,contributed by ,jonathon ,love ,,the ,,jesus ,,of ,,history ,,foreword ,i regard it as a high privilege to be associated with this volume4 ,many who know and value ,mr ,glover's work on ,the ,conflict of ,religions in the ,early ,roman ,empire must have wistfully desired to secure from his graphic pen just such a book as is here given to the world4 ,he possesses the rare power of reverently handling familiar truths or facts in such manner as to make them seem to be almost new4 ,there are few gifts more precious than this at a time when our familiarity with the greatest and most sacred of all narratives is a chief hindrance to our ready appreciation of its living power4 ,i believe that no one will read ,mr ,glover's chapters1 and especially his description of the parable-teaching given by our ,lord1 without a sense of having been introduced to a whole series of fresh and fruitful thoughts4 ,he has expanded for us1 with the force1 the clearness1 and the power of vivid illustration which we have learned to expect from him1 the meaning of a sentence in the earlier volume ,i have alluded to1 where he insists that1 ,jesus of ,nazareth does stand in the centre of human history1 that ,he has brought ,god and man into a new relation1 that ,he is the present concern of every one of us and that there is more in ,him than we have yet accounted for4#a ,in accordance with its title1 the single theme of the book is ,the ,jesus of ,history1 but the student or exponent of dogmatic theology will find abundant material in its pages4 ,i commend it confidently1 both to single students and to those who nowadays1 in happily increasing numbers1 meet together for common study2 and ,i congratulate those who belong to the ,student ,christian ,movement upon this notable addition to the books published in connection with their far-reaching work4 ,,randall ,,cantuar ,,lambeth ,advent ,sunday1 #aiaf ,,preface ,this book has grown out of lectures upon the historical ,jesus given in a good many cities of ,india during the winter #aiae-af4 ,recast and developed1 the lectures were taken down in shorthand in ,calcutta2 they were revised in ,madras2 and most of them were wholly re-written1 where and when in six following months leisure was available1 in places so far apart as ,colombo1 ,maymyo1 ,rangoon1 ,kodaikanal1 ,simla1 and ,poona4 ,the reader will not expect a heavy apparatus of references to books which were generally out of reach4 ,here and there are incorporated passages 7rehandled7 from articles that have appeared in ,the ,constructive ,quarterly1 ,the ,nation1 ,the ,expositor1 and elsewhere4 ,those who themselves have tried to draw the likeness attempted in this book will best understand1 and perhaps most readily forgive1 failures and mistakes1 or even worse1 in my drawing4 ,the aim of the book1 as of the lectures1 is1 after all1 not to achieve a final presentment of the historical ,jesus1 but to suggest lines of study that will deepen our interest in him and our love of him4 ,t4 ,r4 ,g4 ,,poona1 ,august #aiaf ,,the ,,jesus ,,of ,,history ,,contents ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,study ,,of ,,the ,,gospels ,modern study of religion ,historicity of ,jesus ,the gospels as historical sources ,canons for the study of a historical figure ,a caution against antiquarianism here ,,chapter ,,ii ,,childhood ,,and ,,youth ,references in ,gospels ,utilisation of the parables to reconstruct the domestic life ,nature4 ,the city4 ,the talk of the market ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,man ,,and ,,his ,,mind ,words and looks1 as recorded in the gospels ,playfulness of speech ,movements of feeling ,habits of thought3 e4g4 ,quickness4 ,feeling for fact4 ,sympathy4 ,imagination ,his use of the ,old ,testament ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,teacher ,,and ,,the ,,disciples ,,the ,,background ,hardness of the human life in those times ,uncertainness as to ,god's plans for the nation--specially as to ,his purposes for the ,messiah ,uncertainty as to the immortality of the soul1 and its destinies ,re-action of all this upon life ,,the ,,problem ,,before ,,the ,,teacher ,to induce people to try to re-think ,god ,to secure the re-thinking of life from its foundations in view of the new knowledge ,,the ,,teacher ,,and ,,the ,,disciples ,his personality1 and his genius for friendship ,the disciples--the type he prefers ,intimacy1 the real secret of his method ,his ways of speech ,his seriousness ,the transformation of the disciples ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,teaching ,,of ,,jesus ,,upon ,,god ,,jesus' ,,own ,,god-,,consciousness ,the ,nearness of ,god ,god's knowledge and power ,god's throne ,jesus emphasizes mostly ,god's interest in the individual--the love of ,god ,,the ,,knowledge ,,of ,,god ,the discovery of ,god ,parables of the treasure finder and the pearl merchant ,faith in ,god ,prayer ,life on the basis of ,god ,,chapter ,,vi ,,jesus ,,and ,,man ,jesus' sympathy with men and their troubles ,his feelings for the suffering and distressed ,his feeling for women and children ,his emphasis on tenderness and forgiveness ,the characteristics which he values in men ,the value of the individual soul ,jesus and the wasted life ,zacchaeus4 ,the woman with the alabaster box4 ,the penitent thief ,,chapter ,,vii ,,jesus' ,,teaching ,,upon ,,sin ,the problem of sin ,john the ,baptist on sin ,jesus' psychology of sin more serious ,the outstanding types of sin which1 according to ,jesus1 involve for a man the utmost risk3 7a7 ,want of tenderness 7b7 ,the impure imagination 7c7 ,indifference to truth 7d7 ,indecision ,jesus' view of sin as deduced from this teaching ,implication of a serious view of redemption ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,choice ,,of ,,the ,,cross ,what the cross meant to him ,,his ,,references ,,to ,,the ,,gospel ,,and ,,its ,,results ,the kingdom of heaven ,the call for followers ,his announcement of purpose in his life and death ,what he means by redemption ,,factors ,,in ,,his ,,choice ,,of ,,the ,,cross ,his sense of human need ,his realization of ,god ,his recognition of his own relation to ,god ,his prayer life ,,verification ,,from ,,the ,,event ,the ,resurrection ,the new life of the disciples ,the taking away of the sin of the world ,,re-,,examination ,,of ,,his ,,choice ,,of ,,the ,,cross ,as it bears on the problem of pain and of sin and on ,god ,how a man is to understand ,jesus ,christ ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,christian ,,church ,,in ,,the ,,roman ,,empire ,,the ,,roman ,,empire ,one rule of many races ,general peace and free intercourse the world over ,fusion of cultures1 traditions1 religions ,the marriage of ,east and ,west ,,the ,,old ,,religion 7#a7 ,its strength3 in its ancient tradition in its splendour of art1 architecture and ceremony in its oracles1 healings and theophanies in its adaptability in absorbing all cults and creeds 7#b7 ,its weakness3 ,no deep sense of truth ,no association with morality ,polytheism ,the fear of the grave 7#c7 ,its defence3 ,plutarch--the ,stoics--,neo-,platonism--the ,eclectics ,,the ,,victory ,,of ,,the ,,christian ,,church 7#a7 ,its characteristics 7#b7 ,persecuted because it refused to compromise 7#c7 ,the ,christian out-lived the pagan out died him out-thought him ,,chapter ,x ,,jesus ,,in ,,christian ,,thought ,the impulse to determine who he is1 and his relation to ,god ,the records of ,christian experience ,the ,study of the personality of ,jesus ,christ 7a7 ,the ,gospels 7b7 ,christological theory a guide to experience 7c7 ,the new experience of the ,reformation period ,knowledge gained by the experiment comes before explanation ,,jesus ,,to ,,be ,,known ,,by ,,what ,,he ,,does ,the forgiveness of sin1 and the theories to explain it ,is a ,theology of ,redemption possible which shall not be mainly metaphor or simile8 ,,the ,,problem ,,of ,,the ,,incarnation ,the approach is to be a posterioria ,in fact1 ,god and man are only known to us in and by ,jesus ,only in ,christ is the love of ,god as taught in ,n4,t4 tenable ,to know ,jesus in what he can do1 is antecedent to theory about him ,,appendix ,suggestions for study circle discussions ,,the ,,jesus ,,of ,,history ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,study ,,of ,,the ,,gospels ,if one thing more than another marks modern thought1 it is a new insistence on fact4 ,in every sphere of study there is a growing emphasis on verification4 ,where a generation ago a case seemed to be closed1 to-day in the light of new facts it is reopened4 ,matters that to our grandfathers were trivialities1 to be summarily dismissed1 are seriously studied4 ,again and again we find the most fruitful avenues opened to us by questions that another age might have laughed out of a hearing2 to-day they suggest investigation of facts insufficiently known1 and of the difficult connexions between them4 ,in psychology and in medicine the results of this new tendency are evident in all sorts of ways--new methods in the treatment of the sick1 new inquiries as to the origin of diseases and the possibilities of their prevention1 attempts to get at the relations between the soul and body1 and a very new open-mindedness as to the spiritual nature and its working and experiences4 ,in other fields of learning it is the same4 ,to the modern student of man and his history the old easy way of excluding religion as an absurdity1 the light prediction of its speedy1 or at least its eventual1 disappearance from the field of human life1 and other dogmatisms of the like kind1 are almost unintelligible4 ,we realize that religion in some form is a natural working of the human spirit1 and1 whatever place we give to religion in the conduct of our own lives1 as students of history we reckon with the religious instinct as a factor of the highest import1 and we give to religious systems and organizations--above all1 to religious teachers and leaders--a more sympathetic and a profounder study4 ,carlyle's lecture on ,muhammad1 in his course on ,heroes and ,hero ,worship1 may be taken as a landmark for ,english people in this new treatment history4 ,the ,christian ,church1 whether we like it or not1 has been a force of unparalleled power in human affairs2 and prophecies that it will no longer be so1 and allegations that by now it has ceased to be so1 are not much made by cautious thinkers4 ,there is evidence that the influence of the ,christian ,church1 so far from ebbing1 is rising--evidence more obvious when we reflect that the influence of such a movement is not to be quickly guessed from the number of its actual adherents4 ,a century and a quarter of ,christian missions in ,india have resulted in so many converts--a million and a quarter is no slight outcome2 but that is a small part of the story4 ,all over ,india the old religious systems are being subjected to a new study by their own adherents2 their weak points are being felt2 there are reform movements1 new apologetics1 compromises1 defences--all sorts of indications of ferment and transition4 ,there can be little question that while many things go to the making of an age1 the prime impulse to all this intellectual1 religious1 and moral upheaval was the faith of ,christian missionaries that ,jesus ,christ would bring about what we actually see4 ,they believed--and they were laughed at for their belief--that ,jesus ,christ was still a real power1 permanent and destined to hold a larger place in the affairs of men2 and we see that they were right4 ,jesus remains the very heart and soul of the ,christian movement1 still controlling men1 still capturing men--against their wills very often--changing men's lives and using them for ends they never dreamed of4 ,so much is plain to the candid observer1 whatever the explanation4 ,we find further1 another fact of even more significance to the historian who will treat human experience with seriousness and sympathy4 ,the cynical view that delusion and error in a real world have peculiar power in human affairs1 may be dismissed2 no serious student of history could hold it4 ,for those who believe1 as we all do at heart1 that the world is rational1 that real effects follow real causes1 and conversely that behind great movements lie great forces1 the fact must weigh enormously that wherever the ,christian ,church1 or a section of it1 or a single ,christian1 has put upon ,jesus ,christ a higher emphasis--above all where everything has been centred in ,jesus ,christ--there has been an increase of power for ,church1 or community1 or man4 ,where new value has been found in ,jesus ,christ1 the ,church has risen in power1 in energy1 in appeal1 in victory4 ,paul of ,tarsus progressively found more in ,christ1 expected more of him1 trusted him more2 and his faith was justified4 ,if ,paul was wrong1 how did he capture the ,christian ,church for his ideas8 ,if he was wrong1 how is it that when ,luther caught his meaning1 re-interpreted him and laid the same emphasis on ,jesus ,christ with his ,nos nihil sumus1 ,christus solus est omnia#b1 once more the hearts of men were won by the higher doctrine of ,christ's person and power1 and a new era followed the new emphasis8 ,how is it that1 when ,john ,wesley made the same discovery1 and once more staked all on faith in ,christ1 again the ,church felt the pulse of new life8 ,on the other hand1 where through a nebulous philosophy men have minimized ,jesus1 or where1 through some weakness of the human mind1 they have sought the aid of others and relegated ,jesus ,christ to a more distant1 even if a higher1 sphere--where1 in short1 ,christ is not the living centre of everything1 the value of the ,church has declined1 its life has waned4 ,that1 to my own mind1 is the most striking and outstanding fact in history4 ,there must be a real explanation of a thing so signal in a rational universe4 ,the explanation in most human affairs comes after the recognition of the fact4 ,there our great fact stands of the significance of ,jesus ,christ--a more wonderful thing as we study it more4 ,we may fail to explain it1 but we must recognize it4 ,one of the weaknesses of the ,church to-day is--put bluntly--that ,christians are not making enough of ,jesus ,christ4 ,we find again that1 where ,jesus ,christ is most real1 and means most1 there we are apt to see the human mind reach a fuller freedom and achieve more4 ,there is a higher civilization1 a greater emphasis on the value of human life and character1 and a stronger endeavour for the utmost development of all human material1 if we may so call the souls and faculties of men4 ,why should there be this correspondence between ,jesus of ,nazareth and human life8 ,it is best brought out1 when we realize what he has made of ,christian society1 and contrast it with what the various religions have left or produced in other regions--the atrophy of human nature4 ,in fine1 there is no figure in human history that signifies more4 ,men may love him or hate him1 but they do it intensely4 ,if he was only what some say1 he ought to be a mere figure of antiquity by now4 ,but he is more than that2 ,jesus is not a dead issue2 he has to be reckoned with still2 and men who are to treat mankind seriously1 must make the intellectual effort to understand the man on whom has been centred more of the interest and the passion of the most serious and the best of mankind than on any other4 ,the real secret is that human nature is deeply and intensely spiritual1 and that ,jesus satisfies it at its most spiritual point4 ,the object before us in these pages is the attempt to know ,jesus1 if we can1 in a more intimate and intelligent way than we have done--at least1 to put before our minds the great problem1 ,who is this ,jesus ,christ8 and to try to answer it4 ,one answer to this question is that ,jesus was nothing1 never was anything1 but a myth developed for religious purposes2 that he never lived at all4 ,this view reappears from time to time1 but so far it has not appealed to any who take a serious interest in history4 ,no historian of the least repute has committed himself to the theory4 ,desperate attempts have been made to discredit the ,christian writers of the first two centuries2 it has been emphasized that ,jesus is not mentioned in secular writers of the period1 and the passage in ,tacitus 7,annals1 ,,xv3#dd7 has been explained away as a ,christian interpolation1 or1 more gaily1 by reviving the wild notion that ,poggio ,bracciolini forged the whole of the ,annals4 ,but such trifling with history and literature does not serve4 ,no scholar accepts the theory about ,poggio--and yet if the passage about ,christ is to be got rid of1 this is the better way of the two2 for there is nothing to countenance the view that the chapter is interpolated1 or to explain when or by whom it was done--the wish is father to the thought4 ,christians are twice mentioned by ,suetonius in dealing with ,emperors of the first century1 though in one passage the reading ,chrestus for ,christus has suggested to some scholars that another man is meant2 the confusion was a natural one and is instanced elsewhere1 but we need not press the matter4 ,the argument from silence is generally recognized as an uncertain one4 ,sir ,james ,melville1 living at the ,court of ,mary1 ,queen of ,scots1 does not1 ,i learn1 mention ,john ,knox--whom he could not have failed to mention if ,knox had really existed and played the part assigned to him by his partisans1 and so forth4 ,it might be as possible and as reasonable to prove that the ,brahmo ,samaj never existed1 by demonstrating four hundred years hence--or two thousand--that it is not mentioned in ,in ,memoriam1 nor in ,the ,ring and the ,book1 nor in ,george ,meredith's1 novels1 nor 7more strangely7 in any of ,mr4 ,kipling's surviving works1 which definitely deal with ,india4 ,none of these writers1 it may be replied1 had any concern to mention the ,brahmo ,samaj4 ,and when one surveys the ,greek and ,roman writers of the first century ,a4,d4 which of them had any concern to refer to ,jesus and his disciples1 beyond the historians who do8 ,indeed1 the difficulty is to understand why some of these men should have written at all2 harder still1 why others should have wanted to read their poems and orations and commonplace books4 ,one argument1 advanced in ,india a few years ago1 against the historical value of the ,gospels may be revived by way of illustration4 ,would not ,virgil and ,horace1 it was asked1 have taken notice of the massacre at ,bethlehem1 if it was historical8 ,would they not8 it was replied1 when they both had died years before its traditional date4 ,but the distinction between ,christian and secular writers is not one that will weigh much with a serious historian4 ,until we have reason to distinguish between book and book1 the evidence must be treated on exactly the same principles4 ,to say abruptly that1 because ,luke was a ,christian and ,suetonius a pagan1 ,luke is not worthy of the credence given to ,suetonius1 is a line of approach that will most commend itself to those who have read neither author4 ,to gain a real knowledge of historical truth1 the historian's methods must be slower and more cautious1 he must know his author intimately--his habits of mind1 his turns of style1 his preferences1 his gifts for seeing the real issue--and always the background1 and the ways of thinking that prevail in the background4 ,an ancient writer is not necessarily negligible because he records1 and perhaps believes1 miracles or marvels or omens which a modern would never notice4 ,it is bad criticism that has made a popular legend of the unreliable character of ,herodotus4 ,as our knowledge of antiquity grows1 and we become able to correct our early impressions1 the credit of ,herodotus rises steadily1 and to-day those who study him most closely have the highest opinion of him4 ,we may1 then1 without prejudice1 take the evidence of ,paul of ,tarsus on the historicity of ,jesus1 and examine it4 ,if we are challenged as to the genuineness of ,paul's epistles1 let us tell our questioner to read them4 ,novels have been written in the form of correspondence2 but ,paul's letters do not tell us all that a novelist or a forger would--there are endless gaps1 needless references to unknown persons 7needless to us1 or to anybody apart from the people themselves71 constant occupation with questions which we can only dimly discover from ,paul's answers4 ,the letters are genuine letters--written for the occasion to particular people1 and not meant for us4 ,the stamp of genuineness is on them--of life1 real life4 ,the ,german scholar1 ,norden1 in his ,kunstprosa1 says there is much in ,paul that he does not understand1 but he catches in him again after three hundred years that note of life that marks the great literature of ,greece4 ,that is not easily forged4 ,luther and ,erasmus were right when they said--each of them has said it1 however it happened--that ,paul spoke pure flame4 ,the letters1 and the theology and its influence1 establish at once ,paul's claim to be a historical character4 ,we may then ask1 how a man of his ability failed to observe that a non-historical ,jesus1 a pure figment1 was being palmed off on him--on a contemporary1 it should be marked--and by a combination of ,jesus' own disciples with earlier friends of ,paul1 who were trying to exterminate them4 ,paul knew priests and ,pharisees2 he knew ,james and ,john and ,peter2 and he never detected that they were in collusion1 yes1 and to the point of martyring ,stephen--to impose on him and on the world a non-historical ,jesus4 ,to such straits are we brought1 if ,jesus never existed4 ,history becomes pure nonsense1 and knowledge of historical fact impossible2 and1 it may be noted1 all knowledge is abolished if history is beyond reach4 ,but we are not dependent on books for our evidence of the historicity of ,jesus4 ,the whole story of the ,church implies him4 ,he is inwrought in every feature of its being4 ,every great religious movement1 of which we know1 has depended on a personal impulse1 and has behind it some real1 living and inspiring personality4 ,it is true that at a comparatively late stage of ,hinduism a personal devotion to ,shri ,krishna grew up1 just as in the hour of decline of the old ,mediterranean paganism we find ,julian the ,apostate using a devotional language to ,athena at ,athens that would have astonished the contemporaries of ,pericles4 ,but ,jesus1 ,buddha1 and ,muhammad stand on a very different footing from ,krishna and ,athena1 even if we concede the view of some scholars that ,krishna was once a man1 and the contention of ,euhemerus1 a pre-,christian ,greek1 that all the gods had once been human4 ,if we posit that ,jesus did not exist1 we shall be involved other difficulties as to the story of the ,church4 ,mr4 ,f4 ,c4 ,conybeare1 an ,oxford scholar avowedly not in allegiance to the ,christian ,church1 has characterized some of the reconstructions made by contemporary anti-,christian writers as more miraculous than the history they are trying to correct4 ,we come now to the ,gospels2 and in what follows1 and throughout the book1 we shall confine ourselves the first three ,gospels4 ,great as has been1 and must be1 the influence of the ,fourth ,gospel1 in the present stage of historical criticism it will serve our purpose best to postpone the use of a source which we do not fully understand4 ,the exact relations of history and interpretation in the ,fourth ,gospel--the methods and historical outlook of the writer--cannot yet be said to be determined4 ,only those who have merely trifled with the problems it suggests are likely to speak dogmatically upon the subject4#c ,this is not to abandon the ,fourth ,gospel2 for it is a document which we could not do without in early ,church ,history1 and which has vindicated its place in the devotional life in every ,christian generation4 ,but1 for the present1 the first ,three ,gospels will be our chief sources4 ,the ,gospels have1 of course1 been attacked again and again4 ,sober criticism has raised the question as to whether here and there traces may be found of the touch of a later hand--for example1 were there two asses or one1 when ,jesus rode into ,jerusalem8 has the baptismal formula at the end of ,matthew been adjusted to the creed of ,nicaea8 ,in the following pages the attempt will be made to base what is said not on isolated texts1 which may--and of course may not--have been touched1 but on the general tenor of the books4 ,a single episode or phrase may suffer change from a copyist's hand1 from inadvertence or from theological predilection4 ,the character of the ,personality set forth in the ,gospels is less susceptible of alteration4 ,this point is at once of importance1 for the suggestion has been made that we cannot be sure of any particular statement1 episode1 incident or saying in the ,gospels--taken by itself4 ,let us for the moment imagine a more sweeping theory still--that no single episode incident or saying of ,jesus in the ,gospels is authentic at all4 ,what follows8 ,the great historian1 ,e4 ,a4 ,freeman of ,oxford1 once said that a false anecdote may be good history2 it may be sound evidence for character1 for1 to obtain currency1 a false anecdote has also to true2 it must be1 in our proverbial phrase1 if not true1 well invented4 ,even if exaggeration and humour contribute to give it a twist1 the essence of parody is that it parodies--it must conform to the original even where it leaves it4 ,a good story-teller will hardly tell the same story of ,mr4 ,roosevelt and the ,archbishop of ,canterbury--unless it happens to be true1 and then he will be cautious4 ,truth1 to quote another proverb1 is stranger than fiction2 because fiction has to go warily to be probable1 and must be1 more or less1 conventional4 ,the story a man invents about another has to be true in some recognizable way to character--as a little experiment in this direction will show4 ,the inventor of a story must have the gift of the caricaturist and of the bestower of nicknames2 he must have a shrewd eye for the real features of his victim4 ,jesus1 then1 was a historical person2 and about him we have a mass of stories in the ,gospels1 which our theory for the moment asks us to say are all false2 but they have a certain unity of tone1 and they agree in pointing to a character of a certain type1 and the general aspects and broad outlines of that character they make abundantly clear4 ,even on such a hypothesis we can know something of the character of ,jesus4 ,but the hypothesis is gratuitous1 and absurd1 as the paragraphs that follow may help to show4 ,the ,gospels are essentially true and reliable records of a historical person4 ,a survey of some of the outstanding features of the ,gospels should do something to assure their reader of their historical value4 ,but there is a necessary caution to be given at this moment4 ,when ,aristotle discusses happiness1 he adds a curious limitation--as the man of sense would define4 ,he postulates a certain intelligence of the matter in hand4 ,similarly ,longinus1 the greatest of ancient critics1 says that in literature sure judgement is the outcome of long experience4 ,in matters of historical and literary criticism1 a certain instinct is needed1 conscious or unconscious1 perhaps more often the latter1 which without a serious interest and a long experience no man is likely to have4 ,the ,gospels are not properly biographies2 they consist of collections of reminiscences--memories and fragments that have survived for years1 and sometimes the fragment is little more than a phrase4 ,such and such were the circumstances1 and ,jesus spoke--a story that may occupy four or five verses1 or less4 ,something happened1 ,jesus said or did something that impressed his friends1 and they could never forget it4 ,the story1 as such impressions do1 keeps its sharp edges4 ,date and perhaps even place may be forgotten1 but the look and the tone of the speaker are indelible memories4 ,in the experience of every man there are such moments1 and the reminiscences can be trusted4 ,the ,gospels are almost avowedly not first-hand4 ,peter is said to be behind ,mark2 ,mark and at least one other are behind ,matthew and ,luke4 ,luke in his preface explains his methods4 ,they are collectors and transmitters2 and the indications--are that they did their work very faithfully4 ,there is a simplicity and a plainness about the stories in the ,gospels1 which further guarantees them4 ,it is remarkable how little of the adjective there is--no compliment1 no eulogy1 no heroic touches1 no sympathetic turn of phrase1 no great passages of encomium or commendation4 ,it is often said about the ,greek historian1 ,thucydides1 that1 among his many intellectual judgements1 he never offers a criticism of any act that implies moral approbation or disapprobation2 that he says nothing to show that he had feelings or that he cared about questions of right and wrong4 ,page after page of ,thucydides will make the reader tingle with pity or indignation2 there is hardly in literature so tragic a story as the ,syracusan expedition--and the writer did not feel6 ,is it not the sternest and deepest feeling1 after all1 when a man will not unpack his heart with words8 ,something of this kind we find in the ,gospels4 ,there is not a word of condemnation for ,herod or ,pilate1 for priest or ,pharisee2 not a touch of sympathy as the nails are driven through those hands2 a blunt phrase about the soldiers1 ,and sitting down they watched him there 7,matt4 #bf3cf7--that is all4 7,from a literary point of view1 what a triumph of awful1 quiet objectivity6 and they had no such aim47 ,luke indeed has one slight touch that might be called irony#d--;,and he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison1 whom they had desired2 but he delivered ,jesus to their will 7,luke #bc3be7--;and yet the irony is in the story itself4 ,why callest thou me good8 ,so it is recorded that ,jesus once answered a compliment 7,matt4 #ai3ag72 and it looks as if the mood had passed over to his intimates1 and from them to their friends who wrote the ,gospels4 ,he meant too much for them to seek the facile relief of praise4 ,the words of praise die away1 yes1 and the words of affection too2 and their silence and self-restraint are in themselves evidence of their truth2 and more winning than words could have been4 ,here and there the ,gospels keep a phrase actually used by ,jesus1 and in his native ,aramaic speech4 ,the ,greek was not apt to use or quote foreign phrases--unlike the ,englishman who has been at a great feast of languages and stolen the scraps4 ,why1 then1 do the ,evangelists1 writing for ,greek readers1 keep the ,aramaic sentences8 ,it looks like a human instinct that made ,peter--if1 as we are told1 he had some part in the origination of ,mark's ,gospel--and the rest wish to keep the very words and tones of their ,master1 as most of us would wish to keep the accents and phrases of those we love4 ,was there no satisfaction to the people who had lived with ,jesus1 when they read in ,mark the very syllables they had heard him use1 and caught his great accents again8 ,is there not for ,christians in every age a joy and an inspiration in knowing the very sounds his lips framed8 ,the first word that his mother taught him survives in ,abba 7,father7--something of his own speech to let us begin at the beginning2 something1 again1 that takes us to the very heart of him at the end1 in his cry3 ,eloi1 ,eloi1 lama sabachthani 7,mark #ae3cd74 ,is it not true that we come nearer to him in that cry in the language strange to us1 but his own8 ,would not the story1 again1 be poorer without the little tender phrase that he used to the daughter of ,jairus 7,mark #e3da74 ,from time to time we find in the ,gospels matters for which the writers and those behind them have felt that some apology or at least some explanation was needed4 ,his friendship for sinners was a taunt against him in his lifetime2 so was his inattention to the ,sabbath 7,mark #b3bd1 #c3b71 and the details of ceremonial washing 7,mark #g3a-e74 ,the faithful record of these is a sound indication both of the date#e and of the truth of the ,gospels4 ,but these were not all4 ,celsus1 in #agh ,a4,d41 in his ,true ,word1 mocked at ,jesus because of the cry upon the cross2 he reminded ,christians that many and many a worthless knave had endured in brave silence1 and their ,great ,man cried out4 ,it was from the ,gospels that his knowledge came 7,mark #ae3cg74 ,even during his lifetime the ,gospels reveal much about ,jesus that in contemporary opinion would degrade him--sighs and tears and fatigue1 liability to emotion and to pain1 friendship with women4 ,with these revelations of character we may group passages where the ,gospels tell of ,jesus surprising or shocking his disciples--startling them by some act or some opinion1 for which they were not prepared1 or which was contrary to common belief or practice--passages1 too1 where he blames or criticizes them for conventionality or unintelligence4 ,it has been remarked that the frequency and fidelity of ,jesus' own allusions to country life1 his illustrations from bird and beast and flower1 and the work of the farm1 are evidence for the genuineness of the tradition4 ,early ,christianity1 as we see already in the ,acts of the ,apostles1 was prevailingly urban4 ,paul aimed at the great centres of population1 where men gathered and from which ideas spread4 ,the language of ,paul in his epistles1 the sermons inserted by ,luke in the ,acts1 writings that survive of early ,christians1 are all in marked contrast to the speech of ,jesus in this matter of country life4 ,when we recall the practice of ancient historians of composing speeches for insertion in their narratives1 and weigh the suggestion that the sermons in the ,acts may conceivably owe much to the free rehandling of ,luke or may even be his own compositions1 there is a fresh significance in his marked abstention from any such treatment of the words of ,jesus4 ,it means that we may be secure in using them as genuine and untouched reproductions of what he said and thought4 ,this leads us to another point4 ,the central figure of the ,gospels must impress every attentive reader as at least a man of marked personality4 ,he has his own attitude to life1 his own views of ,god and man and all else1 and his own language1 as we shall see in the pages that follow4 ,so much his own are all these things that it is hard to imagine the possibility of his being a mere literary creation1 even if we could concede a joint literary creation by several authors writing independent works4 ,indeed1 when we reflect on the character of the ,gospels1 their origin and composition1 and then consider the sharp1 strong outlines of the personality depicted1 we shall be apt to feel his claim to historicity to be stronger than we supposed4 ,finally1 two points may be mentioned4 ,the ,church from the very start accepted the ,gospels4 ,two of them were written by men in ,paul's own personal circle 7,philemon #bd2 ,col4 #d3aj1 #ad74 ,all found early acceptance and wide use1#f and after a century we find ,irenaeus maintaining that four ,gospels are necessary1 and are necessarily all--there are four points of the compass1 seasons and so forth2 therefore it is appropriate that there are four ,gospels4 ,the argument is not very convincing2 but that such an argument was possible is evidence to the position of the ,gospels as we have them4 ,we must remember the solidarity of that early ,church4 ,the constituency1 for which the ,gospels were written1 was steeped in the tradition of ,jesus' life1 and the ,christians accepted the ,gospels1 as embodying what they knew2 and there were still survivors from the first days of the ,gospel4 ,when ,boswell's ,life of ,johnson was published1 the great painter1 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 a lifelong friend of ,johnson1 said it might be depended upon as if delivered upon oath2 ,burke too had a high opinion of the book4 ,in the same way the ,gospels come recommended to us by those who knew ,jesus1 though1 it is true1 we do not know their names4 ,the ,gospels do not tell us all that ,christians thought of ,jesus1 but they imply more than they say4 ,the writers limited themselves4 ,that ,luke1 for years a friend of ,paul's1 so generally kept his great friend's theology1 above all his ,christology1 out of his ,gospel1 is significant4 ,it does not mean divergence of view4 ,more reasonably we may conclude something else3 he held to his literary and other authorities1 and he was content2 for he knew to what the historical ,jesus brings men--to new life and larger views1 to a series of new estimates of ,jesus himself4 ,he left it there4 ,in what follows1 we must not forget in our study that behind the ,gospels1 simple and objective as they are1 is the larger experience of the ever-working ,christ4 ,there are three canons which may be laid down for the study of any human character1 whether of the past or of to-day4 ,they are so simple that it may hardly seem worth while to have stated them2 yet they are not always very easy to apply4 ,without them the acutest critic will fail to give any sound account of a human character4 ,first of all1 give the man's words his own meaning4 ,make sure that every term he uses has the full value he intends it to carry1 connotes all he wishes it to cover1 and has the full emotional power and suggestion that it has for himself4 ,two quite simple illustrations may serve4 ,the ,english-born clergyman in ,canada who spoke of a meeting of his congregation as a homely gathering did not produce quite the effect he intended2 home-like is one thing in ,canada1 homely quite another1 and the people laughed at the slip--they knew1 what he did not1 that homely meant hard-featured and ugly4 ,my other illustration will take us towards the second canon4 ,i remember1 years ago1 a working-man of my own city talking a swift1 impulsive ,socialism to me4 ,he was young and something of a poet4 ,he got in return the obvious common sense that would be expected of a mid-,victorian1 middle-aged and middle-class4 ,and then he began to talk of hunger--the hunger that haunted whole streets in our city1 where they had indeed something to eat every day1 but never quite enough1 and the children grew up so--the hunger that he had experienced himself1 for ,i knew his story4 ,with his eyes fixed on me1 he brought home to me by the quiet intensity of his speech--whether he knew what he effected or not--that he and ,i gave hunger different senses4 ,he gave the word for me a new meaning1 with the glimpse he gave me of his experience4 ,since then ,i have always felt1 when men fling theories out like his--schemes1 too1 like his--wild and impracticable3 ,ah1 yes6 what is at the heart of it all8 ,what but this awful experience which they have known and you have not--the sight of your own folk hungering1 life and faculty wasted for want of mere food1 and children growing up atrophied from the cradle8 ,it is not easy to dissociate the language and the terms of others from the meaning one gives to them oneself2 it means intellectual effort and intellectual discipline1 a training of a strenuous kind in sympathy and tenderness2 but if we are to be fair1 it must be done4 ,and the rule applies to ,jesus also4 ,have we given his meaning to his term--force1 value1 emotion1 and suggestion8 ,in a later chapter we shall have to concentrate on one term of his--,god--and try to discover what he intends that term to convey4 ,the second canon is3 ,make sure of the experience behind the thought4 ,how does a man come to think and feel as he does8 ,that is the question antecedent to any real criticism4 ,what is it that has led him to such a view8 ,it is more important for us to determine that1 than to decide at once whether we think him right or wrong4 ,again and again the quiet and sympathetic study of what a man has been through will modify our judgement upon his conclusions2 it will often change our own conclusions1 or even our way of thinking4 ,we have1 then1 to ask ourselves1 ,what is the experience that leads ,jesus to speak as he does1 to think as he does8 ,in his case1 as in every other1 the central and crucial question is1 ,what is his experience of ,god8 ,in other words1 ,what has he found in ,god8 what relations has he with ,god8 ,what does he expect of ,god8 ,what is ,god to him8 ,such questions1 if we are candid and not too quick in answering1 will take us a long way4 ,it was once said of a man1 busy with some labour problem1 that he was working it out in theory1 unclouded by a single fact4 ,is it not fair to say that many of our current judgements upon ,jesus ,christ are no better founded8 ,can we say that we have any real1 sure1 and intimate knowledge of his experience of ,god8 ,the old commentator1 ,bengel1 wrote at the beginning of his book that a man1 who is setting out to interpret ,scripture1 has to ask by what right he does it4 ,what is our right to an opinion on ,jesus ,christ8 ,the third canon will be3 ,ask of what type and of what dimensions the nature must be1 that is capable of that experience and of that language4 ,one of the commonest sources of bad criticism is the emphasis on weak points4 ,the really important thing in criticism is to understand the triumphs of the poet or painter1 let us say1 whom we are studying4 ,how came he to achieve poem or picture1 so profound and so true8 ,in what does he differ from other men1 that he should do work so fundamental and so eternal8 ,lamb's punning jest at ,wordsworth--that ,wordsworth was saying he could have written ,hamlet1 if he had had the mind--puts the matter directly4 ,what is the mind that can do such things8 ,the historian will have to ask himself a similar question about ,jesus4 ,here we reach a point where caution is necessary4 ,will the ,jesus we draw be an antiquary's ,jesus--an archaic figure1 simple and lovable perhaps1 but quaint and old-world--in blunt language1 outgrown8 ,a ,galilean peasant1 dressed in the garb of his day and place1 his mind fitted out with the current ideas of his contemporaries1 elevated1 it may be1 but not essentially changed8 ,a dreamer1 with the clouds of the visionaries and apocalyptists ever in his head8 ,when we look at the ancient world1 the great men are not archaic figures4 ,matthew ,arnold found in ,homer something of the clearness and shrewdness of ,voltaire4 ,there is thing archaic about ,plato or ,virgil or ,paul--to keep abreast of their thinking is no easy task for the strongest of our brains1 so modern1 eternal1 and original they are4 ,they have shaped the thinking of the world and are still shaping it4 ,how much more ,jesus of ,nazareth6 ,when we make our picture of him1 does it suggest the man who has stirred mankind to its depths1 set the world on fire 7,luke #ab3di71 and played an infinitely larger part in all the affairs of men than any man we know of in history8 ,is it a great figure8 ,does our emphasis fall on the great features of that nature--are they within our vision1 and in our drawing8 ,does our explanation of him really explain him1 or leave him more a riddle8 ,what do we make of his originality8 ,is it in our picture8 ,what was it in him that changed ,peter and ,james and ,john and the rest from companions into worshippers1 that in every age has captured and controlled the best1 the deepest1 and tenderest of men8 ,are we afraid that our picture will be too modern1 too little ,jewish8 ,these are not the real dangers4 ,again1 and again our danger is that we under-estimate the great men of our race1 and we always lose by so doing4 ,that we should over-estimate ,jesus is not a real risk2 the story of the ,church shows that the danger has always been the other way4 ,but not to under-estimate such a figure is hard4 ,to see him as he is1 calls for all we have of intellect1 of tenderness1 of love1 and of greatness4 ,it is worth while to try to understand him even if we fail4 ,god1 said ,st4 ,bernard1 is never sought in vain1 even when we do not find ,him4 ,jesus ,christ transcends our categories and classification2 we never exhaust him2 and one element of ,christian happiness is that there is always more in him than we supposed4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,childhood ,,and ,,youth ,it has been remarked as an odd thing by some readers that the ,gospels tell us so little of the childhood of ,jesus4 ,it must be remembered1 however1 that they are not really biographies1 even of the ancient order--still less of that modern kind1 in which the main concern is a tracing of the psychological development of the man4 ,plutarch1 the prince of ancient biographers1 put fact and eulogy together1 cited characteristic sayings or doings of his hero1 quoted contemporary judgements1 and wove the whole into a charming narrative1 good to read1 pleasant to remember1 perhaps not without use as a lesson in conventional morality2 but with little real historical criticism in it1 and as little1 or less1 attempt at any effective reconstruction of a character4 ,his biography of ,pericles illustrates his method and his defects4 ,the writers of the ,gospels did not altogether propose biography as their object either in the ancient or the modern style4 ,they left out--perhaps because it did not survive--much about the life of ,jesus that we should like to know4 ,the treatment of ,mark by ,matthew shows a certain matter-of-fact habit1 which explains the obvious want of interest in aspects of the life and mind of ,jesus that would to a modern be fascinating4 ,they are dealing with the earthly life of the ,son of ,god--and they deal with it with a faithfulness to tradition and reminiscence1 which is1 when we really consider it1 quite surprising4 ,but it is the heavenward side of the ,master that mattered to them most1 and it is perhaps not a mere random guess that they were not in any case so aware of the interest of childhood and of children as ,jesus was4 ,matthew and ,luke record the miraculous birth1 and each adds a story1 that has never failed to fascinate men1 of the ,magi or the ,shepherds who came to the manger cradle4 ,luke gives one episode of ,jesus' childhood4 ,that is all4 ,the writers of the ,apocryphal ,gospels did their best to fill the gap by inventing or developing stories1 pretty1 silly1 or repellent1 which only show how little they understood the original ,gospels or the character of ,jesus4 ,but when we turn to the parables of ,jesus1 and ask ourselves how they came to be what they are1 by what process of mind he framed them1 and where he found the experience from which one and another of them spring1 it is at once clear that a number of them are stories of domestic life1 and the question suggests itself1 ,why should he have gone afield for what he found at home8 ,if we know that he grew up in the ordinary circle of a home1 and then find him drawing familiar illustrations from the common scenes of home1 the inference is easy that he is going back to the remembered daily round of his own boyhood4 ,in stray hints the ,gospels give us a little of the framework of that boyhood in ,nazareth4 ,the elder ,joseph early disappears from the story1 and we find a reference to four brothers and several sisters4 ,is not this the carpenter8 people at ,nazareth asked1 the son of ,mary1 the brother of ,james and ,joseph1 and of ,judah and ,simon8 and are not his sisters here with us8 7,mark #f3c72 ,matthew adds a word that may or may not be significant his sisters are they not all with us8 7,matt4 #ac3ef74 ,in ancient times a particular view of the ,incarnation1 linked with other contemporary views of celibacy and the baseness of matter1 led men to discover or invent the possibility that these brothers and sisters were either the children of ,joseph by a former wife1 or the cousins of ,jesus on his mother's side4#g ,that cousins in some parts of the world actually are confused in common speech with brothers may be admitted2 but to the ordinary ,greek reader brothers meant brothers1 and cousins something different4 ,no one1 not starting with the theories of ,st4 ,jerome1 let us say1 on marriage and matter and the decencies of the ,incarnation1 would ever dream from the ,greek narrative of the episode of the critical neighbours at ,nazareth1 who will not accept ,jesus as a prophet because they know his family--a delightfully natural and absurd reason1 with history written plain on the face of it--that ,jesus had no brothers1 only cousins or half-brothers at best4 ,when ,history gives us brothers1 and ,dogma says they must be cousins--in any other case the decision of the historian would be clear1 and so it is here4 ,we have then a household--a widow with five sons and at least two1 or very likely more1 daughters4 ,jesus is admittedly her eldest son1 and is bred to be a carpenter2 and a carpenter he undoubtedly was up to1 we are told1 about thirty years of age 7,luke #c3bc74 ,the dates of his birth and death are not quite precisely determined1 and people have fancied he may have been rather older at the beginning of his ministry4 ,for our purposes it is not of much importance4 ,the more relevant question for us is3 ,how came he to wait till he was at least about thirty years old before he began to teach in public8 ,one suggested answer finds the impulse1 or starting-point1 of his ministry in the appearance of ,john the ,baptist4 ,it is a simpler inference from such data as we have that the claims of a widowed mother with six or seven younger children1 a poor woman with a carpenter's little brood to bring up1 may have had something to do with his delay4 ,in any case1 the parables give us pictures of the undeniable activities of the household4 ,a group of parables and other allusions illustrate the life of woman as ,jesus saw it in his mother's house4 ,he pictures two women grinding together at the mill 7,luke #ag3ce71 and then the heating of the oven 7,matt4 #f3cj7--the mud oven1 not unlike the field ovens used for a while by the ,english army in ,france in #aiae1 and heated by the burning of wood inside it1 kindled with the grass of the field4 ,meanwhile the leaven is at work in the meal where the woman hid it 7,matt4 #ac3cc71 and her son sits by and watches the heaving1 panting mass--the bubbles rising and bursting1 the fall of the level1 and the rising of other bubbles to burst in their turn--all bubbles4 ,later on1 the picture came back to him--it was like the ,kingdom of ,god--all bubbles6 said the disappointed1 but he saw more clearly4 ,the bubbles are broken by the force of the active life at work beneath--life1 not death1 is the story4 ,the ,kingdom of ,god is life2 the leaven is of more account than any number of bubbles4 ,and we may link all these parables from bread--making with what he says of the little boy asking for bread 7,matt4 #g3i7--the mother fired the oven and set the leaven in the meal long before the child was hungry2 she looked ahead and the bread was ready4 ,is not this written also in the teaching of ,jesus--your heavenly ,father knoweth that ye have need of all these things 7,matt4 #f3cb78 ,god1 he holds1 is as little taken aback by his children's needs as ,mary was by hers1 and the little boys did not did not confine their demands to bread--they wanted eggs and fish as well 7,matt4 #g3aj2 ,luke #aa3aa1 #ab2 and cf4 ,john #f3i7--there was no end to their healthy appetites4 ,it is significant that he mentions the price of the cheapest flesh food used by peasants 7,luke #ab3f74 ,they also wanted clothes1 and wore them as hard as boys do4 ,the time would come when new clothes were needed2 but why could not the old ones be patched1 and passed down yet another stage8 ,and his mother would smile--and perhaps she asked him to try for himself to see why2 and he learnt by experiment that old clothes cannot be patched beyond a certain point1 and later on he remembered the fact1 and quoted it with telling effect 7,mark #b3ba74 ,he pictures little houses 7,luke #aa3e-g7 and how they are swept 7,luke #aa3be7--;especially when a coin has rolled away1 into a dusty corner or under something 7,luke #ae3h72 and candles1 and bushels 7,matt4 #e3ae71 and beds1 and moth1 and rust 7,matt4 #f3ai7 and all sorts of things that make the common round of life1 come into his talk1 as naturally as they did into his life4 ,the carpenter's shop1 we may suppose1 was close to the house--a shop where men might count on good work and honest work2 and what memories must have gathered round it6 ,is it fanciful to suggest that what the churches have always been saying1 about ,coming to ,jesus1 began to be said in a natural and spontaneous way in that shop8 ,those little brothers and sisters did not always agree1 and tempers would now and then grow very warm among them 7cf4 ,luke #g3ci74 ,and then the big brother came and fetched them away from the little house to the shop1 and set one of them to pick up nails1 and the other to sweep up shavings--to help the carpenter4 ,they helped him4 ,like small boys1 when they help1 they got in his road at every turn4 ,but somehow they slipped back to a jolly frame of mind4 ,the big brother told them stories1 and they came back different people4 ,i can picture a day when there was a woman in the little house1 weary and heavy-laden1 and the door opened1 and a cheery1 pleasant face looked in1 and said1 ,won't you come and talk to me8 ,and she came and talked with him and life became a different thing for her4 ,are these pictures fanciful--mere imagination8 ,are we to think that all the tenderness of ,jesus came to him by a miracle when he was thirty years of age8 ,must we not think it was all growing up in that house and in that shop8 ,or did he never tell a story--he who tells them so charmingly--till he wanted parables8 ,we have to note1 at the same time1 some elements of criticism of the elder brother in the family attitude1 some defect of sympathy and failure to understand him1 even if kindness prompted their action in later days 7,mark #c3ba1 #ca74 ,nazareth lies in a basin among hills1 from the rim of which can be seen to the southward the historic plain of ,esdraelon1 and eastward the ,jordan valley and the hills of ,gilead1 and westward the ,mediterranean4 ,on great roads1 north and south of the town's girdle of hills1 passed to and fro the many-coloured traffic between ,egypt and ,mesopotamia and the ,orient4 ,traders1 pilgrims1 ,herods--the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them 7,matt4 #f3h7--;all within reach1 and travelling no faster as a rule than the camel cared to go--they formed a panorama of life for a thoughtful and imaginative boy4 ,more than one allusion to king's clothes comes in his recorded teaching 7,matt4 #f3bi1 #aa3h71 and it was here that he saw them--and noticed them and remembered4 ,one is struck with the amount of that unconscious assimilation of experience which we find in his words1 and which is in itself an index to his nature4 ,we are not expressly told that he sought the sights that the road afforded2 but it would be hard to believe that a bright1 quick boy1 with genius in him1 with poetry in him1 with feeling for the real and for life1 never went down on to that road1 never walked alongside of the caravans and took note of the strange people from the east and from the west1 from the north and from the south 7,luke #ac3bi7--,nubians1 ,egyptians1 ,romans1 ,gauls1 ,britons1 and ,orientals4#h ,in the one anecdote that survives of his boyhood1 we find men astonished at his understanding 7,luke #b3dg71 his gift for putting questions1 and his comments on the answers2 and all life through he had a genius for friendship4 ,when we consider how ,jesus handles ,nature and her wilder children in his parables1 another point attracts attention4 ,men vary a great deal in this4 ,to take two of the ,old ,testament prophets1 we find a marked difference here between ,ezekiel and ,jeremiah4 ,ezekiel puts forth a riddle and speaks a parable about an eagle--a frankly heraldic eagle1 that plants a tree-top in a city of merchants 7,ezek4 #ag3b-e74 ,jeremiah is obviously country-bred4 ,he might have been surprised1 if he had been told how often he illustrates his thought from bird and beast and country life--and always with a certain life-like precision and a perfectly clear sympathy4 ,in the ,gospels we find again the same faithfulness to living nature1 another country-bred boy with the same love for bird and beast and the wild1 open countryside4 ,the ,earth ,and common face of ,nature spake to me ,rememberable things4#i ,nature is enough for ,jesus as for ,jeremiah2 she needs no remodelling1 no heraldic paints--long pinions of divers colours--she will do as she is2 she is just splendid and lovable and true as ,god made her2 and she slides into his mind whenever he is deeply moved4 ,think of all the parables he draws from ,nature--the similes1 metaphors1 and illustrations2 every one of them will bear examination1 and means more the nearer we look into it1 and the better we know the living thing behind4 ,the eagle1 in ,jesus' sentence1 plants no trees1 but it has the living bird's instinct for carrion2 the ancient ,greek historian and ,lord ,roberts at ,delhi in #aheh remarked that wheresoever the body is1 thither will the eagles be gathered together 7,luke #ag3cg74 ,in ,india that year1 it was said1 they gathered from all over to ,delhi4 ,what brought them8 ,instinct1 we say2 and we find ,jesus1 in that rather dark sentence1 suggesting somehow that there is an instinct which knows where4 ,and sheep and cows and asses1 and hens and sparrows1 and red sunsets1 fill men's reminiscences of his talk2 and we may safely conclude that1 when allusions are so many in fragments of conversation preserved as these are1 the man's speech and mind were attuned to the love of bird and beast4 ,is there another teacher of those times who is at all so sure that ,god loves bird and flower8 ,the ,greek poet ,meleager of ,gadara--not so very far removed from ,jesus in space of time--has a good deal to say about flowers1 but not at all in the same sense as ,jesus1 not with any feeling such as his for the immortal hand and eye that planned their symmetry1 and their colours and sweetness4 ,st4 ,paul is conspicuously a man of the town--a citizen of no mean city 7,acts #ba3ci71 and he dismisses the animals abruptly 7#a ,cor4 #i3i72 he has hardly an allusion to the familiar and homely aspects of ,nature1 so frequent and so pleasant in the speech of ,jesus4 ,he finds ,nature1 if not quite red in tooth and claw1 yet groaning together1 subject to vanity1 in bondage to corruption1 travailing in pain1 looking forward in a sort of desperate hope to a freedom not yet realized 7,rom4 #h3ai-bd74 ,nature is far less tragic for ,jesus1 far happier--perhaps because he knew nature on closer terms of intimacy2 ,nature1 as he portrays things1 is in nearer touch with the ,heavenly ,father than we should guess from ,paul#aj1 and there is no hint in his recorded words that he held the ground to be under a curse4 ,if we are to use abstract terms and philosophize his thought a little1 we may agree that the four facts ,jesus notes in ,nature are its mystery1 its regularity1 its impartiality1 and its peacefulness#aa4 ,what he finds in ,nature is not unlike what ,wordsworth also finds-- ,a ,power ,that is the visible quality and shape ,and image of right reason2 that matures ,her processes by steadfast laws2 gives birth ,to no impatient or fallacious hopes1 ,no heat of passion or excessive zeal1 ,no vain conceits2 provokes to no quick turns ,of self-applauding intellect2 but trains ,to meekness1 and exalts by humble faith2 ,holds up before the mind intoxicate ,with present objects1 and the busy dance ,of things that pass away1 a temperate show ,of objects that endure8#ab ,this is not a passage that one could imagine the historical ,jesus speaking1 or1 still less1 writing2 but the essential ideas chime in with his observation and his attitude for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself2 first the blade1 then the ear1 after that the full corn in the ear 7,mark #d3bh74 ,man can count safely on earth's co-operation4 ,from it all1 and in it all1 ,jesus read deep into ,god's mind and methods4 ,it has often been remarked how apt ,jesus was to go away to pray alone in the desert or on the hillside1 in the night or the early dawn--probably no new habit induced by the crowded days of his ministry1 but an old way of his from youth4 ,the full house1 perhaps1 would prompt it1 apart from what he found in the open4 ,st4 ,augustine1 in a very appealing confession1 tells us how his prayers may be disturbed if he catch sight of a lizard snapping up flies on the wall of his room 7,conf41 #aj3ce1 #eg74 ,the bird flying to her nest1 the fox creeping to his hole 7,luke #i3eh7--;did these break into the prayers of ,jesus--and with what effect8 ,was it in such hours that he learnt his deepest lessons from the birds and the lilies of the field8 ,why not8 ,as he sat out in the wild under the open sky1 did the stars never speak to him1 as to ,hebrew psalmist and ,roman ,virgil8 ,when ,i consider thy heavens1 the work of thy fingers4 ,the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained2 ,what is man1 that thou art mindful of him8 ,and the son of man1 that thou visitest him8 7,psalm #h3c-d47 ,it is a question men have to meet and face2 and if we can trust ,matthew's statement1 an utterance of his in later years called out by the sneer of a ,pharisee1 shows how he had made the old poet's answer his own3-- ,out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise 7,matt4 #ba3af74 ,if this were a solitary utterance of his thought upon ,nature1 it might be ranked with one or two pointed citations he made of the letter of the ,old ,testament2 but it is safe1 perhaps1 to take it as one of many indications of his communion with ,god in ,nature4 ,the wind blowing in the night where it listed--must we authenticate every verse of the ,fourth ,gospel before we believe that he listened to it also and caught something8 ,at any rate1 in later years1 when his friends are over-driven and weary1 quiet and open-air in a desert place are what he prescribes for them and wishes to share with them--surely a hint of old experience 7,mark #f3ca74 ,but now let us turn back to ,nazareth1 for1 as the ,gospel reminds us1 there he grew up4 ,the city teaches the man1 said the old ,greek poet ,simonides2 and it does1 as we see1 and more than we sometimes realize4 ,jesus grew up in an ,oriental town1 in the middle of its life--a town with poor houses1 bad smells1 and worse stories1 tragedies of widow and prodigal son1 of unjust judge and grasping publican--yes1 and comedies too4 ,we know at once from general knowledge of ,jewish life and custom1 and from the recorded fact that he read the ,scriptures1 that he went to school2 and we could guess1 fairly safely1 that he played with his school-fellows1 even if he had not told us what the games were at which they played3-- ,at weddings and at funerals1 ,as if his life's vocation ,were endless imitation4 ,sometimes the children were sulky and would not play 7,luke #g3cb74 ,how strange1 and how delightful1 that the great ,gospel1 full of ,god's word for mankind1 should have a little corner in it for such reminiscences of children's games6 ,we cannot suppose that he had access to many books1 but he knew the ,old ,testament1 well and familiarly--better and more aptly than some people expected4 ,traces of other books have been found in his teaching1 not many and some of them doubtful4 ,generally one would conclude that1 apart from the ,old ,testament1 his education was not very bookish--he found it in home and shop1 in the desert1 on the road1 and in the market-place4 ,it is interesting to gather from the ,gospel what ,jesus says of the talk of men1 and it is surprising to find how much it is1 till we realize how very much in ancient times the city was the education1 and the market-place the school1 where some of the most abiding lessons were learnt4 ,is it not so still in the ,east8 ,here was a boy1 however1 who watched men and their words more closely than they guessed1 on whose ears words fell1 not as old coinages1 but as new minting1 with the marks of thought still rough and bright on them--indexes to the speaker4 ,proverbs of the market every people has of its own4 ,it is nought1 it is nought1 saith the buyer1 but1 after he is gone his way1 then he boasteth4 ,and the seller has all the variants of caveat emptor ready to retort4 ,in antiquity1 and in the ,east to-day1 apart from machine-made things1 we find the same uncertainty in most transactions as to the value of the article1 the same eagerness of both seller and buyer to get at the supposed special knowledge of the other1 and the same preliminary skirmish of proposal1 protest1 offer1 refusal1 and oath4 ,jesus stands by the stall1 watching some small sale with the bright1 earnest eyes which we find so often in the ,gospels4 ,the buyer swears on his head that he will not give more than so much2 then1 by the altar he won't get the thing4 ,by the earth it isn't worth it2 by the heaven the seller gave that for it4 ,so the battle rages1 and at last the bargain is struck4 ,the buyer raises his price2 the seller takes less than he gave for the thing2 neither has believed the other1 but each1 as the keen eyes of the onlooker see1 feels he has over-reached the other4 ,heaven has been invoked--and what is ,heaven8 ,as the words fell on the listener's ears1 he saw the throne of ,god1 and on it ,one before whose face ,heaven itself and earth will flee away--and be brought back again for judgement4 ,and by ,heaven1 and by ,him who sits on the ,throne1 men will swear falsely for an anna or two4 ,how can they8 ,it is because nothings grow something2 the words make a mist about the thing4 ,in later days ,jesus told his followers to swear not at all--to stick to ,yes and ,no4 ,then a leader in the religious world passes1 and the loiterers have a new interest for the moment4 ,rabbi1 ,rabbi1 they say1 and the great man moves onward1 obviously pleased with the greeting in the marketplace 7,matt4 #bc3g74 ,as soon as he is out of hearing1 it is no longer ,rabbi he is called2 talk turns to another tune4 ,how little the fine word meant6 ,how lightly the title was given6 ,worse still1 the title will stand between a man and the facts of life4 ,some will use it to deceive him2 others1 impressed by it1 are silent in his presence2 one way and another1 the facts are kept from him4 ,seeing1 he sees not1 and he comes to live in an unreal world4 ,how many men to-day will say what they really think before a man in clerical dress1 or a dignitary however trivial8 ,be not ye called ',rabbi1' was the counsel ,jesus gave to his followers1 and he would accept neither ,rabbi1 nor ,good ,master1 nor any other title till he saw how much it meant4 ,master6 they said1 we know that thou art true1 and teachest the way of ,god in truth1 neither carest thou for any man2 for thou regardest not the person of men 7,matt4 #bb3af74 ,but as the evangelist continues1 ,jesus perceived their wickedness--he had heard such things before and was not trapped4 ,hosanna in the highest6 7,mark #aa3aj7--strange to think of the quiet figure1 riding in the midst of the excited crowd1 open-eyed and undeceived in his hour of triumph--as little perturbed1 too1 when his name is cast out as evil4 ,how little men's praise and their blame matter1 when your eyes are fixed on ,god--when you have ,him and ,his facts to be your inspiration6 ,on the other hand1 when you have not contact with ,god1 how much men's talk counts1 and how easy it is to lose all sense of fact6 ,by and by the talk veers round to what ,pilate had done one to the ,galileans--if the dates fit1 or if for the moment we can make them fit1 or anticipate once for all1 and be done with the bazaar talk which never stopped4 ,pilate had killed the ,galileans when they went up to ,jerusalem--yes6 mingled their own blood1 you might say1 with the blood of their sacrifices 7,luke #ac3a74 ,what would he do next8 ,there was no telling4 ,what was needed--some time--it was bound to come--and the voice sank--a ,theudas1 or a ,judas again 7,acts #e3cf1 #cg7--;it would not be surprising4 444 ,there were no newspapers1 no approved and reliable sources of news such as we boast to have from our governments and millionaires2 all was rumour1 bazaar talk--,lo6 here6 and ,lo6 there6 7,mark #ac3ba74 ,prohibiti sermones ideoque plures1 said ,tacitus of ,rome--rumours were forbidden1 so there were more of them4 ,the ,messiah must come some time1 said one man who might be a friend of the ,zealots4 ,in any case1 reflected another1 those ,galileans had probably angered ,heaven and got their deserts2 ill luck like that could hardly come by accident2 think of the tower that fell at ,siloam--anybody could see there was a judgement in it4 ,might it not be said that ,god had discredited ,john the ,baptist1 now his head was taken off8 ,so men speculated 7cf4 ,john #i3b74 ,jesus saw through all this1 and was radiantly clear about it4 ,so they chattered1 and he heard4 ,then the talk took another turn1 and tales were told--bad eyes flashed and lips smacked1 as one story-teller eclipsed the other in the familiar vein4 ,the ,arabian ,nights are tales of the crowd1 it is said1 rather than literature in their origin1 and will give clues enough to what might be told4 ,jesus heard1 and he saw what it meant2 and afterwards he told his friends3 ,from within1 out of the heart of men1 proceed evil thoughts1 adulteries1 fornications1 murders 444 foolishness2 all these evil things come from within1 and defile the man 7,mark #g3ba-bc74 ,the evil thought takes shape to find utterance1 and gains thereby a new vitality1 a new power for evil1 and may haunt both speaker and listener for ever with its defiling memory4 ,by and by he intervened and spoke himself4 ,every one was shocked1 and said1 ,blasphemy6 ,they were not used to think of ,god as he did1 and it seemed improper4 ,then the whole question of human speech rises for him4 ,what did they mean by their words8 ,what could their minds be like8 ,god dragged in and flung about like a counter1 in a game of barter--but if you speak real meaning about ,god it is blasphemy4 ,rabbi1 ,rabbi to the great man's face--he turns his back--and his name is smirched for ever by a witty improvisation4 ,why8 ,why should men do such things8 ,the magic in the idle tale--ten minutes1 and the memory is stained for ever with what not one of them would forget1 however he might wish to try to forget4 ,the words are loose and idle1 careless1 flung out without purpose but to pass the moment--and they live for ever and work mischief4 ,how can they be so light and yet have such power8 ,later on he told his friends what he had seen in this matter of words4 ,they come from within1 and the speaker's whole personality1 false or true1 is behind what he says--the good or bad treasure of his heart4 ,there are no grapes growing on the bramble bush4 ,no wonder that of every idle word men shall give account on the day of ,judgement 7,matt4 #ab3cf74 ,the idle word--the word unstudied--comes straight from the inmost man1 the spontaneous overflow from the spirit within1 natural and inevitable1 proof of his quality2 and they react with the life that brought them forth4#ac ,so he grows up--in a real world and among real people4 ,he goes to school with the boys of his own age1 and lives at home with mother and brothers and sisters4 ,he reads the ,old ,testament1 and forms a habit of going to the ,synagogue 7,luke #d3af74 ,all points to a home where religion was real4 ,the first word he learnt to say was probably ,abba1 and it struck the keynote of his thoughts4 ,but he knew the world without as well1--turned on to it early the keen eyes that saw all1 and he recognized what he saw4 ,knowledge of men1 but without cynicism1 a loving heart still in spite of his freedom from illusions--these are among the gifts that his environment gave him1 or failed to take away from him4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,man ,,and ,,his ,,mind ,it is a commonplace with those who take literature seriously that what is to reach the heart must come from the heart2 and the maxim may be applied conversely--that what has reached a heart has come from a heart--that what continues to reach the heart1 among strange peoples1 in distant lands1 after long ages1 has come from a heart of no common make4 ,the ,anglo-,saxon boy is at home in the ,odyssey2 and when he is a man--if he has the luck to be guided into classical paths--he finds himself in the ,aeneid2 and from this certain things are deduced about the makers of those poems--that they knew life1 looked on it with bright1 keen eyes1 loved it1 and lived it over again as they shaped it into verse4 ,when we turn to the first three ,gospels1 we find the same thing4 ,here are books with a more worldwide range than ,homer or ,virgil1 translated again and again from the first century of their existence on to the latest--and then more than ever--into all sorts of tongues1 to reach men all over the globe2 and that purpose they have achieved4 ,they have done it not so much for the literary graces of the translators or even of the original authors1 though in one case these are more considerable than is sometimes allowed4 ,that the ,gospels owe their appeal to the recorded sayings and doings of our ,lord1 is our natural way of putting it to-day2 but if for our ,lord we put a plainer description1 more congenial to the day in which the ,gospels were written1 we shall be in a better position to realize the significance of the worldwide appeal of his words4 ,thus and thus1 then1 spoke a mere provincial1 a ,jew who1 though far less conspicuous and interesting1 came from the region of ,meleager and ,philodemos--not from their town of ,gadara1 nor possibly from their district1 but from some place not so very far away4 ,it was not to be expected that he should win the hearts of men as he did4 ,he had not the ,greek culture of the two ,gadarenes4 ,celsus even found his style of speech rather vulgar4 ,but he has1 as a matter of common knowledge--so common as hardly to be noted--won the hearts of men in every race and every land4 ,the fact is familiar1 but we have as historians and critics to look for the explanation4 ,what has been his appeal8 ,and what the heart and nature1 from which came this incredible power and reach of appeal8 ,out of the abundance 7the overflow7 of the heart the mouth speaketh1 he said4 7,matt4 #ab3cd74 ,this he amplified1 as we have seen1 by his insistence on the weight of every idle word 7,matt4 #ab3cf7--the unstudied and spontaneous expression or ejaculation--the reflex1 in modern phrase--which gives the real clue to the man's inner nature and deeper mind1 which justifies him1 therefore1 or condemns him 7,matt4 #ab3cg74 ,the overflow of the heart1 he holds1 shows more decisively than anything else the quality of the spring in its depths4 ,here is a suggestion which we find true in ordinary life as well as in the study of literature4 ,if we turn it back upon its author1 he at least will not complain1 and we shall perhaps gain a new sense of his significance by approaching him at a new angle1 from an outlook not perhaps much frequented4 ,how did he come to speak in this manner1 to say this and that8 ,to what feeling or thought1 to what attitude to life1 is this or the other saying due8 ,if he1 too1 spoke out of the overflow of his heart--and we can believe it when we think of the freshness and spontaneity with which he spoke--of what nature and of what depth was that heart8 ,we can very well believe that much in his speech that was unforgettable to others1 he forgot himself4 ,they remembered1 they could not help remembering1 what he said2 but he--no6 he said it and moved on1 keeping no register of his sayings2 and so much the more natural and characteristic they are4 ,nor would he1 like smaller people1 be very careful of the form and turn of his speech2 it was never set4 ,certainly he gave his followers the rule not to study their language 7,mark #ac3aa74 ,whether or no he had consciously thought it all out2 we can see the value of his rule1 and how it fits in with his way of life and safeguards it4 ,under such a rule speech will not be stereotyped2 no set form of words will impose itself on the free movement of thought1 the mind can and will move of itself unhampered2 and when the mind keeps and develops such freedom of movement1 it commonly breaks new ground and handles new things4 ,not to be careful of our speech means for most of us slovenly thinking2 but when a man thinks in earnest and takes truth seriously1 when he speaks with his eye on his object1 his language will not be slovenly1 his instinct for fact will keep his speech pure and true4 ,this is what we find in the sayings of ,jesus2 there is form1 but living form1 the freedom and grace which the clear mind and the friendly eye communicate insensibly and inimitably to language4 ,our task in this chapter is primarily a historical one4 ,from the words of ,jesus we have to work back to the type of mind from which they come4 ,there is always danger in such a task4 ,we may forget the wide and living variety of the mind we study2 our own minds may not be large enough1 nor tender enough1 not various1 quick and sympathetic in such a degree as to apprehend what we find1 to see what it means1 and to relate it to itself1 detail to whole4 ,how much greater the danger here6 ,while we analyse1 we have to remember that the most correct analysis of features or characteristics may easily fail to give us a true idea of the face or the character which we analyse4 ,the whole is more than the sum of its parts4 ,the face and the character have an integrity1 a wholeness4 ,the detail may be of immense value to us1 studied as detail2 but for the true view the detail1 familiar as it may be to us1 and dear to us1 must be sunk in the general view4 ,especially is this true of great characters4 ,the reconstruction of a personality--to borrow a phrase from some psychologists--is a very difficult matter1 even when we are masters of our detail4 ,there is a proportion1 a perspective1 a balance1 a poise about a character--my terms may involve some mixture of metaphors1 but if the mixture brings out the complexity and difficulty of our task1 it will be justified4 ,above all there is life1 and as a life deepens and widens1 it grows complex1 unintelligible1 and wonderful4 ,it is more so than ever in the case of ,jesus4 ,yet we have to grapple with this great task1 if we are to know him1 even if here as elsewhere we realize quickly that the beginning of real knowledge is when we grasp how much we do not know1 how much there is to know4 ,attempted in this spirit1 a study of the mind of ,jesus and his characteristics should help us forward to some further intimacy with him4 ,the ,gospels do not1 like some biographies ancient and modern1 give a place to the physical characteristics of ,jesus4 ,suetonius in a very short sketch adds the personal aspect of the poet ,horace1 who1 it is true1 had led the way by such allusions 7,epist4 i4 #d1 #ae-af71 and tells us how ,augustus said he was a squat little pot 7sessilis obba74 ,the ,acts of ,thekla in a similar way describe ,st4 ,paul's short figure with its suggestion of quickness4 ,but the only personal traits of this sort that ,i recall in the ,new ,testament are the eyes of ,jesus and ,paul's way of stretching out a hand when he spoke4 ,in view of this reticence1 it is rather remarkable how often the ,gospels refer to ,jesus looking4 ,he looked round about on the people in the ,synagogue1 and then--with some suggestion of a pause and silence while he looked1 he saith unto the man 7,mark #c3e74 ,when ,peter deprecated the ,cross1 we find the same2 when he had turned about and looked on his disciples1 he rebuked ,peter 7,mark #h3cc74 ,when the rich young ruler came so impulsively to him to ask him about eternal life1 ,jesus1 looking upon him1 loved him--and we touch there a certain reminiscence of eye-witnesses 7,mark #aj3ba74 ,there are other references of the same kind in the narratives--the look seems to come into the story naturally1 without the writers noticing it4 ,there must have been much else as familiar to his friends and companions4 ,they must have known him as we know our friends--the inflections of his voice1 his characteristic movements1 the hang of his clothes1 his step in the dark1 and all such things4 ,did he speak quickly or slowly8 or move his hand when he spoke8 ,the teaching posture of ,buddha's hand is stereotyped in his images4 ,we are not told such things about ,jesus1 and guessing does not take us very far4 ,yet a stanza in one of the elegies written on the death of ,sir ,philip ,sidney may be taken as a far-away likeness of a greater and more wonderful figure--and not lead us very far astray3-- ,a sweet1 attractive kind of grace2 ,the full assurance given by looks2 ,perpetual comfort in a face2 ,the lineaments of ,gospel books4 ,if we are not explicitly told of such things by the evangelists1 they are easily felt in the story4 ,the paradoxes1 as we call them--a rather dull name for them--surely point to a face alive with intellect and gaiety4 ,the way in which1 for instance1 the leper approaches him1 implies the man's eyes fixed in close study on ,jesus' face1 and finding nothing there to check him and everything to bring him nearer 7,mark #a3da74 ,when ,mark tells us that he greeted the ,syro-,phoenician woman's sally about the little dogs eating the children's crumbs under the table with the reply1 ,for the sake of this saying of yours 4441 we must assume some change of expression on such a face as that of ,jesus 7,mark #g3bi74 ,we read again and again of the interest men and women found in his preaching and teaching--how they hung on him to hear him1 how they came in crowds1 how on one occasion they drove him into a boat for a pulpit4 ,it is only familiarity that has blinded us to the charm they found in his speech--they marvelled at his words of charm 7,luke #d3bb7--to the gaiety and playfulness that light up his lessons4 ,for instance1 there is a little-noticed phrase1 that grows very delightful as we study it1 in his words to the seventy disciples--,into whatsoever house ye enter1 first say1 ,peace to this house 7the common salaam of the ,east72 and if a son of peace be there1 your peace shall rest upon it2 if not1 your salaam will come back to you 7,luke #aj3f74 ,a son of peace--not the son of peace--what a beautiful expression2 what a beautiful idea too1 that the unheeded ,peace6 comes back and blesses the heart that wished it1 as if courteous and kind words never went unrewarded6 ,think again of ,solomon in all his glory 7,matt4 #f3bi7--;before the phrase was hackneyed by common quotation4 ,do not such words reveal nature8 ,a more elaborate and more amusing episode is that of the ,pharisee's drinking operations4 ,we are shown the man polishing his cup1 elaborately and carefully2 for he lays great importance on the cleanness of his cup2 but he forgets to clean the inside4 ,most people drink from the inside1 but the ,pharisee forgot it1 dirty as it was1 and left it untouched4 ,then he sets about straining what he is going to drink--another elaborate process2 he holds a piece of muslin over the cup and pours with care2 he pauses--he sees a mosquito2 he has caught it in time and flicks it away2 he is safe and he will not swallow it4 ,and then1 adds ,jesus1 he swallowed a camel4 ,how many of us have ever pictured the process1 and the series of sensations1 as the long hairy neck slid down the throat of the ,pharisee--all that amplitude of loose-hung anatomy--the hump--two humps--both of them slid down--and he never noticed--and the legs--all of them--with whole outfit of knees and big padded feet4 ,the ,pharisee swallowed a camel--and never noticed it 7,matt4 #bc3bd1 #be74 ,it is the mixture of sheer realism with absurdity that makes the irony and gives it its force4 ,did no one smile as the story was told8 ,did no one see the scene pictured with his own mind's eye--no one grasp the humour and the irony with delight8 ,could any one1 on the other hand1 forget it8 ,a modern teacher would have said1 in our jargon1 that the ,pharisee had no sense of proportion--and no one would have thought the remark worth remembering4 ,but ,jesus' treatment of the subject reveals his own mind in quite a number of aspects4 ,when he bade turn the other cheek--that sentence which ,celsus found so vulgar--did no one smile1 then1 at the idea of anybody ever dreaming of such an act 7,matt4 #e3ci78 ,nor at the picture of the kind brother taking a mote from his brother's eye1 with a whole baulk of timber in his own 7,matt4 #g3e78 ,nor at the suggestion of doing two miles of forced labour when only one was demanded 7,matt4 #e3da78 ,nor when he suggested that anxiety about food and clothing was a mark of the ,gentiles 7,matt4 #f3cb78 ,did none of his disciples mark a touch of irony when he said that among the ,gentile dynasties the kings who exercise authority are called ,benefactors 7,luke #bb3be78 ,it was true2 ,euergetes is a well-known kingly title1 but the explanation that it was the reward for strenuous use of monarchic authority was new4 ,are we to think his face gave no sign of what he was doing8 ,was there no smile8 ,we are told by his biographer that ,marcus ,aurelius had a face that never changed--for joy or sorrow1 being an adherent1 he adds1 of the ,stoic philosophy4 ,the pose of superiority to emotion was not uncommonly held in those times to be the mark of a sage--,horace's nil admirari4 ,the writers of the ,gospels do not conceal that ,jesus had feelings1 and expressed them4 ,we read how he rejoiced in spirit 7,luke #aj3ba7--;how he sighed 7,mark #g3cd7 and sighed deeply 7,mark #h3ab7--;how his look showed anger 7,mark #c3e74 ,they tell us of his indignant utterances 7,matt4 #bc3ad2 ,mark #aa3ag7--of his quick sensitiveness to a purposeful touch 7,mark #e3cj7--of his fatigue 7,mark #g3bd2 ,luke #h3bc7--of his instant response1 as we have just seen1 to contact with such interesting spirits as the ,syro-,phoenician woman and the rich young ruler4 ,above all1 we find him again and again moved with compassion4 ,we saw the leper approach him1 with eyes fixed on the face of ,jesus4 ,the man's appeal--,if thou wilt thou canst make me clean--his misery moves ,jesus2 he reaches out his hand1 and1 with no thought for contagion or danger1 he touches the leper--so deep was the wave of pity that swept through him--and he heals the man 7,mark #a3dj-db74 ,it would almost seem as if the touching impressed the spectators as much as the healing4 ,compassion is an old-fashioned word1 and sympathy has a wide range of suggestions1 some of them by now a little cold2 we have to realize1 if we can1 how deeply and genuinely ,jesus felt with men1 how keen his feeling was for their suffering and for their hunger1 and at the same moment reflect how strong and solid a nature it is that is so profoundly moved4 ,again1 when we read of his happy way in dealing with children1 are we to draw no inference as to his face1 and what it told the children8 ,finally1 on this part of our subject1 we are given glimpses of his dark hours4 ,the writer to the ,hebrews speaks of his offering up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears and learning obedience by the things that he suffered 7,heb4 #e3g1 #h71 and ,luke1 perhaps dealing with the same occasion1 says he was in agony 7,luke #bb3dd71 a strong phrase from a man of medical training4 ,luke again1 with the other evangelists1 refers to the temptations of ,jesus1 and in a later passage records the poignant and revealing sentence--,ye are they that have continued with me in my temptations 7,luke #bb3bh74 ,finally1 there is the last cry upon the ,cross 7,mark #ae3cg74 ,so frankly1 and yet so unobtrusively1 they lay bare his soul1 as far as they saw it4 ,from what is given us it is possible to go further and see something of his habits of mind4 ,his thought will occupy us in later chapters2 here we are concerned rather with the way in which his mind moves1 and the characteristics of his thinking4 ,first of all1 we note a certain swiftness1 a quick realization of a situation1 a character1 or the meaning of a word4 ,men try to trap him with a question1 and he instantly recognizes their trickery 7,luke #bj3bc74 ,when they ask for a sign1 he is as quick to see what they have in mind 7,mark #h3aa-ac74 ,he catches the word whispered to ,jairus--half hears1 half divines it1 in an instant 7,mark #e3cf74 ,he is surprised at slowness of mind in other men 7,matt4 #ae3af2 ,mark #h3ba74 ,and in other things he is as quick--he sees the kingdoms of this world in a moment of time 7,luke #d3e72 he beholds ,satan fallen 7aorist participle7 from heaven like lightning 7,luke #aj3ah7--two very striking passages1 which illuminate his mind for us in a very important phase of it4 ,we ought to have been able to guess without them that he saw things instantly and in a flash--that they stood out for him in outline and colour and movement there and then4 ,that is plain in the parables from nature1 and here it is confirmed4 ,is there in all his parables a blurred picture1 the edges dim or the focus wrong8 ,the tone of the parables is due largely to this gift of visualizing1 to use an ugly modern word1 and of doing it with swiftness and precision4 ,several things combine to make this faculty1 or at least go along with it--a combination not very common even among men of genius--an unusual sense of fact1 a very keen and vivid sympathy1 and a gift of bringing imagination to bear on the fact in the moment of its discovery1 and afterwards in his treatment of the fact4 ,on his sense of fact we have touched before1 in dealing with his close observation of ,nature4 ,it is an observation that needs no note-book1 that is hardly conscious of itself4 ,there is1 as we know1 a happy type of person who sees almost without looking1 certainly without noticing--and sees aright too4 ,the temperament is described by ,wordsworth in the opening books of ,the ,prelude4 ,the poet type seems to lose so much and yet constantly surprises us by what it has captured1 and sometimes hardly itself realizes how much has been done4 ,the gains are not registered1 but they are real and they are never lost1 and come flashing out all unexpectedly when the note is struck that calls them4 ,so one feels it was with ,jesus' intimate knowledge of ,nature--it is not the knowledge of botanist or naturalist1 but that of the inmate and the companion1 who by long intimacy comes to know far more than he dreams4 ,wise master mariners1 wrote the ,greek poet1 ,pindar1 long before1 know the wind that shall blow on the third day1 and are not wrecked for headlong greed of gain4 ,they know the weather1 as we say1 by instinct2 and instinct is the outcome of intimacy1 of observation accurate but sub-conscious4 ,it chimes in with this instinct for fact1 that ,jesus should lay so much emphasis on truth of word and truth of thought4 ,any hypocrisy is a leaven 7,matt4 #af3ai2 ,luke #ab3a72 any system of two standards of truth spoils the mind 7,matt4 #e3cc-cg74 ,the divided mind fails because it is not for one thing or the other4 ,if it is impossible to serve ,god and mammon1 truth and ,god go together in one allegiance2 and a non-,theocentric element in a man's thought will be fatal sooner or later to any aptitude he has by nature for ,god and truth4 ,we find this illustrated in ,jesus' own case4 ,at the heart of his instinct for fact is his instinct for ,god4 ,he goes to the permanent and eternal at once in his quest of fact1 because his instinct for ,god is so sure and so compelling4 ,bishop ,phillips ,brooks noted in ,jesus' conversation a constant progress from the arbitrary and special to the essential and universal forms of thought1 a true freedom from fastidiousness1 a singular largeness in his intellectual life4 ,the small question is answered in the larger--the life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment 7,luke #ab3bc74 ,when he is challenged on divorce1 he goes past ,moses to ,god 7,matt4 #ai3d7--;,he which made them at the beginning made them male and female4 ,every question is settled for him by reference to ,god1 and to ,god's principles of action and to ,god's laws and commands2 and ,god1 as we shall see in a later chapter1 is not for him a conception borrowed from others1 a quotation from a book4 ,god is real1 living1 and personal2 and all his teaching is directed to drive his disciples into the real2 he insists on the open mind1 the study of fact1 the fresh1 keen eye turned on the actual doings of ,god4 ,when life and thought have such a centre1 a simplicity and an integrity follow beyond what we might readily guess4 ,when thine eye is single1 thy whole body also is full of light1 444 if thy whole body therefore be full of light1 having no part dark1 the whole shall be full of light1 as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light 7,luke #aa3cd-cf74 ,it is this fullness of light that we find in ,jesus2 and as the light plays on one object and another1 how clear and simple everything grows6 ,all round about him was subtlety1 cleverness1 fastidiousness4 ,his speech is lucid1 drives straight to the centre1 to the principle1 and is intelligible4 ,we may not see how far his word carries us1 but it is abundantly plain that simple and straightforward people do understand ,jesus--not all at once1 but sufficiently for the moment1 and with a sense that there is more beyond4 ,his thought is uncomplicated by distinctions due to tradition and its accidents4 ,his whole attitude to life is simple--he has no taboos2 he comes eating and drinking 7,matt4 #aa3ai72 and he told his followers1 when he sent them out to preach1 to eat what they were given 7,luke #aj3g72 give alms1 he says1 of such things as ye have2 and1 behold1 all things are clean unto you 7,luke #aa3da74 ,if ,god gives the food1 it will probably be clean2 and the old taboos will be mere tradition of men4 ,he is not interested in what men call signs1 in the exceptional thing2 the ordinary suffices when one sees ,god in it4 ,one of ,jesus' great lessons is to get men to look for ,god in the commonplace things of which ,god makes so many1 as if ,abraham ,lincoln were right and ,god did make so many common people1 because he likes them best4 ,the commonest flowers--,god thinks them out1 says ,jesus1 and takes care of them 7,matt4 #f3bh-cj74 ,hence there is little need of special machinery for contact with ,god--priesthoods1 trances1 visions1 or mystical states--abnormal means for contact with the normal4 ,when ,jesus speaks of the very highest and holiest things1 he is as simple and natural as when he is making a table in the carpenter-shop4 ,sense and sanity are the marks of his religion4 ,sense of fact is a phrase which does not exclude--perhaps it even suggests--some hint of dullness4 ,the matter-of-fact people are valuable in their way1 but rarely illuminative1 and it is because they lack the imagination that means sympathy4 ,now in ,jesus' case there is a quickness and vividness of sympathy--he likes the birds and flowers and beasts he uses as illustrations4 ,they are not the natural objects with which dull people try to brighten their pages and discourses4 ,they are happy living things that come to his mind1 as it were1 of themselves1 because1 shall we say8 they know they will be welcome there2 and they are welcome4 ,his pity and sympathy are unlike ours in having so much more intelligence and fellow-feeling in them4 ,he understands men and women1 as his gift of bright and winning speech shows4 ,after all1 as ,carlyle has pointed out in many places1 it is this gift of tenderness and understanding1 of sympathy1 that gives the measure of our intellects4#ad ,it is the faculty by which men touch fact and master it4 ,it is the want of it that makes so many clever and ingenious people so futile and distressing4 ,the sense of fact and the gift for sympathy and the foundations1 so to speak1 of the imagination which gives their quality to the stories and pictures of ,jesus4 ,he thinks in pictures1 as it were2 they fill his speech1 and every one of them is alive and real4 ,think1 for example1 of the ,light of the world 7,matt4 #e3ad71 the strait gate and the narrow way 7,matt4 #g3ad71 the pictures of the bridegroom 7,mark #b3ai71 sower 7,matt4 #ac3c71 pearl merchant 7,matt4 #ac3de71 and the men with the net 7,matt4 #ac3dg71 the sheep among the wolves 7,matt4 #aj3af71 the woman sweeping the house 7,luke #ae3h71 the debtor going to prison accompanied by his creditor and the officer with the judge's warrant 7,luke #ab3eh71 the shepherd separating his sheep from the goats 7,matt4 #be3cb71 the children playing in the market-place pretending to pipe or to mourn 7,luke #g3cb71 the fall of the house 7,matt4 #g3bg7--or the ironical pictures of the blind leading the blind straight for the ditch 7,matt4 #ae3ad71 the vintagers taking their baskets to the bramble bushes 7,matt4 #g3af71 the candle burning away brightly under the bushel 7,matt4 #e3ae2 ,luke #aa3cc71 the offering of pearls to the pigs 7,matt4 #g3f7--or his descriptions of what lay before himself as a cup and a baptism 7,mark #aj3ch71 and of his task as the setting fire to the world 7,luke #ab3di74 ,there is a truthfulness and a living energy about all these pictures--not least about those touched with irony4 ,there are1 however1 pictures less realistic and more imaginative--one or two of them1 in the language of the fireside1 quite creepy4 ,here is a house--a neat1 trim little house--and for the ,english reader there is of course a garden or a field round it1 and a wood beyond4 ,out of the wood comes something--stealthily creeping up towards the house--something not easy to make out1 but weary and travel-stained and dusty--and evil4 ,a strange feeling comes over one as one watches--it is evil1 one is certain of it4 ,nearer and nearer to the house it creeps--it is by the window--it rises to look in1 and one shudders to think of those inside who suddenly see that looking at them through the window4 ,but there is no one there4 ,fatigue changes to triumph2 caution is dropped2 it goes and returns with seven worse than itself1 and the last state of the place is worse than the first 7,luke #aa3bd-bf74 ,is this leaving the real8 ,one critic will say it is1 ,no1 says another man1 in a graver tone and speaking slowly1 it's real enough2 it's my story4 ,but have we left the text too far8 ,then let us try another passage4 ,here is a funeral procession1 a bier with a dead man laid out on it1 wrapped in a linen cloth 7,matt4 #bg3ei71 bound hand and foot with grave-clothes 7,john #aa3dd7--;a common enough sight in the ,east2 but who are they who are carrying him--those silent1 awful figures1 bound like him hand and foot1 and wound with the same linen cloth1 moving swiftly and steadily along with their burden8 ,it is the dead burying the dead 7,luke #i3fj74 ,add to these the account of the three ,temptations--stories in picture1 which must come from ,jesus himself1 and illustrate another side of his experience4 ,for to the mind that sees and thinks in pictures1 temptation comes in pictures which the mind makes for itself1 or has presented to it and at once lights up--pictures horrible and once seen hard to forget and to escape4 ,no wonder he warns men against the pictures they paint themselves in their minds 7,matt4 #e3bh2 cf4 ,chapter ,,vii1 p4 #aed74 ,add also the other pictures of ,satan fallen 7,luke #aj3ah7 and ,satan pushing into ,god's presence with a demand for the disciples 7,luke #bb3ca74 ,are we to call these visions--the word is ambiguous--or are they imaginative presentments of evil1 as it thrusts itself on the soul1 with all its allurements and all its ugliness8 ,visions in the sense that is associated with trance1 we shall hardly call them4 ,they are pictures showing his gift of imagination4 ,lastly1 on this part of our subject1 let us remind ourselves of the many parables and pictures and sayings which put ,god himself before us4 ,here is the bird's nest1 and one little sparrow fallen to the ground--and ,god is there and he takes notice of it2 he misses the little bird from the brood 7,matt4 #aj3bi2 cf4 ,luke #ab3f74 ,here again is quite another scene--the rich and middle-aged man1 who has prospered in everything and is just completing his plans to retire from business1 when he feels a tap on his shoulder and hears a voice speaking to him1 and he turns and is face to face with ,god 7,luke #ab3bj74 ,and there are all the other stories of ,god's goodness and kindness and care2 is not the very phrase ,our ,father in heaven a picture in itself1 if we can manage to give the word the value which ,jesus meant it to carry8 ,when one studies the teaching of ,jesus1 and concentrates on what he draws us of ,god1 ,god somehow becomes real and delightful1 in a most wonderful way4 ,with all these faculties brought to bear on all he thinks1 and lucent in all he says1 there is little wonder that men recognized another note in ,jesus from that familiar in their usual teachers4 ,rabbi ,eliezer of those times was praised as a well-trough that loses not a drop of water4 ,we all know that type of teacher--the tank-mind1 full1 no doubt1 supplied by pipes1 and ministering its gifts by pipe and tap1 regulated1 tiresome1 and dead4 ,the water that ,i shall give him1 days ,jesus in the ,fourth ,gospel 7,john #d3ad71 shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life4 ,the water metaphors of the ,new ,testament are not of trough and tank4 ,jesus taught men--not from a reservoir of quotations1 like a scribe or a ,rabbi1 but as possessed of authority himself 7,matt4 #g3bi74 ,who gave him that authority8 asked the priests 7,matt4 #ba3bc78 ,who authorizes the living man to live8 ,all things are delivered unto me of my ,father 7,matt4 #aa3bg74 ,my words shall not pass away 7,mark #ac3ca74 ,he has proved right2 his words have not passed away4 ,the great ,son of ,fact1 he went to fact1 drove his disciples to fact1 and 7in the striking phrase of ,cromwell7 spoke things4 ,and we can see in the record again and again the traces of the mental habits and the natural language of one who habitually based himself on experience and on fact4 ,critics remark on his method of using the ,old ,testament and contrast it with contemporary ways4 ,st4 ,paul1 for instance1 in the passage where he weighs the readings seeds and seed 7,gal4 #c3af71 is plainly racking language to the destruction of its real sense2 no one ever would have written seeds in that connexion2 but in the style of the day he forces a singular into an utterly non-natural significance4 ,st4 ,matthew in his first two chapters proves the events1 which he describes1 to have been prophesied by citing ,old ,testament passages--two of which conspicuously refer to entirely different matters1 and do not mean at all what he suggests 7,matt4 #b3ae1 #bc74 ,the ,hebrew with the ,old ,testament1 like the ,greek of those days with ,homer1 made what play he pleased2 if the words fitted his fancy1 he took them regardless of connexion or real meaning2 if he was pressed for a defence1 he would take refuge in allegory4 ,a fashion was set for the ,church which bore bad fruit4 ,the ,old ,testament was emptied of meaning to fortify the ,christian faith with proof texts4 ,when ,jesus quotes the ,old ,testament1 it is for other ends and with a clear1 incisive sense of the prophet's meaning4 ,go ye and learn what that meaneth1 ,i will have mercy and not sacrifice 7,matt4 #i3ac and #ab3g1 quoting ,hosea #f3f74 ,he not merely quotes ,hosea1 but it is plain that he has got at the very heart of the man and his message4 ,similarly when he reads ,isaiah in the ,synagogue at ,nazareth 7,luke #d3ag71 he lays hold of a great passage and brings out with emphasis its value and its promise4 ,he touches the real1 and no lapse of time makes his quotations look odd or quaint4 ,when he is asked which is the first commandment of all1 he at once1 with what a modern writer calls a brilliant flash of the highest genius1 links a text in ,deuteronomy with one in ,leviticus--,hear1 ,o ,israel2 ,the ,lord our ,god is one ,lord1 and thou shalt love the ,lord thy ,god with all thy heart1 and with all thy soul1 and with all thy mind1 and with all thy strength 7,deut4 #f3d-e71 and1 he adds1 the second is like1 namely this1 ,thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself4 ,there is none other commandment greater than these 7,levit4 #ai3ah2 ,mark #ab3bi-ca74 ,thus his instinct for ,god and his instinct for the essential carry him to the very centre and acme of ,moses' law4 ,at the same time he can use the ,old ,testament in an efficient way for dialectic1 when an argumentum ad hominem best meets the case 7,mark #g3f2 ,luke #bj3cg1 #dd74 ,going to fact directly and reading his ,bible on his own account1 he is the great pioneer of the ,christian habit of mind4 ,he is not idly called the ,captain by the writer to the ,hebrews 7,heb4 #b3aj1 #ab3b74 ,authority and tradition only too readily assume control of human life2 but a mind like that of ,jesus1 like that which he gave to his followers1 will never be bound by authority and tradition4 ,moses is very well1 but if ,god has higher ideas of marriage--what then8 ,the ,scribes and the ,pharisees sit in ,moses' seat 7,matt4 #bc3b71 but that does not make them equal to ,moses2 still less does it make their traditions of more importance than ,god's commandments 7,mark #g3a-ac74 ,the ,sabbath itself was made for man1 and not man for the ,sabbath 7,mark #b3bg74 ,where the habit of mind is thus set to fact1 and life is based on ,god1 on ,god's will and ,god's doings1 it is not surprising that in the daily round there should be noted sanity1 reserve1 composure1 and steadiness4 ,it may seem to be descending to a lower plane1 but it is worthwhile to look for a moment at the sheer sense which ,jesus can bring to bear on a situation4 ,the ,sabbath--is it lawful to heal on the ,sabbath8 ,well1 if a man's one sheep is in a pit on the ,sabbath1 what will he do8 7,matt4 #ab3aa71 or will he refrain from leading his ox to the water on the ,sabbath 7,luke #ac3ae78 ,such questions bring a theological problem into the atmosphere of sense--and it is better solved there4 ,he is interrupted by a demand that he arbitrate between a man and his brother2 and his reply is virtually1 ,does your brother accept your choice of an arbitrator8 7,luke #ab3ad7--;and that matter is finished4 ,are there few that be saved8 asks some one in vague speculation1 and he gets a practical answer addressed to himself 7,luke #ac3bc74 ,even in matters of ordinary manners and good taste1 he offers a shrewd rule 7,luke #ad3h74 ,luke records also two or three instances of perfectly banal talk and ejaculation addressed to him--the bazaar talk of the ,galilean murders 7,luke #ac3a7--the pious if rather obvious remark of some man about feasting in the ,kingdom of ,god 7,luke #ad3ae7--;and the woman's homey congratulation of ,mary on her son 7,luke #aa3bg74 ,in each case he gets away to something serious4 ,above all1 we must recognize the power which every one felt in him4 ,even ,herod1 judging by rumour1 counts him greater than ,john the ,baptist 7,matt4 #ad3b74 ,the very malignity of his enemies is a confession of their recognition that they are dealing with some one who is great4 ,men remarked his sedative and controlling influence over the disordered mind 7,mark #a3bg74 ,he is not to be trapped in his talk1 to be cajoled or flattered4 ,there is greatness in his language--in his reference of everything to great principles and to ,god2 greatness in his freedom from ambition1 in his contempt of advertisement and popularity1 in his appeal to the best in men1 in his belief in men1 in his power of winning and keeping friends1 in his gift for making great men out of petty4 ,in all this we are not stepping outside the ,gospels nor borrowing from what he has done in nineteen centuries4 ,in ,galilee and in ,jerusalem men felt his power4 ,and finally1 what of his calm1 his sanity1 his dignity1 in the hour of betrayal1 in the so-called trials1 before the priests1 before ,pilate1 on the ,cross8 ,the ,pharisees1 said ,tertullian1 ought to have recognized who ,christ was by his patience4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,teacher ,,and ,,his ,,disciples ,it was as a teacher that ,jesus of ,nazareth first began to gather disciples round him4 ,but to understand the work of the ,teacher1 we must have some general impression of the world to which he came4 ,the background will help us understand what had to be done1 and what it was he meant to do4 ,bishop ,gore1 in a book recently published1 suggested that the belief that ,god is ,love is not axiomatic4 ,many of us take it for granted1 as the point at which religion naturally begins2 but1 as he emphasized1 it is not an obvious truth2 it is something of which we have to be convinced1 something that has to be made good to men4 ,unless we bear this in mind1 we shall miss a great deal of what ,jesus has really done1 by assuming that he was not needed to do it4 ,out of a darker world than ours came this new spring4 ,we must look at the world as it was1 when ,jesus came4 ,in a later chapter we shall have to consider more fully the religions of the ,roman world4 ,one or two points may be anticipated4 ,first of all1 we have to realize what a hard world it was4 ,men and women are harder than we sometimes think1 and the natural hardness to which the human heart grows of itself1 needed more correction than it had in those days4 ,among the many papyrus documents that have been found in late years in ,egypt--documents that have pictured for us the life of ,egypt1 and have recorded for us also the language of the ,new ,testament in a most illuminative way--there is one that illustrates only too aptly the unconscious hardness of the times4 ,it is a letter--no literary letter1 no letter that any one would ordinarily have thought of keeping2 it has survived by accident4 ,it was written by an ,egyptian ,greek to his wife4 ,she lived somewhere up the country1 and he had gone to ,alexandria4 ,she had been expecting a baby when he left1 and he wrote a rough1 but not an unkind1 letter to her4 ,he writes3 ,hilarion to ,alis 4 4 4 greetings4444 ,know that we are still even now in ,alexandria4 ,do not fidget1 if1 at the general return1 ,i stay in ,alexandria4 ,i pray and beseech you1 take care of the little child1 and as soon as we have our wages1 ,i will send you up something4 ,if you are delivered1 if it was a male1 let it live2 if it was a female1 cast it out 4 4 4 4 ,how can ,i forget you8 ,so don't fidget4#ae ,the letter is not an unkind one2 it is sympathetic1 masculine1 direct1 and friendly4 ,and then it ends with the suggestion1 inconceivable to us to-day1 that if the baby is a girl1 it need not be kept4 ,it can be put out either on the land or in the river1 left to kite or crocodile4 ,the evidence of satirists is generally to be discounted1 because they tend to emphasize the exceptional2 and it is not the exceptional thing that gives the character of an age1 or of a man4 ,it is the kind of thing that we take for granted and assume to be normal that shows our character or gives the note of the day2 and what we omit to notice may be as revealing4 ,in the plays of the ,athenian comic poets of the third and fourth centuries ,b4,c4 we find1 to wearisomeness1 one recurring plot4 ,the heroine turns out to be1 not just a common girl1 but the daughter of the best family in ,athens1 exposed when she was a baby4 ,when ,plato sketched his ideal constitution1 in addition to the mating of suitable pairs to be decided by government1 he added that1 if the offspring were not good enough1 it should be put away where it would not be found again4 ,aristotle allowed the same practice4 ,the most cultured race on earth freely exposed its infants2 and this letter of ,hilarion to ,alis--a dated letter by the way1 of ,september or ,october in the year #a ,a4,d4--makes it clear that the practice of exposure of children still prevailed2 and there is other evidence which need not now detain us4 ,it is a hard world1 where kind people or good people can think of such things as ordinary and natural4 ,evidence of the character of an age is given by the treatment of criminals2 and that age was characterized by crucifixion4 ,they would take a human being1 spread him out on a cross on the ground1 drive nails through his hands and feet2 and then the cross was raised--the agony of the victim during the movement is not to be imagined4 ,it was made fast2 and there the victim hung1 suspended between heaven and earth1 to live or die at his leisure4 ,by and by crows would gather round him4 ,i have been good1 said the slave4 ,then you have your reward1 says the ,latin poet1 you will not feed the crows on the cross4#af ,there is a very striking phrase in ,st4 ,matthew3 ,and sitting down they watched him there 7,matt4 #bg3cf74 ,the soldiers nailed three men to crosses1 and sat down beneath them to dice for their clothes4 ,our tolerances1 like our utterances1 come out of the abundance of the heart1 and stamp us for what we are4 ,we cannot easily realize all that slavery meant4 ,when we read in the ,fourth ,gospel that the ,lamb of ,god taketh away the sin of the world 7,john #a3bi71 that was written before ,jesus ,christ had abolished slavery2 for1 we remember1 it was done by his people against the judgement of the business experts4 ,slavery meant robbing the man of every right that ,nature gave him2 and1 as ,homer said long ago1 ,farseeing ,zeus takes away half a man's manhood1 when he brings the day of slavery upon him4#ag ,he became a thief1 a liar1 dirty1 and bad2 and with the woman it was still worse4 ,the slave woman was a little lower than the animal2 she might not have offspring4 ,it was natural1 men said2 ,nature had designed certain races to be slaves2 slavery was written in ,nature2 it was ,nature's law4 ,these were not the thoughts of vulgar people1 but of some of the best of the ,greeks--not of all1 indeed2 but society was organized on the basis of slavery4 ,it was an accepted axiom of all social and economic life4 ,as to the spiritual background1 for the present let us postpone the heathen world and consider the ,jews1 who represented in some ways the world's highest at this period4 ,modern scholarship is shedding fresh light on the literature and ideas that were prevalent between the end of the ,old ,testament and the beginning of the ,new4 ,but what uncertainty about ,god6 ,why some people should think that it was easier to believe in ,god in those days than now1 ,i do not see4 ,far less was known of ,god2 the record of his doings was not so long as it is for us1 and it was not so well known4 ,no one could understand what ,god meant1 if he was quite clear himself4 ,look at what he did with the nation4 ,he chose ,israel1 he established the kingdom of ,david4 ,they did not get on very well1 and at last were carried away into ,captivity in ,babylon4 ,so much he did for his people2 and when he brought them back again to the ,promised ,land1 it was to a very trying and difficult situation2 and worse still followed after ,nehemiah's day4 ,alexander the ,great's conquest of the ,east left a ,macedonian dynasty ruling those regions1 and one of their great kings1 ,antiochus ,epiphanes1 tried to stamp out the religion of ,jehovah altogether4 ,the ,book of ,daniel is a record of that persecution about #aff ,b4,c4 ,the ,maccabeean brothers delivered ,israel1 and rescued the religion of ,jehovah2 and a kingdom of a sort was established with them2 but the grandsons of the liberators became tyrants4 ,what did ,god mean8 ,out of all the promises to ,israel1 to the ,house of ,david1 this is what comes4 ,herod follows--a foreign king and an ,edomite2 and the ,romans are over all1 suzerains and rulers4 ,in despair of the present men began to forecast the future4 ,a time will surely come1 they said1 when ,god will give an anointed one1 the ,messiah2 he will set all ,israel free1 will make ,israel rule the world instead of the ,romans2 he will gather together the scattered of ,israel from the four winds1 reunite and assemble ,god's people in triumph in ,palestine4 ,and then1 when the prophet paused1 a plain man spoke3 ,i don't care if he does4 ,my father all his life looked forward to that4 ,what does it matter now1 if ,god redeems his people1 or if he does not8 ,my father is dead4 ,the answer was1 why should your father not come with the redeemed ,israel8 ,but what evidence is there for that8 ,does ,god care for people beyond the grave8 ,is there personal immortality8--that became the anxious question4#ah ,but is this kingdom of the ,messiah to be an earthly or a heavenly kingdom8 ,will it be in ,jerusalem or in heaven8 ,are you quite sure that there is any distinction in the other world between good and bad1 between ,jew and ,gentile8 ,some people thought the kingdom would be in ,jerusalem2 others said it would be in heaven1 and added that the ,jews will look down and see the ,gentiles in hell--something worth seeing at last4 ,but1 after all1 it was still guesswork-- perhaps was the last word4 ,when the question is asked1 ,was ,jesus the ,messiah8 the obvious reply is1 ,which ,messiah8 ,for there seems to have been no standard idea of the ,messiah4 ,the ,messiah was1 on the whole1 as vague a term as1 in modern politics1 ,socialism or ,tariff ,reform4 ,neither of them has come2 perhaps they never will come1 and nobody knows what they will be till they do come4 ,jesus is not what they expected4 ,a ,jewish girl1 at an ,american ,student ,conference a year or two ago1 said about ,jesus3 ,i do not think he is the ,messiah1 but ,i do love him4 ,of course he was not in her ,jewish sense4 ,the term was a vague one4 ,the main point was that men were uncertain about ,god4 ,god was unintelligible4 ,they did not understand his ideas1 either for the nation or for the individual2 ,god's plans miscarried with such fatality4 ,or if he had some deeper design1 it was still all guesswork4 ,it seemed likely1 or at least right1 that he should achieve somehow the final damnation of the ,gentiles--the ,romans1 and the rest of us--but nothing was very clear4 ,in the meantime1 if ,god was going to damn the ,gentiles in the next world1 why should not the ,jews do it in this8 ,human nature has only too ready an answer for such a question--as we can read in too many dark pages of history1 in the stories of wars and religious persecutions4 ,the uncertainty about ,god in ,judaism reacted on life and made it hard4 ,even the virtues of men were difficult2 they were apt to be nerveless and uncertain1 because their aim was uncertain1 and they wanted inspiration4 ,of course there are always kindly hearts2 but a man will never put forth quite his best for an uncertainty4 ,there was a want of centre about their virtues1 a want of faith1 and as a result they were too largely self-directed4#ai ,a man was virtuous in order to secure himself in case ,god should be awkward4 ,there was no sufficient relation between man and ,god4 ,god was judge1 no doubt2 but his character could be known from his attitude to the ,gentiles4 ,could a man count on ,god and how far8 ,could he rely on ,god supporting him1 on ,god wishing to have him in this world and the next8 ,no1 not with any certainty4 ,it comes to a fundamental unbelief in ,god1 resting1 as ,jesus saw1 on an essential misconception of ,god's nature2 and this resulted in the spoiling of life4 ,men did not use ,god4 ,where your treasure is1 there will your heart be also1 ,jesus said 7,luke #ab3cd72 and it was not in ,god4 ,men's interest and belief were elsewhere4 ,now the first thing that ,jesus had to do1 as a teacher1 was to induce men to rethink ,god4 ,men1 he saw1 do not want precepts2 they do not want ethics1 morals or rules2 what they do need is to rethink ,god1 to rediscover him1 to re-explore him1 to live on the basis of relation with ,god4 ,there is one striking difference between ,christianity and the other religions1 in that the others start with the idea that ,god is known4 ,christians do not so start4 ,we are still exploring ,god on the lines of ,jesus ,christ--rethinking ,god all the time1 finding him out4 ,that is what ,jesus meant us to do4 ,if ,jesus had merely put before men an ethical code1 that would have been to do what the moralists had done before him--what moralists always do1 with the same naive idea that they are doing a great deal for us4 ,his object was far more fundamental4 ,the first thing was to bring people on to the very centre and to get there at once--to get men away from the accumulation of occasional and self-directed virtues1 from the self-sustained life1 from self-acquired righteousness1 and to bring them to face the fact of ,god1 to realize the seriousness of ,god and of life1 and to see ,god4 ,when he preached self-denial1 he did not mean the modern virtue of self-denial with all its pettinesses1 but a genuine negation of self1 a total forgetfulness of self by having the mind set entirely on ,god and ,god's purposes1 a readjustment of everything with ,god as the real centre of all4 ,this is always difficult2 it is not less difficult where the conception of ,god is1 as it was with ,jesus1 entirely spiritual4 ,the whole experience of mankind was against the idea that there could be a religion at all without priest1 sacrifice1 altar1 temple1 and the like4 ,there is a very minimum of symbol and cult in the teaching of ,jesus--so little that the ancient world thought the ,christians were atheists1 because they had no image1 no temple1 no sacrifice1 no ritual1 nothing that suggested religion in the ordinary sense of the word4 ,we shall realize the difficulty of what ,jesus was doing when we grasp that he meant people to see ,god independently of all their conventional aids4 ,to lead them to commit themselves in act to ,god on such terms was a still more difficult thing4 ,to believe in ,god in a general sort of way1 to believe in ,providence at large1 is a very different thing from getting yourself crucified in the faith that ,god cares for you1 and yet somehow wishes you to endure crucifixion4 ,how far will men commit themselves to ,god8 ,jesus means them to commit themselves to ,god right up to the hilt--as ,bunyan put it1 to hazard all for ,god at a clap4 ,decision for ,god1 obedience to ,god1 that is the prime thing--action on the basis of ,god and of ,god's care for the individual4 ,his purpose that this shall not be merely the religion of choice spirits or of those immediately around him1 but shall be the one religion of all the world1 makes the task still vaster4 ,he means not merely to touch the ,jews4 ,whether he says so in explicit terms or not1 it is implied in all that he says and does1 that the new movement should be far wider than anything the world had ever seen2 it was to cover the whole of mankind4 ,he meant that every individual in all the world should have the centre of gravity of his thinking shifted4 ,again1 he had to think of a re-creation of the language of men1 till ,god should be a new word4 ,our constant problem is to give his word his value1 his meaning4 ,he meant that men should learn their religious vocabulary again1 till the words they used should suggest his meanings to their minds4 ,something of this was achieved1 when some of his disciples came to him and said3 ,teach us to pray1 as ,john also taught his disciples 7,luke #aa3a74 ,further1 he had to secure that men should begin the rethinking of all life--personal1 social1 and national--from the very foundations1 on new lines--what is called a transvaluation of all values4 ,with a new centre1 everything has to be thought out anew into what ,st4 ,paul calls the fullness of ,christ 7,eph4 #d3ac74 ,then finally the question comes1 how to secure continuity8 ,will the movement outlast his personal influence8 ,these are his problems--large enough1 every one of them4 ,how does he face them8 ,the ,gospel began with friendship1 and we know from common life what that is1 and how it works4 ,old acquaintance and intimacy are the heart of it4 ,the mind is on the alert when we meet the stranger--quick and eager to master his outlook and his ways of thought1 to see who and what he is--it is critical1 self-protective1 rather than receptive4 ,but1 as time goes on1 we notice less1 we study the man less as we see more of him4 ,yet1 in this easier and more careless intercourse1 when the mind is off guard1 it is receiving a host of unnoticed impressions1 which in the long run may have extraordinary influence4 ,pleasant and easy-going1 a perpetual source of interest and rest of mind1 the friendship continues1 till we find to our surprise that we are changed4 ,stage by stage1 as one comes to know one's friend1 by unconscious and freely given sympathy1 one lives the other man's life1 sees and feels things as he does1 slips into his language1 and1 by degrees1 into his thoughts--and then wakes up to find oneself1 as it were1 remade by the other's personality1 so close has been the identification with the man we grew to love4 ,this is what we find in our own lives2 and we find it in the ,gospels4 ,a sentence from ,st4 ,augustine's ,confessions gives us the key to the whole story4 ,sed ex amante alio accenditur alius 7,confessions1 iv4 #ad1 #iaa74 ,one loving spirit sets another on fire4 ,jesus brings men to the new exploration of ,god1 to the new commitment of themselves to ,god1 simply by the ordinary mechanism of friendship and love4 ,this1 in plain ,english1 is after all the idea of ,incarnation--friendship and identification4 ,jesus has a genius for friendship1 a gift for understanding the feelings of men4 ,look1 for example1 at the quick word to ,jairus4 ,as soon as the message comes to him that his daughter is dead1 ,jesus wheels round on him at once with a word of courage 7,mark #e3cf74 ,this quickness in understanding1 in feeling with people1 marks him throughout4 ,an instinctive care for other people's small necessities is a great mark of friendship1 and ,jesus has it4 ,we find him saying to his disciples3 ,come ye yourselves apart privately into a desert place1 and rest awhile 7,mark #f3ca74 ,what a beautiful suggestion6 ,he himself1 it is clear from the records1 felt the need of privacy1 of being by oneself1 of quiet2 and he took his quiet hours in the open1 in the wild1 where there was solitude and ,nature1 and there he would take his friends4 ,there were so many coming and going1 that they had no leisure to eat1 and ,jesus says to them in his friendly way3 ,let us get out of this--away by ourselves1 to a quiet place2 what you want is rest4 ,what a beautiful idea6--to go camping out on the hillside1 under the trees1 to rest--and with him to share the quiet of the lonely place4 ,it is not the only time when he offers to give people rest--,come unto ,me 444 and ,i will give you rest 7,matt4 #aa3bh74 ,how strange1 when one thinks of the restless activity of ,christian people to-day1 with typewriters and conventions1 and every modern method of consuming energy and time6 ,how sympathetic he is6 ,we may notice again his respect for the reserve of other people4 ,on the whole1 how slowly ,jesus comes to work with men6 ,he never rushes the human spirit2 he respects men's personalities4 ,men and women are never pawns with him4 ,he does not think of them in masses4 ,the masses appeal to him1 but that is because he sees the individual all the time4 ,to one of his disciples he says1 ,i have prayed for thee 7,luke #bb3cb74 ,what a contrast to the conventional friend of man in the abstract6 ,with all that hangs upon him1 he has leisure to pray intensely1 for a single man4 ,it gives us an idea of his gifts in friendship4 ,his faith in his people is quite remarkable1 when we think of it4 ,he believes in his followers2 he shares with them some of the deepest things in his life2 he counts them fit to share his thought of ,god4 ,he makes it quite clear to them how he trusts them4 ,he puts before them the tremendous work that he has to do--work more appalling in its vastness the more one studies it2 and then he tells them that he is trusting the whole thing with them4 ,what a faith it implies in their moral capacity6 ,what acceptance of the dim beginnings of the character that was to be ,christian6 ,someone has spoken of his apparently unjustified faith in ,peter4 ,what names he can give to his friends as a result of this faith in them6 ,ye are the light of the world1 he says 7,matt4 #e3ad71 the salt of the earth4 ,when we remind ourselves of his clear vision1 his genius for seeing fact1 how much must such praises have meant to these men6 ,think how he gives himself to them in earnest2 how he is at their disposal4 ,he is theirs2 they can cross-question him at leisure2 they tell him that the ,pharisees did not like what he said 7,matt4 #ae3ab71 they doubt with ,peter the wisdom of his open speech 7,mark #h3cb72 they criticize him 7,matt4 #ac3aj74 ,if they do not understand his parable1 they ask what he means 7,matt4 #ae3ae7 and keep on asking till he makes it plain4 ,he is in no hurry4 ,he is the ,master and their ,teacher1 and he is at the service of the slowest of them4 ,but there is another side to friendship2 for one great part of it is taking what our friends do for us1 as well as doing things for them4 ,how he will take what they have to give6 ,he lets them manage the boat1 while he sleeps 7,mark #d3ch71 and go and prepare for him 7,luke #i3eb71 and see to the ,passover meal 7,mark #ad3ac74 ,the women1 we read1 ministered to him of their substance 7,luke #h3c74 ,there is a very significant phrase in ,st4 ,luke 7#bb3bh71 where he says to them at the end3 ,ye are they that have continued with me in my temptations4 ,he tells them there that they have helped him4 ,how8 ,apparently by being with him4 ,is not that friendship8 ,in the same chapter 7,luke #bb3ae7 we find an utterance that reveals the depth of his feeling for his friends3 ,with desire ,i have desired 7a ,greek rendering of a ,semitic intensive7 to eat this ,passover with you before ,i suffer4 ,they are to help him again by being with him1 and he has longed for it1 he says4 ,the ,gospel of ,john sums up the whole story in a beautiful sentence3 ,jesus1 having loved his own which were in the world1 loved them unto the end 7,john #ac3a74 ,augustine is right4 ,one loving spirit sets another on fire4 ,note again the word which he uses in speaking to them 7,tekna3 ,mark #b3e1 #aj3bd74 ,it is a diminutive1 a little disguised as children in our ,english version4 ,it reappears in the ,fourth ,gospel in even more diminutive forms 7,teknia1 #ac3cc2 ,paidia1 #ba3e7 with a peculiarly tender suggestion4 ,the word of ,mark answers more closely than anything ,i know to ,boys1 as we used it in the ,canadian ,universities4 ,men1 or ,undergraduates1 is the word in the ,english ,universities2 ,students1 in ,scotland and in ,india2 in ,canada we said ,boys2 and ,i think we get nearer1 and like one another better1 with that easy name4 ,and it was this friendly1 pleasant word1 or one very like it1 that he used with them4 ,nor is it the only one of the kind4 ,fear not1 little flock6 he said 7,luke #ab3cb74 ,do not the diminutives mean something8 ,do they not take us into the midst of a group where friendship is real8 ,and in the centre is the friendliest figure of all4 ,look for a moment at the men who followed him2 at the type he calls4 ,they are simple people in the main--warm hearts and impulsive natures4 ,the politics of ,simon the ,zealot might at one time have been summed up as the knife and plenty of it1 a simple and direct enough type of political thought1 in all conscience1 however hopeless and ineffectual1 as history showed2 but he gave up his politics for the friendship of ,jesus4 ,peter1 again1 is the champion example of the impulsive nature4 ,why ,jesus called ,james and ,john the sons of thunder 7,mark #c3ag7 ,i am not sure4 ,dr4 ,rendel ,harris thinks because they were twins2 other people find something of the thunderstorm in their ideas and outlook4 ,the publican in the group is of much the same type2 he is ready to leave his business and his custom-house at a word--once more the impulsive nature and the simple4 ,it is possible that ,jesus looked also to another type of which he gained very little in his lifetime2 for he speaks of the scribe who has turned disciple again1 and brings out of his treasure things new and old 7,matt4 #ac3eb7--the more complicated type of the trained scholar1 full of old learning1 but open to new views4 ,in the meantime he draws to him people with the warm heart--yes1 he says1 but cultivate the cool head 7cf4 ,matt4 #aj3af74 ,again and again he will have men count the cost 7,luke #ad3bh7--know what they are doing1 be rid of delusions before they follow him 7,mark #h3cd74 ,what did they expect8 ,they had all sorts of dreams of the future4 ,when we first find them1 there is friction among them1 which is not unnatural in a group of men with ambitions 7,mark #i3cc4 #aj3cg74 ,even at the ,last ,supper their minds run on thrones 7,luke #bb3bd74 ,they are haunted by taboos4 ,peter long after boasts that nothing common or unclean has entered his lips 7,acts #aj3ad74 ,they fail to understand him4 ,are ye also without understanding8 he asks1 not without surprise 7,mark #h3ag1 #ba74 ,at the very end they run away4 ,there1 then1 is the group4 ,what is to be the method8 ,there is not much method4 ,as ,harnack says about the spread of the early ,church1 ,a living faith needs no special methods--a sentence worth remembering4 ,infinite love in ordinary intercourse is another phrase of ,harnack in describing the life of the early ,church4 ,it began with ,jesus4 ,he chose twelve1 says ,mark 7#c3ad71 that they may be with him4 ,that is all4 ,and they are with him under all sorts of circumstances4 ,the ,son of ,man hath not where to lay his head 7,luke #i3eh74 ,they saw him in privation1 fatigued1 exhausted4 ,with every chance to see weaknesses in his character1 they did not find much amiss with him4 ,that is surely significant4 ,they lived with him all the time1 in a genuine human friendship1 a real and progressive intimacy4 ,they were with him in popularity and in unpopularity2 they were with him in danger1 when ,herod tried to kill him and he went out of ,herod's territory4 ,but friendship depends not only on great moments2 it means companionship in the trivial1 too1 it means idle hours together1 partnership in commonplace things--meals and garden--chairs as well as books and crises4 ,ordinary life1 ordinary talk1 gossip1 chat1 every kind of conversation about ,herods and ,roman governors1 and the ,zealots--custom-house memories1 tales of the fishermen's life on the lake1 stories of neighbours and home--rumours about the ,galileans who were murdered by ,pilate 7,luke #ac3a-d7--;all the babbling talk of the bazaar is round ,jesus and his group1 and some of it breaks in on them2 and his attitude to it all is to these men a constant revelation of character4 ,they are with him in the play of feelings1 with him in the fluxes and refluxes of his thought--learning his ways of mind without realizing it4 ,they slip into his mind and mood1 by a series of surprises1 when they are imagining no such thing4 ,anything1 everything serves to reveal him4 ,they tramp all day1 and ask some village people to shelter them for the night4 ,the villagers tell them to go away4 ,the men are hungry and fatigued4 ,what a splendid thing it would be1 if we could do like ,elijah and burn them up with a word6 ,so the hot thought rose4 ,he turned and said1 ,you know not what manner of spirit you are of4--,what a gentle rebuke6 ,the ,son of ,man is not come to destroy men's lives1 but to save them 7,luke #i3ea-ef74 ,then follows one of the wonderful sentences of the ,gospel1 they went unto another village--very obvious1 but very significant4 ,a missionary from ,china told me how1 thirty years ago or more1 he was driven out of the town where he lived2 how the gentlefolk egged on the mob1 and they wrecked his house1 and hounded him out of the place4 ,he told me how it felt--the misery and the indignity of it4 ,jesus took it undisturbed4 ,he taught a lesson in it which the ,church has never forgotten4 ,their life was full of experiences shared with him4 ,he has his reserve--his secret2 yet1 in another sense1 he gives himself to them without reserve2 there is prodigality of self-impartation in his dealings with them4 ,he lets them have everything they can take4 ,he becomes theirs in a great intimacy1 he gives himself to them4 ,why8 ,because he believes1 as he put it1 in seed4 ,socrates saw that the teacher's real work1 his only work1 is to implant the idea1 like a seed2 an idea1 like a seed1 will look after itself4 ,a king builds a temple or a palace4 ,the seed of a banyan drifts into a crack1 and grows without asking anyone's leave2 there is life in it4 ,in the end the building comes down1 but for what the banyan holds up4 ,the leaven in the meal is the most powerful thing there4 ,there is very little of it1 but that does not matter2 it is alive 7,matt4 #ac3cc74 ,life is a very little thing but it is the only thing that counts4 ,that is why the farmer can sow his fields and sleep at nights without thinking of them2 and the crop grows in spite of his sleeping1 and he knows it 7,mark #d3bf74 ,that is why ,jesus believes so thoroughly in his men1 and in his message2 ,god has made the one for the other1 and there is no fear of mischance4 ,look at his method of teaching4 ,people marvelled at his words of charm 7,luke #d3bb7--;hung about him to hear him 7,luke #ai3dh74 ,he said that the word is the overflow of the heart4 ,out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh 7,matt4 #ab3cd2 ,luke #f3de74 ,what a heart1 then1 his words reveal6 ,how easy and straightforward his language is6 ,to-day we all use abstract nouns to convey our meaning2 we cannot do without words ending in -ality and -anon4 ,but there is no recorded saying of ,jesus where he uses even personality4 ,he does not use abstract nouns4 ,he sticks to plain words4 ,when he speaks about ,god he does not say the ,great ,first ,cause1 or ,providence1 or any other vague abstract4 ,still less does he use an adverb from the abstract1 like providentially4 ,he says1 your heavenly ,father4 ,he does not talk of humanity2 he says1 your brethren4 ,he has no jargon1 no technical terms1 no scholastic vocabulary4 ,he urges men not to over-study language2 their speech must be simple1 the natural1 spontaneous overflow of the heart4#bj ,jesus told his disciples not to think out beforehand what they would say when on trial 7,mark #ac3aa7--;it would be given to them4 ,he was perfectly right2 and when ,christians obeyed him1 they always spoke much better than when they thought out speeches beforehand4 ,they said much less for one thing1 and they said it much better4 ,take the case of the martyr--an early and historical one--whose two speeches were during her trial ,christiana sum and1 on her condemnation1 ,deo gratias4 ,with this1 remark his own gift of arresting phrase2 the freshness of his language1 how free it is from quotation1 how natural and how extraordinarily simple4 ,everything worthwhile can be put in simple language2 and1 if the speech is complicated1 it is a call to think again4 ,as a woman1 over-curiously trimmed1 is to be mistrusted1 so is a speech1 said ,john ,robinson of ,leyden1 the minister of the ,pilgrim ,fathers4 ,the language of ,jesus is simple and direct1 the inevitable expression of a rich nature and a habit of truth4 ,you feel he does not strain after effect--epigram1 antithesis1 or alliteration4 ,of course he uses such things--like all real speakers--but he does not go out of his way for them4 ,no1 and so much the more significant are such characteristic antitheses as3 ,ye cannot serve ,god and mammon 7,luke #af3ac71 and ,whosoever will save his life shall lose it 7,matt4 #af3be71 coming with a spontaneous flash1 and answering in their sharpness to the sharp edges of fact4 ,his words caught the attention1 and lived in the memory2 they revealed such a nature2 they were so living and unforgettable4 ,remark once again his preference for the actual and the ordinary4 ,there are religions in which holiness involves unusual conditions and special diet4 ,some forms of mysticism seem to be incompatible with married life4 ,but the type of holiness which ,jesus teaches can be achieved with an ordinary diet1 and a wife and five children4 ,he had lived himself in a family of eight or nine4 ,it is perhaps harder1 but it is a richer sanctity1 if the real mark of a ,saint is1 as we have been told1 that he makes it easier for others to believe in ,god4 ,in any case the ordinary is always good enough with ,jesus4 ,only he would have men go deeper1 always deeper4 ,why can you not think for yourselves8 he asks4 ,signs were what men demanded4 ,he pictures ,dives' mind running on signs even in hell 7,luke #af3bg74 ,what could you do with signs8 ,look at what you have already4 ,you read the weather for to-morrow by looking at the sky to-day4 ,the south wind means heat2 the red sky fair weather4 ,study1 look1 think 7,luke #ab3ee74 ,his animals1 as we saw1 are all real animals2 it is real observation2 real analogy4 ,when he speaks of the lost sheep1 it is not a fictitious joy that he describes or an imaginary one2 it is real4 ,the more we examine his sayings with any touch of his spirit1 the more we wonder4 ,of course it is possible to handle them in the wrong way1 to miss the real thought and make folly of everything4 ,thus1 when he says he is the door1 the interpreter may stray into silly detail and make faith the key1 and--,i don't know what the panels and hinges could be4 ,that is not the style of ,jesus4 ,the soul of the thing1 the great central meaning1 the real analogy is his concern4 ,seriousness in observation1 seriousness in reflection1 is what he teaches4 ,men and women break down for want of thinking things out4 ,many things become possible to those who think seriously1 as he did--and1 so to speak1 without watertight compartments4 ,jesus is always urging seriousness in reflection4 ,seriousness in action1 too1 is one of his lessons--an emphasis on doing1 but on doing with a clear sense of what one is about1 and why4 ,a part of action is clear thought2 always exactness1 accuracy2 you must think the thing out1 he says1 and then act or let it alone4 ,the artistic temperament1 we all know1 is very much in evidence to-day4 ,in ,the ,comments of ,bagshot we are told that the drawback is that there is so much temperament and so little art4 ,why8 ,because the artistic temperament means so little by itself4 ,it is one of the secrets of ,jesus1 that it is action that illuminates4 ,what is it that makes the poem8 ,the poet sees beggar children running races1 or little ,edward and the weather-cock1 or something greater if you like--the light on a woman's hair1 or a flower2 and you say1 he has his poem4 ,he has not4 ,he must work at the thing4 ,when we study the great poets1 we realize how these things are worked out to the point of nerve-strain and exhaustion4 ,the poet devotes himself heart and soul to the work2 he alters this and that1 once and again2 he sees a fresh aspect of the thing1 and he alters all again2 he writes and rewrites1 getting deeper and deeper into the essential values of the thing all the time4 ,where in all this is the artistic temperament8 ,it gave him the impulse1 but something else achieves the work of art4 ,i have a feeling that the great works of art are achieved by the shopkeeper virtues in addition to the artistic temperament that sees and feels them at the beginning4 ,it is action that gives the value of a thought4 ,jesus sees that4 ,he says that frankly to his disciples4 ,if you want to understand in the long run1 it is carrying the cross that will teach you the real values4 ,i have been treating him almost as if he were an authority on pedagogy4 ,fortunately1 he never discussed pedagogy1 never used the terms ,i have been using4 ,but he dealt with men1 he taught and he influenced them1 and it is worth our study to understand how he did it--to master his methods4 ,one loving spirit sets another on fire4 ,as for the effects of his words at once1 as ,seeley put it1 they were seething effervescence 4 4 4 broodings1 resolutions1 travail of heart4 ,men were brought face to face with a new issue2 it was a time of choice2 things would not be as they were men must be with him or against him--must accept or reject the new teaching1 the new teacher1 the new life4 ,as he said1 ,i came to send fire on the earth 7,luke #ab3di71 to divide families1 to divide the individual soul against itself1 till the great choice was made2 and so it has always been1 where men have really seen him4 ,we have to notice further the transformation of the disciples1 who definitely accepted him4 ,very wonderful to me1 wrote ,phillips ,brooks1 to see how the disciples caught his method4 ,the promise was made to them that they should become fishers of men 7,mark #a3ag71 and it was fulfilled4 ,jesus made them strong enough to defy the world and to capture the world4 ,there is something attractive about them2 they have his secret1 something of his charm2 they are magnetic with his power4 ,a new impulse to win men marks them1 a new power to do it1 a new faith which grows in significance as you study it--the faith of ,william ,carey1 a hundred years ago1 was the same thing--a perfectly incredible faith1 that they actually will win men for ,god and ,christ4 ,and they did--and along his lines and by his methods of love--even for ,gentiles4 ,woe is me1 if ,i preach not the ,gospel1 says ,st4 ,paul 7#a ,cor4 #i3af71 who to preach the ,gospel shipwrecked his life and suffered the loss of all things 7,phil4 #c3h74 ,but these men are sure that it is worthwhile4 ,they have a new passion for men and women--an interest not merely in the saving of their souls but in every real human need4 ,the early ,church made a point of teaching men trades when they had none4 ,they learnt all this from him4 ,the greatest miracle in history seems to me the transformation that ,jesus effected in those men4 ,everything else in ,christian or secular history1 compared to it1 seems easy and explicable2 and it was achieved by the love of ,jesus4 ,the ,church spread over the world without social machinery4 ,the ,gospel was preached instinctively1 naturally4 ,the earliest ,christians were persecuted in ,jerusalem1 and were driven out4 ,i picture one of them in flight2 on his journey he falls in with a stranger4 ,before he knows what he is doing1 he is telling his fellow traveller about ,jesus4 ,it follows from his explanation of why he is on the road2 he warms up as he speaks4 ,he never really thought about the danger of doing so4 ,and the stranger wants to know more2 he is captured by the message1 and he too becomes a ,christian4 ,and then this involuntary preacher of the ,gospel is embarrassed to learn that the man is a ,gentile2 he had not thought of that4 ,i think that is how it began--so naturally and spontaneously4 ,these people are so full of love of ,jesus that they are bound to speak 7,acts #h3d74 ,one loving heart sets another on fire4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,teaching ,,of ,,jesus ,,upon ,,god ,it is worth taking some trouble to realize how profoundly ,jesus has changed the thinking of mankind about ,god4 ,since ,jesus lived1 ,dr4 ,fairbairn wrote1 ,god has been another and nearer ,being to man4 ,jesus1 writes ,dr4 ,fosdick1 had the most joyous idea of ,god that ever was thought of4 ,that joyous sense of ,god he has given to his followers1 and it stands in vivid contrast with the feelings men have toward ,god in the other religions4 ,christianity is the religion of joy4 ,the ,new ,testament is full of it4 ,we know the general character of ,jesus' attitude to ,god1 his feeling for ,god1 his sense of ,god's nearness4 ,how immediate his knowledge of ,god is1 how intimate6 ,of course1 here1 as everywhere1 his teaching has such an occasional character--or else the records of it are so fragmentary--that we must not press the absence of system in it2 and yet1 ,i think1 it would be right to say that ,jesus puts before us no system of ,god1 but rather suggests a great exploration1 an intimacy with the slow and sure knowledge that intimacy gives4 ,he has no definition of ,god1#ba but he assumes ,god1 lives on the basis of ,god1 interprets ,god2 and ,god is discovered in his acts and his relations4 ,he said to ,peter1 in effect--for the familiar phrase comes to this in modern ,english3 ,you think like a man2 you don't think like ,god 7,mark #h3cc74 ,elsewhere he contrasts ,god's thoughts with man's--their outlooks are so different that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of ,god 7,luke #af3ae2 the ,greek words are very interesting74 ,in other words1 he would have men see all things as ,god sees them4 ,that we do not so see them1 remains the weak spot in our thinking4 ,what ,luther said to ,erasmus is true of most of us3 ,your thoughts concerning ,god are too human4 ,blessed are the pure in heart1 for they shall see ,god1 said ,jesus 7,matt4 #e3h71 and throughout he emphasizes that the vision of ,god depends on likeness to ,god--it is love and a glowing purity that give that faculty1 rather than any power of intellect apart from them4 ,jesus brings men back to the ultimate fact4 ,our views are too short and too narrow4 ,he would have us face ,god1 see him and realize him--think in the terms of ,god1 look at things from ,god's point of view1 live in ,god and with ,god4 ,in modern phrase1 he breaks up our dogmatism and puts us at a universal point of view to see things over again in a new and true perspective4 ,how and where did he begin himself8 ,whence came his consciousness of ,god1 his gift for recognizing ,god8 ,we do not know4 ,the story of his growth1 his inward growth1 is almost unrevealed to us4 ,we are told that he learnt by the things which he suffered 7,heb4 #e3h71 and that he increased in wisdom and stature1 and in favour with ,god and man 7,luke #b3eb74 ,where does anyone begin1 who takes us any great distance8 ,it is very hard to know4 ,where did our own thoughts of ,god begin8 ,what made them8 ,how did they come8 ,there is an inherited element in them1 but how much else8 ,whence came the inherited element8 ,how is it that to another man1 with the same upbringing as ours1 everything is different1 everything means more8 ,remark1 at any rate1 in the teaching of ,jesus1 that there is no mysticism of the type so much studied to-day4 ,there is nothing in the least psychopathic about him1 nothing abnormal--no mystical vision of ,god1 no mystical absorption in ,god1 no mystical union with ,god1 no abstraction1 nothing that is the mark of the professed mystic4 ,yet he speaks freely of seeing ,god2 he lives a life of the closest union with ,god2 and ,god is in all his thoughts4 ,a phrase like that of ,clement of ,alexandria1 deifying into apathy we become monadic1 is seas away from anything we find in the speech of ,jesus4 ,that is not the way he preaches ,god4 ,he is far more natural2 and that his followers accepted this naturalness1 and drew him so1 and gave his teaching as he gave it1 is a fresh pledge of the truthfulness of the ,gospels4 ,again1 his knowledge of ,god is not a matter of quotation1 as ours very often tends to be4 ,he is conscious always of the real nearness of ,god4 ,he seems to wonder how it is that man can forget ,god4 ,we do forget ,god4 ,augustine in his ,confessions 7iv4 #ab1 #ah7 has to tell us that ,god did not make the world and then go away4 ,the practical working religion of a great many of us rests on a feeling that ,god is a very long way off4 ,our practical steps betray that we half think ,god did go away1 when he had made the world4 ,prayer to us is not a real thing--it is not intercourse face to face2 far too often it is like conversation over a telephone wire of infinite length which gets out of order4 ,even if words travel along that wire1 there is so much buzzing that they are hardly recognizable4 ,no1 says ,jesus1 ,god is near1 ,god is here--so near1 that ,jesus never feels that men have any need of a priesthood to come between1 or to help them to ,god2 ,god does all that4 ,there is no common concern1 no matter of food or clothing1 no mere detail of the ordinary round of common duty and common life--father and mother1 son1 wife1 friend--nothing of all that1 but ,god is there2 ,god knows about it2 ,god is interested in it2 ,god has taken care of it2 ,god is enjoying it4 ,how is it that men can reject the counsel of ,god1 refuse ,god's plans and ideas 7,luke #g3cj78 ,how is it that they forget ,god altogether8 ,jesus is surprised at the dullness of men's minds 7,mark #h3ag72 it is a mystery to him4 ,the rich fool1 as we call him1 though it is hard to see why we should call him a fool1 when he is so like ourselves1 had forgotten ,god somehow1 and was startled when ,god spoke1 and spoke to him4 ,that story1 seen so often among men1--the story of the thorns choking the seed 7,matt4 #ac3bb7--makes ,jesus remark on the difficulty which a rich man finds in entering into the kingdom of ,god4 ,god knows--that is what ,jesus repeats1 ,god cares2 and ,god can do things2 his hands are not tied by impotence4 ,the knowledge of ,god is emphasized by ,jesus2 ,even the very hairs of your head are all numbered 7,matt4 #aj3cj72 your ,father knoweth 7,luke #ab3cj72 seeth in secret 7,matt4 #f3d72 knoweth your hearts 7,luke #af3ae72 knows your struggles1 knows your worries1 knows your worth2 ,god knows all about you4 ,and all things are possible with ,god 7,matt4 #ai3bf74 ,there is nothing that he cannot do1 nothing that he will not do1 for his children4 ,will a father refuse his child bread2 will ,god not give what is good8 7,matt4 #g3aa74 ,is it too big a thing for the ,giver of ,life to give food--which is the more difficult thing to give8 7,luke #ab3bc74 ,look at ,god1 as ,jesus draws him--interested in flowers2 ,god takes care of them1 and thinks about their colours1 so that even ,solomon in all his glory is not equal to them 7,matt4 #f3cj74 ,god knows the birds in the nest--knows there is one fewer there to-day than there was yesterday 7,matt4 #aj3bi74 ,god cares for them2 how much more will he care for you 7,matt4 #f3bf78 ,ye are of more value than many sparrows 7,matt4 #aj3ca74 ,and ,god thinks out man's life in all its relations1 and provides for it4 ,society moves on lines he laid down for it2 his plans underlie all4 ,thus1 when ,jesus is challenged on the question of marriage and divorce1 with that clear thought and eye of his1 he goes right back to ,god's intent--not to man's usage1 not to the common law and practice of nations1 but to ,god's intent and ,god's meaning4 ,god ordained marriage2 he thought it out 7,matt4 #ai3d74 ,marriages will be better1 if we think of them in this way4 ,god gave men their food1 does still1 and all things that he gives are clean 7,luke #aa3da74 ,we cannot have taboos at our ,father's table4 ,over all is ,god's throne 7,matt4 #bc3bb74 ,that idea1 it seems to me1 lapses somehow from our minds to-day4 ,when ,luther had to face the hostility of the ,kaiser1 the ,emperor ,charles ,v41 he wrote to one of his friends3 ,christ comes and sits at the right hand--not of the ,kaiser1 for in that case we should have perished long ago--but at the right hand of ,god4 ,this is a great and incredible thing2 but ,i enjoy it1 incredible as it is2 some day ,i mean to die in it4 ,why should ,i not live in it8 ,so ,luther wrote--in not quite our modern vein4 ,we hardly calculate on ,god as a factor2 we omit him4 ,jesus did not4 ,god's rule is over all2 and in all our perplexity1 doubt1 and fear1 ,jesus reminds us that the first thing is faith in ,god4 ,the fact is that ,thine is the ,kingdom means peace2 it is a joyous reminder4 ,for if he speaks of the ,kingdom of ,god1 the ,king is more than the ,kingdom4 ,it is the ,kingdom1 the rule1 of the ,god whom ,jesus teaches us to trust and to love4 ,the ,father is supreme4 ,but that has more aspects than one4 ,if our ,father is supreme for us1 he is supreme over us4 ,jesus emphasizes the will of ,god--,god's commandment against man's tradition1 ,god's will against man's notions 7,mark #g3h74 ,what a source of rest and peace to him is the thought of ,god's will6 ,when ,dante writes3 ,and ,his will is our peace1 it is the thought of ,jesus4 ,and at the same time ,god's judgements are as real to ,jesus' mind4 ,i will tell you1 he says1 whom to fear1 ,god--yes1 fear him6 7,luke #ab3e74 ,he feels the tenderness and the awfulness of ,god at once4 ,in speaking of ,god1 it is noticeable that ,jesus chiefly emphasizes ,god's interest in the individual1 as giving the real clue to ,god's nature4 ,on the whole1 there is very little even implied1 still less explicit1 in the ,gospels1 about ,god as the great architect of ,nature--hardly anything on the lines familiar to us in the ,psalms and in ,isaiah--,the sea is his1 and he made it2 and his hands formed the dry land 7,psalm #ie3e7--;,he taketh up the isles as a very little thing 7,isaiah #dj3ae74 ,there is little of this in the ,gospels2 yet it is implied in the affair of the storm 7,matt4 #h3bf74 ,the disciples in their anxiety wake him4 ,he does not understand their fear4 ,whose sea is it8 ,whose wind is it8 ,whose children are you8 ,cannot you trust your ,father to control his wind and his sea8 ,of course it is possible that he said more about ,god as the ,author of ,nature than our fragmentary reports give us2 but it may be that it is because the emphasis on ,god's care and love for the individual is hardest to believe1 and at the same time best1 gives the real value of ,god1 that ,jesus uses it so much4 ,perhaps the ,great ,artificer is too far away for our minds4 ,he is too busy1 we think2 and yet1 after all1 if ,god is so great1 why should he be so busy8 ,if he is a real ,father1 why should not he be at leisure for his children8 ,he is1 says ,jesus2 a friend has leisure for his friends1 and a father for his children2 and ,god1 ,jesus suggests1 always has leisure for you4 ,the great emphasis with ,jesus falls on the love of ,god4 ,thus he tells the story of the impossible creditor with two debtors 7,luke #g3db74 ,one owed him ten pounds1 and the other a hundred4 ,when they had nothing to pay1 they both came to him and told him so4 ,the ordinary creditor1 at the very best1 would say3 ,well1 ,i suppose ,i must put it down as a bad debt4 ,jesus says that this creditor took up quite another attitude4 ,he smiled and said to his two troubled friends3 ,is that all8 ,don't let anything like that worry you4 ,what is that between you and me8 ,he forgave them the debt with such a charm 7echarisato71 ,jesus says1 that they both loved him4 ,one feels that the end of the story must be1 that they both paid him and loved him all the more for taking the money4 ,what a delightful story of charm1 and friendship and forgiveness6 ,and it is a true picture of ,god1 ,jesus would have us believe1 of ,god's forgiveness and the response it wakes in men4 ,if we do not definitely set our minds to assimilate the ideas of ,jesus1 we shall make too little of the heart of ,god4 ,with ,jesus this is the central and crucial reality4 ,he emphasizes the generosity of ,god4 ,god makes his sun rise on the good and on the bad2 he sends rain on the just and the unjust 7,matt4 #e3de74 ,god's flowers are just as beautiful in the bad man's garden4 ,god knows what his child needs1 and gives it1 whether it is a very good child or a very bad one4 ,the ,father is the same great wise ,friend in either case4 ,the peacemakers are recognized as the children of ,god1 because of their family likeness to ,god 7,matt4 #e3i74 ,they come among people1 and find them in discord with one another1 and their presence stills that2 or they come into a man's life1 when it is all in disorder and pain1 and they bring peace there4 ,they may not quite know it1 but they do these things almost without meaning to do them4 ,and ,jesus says that this is a family likeness by which men know they are ,god's children4 ,but it is not every teacher1 pagan or ,christian1 who lays such stress on ,god's gift of peace1 or is so sure of it4 ,he uses ,hosea's great saying about ,god--,i will have mercy and not sacrifice 7,hosea #f3f71 as giving the truth about ,god4 ,matthew represents him as quoting it twice 7,matt4 #i3ac1 #ab3g72 and we can well believe that he found in it the real spirit of ,god and often referred to it4 ,his own heart has taken him to the tenderest of the utterances of the ,old ,testament spoken by the most suffering of the ,prophets4 ,love your enemies1 he says 7,matt4 #e3dd72 yes1 for then you will be the real children of ,god4 ,or he speaks of the great patience of ,god1 how ,god gives every man all the time and all the chance that he needs--sometimes1 he half suggests1 even a little more4 ,look at the parable of the fig tree1 how the gardener pleads for the tree1 begs and obtains another chance for it 7,luke #ac3h72 that is like ,god1 says ,jesus4 ,it is easy enough to talk in a vague way about the love of ,god4 ,but the love of ,god implies surely the individual2 love has little content indeed if its object is merely a collective noun1 an abstract1 a concept4 ,but that ,god loves individual men is very difficult for us to believe in earnest4 ,the real crux comes when the question rises in a man's own heart1 ,does ,god love me8 ,jesus says that he does1 but it is very hard to believe1 except in the company of ,jesus and under his influence4 ,jesus throughout asserts and reasserts the value of the individual to ,god4 ,look1 for example1 at the picture he draws1 when he tells of the recovery of the ,lost ,sheep1 and brings out the analogy4 ,at the end of the ,book of ,job 7ch4 #ch7 the poet carries his reader back to the first sight of a world new-made1 and tells how ,god1 like the real artist and creator--we might not have thought of all this1 but the poet did--loves his work so much that he must have his friends sharing it with him4 ,he calls them2 he shows them the world he has made--the beauty1 and the wonder1 and the power1 as ,browning says4 ,the poet tells us that what followed was that the morning stars sang together1 and all the sons of ,god shouted for joy4 ,the sight was so good that song and shout came instinctively1 almost involuntarily4 ,is it not the same picture which ,jesus draws of joy in heaven in the presence of the angels of ,god over one sinner that repenteth8 ,we can believe in such joy when ,god made the world2 but can we believe that there was the same joy in the presence of ,god yesterday when a coolie gave his heart to ,god8 ,jesus does4 ,that is the central thing1 it seems to me1 in his teaching about ,god--that ,god cares for the individual to an extent far beyond anything we could think possible4 ,if we can wrestle with that central thought and assimilate it1 or1 as the old divines said1 appropriate it1 make it our own1 the rest of the ,gospel is easy4 ,but one can never manage it except with the help1 and in the company1 of ,jesus4 ,jesus goes a step further1 and believes in the possibility of a man loving ,god and ,god enjoying that too4 ,if he speaks of prayer1 must we not think he means that ,god wants it as much as his child can want it8 ,how much is involved in the name ,father1 which ,jesus so uniformly gives to ,god8 ,something less than the word carries in the case of a human father1 or more8 ,what is the attitude of a father to his child8 ,jesus1 as we have seen1 uses this illustration to bring out ,god's care for the actual needs of his children4 ,but is that all8 ,what is the innermost thing in a father's relation to his children8 ,surely something more than the bird's instinct to feed her young1 or to gather them under her wings 7,luke #ac3cd74 ,is not one of the most real features of parenthood enjoyment of the child8 ,do not men and women frankly enjoy the grappling of the little mind with big things8 ,is there not a charm1 as says one of the ,christian ,fathers 7,minucius ,felix71 about the half-words that a child uses1 as he learns to talk and wrestles with a grown-up vocabulary8 ,about the extraordinary pictures he will draw of ships or cows--the quaint stories he will invent--the odd ways in which his gratitude and his affection express themselves8 ,is it a real fatherhood where such things do not appeal8 ,jesus' language about ,god1 his whole attitude to ,god1 implies throughout that ,god is as real a ,father as anybody1 and it suggests that ,god loves his children the more because they are real2 because they are not very clever2 because they do make such queer and imperfect prayers2 because1 in short1 they need him2 and because they fill a place in his heart4 ,we have to remark how firmly ,jesus believes in his ,gospel of ,god and man needing each other and finding each other--his good news1 as he calls it4 ,he bases all on his faith in what has been called ,man's incurable religious instinct--that instinct in the human heart that must have ,god--and in ,god's response to that instinct which he himself implanted1 and which is no accident found here and missing there1 but a genuine ,god-given characteristic of every man1 whatever his temperament or his range in emotions may be1 his swiftness or slowness of mind4 ,the repeated parables of seed and leaven--the parables of vitality--again and again suggest his faith in his message1 his conviction that ,god must have man and man must have ,god--that1 as ,st4 ,augustine puts it1 ,thou hast made us for ,thyself1 and our heart knows no rest till it rests in ,thee 7,conf41 i4 #a74 ,that is the essence of the ,gospel4 ,how this union of the soul with ,god comes about1 ,jesus does not directly say1 but there are many hints in his teaching that bear upon it4 ,the ,kingdom of ,heaven cometh not with observation1 he said 7,luke #ag3bj74 ,religious truth is not reached by quick turns of self-applauding intellect1 nor by demonstrations4 ,it comes another way4 ,the quiet familiarity with the deep true things of life1 till on a sudden they are transfigured in the light of ,god1 and truth is a new and glowing thing1 independent of arguments and the strange evidence of thaumaturgy--this is the normal way2 and ,jesus holds by it4 ,the great people1 men of law and learning1 want more2 they want something to substantiate ,god's messages from without4 ,if ,jesus comes to them with a word from ,god1 can he not prove its authenticity preferably with a sign from the sky 7,mark #h3aa78 ,for the signs he gives1 and the evidence he suggests1 are unsatisfactory4 ,and he sighed deeply in his spirit1 and saith1 ,why doth this generation seek after a sign8 ,verily ,i say unto you1 there shall no sign be given unto this generation4' ,so he left them and went up into the ship again and went away4 ,that scene is drawn from life4 ,but why no sign8 ,in the parallel passage we read3 ,the wicked generation and adulterous seeketh a sign1 but there shall no sign be given it1 but the sign of the prophet ,jonah'2 so he left them and departed 7,matt4 #af3d74 ,the real explanation of this reference to ,jonah is given by ,luke 7#aa3cb71 and missed or misdeveloped in ,matthew 7,matt4 #ab3dj74 ,nineveh recognized instinctively the inherent truth of ,jonah's message1 and repented4 ,truth is its own evidence--like leaven in the meal1 like seed in the field1 it does its work1 and its life reveals it4 ,god is known that way4 ,when the chief priests demand of ,jesus to be told plainly what is his authority 7,mark #aa3bg71 he carries the matter a stage further3 ,was the baptism of ,john1 he asks1 from heaven1 i4e4 from ,god1 or was it of men8 ,does ,god make ,his message clear1 does ,he properly authenticate ,himself8 ,and the uneasy weighing of alternatives1 summarized by the evangelist1 leads to the answer that they could not tell whence it was2 and ,jesus rejoins that he has nothing to say to them about his authority4 ,he had taken what we might call an easy case--where it was evident that ,god had spoken2 and this was all they made of it--they could not tell4 ,it was plain1 then1 either that these men did not recognize the obvious message of ,god 7the word of ,god came upon ,john1 ,luke #c3i171 or that1 if they did recognize it1 they thought it did not matter4 ,for the insincere and the trivial there is no message from ,god1 no truth of ,god--how should there be8 ,if we pursue this line of thought1 we can see how1 in ,jesus' opinion1 a man may be sure of ,god and of ,god's word for him4 ,if a man be candid with himself1 if he face the common facts of life with seriousness and in the doing of duty1 perplexities vanish4 ,such a man is prepared for the ,great ,fact1 by faithfulness to the little facts1 and then ,god dawns on him in them4 ,this is put directly in the ,fourth ,gospel 7#g3ag71 and in parable in the ,synoptists4 ,the leaven works1 till the whole is leavened2 the uneasy process is over and the result achieved4 ,or1 it comes more quietly still--the seed grows while the farmer sleeps and rises1 night and day2 the blade springs up and the ear forms on the blade1 the seed grows in the ear2 and the end is reached and ,god's ,kingdom is a reality4 ,or1 the knowledge of ,god comes like a lightning flash--sudden1 illuminative1 decisive4 ,the ,son reveals ,god to the simple1 ,jesus said 7,matt4 #aa3bg74 ,the ,son of ,man may be a disputable figure--,whosoever speaketh a word against the ,son of ,man1 it shall be forgiven him 7,matt4 #ab3cb7--;but there is no forgiveness in this world1 or in any possible real world where ,god counts at all1 for the refusal of the spirit of ,truth4 ,so he taught1 and all history shows he was right--the refusal of truth is fatal4 ,jesus1 wrote ,matthew ,arnold1 never touches theory1 but bases himself invariably upon experience4 ,it is to experience that ,jesus goes to authenticate his message4 ,the real facts of life lead you to ,god1 as the red sky1 and the south wind1 teach you to foretell the weather 7,matt4 #af3b2 ,luke #ab3ee74 ,eyes and ears1 said the ,greek thinker1 ,heraclitus1 long before1 are bad witnesses for such as have barbarian souls4 ,the ,pharisees discredited ,jesus--he cast out devils by ,beelzebub4 ,did he1 he asked1 or was it by the finger of ,god 7,luke #aa3bj78 ,is there no evidence of ,god in restored sanity8 ,but the strength of his position lies in the good news for the poor 7,matt4 #aa3e71 for those who labour and are heavy--laden 7,matt4 #aa3bh7--news of rest and refreshment--as if the intuition of ,god1 with the peace it brings1 were its own proof4 ,truth is reached less by ingenuity than by intensity4 ,to the simple mind1 to the true heart1 to the pure soul 7,matt4 #e3h71 to those whose gift is peace1 ,truth comes flooding in--new light on old fact1 and new light from old fact--and ,god is evident4 ,so ,jesus judged2 and here again1 before we decide for or against his view1 we have to make sure that we know his meaning1 and realize the experience by which he reached his thought4 ,and then1 perhaps1 ,god will be more evident to us in our turn4 ,the ,kingdom of ,god cometh not with observation 7,luke #ag3bj7--;it is within 7,luke #ag3ba72 so quietly it comes1 that we may not guess how in any particular instance the realization of ,god came to a soul2 but if we are candid and truth-loving we can know it when it has come to ourselves1 and we can recognize it when it comes to another4 ,we can recognize it in its power and peace1 we can see the greatness of the new knowledge in the new man it makes1 in the new life1 the man of the great spirit1 of the great action1 the man of the great quiet1 the man who has the peace of ,god4 ,what does the discovery of ,god mean8 ,jesus himself speaks of a man turning right about1 being converted 7,matt4 #ah3c72 of the revision of all ideas1 of all standards1 of all values4 ,he gives us two beautiful pictures to illustrate what it means2 and it repays us to linger over them4 ,first1 there is the ,treasure ,finder4 ,he is in the country1 digging perhaps in another man's field1 or idling in the open2 and by accident he stumbles on a buried treasure4 ,palestine was like ,belgium--a land with a long history of wars fought on its soil by foreigners1 ,babylon or ,assyria against ,egypt1 ,ptolemies against ,seleucids4 ,it was the only available route for attack either on ,egypt by land1 or on ,syria or ,mesopotamia or ,babylon from the ,southern ,mediterranean4 ,in such a land when the foreign army marched through1 a man had best hide his treasure and hope to find it again in better times1 and again and again the secret of its place of burial died with him4 ,the ,treasure ,finder had no lord of the manor to think of1 no ,treasury department4 ,he made a great discovery1 and made it initially for himself1 and his own--and for joy thereof he goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field4 ,we can see him full of his discovery1 full of eagerness and trying to hide his inner joy1 as he realizes every penny he can manage1 and achieves the great transaction which gives him the field and the treasure4 ,the salient points are a sudden and great joy1 an instant resolution1 a complete sacrifice of everything1 and a life unexpectedly and infinitely enriched4 ,and so it is1 says ,jesus1 with the ,kingdom of ,god 7,matt4 #ac3dd74 ,the ,pearl ,merchant is a more interesting figure4 ,perhaps we may picture him middle-aged1 a trifle worn1 somewhat silent1 a man of keen eyes4 ,he has been in his trade for years1 and he is a master at it4 ,by now he has a knowledge which years give to a man in earnest--a knowledge more like instinct than anything acquired4 ,a glance at pearls on a table--this1 and this1 and this he will take the other1 perhaps2 he would look at that one--the rest8 he shook his head and did not look at them--he saw without looking4 ,one day he is told of a pearl--a good one4 ,he is not surprised1 for pearls are always good when they are offered for sale4 ,but again a glance is enough4 ,the price8 ,yes1 it is high1 but he will take the pearl1 but he must be allowed till evening to get the money4 ,he goes away and sells his stock--the little collection of pearls in his wallet1 representing the experience of a life-time1 all of them good1 as he very well knows2 and he sells them for what he can get--at a loss1 if it must be4 ,yesterday's bargainer cuts down his price for this and that pearl1 and he is taken up2 he never expected to do so well against the old dealer1 and he laughs4 ,but the merchant is content1 too2 he has sold all his pearls for what they would fetch--lost money on them1 yes1 and been laughed at behind his back4 ,but he owns the one pearl of great price2 it is his1 and he is satisfied4 ,there is no reference to joy here or exultation2 but there is the same instant recognition of the opportunity1 the same resolve1 the same sacrifice1 and the same great acquisition 7,matt4 #ac3de74 ,both parables begin with a reference to the ,kingdom of ,god--to that ,rule and ,kingship of ,god1 the knowledge of which makes all the difference to a man4 ,a small grammatical difference points us beyond minutiae to the common experience of the two men4 ,each makes a great discovery1 and takes action in a great and urgent resolve2 and they are both repaid4 ,if we are to understand the two parables in the sense intended by ,jesus1 the term ,god must become alive to us with all the life and power and love that the name implies for him4 ,then to grasp that this ,father of ,jesus is ,king--that the ,god of his thoughts1 of his faith1 with all the tenderness and the power combined that ,jesus teaches us to see in ,him--rules the universe1 controls our destiny and loves us--this is the experience that ,jesus compares with that of the ,treasure ,finder and the ,pearl ,merchant--worth1 he suggests1 everything a man has1 and more than all4 ,in passing1 we may notice that these stories suggest that this experience may be reached in different ways4 ,in the parables of the seed and the leaven he indicates a natural1 quiet and unconscious growth1 a story without crisis1 though full of change4 ,to the ,treasure ,finder the discovery is a surprise--how came ,jesus so far into the minds of men as to know what a surprise ,god can be1 and how joyful a surprise8 ,the ,pearl ,merchant1 on the other hand1 has lived in the region where he makes his discovery4 ,he is the type that lives and moves in the atmosphere of high and true thought1 that knows whatsoever things are pure and lovely and of good report1 of help and use2 he is no stranger to great and inspiring ideas4 ,and one day1 in no strange way1 by no accident1 but in the ordinary round of life1 he comes on something that transcends all he has been seeking1 all he has known--the ,one thing worth all4 ,there is little surprise about it1 no wild elation1 but nothing is allowed to stand in the way of an instant entrance into the great experience--and the great experience is1 ,jesus says1 ,god4 ,to see ,god1 to know ,god--that is what ,jesus means--to get away from all the fuss and trouble of life into the presence of ,god1 to know he is ours1 to see him smile1 to realize that he wants us to stay there1 that he is a real ,father with a father's heart1 that his love is on the same wonderful scale as every one of his attributes1 and in reality far more intelligible than any of them4 ,that is the picture ,jesus draws4 ,the sheer incredible love of ,god1 the wonderful change it means for all life--that is his teaching1 and he encourages us1 in the words of the ,shorter ,catechism1 to enjoy ,god for ever1 as ,jesus himself does4 ,those who learn his secret enjoy ,god in reality4 ,wherever they see ,god with the eyes of ,jesus1 it is joy and peace4 ,and they realize with deepening emotion that this also is ,god's gift1 as ,jesus said 7,luke #h3aj2 #ab3ci74 ,jesus entirely recast mankind's common ideas of holiness4 ,it is no longer asceticism1 no longer the mystical trance1 no longer the fussiness1 with which the early ,christian reproached the ,jew1 which still haunts all the religions of taboo and merit1 and even ,christianity in some forms4 ,where men think of holiness as freedom from sin1 the negative conception reacts on life4 ,they begin at the wrong end4 ,solomon ,schechter1 the great ,jewish scholar1 once said of ,oxford1 that they practice fastidiousness there1 and call it holiness4 ,unfortunately ,oxford has no monopoly of that type of holiness4 ,but with ,jesus holiness is a much simpler and more natural thing--as natural as the happy1 easy life of father and child1 and it rests on mutual faith4 ,it is ,theocentric1 positive1 active rather than passive--not a state1 but a relation and a force4 ,holiness with him is a living relation with the living ,god4 ,that is why the first feature in it that strikes us is ,courage4 ,be of good cheer2 be not afraid2 that note rings through the ,gospels1 and how much it means1 and has meant1 in sweet temper and cheerfulness in the very chequered history of the ,church6 ,his is the great voice of ,hope in the world4 ,the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 who is our ,hope1 ,paul said 7#a ,tim4 #a3a74 ,even on the ,cross1 according to one text1 ,jesus said to the penitent thief3 ,courage6 ,to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise 7,luke #bc3dc74 ,we may not know where or what paradise is1 but the rest is intelligible and splendid3 ,courage2 to-day thou shalt be with me4 ,look at the brave hearts the ,gospel has made in every age2 how venturesome they are6 and we find the same venturesomeness in ,jesus--for instance1 as a ,german scholar emphasizes1 in that episode of the daughter of ,jairus4 ,the messenger comes and says she is dead4 ,anybody else would stop1 but ,jesus goes on4 ,that is a great piece of interpretation4 ,look again at his venturesomeness in trusting the ,gospel to the twelve and to us--and in facing the ,cross4 ,it was his knowledge of ,god1 says ,professor ,peabody1 that gave him his tranquillity of mind4#bb ,jesus1 says ,dr4 ,cairns1 said that no one ever trusted ,god enough1 and that was the source of all the sin and tragedy4 ,look at his emphasis again and again on faith2 and the language is not that of guesswork2 they are the words of the great ,son of ,fact1 who based himself on experience4 ,have faith in ,god 7,mark #aa3bb74 ,be not afraid1 only believe 7,mark #e3cf74 ,all things are possible to him that believeth 7,mark #i3bc74 ,when he criticizes his disciples1 it is on the score of their want of faith--,o ye of little faith--it has been taken as almost a nickname for them4 ,in the hour of trial and danger they may trust to the ,spirit of your ,father 7,matt4 #aj3bj74 ,it is remarkable what value he attaches to faith even of the slightest--faith as a grain of mustard seed 7,matt4 #ag3ij7--;it is little1 but it is of the seed order1 a living thing of the most immense vitality with the promise of growth and usefulness in it4 ,this brings us to the question of ,prayer4 ,some of us1 of course1 do not believe very much in prayer for certain philosophical reasons1 which perhaps1 as a matter of fact1 are not quite as sound as we think1 because our definition of prayer is a wrong one1 resting on insufficient experience and insufficient reflection4 ,what is prayer8 ,we shall agree that it is the act by which man definitely tries to relate his soul and life to ,god4 ,what ,jesus then teaches on prayer will illuminate what he means by ,god2 and conversely his conception of ,god will throw new light upon the whole problem of prayer4 ,it is plain history that ,jesus1 the great ,son of ,fact1 believed in prayer1 told men to pray1 and prayed himself4 ,the ,gospels and the ,epistle to the ,hebrews lay emphasis on his practice4 ,early in the morning he withdrew to the desert 7,mark #a3ce71 late at night he remained on the hillside for prayer 7,mark #f3df74 ,wearied by the crowds that thronged him1 he kept apart and continued in prayer4 ,he prays before he chooses the disciples 7,luke #f3ab74 ,he gives thanks to ,god on the return of the seventy from their missionary journey 7,luke #aj3ba74 ,prayer is associated with the confession of ,caesarea ,philippi 7,luke #i3ah71 with the ,mount of ,transfiguration 7,luke #i3bi71 with ,gethsemane 7,luke #bb3da74 ,the writer to the ,hebrews speaks of his strong crying and tears 7,heb4 #e3g7 in prayer4 ,the ,gospels even mention what we should call his unanswered prayers4 ,the prayer before the calling of the ,twelve does not exclude ,judas2 and the cup does not pass in spite of the prayer in ,gethsemane4 ,it is as if we had something to learn from the unanswered prayers of our ,master4 ,certainly the content of the ,gospel for us would have been poorer if they had been answered in our sense of the word2 and this fact1 taken with his own teaching on prayer1 and his own submission to the ,father's will1 may help us over some of our difficulties4 ,but ,jesus had no doubt or fear about prayer being answered4 ,ask1 and it shall be given you2 seek1 and ye shall find2 knock1 and it shall be opened unto you 7,luke #aa3i7--;are not ambiguous statements in the least2 and they come from one who based himself on experience4 ,it is worth thinking out that the experience of ,jesus lies behind his recommendation of prayer4 ,all his clear-eyed knowledge of ,god speaks in these plain sentences4 ,as he was praying1 they ask him1 ,teach us to pray1 as ,john also taught his disciples 7,luke #aa3a74 ,it looks as if at times his disciples caught him at prayer or even overheard him1 and felt that here was prayer that took them out beyond all they had ever known of prayer4 ,there were men whom ,john had taught to pray2 was it they who asked ,jesus to teach them over again8 ,there may have been some of them who had learnt the ,pharisee's way in prayer1 and some who stuck to the simpler way they had been taught in childhood4 ,in each case the old ways were outgrown4 ,we can put together what he taught them4 ,in the first place1 the thing must be real and individual--the first requirement always with ,jesus4 ,the public prayer of ostentation is out of the reckoning2 it is nothing4 ,jesus chooses the quiet and solitary place for his intercourse with his ,father4 ,the real prayer is to the ,father in secret--,his affair4 ,and it will be earnest beyond what most of us think4 ,we are so familiar with ,gospel and parable that we do not take in the strenuousness of ,jesus' way in prayer4 ,the importunate widow 7,luke #ah3b7 and the friend at midnight 7,luke #aa3e7 are his types of insistent and incessant earnestness4 ,do you1 he asks1 pray with anything like their determination to be heard8 ,the knock at the door and the pleading voice continue till the request is granted--in each case by a reluctant giver4 ,but ,god is not reluctant1 ,jesus says1 though ,god1 too1 will choose his own time to answer 7,luke #ah3g74 ,it does not mean the mechanical reiteration of the heathen 7,matt4 #f3g7--not at all1 that is not the business of praying2 but the steady earnest concentration on the purpose1 with the deeper and deeper clarification of the thought as we press home into ,god's presence till we get there4 ,it was so that he prayed1 we may be sure4 ,it is not idly that prayer has been called the greatest task of the ,christian man2 it will not be an easy thing1 but a strenuous4 ,one part of the difficulty of prayer is recognized by ,jesus over and over again4 ,men do not really quite believe that they will be answered--they are of little faith4 ,but he tells them with emphasis1 in one form of words and another1 driving it home into them1 that all things are possible with ,god 7,mark #aj3bg7--;have faith in ,god 7,mark #aa3bb74 ,one can imagine how he fixes them with the familiar steady gaze1 pauses1 and then with the full weight of his personality in his words1 and meaning them to give to his words the full value he intends1 says3 ,have faith in ,god4 ,to see him and to hear him must have given that faith of itself4 ,if the friend in the house to your knowledge has the loaves1 you will knock till you get them2 and has not ,god the gifts for you that you need8 ,is he short of the power to help1 or is it the will to help that is wanting in ,god8 ,once more the vital thing is ,jesus' conception of ,god4 ,here1 as elsewhere1 we sacrifice far more than we dream by our lazy way of using his words without making the effort to give them his connotation4 ,to turn again to passages already quoted1 will a father give his son a serpent instead of the fish for which he asks1 a stone for bread8 ,it is unthinkable2 ,god--will ,god do less8 ,it all goes back again to the relation of father and child1 to the love of ,god2 only into the thought1 ,jesus puts a significance which we have not character or love enough to grasp4 ,your ,father knoweth that ye have need of these things1 he says about the matters that weigh heaviest with us 7,luke #ab3cj74 ,even if we suppose ,luke's reference to the ,father giving the ,holy ,spirit to those who ask 7,luke #aa3ac71 to owe something to the editor's hand--it was an editor with some ,christian experience--it is clear that ,jesus steadily implies that the heavenly ,father has better things than food and clothing for his children4 ,how much of a human father is available for his children8 ,then will not the heavenly ,father1 ,jesus suggests1 give on a larger scale1 and give ,himself2 in short1 be available for the least significant of ,his own children in all ,his fullness and all ,his ,fatherhood8 ,and even if they do not ask1 because they do not know their need1 will he not answer the prayers that others1 who do know1 make for them8 ,jesus at all events made a practice of intercession--,i prayed for thee1 he said to ,peter 7,luke #bb3cb7--;and the writers of the ,new ,testament feel that it is only natural for ,jesus1 ,risen1 ,ascended1 and ,glorified1 to make intercession for us still 7,rom4 #h3cd2 ,heb4 #g3be74 ,we have again to think out what ,god's ,fatherhood implies and carries with it for ,jesus4 ,the recurrence of the sweet and deep name1 ,father1 unveils the secret of his being4 ,his heart is at rest in ,god4#bc ,rest in ,god is the very note of all his being1 of all his teaching--the keynote of all prayer in his thought4 ,our ,father1 who art in heaven1 our prayers are to begin--and perhaps they are not to go on till we realize what we are saying in that great form of speech4 ,it is certain that as these words grow for us into the full stature of their meaning for ,jesus1 we shall understand in a more intimate way what the whole ,gospel is in reality4 ,the writer to the ,hebrews has here an interesting suggestion for us4 ,using the symbolism of the ,hebrew religion and its tabernacle1 he compares ,jesus to the ,high ,priest1 but ,jesus1 he says1 does not enter into the holiest alone4 ,having therefore1 brethren1 boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of ,jesus1 by a new and living way1 which he hath consecrated for us 444 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith 7,heb4 #aj3ai74 ,in the previous chapter he discards the symbol and speaks things--,christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands1 which are the figures of the true2 but into heaven itself1 now to appear in the presence of ,god for us 7,heb4 #i3bd74 ,there he touches what has been the faith of the ,church throughout--that in ,christ we reach the presence of ,god4 ,without saying so much in so many words1 ,jesus implies this in all his attitude to prayer4 ,god is there1 and ,god loves you1 and loves to have you speak with him4 ,no one has ever believed this very much outside the radius of ,christ's person and influence4 ,it is1 when we give the words full weight1 an essentially ,christian faith1 and it depends on our relation to ,jesus ,christ4 ,jesus was quite explicit with his friends in telling them they did not know what to ask1 but he showed them himself what they should ask4 ,seek ye first the kingdom of ,god and his righteousness 7,matt4 #f3cc71 he says1 and tells us to pray for the forgiveness of our sins and for deliverance from evil4 ,pray1 too1 ,thy kingdom come4 ,pray ye the ,lord of the harvest1 that he will send forth labourers into his harvest 7,matt4 #i3ch74 ,this is perhaps the only place where he asked his disciples to pray for his great work4 ,identification with ,god's purposes--identification with the individual needs of those we love and those we ought to love--identification with the world's sin and misery--these seem to be his canons of prayer for us1 as for himself4 ,for both in what he teaches others and in what he does himself1 he makes it a definite prerequisite of all prayer that we say3 ,thy will be done4 ,prayer is essentially dedication1 deeper and fuller as we use it more and come more into the presence of ,god4 ,obedience goes with it2 we must cease to pray or cease to disobey1 one or the other4 ,if we are half-surrendered1 we are not very bright about our prayers1 because we do not quite believe that ,god will really look after the things about which we are anxious4 ,we must indeed go back to what ,jesus said about ,god2 we had better even leave off praying for a moment till we see what he says1 and then begin again with a clearer mind4 ,ask1 and ye shall receive1 he says2 and if we have no obedience1 or love1 or faith1 or any of the great things that make prayer possible1 he suggests that we can ask for them and have them4 ,the ,gospel gives us an illustration in the man who prayed3 ,lord1 ,i believe2 help thou mine unbelief 7,mark #i3bd74 ,but it is plain we have to understand that we are asking for great things1 and it is to them rather than to the obvious little things that ,jesus directs our thoughts4 ,not away from the little things1 for if ,god is a real ,father he will wish to have his children talk them over with him--little things please little minds1 yes1 and great minds when the little minds are dear to them--but not little things all the time4 ,there is a variant to the saying about seeking first the ,kingdom of ,heaven1 which ,clement of ,alexandria preserves4 ,perhaps it is a mere slip1 but ,god1 it has been said1 can use misquotations2 and ,clement's quotation1 or misquotation1 certainly represents the thought of ,jesus1 and it may give us a hint for our own practice3 ,ask1 saith he1 the great things1 and the little things will be added unto you 7,strom4 i4 #aeh74 ,the object of ,jesus was to induce men to base all life on ,god4 ,short-range thinking1 like the rich fool's1 may lead to our forgetting ,god2 but ,jesus incessantly lays the emphasis on the thought-out life2 and that1 in the long run1 means a new reckoning with ,god4 ,that is what ,jesus urges--that we should think life out1 that we should come face to face with ,god and see him for what he is1 and accept him4 ,he means us to live a life utterly and absolutely based on ,god--life on ,god's lines of peacemaking and ministry1 the denial of self1 a complete forgetfulness of self in surrender to ,god1 obedience to ,god1 faith in ,god1 and the acceptance of the sunshine of ,god's ,fatherhood4 ,he means us to go about things in ,god's way--forgiving our enemies1 cherishing kind thoughts about those who hate us or despise us or use us badly 7,matt4 #e3dd71 praying for them4 ,this takes us right back into the common world1 where we have to live in any case2 and it is there that he means us to live with ,god--not in trance1 but at work1 in the family1 in business1 shop1 and street1 doing all the little things and all the great things that ,god wants us to do1 and glad to do them just because we are his children and he is our ,father4 ,above all1 he would have us think like ,god 7,mark #h3cc72 and to reach this habit of thinking like ,god1 we have to live in the atmosphere of ,jesus1 with him 7,mark #c3ad74 ,all this new life he made possible for us by being what he was--once again a challenge to re-explore ,jesus4 ,the way to faith in ,god and to love for man1 said ,dr4 ,cairns at ,mohonk1 is1 as of old1 to come nearer to the living ,jesus4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,jesus ,,and ,,man ,when1 on his last journey1 ,jesus came in sight of ,jerusalem1 ,luke tells us that he wept 7,luke #ai3da74 ,there is an obvious explanation of this in the extreme tension under which he was living--everything turned upon the next few days1 and everything would be decided at ,jerusalem2 but while he must have felt this1 it cannot have been the cause of his weeping4 ,nor should we look for it altogether in the appeal which a great city makes to emotion4 ,dull would he be of soul who could pass by ,a sight so touching in its majesty4 ,yet it was not the architecture that so deeply moved ,jesus2 the temple1 which was full in view1 was comparatively new and foreign4 ,there is little suggestion in the ,gospels that ,art meant anything to him1 perhaps it meant little to the writers4 ,as for the temple1 he found it a den of thieves 7,luke #ai3df72 and he prophesied that it would be demolished1 and of all its splendid buildings1 its goodly stones and votive offerings1 which so much impressed his disciples1 not one stone would be left upon another stone 7,mark #ac3i2 ,luke #ba3e74 ,but the traditions of ,jerusalem wakened thoughts in him of the story of his people1 thoughts with a tragic colour4 ,jerusalem was the place where prophets were killed 7,luke #ac3cd71 the scene and centre1 at once1 of ,israel's deepest emotions1 highest hopes1 and most awful failures4 ,o ,jerusalem6 ,jerusalem6 he had said in sadness as he thought of ,israel's holy city1 which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee1 how often would ,i have gathered thy children together1 as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings1 and ye would not6 7,luke #ac3cd74 ,and now he is in sight of ,jerusalem4 ,the city and the temple suddenly meet his view1 as he reaches the height1 and he is deeply moved4 ,any reflective mind might well have been stirred by the thought of the masses of men gathered there4 ,nothing is so futile as an arithmetical numbering of people1 for after a certain point figures paralyse the imagination1 and after that they tell the mind little or nothing4 ,but here was actually assembled the ,jewish people1 coming in swarms from all the world1 for the feast2 here was ,judaism at its most pious2 here was the pilgrim centre with all it meant of aspiration and blindness1 of simple folly and gross sin4 ,the sight of the city--the doomed city1 as he foresaw--the thought of his people1 their zeal for ,god and their alienation from ,god--it all comes over him at once1 and1 with a sudden rush of feeling1 he apostrophizes ,jerusalem--,if thou hadst known1 even thou1 at least in this thy day1 the things which belong unto thy peace6 ,but now they are hid from thine eyes 4 4 4 4 ,thou knewest not the time of thy visitation6 7,luke #ai3db-dd74 ,it is quite plain from the ,gospels that crowds had always an appeal for ,jesus4 ,at times he avoided them2 but when they came about him1 they claimed him and possessed him4 ,over and over again1 we read of his pity for them--he saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them 7,matt4 #ad3ad7--of his thought for their weariness and hunger1 his reflection that they might faint by the way on their long homeward journeys 7,mark #h3c71 and his solicitude about their food4 ,whatever modern criticism makes of the story of his feeding multitudes1 it remains that he was markedly sensitive to the idea of hunger4 ,jairus is reminded that his little girl will be the better for food 7,mark #e3dc74 ,the rich are urged to make feasts for the poor1 the maimed and the blind 7,luke #ad3ab74 ,the owner of the vineyard1 in the parable1 pays a day's wage for an hour's work1 when an hour was all the chance that the unemployed labourer could find 7,matt4 #bj3i74 ,no sanctity could condone for the devouring of widows' houses 7,matt4 #bc3ad74 ,the great hungry multitudes haunt his mind4 ,the story of the rich young ruler shows this 7,mark #aj3ag-bb74 ,here was a man of birth and education1 whose face and whose speech told of a good heart and conscience--a man of charm1 of the impulsive type that appealed to ,jesus4 ,jesus looked on him1 we read4 ,the words recall ,plato's picture of ,socrates looking at the jailer1 how he looked up at him in his peculiar way1 like a bull--the old man's prominent eyes were fixed on the fellow1 glaring through the brows above them1 and ,socrates' friends saw them and remembered them when they thought of the scene4 ,as ,jesus' eyes rested steadily on this young man1 the disciples saw in them an expression they knew--,jesus1 looking on him1 loved him4 ,their talk was of eternal life2 and1 no doubt to his surprise1 ,jesus asked the youth if he had kept the commandments2 how did he stand as regarded murder1 theft1 adultery8 ,the steady gaze followed the youth's impetuous answer1 and then came the recommendation to sell all that he had and give to the poor--and1 ,come6 ,follow me6 ,at this1 we read in a fragment of the ,gospel according to the ,hebrews 7preserved by ,origen71 the rich man began to scratch his head1 and it did not please him4 ,and the ,lord said to him1 ,how sayest thou1 ,the law ,i have kept and the prophets8 ,for it is written in the law1 thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself2 and behold6 many who are thy brethren1 sons of ,abraham1 are clad in filth and dying of hunger1 and thy house is full of many good things1 and nothing at all goes out from it to them4' ,and he turned and said to ,simon1 his disciple1 who was sitting beside him3 ,simon1 son of ,john1 it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the ,kingdom of ,heaven4' ,we need not altogether reject this variant of the story4 ,but it was more than the physical needs of the multitude that appealed to ,jesus4 ,man's ,unhappiness1 as ,i construe1 says ,teufelsdrckh in ,sartor ,resartus1 comes of his ,greatness1 it is because there is an ,infinite in him1 which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the ,finite4 ,will the whole ,finance ,ministers and ,upholsterers and ,confectioners of modern ,europe undertake1 in joint-stock company1 to make one ,shoeblack happy8 ,we read in a passage1 which it is true1 is largely symbolic1 that one of ,jesus' quotations from the ,old ,testament was that ,man shall not live by bread alone 7,luke #d3d74 ,hunger is a real thing--horribly real2 but it is comparatively easy to deal with1 and man has deeper needs4 ,the ,shoeblack1 according to ,teufelsdrckh1 wants ,god's infinite universe altogether to himself4 ,in the simpler words of ,jesus1 he is never happy till he says1 ,i will arise and go to my ,father 7,luke #ae3ah74 ,this craving for the ,father the men of ,jesus' day tried to fill with the law2 and1 when the law failed to satisfy it1 they had nothing further to suggest1 except their fixed idea that ,god heareth not sinners 7,john #i3ca74 ,they despaired of the great masses and left them alone4 ,they did not realize1 as ,jesus did1 that the ,father also craves for his children4 ,when ,jesus saw the simpler folk thus forsaken1 the picture rose in his mind of sheep1 worried by dogs or wolves1 till they fell1 worn out--sheep without a shepherd 7,matt4 #i3cf74 ,every one remembers the shepherd of the parable who sought the one lost sheep until he found it1 and how he brought it home on his shoulders 7,luke #ae3e74 ,but there is another parable1 we might almost say1 of ninety and nine lost sheep--a parable1 not developed1 but implied in the passage of ,matthew1 and it is as significant as the other1 for our ,good ,shepherd has to ask his friends to help him in this case4 ,the appeal that lay in the sheer misery and helplessness of masses of men was one of the foundations of the ,christian ,church4 7,the ,good ,shepherd1 by the way1 is a phrase from the ,fourth ,gospel 7,john #aj3aa71 but we think most often of the ,good ,shepherd as carrying the sheep1 and that comes from ,luke1 and is in all likelihood nearer the parable of ,jesus47 ,it is worth noticing that ,jesus stands alone in refusing to despair of the greater part of mankind4 ,contempt was in his eyes the unpardonable sin 7,matt4 #e3bb74 ,how swift and decisive is his anger with those who make others stumble6 7,luke #ag3b74 ,the parable of the lost sheep reveals what he held to be ,god's feeling for the hopeless man2 and1 as we have seen1 his constant aim is to lead men to think like ,god4 ,the lost soul matters to ,god4 ,he sums up his own work in the world in much the same language as he uses about the shepherd in the parable3 ,the ,son of ,man is come to seek and to save that which is lost 7,luke #ai3aj74 ,the taunt that he was the friend of publicans and sinners really described what he was and wished to be 7,luke #g3cd74 ,god was their ,heavenly ,father4 ,the sight1 then1 of the masses of his countrymen1 like worried sheep1 worn1 scattered1 lost1 and hopeless1 waked in him no shade of doubt--on the contrary1 it was further proof to him of the soundness of his message4 ,changing his simile1 he told his disciples that the harvest was great1 but the labourers few1 and he asked them to pray the ,lord of the harvest to thrust forth labourers into ,his harvest 7,matt4 #i3ch74 ,the very name ,lord of the harvest implies faith in ,god's competence and understanding4 ,from the first1 he seems to have held up before his followers that this wide service was to be their work--,come ye after me1 he said1 and ,i will make you to become fishers of men 7,mark #a3ag7--men1 who should really catch men 7,luke #e3aj74 ,like all for whom the world has had a meaning1 ,jesus1 as we have seen1 accepted the necessary conditions of man's life4 ,human misery and need were widespread1 but ,god's ,fatherhood was of compass fully as wide1 and ,jesus relied upon it4 ,your heavenly ,father knows1 he said 7,matt4 #f3cb71 and with ,god all things are possible 7,mark #aj3bg74 ,the very miseries of the oppressed and hopeless people added grounds to his confidence4 ,people who had touched bottom in sounding the human spirit's capacity for misery1 were for him the ripe harvest 7,matt4 #i3cg71 only needing to be gathered 7,mark #d3bi74 ,he understood them1 and he knew that he had the healing for all their troubles4 ,with full assurance of the truth of his words1 he cried3 ,come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest 7,matt4 #aa3bh74 ,he spoke of a rest which careless familiarity obscures for us4 ,what understanding and sympathy he shows1 when he adds3 ,my yoke is easy1 and my burden is light6 ,misery1 poverty and hunger1 he had found1 taught men to see realities4 ,the hungry1 at least1 were not likely to mistake a stone for bread--they had a ready test for it1 on which they could rely4 ,poverty threw open the road to the ,kingdom of ,god4 ,the clearing away of all temporary satisfactions1 of all that cloaked the soul's deepest needs1 prepared men for real relations with the greatest ,reality--with ,god4 ,so that ,jesus boldly said3 ,blessed are ye poor2 ,blessed are ye that hunger now2 ,blessed are ye that weep now 7,luke #f3bj1 #ba72 but he had no idea that they were always to weep4 ,if it was his to care for men's hunger1 it was not likely that he would have no comfort for their tears--,ye shall find rest unto your souls 7,matt4 #aa3bi7--,they shall be comforted 7,matt4 #e3d74 ,it was in large part upon the happiness which he was to bring to the poor that ,jesus based his claim to be heard4 ,there is little reasonable ground for doubt that he healed diseases4 ,of course we cannot definitely pronounce upon any individual case reported2 the diagnosis might be too hasty1 and the trouble other than was supposed2 but it is well known that such healings do occur--and that they occurred in ,jesus' ministry1 we can well believe4 ,so when he was challenged as to his credentials1 he pointed to misery relieved2 and the culmination of everything1 the crowning feature of his work1 he found in his good news for the poor4 ,the phrase he borrowed from ,isaiah 7#fa3a71 but he made it his own--the splendid promises in ,isaiah for the poor1 the broken-hearted1 captives1 blind and bruised1 appealed to him4 ,time has laid its hand upon his word1 and dulled its freshness4 ,gospel and evangelical are no longer words of sheer happiness like ,jesus' good news--they are technical terms1 used in handbooks and in controversy2 while for ,jesus the good news for the poor was a new word of delight and inspiration4 ,the centre in all the thoughts of ,jesus1 as we have to remind ourselves again and again1 is ,god4 ,if1 as ,dr4 ,d4 ,s4 ,cairns puts it1 ,jesus ,christ is the great believer in man1 it is--if we are reading him aright at all--because ,god believes in man4 ,let us remind ourselves often of that4 ,thou hast made us for ,thyself1 said ,augustine in the famous sentence1 of which we are apt to emphasize the latter half1 and our heart knows no rest till it rests in ,thee 7,confessions1 i4 #a74 ,jesus would have us emphasize the former clause as well1 and believe it4 ,the keynote of his whole story is ,god's love2 the ,father is a real father--strange that one should have to write the small f to get the meaning6 ,all that ,jesus has taught us of ,god1 we must bring to bear on man4 ,for it is hard to believe in man--,what is man that thou shouldest magnify him8 and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him8 quotes the author of ,job in a great ironical passage 7,job #g3ag2 from ,psalm #h3d74 ,the elements and the stars come over us1 as they came over ,george ,fox in the ,vale of ,beavor2 what is man8 ,can one out of fifteen hundred millions of human beings living on one planet matter to ,god1 when there are so many planets and stars1 and there have been so many generations8 ,can he matter8 ,it all depends on how we conceive of ,god4 ,here it is essential to give all the meaning to the term ,god that ,jesus gave to it1 to believe in ,god as ,jesus believed in ,god1 if we are to understand the fullness of ,jesus' good news4 ,it all depends on ,god--on whether ,jesus was right about ,god2 and after all on ,jesus himself4 ,a thing of price is man1 wrote ,synesius about #daj ,a4,d41 because for him ,christ died4 ,the two things go together--,jesus' death and ,jesus' ,theocentric thought of man4 ,it is a familiar criticism of idealists and other young hearts1 that it is easy to idealize what one does not know4 ,omne ignotum pro magnifico is the old epigram of ,tacitus4 ,it is not every believer in man1 nor every ,friend of man1 who knows men as ,jesus did4 ,like ,burns and ,carlyle and others who have interpreted man to us to some purpose1 he grew up in the home of labouring people4 ,he was a working man himself1 a carpenter4 ,he must have learnt his carpentry exactly as every boy learns it1 by hammering his fingers instead of the nail1 sawing his own skin instead of the wood--and not doing it again4 ,he knew what it was to have an aching back and sweat on the face2 how hard money is to earn1 and how quickly it goes4 ,he makes it clear that money is a temptation to men1 and a great danger2 but he never joins the moralists and cranks in denouncing it4 ,he always talks sense--if the expression is not too lowly to apply to him4 ,he sees what can be done with money1 what a tool it can be in a wise man's hands--how he can make friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness 7,luke #af3i71 for example1 by giving unexpectedly generous wages to men who missed their chances 7,matt4 #bj3ae71 by feeding ,lazarus at the gate1 and perhaps by having his sores properly attended to 7,luke #af3bj74 ,that he understood how pitifully the loss of a coin may affect a household of working people1 one of his most beautiful parables bears witness 7,luke #ae3h-aj74 ,with work he had no quarrel4 ,he draws many of his parables from labour1 and he implies throughout that it is the natural and right thing for man4 ,to be holy in his sense1 a man need not leave his work4 ,clement of ,alexandria1 in his famous saying about the ploughman continuing to plough1 and knowing ,god as he ploughs1 and the seafaring man1 sticking to his ship and calling on the heavenly pilot as he sails1 is in the vein of ,jesus4#bd ,there were those whom he called to leave all1 to distribute their wealth1 and to follow him2 but he chose them 7,mark #c3ac1 #ad72 it was not his one command for all men 7cf4 ,mark #e3ai74 ,but1 as we shall shortly see1 it is implied by his judgements of men that he believed in work and liked men who put their backs into it--their backs1 eyes1 and their brains too4 ,pain1 the constant problem of man1 and perhaps more1 of woman--of unmarried woman more especially--he never discussed as modern people discuss it4 ,he never made light of pain any more than of poverty2 he understood physical as well as moral distress4 ,nor did he1 like some of his contemporaries and some modern people1 exaggerate the place of pain in human experience4 ,he shared pain1 he sympathized with suffering2 and his understanding of pain1 and1 above all1 his choice of pain1 taught men to reconsider it and to understand it1 and altered the attitude of the world toward it4 ,his tenderness for the suffering of others taught mankind a new sympathy1 and the nosokomeion1 the hospital for the sick1 was one of the first of ,christian institutions to rise1 when persecution stopped and ,christians could build4 ,and the blind and the lame came to him in the temple1 and he healed them1 says ,matthew 7#ba3ad7 in a memorable phrase4 ,i have heard it suggested that it was irregular for them to come into the temple courts2 but they gravitated naturally to ,jesus4 ,the mystic is never quite at leisure for other people's feelings and sufferings2 he is essentially an individualist2 he must have his own intercourse with ,god1 and other people's affairs are apt to be an interruption1 an impertinence4 ,i have not been thinking of the community2 ,i have been thinking of ,christ1 said a ,bengali to me1 who was wavering between the ,brahmo ,samaj and ,christianity4 ,the blessed ,angela of ,foligno was rather glad to be relieved of her husband and children1 who died and left her leisure to enjoy the love of ,god4 ,all this is quite unlike the real spirit of the historical ,jesus4 ,himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses1 was a phrase of ,isaiah that came instinctively to the minds of his followers 7,matt4 #h3ag1 roughly after ,isaiah #ec3d74 ,perhaps when we begin to understand what is meant by the ,incarnation1 we may find that omnipotence has a great deal more to do than we have supposed with natural sympathy and the genius for entering into the sorrows and sufferings of other people4 ,one side of the work of ,jesus must never be forgotten4 ,his attitude to woman has altered her position in the world4 ,no one can study society in classical antiquity or in non-,christian lands with any intimacy and not realize this4 ,widowhood in ,hinduism1 marriage among ,muslims--they are proverbs for the misery of women4 ,even the ,jew still prays3 ,blessed art thou1 ,o ,lord our ,god6 ,king of the ,universe1 who hast not made me a woman4 ,the ,jewish woman has to be grateful to ,god1 because ,he hath made me according to ,his will--a thanksgiving with a different note1 as the modern ,jewess1 ,amy ,levy1 emphasized in her brilliant novel1 where her heroine1 very like herself1 corrected her prayerbook to make it more explicit cursed art ,thou1 ,o ,lord our ,god6 ,who hast made me a woman4 ,paul must have known these ,jewish prayers1 for he emphasized that in ,christ there is neither male nor female 7,gal4 #c3bh74 ,paul had his views--the familiar old ways of ,tarsus inspired them#be--;as to woman's dress and deportment1 especially the veil2 but he struck the real ,christian note here1 and laid stress on the fact of what ,jesus had done and is doing for women4 ,there is no reference made by ,jesus to woman that is not respectful and sympathetic2 he never warns men against women4 ,even the most degraded women find in him an amazing sympathy2 for he has the secret of being pure and kind at the same time--his purity has not to be protected2 it is itself a purifying force4 ,he draws some of his most delightful parables from woman's work1 as we have seen4 ,it is recorded how1 when he spoke of the coming disaster of ,jerusalem1 he paused to pity poor pregnant women and mothers with little babies in those bad times 7,luke #ba3bc2 ,matt4 #bd3ai74 ,critics have remarked on the place of woman in ,luke's ,gospel1 and some have played with fancies as to the feminine sources whence he drew his knowledge--did the women who ministered to ,jesus1 ,joanna1 for instance1 the wife of ,chuza 7,luke #h3c71 tell him these illuminative stories of the ,master8 ,in any case ,jesus' new attitude to woman is in the record2 and it has so reshaped the thought of mankind1 and made it so hard to imagine anything else1 that we do not readily grasp what a revolution he made--here as always by referring men's thoughts back to the standard of ,god's thoughts1 and supporting what he taught by what he was4 ,mark has given us one of our most familiar pictures of ,jesus sitting with a little child on his knee and in the crook of his arm4 7,the ,greek participle which gives this in ,mark #i3cf and #aj3af is worth remembering--it is vivid enough47 ,mothers brought their children to him1 that he should put his hands on them and pray 7,matt4 #ai3ac74 ,matthew 7#ba3ae7 says that children took part in the ,triumphal ,entry2 and ,jesus1 clear as he was how little the ,hosannas of the grown people meant1 seems to have enjoyed the children's part in the strange scene4 ,classical literature1 and ,christian literature of those ages1 offer no parallel to his interest in children4 ,the beautiful words1 suffer little children to come unto me1 are his1 and they are characteristic of him 7,matt4 #ai3ad72 and he speaks of ,god's interest in children 7,matt4 #ah3ad7--once more a reference of everything to ,god to get it in its true perspective4 ,how ,jesus likes children6--for their simplicity 7,luke #ah3ag71 their intuition1 their teachableness1 we say4 ,but was it not1 perhaps1 for far simpler and more natural reasons just because they were children1 and little1 and delightful8 ,we forget his little brothers and sisters1 or we eliminate them for theological purposes4 ,jesus lays quite an unexpected emphasis on sheer tenderness--on kindness to neighbour and stranger1 the instinctive humanity that helps men1 if it be only by the swift offer of a cup of cold water 7,matt4 #aj3db74 ,the ,good ,samaritan came as a surprise to some of his hearers 7,luke #aj3cj74 ,it is our religion1 said a ,hindu to a missionary1 to explain why he and other ,hindus did not help to rescue a fainting man from the railway tracks1 nor even offer water to restore him1 when the missionary had hauled him on to the platform unaided4 ,not so the religion of ,jesus--bear ye one another's burdens1 and so fulfil the law of ,christ1 wrote ,paul 7,gal4 #f3b7--pursue hospitality 7,rom4 #ab3ac2 the very word runs through the ,epistles of the ,new ,testament74 ,and1 as we shall see in a later chapter1 the ,last ,judgement itself turns on whether a man has kindly instincts or not4 ,matthew quotes 7#ab3bj7 to describe ,jesus' own tenderness the impressive phrase of ,isaiah 7#db3c71 ,a bruised reed shall he not break4 ,if it is urged that such things are natural to man--do not even the publicans the same8 7,matt4 #e3df7--;,jesus carries the matter a long way further4 ,whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile1 go with him twain 7,matt4 #e3da74 ,the man who would use such compulsion would be the alien soldier1 the hireling of ,herod or of ,rome2 and who would wish to cart him and his goods even one mile8 ,go two miles1 says ,jesus--or1 if the ,syriac translation preserves the right reading1 ,go two extra4 ,why8 ,well1 the soldier is a man after all1 and by such unsolicited kindness you may make a friend even of a government official--not always an easy thing to do--at any rate you can help him2 ,god helps him2 be ye therefore perfect1 even as your ,father which is in heaven is perfect 7,matt4 #e3dh74 ,ordinary kindness and tenderness could hardly be urged beyond that point2 and yet ,jesus goes further still4 ,he would have us pray for those that despitefully use us 7,matt4 #e3dd7--;and in no ,pharisaic way1 but with the same instinctive love and friendliness that he always used himself4 ,father1 forgive them2 for they know not what they do 7,luke #bc3cd74 ,there are religions which inculcate the tolerance of wrong aiming at equanimity of mind or acquisition of merit4 ,but ,jesus implies on the contrary that in all this also the ,christian denies himself1 does not seek even in this way to save his own soul1 but forgets all about it in the service of others1 though he finds by and by1 with a start1 that he has saved it far more effectually than he could have expected 7,mark #h3ce2 ,matt4 #be3cg1 #dj74 ,the emphasis falls on our duty of kindness and tenderness to all men and women1 because we and they are alike ,god's children4 ,with his emphasis on tenderness we may group his teaching on forgiveness4 ,he makes the forgiving spirit an antecedent of prayer--when ye stand praying1 forgive1 if ye have aught against any2 that your ,father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses 7,mark #aa3be74 ,if thou bring thy gift to the altar1 and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee2 leave there thy gift before the altar1 and go thy way1 first be reconciled to thy brother1 and then come and offer thy gift 7,matt4 #e3bc1 #bd74 ,the parable of the king and his debtor 7,matt4 #ah3bc71 painfully true to human nature1 brings out the whole matter of our forgiveness of one another into the light2 we are shown it from ,god's outlook4 ,the teaching as ever is ,theocentric4 ,to ,peter1 ,jesus says that a man should be prepared to forgive his brother to seventy times seven--if anybody can keep count so far 7,matt4 #ah3ba-ce74 ,he sees how quarrels injure life1 and alienate a man from ,god4 ,hence comes the famous saying3 ,resist not evil2 but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek1 turn to him the other also 7,matt4 #e3ci74 ,he would have men even avoid criticism of one another 7,matt4 #g3a-e74 ,epigrams are seductive1 and there is a fascination in the dissection of character2 but there is always a danger that a clever characterization1 a witty label1 may conclude the matter1 that a possible friendship may be lost through the very ingenuity with which the man has been labelled1 who might have been a friend4 ,it is not a small matter in ,jesus' eyes1 he puts his view very strongly 7,matt4 #e3bb72 and1 as we must always remember1 he bases himself on fact4 ,we may lose a great deal more than we think by letting our labels stand between us and his words1 by our habit of calling them paradoxes and letting them go at that4 ,it is worth while to look at the type of character that he admires4 ,modern painters have often pictured ,jesus as something of a dreamer1 a longhaired1 sleepy1 abstract kind of person4 ,what a contrast we find in the energy of the real ,jesus--in the straight and powerful language which he uses to men1 in the sweep and range of his mind1 in the profundity of his insight1 the drive and compulsiveness of his thinking1 in the venturesomeness of his actions4 ,how many of the parables turn on energy8 ,the real trouble with men1 he seems to say1 is again and again sheer slackness2 they will not put their minds to the thing before them1 whether it be thought or action4 ,thus1 for instance1 the parable of the talents turns on energetic thinking and decisive action2 and these are the things that ,jesus admires--in the widow who will have justice 7,luke #ah3ba7--;in the virgins who thought ahead and brought extra oil 7,matt4 #be3d7--;in the vigorous man who found the treasure and made sure of it 7,matt4 #ac3dd7--;in the friend at midnight1 who hammered1 hammered1 hammered1 till he got his loaves 7,luke #aa3h7--;in the violent1 who take the ,kingdom of ,heaven by force 7,matt4 #aa3ab2 ,luke #af3af7--;in the man who will hack off his hand to enter into life 7,mark #i3dc74 ,even the bad steward he commends1 because he definitely put his mind on his situation 7,luke #af3h74 ,as we shall see later on1 indecision is one of the things that in his judgement will keep a man outside the ,kingdom of ,god1 that make him unfit for it4 ,the matter deserves more study than we commonly give it4 ,you must have a righteousness1 he says1 which exceeds the righteousness of the ,pharisees 7,matt4 #e3bj7--;and the ,pharisees were professionals in righteousness4 ,his tests of discipleship illumine his ideal of character--,theocentric thinking--negation of self--the thought-out life4 ,he will have his disciples count the cost1 reckon their forces1 calculate quietly the risks before them--right up to the cross 7,luke #ad3bg-cc7--like ,john ,bunyan in ,bedford ,gaol1 where he thought things out to the pillory and thence to the gallows1 so that1 if it came to the gallows1 he should be ready1 as he says1 to leap off the ladder blindfold into eternity4 ,that is the energy of mind that ,jesus asks of men1 that he admires in men4 ,on the other side1 he is always against the life of drift1 the half-thought-out life4 ,there they were1 he says1 in the days of ,noah1 eating and drinking1 marrying1 dreaming--and the floods came and destroyed them 7,luke #ag3bg74 ,so ran the old familiar story1 and1 says ,jesus1 it is always true2 men will drift and dream for ever1 heedless of fact1 heedless of ,god--and then ruin1 life gone1 the soul lost1 the ,son of ,man come1 and you yourselves thrust out 7,luke #ac3bh1 with ,matt4 #be3aj-ac74 ,it is quite striking with what a variety of impressive pictures ,jesus drives home his lesson4 ,there is the person who everlastingly says and does not do 7,matt4 #bc3c7--who promises to work and does not work 7,matt4 #ba3bh7--who receives a new idea with enthusiasm1 but has not depth enough of nature for it to root itself 7,mark #d3f7--who builds on sand1 the ,mr4 ,anything of ,bunyan's allegory2 nor these alone1 for ,jesus is as plain on the unpunctual 7,luke #ac3be71 the easy-going 7,luke #ab3dg71 the sort that compromises1 that tries to serve ,god and ,mammon 7,matt4 #f3bd7--;all the practical half-and-half people that take their bills quickly and write fifty1 that offer ,god and man about half what they owe them of thought and character and action1 and bid others do the same1 and count themselves men of the world for their acuteness 7,luke #af3a-h74 ,and to do them justice1 ,jesus commends them2 they have taken the exact measure of things in their generation4 ,their mistake lies in their equation of the fugitive and the eternal2 and it is the final and fatal mistake according to ,jesus1 and a very common one--forgetfulness of ,god in fact 7,luke #ab3bj71 a mistake that comes from not thinking things out4 ,jesus will have men think everything out to the very end4 ,he never says3 ,come unto me1 all ye who are too lazy to think for yourselves 7,h4 ,s4 ,coffin74 ,it is energy of mind that he calls for--either with me or against me4 ,he does not recognize neutrals in his war--he that is not against us is for us 7,luke #i3ej7--;he that is not with me is against me 7,matt4 #ab3cj74 ,where does a man's ,will point him8 ,that is the question4 ,out of the abundance1 the overflow1 of the heart1 the mouth speaketh 7,matt4 #ab3cd74 ,what is it that a man wills1 purity or impurity 7,matt4 #e3bh78 ,it is the inner energy that makes a man2 what he says and does is an overflow from what is within--an overflow1 it is true1 with a reaction4 ,it is what a man chooses1 and what he wills1 that ,jesus always emphasizes2 ,god knoweth your hearts 7,luke #af3ae74 ,very well then2 does a man choose ,god8 ,that is the vital issue4 ,does he choose ,god without reserve1 and in a way that ,god1 knowing his heart1 will call a whole-hearted choice8 ,st4 ,augustine1 in a very interesting passage 7,confessions1 viii4 #i1 #ba71 remarks upon the fact that1 when the mind commands the body1 obedience is instantaneous1 but that when it commands itself1 it meets with resistance4 ,the mind commands that the mind shall will--it is one and the same mind1 and it does not obey4 ,he finds the reason2 the mind does not absolutely and entirely 7ex toto7 will the thing1 and so it does not absolutely and entirely command it4 ,there is nothing strange after all in this1 he says1 partly to will1 partly not to will2 but it is a weakness of the mind that it does not arise in its entirety1 uplifted by truth1 because it is borne down by habit4 ,thus there are two ,wills1 because one of them is not complete4 ,the same thought is to be traced in the teaching of ,jesus4 ,it is implied in what he says about prayer4 ,there is a want of faith1 a half-heartedness about men's prayers2 they pray as ,augustine says he himself did3 ,give me chastity and continence1 but not now 7,conf1 viii4 #g1 #ag74 ,that is not what ,jesus means by prayer--the utterance of the half-,will4 ,nor is it this sort of surrender to ,god that ,jesus calls for--no1 the question is1 how thoroughly is a man going to put himself into ,god's hands8 ,does he mean to be ,god's up to the cross and beyond8 ,does he enlist absolutely on ,god's terms without a bargain with ,god1 prepared to accept ,god's will1 whatever it is1 whether it squares with his liking or not8 7cf4 ,luke #ag3g-aj74 ,are his own desires finally out of the reckoning8 ,does he1 in fact1 deny--negate--himself 7,mark #h3cd78 ,jesus calls for disciples1 with questions so penetrating on his lips4 ,what a demand to make of men6 ,what faith1 too1 in men it shows1 that he can ask all this with no hint of diminished seriousness6 ,jesus is the great believer in men1 as we saw in the choice of his twelve4 ,to that group of disciples he trusts the supremest task men ever had assigned to them4 ,not many wise1 not many mighty1 ,paul found at ,corinth 7#a ,cor4 #a3bf72 and it has always been so4 ,is it not still the gist of the ,gospel that ,jesus believes in the writer and the reader of these lines--trusts them with the propagation of ,god's ,kingdom1 incredible commission8 ,jesus was always at leisure for individuals2 this was the natural outcome of his faith in men4 ,what else is the meaning of his readiness to spend himself in giving the utmost spiritual truth--no easy task1 as experience shows us--even to a solitary listener8 ,if we accept what he tells us of ,god1 we can believe that the individual is worth all that ,jesus did and does for him1 but hardly otherwise4 ,his gift of discovering interest in uninteresting people1 says ,phillips ,brooks1 was an intellectual habit that he gave to his disciples4 ,we think too much like men2 he would have us think like ,god1 and think better of odd units and items of humanity than statesmen and statisticians are apt to do4 ,it has been pointed out lately how fierce he is about the man who puts a stumbling-block in the way of even a little one--better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck1 and he were cast into the sea2 no mere phrase--for when he draws a picture1 he sees it2 he sees this scene1 and better so--for him too6 is his comment 7,mark #i3db74 ,there was1 we may remember1 a view current in antiquity that when a man was drowned1 his soul perished with his body1 though ,i do not know if the ,jews held this opinion4 ,it is not likely that ,jesus did4 ,what is ,god's mind1 ,god's conduct1 toward those people whom men think they can afford to despise8 ,be ye therefore perfect1 even as your ,father in heaven is perfect 7,matt4 #e3dh74 ,and to whom did he say this8 ,to the most ordinary people--to ,peter and ,james and ,john2 for all sorts of people he held up this impossible ideal of a perfection like ,god's4 ,what a faith in man it implies6 ,all things are possible to him that believes 7,mark #i3i4c74 ,why should not you believe8 he says4 ,his faith in the soul's possibilities is boundless1 and in marked contrast with what men think of themselves4 ,a man1 for instance1 will say that he has done his best2 but nine times out of ten it means mere fatigue2 he is not going to trouble to do any more4 ,how can a man know that he has done his best8 ,the ,gospel of ,jesus comes with its message of the grace of ,god1 and the power of ,god1 to people who are stupid and middle-aged1 who are absolutely settled in life1 who are conscious of their limitations1 who know they are living in a rut and propose to stick to it for the remainder of their days2 and ,jesus tells them in effect that he means to give them a new life altogether1 that he means to have from them service1 perfectly incredible to them4 ,no man1 he suggests1 need be so inured to the stupidity of middle age but there may be a miraculous change in him4 ,a great many people need re-conversion at forty1 however ,christian they have been before4 ,this belief of his in the individual man and in the worth of the individual is the very charter of democracy4 ,the original writings of ,william ,tyndale1 who first translated the ,new ,testament from ,greek into ,english1 contain the essential ideas of democracy already in #aebf--the outcome of familiar study of the ,gospel4 ,jesus himself said of ,herod3 ,go and tell that fox 7,luke #ac3cb74 ,herod was a king1 but he was not above criticism2 and ,christians have not failed at times to make the criticism of the great that truth requires4 ,jesus had no illusions about men2 he sees the weak spots2 he recognizes the whited sepulchre 7,matt4 #bc3bg74 ,he is astonished at the unbelief of men and women 7,mark #f3f74 ,he does not understand why they cannot think 7,mark #h3ba71 but he notes how they see and yet do not see1 hear and do not understand 7,matt4 #ac3ac74 ,he is impressed by their falsity1 even in religion 7,matt4 #ae3h74 ,he knows perfectly well the evil of which the human heart is capable 7,matt4 #ae3ai74 ,a man who steadily looks forward to being crucified by the people he is trying to help is hardly one of the absent-minded enthusiasts1 mis-called idealists4 ,there never was1 we feel1 one who so thoroughly looked through his friends1 who loved them so much and yet without a shade of illusion4 ,this brings us to the subject of the next chapter4 ,in the meantime let us recall what he makes of the wasted life4 ,in thinking of the case1 said ,seeley4 they had forgotten the woman--a common occurrence with those who deal in cases4 ,it was once severely said of the ,head of a ,college that if he would leave off caring for his students' souls and care for them1 he would do better4 ,jesus does not forget the man in caring for his soul--he likes him4 ,he is the friend of publicans and sinners 7,luke #g3cd72 he eats and drinks with them 7,mark #b3ad74 ,let us remember again that these were taunts and were meant to sting2 they were not conventional phrases4 ,see how he can enter into the life of a poor creature4 ,there is the wretched little publican1 ,zacchaeus 7,luke #ai3a-aj7--;a squalid little figure of a man1 whom people despised4 ,he was used to contempt--it was the portion of the tax-collector enlisted in ,roman service against his own people4 ,jesus comes and sees him up in the tree2 he instantly realizes what is happening and invites himself to the house of ,zacchaeus as a guest2 something passes between them without spoken word4 ,the little man slides down the tree--not a proceeding that makes for dignity2 and then1 with all his inches1 he stands up before the whole town1 that knew him so well1 in a new moral grandeur that adds cubits to his stature4 ,half my goods1 he says1 ,i give to the poor4 ,if ,i have taken anything from any man by false accusation1 he shall have it back fourfold4 ,that man belonged to the despised classes4 ,jesus came into his life2 the man became a new man1 a pioneer of ,christian generosity4 ,again1 there is the woman with the alabaster box1 the mere possession of which stamped her for what she was4 ,it was simply a case of the wasted life4 ,i have long wondered if she meant to give him only some of the ointment4 ,a little of it would have been a great gift4 ,but perhaps the lid of the box jammed1 and she realized in a moment that it was to be all or nothing--she drew off her sandal and smashed the box to pieces4 ,however she broke it1 and whatever her reasons1 ,mark's words mean that it was thoroughly and finally shivered 7,mark #ad3c74 ,something had happened which made this woman the pioneer of the ,christian habit of giving all for ,jesus4 ,the disciples said they had done so 7,matt4 #ai3bg71 but they were looking for thrones in exchange 7,mark #aj3cg72 she was not4 ,the thief on the cross himself becomes a pioneer for mankind in the ,christian way of prayer4 ,jesus1 remember me6 he says 7,luke #bc3db74 ,how is it that ,jesus comes into the wasted life and makes it new8 ,one loving heart sets another on fire4 ,with all his wide outlook on mankind1 his great purpose to capture all men1 ,jesus is remarkable for his omission to devise machinery or organization for the accomplishment of his ends4 ,the tares are left to grow with the wheat 7,matt4 #ac3cj7--;as if ,jesus trusted the wheat a good deal more than we do4 ,alive as he is to the evil in human nature1 he never tries to scare men from it1 and he seems to have been very little afraid of it4 ,he believed in the power of good--because1 after all1 ,god is ,lord of the ,harvest 7,matt4 #i3ch74 ,he invents no special methods--a loving heart will hit the method needed in the particular case2 the ,holy ,spirit will teach this as well as other things 7,matt4 #aj3ai1 #bj74 ,how far he even organized his church1 or left it to organize itself if it so wished1 students may discuss4 ,would he have trusted even the best organized church as such8 ,does not what we mean by the ,incarnation imply putting everything in the long run on the individual1 quickened into new life by a new relation with ,god and taught a new love of men by ,jesus himself8 ,the heart of friendship and the heart of the ,incarnation are in essence the same thing--giving oneself in frankness and love to him who will accept1 and by them winning him who refuses4 ,has not this been the secret of the spread of the ,gospel8 ,the simplicity of the whole thing1 and the power of it1 grow upon us as we study them4 ,but after all1 as ,tertullian said1 simplicity and power are the constant marks of ,god's work--simplicity in method1 power in effect 7de ,baptismo1 #b74 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,jesus' ,,teaching ,,upon ,,sin ,for clear-thinking ethical natures1 writes a modern scholar1 for natures such as those of ,jesus and ,st4 ,paul1 it is a downright necessity to separate heaven and hell as distinctly as possible4 ,it is only ethically worthless speculations that have always tried to minimize this distinction4 ,carlyle is an instance in our times of how men even to-day once more enthusiastically welcome the conception of hell as soon as the distinction between good and bad becomes all-important to them4#bf ,here in strong terms a challenge is put to many of our current ideas4 ,is not this to revert to an outworn view of the ,christian religion--to reassert its dark side1 better forgotten1 all the horrible emphasis on sin and its consequences introduced into the sunny teaching of ,jesus by ,paul of ,tarsus1 and alien to it8 ,before we answer this question in any direct way1 it is worth while to realize for how many of the real thinkers1 and the great teachers of mankind1 this distinction between good and evil has been fundamental4 ,they have not invented it as a theory on which to base religion1 but they have found it in human life1 one and all of them4 ,if ,walt ,whitman or ,swami ,vivekananda overlook the difference between virtue and vice1 and do honour to the courtesan1 it simply means that they are bad thinkers1 bad observers4 ,the deeper minds see more clearly and escape the confusion into which the slight and quick1 the sentimental1 hurl themselves4 ,above all1 when ,god in any degree grows real to a man1 when a man seriously gives himself not to some mere vague contemplation of ,god but to the earnest study of ,god's ways in human affairs1 and of ,god's laws and their working1 the great contrasts in men's responses to ,god's rule become luminous4 ,when ,god matters to a man1 all life shows the result4 ,good and bad1 right and wrong stand out clear as the contrast between light and darkness--they cannot be mistaken1 and they matter--and matter for ever4 ,they are no concern of a moment4 ,action makes character2 and1 until the action is undone again1 the effect on character is not undone4 ,right and wrong are of eternal significance now in virtue of the reality of ,god4 ,gautama ,buddha1 for instance1 and the greater ,hindu thinkers1 in their doctrine of ,karma1 have taught a significance inherent in good and evil1 which we can only not call boundless4 ,buddha did this without any great consciousness of ,god2 and many ,indian thinkers have so emphasized the doctrine that it has taken all the stress laid on ,bhakti by ,ramanuja and others to restore to life a perspective or a balance1 however it should be described1 that will save men from utter despair4 ,nor is it ,eastern thinkers only who have taught men the reality of heaven and hell4 ,the poetry of ,aeschylus is full of his great realization of the nexus between act and outcome4 ,with all the humour and charm there is in ,plato1 we cannot escape his tremendous teaching on the age-long consequences of good and evil in a cosmos ordered by ,god4 ,carlyle1 in our own days1 realized the same thing--he learnt it no doubt from his mother2 and learnt it again in ,london4 ,in ,mrs4 ,austen's drawing-room1 with ,sidney ,smith guffawing1 and other people prating1 jargoning1 to me through these thin cobwebs ,death and ,eternity sate glaring4 ,how will this look in the ,universe1 he asks1 and before the ,creator of ,man8 ,when someone in his old age challenged him with the question1 ,who will be judge8--7it is curious how every sapient inanity strikes1 as on an original idea1 on the notion that opinions differ1 and therefore--apparently1 if their thought has any consequence--are as good one as another7--,who will be judge8 ,hell fire will be judge1 said ,carlyle1 ,god ,almighty will be the judge now and always4 ,there is a gulf between good and evil1 and each is inexorably fertile of consequence4 ,there is no escaping the issue of moral choice4 ,that is the conclusion of men who have handled human experience in a serious spirit4 ,as physical laws are deducible from the reactions of matter and force1 and are found to be uniform and inevitable1 fundamental in the nature of matter and force1 so clear-thinking men in the course of ages have deduced moral laws from their observation of human nature1 laws as uniform1 inevitable and fundamental4 ,in neither case has it been that men invented or imagined the laws2 in both cases it has been genuine discovery of what was already existent and operative1 and often the discovery has involved surprise4 ,if ,jesus had failed to see laws so fundamental1 which other teachers of mankind have recognized1 it is hardly likely that his teaching would have survived or influenced men as it has done4 ,mankind can dispense with a teacher who misses patent facts1 whatever his charm4 ,but there never was any doubt that ,jesus was alive to the difference between right and wrong4 ,his critics saw this1 but they held that he confused moral issues1 and that his distinctions in the ethical sphere were badly drawn4 ,jesus could not have ignored the problem of sin and forgiveness1 even if he had wished to ignore it4 ,to this the thought of mankind had been gravitating1 and in ,jewish and in ,greek thought1 conduct was more and more the centre of everything4 ,for the ,stoics morals were the dominant part of philosophy2 but for our present purpose we need not go outside the literature of the ,new ,testament4 ,sin was the keynote of the preaching of ,john the ,baptist4 ,it is customary to connect the mission of ,jesus with that of ,john1 and to find in the ,baptist's preaching either the announcement of his ,successor 7as is said with most emphasis in the ,fourth ,gospel71 or 7as some now say7 the impulse which drove ,jesus of ,nazareth into his public ministry4 ,whatever may be the historical connexion between them1 it is as important for us at least to realize the broad gulf that separates them4 ,they meet1 it is true2 both use the phrase ,kingdom of ,god1 both preach repentance in view of the coming of the ,kingdom2 and we are apt to assume they mean the same thing2 but ,jesus took some pains to make it clear1 though in the gentlest and most sympathetic way1 that they did not4 ,on the famous occasion1 when ,john the ,baptist sent two of his disciples to ,jesus with his striking message3 ,art thou he that should come8 or look we for another8 7,luke #g3ai-ce2 ,matt4 #aa3a-ai71 ,jesus1 when the messengers were gone1 spoke to the people about the ,baptist4 ,what went ye out into the wilderness for to see8 ,a reed shaken with the wind8 ,a man clothed in soft raiment8 ,a prophet8 ,yea1 ,i say unto you1 and much more than a prophet4 ,among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than ,john the ,baptist1 but he that is least in the ,kingdom of ,god is greater than he4 ,i am not sure which is the right translation1 whether it is he that is less1 least1 or little1 and ,i do not propose to discuss it4 ,the judgement is remarkable enough in any case1 and the words of ,jesus1 as we have seen1 have a close relation to real fact as he saw it4 ,why does he speak in this way8 ,our answer to this question1 if we can answer it1 will help us forward to the larger problem before us4 ,but1 for this1 we shall have to study ,john with some care4 ,there is a growing agreement among scholars that there is some confusion in our data as to ,john the ,baptist4 ,there are gaps in the record--for instance1 how and why did the school of ,john survive as it did 7,acts #ah3be1 #ai3a-g78 ,and again there are1 in the judgement of some1 developments of the story4 ,the ,gospel1 with varying degrees of explicitness1 and ,st4 ,paul by inference 7,acts #ai3d7 tell us that ,john pointed to him which should come after him4 ,christians1 at any rate1 after the ,resurrection1 had no doubt that this was ,jesus4 ,whether ,john was as definite as the narratives now represent him to have been1 has been doubted in view of his message to ,jesus4 ,but that is not our present subject4 ,we are concerned less with ,john as precursor than as teacher and thinker4 ,even if our data are defective1 still enough is given us to let us see a very striking and commanding figure4 ,we have a picture of him1 his dress1 his diet1 his style of speech1 his method of action--in every way he is a signal and arresting man4 ,the son of a priest1 he is an ascetic1 who lives in the wilderness1 dresses like a peasant1 and eats the meanest and most meagre of food--a man of the desert and of solitude4 ,and the whole life reacts on him and we can see him1 lean and worn1 though still a young man1 a keen1 rather excitable spirit--in every feature the marks of revolt against a civilization which he views as an apostasy4 ,luke1 using a phrase from the ,old ,testament1 says1 ,the word of ,god came upon ,john in the wilderness 7,luke #c3b74 ,luke leans to ,old ,testament phrase1 and here is one that hits off the man to the very life4 ,jesus himself confirms ,luke's judgement 7,mark #aa3bi-cc74 ,the ,word of the ,lord has come on this ascetic figure1 and he goes to the people with the message2 he draws their attention and they crowd out to see him4 ,he makes a great sensation4 ,he is not like other men--for ,jesus quotes their remark that he had a devil 7,luke #g3cc7--;a rough and ready way of explaining unlikeness to the average man4 ,when he sees his congregation his words are not conciliatory2 he addresses them as a generation of vipers 7,luke #c3g72 and his text is the wrath to come4 ,jesus asks whether they went out to see a reed shaken by the wind1 or someone dressed like a courtier--the last things to which anyone would compare ,john4 ,there was nothing supple about him1 as ,herod found1 and ,herodias 7,mark #f3ag-bj72 he was not shaken by the wind2 there was no trimming of his sails4 ,the austerity of his life and the austerity of his spirit go together1 and he preached in a tone and a language that scorched4 ,he preached righteousness1 social righteousness1 and he did it in a great way4 ,he brought back the minds of his people1 like ,amos and others1 to ,god's conceptions and away from their own4 ,crowds of people went out to hear him 7,mark #a3e74 ,and he made a deep impression on many whose lives needed amendment 7,matt4 #ba3bf1 #cb2 ,luke #bj3f74bg ,we have the substance of what he said in the third chapter of ,st4 ,luke2 how he told the tax-collectors to be honest and not make things worse than they need be2 the soldiers to do violence to no man and accuse no man falsely1 and to be content with their wages2 and to ordinary people he preached humanity3 ,he that hath two coats1 let him impart to him that hath none2 and he that hath meat1 let him do likewise4 ,it may be remarked of ,john1 and it is true also of ,jesus1 that neither attacked the absent nor inveighed against economic conditions1 as some modern preachers do with1 let us say1 capitalists and the morality of other nations4 ,neither says a word against the ,roman ,empire4 ,slavery is not condemned explicitly even by ,jesus1 though he gave the dynamic that abolished it4 ,the practical guidance that ,john gave1 he gave in response to men's inquiries4 ,like an ,old ,testament prophet 7cf4 ,amos #c3b71 ,john tore to tatters any plea that could be offered that his listeners were ,god's chosen people1 the children of ,abraham4 ,does ,god want children of ,abraham8--,john pointed to the stones on the ground1 and said1 if ,god wanted1 he could make children of ,abraham out of them2 a word and he could have as many children of ,abraham as he wished4 ,it was something else that ,god sought4 ,john1 writes the historian ,josephus a generation later1 was a good man1 and commanded the ,jews to exercise virtue both in justice toward one another and piety towards ,god1 and so to come to baptism2 for so baptism would be acceptable to ,god if they made use of it1 not to excuse certain sins1 but for the purification of the body1 provided that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness4#bh ,this interpretation of ,john's baptism makes it look very like the baptisms and other purificatory rites of the heathen4 ,the ,gospels attribute to ,john a message1 richer and more powerful1 but essentially the same2 and the criticism of ,jesus confirms the account4 ,the great note in his preaching is judgement2 the ,kingdom of ,god is coming1 and it begins with judgement4 ,again1 it is like ,amos--,the axe is at the root of the tree1 ,his fan is in ,his hand4 ,and as men listened to the man and looked at him--his intense belief in his message1 backed up by a stern self-discipline1 a whole life inspired1 infused by conviction--they believed this message of the axe1 the fan1 and the fire4 ,they asked and as we have seen received his guidance on the conduct of life2 they accepted his baptism1 and set about the amending of character 7,matt4 #ba3cb74 ,jesus makes it quite clear that he held ,john to be an entirely exceptional man1 and that he had no doubt that ,john's teaching was from ,god 7,matt4 #ba3cb2 ,luke #g3ce1 #bj3d2 and1 of course1 ,luke #g3bf-bh74 ,it was all in the line of the great prophets2 and the ,fourth ,gospel shows it us once more in the work of the ,holy ,spirit--when he is come1 he will reprove 7convict7 the world of sin1 and of righteousness1 and of judgement 7,john #af3h74 ,and yet1 as ,jesus says1 there is all the difference in the world between his own ,gospel and the teaching of the ,baptist4 ,in ,mark's narrative 7#b3ah7 a very significant episode is recorded4 ,john inculcated fasting1 and his disciples fasted a great deal 7pykna1 ,luke #e3cc72 and once1 ,mark tells us1 when they were actually fasting1 they asked ,jesus why his disciples did not do the same8 ,jesus' answer is a little cryptic at first sight4 ,can the children of the bridechamber fast1 while the bridegroom is with them8 ,who fasts at the wedding feast1 in the hour of gladness8 ,and then he passes on to speak about the new patch on the old garment1 the new wine in the old wine skins2 and it looks as if it were not merely a criticism of ,john's disciples but of ,john himself4 ,john1 indeed1 brings home with terrific force and conviction that truth of ,god which the prophets had preached before2 but he leaves it there4 ,he emphasizes once more the old laws of ,god1 the judgements of ,god1 but he brings no transforming power into men's lives4 ,the old characters1 the old motives more or less1 are to be patched by a new fear4 ,repent1 repent1 ,john cries1 the judgement is coming4 ,and men do repent1 and ,john baptises them as a symbol that ,god has forgiven them4 ,but how are they to go on8 ,what is the power that is to carry ,john's disciples through the rest of their lives8 ,we are not in possession of everything that ,john says1 but there is no indication that ,john had very much to say about any force or power that should keep men on the plane of repentance4 ,it is our experience that we repent and fall again2 what else was the experience of the people whom ,john baptised8 ,what was to keep them on the new level--not only in the isolation of the desert1 but in the ordinary routine of town and village8 ,in ,john's teaching there is not a word about that2 and this is a weakness of double import4 ,for1 as ,jesus puts it1 the new patch on the old garment makes the rent worse2 it does not leave it merely as it was4 ,if the unclean spirit regain its footing in a man1 it does not come alone--the last state of that man is worse than the first 7,luke #aa3bd-bf74 ,jesus is very familiar with the type that welcomes new ideas and new impulses in religion and yet does nothing1 grows tired or afraid1 and relapses 7,mark #d3ag74 ,again1 in ,john's teaching1 as far as we have it1 there is a striking absence of any clear word about any relation to ,god1 beyond that of debtor and creditor1 judge and prisoner on trial1 king and subject4 ,god may forgive and ,god will judge2 but so far as our knowledge of ,john's teaching goes1 these are the only two points at which man and ,god will touch each other2 and these are not intimate relations4 ,there is no promise and no gladness in them2 no good news4 ,john taught prayer--all sorts of people teach prayer2 but what sort of prayer8 ,it has been remarked of the ,greek poet1 ,apollonius ,rhodius1 that his heroes used prayers1 but their prayers were like official documents4 ,of what character were the prayers that ,john taught his disciples8 ,none of them survive2 but there is perhaps a tacit criticism of them in the request made to the ,new ,teacher3 ,teach us to pray1 as ,john taught his disciples 7,luke #aa3a74 ,one feels that the men wanted something different from ,john's prayers4 ,great and strenuous prayers they may have been1 but in marked contrast to the prayers of ,jesus and his followers1 because of the absence in ,john's message of any strong note of the love and tenderness of ,god4 ,finally1 the very righteousness that ,john preaches with such fire and energy is open to criticism4 ,far more serious than the righteousness of the ,pharisees1 stronger in insight and more generous in its scope1 it fails in the same way2 it is self-directed4 ,it aims at a man's own salvation1 and it is to be achieved by a man's own strength in self-discipline1 with what little help ,john's system of prayer and fasting may win for a man from ,god4 ,john fails precisely where his strength is greatest and most conspicuous4 ,his theme is sin2 his emphasis all falls on sin2 but his psychology of sin is insufficient1 it is not deep enough4 ,the simple1 strenuous ascetic did not realize the seriousness of sin after all--its deep roots1 its haunting power1 its insidious charm4 ,st4 ,paul saw far deeper into it ,i am carnal1 sold under sin4 ,what ,i hate that do ,i4 ,the good that ,i would1 ,i do not2 but the evil which ,i would not1 that ,i do4 ,i see a law in my members bringing me into captivity to the law of sin4 ,o wretched man that ,i am6 ,who shall deliver me from the body of this death8 7,rom4 #g3ad-bd74 ,sin1 in ,john's thought1 is contumacy or rebellion against the law of ,god2 he does not look at it in relation to the love of ,god--a view of it which gives it another character altogether4 ,nor has ,john any great conception of forgiveness--a man1 he thinks1 may win it by fruits worthy of repentance 7,luke #c3h74 ,here again ,paul is the pioneer in the universal ,christian experience that fruits of repentance can never buy ,god's forgiveness4 ,that is ,god's gift4 ,that forgiveness may cost a man much--an amended life1 the practices of prayer and fasting and almsgiving--,john conceives2 but we are not led to think that he thought of what it might cost ,god4 ,john has no evangel1 no really good news1 with gladness and singing in it 7#a ,peter #a3h74 ,when we return to the teaching of ,jesus1 we find that he draws a clear and sharp line between right and wrong4 ,he indicates that right is right to the end of all creation1 and wrong is wrong up to the very ,judgement ,throne of ,god 7,matt4 #be74 ,he views these things1 as the old phrase puts it1 sub specie aeternitatis1 from the outlook of eternity4 ,right and wrong do not meet at infinity4 ,there is no higher synthesis that can make them one and the same thing4 ,everything with ,jesus is ,theocentric1 and until ,god changes there will be no very great change in right and wrong4 ,partly because he uses the language of his day1 partly because he thinks as a rule in pictures1 his language is apt to be misconstrued by moderns4 ,but the central ideas are clear enough4 ,how are you to escape the judgement of ,gehenna8 he asks the ,pharisees 7,matt4 #bc3cc2 the subjunctive mood is worth study74 ,it is not a threat1 but a question4 ,there yawns the chasm2 with your driving1 how do you think you can avoid disaster8 ,he warns men of a doom where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched2 a man will do well to sacrifice hand1 foot or eye1 to save the rest of himself from that 7,mark #i3dc-dh74 ,but a more striking picture1 though commonly less noticed1 he draws or suggests in talk at the last supper4 ,simon1 ,simon1 behold ,satan asked for you to sift you as wheat1 but ,i prayed for thee1 that thy faith fail not2 and thou1 when thou comest back1 strengthen thy brethren 7,luke #bb3ca1 #cb74 ,the scene suggested is not unlike that at the beginning of the ,book of ,job1 or that in the ,book of ,zechariah 7chap4 #c74 ,there is the throne of ,god1 and into that ,presence pushes ,satan with a demand--the verb in the ,greek is a strong one1 though not so strong as the ,revised ,version suggests4 ,satan made a push to have you4 ,but ,i prayed for thee4 ,to any reader who has any feeling or imagination1 what do these short sentences mean8 ,what can they mean1 from the lips of a thinker so clear and so serious1 and a friend so tender8 ,what but unspeakable peril8 ,the language has for us a certain strangeness2 but it shows plainly enough that1 to ,jesus' mind1 the disciples1 and ,peter in particular1 stood in danger1 a danger so urgent that it called for the ,saviour's prayer4 ,so much it meant to him1 and he himself tells ,peter what he had realized1 what he had done1 in language that could not be mistaken or forgotten4 ,to the nature of the danger that sin involves1 we shall return4 ,meanwhile we may consider what ,jesus means by sin before we discuss its consequences4 ,the ,son of ,man1 says ,jesus1 in a sentence that is famous but still insufficiently studied1 is come to seek and to save that which is lost 7,luke #ai3aj74 ,our rule has been to endeavour to give to the terms of ,jesus the connotation he meant them to carry4 ,the scholar will linger over the ,son of ,man--a difficult phrase1 with a literary and linguistic history that is very complicated4 ,for the present purpose the significant words are at the other end of the sentence4 ,what does ,jesus mean by lost8 ,it is a strong word1 the value of which we have in some degree lost through familiarity4 ,and whom would he describe as lost8 ,we have once more to recall his criticism of ,peter--that ,peter thought like a man and not like ,god 7,mark #h3cc7--;and to be on our guard lest we think too quickly and too slightly4 ,we may remark1 too1 that for ,jesus sin is not1 as for ,paul and theologians in general1 primarily an intellectual problem4 ,he does not use the abstraction ,sin as ,paul does4 ,but the clear1 steady gaze turned on men and women misses little4 ,there are four outstanding classes1 whom he warns of the danger of hell in one form or other4 ,to begin1 there is the famous description of the ,last ,judgement 7,matt4 #be3ca-df7--;a description in itself not altogether new4 ,plenty of writers and thinkers had described the scene1 and the broad outlines of the picture were naturally common property2 yet it is to these more or less conventional traits that attention has often been too exclusively devoted4 ,jesus1 however1 altered the whole character of the ,judgement ,day scene by his account of the principles on which the ,judge decides the cases brought before him4 ,on the right hand of the ,judge are--not the ,jews confronting the ,gentiles on the left--nor exactly the well-conducted and well-balanced people who get there in ,greek allegories--but a group of men and women who realize where they are with a gasp of surprise4 ,how has it come about8 ,the ,judge tells them3 ,i was an hungered and ye gave me meat1 and the rest of the familiar words4 ,but this does not quite settle the question4 ,embarrassment rises on their faces--is it a mistake8 ,one of them speaks for the rest3 ,lord1 when saw we thee an hungered and fed thee8 ,they do not remember it4 ,there is something characteristic there of the whole school of ,jesus2 these people are children of fact1 honest as their ,master1 and they will not accept heaven in virtue of a possible mistake4 ,and it appears from the ,judge's answer that such instinctive deeds go further than men think1 even if they are forgotten4 ,wordsworth speaks of the little nameless unremembered acts of kindness and of love that are the best portion of a good man's life4#bi ,the acts of kindness were forgotten just because they were instinctive1 but1 ,jesus emphasizes the point1 they are decisive2 they come1 as another of his telling phrases suggests1 from the overflow of the heart1 and they reveal it4 ,with the people on the left hand it was the other way4 ,they were fairly well in possession of their good records1 but they had missed the decisive fact--they were instinctively hard4 ,such people ,jesus warns4 ,so familiar are his words that there is a danger of our limiting them to their first obvious meaning4 ,eighty years ago ,thomas ,carlyle looked out on the ,england he knew1 and remarked that it was strange that the great battle of civilized man should be still the battle of the savage against famine1 and with that he observed that the people were needier than ever of inward sustenance4 ,is there a warning in this picture of the people on the left hand that applies to deeper things than physical hunger8 ,a warning to those who do not heed another's need of inward sustenance1 of spiritual life1 of ,god8 ,it looks likely4 ,otherwise there is a risk of our declining upon a ,social ,righteousness that falls a long way short of ,john the ,baptist's1 and does less for any soul1 our own or another's4 ,the second class warned by ,jesus consists of several groups dealt with in the ,sermon on the ,mount--people whose sin is not murder or adultery1 but merely anger and the unclean thought--not the people who actually give themselves away1 like the publicans and harlots--but those who would not be sorry to have that ring of ,gyges which ,plato described1 who would like to do certain things if they could1 who at all events are not unwilling to picture what they would wish to do1 if it were available1 and meanwhile enjoy the thought 7,matt4 #e3ba1 #bb1 #bg-bi74 ,here ,st4 ,paul can supply commentary with his suggestion that one form of ,god's condemnation is where he gives up a man to his own reprobate mind 7,romans #a3bh--the whole passage is worth study in the ,greek74 ,the mind1 in ,paul's phrases1 becomes darkened 7,rom4 #a3ba71 stained 7,titus #a3ae71 and cauterized 7#a ,tim4 #d3b71 invalidated for the discharge of its proper functions1 as a burnt hand loses the sense of touch1 or a stained glass gives the man a blue or red world instead of the real one4 ,blindness and mutilation are better1 ,jesus said1 than the eye of lust 7,matt4 #e3bh74 ,how different from the moralists1 for whom sin lies in action1 and all actions are physical6 ,the idle word is to condemn a man1 not because it is idle1 but because1 being unstudied1 it speaks of his heart and reveals1 unconsciously but plainly1 what he is in reality 7,matt4 #ab3cf74 ,thus it is that what comes out of the mouth defiles a man 7,matt4 #ae3ah7--with the curious suggestion1 whether intended or not1 that the formulation of a floating thought gives it new power to injure or to help4 ,that is true2 impression loose1 as it were1 in the mind1 mere thought--stuff1 is one thing2 formulated1 brought to phrase and form1 it takes on new life and force2 and when it is evil1 it does defile1 and in a permanent way4 ,marcus ,aurelius has a very similar warning 7v4 #af7--,whatever the colour of the thoughts often before thy mind1 that colour will thy mind take4 ,for the mind is dyed 7or stained7 by its thoughts4 ,phantazesthai and phantasiai are the words--and they suggest something between thoughts and imaginations--mental pictures would be very near it4 ,the third group whom ,jesus warned1 the most notorious of all1 was the ,pharisee class4 ,they played at religion--tithed mint and anise and cumin1 and forgot judgement and mercy and faith 7,matt4 #bc3bc74 ,jesus said that the ,pharisee was never quite sure whether the creature he was looking at was a camel or a mosquito--he got them mixed 7,matt4 #bc3bd74 ,once we realize what this tremendous irony means1 we are better able to grasp his thought4 ,the ,pharisee was living in a world that was not the real one--it was a highly artificial one1 picturesque and charming no doubt1 but dangerous4 ,for1 after all1 we do live in the real world--there is only one world1 however many we may invent2 and to live in any other is danger4 ,blindness1 that is partial and uneven1 lands a man in peril whenever he tries to come downstairs or to cross the street--he steps on the doorstep that is not there and misses the real one4 ,he is involved in false appearances at every turn4 ,and so it is in the moral world--there is one real1 however many unreals there are1 and to trust to the unreal is to come to grief on the real4 ,the beginning of a man's doom1 wrote ,carlyle1 is that vision be withdrawn from him4 ,thou blind ,pharisee6 7,matt4 #bc3bf74 ,the cup is clean enough without2 it is septic and poisonous within--and from which side of it do you drink1 outside or inside8 7,matt4 #bc3be74 ,as we study the teaching of ,jesus here1 we see anew the profundity of the saying attributed to him in the ,fourth ,gospel1 ,the truth shall make you free 7,john #h3cb74 ,the man with astigmatism1 or myopia1 or whatever else it is1 must get the glasses that will show him the real world1 and he is safe1 and free to go and come as he pleases4 ,see the real in the moral sphere1 and the first great peril is gone4 ,nothing need be said at this point of the ,pharisee who used righteousness and long prayers as a screen for villainy4 ,probably his doom was that in the end he came to think his righteousness and his prayers real1 and to reckon them as credit with a ,god1 who did not see through them any more than he did himself4 ,it is a mistake to over-emphasize here the devouring of widow' houses by the ,pharisee 7,matt4 #bc3ad71 for it was no peculiar weakness of his2 publicans and unjust judges did the same4 ,only the publican and the unjust judge told themselves no lies about it4 ,the ,pharisee lied--lying to oneself or lying to another1 which is the worse8 ,the more dangerous probably is lying to oneself1 though the two practices generally will go together in the long run4 ,the worst forms of lying1 then1 are lying to oneself and lying about ,god2 and the ,pharisee combined them1 and told himself that1 once ,god's proper dues of prayer and tithe were paid1 his treatment of the widow and her house was correct4 ,hence1 says ,jesus1 he receives greater damnation 7,a4,v47--or judgement on a higher scale 7perissoteron krima74 ,the ,pharisees were men who believed in ,god--only that with his world1 they re-created him 7as we are all apt to do for want of vision or by choice72 but what is atheism1 what can it be1 but indifference to ,god's facts and to ,god's nature8 ,if religion is union with ,god1 in the phrase we borrow so slightly from the mystics1 how can a man be in union with ,god1 when the god he sees is not there1 is a figment of his own mind1 something different altogether from ,god8 ,or1 if we use the phrase of the ,old ,testament4 prophet and of ,jesus himself1 if religion is vision of ,god1 what is our religion1 if after all we are not seeing ,god at all1 but something else--a dummy god1 like that of the ,pharisees1 some trifling martinet who can be humbugged--or1 to come to ourselves1 a majestic bundle of abstract nouns loosely tied up in impersonality8 ,for all such ,jesus has a caution4 ,indifference to ,god's facts leads to one end only4 ,we admit it ourselves4 ,there are those who scold ,bunyan for sending ,ignorance to hell1 but we omit to ask where else could ,ignorance go1 whether ,bunyan sent him or not4 ,ignorance1 as to germs or precipices or what not1 leads to destruction in pari materia2 in the moral sphere can it be otherwise8 ,this serves in some measure to explain why ,jesus is so tender to gross and flagrant sinners1 a fact which some have noted with surprise4 ,surely it is because publican and harlot have fewer illusions2 they were left little chance of imagining their lives to be right before ,god4 ,what ,jesus thought of their hardness and impurity we have seen already1 but heedless as they were of ,god's requirements of them1 they were not guilty of the intricate atheism of the ,pharisees4 ,further1 whether it was in his mind or not1 it is also true that the frankly gross temptations do bring a man face to face with his own need of ,god1 as the subtler do not2 and so far they make for reality4 ,the fourth group are those who cannot make up their minds4 ,no man1 having put his hand to the plough1 and looking back1 is fit for the ,kingdom of ,god 7,luke #i3fb74 ,the word is an interesting one 7euthetos71 it means handy or easy to place4 7,the word is used of the salt not fit for land or dunghill 7,luke #ad3ce71 and the negative of the inconvenient harbour 7,acts #bg3ab747 ,this man is not adapted for the ,kingdom of ,god2 he is not easy to place there4 ,like the man who saved his talent but did not use it 7,matt4 #be3bd71 he is not exactly bad2 but he is no good1 as we say4 ,jesus conceives of the ,kingdom of ,god as dynamic1 not static2 state or place1 condition or relation1 it implies work1 as ,god himself implies work4 ,he holds that truth is not a curiosity for the cabinet but a tool in the hand2 that ,god's earnest world is no place for nondescript1 and that there is only one region left to which they can drift4 ,what part or place can there be in the ,kingdom of ,heaven--in a kingdom won on ,calvary--for people who cannot be relied on1 who cannot decide whether to plough or not to plough1 nor1 when they have made up their mind1 stick to it8 ,jesus cannot see4 7,what a revelation of the force and power of his own character67 ,these1 then1 are the four classes whom ,jesus warns1 and it is clear from the consideration of them that his view of sin is very different from those current in that day4 ,men set sin down as an external thing that drifted on to one like a floating burr--or like paint1 perhaps--it could be picked off or burnt off4 ,it was the eating of pork or hare--something technical or accidental2 or it was1 many thought1 the work of a demon from without1 who could be driven out to whence he came4 ,love and drunkenness illustrated the thing for them--a change of personality induced by an exterior force or object1 as if the human spirit were a glass or a cup into which anything might be poured1 and from which it could be emptied and the vessel itself remain unaffected4 ,jesus has a deeper view of sin1 a stronger psychology1 than these1 nor does he1 like some quick thinkers of to-day1 put sin down to a man's environment1 as if certain surroundings inevitably meant sin4 ,jesus is quite definite that sin is nothing accidental--it is involved in a man's own nature1 in his choice1 it comes from the heart1 and it speaks of a heart that is wrong4 ,when we survey the four groups1 it comes to one central question at last3 ,has a man been in earnest with himself about ,god's dealings with him8 ,hardness and lust make a man play the fool with human souls whom ,god loves and cares for--a declaration of war on ,god himself4 ,wilful self-deception about ,god needs no comment2 to shilly-shally and let decision slide1 where ,god is concerned1 is atheism too4 ,in a word1 what is a man's fundamental attitude to ,god and ,god's facts8 ,that is ,jesus' question4 ,sin is tracked home to the innermost and most essential part of the man--his will4 ,it is no outward thing1 it is inward4 ,it is not that evil befalls us1 but that we are evil4 ,in the words of ,edward ,caird1 the passion that misleads us is a manifestation of the same ego1 the same self-conscious reason which is misled by it1 and thus1 as ,burns puts it1 it is the very 'light from heaven' that leads us astray4 ,the man uses his highest ,god-given faculties1 and uses them against ,god4 ,but this is not all4 ,many people will agree with the estimate of ,jesus1 when they understand it1 in regard to most of these classes2 perhaps they would urge that in the main it is substantially the same teaching as ,john the ,baptist's1 though it implies1 as we shall see1 a more difficult problem in getting rid of sin4 ,jesus goes further4 ,he holds up to men standards of conduct which transcend anything yet put before mankind4 ,be ye therefore perfect1 he says1 even as your ,father which is in heaven is perfect 7,matt4 #e3dh74 ,when we recall what ,jesus teaches of ,god1 when we begin to try to give to ,god the content he intended1 we realize with amazement what he is saying4 ,he is holding up to men for their ideal of conduct the standard of ,god's holiness1 of ,god's love and tenderness4 ,everything that ,jesus tells us of ,god--all that he has to say of the wonderful and incredible love of ,god and of ,god's activity on behalf of his children--he now incorporates in the ideal of conduct to which men are called4 ,john's conceptions of righteousness grow beggarly4 ,here is a royal magnificence of active love1 of energetic sympathy1 tenderness1 and self-giving1 asked of us1 who find it hard enough to keep the simplest commandments from our youth up 7,mark #aj3bj74 ,we are to love our enemies1 to win them1 to make peace1 to be pure--and all on the scale of ,god4 ,and that this may not seem mere talk in the air1 there is the character and personality of ,jesus1 embodying all he asks of us--bringing out new wonders of ,god's goodness1 the ugliness and evil of sin1 and the positive and redemptive beauty of righteousness4 ,the problem of sin and forgiveness becomes more difficult1 as we think of the positive ideals which we have not begun to try to reach4 ,let us sum up what it involves4 ,jesus brings out the utter bankruptcy to which sin reduces men4 ,they become full of hypocrisy and lawlessness 7,matt4 #bc3bh71 so depraved that they are like bad trees1 unproductive of any but bad fruit 7rotten1 in the ,greek1 ,matt4 #g3ag72 the very light in them is darkness1 and how great darkness 7,matt4 #f3bc74 ,they are cut off from the real world1 as we saw1 and lose the faculties they have abused--the talent is taken away 7,matt4 #be3bh72 from him that hath not1 shall be taken away even that which he hath 7,matt4 #be3bi74 ,the nature is changed as memory is changed1 and the overflow of the heart in speech and act bears witness to it4 ,the faculty of choice is weakened2 the interval in which inhibition--to use our modern term--is possible1 grows shorter4 ,the instincts are perverted and the whole being is disorganized4 ,in a word1 all that ,jesus connotes by the ,kingdom of ,god is taken from them 7,matt4 #ba3dc71 and nothing left but outer darkness 7,matt4 #bb3ac74 ,the vision of ,god is not for the impure 7,matt4 #e3h74 ,meanwhile sin is not a sterile thing1 it is a leaven 7,matt4 #af3f74 ,if our modern medical language may be applied--and ,jesus used the analogy of medicine in this very case 7,mark #b3ag7--sin is septic4 ,in the first place1 all sin is anti-social--an invasion ipso facto of the rights of others4 ,the man who sins either takes away what is another's--a man's goods1 a widow's house1 or a woman's purity--or he fails to give to others what is their due1 be it1 in the obvious field1 the aid the ,good ,samaritan rendered to the wounded and robbed man by the roadside 7,luke #aj3cc71 or1 in the higher sphere1 truth1 sympathy1 help in the maintenance of principle1 or in the achievement of progress and development 7cf4 ,matt4 #be3dc74 ,sin is the repudiation of the concepts of law1 duty1 and service1 in a word1 of the love on ,god's scale which ,god calls men to exercise4 ,and its fruits are1 above all1 its dissemination4 ,injustice1 a historian has said1 always repays itself with frightful compound interest4 ,if a man starts to debauch society1 his example is quickly followed2 and it comes to hatred4 ,what1 we asked1 did ,jesus mean by lost8 ,this1 above all1 that sin cuts a man adrift from ,god4 ,in the parable of the ,prodigal ,son this is brought out 7,luke #ae3aa-cb74 ,there the youth took from his father all he could get1 and then deliberately turned his back on him forever2 he went into a far country1 out of his reach1 outside his influence1 and beyond the range of his ideas1 and he devoted his father's gifts to precisely what would sadden and trouble his father most4 ,and then came bankruptcy1 final and hopeless4 ,there was no father available in the far country2 he had to live without him1 and it came to a life that was not even human--a life of solitude1 a life of beasts4 ,jesus draws it1 as he does most things1 in picture form1 using parable4 ,paul puts the same in directer language2 sin reduces men to a position where they are alienated from the life of ,god 7,eph4 #d3ah2 ,col4 #a3ba71 without ,god in the world 7,eph4 #b3ab71 enemies of ,god 7,rom4 #e3aj2 ,col4 #a3ba72 but he does not say more than ,jesus implies4 ,paul's final expression1 ,god gave them up 7thrice in ,rom4 #a3bd1 #bf1 #bh71 answers to the ,judge's word1 in ,jesus' picture1 ,depart from me 7,matt4 #be3da74 ,o ,wedding-guest1 this soul hath been ,alone on a wide1 wide sea3 ,so lonely 'twas1 that ,god himself ,scarce seemd there to be4 ,so ,jesus handles the problem of sin1 but that is only half the story1 for there remains the problem of ,redemption4 ,the treatment of sin is far profounder and truer than ,john the ,baptist or any other teacher has achieved2 and it implies that ,jesus will handle ,redemption in a way no less profound and effective4 ,if he does not1 then he had better not have preached a gospel4 ,if1 in dealing with sin1 he touches reality at every point1 we may expect him in the matter of ,redemption to reach the very centre of life4#cj ,how else can he1 with his serious view of sin1 say to a man1 ,thy sins are forgiven thee8 7,mark #b3e74 ,but it is quite clear from our records that1 while ,jesus laid bare in this relentless way the ugliness and hopelessness of sin1 he did not despair3 his tone is always one of hope and confidence4 ,the strong man armed may find a stronger man come upon him and take from him the panoply in which he trusted 7,luke #aa3ba1 #bb74 ,there is a great gulf that cannot be crossed 7,luke #af3bf7--yes1 but if the experience of ,christendom tells us anything1 it tells us that ,jesus crossed it himself1 and did the impossible4 ,the great matter is that ,jesus believed ,god was willing to take the human soul1 and make it new and young and clean again4 ,but the human soul did not believe it1 till ,jesus convinced it1 and won it1 by action of his own4 ,the ,son of ,man came to seek and to save that which was lost2 and he did not come in vain4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,choice ,,of ,,the ,,cross ,by what they said1 ,i perceived that he had been a great warrior1 and had fought with and slain him that had the power of death 7,hebrews #b3ad71 but not without great danger to himself1 which made me love him the more--,pilgrims ,progress1 ,part ,i ,the subject before us is one of the greatest difficulty4 ,why ,jesus chose the cross has exercised the thought of the ,christian world ever since he did so4 ,he told his disciples beforehand of what lay before him1 of what he was choosing1 but it was long before they realized that he meant any such thing4 ,the cross was to them a strange idea1 and for a long time they did not seriously face the matter4 ,once the cross was an accomplished fact1 ,christians could not1 and did not wish to1 avoid thinking out what had meant so much to their ,master2 but it has mostly been with a sense of facing a mystery that in some measure eluded them1 with a feeling that there is more beyond1 something always to be attained hereafter4 ,a very significant passage in ,st4 ,mark 7#aj3cb7 gives us a glimpse of a moment on ,jesus' last journey to ,jerusalem4 ,it is a sentence which one could hardly imagine being included in the ,gospel1 if it did not represent some actual memory1 and a memory of significance4 ,it runs something like this3 ,and they were in the way1 going up to ,jerusalem1 and ,jesus was moving on before them2 and they began to wonder2 and as they followed they began to be afraid4 ,he is moving to ,jerusalem with a purpose4 ,they do not understand it4 ,he is wrapped in thought2 and1 as happens when a man's mind is working strongly1 his pace quickens1 and they find themselves at a distance behind him4 ,and then something comes over them--a sense that there is something in the situation which they do not understand1 a strangeness in the mind4 ,they realize1 in fact1 that they are not as near ,jesus as they had supposed4 ,and1 as they follow1 the wonder deepens into fear4 ,anyone who will really try to grapple with this problem of the cross will find very soon the same thing4 ,the first thing that we need to learn1 if our criticism of ,jesus is to be sound1 is that we are not at all so near him as we have imagined4 ,he eludes us1 goes far out beyond what we grasp or conceive2 and ,i think the education of the ,christian man or woman begins anew1 when we realize how little we know about ,jesus4 ,the discovery of our ignorance is the beginning of knowledge4 ,plato long ago said that wonder is the mother of philosophy1 and he was right4 ,john ,donne1 the ,english poet1 went farther1 and said3 ,all divinity is love or wonder4 ,when a man then begins to wonder about ,jesus ,christ in earnest1 ,jesus comes to be for him a new figure4 ,historical criticism has done this for us2 it has brought us to such a point that the story of these earliest disciples repeats itself more closely in the experience of their followers of these days than in any century since the first4 ,we begin along with them on the friendly1 critical1 human plane1 and with them we follow him into experiences and realizations that we never expected4 ,it may be summed up in the familiar words of the ,english hymn1 ,oh happy band of pilgrims1 ,if onward ye will tread ,with ,jesus as your fellow1 ,to ,jesus as your head4 ,these men begin with him1 more or less on a footing of equality2 or1 at least1 the inequality is very lightly marked4 ,afterwards it is emphasized2 and they realize it with wonder and with fear1 and at last with joy and gratitude4 ,we may begin by trying steadily to bring our minds to some keener sense of what it was that he chose4 ,to say1 in the familiar words1 that he chose the cross1 may through the very familiarity of the language lead us away from what we have to discover4 ,we have1 as we agreed1 to ask ourselves what was his experience4 ,what1 then1 did his choice involve8 ,it meant1 of course1 physical pain4 ,there are natures to whom this is of little account1 but the sensitive and sentient type1 as we often observe1 dreads pain4 ,he1 with open eyes1 chose physical pain1 heightened to torture1 not escaping any of the suffering which anticipation gives--that physical horror of death1 that instinctive fear of annihilation1 which nature suggests of itself4 ,he took the course of action that would most severely test his disciples2 one at least revolted1 and we have to ask what it meant to ,jesus to live with ,judas1 to watch his face1 to recognize his influence in the little group--yes1 and to try to win him again and to be repelled4 ,he learnt by the things that he suffered that ,judas would betray him2 but the hour and place and method were not so evident1 and when they were at last revealed--what did it mean to be kissed by ,judas8 ,do we feel what he felt in the so-called trials--or was he dull and numbed by the catastrophe8 ,how did he bear the beating of triumphant hatred upon a forsaken spirit8 ,how did the horrible cry1 ,crucify him6 crucify him6 break on his ears--on his mind8 ,when the ,lord turned and looked upon ,peter 7,luke #bb3fa71 what did it mean8 ,how did he know that ,peter was there1 and what led him to turn at that moment8 ,was there in the ,passion no element of uneasiness again about the eleven on whom he had concentrated his hopes and his influence--the eleven of whom it is recorded1 that they all forsook him1 and fled 7,mark #ad3ej78 ,no hint of dread that his work might indeed be undone8 ,what pain must that have involved8 ,what is the value of the ,agony in the ,garden1 of the cry1 ,eloi1 ,eloi1 lama sabachthani 7,mark #ae3cd78 ,when we have answered1 each for himself1 these questions1 and others like them that will suggest themselves--answered them by the most earnest efforts of which our natures are capable--and remembered at the end how far our natures fall short of his1 and told ourselves that our answers are insufficient--then let us recall1 once more1 that he chose all this4 ,he chose the cross and all that it meant4 ,our next step should be to study anew his own references to what he intends by it1 to what he expects to be its results and its outcome4 ,first of all1 then1 he clearly means that the ,kingdom of ,heaven is something different from anything that man has yet seen4 ,the ,kingdom of ,heaven is1 ,i understand1 a ,hebrew way of saying the ,kingdom of ,god--very much as men to-day speak of ,providence1 to avoid undue familiarity with the term ,god1 so the ,jews would say ,heaven4 ,there were many who used the phrase in one or other form2 but it is always bad criticism to give to the words of genius the value or the connotation they would have in the lips of ordinary people4 ,to a great mind words are charged with a fullness of meaning that little people do not reach4 ,the attempt has been made to recapture more of his thoughts by learning the value given to some of the terms he uses as they appear in the literature of the day1 and of course it has been helpful4 ,but we have to remember always that the words as used by him come with a new volume of significance derived from his whole personality4 ,everything turns on the connotation which he gives to the term ,god--that is central and pivotal4 ,what this new ,kingdom of ,god is1 or will be1 he does not attempt fully to explain or analyse4 ,in the parables1 the treasure-finder and the pearl merchant achieve a great enrichment of life2 so much they know at once2 but what do they do with it8 ,how do they look at it8 ,what does it mean to them8 ,he does not tell us4 ,we only see that they are moving on a new plane1 seeing life from a new angle1 living in a fuller sense4 ,what the new life means in its fullness1 we know only when we gain the deeper knowledge of ,god4 ,he suggests that this new knowledge comes to a man from ,god himself--flesh and blood do not reveal it 7,matt4 #af3ag74 ,unto you it is given1 he says on another occasion1 to know the mystery of the ,kingdom of ,heaven 7,mark #d3aa71 and he adds that there are those who see and do not see2 they are outside it2 they have not the alphabet1 we might say1 that will open the book 7cf4 ,rev4 #e3c74 ,he makes it clear at every point in the story of the ,kingdom of ,god that there is more beyond2 and he means it4 ,it is to be a new beginning1 an initiation1 leading on to what we shall see but do not yet guess1 though he gives us hints4 ,we shall not easily fathom the depth of his idea of the new life1 but along with it we have to study the width and boldness of his purpose4 ,this new life is not for a few--for the elect1 in our careless phrase4 ,he looks to a universal scope for what he is doing4 ,it will reach far outside the bounds of ,judaism4 ,they shall come from the east and from the west1 and from the north and from the south1 and shall sit down in the ,kingdom of ,god 7,luke #ac3bi74 ,wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world1 he says 7,mark #ad3i74 ,my words shall not pass away 7,luke #ba3cc74 ,all time and all existence come under his survey and are included in his plan4 ,the range is enormous4 ,and this was a ,galilean peasant6 ,as we gradually realize what he has in mind1 must we not feel that we have not grasped anything like the full grandeur of his thought8 ,he makes it plain1 in the second place1 that it will be a matter for followers1 for workers1 for men who will watch and wait and dare--men with the same abandonment as himself4 ,he calls for men to come after him1 to come behind him 7,mark #a3ag1 #aj3ba2 ,luke #i3ei74 ,he emphasizes that they must think out the terms on which he enlists them4 ,he does not disguise the drawbacks of his service4 ,he calls his followers1 and a very personal and individual call it is4 ,he calls a man from the lake shore1 from the nets1 from the custom house4 ,in the third place1 he clearly announces an intention to achieve something in itself of import by his death4 ,there are those who would have us believe that his mind was obsessed with the fixed idea of his own speedy return on the clouds1 and that he hurried on to death to precipitate this and the new age it was to bring4 ,references to such a coming are indeed found in the ,gospels as we have them1 but we are bound to ask whence they come1 and to inquire how far they represent exactly what he said2 and then1 if he is correctly reported1 to make sure that we know exactly what he means4 ,those who hold this view fail to relate the texts they emphasize with others of a deeper significance1 and they ignore the grandeur and penetration and depth of the man whom they make out such a dreamer4 ,he never suggests himself that his death is to force the hand of ,god4 ,he himself is to be the doer and achiever of something4 ,we have been apt to think of him as a great teacher1 a teacher of charm and insight1 or as the great example of idealism1 who saw life steadily and saw it whole4 ,he lived1 some hold1 the rounded and well-poised life1 the rhythmic life4 ,no1 that was ,sophocles4 ,he is greater4 ,here is one who penetrates far deeper into things4 ,his treatment of the psychology of sin itself shows how much more than an example was needed4 ,here1 as in the other chapters1 but here above all we have to remember the clearness of his insight1 his swiftness of penetration1 his instinct for fact and reality4 ,he means to do1 to achieve1 something4 ,it is no martyr's death that he incurs4 ,his death is a step to a purpose4 ,i have a baptism to be baptised with1 he says 7,luke #ab3ej74 ,the ,son of ,man1 he said1 is come to seek and to save that which was lost 7,luke #ai3aj74 ,in discussing in the previous chapter what he meant by the term lost1 our conclusion was that for ,jesus sin was far more awful1 far more serious1 than we commonly realize4 ,we saw also that so profound and true a psychology of sin must imply a view of redemption at least as profound1 a promise of a force more than equal to the power of sin--that violence of habit of which ,st4 ,augustine speaks4 ,if the ,son of ,man is to save the lost1 and if the lost are in danger so real1 it follows that he must think of a thoroughly effective salvation1 and that its achievement will be no light or easy task4 ,to give one's life as a ransom for many1 says a modern teacher1 is of no avail1 if the ransom is insufficient4 ,what1 then1 and how much1 does he mean by to save1 and how does he propose to do it8 ,when the soul of man or woman has gone wrong in any of the ways discussed by ,jesus--in hardness or anger1 in impurity1 in the refusal to treat ,god and his facts seriously--when the consequences that ,jesus recognized have followed--what can be done to bring that soul back into effective relation with the ,god whom it has discarded and abandoned8 ,that is the problem that ,jesus had to face1 and most of us have not thought enough about it4 ,first of all1 how far does ,jesus understand salvation to take a man8 ,the ancient creed of the ,church includes the article of belief in the forgiveness of sins4 ,there are those who lightly assume that this means1 chiefly or solely1 the remission of punishment for evil acts4 ,this raises problems enough of itself4 ,the whole doctrine of ,karma1 vital to ,buddhism and ,hinduism1 is1 if ,i understand it aright1 a strong and clear warning to us that the remission of punishment is no easy matter4 ,not only ,eastern thinkers1 but ,western also1 insist that there is no avoidance of the consequences of action4 ,luther himself1 using a phrase half borrowed from a ,latin poet1 says that forgiveness is a knot worthy of a ,god's aid--nodus ,deo vindice dignus4#ca ,but in any case escape from the consequences of sin1 when once we look on sin with the eyes of ,jesus1 is of relatively small importance4 ,there are two aspects of the matter far more significant4 ,we have seen how ,jesus regards sin as at once the cause and consequence of a degeneration of the moral nature1 and as a repudiation of ,god4 ,two questions arise3 ,is it possible to recover lost moral quality and faculty8 ,is it possible for those incapacitated by sin to regain1 or to enjoy1 relation with ,god8 ,when we think1 with ,jesus1 of sin first and foremost in connexion with ,god1 and take the trouble to try to give his meaning to his words1 forgiveness takes on a new meaning4 ,we have to think like ,god1 he says 7,mark #h3cc72 and perhaps ,god is in his thoughts neither so legal nor so biological as we are2 perhaps he does not think first of edicts or of biological and psychological laws4 ,god1 according to ,jesus1 thinks first of his child1 though of course not oblivious of his own commands and laws4 ,forgiveness1 ,jesus teaches or suggests1 is primarily a question between ,father and son1 and he tries to lead us to believe how ready the ,father is to settle that question4 ,once it is settled1 we find1 in fact1 ,father and son setting to work to mend the past4 ,the evil seed has been sown and the sad crop must be reaped1 the man who sowed it has to reap it--that much we all see4 ,but ,jesus hints to us that ,god himself loves to come in and help his reconciled son with the reaping2 many hands make light work1 especially when they are such hands4 ,and even when the crop is evil in the lives of others1 the most horrible outcome of sin1 ,god is still in the field4 ,the prodigal1 when he returns1 is met with a welcome1 and is gradually put in possession of what he has lost--the robe1 the shoes1 the ring2 and it all comes from his being at one with his ,father again 7,luke #ae3bb;ff474 ,the ,son of ,man1 historically1 has again and again found the lost--the lost gifts1 the lost faculties1 the lost charms and graces--and given them back to the man whom he had also found and brought home to ,god4 ,let us once more try to get our thoughts ,theocentric as ,jesus' are1 and our problems become simpler1 or at least fewer4 ,god's generosity in forgiveness1 ,god's love1 he emphasizes again and again4 ,will a man take ,jesus at his word1 and commit himself to ,god8 ,that is the question4 ,once he will venture on this step1 what pictures ,jesus draws us of what happens6 ,the son is home again2 the bankruptcy1 the hideous solitude1 the life among animals1 bestial1 dirty and empty1 and haunted with memories--all those things are past1 when once the ,father's arms are round his neck1 and his kiss on his cheek4 ,he is no more alienated from the life of ,god 7,eph4 #d3ah2 ,col4 #a3ba71 without ,god in the world 7,eph4 #b3ab71 an enemy of ,god 7,rom4 #e3aj72 he was lost and is found1 and the ,father himself1 ,jesus says1 cries3 ,let us be merry 7,euphranthomen74 ,if we hesitate about it1 ,jesus calls us once more to think like ,god1 and tells us other stories1 with incredible joy in them--joy in the presence of the angels of ,god over one sinner that repenteth4 ,we must go back to his central conception of ,god1 if we are to realize what he means by salvation4 ,st4 ,augustine 7,conf41 viii4 #c7 brings out the value of these parables1 by reminding us how much more we care for a thing that has been ours1 when we have lost it and found it again4 ,the shepherd has a new link with his sheep lost and found again1 a new story of it1 a shared experience2 it is more his than ever4 ,and ,jesus implies that when a man is saved1 he is ,god's again1 and more ,god's own than ever before2 and ,god is glad at heart4 ,as for the man2 a new power comes into his heart1 and a new joy2 and with ,god's help1 in a new spirit of sunshine1 he sets about mending the past in a new spirit and with a new motive--for love's sake now4 ,if the fruit of the past is to be seen1 as it constantly is1 in the lives of others1 he throws himself with the more energy into ,god's work1 and when the ,good ,shepherd goes seeking the lost1 he goes with him4 ,christian history bears witness1 in every year of it1 to what salvation means1 in ,jesus' sense4 ,punishment1 consequences1 crippled resources--no1 he does not ask to escape them now2 all as ,god pleases2 these are not the things that matter4 ,life is all to be boundless love and gratitude and trust2 and by and by the new man wakes up to find sin taken away1 its consequences undone1 the lost faculties restored1 and life a fuller and richer thing than ever it was before4 ,somehow so1 if we read the ,gospels aright1 does ,jesus conceive of ,salvation4 ,to achieve this for men is his purpose2 and in order to do it1 as we said before1 his first step is to induce men to re-think ,god4 ,something must be done to touch the heart and to move the will of men1 effectively2 and he must do it4 ,with this purpose in his mind--let us weigh our words here1 and reflect again upon the clearness of his insight into life and character1 into moral laws1 the laws of human thought and feeling1 upon his profound intelligence and grasp of what moves and is real1 his knowledge 7a strong word to use1 but we may use it7 of ,god--with this purpose in his mind1 thought out and understood1 he deliberately and quietly goes to ,jerusalem4 ,he steadfastly set his face to go to ,jerusalem 7,luke #i3ea74 ,i must walk1 he said1 to-day and to-morrow and the day following2 for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of ,jerusalem 7,luke #ac3cc74 ,to ,jerusalem he goes4 ,we may admit that with his view of the psychology of sin1 he must have a serious view of redemption4 ,but why should that involve the cross8 ,that is our problem4 ,but while we try to solve it1 we must also remember that behind a great choice there are always more reasons than we can analyse4 ,a man makes one of the great choices in life4 ,what has influenced him8 ,ten to one1 if you ask him1 he does not know4 ,nothing else1 he will say1 seemed feasible2 the thing was borne in on me1 it came to me3 reasons8 ,he cannot tabulate reasons2 the thing1 he says1 was so clear that ,i was a long way past reasons4 ,and yet he was right2 he had reasons enough4 ,what parent ever analysed reasons for loving his children1 or would tabulate them for you8 ,jesus does not explain his reasons4 ,we find1 ,i think1 that we are apt to have far more reasons for doing what we know is wrong1 than we have for doing what we know is right4 ,we do not want reasons for doing what is right2 we know it is right1 and there is an end of it4 ,once again1 ,jesus1 with his clear eye for the real1 sees what he must do4 ,the salvation of the lost means the cross for himself4 ,but why8 we ask again4 ,we must look a little closer if we are to understand him4 ,we shall not easily understand him in all his thoughts1 but part of our education comes from the endeavour to follow him here1 to be with him1 in the phrase with which we began4 ,first of all we may put his love of men4 ,he never lost the individual in the mass1 never lost sight of the human being who needed ,god4 ,the teacher who put the law of kindness in the great phrase1 ,go with him twain 7,matt4 #e3da71 was not likely to limit himself in meeting men's needs4 ,he was bound to do more than we should expect1 when he saw people whom he could help2 and it is that spirit of abounding generosity that shows a man what to do 7,luke #f3ch74 ,everywhere1 every day1 he met the call that quickened thought and shaped purpose4 ,he walked down a street2 and the scene of misery or of sin came upon him with pressure2 he could not pass by1 as we do1 and fail to note what we do not wish to think of4 ,he knows a pressure upon his spirit for the man1 the child1 the woman--for the one who sins1 the one who suffers1 the other who dies4 ,they must be got in touch with ,god4 ,he sits with his disciples at a meal--the men whom he loved--he watches them1 he listens to them4 ,peter1 ,james1 ,john1 one after the other1 becomes a call to him4 ,they need redemption2 they need far more than they dream2 they need ,god4 ,that pressure is there night and day--it becomes intercession1 and that grows into inspiration4 ,our prayers suffer1 some one has said1 for our want of our identification with the world's sin and misery4 ,he was identified with the world's sin and misery1 and they followed him into his prayer4 ,it becomes with him an imperative necessity to effect man's reconciliation with ,god4 ,all his experience of man1 his love of man1 call him that way4 ,the second great momentum comes from the love of ,god1 and his faith in ,god4 ,here1 again1 we must emphasize for ourselves his criticism of ,peter3 ,you think like a man and not like ,god 7,mark #h3cc74 ,we do not see ,god1 as ,jesus did4 ,he must make plain to men1 as it never was made plain before1 the love of ,god4 ,he must secure that it is for every man the greatest reality in the world1 the one great flaming fact that burns itself living into every man's consciousness4 ,he sees that for this ,god calls him to the cross1 so much so that when he prays in the garden that the cup may pass1 his thoughts range back to ,thy will 7,matt4 #bf3db74 ,it is ,god's ,will4 ,even if he does not himself see all involved1 still ,god knows the reason2 ,god will manage2 ,god wishes it4 ,have faith in ,god1 he used to say 7,mark #aa3bb74 ,this faith which he has in ,god is one of the things that take him to the cross4 ,in the third place1 we must not forget his sense of his own peculiar relation to ,god4 ,if it is safe to rely on ,st4 ,mark's chronological date here1 he does not speak of this until ,peter has called him the ,messiah4 ,he accepts the title 7,mark #h3bi74 ,he also uses the description1 ,son of ,man1 with its suggestions from the past4 ,he forgives sins4 ,he speaks throughout the ,gospels as one apart1 as one distinct from us1 closely as he is identified with us--and all this from a son of fact1 who is not insane1 who is not a quack1 whose eyes are wide open for the real2 whose instinct for the ultimate truth is so keen2 who lives face to face with ,god4 ,what does it mean8 ,this1 for one thing1 that most of us have not given attention enough to this matter4 ,i have confined myself in these chapters to the ,synoptic ,gospels1 with only two or three references to the ,fourth ,gospel1 and on the evidence of the ,synoptic ,gospels1 taken by themselves1 it is clear that he means a great deal more than we have cared to examine4 ,he is the great interpreter of ,god1 and it is borne in upon him that only by the cross can he interpret ,god1 make ,god real to us1 and bring us to the very heart of ,god4 ,that is his purpose4 ,the cross is the outcome of his deepest mind1 of his prayer life4 ,it is more like him than anything else he ever did4 ,it has in it more of him4 ,whoever he was1 whoever he is1 whatever our ,christology1 one fact stands out4 ,it was his love of men and women and his faith in ,god that took him there4 ,was he justified8 was he right8 or was it a delusion8 ,first of all1 let us go back to a historic event4 ,the resurrection is1 to a historian1 not very clear in its details4 ,but is it the detail or the central fact that matters8 ,take away the resurrection1 however it happened1 whatever it was1 and the history of the ,church is unintelligible4 ,we live in a rational world--a world1 that is1 where1 however much remains as yet unexplained1 everything has a promise of being lucid1 everything has reason in it4 ,great results have great causes4 ,we have to find1 somewhere or other1 between the crucifixion and the first preaching of the disciples in ,jerusalem1 something that entirely changed the character of that group of men4 ,something happened1 so tremendous and so vital1 that it changed not only the character of the movement and the men--but with them the whole history of the world4 ,the evidence for the resurrection is not so much what we read in the ,gospels as what we find in the rest of the ,new ,testament--the new life of the disciples4 ,they are a new group4 ,when it came to the cross1 his cross1 they ran away4 ,a few weeks later we find them rejoicing to be beaten1 imprisoned and put to death 7,acts #e3da74 ,what had happened8 ,what we have to explain is a new life--a new life of prayer and joy and power1 a new indifference to physical death1 in a new relation to ,god4 ,that is one outcome of the cross and of what followed2 and as historians we have to explain it4 ,we have also to explain how the disciples came to conceive of another ,galilean--a carpenter whom they might have seen sawing and sweating in his shop1 with whom they tramped the roads of ,palestine1 whom they saw done to death in ignominy and derision--sitting at the right hand of ,god4 ,taken by itself1 we might call such a belief mere folly2 but too much goes with it for so easy an explanation4 ,the cross was not the end4 ,as ,mr4 ,neville ,talbot has recently pointed out in his book1 ,the ,mind of the ,disciples1 if the story stopped with the cross1 ,god remains unexplained1 and the story ends in unrelieved tragedy4 ,but it does not end in tragedy2 it ends--if we can use the word as yet--in joy and faith and victory2 and these--how should we have seen them but for the cross8 ,they are bound up with his choice of the cross and his triumph over it all4 ,death is not what it was--the last line of all1 as ,horace says4 ,life and immortality have been brought to light 7#b ,tim4 #a3aj74 ,the ,lamb of ,god taketh away the sin of the world4 ,so we read at the beginning of the ,fourth ,gospel1 and the historical critic may tell us that he does not think that ,john the ,baptist said it4 ,none the less1 it is a wonderful summary of what ,jesus has done1 especially wonderful if we think of it being written fifty or sixty years after the crucifixion4 ,for1 as we survey the centuries1 we find that the ,lamb of ,god has taken away the sin of the world--to a degree that no one can imagine who has not studied the ancient world4 ,those who know the heathen world intimately will know best the difference he has made4 ,all this new life1 this new joy1 this new victory over death and sin is attached to the living and victorious ,son of ,god4 ,the task of ,paul and the others is1 as ,dr4 ,cairns says1 re-thinking everything in the terms of the resurrection4 ,it is the new factor in the problem of ,god1 so to speak--the new factor which alters everything that relates to ,god4 ,that is saying a great deal1 but when we look at ,christian history1 is it saying too much8 ,but still our first question is unanswered2 why should it have been the cross8 ,one thinker of our day has suggested that1 after all1 suffering is a language intelligible to the very simplest1 while its meaning is not exhausted by the deepest4 ,the problem of pain is always with us4 ,and he chose pain4 ,he never said that pain is a good thing2 he cured it4 ,but he chose it4 ,the ancient world stumbled on that very thing4 ,god and a ,godlike man1 their philosophers said1 are not susceptible to pain1 to suffering4 ,that was an axiom1 very little challenged4 ,then if ,jesus suffered1 he was not ,god2 if he was ,god1 he did not suffer4 ,the ,church denied that1 just as the ,church to-day rejects another hasty antithesis about pain1 that comes from ,new ,england4 ,he chose pain1 and he knew what he was choosing4 ,then let us be in no hurry about refusing it1 but let us look into it4 ,he chose it--that is the greatest fact known to us about pain4 ,again1 the death of ,christ reveals sin in its real significance1 in its true perspective1 outside the realm of accident and among the deepest things of ,god1 sub specie aeternitatia4 ,men count themselves very decent people2 so thought the priests and the ,pharisees1 and they were4 ,there is nothing about them that one cannot find in most religious communities and in all governing classes3 the sense of the value of themselves1 their preconceptions and their judgements--a strong feeling of the importance of the work they have to do1 along with a certain reluctance to face strange facts1 and some indifference as to what happens to other people if the accepted theory of the ,cause or the ,state require them to suffer4 ,there is nothing about ,pilate and ,herod1 and the ,pharisees and the priests1 that is very different from ourselves4 ,but how it looks in front of the cross6 ,we begin to see how it looks in the sight of ,god1 and that alters everything2 it upsets all our standards1 and teaches us a new self-criticism4 ,you think like man1 and not like ,god1 said ,jesus 7,mark #h3cc74 ,the cross reveals ,god most sympathetically4 ,we see ,god in the light of the fullest and profoundest and tenderest revelation that the world has had4 ,my ,god1 my ,god1 why hast thou forsaken me8 that is the cry of ,jesus on the cross4 ,i have sometimes thought there never was an utterance that reveals more amazingly the distance between feeling and fact4 ,that was how he felt--worn out1 betrayed1 spat upon1 rejected4 ,we feel that ,god was more there than ever4 ,as has been said1 if it is not ,god1 it is nothing4 ,god1 says ,paul1 was in ,christ1 reconciling the world unto himself 7#b ,cor4 #e3ai74 ,he chose the cross2 and in choosing it1 ,christians have always felt1 he revealed ,god2 and that is the centre of the great act of ,redemption4 ,but there is a condition antecedent to understanding the cross4 ,we have1 as we agreed1 to ask ourselves1 what is the experience which led him to think as he did8 ,in the simpler language of the ,gospels1 quite plain and easy to understand1 the call to follow comes first--the call to deeper association with ,jesus ,christ in his love for men4 ,do not our consciences tell us that1 if we really loved people as ,jesus does1 if we understood them as sympathetically and cared as much for them1 the cross would be far more intelligible to us8 ,but if1 in plain fact1 we do not see why we should bear the cross for others1 why we should deny and obliterate self on this scale for the salvation of men--how1 ,i ask1 to people of such a mind should ,jesus be intelligible8 ,it is not to be expected4 ,in no other sphere would one dream of it4 ,when a man avows that he does not care for art or poetry1 who would wish to show him poem or picture8 ,how should a person1 who does not care for men1 understand the cross8 ,deeper association1 then1 with ,jesus in his love of men1 in his agony1 in his trust in ,god--that is the key to all4 ,as we agreed at the very beginning1 we have to know him before we can understand him4 ,it all depends in the long run on one thing2 and that we find in the verse with which we started3 ,and as they followed1 they began to be afraid4 ,but they followed4 ,we can understand their fear4 ,it comes to a man in this way4 ,if ,jesus crucified means anything like what the ,church has said1 and has believed2 if ,god is in that man of ,nazareth reconciling the world to ,himself2 if there is real meaning in the ,incarnation at all2 if all this language represents fact2 then1 he may say1 ,i am wholly at a loss about everything else4 ,a man builds up a world of thought for himself--we all do--a scheme of things2 and to a man with a thought-out view of the world1 it may come with an enormous shock to realize this incredible idea1 this incredible truth1 of ,god in ,christ4 ,those who have dwelt most on it1 and value it most1 may be most apt to understand what ,i mean by calling it incredible4 ,think of it4 ,it takes your breath away4 ,if that is true1 does not the whole plan of my life fall to pieces--my whole scheme of things for the world1 my whole body of intellectual conceptions8 ,and the man to whom this happens may well say he is afraid4 ,he is afraid1 because it is so strange2 because1 when you realize it1 it takes you into a new world2 you cannot grasp it4 ,a man whose instinct is for truth may hesitate--will hesitate about a conception like this4 ,is it possible1 he will ask himself1 that ,i am deluded8 ,and another thought rises up again and again1 ,where will it take me8 ,we can understand a man being afraid in that way4 ,i do not think we have much right not to be afraid4 ,if it is the incarnation of ,god1 what right have we not to be afraid8 ,then1 of course1 a man will say that to follow ,christ involves too much in the way of sacrifice4 ,he is afraid on lower grounds1 afraid of his family1 afraid for his career2 he hesitates4 ,to that man the thing will be unintelligible4 ,the experience of ,st4 ,augustine1 revealed in his ,confessions1 is illuminative here4 ,he had intellectual difficulties in his approach to the ,christian position1 but the rate of progress became materially quicker when he realized that the moral difficulties came first1 that a practical step had to be taken4 ,so with us--to decide the issue1 how far are we prepared to go with ,jesus8 ,have we realized the experience behind his thought8 ,the rule which we laid down at the beginning holds4 ,how far are we prepared to go in sharing that experience8 ,that will measure our right to understand him4 ,once again1 in the plainest language1 are we prepared to follow1 as the disciples followed1 afraid as they were8 ,where is he going8 ,where is he taking them8 ,they wonder2 they do not know2 they are uneasy4 ,but when all is said1 the figure on the road ahead of them1 waiting for them now and looking round1 is the ,jesus who loves them and whom they love4 ,and one can imagine the feeling rising in the mind of one and another of them3 ,i don't know where he is going1 or where he is taking us1 but ,i must be with him4 ,there we reach again what the whole story began with--he chose twelve that they might be with him4 ,to understand him1 we1 too1 must be with him4 ,what takes men there8 ,after all1 it is1 in the familiar phrase1 the love of ,jesus4 ,if one loves the leader1 it is easier to follow him4 ,but1 whether you understand him or whether you don't1 if you love him you are glad that he chose the cross1 and you are glad that you are one of his people4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,christian ,,church ,,in ,,the ,,roman ,,empire ,imperial ,rome governed the whole of the ,mediterranean world1--a larger proportion and a greater variety of the human race than has ever been under one government4 ,so far as numbers go1 the ,russian ,empire to-day1 the ,chinese and the ,british1 each far exceed it2 for the population of the world is vastly larger than it was in ,rome's days4 ,but there was a peculiar unity about the ,roman ,empire1 for it embraced1 as men thought1 all civilized mankind4 ,it was known that1 far away in the ,east1 there were people called ,indians1 who had fought with ,alexander the ,great1 but there was little real knowledge of them4 ,beyond ,india1 there were vague rumours of a land where silk grew on the leaves of the trees4 ,but civilized mankind was under the control of ,rome4 ,it was one rule of many races1 many kingdoms1 princedoms1 cities1 cantons1 and tribes--a wise rule1 a rule that allowed the maximum of local government and traditional usage3 ,rome not merely conquered but captured men all over the world2 ruled them1 as a poet said1 like a mother1 not a queen1 and bound them to herself4 ,men were eager1 not so much to shake off her yoke1 as to be ,romans2 and from the ,atlantic to the ,euphrates men1 not of ,roman blood1 were proud to bear ,roman names and to be ,roman citizens4 ,i was free born1 said ,st4 ,paul1 not without a touch of satisfaction 7,acts #bb3be-bh74 ,a general peace prevailed through the ,roman world--a peace that was new to mankind4 ,there was freedom of intercourse2 one of the boasts made by the writers of the ,roman ,empire is of this new freedom to travel1 to go anywhere one pleased4 ,piracy on the sea1 brigandage on the land1 had been put down1 and there was a very great deal of travel4 ,the ,roman became an inveterate tourist4 ,he went to the famous scenes of ,asia ,minor1 to ,troy above all--to sunny ,rhodes and ,mitylene--to ,egypt4 ,merchants went everywhere4 ,and there was a fusing of cultures1 traditions1 and creeds1 all over the ,mediterranean world4 ,centuries before1 ,alexander the ,great had struck out the splendid idea of the marriage of ,east and ,west4 ,he secured it by breaking down the ,persian ,empire1 and making one ,empire from the ,adriatic to this side of the ,sutlej or ,bias4 ,he desired to cement this marriage of ,east and ,west in a way of his own4 ,he took three hundred captive princesses and ladies1 and married them in a batch to ,macedonian officers--a very characteristic piece of symbolism4 ,but his idea was greater and truer than the symbol4 ,the ,roman marriage of the ,east and ,west was a more real thing1 for behind it lay three centuries of growing intercourse and knowledge along ,alexander's lines4 ,in the sphere of religion we find it most clearly4 ,there rises a resultant world-religion--a religion that embraces all the cults1 all the creeds1 and at last all the philosophies1 in one great system4 ,that religion held the world4 ,it is true1 there were exceptions4 ,there was a small and objectionable race called ,jews2 there were possibly some ,druids in ,southern ,britain2 and here and there was a solitary atheist who represented no one but himself4 ,these few exceptions were the freaks amongst mankind4 ,apart from them mankind was united in its general beliefs about the gods4 ,the world had one religion4 ,first of all1 let us try to estimate the strength of this old ,mediterranean ,paganism4 ,it was strong in its great traditions4 ,plutarch1 who lived from about #ej ,a4,d4 to #aag or so1 is our great exponent of this old religion4 ,to him ,i shall have to refer constantly4 ,he was a writer of charm1 a man with many gifts4 ,plutarch's ,lives was the great staple of education in the ,renaissance--and as good a one1 perhaps1 as we have yet discovered1 even in this age when there are so many theories of education with foreign names4 ,plutarch1 then1 writing about ,delphi1 the shrine and oracle of the god ,apollo1 said that men had been in anguish and fear lest ,delphi should lose its glory of three thousand years--and ,delphi has not lost it4 ,for ninety generations the god has been giving oracles to the ,greek world1 to private people1 to kings1 to cities1 to nations--and on all sorts of subjects1 on the foundation of colonies1 the declaration of wars1 personal guidance and the hope of heirs4 ,you may test the god where you will1 ,plutarch claimed1 you will not find an instance of a false oracle4 ,readers of ,greek history will remember another great writer of as much charm1 five hundred years before1 ,herodotus1 who was not so sure about all the oracles4 ,but let us think what it means1--to look back over three thousand years of one faith1 unbroken4 ,egyptian religion had been unchallenged for longer still1 even if we allow ,plutarch's three thousand years4 ,the oldest remains in ,egypt antedate1 we are told1 #djjj ,b4,c41 and all through history1 with the exception of the solitary reign of ,amen-,hotep ,,iii41 ,egypt worshipped the same gods1 with additions1 as time went on4 ,again an unbroken tradition4 ,and how long1 under various names1 had ,cybele1 ,mother of ,gods1 been worshipped in ,asia8 ,by our era all these religions were fused into one religion1 of many cults and rites and ancient traditions2 and the incredible weight of old tradition in that world is hard to overestimate4 ,the old religion was strong in the splendour of its art and its architecture4 ,the severe1 beautiful lines of the ,greek temple are familiar to us still2 and1 until ,i saw the ,taj1 ,i think ,i should have doubted whether there could be anything more beautiful4 ,architecture was consecrated to the gods1 and so was art4 ,you go to ,delphi1 said ,plutarch1 and see those wonderful works of the ancient artists and sculptors1 as fresh still as if they had left the chisel yesterday1 and they had stood there for hundreds of years1 wonderful in their beauty4 ,think of some of the remains of the ,greek art--of that ,victory1 for instance1 which the ,messenians set on the temple at ,olympia in #dba ,b4,c4 ,she stood on a block of stone on the temple1 but the block was painted blue1 so that1 as the spectator came up1 he saw the temple and the angle of its roof1 and then a gap of blue sky and the goddess just alighting on the summit of the temple4 ,from what is left of her1 broken and headless1 but still beautiful1 we can picture her flying through the air--the wind has blown her dress back against her1 and you see its folds freshly caught by the breeze4 ,and all this the artist had disentangled from a rough block of stone--so vivid was his conception of the goddess1 and so sure his hand4 ,there are those who say that the conventional picture of ,god of the great artists is moulded after the ,zeus of ,pheidias4 ,egypt again had other portrayals of the gods--on a pattern of her own1 strange and massive and huge1 far older4 ,about six hundred years before ,christ the ,egyptian ,king1 ,psammetichos 7,psem ,tek71 hired ,greek soldiers and marched them hundreds of miles up the ,nile4 ,the ,greek soldiers1 one idle day1 carved their names on the legs of the colossal gods seated at ,abu ,symbel4 ,their names are found there to-day4 ,so old are these gods4 ,the religion was strong in the splendour of its ceremony4 ,every year the ,athenian people went to ,eleusis in splendid procession to worship1 to be initiated into the rites of the ,earth-,mother and her virgin daughter1 who had taught men the use of grain and the arts of farming-rites linked with an immemorial past1 awful rites that gave men a new hope of eternal life4 ,the ,mother of the ,gods1 from ,phrygia in ,asia ,minor1 had her rites1 too2 and her cult spread all over the world4 ,when the ,roman poet1 ,lucretius1 wants to describe the wonder and magic of the pageant of ,nature in the spring-time he goes to the pomp of ,cybele4 ,the nearest thing to it which we can imagine is ,botticelli's picture of the ,triumph of ,spring4 ,lucretius was a poet to whom the gods were idle and irrelevant2 yet to that pageant he goes for a picture of the miraculous life of nature4 ,more splendid still were the rites of the ,egyptian ,isis1 celebrated all over the world4 ,her priests1 shaven and linen-clad1 carried symbols of an unguessed antiquity and magical power4 ,they launched a boat with a flame upon it--on the river in ,egypt1 on the sea in ,greece4 ,all these cults made deep impressions on the worshippers1 as our records tell us4 ,the appeal of religious emotion was noticed by ,aristotle1 who remarked1 however1 that it was rather feeling than intellect that was touched--a shrewd criticism that deserves to be remembered still4 ,the gods were strong in their actual manifestations of themselves4 ,apollo for ninety generations had spoken in ,delphi4 ,at ,epidauros there was a shrine of ,asclepias4 ,its monuments have been collected and edited by ,dr4 ,caton of ,liverpool4 ,there sick men and women came1 lived a quiet life of diet and religious ceremony1 preparing for the night on which they should sleep in the temple4 ,on that night the god came to them1 they said1 in that mood or state where they lay between asleep and awake1 sometimes as in a dream and then as in a waking vision--one's hair stood on end1 but one shed tears of joy and felt light-hearted4 ,others said they definitely saw him4 ,he came and told them what to do2 on waking they did it and were healed2 or he touched them then and there1 and cured them as they lay4 ,some of the cures recorded on the monuments are perhaps strange to our ideas of medicine4 ,one records how the god came to man dreadfully afflicted with dropsy1 cut off his head1 turned him upside down and let the fluid run out1 and then replaced his head with a neat join4 ,some modern readers may doubt this story2 but that the god did heal people1 men firmly believed4 ,we1 too1 may believe that people were healed1 perhaps by living a healthy life in a quiet place1 a life of regimen and diet2 and perhaps faith-healing or suggestion played as strong a part as anything else4 ,even the ,christians believed that these gods had a certain power2 they were evil spirits4 ,not only the gods of the temples would manifest themselves of their grace4 ,every man had a guardian spirit1 a genius2 and by proper means he could be compelled to show himself visibly4 ,the pupils of ,plotinus conjured up his genius1 and it came--not a daemon1 but a god4 ,the right formula 7mantram7 and the right stone in the hand--and a man had a wonderful power over the gods themselves4 ,this was called theurgy4 ,but the great strength of this old religion was its infinite adaptability4 ,it made peace with every god and goddess that it met4 ,it adopted them all4 ,as a ,french scholar has said1 where there is polytheism there are no false gods4 ,all the religions were fused and the gods were blended4 ,the ,roman went to ,greece and identified ,jupiter with ,zeus2 he went to ,egypt and found him in ,amun 7,ammon72 he went to ,syria and found him in ,baal4 ,if the ,jew had not been so foolish and awkward1 there might have been a ,jupiter ,jehovah as well4 ,it was a catholic faith1 embracing everything--cult and creed and philosophy--strong in all the ways we have surveyed and in many more1 above all because it was unchallenged4 ,and yet1 where is that religion to-day8 ,that1 to me1 is one of the most significant questions in history--more so1 the longer ,i stay in ,india4 ,men knew that that religion of ,greece and ,rome was eternal2 yet it is utterly gone4 ,why8 ,how could it go8 ,what conceivable power was there1 ,i do not say1 to bring it down1 but to abolish it so thoroughly1 that not a soul in ,egypt worships ,isis--how many even know her name8--not a soul in ,italy thinks of ,jove but as a fancy1 and ,pallas ,athene in ,athens itself is a mere memory8 ,that is the problem1 the historical problem1 with which we have now to deal4 ,first of all1 let us look again1 and more closely1 at that old religion--we shall find in it at least four cardinal weaknesses4 ,first1 it stands for the unexamined life1 as ,plato called it4 ,the unexamined life1 he says1 is not liveable for a human being4 ,a man1 who is a man1 must cross-examine life1 must make life face up to him and yield its secrets4 ,he must know what it means1 the significance of every relation of life--father and child1 man and wife1 citizen and city1 subject and king1 man and the world--above all1 man and ,god4 ,we must examine and know4 ,but this old religion stood by tradition and not reflection4 ,there was no deep sense of truth4 ,plutarch admired his father1 and he describes1 with warm approval1 how his father once said to a man3 ,that is a dangerous question1 not to be discussed at all--when you question the opinion we hold about the gods1 and ask reason and demonstration for everything4 ,such an attitude means mistrust1 it means at bottom a fundamental unfaith4 ,the house is beautiful2 do not touch it2 it is riddled by white ants1 by dry rot1 and it would fall4 ,that is not faith2 it is a strange confession2 but all who hesitate at changes1 ,i think1 make that confession sooner or later4 ,there is a line of ,kabir which puts the essence of this3 ,penance is not equal to truth1 nor is there any sin like untruth4 ,this was one of the essential weaknesses of that old religion--its fear1 and the absence of a deep sense of truth4 ,in the next place1 there is no real association of morals with religion4 ,the old stories were full of the adventures of ,jupiter1 or ,zeus1 with the heroines1 mortal women1 whom he loved4 ,of some #aijj wall paintings at ,pompeii1 examined by a ,german scholar and antiquary1 some #adjj represent mythological subjects1 largely the stories of the loves of ,jupiter4 ,the ,latin dramatist ,terence pictures the young man looking at one of these paintings and saying to himself1 ,if ,jupiter did it1 why should not ,i8 ,centuries later we find ,augustine quoting that sentence4 ,it has been said that few things tended more strongly against morality than the stories of the gods preserved by ,homer and ,hesiod4 ,plato loved ,homer2 so much the more striking is his resolve that in his ,republic there should be no ,homer4 ,men said3 ,ah1 but you don't understand2 those stories are allegories4 ,they do not mean what they say2 they mean something deeper4 ,but ,plato said we must speak of ,god always as he is2 we must in no case tell lies about ,god whether they are allegories or whether they are not allegories4 ,plato1 like every real thinker1 sees that this pretence of allegory is a sham4 ,the story did its mischief whether it was allegory or not2 it stood between man and ,god1 and headed men on to wrong lines1 turned men away from the moral standard4 ,there was more4 ,every year1 as we saw1 men went to be initiated into the rites of ,demeter at ,eleusis1 a few miles from ,athens4 ,and we read how one of the great ,athenian orators1 ,lysias1 went there and took with him to be initiated a harlot1 with whom he was living1 and the woman's proprietress--a squalid party2 and they were initiated4 ,their morals made no difference2 the priests and the goddesses offered no objection4 ,in the temple of ,aphrodite at ,corinth there were women slaves dedicated to the goddess1 who owned them1 and who received the wages of their shame4 ,with what voice could religion speak for morality in ,corinth8 ,at ,comana in ,syria 7we read in ,strabo the geographer1 about the time of ,christ7 there was a temple where there were six thousand of these temple slaves4 ,i say again1 that is the unexamined life4 ,god and goddess have nothing to say about some of the most sacred relations in life4 ,god1 goddess1 priest1 worshipper1 never gave a thought to these poor creatures1 dedicated1 not by themselves1 to this awful life--human natures with the craving of the real woman for husband and child1 for the love of home1 but never to know it4 ,that was associated with religion2 that was religion4 ,there was always a minimum of protest from the ,greek temples against wrong or for right4 ,it is remarked1 again and again1 that all the great lessons came1 not from the temples1 not from the priests1 but from the poets and philosophers1 from the thinkers in revolt against the religion of their people4 ,curiously enough1 even in ,homer himself1 it is plain that the heroes1 the men1 are on a higher moral plane than the gods2 and all through ,greek history the gods are a drag on morality4 ,what a weakness in religion6 ,the sense of wrong and right is innate in man2 it may be undeveloped1 or it may be deadened1 but it is instinctive2 and a religion which does not know it1 or which finds the difference between right and wrong to lie in matters of taboo or ceremonial defilement1 cannot speak to one of the deepest needs of the human heart1 the need of forgiveness4 ,there is no righteousness1 in the long run1 about these gods4 ,in the third place1 the religion has the common weakness of all polytheism4 ,men were afraid of the gods2 there were thousands and thousands1 hosts of them4 ,at every turn you ran into one1 a new one2 you could never be certain that you would not offend some unknown god or goddess4 ,superstition was the curse of the day4 ,you had to make peace with all these gods and goddesses--and not with them alone4 ,for there was another class of supernatural beings1 dangerous if unpropitiated1 the daemons1 the spirits that inhabited the air1 that presided over life and its stages1 that helped or hated the human soul1 spiteful and evil half-divine beings1 that sent illness1 bad luck1 madness1 that stole the honours of the gods themselves and insisted on rituals and worship1 often unclean1 often cruel1 but inevitable4 ,a man must watch himself closely if he was to be safe from them all1 if he was to keep wife and child and home safe4 ,superstition1 men said1 was the one curse of life that made no truce with sleep4 ,a famous ,christian writer of the second century1 ,tatian1 speaks of the enormous relief that he found in getting away from the tyranny of ten thousand gods to be under a monarchy of ,one4 ,a modern ,japanese1 ,uchimura1 said the same thing3 ,one ,god1 not eight millions2 that was joyful news to me4 ,fourthly1 this religion took from the grave none of its terrors4 ,there might be a world beyond1 and there might not4 ,at any rate1 be initiated1 said the priests2 you will have to pay us something1 but it is worth it4 ,prophets and quacks1 said ,plato1 came to rich men's doors and made them believe that they could rid them of all alarm for the next world1 by incantations and charms and other things1 by a series of feasts and jollifications4 ,so they said1 and men did what they were told2 but it did not take away the fear of death4 ,from the first century onwards men began systematically to defend this old paganism4 ,plutarch wrote a series of books in its behalf4 ,he brings in something like love of god for man4 ,he speaks of the friendly ,apollo4 ,but the weakness of ,plutarch as an apologist is his weakness as biographer--he never really gets at the bottom of anything4 ,in biography he gives us the characteristic rather than the character4 ,here he never faces the real issue4 ,it is all defence1 apology1 ingenuity2 but he defends far too much4 ,he admits there are obscene rites2 there had been human sacrifices2 but the gods cannot have ordained them2 daemons1 who stole the names of gods1 imposed these on men--not the gods2 men practised them to avert the anger of daemons4 ,the gods are good4 ,waiving the fact that he had not much evidence for this in the mythology1 how was a man to distinguish god from daemon1 to know which is which8 ,he does not tell us4 ,again he speaks of the image of ,osiris with three lingams4 ,he apologizes for it2 he defends it2 for the triplicity is a symbol of godhead1 and it means that ,god is the origin of all life4 ,yes1 but what that religion needed was a great reformer1 who should have cut the religion clear adrift from idols of every kind1 from the old mythology1 from obscenity4 ,it may very well be that such a reformer was unthinkable2 even if he had appeared1 he would have been foredoomed to fail1 as the compromise of the ,stoics shows4 ,plutarch and his kind did not attempt this4 ,they loved the past and the old ways4 ,at heart they were afraid of the gods and were afraid of tradition4 ,culture and charm will do a great deal1 but they do not suffice for a religion--either to make one or to redeem it4 ,the ,stoics reached1 ,i think1 the highest moral level in that ,roman world--great men1 great teachers of morals1 great characters2 but as for the crowd1 they said1 let them go on in the religions of their own cities2 what they had learnt from their fathers1 let them do4 ,so much for the ignorant2 for us1 of course1 something else4 ,that seems to be a fundamentally wrong defence of religion4 ,it gets the proportions wrong4 ,it means that we1 who are people of culture1 are a great deal nearer to ,god than the crowd4 ,but if we realize ,god at all1 we feel that we are none of us very far apart down here4 ,the most brilliant men are amenable to the temptations of the savage and of the dock labourer4 ,there was a further danger1 little noticed at first1 that life is apt to be overborne by the vulgar1 the ignorant1 if there is not a steady campaign to enlighten every man4 ,the ,roman house was full of slaves2 they taught the children--taught them about gods and goddesses1 from ,syria1 from ,egypt1 and kept thought and life and morals on a low plane4 ,an ignorant public is1 an unspeakable danger everywhere1 but especially in religion4 ,the last great system of defence was the ,new ,platonism4 ,it had not very much to do with ,plato1 except that it read him and quoted him as a great authority4 ,the ,neo-,platonists did not face facts as ,plato did4 ,they lived on quotations1 on authority and fancy1 great thinkers as some of them were4 ,they pictured the universe as one vast unity4 ,far beyond all things is ,god4 ,of ,god man can form no conception4 ,think1 they would say1 of all the exalted and wonderful and beautiful concepts you can imagine2 then deny them4 ,god is beyond4 ,god is beyond being2 you can conceive of being1 and therefore to predicate being of ,god is to limit him4 ,you cannot think of ,god2 for1 if you could think of ,god1 ,god would be in relation with you2 ,god is insusceptible of relation with man4 ,he neither wills1 nor thinks of man1 nor can man think of him4 ,a modern philosopher has summed up their ,god as the deification of the word not4 ,this ,god1 then1 who is not1 willed--no6 not willed2 he could not will2 but whether he willed or did not will1 in some way or other there was an emanation2 not ,god1 but very much of ,god2 very divine1 but not all ,god2 from this another and another in a descending series1 down to the daemons1 and down to men4 ,all that is1 is ,god2 evil is not-being4 ,one of the great features of the system was that it guaranteed all the old religions--for the crowd2 while for the initiated1 for the esoteric1 it had something more--it had mystic trance1 mystic vision1 mystic comprehension4 ,twice or three times1 ,plotinus1 by a great leap away from all mortal things1 saw ,god4 ,in the meantime1 the philosophy justified all the old rites4 ,side by side with this great defence were what are known as the ,christian heresies4 ,they are not exactly ,christian4 ,groups of people endeavoured to combine ,christianity with the old thought1 with philosophy1 theosophy1 theurgy1 and magic4 ,they were eclectics2 they compromised4 ,the ,german thinker1 ,novalis1 said very justly that all eclectics are sceptics1 and the more eclectic the more sceptic4 ,these mixtures could not prevail4 ,but religions have1 historically1 a wonderful way of living in spite of their weaknesses--yes1 and in spite of their apologetics4 ,a religion may be stained with all sorts of evil1 and may communicate it2 and yet it will survive1 until there is an alternative with more truth and more dynamic4 ,the old paganism outlived ,plato's criticisms and ,plutarch's defences4 ,for the great masses of people neither might have written4 ,into this world came the ,christian ,church4 ,i have tried to draw the picture of the great pagan religion1 with its enormous strength1 its universal acceptance1 its great traditions1 its splendours of art and ceremony1 its manifest proofs of its gods--everything that1 to the ordinary mind1 could make for reality and for power2 to show how absolutely inconceivable it was that it could ever pass away4 ,then comes the ,christian ,church--a ludicrous collection of trivial people1 very ignorant and very common2 fishermen and publicans1 as the ,gospels show us1 the baker and the fuller1 as ,celsus said with a sneer4 ,yes1 and every kind of unclean and disreputable person they urged to join them1 quite unlike all decent and established religions4 ,and they took the children and women of the family away into a corner1 and whispered to them and misled them--,only believe6 was their one great word4 ,the whole thing was incredibly silly4 ,paul went to ,athens1 and they asked him there about his religion2 and when he spoke to them about ,jesus rising from the dead1 they sniggered1 and the more polite suggested another day4 ,everybody knew that dead men do not rise4 ,it was a silly religion4 ,celsus pictured the frogs in symposium round a swamp1 croaking to one another how ,god forsakes the whole universe1 the spheres of heaven1 to dwell with us2 we frogs are so like ,god2 he never ceases to seek how we may dwell with him for ever2 but some of us are sinners1 so ,god will come--or send his son--and burn them up2 and the rest of us will live with him for eternity4 ,is not that very like the ,christian religion8 ,celsus asked4 ,it has been replied that1 if the frogs really could say this and did say this1 then their statement might be quite reasonable4 ,but our main purpose for the moment is to realize the utterly inconceivable absurdity of this bunch of ,galilean fishermen--and fools and rascals and maniacs--setting out to capture the world4 ,one of them wrote an ,apocalypse4 ,he was in a penal settlement on ,patmos1 when he wrote it4 ,the sect was in a fair way of being stamped out in blood1 as a matter of fact2 but this dreamer saw a triumphant ,church of ten thousand times ten thousand--and thousands of thousands--there were hardly as many people in the world at that time2 the great ,rome had fallen and the ,lamb ruled4 ,imagine the amusement of a ,roman pagan of #ajj ,a4,d4 who read the absurd book4 ,yet the dream has come true2 that ,church has triumphed4 ,where is the old religion8 ,christ has conquered1 and all the gods have gone1 utterly gone--they are memories now1 and nothing more4 ,why did they go8 ,the ,christian ,church refused to compromise4 ,a pagan could have seen no real reason why ,jesus should not be a demi-god like ,herakles or ,dionysos2 no reason1 either1 why a man should not worship ,jesus as well as these4 ,one of the ,roman ,emperors1 a little after #bjj ,a4,d41 had in his private sanctuary four or five statues of gods1 and one of them was ,jesus4 ,why not8 ,the ,roman world had open arms for ,jesus as well as any other god or demi-god1 if people would be sensible2 but the ,christian said1 ,no4 ,he would not allow ,jesus to be put into that pantheon1 nor would he worship the gods himself1 not even the genius of the ,emperor1 his guardian spirit4 ,the ,christian proclaimed a war of religion in which there shall be no compromise and no peace1 till ,christ is lord of all2 the thing shall be fought out to the bitter end4 ,and it has been4 ,he was resolved that the old gods should go2 and they have gone4 ,how was it done8 ,here we touch what ,i think one of the greatest wonders that history has to show4 ,how did the ,church do it8 ,if ,i may invent or adapt three words1 the ,christian out-lived the pagan1 out-died him1 and out-thought him4 ,he came into the world and lived a great deal better than the pagan2 he beat him hollow in living4 ,paul's ,epistles to the ,corinthians do not indicate a high standard of life at ,corinth4 ,the ,corinthians were a very poor sort of ,christians4 ,but another ,epistle1 written to the ,corinthians a generation later1 speaks of their passion for being kind to men1 and of a broadened and deeper life1 in spite of their weaknesses4 ,here and there one recognizes failure all along the line--yes1 but the line advances4 ,the old world had had morals1 plenty of morals--the ,stoics overflowed with morals4 ,but the ,christian came into the world1 not with a system of morality--he had rules1 indeed--which1 asks ,tertullian1 is the ampler rule1 ,thou shalt not commit adultery1 or the rule that forbids a single lustful look8--but it was not rules so much that he brought into the world as a great passion4 ,the ,son of ,god1 he said1 loved me and gave himself for me4 ,that man--,jesus ,christ loved him1 gave himself for him4 ,he is the friend of my best ,friend4 ,my best ,friend loves that man1 gave himself for him1 died for him4 ,how it alters all the relations of life6 ,who can kill or rob another man1 when he remembers whose hands were nailed to the ,cross for that man8 ,see how it bears on another side of morality4 ,tertullian strikes out a great phrase1 a new idea altogether1 when he speaks of the victim of the common lust4 ,christ died for her--how it safeguards her and uplifts her6 ,men came into the world full of this passion for ,jesus ,christ4 ,they went to the slave and to the temple-woman and told them3 ,the ,son of ,god loved you and gave himself for you2 and they believed it1 and rose into a new life4 ,to be redeemed by the ,son of ,god gave the slave a new self-respect1 a new manhood4 ,he astonished people by his truth1 his honesty1 his cleanness2 and there was a new brightness and gaiety about him4 ,so there was about the woman4 ,they sang1 they overflowed with good temper4 ,it seemed as if they had been born again4 ,as ,clement of ,rome wrote1 the ,holy ,spirit was a glad spirit4 ,the word used both by him and by ,st4 ,augustine is that which gives us the ,english word hilarious4 ,there was a new gladness and happiness about these people4 ,it befits ,truth to laugh1 because she is glad--to play with her rivals because she is free from fear1 so said ,tertullian4 ,of course1 there were those who broke down1 but ,julian the ,apostate1 in his letters to his heathen priests1 is a reluctant witness to the higher character of ,christian life4 ,and it was ,jesus who was the secret of it4 ,the pagan noticed the new fortitude in the face of death4 ,tertullian himself was immensely impressed with it4 ,he had never troubled to look at the ,gospels4 ,nobody bothered to read them unless they were converted already1 he said4 ,but he seems to have seen these ,christian martyrs die4 ,every man1 he said1 who sees it1 is moved with some misgiving1 and is set on fire to learn the reason2 he inquires and he is taught2 and when he has learnt the truth1 he instantly follows it himself as well4 ,no one would have wished to be killed1 unless he was in possession of the truth4 ,i think that is autobiography4 ,the intellectual energy of the man is worth noting--his insistence on understanding1 his instant resolution2 such qualities1 we saw1 had won the admiration of ,jesus4 ,here is a man who sacrifices a great career--his genius1 his wit1 his humour1 fire1 power1 learning1 philosophy1 everything thrown at ,christ's feet1 and ,christ uses them all4 ,then came a day when persecution was breaking out again4 ,some ,christians were for fleeing to the next city--it was the one text in their ,bible1 he said4 ,he said3 ,i stay here4 ,any day the mob might get excited and shout3 ,the ,christians to the lions4 ,they knew the street in which he lived1 and they would drag him--the scholar1 the man of letters and of imagination--naked through the streets2 torn and bleeding1 they would tie him to the stake in the middle of the amphitheatre and pile faggots round him1 and there he would stand waiting to be burnt alive2 or1 it might be1 to be killed by the beasts4 ,any hour1 any day4 ,i stay here1 he said4 ,what does it cost a man to do that8 ,people asked what was the magic of it4 ,the magic of it was just this--on the other side of the fire was the same ,friend2 if he wants me to be burnt alive1 ,i am here4 ,jesus ,christ was the secret of it4 ,the ,christians out-thought the pagan world4 ,how could they fail to8 ,we have peace with ,god1 said ,paul4 ,they moved about in a new world1 which was their ,father's world4 ,they would go to the shrines and ask uncomfortable questions4 ,lucian1 who was a pagan and a scoffer1 said that on one side of the shrines the notice was posted3 ,christians outside4 ,the ,christians saw too much4 ,the living god in that shrine was a big snake with a mask tied on--good enough for the pagan2 but the ,christian would see the strings4 ,even the daemons they dismissed to irrelevance and non-entity4 ,the essence of magic was to be able to link the name of a daemon with the name of one's enemy1 to set the daemon on the man4 ,very well1 said the ,christian1 link my name with your daemons4 ,use my name in any magic you like4 ,there is a name that is above every name2 ,i am not afraid4 ,that put the daemons into their right place1 and by and by they vanished1 dropped out1 died of sheer inanition and neglect4 ,wherever ,jesus ,christ has been1 the daemons have gone4 ,there used to be fairies1 said an old woman in the ,highlands of ,scotland to a friend of mine1 but the ,gospel came and drove them away4 ,i do not know what is going to keep them away yet but ,jesus ,christ4 ,the ,christian read the ancient literature with the same freedom of mind1 and was not in bondage to it2 he had a new outlook2 he could criticize more freely4 ,one great principle is given by ,clement of ,alexandria3 ,the beautiful1 wherever it is1 is ours1 because it came from our ,god4 ,the ,christian read the best books1 assimilated them1 and lived the freest intellectual life that the world had4 ,jesus had set him to be true to fact4 ,why had ,christian churches to be so much larger than pagan temples8 ,why are they so still8 ,because the sermon is in the very centre of all ,christian worship--clear1 definite ,christian teaching about ,jesus ,christ4 ,there is no place for an ignorant ,christian4 ,from the very start every ,christian had to know and to understand1 and he had to read the ,gospels2 he had to be able to give the reason for his faith4 ,he was committed to a great propaganda1 to the preaching of ,jesus1 and he had to preach with penetration and appeal4 ,there they were loyal to the essential idea of ,jesus--they were sons of fact4 ,they read about ,jesus1#cb and they knew him1 and they knew where they stood4 ,this has been the essence of the ,christian religion4 ,put that alongside of the pitiful defence which ,plutarch makes of obscene rites1 filthy images1 foolish traditions4 ,who did the thinking in that ancient world8 ,again and again it was the ,christian4 ,he out-thought the world4 ,the old religion crumbled and fell1 beaten in thought1 in morals1 in life1 in death4 ,and by and by the only name for it was paganism1 the religion of the back-country village1 of the out-of-the-way places4 ,christ had conquered4 ,dic tropoeum passionis1 dic triumphalem ,crucem1 sang ,prudentius--,sing the trophy of the ,passion2 sing the all-triumphant ,cross4 ,the ancients thought that ,god repeated the whole history of the universe over and over again1 like a cinema show4 ,some of them thought the kingdoms rise and fall by pure chance4 ,no1 said ,prudentius1 ,god planned2 ,god developed the history of mankind2 he made ,rome for his own purposes1 for ,christ4 ,what is the explanation of it8 ,we who live in a rational universe1 where real results come from real causes1 must ask what is the power that has carried the ,christian ,church to victory over that great old religion4 ,and there is another question3 is this story going to be repeated8 ,what is there about ,shiva1 ,kali1 or ,shri ,krishna that essentially differentiates them from the gods of ,greece and ,rome and ,egypt8 ,tradition1 legend1 philosophy--point by point1 we find the same thing2 and we find the same ,christian ,church1 with the same ideals1 facing the same conflict4 ,what will be the result8 ,the result will be the same4 ,we have seen in ,china1 in the last two decades1 how the ,christian ,church is true to its traditions2 how men can die for ,jesus ,christ4 ,in the ,greek ,church--a suffering ,church--on the round sacramental wafer there is a cross1 and in the four corners there are the eight letters1 ,,ie1 ,,xe1 ,,ni1 ,,ka1 ,jesus ,christ conquers4 ,that is the story of the ,christian ,church in the ,roman ,empire4 ,that is the story which1 please ,god1 we shall see again in ,india4 ,jesus ,christ conquers4 ,,chapter ,x ,,jesus ,,in ,,christian ,,thought ,jesus ,christ came to men as a great new experience4 ,he took them far outside all they had known of ,god and of man4 ,he led them1 historically1 into what was1 in truth1 a new world1 into a new understanding of life in all its relations4 ,what they had never noticed before1 he brought to their knowledge1 he made interesting to them1 and intelligible4 ,in short1 as ,paul put it1 if any man be in ,christ1 it is a new creation 7#b ,cor4 #e3ag74 ,the aspects of things were different2 the values were changed1 and a new perspective made clear relations that were obscure and tangled before4 ,why should it have been so8 ,why should it be1 that1 when a man comes into contact1 into some kind of sympathy with ,jesus ,christ1 some living union with him1 everything becomes new1 and he by and by begins to feel with ,st4 ,paul3 ,to me to live is ,christ 7,phil4 #a3ba78 ,why has ,jesus meant so much8 ,why should all this be associated with him8 ,plato1 in the sentence already quoted1 tells us that the unexamined life is unliveable for a human being1 for a real man4 ,here1 then1 came into man's life a new experience altogether1 like nothing known before altering everything1 giving new sympathies1 new passions1 new enthusiasms--a new attitude to ,god and a new attitude to men4 ,it was inevitable that thought must work upon it4 ,who was this ,jesus that he should produce this result8 ,men asked themselves that very early2 and if they were slow to do so1 the criticism of the outsider drove them into it4 ,the result has been nineteen centuries of endless question and speculation as to ,jesus ,christ--the rise of dogma1 creed1 and formula1 as slowly all the philosophy of mankind has been re-thought in the light of the central experience of ,jesus ,christ4 ,in spite of all that we may regret in the war of creeds1 it was inevitable--it was part of the disturbance that ,jesus foresaw he must make 7,luke #ab3ea74 ,men could do no other--they had to determine for themselves the significance of ,jesus in the real world1 in the whole cosmos of ,god2 and it meant fruitful conflict of opinion1 the growth of the human mind1 and an ever-heightened emphasis on ,jesus4 ,an analogy may illustrate in some way the story before us4 ,one of the most fascinating chapters of geography is the early exploration of ,america4 ,chesapeake ,bay was missed by one explorer4 ,fog or darkness may have been the cause of his missing the place2 but he missed it1 and1 though it is undoubtedly there1 he made his map without it4 ,now let us suppose a similar case--for it must often have happened in early days--and this time we will say it was the ,hudson1 or some river of that magnitude4 ,a later explorer came1 and where the map showed a shore without a break1 he found a huge inlet or outlet4 ,was it an arm of the sea1 a vast bay1 or was it a great river8 ,a very great deal depended on which it was1 and the first thing was to determine that4 ,there were several ways of doing it4 ,one was to sail up and map the course4 ,a quicker way was to drop a bucket over the side of the ship4 ,the bucket1 we may be sure1 went down2 and it came up with fresh water2 and the water was an instant revelation of several new and important facts4 ,they had discovered1 first of all1 that where there was an unbroken coast-line on the map1 there was nothing of the kind in reality2 there was a broad waterway up into the country2 and this was not a bay1 but the mouth of a river1 and a very great river indeed2 and this implied yet another discovery--that men had to reckon with no mere island or narrow peninsula1 but an immense continent1 which it remained to explore4 ,jesus ,christ was in himself a very great discovery for those to whom he gave himself1 and the exploration of him shows a somewhat similar story4 ,men have often said that they see nothing in him very different from the rest of us2 while others have found in him1 in the phrase of the ,apocalypse 7,rev4 #bb3a71 the water of life2 and the positive announcement is here1 as in the other case1 the more important of the two4 ,the discovery of the volume of life1 which comes from ,jesus ,christ1 is one of the greatest that men have made4 ,merely to have dipped his bucket1 as it were1 in that great stream of life has again and again meant everything to a man4 ,think of what the new-found river of the ,new ,world meant to some of those early explorers after weeks at sea-- ,water1 water everywhere1 ,nor any drop to drink-- and they reach an immense flood of river-water4 ,it was new life at once2 but it did not necessarily mean the immediate exploration of everything1 the instant completion of geographical discovery4 ,it was life and the promise of more to follow4 ,the history of the ,church is a record1 we may put it1 both of the discovery of the ,river of ,life and of the exploration of its course and its sources1 and of what lies behind it4 ,but the discovery and the exploration are different things1 and the first is quicker and more certain than the second4 ,most of us will admit that we have not gone very far up into that ,continent4 ,the object of this chapter is not to attempt to survey or compendiarise ,christian exploration of ,jesus1 but to try to find for ourselves a new approach to an estimate of the historical figure who has been and remains the centre of everything4 ,we may classify the records of the ,christian exploration roughly in three groups4 ,in the early ,christian centuries1 we find endless thought given to the philosophical study of the relation of ,christ and ,god4 ,it fills the library of the ,early ,church1 and practically all the early controversies turn upon it4 ,the weak spot in all this was the use of the a priori method4 ,men started with preconceptions about ,god--not unnaturally1 for we all have some theories about ,god1 which we are apt to regard as knowledge4 ,but knowledge is a difficult thing to reach in any sphere of study2 and men assumed too quickly that they had attained a sound philosophical account of ,god4 ,they over-estimated their actual knowledge of ,god and did not recognize to the full the importance of their new experience4 ,this may seem ungenerous to men1 who gave life and everything for ,jesus ,christ1 and to whose devotion1 to whose love of ,jesus1 we owe it that we know him--an ungenerous criticism of their brave thinking1 and their independence in a hundred ways of old tradition4 ,still it is true that the weakness of much of their ,christology--and of ours--is that it starts with a borrowed notion of ,god1 which really has very little to do with the ,christian religion4 ,to this we shall return2 but in the meantime we may note that here as elsewhere preconceptions have to be lightly held by the serious student4 ,huxley once wrote to ,charles ,kingsley3 ,science seems to me to teach in the highest and strongest manner the great truth that is embodied in the ,christian conception of entire surrender to the will of ,god4 ,sit down before the fact as a little child1 be prepared to give up every preconceived notion1 follow humbly wherever and to whatever end ,nature leads1 or you shall learn nothing 4444 ,i have only begun to learn content and peace of mind since ,i have resolved at all risks to do this4 ,so ,huxley wrote about the study of natural science4 ,in this great inquiry of ours we have to learn to be patient enough--we might say1 ignorant enough--to do the same4 ,the ,early ,church had a faith in ,greek philosophy1 which stood in its way1 brave and splendid as its thinkers were4 ,our second group is represented roughly by the ,hymn ,book4 ,the evidential value of a good hymn book will stand investigation4 ,of course a great many hymns are mere copies1 and poor copies2 but the ,hymn ,book at its best is a collection of first-hand records of experience4#cc ,in the story of the ,christian ,church doxology comes before dogma4 ,when the writer of the ,apocalypse breaks out at the very beginning3 ,unto him that loved us and washed#cd us from our sins in his own blood 4 4 4 be glory and dominion for ever and ever 7,rev4 #a3e71 he is recording a great experience2 and his doxology leads him on to an explanation of what he has felt and known--to an intellectual judgement and an appreciation of ,christ4 ,the order is experience1--happiness and song--and then reflection4 ,the love and the cleansing1 and the joy1 supply the materials on which thought has to work4 ,we have always to remember that thought does not strictly supply its own material1 however much it may help us to find it4 ,philosophy and theology do not give us our facts4 ,their function is to group and interpret them4 ,our third group of records is given to us by the men of the ,reformation4 ,we have there two great movements side by side4 ,there is ,bible translation1 which means1 in plain language1 a decision or conviction on the part of scholars and thinkers1 that the knowledge of the historical ,jesus1 and of men's first experiences of him1 is of the highest importance in the ,christian life4 ,the whole ,reformation follows1 or runs parallel with1 that movement4 ,it is essentially a new exploration of what ,jesus ,christ can do and of what he can be4 ,in dealing with all these three groups of records1 we have to note the seriousness of the men who made the experiments1 their energy of mind1 their determination to reach real facts and1 in ,cromwell's great phrase1 to speak things4 ,they will have the truth of the matter4 ,intricate and entangled as is the history1 for instance1 of the ,arian controversy--that controversy which turned on a diphthong1 as ,carlyle said in his younger days--it represented far more than mere logomachy1 as ,carlyle saw later on4 ,it followed from a determination to get at the real fact of who and what ,jesus ,christ is2 and the two words1 that differed by a diphthong1 embodied diametrically opposite conceptions of him4 ,with all the super-subtlety that sometimes characterizes theologians1 these men had a passion for truth4 ,it led them into paths where our minds find a difficulty in following2 but the motive was the imperative sense that thinking men must examine and understand their supreme experience--a motive that must weigh with men who are in earnest about life4 ,the great hymns of the ,church--such as the ,dies ,irae of ,thomas of ,celano1 or ,bernard's ,jesu dulcis memoria1 or ,toplady's ,rock of ,ages--are transcripts from life1 made by deep-going and serious minds4 ,the writers are recording1 with deep conviction of its worth1 what they have discovered in experience4 ,a man who takes ,christ seriously and will examine life1 will often find in those great hymns1 it may be with some surprise1 an anticipation of his own experience as ,bunyan did in ,luther's ,commentary on ,galatians4 ,livingstone had ,jesu dulcis memoria--the ,latin of it--ringing in his head as he travelled in unexplored ,africa4 ,men who did such work--work that lasts and is recognized again and again to be genuine by others busy in the same field--cannot have been random1 light-hearted creatures4 ,they were1 in fact1 men tested in life1 men of experience of wide and deep experience--men with a gift for living1 developed in heart as well as in brain4 ,the finest of ,greek critics1 ,longinus1 said that1 ,the great style 7hupsos7 is an echo of a great soul4 ,neander said--and it is again and again true--that it is the heart that makes the theologian4 ,where we find a great hymn or a great theology1 we may be sure of finding a great nature and a great experience behind it4 ,let us sum up our general results so far4 ,first of all1 whatever be the worth of the consensus of ,christian opinion--and we have to decide how much it is worth1 bearing in mind the type of man who has worked and suffered to make it in every age2 and1 ,i think1 it runs high1 as the work of serious and explorative minds--the consensus of ,christian opinion gives the very highest name to ,jesus ,christ4 ,men1 who did not begin with any preconception in his favour1 and who have often had a great deal of difficulty in explaining to others--and perhaps to themselves--the course by which they have reached their conclusions1 claim the utmost for ,jesus--and this in spite of the most desperate philosophical difficulties about monotheism4 ,with a strong sense of fact1 with a deepening feeling for reality1 with a growing value for experience1 and with bolder ventures upon experience1 men have found that their conception of ,jesus deepens and grows2 he means more to them the more they are4 ,and1 as was noted in the first chapter1 in a rational universe1 where truth counts and error fails1 the ,church has risen in power with every real emphasis laid on ,jesus ,christ4 ,what does this involve8 ,so far our records4 ,to-day we are living in an era when great scientific discoveries are made1 and more are promised4 ,geology once unsettled people about ,genesis2 but closer study of the ,bible and of science has given truer views of both1 and thinking people are as little troubled about geology now as about ,copernican astronomy4 ,at present heredity and psychology are dominating our minds--or1 rather1 theories as to both2 for though beginnings have been made1 the stage has not yet been reached of very wide or certain discovery4 ,there is still a great deal of the soul unexplored and unmapped4 ,no reasonable person would wish to belittle the study either of evolution or of psychology2 but the real men of science would probably urge that lay people should take more pains to know the exact meaning and scope of scientific terms1 and to have some more or less clear idea in their minds when they use them4 ,however1 all these modern discoveries and theories are1 to many men's minds1 a challenge to the right of ,christians to speak of ,jesus ,christ as they have spoken of him1 a challenge to our right to represent the facts of ,christian life as we have represented them--in other words1 they are a challenge to us to return to experience and to see what we really mean4 ,if our study of ,jesus in the preceding chapters has been on sound lines1 we shall feel that the challenge to face facts is in his vein2 it was what he urged upon men throughout4 ,the old problem returns upon us3 ,who and what is this ,jesus ,christ8 ,we are involved in the recurrent need to re-examine him and re-explore him4 ,there are several ways of doing so4 ,like every other historical character ,jesus is to be known by what he does rather than by a priori speculation as to what he might be4 ,in the study of history1 the first thing is to know our original documents4 ,there are the ,gospels1 and1 like other historical records1 they must be studied in earnest on scientific lines without preconception4 ,and there are later records1 which tell us as plainly and as truthfully of what he has done in the world's history4 ,we can begin1 then1 with the serious study of the actual historical ,jesus1 whom people met in the road and with whom they ate their meals1 whom the soldiers nailed to the cross1 whom his disciples took to worshipping1 and who has1 historically1 re-created the world4 ,the second line of approach is rather more difficult1 but with care we can use ,christological theories to recover the facts which those who framed the theories intended to explain4 ,we must remember here once more the three historical canons laid down at the beginning4 ,we must above all things give the man's term his meaning1 and ask what was the experience behind his thought4 ,when we come upon such descriptions of ,jesus as ,christ our ,passover 7#a ,cor4 #e3g71 or find him called the ,messiah1 we must not let our own preconceptions as to the value of the theories implied by the use of such language1 nor again our existing views of what is orthodox1 determine our conclusions2 but we must ask what those who so explained ,jesus really meant to say1 and what they had experienced which they thought worth expressing4 ,these people1 as we see1 were face to face with a very great new experience1 and they cast about for some means of describing and explaining it4 ,a slight illustration may suggest the natural law in accordance with which they set about their task of explanation4 ,a child1 of between two and three years old1 was watching his first snow-storm1 gazing very intently at the flying snow-flake1 and evidently trying to think out what they were4 ,at last he hit it2 they were little birds4 ,it is so that the mind1 infant or adult1 is apt to work--explaining the new and unknown by reference to the familiar4 ,snow-flakes are not little birds2 they are something quite different2 yet there is a common element--they both go flying through the air1 and it was that fact which the child's brain noticed and used4 ,to explain ,jesus1 his friends and contemporaries spoke of him as the ,logos1 the ,sacrifice1 ,christ our ,passover1 the ,messiah1 and so forth4 ,of those terms not one is intelligible to us to-day without a commentary4 ,to ordinary people ,jesus is at once intelligible--far more so than the explanations of him4 ,historically1 it is he himself who has antiquated every one of those conceptions1 and1 so far as they have survived1 it has been in virtue of association with him4 ,they are the familiar language of another day4 ,no one1 said ,dr4 ,rendel ,harris1 can sing1 ',how sweet the name of ,logos sounds4' ,synesius of ,cyrene did try to sing it1 but most human beings prefer ,st4 ,bernard or ,john ,newton4 ,the inner significance of each term will point to the real experience of the man using it4 ,he employs a metaphor1 a simile1 or a technical term to explain something4 ,can we penetrate to the analogy which he finds between the ,jesus of the new experience and the old term which he uses8 ,can we1 when we see what he has experienced1 grasp the substance and build on that to the neglect of the term8 ,when we look at the terms1 we find that the essence of sacrifice was reconciliation between ,god and man 7we shall return to this a little later71 and that the ,messiah was understood to be destined to achieve ,god's purpose and ,god's meaning for mankind and for each man4 ,we find1 again1 that the inner meaning of the ,logos is that through it1 and in it1 ,god and man come in touch with each other and become mutually intelligible4 ,reconciliation1 the victory of ,god1 the mutual intelligibility of ,god and man--all three terms centre in one great thought1 a new union between ,god and man4 ,that1 so far as ,i can see1 is the common element2 and that is1 as men have conceived it1 the very heart of the ,christian experience4 ,in the third place1 we can utilize the new experiments made upon ,jesus ,christ in the ,reformation and in other revivals4 ,they come nearer to us2 for the men who report are more practical and more scholarly in the modern way2 they are more akin to us both in blood and in ideas4 ,luther1 for example1 is a great spirit of the explorer type4 ,he went to scholarship and learnt the true meaning of metanoia--that it was re-thinking and not penance--and he grasped a new view of ,god there4 ,from scholarship he gained a truer view of ,church history than he had been taught2 and this too helped to clear his mind4 ,above all1 as a great son of fact 7,carlyle's name for him71 his chief interest was the exploration of ,jesus ,christ--would ,christ stand all the weight that a man could throw upon him without assistance8 ,and ,luther found that ,christ could2 and he at once turned his knowledge into action1 as the world knows4 ,justification by faith was his phrase1 and he meant that we may trust ,jesus ,christ with all that we are1 all that we have been1 and all that we hope to be2 that ,jesus himself will carry all2 that ,jesus himself is all2 that ,jesus is at once ,luther's eternal salvation1 and his sure help in the next day's difficulty--his ,saviour for ever from sin1 and his great stand-by in translating the ,bible for the ,german people and in writing hymns for boys and girls4 ,nos nihil sumus1 he wrote1 ,christus solus est omnia4#ce ,in the case of every great revival--the ,wesleyan revival1 and the smaller ones in the ,united ,states1 in the north of ,ireland1 in ,wales--in every one we find that1 where anything is really achieved1 it is done by a new and thoroughgoing emphasis on ,jesus ,christ4 ,it may be put in language which to some ears is repulsive1 in metaphors strange or uncouth2 but whatever the language1 the fact that underlies it is this--men are brought back to the reality1 the presence1 the power1 and the friendship of ,jesus ,christ2 they are called to a fresh venture on ,jesus ,christ1 a fresh exploration3 and again and again the experience of a lifetime has justified the venture4 ,this brings us to the most effective and fundamental method in the exploration of ,jesus1 in some ways the most difficult of all1 or else the very simplest4 ,the ,church has been clear that there is nothing like personal experiment1 the personal venture4 ,it is the only clue to the experience4 ,the saying of ,st ,augustine 7,sermon #dc1 #c71 ,immo ,credo ut intelligas1 is to many of our minds offensive--,i think1 because we give not quite the right meaning to his ,credo4 ,but1 if the illustrations are not too simple1 swimming and bicycling offer parallels4 ,a man will never understand how water holds up a human body1 as long as he stays on dry land4 ,in practical things1 the venture comes first2 and it is hard to see how a man is to understand ,christ without a personal experience of him4 ,all parents know how much better bachelors and maiden sisters understand children than they do2 but as soon as these great authorities have children of their own1 the position is altered a little4 ,the change that ,jesus definitely operates in men1 they have described in various ways--rebirth1 salvation1 a new heart1 and so forth4 ,what they have always emphasized in ,jesus ,christ1 is that they find he changes their outlook and develops new instincts in them1 and that in one way and another he saves from sin2 and they have been men who have learnt and adopted ,jesus' own estimate of sin4 ,when1 then1 we remember that1 with his serious view of sin1 he undertook man's redemption from it2 when we add to this some real reflection upon how much he has already done1 as plain matter of history1 to take away the sin of the world1 we surely have something to go upon in our attempt to determine who he is4 ,the question will rise1 ,have ,christians overstated their experience1 or even misunderstood it8 ,has forgiveness been1 in fact1 achieved--or salvation from sin8 ,can sin be put away at all8 ,what will the evidence for this be8 ,i do not know what the evidence could be1 except the new life of peace with ,god1 and all the sunshine and blessing that go with it4 ,this new life is at all events all the evidence available2 and how much it means is very difficult to estimate without some personal experience4 ,here again the great theories of ,redemption will help us to recover the experience they are to explain2 and once more we may note that they are not the work of small minds or trivial natures1 however badly they have been echoed4 ,substitution implies at any rate some serious confession of guilt before ,god1 some strong sense of a great indebtedness to ,christ4 ,the theory of ,sacrifice implies the need of reunion with ,god4 ,robertson ,smith1 in his ,early ,religion of the ,semites brings out that the essence of ancient sacrifice was that the tribe1 the sacrificial beast and the god were all of one blood2 the god was supposed to be alienated2 the sacrifice was offered by the party to the quarrel who was seeking reconciliation1 namely1 the tribe4 ,when we look at the ,new ,testament1 we find that the emphasis always lies on ,god seeking reconciliation with man 7cf4 #b ,cor4 #e3ai74 ,the theory of ransom--a most moving term in a world of slavery--implies the need of new freedom for the mind1 for the heart and the whole nature1 from the tyranny of sin4 ,all these are similes2 and tremendous structures of theory have been built on every one of them--and for some of these structures1 simile1 or1 in plainer language1 analogy1 is not a sufficient foundation4 ,it is probably true that all our current explanations of the work of ,christ in ,redemption have in them too large an element of metaphor and simile4 ,yet ,christian people are reluctant to discard any one of them2 and their reluctance is intelligible4 ,there is a value in the old association1 which is found by new experience4 ,every one of these old similes will contribute to our realization of the work of ,christ1 in so far as it is a record of experience of ,christ1 verified in one generation after another4 ,we shall make the best use of them1 when we are no longer intimidated by the terminology1 but go at once to what is meant--to the facts4 ,we come still closer to the facts in the less metaphorical terms of the ,new ,testament4 ,for example1 there is the ,new ,covenant4 ,the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews went back to a great phrase in ,jeremiah1 and by his emphasis on it he helped to give its name to the whole ,new ,testament--,i will make a new covenant with the house of ,israel and the house of ,judah 7,heb4 #h3h-ab2 ,jer4 #ca3ca-cd74 ,using this passage1 he brings out that there is a new relation1 a new union1 between ,god and man in ,jesus4 ,he speaks of ,jesus as a mediator bringing man and ,god together 7,heb4 #h3f7--language far plainer to us than the terminology of sacrifice1 which he employed rather to bring home the work of ,jesus with feeling and passion to those who had no other vocabulary1 than to impose upon ,christian thinkers a scheme of things which he clearly saw to be exhausted4 ,then there is ,paul's great conception of ,reconciliation 7#b ,cor4 #e3ah-bj74 ,half the difficulties connected with the word ,atonement disappear1 when we grasp that the word in ,greek means primarily reconciliation4 ,as ,paul uses the noun and the verb1 it is very plain what he means--,god is in ,christ trying to reconcile the world to himself4 ,these attempts to express ,christ's work in plain words take us back to the great central ,christian experience--to the great initial discovery that the discord of man's making between ,god and man has been removed by ,god's overtures in ,christ2 that the obstacles which man has felt to his approach to ,god--in the unclean hands and the unclean lips--have been taken away2 and that with a heart1 such as the human heart is1 a man may yet come to ,god in ,jesus1 because of ,jesus1 through ,jesus4 ,the historical character of ,christian life and thought is surely evidence that ,jesus ,christ has accomplished something real2 and when we get a better hold of that1 the problem of his person should be more within our reach4 ,the splendid phrase of ,paul--,therefore being justified by faith1 we have peace with ,god through our ,lord ,jesus ,christ 7,rom4 #e3a7--or that of #a ,peter3 ,in whom ye rejoice 444 with joy unspeakable and full of glory 7#a ,pet4 #a3h7--;gives us the keynote4 ,the gaiety of the ,early ,church in its union with ,jesus ,christ rings through the ,new ,testament and the ,christian fathers from ,hermas to ,augustine4 ,the ,church has come singing down the ages4#cf ,the victory over sin--no easy thing at any time--is another permanent feature of ,christian experience4 ,the psychological value of what ,dr4 ,chalmers called the expulsive power of a new affection is not enough studied by us4 ,look at the freedom1 the growth1 the power of the ,christian life--where do they all come from8 ,we cannot leave ,god out of this4 ,at any rate1 there they are in the ,christian experience2 and where does anything that matters flow from but from ,god8 ,there is again the evidence of ,christian achievement2 and it should be remarked that the ,christian always tells us that he himself has not the power1 that it comes from ,god1 that he asks for it and ,god gives it4 ,as for the easy explanation of all religious life by auto-suggestion1 we may note that it involves a loose and unscientific use of a more or less scientific theory--never a very safe way to knowledge4 ,in any case1 it has been pointed out1 the word adds nothing to the number of our facts2 nor is it quite clear yet that it eliminates ,god from the story any more than the term digestion makes it inappropriate to say ,grace before meat4 ,all these things--peace1 joy1 victory1 and the rest--follow from the taking away of sin1 and imply that it no longer stands between ,god and man4 ,all this is the work of the historical ,jesus4 ,it is he who has changed the attitude of man to ,god1 and by changing it has made it possible for ,god to do what he has done4 ,if ,god1 in ,paul's phrase1 hath shined in our hearts 7#b ,cor4 #d3f71 it was ,jesus who induced men to take down the shutters and to open the windows4 ,it is all associated1 historically1 with the ever-living ,jesus ,christ1 and with ,god in him4 ,this brings us to the central question1 the relation of ,jesus with ,god--the problem of ,incarnation4 ,after all that has been said1 we shall not approach it a priori4 ,we are too apt to put the ,incarnation more or less in algebraic form3 xya1 where a stands for the historical ,jesus ,christ1 and x and y respectively for ,god and man4 ,but what do we mean by x and y8 ,let us face our facts4 ,what do we know of man apart from ,jesus ,christ8 ,surely it is only in him that we realize man--only in him that we grasp what human depravity really is1 the real meaning and implications of human sin4 ,it is those who have lived with ,jesus ,christ1 who are most conscious of sin2 and this is no mere morbid imagination or fancy1 it rests on a much deeper exploration of human nature than men in general attempt4 ,not until we know what he is do we see how very little we are1 and how far we have gone wrong4 ,it is his power of help and sympathy that teaches us the hardness of our own hearts1 our own fundamental want of sympathy4 ,again1 until a man knows ,jesus ,christ1 he has little chance of even guessing the grandeur of which he himself is capable4 ,a man has1 as he says1 done his best--for years1 it may be1 of strenuous endeavour2 and then comes the new experience of ,jesus ,christ1 and he is lifted high above his record1 he gains a new power1 a new tenderness1 and he does things incredible4 ,we do not know the wrong or the right of which man is capable1 till we know ,jesus ,christ4 ,the y of our equation1 then1 does not tell us very much4 ,when it comes to the x1 is it not very often a mixture--an ill-adjusted mixture--of the ,father of ,jesus1 with the rather negative beyond all being of later ,greek speculation1 and perhaps the ,judge of ,roman law8 ,the exact proportions in the mixture will vary with the thinker4 ,but1 in fact1 is it not true now that we really only know ,god through ,jesus8 ,for it is only in and through ,jesus that we take the trouble1 and have the faith1 to explore and test ,god1 to try experiments upon ,god1 to know what he can do and what he will do4 ,it is only in ,jesus that the ,love of ,god 7in the ,new ,testament sense71 is tenable at all4 ,it is evanescent apart from ,jesus2 it rests on the assurance of his words1 his work1 his personality4 ,a vague diffused love of ,god for everything in general and nothing in particular1 we saw to be a quite different thing from the personal attachment1 with which1 according to ,jesus1 ,god loves the individual man4 ,that is the centre of the ,gospel2 it is belief in that1 which has done everything in a rational world1 as we saw at the beginning2 and it is a most impossible belief1 never long or very actively held apart from ,jesus4 ,only in him can we believe it4 ,only in him1 too1 is the new experience of ,god's forgiveness and redemption possible1 in all its fullness and sureness and power4 ,dieu me pardonnera1 said ,heine1 c'est son mtier2--but he had not the ,christian sense of what it was that ,god was to forgive4 ,it is only in ,jesus that we can live the real life of prayer1 in the intimate way of ,jesus4 ,all this means that we have to solve our x from ,jesus--not to discover him through it4 ,the plain fact is that we actually know ,jesus a great deal better than we know our x and our y1 the elements from which we hoped to reconstruct him4 ,what does this mean8 ,it means1 bluntly1 that we have to re-think our theories of ,incarnation on a posteriori lines1 to begin on facts that we know1 and to base ourselves on a continuous exploration and experience of ,jesus ,christ first4 ,the simple1 homey rule of knowing things before we talk about them holds in every other sphere of study1 and it is the rule which ,jesus himself inculcated4 ,we begin1 then1 with ,jesus ,christ1 and set out to see how far he will take us4 ,experience comes first4 ,follow me1 he said4 ,he chose the twelve men that they might be with him1 and he let them find out in that intercourse what he had for them2 and from what he could give and did give they drew their conclusions as to who and what he is4 ,there can be no other way of knowing him4 ,luther's ,reformation doctrines1 says ,hermann1 in his fine book1 ,the ,communion of the ,christian with ,god 7p4 #afc71 only countenance such a confession of the ,deity of ,christ as springs naturally to the lips of the man whom ,jesus has already made blessed4 ,melanchthon said the same3 ,this it is to know ,christ--to receive his benefits--not to contemplate his natures1 or the modes of his incarnation4 ,come unto me1 all ye that labour and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest4 ,,appendix ,,suggestions ,,for ,,study ,,circle ,,discussions #a4 ,the book is obviously written for private reading1 and these suggestions are added1 at the author's request1 for those who would like to study the book in groups4 ,circles on it1 however1 will not be very profitable unless members of them are also carefully reading the ,gospels and come to the circles with copies of the ,new ,testament4 ,some acquaintance with the main outlines of ,new ,testament criticism will be a help4 ,readers who want to know how the ,new ,testament was written are referred to ,principal ,selbie3 ,the ,nature and ,message of the ,bible 7,s4,c4,m41 ,,is4 #f;d471 especially ch4 iv4 and v4 #b4 ,the questions suggested for discussion are only a selection of the many important questions which the book raises4 ,circles should not feel bound to follow them1 or to try to cover them all at one meeting4 ,there are many subsidiary questions1 which some circles might pursue ,with profit4 #c4 ,the circle should try as far as possible to get away from the text of the book to the text of the ,bible2 to study and verify the author's method of exposition4 ,the ,leader should give much thought to this4 #d4 ,a ,bible with the marginal references of the ,r4,v4 should be used--also a note-book4 ,the author's clear preference for the ,a4,v4 may be remarked 7cf4 p4 #bbd74 #e4 ,while the method of the book is historical1 its object is practical4 ,the circles should have the same objective4 ,experience comes before theology4 ,theology is worthless which cannot be verified in experience4 ,he that doeth ,his will1 shall know of the doctrine4 #f4 ,one chapter a week will be as much as a circle can profitably manage4 4 ,,questions ,,for ,,discussion ,,in ,,circles ,,chapter ,i ,i4 ,does the writer overdo the importance of history8 ,would not spiritual religion suffice without a historical basis1 as some ,indians and others suggest8 #b4 ,what would our evidence be for spiritual religion if we had not the record of actual history to check fancy and support the ventures of faith8 #c4 ,does the writer underestimate the actual impress made on his age by ,jesus8 ,was he not probably more widely known8 #d4 ,how can ordinary people make sure of the experience behind the thought of ,jesus8 ,does this belittle him8 #e4 ,what becomes of ordinary simple people untrained in historical research1 who are not experts and merely want help in living and dying8 ,could not the whole presentation of ,christ be much simpler8 ,where does revelation to babes come in8 ,,chapter ,,ii #a4 ,look up and verify at the circle meeting the references to the ,gospels in the chapter and see if they bear the interpretations put upon them4 #b4 ,was ,jesus fond of life and ,nature8 ,give instances4 #c4 ,does intercourse with ,nature make communion with ,god more real8 #d4 ,jesus showed and taught men the beauty of humility1 tenderness and charity1 but not of manliness and courage4 ,is there any truth in this charge as regards 7a7 the portrait in the ,gospels1 or 7b7 the presentation of ,jesus in the teaching of the ,church8 ,,chapter ,,iii #a4 ,one of ,jesus' great lessons is to get men to look for ,god in the common-place things of which ,god makes so many4 ,discuss this4 #b4 ,had ,jesus a sense of humour8 ,give instances4 #c4 ,the ,son of ,fact1--do you think this a true epithet8 #d4 ,what characteristics of the mind of ,jesus does this chapter emphasize as principal8 ,do you agree that they are the principal ones8 7#e4 ,what do you imagine ,jesus looked like8 ,what do you think of the conventional figure of modern ,art87 ,,chapter ,,iv ,i4 ,to what extent was the hardness of the world during the early ,roman ,empire due to current conceptions of ,god8 #b4 ,what was the secret of ,jesus' attractiveness1 and what kinds of men and women did he attract8 #c4 ,how do you picture the life he lived with his disciples8 ,e4g4 ,can you reconstruct a typical day in the life of ,jesus 7cf4 pp4 #ha1 #hb74 #d4 ,had he a method of teaching3 if so1 what was it8 ,give illustrations4 ,,chapter ,v #a4 ,how would you state to a non-,christian the three principal elements in ,jesus' teaching about the character of ,god8 ,illustrate fully from the three ,gospels4 #b4 ,what elements in the teaching of ,jesus and the relation of ,god to the individual would be new to a ,jew who knew his ,old ,testament8 #c4 ,what did ,jesus teach his disciples concerning prayer8 #d4 ,if the friend in the house to your knowledge has the loaves1 you will knock until you get them2 and has not ,god the gifts for you that you need8 ,is he short of the power to help1 or is it the will to help that is wanting in ,god8 ,do we pray in order to change the will of ,god8 ,why did ,jesus pray8 ,,chapter ,,vi #a4 ,there is little suggestion in the ,gospels that ,art meant anything to him4 ,would you admit this8 ,or has the writer too narrow a conception of the nature of ,art8 #b4 ,the appeal that lay in the sheer misery and helplessness of masses of men was one of the foundations of the ,christian ,church4 ,discuss this and illustrate from the ministry of our ,lord4 #c4 ,i have not been thinking about the community3 ,i have been thinking about ,christ1 said a ,bengali4 ,do you find this sort of antithesis in the ,gospels8 #d4 ,jesus' new attitude to women4 ,what is it8 ,was it continued in the ,apostolic ,church8 ,did it differ from ,st ,paul's8 ,cf4 ,st ,john #d3bg4 #e4 ,what type of character does ,jesus admire8 ,does your reading of the ,gospels incline you to agree with the writer8 ,is it the same type of character which is exalted by ,christian piety1 stained-glass windows1 and the calendars of ,saints8 ,,chapter ,,vii #a4 ,there is no escaping the issue of moral choice4 ,one opinion is as good as another4 ,discuss these two contradictory statements4 #b4 ,jesus says there is all the difference in the world between his own ,gospel and the teaching of the ,baptist4 ,what is ,john's teaching on sin and righteousness 7in the ,synoptic ,gospels71 and in what ways does it differ 7a7 from the ,pharisaic1 and 7b7 from our ,lord's teaching8 #c4 ,what are the modern parallels to the four outstanding classes whom ,jesus warns of the danger of hell8 #d4 ,wherein does ,jesus' standard of sin differ from the standard of sin current to-day8 #e4 ,the ,son of ,man is come to seek and to save that which was lost 7,luke #ai3aj74 ,what does lost mean8 ,,chapter ,,viii #a4 ,what is the connection between the ,kingdom of ,heaven and the ,cross in the teaching of ,jesus as recorded in the ,gospels8 #b4 ,how does ,jesus conceive of salvation8 ,illustrate from the ,gospels4 ,do you agree with the writer's exposition8 #c4 ,why should the salvation of the lost 7i4e4 redemption7 mean the ,cross for ,jesus8 #d4 ,in choosing the ,cross1 ,christians have always felt1 ,jesus revealed ,god3 and that is the centre of the great act of ,redemption4 ,in what way8 #e4 ,do you think the paragraph on p4 #agi beginning3 ,in the third place 4 4 4 does justice to the apocalyptic passages in the ,gospels 7,mark #ac;ff1 ,matt4 #bd1 etc471 or to the interpretation of this teaching by scholars of the apocalyptic school8 7,it is no use discussing this question unless members of the circle have made some study of apocalyptic thought47 ,,chapter ,,ix #a4 ,into this world came the ,church6 ,with what aspects of the religion and life of the early ,roman ,empire1 as outlined in the chapter1 would the ,church find itself in conflict8 #b4 ,how would you introduce the ,christian faith to one who believed and took part in the ,eleusinian cult of ,demeter8 7,cf4 #a ,corinthians and ,st ,paul's method of dealing with a similar situation1 and notice the things he stresses--e4g4 elementary morality47 #c4 ,christ has conquered and all the gods are gone4 ,why did they go8 #d4 ,but have they gone8 ,what resemblances are there between the world to-day 7in the ,west and in the ,east7 and the problem of the ,church to-day and the ,roman world and the problem of the ,church then8 #e4 ,it was often remarked in ,india that1 point by point1 the writer's description of religion in the ,roman world is true to the letter of ,hinduism to-day4 ,work out this parallel4 7,see ,dr ,j4 ,n4 ,farquhar1 ,crown of ,hinduism and ,modern ,religious ,movements in ,india47 ,,chapter ,x #a4 ,it is the heart that makes the theologian4 ,where does your theology come from8 #b4 ,the doctrine of the ,atonement has often been stated as an attempt to reconcile ,jesus and an un-,christian conception of ,god4 ,god was in ,christ reconciling the world unto ,himself4 ,the ,cross is the revelation in time of what ,god is always4 ,discuss4 #c4 ,what are the three ways of answering the question3 ,who and what is this ,jesus ,christ8 ,why must people make up their minds about him8 #d4 ,does the writer make ,jesus too human8 ,or has the reading of this book made you feel his divinity more strongly just because he was so perfectly human8 ,,footnotes #a ,the ,conflict of ,religions in the ,early ,roman ,empire1 p4 #aeg4 #b ,we are nothing2 ,christ alone is all4 #c ,canon ,streeter in ,foundations #d ,cf4 the foreigner's touch at ,athens 7,acts #ag3ba74 #e because1 later on1 the ,sabbath and ,jewish ceremony were not among the most living issues1 after the ,church had come to be chiefly ,gentile4 #f ,on this point see ,r4 ,w4 ,dale1 ,the ,living ,christ and the ,four ,gospels2 and ,w4 ,sanday1 ,the ,gospels in the ,second ,century4 #g ,the reader will see that ,i am referring to ,bishop ,lightfoot's article on ,the ,brethren of the ,lord in his commentary on ,galatians1 but not accepting his conclusions4 #h ,that this is not quite fanciful is shown by the emphasis laid by more or less contemporary writers on the increased facilities for travel which the ,roman ,empire gave1 and the use made of them4 #i ,wordsworth1 ,prelude1 i4 #ehf4 #aj ,cf41 ,f4 ,g4 ,peabody1 ,jesus ,christ and ,christian ,character1 pp4 #eg-fj4 #aa ,h4 ,s4 ,coffin1 ,creed of ,jesus4 pp4 #bdj-bdb4 #ab ,prelude xiii4 #bf ff4 #ac ,see further1 on this1 in ,chapter ,,vii41 p4#afh #ad ,e4g41 in his essay on ,mirabeau3 ,the real quantity of our insight 444 depends on our patience1 our fairness1 lovingness2 and in ,biography3 ,a loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge4 #ae ,cf4 ,deissmann1 ,light from the ,ancient ,east1 p4 #aed4 ,i have omitted one or two less relevant clauses--e4g4 greetings to friends4 #af ,horace1 ,epistles1 i4 #af1 #dh4 #ag ,homer1 ,odyssey1 xvii4 #cbb4 #ah ,it is only about four times that personal immortality comes with any clearness in the ,old ,testament3 ,psalms #gb and #aci2 ,isaiah #bf2 and ,job #af3bf4 #ai ,cf4 ,a4 ,e4 ,j4 ,rawlinson1 ,dogma1 ,fact and ,experience1 p4 #af4 ,all the virtues in the ,aristotelian canon are self-contained states of the virtuous man himself 4444 ,in the last resort they are entirely self-centred adornments or accomplishments of the good man2 and it is significant of this self-centredness of the entire conception that the qualities of display 7megaloprepeia7 and highmindedness1 or proper pride 7megalopsychia71 are insisted on as integral elements of the ideal character4 ,on the other hand1 the three characteristic ,christian virtues--faith1 hope and charity--all postulate ,another4 #bj ,cf4 ,chapter ,,ii #ba ,a ,french mystic is quoted as saying1 ,le ,dieu dfini est le ,dieu fini4 #bb ,peabody1 ,jesus ,christ and ,christian ,character1 p4 #ig4 #bc ,h4 ,r4 ,mackintosh1 ,the ,doctrine of the ,person of ,jesus ,christ1 p4 #cii4 #bd ,clement1 ,protrepticus1 #ajj1 #c1 #d #be ,the more or less contemporary ,greek orator1 ,dio ,chrysostom1 refers to the old-fashioned ways of the ,tarsiots1 especially mentioning their insistence on women wearing veils4 #bf ,wernle1 ,beginnings of ,christianity1 vol4 i4 p4 #bhf1 ,english translation4 #bg ,so too says ,josephus1 who gives this as the reason of ,herod's suspicion of him4 #bh ,antiquities of the ,jews1 xviii4 #e1 #h1 #aag1 cf4 what ,celsus says of righteousness as a condition of admission to certain mysteries that offer forgiveness of sins 7,origen1 c4 ,celsum1 iii4 #ei74 ,the purification of the body has a ritual and ceremonial significance4 #bi ,lines ,composed above ,tintern1 #cd4 #cj ,that he did so is emphasized again and again1 in striking language1 by ,st4 ,paul--e4g4 ,rom4 #e3ae-af1 #bj2 #a ,tim4 #a3ad4 #ca ,horace1 ,ars ,poetica1 #aia1 ,nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus inciderit4 #cb ,daily reading of the ,scriptures is recommended by ,clement of ,alexandria 7,strom4 vii4 #di74 #cc ,perhaps one may quote here1 not inappropriately1 the famous saying of ,aristotle in his ,poetics1 that poetry is a more philosophic thing than history1 and of a higher seriousness4 ,the latter term means that the poet is more in earnest about his work1 and puts more energy of mind into it than the historian4 ,if the reader hesitates about this1 let him try to write a great hymn or poem4 #cd ,do not let us be misled by the thin pedantries of the ,revised ,version here1 or in ,romans #e3a shortly to be cited4 ,in both places literary and spiritual sense has bowed to the accidents of ,,mss4 #ce ,if my readers do not know his ,christmas hymn for children1 they have missed one of the happiest hymns for ,christmas4 #cf ,what ,carlyle says in ,the ,hero as a ,poet 7,heroes and ,hero ,worship7 on the close relation of ,song and ,truth is worth remembering in this connexion4