by observing how certainly all observation of thought clothes itself in the words and forms of speech of that book4444 ,whatever is majestically thought in a great moral element1 instantly approaches this old ,sanscrit4444 ,shakspeare1 the first literary genius of the world1 the highest in whom the moral is not the predominating element1 leans on the ,bible2 his poetry presupposes it4 ,if we examine this brilliant influence--,shakspeare--as it lies in our minds1 we shall find it reverent1 not only of the letter of this book1 but of the whole frame of society which stood in ,europe upon it1 deeply indebted to the traditional morality1 in short1 compared with the tone of the ,prophets1 secondary4444 ,people imagine that the place which the ,bible holds in the world1 it owes to miracles4 ,it owes it simply to the fact that it came out of a profounder depth of thought than any other book4#ah ,even what seem to us valueless books turn out1 when studied naturally1 most interesting and suggestive4 ,jonah1 that stone of stumbling and rock of offence to the modern youth1 becomes1 when rightly read1 a noble writing1 full of the very spirit of our age4 ,around the tradition of ,jonah1 the son of ,amittai1 a prophet of whom we know nothing in other writings1 some forgotten author has woven a story1 to point a lofty moral4 ,jonah feels himself called to go to ,nineveh and cry against it1 because of its wickedness4 ,quite naturally he does not relish such an errand4 ,the prospect of a poor ,jew's reforming the gay and dissolute metropolis of the earth1 which sat as a queen among the nations1 singing to herself1 ,i will be a lady forever1 was not brilliant enough to fascinate him2 and the prospect of the reward he would get from the luxurious people of pleasure1 whose well-opiated consciences he should rudely rouse by calling their intrigues and carousals wickedness1 was only too clear4 ,jonah fled from his duty4 ,in his flight occurs the marvelous experience with the big fish1 that has so troubled dear1 pious people who have read as literal history what is plainly legendary4 ,after this fabulous episode1 the story takes up its ethical thread4 ,jonah finds that he cannot flee from the presence of the ,lord1 that he cannot decline a mission imposed from on high4 ,he goes to ,nineveh2 cries out against its sins1 as ,god had told him2 and1 as ,god had not told him1 predicts its overthrow in forty days1 as a judgment on its crimes4 ,but1 contrary to his expectations1 the city is stirred by his preaching2 and ,king and court and people repent and amend their ways4 ,whereupon the ,divine forgiveness is extended at once to these wicked ,pagans1 and the fate they had deserved is averted4 ,but in this turn of affairs ,jonah's prediction failed1 and so he was displeased and was very angry1 and took the ,almighty to task quite roundly1 for his lack of vigour4 ,was not this my saying when ,i was yet in my country8 ,therefore1 ,i fled before unto ,tarshish1 for ,i knew that thou art a gracious ,god1 and merciful1 slow to anger1 and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil4 ,what was to become of preachers if1 after they had threatened destruction upon evil-doers1 the ,most ,high went back upon them thus8 ,the later breed of ,jonahs may profitably study the after scene1 in which ,god is made to rebuke the frightful selfishness and hardness which1 rather than have one's theories belied1 would have a city damned4 ,thou hast had pity on the gourd1 for the which thou hast not labored 444 and should not ,i spare ,nineveh1 that great city1 wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand1 and also much cattle8 ,the moral marvel of ,nineveh's general repentance on the preaching of an obscure ,jew is as unnatural as the physical marvel of the fish story4 ,recognizing that the whole tale is a parable1 which takes upon it purely legendary drapery1 and ridding ourselves thus of all the questions which puzzle ,sunday-school scholars and theologians1 we are ready to read the meaning of the parable4 ,god is not the ,god of any one race or religion4 ,he cares for ,gentile as for ,jew4 ,he sends a prophet of ,israel to bid a pagan city repent1 that ,he may forgive it freely4 ,these ,pagans understand the message of the ,jew4 ,the commands of conscience are owned and honored by the heathen1 even more quickly than by the people of ,god2 whose own ,jerusalem never thus quickly obeyed a prophet's message4 ,the city whence had come ,israel's woes is held up as a pattern to the sacred city herself4 ,all men1 then1 are brothers1 partakers of the same moral and religious nature2 children of ,one ,father1 whose voice they hear in different tongues1 speaking to their souls the same messages of holy love4 ,thus read1 ,jonah becomes the protest of liberal ,judaism against the narrow1 exclusive tendencies of popular piety in ,israel4 ,it is the writing of some genuine ,broad-,churchman of the olden time1 proclaiming the high truths of ,human ,brotherhood under a ,divine ,fatherhood1 breathing that spirit of which1 long after1 another ,jew dared say-- ,and now abideth faith1 hope and charity1 but the greatest of these is charity4 ,if such be the hidden value of one of the least attractive of these writings1 we may well say1 with ,milton1 ,i shall wish ,i may deserve to be reckoned among those who admire and dwell upon them4 #d4 ,this literature has been very influential in the development of progressive civilization4 ,when the writings of ,greece and ,rome had been buried in the ruins of the ,roman ,empire1 the literature of ,israel was preserved by the pious care of the ,christian ,church4 ,the light of ,athens went out1 and the light of ,jerusalem alone illumined the dark ages4 ,the only books known to the mass of men through long centuries were these writings of the ,hebrews and the early ,christians4 ,thought was kept alive by them1 imagination was fed from them1 conscience was educated and vitalized through them4 ,for a thousand years there was practically but one book in ,europe--the ,bible4 ,when the long gestation of the middle ages was fulfilled1 and the modern world was born1 while the educated classes read the exhumed classics of ,greece1 the people still read the ,bible4 ,it gave1 in the person of ,luther1 the impulse that restored intellectual liberty and moral health to ,europe4 ,it has continued the best read book of ,western civilization2 the only book much read1 until of late1 by the mass of men2 the one foreign and ancient literature familiar alike to the plain people in ,germany and ,france1 in ,england and ,america2 the common well-spring of inspiration to thought and imagination1 to character and conduct4 ,it is the ,magna ,charta of our liberties2 the revered companion and master of the ,pilgrims who sailed the wintry seas1 and1 on ,plymouth ,rock1 building wiser than they knew1 founded a nation covenanting freedom of conscience unto all men2 a nation on whose ,bell of ,independence runs the ,bible legend1 ,proclaim liberty to the inhabitants thereof4 ,wherever society is found to-day in travail with a new and higher order1 the conception can be traced to the seminal words of the ,bible4 ,the institutions and manners of progressive civilization are what they are because in the heart of that civilization has lain the ,bible4 ,my brothers1 were these books nothing more to us than such ancient writings1 the literature of so noble a race1 a literature intrinsically fine1 to which our civilization owes so much of mental and of moral influence1 they should win our reverence1 and should shame the wantonness of liberalism1 falsely so called4 ,what if in these ancient writings there are ancient errors1 the marvels which a child age exaggerated into miracles1 stories of savage cruelty and brutal lust in rude1 rough times1 acts of superstition dark and dreadful1 utterances which to us are blasphemous ascribed to the ,eternal and ,holy ,one8 ,such faults are inevitable in the literature that records a nation's growth from barbarism4 ,were a man in the name of ,liberty or in the name of ,truth to hunt through ,homer1 to rake together all the errors and superstitions embalmed in these immortal sagas1 to haul up from the obscurity where sensible people leave them the lewdnesses suggested or described1 and then to fling these blemishes at the book in which the children of ,greece and ,england and ,america have read with tingling blood the tales which stirred their souls1 by what name would we call him8 ,by that name let him stand forth impaled upon the scorn of an age that has not lost the grace of reverence1 who1 mindless of majestic age1 the dignity of letters1 an influence unrivalled and benign1 associations tender and most holy1 upon these venerable and sacred books spits his shallow scepticism1 spumes his spleenful sarcasm1 and smuts them with his own sensuality4 ,let ,irreverence stay her ribald tongue before these illustrious writings1 and ,indecency vomit her own nastiness elsewhere than on our ,bible4 ,,ii4 ,the ,bible lays a yet deeper claim upon our reverence ,these books constitute the literature of a people whose genius was religion1 whose mission was its evolution into universal forms1 whose writings express the moods and tenses of that development2 whose history is the organic growth which flowered in the life of ,him who freed religion from every swathing band1 and gave the world its pure essential spirit2 after ,whom all races are being drawn as one flock under one ,shepherd4 #a4 ,israel's specialty in history was religion4 ,every people finds laid upon it certain necessary activities1 in most of which all peoples find their common tasks4 ,every nation must cultivate agriculture handicrafts1 trade and commerce2 must develop social1 political and religious institutions4 ,each people will1 however1 do some one thing better than the rest of its tasks1 better than it is done by other peoples4 ,each great race has some commanding inspiration2 some ideal which masters every other aspiration and ambition1 energizes its efforts and shapes its destiny4 ,it creates a specialty among the nations4 ,the real legacy of each great race lies in the works wrought in the line of its highest aptitudes4 ,thus ,rome developed a genius for civil organization4 ,she conquered the whole western world1 united isolated nations under one empire1 cleared the ,mediterranean for safe and free communication1 opened roads as arteries through the vast body politic1 established post communications for travellers and the mails1 carried law and order into every obscure hamlet1 consolidated a polity which1 by sheer massiveness1 lasted for generations after the soul of ,rome had fled1 and left to posterity1 in her institutes the basis for modern jurisprudence4 ,thus ,greece evolved a genius for art1 developed architecture and sculpture to the highest perfection the world has seen1 made statues thicker than men in ,athens1 made men more beautiful than statues1 sighed even after ,virtue as the ,becoming1 the ,perfect ,beauty1 left the world temples whose ruins are inspirations1 and marbles whose discovery dates the epochs of culture4 ,israel essayed to do many things that other peoples achieved1 and promised success in more than one direction4 ,at a certain period she bade fair to develop into a martial empire1 and to become a lesser ,assyria or ,rome4 ,a little later she seemed about to rival the ,phenicians in commerce4 ,about the same time she advanced as far as the ,greeks before ,socrates towards producing an independent science or philosophy4#ai ,but she found herself content with none of these rles4 ,she had a higher part assigned her in the drama of history1 to which her secret instincts resistlessly drew her4 ,her predominant characteristic was an intense religiousness4 ,everything in the life of her people took on a serious and devout tone4 ,patriotism was identified with piety4 ,her statesmen were reformers1 idealists1 whose orations were sermons1 like the speeches of ,gladstone in the ,midlothian campaign1 dealing with politics in the light of eternal principles4 ,legislation was developed through the judgments of priestly oracles4 ,poetry lighted her flames at the altar4 ,philosophy busied itself with ethics4 ,the ,muse of ,history was the ,spirit of ,holiness4 ,the nation's ambitions were aspirations4 ,her heroes grew to be saints4 ,the divine became to her1 not the true or the beautiful1 but the good4 ,she evidently had1 as ,matthew ,arnold said of ,john ,wesley1 a genius for godliness4 #b4 ,israel's literature became thus a religious literature4 ,her histories were written for edification4 ,they present the past of the people in such light as to inculcate virtue and inspire piety4 ,her poems are songs of pure love1 like ,canticles2 or dramas whose plot lies in the problem of evil1 like ,job2 or hymns in which the soul seeks communion with ,god4 ,the ,psalter is the hymnal of the temple choir at ,jerusalem4 ,the prophets are preachers of righteousness1 personal1 social1 political4 ,even the writings of her sages or philosophers are almost wholly ethical and religious4 ,no other people's literature is so intensely and pervasively religious4 ,other nations have religious writings as a part of their general literature4 ,israel's whole literary life was sacred4 ,there is scarcely a book left by her to which we may not go to feed religion4#bj #c4 ,israel's literature presents us1 in the various moods and tenses of her life1 with the various phases of religion4 ,the glory of a truly ,national ,church is that it takes up into itself every form of spiritual and ethical consciousness within the nation1 and exhibits in each successive school of thought1 in each movement for a nobler social life1 a phase of true religion4 ,this is the glory of ,israel4 ,religion never separated itself into an institution apart from the ,state4 ,there was no ,jewish ,church1 of which ,dean ,stanley wrote the history4 ,church and ,state were one4 ,sacred and secular history flowed in one common stream4 ,the history of ,israel was the history of ,judaism4 ,its choicest literature formed its sacred writings4 ,religion was never narrowed to a theory1 an institution1 an ism1 a sect1 a school4 ,it was as generous and as rich as the broad1 free life of the nation4 ,every factor essential to a noble religion was thus supplied from the sound and healthy life of the people4 ,the inner life of the soul was voiced in the hymns of ,israel1 to which we still turn for the inspiration of personal piety in our private devotions2 and which lift the public worship of the moderns as they swelled the souls of the hosts who waited in the temple courts at ,jerusalem1 two thousand years ago4 ,a cultus of character through ritual and discipline was elaborated by the priesthood in that wonderful system which1 rebaptized1 does duty still in the ,catholic ,church4 ,the true outer sphere for personal religion1 trained1 if need be1 by an ecclesiastical cultus1 was fashioned by the great prophets1 the men of the people2 who poured their passion for righteousness into aspirations for a true commonwealth1 in which ,justice should be throned on law1 and international relations be ruled1 not by ,policy1 but by ,principle4 ,natural religion was nobly set forth by the sages in ,proverbs1 ,the ,wisdom of ,jesus1 and the other ,writings2 all of which were characterized by a calm and rational philosophy1 that recognized the laws of life and fed the wisdom which obeys them4 ,even ,agnosticism1 in so far as it is the confession of the inadequacy of every interpretation of the universe1 finds despondent yet still earnest expression in ,ecclesiastes1 and humble1 hopeful expression in ,job2 and the silence of many of the noblest natures of our age1 which the churches brand as irreligious1 finds place among the phases of religion in their ,sacred ,book4#ba ,almost every form of strenuous ethical life1 almost every answer that earnest souls have found to the problem of life1 is to be drawn from the writings of this many-sided people4 ,thus their literature feeds a rich1 and rounded life of religion4 #d4 ,israel's literature presents us with the record of a continuous growth of religion upward through its normal stages4 ,religion grows like every form of human life with the growth of man himself4 ,it is coarse1 crude and cruel while man is a savage1 and as he becomes civilized--by which ,i mean something more than wealthy--it becomes intelligent1 reasonable ethical and spiritual4 ,the growth of ,israel from barbarism carried with this progress the growth of ,israel's religion4 ,in the earliest times which we can historically reach the ,israelites were semi-nomadic tribes1 slightly distinguishable from their kindred ,semites4 ,the religion of the people appears to have been then a commingling of fetichism1 the worship of things that impressed the imagination1 great trees and huge boulders1 with the worship of the various powers of nature1 the orbs of heaven1 the reproductive force of the earth1 etc41 under the usual savage and sensual symbolisms4 ,from such unpromising beginnings1 through the successive stages of polytheistic idolatries1 religion was gradually led up1 in the advance of the general life of the people and through the inspirations of a series of great men1 to the recognition of ,one ,eternal and infinite ,being2 the ,lord of nature and of man1 the ,father of all mankind1 ,holy1 ,just and ,gracious2 whose truest worship is the aspirations of his children after goodness4 ,hear1 ,o ,israel1 the ,lord our ,god is one ,lord1 writes the ,deuteronomist2 and thou shalt love the ,lord thy ,god with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might4 ,malachi1 looking round upon the manifold forms of worship of the various nations1 and discerning that through them all the soul of man was feeling after one and the same ,divine ,being1 makes ,god say3 ,from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name is great among the ,gentiles2 and in every place incense is offered unto me and a pure offering2 for my name is great among the heathen1 saith the ,lord of ,hosts4 ,micah asks1 ,what doth the ,lord require of thee1 but to do justly1 to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy ,god8 ,of this continuous growth of religion the ,old ,testament is the record4 #e4 ,israel's literature records the forcing forward of this growth of religion1 as by some ,power back of man1 shaping its ends1 rough-hew them as it might4 ,the ,niebuhr of ,hebrew history rightly pointed out this significant fact in the introduction to his great work4 ,the manifold changes and even confusions and perversities1 which manifest themselves in the long course of the threads of its history1 ultimately tend to the solution of this great problem4--,ewald3 ,intro4 ,a singular succession of great men arise to save and revive and reform religion in every critical epoch4 ,moses1 ,samuel1 ,elijah1 ,isaiah1 ,jeremiah1 ,ezekiel1 ,ezra1 ,judas ,maccabeus come upon the stage1 one after the other1 perform their several parts with singular aptitude1 and prepare the way for the next movement when it comes due4 ,the history of the people rightly read becomes a mighty drama1 in which the right man is never wanting at the right time1 and the action moves on steadily toward a climax4 ,the experiences of the people1 even those most perplexing to the faith of the nation at the time1 fit singularly into this organic evolution of religion4 ,the rending of the ,kingdom of ,david1 that blighted the fair prospect of a martial empire1 turned the nation aside from the false career on which it was entering4 ,the overthrow of the ,northern and then of the ,southern ,kingdom1 and the deportation of the people to ,babylonia1 seemingly the ruin of the sister countries1 threw them in upon their inner life2 and in the exile their religion found its highest reach of thought4 ,even that hierarchical movement which so quickly followed upon this bloom of prophetism1 and which to the superficial look seems only the arrest of life and the beginning of death1 reveals a legitimate function in the organic processes of the national religion4 ,in this priestly organization of institutional religion1 all free prophetic inspiration did indeed die out for over four centuries4 ,but even this was a necessity for the right flowering of religion4 ,the age was not ready1 politically or intellectually1 for the ripening of the thoughts of the prophets4 ,had they ripened then1 they would have fallen to the ground1 as the untimely fruit of a too-early spring4 ,four centuries were to be tided over before the political and intellectual conditions were found for the blossoming of this flower4 ,this holding back of the normal evolution of ,hebraism was the function of the ,priestly ,reaction--a curious parallel to the function of ,catholicism in ,medival ,christianity4 ,like the ,catholic ,church1 the ,jewish priesthood held society together when1 in the destruction of the political power1 there was no other bond of unity4 ,as in the ,catholic ,church1 the ,high ,priest became a temporal ruler1 the ,prince of ,israel1 as he was called2 and kept the sacred city still the seat of government4 ,as in ,catholicism the institutionalizing of religion that followed the period of free prophetic life was an effort to embody that life1 to incrust and thus preserve it2 and1 in the one case as in the other1 though the crust of institutions choked the further growth of spiritual religion1 it yet did keep it sluggishly alive within this hard bark1 through times that else would have proved fatal to it4 ,as in ,catholicism1 this priestly cultus really drilled deep into the natures of men the principles and laws and habitudes of ethical and spiritual religion2 and stored the force which1 when its rigid routine and fettering formalism became unbearable1 burst through this crust and opened a new world of fresh1 free life4 ,of this singular shaping of the nation's experiences to further the growth of true religion1 the ,old ,testament is the impressive record4 #f4 ,israel's literature thus presents the picture of a nation's patient1 insistent pressing forward1 through long centuries1 toward the fruition of its ideal1 the realization of true religion4 ,so continuous is ,israel's movement toward the ideal of religion1 so straight the line of her advance that it seems as though the nation had a conscious aim1 seen afar and steadfastly pursued by generation after generation1 unwilling to stop short of attainment4 ,it is the founder of scientific ,biblical criticism who thus expresses his sense of the wonderfulness of this historic movement3 ,this aim is ,perfect ,religion2 a good which all aspiring nations of antiquity made an attempt to attain2 which some1 the ,indians and ,persians1 for example1 really labored to achieve with admirable devotion of noble energies1 but which this people alone clearly discerned from the beginning1 and then pursued for centuries through all difficulties1 and with the utmost firmness and consistency1 until they attained it1 so far as among men and in ancient times attainment was possible4#bb #g4 ,the literature of ,christian ,israel records the realization of this long sought ideal1 the fruition of this organic growth4 ,the nation found the times ripe at last for the final process of this historic evolution2 the dead cerements of ,judaism fell apart1 and thereout bloomed that perfect flower of religion1 the religion of the ,christ1 simple1 free1 ethical1 spiritual4 ,the extant literature of this last creative effort of ,israel constitutes the ,new ,testament4 ,the ,gospels tell the story of the life of the ,founder of ,christianity1 clearly enough in the main outlines1 and embalm many of the words and deeds of the ,son of ,man4 ,the other writings of the ,new ,testament illustrate the working of the thought and spirit of the ,christ in the ,church bodying around ,him through the growth of a century4 ,in them we see that the long cherished ideal of ,israel1 an ,ethical and ,universal ,religion1 had at last incarnated itself in ,the ,master whose plans laid the foundation of this new ,order2 into which men were coming from the east and from the west1 and from the north and from the south1 and were sitting down in the ,kingdom of ,god4 ,the high-water mark of religion in human history is recorded in these writings4 ,to enter into the spirit of these writings is to feel the force of the free1 full tides of ethical and spiritual life which rose1 as never before nor since1 in the dawning day of ,christianity4 ,the flow of such a force within the individual soul and through society has been the power of the ,new ,testament in ,christendom4 #h4 ,this organic growth of a national religion into a catholic ideal1 not without parallels elsewhere1 is1 however unique in respect to the conditions for a truly ,universal ,religion4 ,the scene of this evolution is not the heart of the ,east1 as in ,buddhism1 but the meeting point of ,east and ,west4 ,palestine is the race centre of the earth4 ,camels unload in ,jerusalem the goods laden upon them in the seats of the most ancient empires2 and on her pebbly beaches the ,mediterranean rolls1 bearing the commerce of ,europe4 ,behind ,judea lies the past1 before it opens the future4 ,its ,race-,man came at the epoch when1 first in history1 the ,east and ,west were brought together under one empire and opened to the free interchange of thought4 ,and when we analyze the religion of the ,christ1 grown in this central land and coming to the birth in this central period1 we find that it holds1 alone on earth1 the elements of each race-religion in well proportioned combination4 ,no eastern religion1 ,buddhism not excepted1 appears to contain conceptions that satisfy the western mind4 ,the religion of the ,christ1 however can be shown to hold whatever ideas and ideals make vital the great race-religions of the ,east4 ,it is as many sided as humanity1 and presents a family face to every people4 ,it takes up the ideas and ideals of other religions1 disengages and deposits whatever in them is temporal and circumstantial1 preserves whatever is essential and eternal in them1 combines these vital elements with the polar truths needful to their wholesomeness1 and crystallizes ethical and spiritual religion into perfect forms1 forms capable of translation into the idioms of every race of earth4 ,this religion of the ,christ is the one religion which to-day holds the promise and potency of further evolution1 in the progressive civilization of mankind on which it is enthroned4 #i4 ,of the literature of the people through whom came this organic evolution of the keystoning religion of earth what can we say but that it records a real revelation coming through genuine personal inspirations from on high6 ,revelation is the opposite aspect of the mystery which we call discovery2 the uncovering of that which was hidden2 the unveiling of that which was not known2 the coming on of truth into the light wherein man can see it4 ,discovery expresses the human effort by which truth is thus uncovered and found out4 ,revelation expresses the divine effort which lies back of all human aspirations and endeavors2 as the ,spirit within man stirs him up to seek for ,truth1 flashes in upon his mind strange hints of where and how she is to be found1 allures him onward with the mystic whispers of her voice1 until at length he stands upon the mount of vision whence her holy form is seen1 and cries--,i have found her6 ,to him who believes in a ,spirit of ,truth1 guiding men into all truth1 the growth of ethical and spiritual religion into perfect form in ,jesus ,christ is a real revelation4 ,it is the oncoming of the ,light which lighteth every man that is in the world2 the dawning of the day of earth on the hills of ,judea1 over which has risen the ,sun of ,righteousness with healing in ,his wings4 ,this revelation came not to the mystic man writ large we call society1 direct from heaven in abstract form4 ,it came to individual men1 struggling for larger light and nobler life1 and breathing their higher spirit on their fellows4 ,religion is always life1 the experience of souls4 ,we can name the individuals through whom each important advance was made4 ,the greater souls who led the worship of the host welcoming the rising ,light1 thrilled with the vibrations of a voice deeper and holier than the voice of man4 ,the lesser souls who formed the chorus of this anthem of ,the ,dawn thrilled each alike with this mystic sense of ,god4 ,that which we must aver of every truth discovered or revealed1 of every knowledge needful to man and won by man2 that which we must affirm as the only rational interpretation of the mysterious suggestions rising below the conscious thoughts of man1 and prompting to noblest benedictions on the race2 that we must1 with deepened awe1 say of the holiest truths shown to the human soul1--,inspired6 ,with sincere and reverent confession we must say then in the words of ,holy ,writ3 ,holy men of ,god spake as they were moved by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,every ,scripture profitable for teaching1 for reproof1 for correction1 for instruction in righteousness is ,god-inspired4#bc ,the consciousness and experience of ,israel could not have found fitter expression than in the words of our great seer3 ,i conceive a man as always spoken to from behind1 and unable to turn his head and see the speaker4 ,in all the millions who have heard the voice1 none ever saw the face4 ,that well-known voice speaks in all languages1 governs all men2 and none ever caught a glimpse of its form4 ,if the man will exactly obey it1 it will adopt him1 so that he shall not any longer separate it from himself in his thought2 he shall seem to be it1 he shall be it4 ,if he listen with insatiable ears1 richer and greater wisdom is taught him1 the sound swells to a ravishing music1 he is borne away as with a flood1 he is the fool of ideas1 and leads a heavenly life4 ,but if his eye is set on the things to be done1 and not on the truth that is still-taught1 and for the sake of which the things are to be done1 then the voice grows faint1 and at last is but a humming in his ears4#bd ,we have thus seen in the ,bible an ancient and noble literature1 the literature of a noble race1 the literature supremely influencing and enriching ,christian civilization2 demanding1 therefore1 our rational reverence1 as constituting a truly ,sacred ,book4 ,we have seen in the ,old ,testament the literature of the people of religion1 commissioned with its normal evolution2 writings charged with deep religiousness2 the records of the various moods and tenses through which religion grew continuously and insistently toward perfection1 in an organic process watched and directed by a ,higher ,power than man4 ,we have seen in the ,new ,testament the record of the realization of this long-sought aim of the people of religion2 the story of the ,divine ,man1 who breathed religion out into perfection1 and the writings that depict the bodying around ,him of the ,universal ,church1 the ,church in whose truth and life is growing the religion of the future1 the ,christ that is to be4 ,the fuller knowledge of our age1 in evanishing the unreal ,bible restores the real ,bible4 ,it is the record of the visioning and embodiment of the ,human ,ideal1 the ,divine ,image--,the ,christ4 ,it is the ,providentially prepared ,hand ,book of religion in whose rich and varied phases of ethical and spiritual thought all men may find the nourishment they need4 ,it is the spiritual reality our fathers rightly felt1 but wrongly expressed1 when they called it as a whole ,the ,word of ,god4 ,it holds the words proceeding from out of the mouth of ,god on which man liveth4 ,it bodies in letters ,the ,word of ,god1 embodied in the flesh in ,jesus ,christ the ,lord4 ,it records a real revelation4 ,this revelation1 however1 denies no other revelation4 ,it affirms the fact of the withdrawal of a veil in each new knowledge won2 the fact that man has felt in calling the new knowledge a discovery2 and it interprets this unveiling as ,tennyson has learned of it to do3 ,and out of darkness come the hands ,that reach through nature1 moulding man4 ,these books are the products of a real inspiration4 ,this inspiration1 however1 denies no other inspiration4 ,it interprets the sense of a higher than human influence in the noblest searchers after truth1 throughout the world1 in every action of the intellect4 ,it affirms the validity of that consciousness4#be ,the revelation in the ,bible is the ,light of ,god which streams through it1 making it a lamp unto our feet4 ,the inspiration in the ,bible is the life of ,god breathing through it into man1 and he becomes a living soul4 ,the book which1 above all others1 reveals ,god to man1 he must call the supreme revelation of ,god4 ,the book which1 above all others1 inspires the life of ,god in man1 he must call the most inspired of ,god4 ,if1 then1 any one asks me how he may know that there is a revelation in the ,bible1 ,i tell him to walk in its light1 and see what it reveals4 ,if any one asks me how ,i know that the ,bible is inspired ,i answer him in ,mr4 ,moody's words3 ,i know that the ,bible is inspired1 because it 'inspires me4' ,,iii4 ,the wrong use of the ,bible4 ,god1 then1 is quite simple and true1 both in word and deed2 neither is ,he changed ,himself1 nor does ,he deceive others--neither by visions1 nor discourses1 nor the pomp of signs4 99 99 99 99 ,when any one alleges such things as these about the gods1 we must show disapproval1 and not grant them the privilege of a chorus2 neither should we suffer teachers to employ them in the training of youth--if1 at least1 our guardians are to be pious and divine men4 ,plato3 ,the ,republic2 ,book ,,ii4 ,this1 it seems1 is the modern method of coming to inquire of the oracles of ,god2 by this process they become a light to our feet1 a lamp to our path6 ,accept the book as a whole1 and then treat all the portions of it just as you like4 ,confess all its words to be the words of the ,lord1 and then you may yourself be lords over them1 and may perform moral miracles by turning the bread of life into stones for casting at your enemies4 ,maurice3 ,what is ,revelation1 p4 #dge4 ,,iii4 ,the wrong use of the ,bible ,every ,scripture inspired of ,god is also profitable for teaching1 for reproof for correction1 for instruction in righteousness4--#b ,timothy1 ,,iii1 #af4 ,the ,unreal ,bible is fading upon the vision of our age4 ,you have probably all perceived this more or less clearly4 ,i have uttered the conviction which many of you have held in secret with misgivings and self-reproaches1 and have shown you some of the many reasons why1 as it seems to me1 this view can no longer be held by men of open minds4 ,the ,real ,bible is as yet vaguely seen1 and1 therefore1 its power is feebly felt4 ,according to their natures men are indulging in flippant flings at a vanished superstition1 or grieving silently over the disappearance of the ancient light which ruled the night of earth4 ,i have sought to clear your vision of the new moon rising upon us1 the same holy light ,god set in the heavens of old1 though changed in the altered atmosphere of earth4 ,i propose now to translate the generalities of the previous sermons into some practical applications4 ,i want to-day to make more distinct certain wrong uses of the ,bible which grow out of the old view of it2 wrong uses from which great mischiefs have come to the cause of true religion1 and great trouble to individual souls2 abuses which fall away in the light of a more reasonable understanding of the ,bible4 ,the ,bible viewed as a book let down from heaven1 whose real author is ,god1 as the ,westminster ,catechism affirmed2 a book dictated to chosen penman and written out by their amanuenses under a direction which secured them against error on every subject of which they treated2 a book thus given to the world to be an authoratitive and infallible oracle for human information on all the great problems of life--naturally calls for uses which1 apart from this theory1 are gross and superstitious abuses4 ,i4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible to set it in its entirety before all classes and all ages4 ,on the old view of the ,bible no man might dare to omit portions of it in public reading or home instruction4 ,the horrible atrocities and brutal lusts of the early ,hebrews1 and the coarsenesses of their later days1 as unbearable by modern ears as the rough talk of ,shakespeare's ladies1 had all to be read to mixed assemblies of young men and maidens2 and be read with blushing face by the pure mother to the purer children at her knees4 ,for us1 who see the ,bible in its true light1 there is no necessity for a minister to offend against the taste of a refined age1 or for a mother to introduce the unsoiled soul of her child to evil1 by reading straight through the successive chapters of the ,bible4 ,it has been left for ,protestant piety to excel ,romanists and ,jews in superstition4 ,the ,church of ,rome1 as you know1 discourages the use of the ,bible by her laity1 erring in the other extreme4 ,the ,jewish rabbis had a saying that no one should read the ,canticles before he was thirty years of age4 ,if you follow the public readings of the ,bible in this church from your own ,bibles1 you must often appreciate the relief this liberty of omission brings4 ,use the ,bible in this way with your children at home4 ,who would think of an indiscriminate use of the original ,shakespeare8 ,stage managers cut him so freely for rendering before grown up folk as to have made another ,shakespeare4 ,he who cares for his children's innocence will set before them an expurgated edition like that of ,rolfe4 ,so we should use at home such an expurgated edition of the ,scriptures as ,the ,child's ,bible1 published by ,cassel1 ,petter ,galpin1 of ,london4 ,no timid soul need fear that imprecation in the last chapter of the ,revelation3 ,if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy ,god shall take away his part out of the book of life4 ,that sounds like the ruling passion1 strong in death1 of the ,son of ,thunder2 who in youth asked if he should call down fire from heaven upon a hamlet which did not welcome ,jesus1 and was well rebuked for his zeal by the gracious ,master4 ,it is part of the human weakness through which the voice of ,god speaks1 taking its tone from the defects of the instrument4 ,this imprecation had reference1 in all probability1 solely to the copyists1 against whose carelessness the author sought to guard himself by an awful threat4 ,it certainly had reference to this book alone4 ,not until long afterwards did the ,church determine what books were to enter the canon of the ,new ,testament1 and in what order they were to stand4 ,that order placed the ,revelation as the last book in the canon1 and thus made this threat appear to cover the whole ,bible4#bf ,,ii4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible to accept its utterances indiscriminately as the words of ,god1 to quote every saying of every speaker in its pages1 or every deed of every actor in its histories as expressing to us the mind of ,god4 ,such use of the ,bible is thoughtlessly common4 ,some time ago before going into a church in whose service ,i was asked to participate1 ,i ventured to show some slight hesitancy in using certain ,psalms which were set down in the ,psalter for the day4 ,when asked1 why1 ,i mildly answered that ,i could not request a ,christian congregation to join with me in singing1 after the embittered ,jews in ,babylon3 ,remember1 ,o ,lord1 the children of ,edom1 in the day of ,jerusalem4 ,how they said1 ,down with ,it6 down with it6 even to the ground4 ,oh1 daughter of ,babylon1 who art to be wasted1 ,happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us4 ,happy shall he be that taketh thy little ones and throweth them against the stones4 ,nor could ,i ask the people to unite in praying3 ,make their nobles like ,oreb and ,zeeb2 yea1 all their princes as ,zeba and ,salmana4 ,i had in mind the fate of ,oreb and ,zeeb and of ,zeba and ,salmana1 splendidly brave fellows even in their death1 as told in the seventh and eighth chapters of ,judges1 where you can learn what sort of prayer was this of those savage ,jews4 ,naturally1 as ,i thought1 ,i objected to voicing such heathen imprecations in the nineteenth century of the era of the ,prince of ,peace4 ,my good friend1 with a look of amazement1 replied1 ,why1 these ,psalms are in the ,bible4 ,that ended the question for him4 ,this incident is typical of a vast quantity of wrong uses of the ,bible4 ,thus our ,american slaveholder read that 'precious' word of the ancient tradition1 ,cursed be ,ham1 and smoothed his troubled conscience4 ,he had the sanction of the ,bible for the curse plainly upon ,africa4 ,he was fulfilling the ,divine will in breeding black cattle for the auction block4 ,piety and profit were one1 and godliness had great gain1 and some contentment also4 ,thus the extermination of the ,canaanites1 for which the ,hebrews pleaded long after the ,divine order1 and for which they had substantial warrant in ,destiny's determination to rid the land of these corrupting tribes and make room for the noble life ,israel was to develop1 has been the stock argument of kings and soldiers for their bloody trade4 ,thus poor human consciences have been sorely hurt and troubled as men have read1 in stories such as those of ,jael and ,sisera and ,jacob and ,esau1 of acts which their better nature instinctively condemned4 ,they have felt themselves arraigning the ,bible and suspecting ,god4 ,if indeed the ,bible is a book let down from the skies1 of which ,god can be called the 'author1' then all such uses of it may be correct enough1 and in those dark and savage words and deeds ,i may be obliged to find the words of ,god and the deeds ,he holds up to our admiration and imitation2 though ,i do not see that such a use is a necessity1 even on this theory4 ,fancy a man quoting ,shylock when he pleads for his bond1 or ,iago's devilish innuendos against ,desdemona's purity1 as showing what ,shakespeare liked or what he would have us imitate6 ,these are the words of ,shakespeare6 ,yes1 but of ,shakespeare's ,shylock1 ,shakespeare's ,iago4 ,if1 however1 the ,old ,testament is the national library of the ,jews1 ,i must expect to find all sorts of early ,jewish notions1 in ethics and religion1 bodied in the words of the speakers they introduce1 and the deeds of the men of whom they tell the tales4 ,if the ,bible is the record of a real revelation which came in the spirits of ancient men1 through the historic growth of conscience and reason2 and if these books are the literature embalming that growth of a people out of ignorance and superstition into the light of pure ethics and spiritual religion2 then ,i must look to find all sorts of crudities and crassnesses in the representation of ,god1 and all phases of unmoral and immoral life1 as parts of the error and imperfection out of which they were educated4 ,these deeds and words are the milestones in the path of progress by which ,judaism reached ,christianity4 ,if the individual is to reproduce the story of the race1 as our wise men tell us1 then these words and deeds are in the ,bible to carry us through the same course of education2 to exercise our consciences in discriminating right from wrong1 and to lead us to grow out of such conceptions and desires toward the spirit of ,christ4 ,in a cruise last summer we dropped anchor in a lovely little out-of-the-way harbor of ,buzzard's ,bay1 which proved to be near ,pocasset2 where1 not long ago1 a pious man1 reading the ,hebrew tradition of ,abraham and ,isaac1 as a real command of the ,most ,high1 and having this word of the ,lord borne in on his mind1 as spoken to himself1 murdered his child in sacrifice to ,god--no angel interfering to stay his knife4 ,he simply made a reductio ad absurdum of this use of the ,bible4#bg ,,iii4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible to accept everything recorded therein as necessarily true4 ,if the historians were simply the amanuenses of the ,infinite ,spirit1 then of course they could not have erred in anything they recorded4 ,if they were ordinary writers1 trying to tell the story of their peoples' growth2 searching court archives1 state annals1 old parchments of forgotten writers1 consulting the traditions of town and village1 using their material in the best way their abilities enabled them to do2 using all to teach virtue and religion1 for which alone they were specially qualified of ,god2 then all questions of historical accuracy are beside the mark4 ,nothing in their inspiration guarantees their historical accuracy2 their philological learning in using ancient poetic language1 or their critical judgment in detecting exaggerations4 ,are we to wait anxiously upon the latest ,assyrian tablets or the freshest ,egyptian mummy to confirm our faith that ,god has spoken to the spirit of man8 ,are we to quake in our shoes when a few ciphers are cut off from the roll of ,israel's impossible armies8 ,if much that we read as literal history turns out legend and myth1 are we to find a painful alternative between a blind credulity and as blind a skepticism8 ,we follow this same re-reading of ,roman and ,grecian story untroubled1 and see the heroes of our childhood turn into races and sun-myths without calling the ,muse of ,history a fraud4 ,has it been such comfort to us to read the doings of ,samson as actual history1 slaying a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass1 tying fire-brands to the tails of three hundred foxes1 etc41 that we should resent the translation of this impossible hero into the ,semitic ,hercules1 a solar myth8 ,or if1 perchance1 the historian accepted from remote antiquity the accounts of great deeds and striking events1 as they were told at the camp fires of the ,hebrew nomads1 or in the merry makings of the ,palestinian villages1 with an ever growing nimbus of the marvelous gathering around them2 and if thus impossible marvels are reported to us soberly1 are we to be compelled to accept them uncritically or reject the ,bible altogether8 ,the ,bible itself points us to the interpretation of such legends ,we have some histories written by the actors in the scenes narrated4 ,nehemiah and ,ezra1 leaders in the most important movement of ,hebrew history after the migration led by ,moses1 left accounts of their work from their own pens4 ,in such a crucial epoch as that of the restoration of the ,jews to their native land1 after the dispersion in ,babylonia1 we might expect to find miraculous interpositions on behalf of the chosen people1 if they are to be found anywhere4 ,but no tale of miracle adorns their simple pages4 ,no other old ,testament history1 written by the actors in its scenes1 tells of miracles4 ,such stories are found in the traditions written down long after the events narrated1 by men who knew nothing of the facts at first hand4 ,exceptions to this rule occur alone in such startling events as the mysterious calamity that befell ,sennacherib2 which strongly impressed the imagination of the people and naturally gave rise to exaggerations that we can no longer resolve4 ,perhaps ,elisha's iron axe head did swim upon the water4 ,i am prepared to believe almost anything after our spiritualistic mediums1 and their exposers4 ,whether it did or did not concerns me no whit4 ,i shrug my shoulders and read on4 ,i cannot make out the historical fact which was at the basis of the ,red ,sea deliverance2 nor do ,i care much to make out this or any other ,old ,testament miracle4 ,if ,i felt obliged to accept literally these stories1 or to lose my faith in the voice of ,god which speaks through the men of the ,bible ,i should care greatly4 ,in the true view of the ,bible ,i am delivered from solicitude about these traditions1 and am under no constraint of credulity4 ,those who can believe the story of ,elisha and the bears1 or of ,elijah's ascension into heaven1 may2 those who cannot1 need not2 and both alike should reverently read their ,bibles1 not for these tales of wonder1 but for the still small voice of the eternal spirit sounding through holy lives and holier aspirations1 until ,he came whose life was the ,word of ,god1 the ,wonderful4#bh ,,iv4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible to consult it as a heathen oracle for the determining of our judgments and the decision of our actions4 ,the pagans1 even such grand old pagans as the ,romans1 before undertaking any important action would solemnly consult the auspices4 ,men with reason given them of ,god would stand anxiously around the steaming entrails of a bird1 to find out whether the fates were propitious to their undertaking4 ,great generals would open or delay a campaign according to the intestinal revelations of a goose4 ,intelligent people use the ,bible in some such way4 ,when at a loss how to proceed1 instead of calmly consulting their own judgments and the judgments of their wisest friends1 and then acting like reasonable beings1 men and women will open their ,bibles at random1 let then-eyes rest on the first verse which arrests their attention1 and accept any possible bearing on the question in hand as the voice of ,god4 ,the journals of ,john ,wesley and other eminent men contain examples of this abuse of the ,bible4 ,i call it an abuse1 for such action degrades the ,bible to the level of a heathen oracle4 ,isaiah1 like all the great prophets1 habitually contrasted the true and the false communications of of the ,divine will by the test of the reasonableness of their manifestations4 ,the real prophet heard the voice of ,god1 not so much in dreams and visions1 in the peepings and chirpings of the oracles1 as in the calm and sober working of his mind1 illumined from on high4 ,the oracle was the antithesis of the prophet4 ,the oracle represented unintelligent1 unreasonable magical means of getting at a desired knowledge4 ,the prophet represented the intelligent1 reasoning1 natural means of getting at that knowledge2 the lighting of that candle of the ,lord which is the spirit of man4 ,in the profound double significance of the original1 the ,logos is the ,word or the ,reason4 ,the ,word of ,god which comes to man is the ,divine ,reason1 of which each human reason is a ray4 ,to train and use that reason in all our exigencies1 humbly looking up to the ,eternal ,reason to let the light in us be pure and clear1 is the way to hear the ,word of ,god4 ,to consult the reason of the holy men of old on themes whereon they were qualified to speak is rational and right4 ,to make of their writings a new oracle whose mysterious meanings we are to guess1 as the ancient ,greeks puzzled over the messages of the ,delphic shrine1 is to revive ,paganism in ,christianity4 ,no prophecy is of any private interpretation4 ,no passage in the ,bible was written1 centuries ago1 with reference to your private affairs4 ,all that is there written concerned men and affairs of distant days4 ,the principles there applied will help you now1 if you will take the trouble to search for them1 since principles do not change with the fashions4 ,v4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible to go to it1 as the heathen went to their oracles1 for divination of the future4 ,the pagan oracles were the shrines of a ,power sought for the forecasting of events4 ,the inspiration of an oracle was proven by the success of its predictions4 ,in the same way men have turned to the ,bible as a sort of sacred weather bureau1 a book which1 if we could only interpret its mystic utterances1 would tell us what things were going to happen upon the earth4 ,i remember an eloquent ,irish divine who came to this country on a great mission a number of years ago4 ,his first sermon was on ,ezekiel's vision by the ,chebar4 ,he said that this was the age of science1 and that such a marvel as science could not have escaped the vision of the prophets4 ,this mystic creature which the prophet saw1 with wheels1 whose appearance was like burning coals of fire1 which turned not as it went1 and so on1 was--the locomotive6 ,this folly was only more undisguised than the mass of the lucubrations called ,prophetic ,studies4 ,let any political crisis occur1 and some sage will write a book showing how ,daniel had foretold this issue of diplomacy4 ,i have not forgotten the learned tracts and essays called forth by the fascination ,louis ,napoleon exercised upon the imaginations of half-educated people2 all proving beyond a doubt that he was the mystic man of sin1 the ,anti-,christ in whom history was to culminate4 ,america1 the restoration of the ,jews to ,palestine1 and the ,church of ,rome especially inspire1 at present1 these crazy conjectures4 ,they ought all to issue from ,bedlam4 ,this mad and maddening use of what1 rightly read1 are noble and instructive books1 grows out of a misunderstanding of what were the functions of ,hebrew prophecy4 ,prophecy has been taken as a synonyme for prediction4 ,there is not much verbal difference between foretelling and forthtelling1 but there is a vast difference for the purposes of religion4 ,taking prophecy as the synonyme of foretelling1 the essential function of the prophets became predicting4 ,they were supposed to have been busy in forecasting the things which should come to pass in the far future4 ,the success of these long-range predictions was the demonstration of their being charged with miraculous powers4 ,the prophecies constituted the chief evidence for the supernatural character of the ,bible4 ,of course1 with this theory in the mind of the church1 a predictive character would be read into everything capable of bearing it2 and the history of the ,hebrews1 the eloquent orations of their great statesmen1 the pious longings of their hymn writers1 became mystic anticipations of everything in the heavens above and the earth beneath4 ,but ,hebrew prophecy never was the synonyme for prediction4 ,it meant forth-telling4 ,the prophets were men of the spirit1 whose pure nature mirrored the supreme laws of earth1 the moral laws2 whose intuitions made application of those laws to the policies of statecraft1 and enabled them to divine the issues of the stirring events amid which they lived4 ,their glory is that they saw above the brute force of great empires the might of right1 and dared to vision its triumph1 and that history has verified their moral insight4 ,but they chiefly spake1 as the author of ,the ,revelation declares of his prophecy1 of things which must shortly come to pass upon the earth4 ,their horizon bounded a very nigh future the approach of ,syrian1 ,assyrian1 ,egyptian invaders the overthrow of ,jerusalem1 etc4 ,in these predictions they were often mistaken2 nearly as often in error as in the right4 ,we seldom hear of these unfulfilled prophecies1 but they are in your ,bibles4 ,they should teach you1 that which the prophets tried so hard to teach their own cotemporaries1 that the essential distinction of the true prophet was not that he predicted the future1 for this they scornfully left to the false prophets the oracles of the pagan ,jews1 but that they forthtold the inner mind and will of ,god1 read the 'laws mighty and brazen' which constitute the essential nature of the ,most ,high and hold the supreme felicity of man4 ,i believe ,i know of no one passage of the prophets which can be certainly said to point to any event beyond the near future of the writer4 ,only in so far as they spoke of the ideal forces1 of ethical victories1 did they launch out upon the far future4 ,but you say1 ,do not the ,old ,testament prophets surely point on to ,christ8 ,i answer both ,no1 and ,yes4 ,of any mere literal prediction of the events of ,his life ,i know none4 ,the many passages that have been made to read like predictions of ,his miraculous birth1 ,his sale for thirty pieces of silver1 and so on1 refer to personages and experiences in the time of the writers4 ,isaiah expressly says this about the ,virgin--that is1 the young bride--who was to conceive and bear a son4 ,before he should be able to distinguish right from wrong the relief of ,jehovah to ,israel would appear4 ,the passages which seem to our eyes1 looking through orthodox spectacles1 to have this predictive character1 lose it in a more exact translation4 ,it is doubtless true that the ,gospels make many such applications of ,old ,testament words1 adding to their record of minute incidents--,that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by 444 saying4 ,but the ,gospels1 as we now possess them1 have been slowly fashioned by the labor of many hands1 working over the tradition which gradually shaped itself out of the reminiscences of multitudes of men and women4 ,pious ,jews1 trained in this ,rabbinical use of their ,sacred ,scriptures1 delighting to make application of ancient mystic sayings to the life of their adorable ,messiah1 read into the ,gospel narrative these fulfillments of prediction4 ,this use of the ,old ,testament has been pushed to absurdity in learned books over which ,i have patiently toiled4 ,the ,gospel of ,leviticus1 gave me the ,hebrew civic and ecclesiastic legislation mystified into 'sound evangelical' symbols4 ,christ in the ,psalms twisted every heathenish imprecation of the ,hebrew hymns into language which could be put upon the lips of the dear ,lord1 and turned the bitterest curses into sweet and gracious benedictions4 ,the culmination of this moon-struck exegesis1 as far as my knowledge reaches1 is in the ancient and fantastic reading of the tradition of the escape of the spies from ,jericho1 which gave a young and eloquent ,bishop of our church a favorite sermon2 wherein he showed conclusively that the scarlet cord by which ,rahab let down her visitors over the city wall was a type of the atoning blood of ,christ6 ,this ,chinese puzzle-book of predictions exists nowhere save in the imagination of its readers4 ,there was1 however1 a most real and substantial typifying of ,christ through the ,old ,testament2 but it was natural1 organic1 ethical and spiritual2 in those books as first in the lives of the people4 ,the growth of the nation onward toward the true ,image of ,god1 the true ,human ,ideal2 the travail of the nation with the ,divine-,human ,character which at the last came to the birth in ,jesus the ,christ2 this was a mystery of natural1 organic evolution1 which 'must give us pause' in every shallow denial of a supernatural involution in human history4 ,this makes true rationalism reverent before 'that ,holy ,thing' born not alone of ,mary but of ,mary's race1 begotten plainly of the overshadowings of some ,holy ,ghost1 of whom our best judgment is1 now as of old1--,he shall be called the ,son of the ,highest4 ,the whole history of ,israel is a growth of ,the ,christ1 and that is the abiding wonder of it4 ,in such a mystic evolution it may well be1 in history as in nature1 that the organic processes type the oncoming form of life2 but to trace these rightly there is needed a finer criticism than that which has given us the orthodox typology4#bi 99 99 99 99 99 ,let us pause here for to-day4 ,and let us take home1 as the heart-thought of the morning1 an assurance which may comfort us as we stand under the shadow of ,christmas4 ,if the dear ,christ's throne stood on any such flimsy basis of prophecy as men have built up beneath it1 then1 when the underpinnings came tumbling out1 as to-day they are doing1 we might fear that ,his authority was dropping in with them2 that no longer we were to call ,him ,master and ,king2 that criticism had pronounced ,his decheance4 ,but ,his throne really rests on a nation's growth of the human ,ideal and ,divine ,image4 ,and1 since this nation's growth was on the same general lines as the religious and ethical progress of other races1 ,his throne rests on no less secure a foundation than humanity's evolution of the human ,ideal and ,divine ,image4 ,man's best and noblest life aspires after an ideal which is the ,christly character4 ,man's best and noblest thoughts of ,god fashion a vision which is the ,god revealed in ,christ4 ,he is ,humanity's ,master of ,life4 ,,iv4 ,the wrong use of the ,bible ,the ,scriptures will be more studied than they have been1 and in a different manner--not as a magazine of propositions and mere dialectic entities1 but as inspirations and poetic forms of life2 requiring1 also1 divine inbreathings and exaltations in us1 that we may ascend into their meaning4 ,no false precision1 which the nature and conditions of spiritual truth forbid1 will1 by cutting up the body of truth into definite and dead morsels1 throw us into states of excision and division1 equally manifold4 ,we shall receive the truth of ,god in a more organic and organific manner1 as being itself an essentially vital power4 ,horace ,bushnell4 ,god in ,christ2 p4 #ic4 ,but1 further1 the zealots for the ,bible as it is1 just because it is1 forget that1 in their outcry in behalf of every existing book1 and paragraph1 and sentence1 and word in the present edition of it1 as ',god's ,word written1' they are simply begging the question1 ,what is ',god's ,word written'8 ,what is1 without any doubt1 a genuine portion of those writings which contain the message from ,god8 ,the question is1 in no case1 ',will you part with any utterance of ,god's voice1 whether through apostle or evangelist8' but only1 ',is this particular word1 or sentence1 or passage1 truly such an utterance8 ,have we good grounds for accepting it as such8 ,nay1 have we not overwhelming grounds for doubting it to be such8' ,we do right to hold fast 'the faith once delivered to the saints1' but the more we are determined to be faithful to this faith1 just the more sedulous and more searching must be our inquiry1 ,have we here this faith in its integrity8 ,thomas ,griffith1 late ,prebendary of ,st4 ,paul's1 ,london3 ,the ,gospel of the ,divine ,life1 p4 #dah4 ,,iv4 ,the wrong use of the ,bible4 ,every ,scripture inspired of ,god is also profitable for teaching1 for reproof for correction1 for instruction in righteousness2 that the man of ,god may be perfect1 thoroughly furnished unto all good works4--#b ,tim4 iii2 #af-ag4 ,use the world as not abusing it was a great principle of the ,apostle1 which has many special applications4 ,one of these comes again before us to-day3 ,use the ,bible as not abusing it4 ,i proceed to point out some further wrong uses of the ,bible3 ,i4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible to go to it as an authority in any sphere save the spheres of theology and of religion4 ,in the traditional view it was an infallible authority upon every subject of which it treated4 ,the ,divine ,being had prepared a book which answered off-hand the questions man's mind naturally starts concerning the problems of existence2 a book which taught officially how the earth came into its present form1 how life arose upon it1 how man was made1 how sin entered1 how the world was peopled1 how mankind was to fare upon the earth1 how the present order was to come to an end1 and many things beside4 ,to answer authoritatively these questions was the raison d'tre of the ,bible4 ,it laid a solid foundation for a science of life4 ,with the passing away of the unreal ,bible all reference to it for such information should cease4 ,these books1 as actual human writings1 the studies of men of long past centuries1 of men having no guarantees of infallibility1 cannot be expected to have anticipated the solution of the great problems of knowledge1 towards which the human intellect has been laboriously working through the generations since they were written2 towards which it is still toilsomely striving1 content1 even now1 with the cold1 grey light as of the dawning day4 ,our truer idea of revelation--the evolution of nature and the historic growth of man--forbids such a notion of any book4 ,it has plainly pleased the ,most ,high that knowledge of these mysteries should come to man through his patient1 persevering effort after truth4 ,such continued endeavour wins gradually better knowledge1 and with it better life4 ,this process of human discovery is yet more truly a process of the ,divine self-revealing4 ,in each and every real knowledge man is learning to know--,god4 ,each truth of science is a manifestation of somewhat in the ,infinite ,power in whom we live and move and have our being4 ,had it pleased ,god to have given1 centuries ago1 a super-natural answer to these problems of earth1 ,he would simply have dismissed ,his children from school1 with-held from them that noble education which lies in the discipline of study1 and1 while giving them truth1 have robbed them of that keenest joy of life1 that benediction richer even than the possession of truth--the search for it4 ,how indeed1 even in the resources of omnipotence1 could an answer to the earth-problems have been framed1 which1 while coming down to the plane of the age of ,moses1 should have kept level with the rise of human knowledge through the climbing centuries8 ,no1 the ,bible was not prepared as an ,encyclopedia of ,knowledge for the successive generations of men4 ,its writers may anticipate the thought of ages by profound intuitions1 pregnant imaginations1 visions of the seer1 as ,plato does4 ,genius often outstrips the plodding feet of generations4 ,but genius must not put on the airs of omniscience4 ,it must submit its claims to trial by jury4 ,they are to stand1 if stand they shall1 not because they are in ,genesis or the ,republic1 but because they prove true4 ,when 7e4g47 the ,biblical writers speak of the ,creation1 the ,garden of ,eden1 the ,fall of ,man1 etc41 they give us their thoughts1 the thoughts of their age1 the thoughts of earlier ages1 of greatly gifted minds in many ages gathering into an imposing tradition2 which1 as we now see1 came down through successive generations of ,hebrews1 from a remote antiquity in which this race had not been thrown off from the common ,semitic stock4 ,on the baked clay tablets of ,babylonia we read to-day the same stories4 ,the ,hebrews worked them over1 under the plastic power of their religious genius1 into the lofty ethical and theistic forms in which they stand in ,genesis2 forms which1 rightly read1 are parables fresh and inspiring now1 as when1 twenty-five hundred years ago1 ,jewish children listened to them with awe beneath the willows by the water courses of ,babylonia4 ,that most exquisite story of our weird ,hawthorne1 the ,marble ,faun1 is a version of the legend of the ,garden of ,eden4 ,commingled with these lofty truths we find crude notions of astronomy1 geology1 biology1 and anthropology ,how could it be otherwise1 since these sciences were embryotic then1 or even unborn8 ,we hearken1 reverently1 thankfully1 to the philosophy and poetry of ,hebrew1 ,chaldean and ,accadian sages and seers1 in these profound and subtle parables of the mysteries which still fascinate us4 ,we dismiss the knowledge of nature set forth in these legends and myths as the child-sciences of ,israel and ,chaldea and ,accadia4 ,we go to our savans for knowledge of physical nature4 ,we make no attempt to reconcile ,genesis with the ,origin of ,species4 ,genesis is no authority in science1 and ,the ,origin of ,species is no authority in philosophy1 poetry1 theology or religion4 ,the accounts of man in the dim distance of pre-historic times1 given in ,genesis1 belong to the departments of the antiquarian1 and the philologist2 and we trust their story1 no matter how it collides with the ,hebrew traditions4 ,so through every sphere of knowledge upon which the ,biblical writers enter1 outside of their own special spheres1 we follow them as venerable guides1 but as entirely fallible authorities1 expressing the knowledge of their age and race4 ,thus1 to take one example from later times1 ,st4 ,paul1 in the first epistle to the ,corinthians1 condemns woman's participation in the exercises of worship and instruction in the ,christian assemblies of ,corinth4 ,this judgment is accepted1 by those who hold to the unreal ,bible1 as forclosing the case of woman versus man in the vocation of the ministry1 in this land and age as in all lands and ages4 ,we saw lately the action of this theory over in ,brooklyn4 ,though she had the gifts and graces of a ,lucretia ,mott1 though her preaching were blessed as that of a ,miss ,smiley1 though woman's temperament seems peculiarly fitted for the inspirational influences of the pulpit1 yet ,nature's ordination must be disowned because ,saul of ,tarsus thought it unseemly for a woman to speak in meeting6 ,he thought it unseemly also1 as he tells us in the same letter1 that woman should appear unveiled in public assemblies2 in which you do not seem to consider him an authority4 ,why should you defer to him in the one opinion and disregard him in the other8 ,both opinions formed part of his education as a ,jew of the first century of our era2 as which he frankly confessed that he regarded woman as inferior to man4 ,we do not consider the ,jewish physiology and psychology of that age binding on us2 and ,st4 ,paul's opinion on such a matter falls to the ground with it4 ,,ii4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible1 for the purposes of theology or religion1 to give its language any other meaning than that which similar language would have under similar circumstances4 ,people of sound minds do not read poetic language in other books as though it were prose4 ,they do not take words thrown off at white heat2 crowd them1 all molten with feeling1 into the mould of a ,gradgrind understanding2 force them to take the form of such matter-of-fact minds2 and then1 when the emotion is cooled down1 and the fluent fancies are reduced to stiff1 hard prose1 say--there1 that is the exact meaning of this language6 ,fancy ,shakespeare's impetuous1 tumultuous riotous imagery treated by such 'criticism6' ,yet that is the sort of treatment which many learned pedants call 'expounding the ,bible6' ,it is with the greatest difficulty that the ,western mind can rightly read the ,eastern's language4 ,we miss the rich aroma of their nectared speech1 and find only the grounds left4 ,and we take these grounds for the true original beverage of the gods6 ,out of such residuum of poetry1 when the poesy has exhaled1 we make our spiritual food6 ,poetry petrified into prose--is the real explanation to be offered of many an absurdity of ,bible-reading4 ,a visitor to one of the ,shaker communities describes the men and women as engaging in the most preposterous play of making-believe2 performing upon imaginary instruments as they marched in procession2 going through the motions of washing their faces and hands as they surrounded an imaginary fountain2 and1 finally1 plunging bodily into this spiritual fountain1 by rolling over on the grass6 ,to an exclamation of surprise at such childish doings1 answer was made that thus they were becoming as little children1 in order to enter the kingdom of heaven6#cj ,luther sat disputing with ,zwinglius the doctrine of trans-substantiation1 and to every argument of his rational opponent answered by laying his sturdy finger on the words1 ,this is my body4 ,the most powerful ,church of ,christendom bases itself upon this prosaic reading of a poetic saying4 ,many a mysterious dogma would simplify itself at once by remembering that1 in the language of the imagination1 the letter killeth1 but the spirit giveth it life4#ca ,we are not to rush from this extreme into the opposite error and turn into mystical and marvellous meanings the plain sense of the ,biblical writers4 ,imagine the result of putting all sorts of mystic glosses on the straight-forward accounts of men and things in ordinary writings4 ,such is in reality the folly of turning the sober statements of ,biblical prose writers into allegories1 parables1 symbols1 types2 and of finding underneath the plainest meanings a double1 triple and quadruple sense4 ,in the hour of ,christ's approaching arrest he warns his disciples1 in ,his usual figurative manner1 that they must now learn to provide for themselves2 since he would shortly be taken from them4 ,he that hath a purse let him take it2 and he that hath no sword let him sell his garment and buy one4 ,and his disciples1 being very unimaginative folk1 or being perhaps stupefied with wonder and anxiety by ,his strange words and actions on that night of sad surprises said--,lord1 behold here are two swords4 ,the ,master answered1 with a weariness of their obtuseness that we can feel in the curt reply1 ,it is enough4 ,and the wisdom of the ,roman ,church sees herein a type of the temporal and spiritual power of the ,papacy6 ,i am solemnly warned against such learned puerilities every time ,i turn to my shelves and encounter ,swedenborg's ,arcana ,coelestia4 ,in ten goodly volumes he interprets ,scripture history after this fashion3 ',and ,rebecca arose'--hereby is signified an elevation of the affection of truth3 ',and her damsels'--hereby are signified subservient affections3 ',and they rode upon camels'--hereby is signified the intellectual principle elevated above natural scientifics46 ,of all this pious sort of folly we may say with the ,master--,enough4 ,it is the common mistake which gathers a nimbus of mystic sense around every book excessively revered4 ,thus the ,greeks fancied an inner and mystical sense in ,homer2 and thus ,italian professors expound the esoteric significance of ,dante4 ,the fantastic dream of mysterious meanings in the ,bible must take wings after its kindred fancies of ,greeks and ,italians1 at the touch of a ripening literary judgment4 ,one rule holds of all human letters4 ,where there is legend1 myth1 metaphor1 or other clear form of poetic fancy1 language is to be read imaginatively4 ,otherwise1 in the ,bible1 as out of it1 the ordinary meaning of words must be followed4 ,,iii4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible to construct a theology out of it1 by the mechanical system of proof texts in vogue in the churches4 ,with a preconceived system of thought in their minds1 drawn from the most highly evolved speculations of the ,new ,testament1 men have gone through both ,testaments2 and whenever they have lighted upon a sentence which seemed to coincide with this system1 it has been torn bleeding from its place in a living texture of thought1 impaled on some one of the ,five ,points1 and set up in the ,theological ,cabinet1 duly labelled ,proof-,text of ,original ,sin1 or ,proof ,text of ,future ,punishment4 ,what a monstrosity an ordinary ,sunday ,school ,scripture ,catechism is1 with its statements of received doctrines1 to which are appended proof-texts drawn from ,genesis and ,isaiah and ,paul2 i4e41 from some pre-historic tradition1 from a ,hebrew states1 man's oration and from a ,christian apostle's letter4 ,it makes no difference what the character of the writing from which the sentence is taken4 ,everything is grist for this mill4 ,a judgment or doom of the nomadic ,hebrews1 a burning metaphor from a late poet and a metaphysical proposition from an ,alexandrian philosopher are jumbled together side by side1 as co-equal proofs of the most awful doctrines4 ,an ancient historian1 gathering up the traditions of his primitive fore-fathers1 records the legend of the ,flood1 in which it is told that ,god saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth1 ,and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart ,was only evil continually4 ,the poet who wrote1 out of the deep of some experience of shameful sin1 the pathetic penitential hymn1 known as the ,fifty-first ,psalm1 said1 in the course of his self-condemnings3-- ,behold ,i was shapen in wickedness1 ,and in sin hath my mother conceived me4 ,the poet who wrote his unrivaled prophecies amid the humiliation of the national exile in ,babylonia1 cried out in one place3-- ,we are all as an unclean thing1 ,and all our righteousness are as filthy rags4 ,and these mythic and poetic words1 true to man's abiding sense of evil in his deepest hours1 stand to-day in the arsenal of theology as proof-texts of the doctrines of original sin and total depravity6 ,even this folly has been surpassed4 ,among the proverbial sayings of the ,jews was one to this effect2 ,if the tree fall towards the ,south1 or towards the ,north1 ,in the place where the tree falleth1 there it shall be4 ,the meaning of such a proverb is surely plain enough4 ,death's action is irrevocable4 ,as it meets a man it leaves him4 ,his plans and schemes lie as incapable of development as the fallen tree is incapable of new sproutings4 ,at the time the book of ,ecclesiastes was written1 the belief in any life after death was little known in ,israel4 ,this book was the work of a thorough pessimist1 whose constant refrain was--,vanity of ,vanities1 all is ,vanity4 ,it gives no hint of a second life2 and in the absence of this faith the present life is to the writer an insoluble problem4 ,this saying really expressed the popular belief that death ended everything4 ,a man falls like a tree1 and1 like a prostrate tree1 as he falls he lies4 ,and lo6 this ,jewish proverb is the first proof-text generally quoted for the dread doctrine that after death there is another life1 but that its character is fixed forever by the state of the man at death2 the dogma of everlasting conscious suffering in ,hell6 ,what ,midsummer ,night's ,dream reasoning1 turning common-sense topsy-turvy1 and treating the words of ,god in the very reverse way from that in which all sane people agree to treat the words of man6 ,,iv4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible to disregard the chronological order of its parts in constructing our theology4 ,we are not to read the ,biblical writers as though they were all cotemporaries4 ,they are separated by vast tracts of time4 ,the later writers stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors and see further and clearer4 ,we are not to view the institutions or doctrines of the ,bible as though1 no matter in what period of the development of the ,hebrew ,nation or of the ,christian ,church they are found1 they were equally authoritative upon us4 ,that would be to say that green apples are as good food for us as ripe ones4 ,the time-perspective is essential to set any ,biblical institution or dogma in the true light4 ,romanists and our own ,ritualists entrench their sacerdotalism behind the priestly system of the ,jews4 ,as though1 because that was once needful and serviceable to an ignorant1 half heathen people1 it was still indispensible to us4 ,as though what providence once ordained1 providence perpetually imposed on humanity4 ,such a rule would keep us with our primers always in our hands4 ,progress is marked by the debris of discarded institutions1 wholesome and necessary once1 but incumbrances after a time4 ,the whole rationale of sacerdotalism is exploded by this simple common sense principle2 and we see in its light the significance of ,paul's impatient sweeping away of the ,law2 of the entire ignoring of the sacrifice and the priesthood in the life and teaching of ,jesus himself4 ,the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain1 ,nor yet at ,jerusalem1 worship the ,father4 ,god is spirit2 ,and they that worship must worship him in spirit and in truth4 ,dogmas also must be seen in historical perspective4 ,thus1 for example1 the doctrine of the ,second ,advent1 which still exercises the ,christian mind1 is wholly cleared up as looked at through the time-vista4 ,we see the progress of the ,messianic expectation through the centuries immediately prior to the age of ,christ1 in our old ,testament books and in the ,apocryphal writings4 ,in these latter works we see it gradually gathering round itself visions of the winding up of the present aeon1 the renovation of the earth1 the judgment of the nations1 the resurrection of the pious dead1 and the opening of a millenial era in which the ,messiah should rule the world from ,jerusalem4 ,it would appear to have even developed the notion that the ,messiah1 after his appearance on earth1 would depart into the spirit-world1 to consummate his preparation2 and would return thence to assume full power4 ,this had became the popular expectation by the ,christian era4 ,when then the early ,christians became satisfied that ,jesus was the ,messiah1 it followed of necessity that they should after his death1 say to themselves--,he has gone into the heavens to receive his institution into the office he has won by his sinless life and suffering death4 ,he will come again in the clouds with power2 the conquering ,messiah4 ,this belief seems to have taken shape first in ,paul's fervid mind4 ,his earlier epistles were full of it4 ,his converts became unsettled by it1 and in their excited expectation of the return of the ,messiah they neglected their earthly duties2 and ,paul had to caution them against this impatience and cool their heated minds4 ,this and other experiences sobered ,paul's own mind4 ,he found that as year after year came round the ,messiah did not return4 ,in the rapid ripening of thought which went on in the tropical climate of his soul1 he grew into a more spiritual apprehension of ,christ4 ,if you read his undoubted letters in the order of their writing2 ,first ,thessalonians1 ,first and ,second ,corinthians1 ,galatians1 ,romans1 etc41 you will note a steady decrease of reference to this topic1 until it fades away into a vague vision of the dawning day of ,god2 the absolute assurance that ,christ would conquer and rule the earth1 though it might be in the spirit and not in the flesh2 the certain conviction of a good time coming though beyond his ken4 ,the later light of the apostle corrected his earlier misapprehensions2 and would correct our crude and carnal notions of the second coming of ,christ1 if we would only study ,paul1 as we study ,turner or ,shakespeare1 in his ripening 'periods4' ,were this one principle followed1 our popular theology would soon reconstruct itself4 ,v4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible to cite its authors as of equal authority1 even in the spheres of theology and religion4 ,the teachings of any human writing come clothed with such authority as the author's name lends to it or its intrinsic force wins for it4 ,if in the work of an obscure economic writer1 of no perceptible ability1 you come upon the theory that the land of a people belongs to the people2 that its passing into the absolute ownership of private persons is the basic evil of our civilization2 that the nation must resume the inalienable rights of the people at large1 in the resources of all wealth1 and regulate the individual usufruct of land in the interests of the entire body politic--you will probably toss the book contemptuously from you as the crazy lucubration of a fool4 ,if in reading ,john ,stuart ,mill's ,principles of ,political ,economy you come upon this theory1 cautiously broached1 you are constrained to treat it with the consideration due an acknowledged master in this science4 ,if again in the first elaborate work of a new author1 ,progress and ,poverty1 you meet this same theory1 boldly laid down as the central theme of the book1 and contended for as the real solution of the persistent problem of pauperism1 you are disposed to pass it by unheeded4 ,the author's name carries to your mind no prestige of tradition4 ,he speaks from no time-honored university chair4 ,no array of imposing titles hang upon the plain ',henry ,george1' of the title page4 ,but you become interested in these brilliant pages of genius and follow the author1 with growing sympathy1 to the end4 ,you lay the book down1 feeling as though a spell had been upon you1 in which you could form no sound judgment4 ,you lay it by accordingly1 to take it up after some weeks1 work over its positions1 and find your first impressions confirmed2 to realize that here is a work of real1 rare power2 an epoch-making book1 which1 if it does not carry your conviction1 commands your careful consideration4 ,precisely so we are to be affected by the ,biblical authors4 ,there are writings in the ,bible by utterly unknown writers4 ,a letter of an obscure author cannot come with the weight of a letter from ,st4 ,paul4 ,there are writings of widely different mental force4 ,biblical authors varied in personal power as much as other authors4 ,inspiration cannot do away with the limitations of the human individuality4 ,it must be modified by its instrumentality4 ,the saints are of various orders4 ,even the diamond books which reflect the light of ,god so brilliantly may not be all of first water4 ,we must allow for the hues in the less perfect prisms4 ,were the greatest musical genius in the world to sit before the key-boards he could not draw from a harmonium the notes of a ,lucerne organ4 ,the impact of a writing on our souls must be proportionate to the spiritual and ethical force with which it is charged4 ,everyone recognizes this practically4 ,none of us1 however orthodox1 professes to be as much inspired by ,esther as by ,job2 by ,chronicles as by ,kings2 by ,daniel as by ,isaiah2 by ,jude as by ,paul4 ,that simply means that there is not as much inspiration in some ,biblical authors as in others4 ,no author is always at his best4 ,his work differs4 ,the second epistle to the ,thessalonians is not level with the epistle to the ,romans4 ,the third epistle of ,john1 if it be of ,john1 is surely not as highly inspired as the first epistle of ,john4 ,inspiration is plainly a matter of degrees4 ,the recognition of this common-sense principle1 theoretically1 would remand the darker doctrines of ,christianity to such authority as the lower order of ,biblical writings possess4 ,the terrifying and torturing teachings of the ,new ,testament are from obscure authors1 or from the masters in their lower moods4 ,the representations of a wrathful ,god1 of an avenging ,christ1 of a hell of horrors1 are found in such epistles as ,second ,thessalonians1 whose authorship is uncertain2 as ,jude or ,second ,peter1 about whose authorship and date we have only the probability that no apostle wrote them1 and that they were written after the first1 fresh inspiration had passed from the church4 ,rabbinical speculations and ,greek superstitions show themselves at work in the ,christian ,church4#cb ,the unquestioned letters of ,paul are sunny and sweet4 ,in them we see the father of ,christian ,restorationism4 ,if he knows anything of a dark side to the resurrection1 as he shows elsewhere that he does1 he leaves it in its own shadows2 and in the height of this great argument of ,corinthians brings to the front only the resurrection to life and joy4 ,knowing the fear of the ,lord we--persuade men4 ,the first epistle of ,john is true to its favorite symbol of the light4 ,there are no clouds in it4 ,the ,god revealed in the greatest writings of the greatest authors of the ,new ,testament is ,love4 ,the ,christ they picture is ,christus ,consolator4 ,the full breath of inspiration opens only the upper register of notes4 ,the voices of the soul are buoyant1 joyous1 hopeful4 ,if you are willing to follow the most inspired writers1 in their most inspired moods1 up into the heights whither the divine afflatus bore them1 you will mount above the cloud-level1 and leave to those who lag after feebler guides on the lower ranges of truth1 the chill mists that eat into the soul1 while you rejoice in the light4 ,,vi4 ,it is a wrong use of the ,bible to manufacture cut of it any one uniform1 system1 of theology1 as the fixed and final form of thought in which religion is to live4 ,let me define these contrasting terms1 so commonly confounded4 ,religion is man's perception of the ,power in whom we live and move and have our being1 and his emotion towards this power4 ,theology is man's conception of this ,power1 and his thought defined and formulated4 ,religion is man's feeling after ,god2 theology is man's grasp of ,god4 ,the two are necessarily connected4 ,they are different forms of one and the same force2 the heat and the light which stream from ,god2 but the heat and the light are not always equal4 ,a worthy thought of ,god ought to sustain any worthy feeling towards ,him4 ,it generally does so4 ,a heightened thought of ,god may often be found back of a rising flow of feeling after ,him4 ,more often the emotion precedes the conception2 the vague1 awed sense of ,god travails till a new thought is born among men4 ,this has been the order of development in history4 ,men felt the ,divine ,power and ,presence ages before they had learned so much of theology as to say--,god4 ,the feeling of ,god--religion--always keeps1 in healthy natures1 far ahead of theology--the thought about ,him4 ,the deepest religion finds no word for the mystery before which it bows4 ,its only thought may be that no thought is sufficient4 ,in that high hour thought was not4 ,theology1 then1 as man's thought about ,god1 is necessarily conditioned by man's mind4 ,it is under the general limitations of the human intellect1 and the special limitations of thought in each race and age and individuality4 ,it cannot escape these limitations1 expand as they may4 ,a flooding of the mind from on high may overflow these embankments but they still stand1 shaping the flow of the fullest tides4 ,the individuality of a great writer asserts itself most strongly in his greatest works4 ,his deepest inspiration brings out most plainly his mental form1 just as the drawing of a full breath shows the real shape of a man4 ,no possible theory of inspiration should lead us to look for the submergences of the dykes of thought cast up by race and age and individuality4 ,as a matter of fact1 we find no uniformity in the theologies of the ,new ,testament writers4 ,men have tried hard to make it appear that there was such a unity of thought4 ,never was more ingenious joiner-work done than in the harmonies of the ,new ,testament writers4 ,but facts are stubborn things1 and in this case have resisted even the omnipotence of human ingenuity2 as open minds have seen1 despite the doctors4 ,st4 ,paul's ,epistles reveal a theology by no means as precise and fixed as is popularly imagined1 undergoing rapid changes1 growing with his growth1 always suffused from the soul with emotions which struggled against the prison bars of thought and speech4 ,his intensely speculative mind had furnished a system of thought into which he built such ideas as these3 ,the pre-existence of ,christ1 as1 in some mystic1 undefined way1 the ,head of ,humanity2 the sacrificial nature of ,his death2 the justification of the sinner through faith2 the life of ,christ within the soul1 as the ,human ,ideal2 the speedy return of ,christ in person to reign on earth 7at least in the early part of his career72 the resurrection of the pious dead2 the translation of living believers2 the final victory of goodness over evil2 and the ending of the mediatorship of ,christ1 ,god then becoming all in all4 ,this was the form which the mystery of ,god's relationship to man took in the mind of this great genius1 and around which the fiery passion of his hunger after righteousness shaped itself4 ,in the ,epistle of ,st4 ,james1 assuming the traditional authorship1 how much of this theology can you find8 ,the incarnation is nowhere clearly stated4 ,the name of ,christ occurs but twice4 ,his atonement is scarcely mentioned4 ,the prophets are held up as examples of patience1 under suffering without any reference to ,christ4 ,paul's especial doctrine of justification by faith is explicitly denied4 ,of his fellowship with the ,gentiles and his broad human sympathies1 there is nothing whatever4 ,all is intensely ,jewish4 ,if ,paul's theology is orthodoxy1 ,james is dreadfully unsound4#cc ,the fundamentals are all lacking4 ,both ,paul and ,james differ very decidedly from the mystic soul who wrote the ,first ,epistle of ,john2 and all three differ again1 quite as much1 from the philosopher who wrote the ,epistle to the ,hebrews4 ,how little have either the ,apocalypse or ,jude in common with ,paul6 ,we can no more make a uniform theology out of the ,new ,testament writers than we can out of ,calvinism1 ,arminianism ,catholicism1 and ,unitarianism4 ,these various theologies can be traced to the elements making up the individualities of the different writers4 ,the idiosyncracies of ,paul are clearly marked4 ,he was a man of strong speculative mind1 of mystic piety1 of lofty enthusiasm for great ideals1 a-hungered after righteousness4 ,a ,jew and yet a ,roman citizen1 his education developed the two-fold sympathies of an ,israelite of the dispersion4 ,at the feet of the liberal rabbi1 ,gamaliel1 he learned the curious and mystical lore of the rabbins1 while drinking in from his ,master the spirit of freedom4 ,thrown from a child in constant contact with the ,gentiles of his native city1 ,tarsus1 race prejudices had been sapped unconsciously2 while in youth or manhood the wisdom and beauty of the ,greek genius had apparently been opened to him4 ,paul's personality1 fusing the materials of his education1 and out of them building a body of thought around ,the ,christ1 explains his theology4 ,he reproduces the conceptions of the rabbis1 of the popular ,jewish belief1 of ,gamaliel1 of ,tarsus1 of ,athens2 transfigured on the heights of thought to which he climbed1 in his intense musings over the problem of ,jesus of ,nazareth1 while buried away in ,arabia4 ,the small amount of theology in the practical ,epistle of ,james is quite as plainly ,jewish1 of the school of the ,sages1 with a touch of ,essenism4 ,the theology of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews shows throughout the influences of the philosophy of ,alexandria4 ,the theology of the introduction to the ,gospel according to ,st4 ,john is just as unquestionably this same ,alexandrian philosophy1 still further developed4 ,these variant schools of ,christian theology1 so plainly revealing the sources of their variations1 deny the existence of any one uniform system of thought in the ,new ,testament writers1 and pronounce the different systems transient and not final forms4 ,whatever the ,church may offer us1 the ,new ,testament offers us no fixed and final body of thought4 ,in the ,bible1 ,christian theology is still a soft vase1 plastic to the touch of each worker upon it4 ,had ,paul's fine hand played around it even another decade1 how different the shape it might have taken4 ,with the incoming of a more rational1 ethical1 and spiritual age1 we may surely expect a finer fashioning of the forms of thought blocked out in the ,new ,testament1 under the first1 fresh inspiration of the age of ,jesus2 into whose larger patterns shall be taken up all the truths revealed through the various sciences of these rich later ages2 while all shall still take on the shape of ,him who is the image of the invisible ,god4 ,the ,lord has more truth yet to break forth out of ,his holy word4 ,the true ,biblical theology is--,christ himself4 ,his thought of ,god1 and not even ,paul's thoughts about ,christ1 are to mould our thinking4 ,the ,supreme ,son of ,man must have had the truest thought of ,god4 ,two words formulate his theology as bodied not in a creed1 but in a prayer--,our ,father4 ,the earliest1 simplest1 deepest cry of the human after ,god1 now by ,him who lived its spirit perfectly1 the trusting1 loving1 holy ,child of the ,father1 made no longer a sigh1 a dream1 a vision1 but a life4 ,the life was the light of men4 ,that light is the sufficient clue to the dark labyrinth in which we wander wearily4 ,i cannot always make out the face of a ,father on the stern1 harsh ,power in whom we live and move and have our being4 ,then ,i turn to my ,divine ,brother1 who1 of all the children of men1 saw deepest into the mystery1 and in his far-mirroring eyes ,i read the vision which satisfies me4 ,with poor dying ,joe1 ,i whisper to myself3 ',our ,father3' yes1 that's werry good4 ,v4 ,the ,right ,critical ,use of the ,bible4 ,i am convinced that the ,bible becomes even more beautiful the more one understands it2 that is1 the more one gets insight to see that every word1 which we take generally and make special application of to our own wants1 has had1 in connection with certain circumstances1 with certain relations of time and place1 a particular1 directly individual reference of its own4 ,goethe3 quoted by ,m4 ,arnold in ,the ,great ,prophecy of ,israel's ,restoration4 ,v4 ,the ,right ,critical ,use of the ,bible4 ,god1 who at many times and in many manners spake in time past to the fathers1 by the prophets4--,hebrews1 i4 #a4 ,the right use of the ,bible grows out of the true view of the ,bible4 ,the ,old ,testament is the literature of the people of religion1 in whom ethical and spiritual religion grew1 through all moods and tenses1 toward perfection4 ,the ,new ,testament is the literature of the movement which grew out of ,israel1 the literature of the ,universal ,church bodying around the ,son of ,man1 in whom religion came to perfect flower and fruit4 ,the real ,bible is the record of this real revelation coming through real ethical and spiritual inspirations2 a revelation advancing with men's deepening inspirations toward the ,light which rose in the ,life of ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,god1 who at many times and in many manners spake in time past to the fathers by the prophets1 hath at the last of these days spoken unto us by a ,son4 ,these speakings of the ,divine ,spirit in the souls of men1 at many times and in many manners1 were articulated1 as best was possible1 in the writings of many ages and of many forms4 ,the ,bible is the collection of these writings4 ,they require a critical study1 as bona fide letters1 before we can know the degree of their inspiration1 and their place in the progressive historic revelation2 before we can thus deduce aright the thoughts about ,god out of which we are to construct our theology4 ,concerning this right critical use of the ,bible1 ,i propose now to offer some practical suggestions4 ,next ,sunday ,i purpose giving you a bird's-eye view of the general course of the historic revelation which led up to the ,christ1 the ,word of ,god4 ,after which ,i shall pass on to consider with you the pre-eminently right use of the ,bible1 in which our souls humbly hearken for its words proceeding from out the mouth of ,god1 on which man liveth2 and on them feeding1 grow toward a perfect manhood in ,christ ,jesus4 ,i4 ,every aid of outward form should be used to make these books appear as living letters to us4 ,the traditional form in which the ,bible has been given to the people would seem to have been devised with a design of robbing its writings of every natural charm1 as the best means of making men feel its supernatural power4 ,the fresh sense of letters disappears in this conventional form4 ,these many books of many ages have been bound up together1 with the most imperfect classification either as to period or character4 ,a verse-making machine has been driven through them all alike1 chopping them up into short1 arbitrary1 artificial sentences1 formally numbered in the body of the text4 ,the larger divisions into chapters have been made in an equally mechanical manner4 ,by this twofold system an admirable provision has been made for checking the flow of the writer's thought1 and for effectually preventing any easy grasp of the natural movement of the book4 ,poetry has been printed as prose2 thereby marring its rhythm1 concealing its structure1 and blinding the reader to the dramatic character of immortal works of genius4 ,through the whole mass of writings a system of chapter-headings has been introduced that ingeniously insinuates into the body of these sacred books1 as seemingly an integral part thereof1 a scheme of interpretation which possesses now no pepsine power for resolving their contents into spiritual nutriment1 but rather positively hinders our assimilation of many of these books4 ,probably the greatest obstacle to the use of the ,bible is the senseless form in which custom persists in publishing it4 ,i know few stronger evidences of the intrinsic power of these books than their continued influence1 under conditions that would have remanded other books to the topmost shelves of the most unused alcoves in our libraries4 ,we ought to have the different books1 or groups of books1 bound separately2 arranged paragraphically like other writings1 with the present verse divisions indicated1 if need be1 in the margin2 and the poetic structure properly indicated4 ,these books should have brief1 simple1 lucid notes2 drawing from our best critics the needful information as to their age1 authorship1 integrity1 form1 scope1 obsolete words and idioms1 local customs historical allusions1 etc42 with other readings throwing light upon obscure passages4 ,each book should be thus provided with such a popular critical apparatus as accompanies good editions of other classics1 and as ,matthew ,arnold has prepared for one book1 in his primer entitled ,the ,great ,prophecy of ,israel's ,restoration2 which is the second section of ,isaiah1 arranged as a ,bible-reading for schools4 ,this series of ,bible-books should then be chronologically arranged1 as far as the conclusions of the higher criticism will allow2 and should be bound in uniform style and set in a ,bible case1 preserving thus the unity of the whole4 ,such an edition of the ,bible would stimulate a renewed resort to it1 in which men would re-discover a lost literature4 ,until you can procure such an edition1 provide yourselves with a paragraph ,bible1 following the natural divisions of the writings and maintaining their poetic form2 and seek the information you may desire in some of the manuals embodying the results of the higher criticism4 ,,ii4 ,each writing having an intrinsic unity should1 by such aids1 be studied as a whole4 ,every intelligent ,christian ought to have a clear conception of the general scope of thought in each great ,bible-book4 ,whatever fragmentary use of these books for direct devotional purposes may be made1 he who would count himself as one of the men of the ,bible1 ought to know as much about them as he knows about his favorite authors4 ,who that pretends to be a lover of ,shakespeare is content with a scrappy reading of his immortal plays8 ,to enjoy them fully1 even in fragmentary readings1 he seeks to have a foundation of critical knowledge1 such as ,shakespearian scholars place within the easy mastery of any one4 ,after such a study of a play he can pick it up in leisure hours and see new beauties every time he reads it4 ,how many ,bible ,christians know their ,bible thus8 ,what a revelation such a study makes6 ,it is an alchemist's touch1 turning many a leaden book into finest gold4 ,the oldest book1 as a whole1 in the ,bible1 is the ,song of ,songs4 ,attributed by later ages to ,solomon1 it was probably written by some unknown author1 anywhere from the tenth to the eighth century before ,christ4#cd ,the poem is dramatic in form1 though imperfectly constructed according to our canons4 ,its scenes shift1 and its speakers change with true dramatic movement4 ,it is the closest approach to the drama preserved to us in ,hebrew literature1 whose genius never favored this highly organic form4 ,there is needed but the usual indication of the dramatis person to clear the movement of the plot1 and to reveal the force and beauty of the poem4 ,a maiden1 her royal admirer1 ladies of the court1 the girl's brother and her shepherd lover1 appear and disappear in animated conversation4 ,the country maiden is wooed away from her shepherd lad by the allurements of a royal admirer1 who employs all the resources of fervid flattery and passionate persuasion to win her as a new attraction for his harem4 ,he is foiled1 however1 by her simple1 steadfast loyalty to her absent lover1 to whom she at length returns1 triumphant in her virtue4 ,in a corrected version1 the sensuousness of our ,english translation disappears in the ordinary richness of ,eastern imagery1 and the poem becomes a pure picture of loyal love4 ,it reveals thus the healthy moral tone of ,jewish society in that early age4 ,this sound domestic virtue of the people1 which looked with abhorrence on the licentiousness of the court1 becomes all the more striking in contrast with the polygamous customs of the surrounding nations4 ,we see the social foundation on which ,israel builded such a noble structure of ethical religion4 ,the people whose literature opens with such a laud of loyal love might well rise into the pure splendors of a ,second ,isaiah4 ,such a poem fitly introduces the canon of ,scripture2 since1 into whatever heights ,religion aspires to lift the fabric of civilization1 she must lay its corner-stone in the marriage bond1 and rear the church and the state upon the family4 ,perhaps we may also find in this ,hebrew ,song of ,songs that mystic meaning1 not uncommon in ,eastern love-songs1 at least in later readings of them1 which ,edwin ,arnold has so vividly brought out in the ,hindoo ,song of ,songs2 and may understand how the ,church came to take it as a parable of the love of the soul for its ,heavenly ,ideal1 seen in the ,christ4 ,job1 thus read1 becomes a semi-dramatic poem1 in which the problem of the disconnection of goodness and good-fortune1 the lack of any just ordering of individual life1 is discussed in the persons of an upright and sorely afflicted patriarch and his three friends1 who come to condole and counsel with him4 ,through their interchanging colloquies1 that bring up one after another the stock theories of the age of the author1 the argument moves along without really getting on4 ,no solution is found for the perplexing puzzle1 in which man's moral instincts beat vainly against the hard facts of life4 ,once1 for a moment1 the thought of a future life flashes up1 as the true solution of the injustice of earth1 in that thrilling cry of the tortured soul3 ,i know that my ,redeemer liveth1 ,and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth3 ,and though1 after my skin1 worms destroy this body1 ,yet out of my flesh shall ,i see ,god2 ,whom ,i shall see for myself1 ,and mine eyes shall behold1 and not as a stranger4 ,but the vision fades upon an atmosphere unready for it1 and the poet does not return to follow this clue out into the sunshine4 ,all the light that he can discern is in ,nature's manifestations of power and order and wisdom4 ,from a wide range of knowledge1 the poet draws together upon the stage the wonders of creation1 which1 with daring freedom1 he introduces ,god himself as describing2 until at length ,job humbles himself in an awe not uncheered by trust3 ,therefore have ,i uttered that ,i understood not4 ,things too wonderful for me which ,i knew not4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i have heard of ,thee by the hearing of the ear2 ,but now mine eye seeth ,thee4 ,wherefore ,i abhor myself1 ,and repent in dust and ashes4 ,by dropping out the episode of ,elihu1 as an insertion of some later hand1 the movement of the poem becomes sustained and progressive4 ,the arguments of the ,jewish theology are cleverly presented1 while the swift1 sure sense of justice in the sufferer pierces all sophisms1 and riddles all pious conventionalities4 ,the descriptions of ,nature are graphic and eloquent4 ,the motif of the drama is one that voices the thought and feeling of our far-off age1 in which many men again vainly thresh the old arguments of conventional theology1 in trying to solve the godless look of earth1 and take refuge anew in the manifestations of power and law in nature2 not without the ancient lesson1 let us trust1 of an awe which silences and purifies1 and leaves them in the light as of a mystery of meaning on the sphynx's face1 breaking into the dawning of a day which uttereth speech4 ,scientific agnosticism1 in so far as it is an humble confession of human ignorance1 has its worship scored in this noble poem1 ringing the changes on the strain1 at once plaint and praise3 ,canst thou by searching find out ,god8 ,canst thou find out the ,almighty unto perfection8 ,it is as high as heaven2 what canst thou do8 ,deeper than hell2 what canst thou know8 ,curiously enough1 as showing the power of conventionalism1 the author winds up with a prose epilogue of the genuine story-book fashion1 in which all things are set right by ,job's restoration to his lost wealth1 in multiplied possessions4 ,pathetic persuasion of the poor human heart that all things must come right in the end6 ,what the ,epistle to the ,romans1 that affrighting vade mecum of theological disputants1 becomes when read thus reasonably as a whole1 with critical discernment of its real aim1 ,i will not try to tell you2 but will content myself with sending you where you may see it beautifully told1 with ,paul's own upspringing inspiration of righteousness in ,matthew ,arnold's ,st4 ,paul and ,protestantism4 ,,iii4 ,each great book should1 as a whole1 be read in its proper place in ,hebrew and ,christian history4 ,the historical method is the true clue to the interpretation of a book4 ,to know it aright we must know the age in which it was produced4 ,this is the method by which such surprising light has been shed on many great works4 ,who that has read ,taine's graphic portraiture of the ,elizabethan age can fail ever thereafter to see ,shakespeare stand forth vividly8 ,what can we make of ,dante without some knowledge of ,italy in the thirteenth century8 ,what new life is given to ,milton's ,samson after we have seen the blind old poet of the fallen ,protectorate in his dreary home6 ,how can we rightly estimate ,rousseau's writings unless we know somewhat of the artificial and luxurious age to which they came as a call back to nature8 ,taken out of their true surroundings these writings lose their force and meaning4 ,in the same way we need to find the historical place of a ,biblical writing1 and to read it in the light of its relation to the period4 ,the traditional view of ,deuteronomy made it the last of the writings of ,moses1 a ,farewell ,address of the ,father of his ,country2 reciting to the nation he had founded the story of its deliverance1 repeating the laws established for its welfare1 and warning it against the dangers awaiting it in the future4 ,such a view was attended with many difficulties1 not insuperable1 however1 to the critical knowledge of earlier generations4 ,its real place in the history of ,israel appears to have been found of late4 ,the ,prophetic ,reformation of ,religion1 begun in the eighth century before ,christ1 by the group of noble men of whom ,isaiah was the most conspicuous had1 by the latter part of the seventh century before ,christ1 become ripe for an organization of the institutions of religion4 ,jeremiah was the central figure in this second period of the prophetic movement4 ,upon the throne of ,judah at that time was the good young king1 ,josiah--the ,edward the ,sixth of ,israel--in whom the hopes of the reformers centred4 ,about the year #fbe ,b4,c4 occurred an event that decided the future of religion in ,judah2 described in the twenty-second chapter of the second book of ,kings4 ,the high-priest sent to the young king1 saying3 ,i have found the book of the law in the house of the ,lord4 ,this book of the law of ,moses1 according to tradition1 had been lost2 had been lost so long that its provisions had dropped into disuse1 into oblivion2 an oblivion so complete that the nation's religion ignored and violated the whole system of that law2 had been lost so long and so thoroughly that the very existence of such a law had passed from the memory of man4 ,this was the book that ,hilkiah claimed to have re-discovered in the temple archives4 ,it was at once read to the excited king4 ,it made a profound impression upon him by its revelation of the apostasy in which the nation was living1 and by its solemn threatenings upon such apostasy4 ,it came to pass that when the king had heard the words of the book of the law1 that he rent his clothes4 ,for1 said he3 ,great is the wrath of the ,lord that is kindled against us1 because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book1 to do according unto all that which is written concerning us4 ,the devout young king threw himself into a thorough reformation of the prevailing religion4 ,all local altars were swept away1 all idolatries were cleared from the ,jerusalem temple1 the priesthood was centred in the capital and more thoroughly organized2 in short1 as our fathers read the story1 ,mosaism was re-established1 after some seven centuries of partial or total disuse4 ,through processes which we cannot now follow1 our later critics have1 ,i think1 fairly established the proposition1 that this book of ,the ,law was none other than the substance of our book of ,deuteronomy1 then for the first time written4 ,the plans of the prophetic reformers had contemplated the sweeping changes described above1 in the interests of an ethical and spiritual religion4 ,they felt that they were but carrying out the principles of the nation's great ,founder4 ,of his original conception of religion1 bodied in ,the ,ten ,words1 their aspirations were the legitimate historical development2 as the leaf and bud are the growth of the far back roots4 ,this programme of the prophetic reformers1 presented in its true light as a development of the ideas of ,moses1 was1 by the priest ,hilkiah1 sent to the king as the law of the nation's ,founder1 with the results sketched above4 ,read in this light1 the book takes on a fresh and fascinating interest4 ,it marks the organization of the movement toward a higher religion which had been started by the great prophets of the preceding century4 ,it becomes the ,augsburg ,confession of the ,jewish ,reformation1 from which dates the gradual possession of the institutions of the nation by ethical and spiritual religion4 ,the lofty character of this book1 the ,st4 ,john of the ,old ,testament1 as ,ewald called it1 is thus rendered intelligible2 as it stands for the aspirations of the noblest movement in ancient ,jewish history4 ,it is the issue of a long travail of soul to whose words we hearken in such a truth as this3 ,hear1 ,o ,israel3 ,the ,lord our ,god is one ,lord3 and thou shalt love the ,lord thy ,god with all thine heart1 and with all thy soul1 and with all thy might4 ,placed in this position1 the book of ,deuteronomy becomes the key to ,israel's history1 by which criticism is reconstructing that story1 on the lines of the great laws of all life1 with most significant consequences to the cause of religion4 ,the ideas and institutions known to us as ,the ,mosaic ,law come forth now as the crown and culmination of a long historic development4 ,israel's story is that of a slow and gradual education under the divine hand2 not a relapse1 but a progress1 not an apostasy but an evolution4 ,israel takes its place in the general order of humanity's movement4 ,with it religion sweeps at once into the pathway of progress which science has shown to be the order of nature2 and the historic revelation is seen to be1 like the revelation in nature1 a gradual1 progressive manifestation of ,him whose goings forth are as the morning--its orbit the sweep of the ascending sun4 ,with such mighty secrets does this little book grow luminous when placed in the light of its real belongings4 ,the ,book of ,ezekiel1 whose historic position was never disputed1 becomes of new value in the light of a fuller knowledge of its period4 ,it presents to the science of ,biblical criticism the missing link in its theory of ,israel's development4 ,it shows the process of transformation1 out of which issued during the exile the elaborate1 hierarchical system known to us as ,mosaism4 ,the new criticism seems to me to have reasonably established the theorem1 that the priestly cultus embodied in the legislation of the ,pentateuch was first systematized into the form it there presents during the exile1 and was first set up as the national system on the return to ,judea4 ,it is not claimed that it was a new manufacture of that period4 ,as such it would be inconceivable4#ce ,it is simply claimed that it was a thorough codification1 for the first time1 of the scattered and conflicting codes of conduct and systems of worship of the various local priesthoods of ,israel1 as handed down by tradition and in records from ancient times2 a codification animated by the centralizing and hierarchical tendencies working in the nation2 which tendencies were themselves the result largely of the prophetic spirit1 and its aspirations for a nobler religion4#cf ,it is not difficult to account for this remarkable priestly movement4 ,the institutional organization of religion that began under ,josiah had continued1 with various fortunes1 the aim of the higher spirits of the nation down to the exile4 ,the movement of life was in the direction of uniformity and order4 ,there was much in the circumstances of the exile to stimulate this movement4 ,the priests were left without their temple worship1 and1 in the absence of outward interests1 must have turned their thought in upon their system itself1 studying it as they had not done in the midst of its actual operation4 ,like all wrongly lost possessions1 it became doubly dear4 ,the ,jews were placed in the midst of an ancient and highly organized priestly system in ,babylonia1 whose benefits to culture and religion they must have noted and pondered4 ,in the national humiliation and the personal sorrows of such a wholesale carrying away of a people from their native land1 a wide-spread awakening of the inner life was experienced1 a genuine revival of religion4 ,a new wave of prophetic enthusiasm rose in the strange land1 lifting the soul of the nation to heights of spiritual and ethical religion never reached before4 ,this revival was stamped with the impress of the intellectual influences which were working upon the ,jews in ,babylonia4 ,some of the extant writings of this period1 alike in literary style1 in moral tone and in religious thought1 mark a new era4 ,israel's genius flowered in this dark night--true to the mystic character of the race4 ,this highest effort of prophetic thought and feeling appears to have quickly exhausted itself4 ,in reality1 it followed the usual order of religious movements1 and turned into a priestly organization4 ,the group of prophets around the first ,isaiah prepared the way for the priestly movement that followed a century later4 ,the group of prophets around the second ,isaiah prepared the way for the priestly movement that followed close in their steps4 ,first comes always1 in religion1 an epoch of inspiration1 and then comes a period of organization4 ,the organization never bodies fully the spirit of the inspiration4 ,the ideal is not realizable in institutions4 ,institutional religion is always a compromise1 a mediation between the lofty conceptions and impatient aspirations of the few who inspire the new life1 and the low notions and contented conventionalisms of the many whom they seek to inspire4 ,the compromise is necessarily of the nature of a reaction2 but the interplay of action and re-action is the law of ethical as of chemical forces4 ,israel really needed the conserving work of a great organization4 ,the prophetic religion was far in advance of the popular level4 ,the high thoughts and lofty ideas of the prophets needed to be wrought into a cultus1 which1 while not breaking abruptly with the popular religion1 should imbue the conventional forms with deeper ethical and spiritual meanings2 should1 through them1 systematically train the people in ethical habits and spiritual conceptions2 and should thus gradually educate men out of these forms themselves4 ,in the providence of ,god1 and under the influences of ,his patient ,spirit1 this needful system was developed in the exile3 a system whose symbolism was so charged with ethical and spiritual senses that it led on to ,christ2 as the ,epistle to the ,hebrews rightly shows and as ,paul distinctly declares4 ,as the first priestly period1 following the first prophetic epoch1 bodied that double movement in a book--,deuteronomy2 so the second priestly period1 following the second prophetic epoch1 bodied this double movement in a book1 or group of books--the present form of the ,pentateuch4 ,the traditions and histories and legislations of the past were worked over into a connected series of writings1 through which was woven the new priestly system1 in a historical form4 ,on the restoration to ,judea1 this institutional reorganization was set up as the law of the land1 and continued thenceforward in force--the providential instrumentality for the ad interim work of four centuries4 ,such a remarkable process of development1 so deepening in us a sense of the guiding hand of ,god1 ought to show some sign of its working1 in the literature of the period4 ,however clear1 from our general knowledge1 the tendencies which were at work in that period1 we could not feel assured of our correct interpretation of this most important epoch1 in the absence of some such sign1 in a writing of that date4 ,the ,book of ,ezekiel supplies the missing link4 ,the writer was a prophet-priest1 who went into the exile1 and wrote in ,babylonia4 ,in the earlier part of his life-work1 recorded in the earlier portion of his book1 he was thoroughly prophetic1 intensely ethical and spiritual1 breathing the very spirit of his great master1 ,jeremiah4 ,in the latter part of his career he was visited with dreams1 such as are plainly indicated to us in the remarkable vision occupying the concluding section of his book4 ,the fortieth chapter opens thus3 ,in the visions of ,god brought he me into the land of ,israel1 and set me upon a very high mountain1 upon which was as the frame of a city on the south4 ,then follows1 through eighteen chapters1 a sketch of the temple system in the expected restoration4 ,it is a thoroughly ideal sketch1 a vision destined to take on much simpler and humbler proportions in its realization2 a picture probably not intended for copying in actual construction1 but1 like all ideal work1 a powerful stimulus to the aspirations it expressed4 ,it is a free sketch of the ,new ,priestly ,system1 on the easel1 awaiting correction and completion at the hands of ,ezra and others4 ,it reveals to us the visions that were occupying the minds of the best men in the latter part of the exile1 and the work they were essaying4 ,thus we are prepared for the final issue4 ,the ,book of ,daniel has been wrongly placed1 traditionally1 with most serious consequences to the character of the book1 and1 through this misconception to ,christianity4 ,dated from the early part of the sixth century before ,christ1 its story of ,daniel's experiences read as literal history1 and its visions appear as actual predictions of long subsequent events4 ,a high authority has declared-- ,there can be no doubt that it exercised a greater influence upon the early ,christian ,church than any other writing of the ,old ,testament4#cg ,that influence1 owing to this misconception1 is chiefly to be traced in the growth of an apocalyptic literature1 and in the fantastical and material expectations of the ,messianic ,kingdom which they encouraged4 ,it has continued down to our own day turning heads as wise as ,sir ,isaac ,newton's1 setting religion at conjuring with visions of monstrous beasts and juggling with mystic figures until the name of ,prophecy has become a by-word4 ,this book appears to take its proper place1 at least in its present form1 about a century and a half before ,christ4 ,that was a period of deep depression for ,israel4 ,under ,antiochus ,epiphanes the nation had been sorely oppressed1 its temple denied1 and its religion well nigh crushed out4 ,men's hearts were failing them for fear1 and for looking for those things that were coming to pass upon the earth4 ,pious souls turned back to the ancient time of bitter humiliation1 when ,israel had been scattered in a strange land1 and recalled the bold word of faith spoken by ,jeremiah1 which had stayed the spirits of their forefathers4 ,the great prophet promised that after seventy years the nation should be restored to its native land1 and should renew its prosperity gloriously4 ,it had won back its home1 but in the old homestead it had grown poorer and feebler1 generation after generation4 ,had the ancient promise of prophecy failed8 ,good men could not think so4 ,to some devout soul came the suggestion that the seventy years had meant seventy ,sabbatical years1 each of which consisted of seven years2 that is1 four hundred and ninety years4 ,one can still feel the thrill that must have gone through him1 as he saw that this computation would place the defiling of the temple--that sign of ,god's having forsaken his people--in the middle of the last week of years4 ,it was then only about three years to the destined end of the weary period that ,jeremiah had included in the term of ,israel's humbling1 after which would come ,jehovah's help4 ,fired with this thought1 he set himself to inspire his people with fresh hope and courage4 ,around a traditional ,daniel1 famed for his wisdom and piety1 and possibly upon an earlier document containing some tales of this sage and saint1 he wove a story which should interpret ,jeremiah's prophecy and ,jehovah's purpose4 ,with charming grace he tells the tale of ,daniel's constancy and trust under the sorest trials1 and of the divine deliverance that always came to him4 ,into his mouth he placed predictions of what had already come to pass in history1 that thus his reputation as a prophet might be established4 ,then he caused him to present a striking series of symbolical visions1 the clue to which was furnished for the writer's contemporaries by certain clear allusions4 ,these visions foretold deliverance as about to come at the approaching end of the four hundred and ninety years of ,jeremiah4 ,other visions sketched the ushering in of the ,messiah-,kingdom1 in glowing pictures of lofty religious tone4 ,in that dark night over ,israel this book was as the morning star4 ,it was truly1 as ,dean ,stanley called it1 the ,gospel of the age4 ,its story spread1 and with it spread renewed patience and hope4 ,it doubtless fed the forces of that glorious revolt that shortly thereafter burst forth under the heroic ,maccabees4 ,thus it kept alive the vital spark in the nation1 through a crucial hour1 that else might have gone out before it had given birth to ,christianity4 ,noble as the book of ,daniel is in many ways1 especially as the real father of the philosophy of history1 it has a still deeper interest to us ,christians for its timely service to the sinking nation through which came at last our ,blessed ,master4 ,the ,acts of the ,apostles1 when studied in the light of the tendencies known to have been working in the apostolic church1 becomes of similar importance in ,new ,testament history to ,deuteronomy in ,old ,testament history4 ,the primitive ,church was1 as we well know1 agitated by contending factions4 ,two leading parties dominated all minor schools of thought2 the ,jewish ,christians1 who naturally wanted to keep within the old religion1 and who would have made a reformed ,judaism1 and the ,gentile ,christians who as naturally objected to being herded within ,judaism1 and who wanted to make a new and universal society4 ,the first party rallied under the name of ,peter1 and the second used the name of ,paul4 ,there was imminent danger that the new society would break apart1 with fatal consequences to posterity4 ,real and deep as were the differences between ,peter and ,paul1 they did not1 in all probability1 sunder these great natures as widely as their followers imagined4 ,there must have been meeting points between such souls1 in love with the one ,master4 ,to find these convergences and construct out of them a peace-platform on which both wings of the new society might stand1 was the aim of ,the ,acts4 ,it embodied genuine journals of a traveling companion of ,st4 ,paul1 notes of his addresses in various cities1 traditions lost to us outside of this book1 of ,peter's conciliatory attitude and utterances2 and groups these historic fragments into a sketch1 in which the two apostles are shown as dividing equally the labors of founding the ,christian ,church1 as preaching the same views1 and acting in cordial harmony4 ,this book is a sign of the disposition to draw together which was gaining ground among the primitive churches1 a disposition fostered largely by this writing2 out of which process of comprehension and conciliation arose the ,catholic ,church1 naming its great cathedrals after ,st4 ,peter and ,st4 ,paul4 ,,iv4 ,the books which are of a composite character should be read in their several parts1 and traced to their proper places in history4 ,thus1 for example1 in reading ,isaiah uncritically we pass from the fragment of history that forms our thirty-ninth chapter1 to the magnificent strain of impassioned imagination which opens with the fortieth chapter1 as though there were no hiatus2 and we proceed straight through this latter section of the book1 taking it all as written in the reign of ,hezekiah1 that is1 in the latter part of the eighth century before ,christ4 ,we thus view this second section of ,isaiah from a wrong standpoint4 ,the panorama of its visions becomes blurred4 ,we cannot focus the glass upon the objects in its field4 ,the real significance and beauty of this noblest reach of prophetic imagination evanishes from our vision4 ,to see this second section of ,isaiah aright1 we must push it down the stream of time nearly two hundred years4 ,it is the work of a prophet1 or group of prophets1 in the latter part of the exile1 about the middle of the sixth century before ,christ4 ,watching the signs of the times1 the gifted and gracious spirit who led this chorus of hope saw tokens1 as of the dawning of day after the long1 dark night4 ,rumors of the all conquering ,cyrus1 the ,medo-,persian king1 made ,babylon tremble with fear1 and ,israel thrill with excited expectation4 ,in the ethical and spiritual religion of the advancing ,persians1 the ,jews might look for a bond of sympathy4 ,it would be the policy of ,cyrus to make friends of the foes of ,babylon1 and to place the captive people in their own land on the borders of his empire1 as his grateful feudatories4 ,the seer saw thus1 in the conquering hero1 the ,servant of ,god1 raised up to restore the chosen people to their native country4 ,prophecy kindled anew for its final flame1 and burst forth in the immortal strain of hope for the long-tried ,israel3 ,comfort ye1 comfort ye my people1 ,saith your ,god4 ,speak ye comfortably to ,jerusalem1 and cry unto her1 ,that her warfare is accomplished1 ,that her iniquity is pardoned4 ,i never read this sublime chapter without a fresh thrill1 as ,i hear the voice of a crushed race1 lifting amid its misery a cry of unconquerable confidence in the ,just and ,holy ,one1 who was ordering alike the embattled armies of earth and the starry hosts of the skies1 and through history1 as in nature1 was sweeping on resistlessly to fulfill the good pleasure of ,his ,will4 ,no wonder the matchless oratorio of the ,messiah opens with this aria1 abruptly as the original words are spoken in ,isaiah4 ,they sound the key-note of the good tidings of great joy which1 growing as a hope in men's souls through the centuries1 became a faith1 an assured conviction1 in the life of the ,christus ,consolator2 in whom ,god is seen as ,our ,father which art in heaven4 ,every gem of this second section of ,isaiah takes on a new lustre in this setting4 ,it is the cry of the lost sheep in the wilderness1 catching sight of the ,shepherd who they thought had forgotten them1 that we hear in the gracious strain3 ,he shall feed his flock like a ,shepherd1 ,he shall gather the lambs with his arm1 ,and carry them in his bosom1 ,and shall gently lead those that are with young4 ,the vision of the ,suffering1 ,righteous ,servant of ,god grows clear and pathetic in the true historic light4 ,the chastened nation feels itself called to a higher mission than that of political power4 ,it is to teach the other nations of the earth the knowledge of ,god4 ,that knowledge it is itself to learn in the school of sorrow4 ,it is to save humanity through the sacrifice of itself4 ,thus the secret of suffering is spelled out1 not for ancient ,israel alone1 but for all mankind2 the secret which is shrined1 for ever sacred to us1 in the story of our ,lord ,christ2 from whom you and ,i this day1 through a simple symbol1 are to learn anew that if we sorrow it is that we may be made perfect through suffering1 and thus be fitted to lead our fellows up into the light and love of ,god4 ,v4 ,these writings should be read critically1 until we can decipher the successive hands working upon them1 and interpret them accordingly4 ,few1 if any1 of the books of the ,bible stand now as they came from their original authors4 ,nearly all have been re-edited2 most of them many times4 ,some of them have been worked over by so many hands1 and have undergone such numerous and serious changes1 that the original writer would scarcely identify his work4 ,the historical writings of the ,old ,testament take up into them all sorts of materials1 from all sorts of sources4 ,if the annals of the ,venerable ,bede1 the father of ,english history had been re-written again and again through the subsequent centuries2 abridged1 enlarged1 interpreted by each editor2 the accumulating knowledge and growing experience of the nation read into his simple chronicles2 we should appreciate the critical care needful in studying our edition of ,bede if we would know the real original4 ,very much such care is necessary if we are to use the ,old ,testament histories aright for information4 ,it is as though there were several surfaces to the parchment on which the histories were written1 on each successive film of which1 in finest tracery1 an older record was inscribed4 ,genesis1 for example1 presents us1 at every step of what seems a consecutive story1 with successive layers of tradition1 through which we must work our way most carefully if we would really understand the book4 ,we readily observe a twofold tradition of the ,creation in the opening chapters of ,genesis1 differing very materially3 a sign to us1 if we need it1 that there was no one authoritative account of the ,creation current in ,israel4 ,little attention is required to note a double version of the story of the flood1 whose artless piecing together is the cause of the confusions and contradictions that puzzle many readers4 ,the deciphering of this double tradition of the flood first started criticism upon the true track of ,biblical study4 ,the frequently recurring phrase1 ,these are the generations1 or beginnings1 indicates the insertion of fragments of a work giving an account of the origin of the world1 of the races of earth1 of language1 of the ,jewish people1 etc42 a work called by the critics ,the ,book of ,origins4 ,in the fourteenth chapter there is what seems to be a very ancient non-,jewish fragment of history1 torn possibly from some ,syrian writing1 which gives a tale of ,abraham's prowess in war4 ,and even in one and the same tale of tradition1 we apparently find strata of thought laid down by successive ages4 ,there are extant to-day parchments in which1 for lack of other material1 a writer has scratched partially away an earlier manuscript1 and written over it another book4 ,such a palimpsest is ,genesis4 ,a legend of civilization is written over a solar-myth1 and a tribal legend over the legend of civilization1 and a theocratic legend over the tribal4#ch 99 99 99 99 99 ,when such a mastery of the ,bible-books is won1 they are to be used in the customary methods of critical study1 with reference to their contents and the significances thereof1 under the same general laws of interpretation that hold over other literature4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i think ,i hear some one saying--,is this the right use of the ,bible1 for which ,i am asked to give up the dear1 old1 simple way of reading for my soul's inspiration8 ,not at all1 my friend4 ,that blessed use of the ,bible1 learned at your mother's knees1 is still1 and must always remain1 the best use possible to any one4 ,of this ,i shall speak hereafter4 ,i am now speaking1 not of the right devotional use of the ,bible1 but of the right critical use of it4 ,it has been used critically in building our theologies1 but1 to a large extent1 amiss4 ,out of this wrong use of it has come the misconceptions in theology which to-day perplex our minds and bar the progress of religion4 ,if we must use the ,bible critically1 let us by all means try to employ a true and thorough criticism4 ,let us not think to close every controversy by the phrase--,the ,bible says so4 ,we shall be more modest and less disputatious when we appreciate the study necessary before any one can properly answer the question--,what saith the ,scriptures8 ,again ,i hear a voice from the pews--,who then save a scholar is competent for such a use of the ,bible8 ,i answer--,no one1 except a pupil of the scholars4 ,the scholars have placed within our reach the results of such a critical study of the ,bible4 ,you can find the rational guidance you may desire in the manuals which set forth the conclusions of these critical processes2 though you must painfully feel1 as ,i do1 the lack of the religious tone in some of them4 ,a crying need of our day is a ,hand ,book to the ,bible in which the new critical knowledge shall blend1 as it may blend1 with the old spiritual reverence4 ,one should not rise from such a study of the ,bible as we have made to-day1 in its merely literary aspects1 without a new1 strange sense of awe before this mystic ,book4 ,it is the handiwork of no one man1 of no group of men1 of no period4 ,it is an organic product1 the growth of a whole people the coralline structure builded by a nation4 ,hands innumerable have toiled over these pages4 ,voices indistinguishable now1 in blended chorus from the dawn of history1 have joined in the cry of the human after ,god which whispers upon us from this sacred phonograph4 ,successive generations of men1 struggling with sin1 striving for purity1 searching after ,god1 have exhaled their spirits into the essence of religion1 which is treasured in this costly vase4 ,the moral forces of centuries1 devoted to righteousness1 are stored in this exhaustless reservoir of ethical energy4 ,at such cost1 my brothers1 has ,humanity issued this sacred book4 ,from such patience of preparation has ,providence laid this priceless gift before you4 ,in such labor of articulation--spelling out the syllables of the message from on high1 through multitudinous lives of men dutifully and devoutly walking with their ,god--does the ,spirit speak to you1 ,o1 soul of man4 ,say thou-- ,speak ,lord2 thy servant heareth6 99 99 99 99 99 ,it is a matter of perfect indifference where a thing originated the only question is2 ,is it true in and for itself8 ,hegel3 ,philosophy of ,history1 ,part ,,iii43 ,sec4 ,,iii43 ,ch4 ,,ii4 ,with reference to things in the ,bible1 the question whether they are genuine or spurious is odd enough4 ,what is genuine but that which is truly excellent1 which stands in harmony with the purest nature and reason1 and which even now ministers to our highest development8 ,what is spurious but the absurd and the hollow1 which brings no fruit--at least1 no good fruit4 ,goethe3 ,conversations1 ,march #aa1ahcb4 ,no article of faith is injured by allowing that there is no such positive proof1 when or by whom these and some other books of holy ,scripture were written1 as to exclude all possibility of doubt and cavil4 ,watson's ,apology for the ,bible1 ,letter ,,iv4 ,,vi4 ,the ,right ,historical ,use of the ,bible4 ,the principle of development involves also the existence of a latent germ of being--a capacity or potentiality striving to realize itself4444 ,what ,spirit really strives for is the realization of its ,ideal being44444 ,the profoundest thought is connected with the personality of ,christ--with the historical and external2 and it is the very grandeur of the ,christian religion that1 with all this profundity1 it is easy of comprehension by our consciousness in its outward aspect1 while1 at the same time1 it summons us to penetrate deeper4 ,hegel3 ,philosophy of ,history1 pp4 #eg1 #cdd4 ,bohn4 ,let mental culture go on advancing1 let the natural sciences go on gaining in depth and breadth1 and the human mind expand as it may1 it will never go beyond the elevation and moral culture of ,christianity as it glistens and shines forth in the gospel6 ,goethe3 ,conversations1 ,march1 #aa1ahcb4 ,,vi4 ,the ,right ,historical ,use of the ,bible4 ,when the fulness of the time was come ,god sent forth ,his ,son4--,galatians1 iv4 #d4 ,st4 ,paul condensed the philosophy of ,hebrew history into a metaphor4 ,israel travailed in birth with ,christianity4 ,in the mind of the nation was begotten1 of the ,most ,high1 a conception of ethical religion1 whose gestation was a process of centuries4 ,the period of parturition came1 and a universal religion was born into the world2 bodied1 as religion needs must be1 in a man1 ,jesus1 the ,christ4 ,when the fulness of the time was come ,god sent forth ,his ,son4 ,the sacred literature of ,israel is the record and embodiment of this organic growth of her religion1 through its various moods and tenses1 toward its ideal in the ,christ4 ,the sacred literature of the ,christian ,church is the picture of this flower of the soul of ,israel1 and of the new growth springing up from its seeding down of humanity4 ,the whole ,bible presents us with the growth of the religion of the ,christ1 below ground and above ground2 its rootings and its flowerings4 ,the right historical use of the ,bible is1 through a critical knowledge of the sacred literature of ,israel1 to reproduce before our minds this process of the growth of the ,christ in ,israel and of ,his new growth in humanity2 with a view to our intelligent perception of ,his true place in history1 and of the significance thereof4 ,the heart of the ,bible is ,christ4 ,that which our fathers saw we need to see1 that in ,him all things stand together1 as the arch is holden by the key-stone4 ,rightly to read the secret of ,his life is to find the secret of earth's problems4 ,therefore our fathers insisted so strenuously on the ,old ,testament preparation for ,christ4 ,a tree's rootings are proportionate to its size4 ,in the gradual prefiguring of ,christ through ,israel's story1 they read the historic attestation of ,his revelation4 ,the picture of ,israel's history that yielded them their vision is dissolving before our eyes1 at the touch of the new criticism1 and men are fearing that the secret of the ,bible is escaping from our age4 ,i desire to-day to draw for you1 in outline1 the story of ,israel's development1 as traced by our new masters2 that you may see the old vision re-emergent in truer1 nobler forms4 ,the re-construction of ,hebrew history makes real and certain an organic1 natural development of the religion of the ,christ2 a travail of the nation with the ,son it bore to ,god4 ,the best method of studying any history is in its great epochs and periods4 ,the eras of ,hebrew history group themselves clearly1 in orderly progression4 ,i4 ,the ,epoch of ,moses3 ,b4,c4 #acjj787 ,hebrew history properly begins with this era4 ,the tribes of ,israel when first resolved by the glass of history1 appear upon the ,arabian border of ,egypt1 as occupants of the rich pasture lands of ,goshen4 ,they were a branch of a large ,semitic family1 which included ,moab1 ,edom1 ,ammon and other familiar tribes4 ,of the social1 intellectual and religious status of the ,hebrews at this period we have little definite information4 ,they would seem to have been on the usual plane of races which have entered the semi-nomadic stage1 and which are gradually substituting agricultural pursuits for a roving shepherd life4 ,oppressed by ,egypt they revolt1 and begin a migration backward toward the north and east4 ,the soul of this movement was ,moses2 a real historic figure1 worthy1 as we can see through the mists around him1 of the imposing form which ,michael ,angelo has given him4 ,a great man is nearly always to be found at the core of a great social growth1 charging the latent tendencies of a race with energy1 and shaping their action upon the form of his mind4 ,an institution is the lengthened shadow of a man1 writes ,emerson4 ,judaism is the lengthened shadow of ,moses4 ,whatever else ,moses may have done1 he proved himself the architect of ,israel1 by laying the foundation that determined the form and size of the later structure4 ,he taught his simple people to recognize ,jehovah as their tribal ,god4 ,what this name meant in the conception of the people before his time is by no means clear to us now4 ,it appears to have stood for the personification of some one of the forms of nature's forces1 that arrest upon themselves the nomad's vague sense of the ,infinite and ,divine in the world about him4 ,around the ,power felt in ,saturn or the ,sun1 ,moses threw the spell of an awe which is deeper far than that awakened by the starry heavens above man--the awe aroused by the moral law within man4 ,he gave his rude children a noble moral code1 the original form of the ,decalogue4 ,these ,ten ,words were issued as the law of ,jehovah4 ,jehovah then was the source and authority of the laws which the conscience owned4 ,the moral law was his body of statutes4 ,to keep this law was the way to please ,him4 ,his commands reached through rites and ordinances to conduct and character4 ,his demands were not for sacrifices1 but for good lives4 ,his worship was aspiration and endeavor after goodness4 ,and this ,power enjoining morality was none other than the ,power which in nature seemed so often unmoral and even immoral4 ,jehovah of the skies was the ,god of the ,ten ,words4 ,this was a seminal thought1 bodied in an institution4 ,in begetting this conception in the soul of ,israel1 ,moses fathered the life which grew through embryonic forms1 during the slow gestation of the centuries1 shaping toward the ideal of religion4 ,whatever was vital and progressive in the nation's thought and feeling sucked up its juices from the seed deep-rooted in this basic institution4 ,rightly did legislators and historians1 through the after ages1 look back and ascribe all their work in the development of the national life to ,moses4 ,even thus the rose1 were it conscious1 might turn its crimson face upon the ground and whisper to the seed at its roots--,i am thy work4 ,even thus the son1 in the pride and power of manhood goes back to the old homestead1 and looking into his father's face confesses--,all that ,i am you have made me4 ,,ii4 ,the heroic age3 ,b4,c4 #acjj-aajj4 ,after ,moses there follows a period of at least two hundred years1 of which we have very imperfect accounts1 and those plainly traditional and commingled with legend4 ,the ,hebrew tribes appear to have gradually gravitated upon ,canaan2 slowly settling into agricultural pursuits1 and winning from its previous occupants the land they coveted1 inch by inch1 in bloody strife4 ,they camped upon their hard-won fields for several generations1 maintaining their claims at the point of the sword1 with varying success2 now mastering their foes1 and again almost crushed by them4 ,the inter-relations of the several tribes during this period would seem to have been of a very loose character4 ,each appears to have acted for itself1 except at critical moments1 when common danger drew them together in concerted action under leaders of commanding ability4 ,tradition has preserved charming tales of some of these redoubtable champions of the ,hebrews1 of whom we would gladly know much more4 ,this was the heroic age of ,israel4 ,rude1 rough times of constant alarm brought forth little that was memorable save feats of courage4 ,we have few glimpses into the state of religion in this simple society1 and upon what is brought out into light the hues of later ages are reflected4 ,quite clearly we may discern that the religion of the people in those days was by no means that which we know as ,mosaism4 ,how could such a sublime conception as that of ,moses have ripened in a people at this stage of their development8 ,like all founders of religion1 he was far in advance of his age4 ,if a few higher natures1 here and there1 recognized and appreciated the significance of the ,ten ,words of ,jehovah1 the mass of the people could not have done so4 ,and movement is determined toward the mass in ethics as in physics4 ,all that ,moses could have hoped to do was to body his seminal truth in an institution1 that should keep it alive in the nation until the proper conditions were found for its quickening and growth4 ,this he achieved in binding the tribes to the worship of ,jehovah1 whose law was owned in the moral standards of the people4 ,to this loyalty to ,jehovah1 as the ,god of ,israel1 ,moses did securely bind the tribes4 ,they never wholly forswore ,jehovah1 and thus never lost the germ begotten in the soul of the race1 which held the promise and potency of the future4 ,but around ,jehovah1 as the supreme ,god of the race1 the people still continued to group their ancient divinities1 and to worship them in the old-time manner4 ,the religion of a people in any stage of its history is always a composite2 a succession of layers that correspond to the intellectual and moral classifications of society4 ,but the proportion of the true religion rises with a progressive civilization4 ,in these semi-civilized tribes the religion of the bulk of the people1 in all probability1 corresponded with the ideas and forms of worship of other peoples in the same stage of development ,in the lowest stratum fetichism lingered on1 the worship of any unusual thing that excited the wonder of a simple people4 ,great trees of immemorial age1 huge boulders standing strangely in fertile valleys1 continued the objects of superstitious awe4 ,jehovahism took up these remnants of fetichism into its higher life1 when it found that they could not be dispossessed1 just as ,christianity did long afterward with pagan customs1 and gave them a higher significance in connection with the worship of ,jehovah4#ci ,higher strata of the people worshipped the various powers of nature1 the sun1 the moon1 the stars1 after much the same fashion in vogue among their kindred ,semites4#dj ,even the revolting rites of the surrounding nature-worships were not lacking in ,israel4 ,while the gentle and gracious warmth of the spring sun called forth the happy adoration of the people1 the scorching and consuming heat of the midsummer sun roused the fears of the sufferers for their crops1 their cattle1 and their very lives4 ,they sought to propitiate this fierce ,power1 which was evidently hostile to man1 with offerings of the life it devoured so pitilessly4 ,the choicest lives--the first-born son1 the fairest maiden of the village--were sacrificed to glut its greed of death4 ,into the fiery arms of ,moloch parents laid the children of their love4 ,human sacrifices were unquestionably a recognized form of worship during this period1 at least in times of deep distress4#da ,the libertine longings of nature1 the free fecundities of mother-earth1 imaged to the grosser people the ,power working round about them and within their very bodies2 and men and women gave free rein to their appetites and passions1 in honor of divinities like ,ashera1 the ,syrian ,venus4#db ,the various tribes probably had different rites4 ,the general picture we must fashion in our minds of this period is of a polytheistic1 idolatrous people1 slightly distinguishable from the surrounding ,semites1 save as they held1 in their recognition of ,jehovah and his ,ten ,words1 the germ of a higher thought and life4 ,,iii4 ,the period of the monarchy1 down to the epoch of the great prophets3 ,b4 ,c4 #aajj-hjj4 ,the story of the making of ,england may interpret to us the development that ensued in this third period of ,israel's history4 ,we know how the petty realms of the ,angles-land1 under pressure from a common foe1 learned to act momentarily together1 came for a summer under some commanding leader1 drew thus into closer affiliations grouped gradually around the more powerful realms1 and at length crystallized into ,england4 ,in some such way the ,hebrew tribes were slowly knit together by the necessity of war1 until to organize a lasting victory they were forced into consolidation and out of the loose confederation of tribes arose a nation1 ,israel4 ,social tendencies generally throw a leader to the front4 ,the man is not wanting for the hour4 ,the king-maker of ,israel was ,samuel4 ,a man combining in that simple state of society several functions--priest and judge and leader--he had the prescience to divine the need of the age1 and the wisdom to point out the man to meet it4 ,saul was chosen ,king1 in free gathering of the hardy yeomanry1 and proved his human election a divine selection by rousing the nation to new efforts1 which his genius led to victory4 ,saul was followed by a brief period of national unity under ,david and ,solomon1 in which the rapid and brilliant progress made in the spread of the kingdom1 in wealth and civilization1 revealed the latent powers of this gifted race4 ,the progress of political and commercial greatness was stayed by the rending of the kingdom after ,solomon4 ,no great advances were possible amid the chronic jealousies and frequent strife of the sister kingdoms1 which were unable to come together again in a unity that would have restored their prestige1 and were unable1 apart1 to achieve any signal success in diplomacy or war4 ,the social state of the people underwent the changes usual in this stage of a people's history4 ,with peace came wealth1 with wealth came luxury1 with luxury new social vices1 fed from the court which grew around the monarchy4 ,but that the heart of the people continued sound amid these organic changes we may see from several hints preserved by tradition4 ,the institution1 or revival1 of the ,order of the ,nazarites was a religio-moral movement4 ,it was a protest against the vice of drunkenness that was increasing in the land1 as1 relieved from war's alarms and waxing fat upon their fertile fields1 the people gave themselves to pleasure4 ,the first ,prohibition ,society1 of which we have record1 was this ,order of the ,nazarites4 ,this ,order appears also to have had a still deeper moral aim1 little noticed of old4 ,it was a reaction from the social changes that were going on in ,israel1 a protest against the new-fashioned ways of wealth1 an earnest effort to hold to the simplicities of earlier days1 to the good old plain living and high thinking4 ,it was a counter-movement of ,old ,israel1 essaying to stem the mad rush for riches4 ,a still more convincing token of the healthy moral tone of the nation is to be found in the earliest considerable work of literature preserved to us1 the ,song of ,songs4 ,it holds up to scorn the licentiousness that ,solomon had made fashionable1 and of which1 in a just retribution1 he had become the abhorred type4 ,the great king fails to corrupt the virtue of a simple country maiden1 despite of all his blandishments4 ,ewald assigns this poem to the northern kingdom1 which had separated itself from ,judah chiefly in reaction from the ,solomonic innovations4 ,it leads us into the homes of the sturdy peasantry of the hill country1 where burned the fires on the altars of pure wedded love4 ,from a people thus sound at heart1 amid the mellowing richness of civilization1 we may well expect great things in religion4 ,whatever the outward forms of religion1 its roots ran deep down into the moral law1 and must needs have borne in due time a noble fruitage4 ,there was in fact a striking development of religion in this period4 ,it was coincident with the secular development of the nation4 ,this indeed is the general rule of religious revival4 ,religion advances with the advancing life of man1 each new and true step forward opening a higher possibility of thought and feeling concerning ,god4 ,as ,moses the ,emancipator was the father of true religion in ,israel1 so ,samuel the king-maker was its early master4 ,we cannot now trace clearly his work1 but we can see that he was a fresh ethical and spiritual force1 shaping religious life anew4 ,prophets there had doubtless been before him1 in ,israel as out of it1 but they were unethical and unspiritual influences in religion2 the frenzied dervishes1 the oracular seers1 the wizards and necromancers who long afterward claimed this name1 and were denounced by the higher prophets4 ,samuel's masterful work was to turn this semi-religious force into a higher channel1 and to direct it toward a moral aim4 ,he was the creator of the type which drew after him the goodly fellowship of the prophets4 ,the traditions of ,israel present him in the rle of fearless censor and truthful mentor to the infant ,state2 the rle which the great prophets later on assumed toward the maturer nation4 ,he criticized the ,king1 guided the people1 and held the nation loyal to ,jehovah4 ,however little perception the mass of the people had of the spiritual significance of the ,state religion1 however many gross forms of popular religion existed around and within the tolerant institutions of ,jehovahism1 it was a vital matter to preserve that ,state religion1 and keep it well ahead of the people's growth4 ,thus we can perceive the historic significance of the work of the next great prophet after ,samuel1 ,elijah2 through the legendary nimbus that gathered round his striking personality and dramatic action ,in a critical hour1 when the ,jehovah-worship had well nigh disappeared1 he stood alone against the powers of the realm1 and rallied the people once more beneath the name of the god of their father4 ,he plucked a victory from defeat which decided the course of history4 ,what if ,jehovah was but a name to the mass of the people8 ,what if they continued to worship much as before1 only no longer at the altars of ,baal8 ,there are long periods in the history of man when the future depends upon allegiance to an institution little understood by those who shout most lustily for it4 ,the future may lie seeded down in a name which stores within it the forces of a new and higher unfolding when the times come ripe4 ,thus it proved through the crawling centuries in which ,israel held hard by a name of ,god which then meant little to it1 but which ultimately evolved its ethical significance and manifested unto men1 ,the ,eternal who loveth righteousness4 ,thus may it prove with the child of ,judaism4 ,liberals1 who are in such haste to drop the name of ,christ1 should pause long enough to ask themselves the question whether1 since it roots religion in a life of such perfect goodness that it became to men the manifestation of ,god1 this sacred name may not in its turn hold the secret of our progress2 whether1 from the treasured forces of the past that it gathers into itself1 when the spring time now setting in shall have fully come1 it may not blossom into the religion of the future8 ,a civilization should not be cut off from the historic seed which lies at the roots of its religion1 if it is to grow unto the harvest4 ,that in this fidelity to the tradition of their race the religion of the people of ,israel was in the vital processes of growth1 through this long period1 we know assuredly from one conclusive fact4 ,out of this tedious winter came1 suddenly as it seems to us1 a rich and beautiful spring4 ,the epoch of the great prophets1 with a new life of thought and aspiration1 breaks in abruptly on this commingling of all sorts of religion within the precincts of ,jehovahism4 ,even in ,february the sap is softening and warming in the veins which show no greening on the tips of the patient trees4 ,israel was swelling toward the day that was sure to come1 when1 lo6 the spring6 ,,iv4 ,the era of the great prophets1 before the exile3 ,b4,c4 #hjj-ehf4 ,in the southern ,pacific1 where coral islands are slowly forming beneath the surface of the sea1 he who is curious to study the process of the making of an island must send the divers down to bring up broken bits of coral1 snatched from the dark depths in a painful labor4 ,after the ocean mountain thrusts its top above the surface of the sea the work of exploration is easy enough1 and we may walk over hard ground as we study the new formation in the sunlight4 ,hitherto1 in our desire to learn the secrets of the growth of ,israel1 we have been like men peering over the sides of their tiny boats into the depths of a sea that covers fascinating mysteries2 watching the labors of the adepts who ever and anon bring up to the light some fresh fragments of a buried world4 ,in the epoch that we have now reached ,israel's growing life lifts itself above the level of tradition1 and stands forth as solid history1 on whose firm ground we can study for ourselves the making of a nation's religion4 ,israel's literary period opens for us with the prophets4 ,literary fragments float up to us from earlier days1 but now1 for the first time1 we have whole books about whose date and authorship we are reasonably certain4 ,the prophets introduced the literary craft4 ,they wrote out1 in their later years1 the substance of the messages which they had borne the people4 ,these brilliant pages teem with graphic descriptions of the actual usages1 social and religious1 of their age1 so that there is no difficulty in reproducing with fair accuracy the salient features of the period4 ,the popular religion was that composite of heathenisms already sketched in considering the previous period4 ,the people continued to worship the ,power which all felt and owned1 under the manifold forms which this ,power assumes in nature's processes4 ,sun and moon and stars still arrested the awe which through them groped after ,god1 and drew upon themselves the worship of the imagination4 ,the worship of ,jehovah had a special honor as the ,state religion1 but it stood contentedly amid other forms of religion4 ,in the service of ,jehovah local shrines developed special usages4 ,the ,uses of ,israel were as varied as the ,uses of ,england before the ,reformation4 ,no act of ,uniformity was in operation in the realm4 ,idolatry was not the exception but the rule4 ,the most popular symbol of ,jehovah was an image of a bull4 ,to the higher minds this bull was doubtless merely a symbol1 expressive of a striking phase of the sun's force1 but to the mass of men it was probably the actual object of their adorations4 ,the symbolism of the ,jerusalem ,temple was thoroughly idolatrous2 as1 for example1 the twelve oxen upholding the laver1 and the horns of the altar1 symbols drawn from the prevalent bull-worship2 the two columns in the court1 and the cherubs1 or cloud-dragons in the most holy place2 the chamanim1 or sun-images representing the rays of the sun in the shape of a cone1 and the chariots and horses of the sun1 a very ancient symbol familiar to us in ,guido's ,aurora4#dc ,nor did the allegiance to ,jehovah bar private usages of an idolatrous nature4 ,the home of the average ,israelite had its teraphim and other domestic divinities4 ,the darker aspects of the popular religion still held their ground against the growing light4 ,beneath the shadow of the ,jehovah of the ,ten ,words1 stood1 unmolested1 the images fashioned by the appetites and passions2 and men and women surrendered themselves to drunken orgies and sensual debauches1 in honor of the deities of desire4 ,as late as the time of ,jeremiah1 after nearly two centuries of prophetic teaching1 there were in the sacred precincts of the temple the asheras1 or tree-poles1 by which the priestesses of passion1 as part of their religious offices1 sold themselves to the frequenters of ,jehovah's house4#dd ,below the holy city1 ,king ,manasseh reared the image of ,moloch1 and human sacrifices were offered to placate the wrath of the ,power which they ignorantly worshipped4 ,where religion was so largely a worship of the physical powers of nature1 the life of the people would of necessity show an undeveloped ethical state4 ,drunkenness and debauchery continued common1 the marriage bond was very elastic in the polite society of the capital1 and selfishness haughtily overrode all considerations of meum and tuum in the mad chase of wealth4 ,unsatisfactory as the morals of the influential classes of society were1 there is1 however1 no indication of any such ooze and thaw of wrong as indicated a moribund condition in the nation4 ,we must not make the mistake1 so common concerning reformers1 and regard the evils that were justly lashed by the prophets as prevailing throughout society4 ,had this been the case1 where would the ethical forces of a new and higher life have risen8 ,single preachers of social righteousness might have arisen1 like ,savonarola in ,florence1 under such conditions1 but no general reform could have developed4 ,the steady growth of the movement initiated by the great prophets shows that it sprang from no individuals1 but from society2 that they merely led the reserve forces of virtue in the nation4 ,the heart of the nation was doubtless sound1 and growing more vigorously virtuous4 ,professor ,thorold ,rogers reminds us that the period when a great outcry is heard against any social evil1 is not that wherein the evil is at its height1 for then there would probably be no power of protest1 but rather that in which the recuperative forces of society are rallying to throw off the disorder from the body politic4 ,morality was in advance of religion at this time in ,israel1 and this interprets the movement which ensued to place religion in its proper position at the head of the march of progress4 ,it was amid such a state of affairs that the great prophets appeared upon the stage of action1 calling the nation to a higher religion4 ,they were not so much philosophers1 reasoning out a lofty intellectual conception of ,god1 as preachers of righteousness1 vitalizing from the moral nature the sense of the purity and justice of the ,power in whom men lived and moved and had their being ,they turned the light of the inward law upon ,god1 and revealed ,him as its author4 ,they led ,virtue into the ,temple1 touched her lips with a live coal from off the altar1 and from a tongue of fire men heard1 ,thus saith the ,lord4 ,they revived the true ,mosaic priesthood1 which set apart conscience as the mediator between ,god and man4 ,the seed that ,moses planted budded and swelled toward its bloom4 ,the prophetic writings show us men a-hungered after righteousness breathing out the worship of ,jehovah into the worship of the ,eternal1 who loveth righteousness4 ,isaiah carries this message from ,god3 ,to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me8 ,i am full of the burnt offerings of rams1 and the fat of fed beasts4 ,and ,i delight not in the blood of bullocks1 or of lambs1 or of he-goats4 ,when ye come to appear before me1 ,who hath required this at your hand1 to tread my courts8 ,bring no more vain oblations2 ,incense is an abomination unto me2 ,the new moons and ,sabbaths1 the calling of assemblies1 ,i cannot endure2 ,it is iniquity1 even the solemn meeting4 ,your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth2 ,they are a trouble unto me2 ,i am weary to bear them4 ,and when ye spread forth your hands1 ,i will hide mine eyes from you3 ,yea1 when ye make many prayers1 ,i will not hear3 ,your hands are full of blood4 ,wash you1 make you clean2 ,put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes3 ,cease to do evil2 learn to do well3 ,seek judgment1 relieve the oppressed1 ,judge the fatherless1 plead for the widow4#de ,micah voices the questions that men raised in his day1 answering them with the new thought3 ,wherewithal shall ,i come before the ,lord1 ,and bow myself before the high ,god8 ,shall ,i come before him with burnt offerings1 ,with calves of a year old8 ,will the ,lord be pleased with thousands of rams1 ,or with ten thousands of rivers of oil8 ,shall ,i give my first born for my transgression1 ,the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul8 ,he hath showed thee1 ,o man1 what is good1 ,and what doth the ,lord require of thee1 ,but to do justly1 and to love mercy1 ,and to walk humbly with thy ,god8#df ,two features of the work of the prophets bring out clearly their ethical inspiration4 ,israel was at this period being drawn1 for the first time1 into the currents created by the strife of the mammoth empires of ,assyria and ,egypt1 in whose maelstrom she at length went down4 ,public affairs were becoming matters of international relationship4 ,the prophets threw themselves heartily into the national politics1 standing between the party of ,assyria and the party of ,egypt1 as independents concerned with the interests of neither faction1 but seeking to lift both sides above the shifting sands of policy upon the firm ground of principle4 ,they sought to lead the nation to turn aside from its dazzling dream of a brilliant foreign policy to the humbler tasks of internal reform2 to induce the ,state to busy itself with the labor of redressing civic disorders and of building a community of sober1 pure1 and just citizens1 cultivating peace and equity with other peoples1 and fearing ,god4 ,they were preachers to the corporate conscience of ,israel1 and dealt with subjects which the modern pulpit effeminately shuns4 ,in strains of pure and passionate patriotism1 they delighted to vision before the people the ideal ,state and its ideal ,king2 thus to lead the aspirations of the nation to a higher ambition than martial prowess and diplomatic craft4 ,the spirit of the ,lord shall rest upon him1 ,the spirit of wisdom and understanding1 ,the spirit of counsel and might1 ,the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the ,lord1 ,and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the ,lord3 ,and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes1 ,neither reprove after the hearing of his ears3 ,but with righteousness shall he judge the poor1 ,and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth4 ,and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth1 ,and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked4 ,and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins1 ,and faithfulness the girdle of his reins4#dg ,these ,hebrew prophets made the right administration of public affairs the essentially religious service which their devout student ,gladstone declares them now to be4 ,because of this inspiration of civic life with religiousness1 their books have become1 as ,coleridge called them1 the ,statesman's ,manual4 ,at this period in ,israel's history the social revolution attending the progress of all peoples from a simple to a complex organization was entailing its usual excesses1 and alarming symptoms were showing themselves in the commonwealth4 ,in earlier days ,israel's tenure of land had been1 like that of all peoples1 communistic4 ,proprietorship of the land was vested in the family1 and then in the village community4 ,there were no private fortunes and no private poverty4 ,life was simple and contented1 and dull4 ,under the action of the usual social forces1 this system had been gradually breaking up1 through many generations4 ,property had mainly passed into personal possession ,society had recrystallized around the individual4 ,individualism had developed its customary tendencies to inequality4 ,the ancient equality of the free farmers of ,israel was already disappearing4 ,fortunes1 undreamed of a couple of centuries earlier1 were becoming common4 ,greed was pushing men beyond legitimate acquisition into respectable robbery4 ,the old-time rights of commonalty were disappearing in pasture1 and farming land1 and forest4 ,the village commons were being enclosed by local potentates4 ,monopolies of the natural resources of all wealth1 the inalienable dower of the people at large1 were working their inevitable consequences4 ,below the wealthy class1 which was rising to the top of society1 there was forming at the bottom a new and unheard-of social stratum1 the settlings of the struggle for existence2 a deposit of the feebleness and ignorance and innocence of the people4 ,in the loss of the old sense of a commonwealth1 the nation was breaking up into classes1 alienated1 unsympathetic1 hostile4 ,selfishness was threatening ruin to the ,state4 ,in the midst of these dangerous social tendencies the prophets came forward as men of the people4 ,like brave ,latimer at ,paul's ,cross1 these fearless preachers stood in the marketplaces to denounce monopoly and the tyranny of capital4 ,they were not affrighted by the hue and cry that1 if human nature was the same then as now1 was raised against them1 in the name of the sacred rights of property4 ,they were not beguiled by the sophisms of those who doubtless proved conclusively that the best interests of the people were being furthered by the fullest freedom of the able and crafty to enrich themselves ad libitum4 ,they could not have stood an examination in political economy1 but they knew the heart of the whole matter1 in a world whose core is the moral law4 ,they saw1 more or less clearly1 that there could be no lasting wealth in a society which was not based upon a wide1 deep common-wealth4 ,they felt that the one clue to follow in every social problem was held by conscience4 ,so they struck boldly at existing wrongs in the name of the ,eternal ,righteous ,one4 ,woe unto them that join house to house1 ,that lay field to field ,till there be no place1 ,that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth6 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,lord will enter into judgment ,with the ancients of his people and the princes thereof3 ,for ye have eaten up the vineyard2 ,the spoil of the poor is in your houses4 ,what mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces1 ,and grind the faces of the poor8 ,saith the ,lord ,god of hosts4#dh ,one word1 constantly recurring through the prophets1 reveals the secret of their enthusiasm4 ,they lifted above the people the august and holy form of ,justice1 and called on men to follow her4 ,they appealed to a force in men mightier than selfishness4 ,they kindled the passion which had been always latent in ,israel1 since the day when ,moses led forth the slaves of ,egypt to found a nation of freemen4 ,a new and lofty ideal mastered the minds of the better natures among the people4 ,over against the darkness of their age there rose a vision of a good time coming1 when ,justice should be throned on law1 and selfishness be exorcised from the hearts of men who had learned the secret ,of joy in widest commonalty spread4 ,and this they did in the name of ,jehovah4 ,from ,him they came with these messages concerning social obligations4 ,the ,eternal ,one who loved righteousness could be served in no other way than in furthering justice4 ,religion became social reform1 aflame with the enthusiasm of holy ideals2 of ideals seen to be eternal realities1 as the shadows cast by ,the ,living ,god1 moving on to accomplish the good pleasure of ,his will4 ,to conserve the new spirit of brotherhood which they awakened1 they embodied in the book of the ,law1 that constituted the ,magna ,charta of the ,reformation1 a development of a gracious usage of the people4 ,from immemorial antiquity there had been a recognized right of the populace to the natural yield of the soil in every seventh year4 ,this common law they formally re-enacted1 in the name of ,jehovah1 and added to it a provision for the release of debtors in the sabbatical year4#di ,we shall see in the nest period the fruitage of this new religion of social righteousness1 in the remarkable legislation of the ,restoration4 ,in these serious1 strenuous secularities--so often neglected by the religious1 or even opposed as irreligious--which now were consecrated to the service of ,jehovah1 religion found its true sphere1 and developed its latent forces4 ,a new era opened4 ,the abominations of religion in former times became the exceptions rather than the rule1 and gradually disappeared from society4 ,after ,jeremiah we hear no more of impurities hiding under the altar1 or of savage superstition seeking to please ,jehovah by outraging the holiest instincts of human nature4 ,jehovah became the name for a conception of ,deity so spiritual1 so holy1 that henceforth the student of ,israel's history should substitute--,god4 ,it is a most interesting study to place these great prophets in their chronological order1 and trace the development of this ethical religion4 ,as one after another they come upon the stage of action they take up the great words of their masters and repeat them in their own way2 take up the great tasks of their predecessors and carry them on toward completion2 leading religion into an ever deepening spirituality4 ,the prophets of the eighth century group around ,isaiah1 under whose influence ,hezekiah attempted a partial reformation of the popular religion4 ,the prophets of the seventh century group around ,jeremiah1 the master-spirit in the more thorough reformation carried out under ,josiah4 ,this second reformation achieved an institutional organization of ethical religion1 that came just in time to create a body capable of holding the people together in loyalty to the true ,god1 amid the break up of the nation4 ,v4 ,the ,epoch of the ,exile3 ,b4,c4 #ehf-ecf4 ,the conquest of the two sister kingdoms1 with the carrying away of the influential portion of the people into exile1 was a blessing in disguise4 ,israel was taken out of its petty provincialisms1 its race insularity1 and placed amid one of the most highly cultivated civilizations of the ancient world4 ,the fertile plain of ,mesopotamia had been from immemorial antiquity the seat of great enterprises4 ,civilization had developed there when surrounding peoples had not emerged from semi-barbarism4 ,like the ,troy beneath ,troy in the ,ilium ruins1 we find here successive civilizations resting each upon the debris of an earlier order4 ,the descriptions of ancient historians1 together with the explorations of late years1 make very vivid the scenes amid which the captive ,israelites walked4 ,babylon was a city which might well astonish and captivate strangers4 ,it was of immense size1 being surrounded by a wall forty1 or possibly sixty1 miles in circumference4 ,this wall was nearly three hundred feet high1 and was broad enough to allow a chariot with four horses to turn easily upon it4 ,the streets were wide and straight1 crossing each other at right angles1 and were lined with houses several stories in height1 painted in all the colors of the rainbow4 ,trees and gardens were so plentiful as to give the whole city the appearance of a park4 ,the grounds of the imperial palace covered an area of seven miles round1 in the centre of the city4 ,the largest temple the world has ever seen rose in pyramidal form six hundred feet in air4 ,the broad and shaded streets were resplendent with the pomp and pageantry of the court of a mighty empire1 and were alive with the bustle of the traffic of the known world4 ,libraries and museums garnered the treasures of art and literature1 of science and philosophy1 accumulated through centuries4 ,on every hand were the tokens of a refined and cultivated civilization1 venerable with age4 ,in the temples a rich ritual celebrated an elaborate worship1 while learned priests waited to explain the profound philosophic and poetic truths of the sacred symbols4 ,transported to such surroundings1 ,israel received the mental shock which an ,american of a generation past experienced on first visiting ,europe4 ,the influence of this surprise was very marked4 ,israel's genius flowered in this strange soil4 ,her literary life centres in ,babylonia4 ,the second ,isaiah wrote there his immortal pages4 ,the unknown authors of the noble histories1 whose charm never stales1 fashioned there the traditions and records of the past into their present shape4 ,there the great legal codification was carried out1 and the institutional system of ,israel perfected4 ,a new circle of ideas show themselves at work in the mind of the people while in exile4 ,from ,chaldean scholars the ,israelites probably learned the ancient legends of the ,beginnings1 which they worked over in their profounder religious consciousness into the simple and spiritual forms in which they stand in ,genesis4 ,from ,persia they either received bodily the system of angelology that thenceforth appears in their writings1 or they received the quickening influence of a kindred religion upon the thoughts latent in their beliefs4#ej ,these intellectual influences wrought directly upon the development of ,israel's religion4 ,in the revelation of the prosperous life of these alien peoples the chosen race saw herself but one member of the great world family4 ,persia's ethical and spiritual religion discovered to the nobler natures of ,israel the very ideals which they and their fathers had long been strenuously seeking4 ,these heathen were worshipping the same source and standard of goodness before which they themselves had been doing homage4 ,a new sense of human brotherhood stirred within the exclusive race1 and with it the perception that there is one ,father of all men4 ,religion threw off all lingering polytheistic notions and soared to the vision of ,one ,god4 ,monotheism dates as a clear consciousness from this era4#ea ,it was saved from becoming an abstract1 philosophic conception1 merging good and evil in a common source1 by the stern ethical dualism of the ,persians4 ,though there be but one ,god1 who is ultimately to triumph over all evil1 yet1 said these ,persians1 evil is a present power in creation1 organized and active1 waging constant warfare with the powers of goodness4 ,earth is the scene of the battle between light and darkness1 in which each man must play his part1 for weal or for woe4 ,these high ethical and religious conceptions were nourished from the deeps of sorrow out of which the people cried bitterly to ,god4 ,their nation was crushed1 their homes were broken up1 and they themselves were captives in a strange land4 ,israel might have said1 ,a deep distress hath humanized my soul4 ,all tender and gracious and holy humanities sprang forth from the hard ,hebrew nature under this deep distress4 ,the national ideal changed wholly4 ,the old dream of a puissant king passed from the minds of the better men1 and we hear little of it thenceforth in the writings of the nation4 ,in the place of it arose the vision of the ,righteous1 ,suffering1 ,servant of ,god--the ,nation trained in the school of sorrow for a sacrificial mission1 and charged to lead the peoples of the earth into the knowledge of the ,eternal1 who loveth righteousness4 ,as the crown and consummation of religion1 the holy hope of life beyond the grave dawned in this night of suffering1 gleaming toward the day of ,him who brought life and immortality to light4#eb ,around this deepening and enriching life the remarkable body of the prophetic-priestly system was fashioned1 as the law of the new nation when it should gain once more the old home4 ,it looked to the formation of a holy people2 through its minute direction of the daily life1 its sacrificial symbolism charged with spiritual significances1 its sacred books for the instruction of the people1 its order of scribes devoted to this new study1 its synagogues or meeting-houses for oral teaching and for prayer--now for the first time elevated into an act of public worship co-ordinate in dignity with sacrifice4 ,true to its old instinct1 ,israel's religion1 first seeking to build up individual holiness1 turned then to build up social righteousness4 ,the ideals of the great prophets1 which had been long working in the minds and hearts of the leaders of the people1 were now embodied in the priestly legislation4 ,the traditional communal system of land-holding was established as the legal basis for the new nation4 ,the land of ,israel was nationalized1 and its title vested in ,god1 from whom individuals received the right of limited usufruct4 ,it could not be sold outright4 ,no man could gain a fee-simple proprietorship4 ,the seventh year was continued as a year of fallow when the poor were to have the right of pasturage and of such growth as the land spontaneously brought forth4 ,at the end of seven sabbatical periods1 in round numbers every fifty years1 all purchases of land were to lapse1 and the soil return to the original possessors4 ,at the same time all debtors were to pass through a general act of bankruptcy and go forth free men4 ,interest was not to be allowed on loans made between brother ,israelites4 ,by these provisions both villeinage or land-serfdom and the slavery of debtor classes to capital were to be prevented in the new nation4 ,this legislation of the restoration was to the end that there be no poor among you4#ec ,to such impracticable ideals1 for that age1 did this exilic movement of the new religion look1 with sober1 strenuous1 systematic effort for their realization2 and therein may we see its intensity of moral life4 ,,vi4 ,the period of the ,restoration1 from ,b4,c4 #ecf4 ,the common notion is that this period of ,israel's history was practically a vacuum1 and that through five centuries the nation experienced no further development4 ,in reality1 it was an exceedingly active period1 characterized by most important developments4 ,politically it was a period of constantly changing influences4 ,israel was scarcely ever really independent during these centuries4 ,her changes were the changes from one master to another4 ,but this very subjection aided her intellectual development1 as she was thus brought under the direct action of foreign ideas4 ,her rapid growth of population forced upon her a system of emigration1 that drew off her youth to the great centres of the world and established large colonies in every leading city4 ,israel was never left to settle down again into provincialism1 but was stirred by the currents of the great world of thought that poured in upon her from ,greece and ,egypt1 from ,rome and the far ,east4 ,a cross-fertilization of ideas was thus carried on by ,providence4 ,the result of grafting the richest varieties of thought upon such a sturdy stock could not fail of proving something rare and rich4 ,as was natural from such conditions1 the thought of the nation took on new forms4 ,calm study of nature and man1 and rational speculation on the great problems of life displaced impassioned and imaginative thought4 ,prophecy gave way to philosophy4 ,the sages became the teachers of men4 ,the third class of books in the ,old ,testament ,canon1 known by the ,jews as the ,writings1 belong to this period2 ,proverbs1 ,ecclesiastes1 ,esther1 ,jonah1 ,daniel1 etc4 ,to this period also belongs the ,apocrypha1 which contains some noble books4 ,these varied writings show1 when critically studied1 a direct bearing on the problems that we know were occupying the mind of the nation during this period1 and illustrate the tendencies working among the people4 ,we thus see1 plainly1 the growth of the seeds of noble thought which were sown in the national consciousness during the exile1 and the growth of the rich germs wafted into ,judea from ,greece and ,egypt4 ,we can trace the development of the circle of ideas which1 later on1 crystallized1 under the ethical and spiritual force of ,jesus into the theology of ,christianity4 ,we watch the embryonic stages of this thought-body1 which at length awaited only the breathing within it of an informing spirit to issue in a new and noble religion4 ,nor was this period of the ,restoration merely one of intellectual development1 else there would have been no such issue as came at length4 ,it was a period of quiet ethical and spiritual development4 ,no prophet arose1 indeed1 to quicken ,israel1 but the ancient prophets still spake from the institutions into which they had breathed somewhat of their spirit1 and from the holy books which were read in every synagogue1 and learned in every home4 ,the temple worship of this period retained the old forms of sacrifice2 but charged them with spiritual significances which are difficult for us to associate with such bloody rites1 did we not know how easily the religious spirit adapts itself to any outward ceremonies1 and transforms them into its own life4 ,the soul spurns the symbols to which it yet will cling1 and soars beyond the poor height to which the laboring wings of ordinance and ritual can carry it4 ,the profound spiritual life which was awakened in the exile flooded these low forms with supernal light4 ,they spoke to men of better sacrifices than the blood of bulls and lambs--of sins slaughtered and fleshly powers consumed1 of lives of men offered up in purity to ,god4 ,they whispered to the soul of the holiness of ,god1 and of ,his forgiveness as well2 and1 in their powerlessness to satisfy the spiritual needs suggested by them1 they kept men's eyes upon the future1 looking for the ,prophet greater than ,moses1 who would surely come from behind the veil with a new word from ,god4 ,out of such thoughts and feelings the temple worship drew upon itself a noble service of song1 of whose ethical and spiritual beauty we can judge from the temple hymnal4 ,you and ,i to-day have sung some of the very hymns which those ,jews chanted around their brazen altar4 ,through these psalms of many ages1 gathered into a hymnal of unrivalled nobleness1 the worship of ,israel ascended in the aspirations of the people after purity and righteousness4 ,if the choirs sang of the ,shepherd of ,israel1 it was not merely in the praises of the providential care felt over the chosen people1 but in the thankfulness of souls1 because of the assurance of ,his spiritual guidance3 ,he shall convert my soul1 ,and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness for ,his name's sake4 ,if they chanted the glories of the ,house of ,god1 it was because thither the tribes came up1 with this desire in the hearts of the worshippers3 ,like as the hart desireth the water-brooks1 ,so longeth my soul after thee1 ,o ,god4 ,my soul is athirst for ,god4 ,yea1 even for the living ,god3 ,when shall ,i come to appear before the presence of ,god8 99 99 99 99 99 ,o send out thy light and thy truth3 ,let them lead me2 ,let them bring me unto thy holy hill1 and to thy tabernacles4 ,then will ,i go up unto the altar of ,god1 ,unto ,god1 the gladness of my joy3 ,yea1 upon the harp will ,i praise thee1 ,o ,god1 my ,god4 ,the temple1 however1 was but a part1 and practically a small part1 of the institutionalism of religion in this period4 ,this was the era of the scribe rather than of the priest4 ,ezra came back to ,jerusalem with a new treasure1 ,the ,law4 ,around this sacred book1 which soon added to itself the writings of the ,prophets1 the religious life of the nation really crystallized4 ,to read and expound it1 now that no vision came to the prophets from ,the ,eternal1 became the highest office of religion1 an office purely ethical and spiritual4 ,in every town of the land the ,meeting-house arose1 opening its doors upon the ,sabbath and on market days1 to the villagers1 who gathered for a simple service of instruction and devotion4 ,the service began with a short prayer1 which was followed by the recitation of some portions of ,the ,law1 setting forth the great beliefs and duties of the ,jewish religion--a confession of faith1 in other words4 ,after this came the long prayer1 which1 in later times1 became liturgical2 and then the reading of the lesson for the day from ,the ,law1 with its interpretation1 when ,hebrew had become a dead language4 ,then followed a reading from the ,prophecies1 and a homily or sermon based upon the passage read4 ,in their synagogues the ,jews worshipped much as we are doing in this church to-day4 ,through such a quiet deepening of the life of the people was the nation preparing for its final development of religion4 ,true it is that in the latter part of this period the nation showed unmistakable signs of being overtrained4 ,the hedge made about the ,law had fenced men off from one thing after another until1 to men who were anxious not to offend1 life became a weary burden4 ,there was scarcely an action that might not involve sin4 ,the natural effect of externalizing the commands of conscience followed2 and the ethical aims which had been sought were well nigh lost in the routine of form and ceremony1 and in the fine-spun distinctions of belief and conduct4 ,a great-souled ,jew found1 later on1 as hosts of his fellow-countrymen had found before him1 that by the works of the ,thorah 7law or teaching7 could no flesh be justified4 ,the very ,book which had fed so deep a life had come to stand between the soul and ,god1 a barrier to the fresh1 free inspirations from on high4 ,religion had run out upon the surface1 and was dying4 ,but it was as the tassels wither and whiten when the corn is ripe within the husk and ready to seed down a new season4 ,plainly1 by every sign1 ,israel's long gestation of ,religion was nearing its appointed term4 ,all the elements had been developed1 one after another1 for a ,universal ,religion1 and there was nothing more to be done but to await the coming to the birth4 ,as plainly1 by every sign1 the world-conditions were at length found for a safe issue of the holy thing which ,israel so long had carried within her bosom4 ,there was needed a man to body these scattered elements1 to fuse the forces of the nation into a personality1 to live the dreams which a race had visioned4 ,religion is never a code nor a theory1 it is always a life4 ,the ideal religion awaited the ideal man4 ,he came6 ,as the nation held the holy child ,jesus in her arms1 joying that a ,,man was born into the world1 she might have been overheard singing3 ,lord1 now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace1 ,according to thy word3 ,for mine eyes have seen thy salvation1 ,which thou hast prepared before the face of all people2 ,a light to lighten the ,gentiles1 ,and the glory of thy people ,israel4 ,the historical reality of ,jesus is unquestionable4 ,the essential features of his life and thought are distinctly outlined through the mist of time1 and above the clouds of legend that hang low upon the horizon where he disappeared4 ,the threefold tradition preserves a clear-cut image of the ,son of ,man4 ,we see ,one in whom the ideals of ,israel found a perfect realization4 ,he brought to the flower the conception of religion whose germ lay seeded down in the ,ten ,words of ,moses4 ,in him worship and aspiration were one4 ,he lived the ethical and spiritual religion after which the nation had patiently striven1 through prophet and priest and sage1 through psalmist and through scribe4 ,he lived the vision of human goodness which holy men of old had never succeeded in bringing down into the flesh1 beyond a blurred blocking in of the heavenly ideal4 ,he lived man's dream of goodness so gloriously that he became a more than man1 in whom was felt the coming nigh of the ,eternal ,holy ,one4 ,the human form divine1 to which mankind aspired1 took on its true and awful splendor1 as the image of the ,god whom the conscience worshipped4 ,every passing ,i would be1 of the saints of old looked forth1 transfigured from the face of ,one who said ,i ,,am4 ,true to ,israel's ancient dream1 around this righteous suffering servant of the ,eternal1 the nations gathered1 to be taught of ,god4 ,the souls to whom ,he gave power to become the sons of ,god became the family of the ,heavenly ,father1 in which there was neither ,greek nor ,jew1 circumcision nor uncircumcision1 ,barbarian1 ,scythian1 bond nor free1 but ,christ was all and in all4 ,in this holy brotherhood of the children of the ,all-,father1 we moderns take our places round our elder brother2 feeling sure that we have found the spiritual band or religion wherein society is to be held together1 through each man's holding hard by the ,god who is the perfection of ,his own highest dreams4 99 99 99 99 99 ,such then being the fact of ,israel's historic travail and such her issue1 our fathers' sense of the supreme significance of ,christ in human history takes on a new light in our new knowledge4 ,the problem of religion is to find such a knowledge of the ,being in whom we live and move and have our being1 as shall lead men's awe before this mysterious ,power up into an awe of a ,power whom we may rightly worship1 trust and love4 ,to find the key to this problem is to hold the secret of all the puzzles of our weary world4 ,before the ,power manifest in the flesh in ,jesus ,christ1 our souls hush1 in an awe which breathes within us worship1 trust and love4 ,and if this ,power be the very ,power felt in history and in nature1 whose ways therein are so often baffling to the moral sense1 then all is well4 ,but1 if this be so1 the holy ,power who is shrined in ,christ must show the features of the ,mind which tabernacles in nature4 ,there can be no contradiction4 ,unquestionably an essential characteristic of the ,mind in nature is the method of its action4 ,there is a reign of ,law4 ,the highest generalization of the methods of this law which man has reached reveals this ,power as acting1 through every sphere1 in continuous progressive development4 ,one word embodies this supreme generalization--evolution4 ,christianity must fit into this universal order4 ,otherwise it either denies that order1 which denial cannot be received2 or it is denied by that order1 which denial is very certain to be increasingly received4 ,god cannot deny ,himself6 ,i change not4 ,here is where ,christianity's hold of the human mind hinges in our age4 ,the old reading of the history of the preparation for ,christ separated those whom ,god hath joined together4 ,the new reading of that preparation restores the needful unity4 ,christianity is no exception amid the general order of nature4 ,it follows that providential plan4 ,it grows from seed to flower4 ,its beginnings were in a simple conception of ethical religion begotten in a heathen people through ,moses4 ,in the womb of the nation it lay dormant till the time for quickening came4 ,thenceforward it slowly assimilated the vital forces and nutritive elements of the organic life within which it grew1 until the hour arrived when it burst the maternal womb1 a perfect birth4 ,christianity is a genuine historic evolution4 ,when we have said this1 have we accounted for it8 ,to none save those who1 in mastering the methods of a process of evolution1 fancy that they have mastered its sources4 ,to none save those who1 familiarizing themselves with the order of life1 think that they have resolved its nature4 ,the wiser portion of mankind do not find in ,how a synonym for ,whence4 ,we still ask whence8 ,when we see the issue of a long and complicated plan1 we postulate a planning mind4 ,when we trace1 through the sketches and studies in a studio1 the gradual embodiment of a vision of loveliness1 which at length looks down upon us in its perfect grace from the canvas on the wall1 we cannot be persuaded out of our conviction that some artist has lived and labored in this studio1 patiently evolving his great dream4 ,when we see a new-born child we do not think that we have learned its parentage in being told about its mother4 ,we want to know who fathered it into being4 ,what mind planned this process of a nation's growth into a universal religion8 ,what artist dreamed this ethical and spiritual ideal8 ,who begat this holy thing conceived in ,israel and born of her at length in glorious beauty8 ,if ,moses was the human parent of this marvellous child1 who fathered the essential ,christ in ,moses8 ,who is the real father of ,jesus ,christ8 ,our only answer must be that given of old3 ,when the fulness of the time was come ,god sent forth ,his son4444 ,the true ,light1 which lighteth every man1 was coming on into the world4444 ,and the ,word became flesh and dwelt among us 7and we beheld ,his glory1 the glory as of the only-begotten of the ,father7 full of grace and truth4 ,if this then be the true interpretation of the evolution of the ,christ1 we hold1 in the doctrine of the ,incarnation1 the secret of all evolution4 ,we must read the story of every development in the light of the highest life of man1 himself the highest life of nature4 ,nature is in travail with an ideal which rose not in the molten suns1 though perchance it did rise through them4 ,the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now4 ,for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of ,god4 ,man is in travail with an ideal which rose not in the anthropoid apes1 though it may have risen through them4 ,a finer1 larger1 nobler man is growing within the man that is4 ,the ,universal ,man is now coming to be a real being in the individual mind4 ,mankind1 which is one physically and mentally1 is one morally and spiritually4 ,all varieties of man are built upon one ethical type4 ,the virtues are cosmopolitan4 ,one human ideal looms above and before all races1 though refracted differently in the changing atmospheres of earth4 ,within the saints one dream of goodness forms4 ,over the seers and sages one vision of the source of human goodness rises4 ,through the clouds of earth one ,infinite and ,eternal ,form shapes itself to the wise4 ,as men rise they meet4 ,the race-souls are strangely alike4 ,socrates and ,buddha are brothers4 ,humanity is in travail with one ,human ,ideal and one ,divine ,image1 and these twain are one4 ,the great ,mother sings to herself3 ,but he1 the man-child glorious1 ,where tarries he the while8 ,the rainbow shines his harbinger1 ,the sunset gleams his smile4 ,my boreal lights leap upward1 ,forth right my planets roll1 ,and still the man-child is not born1 ,the summit of the ,whole4 ,i travail in pain for him1 ,my creatures travail and wait2 ,his couriers come by squadrons1 ,he comes not to the gate4 ,will ,humanity come to the birth with her beloved son8 ,who that reads the story of the coming of the ,hebrew ,christ can doubt it8 ,what miscarriage can befall her who is nursed by ,nature and tended by ,providence8 ,what will the ,coming ,man be like8 ,we have seen his face break through the flesh for a moment4 ,on the shoulders of the race will rest the head of ,christ4 ,what shall be said when the morning stars sing together1 and all the sons of ,god shout for joy that ,,man is born upon the earth8 ,the ,holy ,ghost hath come upon thee1 ,humanity1 and the power of the ,highest hath overshadowed thee2 therefore also1 that holy thing which is born of thee1 shall be called the ,,son ,,of ,,god4 ,this1 at least1 is my reading of nature and of history in the light of the completed evolution of the ,christ4 ,the normal growth through history of the ,ideal ,man1 is the incarnation of the ,divine ,man4 ,the mischievous antithesis between the realms of the natural and the supernatural1 that kept the world's thought from crystallizing around the world's soul1 disappears in an ,order which is at once natural in all its processes1 and supernatural in its source and plan and energy4 ,we hold the key to all earth's problems in the vision of ,god which1 gleaming through nature and through man1 dawns in the face of ,jesus ,christ4 ,over ,him--in whom the ,human ,ideal becomes the ,divine ,image1 and the most perfect dream of human goodness is the revelation of earth's ,god--the ,eternal ,one breaks silence1 whispering to our souls3 ,this is my ,beloved ,son3 ,hear ,him6 ,,vii4 ,the ,right ,ethical and ,spiritual ,use of the ,bible4 ,it is impossible to forget the noble enthusiasm with which this dangerous heretic1 as he was regarded in ,england1 grasped the small ,greek ,testament which he had in his hand as we entered and said3 ,in this little book is contained all the wisdom of the world4 ,stanley3 ,history of the ,jewish ,church1 ,,iii4 x4 ,reminiscence of a visit to ,ewald4 ,truth1 not eloquence1 is to be sought for in ,holy ,scripture4 ,we should rather search after our profit in the ,scriptures1 than subtilty of speech44444 ,search not who spoke this or that1 but mark what is spoken4 ,kempis3 ,imitation of ,christ1 ,ch4 ,v4 ,do not hear for any other end but to become better in your life1 and to be instructed in every good work1 and to increase in the love and service of ,god4 ,jeremy ,taylor3 ,holy ,living1 ,ch4 ,,iv4 ,sect4 iv4 ,we search the world for truth3 we cull ,the good1 the pure1 the beautiful ,from graven stone and written scroll1 ,from all old flower-fields of the soul2 ,and1 weary seekers of the best1 ,we come back laden from our quest1 ,to find that all the sages said1 ,is in the ,book our mothers read4 ,whittier3 ,miriam4 ,,vii4 ,the ,right ,ethical and ,spiritual ,use of the ,bible4 ,from a child thou hast known the ,holy ,scriptures1 which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in ,christ ,jesus4--#b ,timothy1 iii4 #ae4 ,the right use of the ,bible is admirably stated by ,st4 ,paul4 ,these books do not make one learned in any knowledge--they make one wise in life4 ,the ,jewish tradition concerning ,solomon's choice expressed a deep truth4 ,wisdom is the supreme benediction to be sought in life4 ,invaluable as is knowledge1 it is as a means to an end4 ,knowledge provides for man the material out of which ,wisdom1 using the best means to attain the best ends1 builds a noble life4 ,to have the mind clear1 the judgment just1 the conscience true1 the will strong1 so that we may sight the goal of life1 may learn the laws by which it is to be won1 and may firmly seek it1 steadfast amid all seductions--this is wisdom4 ,would that for one single day1 we may have lived in this world as we ought4 ,thus prays the author of the ,imitation of ,christ2 and in so praying he is sighing after wisdom4 ,this culture of wisdom is the aim of the books which together form the ,bible4 ,they reveal to our vision the best ends in life1 and point us to the best means of winning those high aims4 ,they clear the atmosphere of mists1 disclose to us our bearings1 and fill our souls with the afflatus which wafts us toward the haven where we would be4 ,these books are rightly called by ,paul1 the ,holy ,scriptures1 the scriptures of holiness1 the writings whose genius is goodness4 ,their charm is the beauty of holiness1 the graciousness of ,goodness as she unveils herself therein4 ,and this genius of gracious ,goodness which irradiates the inner court of this temple1 lays such a spell upon the souls of men inasmuch as she is seen to be the very daughter of ,god2 according to the soliloquy overheard by mortal ears1 wherein ,wisdom sings3 ,the ,lord possessed me in the beginning of ,his way1 ,before ,his work of old4 99 99 99 99 99 ,then ,i was by ,him1 as one brought up with ,him1 ,and ,i was daily ,his delight1 rejoicing always before ,him4 ,religion becomes the worship of the ,god who is the source and standard of goodness1 the love of the ,eternal who loveth righteousness1 the child's crying out into the dark--,o righteous ,father4 ,the fear of the ,lord is the beginning of ,wisdom4 ,the ,bible is the choicest extant literature of the people of religion1 the record and embodiment of the evolution of ethical worship1 through its varied moods and tenses1 into its perfect type in ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,the ,bible-books form1 therefore1 the classics of the soul1 in which we are to study the nature and secret of goodness2 the manual which every earnest man and woman1 intent on building character1 should use habitually for ethical culture1 and for the ethical worship which is its inspiration4 ,this is the truest use of the ,bible4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the intellectual use of the ,bible1 in critical and historical studies1 is legitimate and needful4 ,reason should lay the bases for faith4 ,knowledge must rear the altar on which worship is to be lighted4 ,theology shapes religion4 ,it is all important1 therefore1 that the books which the intellect chiefly uses to found and form its thoughts of ,god should be rightly used1 so as to give man right conceptions of the ,divine ,being1 and to waken right feelings toward ,him4 ,this intellectual use of the ,bible is not for scholars alone4 ,there is no longer any isolated class of scholars4 ,all educated people are now taken into the confidence of the learned1 in every sphere of knowledge4 ,the average man will reason about the great mysteries quite as much as the scholar2 perhaps more than the true scholar1 and with more insistent dogmatism4 ,to the issue of that simpler1 nobler ,religion of ,christ which is struggling to the birth within the womb of ,christianity1 in the travail throes that are upon our age1 it is of vital moment that all intelligent people should learn to use their ,bibles intelligently in a knowledge of the nature of its writings1 and in reasonable reasonings therefrom4 ,therefore ,i have spoken concerning the critical and the historical uses of these sacred writings4 ,but1 when this knowledge is won and duly employed in our theologizings1 the truest use of the ,bible remains for us to make1 to our highest pleasure and profit4 ,it is the book of religion1 not of theology2 save as it records the one authoritative ,epistle of ,theology1 the ,word of ,god1 the ,christ4 ,it is not a body of divinity1 it is the soul of divinity4 ,to use the ,bible critically and historically for our theologizings1 is1 after all1 to use it1 however rightly1 for its secondary and not its primary purpose4 ,religion--as the awed sense of the ,eternal ,power and ,order revealed in nature1 the ,infinite ,goodness and ,righteousness revealed in man--is the art of the soul2 its finest feelings1 its loftiest imaginations1 its noblest enthusiasms its profoundest tragedies thrown out into the cry of the human after ,god4 ,there is a science in the sculptor's art4 ,it is doubtless needful that this art should be studied for the sake of its science4 ,artists1 however1 may be glad that ,winckelmann has analyzed the ,apollo ,belvedere1 and has given them the laws of proportion deduced from this human form divine2 leaving them free to feast upon its beauty4 ,for in the scientific study of art1 art itself may be lost4 ,some great figure-painters have been unwilling that their pupils should study anatomy2 fearing that the bones would stick through the flesh in their paintings4 ,this danger shows itself plainly in all critical and historical uses of the ,bible1 in the old-fashioned as in the new-fashioned study of the ,bible4 ,the international series of ,sunday-school lessons burden the brief hours of the ,lord's ,day with a mass of matter1 which may or may not be true knowledge about the ,bible1 but which certainly is not the true religion of the ,bible4 ,a child may learn the tables of the ,israelitish ,kings1 the geography of the ,holy ,land1 and the architect's plans of the temple of ,jerusalem1 and may be learning nothing whatever of the real religion which is shrined within the ,bible4 ,that is very simple3 ,thou shalt love the ,lord thy ,god with all thy heart1 and with all thy mind1 and with all thy strength3 ,and thy neighbor as thyself4 ,the time spent on these more or less interesting matters may rob the child of his one weekly opportunity of learning to use the ,holy ,scriptures so as to become wise unto salvation4 ,to use their words of wise men1 and their tales of holy men1 to inspire the love of goodness as the love of ,god1 this and this alone is to teach religion from the ,bible4 ,bread that consists of two-thirds bran and one-third white flour is eminently laxative2 but it is generally supposed that this age is lax enough in its hold of truth4 ,a little more wheat and a little less bran1 ye good doctors1 might strengthen the constitutions of our children4 ,the new study of the ,bible is perhaps even more in danger of missing its real secret4 ,an interest in the literature and history of ,israel may divert the mind from that which is1 after all1 the heart of these letters1 and the core of this history4 ,fear ,god and keep ,his commandments2 for this is the whole duty of man4 ,of this danger ,i think that ,i see signs1 in some of the great masters to whom we owe our new criticism1 in some of the manuals which are popularizing it1 and in some of the gifted preachers who are reconstructing theology around it4 ,the science of religion is absorbing too much of the life that should go into the art of religion2 and we have fine forms of thought1 mantled with flabby flesh of feeling1 in which no red blood of holy passion pulses4 ,to read ,homer with a view of understanding the fables of superstition1 and of interpreting the mythology of the ancients1 may have been needful for the later ,greeks1 who would preserve religion from the death that was stealing over it1 in the divorce of the educated and the popular thought of the ,grecian ,bible4 ,such a use of ,homer1 however1 must have missed the essential charm of ,homer--the immortal poetry of these heroic legends2 the breath of fresh1 simple1 wholesome human life which animates them1 and which through them inspired men to brave and noble being4 ,socrates saw this in his day4 ,i beseech you to tell me1 ,socrates1 said ,phaedrus1 do you believe this tale8 ,the wise are doubtful1 answered ,socrates1 and ,i should not be singular if1 like them1 ,i also doubted4 ,i might have a rational explanation4444 ,now ,i have certainly not time for such inquiries2 shall ,i tell you why8 ,i must first know myself1 as the ,delphian inscription says4 ,to be curious about that which is not my business while ,i am still in ignorance of my own self1 would be ridiculous4#ed ,wisely speaks the finest ,biblical critic of ,england in our day3 ,no one knows the truth about the ,bible who does not know how to enjoy the ,bible2 and he who takes legend for history1 and who imagines ,moses1 or ,isaiah1 or ,david1 or ,paul1 or ,peter1 or ,john1 to have written ,bible-books which they did not write1 but who knows how to enjoy the ,bible deeply1 is nearer the truth about the ,bible than the man who can pick it all to pieces but who cannot enjoy it4444 ,his work is to learn to enjoy and turn to his benefit the ,bible1 as the ,word of the ,eternal1#ee ,the right use of the ,bible is to feed religion4 ,coleridge said3 ,religion1 in its widest sense1 signifies the act and the habits of reverencing the invisible1 as the highest both in ours ,ives and in nature4#ef ,the use of the ,bible then is to ennoble our ideals1 to quicken our aspirations1 to clear the illusions of the senses1 to dissipate the glamor of the world1 to purify our passions1 to bring our powers well in hand to a firm will2 and1 through the mystic laws of nature and of conscience which we thus endeavor to obey1 to breathe within our souls a sacred sense of the ,presence of a ,power1 infinite and eternal and loving righteousness--whom to know is life eternal4 ,de ,quincey classified all writings as belonging either to the literature of knowledge1 or the literature of power4 ,there are books to which we go for information4 ,they give us facts and ideas4 ,they constitute the literature of knowledge4 ,they teach us4 ,there are books to which we go for inspiration2 to which we turn for joy and pleasure1 for strength and courage1 for patience and endurance1 for purity and peace4 ,they constitute the literature of power4 ,they move us4 ,herbert ,spencer's books belong to the literature of knowledge ,the ,imitation of ,christ belongs to the literature of power4 ,the literature of knowledge needs to be reissued every century or generation or decade1 corrected up to date4 ,the literature of power is immortal2 fresh to-day though born milleniums ago4 ,the problems of character and conduct face us much as they faced the ,romans and ,greeks1 the ,egyptians and ,hindus4 ,the invisible in nature and in man touches us with the same feelings that it stirred in ,persians1 ,chaldeans and ,akkadians ,even though the ,spirit's voice spake once in a language of the intellect which has now become obsolete1 its utterances are not therefore obsolete4 ,how archaic is much of the thought of the ,imitation of ,christ2 shot through and through as it is with the tissue of medival ,catholicism6 ,but we forget these archaisms in the spell of a holy soul1 in love with wisdom1 intoxicated with ,god4 ,no archaisms in ,biblical thought destroy its spiritual power over us4 ,nay1 rather do they strengthen that power3 as in our devotions we naturally seek old and quaint forms1 buildings unlike other structures1 music which sounds from out the past1 words that are mellow with the rich hues of age2 as the archaisms of the language of our ,english ,bible hold a power that is lost in the raw correctness of the revised version4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in the literature of power the ,bible ranks first4 ,whatever in ,christian literature has most searching ethical and spiritual energy radiates the reflected light of the ,bible4 ,augustine's ,confessions1 ,the ,imitation of ,christ1 ,fenelon's ,spiritual ,letters1 ,the ,saints' ,rest1 ,the ,pilgrim's ,progress1 in their most appealing tones echo the voices of the ,bible4 ,the hymns that feed the inner life are aromatic with the rich thoughts and feelings of this holy book4 ,our poets betray1 in the passages which are the favorites of earnest minds1 the influence of these ,scriptures4 ,from ,paradise ,lost to ,in ,memoriam1 from ,the ,temple to the ,christian ,year1 the poems which the devout delight in are either ,biblical paraphrases or ,biblical distillations4 ,our masters of fiction could not have written the scenes which most rouse our moral nature1 could not have conceived the characters which most inspire our devotional nature1 without the ,bible4 ,take the ,bible out of ,adam ,bede and ,dinah ,morris1 out of ,robert ,falconer and ,m4 ,myriel the blessed ,bishop of ,d41 and what would be left of them8 ,the vibratory quality which most thrills our souls in the strains of ,christian literature is due to the ,bible material in it4 ,the ,bible holds stored the ethical electricity on which ,christendom has drawn1 through centuries1 exhaustless energy4 ,outside of ,christendom1 while there are many books which we can thankfully and reverently place by the side of the ,bible1 as ethical and spiritual motors1 there are none which any of us would think of substituting for it4 ,the ,discourses and the ,manual of ,epictetus1 the ,thoughts of ,marcus ,aurelius1 the ,dialogues of ,plato1 and the kindred words of wisdom of the ancients1 are indeed full of inspiration to earnest natures4 ,to dip into these writings for a few minutes1 amid the duties of the day1 is a soul bath1 most cleansing and invigorating4 ,the ,sacred ,books of the ,east may well be sacred to us ,westerns4 ,a sense of grateful awe steals over me as1 looking on these volumes1 ,i think of the generations which they have fed with spiritual sustenance and have guided in the way of life4 ,the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world shines through these pages4 ,the ,all-,father has drawn nigh to the souls of ,his children1 through the holy men who spake as they were moved of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,it is an inestimable privilege to have these ,bibles of ,humanity ranged along our shelves1 and to have their choicest words at hand upon our tables1 in some apt anthology4 ,it would be well if their great sayings could be read in our churches1 in connection with our ,old ,testament lessons1 as the voices of the ethnic prophets of the ,son of ,man4 ,but if we have allowed the thought that any of these sacred books might become a substitute for our fathers' ,bible1 we may correct our crude enthusiasms by the authority of the greatest living master in ,comparative ,religion4 ,in the preface to the edition of the ,sacred ,books of the ,east that noble monument of our generation's scholarship ,max ,mller1 writes3 ,readers who have been led to believe that the ,vedas of the ancient ,brahmans1 the ,avesta of the ,zoroastrians1 the ,tripitaka of the ,buddhists1 the ,kings of ,confucius1 or the ,koran of ,mohammed are books full of primeval wisdom and religious enthusiasm or at least of sound and simple moral teaching1 will be disappointed on consulting these volumes4444 ,i cannot help calling attention to the real mischief that has been done1 and is still being done1 by the enthusiasm of those pioneers who have opened the first avenues through the bewildering forest of the sacred literature of the ,east4 ,they have raised expectations that cannot be fulfilled1 fears also that1 as will be easily seen1 are unfounded4444 ,i confess it has been for many years a problem to me1 aye1 and to a great extent is so still1 how the ,sacred ,books of the ,east should1 by the side of so much that is fresh1 natural1 simple1 beautiful and true1 contain so much that is not only unmeaning1 artificial and silly1 but even hideous and repellant4#eg ,our own ,bible1 as ,i have frankly owned1 holds the truth as the gold is held in the ore4 ,truth nowhere exists native in human writings2 but the proportions of the mineralizer are vastly greater in all other ,bibles than in our own4 ,there is no book known that can take its place on the lecterns in our churches1 or on the tables by which1 in quiet hours1 we seat ourselves1 a-hungered for the bread of life4 ,the pre-eminent excellence of ,israel's writings in the literature of power1 is natural and necessary4 ,israel had little originality in any science or art save the science and art of the soul1 the knowledge and the love of ,god4 ,nature is economic in her dowries4 ,she does not shower all the gifts of the fairies on any one race4 ,she dowered ,israel with the highest of human powers1 conscience1 in an unequalled measure4 ,providence nurtured and trained this faculty4 ,this little nation became as pre-eminently the people of ethical and spiritual religion as the states of ,greece became the people of art4 ,because of the natural aptitudes of ,israel1 and of her providential education1 we should turn to her literature for our highest inspirations in ethical culture and religion4 ,i4 ,wherein lies this commanding rank of the ,bible in the literature of ethical and spiritual power8 ,speaking generally1 ,i should say that the superiority of the ,bible lies in the fact that it is at once a literature of ethical power and a literature of spiritual power4 ,we have books of high ethical power that are weak religiously4 ,we have books of high religious power that are weak ethically ,the ,bible is strong in both directions4 ,hence its power4 ,either ethical or spiritual power alone is defective4 ,morality without spirituality is principle without passion4 ,spirituality without morality is passion without principle4 ,union supplements the defectiveness of each alone1 and develops its full forcefulness4 ,the ,bible marries morality and spirituality1 and these twain become one4 ,the secularities become sacred1 and the sanctities become sound4 ,according to the ,bible1 he who keeps the ,ten ,words obeys ,god4 ,the merely moral man is a worshipper of ,god1 though the worship may be silent4 ,in ,kant's great saying1 ,they are always in the service of ,god whose actions are moral4 ,virtue becomes consciously religious1 as she learns to recognize what she is in love with in loving goodness4 ,as the love of goodness rises into a passion for the ideal forms of ,justice1 ,purity and ,truth1 it takes on a real religiousness4 ,it may think to stop short in an ethical culture1 but it cannot4 ,to feed its own aspirations it must worship the ,ideal ,righteousness as a reality4 ,its desires become prayers1 its hopes become praises4 ,even though in mute longings1 it pleads ,o ,lord1 open thou our lips1 and our mouth shall shew forth ,thy praise4 ,reversing the identification of religion with morality that is wrought by the ,bible1 its influence is equally impressive4 ,religion is not the emotion of man in the presence of the invisible in nature1 unless that invisible is felt to be essentially moral4 ,religion is not the finest of feelings before the invisible in man1 unless that unseen is also felt to be ethical4 ,the ,natural ,religion1 however nobly stated1 which accepts any form of poetic ideals as religion1 is very imperfect and not at all ,biblical4 ,shelley's feelings for the spirit of ,beauty are exquisitely fine1 but under the light of the ,bible they are seen to be only latently religious4 ,a more penetrating-vision will see in the ,ideal ,beauty a ,moral ,form1 and then sthetics will translate itself into ethics4 ,the unmoral sentiment of a ,shelley for ,beauty may issue in another generation in the immoral sentiment of a ,swinburne4 ,even thus the vision of the ,aphrodite sank into the dream of a ,venus4 ,an ,oscar ,wilde's maunderings over an art which has no reference to morality may possibly be poetry1 but they certainly are not religion according to the ,bible1 for all his blasphemous apostrophes to ,christ between his praises of licentious love4 ,hard as the granitic core of earth is the core of religion in the ,bible4 ,the stern law-giver of ,israel was ,duty4 ,her supreme authority1 which enjoined with absolute command the most unpleasant action1 was--,i ought4 ,she saw that laws mighty and brazen bind man to a right1 which he may distort or deny1 but cannot destroy--his ,saviour or his ,judge4 ,mystic in its sacredness1 ,conscience sat shrined within the soul of the holy men who spake as they were moved of the ,holy ,ghost2 her voice the very voice of ,god4 ,the ,power in whom we live and move and have our being is revealed in these books as the ,eternal ,righteousness4 ,the moral law is seen to be the throne of the ,most ,high4 ,in ,emerson's phrase3 ,virtue is the adopting of this dictate of the ,universal ,mind by the individual will4 ,what do ,i love when ,i love ,thee8 sighed ,augustine4 ,israel might have answered that question in ,augustine's own words3 ,not the beauty of bodies1 nor the fair harmony of time1 nor the brightness of the light so gladsome to our eyes1 nor sweet melodies of varied songs1 nor the fragrant smell of flowers and ointments and spices1 not manna and honey4 ,none of these do ,i love when ,i love my ,god2 and yet ,i love a kind of light1 a kind of melody1 a kind of fragrance1 a kind of food1 when ,i love my ,god1--the light1 the melody1 the fragrance1 the food of the inner man4 ,this it is which ,i love when ,i love my ,god4#eh ,but the ,bible answer would be much more simple and pungent3 ,o ye that love the ,lord1 see that ye hate the thing which is evil4444 ,if a man say ,i love ,god and hateth ,his brother he is a liar4 ,this is the fundamental secret of the power of the ,bible4 ,the love of goodness and the love of ,god are one4 ,aspiration is unconscious worship1 and worship is aspiration conscious of its object4 ,be ye perfect as your ,father which is in heaven is perfect4 ,but this noble conception of the unity of ethical and spiritual life has many aspects in the ,bible4 ,the ,bible turns upon us every phase in which ,wisdom reveals herself to the sons of men1 so that no ray of her light is lost1 and that every one1 however he may stand related to her1 receives her heavenly beams4 #a4 ,we have here the simple1 homely1 prudential aspects of virtue1 which have always been particularly powerful on certain ages and classes4 ,the maxims of a ,poor ,richard are anticipated here1 as quaint1 as terse1 and as sagacious in the ancient ,jew as in the modern ,american4 ,our scientific teachers would replace eloquent declamation concerning vices1 such as drunkenness and debauchery1 by illustrated lectures upon the physiological effects of violations of nature's laws4 ,they would teach men that the laws of health are found in the laws of temperance and purity4 ,the ,hebrew sages had this vision of ,wisdom4 ,their proverbial sayings abound with graphic pen-pictures of the folly of vice4 ,no illustration of the physical consequences of debauchery could be more impressive than the vivid sketch of the foolish young man1 going after the strange woman as an ox goeth to the slaughter1 knowing not that ,her house is the way to hell1 ,going down to the chambers of death4 ,the favorite name for sin in these proverbs is ,folly4 ,wisdom crieth to the sons of men1 in that noblest writing of the sages3 ,blessed is the man that heareth me1 ,watching daily at my gates1 ,waiting at the posts of my doors4 ,for whoso findeth me findeth life1 ,and shall obtain favor of the ,lord4 ,but he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul4 ,all they that hate me love death4 #b4 ,these laws of life that work for our health and wealth loom1 however1 into mystic and sacred forms1 as of the laws heavenly and eternal1 whose seat is the bosom of ,god4 ,when ,crito urges his beloved master to escape from the death that had been unjustly decreed for him1 ,socrates replies in a noble personification of the ,laws1 as rebuking him for the thought of such an attempt to evade them2 and he must be dim-sighted1 indeed1 who does not see in the forms of the ,state ,laws1 the shadows of the ,eternal ,laws1 august and awful1 whose constraint was round about his will4 ,that is the vision which we catch through every form of law1 sanitary1 social1 or ecclesiastical1 in the ,bible4 ,in the earliest code of the ,hebrew statutes known to us1 a collection of tribal ,judgments or dooms1 this high and mystic sense of obligation steals over us4 ,amid the quaint enactments recorded in the ,book of ,covenants1 whose language carries us back to times of extreme simplicity1 we hear the words ,ye shall be holy men unto me4#ei ,our new critics may tell you that the late poet1 who wrote that long-drawn sigh of desire for the ,law which is bodied in the ,one hundred and nineteenth ,psalm1 was thinking of the ,thorah--the ritual law of the temple and the counsels of the priests4 ,they are doubtless right1 if so be that they do not lead you to infer that this devout soul was thinking only of the ecclesiastical law4 ,through it1 there was rising upon his spirit the vision of the ,law ,eternal and ,heavenly1 the norm and pattern of the law that on earth binds men to purity and righteousness4 ,blessed are those that are undefiled in the way1 ,who walk in the law of the ,lord4 ,make me to understand the way of thy commandments2 ,and so shall ,i talk of thy wondrous works4 ,thy statutes have been my songs ,in the house of my pilgrimage4 ,the earth1 ,o ,lord1 is full of thy mercy3 ,o teach me thy statutes6 ,thy hands have made me and fashioned me3 ,o give me understanding1 that ,i may learn thy commandments4 ,forever1 ,o ,lord1 thy word is settled in heaven4 ,they continue this day1 according to thy ordinances4 ,thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness1 ,and thy law is the truth4 ,shew the light of thy countenance upon thy servant1 ,and teach me thy statutes4 ,this is none other than that law of which a far later ecclesiastic1 writing also of ecclesiastical law1 discoursed in this wise3 ,there can be no less acknowledged than that her seat is the bosom of ,god1 her voice the harmony of the world2 all things in heaven and earth do her homage1 the very least as feeling her care1 and the greatest as not exempted from her power3 both angels and men and creatures of what condition soever1 though each in different sort and manner1 yet all1 with uniform consent admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy4#fj ,this law is none other than that holy form which a modern poet thus apostrophizes3 ,stern lawgiver6 yet thou dost wear ,the godhead's most benignant grace2 ,nor know we anything so fair ,as is the smile upon thy face4 ,flowers laugh before thee on their beds1 ,and fragrance in thy footing treads2 ,thou dost preserve the stars from wrong2 ,and the most ancient heavens1 through thee1 are fresh and strong4 #c4 ,the ,law thus mystic and sacred is seen to be both the law of nature and the law of the human soul4 ,the ,bible recognizes no duality of natural law and revealed law4 ,all divine law is natural1 and1 as such1 is a revelation4 ,physical and moral laws are but different forms of one and the same order4 ,the same ,power is working in the world around man and in the world within man4 ,the lower forms of ,its action are to be interpreted by ,its higher forms4 ,nature is to be resolved by ,man4 ,the ,ten ,words were given as the statutes of ,jehovah himself the personification of some form of nature's force4 ,out of this simple germ grew1 the noble thought which anticipated the knowledge of our savans and the intuitions of our seers2 who unite in showing us one order in the starry heavens and in the mysteries of mind4 ,thus it is that the ,bible feeds so richly1 when read aright1 that awe which steals upon us as we face nature and see ourselves mirrored there in shadowy outline2 and realize the ,one in all things--,god4 ,there is a beautiful illustration of this in a noble poem that our later critics have handled with a strange lack of perceptiveness4 ,the ,nineteenth ,psalm opens with a lofty apostrophe to ,nature1 commencing3 ,the heavens declare the glory of ,god1 ,and the firmament sheweth ,his handywork4 ,at the seventh verse the ,psalm abruptly passes to a eulogy of ,the ,law--the moral law shrined in the priestly ,thorah3 ,the law of the ,lord is an undefiled law1 ,converting the soul2 ,the testimony of the ,lord is sure1 ,and giveth wisdom unto the simple4 ,here we have1 say our learned critics1 two psalms welded into one1 a song of nature and a song of the soul4 ,as though nature and man did not form one divine poem in two cantos6 ,as though the system of the world around us did not type the world within us6 ,as though it were not always the most instinctive action to pass from the sense of an ,order in the starry heavens1 and the awe thus awakened1 to the sense of an ,order in the soul of man1 and the deeper awe thus roused6 ,we know that the ,hindus and ,egyptians made use1 each1 of one word to express the law of nature and the law of conscience4 ,the physical order interpreted the sense of a moral order4 ,the ,egyptian maat1 derived like the ,sanskrit rita1 from merely sensuous impressions1 became the name for moral order and righteousness4#fa ,the ,nineteenth ,psalm is only the expression among the ,hebrews of this wide-spread instinct2 an instinct which learned critics may lack1 but which the poet still inherits2 as the ,sphynx whispers to him of the double life of nature and of man1 that yet are ,by one music enchanted1 ,one ,deity stirred4 #d4 ,the ,bible leads us on to that sense of sin1 in the presence of this ,law1 which no lower thought of law can quicken4 ,violations of physiological law ,nature stamps as folly4 ,offences against social laws the ,state brands as crime4 ,transgressions of ,ideal and ,eternal ,law become sin4 ,it is not only foolish or disgraceful to break the moral law1 it is wrong4 ,this is the sense of guilt in disobedience that is roused in each of us by the ,bible1 as by no other book2 that has been quickened in ,europe1 historically1 by these sacred ,scriptures1 as by no other writings4 ,the ,bible has given to humanity a new and intense ethical perception of evil4 ,the strenuous moral earnestness of the ,puritan and the ,methodist is vitalized from these books4 ,the very type of saintship in ,christendom is unique4 ,it is no mere ceremonial correctness for which the priestly ,ezekiel pleads with tender pathos3 ,repent1 and turn yourselves from all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed1 and make you a clean heart and a new spirit2 for why will ye die1 ,o house of ,israel8 ,it is this intense sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin which oppressed the great-hearted ,paul1 and wrung from him the bitter cry3 ,o wretched man that ,i am6 ,who shall deliver me from the body of this death4 ,how vividly this sense of sin expresses itself in the ,fifty-first ,psalm6 ,there is here a plaint infinitely deeper than the chagrin and remorse of the man who has committed an indiscretion1 or become entangled in an intrigue2 there is the cry of a soul that has betrayed its highest1 holiest fidelities1 and lies low in the dust before the ,heavenly purity3 ,wash me throughly from my wickedness1 ,and cleanse me from my sin4 ,cast me not away from ,thy presence1 ,and take not ,thy ,holy ,spirit from me4 ,to enter into the spirit of this sigh of penitence is a new knowledge of the human heart4 ,the ,bible thus leads men to live as in the presence of an awful ,power of ,holiness1 which is searching through and through our beings4 ,we cannot understand the ,biblical salvation unless we have fathomed1 at least1 the shoaler experiences of these saintly souls of old1 and know some little of the depths of sin4 #e4 ,the ,bible wakens in the breast of man an ethical passion for the ideal and eternal law1 which1 apart from early ,buddhism1 has no parallel in history4 ,the prophets are aflame with the ardors of this sacred enthusiasm4 ,the ordinary passions of mankind are rivaled in intensity by the mystic passion of their souls for the ,heavenly ,wisdom4 ,they stand amid the wild whirl of selfish strife in the society of their day1 and lift on high the holy forms of ,justice and ,brotherhood1 as though expecting their commonplace cotemporaries to turn aside from practical affairs1 and seek for them2 and1 so subtle and searching are the appeals of these heavenly visions1 men do actually turn from mammon to worship these impoverishing divinities2 and a great movement arises1 looking to the bringing down of these ideals upon the earth1 as the ruling powers in the court and the exchange4 ,the regenerating force of ,christendom has lain in the coming of these prophets1 generation after generation1 to the children of men1 to lead them upon the mount where they should clearly see those lofty shapes1 commanding instant loyalty from honest souls4 ,the ominous travail-throes of society to-day await one stimulus to free the new order that is struggling to the birth--the passion for ethical and social ideals1 which the ,bible1 rightly administered1 would inspire4 ,the prophetic spirit is the vital force of the ,bible4 ,its insistent power reappears in ,paul2 a man consuming in the fires of this holy passion1 and kindling its ardors in the souls of untold myriads4 ,his great letter to the ,romans1 so strangely misread as a mere dogmatic treatise1 breathes and burns with this lofty enthusiasm4 ,its central thought1 its threading motif1 heard anew in every critical movement of the argument1 is--,righteousness4 ,the ,master in whom the ,bible centres1 enriches earth with a new benediction3 ,blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness4 ,this highest passion of mankind is wakened by the ,bible as by no other book4 ,through it1 the mystic ,forerunners reveal themselves to the human soul most alluringly2 enthralling it with their pure charms1 dispelling the illusions of the senses and the glamor of the world1 in the light of their holy loveliness4 ,the ,eternal ,wisdom calls from out these pages to the sons of men3 ,hearken unto me ye that follow after righteousness4 #f4 ,the ,bible reveals these ethical ideals as no mere alluring visions1 but as the substantial realities of being4 ,men say to those who speak of these high conceptions--,they are the dreams of sentimentalists1 the will-'o-the-wisp lights that beguile men away from the terra firma2 to be trusted and followed by no practical man4 ,idealist is a term of reproach4 ,and justly1 from any other point of view than that which the ,bible1 true to the most penetrating discernment of humanity1 opens to us4 ,these ideal forms are not the empty conceits of man's brain1 bred from the fumes of his boundless egotism4 ,they are not the clouds that gather and form and break into airy unreality in the atmosphere of earth4 ,they are the shadows falling upon the soul of man from the unseen ,realities1 which alone have substantial and abiding being4 ,the laws of nature are surely not the baseless fabric of a dream4 ,these ideals are simply those laws1 transfigured into their spiritual substances4 ,whatever in our blindness we may persuade ourselves elsewhere1 over the ,bible we recognize the true character of the visions which so strangely stir us4 ,this is the power of the ,bible4 ,christian seemed to ,mr4 ,worldly ,wiseman a fool4 ,but he saw the heavenly city1 and trudged along1 sure that time would prove him in the right4 ,christian carried in his hand this ,book4 ,with this ,book in our hands1 we1 too1 are sure that the visions of ,purity and ,justice1 which we dimly see afar1 are substantial and real1 and that man will win at the last to the land where they are the light thereof4 ,whereupon ,i was not disobedient to the heavenly vision4 #g4 ,the ,bible thus inspires a buoyancy and exhilaration which feed the fresh forces of all noble life4 ,no poet is needed to tell us that ,virtue kindles at the touch of joy4 ,we know it in our own experience4 ,we notice it in every great revival of religion4 ,we trace it through the history of ,christianity4 ,the story of the early days of ,jesus is1 as ,renan called it1 a delightful pastoral4 ,in the person of humanity's greatest idealist1 the highest joy of the soul was set in the framing of one of nature's brightest scenes4 ,even from the shadows of the garden of ,gethsemane1 ,he bequeaths to his little flock the legacy of his free spirit3 ,my joy ,i leave with you4 ,the ,christian ,society entered into that bequest1 and in its first exhilaration overflowed the hard coast lines of property1 and realized a happy brotherhood4 ,and all that believed were together1 and had all things common2 and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as any man had need4 ,and they1 continuing daily with one accord in the temple1 and breaking bread at home did take their food with gladness4 ,the prophets were filled with a buoyancy of spirit that scarce would let them keep down to the plodding steps of social progress2 that constantly rapt them away into the future1 whence their voices echo back the gladness of their visions4 ,the good time is coming on the earth4 ,the longings of man's soul are to be realized4 ,crushed by no disappointments1 wearied out by no delays1 the prophets maintain an indomitable hopefulness2 their voices the carollings of the birds that greet the dawn of day3 ,sing1 ,o ,heavens2 and be joyful1 ,o earth2 ,and break forth into singing1 ,o mountains4 ,for the ,lord hath comforted his people2 ,and will have mercy upon his afflicted4 ,one treads here the upper zones1 where the air is rare and every draught an inspiration2 where the ,laws are seen majestically sweeping every force into the measured movement which is making all things work together for good to them that love ,god4 ,with a tact truer than any theory1 our canon of scripture has been closed in the ,book of the ,revelation2 whose visions look beyond the break-up of ,jerusalem and shadow on the far horizon1 where earth and heaven melt in one1 the fair form of the ,city of ,god1 coming down from out the skies upon the new world wherein dwelleth righteousness4 ,in these days1 when joy is withered from the sons of men1 it is like drinking from the ,castalian springs to draw within our souls from the ,bible the sense of that kingdom of ,god which is joy in the ,holy ,ghost2 into which men are to come ,with everlasting joy upon their heads3 ,they shall obtain joy and gladness ,and sorrow and sighing shall flee away4 ,you learn the power of the ,bible as you find how the joy of the ,lord is your strength4 #h4 ,the ,bible leads this sense of ,law into that awful vision wherein ,conscious ,law is ,king of kings4 ,the ,laws appear substantial and real inasmuch as they are seen to be but phases of the ,infinite and ,eternal ,being1 the ,righteous ,lord who loveth righteousness4 ,it is a conscious1 intelligent1 holy ,being1 whom ,israel worships through these ideal forms of goodness4 ,however ,he transcended their poor personalities1 as transcend them they knew ,he must1 ,god was yet best expressed in the form of the human1 conscious personality4 ,man1 the highest creature1 must be1 they said1 most nearly in the form of ,god4 ,as man takes up the noblest characteristics of the life below him1 so his own noblest characteristics must be taken up into the ,lord of ,life4 ,god cannot be less than personal1 however much more than personal ,he may be4 ,he is to be thought of by us1 in lack of nobler imagination1 as personal4 ,israel thus grew into the conception of the ,infinite ,power1 manifest in the order of nature and in the order of conscience as conscious ,power2 ,one in whose image man was made1 the ,father of the mystic ,i2 whose nature is the law of creation1 whose purpose is its plan1 whose will is its exhaustless energy4 ,this is the secret which has kept the religions inspired by the ,bible from lapsing1 as other religions have done1 into lifelessness4 ,egypt was the land of a religion which had won a high conception of the ,divine unity2 a religion which was scientific in its forms of thought1 and earnestly moral in its spirit2 but which failed to keep distinct in mind the order of nature from the ,being on whom it reposes1 and thus sank into the dreamy pantheism of its cultured classes1 and the poetic polytheisms of its people4 ,of this lapse1 ,renouf writes3 ,all gods were in fact but names of the ,one who resided in them all4 ,but this ,god is no other than ,nature4 ,both individuals and entire nations may long continue to hold this view1 without drawing the inevitable conclusion1 that if there is no other ,god than this1 the world is really without a ,god4 ,but the fate of a religion which involves such a conclusion1 and with that conclusion the loss of faith in immortality1 and even in the distinction of ,right and ,wrong1 except so far as they are connected with ritual prescriptions1 is inevitably sealed4#fb ,neither ,judaism1 nor ,mohammedanism1 nor ,christianity1 the religions fed directly or indirectly from the ,bible1 have run1 or can well run into this fatal error4 ,the ,divine ,being who is mirrored in the ,bible is the ,conscious ,intelligence to whom alone of right belongs that ineffable name--,,god4 ,this is the thought and this is the word which hold the spell of the ,bible power over the human soul4 ,nowhere else is the sense of ,god so alive1 nowhere else does it so thrill the whole being of man4 ,it was this living ,god whom these holy men of old were seeking2 not simply the august ideals of the soul1 but the ,eternal ,being who casts them as his shadows upon man3 ,unto ,thee lift ,i up mine eyes1 ,o ,thou that dwellest in the heavens4 99 99 99 99 99 ,my soul truly waiteth still upon ,god1 ,for of ,him cometh my salvation4 99 99 99 99 99 ,like as the hart desireth the water-brooks1 ,so longeth my soul after ,thee1 ,o ,god4 ,my soul is athirst for ,god1 yea1 even for the ,living ,god2 ,when shall ,i come to appear before the presence of ,god8 ,it is ,god whom these holy men find4 ,the ,ineffable ,presence rejoices their souls1 and as we keep company with them rejoices our souls also3 ,lord1 ,thou hast been our home ,from one generation to another4 99 99 99 99 99 ,whoso dwelleth in the secret-place of the ,most ,high ,shall abide under the shadow of the ,almighty4 99 99 99 99 99 ,o ,lord1 ,thou hast searched me out and known me4 ,thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising2 ,thou understandest my thoughts afar off4 ,thou art about my path and about my bed1 ,and spiest out all my ways4 ,for lo1 there is not a word in my tongue ,but ,thou1 ,o ,lord1 knowest it altogether4 ,the inspirations which we feel from the ,bible-words are the breathings of the ,eternal ,spirit4 ,the ,divine whispers1 which are too often inarticulate in nature and even in our souls1 are articulate in the great ,bible-words--the words proceeding from out of the mouth of ,god1 on which man liveth4 ,the power of the ,bible is that the deafest souls can therein hear--,,god4 #i4 ,god speaks in ,a ,,man4 ,the ,bible centres in the story of a life which was so filled with the ,holy ,ghost that this ,man became the symbol of the ,most ,high1 the sacrament of ,his ,being and ,presence1 the sacred shrine of ,deity4 ,as when the long-drawn travail of instrumentation labors through the opening movements of the ninth symphony1 with a strain too fine for any voicing save by man1 there bursts at length upon the tumultuous storm of sound the clear1 high1 song of joy from human lips2 so from the mounting efforts of a nation's insufficient utterance there rises at last a voice1 which takes up every groaning of the ,spirit in humanity into the perfect beauty of a human life divine4 ,and so the ,word hath breath1 and wrought ,with human hands the creed of creeds1 ,in loveliness of perfect deeds1 ,more strong than all poetic thought4 ,the light of the ,son of ,man is the life of men2 the light for our minds and the warmth for our hearts4 ,in the ,power in whom we live and move and have our being1 we see ,our ,father who art in ,heaven4 ,in the laws of life we read the methods of ,his schooling of our souls4 ,in the sorrows of life we receive ,his disciplinings4 ,in the sins that cling so hard upon us we feel the evils of our imperfection1 from which ,he is seeking to deliver us through ,his training of our spirits4 ,in the shame of sin we are conscious of the guilt that ,his free forgiveness wipes away1 when we turn saying1 ,father1 ,i have sinned4 ,in death we face the door-way to some other room of the ,father's house1 where1 it may be1 just beyond the threshold our dear ones wait for us6 ,in ,christ himself we own our heaven-sent ,teacher1 ,master1 ,saviour1 ,friend2 our elder ,brother1 who in our sinful flesh lives our holy aspirations1 and1 smiling1 beckons us to follow ,him1 whispering in our ears--,to them that receive me ,i give power to become the sons of ,god4 ,the power of the ,bible is--,,christ4 ,,ii4 ,when ,sir ,walter ,scott lay in his last illness1 he asked ,lockhart one day to read to him4 ,from what book shall ,i read8 said ,lockhart4 ,there is but one book1 was ,scott's answer4 ,those who have sought the power to become the sons of ,god will understand this hyperbole of the most healthy human mind in modern ,english literature4 ,tested by experience there is indeed1 in the wide range of the literature of power1 no book to be mentioned with the ,bible for feeding the life of ,god in man4 ,our fathers found this true1 and their children cannot correct their judgment4 ,the substitute for the ,bible1 as an ethical and spiritual instructor1 is not out4 ,i speak to those who are in earnest in the building of a man4 ,you need this book1 my brothers4 ,luther's higher life dated from his discovery of the ,bible4 ,have you discovered the ,bible8 ,within the body of human letters have you found out the divine soul of the ,bible8 ,through the chorus of human voices have you heard the voice of the ,eternal ,power8 ,if not1 life holds one more rich find for you--a treasure hidden in the field over which you have so lightly strayed4 ,buy a ,bible1 my brothers6 ,the current coin of the land1 in the shops of our best booksellers1 may have failed to buy for you a real ,bible4 ,no noble book is ever to be made your own in this easy fashion4 ,ruskin tells us that the great picture will not give itself to us unless we give ourselves to it4 ,the ,bible must have its price4 ,the best comes dearest4 ,if you will not pay you cannot buy4 ,pay for the real ,bible your costliest offering of mind and heart4 ,spend upon it1 day by day1 your careful1 reverent study1 until beneath your love the ,book warms into life2 and1 having proven well your loyalty1 this teacher of the soul opens its soul to you and whispers--,henceforth ,i call you not servant but friend4 ,wait in these courts until the ,eternal ,wisdom1 who walks within this temple1 turns her face upon you1 mystic1 wonderful2 and the common places grow refulgent with a new and heavenly beauty1 and you humbly say--,this is none other but the house of ,god1 and this is the gate of heaven4 99 99 99 99 99 ,how shall we thus rightly read the ,bible1 for ethical and spiritual upbuilding8 ,let me offer some plain and practical suggestions to this end4 7#a47 ,read it daily4 ,your soul needs its daily bread4 ,do not starve your soul4 ,do not try to fatten it on chaff4 ,get the best soul-food1 the long tried manna that forms upon these pages day by day1 for him who will be at pains to gather it4 ,he must be busy1 indeed1 who cannot find time to keep himself alive4 7#b47 ,read it in the choicest moments of the day4 ,the best picture should have the best setting4 ,our fathers' symbol of the opening of a new day was the opening of the ,bible4 ,their symbol of the closing of another day's duties was the closing of the ,bible4 ,can we improve upon their ritual8 ,john ,quincy ,adams noted in his journal his custom of reading in the ,bible each morning1 of which he well observed3 ,it seems to me the most suitable manner of beginning the day4 ,pitch the day aright with this tuning-fork1 and hush the babel-voices of the world to its tones of peace at night4 7#c47 ,read the ,bible whenever you need some special influence of strength or cheer1 amid the temptations and trials of the day4 ,it holds the unfailing corrective for the manifold disorders of our busy lives4 ,to think its thoughts and breathe its desires1 even for a few moments1 is to have the horizon of the senses open1 the heavy atmosphere of earth clear1 the illusions of the world evanish1 the fever of business cool and calm1 the tempting appetites and passions slink down shamed into their kennels4 ,it is to have the dark look of life lighten1 the sting of disappointment lose its venom1 the weariness of sickness forget itself1 and the sorrow of the stricken heart sob itself asleep within the everlasting arms of ,one who1 like a mother1 comforteth his children1 and who with his own hand wipes away the tears from our eyes4 ,a few days after one of the battles before ,richmond a ,southern soldier was found unburied4 ,his right hand still clasped a ,bible1 and his stiff fingers pressed upon the words of the ,twenty-third ,psalm3 ,i will fear no evil1 for ,thou art with me2 ,thy rod and ,thy staff they comfort me4 7#d47 ,in the choice of these daily readings1 follow the guidance of the soul's sure instinct4 ,you need no critical knowledge to teach you what parts of the ,bible are the most highly inspired4 ,the spiritual sense will appraise these books aright4 ,as the beasts are led instinctively to the herbs that hold healing for their ailments so you shall find the tonic and the balm that you need4 ,you will naturally pasture for the most part in the ,prophets1 the ,psalms1 the ,gospels1 the great ,epistles of ,paul1 the ,first ,epistle of ,john1 and kindred writings4 ,you may1 dip into these books as the bees dip into the flowers1 now burying themselves in the luscious honey-suckle and now lingering on the rich rose1 if so be that you only suck sweetness into your soul4 7#e47 ,wheresoever you read1 read in the spirit4 ,i was in the spirit on the ,lord's day1 wrote the seer4 ,if he had been in the understanding merely1 he would not have had many visions4 ,the ,spirit must interpret the ,spirit's words4 ,the ,bible requires1 as ,bushnell wrote3 ,divine inbreathings and exaltations in us1 that we may asscend into their meanings4#fc ,in his last sickness ,archbishop ,usher was observed one day1 sitting in his wheel-chair1 with a ,bible in his lap1 and moving his position as the sun stole round to the westward1 so as to let the light fall on the sacred page4 ,that is a symbol of the right use of the ,bible4 ,i picked up lately the choice ,bible which ,i selected for myself as a boy1 and on the fly-leaf1 in my boyish hand1 ,i read the words3 ,open ,thou mine eyes that ,i may behold wondrous things out of ,thy law4 ,i still find that the best commentator1 for the ethical and spiritual use of the ,bible1 is one ,master ,praying ,always4 ,as the bard with the ,muse1 so the critic in the presence of ,wisdom1 must forget his skill2 must be1 with good intent1 no more his1 but hers3 ,must throw away his pen and paint1 ,kneel with worshipers4 ,then1 perchance1 a sunny ray1 ,from the heaven of fire1 ,his lost tools may overpay1 ,and better his desire4 ,thus buying ,bibles for yourselves1 my friends1 see that your children buy themselves the ,bible in the same good coin4 7a47 ,read with them the tales of its noble men4 ,do not hesitate to read with them these stories of the ancients1 because there may be the commingling of legend with history1 of myth with fact4 ,you do not hesitate to read them the story of ,william ,tell1 although there are woven into it the elements of a very old and wide-spread sun-myth4 ,these mythic elements have been woven around some real historic hero1 and the spirit of his heroism breathes through every fold of the drapery4 ,how charmingly ,kingsley tells the tales of the ,grecian heroes6 ,through his crystalline language we seem to inhale the crisp1 clear air of the morning of ,greece1 in which the simple souls of child-men thus shaped their dreams of duty around their older dreams of nature4 ,conscience fashioned these primitive fancies upon its form1 and pulses through them its quickening life2 the touch of which makes our children buoyant with aspiration1 so that they mount on high1 like ,perseus of the winged feet4 ,thus read the matchless stories of the ,hebrews1 mindless of legend or of myth4 ,the ,spirit of ,holiness breathing through these tales will inspire the souls of the children1 without restraint from the questions that the reason may raise4 ,tell them no lies if they ask you questions4 ,read these ancient stories as stories1 of good and noble men2 stories written down long ago1 and told from father to son through longer ages before they were thus written out4 ,leave the children to detect the legendary elements4 ,i find them quick enough at that work without parental help4 ,the bright child feels the unreal in the tales that he most loves2 but he loves them none the less1 perhaps all the more1 because of the spell upon his imagination that he would not break2 while through them1 upon his open soul1 streams in the holy power of these sacred stories4 ,do you concern yourselves with impressing the moral of these ,god-breathed tales4 ,read with your children the stories of the dear ,master1 and make ,his life grow real to them1 till ,he shall draw them after ,him1 in the steps of ,his most holy life4 7b47 ,form in the children the habit of daily reading in the ,bible4 ,say to each of them1 in your own way1 that which ,sir ,matthew ,hale wrote to his child3 ,every morning read seriously and reverently a portion of the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,it is a book full of light and wisdom1 and will make you wise to eternal life4 7c47 ,cultivate in them a genuine interest in the ,bible4 ,the aids to an intelligent interest in the ,bible-books are now so plentiful1 and the human charm of them is so great1 that it ought to be an easy thing for a parent to awaken a real fondness for these immortal writings4 ,the best safeguard against bad taste in literature or life is the formation of a good taste4 ,these are books1 to learn to love which is the making of a man4 ,our children may not grow into the genius1 but they will grow into somewhat of the goodness of the illustrious and saintly ,john ,henry ,newman1 if1 in after years1 they can write the first lines of their autobiographies in the words which open the biographical part of the ,apologia ,pro ,vita ,sua3 ,i was brought up from a child to take great delight in reading the ,bible4 7d47 ,train the children to commit to memory the choicest passages of the ,bible4 ,john ,ruskin doubtless1 at the time1 rebelled against the strict rule of his good aunt1 which kept him busy on the ,sundays memorizing the ,scriptures2 but he is thankful now1 as he has owned1 for the discipline which stored his mind with their creative words4 ,what a treasury of holy thoughts and influences does he carry within him who has written on his mind such passages as the nineteenth1 twenty-third1 ninety-first1 one hundred and third1 and one hundred and thirty-ninth ,psalms2 the third and eighth chapters of ,proverbs2 the fortieth chapter of ,isaiah2 the sermon on the mount1 the parable of the prodigal son1 and the thirteenth chapter of first ,corinthians4 ,happy he who1 like the palm tree in the desert1 can strike his roots below the arid surface of the world into fresh and living waters1 and thus keep life green amid the droughts of earth4 ,the parable of the temptation of ,christ should teach us how to arm our children against the wiles of the ,evil ,one1 whom they must surely meet3 ,and he said1 ,it is written4 ,in the stress and strain of conflict1 when the air is dimmed with the dust of the contending forces and the vision grows confused1 it is a saving sound to hear the ringing call of ,duty1 from the hills where ,one watcheth over the battlefield4 ,when sore pressed by the foe1 it may prove our victory to fall back against the strong stone wall of an external authority1 that can hold our lines unbroken4 ,it is no wonder that the tempting sailors could do nothing with the cabin-boy who was chock full of the ,bible4 7e47 ,teach your children1 as you teach yourselves1 to hearken through these voices of the human writers to the voice of ,god4 ,bother then with no theories of inspiration4 ,never deny nor conceal the true human voices of these men who spake of old1 but never fail to affirm the true ,divine breath in these men who spake as they were moved by the ,holy ,ghost4 ,and1 since this is the power of the ,bible1 emphasize the ,divine speaking2 make every ,god-breathed word sound to the children's souls as the very voice of ,god2 until1 in simple faith and reverent docility1 they shall each answer--,speak1 ,lord3 ,thy servant heareth6 ,thy word is a lamp unto my feet1 ,and a light unto my path4 ,such is the holy office of the ,bible3 such be its blessed service to our souls1 and to the souls of our dear children6 ,may we walk in its light through life2 that in the valley of the shadow of death that light may still fall upon us4 ,it is not many months since ,i was called to the house where1 in a ripe and honored age1 lay a warden of this church1 stricken suddenly by death4 ,on the table in his room1 as he had left it open after reading in it that morning1 ,i saw a ,bible4 ,i can ask for my funeral no better symbol of the aim and effort of my poor erring life1 if so be it shame me not too much1 than that which told the story of an humble servant of the ,lord4 ,upon his coffin1 with the book-mark between the pages where he last had read1 was--his ,bible6 99 99 99 99 99 ,blessed ,lord1 who hast caused all holy ,scriptures to be written for our learning2 grant that we may in such wise hear them1 read1 mark1 learn1 and inwardly digest them1 that by patience and comfort of ,thy ,holy ,word1 we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life1 which ,thou has given us in our ,saviour1 ,jesus ,christ4 ,amen4 ,the ,end4 ,footnotes #a ,the ,second ,sunday in ,advent4 #b #a ,cor4 vii4 #aj4 #c #a ,cor4 vii4 #ab4 #d #a ,cor4 vii4 #dj4 #e #a ,cor4 vii4 #be4 #f ,hebrews i4 #a4 #g #b ,peter i4 #ba4 #h #a ,peter i4 #aj1 #aa4 #i #b ,timothy iii4 #af4 #aj ,sacred ,books of the ,east1 vol4 i4 p4 xiii4 #aa #b ,maccabees1 ii4 #ac4 #ab ,the ,jews and the priests have found it good that ,simon shall be their leader and high priest forever until there shall arise a trustworthy prophet4--#a ,macc4 xiv4 #da4 #ac ,introduction to the ,new ,testament4 ,samuel ,davidson1 ,i43#bgi4 #ad ,introduction to the ,new ,testament4 ,samuel ,davidson1 ,i43#chd4 #ae ,the contrast between the fifteenth and sixteenth century ,confessions of ,faith reveals this process1 and explains the prevalent ,protestant theory4 #af ,about #fjj ,a4,d4 #ag #b ,maccabees ii4 #ac4 #ah ,the ,dial3 ,october1 #ahdj4 #ai ,ewald3 ,history of ,israel1 i4 #d4 #bj ,esther is the most notable apparent exception1 but this it only apparent4 #ba ,in speaking of the book of ,esther1 ,dean ,stanley observes that it never names the name of ,god from first to last1 and remarks ,it is necessary for us that in the rest of the sacred volume the name of ,god should constantly be brought before us1 to show that ,he is all in all to our moral perfection4 ,but it is expedient for us no less that there should be one book which omits it altogether1 to prevent us from attaching to the mere name a reverence which belongs only to the reality4444 ,the name of ,god is not there1 but the work of ,god is4444 ,when ,esther nerved herself to enter1 at the risk of her life1 the presence of ,ahasuerus--',i will go in unto the king1 and if ,i perish ,i perish'--when her patriotic feeling vented itself in that noble cry1 ',how can ,i endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people8 or can ,i endure to see the destruction of my kindred8'--she expressed1 although she never named the name of ,god1 a religious devotion as acceptable to ,him as that of ,moses and ,david1 who1 no less sincerely1 had the sacred name always on their lips4--,history of the ,jewish ,church1 iii4 #cja4 #bb ,ewald3 ,history of ,israel1 i4 #d4 #bc ,the ,old ,testament is a record of the growth of human intelligence in relation to the ,deity--of the revelation made by ,spirit to spirit4 ,when therefore ,god is described as speaking to man1 he does so in the only way in which ,he who is a ,spirit can speak to one encompassed with flesh and blood2 not to the outward organs of sensation1 but to that intelligence which is kindred to ,himself the great ,fountain of knowledge4--,davidson3 ,introduction to the ,old ,testament1 i4 #bcc4 #bd ,emerson3 ,miscellanies1 p4 #bjj4 #be ,to hear people speak1 said ,goethe1 one would almost believe that they were of opinion that ,god had withdrawn into silence since those old times1 and that man was now placed quite upon his own feet1 and had to see how he could get on without ,god and his daily invisible breath4--,conversations1 ,march #aa1 #ahcb4 #bf ,our advancing knowledge of the early portions of the ,bible is clearing its offensive portions of the grossness which characterized them as literal histories1 by resolving them into nature-myths1 or into social traditions1 symbolical stories of casuistry1 token-tales1 whose original meaning had been lost by the time they were committed to writing4 ,every school-boy knows how the worst stories of the ,greek gods and goddesses lose their immorality as seen to be parables of nature's processes1 myths1 whose poetry had exhaled in the course of time4 ,goldziher's ,mythology ,among the ,hebrews1 shows the mythic character of many of these revolting ,jewish stories1 though his theory carries him off his feet4 ,fenton's ,early ,hebrew ,life1 brings out the social and casuistical origin of many of these traditions as decisions1 ,judgments1 of the village elders and priests upon cases of conduct1 thrown into the form of imaginary stories to make them realistic and ensure their preservation4 ,in this way1 various dubious points of primitive morality and politics were governed2 and the stories which enshrine them stand to primitive life in much the same relation as do collections of precedents to modern lawyers1 and dictionaries of cases of conscience to father confessors4 7p4 #ha7 ,but1 as these aspects of such traditions as ,lot and his daughters1 ,judah and ,tamar1 c41 cannot be divined without interpretation1 they should be omitted from our children's ,bibles4 ,my suggestion of an expurgated ,bible1 on which so many hard criticisms have been passed1 seemed to me innocent enough1 since most sensible people have been in the habit of expurgating the ,bible for themselves in home readings and in the readings in the churches4 ,this is what ,plato thought of such stories in the sacred book of the ,grecians3 ,whatever beautiful fable they may invent1 we should select1 and what is not so1 we should reject3 and we are to prevail on nurses and mothers to repeat to the children such fables as are selected1 and fashion their minds by fables 99 99 99 ,for though these things were true1 yet ,i think they should not be so readily told to the unwise and the young1 but rather concealed from them4 ,as little ought we to describe in fables1 the battles of the giants and other many and various feuds1 both of gods and heroes1 with their own kindred and relatives2 but if we would persuade them that never at all should one citizen hate another1 and that it is not holy1 such things as these are rather to be told them in early childhood2 and the poets should be obliged to compose consistently with these views 99 99 99 ,young persons are not able to judge what is allegory and what is not1 but whatever opinions they receive at such an age are wont to be obliterated with difficulty1 and immovable4 ,hence one would think1 we should of all things endeavor1 that what they should first hear be composed in the best manner for exciting them to virtue4 ,republic1 ,book ,,ii4 #bg ,how then are we to know what words and deeds express the mind of ,god1 are words of the ,lord1 examples ,he presents for our imitation8 ,by the mind of ,god manifest in 'the express image of ,his person8' ,all morality and religion is to be tried by 'the mind which was in ,christ1' 'the spirit of ,christ which dwelleth in us4' #bh ,in what is said above there la no positive denial intended of the ,old ,testament miracles4 ,we are in no position to deny them4 ,the point is simply that they are not bounden on us in any reasonable and reverent recognition of a real historical revelation in the ,old ,testament1 and need trouble no one who cannot receive them4 ,the miracles of ,christ1 when reduced to the wonders reported by the conjoint testimony of the synoptics1--i4e41 to the common tradition of the early church1 stand apart from all other ,scripture miracles2 having a reasonable and natural character as the powers of such a personality1 and coming within the ken of our visions of possibility4 ,they are imaged ,in the well attested powers of rare men4 ,they appear as in no wise violations of law1 but as the manifestations of nature's laws and forces worked by the normal man1 having 'dominion' over the earth4 ,the wise soul expels disease4 #bi ,so judicious a commentator as ,dean ,alford1 in his introduction to the ,second ,epistle to the ,thessalonians1 discussing the vexed question of the ,daniel-like section in the third chapter1 so wholly unlike ,paul observes3 ,if we have 7in any sense1 ,god speaking in the ,bible7 then1 of all passages1 it is in these1 which treat so confidently of futurity1 that we must recognize ,his voice2 if we have it not in these passages1 then1 where are we to listen for it at all8--,greek ,testament ,,iii3#fd4 #cj ,history of ,american ,socialisms1--,noyes4--p4 #fjh4 #ca ,to understand that the language of the ,bible is fluid1 passing and literary1 not rigid1 fixed and scientific1 is the first step towards a right understanding of the ,bible4--,literature and ,dogma4--p4 xii4 #cb ,the revised version calls the attention of ,english readers to this latter influence1 in the marginal rendering of ,tartarus for ,hell in #b ,peter1 #aa3 #d4 #cc ,luther's strong sense detected his unevangelicalness4 #cd ,ewald says the tenth century1 and ,kuenen the eighth century4 #ce ,ask at ,abel and at ,dan whether the genuine old statutes of ,israel have lost their force8--#b ,samuel1 xx4 #ah4 ,restored by ,ewald from the ,,lxx4 #cf ,such a late codification is no more inconceivable than ,justinian's codification of ,roman law4 #cg ,brook ,foss ,westcott4 ,smith's ,bible ,dictionary3 article on ,daniel4 #ch ,the ,bible of ,to-day1 ,chadwick1 p4 #ej4 #ci ,of this process we see hints in the various references to the consecration of great trees and stones to ,jehovah4 #dj ,the indications of this nature-worship lie scattered on the surface of the ,old ,testament so plainly that no one can fail to notice them4 #da ,among the ,edomites1 ,ishmaelites1 ,ammonites and ,moabites--the tribes with which ,israel felt itself most nearly related--the service of the rigorous and destroying god was most prominent ,the very names for ,god which are most common among them--,baal1 ,el1 ,molech1 ,milcom1 ,chemosh--are enough to show this4 ,these names denote the mighty1 violent1 death-dealing ,god4 ,the ,religion of ,israel1 ,knappert1 p4 #bi4 ,these names constantly recur in the early history of ,israel4 ,jephthah's vow is a familiar instance of this abhorrent rite4 ,circumcision is supposed to mark a merciful compromise with this blood-gift2 in addition to its sanitary character4 #db ,we know from general history how among other people the homage paid to the productive powers of nature led to systematized prostitution1 in the name of the personification of this force of nature4 ,tradition records how early in this period the ,midianites seduced ,israel temporarily from ,jehovah1 by the licentious pleasures of their worship of ,baal-,peor4 ,later on in history we find that it is these impure rites that especially provoke the anger of the prophets4 #dc ,the sun symbols may not have been permanent features of the ,temple-worship at this period1 though1 from the probable identification of the early ,jehovah with the sun1 it seems likely that their presence there was no casual fact4 #dd #b ,kings1 xxiii4 #f1 #g4 #de ,isaiah1 i4 #aa-ag4 #df ,micah1 vi4 #f-h4 #dg ,isaiah1 xi4 #b-e4 #dh ,isaiah1 v4 #h2 iii4 #ad1 #ae4 #di ,cf4 ,exodus1 xxiii1 #aj1 #aa 7the earliest code7 with ,deuteronomy1 xv4 #a-ah4 #ej ,the latter seems the probable influence of ,persia4 ,at all events1 from this time ,hebrew literature shows the gradual development of an angelic hierarchy4 #ea ,the comparison of the earlier prophetic writings with the exilic prophecies1 and with the later writings1 such as ,jonah1 ,ecclesiastes1 c41 will illustrate this change4 #eb ,ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones is the earliest appearance of this thought in any writing of whose date we are certain4 #ec ,and thou shalt-number seven sabbaths of years unto thee1 seven times seven years2 and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years4 ,then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month1 in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land4 ,and ye shall hallow the fiftieth year1 and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof3 it shall be a jubilee unto you2 and ye shall return every man unto his possession1 and ye shall return every man unto his family4 ,a jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you3 ye shall not sow1 neither reap that which groweth of itself in it1 nor gather the grapes in it of the vine undressed4 ,for it is the jubilee2 it shall be holy unto you3 ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field4 ,in the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession4 ,and if thou sell ought unto thy neighbor1 or buyest ought of thy neighbor's hand1 ye shall not oppress one another3 ,according to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbor1 and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee3 ,according to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof1 and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it3 for according to the number of the years of the fruits doth he sell unto thee4 ,ye shall not therefore oppress one another2 but thou shalt fear thy ,god3 for ,i am the ,lord your ,god4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the land shall not be sold for ever3 for the land is mine2 for ye are strangers and sojourners with me4 ,and in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land4 99 99 99 99 99 ,and if thy brother be waxen poor1 and fallen in decay with thee2 then thou shalt relieve him3 yea1 though he be a stranger1 or a sojourner2 that he may live with thee4 ,take thou no usury of him1 or increase3 but fear thy ,god2 that thy brother may live with thee4 ,thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury1 nor lend him thy victuals for increase4 ,i am the ,lord your ,god1 which brought you forth out of the land of ,egypt1 to give you the land of ,canaan1 and to be your ,god4 ,and if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor1 and be sold unto thee2 thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant3 ,but as an hired servant1 and as a sojourner1 he shall be with thee1 and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee3 ,and then shall he depart from thee1 both he and his children with him1 and shall return unto his own family1 and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return4 ,for they are my servants1 which ,i brought forth out of the land of ,egypt3 they shall not be sold as bondmen4 ,thou shalt not rule over him with rigor2 but shalt fear thy ,god4--,leviticus xxv4 #h et seq4 ,fenton1 ,early ,hebrew ,life1 has1 ,i think1 given the clue through the difficulties of the jubilee-year legislation4 ,he traces the early communal character of ,hebrew society1 its gradual break-up under the encroachments of manorial lords1 and the natural efforts of the people to regain their communal rights4 ,but how remedy the evil8 ,how restore to the communities their old rights and privileges1 without unduly trenching upon rights and possessions that had since been acquired8 ,the year of ,jubilee is the ,hebrew solution of the problem1 7p #ga74 ,it was a compromise2 the old seventh year communal right adjourned to seven times seven years1 and enlarged4 ,fenton quotes a curious survival1 in the borough of ,newtown-upon-,ayr1 of this very compromise between the old and the new social systems--a ,scottish ,jubilee4 ,it is a queer sign of the disproportionate development of individual religion in our current ,christianity1 that this social and economic legislation should have been so spiritualized away as to leave no consciousness of its original character in the minds of those who sing in our prayer-meetings that ,the year of ,jubilee is come4 #ed ,the ,dialogues of ,plato3 ,jowett's edition1 ,,ii4 #ajf4 #ee ,matthew ,arnold in ,contemporary ,review1 xxiv4 #hjj2 xxv4 #ejh4 #ef ,the ,friend3 ,essay x4 #eg ,sacred ,books of the ,east3 ,i4 ix4 et seq4 #eh ,confessions of ,augustine3 ,book ,x4 vi4 #ei ,exodus1 xx4 #ca4 #fj ,richard ,hooker3 ,laws of ,ecclesiastical ,polity1 ,book ,i41 ch4 xvi4 #h4 #fa ,le ,page ,renouf3 ,hibbert ,lectures1 #ahgi1 p4 #bej4 #fb ,hibbert ,lectures1 #ahgi1 p4 #bgi4 #fc ,god in ,christ1 p4 #ic4