,,the ,,hope ,,of ,,the ,,gospel    ,,by
    ,,george ,,macdonald                
,,contents      ,,salvation ,,from ,,sin
    ,,the ,,remission ,,of ,,sins       
,,jesus ,,in ,,the ,,world    ,,jesus   
,,and ,,his ,,fellow ,,townsmen    ,,the
 ,,heirs ,,of ,,heaven ,,and ,,earth    
,,sorrow ,,the ,,pledge ,,of ,,joy      
,,god',s ,,family    ,,the ,,reward ,,of
 ,,obedience    ,,the ,,yoke ,,of       
,,jesus    ,,the ,,salt ,,and ,,the     
,,light ,,of ,,the ,,world    ,,the     
,,right ,,hand ,,and ,,the ,,left       
,,the ,,hope ,,of ,,the ,,universe      
,,salvation ,,from ,,sin4    --and thou 
shalt call his name ,jesus2 for he shall
 save his people from  their            
sins4--,matthew i4 #ba4      ,i would   
help some to understand what ,jesus came
 from the home of our  ,father to be to 
us and do for us4 ,everything in the    
world is more or  less misunderstood at 
first3 we have to learn what it is1 and 
come at  length to see that it must be  
so1 that it could not be otherwise4     

,then  we know it2 and we never know a  
thing really until we know it thus4     
,i presume there is scarce a human being
 who1 resolved to speak openly1  would  
not confess to having something that    
plagued him1 something from  which he   
would gladly be free1 something         
rendering it impossible for  him1 at the
 moment1 to regard life as an altogether
 good thing4 ,most  men1 ,i presume1    
imagine that1 free of such and such     
things antagonistic1  life would be an  
unmingled satisfaction1 worthy of being 
prolonged  indefinitely4 ,the causes of 
their discomfort are of all kinds1 and  
the  degrees of it reach from simple    
uneasiness to a misery such as makes    
annihilation the highest hope of the    
sufferer who can persuade himself  of   
its possibility4 ,perhaps the greater   
part of the energy of this  world's life
 goes forth in the endeavour to rid     
itself of discomfort4  ,some1 to escape 
it1 leave their natural surroundings    
behind them1 and  with strong and       

continuous effort keep rising in the    
social scale1 to  discover at every new 
ascent fresh trouble1 as they think1    
awaiting  them1 whereas in truth they   
have brought the trouble with them4     
,others1  making haste to be rich1 are  
slow to find out that the poverty of    
their  souls1 none the less that their  
purses are filling1 will yet keep them  
unhappy4 ,some court endless change1 nor
 know that on themselves the  change    
must pass that will set them free4      
,others expand their souls with         
knowledge1 only to find that content    
will not dwell in the great house  they 
have built4 ,to number the varieties of 
human endeavour to escape  discomfort   
would be to enumerate all the modes of  
such life as does not  know how to live4
 ,all seek the thing whose defect       
appears the cause of  their misery1 and 
is but the variable occasion of it1 the 
cause of the  shape it takes1 not of the
 misery itself2 for1 when one apparent  
cause  is removed1 another at once      

succeeds4 ,the real cause of his trouble
 is a  something the man has not perhaps
 recognized as even existent2 in any    
case he is not yet acquainted with its  
true nature4    ,however absurd the     
statement may appear to one who has not 
yet  discovered the fact for himself1   
the cause of every man's discomfort is  
evil1 moral evil--first of all1 evil in 
himself1 his own sin1 his own           
wrongness1 his own unrightness2 and     
then1 evil in those he loves3 with  this
 latter ,i have not now to deal2 the    
only way to get rid of it1 is  for the  
man to get rid of his own sin4 ,no      
special sin may be  recognizable as     
having caused this or that special      
physical  discomfort--which may indeed  
have originated with some ancestor2 but 
evil in ourselves is the cause of its   
continuance1 the source of its          
necessity1 and the preventive of that   
patience which would soon take  from it1
 or at least blunt its sting4 ,the evil 
is essentially  unnecessary1 and passes 

with the attainment of the object for   
which it  is permitted--namely1 the     
development of pure will in man2 the    
suffering  also is essentially          
unnecessary1 but while the evil lasts1  
the  suffering1 whether consequent or   
merely concomitant1 is absolutely       
necessary4 ,foolish is the man1 and     
there are many such men1 who would  rid 
himself or his fellows of discomfort by 
setting the world right1 by  waging war 
on the evils around him1 while he       
neglects that integral part  of the     
world where lies his business1 his first
 business--namely1 his  own character   
and conduct4 ,were it possible--an      
absurd supposition--that  the world     
should thus be righted from the outside1
 it would yet be  impossible for the man
 who had contributed to the work1       
remaining what  he was1 ever to enjoy   
the perfection of the result2 himself   
not in tune  with the organ he had      
tuned1 he must imagine it still a       
distracted1  jarring instrument4 ,the   

philanthropist who regards the wrong as 
in the  race1 forgetting that the race  
is made up of conscious and wrong       
individuals1 forgets also that wrong is 
always generated in and done by  an     
individual2 that the wrongness exists in
 the individual1 and by him  is passed  
over1 as tendency1 to the race2 and that
 no evil can be cured  in the race1     
except by its being cured in its        
individuals3 tendency is  not absolute  
evil2 it is there that it may be        
resisted1 not yielded to4  ,there is no 
way of making three men right but by    
making right each one  of the three2 but
 a cure in one man who repents and      
turns1 is a  beginning of the cure of   
the whole human race4    ,even if a     
man's suffering be a far inheritance1   
for the curing of which  by faith and   
obedience this life would not be        
sufficiently long1 faith  and obedience 
will yet render it endurable to the man1
 and overflow in  help to his           
fellow-sufferers4 ,the groaning body1   

wrapt in the garment of  hope1 will1    
with outstretched neck1 look for its    
redemption1 and endure4    ,the one cure
 for any organism1 is to be set         
right--to have all its  parts brought   
into harmony with each other2 the one   
comfort is to know  this cure in        
process4 ,rightness alone is cure4 ,the 
return of the  organism to its true     
self1 is its only possible ease4 ,to    
free a man from  suffering1 he must be  
set right1 put in health2 and the health
 at the  root of man's being1 his       
rightness1 is to be free from wrongness1
 that  is1 from sin4 ,a man is right    
when there is no wrong in him4 ,the     
wrong1  the evil is in him2 he must be  
set free from it4 ,i do not mean set    
free  from the sins he has done3 that   
will follow2 ,i mean the sins he is     
doing1 or is capable of doing2 the sins 
in his being which spoil his            
nature--the wrongness in him--the evil  
he consents to2 the sin he is1  which   
makes him do the sin he does4    ,to    

save a man from his sins1 is to say to  
him1 in sense perfect and  eternal1     
',rise up and walk4 ,be at liberty in   
thy essential being4 ,be  free as the   
son of ,god is free4' ,to do this for   
us1 ,jesus was born1 and  remains born  
to all the ages4 ,when misery drives a  
man to call out to  the source of his   
life1--and ,i take the increasing outcry
 against  existence as a sign of the    
growth of the race toward a sense of the
 need  of regeneration--the answer1 ,i  
think1 will come in a quickening of his 
conscience4 ,this earnest of the        
promised deliverance may not1 in all    
probability will not be what the man    
desires2 he will want only to be  rid of
 his suffering2 but that he cannot have1
 save in being delivered  from its      
essential root1 a thing infinitely worse
 than any suffering it  can produce4 ,if
 he will not have that deliverance1 he  
must keep his  suffering4 ,through      
chastisement he will take at last the   
only way that  leads into the liberty of

 that which is and must be4 ,there can  
be no  deliverance but to come out of   
his evil dream into the glory of ,god4  
,it is true that ,jesus came1 in        
delivering us from our sins1 to deliver 
us also from the painful consequences of
 our sins4 ,but these  consequences     
exist by the one law of the universe1   
the true will of the  ,perfect4 ,that   
broken1 that disobeyed by the creature1 
disorganization  renders suffering      
inevitable2 it is the natural           
consequence of the  unnatural--and1 in  
the perfection of ,god's creation1 the  
result is  curative of the cause2 the   
pain at least tends to the healing of   
the  breach4 ,the ,lord never came to   
deliver men from the consequences of    
their sins while yet those sins         
remained3 that would be to cast out of  
window the medicine of cure while yet   
the man lay sick2 to go dead  against   
the very laws of being4 ,yet men1 loving
 their sins1 and feeling  nothing of    
their dread hatefulness1 have1          

consistently with their low  condition1 
constantly taken this word concerning   
the ,lord to mean that  he came to save 
them from the punishment of their sins4 
,the idea--the  miserable fancy         
rather--has terribly corrupted the      
preaching of the  gospel4 ,the message  
of the good news has not been truly     
delivered4  ,unable to believe in the   
forgiveness of their ,father in heaven1 
imagining him not at liberty to forgive1
 or incapable of forgiving  forthright2 
not really believing him ,god our       
,saviour1 but a ,god bound1  either in  
his own nature or by a law above him and
 compulsory upon him1  to exact some    
recompense or satisfaction for sin1 a   
multitude of  teaching men have taught  
their fellows that ,jesus came to bear  
our  punishment and save us from hell4  
,they have represented a result as the  
object of his mission--the said result  
nowise to be desired by true man  save  
as consequent on the gain of his object4
 ,the mission of ,jesus was  from the   

same source and with the same object as 
the punishment of our  sins4 ,he came to
 work along with our punishment4 ,he    
came to side with  it1 and set us free  
from our sins4 ,no man is safe from hell
 until he is  free from his sins2 but a 
man to whom his sins1 that is the evil  
things  in him1 are a burden1 while he  
may indeed sometimes feel as if he were 
in hell1 will soon have forgotten that  
ever he had any other hell to  think of 
than that of his sinful condition4 ,for 
to him his sins are  hell2 he would go  
to the other hell to be free of them2   
free of them1  hell itself would be     
endurable to him4 ,for hell is ,god's   
and not the  devil's4 ,hell is on the   
side of ,god and man1 to free the child 
of ,god  from the corruption of death4  
,not one soul will ever be redeemed from
  hell but by being saved from his sins1
 from the evil in him4 ,if hell be      
needful to save him1 hell will blaze1   
and the worm will writhe and bite1      
until he takes refuge in the will of the

 ,father4 ',salvation from hell1  is    
salvation as conceived by such to whom  
hell and not evil is the  terror4' ,but 
if even for dread of hell a poor soul   
seek the ,father1 he  will be heard of  
him in his terror1 and1 taught of him to
 seek the  immeasurably greater gift1   
will in the greater receive the less4   
,there is another important             
misapprehension of the words of the     
messengers of the good tidings--that    
they threaten us with punishment        
because of the sins we have committed1  
whereas their message is of             
forgiveness1 not of vengeance2 of       
deliverance1 not of evil to come4 ,not  
for anything he has committed do they   
threaten a man with the outer  darkness4
 ,not for any or all of his sins that   
are past shall a man be  condemned2 not 
for the worst of them needs he dread    
remaining  unforgiven4 ,the sin he      
dwells in1 the sin he will not come out 
of1 is  the sole ruin of a man4 ,his    
present1 his live sins--those pervading 

his  thoughts and ruling his conduct2   
the sins he keeps doing1 and will not   
give up2 the sins he is called to       
abandon1 and clings to2 the same sins   
which are the cause of his misery1      
though he may not know it--these are    
they for which he is even now condemned4
 ,it is true the memory of the  wrongs  
we have done is1 or will become very    
bitter2 but not for those is            
condemnation2 and if that in our        
character which made them possible were 
abolished1 remorse would lose its worst 
bitterness in the hope of future        
amends4 ',this is the condemnation1 that
 light is come into the world1  and men 
loved darkness rather than light1       
because their deeds were  evil4'    ,it 
is the indwelling badness1 ready to     
produce bad actions1 that we need  to be
 delivered from4 ,against this badness  
if a man will not strive1 he  is left to
 commit evil and reap the consequences4 
,to be saved from these  consequences1  
would be no deliverance2 it would be an 

immediate1 ever  deepening damnation4   
,it is the evil in our being--no        
essential part of  it1 thank ,god6--the 
miserable fact that the very child of   
,god does not  care for his father and  
will not obey him1 causing us to desire 
wrongly1  act wrongly1 or1 where we try 
not to act wrongly1 yet making it       
impossible for us not to feel           
wrongly--this is what he came to deliver
  us from2--not the things we have done1
 but the possibility of doing such      
things any more4 ,with the departure of 
this possibility1 and with the  hope of 
confession hereafter to those we have   
wronged1 will depart also  the power    
over us of the evil things we have done1
 and so we shall be  saved from them    
also4 ,the bad that lives in us1 our    
evil judgments1 our  unjust desires1 our
 hate and pride and envy and greed and  
self-satisfaction--these are the souls  
of our sins1 our live sins1 more        
terrible than the bodies of our sins1   
namely the deeds we do1 inasmuch  as    

they not only produce these loathsome   
things1 but make us loathsome  as they4 
,our wrong deeds are our dead works2 our
 evil thoughts are our  live sins4      
,these1 the essential opposites of faith
 and love1 the sins  that dwell and work
 in us1 are the sins from which ,jesus  
came to deliver  us4 ,when we turn      
against them and refuse to obey them1   
they rise in  fierce insistence1 but the
 same moment begin to die4 ,we are then 
on the  ,lord's side1 as he has always  
been on ours1 and he begins to deliver  
us  from them4    ,anything in you1     
which1 in your own child1 would make you
 feel him not  so pleasant as you would 
have him1 is something wrong4 ,this may 
mean  much to one1 little or nothing to 
another4 ,things in a child which to    
one parent would not seem worth minding1
 would fill another with horror4  ,after
 his moral development1 where the one   
parent would smile1 the other  would    
look aghast1 perceiving both the present
 evil1 and the  serpent-brood to follow4

 ,but as the love of him who is love1   
transcends  ours as the heavens are     
higher than the earth1 so must he desire
 in his  child infinitely more than the 
most jealous love of the best mother can
  desire in hers4 ,he would have him rid
 of all discontent1 all fear1 all       
grudging1 all bitterness in word or     
thought1 all gauging and measuring  of  
his own with a different rod from that  
he would apply to another's4  ,he will  
have no curling of the lip2 no          
indifference in him to the man  whose   
service in any form he uses2 no desire  
to excel another1 no  contentment at    
gaining by his loss4 ,he will not have  
him receive the  smallest service       
without gratitude2 would not hear from  
him a tone to  jar the heart of another1
 a word to make it ache1 be the ache    
ever so  transient4 ,from such1 as from 
all other sins1 ,jesus was born to      
deliver  us2 not1 primarily1 or by      
itself1 from the punishment of any of   
them4  ,when all are gone1 the holy     

punishment will have departed also4 ,he 
came  to make us good1 and therein      
blessed children4    ,one master-sin is 
at the root of all the rest4 ,it is no  
individual  action1 or anything that    
comes of mood1 or passion2 it is the    
non-recognition by the man1 and         
consequent inactivity in him1 of the    
highest of all relations1 that relation 
which is the root and first  essential  
condition of every other true relation  
of or in the human  soul4 ,it is the    
absence in the man of harmony with the  
being whose  thought is the man's       
existence1 whose word is the man's power
 of  thought4 ,it is true that1 being   
thus his offspring1 ,god1 as ,st ,paul  
affirms1 cannot be far from any one of  
us3 were we not in closest  contact of  
creating and created1 we could not      
exist2 as we have in us  no power to be1
 so have we none to continue being2 but 
there is a closer  contact still1 as    
absolutely necessary to our well-being  
and highest  existence1 as the other to 

our being at all1 to the mere capacity  
of  faring well or ill4 ,for the highest
 creation of ,god in man is his will1   
and until the highest in man meets the  
highest in ,god1 their true  relation is
 not yet a spiritual fact4 ,the flower  
lies in the root1 but  the root is not  
the flower4 ,the relation exists1 but   
while one of the  parties neither knows1
 loves1 nor acts upon it1 the relation  
is1 as it  were1 yet unborn4 ,the       
highest in man is neither his intellect 
nor his  imagination nor his reason2 all
 are inferior to his will1 and indeed1  
in  a grand way1 dependent upon it3 his 
will must meet ,god's--a will  distinct 
from ,god's1 else were no harmony       
possible between them4 ,not  the less1  
therefore1 but the more1 is all ,god's4 
,for ,god creates in the  man the power 
to will ,his will4 ,it may cost ,god a  
suffering man can  never know1 to bring 
the man to the point at which he will   
will ,his  will2 but when he is brought 
to that point1 and declares for the     

truth1  that is1 for the will of ,god1  
he becomes one with ,god1 and the end of
  ,god in the man's creation1 the end   
for which ,jesus was born and died1 is  
gained4 ,the man is saved from his sins1
 and the universe flowers yet  again in 
his redemption4 ,but ,i would not be    
supposed1 from what ,i have  said1 to   
imagine the ,lord without sympathy for  
the sorrows and pains  which reveal what
 sin is1 and by means of which he would 
make men sick  of sin4 ,with everything 
human he sympathizes4 ,evil is not      
human2 it is  the defect and opposite of
 the human2 but the suffering that      
follows it  is human1 belonging of      
necessity to the human that has sinned3 
while it  is by cause of sin1 suffering 
is for the sinner1 that he may be       
delivered from his sin4 ,jesus is in    
himself aware of every human pain4  ,he 
feels it also4 ,in him too it is pain4  
,with the energy of tenderest  love he  
wills his brothers and sisters free1    
that he may fill them to  overflowing   

with that essential thing1 joy4 ,for    
that they were indeed  created4 ,but the
 moment they exist1 truth becomes the   
first thing1 not  happiness2 and he must
 make them true4 ,were it possible1     
however1 for  pain to continue after    
evil was gone1 he would never rest while
 one ache  was yet in the world4        
,perfect in sympathy1 he feels in       
himself1 ,i say1  the tortured presence 
of every nerve that lacks its repose4   
,the man may  recognize the evil in him 
only as pain2 he may know little and    
care  nothing about his sins2 yet is the
 ,lord sorry for his pain4 ,he cries    
aloud1 ',come unto me1 all ye that      
labour and are heavy laden1 and ,i will 
give you rest4' ,he does not say1 ',come
 unto me1 all ye that feel the  burden  
of your sins2' he opens his arms to all 
weary enough to come to  him in the     
poorest hope of rest4 ,right gladly     
would he free them from  their          
misery--but he knows only one way3 he   
will teach them to be like  himself1    

meek and lowly1 bearing with gladness   
the yoke of his father's  will4 ,this is
 the one1 the only right1 the only      
possible way of freeing  them from their
 sins1 the cause of their unrest4 ,with 
them the weariness  comes first2 with   
him the sins3 there is but one cure for 
both--the will  of the ,father4 ,that   
which is his joy will be their          
deliverance6 ,he might  indeed1 it may  
be1 take from them the human1 send them 
down to some  lower stage of being1 and 
so free them from suffering--but that   
must be  either a descent toward        
annihilation1 or a fresh beginning to   
grow up  again toward the region of     
suffering they have left2 for that which
 is  not growing must at length die out 
of creation4 ,the disobedient and       
selfish would fain in the hell of their 
hearts possess the liberty and  gladness
 that belong to purity and love1 but    
they cannot have them2 they  are weary  
and heavy-laden1 both with what they    
are1 and because of what  they were made

 for but are not4 ,the ,lord knows what 
they need2 they know  only what they    
want4 ,they want ease2 he knows they    
need purity4 ,their  very existence is  
an evil1 of which1 but for his resolve  
to purify them1  their maker must rid   
his universe4 ,how can he keep in his   
sight a foul  presence8 ,must the       
creator send forth his virtue to hold   
alive a thing  that will be evil--a     
thing that ought not to be1 that has no 
claim but  to cease8 ,the ,lord himself 
would not live save with an existence   
absolutely good4    ,it may be my reader
 will desire me to say how the ,lord    
will deliver  him from his sins4 ,that  
is like the lawyer's ',who is my        
neighbour8' ,the  spirit of such a mode 
of receiving the offer of the ,lord's   
deliverance1  is the root of all the    
horrors of a corrupt theology1 so       
acceptable to  those who love weak and  
beggarly hornbooks of religion4 ,such   
questions  spring from the passion for  
the fruit of the tree of knowledge1 not 

the  fruit of the tree of life4 ,men    
would understand3 they do not care to   
obey1--understand where it is impossible
 they should understand save  by        
obeying4 ,they would search into the    
work of the ,lord instead of doing      
their part in it--thus making it        
impossible both for the ,lord to go on  
with his work1 and for themselves to    
become capable of seeing and            
understanding what he does4 ,instead of 
immediately obeying the ,lord of  life1 
the one condition upon which he can help
 them1 and in itself the  beginning of  
their deliverance1 they set themselves  
to question their  unenlightened        
intellects as to his plans for their    
deliverance--and not  merely how he     
means to effect it1 but how he can be   
able to effect it4  ,they would bind    
their ,samson until they have scanned   
his limbs and  thews4 ,incapable of     
understanding the first motions of      
freedom in  themselves1 they proceed to 
interpret the riches of his divine soul 

in  terms of their own beggarly notions1
 to paraphrase his glorious verse  into 
their own paltry commercial prose2 and  
then1 in the growing  presumption of    
imagined success1 to insist upon their  
neighbours'  acceptance of their        
distorted shadows of 'the plan of       
salvation' as the  truth of him in whom 
is no darkness1 and the one condition of
 their  acceptance with him4 ,they delay
 setting their foot on the stair which  
alone can lead them to the house of     
wisdom1 until they shall have           
determined the material and mode of its 
construction4 ,for the sake of  knowing1
 they postpone that which alone can     
enable them to know1 and  substitute for
 the true understanding which lies      
beyond1 a false  persuasion that they   
already understand4 ,they will not      
accept1 that is1  act upon1 their       
highest privilege1 that of obeying the  
,son of ,god4 ,it is  on them that do   
his will1 that the day dawns2 to them   
the day-star  arises in their hearts4   

,obedience is the soul of knowledge4    
,by obedience1 ,i intend no kind of     
obedience to man1 or submission to      
authority claimed by man or community of
 men4 ,i mean obedience to the  will of 
the ,father1 however revealed in our    
conscience4    ,god forbid ,i should    
seem to despise understanding4 ,the ,new
 ,testament is  full of urgings to      
understand4 ,our whole life1 to be life 
at all1 must  be a growth in            
understanding4 ,what ,i cry out upon is 
the  misunderstanding that comes of     
man's endeavour to understand while not 
obeying4 ,upon obedience our energy must
 be spent2 understanding will  follow4  
,not anxious to know our duty1 or       
knowing it and not doing it1  how shall 
we understand that which only a true    
heart and a clean soul  can ever        
understand8 ,the power in us that would 
understand were it free1  lies in the   
bonds of imperfection and impurity1 and 
is therefore  incapable of judging the  
divine4 ,it cannot see the truth4 ,if it

 could  see it1 it would not know it1   
and would not have it4 ,until a man     
begins  to obey1 the light that is in   
him is darkness4    ,any honest soul may
 understand this much1 however--for it  
is a thing we  may of ourselves judge to
 be right--that the ,lord cannot save a 
man from  his sins while he holds to his
 sins4 ,an omnipotence that could do and
  not do the same thing at the same     
moment1 were an idea too absurd for     
mockery2 an omnipotence that could at   
once make a man a free man1 and  leave  
him a self-degraded slave--make him the 
very likeness of ,god1 and  good only   
because he could not help being good1   
would be an idea of the  same           
character--equally absurd1 equally      
self-contradictory4    ,but the ,lord is
 not unreasonable2 he requires no high  
motives where  such could not yet exist4
 ,he does not say1 ',you must be sorry  
for your  sins1 or you need not come to 
me3' to be sorry for his sins a man must
  love ,god and man1 and love is the    

very thing that has to be developed in  
him4 ,it is but common sense that a man1
 longing to be freed from  suffering1 or
 made able to bear it1 should betake    
himself to the ,power  by whom he is4   
,equally is it common sense that1 if a  
man would be  delivered from the evil in
 him1 he must himself begin to cast it  
out1  himself begin to disobey it1 and  
work righteousness4 ,as much as either  
is it common sense that a man should    
look for and expect the help of his     
,father in the endeavour4 ,alone1 he    
might labour to all eternity and not    
succeed4 ,he who has not made himself1  
cannot set himself right without  him   
who made him4 ,but his maker is in him1 
and is his strength4 ,the man1  however1
 who1 instead of doing what he is told1 
broods speculating on  the metaphysics  
of him who calls him to his work1 stands
 leaning his  back against the door by  
which the ,lord would enter to help him4
 ,the  moment he sets about putting     
straight the thing that is crooked--,i  

mean  doing right where he has been     
doing wrong1 he withdraws from the      
entrance1 gives way for the ,master to  
come in4 ,he cannot make himself  pure1 
but he can leave that which is impure2  
he can spread out the  'defiled1        
discoloured web' of his life before the 
bleaching sun of  righteousness2 he     
cannot save himself1 but he can let the 
,lord save him4  ,the struggle of his   
weakness is as essential to the coming  
victory as  the strength of ,him who    
resisted unto death1 striving against   
sin4    ,the sum of the whole matter is 
this3--,the ,son has come from the      
,father  to set the children free from  
their sins2 the children must hear and  
obey him1 that he may send forth        
judgment unto victory4    ,son of our   
,father1 help us to do what thou sayest1
 and so with thee die  unto sin1 that we
 may rise to the sonship for which we   
were created4  ,help us to repent even  
to the sending away of our sins4        
,,the ,,remission ,,of ,,sins4    ,john 

did baptize in the wilderness1 and      
preach the baptism of repentance  for   
the remission of sins4--,mark i4 #d4    
,god and man must combine for salvation 
from sin1 and the same word1 here  and  
elsewhere translated remission1 seems to
 be employed in the ,new  ,testament for
 the share of either in the great       
deliverance4    ,but first let me say   
something concerning the word here and  
everywhere  translated repentance4 ,i   
would not even suggest a mistranslation2
 but  the idea intended by the word has 
been so misunderstood and therefore     
mistaught1 that it requires some        
consideration of the word itself to get 
at a right recognition of the moral fact
 it represents4    ,the ,greek word     
then1 of which the word repentance is   
the accepted  synonym and fundamentally 
the accurate rendering1 is made up of   
two  words1 the conjoint meaning of     
which is1 a change of mind or  thought4 
,there is in it no intent of1 or hint at
 sorrow or shame1  or any other of the  

mental conditions that1 not unfrequently
  accompanying repentance1 have been    
taken for essential parts of it1        
sometimes for its very essence4 ,here1  
the last of the prophets1 or the        
evangelist who records his doings1      
qualifies the word1 as if he held it    
insufficient in itself to convey the    
,baptist's meaning1 with the three      
words that follow it--,greek3 eis       
a,phesin amartin3--kaerussn ,baptisma   
metauoias eis aphesin                   
amartin--'preaching a baptism of        
repentance--unto a sending away of      
sins'4 ,i do not say the phrase  ,greek3
 aphesis amartin never means            
forgiveness1 one form at least  of      
,god's sending away of sins2 neither do 
,i say that the taking of the  phrase to
 mean repentance for the remission of   
sins1 namely1  repentance in order to   
obtain the pardon of ,god1 involves any 
inconsistency2 but ,i say that the word 
,greek3 eis rather unto than  for2 that 
the word ,greek3 aphesis1 translated    

remission1 means1  fundamentally1 a     
sending away1 a dismissal2 and that the 
writer  seems to use the added phrase to
 make certain what he means by          
repentance2 a repentance1 namely1 that  
reaches to the sending away1 or         
abjurement of sins4 ,i do not think a   
change of mind unto the remission  or   
pardon of sin would be nearly so logical
 a phrase as a change of  mind unto the 
dismission of sinning4 ,the revised     
version refuses the  word for and       
chooses unto1 though it retains         
remission1 which  word1 now1 conveys no 
meaning except the forgiveness of ,god4 
,i think  that here the same word is    
used for man's dismission of his sins1  
as is  elsewhere used for ,god's        
dismission or remission of them4 ,in    
both uses1  it is a sending away of     
sins1 with the difference of meaning    
that comes  from the differing sources  
of the action4 ,both ,god and man send  
away  sins1 but in the one case ,god    
sends away the sins of the man1 and in  

the  other the man sends away his own   
sins4 ,i do not enter into the question 
whether ,god's aphesis may or may not   
mean as well the sending of his  sins   
out of a man1 as the pardon of them2    
whether it may not sometimes  mean      
dismission1 and sometimes remission3 ,i 
am sure the one deed  cannot be         
separated from the other4    ,that the  
phrase here intends repentance unto the 
ceasing from sin1 the  giving up of what
 is wrong1 ,i will try to show at least 
probable4    ,in the first place1 the   
user of the phrase either defines the   
change of  mind he means as one that has
 for its object the pardon of ,god1 or  
as  one that reaches to a new life3 the 
latter seems to me the more natural     
interpretation by far4 ,the kind and    
scope of the repentance or change1  and 
not any end to be gained by it1 appears 
intended4 ,the change must be  one of   
will and conduct--a radical change of   
life on the part of the  man3 he must   
repent--that is1 change his mind--not to

 a different  opinion1 not even to a    
mere betterment of his conduct--not to  
anything  less than a sending away of   
his sins4 ,this interpretation of the   
preaching of the ,baptist seems to me1  
,i repeat1 the more direct1 the  fuller 
of meaning1 the more logical4    ,next1 
in ,st ,matthew's gospel1 the ,baptist's
 buttressing argument1 or  imminent     
motive for the change he is pressing    
upon the people is1 that  the kingdom of
 heaven is at hand3 ',because the king  
of heaven is coming1  you must give up  
your sinning4' ,the same argument for   
immediate action  lies in his quotation 
from ,isaiah1--',prepare ye the way of  
the ,lord2  make straight in the desert 
a highway for our ,god4' ,the only true1
 the  only possible preparation for the 
coming ,lord1 is to cease from doing    
evil1 and begin to do well--to send away
 sin4 ,they must cleanse1 not the       
streets of their cities1 not their      
houses or their garments or even  their 
persons1 but their hearts and their     

doings4 ,it is true the ,baptist  did   
not see that the kingdom coming was not 
of this world1 but of the  higher world 
in the hearts of men2 it is true that   
his faith failed him  in his            
imprisonment1 because he heard of no    
martial movement on the part  of the    
,lord1 no assertion of his sovereignty1 
no convincing show of his  power2 but he
 did see plainly that righteousness was 
essential to the  kingdom of heaven4    
,that he did not yet perceive that      
righteousness is  the kingdom of heaven2
 that he did not see that the ,lord was 
already  initiating his kingdom by      
sending away sin out of the hearts of   
his  people1 is not wonderful4 ,the     
,lord's answer to his fore-runner's     
message  of doubt1 was to send his      
messenger back an eye-witness of what he
 was  doing1 so to wake or clarify in   
him the perception that his kingdom was 
not of this world--that he dealt with   
other means to another end than  ,john  
had yet recognized as his mission or    

object2 for obedient love in  the heart 
of the poorest he healed or persuaded1  
was his kingdom come4    ,again1 observe
 that1 when the ,pharisees came to      
,john1 he said to them1  ',bring forth  
therefore fruits meet for repentance3'  
is not this the same  as1 ',repent unto 
the sending away of your sins'8    ,note
 also1 that1 when the multitudes came to
 the prophet1 and all1 with  the classes
 most obnoxious to the rest1 the        
publicans and the soldiers1  asked what 
he would have them do--thus plainly     
recognizing that  something was required
 of them--his instruction was throughout
 in the  same direction3 they must send 
away their sins2 and each must begin    
with  the fault that lay next him4 ,the 
kingdom of heaven was at hand3 they     
must prepare the way of the ,lord by    
beginning to do as must be done in  his 
kingdom4    ,they could not rid         
themselves of their sins1 but they could
 set about  sending them away2 they     
could quarrel with them1 and proceed to 

turn  them out of the house3 the ,lord  
was on his way to do his part in their  
final banishment4 ,those who had        
repented to the sending away of their   
sins1 he would baptize with a holy power
 to send them away indeed4 ,the  operant
 will to get rid of them would be       
baptized with a fire that  should burn  
them up4 ,when a man breaks with his    
sins1 then the wind of  the ,lord's fan 
will blow them away1 the fire of the    
,lord's heart will  consume them4    ,i 
think1 then1 that the part of the       
repentant man1 and not the part of      
,god1 in the sending away of sins1 is   
intended here4 ,it is the man's one     
preparation for receiving the power to  
overcome them1 the baptism of  fire4    
,not seldom1 what comes in the name of  
the gospel of ,jesus ,christ1 must      
seem1 even to one not far from the      
kingdom of heaven1 no good news at  all4
 ,it does not draw him2 it wakes in him 
not a single hope4 ,he has no  desire   
after what it offers him as redemption4 

,the ,god it gives him news  of1 is not 
one to whom he would draw nearer4 ,but  
when such a man comes  to see that the  
very ,god must be his ,life1 the heart  
of his  consciousness2 when he perceives
 that1 rousing himself to put from him  
what is evil1 and do the duty that lies 
at his door1 he may fearlessly  claim   
the help of him who 'loved him into     
being1' then his will  immediately sides
 with his conscience2 he begins to try  
to be2  and--first thing toward         
being--to rid himself of what is        
antagonistic to  all being1 namely      
wrong4 ,multitudes will not even        
approach the  appalling task1 the labour
 and pain of being4 ,god is doing his   
part1  is undergoing the mighty toil of 
an age-long creation1 endowing men with 
power to be2 but few as yet are those   
who take up their part1 who  respond to 
the call of ,god1 who will to be1 who   
put forth a divine  effort after real   
existence4 ,to the many1 the spirit of  
the prophet  cries1 ',turn ye1 and      

change your way6 ,the kingdom of heaven 
is near you4  ,let your king possess his
 own4 ,let ,god throne himself in you1  
that his  liberty be your life1 and you 
free men4 ,that he may enter1 clear the 
house for him4 ,send away the bad things
 out of it4 ,depart from evil1 and  do  
good4 ,the duty that lieth at thy door1 
do it1 be it great or small4'    ,for   
indeed in this region there is no great 
or small4 ',be content with  your       
wages1' said the ,baptist to the        
soldiers4 ,to many people now1 the  word
 would be1 ',rule your temper2' or1 ',be
 courteous to all2' or1 ',let  each hold
 the other better than himself2' or1    
',be just to your neighbour  that you   
may love him4' ,to make straight in the 
desert a highway for our  ,god1 we must 
bestir ourselves in the very spot of the
 desert on which  we stand2 we must cast
 far from us our evil thing that blocks 
the way  of his chariot-wheels4 ,if we  
do not1 never will those wheels roll    
through our streets2 never will our     

desert blossom with his roses4    ,the  
message of ,john to his countrymen1 was 
then1 and is yet1 the one  message to   
the world3--',send away your sins1 for  
the kingdom of heaven  is near4' ,some  
of us--,i cannot say all1 for ,i do not 
know--who have  already repented1 who   
have long ago begun to send away our    
sins1 need  fresh repentance every      
day--how many times a day1 ,god only    
knows4 ,we are  so ready to get upon    
some path that seems to run parallel    
with the  narrow way1 and then take no  
note of its divergence6 ,what is there  
for  us when we discover that we are out
 of the way1 but to bethink ourselves   
and turn8 ,by those 'who need no        
repentance1' the ,lord may have meant   
such as had repented perfectly1 had sent
 away all their sins1 and were  now with
 him in his ,father's house2 also such  
as have never sinned1 and  such as no   
longer turn aside for any temptation4   
,we shall now1 perhaps1 be able to      
understand the relation of the ,lord    

himself to the baptism of ,john4    ,he 
came to ,john to be baptized2 and most  
would say ,john's baptism was of        
repentance for the remission or pardon  
of sins4 ,but the ,lord could not  be   
baptized for the remission of sins1 for 
he had never done a selfish1  an untrue1
 or an unfair thing4 ,he had never      
wronged his ,father1 any  more than ever
 his ,father had wronged him4 ,happy1   
happy ,son and ,father1  who had never  
either done the other wrong1 in thought1
 word1 or deed6 ,as  little had he      
wronged brother or sister4 ,he needed no
 forgiveness2 there  was nothing to     
forgive4 ,no more could he be baptized  
for repentance3 in  him repentance would
 have been to turn to evil6 ,where then 
was the  propriety of his coming to be  
baptized by ,john1 and insisting on     
being  by him baptized8 ,it must lie    
elsewhere4    ,if we take the words of  
,john to mean 'the baptism of repentance
 unto the  sending away of sins2' and if
 we bear in mind that in his case       

repentance could not be1 inasmuch as    
what repentance is necessary to  bring  
about in man1 was already existent in   
,jesus2 then1 altering the  words to fit
 the case1 and saying1 'the baptism of  
willed devotion to  the sending away of 
sin1' we shall see at once how the      
baptism of ,jesus  was a thing right and
 fit4    ,that he had no sin to repent  
of1 was not because he was so           
constituted  that he could not sin if he
 would2 it was because1 of his own will 
and  judgment1 he sent sin away from    
him--sent it from him with the full     
choice and energy of his nature4 ,god   
knows good and evil1 and1 blessed  be   
his name1 chooses good4 ,never will his 
righteous anger make him  unfair to us1 
make him forget that we are dust4 ,like 
him1 his son also  chose good1 and in   
that choice resisted all temptation to  
help his  fellows otherwise than as     
their and his father would4 ,instead of 
crushing the power of evil by divine    
force2 instead of compelling  justice   

and destroying the wicked2 instead of   
making peace on the earth  by the rule  
of a perfect prince2 instead of         
gathering the children of  ,jerusalem   
under his wings whether they would or   
not1 and saving them  from the horrors  
that anguished his prophetic soul--he   
let evil work its  will while it lived2 
he contented himself with the slow      
unencouraging  ways of help essential2  
making men good2 casting out1 not merely
  controlling ,satan2 carrying to their 
perfect issue on earth the old  primeval
 principles because of which the ,father
 honoured him3 ',thou hast  loved       
righteousness and hated iniquity2       
therefore ,god1 even thy ,god1  hath    
anointed thee with the oil of gladness  
above thy fellows4' ,to love            
righteousness is to make it grow1 not to
 avenge it2 and to win for              
righteousness the true victory1 he1 as  
well as his brethren1 had to send  away 
evil4 ,throughout his life on earth1 he 
resisted every impulse to  work more    

rapidly for a lower good1--strong       
perhaps when he saw old age  and        
innocence and righteousness trodden     
under foot4 ,what but this gives  any   
worth of reality to the temptation in   
the wilderness1 to the  devil's         
departing from him for a season1 to his 
coming again to  experience a like      
failure8 ,ever and ever1 in the whole   
attitude of his  being1 in his heart    
always lifted up1 in his unfailing      
readiness to pull  with the ,father's   
yoke1 he was repelling1 driving away    
sin--away from  himself1 and1 as ,lord  
of men1 and their saviour1 away from    
others also1  bringing them to abjure it
 like himself4 ,no man1 least of all any
 lord  of men1 can be good without      
willing to be good1 without setting     
himself  against evil1 without sending  
away sin4 ,other men have to send it    
away  out of them2 the ,lord had to send
 it away from before him1 that it       
should not enter into him4 ,therefore is
 the stand against sin common to  the   

captain of salvation and the soldiers   
under him4    ,what did ,jesus come into
 the world to do8 ,the will of ,god in  
saving his  people from their sins--not 
from the punishment of their sins1 that 
blessed aid to repentance1 but from     
their sins themselves1 the paltry as    
well as the heinous1 the venial as well 
as the loathsome4 ,his whole work  was  
and is to send away sin--to banish it   
from the earth1 yea1 to cast  it into   
the abyss of non-existence behind the   
back of ,god4 ,his was the  holy war2 he
 came carrying it into our world2 he    
resisted unto blood2  the soldiers that 
followed him he taught and trained to   
resist also unto  blood1 striving       
against sin2 so he became the captain of
 their  salvation1 and they1 freed      
themselves1 fought and suffered for     
others4  ,this was the task to which he 
was baptized2 this is yet his enduring  
labour4 ',this is my blood of the new   
covenant which is shed for many  unto   
the sending away of sins4' ,what was the

 new covenant8 ',i will make  a new     
covenant with the house of ,israel and  
with the house of ,judah2 not  according
 to the covenant which they brake1 but  
this3 ,i will put my law  in their      
inward parts1 and write it in their     
hearts1 and will be their  ,god1 and    
they shall be my people4'    ,john      
baptized unto repentance because those  
to whom he was sent had to  repent4     
,they must bethink themselves1 and send 
away the sin that was in  them4 ,but had
 there been a man1 aware of no sin in   
him1 but aware that  life would be no   
life were not sin kept out of him1 that 
man would have  been right in receiving 
the baptism of ,john unto the continuous
  dismission of the sin ever wanting to 
enter in at his door4 ,the object  of   
the baptism was the sending away of sin2
 its object was repentance  only where  
necessary to1 only as introducing1 as   
resulting in that4 ,he  to whom ,john   
was not sent1 ,he whom he did not call1 
,he who needed no  repentance1 was      

baptized for the same object1 to the    
same conflict for  the same end--the    
banishment of sin from the dominions of 
his  father--and that first by his own  
sternest repudiation of it in himself4  
,thence came his victory in the         
wilderness3 he would have his fathers   
way1 not his own4 ,could he be less     
fitted to receive the baptism of  ,john1
 that the object of it was no new thing 
with him1 who had been  about it from   
the beginning1 yea1 from all eternity8  
,we shall be about  it1 ,i presume1 to  
all eternity4    ,such1 then1 as were   
baptized by ,john1 were initiated into  
the company of  those whose work was to 
send sin out of the world1 and first1 by
 sending  it out of themselves1 by      
having done with it4 ,their earliest    
endeavour  in this direction would1 as  
,i have said1 open the door for that    
help to  enter without which a man could
 never succeed in the divinely arduous  
task--could not1 because the region in  
which the work has to be wrought  lies  

in the very roots of his own being1     
where1 knowing nothing of the  secrets  
of his essential existence1 he can      
immediately do nothing1 where  the maker
 of him alone is potent1 alone is       
consciously present4 ,the  change that  
must pass in him more than equals a new 
creation1 inasmuch  as it is a higher   
creation4 ,but its necessity is involved
 in the former  creation2 and thence we 
have a right to ask help of our creator1
 for he  requires of us what he has     
created us unable to effect without him4
 ,nay1  nay6--could we do anything      
without him1 it were a thing to leave   
undone4  ,blessed fact that he hath made
 us so near him6 that the scale of our  
being is so large1 that we are completed
 only by his presence in it6  that we   
are not men without him6 that we can be 
one with our  self-existent creator6    
that we are not cut off from the        
original  ,infinite6 that in him we must
 share infinitude1 or be enslaved by the
  finite6 ,the very patent of our       

royalty is1 that not for a moment can we
  live our true life without the eternal
 life present in and with our  spirits4 
,without him at our unknown root1 we    
cease to be4 ,true1 a dog  cannot live  
without the presence of ,god2 but ,i    
presume a dog may live a  good dog-life 
without knowing the presence of his     
origin3 man is dead if  he know not the 
,power which is his cause1 his deepest  
selfing self2 the  ,presence which is   
not himself1 and is nearer to him than  
himself2 which  is infinitely more      
himself1 more his very being1 than he is
 himself4 ,the  being of which we are   
conscious1 is not our full self2 the    
extent of our  consciousness of our self
 is no measure of our self2 our         
consciousness  is infinitely less than  
we2 while ,god is more necessary even to
 that  poor consciousness of self than  
our self-consciousness is necessary to  
our humanity4 ,until a man become the   
power of his own existence1 become  his 
own ,god1 the sole thing necessary to   

his existing is the will of  ,god2 for  
the well-being and perfecting of that   
existence1 the sole thing  necessary is1
 that the man should know his maker     
present in him4 ,all  that the children 
want is their ,father4    ,the one true 
end of all speech concerning holy things
 is--the persuading  of the individual  
man to cease to do evil1 to set himself 
to do well1 to  look to the lord of his 
life to be on his side in the new       
struggle4  ,supposing the suggestions ,i
 have made correct1 ,i do not care that 
my  reader should understand them1      
except it be to turn against the evil in
  him1 and begin to cast it out4 ,if    
this be not the result1 it is of no     
smallest consequence whether he agree   
with my interpretation or not4 ,if  he  
do thus repent1 it is of equally little 
consequence2 for1 setting  himself to do
 the truth1 he is on the way to know all
 things4 ,real  knowledge has begun to  
grow possible for him4    ,i am not sure
 what the ,lord means in the words1     

',thus it becometh us to  fulfil all    
righteousness4' ,baptism could not be   
the fulfilling of all  righteousness6   
,perhaps he means1 ',we must1 by a full 
act of the will1  give ourselves        
altogether to righteousness4 ,we must   
make it the business  of our lives to   
send away sin1 and do the will of the   
,father4 ,that is my  work as much as   
the work of any man who must repent ere 
he can begin4 ,i  will not be left out  
when you call men to be pure as our     
father is  pure4'    ,to be certain whom
 he intends by us might perhaps help us 
to see his  meaning4 ,does he intend all
 of us men8 ,does he intend 'my father  
and  me'8 ,or does he intend 'you and   
me1 ,john'8 ,if the saying mean what ,i 
have suggested1 then the us would apply 
to all that have the knowledge  of good 
and evil4 ',every being that can1 must  
devote himself to  righteousness4 ,to be
 right is no adjunct of completeness2 it
 is the  ground and foundation of       
existence4' ,but perhaps it was a lesson

 for  ,john himself1 who1 mighty        
preacher of righteousness as he was1 did
 not  yet count it the all of life4 ,i  
cannot tell4    ,note that when the     
,lord began his teaching1 he employed1  
neither using  nor inculcating any rite1
 the same words as ,john1--',repent1 for
 the  kingdom of heaven is at hand4'    
,that kingdom had been at hand all his  
infancy1 boyhood1 and young  manhood3 he
 was in the world with his father in his
 heart3 that was the  kingdom of heaven4
 ,lonely man on the hillside1 or boy the
 cynosure of  doctor-eyes1 his father   
was everything to him3--',wist ye not   
that ,i must  be in my father's things8'
          ,,jesus ,,in ,,the ,,world4   
',son1 why hast thou thus dealt with us8
 behold1 thy father and ,i have  sought 
thee sorrowing4' ,and he said unto them1
 ',how is it that ye sought  me8 wist ye
 not that ,i must be about my father's  
business8' ,and they  understood not the
 saying which he spake unto them4--,luke
 ii4 #dh-ej4      ,was that his saying8 

,why did they not understand it8 ,do we 
understand  it8 ,what did his saying    
mean8 ,the ,greek is not absolutely     
clear4 ,whether  the ,syriac words he   
used were more precise1 who in this     
world can tell8  ,but had we heard his  
very words1 we too1 with his father and 
mother1  would have failed to understand
 them4 ,must we fail still8    ,it will 
show at once where our initial          
difficulty lies1 if ,i give the  latter 
half of the saying as presented in the  
revised ,english version3  its departure
 from the authorized reveals the point  
of obscurity3--',wist  ye not that ,i   
must be in my father's house8' ,his     
parents had his exact  words1 yet did   
not understand4 ,we have not his exact  
words1 and are in  doubt as to what the 
,greek translation of them means4    ,if
 the authorized translation be true to  
the intent of the ,greek1 and  therefore
 to that of the ,syriac1 how could his  
parents1 knowing him as  they did from  
all that had been spoken before         

concerning him1 from all  they had seen 
in him1 from the ponderings in ,mary's  
own heart1 and from  the precious       
thoughts she and ,joseph cherished      
concerning him1 have  failed to         
understand him when he said that        
wherever he was1 he must be  about his  
father's business8 ,on the other hand1  
supposing them to know  and feel that he
 must be about his father's business1   
would that have  been reason sufficient1
 in view of the degree of spiritual     
development  to which they had attained1
 for the ,lord's expecting them not to  
be  anxious about him when they had lost
 him8 ,thousands on thousands who  trust
 ,god for their friends in things       
spiritual1 do not trust him for  them in
 regard of their mere health or material
 well-being4 ,his parents  knew how     
prophets had always been treated in the 
land2 or if they did  not think in that 
direction1 there were many dangers to   
which a boy like  him would seem        
exposed1 to rouse an anxiety that could 

be met only by a  faith equal to saying1
 ',whatever has happened to him1 death  
itself1 it  can be no evil to one who is
 about his father's business2' and such 
a  faith ,i think the ,lord could not   
yet have expected of them4 ,that what   
the world counts misfortune might befall
 him on his father's business1  would   
have been recognized by him1 ,i think1  
as reason for their parental            
anxiety--so long as they had not learned
 ,god--that he is what he is--the  thing
 the ,lord had come to teach his        
father's men and women4 ,his words  seem
 rather to imply that there was no need 
to be anxious about his  personal       
safety4 ,fear of some accident to him   
seems to have been the  cause of their  
trouble2 and he did not mean1 ,i think1 
that they ought  not to mind if he died 
doing his father's will1 but that he was
 in no  danger as regarded accident or  
misfortune4 ,this will appear more      
plainly  as we proceed4 ,so much for the
 authorized version4    ,let us now take

 the translation given us by the        
,revisers3--',wist ye not  that ,i must 
be in my father's house8'    ,are they  
authorized in translating the ,greek    
thus8 ,i know no  justification for it1 
but am not learned enough to say they   
have none4  ,that the ,syriac has it so1
 is of little weight2 seeing it is no   
original  ,syriac1 but retranslation4   
,if he did say 'my father's house'1     
could he  have meant the temple and his 
parents not have known what he meant8   
,and  why should he have taken it for   
granted they would know1 or judge that  
they ought to have known1 that he was   
there8 ,so little did the temple        
suggest itself to them1 that either it  
was the last place in which they  sought
 him1 or they had been there before1 and
 had not found him4 ,if  he meant that  
they might have known this without being
 told1 why was it  that1 even when he   
set the thing before them1 they did not 
understand  him8 ,i do not believe he   
meant the temple2 ,i do not think he    

said or  meant 'in my fathers house'4   
,what then makes those who give us this 
translation1 prefer it to the  phrase in
 the authorized version1 'about my      
,father's business'8    ,one or other of
 two causes--most likely both together3 
an ecclesiastical  fancy1 and the mere  
fact that he was found in the temple4 ,a
 mind  ecclesiastical will presume the  
temple the fittest1 therefore most      
likely place1 for the ,son of ,god to   
betake himself to1 but such a mind      
would not be the first to reflect that  
the temple was a place where the        
,father was worshipped neither in spirit
 nor in truth--a place built by  one of 
the vilest rulers of this world1 less   
fit than many another spot  for the     
special presence of him of whom the     
prophet bears witness3 ',thus  saith the
 high and lofty ,one that inhabiteth    
eternity1 whose name is  ,holy2 ,i dwell
 in the high and holy place1 with him   
also that is of a  contrite and humble  
spirit1 to revive the spirit of the     

humble1 and to  revive the heart of the 
contrite ones4' ,jesus himself1 with the
 same  breath in which once he called it
 his father's house1 called it a den of 
thieves4 ,his expulsion from it of the  
buyers and sellers1 was the first  waft 
of the fan with which he was come to    
purge his father's dominions4  ,nothing 
could ever cleanse that house2 his      
fanning rose to a tempest1  and swept it
 out of his father's world4    ,for the 
second possible cause of the change from
 business to  temple--the mere fact that
 he was found in the temple1 can hardly 
be a  reason for his expecting his      
parents to know that he was there2 and  
if  it witnessed to some way of thought 
or habit of his with which they were    
acquainted1 it is1 ,i repeat1 difficult 
to see why the parents should  fail to  
perceive what the interpreters have     
found so easily4 ,but the  parents      
looked for a larger meaning in the words
 of such a son--whose  meaning at the   
same time was too large for them to     

find4    ,when1 according to the ,greek1
 the ,lord1 on the occasion already     
alluded  to1 says 'my father's house1'  
he says it plainly2 he uses the word    
house3 here he does not4    ,let us see 
what lies in the ,greek to guide us to  
the thought in the mind  of the ,lord   
when he thus reasoned with the          
apprehensions of his father  and mother4
 ,the ,greek1 taken literally1 says1    
',wist ye not that ,i must  be in       
the----of my father8' ,the authorized   
version supplies business2  the revised1
 house4 ,there is no noun in the ,greek1
 and the article  'the' is in the       
plural4 ,to translate it as literally as
 it can be  translated1 making of it an 
,english sentence1 the saying stands1   
',wist  ye not that ,i must be in the   
things of my father8' ,the plural       
article  implies the ,english things2   
and the question is then1 ,what things  
does he mean8 ,the word might mean      
affairs or business2 but why the  plural
 article should be contracted to mean   

house1 ,i do not know4 ,in  a great wide
 sense1 no doubt1 the word house might  
be used1 as ,i am  about to show1 but   
surely not as meaning the temple4    ,he
 was arguing for confidence in ,god on  
the part of his parents1 not for  a     
knowledge of his whereabout4 ,the same  
thing that made them anxious  concerning
 him1 prevented them from understanding 
his words--lack1  namely1 of faith in   
the ,father4 ,this1 the one thing he    
came into the  world to teach men1 those
 words were meant to teach his parents4 
,they  are spirit and life1 involving   
the one principle by which men shall    
live4 ,they hold the same core as his   
words to his disciples in the  storm1   
',oh ye of little faith6' ,let us look  
more closely at them4    ',why did you  
look for me8 ,did you not know that ,i  
must be among my  father's things8'     
,what are we to understand by 'my       
father's things'8  ,the translation     
given in the authorized version is1 ,i  
think1 as to the  words themselves1 a   

thoroughly justifiable one3 ',i must be 
about my  father's business1' or 'my    
father's affairs'2 ,i refuse it for no  
other  reason than that it does not fit 
the logic of the narrative1 as does the 
word things1 which besides opens to us a
 door of large and joyous  prospect4 ,of
 course he was about his father's       
business1 and they might  know it and   
yet be anxious about him1 not having a  
perfect faith in that  father4 ,but1 as 
,i have said already1 it was not anxiety
 as to what might  befall him because of
 doing the will of the ,father2 he might
 well seem  to them as yet too young for
 danger from that source2 it was but the
  vague perils of life beyond their     
sight that appalled them2 theirs was    
just the uneasiness that possesses every
 parent whose child is missing2  and if 
they1 like him1 had trusted in their    
father1 they would have  known what     
their son now meant when he said that he
 was in the midst of  his father's      
things--namely1 that the very things    

from which they  dreaded evil accident1 
were his own home-surroundings2 that he 
was not  doing the ,father's business in
 a foreign country1 but in the ,father's
  own house4 ,understood as meaning the 
world1 or the universe1 the phrase1  'my
 father's house1' would be a better     
translation than the authorized2        
understood as meaning the poor1         
miserable1 ,god-forsaken temple--no more
  the house of ,god than a dead body is 
the house of a man--it is  immeasurably 
inferior4    ,it seems to me1 ,i say1   
that the ,lord meant to remind them1 or 
rather to  make them feel1 for they had 
not yet learned the fact1 that he was   
never  away from home1 could not be     
lost1 as they had thought him2 that he  
was  in his father's house all the time1
 where no hurt could come to him4  ',the
 things' about him were the furniture   
and utensils of his home2 he  knew them 
all and how to use them4 ',i must be    
among my father's  belongings4' ,the    
world was his home because his father's 

house4 ,he was  not a stranger who did  
not know his way about in it4 ,he was no
 lost  child1 but with his father all   
the time4    ,here we find one main     
thing wherein the ,lord differs from us3
 we are not  at home in this great      
universe1 our father's house4 ,we ought 
to be1 and  one day we shall be1 but we 
are not yet4 ,this reveals ,jesus more  
than  man1 by revealing him more man    
than we4 ,we are not complete men1 we   
are  not anything near it1 and are      
therefore out of harmony1 more or less1 
with everything in the house of our     
birth and habitation4 ,always           
struggling to make our home in the      
world1 we have not yet succeeded4 ,we   
are not at home in it1 because we are   
not at home with the lord of the  house1
 the father of the family1 not one with 
our elder brother who is  his right     
hand4 ,it is only the son1 the daughter1
 that abideth ever in  the house4 ,when 
we are true children1 if not the world1 
then the  universe will be our home1    

felt and known as such1 the house we are
  satisfied with1 and would not change4 
,hence1 until then1 the hard  struggle1 
the constant strife we hold with        
,nature--as we call the  things of our  
father2 a strife invaluable for our     
development1 at the  same time          
manifesting us not yet men enough to be 
lords of the house  built for us to live
 in4 ,we cannot govern or command in it 
as did the  ,lord1 because we are not at
 one with his father1 therefore neither 
in  harmony with his things1 nor rulers 
over them4 ,our best power in regard  to
 them is but to find out wonderful facts
 concerning them and their  relations1  
and turn these facts to our uses on     
systems of our own4 ,for  we discover   
what we seem to discover1 by working    
inward from without1  while he works    
outward from within2 and we shall never 
understand the  world1 until we see it  
in the direction in which he works      
making  it--namely from within outward4 
,this of course we cannot do until we   

are  one with him4 ,in the meantime1 so 
much are both we and his things his1    
that we can err concerning them only as 
he has made it possible for us  to err2 
we can wander only in the direction of  
the truth--if but to find  that we can  
find nothing4    ,think for a moment how
 ,jesus was at home among the things of 
his  father4 ,it seems to me1 ,i repeat1
 a spiritless explanation of his        
words--that the temple was the place    
where naturally he was at home4  ,does  
he make the least lamentation over the  
temple8 ,it is ,jerusalem he  weeps     
over--the men of ,jerusalem1 the        
killers1 the stoners4 ,what was his     
place of prayer8 ,not the temple1 but   
the mountain-top4 ,where does he  find  
symbols whereby to speak of what goes on
 in the mind and before the  face of his
 father in heaven8 ,not in the temple2  
not in its rites2 not  on its altars2   
not in its holy of holies2 he finds them
 in the world and  its lovely-lowly     
facts2 on the roadside1 in the field1 in

 the vineyard1  in the garden1 in the   
house2 in the family1 and the commonest 
of its  affairs--the lighting of the    
lamp1 the leavening of the meal1 the    
neighbour's borrowing1 the losing of the
 coin1 the straying of the  sheep4 ,even
 in the unlovely facts also of the world
 which he turns to  holy use1 such as   
the unjust judge1 the false steward1 the
 faithless  labourers1 he ignores the   
temple4 ,see how he drives the devils   
from the  souls and bodies of men1 as we
 the wolves from our sheepfolds6 how    
before him the diseases1 scaly and      
spotted1 hurry and flee6 ,the world  has
 for him no chamber of terror4 ,he walks
 to the door of the sepulchre1  the     
sealed cellar of his father's house1 and
 calls forth its four days  dead4 ,he   
rebukes the mourners1 he stays the      
funeral1 and gives back the  departed   
children to their parents' arms4 ,the   
roughest of its servants  do not make   
him wince2 none of them are so arrogant 
as to disobey his  word2 he falls asleep

 in the midst of the storm that         
threatens to  swallow his boat4 ,hear   
how1 on that same occasion1 he rebukes  
his  disciples6 ,the children to tremble
 at a gust of wind in the house6 ,god's 
little ones afraid of a storm6 ,hear him
 tell the watery floor to be  still1 and
 no longer toss his brothers6 see the   
watery floor obey him  and grow still6  
,see how the wandering creatures under  
it come at his  call6 ,see him leave his
 mountain-closet1 and go walking over   
its heaving  surface to the help of his 
men of little faith6 ,see how the       
world's  water turns to wine6 how its   
bread grows more bread at his word6 ,see
 how  he goes from the house for a      
while1 and returning with fresh power1  
takes what shape he pleases1 walks      
through its closed doors1 and goes up   
and down its invisible stairs6    ,all  
his life he was among his father's      
things1 either in heaven or in  the     
world--not then only when they found him
 in the temple at ,jerusalem4  ,he is   

still among his father's things1        
everywhere about in the world1          
everywhere throughout the wide universe4
 ,whatever he laid aside to come  to us1
 to whatever limitations1 for our sake1 
he stooped his regal head1  he dealt    
with the things about him in such       
lordly1 childlike manner as  made it    
clear they were not strange to him1 but 
the things of his  father4 ,he claimed  
none of them as his own1 would not have 
had one of  them his except through his 
father4 ,only as his father's could he  
enjoy  them2--only as coming forth from 
the ,father1 and full of the ,father's  
thought and nature1 had they to him any 
existence4 ,that the things were  his   
fathers1 made them precious things to   
him4 ,he had no care for  having1 as men
 count having4 ,all his having was in   
the ,father4 ,i wonder  if he ever put  
anything in his pocket3 ,i doubt if he  
had one4 ,did he  ever say1 ',this is   
mine1 not yours'8 ,did he not say1 ',all
 things are  mine1 therefore they are   

yours'8 ,oh for his liberty among the   
things of  the ,father6 ,only by knowing
 them the things of our ,father1 can we 
escape  enslaving ourselves to them4    
,through the false1 the infernal idea of
  having1 of possessing them1 we make   
them our tyrants1 make the  relation    
between them and us an evil thing4 ,the 
world was a blessed  place to ,jesus1   
because everything in it was his        
father's4 ,what pain  must it not have  
been to him1 to see his brothers so     
vilely misuse the  ,father's house by   
grasping1 each for himself1 at the      
family things6 ,if  the knowledge that a
 spot in the landscape retains in it    
some pollution1  suffices to disturb our
 pleasure in the whole1 how must it not 
have been  with him1 how must it not be 
with him now1 in regard to the          
disfigurements and defilements caused by
 the greed of men1 by their  haste to be
 rich1 in his father's lovely house6    
,whoever is able to understand          
,wordsworth1 or ,henry ,vaughan1 when   

either  speaks of the glorious insights 
of his childhood1 will be able to       
imagine a little how ,jesus must1 in his
 eternal childhood1 regard the  world4  
,hear what ,wordsworth says3--          
,our birth is but a sleep and a         
forgetting3      ,the ,soul that rises  
with us1 our life's ,star1      ,hath   
had elsewhere its setting1          ,and
 cometh from afar3      ,not in entire  
forgetfulness1      ,and not in utter   
nakedness1        ,but trailing clouds  
of glory do we come      ,from ,god1 who
 is our home3        ,heaven lies about 
us in our infancy6          ,shades of  
the prison-house begin to close         
,upon the growing ,boy1        ,but he  
beholds the light1 and whence it flows1 
,he sees it in his joy2        ,the     
,youth1 who daily farther from the east 
,must travel1 still is ,nature's        
,priest1      ,and by the vision        
splendid      ,is on his way attended2  
,at length the ,man perceives it die    
away1      ,and fade into the light of  

common day4    ,hear what ,henry        
,vaughan says3--        ,happy those    
early dayes1 when ,i      ,shin'd in my 
angell-infancy6      ,before ,i         
understood this place      ,appointed   
for my second race1      ,or taught my  
soul to fancy ought      ,but a white1  
celestiall thought2      ,when yet ,i   
had not walkt above      ,a mile or two1
 from my first love1      ,and looking  
back--at that short space--      ,could 
see a glimpse of ,his bright-face2      
,when on some gilded cloud1 or flowre   
,my gazing soul would dwell an houre1   
,and in those weaker glories spy        
,some shadows of eternity2      ,before 
,i taught my tongue to wound      ,my   
conscience with a sinfull sound1        
,or had the black art to dispence       
,a sev'rall sinne to ev'ry sence1       
,but felt through all this fleshly      
dresse      ,bright shootes of          
everlastingnesse4        ,o how ,i long 
to travell back1      ,and tread again  
that ancient track6      ,that ,i might 

once more reach that plaine1      ,where
 first ,i left my glorious traine2      
,from whence th' inlightned spirit sees 
,that shady ,city of palme trees4       
,whoever has thus gazed on flower or    
cloud2 whoever can recall poorest       
memory of the trail of glory that hung  
about his childhood1 must have  some    
faint idea how his father's house and   
the things in it always  looked1 and    
must still look to the ,lord4 ,with him 
there is no fading  into the light of   
common day4 ,he has never lost his      
childhood1 the very  essence of         
childhood being nearness to the ,father 
and the outgoing of  his creative love2 
whence1 with that insight of his eternal
 childhood of  which the insight of the 
little ones here is a fainter           
repetition1 he  must see everything as  
the ,father means it4 ,the child sees   
things as the  ,father means him to see 
them1 as he thought of them when he     
uttered  them4 ,for ,god is not only the
 father of the child1 but of the        

childhood  that constitutes him a child1
 therefore the childness is of the      
divine  nature4 ,the child may not      
indeed be capable of looking into the   
father's  method1 but he can in a       
measure understand his work1 has        
therefore free  entrance to his study   
and workshop both1 and is welcome to    
find out what  he can1 with fullest     
liberty to ask him questions4 ,there are
 men too1  who1 at their best1 see1 in  
their lower measure1 things as they     
are--as  ,god sees them always4 ,jesus  
saw things just as his father saw them  
in  his creative imagination1 when      
willing them out to the eyes of his     
children4 ,but if he could always see   
the things of his father even as  some  
men and more children see them at times1
 he might well feel  almost at home     
among them4 ,he could not cease to      
admire1 cease to love  them4 ,i say     
love1 because the life in them1 the     
presence of the  creative one1 would    
ever be plain to him4 ,in the ,perfect1 

would  familiarity ever destroy wonder  
at things essentially wonderful because 
essentially divine8 ,to cease to wonder 
is to fall plumb-down from the          
childlike to the commonplace--the most  
undivine of all moods  intellectual4    
,our nature can never be at home among  
things that are not  wonderful to us4   
,could we see things always as we have  
sometimes seen them--and as one  day we 
must always see them1 only far          
better--should we ever know  dullness8  
,greatly as we might enjoy all forms of 
art1 much as we might  learn through the
 eyes and thoughts of other men1 should 
we fly to these  for deliverance from   
ennui1 from any haunting discomfort8    
,should we  not just open our own       
child-eyes1 look upon the things        
themselves1 and  be consoled8    ,jesus1
 then1 would have his parents understand
 that he was in his  father's world     
among his father's things1 where was    
nothing to hurt him2  he knew them all1 
was in the secret of them all1 could use

 and order  them as did his father4 ,to 
this same ,i think all we humans are    
destined  to rise4 ,though so many of us
 now are ignorant what kind of home we  
need1 what a home we are capable of     
having1 we too shall inherit the  earth 
with the ,son eternal1 doing with it as 
we would--willing with the  will of the 
,father4 ,to such a home as we now      
inhabit1 only perfected1  and perfectly 
beheld1 we are travelling--never to     
reach it save by the  obedience that    
makes us the children1 therefore the    
heirs of ,god4 ,and1  thank ,god6 there 
the father does not die that the        
children may inherit2  for1 bliss of    
heaven6 we inherit with the ,father4    
,all the dangers of ,jesus came from the
 priests1 and the learned in the        
traditional law1 whom his parents had   
not yet begun to fear on his  behalf4   
,they feared the dangers of the rugged  
way1 the thieves and  robbers of the    
hill-road4 ,for the scribes and the     
pharisees1 the priests  and the         

rulers--they would be the first to      
acknowledge their ,messiah1  their king6
 ,little they imagined1 when they found 
him where he ought to  have been safest 
had it been indeed his father's house1  
that there he  sat amid lions--the great
 doctors of the temple6 ,he could rule  
all the  things in his father's house1  
but not the men of religion1 the men of 
the temple1 who called his father their 
,father4 ,true1 he might have  compelled
 them with a word1 withered them by a   
glance1 with a  finger-touch made them  
grovel at his feet2 but such supremacy  
over his  brothers the ,lord of life    
despised4 ,he must rule them as his     
father  ruled himself2 he would have    
them know themselves of the same family 
with himself2 have them at home among   
the things of ,god1 caring for the      
things he cared for1 loving and hating  
as he and his father loved and  hated1  
ruling themselves by the essential laws 
of being4 ,because they  would not be   
such1 he let them do to him as they     

would1 that he might  get at their      
hearts by some unknown unguarded door in
 their diviner  part4 ',i will be ,god  
among you2 ,i will be myself to         
you4--,you will not  have me8 ,then do  
to me as you will4 ,the created shall   
have power over  him through whom they  
were created1 that they may be compelled
 to know  him and his father4 ,they     
shall look on him whom they have        
pierced4'    ,his parents found him in  
the temple2 they never really found him 
until  he entered the true temple--their
 own adoring hearts4 ,the temple that   
knows not its builder1 is no temple2 in 
it dwells no divinity4 ,but at  length  
he comes to his own1 and his own receive
 him2--comes to them in  the might of   
his mission to preach good tidings to   
the poor1 to heal the  broken-hearted1  
to preach deliverance1 and sight1 and   
liberty1 and the  ,lord's own good time4
          ,,jesus ,,and ,,his ,,fellow  
,,townsmen4    ,and he came to          
,nazareth1 where he had been brought up3

 and1 as his  custom was1 he went into  
the synagogue on the sabbath day1 and   
stood up  for to read4 ,and there was   
delivered unto him the book of the      
prophet  ,esaias4 ,and when he had      
opened the book1 he found the place     
where it was  written1 ',the spirit of  
the ,lord is upon me1 because he hath   
anointed me  to preach the gospel to the
 poor2 he hath sent me to heal the      
brokenhearted1 to preach deliverance to 
the captives1 and recovering of  sight  
to the blind1 to set at liberty them    
that are bruised1 to preach  the        
acceptable year of the ,lord4' ,and he  
closed the book1 and he gave it  again  
to the minister1 and sat down4 ,and the 
eyes of all them that were  in the      
synagogue were fastened on him4 ,and he 
began to say unto them1  ',this day is  
this scripture fulfilled in your        
ears4'--,luke iv4 #ad-ba4      ,the     
,lord's sermon upon the mount seems such
 an enlargement of these  words of the  
prophet as might1 but for the refusal of

 the men of  ,nazareth to listen to him1
 have followed his reading of them here 
recorded4 ,that1 as given by the        
evangelist1 they correspond to neither  
of the differing originals of the       
,english and ,greek versions1 ought to  
be enough in itself to do away with the 
spiritually vulgar notion of the  verbal
 inspiration of the ,scriptures4    ,the
 point at which the ,lord stops in his  
reading1 is suggestive3 he  closes the  
book1 leaving the words 'and the day of 
vengeance of our  ,god1' or1 as in the  
,septuagint1 'the day of recompense1'   
unread3 ,god's  vengeance is as holy a  
thing as his love1 yea1 is love1 for    
,god is love  and ,god is not vengeance2
 but1 apparently1 the ,lord would not   
give the  word a place in his           
announcement of his mission3 his hearers
 would not  recognize it as a form of   
the ,father's love1 but as vengeance on 
their  enemies1 not vengeance on the    
selfishness of those who would not be   
their brother's keeper4    ,he had not  

begun with ,nazareth1 neither with      
,galilee4 ',a prophet has no  honour in 
his own country1' he said1 and began to 
teach where it was  more likely he would
 be heard4 ,it is true that he wrought  
his first  miracle in ,cana1 but that   
was at his mother's request1 not of his 
own  intent1 and he did not begin his   
teaching there4 ,he went first to       
,jerusalem1 there cast out the buyers   
and sellers from the temple1 and  did   
other notable things alluded to by ,st  
,john2 then went back to  ,galilee1     
where1 having seen the things he did in 
,jerusalem1 his former  neighbours were 
now prepared to listen to him4 ,of these
 the ,nazarenes1  to whom the sight of  
him was more familiar1 retained the most
 prejudice  against him3 he belonged to 
their very city6 they had known him from
 a  child6--and low indeed are they in  
whom familiarity with the high and  true
 breeds contempt6 they are judged       
already4 ,yet such was the fame of  the 
new prophet1 that even they were willing

 to hear in the synagogue  what he had  
to say to them--thence to determine for 
themselves what  claim he had to an     
honourable reception4 ,but the eye of   
their judgment  was not single1         
therefore was their body full of        
darkness4 ,should  ,nazareth indeed     
prove1 to their self-glorifying         
satisfaction1 the city  of the great    
,prophet1 they were more than ready to  
grasp at the renown  of having produced 
him3 he was indeed the great ,prophet1  
and within a  few minutes they would    
have slain him for the honour of        
,israel4 ,in the  ignoble even the love 
of their country partakes largely of the
 ignoble4    ,there was a shadow of the 
hateless vengeance of ,god in the       
expulsion of  the dishonest dealers from
 the temple with which the ,lord        
initiated his  mission3 that was his    
first parable to ,jerusalem2 to         
,nazareth he comes  with the sweetest   
words of the prophet of hope in his     
mouth--good  tidings of great joy--of   

healing and sight and liberty2 followed 
by the  godlike announcement1 that what 
the prophet had promised he was come to 
fulfil4 ,his heart1 his eyes1 his lips1 
his hands--his whole body is full  of   
gifts for men1 and that day was that    
scripture fulfilled in their  ears4 ,the
 prophecy had gone before that he should
 save his people from  their sins2 he   
brings an announcement they will better 
understand3 he is  come1 he says1 to    
deliver men from sorrow and pain1       
ignorance and  oppression1 everything   
that makes life hard and unfriendly4    
,what a  gracious speech1 what a daring 
pledge to a world whelmed in tyranny and
  wrong6 ,to the women of it1 ,i        
imagine1 it sounded the sweetest1 in    
them  woke the highest hopes4 ,they had 
scarce had a hearing when the ,lord     
came2 and thereupon things began to mend
 with them1 and are mending  still1 for 
the ,lord is at work1 and will be4 ,he  
is the refuge of the  oppressed4 ,by its
 very woes1 as by bitterest medicine1 he

 is setting the  world free from sin and
 woe4 ,this very hour he is curing its  
disease1  the symptoms of which are so  
varied and so painful2 working none the 
less faithfully that the sick1 taking   
the symptoms for the disease1 cry  out  
against the incompetence of their       
physician4 ',what power can heal  the   
broken-hearted8' they cry4 ,and indeed  
it takes a ,god to do it1 but  the ,god 
is here6 ,in yet better words than those
 of the prophet1 spoken  straight from  
his own heart1 he cries3 ',come unto me1
 all ye that labour  and are heavy      
laden1 and ,i will give you rest4' ,he  
calls to him every  heart knowing its   
own bitterness1 speaks to the troubled  
consciousness  of every child of the    
,father4 ,he is come to free us from    
everything that  makes life less than   
bliss essential4 ,no other could be a   
gospel worthy  of the ,god of men4      
,every one will1 ,i presume1 confess to 
more or less misery4 ,its apparent      
source may be this or that2 its real    

source is1 to use a poor figure1 a      
dislocation of the juncture between the 
created and the creating life4  ,this   
primal evil is the parent of evils      
unnumbered1 hence of miseries           
multitudinous1 under the weight of which
 the arrogant man cries out  against    
life1 and goes on to misuse it1 while   
the child looks around for  help--and   
who shall help him but his father6 ,the 
,father is with him all  the time1 but  
it may be long ere the child knows      
himself in his arms4  ,his heart may be 
long troubled as well as his outer life4
 ,the dank mists  of doubtful thought   
may close around his way1 and hide from 
him the  ,light of the world6 cold winds
 from the desert of foiled endeavour may
  sorely buffet and for a time baffle   
his hope2 but every now and then the    
blue pledge of a great sky will break   
through the clouds over his head2  and a
 faint aurora will walk his darkest     
,east4 ,gradually he grows more  capable
 of imagining a world in which every    

good thing thinkable may be  a fact4    
,best of all1 the story of him who is   
himself the good news1 the  gospel of   
,god1 becomes not only more and more    
believable to his heart1  but more and  
more ministrant to his life of conflict1
 and his assurance  of a living father  
who hears when his children cry4 ,the   
gospel according  to this or that       
expounder of it1 may repel him          
unspeakably2 the gospel  according to   
,jesus ,christ1 attracts him supremely1 
and ever holds where  it has drawn him4 
,to the priest1 the scribe1 the elder1  
exclaiming  against his self-sufficiency
 in refusing what they teach1 he        
answers1  ',it is life or death to me4  
,your gospel ,i cannot take4 ,to believe
 as you  would have me believe1 would be
 to lose my ,god4 ,your ,god is no ,god 
to  me4 ,i do not desire him4 ,i would  
rather die the death than believe in    
such a ,god4 ,in the name of the true   
,god1 ,i cast your gospel from me2 it   
is no gospel1 and to believe it would be

 to wrong him in whom alone lies  my    
hope4'    ',but to believe in such a    
man1' he might go on to say1 'with such 
a  message1 as ,i read of in the ,new   
,testament1 is life from the dead4 ,i   
have yielded myself1 to live no more in 
the idea of self1 but with the  life of 
,god4 ,to him ,i commit the creature he 
has made1 that he may live  in it1 and  
work out its life--develop it according 
to the idea of it in  his own creating  
mind4 ,i fall in with his ways for me4  
,i believe in him4  ,i trust him4 ,i try
 to obey him4 ,i look to be rendered    
capable of and  receive a pure vision of
 his will1 freedom from the prison-house
 of my  limitation1 from the bondage of 
a finite existence4 ,for the finite that
  dwells in the infinite and in which   
the infinite dwells1 is finite no       
longer4 ,those who are thus children    
indeed1 are little ,gods1 the divine    
brood of the infinite ,father4 ,no mere 
promise of deliverance from the         
consequences of sin1 would be any gospel

 to me4 ,less than the liberty of  a    
holy heart1 less than the freedom of the
 ,lord himself1 will never  satisfy one 
human soul4 ,father1 set me free in the 
glory of thy will1 so  that ,i will only
 as thou willest4 ,thy will be at once  
thy perfection and  mine4 ,thou alone   
art deliverance--absolute safety from   
every cause and  kind of trouble that   
ever existed1 anywhere now exists1 or   
ever can  exist in thy universe4'       
,but the people of the ,lord's town1 to 
whom he read1 appropriating them1  the  
gracious words of the prophet1 were of  
the wise and prudent of their  day4     
,with one and the same breath1 they seem
 to cry1 ',these things are  good1 it is
 true1 but they must come after our way4
 ,we must have the  promise to our      
fathers fulfilled--that we shall rule   
the world1 the  chosen of ,god1 the     
children of ,abraham and ,israel4 ,we   
want to be a free  people1 manage our   
own affairs1 live in plenty1 and do as  
we please4  ,liberty alone can ever cure

 the woes of which you speak4 ,we do not
 need  to be better2 we are well enough4
 ,give us riches and honour1 and keep us
  content with ourselves1 that we may be
 satisfied with our own likeness1  and  
thou shalt be the ,messiah4' ,never1    
perhaps1 would such be men's  spoken    
words1 but the prevailing condition of  
their minds might often  well take form 
in such speech4 ,whereon will they      
ground their complaint  should ,god give
 them their hearts' desire8 ,when that  
desire given closes  in upon them with a
 torturing sense of slavery2 when they  
find that what  they have imagined their
 own will1 was but a suggestion they    
knew not  whence2 when they discover    
that life is not good1 yet they cannot  
die2  will they not then turn and       
entreat their maker to save them after  
his  own fashion8    ,let us try to     
understand the brief1 elliptical        
narrative of what took  place in the    
synagogue of ,nazareth on the occasion  
of our ,lord's  announcement of his     

mission4    ',this day1' said ,jesus1   
'is this scripture fulfilled in your    
ears2' and  went on with his divine     
talk4 ,we shall yet know1 ,i trust1 what
 'the  gracious words' were 'which      
proceeded out of his mouth'3 surely some
 who  heard them1 still remember them1  
for 'all bare him witness1 and wondered 
at' them6 ,how did they bear him        
witness8 ,surely not alone by the       
intensity of their wondering gaze6 ,must
 not the narrator mean that their       
hearts bore witness to the power of his 
presence1 that they felt the  appeal of 
his soul to theirs1 that they said in   
themselves1 ',never man  spake like this
 man'8 ,must not the light of truth in  
his face1 beheld of  such even as knew  
not the truth1 have lifted their souls  
up truthward8  ,was it not the something
 true1 common to all hearts1 that bore  
the  wondering witness to the           
graciousness of his words8 ,had not     
those words  found a way to the pure    
human1 that is1 the divine in the men8  

,was it  not therefore that they were   
drawn to him--all but ready to accept   
him8--on their own terms1 alas1 not his6
 ,for a moment he seemed to them  a true
 messenger1 but truth in him was not    
truth to them3 had he been  what they   
took him for1 he would have been no     
saviour4 ,they were1  however1 though   
partly by mistake1 well disposed toward 
him1 and it was  with a growing sense of
 being honoured by his relation to them1
 and the  property they had in him1 that
 they said1 ',is not this ,joseph's     
son8'    ,but the ,lord knew what was in
 their hearts2 he knew the false notion 
with which they were almost ready to    
declare for him2 he knew also the  final
 proof to which they were in their      
wisdom and prudence about to  subject   
him4 ,he did not look likely to be a    
prophet1 seeing he had  grown up among  
them1 and had never shown any           
credentials3 they had a  right to proof 
positive6 ,they had heard of wonderful  
things he had done  in other places3 why

 had they not first of all been done in 
their  sight8 ,who had a claim equal to 
theirs8 who so capable as they to       
pronounce judgment on his mission       
whether false or true3 had they not     
known him from childhood8 ,his words    
were gracious1 but words were  nothing3 
he must do something--something         
wonderful6 ,without such  conclusive1   
satisfying proof1 ,nazareth at least    
would never acknowledge  him6    ,they  
were quite ready for the honour of      
having any true prophet1 such as  it    
seemed not impossible the son of ,joseph
 might turn out to be1  recognized as   
their towns-man1 one of their own       
people3 if he were such1  theirs was the
 credit of having produced him6 ,then   
indeed they were  ready to bear witness 
to him1 take his part1 adopt his cause1 
and before  the world stand up for him6 
,as to his being the ,messiah1 that was 
merest  absurdity3 did they not all know
 his father1 the carpenter8 ,he might1  
however1 be the prophet whom so many of 

the best in the nation were at  the     
moment expecting6 ,let him do something 
wonderful6    ,they were not a gracious 
people1 or a good4 ,the ,lord saw their 
thought1  and it was far from being to  
his mind4 ,he desired no such reception 
as  they were at present equal to giving
 a prophet4 ,his mighty works were  not 
meant for such as they--to convince them
 of what they were incapable  of        
understanding or welcoming6 ,those who  
would not believe without signs  and    
wonders1 could never believe worthily   
with any number of them1 and  none      
should be given them6 ,his mighty works 
were to rouse the love1 and  strengthen 
the faith of the meek and lowly in      
heart1 of such as were  ready to come to
 the light1 and show that they were of  
the light4 ,he  knew how poor the       
meaning the ,nazarenes put on the words 
he had read2  what low expectations they
 had of the ,messiah when most they     
longed for  his coming4 ,they did not   
hear the prophet while he read the      

prophet6 ,at  sight of a few poor little
 wonders1 nothing to him1 to them       
sufficient  to prove him such a ,messiah
 as they looked for1 they would burst   
into  loud acclaim1 and rush to their   
arms1 eager1 his officers and soldiers1 
to open the one triumphant campaign     
against the accursed ,romans1 and  sweep
 them beyond the borders of their sacred
 country4 ,their ,messiah  would make of
 their nation the redeemed of the ,lord1
 themselves the  favourites of his      
court1 and the tyrants of the world6    
,salvation from  their sins was not in  
their hearts1 not in their imaginations1
 not at  all in their thoughts4 ,they   
had heard him read his commission to    
heal  the broken-hearted2 they would    
rush to break hearts in his name4 ,the  
,lord knew them1 and their vain         
expectations4 ,he would have no such    
followers--no followers on false        
conceptions--no followers whom wonders  
would delight but nowise better6 ,the   
,nazarenes were not yet of the sort     

that needed but one change to be his    
people4 ,he had come to give them  help2
 until they accepted his1 they could    
have none to give him4    ,the ,lord    
never did mighty work in proof of his   
mission2 to help a  growing faith in    
himself and his father1 he would do     
anything6 ,he healed  those whom healing
 would deeper heal--those in whom       
suffering had so far  done its work1    
that its removal also would carry it on4
 ,to the ,nazarenes  he would not       
manifest his power2 they were not in a  
condition to get  good from such        
manifestation3 it would but confirm     
their present  arrogance and ambition4  
,wonderful works can only nourish a     
faith already  existent2 to him who     
believes without it1 a miracle may be   
granted4 ,it  was the ,israelite indeed1
 whom the ,lord met with miracle3       
',because ,i  said unto thee1 ,i saw    
thee under the fig-tree1 believest thou8
 ,thou  shalt see the angels of ,god    
ascending and descending on the ,son of 

,man4'  ,those who laughed him to scorn 
were not allowed to look on the         
resurrection of the daughter of ,jairus4
 ,peter1 when he would walk on the      
water1 had both permission and power    
given him to do so4 ,the widow  received
 the prophet1 and was fed2 the ,syrian  
went to the prophet1 and  was cured4 ,in
 ,nazareth1 because of unbelief1 the    
,lord could only lay his  hands on a few
 sick folk2 in the rest was none of that
 leaning toward  the truth1 which alone 
can make room for the help of a miracle4
 ,this  they soon made manifest4    ,the
 ,lord saw them on the point of         
challenging a display of his power1  and
 anticipated the challenge with a       
refusal4    ,for the better             
understanding of his words1 let me      
presume to paraphrase  them3 ',i know   
you will apply to me the proverb1       
,physician1 heal thyself1  requiring me 
to prove what is said of me in          
,capernaum1 by doing the same  here2 but
 there is another proverb1 ,no prophet  

is accepted in his own  country4        
,unaccepted ,i do nothing wonderful4 ,in
 the great famine1 ,elijah  was sent to 
no widow of the many in ,israel1 but to 
a ,sidonian2 and  ,elisha cured no leper
 of the many in ,israel1 but ,naaman the
 ,syrian4  ,there are those fit to see  
signs and wonders2 they are not always  
the  kin of the prophet4'    ,the       
,nazarenes heard with indignation4      
,their wonder at his gracious words  was
 changed to bitterest wrath4 ,the very  
beams of their ugly religion  were      
party-spirit1 exclusiveness1 and pride  
in the fancied favour of ,god  for them 
only of all the nations3 to hint at the 
possibility of a  revelation of the     
glory of ,god to a stranger2 far more1  
to hint that a  stranger might be fitter
 to receive such a revelation than a    
,jew1 was an  offence reaching to the   
worst insult2 and it was cast in their  
teeth by  a common man of their own     
city6 ',thou art but a well-known       
carpenter's  son1 and dost thou teach   

us6 ,darest thou imply a divine         
preference for  ,capernaum over         
,nazareth8' ,in bad odour with the rest 
of their  countrymen1 they were the     
prouder of themselves4    ,the whole    
synagogue1 observe1 rose in a fury4     
,such a fellow a prophet6  ,he was worse
 than the worst of ,gentiles6 he was a  
false ,jew6 a traitor  to his ,god6 a   
friend of the idol-worshipping ,romans6 
,away with him6 ,his  townsmen led the  
van in his rejection by his own4 ,the   
men of ,nazareth  would have forestalled
 his crucifixion by them of ,jerusalem4 
,what6 a  ,sidonian woman fitter to     
receive the prophet than any ,jewess6 a 
heathen  worthier to be kept alive by   
miracle in time of famine1 than a       
worshipper of the true ,god6 a leper of 
,damascus less displeasing to ,god  than
 the lepers of his chosen race6 ,it was 
no longer condescending  approval that  
shone in their eyes4 ,he a prophet6     
,they had seen through  him6 ,soon had  
they found him out6 ,the moment he      

perceived it useless to  pose for a     
prophet with them1 who had all along    
known the breed of him1  he had turned  
to insult them6 ,he dared not attempt in
 his own city the  deceptions with      
which1 by the help of ,satan1 he had    
made such a grand  show1 and fooled the 
idiots of ,capernaum6 ,he saw they knew 
him too well1  were too wide-awake to be
 cozened by him1 and to avoid their     
expected  challenge1 fell to reviling   
the holy nation4 ,let him take the      
consequences6 ,to the brow of the hill  
with him6    ,how could there be any    
miracle for such6 ,they were well       
satisfied with  themselves1 and         
,nothing almost sees miracles      ,but 
misery4    ,need and the upward look1   
the mood ready to believe when and where
 it  can1 the embryonic faith1 is dear  
to ,him whose love would have us trust  
him4 ,let any man seek him--not in      
curious inquiry whether the story of    
him may be true or cannot be true--in   
humble readiness to accept him          

altogether if only he can1 and he shall 
find him2 we shall not fail of  help to 
believe because we doubt4 ,but if the   
questioner be such that the  dispersion 
of his doubt would but leave him in     
disobedience1 the ,power  of truth has  
no care to effect his conviction4 ,why  
cast out a devil that  the man may the  
better do the work of the devil8 ,the   
childlike doubt  will1 as it softens and
 yields1 minister nourishment with all  
that was  good in it to the faith-germ  
at its heart2 the wise and prudent      
unbelief will be left to develop its own
 misery4 ,the ,lord could easily  have  
satisfied the ,nazarenes that he was the
 ,messiah3 they would but  have hardened
 into the nucleus of an army for the    
subjugation of the  world4 ,to a warfare
 with their own sins1 to the subjugation
 of their  doing and desiring to the    
will of the great ,father1 all the      
miracles in  his power would never have 
persuaded them4 ,a true convincement is 
not  possible to hearts and minds like  

theirs4 ,not only is it impossible for  
a low man to believe a thousandth part  
of what a noble man can1 but a  low man 
cannot believe anything as a noble man  
believes it4 ,the men of  ,nazareth     
could have believed in ,jesus as their  
saviour from the ,romans2  as their     
saviour from their sins they could not  
believe in him1 for they  loved their   
sins4 ,the king of heaven came to offer 
them a share in his  kingdom2 but they  
were not poor in spirit1 and the kingdom
 of heaven was  not for them4 ,gladly   
would they have inherited the earth2 but
 they were  not meek1 and the earth was 
for the lowly children of the perfect   
,father4          ,,the ,,heirs ,,of    
,,heaven ,,and ,,earth4    ,and he      
opened his mouth and taught them1       
saying1 ',blessed are the poor  in      
spirit2 for theirs is the kingdom of    
heaven4' 444',blessed are the  meek2 for
 they shall inherit the                 
earth4'--,matthew v4 #b1 #c1 #e4        
,the words of the ,lord are the seed    

sown by the sower4 ,into our hearts     
they must fall that they may grow4      
,meditation and prayer must water  them1
 and obedience keep them in the         
sunlight4 ,thus will they bear fruit    
for the ,lord's gathering4    ,those of 
his disciples1 that is1 obedient        
hearers1 who had any  experience in     
trying to live1 would1 in part1 at once 
understand them2  but as they obeyed and
 pondered1 the meaning of them would    
keep growing4  ,this we see in the      
writings of the apostles4 ,it will be so
 with us also1  who need to understand  
everything he said neither more nor less
 than  they to whom first he spoke2     
while our obligation to understand is   
far  greater than theirs at the time1   
inasmuch as we have had nearly two      
thousand years' experience of the       
continued coming of the kingdom he  then
 preached3 it is not yet come2 it has   
been all the time1 and is now1  drawing 
slowly nearer4    ,the sermon on the    
mount1 as it is commonly called1 seems  

the ,lord's  first free utterance1 in   
the presence of any large assembly1 of  
the good  news of the kingdom4 ,he had  
been teaching his disciples and         
messengers2  and had already brought the
 glad tidings that his father was their 
father1 to many besides--to ,nathanael  
for one1 to ,nicodemus1 to the  woman of
 ,samaria1 to every one he had cured1   
every one whose cry for  help he had    
heard3 his epiphany was a gradual thing1
 beginning1 where it  continues1 with   
the individual4 ,it is impossible even  
to guess at what  number may have heard 
him on this occasion3 he seems to have  
gone up the  mount because of the       
crowd--to secure a somewhat opener      
position whence  he could better speak2 
and thither followed him those who      
desired to be  taught of him1           
accompanied doubtless by not a few in   
whom curiosity was  the chief motive4   
,disciple or gazer1 he addressed the    
individuality of  every one that had    
ears to hear4 ,peter and ,andrew1 ,james

 and ,john1 are  all we know as his     
recognized disciples1 followers1 and    
companions1 at  the time2 but1 while his
 words were addressed to such as had    
come to  him desiring to learn of him1  
the things he uttered were eternal      
truths1  life in which was essential for
 every one of his father's children1    
therefore they were for all3 he who     
heard to obey1 was his disciple4    ,how
 different1 at the first sound of it1   
must the good news have been  from the  
news anxiously expected by those who    
waited for the ,messiah6  ,even the     
,baptist in prison lay listening after  
something of quite  another sort4 ,the  
,lord had to send him a message1 by     
eye-witnesses of  his doings1 to remind 
him that ,god's thoughts are not as our 
thoughts1  or his ways as our ways--that
 the design of ,god is other and better 
than  the expectation of men4 ,his      
summary of the gifts he was giving to   
men1  culminated with the preaching of  
the good news to the poor4 ,if ,john had

  known these his doings before1 he had 
not recognized them as belonging  to the
 ,lord's special mission3 the ,lord     
tells him it is not enough to  have     
accepted him as the ,messiah2 he must   
recognize his doings as the  work he had
 come into the world to do1 and as in   
their nature so divine  as to be the    
very business of the ,son of ,god in    
whom the ,father was well  pleased4     
,wherein then consisted the goodness of 
the news which he opened his  mouth to  
give them8 ,what was in the news to make
 the poor glad8 ,why was  his arrival   
with such words in his heart and mouth1 
the coming of the  kingdom8    ,all good
 news from heaven1 is of                
truth--essential truth1 involving  duty1
 and giving and promising help to the   
performance of it4 ,there can  be no    
good news for us men1 except of         
uplifting love1 and no one can be       
lifted up who will not rise4 ,if ,god   
himself sought to raise his little  ones
 without their consenting effort1 they  

would drop from his foiled  endeavour4  
,he will carry us in his arms till we   
are able to walk2 he  will carry us in  
his arms when we are weary with walking2
 he will not  carry us if we will not   
walk4    ,very different are the good   
news ,jesus brings us from certain      
prevalent  representations of the       
gospel1 founded on the pagan notion that
  suffering is an offset for sin1 and   
culminating in the vile assertion  that 
the suffering of an innocent man1 just  
because he is innocent1 yea  perfect1 is
 a satisfaction to the holy ,father for 
the evil deeds of his  children4 ,as a  
theory concerning the atonement nothing 
could be worse1  either intellectually1 
morally1 or spiritually2 announced as   
the gospel  itself1 as the good news of 
the kingdom of heaven1 the idea is      
monstrous  as any ,chinese dragon4 ,such
 a so-called gospel is no gospel1       
however  accepted as ,god sent by good  
men of a certain development4 ,it is    
evil  news1 dwarfing1 enslaving1        

maddening--news to the child-heart of   
the  dreariest damnation4 ,doubtless    
some elements of the gospel are mixed up
  with it on most occasions of its      
announcement2 none the more is it the   
message received from him4 ,it can be   
good news only to such as are  prudently
 willing to be delivered from a ,god    
they fear1 but unable to  accept the    
gospel of a perfect ,god1 in whom to    
trust perfectly4    ,the good news of   
,jesus was just the news of the thoughts
 and ways of the  ,father in the midst  
of his family4 ,he told them that the   
way men thought  for themselves and     
their children was not the way ,god     
thought for  himself and his children2  
that the kingdom of heaven was founded1 
and  must at length show itself founded 
on very different principles from  those
 of the kingdoms and families of the    
world1 meaning by the world  that part  
of the ,father's family which will not  
be ordered by him1 will  not even try to
 obey him4 ,the world's man1 its great1 

its successful1  its honorable man1 is  
he who may have and do what he pleases1 
whose  strength lies in money and the   
praise of men2 the greatest in the      
kingdom of heaven is the man who is     
humblest and serves his fellows the     
most4 ,multitudes of men1 in no degree  
notable as ambitious or proud1  hold the
 ambitious1 the proud man in honour1    
and1 for all deliverance1  hope after   
some shadow of his prosperity4 ,how many
 even of those who  look for the world  
to come1 seek to the powers of this     
world for  deliverance from its evils1  
as if ,god were the ,god of the world to
 come  only6 ,the oppressed of the      
,lord's time looked for a ,messiah to   
set their  nation free1 and make it rich
 and strong2 the oppressed of our time  
believe in money1 knowledge1 and the    
will of a people which needs but  power 
to be in its turn the oppressor4 ,the   
first words of the ,lord on  this       
occasion were3--',blessed are the poor  
in spirit1 for theirs is the  kingdom of

 heaven1'    ,it is not the proud1 it is
 not the greedy of distinction1 it is   
not  those who gather and hoard1 not    
those who lay down the law to their     
neighbours1 not those that condescend1  
any more than those that shrug  the     
shoulder and shoot out the lip1 that    
have any share in the kingdom  of the   
,father4 ,that kingdom has no relation  
with or resemblance to the  kingdoms of 
this world1 deals with no one thing that
 distinguishes their  rulers1 except to 
repudiate it4 ,the ,son of ,god will    
favour no smallest  ambition1 be it in  
the heart of him who leans on his bosom4
 ,the kingdom  of ,god1 the refuge of   
the oppressed1 the golden age of the new
 world1  the real ,utopia1 the newest   
yet oldest ,atlantis1 the home of the   
children1 will not open its gates to the
 most miserable who would rise  above   
his equal in misery1 who looks down on  
any one more miserable than  himself4   
,it is the home of perfect brotherhood4 
,the poor1 the beggars in  spirit1 the  

humble men of heart1 the unambitious1   
the unselfish2 those  who never despise 
men1 and never seek their praises2 the  
lowly1 who see  nothing to admire in    
themselves1 therefore cannot seek to be 
admired of  others2 the men who give    
themselves away--these are the freemen  
of the  kingdom1 these are the citizens 
of the new ,jerusalem4 ,the men who are 
aware of their own essential poverty2   
not the men who are poor in  friends1   
poor in influence1 poor in acquirements1
 poor in money1 but  those who are poor 
in spirit1 who feel themselves poor     
creatures2 who  know nothing to be      
pleased with themselves for1 and desire 
nothing to  make them think well of     
themselves2 who know that they need much
 to make  their life worth living1 to   
make their existence a good thing1 to   
make  them fit to live2 these humble    
ones are the poor whom the ,lord calls  
blessed4 ,when a man says1 ,i am low and
 worthless1 then the gate of the        
kingdom begins to open to him1 for there

 enter the true1 and this man  has begun
 to know the truth concerning himself4  
,whatever such a man has  attained to1  
he straightway forgets2 it is part of   
him and behind him2  his business is    
with what he has not1 with the things   
that lie above and  before him4 ,the man
 who is proud of anything he thinks he  
has reached1  has not reached it4 ,he is
 but proud of himself1 and imagining a  
cause  for his pride4 ,if he had        
reached1 he would already have begun to 
forget4  ,he who delights in            
contemplating whereto he has attained1  
is not merely  sliding back2 he is      
already in the dirt of                  
self-satisfaction4 ,the gate  of the    
kingdom is closed1 and he outside4 ,the 
child who1 clinging to his  ,father1    
dares not think he has in any sense     
attained while as yet he is  not as his 
,father--his ,father's heart1 his       
,father's heaven is his  natural home4  
,to find himself thinking of himself as 
above his fellows1  would be to that    

child a shuddering terror2 his universe 
would contract  around him1 his ideal   
wither on its throne4 ,the least motion 
of  self-satisfaction1 the first thought
 of placing himself in the forefront  of
 estimation1 would be to him a flash    
from the nether abyss4 ,god is his  life
 and his lord4 ,that his father should  
be content with him must be  all his    
care4 ,among his relations with his     
neighbour1 infinitely  precious1        
comparison with his neighbour has no    
place4 ,which is the  greater is of no  
account4 ,he would not choose to be less
 than his  neighbour2 he would choose   
his neighbour to be greater than he4 ,he
 looks  up to every man4 ,otherwise     
gifted than he1 his neighbour is more   
than  he4 ,all come from the one mighty 
father3 shall he judge the live         
thoughts of ,god1 which is greater and  
which is less8 ,in thus denying1  thus  
turning his back on himself1 he has no  
thought of saintliness1 no  thought but 
of his father and his brethren4 ,to such

 a child heaven's  best secrets are     
open4 ,he clambers about the throne of  
the ,father  unrebuked2 his back is     
ready for the smallest heavenly         
playmate2 his  arms are an open refuge  
for any blackest little lost kid of the 
,father's  flock2 he will toil with it  
up the heavenly stair1 up the very steps
 of  the great white throne1 to lay it  
on the ,father's knees4 ,for the glory  
of that ,father is not in knowing       
himself ,god1 but in giving himself     
away--in creating and redeeming and     
glorifying his children4    ,the man who
 does not house self1 has room to be his
 real self--,god's  eternal idea of him4
 ,he lives eternally2 in virtue of the  
creative power  present in him with     
momently1 unimpeded creation1 he is4    
,how should  there be in him one thought
 of ruling or commanding or surpassing6 
,he  can imagine no bliss1 no good in   
being greater than some one else4 ,he is
  unable to wish himself other than he  
is1 except more what ,god made him  for1

 which is indeed the highest willing of 
the will of ,god4 ,his  brother's       
wellbeing is essential to his bliss4    
,the thought of standing  higher in the 
favour of ,god than his brother1 would  
make him miserable4  ,he would lift     
every brother to the embrace of the     
,father4 ,blessed are  the poor in      
spirit1 for they are of the same spirit 
as ,god1 and of  nature the kingdom of  
heaven is theirs4    ',blessed are the  
meek1 for they shall inherit the earth1'
 expresses the  same principle3 the same
 law holds in the earth as in the       
kingdom of  heaven4 ,how should it be   
otherwise8 ,has the creator of the ends 
of the  earth ceased to rule it after   
his fashion1 because his rebellious     
children have so long1 to their own     
hurt1 vainly endeavoured to rule it     
after theirs8 ,the kingdom of heaven    
belongs to the poor2 the meek shall     
inherit the earth4 ,the earth as ,god   
sees it1 as those to whom the  kingdom  
of heaven belongs also see it1 is good1 

all good1 very good1 fit  for the meek  
to inherit2 and one day they shall      
inherit it--not indeed  as men of the   
world count inheritance1 but as the     
maker and owner of the  world has from  
the first counted it4 ,so different are 
the two ways of  inheriting1 that one of
 the meek may be heartily enjoying his  
possession1 while one of the proud is   
selfishly walling him out from the  spot
 in it he loves best4    ,the meek are  
those that do not assert themselves1 do 
not defend  themselves1 never dream of  
avenging themselves1 or of returning    
aught  but good for evil4 ,they do not  
imagine it their business to take care  
of  themselves4 ,the meek man may indeed
 take much thought1 but it will not  be 
for himself4 ,he never builds an        
exclusive wall1 shuts any honest        
neighbour out4 ,he will not always serve
 the wish1 but always the good of  his  
neighbour4 ,his service must be true    
service4 ,self shall be no umpire  in   
affair of his4 ,man's consciousness of  

himself is but a shadow3 the  meek man's
 self always vanishes in the light of a 
real presence4 ,his  nature lies open to
 the ,father of men1 and to every good  
impulse is as  it were empty4 ,no       
bristling importance1 no vain attendance
 of fancied  rights and wrongs1 guards  
his door1 or crowds the passages of his 
house2  they are for the angels to come 
and go4 ,abandoned thus to the truth1 as
  the sparks from the gleaming river dip
 into the flowers of ,dante's           
unperfected vision1 so the many souls of
 the visible world1 lights from  the    
father of lights1 enter his heart       
freely2 and by them he inherits  the    
earth he was created to                 
inherit--possesses it as his father made
 him  capable of possessing1 and the    
earth of being possessed4 ,because the  
man  is meek1 his eye is single2 he sees
 things as ,god sees them1 as he would  
have his child see them3 to confront    
creation with pure eyes is to  possess  
it4    ,how little is the man able to   

make his own1 who would ravish all6 ,the
  man who1 by the exclusion of others   
from the space he calls his1 would      
grasp any portion of the earth as his   
own1 befools himself in the  attempt4   
,the very bread he has swallowed cannot 
so in any real sense be  his4 ,there    
does not exist such a power of          
possessing as he would  arrogate4 ,there
 is not such a sense of having as that  
of which he has  conceived the shadow in
 his degenerate and lapsing imagination4
 ,the real  owner of his demesne is that
 pedlar passing his gate1 into a divine 
soul receiving the sweetnesses which not
 all the greed of the so-counted        
possessor can keep within his walls3    
they overflow the cup-lip of the        
coping1 to give themselves to the       
footfarer4 ,the motions aerial1 the     
sounds1 the odours of those imprisoned  
spaces1 are the earnest of a  possession
 for which is ever growing his power of 
possessing4 ,in no wise  will such      
inheritance interfere with the claim of 

the man who calls them  his4 ,each      
possessor has them his1 as much as each 
in his own way is  capable of possessing
 them4 ,for possession is determined by 
the kind and  the scope of the power of 
possessing2 and the earth has a fourth  
dimension of which the mere owner of its
 soil knows nothing4    ,the child of   
the maker is naturally the inheritor4   
,but if the child try  to possess as a  
house the thing his father made an      
organ1 will he  succeed in so possessing
 it8 ,or if he do nestle in a corner of 
its case1  will he oust thereby the     
,lord of its multiplex harmony1 sitting 
regnant  on the seat of sway1 and       
drawing with 'volant touch' from the    
house of  the child the liege homage of 
its rendered wealth8 ,to the poverty of 
such a child are all those left1 who    
think to have and to hold after the     
corrupt fancies of a greedy self4    ,we
 cannot see the world as ,god means it1 
save in proportion as our souls  are    
meek4 ,in meekness only are we its      

inheritors4 ,meekness alone makes  the  
spiritual retina pure to receive ,god's 
things as they are1 mingling  with them 
neither imperfection nor impurity of its
 own4 ,a thing so  beheld that it       
conveys to me the divine thought issuing
 in its form1 is  mine2 by nothing but  
its mediation between ,god and my life1 
can anything  be mine4 ,the man so dull 
as to insist that a thing is his because
 he has  bought it and paid for it1 had 
better bethink himself that not all the 
combined forces of law1 justice1 and    
goodwill1 can keep it his2 while  even  
death cannot take the world from the man
 who possesses it as alone  the maker of
 him and it cares that he should possess
 it4 ,this man leaves  it1 but carries  
it with him2 that man carries with him  
only its loss4 ,he  passes1 unable to   
close hand or mouth upon any portion of 
it4 ,its  ownness to him was but the    
changes he could make in it1 and the    
nearness into which he could bring it to
 the body he lived in4 ,that body  the  

earth in its turn possesses now1 and it 
lies very still1 changing  nothing1 but 
being changed4 ,is this the fine of the 
great buyer of land1  to have his fine  
pate full of fine dirt8 ,in the soul of 
the meek1 the  earth remains an endless 
possession--his because he who made it  
is  his--his as nothing but his maker   
could ever be the creature's4 ,he has   
the earth by his divine relation to him 
who sent it forth from him as a  tree   
sends out its leaves4 ,to inherit the   
earth is to grow ever more  alive to the
 presence1 in it and in all its parts1  
of him who is the  life of men4 ,how far
 one may advance in such inheritance    
while yet in  the body1 will simply     
depend on the meekness he attains while 
yet in the  body2 but it may be1 as     
,frederick ,denison ,maurice1 the       
servant of ,god1  thought while yet he  
was with us1 that the new heavens and   
the new earth  are the same in which we 
now live1 righteously inhabited by the  
meek1  with their deeper-opened eyes4   

,what if the meek of the dead be thus   
possessing it even now6 ,but ,i do not  
care to speculate4 ,it is enough  that  
the man who refuses to assert himself1  
seeking no recognition by  men1 leaving 
the care of his life to the ,father1 and
 occupying himself  with the will of the
 ,father1 shall find himself1 by and by1
 at home in  the ,father's house1 with  
all the ,father's property his4         
,which is more the possessor of the     
world--he who has a thousand houses1  or
 he who1 without one house to call his  
own1 has ten in which his knock  at the 
door would rouse instant jubilation8    
,which is the richer--the man  who1 his 
large money spent1 would have no refuge2
 or he for whose  necessity a hundred   
would sacrifice comfort8 ,which of the  
two possessed  the earth--king ,agrippa 
or tent-maker ,paul8    ,which is the   
real possessor of a book--the man who   
has its original and  every following   
edition1 and shows1 to many an admiring 
and envying  visitor1 now this1 now     

that1 in binding characteristic1 with   
possessor-pride2 yea1 from secret shrine
 is able to draw forth and  display the 
author's manuscript1 with the very      
shapes in which his  thoughts came forth
 to the light of day1--or the man who   
cherishes one  little1 hollow-backed1   
coverless1 untitled1 bethumbed copy1    
which he  takes with him in his solitary
 walks and broods over in his silent    
chamber1 always finding in it some      
beauty or excellence or aid he had  not 
found before--which is to him in truth  
as a live companion8    ,for what makes 
the thing a book8 ,is it not that it has
 a soul--the mind  in it of him who     
wrote the book8 ,therefore only can the 
book be  possessed1 for life alone can  
be the possession of life4 ,the dead    
possess their dead only to bury them4   
,does not he then1 who loves and        
understands his book1 possess it with   
such possession as is impossible to the 
other8 ,just so may the world  itself be
 possessed--either as a volume unread1  

or as the wine of a  soul1 'the precious
 life-blood of a master-spirit1 embalmed
 and  treasured up on purpose to a life 
beyond life4' ,it may be possessed as a 
book filled with words from the mouth of
 ,god1 or but as the  golden-clasped    
covers of that book2 as an embodiment or
 incarnation of  ,god himself2 or but as
 a house built to sell4 ,the ,lord loved
 the world  and the things of the world1
 not as the men of the world love them1 
but  finding his father in everything   
that came from his father's heart4      
,the same spirit1 then1 is required for 
possessing the kingdom of heaven1  and  
for inheriting the earth4 ,how should it
 not be so1 when the one  ,power is the 
informing life of both8 ,if we are the  
,lord's1 we possess  the kingdom of     
heaven1 and so inherit the earth4 ,how  
many who call  themselves by his name1  
would have it otherwise3 they would     
possess the  earth and inherit the      
kingdom6 ,such fill churches and chapels
 on  ,sundays3 anywhere suits for the   

worship of ,mammon4    ,yet verily1     
earth as well as heaven may be largely  
possessed even now4    ,two men are     
walking abroad together2 to the one1 the
 world yields  thought after thought of 
delight2 he sees heaven and earth       
embrace one  another2 he feels an       
indescribable presence over and in them2
 his joy  will afterward1 in the        
solitude of his chamber1 break forth in 
song2--to  the other1 oppressed with the
 thought of his poverty1 or ruminating  
how  to make much into more1 the glory  
of the ,lord is but a warm summer day2  
it enters in at no window of his soul2  
it offers him no gift2 for1 in  the very
 temple of ,god1 he looks for no ,god in
 it4 ,nor must there needs  be two men  
to think and feel thus differently4 ,in 
what diverse fashion  will any one      
subject to ever-changing mood see the   
same world of the  same glad creator6   
,alas for men1 if it changed as we      
change1 if it grew  meaningless when we 
grow faithless6 ,thought for a morrow   

that may never  come1 dread of the      
dividing death which works for endless  
companionship1  anger with one we love1 
will cloud the radiant morning1 and make
 the day  dark with night4 ,at evening1 
having bethought ourselves1 and returned
 to  him that feeds the ravens1 and     
watches the dying sparrow1 and says to  
his children ',love one another1' the   
sunset splendour is glad over us1  the  
western sky is refulgent as the court of
 the ,father when the glad  news is     
spread abroad that a sinner has         
repented4 ,we have mourned in the       
twilight of our little faith1 but1      
having sent away our sin1 the glory  of 
,god's heaven over his darkening earth  
has comforted us4          ,,sorrow     
,,the ,,pledge ,,of ,,joy4    ',blessed 
are they that mourn1 for they shall be  
comforted4'--,matthew  v4 #d4           
,grief1 then1 sorrow1 pain of heart1    
mourning1 is no partition-wall  between 
man and ,god4 ,so far is it from        
opposing any obstacle to the  passage of

 ,god's light into man's soul1 that the 
,lord congratulates them  that mourn4   
,there is no evil in sorrow4 ,true1 it  
is not an essential  good1 a good in    
itself1 like love2 but it will mingle   
with any good  thing1 and is even so    
allied to good that it will open the    
door of the  heart for any good4 ,more  
of sorrowful than of joyful men are     
always  standing about the everlasting  
doors that open into the presence of the
  ,most ,high4 ,it is true also that joy
 is in its nature more divine than      
sorrow2 for1 although man must sorrow1  
and ,god share in his sorrow1 yet  in   
himself ,god is not sorrowful1 and the  
'glad creator' never made man  for      
sorrow3 it is but a stormy strait       
through which he must pass to his  ocean
 of peace4 ,he 'makes the joy the last  
in every song4' ,still1 ,i  repeat1 a   
man in sorrow is in general far nearer  
,god than a man in joy4  ,gladness may  
make a man forget his thanksgiving2     
misery drives him to  his prayers4 ,for 

we are not yet1 we are only becoming4   
,the endless  day will at length dawn   
whose every throbbing moment will heave 
our  hearts ,godward2 we shall scarce   
need to lift them up3 now1 there are two
  door-keepers to the house of prayer1  
and ,sorrow is more on the alert to     
open than her grandson ,joy4    ,the    
gladsome child runs farther afield2 the 
wounded child turns to go  home4 ,the   
weeper sits down close to the gate2 the 
lord of life draws  nigh to him from    
within4 ,god loves not sorrow1 yet      
rejoices to see a man  sorrowful1 for in
 his sorrow man leaves his heavenward   
door on the  latch1 and ,god can enter  
to help him4 ,he loves1 ,i say1 to see  
him  sorrowful1 for then he can come    
near to part him from that which makes  
his sorrow a welcome sight4 ,when       
,ephraim bemoans himself1 he is a       
pleasant child4 ,so good a medicine is  
sorrow1 so powerful to slay the  moths  
that infest and devour the human heart1 
that the ,lord is glad to  see a man    

weep4 ,he congratulates him on his      
sadness4 ,grief is an  ill-favoured     
thing1 but she is ,love's own child1 and
 her mother loves  her4    ,the promise 
to them that mourn1 is not the kingdom  
of heaven1 but  that their mourning     
shall be ended1 that they shall be      
comforted4 ,to  mourn is not to fight   
with evil2 it is only to miss that which
 is good4  ,it is not an essential      
heavenly condition1 like poorness of    
spirit or  meekness4 ,no man will carry 
his mourning with him into heaven--or1  
if he  does1 it will speedily be turned 
either into joy1 or into what will      
result in joy1 namely1 redemptive       
action4    ,mourning is a canker-bitten 
blossom on the rose-tree of love4 ,is   
there  any mourning worthy the name that
 has not love for its root8 ,men mourn  
because they love4 ,love is the life out
 of which are fashioned all the  natural
 feelings1 every emotion of man4 ,love  
modelled by faith1 is hope2  love shaped
 by wrong1 is anger--verily anger1      

though pure of sin2 love  invaded by    
loss1 is grief4    ,the garment of      
mourning is oftenest a winding-sheet2   
the loss of the  loved by death is the  
main cause of the mourning of the world4
 ,the ,greek  word here used to describe
 the blessed of the ,lord1 generally    
means  those that mourn for the dead4   
,it is not in the ,new ,testament       
employed  exclusively in this sense1    
neither do ,i imagine it stands here for
 such  only3 there are griefs than death
 sorer far1 and harder far to           
comfort--harder even for ,god himself1  
with whom all things are possible2  but 
it may give pleasure to know that the   
promise of comfort to those  that mourn1
 may specially apply to those that mourn
 because their loved  have gone out of  
their sight1 and beyond the reach of    
their cry4 ,their  sorrow1 indeed1 to   
the love divine1 involves no difficulty2
 it is a  small matter1 easily met4 ,the
 father1 whose elder son is ever with   
him1  but whose younger is in a far     

country1 wasting his substance with     
riotous living1 is unspeakably more to  
be pitied1 and is harder to help1  than 
that father both of whose sons lie in   
the sleep of death4    ,much of what    
goes by the name of comfort1 is merely  
worthless2 and such  as could be        
comforted by it1 ,i should not care to  
comfort4 ,let time do  what it may to   
bring the ease of oblivion2 let change  
of scene do what  in it lies to lead    
thought away from the vanished2 let new 
loves bury  grief in the grave of the   
old love3 consolation of such sort could
 never  have crossed the mind of ,jesus4
 ,would ,the ,truth call a man blessed  
because his pain would sooner or later  
depart1 leaving him at best no  better  
than before1 and certainly poorer--not  
only the beloved gone1 but  the sorrow  
for him too1 and with the sorrow the    
love that had caused the  sorrow8       
,blessed of ,god because restored to an 
absence of sorrow8 ,such a  ,god were   
fitly adored only where not one heart   

worshipped in spirit and  in truth4     
',the ,lord means of course1' some one  
may say1 'that the comfort of the       
mourners will be the restoration of that
 which they have lost4 ,he means1       
,blessed are ye although ye mourn1 for  
your sorrow will be turned into  joy4'  
,happy are they whom nothing less than  
such restoration will comfort6 ,but     
would such restoration be comfort enough
 for the heart of ,jesus to give8  ,was 
ever love so deep1 so pure1 so perfect1 
as to be good enough for  him8 ,and     
suppose the love between the parted two 
had been such1 would  the mere          
restoration in the future of that which 
once he had1 be ground  enough for so   
emphatically proclaiming the man blessed
 now1 blessed  while yet in the midnight
 of his loss1 and knowing nothing of the
 hour  of his deliverance8 ,to call a   
man blessed in his sorrow because of    
something to be given him1 surely       
implies a something better than what  he
 had before6 ,true1 the joy that is past

 may have been so great that  the man   
might well feel blessed in the merest   
hope of its restoration2  but would that
 be meaning enough for the word in the  
mouth of the ,lord8  ,that the          
interruption of his blessedness was but 
temporary1 would hardly  be fit ground  
for calling the man blessed in that     
interruption4  ,blessed is a strong     
word1 and in the mouth of ,jesus means  
all it can  mean4 ,can his saying here  
mean less than--',blessed are they that 
mourn1  for they shall be comforted with
 a bliss well worth all the pain of the 
medicinal sorrow'8 ,besides1 the        
benediction surely means that the man is
  blessed because of his condition of   
mourning1 not in spite of it4 ,his      
mourning is surely a part at least of   
the ,lord's ground for  congratulating  
him3 is it not the present operative    
means whereby the  consolation is       
growing possible8 ,in a word1 ,i do not 
think the ,lord  would be content to    
call a man blessed on the mere ground of

 his going  to be restored to a former  
bliss by no means perfect2 ,i think he  
congratulated the mourners upon the     
grief they were enduring1 because he    
saw the excellent glory of the comfort  
that was drawing nigh2 because he  knew 
the immeasurably greater joy to which   
the sorrow was at once  clearing the way
 and conducting the mourner4 ,when ,i   
say greater1 ,god  forbid ,i should mean
 other6 ,i mean the same bliss1 divinely
 enlarged  and divinely purified--passed
 again through the hands of the creative
  ,perfection4 ,the ,lord knew all the  
history of love and loss2 beheld        
throughout the universe the winged ,love
 discrowning the skeleton ,fear4  ,god's
 comfort must ever be larger than man's 
grief1 else were there gaps  in his     
,godhood4 ,mere restoration would leave 
a hiatus1 barren and  growthless1 in the
 development of his children4    ,but1  
alas1 what a pinched hope1 what         
miserable expectations1 most who  call  
themselves the ,lord's disciples derive 

from their notions of his  teaching6    
,well may they think of death as the one
 thing to be right  zealously avoided1  
and for ever lamented6 ,who would       
forsake even the  window-less hut of his
 sorrow for the poor mean place they    
imagine the  ,father's house6 ,why1 many
 of them do not even expect to know     
their  friends there6 do not expect to  
distinguish one from another of all the 
holy assembly6 ,they will look in many  
faces1 but never to recognize old       
friends and lovers6 ,a fine saviour of  
men is their ,jesus6 ,glorious  lights  
they shine in the world of our sorrow1  
holding forth a word of  darkness1 of   
dismallest death6 ,is the ,lord such as 
they believe him8  ',good-bye1 then1    
good ,master6' cries the human heart4   
',i thought thou  couldst save me1 but1 
alas1 thou canst not4 ,if thou savest   
the part of  our being which can sin1   
thou lettest the part that can love sink
 into  hopeless perdition3 thou art not 
he that should come2 ,i look for        

another6 ,thou wouldst destroy and not  
save me6 ,thy father is not my  father2 
thy ,god is not my ,god6 ,ah1 to whom   
shall we go8 ,he has not the  words of  
eternal life1 this ,jesus1 and the      
universe is dark as chaos6 ,o  father1  
this thy son is good1 but we need a     
greater son than he4 ,never  will thy   
children love thee under the shadow of  
this new law1 that they  are not to love
 one another as thou lovest them6' ,how 
does that man love  ,god--of what kind  
is the love he bears him--who is unable 
to believe  that ,god loves every throb 
of every human heart toward another8    
,did not  the ,lord die that we should  
love one another1 and be one with him   
and  the ,father1 and is not the        
knowledge of difference essential to the
  deepest love8 ,can there be oneness   
without difference8 harmony without     
distinction8 ,are all to have the same  
face8 then why faces at all8 ,if  the   
plains of heaven are to be crowded with 
the same one face over and  over for    

ever1 but one moment will pass ere by   
monotony bliss shall have  grown        
ghastly4 ,why not perfect spheres of    
featureless ivory rather than  those    
multitudinous heads with one face6 ,or  
are we to start afresh with             
countenances all new1 each beautiful1   
each lovable1 each a revelation of  the 
infinite father1 each distinct from     
every other1 and therefore all  blending
 toward a full revealing--but never more
 the dear old precious  faces1 with its 
whole story in each1 which seem1 at the 
very thought of  them1 to draw our      
hearts out of our bosoms8 ,were they    
created only to  become dear1 and be    
destroyed8 ,is it in wine only that the 
old is  better8 ,would such a new heaven
 be a thing to thank ,god for8 ,would   
this  be a prospect on which the ,son of
 ,man would congratulate the mourner1 or
  at which the mourner for the dead     
would count himself blessed8 ,it is a   
shame that such a preposterous1         
monstrous unbelief should call for      

argument4    ,a heaven without human    
love it were inhuman1 and yet more      
undivine to  desire2 it ought not to be 
desired by any being made in the image  
of  ,god4 ,the lord of life died that   
his father's children might grow perfect
  in love--might love their brothers and
 sisters as he loved them3 is it  to    
this end that they must cease to know   
one another8 ,to annihilate the  past of
 our earthly embodiment1 would be to    
crush under the heel of an  iron fate   
the very idea of tenderness1 human or   
divine4    ,we shall all doubtless be   
changed1 but in what direction8--to     
something  less1 or to something        
greater8--to something that is less we1 
which  means degradation8 to something  
that is not we1 which means             
annihilation8 or to something that is   
more we1 which means a farther          
development of the original idea of us1 
the divine germ of us1 holding  in it   
all we ever were1 all we ever can and   
must become8 ,what is it  constitutes   

this or that man8 ,is it what he himself
 thinks he is8  ,assuredly not4 ,is it  
what his friends at any given moment    
think him8 ,far  from it4 ,in which of  
his changing moods is he more himself8  
,loves any  lover so little as to desire
 no change in the person loved--no      
something different to bring him or her 
closer to the indwelling ideal8  ,in the
 loveliest is there not something not   
like her--something less  lovely than   
she--some little thing in which a change
 would make her1 not  less1 but more    
herself8 ,is it not of the very essence 
of the ,christian  hope1 that we shall  
be changed from much bad to all good8   
,if a wife so  love that she would keep 
every opposition1 every inconsistency in
 her  husband's as yet but partially    
harmonious character1 she does not love 
well enough for the kingdom of heaven4  
,if its imperfections be essential  to  
the individuality she loves1 and to the 
repossession of her joy in  it1 she may 
be sure that1 if he were restored to her

 as she would have  him1 she would soon 
come to love him less--perhaps to love  
him not at  all2 for no one who does not
 love perfection1 will ever keep        
constant in  loving4 ,fault is not      
lovable2 it is only the good in which   
the alien  fault dwells that causes it  
to seem capable of being loved4 ,neither
 is  it any man's peculiarities that    
make him beloved2 it is the essential   
humanity underlying those peculiarities4
 ,they may make him interesting1  and1  
where not offensive1 they may come to be
 loved for the sake of the  man2 but in 
themselves they are of smallest account4
    ,we must not however confound       
peculiarity with diversity4 ,diversity  
is in  and from ,god2 peculiarity in and
 from man4 ,the real man is the divine  
idea of him2 the man ,god had in view   
when he began to send him forth out  of 
thought into thinking2 the man he is now
 working to perfect by  casting out what
 is not he1 and developing what is he4  
,but in ,god's real  men1 that is1 his  

ideal men1 the diversity is infinite2 he
 does not  repeat his creations2 every  
one of his children differs from every  
other1 and in every one the diversity is
 lovable4 ,god gives in his  children an
 analysis of himself1 an analysis that  
will never be  exhausted4 ,it is the    
original ,god-idea of the individual man
 that will  at length be given1 without 
spot or blemish1 into the arms of love4 
,such1 surely1 is the heart of the      
comfort the ,lord will give those whose 
love is now making them mourn2 and their
 present blessedness must be the        
expectation of the time when the true   
lover shall find the restored the  same 
as the lost--with precious differences3 
the things that were not  like the true 
self1 gone or going2 the things that    
were loveliest1  lovelier still2 the    
restored not merely more than the lost1 
but more the  person lost than he or she
 that was lost4 ,for the things which   
made him  or her what he or she was1 the
 things that rendered lovable1 the      

things  essential to the person1 will be
 more present1 because more developed4  
,whether or not the ,lord was here      
thinking specially of the mourners for  
the dead1 as ,i think he was1 he surely 
does not limit the word of  comfort to  
them1 or wish us to believe less than   
that his father has  perfect comfort for
 every human grief4 ,out upon such      
miserable  theologians as1 instead of   
receiving them into the good soil of a  
generous heart1 to bring forth truth an 
hundred fold1 so cut and pare  the words
 of the ,lord as to take the very life  
from them1 quenching all  their glory   
and colour in their own inability to    
believe1 and still  would have the dead 
letter of them accepted as the comfort  
of a creator  to the sore hearts he made
 in his own image6 ,here1 'as if they   
were  ,god's spies1' some such would    
tell us that the ,lord proclaims the    
blessedness of those that mourn for     
their sins1 and of them only4 ,what     
mere honest man would make a promise    

which was all a reservation1 except  in 
one unmentioned point6 ,assuredly they  
who mourn for their sins will  be       
gloriously comforted1 but certainly such
 also as are bowed down with  any grief4
 ,the ,lord would have us know that     
sorrow is not a part of  life2 that it  
is but a wind blowing throughout it1 to 
winnow and  cleanse4 ,where shall the   
woman go whose child is at the point of 
death1  or whom the husband of her youth
 has forsaken1 but to her ,father in    
heaven8 ,must she keep away until she   
knows herself sorry for her sins8  ,how 
should that woman care to be delivered  
from her sins1 how could she  accept any
 comfort1 who believed the child of her 
bosom lost to her for  ever8 ,would the 
,lord have such a one be of good cheer1 
of merry heart1  because her sins were  
forgiven her8 ,would such a mother be a 
woman of  whom the saviour of men might 
have been born8 ,if a woman forget the  
child she has borne and nourished1 how  
shall she remember the father  from whom

 she has herself come8 ,the ,lord came  
to heal the  broken-hearted2 therefore  
he said1 ',blessed are the mourners4'   
,hope in  ,god1 mother1 for the deadest 
of thy children1 even for him who died  
in  his sins4 ,thou mayest have long to 
wait for him--but he will be found4  ,it
 may be1 thou thyself wilt one day be   
sent to seek him and find him4  ,rest   
thy hope on no excuse thy love would    
make for him1 neither upon any  quibble 
theological or sacerdotal2 hope on in   
him who created him1 and  who loves him 
more than thou4 ,god will excuse him    
better than thou1 and  his uncovenanted 
mercy is larger than that of his        
ministers4 ,shall not  the ,father do   
his best to find his prodigal8 the good 
shepherd to  find his lost sheep8 ,the  
angels in his presence know the ,father1
 and  watch for the prodigal4 ,thou     
shalt be comforted4    ,there is one    
phase of our mourning for the dead which
 ,i must not leave  unconsidered1 seeing
 it is the pain within pain of all our  

mourning--the  sorrow1 namely1 with its 
keen recurrent pangs because of things  
we have  said or done1 or omitted to say
 or do1 while we companied with the     
departed4 ,the very life that would give
 itself to the other1 aches with  the   
sense of having1 this time and that1 not
 given what it might4 ,we  cast         
ourselves at their feet1 crying1        
,forgive me1 my heart's own6 but  they  
are pale with distance1 and do not seem 
to hear4 ,it may be that  they are      
longing in like agony of love after us1 
but know better1 or  perhaps only are   
more assured than we1 that we shall be  
comforted  together by and by4          
,bethink thee1 brother1 sister1 ,i say2 
bethink thee of the splendour of  ,god1 
and answer--,would he be perfect if in  
his restitution of all things  there    
were no opportunity for declaring our   
bitter grief and shame for  the past8 no
 moment in which to sob--,sister1       
brother1 ,i am thy slave8 no  room for  
making amends8 ,at the same time1 when  

the desired moment comes1  one look in  
the eyes may be enough1 and we shall    
know one another even  as ,god knows us4
 ,like the purposed words of the        
prodigal in the parable1  it may be that
 the words of our confession will hardly
 find place4 ,heart  may so speak to    
heart as to forget there were such      
things4 ,mourner1 hope  in ,god1 and    
comfort where thou canst1 and the lord  
of mourners will be  able to comfort    
thee the sooner4 ,it may be thy very    
severity with  thyself1 has already     
moved the ,lord to take thy part4       
,such as mourn the loss of love1 such   
from whom the friend1 the brother1  the 
lover1 has turned away--what shall ,i   
cry to them8--,you too shall be         
comforted--only hearken3 ,whatever      
selfishness clouds the love that  mourns
 the loss of love1 that selfishness must
 be taken out of  it--burned out of it  
even by pain extreme1 if such be        
needful4 ,by cause  of that in thy love 
which was not love1 it may be thy loss  

has come2  anyhow1 because of thy love's
 defect1 thou must suffer that it may be
  supplied4 ,god will not1 like the     
unjust judge1 avenge thee to escape the 
cry that troubles him4 ,no crying will  
make him comfort thy selfishness4  ,he  
will not render thee incapable of loving
 truly4 ,he despises neither  thy love  
though mingled with selfishness1 nor thy
 suffering that springs  from both2 he  
will disentangle thy selfishness from   
thy love1 and cast  it into the fire4   
,his cure for thy selfishness at once   
and thy  suffering1 is to make thee love
 more--and more truly2 not with the love
  of love1 but with the love of the     
person whose lost love thou bemoanest4  
,for the love of love is the love of    
thyself4 ,begin to love as ,god loves1  
and thy grief will assuage2 but for     
comfort wait his time4 ,what he will  do
 for thee1 he only knows4 ,it may be    
thou wilt never know what he will  do1  
but only what he has done3 it was too   
good for thee to know save by  receiving

 it4 ,the moment thou art capable of it1
 thine it will be4    ,one thing is     
clear in regard to every trouble--that  
the natural way  with it is straight to 
the ,father's knee4 ,the ,father is     
father for his  children1 else why did  
he make himself their father8 ,wouldst  
thou not1  mourner1 be comforted rather 
after the one eternal fashion--the child
 by  the father--than in such poor      
temporary way as would but leave thee   
the  more exposed to thy worst enemy1   
thine own unreclaimed self8--an enemy   
who has but this one good thing in      
him--that he will always bring thee  to 
sorrow6    ,the ,lord has come to wipe  
away our tears4 ,he is doing it2 he will
 have  it done as soon as he can2 and   
until he can1 he would have them flow   
without bitterness2 to which end he     
tells us it is a blessed thing to       
mourn1 because of the comfort on its    
way4 ,accept his comfort now1 and so    
prepare for the comfort at hand4 ,he is 
getting you ready for it1 but you  must 

be a fellow worker with him1 or he will 
never have done4 ,he must  have you pure
 in heart1 eager after righteousness1 a 
very child of his  father in heaven4    
,,god',s ,,family4    ',blessed are the 
pure in heart1 for they shall see ,god4'
 ',blessed are  they which do hunger and
 thirst after righteousness1 for they   
shall be  filled4' ',blessed are the    
peace-makers1 for they shall be called  
the  children of ,god4'--,matthew v4 #h1
 #f1 #i4      ,the cry of the deepest in
 man has always been1 to see ,god4 ,it  
was the  cry of ,moses and the cry of   
,job1 the cry of psalmist and of        
prophet2 and  to the cry1 there has ever
 been faintly heard a far approach of   
coming  answer4 ,in the fullness of time
 the ,son appears with the proclamation 
that a certain class of men shall behold
 the ,father3 ',blessed are the  pure in
 heart1' he cries1 'for they shall see  
,god4' ,he who saw ,god1 who  sees him  
now1 who always did and always will see 
him1 says1 ',be pure1  and you also     

shall see him4' ,to see ,god was the    
,lord's own1 eternal1 one  happiness2   
therefore he knew that the essential    
bliss of the creature is  to behold the 
face of the creator4 ,in that face lies 
the mystery of a  man's own nature1 the 
history of a man's own being4 ,he who   
can read no  line of it1 can know       
neither himself nor his fellow2 he only 
who knows  ,god a little1 can at all    
understand man4 ,the blessed in ,dante's
 ,paradise  ever and always read each   
other's thoughts in ,god4 ,looking to   
him1 they  find their neighbour4 ,all   
that the creature needs to see or know1 
all  that the creature can see or know1 
is the face of him from whom he came4   
,not seeing and knowing it1 he will     
never be at rest2 seeing and knowing    
it1 his existence will yet indeed be a  
mystery to him and an awe1 but no  more 
a dismay4 ,to know that it is1 and that 
it has power neither to  continue nor to
 cease1 must to any soul alive enough to
 appreciate the  fact1 be merest terror1

 save also it knows one with it the     
,power by  which it exists4 ,from the   
man who comes to know and feel that     
,power in  him and one with him1        
loneliness1 anxiety1 and fear vanish2 he
 is no  more an orphan without a home1 a
 little one astray on the cold waste of 
a helpless consciousness4 ',father1' he 
cries1 'hold me fast to thy  creating   
will1 that ,i may know myself one with  
it1 know myself its  outcome1 its willed
 embodiment1 and rejoice without        
trembling4 ,be this  the delight of my  
being1 that thou hast willed1 hast loved
 me forth2 let  me know that ,i am thy  
child1 born to obey thee4 ,dost thou not
 justify  thy deed to thyself by thy    
tenderness toward me8 dost thou not     
justify  it to thy child by revealing to
 him his claim on thee because of thy   
disparture of him from thyself1 because 
of his utter dependence on thee8        
,father1 thou art in me1 else ,i could  
not be in thee1 could have no house  for
 my soul to dwell in1 or any world in   

which to walk abroad1'    ,these truths 
are1 ,i believe1 the very necessities of
 fact1 but a man  does not therefore1 at
 a given moment1 necessarily know them4 
,it is  absolutely necessary1 none the  
less1 to his real being1 that he should 
know these spiritual relations in which 
he stands to his ,origin2 yea1  that    
they should be always present and potent
 with him1 and become the  heart and    
sphere and all-pervading substance of   
his consciousness1 of  which they are   
the ground and foundation4 ,once to have
 seen them1 is not  always to see them4 
,there are times1 and those times many1 
when the  cares of this world--with no  
right to any part in our thought1 seeing
  either they are unreasonable or ,god  
imperfect--so blind the eyes of the     
soul to the radiance of the eternally   
true1 that they see it only as if  it   
ought to be true1 not as if it must be  
true2 as if it might be true  in the    
region of thought1 but could not be true
 in the region of fact4  ,our very      

senses1 filled with the things of our   
passing sojourn1 combine  to cast       
discredit upon the existence of any     
world for the sake of which  we are     
furnished with an inner eye1 an eternal 
ear4 ,but had we once  seen ,god face to
 face1 should we not be always and for  
ever sure of him8  we have had but      
glimpses of the ,father4 ,yet1 if we had
 seen ,god face to  face1 but had again 
become impure of heart--if such a       
fearful thought be  a possible idea--we 
should then no more believe that we had 
ever beheld  him4 ,a sin-beclouded soul 
could never recall the vision whose     
essential  verity was its only possible 
proof4 ,none but the pure in heart see  
,god2  only the growing-pure hope to see
 him4 ,even those who saw the ,lord1 the
  express image of his person1 did not  
see ,god4 ,they only saw ,jesus--and    
then but the outside ,jesus1 or a little
 more4 ,they were not pure in  heart2   
they saw him and did not see him4 ,they 
saw him with their eyes1  but not with  

those eyes which alone can see ,god4    
,those were not born in  them yet4      
,neither the eyes of the                
resurrection-body1 nor the eyes of      
unembodied spirits can see ,god2 only   
the eyes of that eternal something  that
 is of the very essence of ,god1 the    
thought-eyes1 the truth-eyes1  the      
love-eyes1 can see him4 ,it is not      
because we are created and he           
uncreated1 it is not because of any     
difference involved in that  difference 
of all differences1 that we cannot see  
him4 ,if he pleased to  take a shape1   
and that shape were presented to us1 and
 we saw that  shape1 we should not      
therefore be seeing ,god4 ,even if we   
knew it was a  shape of ,god--call it   
even ,god himself our eyes rested upon2 
if we had  been told the fact and       
believed the report2 yet1 if we did not 
see the  ,godness1 were not capable of  
recognizing him1 so as without the      
report  to know the vision him1 we      
should not be seeing ,god1 we should    

only be  seeing the tabernacle in which 
for the moment he dwelt4 ,in other      
words1  not seeing what in the form made
 it a form fit for him to take1 we      
should not be seeing a presence which   
could only be ,god4    ,to see ,god is  
to stand on the highest point of created
 being4 ,not until  we see ,god--no     
partial and passing embodiment of him1  
but the abiding  presence--do we stand  
upon our own mountain-top1 the height of
 the  existence ,god has given us1 and  
up to which he is leading us4 ,that     
there  we should stand1 is the end of   
our creation4 ,this truth is at the     
heart  of everything1 means all kinds of
 completions1 may be uttered in many    
ways2 but language will never compass   
it1 for form will never contain  it4    
,nor shall we ever see1 that is know    
,god perfectly4 ,we shall indeed  never 
absolutely know man or woman or child2  
but we may know ,god as we  never can   
know human being--as we never can know  
ourselves4 ,we not only  may1 but we    

must so know him1 and it can never be   
until we are pure in  heart4 ,then shall
 we know him with the infinitude of an  
ever-growing  knowledge4    ',what is   
it1 then1 to be pure in heart8'    ,i   
answer1 ,it is not necessary to define  
this purity1 or to have in the  mind any
 clear form of it4 ,for even to know    
perfectly1 were that  possible1 what    
purity of heart is1 would not be to be  
pure in heart4    ',how then am ,i to   
try after it8 can ,i do so without      
knowing what it is8'    ,though you do  
not know any definition of purity1 you  
know enough to  begin to be pure4 ,you  
do not know what a man is1 but you know 
how to  make his acquaintance--perhaps  
even how to gain his friendship4 ,your  
brain does not know what purity is2 your
 heart has some acquaintance  with      
purity itself4 ,your brain in seeking to
 know what it is1 may even  obstruct    
your heart in bettering its friendship  
with it4 ,to know what  purity is1 a man
 must already be pure2 but he who can   

put the question1  already knows enough 
of purity1 ,i repeat1 to begin to become
 pure4 ,if  this moment you determine to
 start for purity1 your conscience will 
at  once tell you where to begin4 ,if   
you reply1 ',my conscience says nothing 
definite'2 ,i answer1 ',you are but     
playing with your conscience4           
,determine1 and it will speak4'    ,if  
you care to see ,god1 be pure4 ,if you  
will not be pure1 you will grow  more   
and more impure2 and instead of seeing  
,god1 will at length find  yourself face
 to face with a vast inane--a vast      
inane1 yet filled full  of one          
inhabitant1 that devouring monster1 your
 own false self4 ,if for  this neither  
do you care1 ,i tell you there is a     
,power that will not have  it so2 a     
,love that will make you care by the    
consequences of not caring4    ,you who 
seek purity1 and would have your        
fellow-men also seek it1 spend  not your
 labour on the stony ground of their    
intellect1 endeavouring to  explain what

 purity is2 give their imagination the  
one pure man2 call up  their conscience 
to witness against their own deeds2 urge
 upon them the  grand resolve to be     
pure4 ,with the first endeavour of a    
soul toward her1  ,purity will begin to 
draw nigh1 calling for admittance2 and  
never will a  man have to pause in the  
divine toil1 asking what next is        
required of  him2 the demands of the    
indwelling ,purity will ever be in front
 of his  slow-labouring obedience4      
,if one should say1 ',alas1 ,i am shut  
out from this blessing6 ,i am not  pure 
in heart3 never shall ,i see ,god6' here
 is another word from the  same eternal 
heart to comfort him1 making his grief  
its own consolation4  ,for this man also
 there is blessing with the messenger of
 the ,father4  ,unhappy men were we1 if 
,god were the ,god of the perfected     
only1 and not  of the growing1 the      
becoming6 ',blessed are they1' says the 
,lord1  concerning the not yet pure1    
'which do hunger and thirst after       

righteousness1 for they shall be        
filled4' ,filled with righteousness1    
they are pure2 pure1 they shall see     
,god4    ,long ere the ,lord appeared1  
ever since man was on the earth1 nay1   
surely1 from the very beginning1 was his
 spirit at work in it for               
righteousness2 in the fullness of time  
he came in his own human person1  to    
fulfil all righteousness4 ,he came to   
his own of the same mind with  himself1 
who hungered and thirsted after         
righteousness4 ,they should be          
fulfilled of righteousness6    ,to      
hunger and thirst after anything1       
implies a sore personal need1 a  strong 
desire1 a passion for that thing4 ,those
 that hunger and thirst  after          
righteousness1 seek with their whole    
nature the design of that  nature4      
,nothing less will give them            
satisfaction2 that alone will set  them 
at ease4 ,they long to be delivered from
 their sins1 to send them  away1 to be  
clean and blessed by their absence--in a

 word to become men1  ,god's men2 for1  
sin gone1 all the rest is good4 ,it was 
not in such  hearts1 it was not in any  
heart that the revolting legal fiction  
of  imputed righteousness arose4        
,righteousness itself1 ,god's           
righteousness1  rightness in their own  
being1 in heart and brain and hands1 is 
what they  desire4 ,of such men was     
,nathanael1 in whom was no guile2 such1 
perhaps1  was ,nicodemus too1 although  
he did come to ,jesus by night2 such was
  ,zacchaeus4 ,the temple could do      
nothing to deliver them2 but1 by their  
very futility1 its observances had done 
their work1 developing the  desires they
 could not meet1 making the men hunger  
and thirst the more  after genuine      
righteousness3 the ,lord must bring them
 this bread from  heaven4 ,with him1 the
 live1 original rightness1 in their     
hearts1 they  must speedily become      
righteous4 ,with that ,love their       
friend1 who is at  once both the root   
and the flower of things1 they would    

strive  vigorously as well as hunger    
eagerly after righteousness4 ,love is   
the  father of righteousness4 ,it could 
not be1 and could not be hungered       
after1 but for love4 ,the lord of       
righteousness himself could not live    
without ,love1 without the ,father in   
him4 ,every heart was created for1  and 
can live no otherwise than in and upon  
love eternal1 perfect1 pure1            
unchanging2 and love necessitates       
righteousness4 ,in how many souls has   
not the very thought of a real ,god     
waked a longing to be different1 to  be 
pure1 to be right6 ,the fact that this  
feeling is possible1 that a  soul can   
become dissatisfied with itself1 and    
desire a change in itself1  reveals ,god
 as an essential part of its being2 for 
in itself the soul is  aware that it    
cannot be what it would1 what it        
ought--that it cannot set  itself right3
 a need has been generated in the soul  
for which the soul  can generate no     
supply2 a presence higher than itself   

must have caused  that need2 a power    
greater than itself must supply it1 for 
the soul  knows its very need1 its very 
lack1 is of something greater than      
itself4    ,but the primal need of the  
human soul is yet greater than this2 the
  longing after righteousness is only   
one of the manifestations of it2 the    
need itself is that of existence not    
self-existent for the  consciousness of 
the presence of the causing             
,self-existent4 ,it is the  man's need  
of ,god4 ,a moral1 that is1 a human1 a  
spiritual being1 must  either be ,god1  
or one with ,god4 ,this truth begins to 
reveal itself when  the man begins to   
feel that he cannot cast out the thing  
he hates1  cannot be the thing he loves4
 ,that he hates thus1 that he loves     
thus1 is  because ,god is in him1 but he
 finds he has not enough of ,god4 ,his  
awaking strength manifests itself in his
 sense of weakness1 for only  strength  
can know itself weak4 ,the negative     
cannot know itself at all4  ,weakness   

cannot know itself weak4 ,it is a little
 strength that longs for  more2 it is   
infant righteousness that hungers after 
righteousness4    ,to every soul        
dissatisfied with itself1 comes this    
word1 at once rousing  and consoling1   
from the ,power that lives and makes him
 live--that in his  hungering and       
thirsting he is blessed1 for he shall be
 filled4 ,his  hungering and thirsting  
is the divine pledge of the divine meal4
 ,the  more he hungers and thirsts the  
more blessed is he2 the more room is    
there in him to receive that which ,god 
is yet more eager to give than  he to   
have4 ,it is the miserable emptiness    
that makes a man hunger and  thirst2    
and1 as the body1 so the soul hungers   
after what belongs to its  nature4 ,a   
man hungers and thirsts after           
righteousness because his nature  needs 
it--needs it because it was made for it2
 his soul desires its own4  ,his nature 
is good1 and desires more good4         
,therefore1 that he is empty  of good1  

needs discourage no one2 for what is    
emptiness but room to be  filled8       
,emptiness is need of good2 the         
emptiness that desires good1 is  itself 
good4 ,even if the hunger after         
righteousness should in part  spring    
from a desire after self-respect1 it is 
not therefore all  false4 ,a man could  
not even be ashamed of himself1 without 
some 'feeling  sense' of the beauty of  
rightness4 ,by divine degrees the man   
will at  length grow sick of himself1   
and desire righteousness with a pure    
hunger--just as a man longs to eat that 
which is good1 nor thinks of the        
strength it will restore4    ,to be     
filled with righteousness1 will be to   
forget even righteousness  itself in the
 bliss of being righteous1 that is1 a   
child of ,god4 ,the  thought of         
righteousness will vanish in the fact of
 righteousness4 ,when  a creature is    
just what he is meant to be1 what only  
he is fit to be2  when1 therefore1 he is
 truly himself1 he never thinks what he 

is4 ,he  is that thing2 why think about 
it8 ,it is no longer outside of him that
  he should contemplate or desire it4   
,god made man1 and woke in him the      
hunger for righteousness2 the ,lord     
came to enlarge and rouse this hunger4  
,the first and lasting effect of  his   
words must be to make the hungering and 
thirsting long yet more4 ,if  their     
passion grow to a despairing sense of   
the unattainable1 a  hopelessness of    
ever gaining that without which life    
were worthless1 let  them remember that 
the ,lord congratulates the hungry and  
thirsty1 so  sure does he know them of  
being one day satisfied4 ,their hunger  
is a  precious thing to have1 none the  
less that it were a bad thing to retain 
unappeased4 ,it springs from the lack   
but also from the love of good1 and  its
 presence makes it possible to supply   
the lack4 ,happy1 then1 ye  pining      
souls6 ,the food you would have1 is the 
one thing the ,lord would  have you     
have1 the very thing he came to bring   

you6 ,fear not1 ye  hungering and       
thirsting2 you shall have righteousness 
enough1 though  none to spare--none to  
spare1 yet enough to overflow upon every
 man4 ,see  how the ,lord goes on       
filling his disciples1 ,john and ,peter 
and ,james and  ,paul1 with             
righteousness from within6 ,what honest 
soul1 interpreting the  servant by the  
master1 and unbiassed by the tradition  
of them that would  shut the kingdom of 
heaven against men1 can doubt what ,paul
 means by  'the righteousness which is  
of ,god by faith'8 ,he was taught of    
,jesus  ,christ through the words he had
 spoken2 and the man who does not       
understand ,jesus ,christ1 will never   
understand his apostles4 ,what          
righteousness could ,st ,paul have meant
 but the same the ,lord would have  men 
hunger and thirst after--the very       
righteousness wherewith ,god is         
righteous6 ,they that hunger and thirst 
after such only righteousness1  shall   
become pure in heart1 and shall see     

,god4    ,if your hunger seems long in  
being filled1 it is well it should seem 
long4 ,but what if your righteousness   
tarry1 because your hunger after it  is 
not eager8 ,there are who sit long at   
the table because their desire  is slow2
 they eat as who should say1 ,we need no
 food4 ,in things  spiritual1 increasing
 desire is the sign that satisfaction is
 drawing  nearer4 ,but it were better to
 hunger after righteousness for ever    
than  to dull the sense of lack with the
 husks of the ,christian scribes and    
lawyers3 he who trusts in the atonement 
instead of in the father of  ,jesus     
,christ1 fills his fancy with the       
chimeras of a vulgar legalism1  not his 
heart with the righteousness of ,god4   
,hear another like word of the ,lord4   
,he assures us that the ,father hears   
the cries of his elect--of those whom he
 seeks to worship him because  they     
worship in spirit and in truth4 ',shall 
not ,god avenge his own  elect1' he     
says1 'which cry day and night unto     

him8' ,now what can ,god's  elect have  
to keep on crying for1 night and day1   
but righteousness8 ,he  allows that ,god
 seems to put off answering them1 but   
assures us he will  answer them         
speedily4 ,even now he must be busy     
answering their prayers2  increasing    
hunger is the best possible indication  
that he is doing so4  ,for some divine  
reason it is well they should not yet   
know in themselves  that he is answering
 their prayers2 but the day must come   
when we shall  be righteous even as he  
is righteous2 when no word of his will  
miss  being understood because of our   
lack of righteousness2 when no          
unrighteousness shall hide from our eyes
 the face of the ,father4    ,these two 
promises1 of seeing ,god1 and being     
filled with righteousness1  have place  
between the individual man and his      
father in heaven directly2  the promise 
,i now come to1 has place between a man 
and his ,god as the  ,god of other men  
also1 as the father of the whole family 

in heaven and  earth3 ',blessed are the 
peace-makers1 for they shall be called  
the  children of ,god4'    ,those that  
are on their way to see ,god1 those who 
are growing pure in  heart through      
hunger and thirst after righteousness1  
are indeed the  children of ,god2 but   
specially the ,lord calls those his     
children who1 on  their way home1 are   
peace-makers in the travelling company2 
for1 surely1  those in any family are   
specially the children1 who make peace  
with and  among the rest4 ,the true idea
 of the universe is the whole family in 
heaven and earth4 ,all the children in  
this part of it1 the earth1 at  least1  
are not good children2 but however far1 
therefore1 the earth is  from being a   
true portion of a real family1 the      
life-germ at the root of  the world1    
that by and for which it exists1 is its 
relation to ,god the  father of men4    
,for the development of this germ in the
 consciousness of  the children1 the    
church--whose idea is the purer family  

within the more  mixed1 ever growing as 
leaven within the meal by absorption1   
but which  itself is1 alas6 not easily  
distinguishable from the world it would 
change--is one of the passing means4    
,for the same purpose1 the whole  divine
 family is made up of numberless human  
families1 that in these1  men may learn 
and begin to love one another4 ,god1    
then1 would make of  the world a true1  
divine family4 ,now the primary         
necessity to the very  existence of a   
family is peace4 ,many a human family is
 no family1 and  the world is no family 
yet1 for the lack of peace4 ,wherever   
peace is  growing1 there of course is   
the live peace1 counteracting disruption
 and  disintegration1 and helping the   
development of the true essential       
family4 ,the one question1 therefore1 as
 to any family is1 whether peace  or    
strife be on the increase in it2 for    
peace alone makes it possible  for the  
binding grass-roots of life--love1      
namely1 and justice--to  spread         

throughout what were else but a         
wind-blown heap of still drifting  sand4
 ,the peace-makers quiet the winds of   
the world ever ready to be up  and      
blowing2 they tend and cherish the      
interlacing roots of the  ministering   
grass2 they spin and twist many uniting 
cords1 and they  weave many supporting  
bands2 they are the servants1 for the   
truth's  sake1 of the individual1 of the
 family1 of the world1 of the great     
universal family of heaven and earth4   
,they are the true children of that     
family1 the allies and ministers of     
every clasping and consolidating  force 
in it2 fellow-workers they are with ,god
 in the creation of the  family2 they   
help him to get it to his mind1 to      
perfect his father-idea4  ,ever         
radiating peace1 they welcome love1 but 
do not seek it2 they  provoke no        
jealousy4 ,they are the children of     
,god1 for like him they  would be one   
with his creatures4 ,his eldest son1 his
 very likeness1 was  the first of the   

family-peace-makers4 ,preaching peace to
 them that were  afar off and them that 
were nigh1 he stood undefended in the   
turbulent  crowd of his fellows1 and it 
was only over his dead body that his    
brothers began to come together in the  
peace that will not be broken4 ,he  rose
 again from the dead2 his peace-making  
brothers1 like himself1 are  dying unto 
sin2 and not yet have the evil children 
made their father  hate1 or their elder 
brother flinch4    ,on the other hand1  
those whose influence is to divide and  
separate1  causing the hearts of men to 
lean away from each other1 make         
themselves  the children of the evil    
one3 born of ,god and not of the devil1 
they  turn from ,god1 and adopt the     
devil their father4 ,they set their     
,god-born  life against ,god1 against   
the whole creative1 redemptive purpose  
of his  unifying will1 ever obstructing 
the one prayer of the first-born--that  
the children may be one with him in the 
,father4 ,against the heart-end of      

creation1 against that for which the    
,son yielded himself utterly1 the       
sowers of strife1 the fomenters of      
discord1 contend ceaseless4 ,they do    
their part with all the other powers of 
evil to make the world which the  love  
of ,god holds together--a world at      
least1 though not yet a  family--one    
heaving mass of dissolution4 ,but they  
labour in vain4  ,through the mass and  
through it1 that it may cohere1 this way
 and that1  guided in dance inexplicable
 of prophetic harmony1 move the children
 of  ,god1 the lights of the world1 the 
lovers of men1 the fellow-workers with  
,god1 the peace-makers--ever weaving1   
after a pattern devised by1 and  known  
only to him who orders their ways1 the  
web of the world's history4  ,but for   
them the world would have no history2 it
 would vanish1 a cloud  of windborne    
dust4 ,as in his labour1 so shall these 
share in the joy of  ,god1 in the divine
 fruition of victorious endeavour4      
,blessed are the  peace-makers1 for they

 shall be called the children of        
,god--the  children because they set the
 ,father on the throne of the ,family4  
,the main practical difficulty1 with    
some at least of the peace-makers1  is1 
how to carry themselves toward the      
undoers of peace1 the disuniters  of    
souls4 ,perhaps the most potent of these
 are not those powers of the  church    
visible who care for canon and dogma    
more than for truth1 and for  the church
 more than for ,christ2 who take        
uniformity for unity2 who  strain at a  
gnat and swallow a camel1 nor knowing   
what spirit they are  of2 such men1 ,i  
say1 are perhaps neither the most active
 nor the most  potent force working for 
the disintegration of the body of       
,christ4 ,i  imagine also that neither  
are the party-liars of politics the     
worst foes  to divine unity1 ungenerous1
 and often knowingly false as they are  
to  their opponents1 to whom they seem  
to have no desire to be honest and      
fair4 ,i think1 rather1 they must be the

 babbling liars of the social  circle1  
and the faithless brothers and unloving 
sisters of disunited  human families4   
,but why inquire8 ,every self-assertion1
 every form of  self-seeking however    
small or poor1 world-noble or grotesque1
 is a  separating and scattering force4 
,and these forces are multitudinous1    
these points of radial repulsion are    
innumerable1 because of the  prevailing 
passion of mean souls to seem great1 and
 feel important4 ,if  such cannot hope  
to attract the attention of the         
great-little world1 if  they cannot even
 become 'the cynosure of neighbouring   
eyes1' they will1  in what sphere they  
may call their own1 however small it be1
 try to make  a party for themselves2   
each1 revolving on his or her own axis1 
will  attempt to self-centre a private  
whirlpool of human monads4 ,to draw such
  a surrounding1 the partisan of self   
will sometimes gnaw asunder the most    
precious of bonds1 poison whole broods  
of infant loves4 ,such real  schismatics

 go about1 where not inventing evil1 yet
 rejoicing in  iniquity2 mishearing2    
misrepresenting2 paralyzing affection2  
separating  hearts4 ,their chosen       
calling is that of the strife-maker1 the
 child of  the dividing devil4 ,they    
belong to the class of the perfidious1  
whom  ,dante places in the lowest       
infernal gulf as their proper home4     
,many a  woman who now imagines herself 
standing well in morals and religion1   
will find herself at last just such a   
child of the devil2 and her misery  will
 be the hope of her redemption4    ,but 
it is not for her sake that ,i write    
these things3 would such a woman        
recognize her own likeness1 were ,i to  
set it down as close as words  could    
draw it8 ,i am rather as one groping    
after some light on the true  behaviour 
toward her kind4 ,are we to treat       
persons known for liars and             
strife-makers as the children of the    
devil or not8 ,are we to turn away  from
 them1 and refuse to acknowledge them1  

rousing an ignorant strife of  tongues  
concerning our conduct8 ,are we guilty  
of connivance1 when silent  as to the   
ambush whence we know the wicked arrow  
privily shot8 ,are we to  call the      
traitor to account8 or are we to give   
warning of any sort8 ,i  have no answer4
 ,each must carry the question that     
perplexes to the ,light  of the ,world4 
,to what purpose is the spirit of ,god  
promised to them that  ask it1 if not to
 help them order their way aright8      
,one thing is plain--that we must love  
the strife-maker2 another is  nearly as 
plain--that1 if we do not love him1 we  
must leave him alone2  for without love 
there can be no peace-making1 and words 
will but  occasion more strife4 ,to be  
kind neither hurts nor compromises4     
,kindness  has many phases1 and the     
fitting form of it may avoid offence1   
and must  avoid untruth4    ,we must not
 fear what man can do to us1 but commit 
our way to the ,father  of the ,family4 
,we must be nowise anxious to defend    

ourselves2 and if not  ourselves because
 ,god is our defence1 then why our      
friends8 is he not  their defence as    
much as ours8 ,commit thy friend's cause
 also to him who  judgeth righteously4  
,be ready to bear testimony for thy     
friend1 as thou  wouldst to receive the 
blow struck at him2 but do not plunge   
into a nest  of scorpions to rescue his 
handkerchief4 ,be true to him thyself1  
nor  spare to show thou lovest and      
honourest him2 but defence may          
dishonour3  men may say1 ,what6 is thy  
friend's esteem then so small8 ,he is   
unwise  who drags a rich veil from a    
cactus-bush4    ,whatever our relation1 
then1 with any peace-breaker1 our mercy 
must ever  be within call2 and it may   
help us against an indignation too      
strong to  be pure1 to remember that    
when any man is reviled for             
righteousness-sake1  then is he blessed4
          ,,the ,,reward ,,of           
,,obedience4    ',blessed are the       
merciful1 for they shall obtain mercy4' 

',blessed are  they which are persecuted
 for righteousness' sake1 for theirs is 
the  kingdom of heaven4 ,blessed are ye 
when men shall revile you and  persecute
 you1 and shall say all manner of evil  
against you falsely1 for  my sake4      
,rejoice and be exceeding glad1 for     
great is your reward in  heaven2 for so 
persecuted they the prophets which were 
before  you4'--,matthew1 v4 #g1 #aj #aa1
 #ab4      ,mercy cannot get in where   
mercy goes not out4 ,the outgoing makes 
way for  the incoming4 ,god takes the   
part of humanity against the man4 ,the  
man  must treat men as he would have    
,god treat him4 ',if ye forgive men     
their  trespasses1' the ,lord says1     
'your heavenly father will also forgive 
you2  but if ye forgive not men their   
trespasses1 neither will your father    
forgive your trespasses4 ,and in the    
prophecy of the judgment of the ,son  of
 man1 he represents himself as saying1  
',inasmuch as ye have done it  unto one 
of the least of these my brethren1 ye   

have done it unto me4'    ,but the      
demand for mercy is far from being for  
the sake only of the man  who needs his 
neighbour's mercy2 it is greatly more   
for the sake of the  man who must show  
the mercy4 ,it is a small thing to a man
 whether or not  his neighbour be       
merciful to him2 it is life or death to 
him whether or  not he be merciful to   
his neighbour4 ,the greatest mercy that 
can be  shown to man1 is to make him    
merciful2 therefore1 if he will not be  
merciful1 the mercy of ,god must compel 
him thereto4 ,in the parable of  the    
king taking account of his servants1 he 
delivers the unmerciful  debtor to the  
tormentors1 'till he should pay all that
 was due unto  him4' ,the king had      
forgiven his debtor1 but as the debtor  
refuses to  pass on the forgiveness to  
his neighbour--the only way to make a   
return  in kind--the king withdraws his 
forgiveness4 ,if we forgive not men     
their  trespasses1 our trespasses       
remain4 ,for how can ,god in any sense  

forgive1  remit1 or send away the sin   
which a man insists on retaining8       
,unmerciful1 we must be given up to the 
tormentors until we learn to be         
merciful4 ,god is merciful3 we must be  
merciful4 ,there is no blessedness      
except in being such as ,god2 it would  
be altogether unmerciful to leave  us   
unmerciful4 ,the reward of the merciful 
is1 that by their mercy they  are       
rendered capable of receiving the mercy 
of ,god--yea1 ,god himself1  who is     
,mercy4    ,that men may be drawn to    
taste and see and understand1 the ,lord 
associates reward with righteousness4   
,the ,lord would have men love          
righteousness1 but how are they to love 
it without being acquainted with  it8   
,how are they to go on loving it without
 a growing knowledge of it8  ,to draw   
them toward it that they may begin to   
know it1 and to encourage  them when    
assailed by the disappointments that    
accompany endeavour1 he  tells them     
simply a truth concerning it--that in   

the doing of it1 there  is great reward4
 ,let no one start with dismay at the   
idea of a reward of  righteousness1     
saying virtue is its own reward4 ,is not
 virtue then a  reward8 ,is any other   
imaginable reward worth mentioning      
beside it8 ,true1  the man may1 after   
this mode or that1 mistake the reward   
promised2 not  the less must he have it1
 or perish4 ,who will count himself     
deceived by  overfulfilment8 ,would a   
parent be deceiving his child in saying1
 ',my  boy1 you will have a great reward
 if you learn ,greek1' foreseeing his   
son's delight in ,homer and ,plato--now 
but a valueless waste in his eyes8      
,when his reward comes1 will the youth  
feel aggrieved that it is ,greek1  and  
not bank-notes8    ,the nature indeed of
 the ,lord's promised rewards is hardly 
to be  mistaken2 yet the foolish remarks
 one sometimes hears1 make me wish to   
point out that neither is the ,lord     
proclaiming an ethical system1 nor  does
 he make the blunder of representing as 

righteousness the doing of a  good thing
 because of some advantage to be thereby
 gained4 ,when he  promises1 he only    
states some fact that will encourage his
  disciples--that is1 all who learn of  
him--to meet the difficulties in  the   
way of doing right and so learning      
righteousness1 his object being  to make
 men righteous1 not to teach them       
philosophy4 ,i doubt if those  who      
would1 on the ground of mentioned       
reward1 set aside the teaching of  the  
,lord1 are as anxious to be righteous as
 they are to prove him  unrighteous4 ,if
 they were1 they would1 ,i think1 take  
more care to  represent him truly2 they 
would make farther search into the      
thing1 nor  be willing that he whom the 
world confesses its best man1 and whom  
they  themselves1 perhaps1 confess their
 superior in conduct1 should be found   
less pure in theory than they4 ,must the
 ,lord hide from his friends that  they 
will have cause to rejoice that they    
have been obedient8 ,must he  give them 

no help to counterbalance the load with 
which they start on  their race8 ,is he 
to tell them the horrors of the         
persecutions that  await them1 and not  
the sweet sympathies that will help them
 through8  ,was it wrong to assure them 
that where he was going they should go  
also8  ,the ,lord could not demand of   
them more righteousness than he does3   
',be  ye therefore perfect as your      
father in heaven is perfect2' but not to
  help them by word of love1 deed of    
power1 and promise of good1 would  have 
shown him far less of a brother and a   
saviour4 ,it is the part of  the enemy  
of righteousness to increase the        
difficulties in the way of  becoming    
righteous1 and to diminish those in the 
way of seeming  righteous4 ,jesus       
desires no righteousness for the pride  
of being  righteous1 any more than for  
advantage to be gained by it2 therefore1
  while requiring such purity as the    
man1 beforehand1 is unable to  imagine1 
he gives him all the encouragement he   

can4 ,he will not enhance  his victory  
by difficulties--of them there are      
enough--but by  completeness4 ,he will  
not demand the loftiest motives in the  
yet far  from loftiest soul3 to those   
the soul must grow4 ,he will hearten the
  child with promises1 and fulfil them  
to the contentment of the man4    ,men  
cannot be righteous without love2 to    
love a righteous man is the  best1 the  
only way to learn righteousness3 the    
,lord gives us himself to  love1 and    
promises his closest friendship to them 
that overcome4    ,god's rewards are    
always in kind4 ',i am your father2 be  
my children1 and  ,i will be your       
father4' ,every obedience is the opening
 of another door  into the boundless    
universe of life4 ,so long as the       
constitution of that  universe remains1 
so long as the world continues to be    
made by ,god1  righteousness can never  
fail of perfect reward4 ,before it could
 be  otherwise1 the government must have
 passed into other hands4    ,the idea  

of merit is nowise essential to that of 
reward4 ,jesus tells us  that the lord  
who finds his servant faithful1 will    
make him sit down to  meat1 and come    
forth and serve him2 he says likewise1  
',when ye have done  all1 say we are    
unprofitable servants2 we have done only
 that which it  was our duty to do4'    
,reward is the rebound of ,virtue's     
well-served ball  from the hand of      
,love2 a sense of merit is the most     
sneaking shape that  self-satisfaction  
can assume4 ,god's reward lies closed in
 all  well-doing3 the doer of right     
grows better and humbler1 and comes     
nearer  to ,god's heart as nearer to his
 likeness2 grows more capable of ,god's 
own blessedness1 and of inheriting the  
kingdoms of heaven and earth4 ,to  be   
made greater than one's fellows is the  
offered reward of hell1 and  involves no
 greatness2 to be made greater than     
one's self1 is the divine  reward1 and  
involves a real greatness4 ,a man might 
be set above all his  fellows1 to be but

 so much less than he was before2 a man 
cannot be  raised a hair's-breadth above
 himself1 without rising nearer to ,god4
 ,the  reward itself1 then1 is          
righteousness2 and the man who was      
righteous for  the sake of such reward1 
knowing what it was1 would be righteous 
for the  sake of righteousness1--which  
yet1 however1 would not be perfection4  
,but ,i must distinguish and divide no  
farther now4    ,the reward of mercy is 
not often of this world2 the merciful do
 not  often receive mercy in return from
 their fellows2 perhaps they do not     
often receive much gratitude4 ,none the 
less1 being the children of their       
father in heaven1 will they go on to    
show mercy1 even to their enemies4      
,they must give like ,god1 and like ,god
 be blessed in giving4    ,there is a   
mercy that lies in the endeavour to     
share with others the  best things ,god 
has given3 they who do so will be       
persecuted1 and  reviled1 and slandered1
 as well as thanked and loved and       

befriended4 ,the  ,lord not only        
promises the greatest possible reward2  
he tells his  disciples the worst they  
have to expect4 ,he not only shows them 
the fair  countries to which they are   
bound2 he tells them the truth of the   
rough  weather and the hardships of the 
way4 ,he will not have them choose in   
ignorance4 ,at the same time he         
strengthens them to meet coming         
difficulty1 by instructing them in its  
real nature4 ,all this is part of  his  
preparation of them for his work1 for   
taking his yoke upon them1 and  becoming
 fellow-labourers with him in his       
father's vineyard4 ,they must  not      
imagine1 because they are the servants  
of his father1 that therefore  they     
shall find their work easy2 they shall  
only find the reward great4  ,neither   
will he have them fancy1 when evil comes
 upon them1 that  something unforeseen1 
unprovided for1 has befallen them4 ,it  
is just  then1 on the contrary1 that    
their reward comes nigh3 when men revile

  them and persecute them1 then they may
 know that they are blessed4 ,their     
suffering is ground for rejoicing1 for  
exceeding gladness4 ,the ignominy  cast 
upon them leaves the name of the ,lord's
 ,father written upon their  foreheads1 
the mark of the true among the false1 of
 the children among  the slaves4 ,with  
all who suffer for the world1           
persecution is the seal  of their       
patent1 a sign that they were sent3 they
 fill up that which is  behind of the   
afflictions of ,christ for his body's   
sake4    ,let us look at the similar    
words the ,lord spoke in a later address
 to  his disciples1 in the presence of  
thousands1 on the plain1--supplemented  
with lamentation over such as have what 
they desire3 ,st ,luke vi4 #bj--bf4     
',blessed be ye poor1 for yours is the  
kingdom of ,god4 ,blessed are ye  that  
hunger now1 for ye shall be filled4     
,blessed are ye that weep now1  for ye  
shall laugh4 ,blessed are ye when men   
shall hate you1 and when  they shall    

separate you from their company1 and    
shall reproach you1 and  cast out your  
name as evil1 for the ,son of ,man's    
sake4 ,rejoice ye in  that day1 and leap
 for joy1 for behold your reward is     
great in heaven2  for in the like manner
 did their fathers unto the prophets4   
',but woe unto you that are rich6 for ye
 have received your  consolation4 ,woe  
unto you that are full1 for ye shall    
hunger4 ,woe unto  you that laugh now1  
for ye shall mourn and weep4 ,woe unto  
you when all  men shall speak well of   
you2 for so did their fathers to the    
false  prophets4'    ,on this occasion  
he uses the word hunger without         
limitation4 ,every  true want1 every    
genuine need1 every ,god-created hunger1
 is a thing  provided for in the idea of
 the universe2 but no attempt to fill a 
void  otherwise than the ,heart of the  
,universe intended and intends1 is or   
can  be anything but a woe4 ,god forgets
 none of his children--the naughty  ones
 any more than the good4 ,love and      

reward is for the good3 love and        
correction for the bad4 ,the bad ones   
will trouble the good1 but shall do     
them no hurt4 ,the evil a man does to   
his neighbour1 shall do his  neighbour  
no harm1 shall work indeed for his good2
 but he himself will  have to mourn for 
his doing4 ,a sore injury to himself1 it
 is to his  neighbour a cause of        
jubilation--not for the evil the man    
does to  himself--over that there is    
sorrow in heaven--but for the good it   
occasions his neighbour4 ,the poor1 the 
hungry1 the weeping1 the hated1  may    
lament their lot as if ,god had         
forgotten them2 but ,god is all the     
time caring for them4 ,blessed in his   
sight now1 they shall soon know         
themselves blessed4 ',blessed are ye    
that weep now1 for ye shall             
laugh4'--,welcome words from the glad   
heart of the ,saviour6 ,do they not     
make our hearts burn within us8--,they  
shall be comforted even to  laughter6   
,the poor1 the hungry1 the weeping1 the 

hated1 the persecuted1  are the         
powerful1 the opulent1 the merry1 the   
loved1 the victorious of  ,god's        
kingdom1--to be filled with good things1
 to laugh for very  delight1 to be      
honoured and sought and cherished6      
,but such as have their poor consolation
 in this life--alas for  them6--for     
those who have yet to learn what hunger 
is6 for those whose  laughter is as the 
crackling of thorns6 for those who have 
loved and  gathered the praises of men6 
for the rich1 the jocund1 the full-fed6 
,silent-footed evil is on its way to    
seize them4 ,dives must go without2     
,lazarus must have4 ,god's education    
makes use of terrible extremes4 ,there  
are last that shall be first1 and first 
that shall be last4    ,the ,lord knew  
what trials1 what tortures even awaited 
his disciples  after his death2 he knew 
they would need every encouragement he  
could  give them to keep their hearts   
strong1 lest in some moment of dismay   
they should deny him4 ,if they had      

denied him1 where would our gospel be8  
,if there are none able and ready to be 
crucified for him now1 alas for  the age
 to come6 ,what a poor travesty of the  
good news of ,god will  arrive at their 
doors6    ,those whom our ,lord         
felicitates are all the children of one 
family2 and  everything that can be     
called blessed or blessing comes of the 
same  righteousness4 ,if a disciple be  
blessed because of any one thing1 every 
other blessing is either his1 or on the 
way to become his2 for he is on  the way
 to receive the very righteousness of   
,god4 ,each good thing opens  the door  
to the one next it1 so to all the rest4 
,but as if these his  assurances and    
promises and comfortings were not large 
enough2 as if the  mention of any       
condition whatever might discourage some
 humble man of  heart with a sense of   
unfitness1 with the fear1 perhaps       
conviction that  the promise was not for
 him2 as if some one might say1 ',alas1 
,i am  proud1 and neither poor in spirit

 nor meek2 ,i am at times not at all    
hungry after righteousness2 ,i am not   
half merciful1 and am very ready to     
feel hurt and indignant3 ,i am shut out 
from every blessing6' the ,lord1        
knowing the multitudes that can urge    
nothing in their own favour1 and  sorely
 feel they are not blessed1 looks abroad
 over the wide world of  his brothers   
and sisters1 and calls aloud1 including 
in the boundless  invitation every      
living soul with but the one            
qualification of unrest or  discomfort1 
',come unto me all ye that labour and   
are heavy laden1 and ,i  will give you  
rest4'          ,,the ,,yoke ,,of       
,,jesus4    ,at that time ,jesus        
answered and said1--according to ,luke1 
,in that hour  ,jesus rejoiced in       
spirit1 and said1--',i thank thee1 ,o   
,father1 ,lord of  heaven and earth1    
because thou hast hid these things from 
the wise and  prudent1 and hast revealed
 them unto babes4 ,even so1 ,father1 for
 so it  seemed good in thy sight4       

',all things are delivered unto me of my
 father2 and no man knoweth the         
son1'--according to ,luke1 'who the son 
is1'--'but the father2 neither  knoweth 
any man the father1'--according to      
,luke1 'who the father  is1'--'save the 
son1 and he to whomsoever the son will  
reveal  him4'--,matthew xi4 #be--bg2    
,luke x4 #ba1 #bb4    ',come unto me1   
all ye that labour1 and are heavy laden1
 and ,i will give  you rest4 ,take my   
yoke upon you1 and learn of me1 for ,i  
am meek and  lowly in heart2 and ye     
shall find rest unto your souls4 ,for my
 yoke is  easy1 and my burden is light4'
 ,matthew xi4 #bh--cj4      ,the words  
of the ,lord in the former two of these 
paragraphs1 are  represented1 both by   
,matthew and by ,luke1 as spoken after  
the  denunciation of the cities of      
,chorazin1 ,bethsaida1 and ,capernaum2  
only  in ,luke's narrative1 the return  
of the seventy is mentioned between2 and
  there the rejoicing of the ,lord over 
the ,father's revelation of himself  to 

babes1 appears to have reference to the 
seventy4 ,the fact that the  return of  
the seventy is not mentioned elsewhere1 
leaves us free to  suppose that the     
words were indeed spoken on that        
occasion4 ,the  circumstances1 however1 
as circumstances1 are to us of little   
importance1 not being necessary to the  
understanding of the words4    ,the     
,lord makes no complaint against the    
wise and prudent2 he but  recognizes    
that they are not those to whom his     
father reveals his best  things2 for    
which fact and the reasons of it1 he    
thanks1 or praises his  father4 ',i     
bless thy will3 ,i see that thou art    
right3 ,i am of one mind  with thee3'   
something of each of these phases of    
meaning seems to belong  to the ,greek  
word4    ',but why not reveal true      
things first to the wise8 ,are they not 
the  fittest to receive them8' ,yes1 if 
these things and their wisdom lie in    
the same region--not otherwise4 ,no     
amount of knowledge or skill in         

physical science1 will make a man the   
fitter to argue a metaphysical          
question2 and the wisdom of this world1 
meaning by the term1 the  philosophy of 
prudence1 self-protection1 precaution1  
specially unfits a  man for receiving   
what the ,father has to reveal3 in      
proportion to our  care about our own   
well being1 is our incapability of      
understanding and  welcoming the care of
 the ,father4 ,the wise and the prudent1
 with all  their energy of thought1     
could never see the things of the       
,father  sufficiently to recognize them 
as true4 ,their sagacity labours in     
earthly things1 and so fills their minds
 with their own questions and           
conclusions1 that they cannot see the   
eternal foundations ,god has laid  in   
man1 or the consequent necessities of   
their own nature4 ,they are  proud of   
finding out things1 but the things they 
find out are all less  than themselves4 
,because1 however1 they have discovered 
them1 they  imagine such things the goal

 of the human intellect4 ,if they grant 
there  may be things beyond those1 they 
either count them beyond their reach1   
or declare themselves uninterested in   
them3 for the wise and prudent1  they do
 not exist4 ,they work only to gather by
 the senses1 and deduce  from what they 
have so gathered1 the prudential1 the   
probable1 the  expedient1 the           
protective4 ,they never think of the    
essential1 of what in  itself must be4  
,they are cautious1 wary1 discreet1     
judicious1  circumspect1 provident1     
temporizing4 ,they have no enthusiasm1  
and are  shy of all forms of it--a      
clever1 hard1 thin people1 who take     
things  for the universe1 and love of   
facts for love of truth4 ,they know     
nothing deeper in man than mere surface 
mental facts and their  relations4 ,they
 do not perceive1 or they turn away from
 any truth which  the intellect cannot  
formulate4 ,zeal for ,god will never eat
 them up3 why  should it8 he is not     
interesting to them3 theology may be2 to

 such men  religion means theology4 ,how
 should the treasure of the ,father be  
open  to such8 ,in their hands his      
rubies would draw in their fire1 and    
cease  to glow4 ,the roses of paradise  
in their gardens would blow withered4   
,they never go beyond the porch of the  
temple2 they are not sure whether  there
 be any adytum1 and they do not care to 
go in and see3 why indeed  should they8 
it would but be to turn and come out    
again4 ,even when they  know their duty1
 they must take it to pieces1 and       
consider the grounds  of its claim      
before they will render it obedience4   
,all those evil  doctrines about ,god   
that work misery and madness1 have their
 origin in  the brains of the wise and  
prudent1 not in the hearts of the       
children4  ,these wise and prudent1     
careful to make the words of his        
messengers rime  with their conclusions1
 interpret the great heart of ,god1 not 
by their  own hearts1 but by their      
miserable intellects2 and1 postponing   

the  obedience which alone can give     
power to the understanding1 press upon  
men's minds their wretched              
interpretations of the will of the      
,father1  instead of the doing of that  
will upon their hearts4 ,they call their
  philosophy the truth of ,god1 and say 
men must hold it1 or stand outside4     
,they are the slaves of the letter in   
all its weakness and  imperfection1--and
 will be until the spirit of the ,word1 
the spirit of  obedience shall set them 
free4    ,the babes must beware lest the
 wise and prudent come between them and 
the ,father4 ,they must yield no claim  
to authority over their belief1  made by
 man or community1 by church any more   
than by synagogue4 ,that  alone is for  
them to believe which the ,lord reveals 
to their souls as  true2 that alone is  
it possible for them to believe with    
what he counts  belief4 ,the divine     
object for which teacher or church      
exists1 is the  persuasion of the       
individual heart to come to ,jesus1 the 

spirit1 to be  taught what he alone can 
teach4    ,terribly has his gospel      
suffered in the mouths of the wise and  
prudent3  how would it be faring now1   
had its first messages been committed to
  persons of repute1 instead of those   
simple fishermen8 ,it would be  nowhere1
 or1 if anywhere1 unrecognizable4 ,from 
the first we should have  had a system  
founded on a human interpretation of the
 divine gospel1  instead of the gospel  
itself1 which would have disappeared4   
,as it is1 we  have had one dull        
miserable human system after another    
usurping its  place2 but1 thank ,god1   
the gospel remains6 ,the little child1  
heedless  of his trailing cloud of      
glory1 and looking about him aghast in  
an  unknown world1 may yet see and run  
to the arms open to the children4 ,how  
often has not some symbol employed in   
the ,new ,testament been forced into    
the service of argument for one or      
another contemptible scheme of          
redemption1 which were no redemption2   

while the truth for the sake of  which  
the symbol was used1 the thing meant to 
be conveyed by it1 has  lain unregarded 
beside the heap of rubbish6 ,had the    
wise and prudent  been the confidants of
 ,god1 ,i repeat1 the letter would at   
once have  usurped the place of the     
spirit2 the ministering slave would have
 been  set over the household2 a system 
of religion1 with its rickety1          
malodorous plan of salvation1 would not 
only have at once been put in  the place
 of a living ,christ1 but would yet have
 held that place4 ,the  great brother1  
the human ,god1 the eternal ,son1 the   
living one1 would  have been as utterly 
hidden from the tearful eyes and aching 
hearts of  the weary and heavy-laden1 as
 if he had never come from the deeps of 
love to call the children home out of   
the shadows of a self-haunted  universe4
 ,but the ,father revealed the ,father's
 things to his babes2 the  babes loved1 
and began to do them1 therewith began to
 understand them1  and went on growing  

in the knowledge of them and in the     
power of  communicating them2 while to  
the wise and prudent1 the deepest words 
of  the most babe-like of them all1     
,john ,boanerges1 even now appear but a 
finger-worn rosary of platitudes4 ,the  
babe understands the wise and  prudent1 
but is understood only by the babe4     
,the ,father1 then1 revealed his things 
to babes1 because the babes were  his   
own little ones1 uncorrupted by the     
wisdom or the care of this  world1 and  
therefore able to receive them4 ,the    
others1 though his  children1 had not   
begun to be like him1 therefore could   
not receive  them4 ,the ,father's things
 could not have got anyhow into their   
minds  without leaving all their value1 
all their spirit1 outside the           
unchildlike place4 ,the babes are near  
enough whence they come1 to  understand 
a little how things go in the presence  
of their father in  heaven1 and thereby 
to interpret the words of the ,son4 ,the
 child who has  not yet 'walked above a 

mile or two from' his 'first love1' is  
not out  of touch with the mind of his  
,father4 ,quickly will he seal the old  
bond  when the ,son himself1 the first  
of the babes1 the one perfect babe of   
,god1 comes to lead the children out of 
the lovely 'shadows of eternity'  into  
the land of the 'white celestial        
thought4' ,as ,god is the one only  real
 father1 so is it only to ,god that any 
one can be a perfect child4  ,in his    
garden only can childhood blossom4      
,the leader of the great array of little
 ones1 himself1 in virtue of his        
firstborn childhood1 the first recipient
 of the revelations of his  father1     
having thus given thanks1 and said why  
he gave thanks1 breaks  out afresh1     
renewing expression of delight that ,god
 had willed it thus3  ',even so1 father1
 for so it seemed good in thy sight6' ,i
 venture to  translate1 ',yea1 ,o       
,father1 for thus came forth            
satisfaction before  thee6' and think he
 meant1 ',yea1 ,father1 for thereat were

 all thy angels  filled with            
satisfaction1' ,the babes were the      
prophets in heaven1 and  the angels were
 glad to find it was to be so upon the  
earth also2 they  rejoiced to see that  
what was bound in heaven1 was bound on  
earth2 that  the same principle held in 
each4 ,compare ,matt1 xviii4 #aj and    
#ad2 also  ,luke xv4 #aj4 ',see that ye 
despise not one of these little ones2   
for ,i  say unto you that their angels  
in heaven do always behold the face of  
my  father which is in heaven4444 ,thus 
it is not the will before your father   
which is in heaven1'--among the angels  
who stand before him1 ,i think  he      
means1--'that one of these little ones  
should perish4' ',even so1 ,i  say unto 
you1 there is joy in the presence of the
 angels of ,god over one  sinner that   
repenteth4'    ,having thus thanked his 
father that he has done after his own   
'good and  acceptable and perfect will'1
 he turns to his disciples1 and tells   
them  that he knows the ,father1 being  

his ,son1 and that he only can reveal   
the  ,father to the rest of his         
children3 ',all things are delivered    
unto me  of my father2 and no one       
knoweth the son but the father2 neither 
knoweth  any one the father save the    
son1 and he to whomsoever the son       
willeth to  reveal him4' ,it is almost  
as if his mention of the babes brought  
his  thoughts back to himself and his   
father1 between whom lay the secret of  
all life and all sending--yea1 all      
loving4 ,the relation of the ,father    
and the ,son contains the idea of the   
universe4 ,jesus tells his disciples    
that his father had no secrets from him2
 that he knew the ,father as the        
,father knew him4 ,the ,son must know   
the ,father2 he only could know         
him--and knowing1 he could reveal him2  
the ,son could make the other1 the      
imperfect children1 know the ,father1   
and so become such as he4 ,all  things  
were given unto him by the ,father1     
because he was the ,son of the  ,father3

 for the same reason he could reveal the
 things of the ,father to  the child of 
the ,father4 ,the child-relation is the 
one eternal1 ever  enduring1 never      
changing relation4    ,note that1 while 
the ,lord here represents the knowledge 
his father and  he have each of the     
other as limited to themselves1 the     
statement is one  of fact only1 not of  
design or intention3 his presence in the
 world is  for the removal of that      
limitation4 ,the ,father knows the ,son 
and sends  him to us that we may know   
him2 the ,son knows the ,father1 and    
dies to  reveal him4 ,the glory of      
,god's mysteries is--that they are for  
his  children to look into4    ,when the
 ,lord took the little child in the     
presence of his disciples1  and declared
 him his representative1 he made him the
 representative of  his father also2 but
 the eternal child alone can reveal him4
 ,to reveal  is immeasurably more than  
to represent2 it is to present to the   
eyes  that know the true when they see  

it4 ,jesus represented ,god2 the spirit 
of ,jesus reveals ,god4 ,the represented
 ,god a man may refuse2 many refused    
the ,lord2 the revealed ,god no one can 
refuse2 to see ,god and to love him  are
 one4 ,he can be revealed only to the   
child2 perfectly1 to the pure  child    
only4 ,all the discipline of the world  
is to make men children1  that ,god may 
be revealed to them4    ,no man1 when   
first he comes to himself1 can have any 
true knowledge of  ,god2 he can only    
have a desire after such knowledge4 ,but
 while he does  not know him at all1 he 
cannot become in his heart ,god's child2
 so the  ,father must draw nearer to    
him4 ,he sends therefore his first born1
 who  does know him1 is exactly like    
him1 and can represent him perfectly4   
,drawn to him1 the children receive him1
 and then he is able to reveal  the     
,father to them4 ,no wisdom of the wise 
can find out ,god2 no words of  the     
,god-loving can reveal him4 ,the        
simplicity of the whole natural         

relation is too deep for the            
philosopher4 ,the ,son alone can reveal 
,god2  the child alone understand him4  
,the elder brother companies with the   
younger1 and makes him yet more a child 
like himself4 ,he interpenetrates  his  
willing companion with his obedient     
glory4 ,he lets him see how he  delights
 in his father1 and lets him know that  
,god is his father too4 ,he  rouses in  
his little brother the sense of their   
father's will2 and the  younger1 as he  
hears and obeys1 begins to see that his 
elder brother  must be the very image of
 their father4 ,he becomes more and more
 of a  child1 and more and more the ,son
 reveals to him the ,father4 ,for he    
knows  that to know the ,father is the  
one thing needful to every child of the 
,father1 the one thing to fill the      
divine gulf of his necessity4 ,to see   
the ,father is the cry of every         
child-heart in the universe of the      
,father--is the need1 where not the cry1
 of every living soul4 ,comfort         

yourselves then1 brothers and sisters2  
he to whom the ,son will reveal  him    
shall know the ,father2 and the ,son    
came to us that he might reveal  him4   
',eternal ,brother1' we cry1 'show us   
the ,father4 ,be thyself to us1  that in
 thee we may know him4 ,we too are his  
children3 let the other  children share 
with thee in the things of the ,father4'
    ,having spoken to his father first1 
and now to his disciples1 the ,lord     
turns to the whole world1 and lets his  
heart overflow3--,st ,matthew alone  has
 saved for us the eternal cry3--',come  
unto me all ye that labour and  are     
heavy laden1 and ,i will give you       
rest4'--',i know the ,father2 come  then
 to me1 all ye that labour and are heavy
 laden4' ,he does not here  call those  
who want to know the ,father2 his cry   
goes far beyond them2 it  reaches to the
 ends of the earth4 ,he calls those who 
are weary2 those  who do not know that  
ignorance of the ,father is the cause of
 all their  labour and the heaviness of 

their burden4 ',come unto me1' he says1 
'and  ,i will give you rest4'    ,this  
is the ,lord's own form of his gospel1  
more intensely personal and  direct1 at 
the same time of yet wider inclusion1   
than that which1 at  ,nazareth1 he      
appropriated from ,isaiah2 differing    
from it also in this1  that it is       
interfused with strongest persuasion to 
the troubled to enter  into and share   
his own eternal rest4 ,i will turn his  
argument a little4  ',i have rest       
because ,i know the ,father4 ,be meek   
and lowly of heart  toward him as ,i am2
 let him lay his yoke upon you as he    
lays it on me4 ,i  do his will1 not my  
own4 ,take on you the yoke that ,i wear2
 be his child  like me2 become a babe to
 whom he can reveal his wonders4 ,then  
shall you  too find rest to your souls2 
you shall have the same peace ,i have2  
you  will be weary and heavy laden no   
more4 ,i find my yoke easy1 my burden   
light4'    ,we must not imagine that1   
when the ,lord says1 ',take my yoke upon

 you1'  he means a yoke which he lays on
 those that come to him2 'my yoke' is   
the yoke he wears himself1 the yoke his 
father lays upon him1 the yoke  out of  
which1 that same moment1 he speaks1     
bearing it with glad  patience4 ',you   
must take on you the yoke ,i have taken3
 the ,father lays  it upon us4'    ,the 
best of the good wine remains2 ,i have  
kept it to the last4 ,a friend  pointed 
out to me that the ,master does not mean
 we must take on us a  yoke like his2 we
 must take on us the very yoke he is    
carrying4    ,dante1 describing how1 on 
the first terrace of ,purgatory1 he     
walked  stooping1 to be on a level with 
,oderisi1 who went bowed to the ground  
by  the ponderous burden of the pride he
 had cherished on earth1 says--',i  went
 walking with this heavy-laden soul1    
just as oxen walk in the yoke'3  this   
picture almost always comes to me with  
the words of the ,lord1 ',take  my yoke 
upon you1 and learn of me4' ,their      
intent is1 ',take the other end  of my  

yoke1 doing as ,i do1 being as ,i am4'  
,think of it a moment3--to  walk in the 
same yoke with the ,son of ,man1 doing  
the same labour with  him1 and having   
the same feeling common to him and us6  
,this1 and nothing  else1 is offered the
 man who would have rest to his soul2 is
 required of  the man who would know the
 ,father2 is by the ,lord pressed upon  
him to  whom he would give the same     
peace which pervades and sustains his   
own  eternal heart4    ,but a yoke is   
for drawing withal3 what load is it the 
,lord is drawing8  ,wherewith is the    
cart laden which he would have us help  
him draw8 ,with  what but the will of   
the eternal1 the perfect ,father8 ,how  
should the  ,father honour the ,son1 but
 by giving him his will to embody in    
deed1 by  making him hand to his        
father's heart6--and hardest of all1 in 
bringing  home his children6 ,specially 
in drawing this load must his           
yoke-fellow  share4 ,how to draw it1 he 
must learn of him who draws by his side4

    ,whoever1 in the commonest duties   
that fall to him1 does as the ,father   
would have him do1 bears ,his yoke along
 with ,jesus2 and the ,father takes  his
 help for the redemption of the         
world--for the deliverance of men  from 
the slavery of their own rubbish-laden  
waggons1 into the liberty of  ,god's    
husbandmen4 ,bearing the same yoke with 
,jesus1 the man learns to  walk step for
 step with him1 drawing1 drawing the    
cart laden with the  will of the father 
of both1 and rejoicing with the joy of  
,jesus4 ,the  glory of existence is to  
take up its burden1 and exist for       
,existence  eternal and supreme--for the
 ,father who does his divine and perfect
 best  to impart his glad life to us1   
making us sharers of that nature which  
is  bliss1 and that labour which is     
peace4 ,he lives for us2 we must live   
for  him4 ,the little ones must take    
their full share in the great ,father's 
work3 his work is the business of the   
family4    ,starts thy soul1 trembles   

thy brain at the thought of such a      
burden as  the will of the eternally    
creating1 eternally saving ,god8 ',how  
shall  mortal man walk in such a yoke1' 
sayest thou1 'even with the ,son of ,god
  bearing it also8'    ,why1 brother1   
sister1 it is the only burden           
bearable--the only burden  that can be  
borne of mortal6 ,under any other1 the  
lightest1 he must at  last sink outworn1
 his very soul gray with sickness6      
,he on whom lay the other half of the   
burden of ,god1 the weight of his       
creation to redeem1 says1 ',the yoke ,i 
bear is easy2 the burden ,i draw is     
light'2 and this he said1 knowing the   
death he was to die4 ,the yoke did  not 
gall his neck1 the burden did not       
overstrain his sinews1 neither did  the 
goal on ,calvary fright him from the    
straight way thither4 ,he had the  will 
of the ,father to work out1 and that    
will was his strength as well  as his   
joy4 ,he had the same will as his       
father4 ,to him the one thing  worth    

living for1 was the share the love of   
his father gave him in his  work4 ,he   
loved his father even to the death of   
the cross1 and eternally  beyond it4    
,when we give ourselves up to the       
,father as the ,son gave himself1 we    
shall not only find our yoke easy and   
our burden light1 but that they         
communicate ease and lightness2 not only
 will they not make us weary1  but they 
will give us rest from all other        
weariness4 ,let us not waste a  moment  
in asking how this can be2 the only way 
to know that1 is to take  the yoke on   
us4 ,that rest is a secret for every    
heart to know1 for never  a tongue to   
tell4 ,only by having it can we know it4
 ,if it seem  impossible to take the    
yoke on us1 let us attempt the          
impossible2 let us  lay hold of the     
yoke1 and bow our heads1 and try to get 
our necks under  it4 ,giving our ,father
 the opportunity1 he will help and not  
fail us4 ,he  is helping us every       
moment1 when least we think we need his 

help2 when  most we think we do1 then   
may we most boldly1 as most earnestly we
 must1  cry for it4 ,what or how much   
his creatures can do or bear1 ,god only 
understands2 but when most it seems     
impossible to do or bear1 we must be    
most confident that he will neither     
demand too much1 nor fail with the      
vital creator-help4 ,that help will be  
there when wanted--that is1 the  moment 
it can be help4 ,to be able beforehand  
to imagine ourselves doing  or bearing1 
we have neither claim nor need4    ,it  
is vain to think that any weariness1    
however caused1 any burden1  however    
slight1 may be got rid of otherwise than
 by bowing the neck to  the yoke of the 
,father's will4 ,there can be no other  
rest for heart and  soul that he has    
created4 ,from every burden1 from every 
anxiety1 from  all dread of shame or    
loss1 even loss of love itself1 that    
yoke will set  us free4    ,these words 
of the ,lord--so many as are reported in
 common by ,st ,matthew  and ,st ,luke1 

namely his thanksgiving1 and his        
statement concerning the  mutual        
knowledge of his father and himself1    
meet me like a well known  face         
unexpectedly encountered3 they come to  
me like a piece of heavenly  bread cut  
from the gospel of ,st ,john4 ,the words
 are not in that gospel1  and in ,st    
,matthew's and ,st ,luke's there is     
nothing more of the kind--in  ,st       
,mark's nothing like them4 ,the passage 
seems to me just one solitary  flower   
testifying to the presence in the       
gospels of ,matthew and ,luke of  the   
same root of thought and feeling which  
everywhere blossoms in that  of ,john4  
,it looks as if it had crept out of the 
fourth gospel into the  first and third1
 and seems a true sign1 though no proof1
 that1 however  much the fourth be      
unlike the other gospels1 they have all 
the same  origin4 ,some disciple was    
able to remember one such word of which 
the  promised comforter brought many to 
the remembrance of ,john4 ,i do not see 

how the more phenomenal gospels are ever
 to be understood1 save through  a right
 perception of the relation in which the
 ,lord stands to his  father1 which     
relation is the main subject of the     
gospel according to ,st  ,john4    ,as  
to the loving cry of the great brother  
to the whole weary world  which ,matthew
 alone has set down1 ,i seem aware of a 
certain  indescribable individuality in 
its tone1 distinguishing it from all his
  other sayings on record4    ,those who
 come at the call of the ,lord1 and take
 the rest he offers  them1 learning of  
him1 and bearing the yoke of the        
,father1 are the salt  of the earth1 the
 light of the world4          ,,the     
,,salt ,,and ,,the ,,light ,,of ,,the   
,,world4    ',ye are the salt of the    
earth2 but if the salt have lost his    
savour1  wherewith shall it be salted8  
,it is thenceforth good for nothing1 but
 to  be cast out1 and to be trodden     
under foot of men4 ,ye are the light of 
the world4 ,a city that is set on an    

hill1 cannot be hid4 ,neither do men    
light a candle1 and put it under a      
bushel1 but on a candlestick1 and it    
giveth light unto all that are in the   
house4 ,let your light so shine  before 
men1 that they may see your good works1 
and glorify your father  which is in    
heaven4'--,matthew v4 #c--af4      ,the 
,lord knew these men1 and had their     
hearts in his hand2 else would he  have 
told them they were the salt of the     
earth and the light of the  world8 ,they
 were in danger1 it is true1 of pluming 
themselves on what he  had said of them1
 of taking their importance to their own
 credit1 and  seeing themselves other   
than ,god saw them4 ,yet the ,lord does 
not  hesitate to call his few humble    
disciples the salt of the earth2 and    
every century since has borne witness   
that such indeed they were--that  he    
spoke of them but the simple fact4      
,where would the world be now but  for  
their salt and their light6 ,the world  
that knows neither their salt  nor their

 light may imagine itself now at least  
greatly retarded by the  long-drawn     
survival of their influences2 but such  
as have chosen  aspiration and not      
ambition1 will cry1 ,but for those men1 
whither should  we at this moment be    
bound6 ,their ,master set them to be    
salt against  corruption1 and light     
against darkness2 and our souls answer  
and say1  ,lord1 they have been the     
salt1 they have been the light of the   
world6    ,no sooner has he used the    
symbol of the salt1 than the ,lord      
proceeds to  supplement its             
incompleteness4 ,they were salt which   
must remember that  it is salt2 which   
must live salt1 and choose salt1 and be 
salt4 ,for the  whole worth of salt lies
 in its being salt2 and all the saltness
 of the  moral salt lies in the will to 
be salt4 ,to lose its saltness1 then1 is
  to cease to exist1 save as a vile     
thing whose very being is               
unjustifiable4 ,what is to be done with 
saltless salt6--with such as  would     

teach religion1 and know not ,god6      
,having thus carried the figure as far  
as it will serve him1 the ,master       
changes it for another1 which he can    
carry farther4 ,for salt only  preserves
 from growing bad2 it does not cause    
anything to grow better4  ,his disciples
 are the salt of the world1 but they are
 more4 ,therefore1  having warned the   
human salt to look to itself that it be 
indeed salt1  he proceeds3 ',ye are the 
light of the world1 a city1 a candle1'  
and so  resumes his former path of      
persuasion and enforcement3 ',it is so1 
therefore make it so4'--',ye are the    
salt of the earth2 therefore be         
salt4'--',ye are the light of the world2
 therefore shine4'--',ye are a  city2 be
 seen upon your hill4'--',ye are the    
,lord's candles2 let no  bushels cover  
you4 ,let your light shine4' ,every     
disciple of the ,lord  must be a        
preacher of righteousness4    ,cities   
are the best lighted portions of the    
world2 and perhaps the ,lord  meant1    

',you are a live city1 therefore light  
up your city4' ,some  connection of the 
city with light seems probably in his   
thought1 seeing  the allusion to the    
city on the hill comes in the midst of  
what he says  about light in relation to
 his disciples as the light of the      
world4  ,anyhow the city is the best    
circle in which1 and the best centre    
from  which to diffuse moral light4 ,a  
man brooding in the desert may find the 
very light of light1 but he must go to  
the city to let it shine4    ,from the  
general idea of light1 however1         
associated with the city as  visible to 
all the country around1 the ,lord turns 
at once1 in this  probably fragmentary  
representation of his words1 to the     
homelier1 the  more individual and      
personally applicable figure of the     
lamp3 ',neither  do men light a lamp1   
and put it under a bushel1 but on a     
lampstand1 and  it giveth light to all  
that are in the house1'    ,here let us 
meditate a moment4 ,for what is a lamp  

or a man lighted8 ,for  them that need  
light1 therefore for all4 ,a candle is  
not lighted for  itself2 neither is a   
man4 ,the light that serves self only1  
is no true  light2 its one virtue is    
that it will soon go out4 ,the bushel   
needs to  be lighted1 but not by being  
put over the lamp4 ,the man's own soul  
needs  to be lighted1 but light for     
itself only1 light covered by the       
bushel1  is darkness whether to soul or 
bushel4 ,light unshared is darkness4 ,to
 be  light indeed1 it must shine out4   
,it is of the very essence of light1    
that it is for others4 ,the thing is    
true of the spiritual as of the         
physical light--of the truth as of its  
type4    ,the lights of the world are   
live lights4 ,the lamp that the ,lord   
kindles  is a lamp that can will to     
shine1 a soul that must shine4 ,its true
  relation to the spirits around it--to 
,god and its fellows1 is its light4     
,then only does it fully shine1 when its
 love1 which is its light1 shows  it to 

all the souls within its scope1 and all 
those souls to each other1  and so does 
its part to bring all together toward   
one4 ,in the darkness  each soul is     
alone2 in the light the souls are a     
family4 ,men do not  light a lamp to    
kill it with a bushel1 but to set it on 
a stand1 that  it may give light to all 
that are in the house4 ,the ,lord seems 
to say1  ',so have ,i lighted you1 not  
that you may shine for yourselves1 but  
that  you may give light unto all4 ,i   
have set you like a city on a hill1 that
  the whole earth may see and share in  
your light4 ,shine therefore2 so  shine 
before men1 that they may see your good 
things and glorify your  father for the 
light with which he has lighted you4    
,take heed to your  light that it be    
such1 that it so shine1 that in you men 
may see the  ,father--may see your works
 so good1 so plainly his1 that they     
recognize  his presence in you1 and     
thank him for you4' ,there was the      
danger always  of the shadow of the     

self-bushel clouding the lamp the       
,father had  lighted2 and the moment    
they ceased to show the ,father1 the    
light that  was in them was darkness4   
,god alone is the light1 and our light  
is the  shining of his will in our      
lives4 ,if our light shine at all1 it   
must be1  it can be only in showing the 
,father2 nothing is light that does not 
bear him witness4 ,the man that sees the
 glory of ,god1 would turn sick at  the 
thought of glorifying his own self1     
whose one only possible glory is  to    
shine with the glory of ,god4 ,when a   
man tries to shine from the self  that  
is not one with ,god and filled with his
 light1 he is but making  ready for his 
own gathering contempt4 ,the man who1   
like his ,lord1 seeks  not his own1 but 
the will of him who sent him1 he alone  
shines4 ,he who  would shine in the     
praises of men1 will1 sooner or later1  
find himself  but a ,gideon's-pitcher   
left broken on the field4    ,let us    
bestir ourselves then to keep this word 

of the ,lord2 and to this  end inquire  
how we are to let our light shine4      
,to the man who does not try to order   
his thoughts and feelings and  judgments
 after the will of the ,father1 ,i have 
nothing to say2 he can  have no light to
 let shine4 ,for to let our light shine 
is to see that in  every1 even the      
smallest thing1 our lives and actions   
correspond to what  we know of ,god2    
that1 as the true children of our father
 in heaven1 we  do everything as he     
would have us do it4 ,need ,i say that  
to let our  light shine is to be just1  
honourable1 true1 courteous1 more       
careful  over the claim of our neighbour
 than our own1 as knowing ourselves in  
danger of overlooking it1 and not bound 
to insist on every claim of our  own6   
,the man who takes no count of what is  
fair1 friendly1 pure1  unselfish1       
lovely1 gracious1--where is his claim to
 call ,jesus his  master8 where his     
claim to ,christianity8 ,what saves his 
claim from being  merest mockery8       

,the outshining of any human light must 
be obedience to truth recognized  as    
such2 our first show of light as the    
,lord's disciples must be in  doing the 
things he tells us4 ,naturally thus we  
declare him our master1  the ruler of   
our conduct1 the enlightener of our     
souls2 and while in  the doing of his   
will a man is learning the loveliness of
 righteousness1  he can hardly fail to  
let some light shine across the dust of 
his  failures1 the exhalations from his 
faults4 ,thus will his disciples shine  
as lights in the world1 holding forth   
the ,word of life4    ,to shine1 we must
 keep in his light1 sunning our souls in
 it by thinking  of what he said and    
did1 and would have us think and do4 ,so
 shall we  drink the light like some    
diamonds1 keep it1 and shine in the     
dark4  ,doing his will1 men will see in 
us that we count the world his1 hold    
that his will and not ours must be done 
in it4 ,our very faces will then  shine 
with the hope of seeing him1 and being  

taken home where he is4  ,only let us   
remember that trying to look what we    
ought to be1 is the  beginning of       
hypocrisy4    ,if we do indeed expect   
better things to come1 we must let our  
hope  appear4 ,a ,christian who looks   
gloomy at the mention of death1 still   
more1 one who talks of his friends as if
 he had lost them1 turns the  bushel of 
his little-faith over the lamp of the   
,lord's light4 ,death is  but our       
visible horizon1 and our look ought     
always to be focussed beyond  it4 ,we   
should never talk as if death were the  
end of anything4    ,to let our light   
shine1 we must take care that we have no
 respect for  riches3 if we have none1  
there is no fear of our showing any4 ,to
 treat  the poor man with less attention
 or cordiality than the rich1 is to show
  ourselves the servants of ,mammon4 ,in
 like manner we must lay no value on    
the praise of men1 or in any way seek   
it4 ,we must honour no man because  of  
intellect1 fame1 or success4 ,we must   

not shrink1 in fear of the  judgment of 
men1 from doing openly what we hold     
right2 or at all  acknowledge as a      
law-giver what calls itself ,society1 or
 harbour the  least anxiety for its     
approval4    ,in business1 the custom of
 the trade must be understood by both   
contracting parties1 else it can have no
 place1 either as law or excuse1  with  
the disciple of ,jesus4 ,the man to whom
 business is one thing and  religion    
another1 is not a disciple4 ,if he      
refuses to harmonize them by  making his
 business religion1 he has already      
chosen ,mammon2 if he thinks  not to    
settle the question1 it is settled4 ,the
 most futile of all human  endeavours   
is1 to serve ,god and ,mammon4 ,the man 
who makes the endeavour1  betrays his   
,master in the temple and kisses him in 
the garden2 takes  advantage of him in  
the shop1 and offers him 'divine        
service6' on  ,sunday4 ,his very        
church-going is but a further service of
 ,mammon6 ,but  let us waste no strength

 in despising such men2 let us rather   
turn the  light upon ourselves3 are we  
not in some way denying him8 ,is our    
light  bearing witness8 ,is it shining  
before men so that they glorify ,god for
  it8 ,if it does not shine1 it is      
darkness4 ,in the darkness which a man  
takes for light1 he will thrust at the  
heart of the ,lord himself4    ,he who  
goes about his everyday duty as the work
 the ,father has given him  to do1 is he
 who lets his light shine4 ,but such a  
man will not be  content with this3 he  
must yet let his light shine4 ,whatever 
makes his  heart glad1 he will have his 
neighbour share4 ,the body is a lantern2
 it  must not be a dark lantern2 the    
glowing heart must show in the shining  
face4 ,his glad thought may not be one  
to impart to his neighbour1 but he  must
 not quench the vibration of its        
gladness ere it reach him4 ,what  shall 
we say of him who comes from his closet1
 his mountain-top1 with  such a veil    
over his face as masks his very         

humanity8 ,is it with the  ,father that 
man has had communion1 whose every      
movement is  self-hampered1 and in whose
 eyes dwell no smiles for the people of 
his  house8 ,the man who receives the   
quiet attentions1 the divine            
ministrations1 of wife or son or        
daughter1 without token of pleasure1    
without sign of gratitude1 can hardly   
have been with ,jesus4 ,or can he  have 
been with him1 and have left him behind 
in his closet8 ,if his faith  in ,god   
take from a man his cheerfulness1 how   
shall the face of a man  ever shine8    
,and why are they always glad before the
 face of the ,father  in heaven8 ,it is 
true that pain or inward grief may      
blameless banish all  smiling1 but even 
heaviness of heart has no right so to   
tumble the  bushel over the lamp that no
 ray can get out to tell that love is   
yet  burning within4 ,the man must at   
least let his dear ones know that       
something else than displeasure with    
them is the cause of his clouded        

countenance4    ,what a sweet colour the
 divine light takes to itself in        
courtesy1 whose  perfection is the      
recognition of every man as a temple of 
the living  ,god4 ,sorely ruined1 sadly 
defiled the temple may be1 but if ,god  
had left  it1 it would be a heap and not
 a house4    ,next to love1 specially   
will the light shine out in fairness4   
,what light  can he have in him who is  
always on his own side1 and will never  
descry  reason or right on that of his  
adversary8 ,and certainly1 if he that   
showeth mercy1 as well he that showeth  
justice1 ought to do it with            
cheerfulness4    ,but if all our light  
shine out1 and none of our darkness1    
shall we not  be in utmost danger of    
hypocrisy8 ,yes1 if we but hide our     
darkness1 and  do not strive to slay it 
with our light3 what way have we to show
 it1  while struggling to destroy it8   
,only when we cherish evil1 is there    
hypocrisy in hiding it4 ,a man who is   
honestly fighting it and showing it  no 

quarter1 is already conqueror in        
,christ1 or will soon be--and more  than
 innocent4 ,but our good feelings1 those
 that make for righteousness  and unity1
 we ought to let shine2 they claim to   
commune with the light  in others4 ,many
 parents hold words unsaid which would  
lift  hundred-weights from the hearts of
 their children1 yea1 make them leap    
for joy4 ,a stern father and a silent   
mother make mournful1 or1 which is  far 
worse1 hard children4 ,need ,i add that1
 if any one1 hearing the  injunction to 
let his light shine1 makes himself shine
 instead1 it is  because the light is   
not in him6    ,but what shall ,i say of
 such as1 in the name of religion1 let  
only their  darkness out--the darkness  
of worshipped opinion1 the darkness of  
lip-honour and disobedience6 ,such are  
those who tear asunder the body of      
,christ with the explosives of dispute1 
on the plea of such a unity as  alone   
they can understand1 namely a paltry    
uniformity4 ,what have not the  'good   

church-man' and the 'strong dissenter'  
to answer for1 who1 hiding  what true   
light they have1 if indeed they have    
any1 each under the  bushel of his      
party-spirit1 radiate only repulsion6   
,there is no schism1  none whatever1 in 
using diverse forms of thought or       
worship3 true  honesty is never         
schismatic4 ,the real schismatic is the 
man who turns  away love and justice    
from the neighbour who holds theories in
 religious  philosophy1 or as to        
church-constitution1 different from his 
own2 who  denies or avoids his brother  
because he follows not with him2 who    
calls  him a schismatic because he      
prefers this or that mode of public     
worship  not his4 ,the other may be     
schismatic2 he himself certainly is4 ,he
  walks in the darkness of opinion1 not 
in the light of life1 not in the  faith 
which worketh by love4 ,worst of all is 
division in the name of  ,christ who    
came to make one4 ,neither ,paul nor    
,apollos nor ,cephas  would--least of   

all will ,christ be the leader of any   
party save that of  his own elect1 the  
party of love--of love which suffereth  
long and is  kind2 which envieth not1 is
 not puffed up1 doth not behave itself  
unseemly1 seeketh not its own1 is not   
easily provoked1 thinketh no evil1      
rejoiceth not in iniquity1 but rejoiceth
 in the truth1 beareth all  things1     
believeth all things1 hopeth all things1
 endureth all things4    ',let your     
light shine1' says the ,lord3--if ,i    
have none1 the call cannot  apply to me2
 but ,i must bethink me1 lest1 in the   
night ,i am cherishing  about me1 the   
,lord come upon me like a thief4 ,there 
may be those1  however1 and ,i think    
they are numerous1 who1 having some1 or 
imagining  they have much light1 yet    
have not enough to know the duty of     
letting it  shine on their neighbours4  
,the ,lord would have his men so alive  
with his  light1 that it should for ever
 go flashing from each to all1 and all1 
with eternal response1 keep glorifying  

the ,father4 ,dost thou look for a  good
 time coming1 friend1 when thou shalt   
know as thou art known8 ,let  the joy of
 thy hope stream forth upon thy         
neighbours4 ,fold them round in  that   
which maketh thyself glad4 ,let thy     
nature grow more expansive and          
communicative4 ,look like the man thou  
art--a man who knows something  very    
good4 ,thou believest thyself on the way
 to the heart of things3  walk so1 shine
 so1 that all that see thee shall want  
to go with thee4    ,what light issues  
from such as make their faces long at   
the very name of  death1 and look and   
speak as if it were the end of all      
things and the  worst of evils8 ,jesus  
told his men not to fear death2 told    
them his  friends should go to be with  
him2 told them they should live in the  
house of his father and their father2   
and since then he has risen  himself    
from the tomb1 and gone to prepare a    
place for them3 who1 what  are these    
miserable refusers of comfort8 ,not     

,christians1 surely6 ,oh1  yes1 they are
 ,christians6 ',they are gone1' they    
say1 'to be for ever  with the ,lord2'  
and then they weep and lament1 and seem 
more afraid of  starting to join them   
than of aught else under the sun6 ,to   
the last  attainable moment they cling  
to what they call life4 ,they are       
children--were there ever any other such
 children8--who hang crying to  the     
skirts of their mother1 and will not be 
lifted to her bosom4 ,they  are not of  
,paul's mind3 to be with ,him is not    
better6 ,they worship  their physician2 
and their prayer to the ,god of their   
life is to spare  them from more life4  
,what sort of ,christians are they8     
,where shines  their light8 ,alas for   
thee1 poor world1 hadst thou no better  
lights than  these6    ,you who have    
light1 show yourselves the sons and     
daughters of ,light1 of  ,god1 of       
,hope--the heirs of a great             
completeness4 ,freely let your light    
shine4    ,only take heed that ye do not

 your righteousness before men1 to be   
seen  of them4          ,,the ,,right   
,,hand ,,and ,,the ,,left4    ,take heed
 that ye do not your righteousness      
before men to be seen of  them2         
otherwise ye have no reward of your     
father which is in heaven4444  ,but when
 thou doest alms1 let not thy left hand 
know what thy right hand  doeth2 that   
thine alms may be in secret2 and thy    
father which seeth in  secret1 himself  
shall reward thee4--,matthew vi4 ,i1#c4 
,let your light out freely1 that men may
 see it1 but not that men may see  you4 
,if ,i do anything1 not because it has  
to be done1 not because ,god  would have
 it so1 not that ,i may do right1 not   
because it is honest1 not  that ,i love 
the thing1 not that ,i may be true to my
 ,lord1 not that the  truth may be      
recognized as truth and as his1 but that
 ,i may be seen as  the doer1 that ,i   
may be praised of men1 that ,i may gain 
repute or fame2  be the thing itself    
ever so good1 ,i may look to men for my 

reward1 for  there is none for me with  
the ,father4 ,if1 that light being my   
pleasure1  ,i do it that the light may  
shine1 and that men may know the ,light1
  the father of lights1 ,i do well2 but 
if ,i do it that ,i may be seen         
shining1 that the light may be noted as 
emanating from me and not from  another1
 then am ,i of those that seek glory of 
men1 and worship ,satan2  the light that
 through me may possibly illuminate     
others1 will1 in me  and for me1 be     
darkness4    ,but when thou doest alms1 
let not thy left hand know what thy     
right  hand doeth4    ,how1 then1 am ,i 
to let my light shine1 if ,i take pains 
to hide what ,i  do8    ,the injunction 
is not to hide what you do from others1 
but to hide it  from yourself4 ,the     
,master would have you not plume        
yourself upon it1 not  cherish the      
thought that you have done it1 or confer
 with yourself in  satisfaction over it4
 ,you must not count it to your praise4 
,a man must  not desire to be satisfied 

with himself4 ,his right hand must not  
seek  the praise of his left hand4 ,his 
doing must not invite his               
after-thinking4 ,the right hand must let
 the thing done go1 as a thing          
done-with4 ,we must meditate nothing    
either as a fine thing for us to do1  or
 a fine thing for us to have done4 ,we  
must not imagine any merit in  us3 it   
would be to love a lie1 for we can have 
none2 there is no such  thing possible4 
,is there anything to be proud of in    
refusing to worship  the devil8 ,is it a
 grand thing1 is it a meritorious thing1
 not to be  vile8 ,when we have done    
all1 we are unprofitable servants4 ,our 
very best  is but decent4 ,what more    
could it be8 ,why then think of it as   
anything  more8 ,what things could we or
 any one do1 worthy of being brooded    
over  as possessions4 ,good to do1 they 
were2 bad to pride ourselves upon1 they 
are4 ,why should a man meditate with    
satisfaction on having denied  himself  
some selfish indulgence1 any more than  

on having washed his  hands8 ,may we    
roll the rejection of a villainy as a   
sweet morsel under  our tongues8 ,they  
were the worst villains of all who could
 be proud of  not having committed a    
villainy2 and their pride would but     
render them  the more capable of the    
villainy1 when next the temptation to it
 came4  ,even if our supposed merit were
 of the positive order1 and we did every
  duty perfectly1 the moment we began to
 pride ourselves upon the fact1 we      
should drop into a hell of              
worthlessness4 ,what are we for but to  
do our  duty8 ,we must do it1 and think 
nothing of ourselves for that1 neither  
care what men think of us for anything4 
,with the praise or blame of men  we    
have nought to do4 ,their blame may be a
 good thing1 their praise  cannot be4   
,but the worst sort of the praise of men
 is the praise we give  ourselves4 ,we  
must do nothing to be seen of ourselves4
 ,we must seek no  approbation even1 but
 that of ,god1 else we shut the door of 

the kingdom  from the outside4 ,his     
approbation will but quicken our sense  
of  unworthiness4 ,what6 seek the praise
 of men for being fair to our own       
brothers and sisters8 ,what6 seek the   
praise of ,god for laying our hearts  at
 the feet of him to whom we utterly     
belong8 ,there is no pride so  mean--and
 all pride is absolutely1 essentially   
mean--as the pride of  being holier than
 our fellow1 except the pride of being  
holy4 ,such  imagined holiness is       
foulness4 ,religion itself in the hearts
 of the  unreal1 is a dead thing2 what  
seems life in it1 is the vermiculate    
life  of a corpse4    ,there is one word
 in the context1 as we have it in the   
authorized  version1 that used to       
trouble me1 seeming to make its         
publicity a  portion of the reward for  
doing certain right things in secret3 ,i
 mean  the word openly1 at the ends of  
the fourth1 the sixth1 and the          
eighteenth verses1 making the ,lord seem
 to say1 ',avoid the praise of  men1 and

 thou shalt at length have the praise of
 men4'--',thy father1  which seeth in   
secret1 shall reward thee openly4' ,thy 
reward shall be  seen of men6 and thou  
seen as the receiver of the reward6 ,in 
what other  way could the word1 then or 
now1 be fairly understood8 ,it must be  
the  interpolation of some ,jew scribe1 
who1 even after learning a little of    
the ,christ1 continued unable to        
conceive as reward anything that did not
  draw part at least of its sweetness   
from the gazing eyes of the  multitude4 
,glad was ,i to find that the word is   
not in the best  manuscripts2 and ,god  
be thanked that it is left out in the   
revised  version4 ,what shall we think  
of the daring that could interpolate it6
  ,but of like sort is the daring of    
much exposition of the ,master's words4 
,what men have not faith enough to      
receive1 they will still dilute to the  
standard of their own faculty of        
reception4 ,if any one say1 ',why did   
the  ,lord let the word remain there so 

long1 if he never said it8' ,i answer3  
,perhaps that the minds of his disciples
 might be troubled at its  presence1    
arise against it1 and do him right by   
casting it out--and so  ,wisdom be      
justified of her children4    ,but there
 are some who1 if the notion of reward  
is not naturally a  trouble to them1 yet
 have come to feel it such1 because of  
the words of  certain objectors who     
think to take a higher stand than the   
,christian1  saying the idea of reward  
for doing right is a low1 an unworthy   
idea4  ,now1 verily1 it would be a low  
thing for any child to do his father's  
will in the hope that his father would  
reward him for it2 but it is  quite     
another thing for a father whose child  
endeavours to please him1  to let him   
know that he recognizes his childness   
toward him1 and will be  fatherly good  
to him4 ,what kind of a father were the 
man who1 because  there could be no     
merit or desert in doing well1 would not
 give his  child a smile or a pleased   

word when he saw him trying his best8   
,would  not such acknowledgment from the
 father be the natural correlate of the 
child's behaviour8 and what would the   
father's smile be but the perfect       
reward of the child8 ,suppose the father
 to love the child so that he  wants to 
give him everything1 but dares not until
 his character is  developed3 must he   
not be glad1 and show his gladness1 at  
every shade of  a progress that will at 
length set him free to throne his son   
over all  that he has8 ',i am an        
unprofitable servant1' says the man who 
has done  his duty2 but his lord1 coming
 unexpectedly1 and finding him at his   
post1 girds himself1 and makes him sit  
down to meat1 and comes forth and       
serves him4 ,how could the divine order 
of things1 founded for growth and       
gradual betterment1 hold and proceed    
without the notion of return for a      
thing done8 ,must there be only current 
and no tide8 ,how can we be  workers    
with ,god at his work1 and he never say 

',thank you1 my child'8  ,will he take  
joy in his success and give none8 ,is he
 the husbandman to  take all the profit1
 and muzzle the mouth of his ox8 ,when a
 man does  work for another1 he has his 
wages for it1 and society exists by the 
dependence of man upon man through work 
and wages4 ,the devil is not the        
inventor of this society2 he has        
invented the notion of a certain        
degradation in work1 a still greater in 
wages2 and following this up1  has      
constituted a ,society after his own    
likeness1 which despises work1  leaves  
it undone1 and so can claim its wages   
without disgrace4    ,if you say1 ',no  
one ought to do right for the sake of   
reward1' ,i go  farther and say1 ',no   
man can do right for the sake of reward4
 ,a man  may do a thing indifferent1 he 
may do a thing wrong1 for the sake of   
reward2 but a thing in itself right1    
done for reward1 would1 in the very     
doing1 cease to be right4' ,at the same 
time1 if a man does right1 he  cannot   

escape being rewarded for it2 and to    
refuse the reward1 would be  to refuse  
life1 and foil the creative love4 ,the  
whole question is of the  kind of reward
 expected4 ,what first reward for doing 
well1 may ,i look  for8 ,to grow purer  
in heart1 and stronger in the hope of at
 length  seeing ,god4 ,if a man be not  
after this fashion rewarded1 he must    
perish4  ,as to happiness or any lower  
rewards that naturally follow the       
first--is  ,god to destroy the law of   
his universe1 the divine sequence of    
cause and  effect in order to say3 ',you
 must do well1 but you shall gain no    
good by  it2 you must lead a dull       
joyless existence to all eternity1 that 
lack of  delight may show you pure'8    
,could ,love create with such end in    
view8  ,righteousness does not demand   
creation2 it is ,love1 not              
,righteousness1  that cannot live alone4
 ,the creature must already be1 ere     
,righteousness  can put in a claim4     
,but1 hearts and souls there1 ,love     

itself1 which  created for love and joy1
 presses the demand of ,righteousness   
first4    ,a righteousness that created 
misery in order to up-hold itself1 would
 be  a righteousness that was           
unrighteous4 ,god will die for          
righteousness1  but never create for a  
joyless righteousness4 ,to call into    
being the  necessarily and hopelessly   
incomplete1 would be to wrong creation  
in its  very essence4 ,to create for the
 knowledge of himself1 and then not give
  himself1 would be injustice even to   
cruelty2 and if ,god give himself1  what
 other reward--there can be no          
further--is not included1 seeing he  is 
,life and all her children--the ,all in 
all8 ,it will take the utmost  joy ,god 
can give1 to let men know him2 and what 
man1 knowing him1 would  mind losing    
every other joy8 ,only what other joy   
could keep from  entering1 where the    
,god of joy already dwelt8 ,the law of  
the universe  holds1 and will hold1 the 
name of the ,father be                  

praised3--',whatsoever a  man soweth1   
that shall he also reap4' ',they have   
sown the wind1 and they  shall reap the 
whirlwind4' ',he that soweth to his     
flesh1 shall of the  flesh reap         
corruption2 but he that soweth to the   
spirit1 shall of the  spirit reap life  
everlasting4' ',whosoever hath1 to him  
shall be given1  and he shall have more 
abundance2 but whosoever hath not1 from 
him shall  be taken away even that he   
hath4'    ,to object to ,christianity as
 selfish1 is utter foolishness2         
,christianity  alone gives any hope of  
deliverance from selfishness4 ,is it    
selfish to  desire to love8 ,is it      
selfish to hope for purity and the sight
 of ,god8  ,what better can we do for   
our neighbour than to become altogether 
righteous toward him8 ,will he not be   
the nearer sharing in the exceeding     
great reward of a return to the divine  
idea8    ,where is the evil toward ,god1
 where the wrong to my neighbour1 if ,i 
think sometimes of the joys to follow in

 the train of perfect loving8 ,is  not  
the atmosphere of ,god1 love itself1 the
 very breath of the ,father1  wherein   
can float no thinnest pollution of      
selfishness1 the only  material         
wherewithal to build the airy castles of
 heaven8 ',creator1' the  childlike     
heart might cry1 'give me all the wages1
 all the reward thy  perfect            
father-heart can give thy unmeriting    
child4 ,my fit wages may be  pain1      
sorrow1 humiliation of soul3 ,i stretch 
out my hands to receive  them4 ,thy     
reward will be to lift me out of the    
mire of self-love1 and  bring me nearer 
to thyself and thy children3 welcome1   
divinest of good  things6 ,thy highest  
reward is thy purest gift2 thou didst   
make me for it  from the first2 thou1   
the eternal life1 hast been labouring   
still to fit  me for receiving it--the  
vision1 the knowledge1 the possession of
  thyself4 ,i can seek but what thou    
waitest and watchest to give3 ,i would  
be such into whom thy love can flow4'   

,it seems to me that the only merit that
 could live before ,god1 is the  merit  
of ,jesus--who of himself1 at once1     
untaught1 unimplored1 laid  himself     
aside1 and turned to the ,father1       
refusing his life save in the  ,father4 
,like ,god1 of himself he chose         
righteousness1 and so merited to  sit on
 the throne of ,god4 ,in the same spirit
 he gave himself afterward  to his      
father's children1 and merited the power
 to transfuse the  life-redeeming energy
 of his spirit into theirs3 made        
perfect1 he became  the author of       
eternal salvation unto all them that    
obey him4 ,but it is a  word of little  
daring1 that ,jesus had no thought of   
merit in what he  did--that he saw only 
what he had to be1 what he must do4--,i 
speak after  the poor fashion of a man  
lost in what is too great for him1 yet  
is his  very life4--,where can be a     
man's merit in refusing to go down to an
  abyss of loss--loss of the right to   
be1 loss of his father1 loss of         

himself8 ,would ,satan1 with all the    
instincts and impulses of his origin  in
 him1 have merited eternal life by      
refusing to be a devil8 ,not the  less  
would he have had eternal life2 not the 
less would he have been  wrapt in the   
love and confidence of the ,father4 ,he 
would have had his  reward4 ,i cannot   
imagine thing created meriting aught    
save by divine  courtesy4    ,i suspect 
the notion of merit belongs to a low    
development1 and the  higher a man      
rises1 the less will he find it worth a 
thought4 ,perhaps we  shall come to see 
that it owes what being it has1 to man1 
that it is a  thing thinkable only by   
man4 ,i suspect it is not a thought of  
the  eternal mind1 and has in itself no 
existence1 being to ,god merely a  thing
 thought by man4              ,for merit
 lives from man to man1      ,and not   
from man1 ,o ,lord1 to thee4    ,the    
man1 then1 who does right1 and seeks no 
praise from men1 while he  merits       
nothing1 shall be rewarded by his       

,father1 and his reward will be  right  
precious to him4    ,we must let our    
light shine1 make our faith1 our hope1  
our love1  manifest--that men may       
praise1 not us for shining1 but the     
,father for  creating the light4 ,no man
 with faith1 hope1 love1 alive in his   
soul1  could make the divine possessions
 a show to gain for himself the         
admiration of men3 not the less must    
they appear in our words1 in our  looks1
 in our carriage--above all1 in         
honourable1 unselfish1 hospitable1      
helpful deeds4 ,our light must shine in 
cheerfulness1 in joy1 yea1 where  a man 
has the gift1 in merriment2 in freedom  
from care save for one  another1 in     
interest in the things of others1 in    
fearlessness and  tenderness1 in        
courtesy and graciousness4 ,in our anger
 and indignation1  specially1 must our  
light shine4 ,but we must give no       
quarter to the most  shadowy thought of 
how this or that will look4 ,from the   
faintest  thought of the praise of men1 

we must turn away4 ,no man can be the   
disciple of ,christ and desire fame4 ,to
 desire fame is ignoble2 it is a        
beggarly greed4 ,in the noble mind1 it  
is the more of an infirmity4 ,there  is 
no aspiration in it--nothing but        
ambition4 ,it is simply selfishness     
that would be proud if it could4 ,fame  
is the applause of the many1 and  the   
judgment of the many is foolish2        
therefore the greater the fame1 the     
more is the foolishness that swells it1 
and the worse is the foolishness  that  
longs after it4 ,aspiration is the sole 
escape from ambition4 ,he who           
aspires--that is1 does his endeavour to 
rise above himself--neither  lusts to be
 higher than his neighbour1 nor seeks to
 mount in his  opinion4 ,what light     
there is in him shines the more that he 
does nothing  to be seen of men4 ,he    
stands in the mist between the gulf and 
the glory1  and looks upward4 ,he loves 
not his own soul1 but longs to be clean4
        ,out of the gulf into the glory1

        ,father1 my soul cries out to be
 lifted4      ,dark is the woof of my   
dismal story1        ,thorough thy      
sun-warp stormily drifted6--      ,out  
of the gulf into the glory1      ,lift  
me1 and save my story4        ,i have   
done many things merely shameful2       
,i am a man ashamed1 my father6      ,my
 life is ashamed and broken and         
blameful--        ,the broken and       
blameful1 oh1 cleanse and gather6       
,heartily shame me1 ,lord1 of the       
shameful6      ,to my judge ,i flee with
 my blameful4        ,saviour1 at peace 
in thy perfect purity1        ,think    
what it is1 not to be pure6      ,strong
 in thy love's essential security1      
,think upon those who are never secure4 
,full fill my soul with the light of thy
 purity2      ,fold me in love's        
security4        ,o ,father1 ,o         
,brother1 my heart is sore aching       
,help it to ache as much as is needful2 
,is it you cleansing me1 mending1       
remaking1        ,dear potter-hands1 so 

tender and heedful8      ,sick of my    
past1 of my own self aching--      ,hurt
 on1 dear hands1 with your making4      
,proud of the form thou hadst given thy 
vessel1        ,proud of myself1 ,i     
forgot my donor2      ,down in the dust 
,i began to nestle1        ,poured thee 
no wine1 and drank deep of dishonour6   
,lord1 thou hast broken1 thou mendest   
thy vessel6      ,in the dust of thy    
glory ,i nestle4    ,o ,lord1 the       
earnest expectation of thy creature     
waiteth for the  manifestation of the   
sons of ,god4          ,,the ,,hope ,,of
 ,,the ,,universe4    ,for the earnest  
expectation of the creature waiteth for 
the  manifestation of the sons of       
,god4--,romans viii4 #ai4      ,let us  
try1 through these words1 to get at the 
idea in ,st ,paul's mind  for which they
 stand1 and have so long stood4 ,it can 
be no worthless  idea they represent--no
 mere platitude1 which a man1 failing to
  understand it at once1 may without    
loss leave behind him4 ,the words mean  

something which ,paul believes vitally  
associated with the life and death  of  
his ,master4 ,he had seen ,jesus with   
his bodily eyes1 ,i think1 but he  had  
not seen him with those alone2 he had   
seen and saw him with the real  eyes1   
the eyes that do not see except they    
understand2 and the sight of  him had   
uplifted his whole nature--first his    
pure will for  righteousness1 and then  
his hoping imagination2 and out of      
these1 in the  knowledge of ,jesus1 he  
spoke4    ,the letters he has left      
behind him1 written in the power of this
  uplifting1 have waked but poor ideas  
in poor minds2 for words1 if they  seem 
to mean anything1 must always seem to   
mean something within the  scope of the 
mind hearing them4 ,words cannot convey 
the thought of a  thinker to a          
no-thinker2 of a largely aspiring and   
self-discontented  soul1 to a creature  
satisfied with his poverty1 and counting
 his meagre  faculty the human standard4
 ,neither will they readily reveal the  

mind of  one old in thought1 to one who 
has but lately begun to think4 ,the     
higher  the reader's notion of what ,st 
,paul intends--the higher the idea1 that
  is1 which his words wake in him1 the  
more likely is it to be the same  which 
moved the man who had seen ,jesus1 and  
was his own no more4 ,if a  man err in  
his interpretation1 it will hardly be by
 attributing to his  words an intent too
 high4    ,first then1 what does ,paul1 
the slave of ,christ1 intend by 'the    
creature' or 'the creation'8 ,if he     
means the visible world1 he did not     
surely1 and without saying so1 mean to  
exclude the noblest part of  it--the    
sentient6 ,if he did1 it is doubly      
strange that he should  immediately     
attribute not merely sense1 but         
conscious sense1 to that  part1 the     
insentient1 namely1 which remained4 ,if 
you say he does so but  by a figure of  
speech1 ,i answer that a figure that    
meant less than it  said--and how much  
less would not this8--would be one      

altogether  unworthy of the ,lord's     
messenger4    ,first1 ,i repeat1 to     
exclude the sentient from the term      
common to both in  the word creation or 
creature--and then to attribute the     
capabilities of the sentient to the     
insentient1 as a mere figure to  express
 the hopes of men with regard to the    
perfecting of the insentient  for the   
comfort of men1 were a violence as unfit
 in rhetoric as in its  own nature4     
,take another part of the same          
utterance3 ',for we know that  the whole
 creation groaneth and travaileth in    
pain together until now3'  is it not    
manifest that to interpret such words as
 referring to the mere  imperfections of
 the insensate material world1 would be 
to make of the  phrase a worthless      
hyperbole8 ,i am inclined to believe the
 apostle  regarded the whole visible    
creation as1 in far differing degrees of
  consciousness1 a live outcome from the
 heart of the living one1 who is  all   
and in all3 such view1 at the same time1

 ,i do not care to insist  upon2 ,i only
 care to argue that the word creature or
 creation must  include everything in   
creation that has sentient life4 ,that  
,i should in  the class include a       
greater number of phenomena than a      
reader may be  prepared to admit1 will  
nowise affect the force of what ,i have 
to say1  seeing my point is simply this3
 that in the term creation1 ,paul       
comprises all creatures capable of      
suffering2 the condition of which       
sentient1 therefore superior portion1   
gives him occasion to speak of  the     
whole creation as suffering in the      
process of its divine evolution  or     
development1 groaning and travailing as 
in the pangs of giving birth  to a      
better self1 a nobler world4 ,it is not 
necessary to the idea that  the creation
 should know what it is groaning after1 
or wherein the  higher condition        
constituting its deliverance must       
consist4 ,the human  race groans for    
deliverance3 how much does the race know

 that its  redemption lies in becoming  
one with the ,father1 and partaking of  
his  glory8 ,here and there one of the  
race knows it--which is indeed a pledge 
for the race--but the race cannot be    
said to know its own lack1 or to  have  
even a far-off notion of what alone can 
stay its groaning4 ,in like  manner the 
whole creation is groaning after an     
unforeseen yet essential  birth--groans 
with the necessity of being freed from a
 state that is but  a transitional and  
not a true one1 from a condition that   
nowise answers  to the intent in which  
existence began4 ,in both the lower     
creation and  the higher1 this same     
groaning of the fettered idea after a   
freer life1  seems the first enforced   
decree of a holy fate1 and itself the   
first  movement of the hampered thing   
toward the liberty of another birth4    
,to believe that ,god made many of the  
lower creatures merely for prey1 or  to 
be the slaves of a slave1 and writhe    
under the tyrannies of a cruel  master  

who will not serve his own master2 that 
he created and is  creating an endless  
succession of them to reap little or no 
good of  life but its cessation--a      
doctrine held by some1 and practically  
accepted by multitudes--is to believe in
 a ,god who1 so far as one  portion at  
least of his creation is concerned1 is a
 demon4 ,but a  creative demon is an    
absurdity2 and were such a creator      
possible1 he  would not be ,god1 but    
must one day be found and destroyed by  
the real  ,god4 ,not the less the fact  
remains1 that miserable suffering       
abounds  among them1 and that1 even     
supposing ,god did not foresee how      
creation  would turn out for them1 the  
thing lies at his door4 ,he has besides 
made  them so far dumb that they cannot 
move the hearts of the oppressors into  
whose hands he has given them1 telling  
how hard they find the world1 how  sore 
their life in it4 ,the apostle takes up 
their case1 and gives us  material for  
an answer to such as blame ,god for     

their sad condition4    ,there are many1
 ,i suspect1 who from the eighth chapter
 of ,st ,paul's  epistle to the ,romans1
 gather this much and no more3--that the
 lower  animals alive at the coming of  
the ,lord1 whensoever that may be1 will 
thenceforward1 with such as thereafter  
may come into existence1 lead a  happy  
life for the time allotted them6 ,strong
 champions of ,god1 these  profound     
believers6 ,what lovers of life1 what   
disciples of ,st ,paul1 nay1  what      
disciples of ,jesus1 to whom such a     
gloss is consolation for the  moans of a
 universe6 ,truly1 the furnace of       
affliction they would  extinguish thus1 
casts out the more an evil odour6 ,for  
all the creatures  who through ages of  
misery have groaned and travailed and   
died1 to these  mild ,christians it is  
enough that they are dead1 therefore1 as
 they  would argue1 out of it now6 ',it 
is well with them1' ,i seem to hear such
  say2 'they are mercifully dealt with2 
their sufferings are over2 they  had not

 to live on for ever in oppression4 ,the
 ,god of their life has  taken from them
 their past1 and troubles them with no  
future6' ,it is  true this were no small
 consolation concerning such as are gone
 away6  ,surely rest is better than     
ceaseless toil and pain6 ,but what shall
 we  say of such a heedless ,god as     
those ,christians are content to        
worship6  ,is he a merciful ,god8 ,is he
 a loving ,god8 ,how shall he die to    
escape the  remorse of the authorship of
 so much misery8 ,our pity turns from   
the  dead creature to the live creator  
who could live and know himself the     
maker of so many extinguished hearts1   
whose friend was--not he1 but  ,death4  
,blessed be the name of the ,father of  
,jesus1 there is no such  creator6      
,be we have not to do with the dead     
only2 there are those which live and    
suffer3 is there no comfort concerning  
them1 but that they too shall at  length
 die and leave their misery8 ,and what  
shall we say of those  coming1 and yet  

to come and pass--evermore issuing from 
the fountain of  life1 daily born into  
evil things8 ,will the consolation that 
they will  soon die1 suffice for the    
heart of the child who laments over his 
dead  bird or rabbit1 and would fain    
love that father in heaven who keeps on 
making the creatures8 ,alas1 they are   
crowding in2 they cannot help           
themselves2 their misery is awaiting    
them6 ,would those ,christians have  me 
believe in a ,god who differentiates    
creatures from himself1 only that  they 
may be the prey of other creatures1 or  
spend a few hours or years1  helpless   
and lonely1 speechless and without      
appeal1 in merciless hands1  then pass  
away into nothingness8 ,i will not2 in  
the name of ,jesus1 ,i  will not4 ,had  
he not known something better1 would he 
have said what he  did about the father 
of men and the sparrows8    ,what many  
men call their beliefs1 are but the     
prejudices they happen to  have picked  
up3 why should such believers waste a   

thought as to how  their paltry         
fellow-inhabitants of the planet fare8  
,many indeed have all  their lives been 
too busy making their human fellows     
groan and sweat for  their own fancied  
well-being1 to spare a thought for the  
fate of the yet  more helpless4 ,but    
there are not a few1 who would be       
indignant at having  their belief in    
,god questioned1 who yet seem greatly to
 fear imagining  him better than he is3 
whether is it he or themselves they     
dread  injuring by expecting too much of
 him8 ',you see the plain facts of the  
case6' they say4 ',there is no          
questioning them6 ,what can be done for 
the  poor things--except indeed you take
 the absurd notion into your head1  that
 they too have a life beyond the grave8'
    ,why should such a notion seem to   
you absurd8 ,i answer4 ,the teachers of 
the nation have unwittingly1 it seems to
 me through unbelief1 wronged  the      
animals deeply by their silence anent   
the thoughtless popular  presumption    

that they have no hereafter2 thus       
leaving them deprived of a  great       
advantage to their position among men4  
,but ,i suppose they too have  taken it 
for granted that the ,preserver of man  
and beast never had a  thought of       
keeping one beast alive beyond a certain
 time2 in which case  heartless men     
might well argue he did not care how    
they wronged them1  for he meant them no
 redress4 ,their immortality is no new  
faith with me1  but as old as my        
childhood4    ,do you believe in        
immortality for yourself8 ,i would ask  
any reader who  is not in sympathy with 
my hope for the animals4 ,if not1 ,i    
have no  argument with you4 ,but if you 
do1 why not believe in it for them8     
,verily1 were immortality no greater a  
thing for the animals than it  seems for
 men to some who yet profess to expect  
it1 ,i should scarce care  to insist    
upon their share in it4 ,but if the     
thought be anywise precious  to you1 is 
it essential to your enjoyment in it1   

that nothing less than  yourself should 
share its realization8 ,are you the     
lowest kind of  creature that could be  
permitted to live8 ,had ,god been of    
like heart  with you1 would he have     
given life and immortality to creatures 
so much  less than himself as we8 ,are  
these not worth making immortal8 ,how1  
then1  were they worth calling out of   
the depth of no-being8 ,it is a greater 
deed1 to make be that which was not1    
than to seal it with an infinite        
immortality3 did ,god do that which was 
not worth doing8 ,what he thought  worth
 making1 you think not worth continuing 
made6 ,you would have him go  on for    
ever creating new things with one hand1 
and annihilating those he  had made with
 the other--for ,i presume you would not
 prefer the earth to  be without        
animals6 ,if it were harder for ,god to 
make the former go on  living1 than to  
send forth new1 then his creatures were 
no better than  the toys which a child  
makes1 and destroys as he makes them4   

,for what  good1 for what divine purpose
 is the maker of the sparrow present at 
its  death1 if he does not care what    
becomes of it8 ,what is he there for1 ,i
  repeat1 if he have no care that it go 
well with his bird in its dying1  that  
it be neither comfortless nor lost in   
the abyss8 ,if his presence be  no good 
to the sparrow1 are you very sure what  
good it will be to you  when your hour  
comes8 ,believe it is not by a little   
only that the heart  of the universe is 
tenderer1 more loving1 more just and    
fair1 than yours  or mine4    ,if you   
did not believe you were yourself to    
out-live death1 ,i could not  blame you 
for thinking all was over with the      
sparrow2 but to believe in  immortality 
for yourself1 and not care to believe in
 it for the sparrow1  would be simply   
hard-hearted and selfish4 ,if it would  
make you happy to  think there was life 
beyond death for the sparrow as well as 
for  yourself1 ,i would gladly help you 
at least to hope that there may be4     

,i know of no reason why ,i should not  
look for the animals to rise again1  in 
the same sense in which ,i hope myself  
to rise again--which is1 to  reappear1  
clothed with another and better form of 
life than before4 ,if  the ,father will 
raise his children1 why should he not   
also raise those  whom he has taught his
 little ones to love8 ,love is the one  
bond of the  universe1 the heart of     
,god1 the life of his children3 if      
animals can be  loved1 they are         
loveable2 if they can love1 they are yet
 more plainly  loveable3 love is        
eternal2 how then should its object     
perish8 ,must the  very immortality of  
love divide the bond of love8 ,must the 
love live on  for ever without its      
object8 or worse still1 must the love   
die with its  object1 and be eternal no 
more than it8 ,what a mis-invented      
correlation  in which the one side was  
eternal1 the other1 where not yet       
annihilated1  constantly perishing6 ,is 
not our love to the animals a precious  

variety  of love8 ,and if ,god gave the 
creatures to us1 that a new phase of    
love  might be born in us toward another
 kind of life from the same fountain1   
why should the new life be more         
perishing than the new love8 ,can you   
imagine that1 if1 here-after1 one of    
,god's little ones were to ask him  to  
give again one of the earth's old       
loves--kitten1 or pony1 or  squirrel1 or
 dog1 which he had taken from him1 the  
,father would say no8  ,if the thing was
 so good that ,god made it for and gave 
it to the child  at first who never     
asked for it1 why should he not give it 
again to the  child who prays for it    
because the ,father had made him love   
it8 ,what a  child may ask for1 the     
,father will keep ready4    ,that there 
are difficulties in the way of believing
 thus1 ,i grant2 that  there are        
impossibilities1 ,i deny4 ,perhaps the  
first difficulty that  occurs is1 the   
many forms of life which we cannot      
desire again to see4  ,but while we     

would gladly keep the perfected forms of
 the higher  animals1 we may hope that  
those of many other kinds are as        
transitory as  their bodies1 belonging  
but to a stage of development4 ,all     
animal forms  tend to higher3 why should
 not the individual1 as well as the     
race1 pass  through stages of ascent4   
,if ,i have myself gone through each of 
the  typical forms of lower life on my  
way to the human--a supposition by      
antenatal history rendered probable--and
 therefore may have passed  through any 
number of individual forms of life1 ,i  
do not see why each of  the lower       
animals should not as well pass upward  
through a succession of  bettering      
embodiments4 ,i grant that the theory   
requires another to  complement it2     
namely1 that those men and women1 who do
 not even  approximately fulfil the     
conditions of their elevated rank1 who  
will not  endeavour after the great     
human-divine idea1 striving to ascend1  
are  sent away back down to that stage  

of development1 say of fish or insect   
or reptile1 beyond which their moral    
nature has refused to advance4 ,who  has
 not seen or known men who appeared not 
to have passed1 or indeed  in some      
things to have approached the           
development of the more human of  the   
lower animals6 ,let those take care who 
look contemptuously upon the  animals1  
lest1 in misusing one of them1 they     
misuse some ancestor of  their own1 sent
 back1 as the one mercy for him1 to     
reassume far past  forms and            
conditions--far past in physical1 that  
is1 but not in moral  development--and  
so have another opportunity of passing  
the  self-constituted barrier4 ,the     
suggestion may appear very ridiculous1  
and  no doubt lends itself to humorous  
comment2 but what if it should be  true6
 what if the amused reader should       
himself be getting ready to  follow the 
remanded ancestor6 ,upon it1 however1 ,i
 do not care to spend  thought or time1 
least of all argument2 what ,i care to  

press is the  question--,if we believe  
in the progress of creation as hitherto 
manifested1 also in the marvellous      
changes of form that take place in      
every individual of certain classes1 why
 should there be any difficulty  in     
hoping that old lives may reappear in   
new forms8 ,the typical soul  reappears 
in higher formal type2 why may not also 
the individual soul  reappear in higher 
form8    ,multitudes evidently count it 
safest to hold by a dull scheme of      
things3  can it be because1 like ,david 
in ,browning's poem ,saul1 they dread   
lest  they should worst the ,giver by   
inventing better gifts than his8 ,that  
we  do not know1 is the best reason for 
hoping to the full extent ,god has  made
 possible to us4 ,if then we go wrong1  
it will be in the direction of  the     
right1 and with such aberration as will 
be easier to correct than  what must    
come of refusing to imagine1 and leaving
 the dullest  traditional prepossessions
 to rule our hearts and minds1 with no  

claim  but the poverty of their         
expectation from the paternal riches4   
,those  that hope little cannot grow    
much4 ,to them the very glory of ,god   
must be  a small thing1 for their hope  
of it is so small as not to be worth    
rejoicing in4 ,that he is a faithful    
creator means nothing to them for  far  
the larger portion of the creatures he  
has made6 ,truly their notion  of       
faithfulness is poor enough2 how then   
can their faith be strong6 ,in  the very
 nature of divine things1 the           
common-place must be false4 ,the        
stupid1 self-satisfied soul1 which      
cannot know its own stupidity1 and  will
 not trouble itself either to understand
 or to imagine1 is the  farthest behind 
of all the backward children in ,god's  
nursery4    ,as ,i say1 then1 ,i know no
 cause of reasonable difficulty in      
regard to  the continued existence of   
the lower animals1 except the present   
nature  of some of them4 ,but what      
,christian will dare to say that ,god   

does not  care about them8--and he knows
 them as we cannot know them4 ,great or 
small1 they are his4 ,great are all his 
results2 small are all his  beginnings4 
,that we have to send many of his       
creatures out of this phase  of their   
life because of their hurtfulness in    
this phase of ours1 is to  me no        
stumbling-block4 ,the very fact that    
this has always had to be  done1 the    
long protracted combat of the race with 
such1 and the  constantly repeated      
though not invariable victory of the    
man1 has had an  essential and          
incalculable share in the development of
 humanity1 which  is the rendering of   
man capable of knowing ,god2 and when   
their part to  that end is no longer    
necessary1 changed conditions may       
speedily so  operate that the wolf shall
 dwell with the lamb1 and the leopard   
lie  down with the kid4 ,the difficulty 
may go for nothing in view of the       
forces of that future with which this   
loving speculation concerns  itself4    

,i would now lead my companion a little 
closer to what the apostle says  in the 
nineteenth verse2 to come closer1 if we 
may1 to the idea that  burned in his    
heart when he wrote what we call the    
eighth chapter of his  epistle to the   
,romans4 ,oh1 how far ahead he seems1 in
 his hope for the  creation1 of the     
footsore and halting brigade of         
,christians at present  crossing the    
world6 ,he knew ,christ1 and could      
therefore look into the  will of the    
,father4    ,for the earnest expectation
 of the creature waiteth for the        
manifestation of the sons of ,god6      
,at the head of one of his poems1 ,henry
 ,vaughan has this ,latin  translation  
of the verse3 ,i do not know whether he 
found or made it1 but  it is closer to  
its sense than ours3--    ',etenim res  
creatae exerto capite observantes       
expectant revelationem  filiorum        
,dei4'--',for the things created1       
watching with head thrust out1  await   
the revelation of the sons of ,god4'    

,why8    ,because ,god has subjected the
 creation to vanity1 in the hope that   
the  creation itself shall be delivered 
from the bondage of corruption into  the
 glorious liberty of the children of    
,god4 ,for this double                  
deliverance--from corruption and the    
consequent subjection to vanity1  the   
creation is eagerly watching4    ,the   
bondage of corruption ,god encounters   
and counteracts by subjection  to       
vanity4 ,corruption is the breaking up  
of the essential idea2 the  falling away
 from the original indwelling and       
life-causing thought4 ,it  is met by the
 suffering which itself causes4 ,that   
suffering is for  redemption1 for       
deliverance4 ,it is the life in the     
corrupting thing that  makes the        
suffering possible2 it is the live part1
 not the corrupted  part that suffers2  
it is the redeemable1 not the doomed    
thing1 that is  subjected to vanity4    
,the race in which evil--that is1       
corruption1 is at  work1 needs1 as the  

one means for its rescue1 subjection to 
vanity2 it  is the one hope against the 
supremacy of corruption2 and the whole  
encircling1 harboring1 and helping      
creation must1 for the sake of man1  its
 head1 and for its own further sake too1
 share in this subjection to  vanity    
with its hope of deliverance4           
,corruption brings in vanity1 causes    
empty aching gaps in vitality4 ,this    
aching is what most people regard as    
evil3 it is the unpleasant cure of      
evil4 ,it takes all shapes of           
suffering--of the body1 of the mind1 of 
the  heart1 of the spirit4 ,it is       
altogether beneficent3 without this ever
  invading vanity1 what hope would there
 be for the rich and powerful1          
accustomed to1 and set upon their own   
way8 what hope for the  self-indulgent1 
the conceited1 the greedy1 the miserly8 
,the more things  men seek1 the more    
varied the things they imagine they     
need1 the more  are they subject to     
vanity--all the forms of which may be   

summed in the  word disappointment4 ,he 
who would not house with disappointment1
 must  seek the incorruptible1 the true4
 ,he must break the bondage of havings  
and shows2 of rumours1 and praises1 and 
pretences1 and selfish  pleasures4 ,he  
must come out of the false into the     
real2 out of the  darkness into the     
light2 out of the bondage of corruption 
into the  glorious liberty of the       
children of ,god4 ,to bring men to break
 with  corruption1 the gulf of the inane
 yawns before them4 ,aghast in soul1    
they cry1 ',vanity of vanities6 all is  
vanity6' and beyond the abyss  begin to 
espy the eternal world of truth4        
,note now 'the hope that the creation   
itself also1' as something besides  and 
other than ,god's men and women1 'shall 
be delivered from the bondage  of       
corruption1 into the liberty of the     
glory of the children of ,god4'  ,the   
creation then is to share in the        
deliverance and liberty and glory  of   
the children of ,god4 ,deliverance from 

corruption1 liberty from  bondage1 must 
include escape from the very home and   
goal of corruption1  namely death1--and 
that in all its kinds and degrees4 ,when
 you say then  that for the children of 
,god there is no more death1 remember   
that the  deliverance of the creature is
 from the bondage of corruption into the
  glorious liberty of the children of   
,god4 ,dead1 in bondage to  corruption1 
how can they share in the liberty of the
 children of ,life8  ,where is their    
deliverance8    ,if such then be the    
words of the apostle1 does he1 or does  
he not1 ,i  ask1 hold the idea of the   
immortality of the animals8 ,if you say 
all he  means is1 that the creatures    
alive at the coming of the ,lord will be
 set  free from the tyranny of corrupt  
man1 ,i refer you to what ,i have       
already  said of the poverty of such an 
interpretation1 accepting the failure of
  justice and love toward those that    
have passed away1 are passing1 and  must
 yet1 ere that coming1 be born to pass  

away for ever4 ,for the man  whose heart
 aches to adore a faithful creator1 what
 comfort lies in such  good news6 ,he   
must perish for lack of a true ,god6 ,oh
 lame conclusion to  the grand prophecy6
 ,is ,god a mocker1 who will not be     
mocked8 ,is there a  past to ,god with  
which he has done8 ,is ,time too much   
for him8 ,is he ,god  enough to care for
 those that happen to live at one       
present time1 but  not ,god enough to   
care for those that happened to live at 
another  present time8 ,or did he care  
for them1 but could not help them8      
,shall we  not rather believe that the  
vessels of less honour1 the misused1 the
  maltreated1 shall be filled full with 
creative wine at last8 ,shall not  the  
children have little dogs under the     
,father's table1 to which to let  fall  
plenty of crumbs8 ,if there was such    
provision for the sparrows of  our      
,lord's time of sojourn1 and he will    
bring yet better with him when  he comes
 again1 how should the dead sparrows and

 their sorrows be passed  over of him   
with whom is no variableness1 neither   
shadow of turning8 ,or  would the       
deliverance of the creatures into the   
groaned-for liberty have  been much     
worth mentioning1 if within a few years 
their share in the  glory of the sons of
 ,god was to die away in death8 ,but the
 gifts of ,god  are without repentance4 
,how ,st ,paul longs for and loves      
liberty6 ,only true lover of liberty is 
he1 who will die to give it to his      
neighbour6 ,st ,paul loved liberty more 
than his own liberty4 ,but then see how 
different his notion of the  liberty on 
its way to the children of ,god1 from   
the dull modern fancies  of heaven still
 set forth in the popular hymn-books6   
,the new heaven and  the new earth will 
at least be a heaven and an earth6 ,what
 would the  newest earth be to the old  
children without its animals8 ,barer    
than the  heavens emptied of the        
constellations that are called by their 
names4  ,then1 if the earth must have   

its animals1 why not the old ones1      
already  dear8 ,the sons of ,god are not
 a new race of sons of ,god1 but the old
  race glorified3--why a new race of    
animals1 and not the old ones           
glorified8    ,the apostle says they are
 to share in the liberty of the sons of 
,god3  will it not then be a liberty    
like ours1 a liberty always ready to be 
offered on the altar of love8 ,what     
sweet service will not that of the      
animals be1 thus offered6 ,how sweet    
also to minister to them in their  turns
 of need6 ,for to us doubtless will they
 then flee for help in any  difficulty1 
as now they flee from us in dread of our
 tyranny4 ,what  lovelier feature in the
 newness of the new earth1 than the old 
animals  glorified with us1 in their    
home with us--our common home1 the house
 of  our father--each kind an unfailing 
pleasure to the other6 ,ah1 what        
horses6 ,ah1 what dogs6 ,ah1 what wild  
beasts1 and what birds in the air6  ,the
 whole redeemed creation goes to make up

 ,st ,paul's heaven4 ,he had  learned of
 him who would leave no one out2 who    
made the excuse for his  murderers that 
they did not know what they were doing4 
,is not the prophecy on the groaning    
creation to have its fulfilment in  the 
new heavens and the new earth1 wherein  
dwelleth righteousness8 ,does  not this 
involve its existence beyond what we    
call this world8 ,why  should it not    
then involve immortality8 ,would it not 
be more like the  king eternal1         
immortal1 invisible1 to know no life but
 the immortal8 to  create nothing that  
could die2 to slay nothing but evil8    
',for he is not  a ,god of the dead1 but
 of the living2 for all live unto him4' 
,but what is this liberty of the        
children of ,god1 for which the whole   
creation is waiting8 ,the children      
themselves are waiting for it3 when     
they have it1 then will their house and 
retinue1 the creation1 whose  fate hangs
 on that of the children1 share it with 
them3 what is this  liberty8    ,all    

liberty must of course consist in the   
realization of the ideal  harmony       
between the creative will and the       
created life2 in the  correspondence of 
the creature's active being to the      
creator's idea1  which is his           
substantial soul4 ,in other words the   
creature's liberty is  what his         
obedience to the law of his existence1  
the will of his maker1  effects for him4
 ,the instant a soul moves counter to   
the will of its  prime cause1 the       
universe is its prison2 it dashes       
against the walls of  it1 and the       
sweetest of its uplifting and sustaining
 forces at once  become its manacles and
 fetters4 ,but ,st ,paul is not at the  
moment  thinking either of the          
metaphysical notion of liberty1 or of   
its  religious realization2 he has in   
his thought the birth of the soul's     
consciousness of freedom4    ',and not  
only so'--that the creation groaneth and
 travaileth--'but  ourselves also1 which
 have the first fruits of the spirit1   

even we  ourselves groan within         
ourselves1 waiting for4444 the          
redemption of our  body4'--,we are not  
free1 he implies1 until our body is     
redeemed2 then  all the creation will be
 free with us4 ,he regards the creation 
as part  of our embodiment4 ,the whole  
creation is waiting for the             
manifestation  of the sons of ,god--that
 is1 the redemption of their body1 the  
idea of  which extends to their whole   
material envelopment1 with all the life 
that belongs to it4 ,for this as for    
them1 the bonds of corruption must  fall
 away2 it must enter into the same      
liberty with them1 and be that  for     
which it was created--a vital temple1   
perfected by the unbroken  indwelling of
 its divinity4    ,the liberty here     
intended1 it may be unnecessary to say1 
is not that  essential liberty--freedom 
from sin1 but the completing of the     
redemption of the spirit by the         
redemption of the body1 the perfecting  
of the greater by its necessary         

complement of the less4 ,evil has been  
constantly at work1 turning our house of
 the body into a prison2  rendering it  
more opaque and heavy and insensible2   
casting about it  bands and cerements1  
and filling it with aches and pains4    
,the freest  soul1 the purest of lovers1
 the man most incapable of anything     
mean1  would not1 for all his mighty    
liberty1 yet feel absolutely at large   
while chained to a dying body--nor the  
less hampered1 but the more1 that  that 
dying body was his own4 ,the redemption 
of the body1 therefore1 the  making of  
it for the man a genuine1 perfected1    
responsive house-alive1  is essential to
 the apostle's notion of a man's        
deliverance4 ,the new man  must have a  
new body with a new heaven and earth4   
,st ,paul never thinks  of himself as   
released from body2 he desires a perfect
 one1 and of a  nobler sort2 he would   
inhabit a heaven-made house1 and give up
 the  earth-made one1 suitable only to  
this lower stage of life1 infected and  

unsafe from the first1 and now much     
dilapidated in the service of the       
,master who could so easily give him a  
better4 ,he wants a spiritual  body--a  
body that will not thwart but second the
 needs and aspirations  of the spirit4  
,he had in his mind1 ,i presume1 such a 
body as the ,lord  died with1 changed by
 the interpenetrating of the creative   
indwelling  will1 to a heavenly body1   
the body with which he rose4 ,a body    
like the  ,lord's is1 ,i imagine1       
necessary to bring us into true and     
perfect  contact with the creation1 of  
which there must be multitudinous phases
  whereof we cannot now be even aware4  
,the way in which both good and         
indifferent people alike lay the blame  
on  their bodies1 and look to death     
rather than ,god-aided struggle to set  
them at liberty1 appears to me low and  
cowardly3 it is the master  fleeing from
 the slave1 despising at once and       
fearing him4 ,we must hold  the         
supremacy over our bodies1 but we must  

not despise body2 it is a  divine thing4
 ,body and soul are in the image of     
,god2 and the lord of  life was last    
seen in the glorified body of his death4
 ,i believe that he  still wears that   
body4 ,but we shall do better without   
these bodies that  suffer and grow      
old--which may indeed1 as some think1 be
 but the outer  cases1 the husks of our 
real bodies4 ,endlessly helpful as they 
have been  to us1 and that1 in a measure
 incalculable1 through their very       
subjection to vanity1 we are yet surely 
not in altogether and only  helpful     
company1 so long as the houses wherein  
we live have so many  spots and stains  
in them which friendly death1 it may be1
 can alone wash  out--so many           
weather-eaten and self-engendered sores 
which the builder's  hand1 pulling down 
and rebuilding of fresh and nobler      
material1 alone  can banish4    ,when   
the sons1 then1 are free1 when their    
bodies are redeemed1 they will  lift up 
with them the lower creation into their 

liberty4 ,st ,paul seems  to believe    
that perfection in their kind awaits    
also the humbler  inhabitants of our    
world1 its advent to follow immediately 
on the  manifestation of the sons of    
,god3 for our sakes and their own they  
have  been made subject to vanity2 for  
our sakes and their own they shall be   
restored and glorified1 that is1 raised 
higher with us4    ,has the question no 
interest for you8 ,it would have much1  
had you now  what you must one day      
have--a heart big enough to love any    
life ,god has  thought fit to create4   
,had the ,lord cared no more for what of
 his  father's was lower than himself1  
than you do for what of your father's   
is lower than you1 you would not now be 
looking for any sort of  redemption4    
,i have omitted in my quotations the    
word adoption used in both ,english     
versions3 it is no translation of the   
,greek word for which it stands4 ,it  is
 used by ,st ,paul as meaning the same  
thing with the phrase1 'the  redemption 

of the body'--a fact to bring the       
interpretation given it at  once into   
question4 ,falser translation1 if we    
look at the importance of  the thing    
signified1 and its utter loss in the    
word used to represent  it1 not to      
mention the substitution for that of the
 apostle1 of an idea  not only untrue   
but actively mischievous1 was never     
made4 ,the thing ,st  ,paul means in the
 word he uses1 has simply nothing to do 
with  adoption--nothing whatever4 ,in   
the beginning of the fourth chapter of  
his epistle to the ,galatians1 he makes 
perfectly clear what he intends  by it4 
,his unusual word means the father's    
recognition1 when he comes of  age1 of  
the child's relation to him1 by giving  
him his fitting place of  dignity in the
 house2 and here the deliverance of the 
body is the act of  this recognition by 
the great ,father1 completing and       
crowning and  declaring the freedom of  
the man1 the perfecting of the last     
lingering  remnant of his deliverance4  

,st ,paul's word1 ,i repeat1 has nothing
 to do  with adoption2 it means the     
manifestation of the grown-up sons of   
,god2  the showing of those as sons1 who
 have always been his children2 the     
bringing of them out before the universe
 in such suitable attire and  with such 
fit attendance1 that to look at them is 
to see what they are1  the sons of the  
house--such to whom their elder brother 
applied the  words3 ',i said ye are     
,gods4'    ,if then the sons groan      
within themselves1 looking to be lifted 
up1 and  the other inhabitants of the   
same world groan with them and cry1     
shall  they not also be lifted up8 ,have
 they not also a faithful creator8 ,he  
must be a selfish man indeed who does   
not desire that it should be so4    ,it 
appears then1 that1 in the expectation  
of the apostle1 the new  heavens and the
 new earth in which dwell the sons of   
,god1 are to be  inhabited by blessed   
animals also--inferior1 but risen--and  
,i think1 yet  to rise in continuous    

development4    ,here let me revert a   
moment1 and say a little more clearly   
and strongly  a thing ,i have already   
said3--    ,when the apostle speaks of  
the whole creation1 is it possible he   
should  have dismissed the animals from 
his thoughts1 to regard the trees and   
flowers bearing their part in the       
groaning and travailing of the sore     
burdened world8 ,or could he1 animals   
and trees and flowers forgotten1  have  
intended by the creation that groaned   
and travailed1 only the bulk  of the    
earth1 its mountains and valleys1 plains
 and seas and rivers1 its  agglomeration
 of hard and soft1 of hot and cold1 of  
moist and dry8 ,if  he could1 then the  
portion that least can be supposed to   
feel or know1  is regarded by the       
apostle of love as immeasurably more    
important than  the portion that loves  
and moans and cries4 ,nor is this all2  
for  thereupon he attributes the        
suffering-faculty of the excluded1 far  
more  sentient portion at least1 to the 

altogether inferior and less sentient1  
and upon the ground of that faculty     
builds the vision of its redemption6    
,if it could be so1 then how should the 
seeming apostle's affected  rhapsody of 
hope be to us other than a mere         
puff-ball of falsest  rhetoric1 a       
special-pleading for nothing1 as        
degrading to art as  objectless in      
nature8    ,much would ,i like to know  
clearly what animals the apostle saw on 
his  travels1 or around his home when he
 had one--their conditions1 and their   
relations to their superiors4 ,anyhow   
they were often suffering  creatures2   
and ,paul was a man growing hourly in   
likeness to his maker  and theirs1      
therefore overflowing with sympathy4    
,perhaps as he wrote1  there passed     
through his mind a throb of pity for the
 beasts he had to  kill at ,ephesus4    
,if the ,lord said very little about    
animals1 could he have done more for    
them than tell men that his father cared
 for them8 ,he has thereby  wakened and 

is wakening in the hearts of men a seed 
his father planted4  ,it grows but      
slowly1 yet has already borne a little  
precious fruit4 ,his  loving friend ,st 
,francis has helped him1 and many others
 have tried1  and are now trying to help
 him3 whoever sows the seed of that seed
 the  ,father planted is helping the    
,son4 ,our behaviour to the animals1 our
  words concerning them1 are seed1      
either good or bad1 in the hearts of    
our children4 ,no one can tell to what  
the animals might not grow1 even  here  
on the old earth under the old heaven1  
if they were but dealt with  according  
to their true position in regard to us4 
,they are1 in sense  very real and      
divine1 our kindred4 ,if ,i call them   
our poor relations1 it  is to suggest   
that poor relations are often ill used4 
,relatives1 poor or  rich1 may be such  
ill behaved1 self-assertive1            
disagreeable persons1  that we cannot   
treat them as we gladly would2 but our  
endeavour should  be to develop every   

true relation4 ,he who is prejudiced    
against a  relative because he is poor1 
is himself an ill-bred relative1 and to 
be  ill-bred is an excluding fault with 
the court of the high countries4        
,there1 poverty is welcome1 vulgarity   
inadmissible4    ,those who love certain
 animals selfishly1 pampering them1 as  
so many  mothers do their children with 
worse results1 that they may be loved of
  them in return1 betray them to their  
enemies4 ,they are not lovers of        
animals1 but only of favourites1 and do 
their part to make the rest of  the     
world dislike animals4 ,theirs are the  
dogs that inhospitably growl  and bark  
and snap1 moving the indifferent to     
dislike1 and confirming  the unfriendly 
in their antagonism4 ,any               
dog-parliament1 met in the  interests of
 their kind1 would condemn such dogs to 
be discreetly  bitten1 and their        
mistresses to be avoided4 ,and          
certainly1 if animals  are intended to  
live and grow1 she is the enemy of any  

individual  animal1 who stunts his moral
 and intellectual development by unwise 
indulgence4 ,of whatever nature be the  
heaven of the animals1 that animal  is  
not in the fair way to enter it4 ,the   
education of the lower lies at  the door
 of the higher1 and in true education is
 truest kindness4    ,but what shall ,i 
say of such as for any kind of end      
subject animals to  torture8 ,i dare    
hardly trust myself to the expression of
 my judgment of  their conduct in this  
regard4    ',we are investigators2 we   
are not doing it for our own sakes1 but 
for  the sake of others1 our            
fellow-men4'    ,the higher your motive 
for it1 the greater is the blame of your
  unrighteousness4 ,must we congratulate
 you on such a love for your  fellows as
 inspires you to wrong the weaker than  
they1 those that are  without helper    
against you8 ,shall we count the man    
worthy who1 for the  sake of his friend1
 robbed another man too feeble to       
protect himself1  and too poor to punish

 his assailant8 ,for the sake of your   
children1  would you waylay a beggar8   
,no real good can grow in the soil of   
injustice4    ,i cannot help suspecting1
 however1 that the desire to know has a 
greater  share in the enormity than the 
desire to help4 ,alas for the science   
that  will sacrifice the law of         
righteousness but to behold a law of    
sequence6  ,the tree of knowledge will  
never prove to man the tree of life4    
,there is  no law says1 ,thou shalt     
know2 a thousand laws cry out1 ,thou    
shalt do  right4 ,these men are a law   
unto themselves--and what a law6 ,it is 
the  old story3 the greed of knowing    
casts out righteousness1 and mercy1 and 
faith4 ,whatever believed a benefit may 
or may not thus be wrought for  higher  
creatures1 the injustice to the lower is
 nowise affected4 ,justice  has no      
respect of persons1 but they are surely 
the weaker that stand  more in need of  
justice6    ,labour is a law of the     
universe1 and is not an evil4 ,death is 

a law of  this world at least1 and is   
not an evil4 ,torture is the law of no  
world  but the hell of human invention4 
,labour and death are for the best good 
of those that labour and die2 they are  
laws of life4 ,torture is  doubtless    
over-ruled for the good of the tortured1
 but it will one day  burn a very hell  
in the hearts of the torturers4         
,torture can be inflicted only by the   
superior4 ,the divine idea of a         
superior1 is one who requires duty1 and 
protects1 helps1 delivers3 our  relation
 to the animals is that of their        
superiors in the family1 who  require   
labour1 it may be1 but are just1        
helpful1 protective4 ,can they  know    
anything of the ,father who neither love
 nor rule their inferiors1  but use them
 as a child his insensate toys1 pulling 
them to pieces to  know what is inside  
them8 ,such men1 so-called of           
science--let them have  the dignity to  
the fullness of its worth--lust to know 
as if a man's  life lay in knowing1 as  

if it were a vile thing to be           
ignorant--so vile  that1 for the sake of
 his secret hoard of facts1 they do     
right in  breaking with torture into the
 house of the innocent6 ,surely they    
shall  not thus find the way of         
understanding6 ,surely there is a maniac
 thirst  for knowledge1 as a maniac     
thirst for wine or for blood6 ,he who   
loves  knowledge the most genuinely1    
will with the most patience wait for it 
until it can be had righteously4        
,need ,i argue the injustice8 ,can a    
sentient creature come forth without    
rights1 without claim to well-being1 or 
to consideration from the other         
creatures whom they find1 equally       
without action of their own1 present  in
 space8 ,if one answer1 ',for aught ,i  
know1 it may be so1'--,where then  are  
thy own rights8 ,i ask4 ,if another have
 none1 thine must lie in thy  superior  
power2 and will there not one day come a
 stronger than thou8  ,mayst thou not   
one day be in ,naboth's place1 with an  

,ahab getting up to  go into thy        
vineyard to possess it8 ,the rich man   
may come prowling  after thy little ewe 
lamb1 and what wilt thou have to say8   
,he may be the  stronger1 and thou the  
weaker6 ,that the rights of the animals 
are so  much less than ours1 does not   
surely argue them the less rights6 ,they
  have little1 and we have much2 ought  
they therefore to have less and we      
more8 ,must we not rather be the more   
honourably anxious that they have  their
 little to the full4 ,every gain of     
injustice is a loss to the  world2 for  
life consists neither in length of days 
nor in ease of body4  ,greed of life and
 wrong done to secure it1 will never    
work anything but  direst loss4 ,as to  
knowledge1 let justice guide thy search 
and thou wilt  know the sooner4 ,do the 
will of ,god1 and thou shalt know ,god1 
and he  will open thine eyes to look    
into the very heart of knowledge4 ,force
 thy  violent way1 and gain knowledge1  
to miss truth4 ,thou mayest wound the   

heart of ,god1 but thou canst not rend  
it asunder to find the ,truth that  sits
 there enthroned4    ,what man would he 
be who accepted the offer to be healed  
and kept alive  by means which          
necessitated the torture of certain     
animals8 ,would he  feel himself a      
gentleman--walking the earth with the   
sense that his life  and conscious      
well-being were informed and upheld by  
the agonies of  other lives8    ',i     
hope1 sir1 your health is better than it
 has been8'    ',thank you1 ,i am       
wonderfully restored--have entered in   
truth upon a  fresh lease of life4 ,my  
organism has been nourished with the    
agonies of  several dogs1 and the pangs 
of a multitude of rabbits and           
guinea-pigs1  and ,i am aware of a      
marvellous change for the better4 ,they 
gave me their  lives1 and ,i gave them  
in return worse pains than mine4 ,the   
bargain has  proved a quite satisfactory
 one6 ,true1 their lives were theirs1   
not  mine2 but then their sufferings    

were theirs1 not mine6 ,they could not  
defend themselves2 they had not a word  
to say1 so reasonable was the  exchange4
 ,poor fools6 they were neither so wise1
 nor so strong1 nor such  lovers of     
comfort as ,i6 ,if they could not take  
care of themselves1 that  was their     
look-out1 not mine6 ,every animal for   
himself6'    ,there was a certain       
patriotic priest who thought it better  
to put a just  man to death than that a 
whole nation should perish4 ,precious   
salvation  that might be wrought by     
injustice6 ,but then the just man taught
 that  the rich man and the beggar must 
one day change places4    ',to set the  
life of a dog against the life of a     
human being6'    ,no1 but the torture of
 a dog against the prolonged life of a  
being  capable of torturing him4        
,priceless gain1 the lengthening of such
 a  life1 to the man and his friends and
 his country6    ,that the animals do   
not suffer so much as we should under   
like  inflictions1 ,i hope true1 and    

think true4 ,but is toothache nothing1  
because there are yet worse pains for   
head and face8    ,not a few who now    
regard themselves as benefactors of     
mankind1 will one  day be looked upon   
with a disapprobation which no argument 
will now  convince them they deserve4   
,but yet another day is coming1 when    
they  will themselves right sorrowfully 
pour out disapprobation upon their own  
deeds2 for they are not stones but men1 
and must repent4 ,let them1 in  the     
interests of humanity1 give their own   
entrails to the knife1 their  own silver
 cord to be laid bare1 their own golden 
bowl to be watched  throbbing1 and ,i   
will worship at their feet4 ,but shall  
,i admire their  discoveries at the     
expense of the stranger--nay1 no        
stranger--the poor  brother within their
 gates8    ,your conscience does not    
trouble you8 ,take heed that the light  
that is  in you be not darkness4        
,whatever judgment mean1 will it suffice
 you in  that hour to say1 ',my burning 

desire to know how life wrought in him1 
drove me through the gates and bars of  
his living house'8 ,i doubt if you  will
 add1 in your heart any more than with  
your tongue1 'and ,i did  well4'    ,to 
those who expect a world to come1 ,i say
 then1 ,let us take heed how  we carry  
ourselves to the creation which is to   
occupy with us the world  to come4      
,to those whose hearts are sore for that
 creation1 ,i say1 ,the ,lord is        
mindful of his own1 and will save both  
man and beast4      ,,the ,,end4