,,the ,,chief ,,end ,,of ,,man   ,,by   
,,george ,s4 ,,merriam     ,,boston     
,,and ,,new ,,york  ,,houghton1         
,,mifflin ,,and ,,company  ,the         
,riverside ,press1 ,cambridge  #ahig    
,copyright1 #ahig1  ,,by ,,george ,s4   
,,merriam4  ,all rights reserved4       
,the chief end of man1--to define it    
anew1 and cite the witness of the ages1 
may seem an audacious attempt1 likely to
 issue in failure or in commonplace4    
,by the scholar this work must often be 
judged as crude1 to the churchman it    
will sometimes seem mischievous1 and to 
the man of science it may appear to lack
 solidity of demonstration4  ,but its   
essential purpose is to utter afresh1   
though it be with stammering tongue1 the
 message with which the universe has    
answered the soul of man whenever he    
listened most closely and obeyed most   
faithfully4  ,it is the assurance that  
,fidelity1 ,truth-seeking1 ,courage1 and
 ,love are the rightful lords of human  
life1 and its sufficient guides and     

interpreters4  ,it is the knowledge that
 as man is true to his best self he     
finds the universe his friend4  ,that   
message the seeing eye reads in the face
 of earth1 and the listening ear hears  
it in the song of the morning stars4    
,the will finds it as answer to its     
loyal endeavor4  ,the heart wins it     
through rapture and through anguish4    
,it is our dearest inheritance1 it is   
our most arduous achievement4  ,it is   
the sword with which each man must      
conquer his destiny4  ,it is the smile  
with which ,beatrice welcomes her lover 
to ,paradise4     ,,contents            
,,prologue     ,i4 ,,our ,,spiritual    
,,ancestry    ,,ii4 ,,the ,,ideal ,,of  
,,to-,,day   ,,iii4 ,a ,,traveler',s    
,,note-,,book    ,,iv4 ,,glimpses       
,v4 ,,daily ,,bread     ,,the ,,chief   
,,end ,,of ,,man   ,,prologue  ,it      
sometimes happens that a man is         
confronted by a perplexing crisis1      
before which he is quite at a loss how  
to direct his course4  ,his familiar    

rules and habits seem to fail him1 and  
his perplexity approaches dismay4  ,at  
such a time1 if his previous life has   
been guided by purpose and              
consideration1 he may perhaps help      
himself by looking attentively back at  
the steps by which he has hitherto      
advanced4  ,he recalls other crises1 he 
sees how they were met1 and light1 it   
may be1 breaks on the path before him1  
or at least he takes fresh heart and    
hope4  ,some such crisis confronts the  
thoughtful mind of the world to-day1 in 
the disappearance of the old sanctions  
of religion4  ,when the idea of an      
authoritative revelation of divine truth
 has been finally dislodged1 there are  
moments when moral chaos seems to       
impend4  ,we are still upheld by old    
habits and associations1 we are borne   
along by forces mightier than our creeds
 or negations1 and the loyal spirit     
catches at moments the deeper voice     
across the storm1 even though the voice 
be inarticulate4  ,but it is felt that  

we need to somehow define anew the rule 
of life4  ,by what road shall man attain
 his supreme desire1--how can he be     
good1 and how can he be happy8  ,as the 
individual seeks help in looking back   
over his course1 so it may help us if we
 look back a little over some of the    
significant passages in the movement of 
mankind4  ,history is to the race what  
memory is to the individual4  ,one's    
best treasure is the memory of his happy
 and heroic hours4  ,the best treasure  
of humanity is the story of its happy   
and heroic souls4  ,let us call before  
us some of these1 and see how they      
answered the questions we ask4          
,following this clew1 we run back along 
the line of what may be called our      
spiritual ancestry4  ,turning naturally 
to our own next of kin1 a child of ,new 
,england1 going back from the teaching  
of his youth to his fathers and to their
 fathers1 soon finds before him the     
,puritan4  ,when we study the ,puritan  
it appears that he was a most composite 

product1 and that just behind him1 and  
essential to the understanding of him1  
is the great mediaeval church4          
,studying the church1 there is nothing  
for it but to go back to its foundation1
 and ponder well the one from whose     
person and teaching it grew4  ,and to   
know at all the mind of ,jesus we must  
know something of the mind of ,judaism1 
of which he was the child4 ,indeed1 the 
popular religion of to-day bases itself 
directly on the ,old and ,new           
,testaments2 so that our lineage must   
clearly be traced from this as one of   
its origins4  ,another ancient line     
attracts us1 by a history which blends  
with ,judaism at the birth of           
,christianity1 and by a literature which
 is rich in moral treasures4  ,we must  
glance at some of the landmarks of the  
,greek and ,roman story4  ,and here our 
present study may define its bounds4    
,we will not go back to the progress    
from the animal up to man1 nor survey   
the prehistoric man2 nor will we turn   

aside to the religions of ,egypt1       
,arabia1 and the ,east2 and we can but  
lightly glance at the early ,teutonic   
people from whom we are descended after 
the flesh4  ,it will sufficiently serve 
our purpose if we touch a few salient   
points among our more direct progenitors
 in the life of the spirit4  ,and1 after
 all1 our richest search will be in the 
years nearest ourselves4  ,but no       
version of history simply as history    
gives an adequate basis for the higher  
life4  ,that life must be worked out by 
each for himself1 equipped as he finds  
himself by inheritance and circumstance1
 and guided largely by the sure and     
simple laws of conduct which he drew in 
with his mother's milk4  ,study and     
thought may help a little1 and so such  
essays as the present are offered for   
whatever they may afford4 ,of all human 
studies1 history1 at its best1--the     
knowledge of whatever of worthiest the  
past of mankind affords1--such history  
is of all studies most delightful and   

inspiring1 for it is the contact through
 books with noble souls--and the touch  
of a great soul is a natural sacrament4 
,such history has significance mainly as
 its events and characters find         
parallels in the mind that reads4  ,the 
soul of to-day1 catching from the past  
the voices of prophets and leaders1     
thrills with a sense of kinship4  ,the  
story of ,american independence means   
most when the reader has fought his own 
,bunker ,hill1 and wintered at ,valley  
,forge1 and triumphed at ,yorktown4     
,the death of ,socrates has small       
significance unless something in the    
reader's heart answers to his           
affirmation that nothing evil can happen
 to a good man1 in living or dying4     
,the life of ,jesus and the story of    
,christianity are most fully understood 
when life's experience has brought the  
,mount of ,vision and the ,garden of    
,gethsemane1 the cross and passion1 the 
resurrection1 and the coming of the     
,holy ,spirit4  ,the interest of the    

present study is in the illustration of 
certain great spiritual laws4  ,these   
are laws of which every man may make    
proof for himself4  ,he may find        
instances of their working in any close 
observation of his nearest neighbor1 or 
in reading his newspaper4  ,he may find 
the clearest exemplification of them in 
studying the noblest men and women he   
has known1 or1 if his life has been     
worth living1 in recalling the most     
critical and significant passages of his
 own experience4  ,the reading of these 
laws is the latest and finest result of 
the experience of the race4  ,in their  
substance1 they are acknowledged by all 
good men4  ,no wholly new path to       
goodness and happiness is likely to be  
suddenly discovered2 certainly no       
essentially new ideal of what kind of   
goodness and happiness we are to seek4  
,the saints and heroes are all of one   
fellowship1 though they do not all speak
 the same language4  ,in a word1 there  
are certain traits of character which   

all men whose opinion we value now      
recognize as supremely worthy of        
cultivation4  ,to seek to know things as
 they really are2 to fit our actions to 
our best knowledge2 to conform in word  
and act to the truth as we see it2 to   
seek the good of others as well as our  
own2 to be sympathetic and responsive2  
to be open-eyed to beauty1 open-hearted 
to our fellow creatures2 to be reverent 
and aspiring2 to resolutely subject the 
lower elements of our nature to the     
higher2 to taste frankly and freely the 
innocent joys of life2 to renounce those
 joys and accept privation1 suffering1  
death1 when duty calls1--such purposes  
and dispositions as these are           
unquestionably a true rule of life4     
,the main theme to be illustrated in    
these pages is that this ideal and rule 
is in itself an all-sufficient          
principle4  ,fidelity to the best we    
know1 and search always for the best1 is
 the natural road to peace and joy1 the 
sure road to victory4  ,it is the key   

which opens to man the treasury of the  
universe4  ,to enforce and vivify this  
conception1--this interpretation of the 
key of life as consisting in fidelity to
 certain ideals of character1--we go    
back to the memorable examples of the   
past4  ,we use those examples1 partly to
 show how the spiritual laws always     
worked1 the same yesterday1 to-day1 and 
forever2 and partly to show how as time 
advanced the laws have been understood  
with growing clearness1 and applied with
 growing effectiveness4  ,the same stars
 shone above the sages of ,chaldea as   
shine above us1 but our astronomy is    
better than theirs4  ,the sages of      
,greece1 the prophets of ,palestine1 the
 heroes of ,rome1 the saints of the     
,middle ,ages1 the philanthropists and  
the scientists of to-day1 each made     
their special contribution to the       
spiritual astronomy4  ,from age to age  
men have read the heavens and the earth 
more clearly1 and so made of them a more
 friendly home4  ,just as1 too1 there   

come times of momentous progress in the 
physical world2 the establishment of the
 ,copernican theory1 the discovery of a 
new continent1 the mastering of         
electricity1--so there are periods of   
swift advance and discovery in the      
spiritual life1 and such a birth-hour1  
of travail and of joy1 comes in our own 
day4  ,in this hasty panorama of the    
past1 then1 the effort has been to give 
real history4  ,but every student knows 
how transcendent and impossible a thing 
it is to recall in its entirety and     
fullness any phase of the past4  ,even  
the specialist can but partially open a 
limited province4 ,so with what         
confidence can one with no pretensions  
to original scholarship1 however he may 
use the work of deeper students1 express
 his opinion on any special point in a  
survey of thirty centuries8  ,if1       
accordingly1 any competent critic shall 
trouble himself to convict the present  
writer of error3 ,this view of          
,epictetus confuses the earlier and the 

later ,stoics2 or ,this account of the  
,hebrew prophets lacks the latest fruit 
of research1--or1 other like            
defect1--acknowledgment of such error as
 quite possible may be freely made in   
advance4  ,but1 in our bird's-eye view  
of many centuries1 any fault of detail  
will not be so serious as it would be if
 there were here attempted a chain of   
proofs1 a formal induction1 to establish
 from sure premises a safe conclusion4  
,only of a subordinate importance is the
 detail of this history4  ,we say only3 
in this way1 or some way like this1 has 
been the ascent4  ,the contribution of  
the ,stoic was about so and so2 the     
,hebrew prophet helped somewhat thus and
 thus4  ,but the ultimate1 the essential
 fact we reach in the ,ideal of ,to-day4
  ,here we are on firm ground4  ,the law
 we acknowledge1 the light we           
follow1--these may be expressed with    
entire clearness and confidence4  ,the  
test they invite is present experiment4 
,nothing vital shall be staked on       

far-away history or debatable           
metaphysics4  ,in the fivefold division 
of the book1 ,our ,spiritual ,ancestry  
is a bird's-eye view of the main line of
 advance1 which culminates in ,the      
,ideal of ,to-,day4  ,a more leisurely  
retrospect of certain historical        
passages is given in ,a ,traveler's     
,note-,book2 thoughts on the present    
aspect are grouped under ,glimpses2 and 
,daily ,bread introduces a homely and   
familiar treatment4     ,i  ,,our       
,,spiritual ,,ancestry  ,the ideas and  
sentiments which underlie the higher    
life of our time may be largely traced  
back to two roots1 the one              
,greek-,roman1 the other ,hebrew4  ,each
 of these two races had originally a    
mythology made up partly of the         
personification and worship of the      
powers of nature1 and partly of the     
deification of human traits or          
individual heroes4   ,the higher mind of
 the ,greeks and ,romans1 in which the  
distinctive notes were clear            

intelligence1 love of beauty1 and       
practical force1 gradually broke away   
altogether from the popular mythology1  
and sought to find in reason an         
explanation of the universe and a       
sufficient rule of life4  ,the          
,greek-,roman mythology made only an    
indirect and slight contribution to     
modern religion4  ,but the ethical      
philosophy and the higher poetry of the 
two peoples belong not only to our      
immediate lineage but to our present    
possessions4  ,a humanity common with   
our own brings us into closest sympathy 
with certain great personalities of this
 antique world4  ,differences of time1  
race1 civilization1 are powerless to    
prevent our intimate friendship and     
reverence for ,homer1 ,sophocles1       
,socrates1 ,plato1 ,aristotle1          
,lucretius1 ,epictetus4  ,homer shows   
the opening of eyes and heart to this   
whole wonderful world of nature and of  
man4  ,sophocles sees human life in its 
depth of suffering and height of        

achievement4  ,he views mingled         
spectacle with profound reverence1 sure 
that through it all is working some     
divine power4  ,goodness is dear to the 
gods1 wickedness is abhorrent to them4  
,but the good man is often              
unhappy1--from strange inheritance of   
curse1 or from complication of events   
which no wisdom can baffle4  ,yet from  
the discipline of suffering emerges the 
noblest character1 and over the grave   
itself play gleams of hope1 faint but   
celestial4  ,in ,socrates1 we see the   
man who having in himself attained a    
solid and noble goodness1 addresses all 
his powers to finding a clear road by   
which all men may be led into goodness4 
,he first propounds in clearness the    
most important question of              
humanity1--how shall man by reason and  
by will become master of life8  ,plato  
takes up the question after him1 and    
follows it with an intellect unequaled  
in its imaginative flight4  ,plato      
lighted the fire which has burned high  

in the enthusiasts of the spirit1--the  
mystics1 the dreamers1 the idealists4   
,aristotle confined himself to the      
homelier province where demonstration is
 possible1 and laid the foundation of   
logic and of natural science4           
,lucretius resolutely puts away from him
 the whole pageant of fictitious        
religion4  ,he scouts its terrors1 and  
scorns to depend on unreal consolation4 
,he addresses himself to the            
intellectual problem of the universe1   
and decides that all is ruled by        
material laws4  ,in ,epictetus man      
reverts from the problem of the universe
 to the problem of the soul4  ,the      
beauty of the ,greek world has faded1   
the stern ,roman world has trained its  
best spirits to live with resolute      
self-mastery4 ,the mythologic gods are  
no longer worth talking about for       
serious men4 ,but here is the great     
actual business of living1--it can be   
met in manly temper1 and be made a scene
 of lofty satisfaction and serene       

tranquillity4  ,epictetus was the       
consummate expression of that ,stoic    
philosophy in which were blended the    
clearness of ,greek thought and the     
austerity of the best ,roman life4      
,stoicism reverted from all             
universe-schemes1 spiritual or          
materialist1 to the conduct of human    
life which ,socrates had propounded as  
the essential theme4  ,the ,stoic       
affirmed that all good and evil reside  
for man in his own will1 and that simply
 in always choosing the right rather    
than the wrong he may find supreme      
satisfaction4  ,epictetus expresses this
 in the constant tone of heroism and    
victory4  ,in the more feminine nature  
of ,marcus ,aurelius the same ideas     
yield a beautiful fidelity along with a 
habitual sadness4  ,stoicism was the    
noblest attainment of the ,greek-,roman 
world4  ,it was a clear and fearless    
application of reason to human life1    
with little attempt to solve the mystery
 of the universe4  ,it gave an ideal and

 rule to thoughtful1 robust1 and        
masculine natures4  ,it made small      
provision for the ignorant1 the weak1 or
 the feminine4  ,its watchwords were    
,reason1 ,nature1 ,will4   ,the         
distinction of the ,hebrew development  
was that the higher minds took up the   
popular mythology1 elevated and purified
 it4  ,the ,hebrew genius was not       
intellectual but ethical and emotional4 
,the typical ,hebrew guide was not a    
philosopher but a prophet4  ,through a  
development of many centuries the       
popular religion from polytheistic      
became monotheistic1 and from worshiping
 the sun and fire came to worship an    
embodiment of righteousness and of      
supreme power4  ,an ideal of character  
grew up--in close association with      
religious worship and ceremonial--in    
which the central virtues were justice1 
benevolence1 and chastity4  ,the        
sentiments of the family1 the nation1   
and the church were fused in one4  ,its 
outward expression was an elaborate     

ceremonial4  ,its heart was a passion   
which in one direction dashed the little
 province against the whole power of    
,rome2 in another channel1 preserved a  
people intact and separate through      
twenty centuries of dispersal and       
subjection2 while1 in another aspect1 it
 gave birth to ,jesus and to            
,christianity4   ,jesus was one of the  
great spiritual geniuses of the         
race1--so far as we know1 the greatest4 
,the highest ideas of ,judaism he       
sublimated1 intensified1 and expressed  
in universal forms4  ,indifferent to the
 ceremonial of his people1 he taught    
that the essence of religion lay in     
spirit and in conduct4  ,the holy and   
awful ,deity was to him a tender        
,father4  ,the whole duty of man to man 
was love4  ,chastity of the body was    
exalted to purity of the heart4  ,he    
lived close to the common people2       
taught1 helped1 healed them2 caressed   
their children1 pitied their outcasts1  
laid hands on the lepers1 and calmed the

 insane4  ,he brooded on the expectation
 of some great future which earlier     
seers had impressed on the popular      
thought1 and saw as in prophetic vision 
the near approach of the perfect triumph
 of holiness and love4  ,overshadowed by
 danger1 his hope and faith menaced as  
by denying ,fate1 he rallied from the   
shock1 trusted the unseen ,power1 and   
went serenely to a martyr's death4      
,jesus had roused a passion of personal 
devotion among the poor1 the ignorant1  
the true-hearted whom he had taught and 
called4  ,when he was dead1 that        
devotion flamed out in the assertion1   
,he lives again6  ,we have seen him6    
,he will speedily return6  ,the ,jewish 
belief in a bodily resurrection and a   
,messianic kingdom gave form to this    
faith1 and unbounded love and           
imagination gave intensity and          
vividness4  ,that ,jesus was risen from 
the dead became the cardinal article of 
the new society which grew up around his
 grave4  ,his moral precepts1 his       

parables1 his acts1 his                 
personality1--the personality of one who
 was alike the child of ,god and the    
friend of sinners1--these were enshrined
 in a new mythology4 ,a society1        
enthusiastic1 aggressive2 at first      
divided into factions2 then blending in 
a common creed and rule of life2 a      
loyalty to an invisible leader2 a       
sanguine hope of speedy triumph1 cooling
 into more remote expectation1 and in   
the finer spirits transforming into a   
present spiritual communion2 a growing  
elaboration of organization1 priesthood1
 ritual1 mythology2 a diffusion through 
vast masses of people of the new        
religion1 and a corresponding           
depreciation of its quality1--this was  
the early stage of ,christianity4  ,it  
vanquished and destroyed the            
,greek-,roman mythology1 already half   
dead4  ,philosophy strove with it in    
vain1--there was no real meeting-ground 
between the two systems4  ,the final    
appeal of the ,stoic was to reason4     

,the ,christian theologians thought they
 reasoned1 but their argumentation was  
feeble save at one point4  ,but that was
 the vital point1--experience4          
,christianity1 in its mixture of ardor1 
credulity1 and morality had somehow a   
power to give to common men and women a 
nobility and gladness of living which   
,stoicism could not inspire in them4    
,so it was the worthier of the two      
antagonists that triumphed in the       
strife4  ,ideally1 there ought to have  
been no strife4  ,christianity and      
ethical philosophy ought to have worked 
side by side1 until the religion of     
,reason and the religion of ,love       
understood each other and blended in    
one4 ,destined they were to blend1 but  
not for thousands of years4  ,the new   
religion brooked no rivalry and no      
rebellion4  ,it swayed the world        
despotically1 but the beginning and     
secret of its power was that it had     
captured the world's heart4  ,its best  
watchwords were ,faith1 ,hope1 ,love4   

,in a word1 civilized mankind1 having   
outgrown the earlier nature-worship1 and
 having found the philosophic reason    
inadequate to provide a satisfying way  
of life1 accepted a new mythology1      
because it was inspired by ideas which  
were powerful to guide1 to inspire1 and 
to console4  ,for many centuries we     
shall look in vain for any serious study
 of human life except in conformity to  
the ,christian mythology4   ,the ,roman 
world was submerged by the invasion of  
the northern tribes4 ,there was a       
violent collision of peoples1 manners1  
sentiments1 usages2 a subversion of the 
luxurious1 intelligent1 refined1 and    
effete civilization2 a rough infusion of
 barbaric vigor and barbaric ignorance4 
,the marvelous conflict1 commingling1   
and emergence of a thousand years1      
through which the classic society was   
replaced by the mediaeval society1      
cannot even be summarized in these brief
 paragraphs4  ,the point on which our   
theme requires attention is that the    

religion of this period had its form and
 substance in the ,catholic church2 and 
of this church the twin aspects were an 
authoritative government administered by
 popes1 councils1 bishops1 and priests1 
and a conception of the supernatural    
world equally definite and              
authoritative1 which dominated the      
intellects and imaginations of man with 
its ,hell1 ,purgatory1 and ,heaven4     
,the visible church and the invisible   
world of which the church held the      
interpretation and the key1--this       
concrete fact1 and this faith the       
counterpart of the fact1 were the bases 
and pillars of the religion of ,europe  
for many centuries4  ,we are not        
required to balance the merits and      
faults of this mediaeval religion4  ,it 
was a mighty power1 so long as it       
commanded the unquestioning intellectual
 assent of the world1 and so long as    
upon the whole it exemplified and       
enforced1 beyond any other human agency1
 the highest moral and spiritual ideals 

men knew4  ,its supremacy was favored by
 the complete subordination of all      
intellectual life which was an incident 
of the barbaric conquest and the feudal 
society which followed4  ,even before   
those events the human intellect seemed 
to flag4  ,the old classicism and the   
new ,christianity never so wedded as to 
produce either an adequate civic virtue 
or a great intellectual movement4  ,in  
the ,dark ,ages which followed1 learning
 shrank into the narrow channels of the 
cloister1 and literature almost ceased  
as a creative force4  ,for almost a     
thousand years--from ,augustine to      
,dante--,europe scarcely produced a book
 which has high intrinsic value for our 
time4  ,when intellectual energy woke   
again in ,italy and then in the ,north1 
the ecclesiastical conception had       
inwrought itself in human thought4      
,along with authority and dogmas there  
developed an elaborate ceremonial1      
appealing through the senses to the     
imagination and the spiritual sense4    

,for the multitude it involved a        
habitual confusion of the symbol with   
the substance of religion4  ,in an age  
when the highest minds lived in an      
atmosphere of profound ignorance1 and   
philosophy was childish1 there was      
wrought out the full doctrine of the    
,mass and its accompaniments1--a literal
 transformation of the bread and wine of
 the sacrament into the body and blood  
of ,christ1 powerful to impart a saving 
grace4  ,the power to work this miracle 
was the supreme weapon of the           
priesthood4  ,we may glance at the      
mediaeval religion in its culmination in
 the three figures of ,dante1 ,francis  
of ,assisi1 and ,thomas  ,kempis4       
,kempis shows religion fled from the    
active world with its strifes and       
temptations1 sedulously cultivating a   
pure1 devout1 unworldly virtue2 feeding 
on the contemplation of heavenly        
splendors and infernal horrors2         
self-centred and inglorious4  ,the      
opposite type is ,frances1 a joyful     

prophet of glad tidings to the poor2    
ardent1 sympathetic1 heroic2 touched    
with the beauty of nature and the appeal
 of the animal creation2 exalting       
simplicity and poverty like an ancient  
philosopher2 seeking the needy and      
sorrowful like ,jesus of ,nazareth2 but 
with no spiritual originality like      
,jesus1 no power to create a new        
religion2 strong only to revive the best
 elements of the traditional faith1 and 
to organize a society which erelong sank
 back to the general level of the       
church4  ,dante is an embodiment of     
mediaeval belief in its most sublime and
 intense phase4  ,he has much of the    
temper of the ,hebrew psalmist1 in his  
tremendous love and hate1 his           
patriotism1 his sorrow1 his quest for   
the highest4  ,this vast spiritual      
passion finds its expression and        
satisfaction in an invisible world1     
which promises in a future existence the
 supreme triumph and reign of a divine  
justice1 wrath1 and pity1 and for which 

the visible world is but antechamber and
 probation4  ,dante shows the           
culmination of supernatural             
,christianity1 but he has something     
further4  ,the guide of his pilgrimage1 
the star of his hope1 the inspiration of
 his life1 is a woman1--loved with      
sublimation and tenderness1 loved better
 after her death1 and felt as the living
 link between the seen and unseen       
worlds4  ,thus at the heart of the old  
supernaturalism is the germ of a new    
conception1 in which human love         
sanctified by death becomes the         
revealer4  ,in ,dante we feel that the  
projection of human interest to an      
unseen and future world has reached its 
furthest limit4  ,the mind of man must  
needs revert to some nearer home and    
sphere4  ,and closely following ,dante  
we see in ,england a group of figures   
who betoken the return4  ,there is      
,chaucer1 displaying the various energy 
and joy and humor of earthly life4      
,there is ,piers ,plowman1 showing the  

grim obverse of the medal1 the hardship 
and woe of the poor4  ,wyclif insists on
 a personal religion1 whose austere edge
 turns against ecclesiastical pretense  
and social wrong2 and he applies reason 
so daringly that it cuts at the very    
centre of the church's dogma1 in denying
 ,transubstantiation4  ,a little earlier
 we see ,roger ,bacon making a fresh    
beginning in the experimental philosophy
 which had been slighted for centuries4 
,these four are the precursors          
respectively of the purely human view1  
as in ,shakspere1 of the elevation of   
the poor1 of ,protestantism1 and of     
natural science4   ,as pagan mythology1 
,stoicism1 and ,judaism all were        
superseded by early ,christianity1 as   
that in turn was succeeded by mediaeval 
,catholicism1 so another stage has      
brought us to the religion of to-day4   
,the leading features of this last      
transition may be summarily sketched1 we
 may then glance at certain groups of   
figures illustrating the advance in its 

successive periods1 and so we shall come
 to the ideal of the present4  ,the     
religious transition of the last four   
centuries is in one aspect marked by the
 waning of authority and the growth of  
individual freedom2 and in another      
aspect it is the substitution for a     
supernatural of a natural conception1   
or1 we may say1 in place of a divided   
and warring universe1 a harmonious      
universe4  ,in this double progress     
toward individual liberty and toward a  
new way of thought1 a conspicuous agency
 has been the advance of knowledge4     
,connected with the advance of knowledge
 has been an improvement of the actual  
conditions of human life4  ,meantime the
 ethical sense and the spiritual        
aspiration of mankind have asserted     
themselves1 sometimes as slow-working1  
permanent forces1 sometimes in          
revolutionary upheaval4 ,with change    
both of material condition and of ways  
of thought1 new forms of sentiment and  
aspiration have appeared1--a wider and  

tenderer humanity2 a reverence for the  
order of nature and dependence upon the 
study of that order for human progress2 
a consciousness of the sublimity and    
beauty of nature as a divine revelation2
 a reliance upon the powers and         
intuitions of the human spirit as its   
only and sufficient guides2 a           
rediscovery under natural and universal 
forms of the faith and hope which were  
once supposed inseparably bound up with 
ritual1 dogma1 and miracle1 but which   
now when given freer wing find firmer   
support and loftier scope4  ,along with 
these forces has gone the steady push of
 human nature for enjoyment1 for ease1  
for power2 the grasp of man for all he  
can get of whatever seems to him the    
highest good4  ,there have been mutual  
injuries1 degradations1 retrogressions1 
such as darken all the pages of human   
history2 the manifest evil which often  
defies all interpretation1 and which    
only a profound faith can regard as good
 in the making4  ,together with these   

influences we must also reckon the      
special action of strong personalities4 
,no sharp line can be drawn between     
these various powers1--their interplay  
is constant4  ,the main argument of the 
drama1 from the mediaeval to the present
 phase1 may be briefly shown4   ,into   
the world as ,dante knew it came        
,knowledge on three great               
lines1--opening the material universe1  
rediscovering a lost interpretation of  
life1 and diffusing the secrets of the  
few among the many4  ,the astronomers1  
voyagers1 and geographers found out a   
new heaven and a new earth4  ,the       
revival of ,greek literature gave to the
 cultivated class a renaissance1 a      
rebirth1 of speculative thought1 of     
intellectual beauty1 of delight in human
 activities for their own sake4  ,it was
 a new birth in some of the old pagan   
sensuality1 skeptical of heaven or hell2
 worse than the old sensuality because  
it trampled down the finer purity which 
,christianity had bred4  ,in others it  

was a new birth to the pursuit of moral 
and social good1 inspired by the master 
spirits of ,judaism and early           
,christianity4  ,then came the invention
 of printing1 and the aristocracy of    
intelligence widened rapidly toward     
democracy4  ,the foremost men of the new
 knowledge supported the ,catholic      
church1 either as a covert for          
indulgence or as a spiritual agency to  
be maintained and purified4  ,the       
successful rebel against the church was 
a peasant-priest1 who revolted because  
the moral unsoundness which long had    
sapped the hierarchy ran at last into   
open countenance of vice4  ,it was      
originally a moral revolt1 and it was   
led by a man who knew in his own        
experience that not only the ethical but
 the emotional life of the spirit was   
possible without dependence on the      
church of ,rome4  ,but neither ,luther  
nor any of the reformers were men of    
spiritual originality4 ,driven to       
construct a new creed1 they simply      

worked over the old dogmas1 divesting   
them of the keys of priestly power--the 
,mass1 the confessional1 absolution1    
,purgatory1 and the like2 and giving    
infallible authority to the ,bible only4
  ,a war of creeds followed1 mingled    
with a strife of ambitions and a        
struggle between the powers of the      
secular state and of the hierarchy4  ,to
 men of piety and peace like ,erasmus   
and ,melanchthon it seemed as if        
religion were only a loser by the long  
period of bloodshed and bitterness that 
followed4  ,the gain1 as we see it1 was 
that half of ,europe was wrested from   
the dominion of the ,catholic church2   
that that church was driven to purify   
its morals2 and that in the ,protestant 
states the liberty which at first was   
only a change of masters spread         
gradually1 as one sect after another    
established its foothold1 and as the    
secular temper in the state rose above  
the ecclesiastical1 until the religious 
freedom of the individual is at last    

becoming generally and securely         
established4  ,only by this overthrow of
 ecclesiastical authority was rendered  
possible that unchecked freedom of      
intellectual inquiry which has been the 
great positive factor in modern advance4
  ,step by step men have learned to know
 the condition1 the history1 the natural
 laws of the material world in which    
they live and the social world of which 
they are a part4  ,the bearing of this  
growing knowledge on the conception of  
the spiritual life has been             
various1--seeming for a while to lie    
wholly apart from it2 then at times     
menacing its existence or contracting   
its scope2 again arming it with powerful
 weapons and enlarging its ideals4  ,of 
the latest chapters in the story of     
science1 one has retold the origin of   
,christianity1 divested it of miracle   
and revelation1 and translated it into  
purely natural and human terms4         
,another chapter has fixed the general  
trend of the universe known to man as an

 ever advancing and broadening movement1
 under the name of ,evolution4  ,amid   
all these changes the ,christian church 
has continued to present its ideals1    
precepts1 incitements2 partly affirming 
them in contradiction of all denial1    
partly adapting them to the changes of  
time and thought4  ,the moral and       
spiritual interpretation of life has not
 been confined to the church1 but has   
been voiced in each generation by poets1
 moralists1 reformers1 statesmen1 each  
after his thought4  ,out of the conflict
 and confusion a substantial agreement  
and harmonious ideal is at last         
appearing4  ,more clearly and           
confidently in our day than ever before 
the universe may be seen and felt by man
 as a ,cosmos1--a beautiful order4      
,this bird's-eye view will grow more    
distinct and vivid if we study certain  
typical figures which group themselves  
as the representatives of succeeding    
generations4  ,our conventional division
 of centuries will serve as a convenient

 framework for four groups4  ,in the    
sixteenth century we have ,sir ,thomas  
,more1 uniting the highest virtue of the
 church with the clearest intelligence  
of the new thought1 and setting forth in
 ,utopia the ideal to be sought1--not   
mere individual salvation1 not an       
ecclesiastical fold1 but a human        
commonwealth of free1 happy1 and        
virtuous citizens4  ,instead of the     
peaceful growth of such a society1--made
 impossible by selfishness1 ignorance1  
and passion1--comes social upheaval and 
religious revolution1 its central figure
 the burly1 heroic1 great-hearted       
,luther2 by turns a rebel and a         
conservative2 leading the successful    
revolt of ,teutonic ,europe against     
,rome1 but leaving reconstruction to    
other hands4  ,then we have ,calvin1 the
 builder of the creed of ,protestantism2
 in its substance little but a          
symmetrical statement of mediaeval      
ideas1 but resting its appeal not on    
authority1 but logic2 or1 more exactly1 

on the authority of a book1 which1      
having no longer an infallible          
interpreter1 must be judged by human    
reason as to its contents and at last as
 to its nature and origin4  ,thus1      
unconsciously1 ,calvin initiated a      
religious democracy and ultimately a    
religion of reason2 while for the time  
he established a creed more austere and 
grim than the ,catholic4  ,opposite him 
stands ,loyola1 the reviver of          
,catholicism1 infusing it with a new    
heroism and self-sacrifice2 reaffirming 
and intensifying its authority2 scornful
 of speculation1 powerful in            
organization2 zealot1 missionary1       
educator2 giving to ecclesiastical      
obedience an added emphasis1 to         
organization a new force4   ,for a      
typical group in the next century1 let  
us take ,francis ,bacon1 leading the    
human intellect away from abstractions  
and from other worlds to the close1     
intelligent study of the material world 
in which men live4 ,beside him stands   

,shakspere1 reading the world of        
humanity with eyes neither biased by    
creed nor sublimed by faith2 portraying 
with marvelous range the joys1 sorrows1 
humors of mankind2 showing on his       
impartial canvas a true humanity1 far   
different from the fictitious saint and 
fictitious sinner of the theologian2    
showing1 as with the truth of nature1   
virtue in her shape how lovely2 but with
 no consolation beside the grave1 no    
satisfying ideal for man's pursuit nor  
rule for man's guidance4  ,near him we  
see the ,shakspere of divines1 ,jeremy  
,taylor2 he1 too1 is close to the       
realities of life1 but he is planted    
firm on the belief in a supernatural    
revelation of ,god1 ,christ1 and a      
hereafter1 and for those who so believe 
offers a simple1 noble way of ,holy     
,living and ,dying4  ,in ,cromwell is   
embodied the attempt of extreme         
,protestantism to mould society and the 
state by the authority of a supernatural
 religion4  ,the ,puritan creed for     

which he stands is a mixture of ,hebraic
 and ,calvinistic elements2 the ,puritan
 temper is at its best heroic and       
austere1 made despotic by its confidence
 of divine authority1 and by its        
supernaturalism made indifferent to the 
new science and to the various elements 
of human nature on which statesmanship  
must build4  ,its political sway is     
brief1 its effects on ,english and      
,american character are lasting4  ,in   
the next century the master minds stand 
outside of ,christianity4 ,voltaire     
assails the whole ecclesiastical and    
supernatural fabric with terrible       
weapons of hard sense and derision4     
,for the target of his arrows he has a  
church at once corrupt1 tyrannical1 and 
weak1 and a creed which the best        
intelligence has outgrown4  ,he heartily
 scouts the church1 dogma1 miracle2     
admits a vague ,deity and a possible    
hereafter1 but cares little for them2 is
 fearless1 jovial1 generous1--a         
rollicking1 comfortable1 formidable     

apostle of negations4  ,into the vacuum 
he creates comes ,rousseau1 and at his  
touch there well up again deep fountains
 of feeling1 belief1 desire4  ,rousseau1
 too1 has left behind him the church and
 its dogmas2 but he craves love1 joy1   
action1 and finds scope for them4  ,he  
delights in nature's beauty1 and it is  
the symbol to him of a ,god in whom     
there remains of the ,christian ,deity  
only the element of beneficence4  ,he   
exhorts men to return to nature1 but it 
is a somewhat unreal nature1 a dream of 
primeval innocence and simplicity4  ,he 
idealizes the family relation1 and      
brings wisdom and gentleness to the     
training of the child4  ,he lacks the   
,hebraic and ,puritan stress on         
conscience2 the mild benevolence of his 
,deity is somewhat remote from the      
ethical need of man and from the actual 
procedure or the universe2 ,rousseau    
himself is tainted with sensuality1--a  
diseased1 suffering1 pathetic nature1   
with sweet strings jangled1 worthy of   

pity and of gratitude4  ,in ,france1 the
 highest intelligence was at war with   
established institutions1--the          
,encyclopaedists1 ,voltaire1 ,rousseau1 
against the ,catholic church and the    
reigning authorities3 on the one side   
persecution1 but growing feeble2 on the 
other side derision or evasion or       
attack4  ,in ,england1 a large measure  
of civil and religious freedom gave the 
intellectual combatants a fairer field  
and a milder temper4  ,the ,english     
genius showed itself as practical1      
matter-of-fact1 and moderate4           
,supernatural ,christianity was attacked
 and defended2 against the assault on   
the miracles the defense was really a   
shifting of the ground1 and an          
insistence as by ,butler on an ethical  
order in the observed workings of the   
world1 which gives a sort of analogue   
and support to the ,christian scheme of 
future retribution4  ,in speculative    
thought the prevailing school1 as in    
,locke1 approached reality from the side

 of sense-knowledge1 till ,hume showed  
how this road led to a denial of miracle
 and in philosophy to a fundamental     
skepticism4  ,berkeley reverted to the  
ideal philosophy1 and there seemed but a
 continuance of the eternal seesaw of   
metaphysics4  ,in ,germany1 ,kant sank  
his plummet deeper4  ,he found indeed in
 the working of the pure intellect an   
outcome of self-contradiction4  ,but he 
recognized1 as the most certain guide to
 reality which man's inner world        
affords1 the commanding sense of        
duty1--the moral imperative2 and through
 this he found the presence and the     
authoritative voice of a moral deity4   
,goethe lived through a rich and various
 experience1 of book-culture1 emotion1  
conversance with men and affairs1 in the
 attitude of an explorer and observer1  
unbound by creeds1 but open to all      
teaching from past records or present   
impressions4  ,the projection of this   
experience was an ideal of life which   
gave large scope to all human           

faculties1--to knowledge1 pleasure1     
passion1 service1--under a wise         
self-control1 and with theoretical      
allegiance to a moral law and a future  
hope not unlike the law and the hope of 
,christianity4  ,it was an ideal which  
appealed only to the man of intellectual
 habit1 and which lacked the note of    
heroism and self-sacrifice4  ,it was the
 opposite quality1 the passion of       
self-forgetful service1 which won for   
,christianity its most notable triumph  
in this century1 in the movement led by 
,john ,wesley4  ,in ,wesley1            
,protestantism came back to the rescue  
of the poor1 as ,catholicism came back  
in ,francis of ,assisi4  ,among the     
peasants and colliers of ,england1 among
 the backwoodsmen of ,america1 swept an 
uplifting wave of love1 joy1 and hope4  
,jonathan ,edwards did ,christianity the
 service of carrying ,calvinism to its  
logical extreme1 and showing what it    
really meant4 ,he started in the ,new   
,england ministry a strenuous           

speculation1 which was not to rest till 
it destroyed the foundation from which  
he worked4 ,the hell as to which        
comfortable churchmen were getting      
silent1 he painted in such lurid colors 
that reaction and ultimate revolt were  
necessities of human nature4 ,the life  
of holiness and love--in himself a most 
genuine reality--he defined in such     
terms of introspection and              
self-consciousness1 that there opened a 
wide gulf between the forms of religion 
and the most sturdy and natural virtue  
of the time4  ,that sturdy and natural  
virtue was embodied in ,benjamin        
,franklin1--in all this eighteenth      
century the best type and herald of the 
coming development of man4  ,franklin   
inherited the characteristic virtue of  
the ,englishman and the ,puritan2 he    
started in ground which ,puritan and    
,quaker had fertilized1 and when the    
fire of the early zeal had cooled2 he   
worked out the problem of life for      
himself with great independence and     

entire good sense4  ,after a few        
vagaries and some wholesome buffeting1  
he determined that moral perfection was 
the only satisfying aim4  ,but instead  
of proclaiming his discovery as a       
gospel1 he quietly utilized it for his  
personal guidance4  ,he had a keen eye  
for all utility2 he carved out his own  
fortune2 he early identified his own    
happiness with that of the people around
 him1 and served the community with     
disinterested faithfulness through a    
long life4  ,that unselfish beneficence1
 of which ,goethe thought a single      
instance was enough to save his hero    
from the fiend to whom he had fairly    
forfeited his selfish soul1 was the     
habit of ,franklin's lifetime4  ,he     
found the ample sanctions and rewards of
 virtue in the present world1 though he 
held a cheerful hope of something       
beyond4 ,in the study of this world's   
laws1 he saw1 lay the best road to human
 success4  ,he recognized the homely    
virtues of industry and thrift1 on which

 the young ,american society had worked 
out its real strength1 and assigned to  
them the fundamental place1 instead of  
that mystic and introspective piety     
which the ,calvinist made his           
corner-stone4  ,he took the lead in     
penetrating the secrets of nature1 and  
not less in moulding and guiding the    
infant nation4  ,if his virtue was      
prudential rather than heroic1 his      
prudence was close to that large wisdom 
which is a right apprehension of all the
 facts of life4  ,only the realm of the 
poet1 the mystic1 the ardent lover1 lay 
beyond his ken4  ,he stands side by side
 with the grand and magnanimous figure  
of ,washington1--the twin founders of   
the ,american republic4   ,the          
complexity and onrush of the nineteenth 
century may be in some degree made clear
 if we fix our eyes on certain typical  
groups of men whom we may classify under
 the aspects of ,knowledge1 ,philosophy1
 ,literature1 ,protestantism1           
,catholicism1 ,social ,ideals1 ,personal

 ,ideals4  ,regarding under ,knowledge  
what may fairly be considered as solid  
and irreversible acquisition1--the      
general movement of humanity has        
received conspicuous interpretation by  
,darwin1 who by most patient            
investigation discovered at least       
approximately the path by which man has 
been developed out of the lower animal  
forms4  ,spencer has shown1 by a vast   
generalization of facts1 the working    
throughout all realms of existence known
 to man of certain common tendencies--of
 variation and new and specialized      
formation4  ,apart from all debatable   
theories of psychology and metaphysics1 
he and a host of other students in the  
same direction have discovered clews by 
which the growth of human societies and 
their individual members can be in some 
degree traced under general laws4  ,in  
another department of knowledge the     
sacred histories of ,christianity have  
been given a new reading by scholars1   
among whom ,strauss1 ,baur1 and ,renan  

are conspicuous4  ,the general result   
has been to show that these scriptures  
are purely human documents1 and the     
personages they describe are purely     
human4  ,through the gospel histories   
,strauss ran his critical theory like a 
plowshare through a field of daisies4   
,he showed especially the genesis of    
many of these stories by imagination    
working creations out of ,old ,testament
 texts4  ,baur led the way in           
discovering by marvelous analysis the   
composite influences which helped to    
shape the apostolic histories in the    
interest of party or of piety4  ,renan  
reillumined the scene which his         
predecessors seemed to convert into a   
dreary waste1 by reconceiving1 with     
erudition illumined by genius and       
sympathy1 the personality of ,jesus of  
,nazareth as a human character1 nowise  
infallible1 but a sublime leader of the 
race4  ,while ,christianity has thus    
been brought to the level of a natural  
religion1 its old-time adversaries1 the 

other world-religions such as ,buddhism1
 ,brahmanism1 ,islamism1 have been shown
 by sympathetic students to be vast     
upward essays of mankind toward truth   
and goodness4  ,that no religion is     
handed down complete from heaven1 and   
that all religions are expressions of   
human aspiration and effort1 is coming  
to be accepted as axiomatic4  ,turning  
from well-established knowledge to      
theoretical schemes of the universe1 the
 three typical names in this century are
 ,hegel1 ,comte1 and ,spencer4  ,hegel  
stood for the interpretation of all     
existence in terms of man's inner       
world--thought and being are regarded as
 identical1 and the movement of thought1
 expressed by a new kind of logic1      
becomes interpreter of the development  
of the universe4  ,in absolute revulsion
 from this tendency1 ,comte in his      
world-scheme rejected metaphysics and   
theology alike as belonging to the      
infantile stage of man1 and recognized  
as legitimate only the positive         

knowledge which science affords4  ,for  
the emotional and ethical needs of man1 
he offered the religion of humanity1    
with the service of mankind as its      
worship and woman as its priestess4     
,spencer1 equally discarding the        
supernatural as matter of knowledge1    
relegates the distinctively religious   
emotion to awe before a supreme power   
wholly inscrutable to man4  ,he sets    
himself to formulate so far as possible 
the observed workings of the universe in
 which man is a part2 he makes          
,evolution the central principle2 he    
finds in ,heredity and ,environment the 
great formative influences upon the     
individual2 and he reaffirms as of      
supreme importance the familiar ethical 
principles which mankind has discovered 
in its experiences4  ,in all these      
forms1 the constructive philosophy of   
our century has visibly fallen short of 
the immense volume of old and new truths
 which it has striven to mould and      
formulate4  ,the characteristic genius  

of the time is shown more powerfully on 
the one hand in the accumulation of     
specific knowledge1 as science2 and on  
the other hand in the imaginative       
portrayal of human life4  ,the favorite 
vehicle of imagination has been the     
novel4  ,if our successors hereafter    
desire to know how man in the nineteenth
 century appeared to himself1 their best
 guides will be such as ,scott1         
,hawthorne1 ,dickens1 ,thackeray1       
,george ,eliot1 ,hugo1 ,balzac4  ,it is 
the children of ,bacon and those of     
,shakspere who are most conspicuous in  
the work of yesterday4  ,to-day we seem 
to stand on the threshold of a more     
inclusive1 more profound1 more inspiring
 philosophy4  ,the ,christian church    
has1 like all other institutions1 been  
deeply affected by the time-spirit4  ,in
 ,protestantism1 the great developments 
have been a modification of the creed1  
and a transfer of energy from the       
winning of a future salvation to the    
working out of a present salvation for  

the individual and for society4  ,the   
creed has been changed1 in spirit more  
widely than in form1 partly under the   
influence of reason and partly through a
 reawakening of spiritual and humane    
feeling4 ,schleiermacher interpreted    
,christianity as an emotional and       
ethical experience1 rather than a       
dogmatic system4  ,in the ,english      
church1 while one refluent wave swept   
toward a dogmatic authority and         
ritualistic splendor like that of ,rome1
 on another side the effort to reconcile
 the church with modern thought and fit 
it to modern society was carried farther
 and farther by ,coleridge1 ,arnold1    
,robertson1 ,maurice1 ,kingsley1 and    
,stanley2 till the advance has met a    
sharp check at the point where rejection
 of miracle involves a collision with   
the formularies of worship4  ,in        
,america1 a like advance has had the    
advantage of that more elastic polity   
which allows to churches of the         
,congregational order an easier change  

of creed and worship4  ,the leaders have
 been1 in the ,unitarian line1 such as  
,channing1 who purified ,christianity of
 its ,calvinistic harshness and then of 
its ,athanasian metaphysics2 and        
,parker1 who took the great step to     
simple theism1--,christian in ethics and
 piety1 but purely naturalistic in      
theology4  ,in the other great branch of
 the ,new ,england church1--for in ,new 
,england alone has ,america shown       
religious originality1--,bushnell in a  
scholastic way1 and ,beecher with poetic
 and popular power1 resolved the        
dogmatic system into a supremacy in the 
universe of love and holiness1 embodied 
in a deity who became actually          
incarnated as ,christ4  ,phillips       
,brooks1 exercising a spiritual power of
 extraordinary purity and intensity1 and
 so unspeculative that he felt no       
difficulty in the formulae of the       
,episcopal church1 taught a religion in 
which ,christ represents a sublimed and 
perfect humanity1 a realized ideal1 the 

inspiration and helper of men who are   
his brothers4  ,in the ,catholic church1
 two ,popes stand as representative1    
,plus ,,ix4 and ,leo ,,xiii4  ,under the
 first1 the monarchic system of the     
church was made complete1 and the       
highest function of the ,council1 the   
definition of religious truth1 was      
assigned to the ,pope4  ,by ,leo ,,xiii4
 this autocracy is administered in      
sympathy largely with modern ideas4     
,the church allies itself less with the 
temporal monarch than with the common   
people4  ,it throws much of its force   
into ethical channels4  ,its            
characteristic interest is in education1
 temperance1 social reform2 and along   
with these it still ministers publicly  
and privately to that communion with    
,god in which it places the foundation  
and secret of human life4  ,its         
limitations are that it still claims not
 only to persuade but to rule--a useful 
function toward some classes1 but       
impossible toward other classes2 that   

its pretension to infallibility obliges 
it to misread history2 and that its     
foundation of dogma admits no frank and 
full reconciliation with modern         
knowledge4  ,but to know the full mind  
and heart of our age1 we must again take
 a survey beyond the church walls4  ,the
 emotional forces which have moved the  
world have been largely in the direction
 of certain social aspirations4  ,the   
first was for ,liberty--freedom from the
 tyranny of king's and priests4  ,it won
 its first great victory in ,america1   
where the ,war of ,independence and the 
making of the ,constitution marked by a 
brave struggle and a masterpiece of good
 sense the consummation of many years'  
growth of an ,english shoot in virgin   
soil4  ,england herself has followed    
with more unequal steps to a similar    
result4  ,in ,france1 there was volcanic
 explosion which convulsed ,europe4     
,the other ,continental states have     
variously followed1 save ,russia1 which 
as yet lies impotent under despotism4   

,following the substantial success of   
the effort for ,liberty1 or blending    
with it1 came the aspiration for a      
better ,social ,order4  ,in one phase1  
this worked toward the consolidation of 
nations on natural lines of race and    
history1 as in ,germany and ,italy4  ,in
 ,america1 the two ideas of universal   
,freedom and national ,union1           
conflicting for a while with each other1
 blent at last and triumphed after a    
mighty struggle4 ,the supreme figure in 
that struggle was ,abraham ,lincoln2 who
 in his public capacity illustrated how 
the most complicated problems of        
statesmanship find their best solution  
through good-will1 resolution1 patience1
 and homely shrewdness2 while in his own
 life he showed that a man may rise     
above misfortune and melancholy1 unaided
 by creed or church1 working only by    
absolute fidelity to the right as he    
sees the right1 till he renders to his  
fellows a supreme service and wins their
 unbounded love4  ,the aspiration for   

,social ,order pauses not when it has   
won national unity and harmony4  ,the   
principle and the result of the existing
 industrial system no longer content    
those who live under it4  ,that system  
has been stimulated by the enormous     
material acquisitions which have flowed 
from invention4  ,it has improved in    
some degree the condition of most       
members of society1 but with a marked   
inequality in the improvement1 and at   
the cost of the mutual hostility which  
unchecked competition involves1 and     
which is fruitful in moral mischief and 
material waste4  ,the laborer has gained
 in intelligence by the school and the  
newspaper2 holding the vote1 he feels   
himself one of the masters of the state2
 sympathy draws him to his own class4   
,the scholar sees that the system of    
unchecked competition is an outgrowth of
 conditions which are changing1 and     
which ought to change4  ,the idealist   
longs for a society which shall         
effectually seek the highest good of    

every member1 and supplement the hunger 
for personal advantage with satisfaction
 in the good of all4  ,the toiler and   
the idealist unite to seek a more       
generous and serviceable order in the   
community1 and the tendency is vaguely  
called ,socialism4  ,one conspicuous    
exponent is ,karl ,marx1 who1 with his  
followers1 would make the highly        
centralized ,german state the           
starting-point for a still more         
authoritative and minute regulation of  
the community1 directed to the equal    
material benefit of all its members4    
,by a different road a degree of        
fraternal organization is being         
attained1 through voluntary associations
 of workingmen1 for mutual support as   
toward their employers1 or for          
independent production or distribution4 
,all definite and dogmatic schemes of   
social reform prove upon challenge to   
need adjustment and modification1 to fit
 the actual workings of a society       
already infinitely complex4  ,it is as  

the sentiment which for want of a better
 word we call socialistic works along   
with that broad and candid study of fact
 which we call scientific1 and toward an
 ideal in which the material is but an  
instrument of the spiritual1--that there
 is solid promise of advance4  ,with    
these sentiments of ,liberty and ,social
 ,order may be named what is sometimes  
called ,philanthropy1 or in a broader   
way of speaking may be named            
,humanity1--the unselfish passion for   
the good of others1 the ardor of        
service1 to which early ,christianity   
gave outlet in missions1 and which now  
throws itself into reform1 education1   
amelioration in every direction of human
 need4  ,more central to man than any   
social ideal is the personal ideal4     
,for society is but an aggregation of   
units2 state1 church1 community1 family1
 have their aim and outcome in the      
individual man2 they are serviceable    
only as through them he becomes good and
 happy4  ,what new interpretations has  

this century seen of the personal ideal8
  ,they may partly be read in a group of
 poets of the ,english-speaking people4 
,wordsworth1 loyal to the forms of the  
old ,christianity1 shows life as really 
sustained and gladdened by simple duty  
and by the sacramental beauty of        
nature--one giving the rule of conduct1 
the other disclosing the divinity of the
 world4  ,tennyson gives in ,in         
,memoriam that interpretation of human  
life which comes when love is sublimed  
by death4  ,browning shows the soul face
 to face with the doubt1 the denial1 the
 dismay1 which are added to the foes of 
human peace in an age which has lost the
 old faith1 and shows the soul          
victorious over all by its own energy1  
constancy1 and joy4  ,in ,whittier1 the 
dogmatic system of ,christianity is     
transformed into a spirit of fidelity1  
brotherhood1 and tender trust4  ,emerson
 gives that direct vision of divine     
reality1 seen in nature1 in humanity1 in
 the heart's innermost recesses1 which  

is possible to a soul purified by moral 
fidelity1 reverent of natural law1 and  
winged by holy desire4  ,these have been
 the prophets of hope and of victory4   
,the dark message of defeat and despair 
has also had its full expression4       
,satiety with material good1            
disappointment of inward joy1 the loss  
of the old objects of adoration and     
trust1 have inspired utterances in every
 key of gloom1 impotence1 despondency   
verging toward suicide4  ,schopenhauer  
has formulated a philosophy of          
pessimism1 and through a host of the    
minor story-tellers and versifiers runs 
the note of discouragement and          
abandonment4  ,the most dangerous       
alliance which besets man is that       
between ,sensuality and ,unbelief1      
whispering together in his ear1 ,let us 
eat and drink1 for to-morrow we die6    
,sometimes unbelief is at the widest    
remove from sensuality2 it may go with  
pure devotion to truth and thirst for   
goodness4  ,there are pathetic and noble

 voices of seekers after ,god1 which    
when they do not gladden yet strengthen 
and purify1 and which catch at moments  
an exquisite tone of peace and joy4     
,such are ,clough and ,matthew ,arnold4 
,we have one moralist of the ,spencerian
 school1 ,george ,eliot1 who unites a   
strong ethical sense with a wonderful   
reading of human nature4  ,her essential
 message1 told again and again in every 
book1 is1 ,life may be ruined by        
self-indulgence--beware6  ,if we ask1   
,but may life be saved by fidelity8 her 
answer is uncertain4  ,and in her own   
life we read1 with humbled eyes1 the    
defect which marred the note of triumph 
and deepened the note of warning4  ,if1 
again1 as to the ,personal ,ideal1 we   
revert to the basal elements of         
character1--to the homely1 every-day    
aspect1--to the life not only of the    
cultivated few but of the mass of       
humanity1--the new perception has been  
reached1 that ,work is the basis of all 
personal and social virtue4  ,toil1 said

 the old ,scripture1 is ,god's          
punishment for man's sin4  ,toil1 says  
the religious enthusiast1 is a necessary
 incident of an existence whose higher  
exercise lies in spiritual emotion      
reaching toward a future ,paradise4     
,but toil1 to modern eyes1 is the root  
which binds man to his native earth1 and
 transmits all the sap which creates    
flowers and fruit4 ,intelligent1        
arduous1 thrifty toil is the mother of  
greatness4  ,do the next thing1--do the 
nearest duty1--labor rather than        
question1--is the most articulate note  
in ,carlyle's stormy message4  ,the old 
charity was to give bread to the hungry2
 the new charity is to help the hungry  
to work for their bread4  ,a generation 
ago it seemed to ,american reformers    
that the nation's problem would be      
solved if once the slaves were freed4   
,they were set free1 and then it was    
seen that the whole question of their   
future destiny was still to be met4     
,practical necessity1 religious zeal1   

political schemes1 all played their     
part2 but the best answer came through  
the apostle ,armstrong1 ,character1     
wrought out through education and labor4
  ,the inherited devotion of ,christian 
missionaries caught the light of        
personal experience and observation1 and
 a man in whom heroic temper blent with 
shrewdest wisdom laid the foundation of 
an education transcending in its aims   
and results the whole traditional system
 of school and university4  ,it is an   
object-lesson of supreme significance4  
,that way lies the future education of  
our children1--character its aim1 nature
 its chief book1 exercise of all the    
bodily and spiritual powers its method4 
,here1 then1 are the results of our     
century as they bear on man's higher    
life4  ,a religion through special      
revelation has been displaced by a      
religion which faces all the facts of   
existence and bases itself on them4 ,man
 has found new clews to read the story  
of his past1 and new ways to mould his  

present and future4  ,the old ethical   
ideals have been reaffirmed1 broadened1 
purified4  ,the task of building        
personal life and of ordering society   
has been set before man in fresh        
clearness1 under heavy penalties for    
failure and heart-filling rewards for   
success4  ,it is seen that the humble   
path of moral obedience issues in       
celestial heights of spiritual vision4  
,out of the noblest use of the ,here and
 ,now springs the assurance of a        
,hereafter and the sense of a present   
eternity4  ,the way to the ,highest is  
open1 inviting1 commanding4  ,the       
simplest may enter1 and the strongest   
must give his full strength to the      
quest4     ,,ii  ,,the ,,ideal ,,of     
,,to-,,day  ,the way of the highest life
 is clear and certain4  ,its first and  
last precept is fidelity to the best we 
know4  ,its constant process is that    
fidelity wins moral growth and spiritual
 vision4  ,all attempts to demonstrate  
the nature and attributes of ,god1 all  

effort to prove by argument that the    
universe is administered by             
righteousness and benevolence1 are aside
 from the main road4  ,the real task for
 man is to order his own life1 as an    
individual and in society4 ,to do that1 
he needs to understand his own life as a
 practical matter2 he needs to study the
 procedure of the world in which he     
stands2 he needs to rally every force of
 knowledge1 resolution1 sympathy1       
reverence1 aspiration1 upon this high   
business of personal and social living4 
,as he achieves such life1 there develop
 in him the faculties which read sublime
 meanings in the universe of which he is
 a part4  ,as he becomes divine1 he     
finds divinity everywhere4  ,the heart  
of religion is joy1 peace1 energy1      
support under suffering1 inward harmony1
 true relation with fellow creatures1   
grateful sense of the past1 full        
fruition of the present1 glad out-reach 
to a beckoning future4  ,the way to that
 life is wholly independent of doubtful 

argumentation4  ,it lies simply in a    
whole-hearted conformity to what are    
known beyond all question as the worthy 
aims1 the just requirements1 the        
righteous laws4  ,let us consider       
somewhat at large the unfolding of this 
philosophy of life4  ,let us seek to    
sympathetically interpret the deepest1  
most significant working of the human   
spirit in our time4  ,is it not the     
distinctive note of the thoughtful and  
honest mind of to-day1 as compared with 
a like mind some centuries ago1 that it 
contemplates more directly the actual   
procedure of the universe1 is less      
concerned with supernatural personages  
and transactions1 and more attentive to 
what has happened and is happening in   
this mundane sphere8 ,the piety of our  
ancestors contemplated the justice and  
mercy of ,god as manifested in the      
counsels of eternity1--his righteous    
condemnation of the wicked1 and the     
love-inspired sacrifice of ,christ4     
,the philosophy of our ancestors was    

largely an attempt to map out a         
world-scheme from man's inner           
consciousness4  ,the modern thinker1    
whether he calls himself ,christian or  
not1 is inclined to make his essay      
toward the ,supreme ,power by way of the
 observed workings of the universe4     
,and certain general impressions which  
he thus receives we may distinguish4    
,that aspect of things which now engages
 us with the fascination of a new and   
vast discovery is what we term          
,evolution4  ,its spectacle1 on the one 
hand1 prompts a sure and soaring hope4  
,in the sum of things we see a movement 
upward and still upward1--from          
unorganized to organized matter1 from   
unconscious to sentient existence1 from 
beast to man1 from savage to saint1--and
 who can say to what height in the      
coming ages8 ,but on the other hand we  
see that thus far at least the progress 
of the favored is at deadly cost to the 
losers4  ,and we see that parallel with 
the ascending white line of humanity    

runs an ascending black line1--the bad  
man of civilization is in some ways     
worse than the bad man of savagery4     
,and this complexity of good and evil is
 recognized at a time when a higher     
sensibility has made the old familiar   
pain and sin of humanity seem more than 
ever intolerable4  ,yet the spectacle of
 creation and of the world1 as we see   
and know it1 makes upon us an impression
 far beyond that of mere perplexity or  
dismay4  ,it produces a sentiment which 
we may best call awe4  ,all the great   
aspects of nature wake in us this       
reverential emotion4  ,a familiar       
instance is the effect upon us of the   
starry heavens4  ,the ,psalmist thrilled
 at that sight1--how much more deeply   
are we moved1 knowing what we know of   
the vastness and the order6  ,some like 
effect on us has the unfolding          
revelation of the whole process of      
nature4  ,i think the thoughts of ,god  
after him1 said ,kepler4  ,let any man  
study in some clear exposition the      

development of the human race from the  
animal2 and the wonder of the process1  
the unity of design1 the unforeseen     
goals reached one by one1 the           
irresistible impression that the harmony
 which man's little faculties can       
discern is but a fraction of some       
sublimer harmony1--these emotions have  
in them a surpassing power to humble1   
purify1 and exalt the spirit4  ,the     
modern mind addresses itself to the     
highest reality through the actualities 
of existence1 and of those actualities  
one most significant phase is the       
procedure and laws of nature4  ,but     
there is another and more impressive    
aspect3 it is the inner life of         
humanity2 it is man's own conscious     
existence1 with its struggles1          
victories1 defeats1 its agonies and     
raptures1 its mirth1 its play1 its      
sweetness and bitterness4  ,this to us  
is the realm of real existence4  ,in    
this we are at home4  ,the march of the 
planets1 the evolution of a world1 the  

whole process of nature1 is like the    
view from a window2 and1 gazing upon it1
 sits feeling1 thinking1 aspiring man4  
,his consciousness is environed and     
conditioned by the surrounding world1   
but is utterly unexplained by it1 wholly
 untranslatable in its terms4  ,definite
 and precise is the language of         
mathematics1 of chemistry1 of physical  
procedure4  ,mystery of mysteries is the
 human spirit1--mystery of mysteries and
 holy of holies4  ,a new sense of the   
sacredness of human life has been born  
in this later age4  ,it is our most     
precious acquisition4  ,better could we 
have waited for modern science than for 
modern humanity4  ,better could we spare
 the telegraph and the steam-engine and 
anaesthesia than that quickened sense of
 the value of man as man which inspires 
the deepest political and social        
movements of to-day4  ,in all sober     
minds1 in all lofty effort1--whatever   
there may be of despair of ,god or      
hopelessness of a personal future1--we  

see a profound recognition of the       
solemnity and sacredness of human       
existence4  ,through the sad pages of   
,george ,eliot1 through ,emerson's      
exultant psalm1 through the reformer's  
battle1 the socialist's scheme1 runs    
this golden link1--the value of simple  
humanity4  ,this1 then1 we may say is   
the characteristic attitude of the man  
of to-day1--before the processes of     
nature1 awe and reverence2 before the   
life of humanity1 sympathy and          
tenderness4  ,but now rises a           
heart-moving question4  ,the dearest    
article of religious faith has been a   
,divine ,power1 governing the universe  
and holding to man an intimate relation 
involving issues of supreme significance
 to humanity4  ,at this point modern    
thought falters4  ,the long-familiar    
expression of that belief is the        
assertion of a personal1 providential1  
all-just1 and all-loving ,god4  ,what   
reason have men assigned to themselves  
for belief in such a ,god1 while        

confronted all the time by the fearful  
spectacle of a world in which sin and   
misery perpetually mingle with goodness 
and happiness8  ,what has been the      
resource of the ,christian intellect    
against that mystery of evil which      
baffled the questioner in the book of   
,job1 and drove ,lucretius to virtual   
atheism1 and left ,marcus ,aurelius in  
doubt whether there be gods or not8     
,the resource of the ,christian thinker 
has been his belief that ,jesus ,christ 
was ,god incarnate4  ,here was a soul   
which was sinless and holy1 which loved 
sinners so as to die for them2 and this 
was ,god himself4  ,that belief has been
 the foundation of ,christian theology4 
,it left the mysteries of earth's sorrow
 and sin unexplained2 but it offered the
 assurance1 under a most living figure1 
that the author and final disposer of   
the whole was one whose nature was love 
itself4  ,when it ceases to be believed 
that ,jesus was ,god1 the corner-stone  
of this whole structure of belief1 as an

 intellectual conception1 is gone4 ,the 
void is concealed for a while by        
intermediate theories1--that ,jesus was 
a kind of inferior deity1 that he was at
 least a supernatural messenger4        
,frankly say that he was a man only1 and
 we have really given up that           
intellectual ground of confidence in a  
,god on which for many centuries men    
have stood4  ,and1 in that involuntary  
and most regretful surrender1 and in the
 first impression following it1 that the
 only discernible order is a mechanical 
order1 with no room for worship1 no hope
 of immortality1 lies the tragedy of the
 thinking world to-day4 ,for a multitude
 of minds1 ,god is eclipsed1 and the    
earth lies in shadow4  ,in shadow1 but  
not in despair4  ,for still there is    
,the prophetic soul   ,of the wide      
world1 dreaming of things to come4      
,slowly emerges a new conception4  ,in  
the lowest depth of his spirit man has  
found that1 in ,robertson's words1 it is
 better to be true than to be false1    

better to be pure than to be sensual1   
better to be brave than to be a coward4 
,by that sure and simple creed man lives
 through his darkest day4  ,when the    
tree seems dead1 that root lives4  ,and 
presently there grows from it a nobler  
tree4  ,the turning-point from the old  
thought to the new is this3 ,we see that
 the imperative task set to every man is
 not to understand the universe plan1   
but to live his own life successfully4  
,it will quite suffice for most of us if
 we can each one do justice to the      
possibilities of his own existence4     
,those possibilities are something more 
than breathing and eating1 sleeping and 
waking1 toil and rest4  ,among his      
possibilities each man hopes are        
included contentment1 joy1 peace4  ,at  
least there must be possible for him    
some right conformity to the conditions 
in which he is placed1 some noble and   
spiritual satisfaction1 some imparting  
of good to his fellow creatures4  ,there
 is for him some best way of life1 which

 it is his business to find and to      
follow4  ,and as he finds and follows   
it1--as he fills out the best           
possibilities of his own being1--so he  
must come into the truest relation      
possible for him with this whole        
mysterious frame of things we call the  
universe4  ,as he is himself at his     
best1 so he will get the best1 the      
widest1 the truest impression of the    
whole in which he is a part4  ,this1    
then1 is the rational and hopeful way of
 addressing the supreme problem1--the   
problem1 for the individual and for     
mankind1 of a happiness and a success   
which shall be rooted in the true nature
 of things and the real order of the    
universe4  ,we are not to start with any
 supposed comprehension of the general  
plan1 whether as revealed by miracle or 
thought out by wise men4  ,we are simply
 to live our own lives according to the 
best knowledge we have1 the highest     
examples we know1 the most satisfying   
results of our own experience4  ,and1   

with whatever discipline and enrichment 
this process of right living may bring  
us1 we are to hold our whole natures    
open1 attentive1 percipient to the world
 about us1 and accept whatever shall    
disclose itself4  ,the two              
processes--right living and clear       
vision--blend constantly and intimately4
  ,we may distinguish them in our       
thoughts1 but there is constant         
interplay between life and sight4  ,the 
business of living1--how infinitely     
complex it is1 how endlessly laborious1 
yet how simple and how sure6  ,its      
central principle1 we may say1 is the   
right fitting of one's self to his      
surroundings4  ,modern science has      
learned that for every creature the     
condition of success is adaptation to   
its environment4  ,we may use that way  
of speaking to express the prime        
necessity of man4  ,his environment is a
 vast complexity of material1 social1   
and spiritual realities4  ,there is for 
him a true way of adapting himself to   

these surrounding facts4  ,he has       
somehow found it out in the long        
existence of the race2 he has seen it   
more and more clearly4  ,this true way  
is expressed by what we call right      
principles of conduct4  ,it is such     
traits as we name courage1 truth1       
justice1 purity1 love1 aspiration1      
reverence4  ,it includes the study of   
natural laws and conformity to them4    
,it includes the search for knowledge1  
both for its use and for its own joy4   
,it includes the delighted gaze upon    
beauty of every kind4  ,whoever follows 
this ideal--and just as far as he       
follows it intelligently and            
earnestly--finds certain results4       
,whenever he acts1 he finds set before  
him a right way to follow rather than a 
wrong4  ,so from every situation he may 
draw strength4  ,so he may continually  
find peace1--often peace won through    
struggle1 but the deeper for the        
struggle4  ,the love of beauty finds    
beauty everywhere4  ,the love of living 

creatures finds objects everywhere1 and 
love given brings love in response4     
,this higher life gives joy1--not       
constant1 alternating with sorrow2 but  
the joy is incomparably sweeter and     
purer and higher than any other course  
of life yields1 and the sorrow has such 
nobility that we dare not wish it absent
 from the mingled cup we drain4  ,and   
always through joy or sorrow may come   
moral growth--development of character4 
,there is no exemption to be won from   
suffering1 none from fear4  ,pain1      
weakness1 bereavement1 death1--these    
things must come1 and we must sometimes 
tremble before them1--no divine hand    
will pluck them away4 ,but in our fear  
we learn a deeper strength4  ,these are 
the gifts with which ,life answers our  
faithful service4  ,the brave1 the      
gentle1 the peace-makers1 the pure in   
heart1 the forgiving1 the patient1 the  
heroic1 are blessed1--incomparably      
enriched4  ,this is what we know of the 
relation of the ,one ,power to          

ourselves1--that it asks the very       
highest and best we can give1 and       
returns our service with the best and   
highest we can receive4  ,this is what  
that power we name ,god is to us4  ,this
 is the same reality which has been     
apprehended under the figure of a       
personal ,god1 a ,heavenly ,father1 or a
 ,christ4  ,to many1 those figures still
 express it4  ,but those to whom the    
,deity is not thus personified may no   
less fully and vividly apprehend the    
divine ,reality4  ,and further1 this    
whole conception stands no less in stead
 the persons and the hours when the     
conscious sense of ,deity fails         
altogether4  ,this conception makes the 
essence of religion to be conformity to 
the homely facts about us1 in the       
relations of fidelity1 sympathy1 and    
service4 ,when one has no conscious     
thought of ,god1 or cannot reach such   
thought if he tries1 he can always      
exercise love1 sympathy1 admiration1    
self-control1--and that is enough4  ,the

 limitations of our knowledge imply     
everywhere a background of mystery4     
,but that mystery is at once a stimulus 
to our inquiry and a prize set before   
our longing4  ,in some respects it is   
only a challenge to search1 and the     
horizons of knowledge forever widen     
before the explorer4  ,at other points  
the veil never lifts1 but all longing1  
aspiration1 unsatisfied hunger1         
inarticulate yearning1 groanings which  
cannot be uttered1 reach out to and lay 
hold on this realm of mystery4 ,it is   
not an adamantine wall that encircles   
us1 it is the tender mystery of the     
sunset or the starry heavens4  ,so of   
the mystery of death4  ,the veil is not 
lifted1 but it stirs before the breath  
of our prayers and hopes4  ,the deepest 
fear in man is the fear of death1 and   
that fear is conquered in him by        
something greater than itself4  ,even on
 the natural plane man is seldom afraid 
of death when it comes2 it is rather the
 distant image that appalls him4 ,before

 the reality some instinct seems to bid 
him not to fear4  ,every noble sentiment
 lifts men above the dread of death4    
,for their country on the battlefield1  
for other men in sudden accidents and   
perils1 men give their lives            
instinctively or deliberately4  ,it is  
personal love to which death seems to   
menace irretrievable and final disaster4
  ,but it is personal love to which     
comes the divinest presage4  ,some voice
 says to our yearning heart1 ,fear      
nothing1 doubt nothing1 only live6      
,from our birth to our death we are     
encompassed by mystery1 but it is a     
mystery which may1 if we will have it   
so1 grow warm1 luminous1 divine4   ,so1 
by simple fidelity1 man may find within 
himself harmony1 victory1 and peace4    
,when now1 from this standpoint1 he     
looks out on the universe1--and from no 
other standpoint can he hope for any    
clear vision1--what does he most clearly
 discern8  ,these three                 
aspects1--,order1 ,beauty1 ,life4  ,as  

he opens himself to these three aspects 
and actively conforms himself to        
them1--as he studies1 obeys1 and reveres
 the ,order1 as he perceives and        
rejoices in the ,beauty1 as in sympathy 
and service he merges his personal life 
in the multiform ,life1--so he grows in 
the impression of a divine harmony and  
unity pervading all things4  ,so he     
becomes aware of a ,cosmos1--a universal
 order of beauty and of love4 ,he       
becomes aware of it only as he becomes  
voluntarily and consciously a part of   
it4  ,only through the fidelity of his  
moral life does he feel beneath his feet
 a sure foundation4  ,only as his soul  
glows a spark of love does it recognize 
the celestial ether in which it is an   
atom4   ,at every moment and on every   
side we are in touch with the realities 
of being4  ,we live and move in a world 
of orderly procedure1 to which we may   
adapt ourselves with growing            
intelligence and purpose4  ,both the    
animate and inanimate creation is       

clothed in forms which minister to the  
sense of beauty2 and the more that sense
 is cultivated in us1 the more          
universally do we recognize beauty1 and 
the more profound is its appeal to our  
consciousness4  ,in our social existence
 we come in touch with other souls1 each
 with its actual or potential wealth of 
being1 and each inviting our sympathetic
 response4  ,these--order1 beauty1      
conscious existence--are the impact on  
us of the universe4  ,the right         
apprehension of these and the active    
response to them constitute the true    
exercise of our own nature2 and it is   
through that exercise that we know      
,life1--the one ,life1--and know it to  
be divine4  ,these three                
aspects1--order1 beauty1 our            
fellow-lives1--let us dwell for a moment
 on each in turn4  ,an amazing stimulus 
to man's powers has come in the         
discovery that he may penetrate and     
follow to an indefinite extent the      
actual procedure of the ,universe4  ,we 

are only on the threshold of our        
discoveries4  ,we are just beginning to 
see where they have their highest       
application4 ,we have been harnessing   
the steeds of power to the service of   
our physical wants4  ,we are just       
beginning to understand that they are to
 be made the ministers of building up a 
complete manhood4  ,the theologian has  
sought to demonstrate that all natural  
processes work in the service of a      
divine righteousness4  ,in place of any 
such demonstration1 we are finding the  
true exercise of knowledge in applying  
for ourselves the processes of nature to
 the fulfillment of our noblest         
purposes4  ,we are just now at the      
transition point between the old and the
 new conception of divine ,power4  ,the 
old conception was3 ,the ,almighty is a 
merciful father4  ,if his children ask  
anything1 he will give it3 the weapon of
 desire is prayer4  ,the new perception 
is3 ,the ,almighty moves in lines which 
we can partly discern4  ,by putting     

ourselves in line with that ,power1 we  
make it helpful3 the weapon of desire is
 intelligent effort4  ,through our wills
 works the divine ,will4    ,with the   
great girdle of ,god1 go and encompass  
the earth6   ,it is moral fidelity which
 apprehends the true application and    
significance for man of that regular    
procedure of nature which environs and  
conditions him4  ,and this ,natural     
,order1 in turn1 requires the moral     
sense to humbly and obediently go to    
school to it4  ,you want to be good8    
says ,nature4  ,you dare to believe that
 even ,i in my mightiness am set to help
 you to be good8  ,then study my        
processes1 and conform to them6  ,a new 
set of commandments is being written in 
the sight of men1--commandments learned 
but slowly and often transgressed1 even 
by those whose wills are pure and whose 
hearts are loving4  ,thou shalt         
sufficiently rest6  ,how perpetually in 
these days is that commandment broken1  
and with what woeful penalty6  ,the     

practical basis of all religion is the  
religion of the body4  ,the body        
politic1 too1 the social organism1 has  
its code of natural laws1 intelligible1 
imperative4  ,and every new discovery   
yields guidance and utters command4     
,seek1 and ye shall find2 knock1 and it 
shall be opened6   ,only through moral  
fidelity is the higher meaning of       
,beauty won4  ,it is the pure in heart  
who see ,god4  ,the beauty of the human 
form is1 on the one side1 uplifting to  
the soul1 sacramental1 as if it were the
 shrine of a divinity4  ,on the other   
side1 it blends with the instincts which
 when unchecked in their play degrade   
humanity4  ,plato pictures the two      
mingled elements as two steeds yoked    
together1 the one black1 unruly1        
down-plunging1 the other white1         
celestial1 up-mounting1 while ,reason1  
the charioteer1 strives to rule  them4  
,the nobler interpretation is slowly    
acquired by mankind4  ,there are great1 
sometimes catastrophic1 lapses2 there   

are periods when art and literature     
become the servants of the earthly      
instead of the heavenly ,venus4  ,we    
still look far forward to    ,the       
world's great bridals1 chaste and calm4 
,yet1 little by little1 the ennobling   
aspect of human beauty becomes a        
familiar perception1 is wrought into a  
habit1 is transmitted as an inheritance4
  ,whoever achieves in himself the      
victory of personal purity is helping to
 open the eyes of mankind4  ,the        
material world becomes instinct with    
majesty and with sweetness to the eyes  
that can see4  ,it is a revelation of   
which ,wordsworth and ,emerson are the  
prophets in literature1 but which is    
written no less in many a heart quite   
untaught of books4  ,the face of ,mother
 ,earth is the book in which many a man 
and woman and child read lessons of     
delight1 spelled in letters of rock and 
fern1 of brook and cowslip1 of maple    
leaf and goldenrod4  ,such lessons mean 
little save to the pure and humble4     

,the distinctive voice of nature's      
gospel is a voice of joy4  ,mixing      
freely with humanity1 we encounter the  
almost perpetual presence of trouble4   
,but turning to forest and mountain and 
sea and sky1 we are confronted with     
gladness ineffable4  ,still the morning 
stars sing together and the sons of ,god
 shout for joy4  ,can our religion find 
no other emblem than the cross1--the    
instrument of torture8  ,mankind has    
pondered long the lesson of sorrow3 dare
 it enter the whole inheritance of      
sonship1 and taste the fullness of joy8 
,reality which thought and word cannot  
convey is bodied forth to us in music   
and in natural beauty4  ,music is the   
deepest voice of humanity1 and beauty is
 the answering smile of ,god4  ,when the
 poet-philosopher has crowded into verse
 all that he can express of life's      
meaning1--of the subservience of evil to
 good1 the deep love lying under these  
pictures of time1--he invokes at the    
last the very look of earth and sea and 

sky as the best answer3--    ,uprose the
 merry ,sphinx1     ,and crouched no    
more in stone2   ,she melted1 into      
purple cloud1     ,she silvered in the  
moon2   ,she spired into a yellow flame2
     ,she flowered in blossoms red2     
,she flowed into a foaming wave2        
,she stood ,monadnoc's head4            
,thorough a thousand voices     ,spoke  
the universal dame1   ',who telleth one 
of my meanings     ,is master of all ,i 
am4'   ,yet is the chief exercise of our
 life through relation with our         
fellow-lives4  ,if the sublime joy of   
nature's companionship could be made    
constant1 at the price of isolation from
 our kind1 the price were a             
thousand-fold too great4  ,and it is    
through true and sympathetic relation   
with other lives that we chiefly come   
into conscious harmony with the         
universe4  ,it is in a right interplay  
with mankind that we get closest to the 
heart of things4  ,god is love4  ,so ,i 
am told3 how shall ,i interpret it in my

 experience8  ,is it a proposition to be
 believed about some being throned above
 my sight8  ,if ,i exercise my mind in  
that direction1 if ,i weigh and balance 
and sift the intellectual evidence1 ,i  
may toil to a doubtful conclusion4  ,but
 let me1 issuing forth from my          
ponderings1 put myself into kindly      
relations with my fellow beings1--let me
 so much as pat affectionately the head 
of the honest dog who meets me on the   
street1--and a thrill like the warmth of
 spring touches my chilled intellect4   
,let me1 for a day only1 make each human
 contact1 though but of a passing       
moment1 a true recognition of some other
 soul1 and ,i feel myself somehow in    
right relation with the world4  ,he that
 loveth knoweth ,god1 and is born of    
,god4  ,at the heart of all love is an  
instinct of reciprocity4  ,it may or may
 not get a return from its immediate    
object1 but somehow it opens the        
fountains of the universe4  ,the heart  
that loves finds itself1 it scarce knows

 how1 beloved4   ,such1 then1 is the    
process1 and such the revelation4  ,the 
first step1 the constant requirement1   
the unsparing hourly need1 is obedience 
to the known right4  ,the sequence is an
 ever-widening sense of a sweet and     
celestial encompassment4  ,the man      
rightly practiced in all noble exercises
 of life--in moral fidelity1 in         
reverence and sympathy1 in observation  
and conformity to the actual conditions 
of the world about him--will find       
pouring in upon him a beauty1 a love1 a 
divinity1 which fill the soul with a    
heavenly vision4  ,and that soul1 in    
whatever of extremity may come to it1   
has under its feet the eternal rock4    
,through the serious literature of      
to-day runs a bitter wail1--the cry that
 life is sad and dark and cruel4  ,sad  
and dark and cruel it is1 until one     
meets it sword in hand4  ,the great     
,mother will have her children to be    
heroes4  ,she tests them1 frightens     
them1 masks herself sometimes in terror4

  ,face the terror1 drive straight at   
the danger1 and the mask dissolves to   
show the celestial smile1 the           
all-repaying eyes4   ,the road is an    
arduous one4  ,the aged philosopher1 you
 remember1 was asked by a youthful      
monarch1 ,tell me if you please in a few
 words what is the final fruit and      
outcome of philosophy8  ,the philosopher
 answered him1 ,cultivate yourself      
diligently in all virtue and wisdom for 
thirty years1 and then you may be able  
to partly understand the answer to your 
question4  ,it is an arduous road1 but  
it leads to reality4  ,all short and    
easy answers to the supreme question    
dissatisfy after the first flush4  ,the 
confidence of the dogmatic answer1 we   
soon discover1 has no sufficient        
authority to back it4  ,the glib        
theoretical answer leads us1 after all1 
to a ,balance of ,probabilities4  ,that 
is the best ,god that theoretic         
philosophy can give us4  ,it may be     
better than nothing4  ,but who can love 

a ,balance of ,probabilities8  ,who can 
feel the hand of such a deity as that   
when his hand gropes for support in face
 of temptation1 disaster1 heartbreak8   
,we are told1 ,it may suffice for the   
strong and saintly to bid them ',prove  
for yourself that the universe is good2'
 but what kind of gospel is this for the
 weak1 for the child1 for the average   
man and woman8 ,the answer is3 ,the vast
 majority of mankind always have lived  
and always will live largely by reliance
 on some person or some body of persons 
or some social atmosphere of opinion4   
,that authority of the church which has 
availed so much is just the confidence  
of a crowd in the leadership of certain 
men to whom they are accustomed to look 
up4 ,in the order of nature1 always the 
leaders will lead4  ,what the strong and
 saintly receive with vivid impression  
and profound assurance1 the mass who    
feel their influence will accept a good 
deal on their authority4  ,the child    
will catch the faith of its father and  

mother4 ,but1 further1 in its very      
nature1 that method of approach to the  
highest reality which requires only     
goodness and open-heartedness and love  
is available to the little child and to 
the simplest mind4  ,when ,jesus said1  
,blessed are the meek1 the merciful1 the
 peace-makers1 the pure in heart1 they  
that do hunger and thirst after         
righteousness1 every one understood him4
   ,but it may be asked1 ,does this     
attitude bring man face to face with a  
personal ,god8  ,personal he will be to 
some3 to many the only solid and        
adequate expression of a real being is a
 personal being4  ,nay1 to many only a  
human personality means anything4  ,a   
great preacher and poet of our day once 
said that he never thought of ,god      
except under the figure of ,christ1--a  
human figure in some human occupation   
and attitude4  ,let ,divinity body      
itself as ,christ to minds so           
constituted4  ,let others invoke the    
,god and ,father of our ,lord ,jesus    

,christ4  ,but impose no constraint and 
lay no ban on those to whom1 as ,carlyle
 says1 the ,highest cannot be spoken of 
in words4  ,personal6  ,impersonal6     
,one6 ,three6  ,what meaning can any    
mortal1 after all1 attach to them in    
reference to such an object8  ,it is not
 these forms of thought that are        
essential4  ,what is essential is a way 
of living access to the ,highest4   ,the
 adequate conception--the keynote--must 
be one that is sufficient alike for the 
every-day mood1 for the exalted hours1  
and for the emergencies4  ,that keynote 
is given in this truth3 that there is no
 moment so dull or so hard but one can  
ask himself1 ,what is the best the      
situation allows8 and conform to that2  
can open his eyes to some beauty close  
at hand2 can enter sympathetically into 
some neighboring life4   ,we prescribe  
to ourselves certain attitudes1 and     
strive toward certain ideals4  ,but the 
supreme hours are those in which there  
flow in upon our consciousness the      

inshinings and the upholdings of some   
unfathomed ,power4  ,we are led1 we are 
carried4  ,we feel1 we know not whence  
nor how1 a peace that passeth           
understanding and a love that casteth   
out fear4  ,this is the substance of    
that religious experience in which      
throughout the ages the heart of man has
 found its deepest support and          
encouragement4  ,the experience has     
clothed itself to the imagination in the
 garb of this or that creed or climate4 
,it is liable to debasements and        
counterfeits1 but no more liable than   
all other noble emotions and            
experiences4  ,sometimes there is the   
culmination of a moral struggle1 and the
 whole course of life receives a new    
direction4  ,sometimes there is an      
illumination and joy and peace4  ,it is 
an exaltation of the soul in which      
gladness blends with moral energy4  ,no 
chapter of human life is written in     
deeper letters than those which tell of 
victory over temptation1 strength out of

 weakness1 radiance beside the grave1   
through this divine uplift4   ,there is 
another experience1 more common1 less   
dependent on individual constitution1   
which bears an inward message of soberer
 tone but of like import4  ,it is the   
peace which attends the consciousness of
 right-doing4  ,wordsworth personifies  
it as the approval of ,duty1 stern      
daughter of the voice of ,god3--        
,stern ,lawgiver6  ,yet thou dost wear  
,the ,godhead's most benignant grace2   
,nor know we anything more fair         
,than is the smile upon thy face4   ,the
 faithful child of duty1 whatever his   
creed1 whatever his temperament1 is     
naturally the possessor of a steady1    
calm assurance4 ,somehow1 he feels1 it  
is well4   ,reasonings about immortality
 lead to little result4  ,convinced or  
unconvinced1 we profit little by a mere 
opinion4  ,we speculate1 doubt1 reject1 
or hope2 and in either case the moral   
conduct of life is1 perhaps1 not much   
affected4  ,but there come hours when to

 love and aspiration the heavenly vision
 opens1 and the sense of its own        
eternity thrills the soul4  ,the crying 
need of the heart is always a present   
need4  ,no promise of a far-away        
satisfaction is sufficient for it4  ,and
 answering to just that need is the     
experience1 sometimes given1 that the   
human love once ours is ours still in   
its fullness1--some richer fullness even
 than that of days gone by4  ,there are 
hours in which the heart's voice is1    
,though mixed with ,god and ,nature     
thou1     ,i seem to love thee more and 
more4   ,the highest state of           
consciousness to which we attain is     
expressed by the old phrase that man    
feels himself a child of ,god4  ,his    
energy feels back of it an infinite     
energy4  ,his desires rest peacefully in
 some all-sufficing good4  ,all that is 
highest and purest in him mingles with  
its divine source4  ,he sees new and    
higher interpretations of his own life  
and other lives4  ,all the human love he

 has ever experienced he holds as an    
abiding possession4  ,there comes to him
 not so much the premonition of a future
 state as the consciousness of some     
state in which past1 present1 and future
 blend4  ,he is free from illusions1 and
 serene4  ,it does not disturb him even 
to know that the vision will pass1 and  
he will return to earth's level4  ,he   
sees the truth1 he feels the divine     
reality2 and the certainty and the      
gladness are such that not even the     
prevision of his own relapse into dimmer
 perception can depress him4  ,the hour 
speaks with command to the hours that   
are to follow2 it bids them to fidelity1
 to love1 to highest courage4  ,when    
turning from contemplation we throw     
ourselves into the work and the battle1 
a pulse of divine energy blends with our
 noblest effort1 touches our joy with an
 ineffable sweetness1 and hushes our    
sorrow like a child folded in its       
mother's arms4  ,the key of the world is
 given into our hands when we throw     

ourselves unreservedly into the service 
of the highest truth we know1 with      
fidelity to the right as ,god gives us  
to see the right4  ,so it is that we may
 find ourselves    ,wedded to this      
goodly universe   ,in love and holy     
passion4     ,,iii  ,a ,,traveler',s    
,,note-,,book  ,a tourist who roams for 
a brief while through some great country
 like ,england or ,russia may jot down a
 few of the impressions which come home 
to him1 making no pretense at           
completeness or symmetry of description4
 ,so1 one who has journeyed like a hasty
 traveler over some passages in that    
vast tract of years which we describe as
 the classic and ,christian             
civilizations1 notes down in the        
following pages a few of the salient    
features that have impressed him4  ,he  
has already prefaced this with a sort of
 outline map1 drawn largely from        
familiar authorities1 under the title   
,our ,spiritual ,ancestry2 and has      
further ventured to interpret some      

phases of our own time1 as ,the ,ideal  
of ,to-,day4  ,now he goes on to group a
 few observations on some special phases
 of the historical survey1 disclaiming  
any attempt at exact proportion and     
perspective1 but lingering where the    
prospect has pleased his fancy1 or at   
points which seemed to yield some       
necessary clew or fruitful suggestion4  
,when1 in the poems bearing the name of 
,homer1 the curtain rises on the drama  
of man as it was acted in ,greece1 after
 the immeasurable prehistoric space1 we 
are amazed at the sudden brilliance4    
,the men and deeds brought before us are
 various in character and               
worth1--savage1 heroic1 repulsive1      
beautiful1 by turns4  ,but the          
ever-present charm is man seeing the    
world about him4  ,it is the vividness  
with which every object is seen in its  
distinctive form and spirit1 and        
conveyed by the fit word and phrase4    
,so seen and spoken1 the commonest      
object becomes a thing of delight4  ,the

 high-roofed house1 the brazen          
threshold1 the polished chest1 the      
silver-studded sword1 the purple        
robes1--the tawny oxen1 the hollow      
ships1 the tapering oars1--the wine-dark
 sea1 the rosy-fingered dawn1 the       
gold-throned morning1--,hector of the   
nodding plume1 the white-armed          
,nausicaa1--so in long procession moves 
the spectacle4  ,a like distinctness    
invests all the actions and emotions of 
the story with charm4  ,to us1 as to the
 poet1 the world becomes enchanted      
simply in being seen4  ,and presently we
 discover a strange transfiguration that
 is being wrought4  ,experiences which  
were painful or grievous to the actors  
and sufferers become in the             
representation the source of keen       
pleasure to the hearers or readers4     
,the ,iliad is mainly a story of men    
destroying one another4  ,the ,odyssey  
depicts a long strife with hardship and 
danger4 ,the men who heard those songs  
were themselves familiar with the fight1

 with the wounds and terrors mixed with 
its energies and elations2 they had     
tasted the perils of shipwreck and of   
pirates4  ,but as they listened1 the    
rehearsal of trials the counterpart of  
their own filled them with exhilaration4
  ,we who read in modern days1 if less  
experienced in bloodshed and bodily     
peril1 yet in some fashion have had our 
share of battle and storm2 and we1 too1 
like the first listeners1 drink in the  
tale with delight4  ,the poet1 in other 
words1 has the secret not only of seeing
 but of idealizing the actual world4    
,we catch from him some subtle art by   
which1 standing a little aloof from the 
pressure and turmoil around us1 often   
felt as painful or degrading1 we see it 
through an atmosphere in which it       
becomes a splendid and heart-stirring   
scene4  ,at a later stage we may perhaps
 in a degree analyze the change of view2
 we may partly understand how through   
the struggle with evil man is           
strengthened and ennobled2 how in such  

strife courage and sympathy and         
tenderness are engendered4  ,but long   
before we can thus philosophize1 and to 
a degree which our philosophy can hardly
 explain1 we are affected by this beauty
 and elevation imparted to the spectacle
 of human life by the true poets4  ,we  
moderns read ,homer with delight in the 
roll of the music1 the vividness of the 
pictures1 the humanity so near us in its
 essence and so unlike in its dress4    
,when we inquire what are the moral     
ideals1 we are often uncertain how far  
the impressions made on us may differ   
from those of the original audience1 or 
the intention of the singer4  ,but often
 his work is like the painting of great 
,nature herself4  ,we pass upon it as we
 pass upon the facts of life4  ,the     
supernal features in the story are not  
here discussed4  ,the deities1 judged by
 our standards1 have little of divinity4
  ,beyond the grave lies a dim and      
dreamy realm4  ,all this1 with its great
 significance1 we here omit1 to linger a

 little on the essential and permanent  
humanity4  ,achilles1 the embodiment of 
power and passion1 just touched with    
human ruth2 ,hector1 the selfless1 brave
 and gentle champion2 ,odysseus1 victor 
in the long pilgrimage by fortitude and 
by wisdom1--these are the three ideal   
types of the early world1 portrayed by  
its noblest genius4  ,the ,iliad        
culminates in the triumph of pity4  ,the
 heart of ,zeus is melted1 the harder   
heart of ,achilles is melted1 before the
 sorrows of bereaved old age4  ,an      
exquisite gentleness breathes through   
the closing scenes4  ,all the wrath and 
terror and savagery of the story have   
led up to this height of pure           
compassion4  ,a new light falls on all  
that has gone before4  ,achilles1 the   
fierce hero of the earlier story1 is    
outshone by his victim1 ,hector of the  
great and gentle heart4  ,the crowning  
word of praise1 after father1 mother1   
wife have uttered their lament1 is      
spoken by the frail woman whose sin had 

brought ruin on ,hector and his people3 
,if any other haply upbraided me in the 
palace halls1 then wouldst thou soothe  
such with words1 and refrain them by the
 gentleness of thy spirit and by thy    
gentle words4  ,therefore bewail ,i thee
 with pain at heart1 and my hapless self
 with thee1 for no more is any left in  
wide ,troy-land to be my friend and kind
 to me1 but all men shudder at me4  ,we 
see the sin of man and woman wrecking   
nations and leaving the sinner in dreary
 isolation4  ,we see unrelenting wrath1 
even when provoked by wrong1 spreading  
woe upon the innocent1 and at last      
smiting the wrathful man through his    
dearest affections4  ,we see the heroism
 which meets death in defense of the    
beloved1 yet has only tender pity for   
her who has wrought the ruin4  ,the     
,iliad is mostly war1--men acting hell  
on earth1 as ,goethe said4  ,but in the 
,odyssey the goal of the hero is his    
home4  ,the magnet is not ,helen's      
beauty1 but ,penelope's faithfulness4   

,odysseus1 mighty warrior1 crafty       
leader1--who with his sword has smitten 
the ,trojans1 by his wiles destroyed    
their city1--,odysseus is driven for ten
 years through hostile seas and men and 
gods by the compelling passion of       
home-sickness6  ,in the ,odyssey1 it is 
the battle with the sea which does most 
to toughen and supple and make          
indomitable4  ,the soldier and sailor   
are the pioneers of the race4  ,these   
and the tiller of the earth are the     
strong roots out of which are to grow   
the flower and fruit4  ,in the ,iliad1  
woman appears in ,helen as the tempting 
prize and the gage of battle1 and in    
,andromeda as the tender wife foredoomed
 to bereavement and captivity4  ,in the 
,odyssey1 woman plays a higher part--as 
,penelope1 faithful and prudent and     
patient wife1 fit spouse for ,odysseus2 
as ,eurydice1 the devoted old nurse2 and
 as ,nausicaa1 loveliest of pristine    
maidens4  ,the story of her worth shall 
never die2 but for all humankind        

immortal ones shall make a gladsome song
 in praise of steadfast ,penelope4  ,it 
is a noble story3 the fidelity of a     
wife1 the undaunted courage of a man2 a 
long battle with adversity1 crowned with
 the joy of love's reunion2 the meeting 
with servant1 nurse1 dog1 son1 wife1    
father4  ,odysseus fights his battle as 
every hero must1--against hostile nature
 and man1--by courage and patience and  
craft1 and a confidence that the        
heavenly power will somehow bring him   
through4  ,so at the heart of the ,iliad
 and the ,odyssey is an austere and     
sweet message4  ,the singers who        
embodied it in tales which stir every   
pulse with delight were among the       
supreme teachers of mankind4  ,the inner
 meaning of humanity's story which their
 songs display is still the lesson set  
us1--out of adversity man may win       
fortitude2 through battle1 shipwreck1   
and overthrow he scales the heights of  
manhood2 and the faithful pilgrimage    
ends in a home which is dearer for all  

troubles past4  ,the ,homeric poems show
 man in his first full awaking to beauty
 and to music4  ,they show more4  ,the  
fashioning of the supernal world in     
man's mind varies with people and with  
time4  ,here it is ,zeus and ,hades1    
again it will be ,jehovah and ,satan1   
and then ,heaven and ,hell4  ,but in the
 ,iliad and ,odyssey the human heart    
recognizes its rightful lords as long as
 it shall endure1--,courage and ,pity1  
,fortitude and ,fidelity4   ,socrates is
 the man who has actually achieved      
goodness1 and tries to make a science   
and art of goodness1 to find a way in   
which it can be clearly known and       
rationally and effectively taught4  ,can
 virtue be taught8 is his characteristic
 question4  ,the chief result of his    
keen scrutiny is to bring to light how  
little men really know of the higher    
life1--how little he knows of it        
himself4  ,the effect of this revelation
 of ignorance is not a despair of truth1
 but a humility which is the beginning  

of wisdom4 ,the deepest thing in        
,socrates is his knowledge of the good  
life as a reality1 and of the joy and   
peace which it brings4  ,secure in this1
 he can go on in the most fearless      
temper1 and even with light-hearted     
jesting1 to sift the questions4         
,intellectually1 his main achievement is
 to bring out clearly the problems to be
 faced1 and to give an immense stimulus 
to the higher class of minds4  ,in the  
picture of ,socrates by ,xenophon in the
 ,memorabilia1 which bears all the marks
 of true portraiture1 goodness goes with
 happiness and knowledge4  ,it is a most
 winning combination--beautiful as a    
,greek statue4  ,xenophon lays stress on
 his happiness1 but the basis is        
self-command4  ,among a people where    
even religion and philosophy were       
tolerant of sensuality1 he was pure4    
,he was hardy1 trained to bear heat and 
cold1 temperate1 simple1 faithful to    
civic duty1 a reverent worshiper of the 
gods1 watchful for the divine leading4  

,xenophon shows him absorbed in         
teaching1 imparting the best he has     
found1 never so happy as when he can win
 a young man to virtue4  ,his ideal     
society is the union of those who       
together are seeking goodness and       
knowledge4  ,his patience is shown under
 the worst of domestic annoyances1 a    
scolding wife1--he says he thus learns  
to bear all other crosses4  ,his        
admonition to his son to bear with her  
shows genuine tenderness4  ,he has the  
heroic quality4  ,he resists the raging 
people1 and refuses the part assigned   
him in voting the death sentence on the 
generals whose defeat had been a        
misfortune and not a fault4  ,he calmly 
disobeys the ,thirty ,tyrants1 at the   
risk of his life4  ,he dies at last1 a  
tranquil martyr to fearless             
truth-speaking4  ,he teaches nobly of   
,providence1 the ,supreme1 the guidance 
from above4  ,he conforms to the        
religion of his people1 while planting a
 higher truth4 ,when ,athens1 faithfully

 warned by him in vain1 was sinking     
toward ruin and decay1 he was sowing the
 seeds of spiritual harvests for future 
generations1 like ,jesus when ,judea was
 tottering to its fall4  ,in the        
intellectual development of man's higher
 life he holds a place not unlike that  
of ,jesus in the emotional development4 
,socrates1 as ,xenophon describes him1  
goes no farther as a teacher than to    
impress the principles of conduct as    
they were generally accepted by good men
 of the time1 with peculiar             
persuasiveness4  ,but ,plato shows him  
as an original investigator of the human
 mind and the universe4  ,in this there 
is an undoubted trait of true           
portraiture1 but its limit is very      
difficult to trace1 because in ,plato's 
dialogues the master is made the        
mouthpiece of all the pupil's           
philosophy4  ,the most distinctive      
feature which can be identified as that 
of ,socrates himself is the             
cross-examination4  ,under this process1

 high-sounding generalities1--put in the
 mouths of speakers in the dialogues1   
the whole word-play set forth with      
exquisite grace and charm1--are shown by
 a rigid sifting to resolve themselves  
into nebulous and baseless              
figments1--the mere simulacra of true   
knowledge4  ,the conversations glide    
from this destructive analysis into a   
constructive philosophy1 and then we    
soon feel that it is ,plato rather than 
,socrates whom we are getting4  ,the    
great contribution of ,socrates himself 
to philosophy is the attitude he        
impressed--of inquiry which is serious  
because seeking the foundations of      
virtue and happiness1 and is inexorable 
in its insistence on nothing less than  
solid reality4  ,against all allurements
 of indolence1 comfort1 and social      
convention he presses the question1     
,what is true8  ,his characteristic word
 is3  ,some things1 ,meno1 ,i have said 
of which ,i am not altogether confident4
 ,but that we shall be better and braver

 and less helpless if we think that we  
ought to inquire than we should have    
been if we indulged in the idle fancy   
that there was no knowing and no use in 
searching after what we know not2 that  
is a theme upon which ,i am ready to    
fight1 in word and deed1 to the utmost  
of my power4   ,plato took from         
,socrates not method but inspiration1   
and soared into speculation4  ,he wrote 
over the door of the ,academy1 ,let no  
one enter here who does not know        
geometry4  ,that is1 you are first to   
acquire absolute confidence1 by         
familiarity with the demonstrations of  
mathematics1 that real and certain      
knowledge is accessible to the human    
mind4  ,thus planting his foot on       
firmest certainty1 ,plato leaps off into
 a glorious sea of clouds4  ,flashes of 
insight and sublime allegory mix with   
fantastic theory and word-play4  ,the   
vast range of his thought we will touch 
only at two points4  ,in the ,symposium 
and the ,phaedrus he discusses in his   

most brilliant vein the problem of love4
  ,to the reader who has inherited the  
ethical ideal of ,christianity1 ,plato's
 love will seem like the image in       
,nebuchadnezzar's vision1--the head of  
gold1 the feet of miry clay4  ,he has a 
toleration for some aspects of          
sensuality of which ,paul said1 it is a 
shame even to speak2 and this tolerance1
 in the greatest of the classic         
philosophers1 is the most pregnant      
suggestion of the cleansing work which  
it was left for ,christianity to        
undertake4  ,yet ,plato teaches most    
impressively the subordination of sense 
to spirit in love1 and the struggle of  
the two in man has seldom been set forth
 more powerfully than in his figure of  
the two yoked horses3 the white1        
celestial steed struggling upward2 the  
black1 unruly one plunging down1 while  
,reason1 the charioteer1 strives to     
guide4  ,in the description of ,love    
which ,socrates professes to quote from 
the wise woman of ,mantineia1 there is  

the very height of the ,platonic        
philosophy1--the gradual sublimation of 
human passion to the recognition of all 
noble forms and ideas1 and at last to   
the vision of the ,divine ,beauty which 
is one with ,wisdom and with ,love4     
,the true order of going or being led by
 another to the things of love is to use
 the beauties of earth as steps along   
which he mounts upwards for the sake of 
that other beauty1 going from one to    
two1 and from two to all fair forms1 and
 from fair forms to fair actions1 and   
from fair actions to fair notions1 until
 from fair notions he arrives at the    
notion of absolute beauty1 and at last  
knows what the essence of beauty is4    
,what if man had eyes to see the true   
beauty--the divine beauty1 ,i mean1 pure
 and clear and unalloyed1 not clogged   
with the pollution of mortality1 and all
 the colors and vanities of human       
life--thither looking and holding       
converse with the true beauty divine and
 simple1 and bringing into being and    

educating true creations of virtue1 and 
not idols only8 ,do you not see that in 
that communion only1 beholding beauty   
with the eye of the mind1 he will be    
enabled to bring forth1 not images of   
beauty1 but realities2 for he has hold  
not of an image but of a reality1--and  
will be enabled1 bringing forth and     
educating true virtue1 to become the    
friend of ,god and be immortal1 if      
mortal man may4 #a  ,it is largely to   
,plato that we owe the idea of          
immortality as it exists in the mind of 
the civilized world to-day4  ,the belief
 in a continued existence beyond death  
is much older2 it is seen in the ,iliad1
 where the appearance of the dead       
,patroclus to ,achilles in a dream is   
accepted as the assurance of a shadowy  
and forlorn hereafter2 and in the       
,odyssey the visit of the hero to the   
land of shades is portrayed with a free 
and gloomy imagination4  ,it was a      
belief which among the earlier ,greeks  
had little power either to console or to

 guide4  ,in the age of ,socrates1 it   
seems to have signified little in the   
minds of the orthodox and pious4 ,the   
great tragedians1 who sublimate the     
popular mythology1 for the most part    
regard the after-life as only a sad     
inevitable sequel2 and to be snatched   
back from it for even a brief reprieve1 
like ,alkestis1 is miraculous good      
fortune4  ,the greatest of the          
tragedians in his highest reach1        
,sophocles in ,oedipus at ,colonus1     
invests the departure of the hero1 who  
has been purified by suffering1 with a  
mystic radiance1 a light that never was 
on sea or land1 the promise as it were  
of some future too sublime for mortal   
words4  ,but the philosophy of ,socrates
 was directed rather to the clear       
penetration of the method and secret of 
earthly life1 than to any vision of the 
hereafter4  ,it is noticeable that      
,xenophon1 the loyal disciple and       
biographer of ,socrates1 himself of the 
best type of orthodox piety1 and zealous

 to vindicate his master from the charge
 of irreligion1--,xenophon1 in all the  
story of the master's life and death1   
gives not a hint of any future hope4    
,but ,plato developed the idea that in  
man there resides an essential1         
indestructible principle1 superior to   
the physical frame which is its home and
 may be either its servant or master--a 
principle which manifests itself in     
thought1 aspiration1 virtue2 which has  
existed before the body and will exist  
after it2 which chooses for itself an   
upward or downward path2 and which      
rightly tends to a celestial and        
immortal destiny4  ,the thought never   
won universal acceptance even among     
philosophers2 it had only an indirect   
and slight effect on the ,stoicism which
 was the best religious product of      
ancient philosophy4  ,but it wrought by 
degrees all effect on the thinking of   
mankind4  ,while the lofty faith of the 
,egyptian passed away leaving no visible
 fruit1 the idea of ,plato slowly       

suffused with its light and warmth the  
current of human aspirations4           
,meantime1 the later ,jewish belief in a
 hereafter--in its form a much cruder   
conception of a physical revival from   
the grave--flamed up in a passionate    
ardor1 as the sequence of the life and  
teaching of ,jesus4  ,the ,platonic and 
the ,christian belief sprang from a like
 source4  ,each was born from the death 
of a man so great and so beloved as to  
give the impression of some imperishable
 quality4  ,socrates1 with his noble    
character and aim1 was put to death as a
 criminal4  ,was that the end of it all8
  ,impossible--monstrous--never1 if this
 world be indeed a cosmos4  ,the one    
firm certainty which ,socrates seems to 
have held1 ,no evil can happen to a good
 man in life or death1--flashes in      
,plato's mind into a glorious hope of   
immortality1 embodied in his loftiest   
passage1 the picture of the dying       
,socrates4  ,the soul when withdrawn    
from all outward objects and rapt in    

contemplation is nearest to the         
divine1--this is the central thought of 
the ,phaedo4  ,it is pursued with much  
subtle argumentation1 of which the      
essential residuum is this3 the soul's  
action is purest and most intense when  
farthest withdrawn from the visible and 
tangible world1--and hence we guess that
 her true and eternal home is in that   
invisible realm of which all this       
material universe is but the veil and   
symbol4  ,but more impressive than the  
argument1 more moving to the human      
heart1 is the picture which is given of 
,socrates himself as the hour of death  
comes on1--the exaltation of all his    
familiar traits1 the playfulness so     
exquisitely blent with seriousness1 the 
searching thought1 the frank human      
desire to be convinced by his own       
argument1--the charm of his friendly    
ways1 the hand playing with ,phaedo's   
hair1 the taking of the cup in the      
easiest and gentlest manner1 without the
 least fear or change of color1 looking 

at the man with all his eyes as his     
manner was1--the last word1 of calm     
reminder of a trivial obligation1--the  
whole scene of majestic and tender      
peace1 like a sunset4  ,it is a scene   
which reconciles us to life1 and makes  
us no longer impatient even of our      
uncertainties4 ,it speaks with a voice  
like that of ,landor's verse3--         
,death stands above me1 whispering low1 
,i know not what into my ear1   ,of his 
strange language all ,i know            
,is1--there is not a word of fear4   ,to
 the modern reader there is a singular  
contradiction between the doctrine of   
,lucretius and his temper4  ,the denial 
of any divine supervision of human life1
 or any hereafter for man2 the dominion 
over all existence of purely material   
law1--this seems to us to destroy man's 
dearest faith and hope4  ,this is the   
teaching of ,lucretius1 yet on this road
 he marches with a step so firm and     
buoyant1 an eye so awake to all beauty  
and grandeur1 a spirit so elate1 that as

 we read we catch the energy and        
elation4  ,the reading of the riddle is 
this3 the religion against which        
,lucretius made his attack was not the  
soaring idealism of ,plato1 nor the     
inspiring and consolatory faith of      
,christianity1 but an outworn mythology 
in which this world was ruled by        
capricious and unworthy despots1 and the
 next world was gloomy with terrors and 
almost unlighted by hopes4  ,such had   
become the popular mythology in its     
later day1 and as contrasted with this  
the view and temper of ,lucretius are   
rational and manly4  ,his message went  
far beyond a negation2 he announced one 
of the greatest discoveries of the human
 spirit--the uniformity of nature4      
,well might the genius of poetry and the
 vigor of manhood unite to make the     
message impressive and splendid4  ,not  
caprice1 but order1--not conflict1 but  
harmony1--not deified partialities and  
spites and lusts1 but exalted and       
unchanging law1 rules the universe6     

,when ,lucretius essayed to define in   
what this law consists1 he fell         
hopelessly short of the mark4  ,in his  
revulsion from the chaos and pettiness  
of man-like divinities1 he fixed on     
material forces1--clearly to be seen and
 permanent in their operation1--as the  
only and sufficient cause and order4    
,those forces1 by a brilliant guess1 he 
resolved into an interplay of atoms4    
,from this basis he projected a physical
 theory1 which we know now was quite    
inadequate even for material phenomena1 
while the application of it to human    
thought and will was hopelessly         
insufficient4  ,viewed from this        
standpoint1 the spectacle of human life 
takes on a sadness which the poet's     
genius cannot dispel1 and sometimes     
intensifies4  ,to man's inner world     
,lucretius has no serviceable key4  ,but
 he is to be judged not by what he      
missed but by what he gained4  ,he above
 all others stands as the discoverer of 
one of the few cardinal truths by which 

to-day we interpret the universe1--the  
constancy of nature4  ,the genius of    
,lucretius did for the realm of thought 
what ,roman statesmanship did for the   
nations1--it brought peace and order    
among warring elements1 by the          
imposition of a rule which was often    
narrow and harsh1 but which was firm1   
stable1 and the foundation for fairer   
and freer growths4   ,already in        
,lucretius1 and now again in ,epictetus1
 we have passed from the ,greek into the
 ,roman world4  ,it is a change partly  
of race1 partly of time1 and it is in   
close analogy with the successive phases
 of the human spirit4  ,the mythology   
which satisfied the youth of the world  
had grown unlovely and unreal4  ,plato's
 splendid imaginings had yielded neither
 a secure basis to the thinker nor a    
moral guidance to the common man4       
,lucretius's interpretation of all      
events as the product of material law   
had small power to sustain or cheer when
 the intellectual glow of the bold      

innovator had subsided4  ,thoughtful men
 sought as their one supreme necessity  
an adequate and worthy rule of life4    
,so there was wrought out1 or grew1 the 
,stoic philosophy4  ,based on an        
intellectual theory1 its working        
strength lay in its consonance with the 
best habits and aptitudes engendered in 
the world's actual experience4  ,the    
,greek type was beauty1 pleasure1       
thought1 freedom2 the ,roman type was   
law1 obedience1 self-mastery4  ,the     
legion was the school of discipline and 
fidelity4  ,the forum was the theatre   
where classes and parties1 through rude 
jostling1 worked out an efficient       
political order4  ,a ,greek thinker gave
 the mould1 and ,roman virtue gave the  
metal1 of the ,stoic type4  ,we may best
 study that type in ,epictetus1--once a 
slave1 afterward a teacher2 so careless 
of fame that he left no written work1   
and we have only the priceless notes    
taken down by a faithful scholar1 making
 a book whose stamp of heroic manhood   

twenty centuries have not dimmed4  ,man 
is master of his fate4  ,the true aim of
 life is goodness1 and goodness is      
within the command of the will4  ,the   
lawgiver is ,nature1 and ,nature bids us
 to be just1 strong1 pure1 and to seek  
the good of our fellows4  ,such was the 
essence of ,stoicism4  ,as to deity1    
providence1 or a hereafter1--belief and 
hope varied1 according to the           
individual2 but to the true ,stoic the  
all-important matter was1 ,act well your
 part1 here and now4  ,in ,epictetus is 
always the note of reality and of       
victory4  ,while actually a slave1 he   
has learned the secret of inward        
freedom4  ,his essential doctrine is    
that good and evil reside wholly in the 
will1 and the will is free4  ,as we     
choose1 so we are4  ,and by the right   
choice we find ourselves in harmony with
 the universe4  ,though ,epictetus      
continually appeals to reason1 his basal
 word is to the will4  ,be constant to  
duty--accept the order of things as     

good1 and be true to the highest        
law--revere nature1 the established     
order2 obey nature1 the ideal law4      
,take all for the best1 and you make all
 for the best4  ,most practical and     
inspiring are his counsels4  ,the war   
must be waged in the inmost thoughts4   
,the images that rise to seduce1 the    
images that rise to dismay1 are to be   
fought down and driven away4  ,be not   
hurried away by the rapidity of the     
appearance1 but say1 ,appearances1 wait 
for me a little2 let me see who you are 
and what you are about2 let me put you  
to the test4  ,and then do not allow the
 appearance to lead you on and draw     
lively pictures of the things which will
 follow1 for if you do1 it will carry   
you off wherever it pleases4  ,but      
rather bring to oppose it some other    
beautiful and noble appearance1 and cast
 out this base appearance4  ,and if you 
are accustomed to be exercised in this  
way1 you will see what shoulders1 what  
sinews1 what strength you have4 #b  ,be 

willing at length to be approved by     
yourself1 be willing to appear beautiful
 to ,god1 desire to be in purity with   
your own pure self and with ,god4       
,then1 when any such appearance visits  
you1 ,plato says1 ,have recourse to     
expiations1 go a suppliant to the       
temples of the averting ,deities4  ,it  
is even sufficient if you resort to the 
society of noble and just men1 and      
compare yourself with them1 whether you 
find one who is living or dead4  ,this  
is the true athlete1 the man who        
exercises himself against such          
appearances4  ,stay1 wretch1 do not be  
carried away4  ,great is the combat1    
divine is the work2 it is for kingship1 
for freedom1 for happiness1 for freedom 
from perturbation4  ,remember ,god1 call
 on him as a helper and protector1 as   
men at sea call on the ,dioscuri in a   
storm4  ,for what is a greater storm    
than that which comes from appearances  
which are violent and drive away the    
reason8  ,epictetus1 compared with      

,plato1 is the warrior philosopher      
beside the seeing philosopher4  ,he is  
in closest grip with the foe1 and his   
calm is the calm of the victor holding  
down his enemy4  ,his apparent unconcern
 as to the hereafter is in keeping with 
his whole attitude1 which is that of    
cheerful acquiescence in the divine     
order1 whatever it be4  ,to be free1 not
 hindered1 not compelled1 conforming    
yourself to the administration of ,zeus1
 obeying it1 well satisfied with this1  
blaming no one1 charging no one with    
fault1 able from your whole soul to     
utter these verses3--    ,lead me1 ,o   
,zeus1 and thou1 too1 ,destiny4   ,he   
vindicates ,providence against          
injustice4  ,the unjust man has the     
advantage1--in what8  ,in money4  ,but  
the just man has the advantage in that  
he is faithful and modest4  ,we ought to
 have these two principles in readiness1
 that except the will nothing is good   
nor bad2 and that we ought not to lead  
events1 but to follow them4  ,my brother

 ought not to have behaved thus to me4  
,no1 but he will see to that2 and1      
however he may behave1 ,i will conduct  
myself toward him as ,i ought4  ,as a   
mark is not set up for the purpose of   
missing the aim1 so neither does the    
nature of evil exist in the world4      
,that is1 it is inconceivable that the  
universe is a blunder4  ,this is one of 
the fundamental ideas of ,epictetus4    
,the inference is1 that man has only to 
define his true end and pursue it1 which
 is the right action of the will1 or as 
we should say1 right character4         
,pursuing this1 he never finds himself  
thwarted or unfriended1 never rebels or 
mistrusts the gods4  ,the substance of  
his message is3 ,on the occasion of     
every accident 7event7 that befalls you1
 remember to turn to yourself and       
inquire what power you have for turning 
it to use4  ,god has delivered yourself 
to your own care1 and says1 ',i had no  
fitter one to intrust him to than       
yourself2 keep him for me such as he is 

by nature1 modest1 faithful1 erect1     
unterrified1 free from passion and      
perturbation4'  ,god1 says ,epictetus1  
has made me his witness to men4  ,for   
this purpose he leads me at one time    
hither1 at another time sends me        
thither2 shows me to men as poor1       
without authority and sick2 sends me to 
,gyara1 leads me into prison1 not       
because he hates me1--far from him be   
such a meaning1 for who hates the best  
of his servants8 nor yet because he     
cares not for me1 for he does not       
neglect any1 even of the smallest       
things2 but he does this for the purpose
 of exercising me and making use of me  
as a witness to others4  ,being         
appointed to such a service1 do ,i still
 care about the place in which ,i am1 or
 with whom ,i am1 or what men say about 
me8 and do ,i not entirely direct my    
thoughts to ,god1 and to his            
instructions and commands8  ,thus he    
falls back on the life of the           
spirit1--simple1 sure1 victorious4 ,to  

place all good in character is the      
secret4  ,from virtue grows piety4 ,it  
is desire set on externals1 and so      
disappointed1 that brings discontent1   
repining1 impiety4  ,yet ,epictetus has 
distinct and serious limitations4  ,he  
assumes that to avoid all perturbation  
is the aim of the wise man4  ,this can  
be accomplished only by the sacrifice of
 all objects of desire which lie outside
 of the control of the will1 and he     
advises this sacrifice4  ,if you love an
 earthen vessel1 say it is an earthen   
vessel which you love2 for when it has  
been broken you will not be disturbed4  
,if you are kissing your child or wife1 
say that it is a human being whom you   
are kissing1 for when the wife or child 
dies you will not be disturbed4  ,all   
joys but the purely moral are to be     
despised4  ,in going to the theatre one 
should be indifferent to who gains the  
prize4  ,this attempted indifference to 
all the great and little pleasures of   
life which have no distinct moral       

character1 if successful1 makes an      
ascetic1 and of most men is liable to   
make prigs4  ,it is the vice of         
,puritanism4  ,the modern world is riper
 and richer than the ,roman world4  ,we 
say now1 the ideal man is not           
unperturbed4  ,perturbations are        
inevitable to the man normally and      
highly developed1 with sensibilities and
 sympathies keenly alive4  ,the true aim
 is to include composure1 but not as    
sole and supreme4  ,this is a more      
complex development than the ,stoic1    
less capable perhaps of symmetrical     
completeness1 but grander1 as a ,gothic 
church is grander than a ,greek temple4 
,again1 the assumption of ,epictetus and
 of all the ,stoics that the will is    
wholly free1 that man has only to choose
 and seek goodness and he can perfectly 
achieve it1 misses the familiar and     
bitter experience of humanity1 that too 
often man carries his prison and fetters
 within himself4  ,a ,roman poet voiced 
it3 ,meliora video proboque1 deteriora  

sequor4  ,paul spoke it3 ,the good that 
,i would1 ,i do not2 and the evil ,i    
would not1 that ,i do4  ,but ,epictetus 
himself is one of the great souls who   
are not to be described by the label of 
any creed4  ,he has in himself the      
secret of spiritual victory1 and he has 
a peculiar power to impart it4  ,the    
limitations of ,stoicism as a creed are 
more plainly seen in ,marcus ,aurelius4 
,his character1 revealed in the fierce  
light that beats upon a throne1 is of   
rare nobility and beauty4  ,to a man's  
strength he unites a woman's tenderness4
  ,just because of that tenderness1 and 
the deep heart of which it is the       
flower1 the philosophy he so bravely    
practices gives him but a bleak and     
chill abiding-place4  ,through his      
,meditations--manly1 wise1 and          
gracious--there runs a deep note of     
sadness4  ,for this man's nature cried  
out for love1 and not even faithfulest  
duty can take the place of love4        
,stoicism was the most distinct         

embodiment of the virtues of the classic
 world4  ,those virtues shone in many   
who did not profess themselves to be of 
the ,stoic school4  ,plutarch's gallery 
of portraits is a part of the world's   
best possession4  ,his heroes belong not
 to their own time alone4 ,they may be  
distinguished in some broad respects    
from the saints and sages of other lands
 and times2 some advance of type may be 
traced in the highest products of the   
successive ages2 but while one turns the
 pages of ,plutarch1 he scarcely asks   
for better company4  ,why1 then1 did    
,stoic philosophy fail of more wide or  
lasting success among mankind8          
,because--we may perhaps answer--its    
chief weapon was the reasoning          
intellect1 in which only a few could be 
proficient4  ,because1 fixing its ideal 
in imperturbability1 it denied          
sensibilities of affection1 joy1 and    
hope1 which are a large part of normal  
humanity4 ,because1 in its lack of      
natural science1 and its revulsion from 

the mythologic deities1 it isolated man 
in the universe1 claiming for the       
individual will a sovereignty which     
ignored the ensphering play of natural  
forces1 and denying to the heart any    
outreach beyond the earthly and finite4 
,if we may venture to summarize the     
defects of ancient philosophy in two    
words--it lacked womanliness and it     
lacked knowledge4  ,we are now to study 
the building up of another side of the  
ideal man4 ,philosophy had essayed a    
religion of the intellect and the will2 
now from ,judaism sprang ,christianity1 
a religion of the imagination and the   
heart4   ,the highest outcome of the    
classic civilization was the clear      
conception and strenuous practice of    
right for its own sake4  ,the outcome of
 ,judaism in ,christianity was          
essentially the belief and feeling of an
 intimate union between man and a higher
 power1 with love and obedience on the  
one side1 love and providence on the    
other4  ,in the vast tract of           

,greek-,roman history1 we have looked at
 only a few of the highest mountain     
peaks--the noblest contributions4  ,but 
since the ,christian church still treats
 the ,old ,testament as one of its      
charter documents1 we need to enlarge a 
little upon the general outline and     
color of ,jewish history1 and we must   
recognize the shadows as well as the    
lights4  ,the traditional interpretation
 of the ,old ,testament which is still  
current is based on successive          
misconceptions1 overlaying and blending 
with each other like close-piled        
geologic strata4  ,pious intent of the  
original writers1 shaping their facts to
 suit their theories--later assumptions 
of inspiration and infallibility in the 
records--theologic systems quarried and 
built out of these materials--the       
supposed dependence of the most precious
 faiths of mankind upon these           
misreadings of history1--all these      
influences1 with the lapse of time1 have
 buried so deeply the original facts1   

that the exhuming and revivifying of the
 true story1 or at least a tolerable    
similitude of its main lines1 has       
imposed a gigantic task upon modern     
scholarship4  ,of the results of this   
scholarship1 we may give here only a    
kind of shorthand memorandum4  ,the ,old
 ,testament as a whole1 with precious   
exceptions1 can only by a great stretch 
of imagination be claimed as an integral
 part of the book of religion--the title
 which ,matthew ,arnold asserts for the 
entire ,bible4  ,the phrase can scarcely
 be applied to the ,old ,testament1     
unless it be read through a medium      
surcharged with association and         
prepossession4  ,much of its morality   
has been outgrown2 many of its early    
stories are revolting to us3 much1 of   
which the inner meaning is at one with  
our deepest life1 is disguised under    
phraseology wholly alien to our modern  
thought and speech4  ,as a manual of    
devotion1 or as a textbook for the      
young1 the ,old ,testament can never    

again fill such a place as it filled to 
our fathers4  ,but we can still trace in
 it many of the upward steps of the     
race1 and there are portions which still
 hold a deep place in the affections of 
the truly religious4  ,the mind at      
certain stages personifies the ,deity   
with the greatest ease and naturalness4 
,the primitive man interprets the whole 
world about him by the analogy of his   
own activity4  ,he sees in all the      
phenomena of nature the presence of     
personal beings1--beings who act and    
suffer and enjoy and love and hate as he
 does himself4  ,the sky1 the sun1 the  
wind1 the ocean1 represent each a       
separate deity4  ,next1 each clan1 or   
city1 or nation1 comes to regard itself 
as under the patronage of one of these  
deities4  ,the national god of the      
,israelites1 at the earliest time we    
know them1 bore the name of ,yahveh1--a 
name more familiar to us under the form 
,jehovah4  ,originally he was probably  
the god of the sun and fire4 ,his acts  

were seen everywhere1 his motives       
guessed4  ,the heat and light of the    
sun--now illumining1 now fructifying1   
now blasting--were his immediate        
manifestations4  ,later1 he was         
conceived to favor certain kinds of     
human action4  ,he was at first appeased
 under the influences of analogies from 
the lower side of human nature1--,give  
him a present1 something to eat1 or to  
smell1 or to see4  ,then came the idea  
that he was the friend and favorer of   
the righteous1--of the merciful and     
just4  ,the turning-point in the history
 of ,judaism--the birth-hour of religion
 as it has come down to us--is marked by
 that great dimly-seen personality1     
,moses1 who taught that the worship of  
,yahveh forbade murder1 adultery1 theft1
 false witness1 covetousness4  ,the     
,jews had neither science nor logic2    
they had no intelligent induction as to 
nature1--hence they never got beyond the
 idea of supernatural intervention4#c   
,apparently they never challenged and   

sifted their fundamental ideas1--never  
raised the question as to the actual    
existence of ,yahveh4  ,they saw and    
felt the incongruities of the world as a
 moral administration1 and sometimes    
pressed the inquiry1 as in ,job1 ,why   
does ,yahveh thus8  ,but the denial of  
any ruling personal ,will1 as by        
,lucretius1 was impossible to them4     
,they were imaginative1 intense1 and    
their imagination got the saving ethical
 impress especially from the prophets4  
,judaism as a religion grew from the    
,law and the ,prophets4  ,from almost   
the earliest historic time there existed
 some brief code of precepts1--probably 
an abbreviated form of what we know as  
the ,ten ,commandments4  ,later came the
 impassioned preaching of the prophets4 
,still later1 there was formulated that 
elaborate statute-book for which by a   
pious fiction was claimed the authority 
of ,moses4  ,the prophets spoke out of  
an exaltation of which no other account 
was given than it was the inspiration of

 ,yahveh1--,thus saith the ,lord6 ,they 
did not argue1 they asserted--with a    
passion that bred conviction1 or at     
least fear and respect4  ,it is here    
that the distinction between the ,greek 
and the ,hebrew method is most marked4  
,socrates1 for example1 called himself  
the midwife of men's thoughts4  ,his    
maxim was1 ,know thyself4  ,his         
cross-examination was designed to make  
men see for themselves4  ,that is1 he   
taught by reason4  ,but the prophet's   
claim was1 ,thus saith the ,lord6  ,he  
spoke out of his personal and passionate
 conviction1 for which he believed he   
had the highest supernatural sanction4  
,the heart of the typical prophetic     
message was that the ,ruler of the world
 is a righteous ruler1 and that the     
service he desires is righteousness4    
,the early prophets--such as ,micah1    
,hosea1 ,amos--speak with scorn of the  
worship by sacrifices1--whether the     
fruits of the earth1 or slaughtered     
beasts1 or the ghastly offering of human

 life4 ,hosea cries3 ,i desired mercy1  
and not sacrifice2 and the knowledge of 
,god more than burnt offerings4  ,so    
,micah speaks3 ,shall ,i come before him
 with burnt offerings1 with yearling    
calves8  ,will the ,lord be pleased with
 thousands of rams or with ten thousands
 of rivers of oil8  ,shall ,i give my   
first-born for my transgression1 the    
fruit of my body for the sin of my soul8
  ,he hath showed thee1 ,o man1 what is 
good2 and what doth the ,lord require of
 thee but to do justly1 and to love     
mercy1 and to walk humbly with thy ,god8
  ,further1 the prophets assumed to know
 and declare ,yahveh's will on public   
affairs1 especially on the government of
 the nation4  ,they tried to dictate the
 attitude of ,judea toward other        
kingdoms--an attitude generally of proud
 defiance4  ,often their counsel ignored
 the actualities1 and helped to         
precipitate ,judah and ,israel into     
hopeless conflicts with their mighty    
neighbors4  ,when in these conflicts    

they were worsted1 the prophets laid the
 disaster to the idolatry or other      
wickedness of the people4  ,finally came
 utter defeat and dispersal1 and an     
exile for generations in a foreign land4
  ,then the prophets rose to an intenser
 faith1--purer1 tenderer1 more          
spiritual4  ,some time and somehow the  
,lord would surely be gracious to his   
people6  ,but when the captives1 or a   
part of them1 were restored to their own
 land1--with lowered fortunes and       
humbled pride1 half dependent still on a
 foreign master1--the prophetic         
enthusiasm no longer availed to give a  
fresh message from the ,lord4  ,instead1
 the leaders and founders of the        
restoration--,ezra1 ,nehemiah1 and their
 associates and followers--built up a   
well-organized1 well-enforced system of 
discipline4  ,they reshaped the old     
traditions1 enlarged and codified them2 
they shaped the ,pentateuch and book of 
,joshua1 as we know them now2 they      
purified and beautified the ,temple     

service2 they instituted synagogues in  
every town1 where religious teaching    
should be regular and constant2 they    
developed a class of ,scribes1 or       
expositors of the ,law2 they multiplied 
ceremonial observances2 they rewrote the
 national history1 and invested their   
laws with the sacredness of divine      
oracles1 under the august name of       
,moses2 they imposed deadly penalties   
and bitter hatred on all who deviated   
from the established religion4  ,all    
this was the work of centuries1 and its 
important result was that by a manifold 
and perpetual drill certain religious   
ideas were stamped upon the minds of the
 people1 until beliefs and usages and   
sentiments ran in their very blood and  
were transmitted from father to son4    
,as types of the ,hebrew religion in its
 advancing stages we may note3 first1   
,jacob1 winning his way by craft and    
subtlety1 gaining the favor of his god  
by a fidelity which expresses itself by 
vows and sacrifices and scarcely at all 

by morality2 and hardly attractive      
except in the tenderness of his family  
relations4  ,a mythical figure1 he is a 
marvelous embodiment of the persistent  
race-traits of the ,jew--tenacity1      
craft1 devoutness--in the early phase4  
,it is a very earthly phase1 but with   
the germs of a marvelous development4   
,later1 we have ,david1 the warrior     
king4  ,still later comes ,elijah1 the  
prophet of a ,deity who now stands for  
chastity and justice against gods of    
sensuality and cruelty1 and defying     
wicked kings in the name of that ,god4  
,then in the line of prophets we may    
pass to their greatest1 ,isaiah1--both  
first and second of the name1--each of  
whom in the deepest adversity of the    
people is inspired by a hope1 vague in  
its expectation1 but so deep1 so fervid1
 so sweet1 that to this day it lends its
 language to hearts which in darkness   
look for the morning4  ,next we may take
 ,ezra1 rebuilding the shattered        
nationality1 not on a political basis1  

but by a law of personal conduct in     
which a genuine morality is mixed with a
 ceremonial code4  ,and here really     
belongs the legislation ascribed to     
,moses and given in the ,pentateuch2 the
 law-giver having an original in some   
great1 dim1 historic figure1 long       
treasured in the popular imagination1   
but rehabilitated by priestly art as the
 author of a great volume of minute     
legislation1 to which dignity is lent by
 the legends of a personality sublime   
yet meek4 ,we have then the flowering of
 the inner life1 in the book of         
,psalms1--the single name of the        
,psalmist covering the products of many 
minds and successive generations4  ,in  
the course of affairs1 the hero's place 
belongs next to ,judas ,maccabaeus1 the 
patriot leader against the heathen      
,greek2 and we may take the books of the
 ,maccabees and the book of ,daniel as  
giving the ideal thought of the         
period1--the matrix of belief and hope  
from which was to spring the crowning   

flower of ,judaism4  ,it will suffice   
for our purpose if from this series we  
touch upon ,david1 the ,psalms1 the book
 of ,job1 ,isaiah1 and the literature of
 the ,maccabean time4   ,the real place 
of ,david is that of the warrior-king   
who gave independence1 unity1 and       
victory to the people of ,israel4  ,it  
was he who broke the yoke of the        
,philistines which ,saul had weakened1  
and slew in fight their gigantic        
champion4  ,he conquered and subjected  
the neighboring tribes2 he put down the 
rebellions headed by his own sons2 he   
made and kept ,israel for a brief term a
 proud and victorious military monarchy4
  ,within a single generation after his 
death it was divided into two hostile   
fragments1 and both of these gradually  
fell under foreign conquerors4  ,very   
short was the period of ,israel's       
warlike glory1 and for a thousand years 
afterward the national heart turned in  
love and reverence to the hero of that  
time4  ,as the ,saxons remembered       

,alfred1 as ,americans remember         
,washington1 so the ,israelites         
remembered ,david4  ,it was in his image
 and under his name that they pictured a
 future which should outshine their     
past4  ,israel throughout the period    
when she is most distinctly before us   
was a subject people4  ,it was largely  
the presence of a foreign oppressor     
which gave to the national voice that   
tone of intense entreaty toward a divine
 friend and deliverer which runs its    
pathos through psalm and history and    
prophecy4  ,there had been a better day 
for ,israel1 before ,assyrian and       
,egyptian trampled her4  ,there had been
 a day when ,philistia and ,edom quailed
 and fell before her1 and the ,lord     
wrought victory by the hand of ,david4  
,so it is ,david's history that stands  
out fullest and clearest in the whole   
record1 from ,abraham onward4  ,how much
 is true history and how much is        
imaginative addition must be largely    
guesswork4  ,but we see in ,david the   

ideal hero and type of that period of   
,jewish history as we see in ,achilles  
and ,odysseus the ideal types of        
primitive ,greece4  ,and the story of   
,david is as deeply colored with the    
primal passions of humanity as are the  
songs of ,homer4  ,there is the picture 
of the shepherd-boy1 to which must be   
added the exquisite psalm which later   
traditions put in his mouth2 the victory
 over the giant2 the most pathetic story
 of the moody and wayward ,saul--the    
power of music over his melancholy1 the 
alternations of jealous rage and        
compunction2 the friendship with        
,jonathan1 more tender and pure than the
 friendships ,plato pictures2 the       
dramatic fortunes of the outlaw2 the    
family tragedies full of crime and      
horror2 the dark story of ,amnon1       
,tamar1 and ,absalom2 the passion of    
fatherhood in fullest intensity1 with   
the agonized prayers for the sick child 
and the heartbroken lament over         
,absalom2 the group of valiant captains 

and their chivalrous exploits2 the risk 
of life to bring to their homesick chief
 a drink from the well of ,bethlehem2   
the story of ,bathsheba and             
,uriah--lust1 treachery1 and murder2 the
 prophet's rebuke2 the years declining  
under heavy shadows4  ,how full of      
lifeblood it all is6  ,every chapter is 
an idyl1 an epic1 or a tragedy4  ,it is 
largely this picturesque dramatic       
quality which made the ,english ,bible  
in its early days the favorite book of  
the ,english people1 and has kept for it
 always so high a place4  ,but the      
attempt to reduce a story like ,david's 
to terms of spiritual edification has   
been difficult above measure1 ever since
 mankind advanced beyond the            
half-barbaric age in which the story was
 told4  ,judged by our standards1 the   
ethics of the story are often low1 and  
its religion is largely a superstition4 
,what brings the ,almighty on the scene 
is most frequently some great calamity1 
which priest or soothsayer interprets as

 a divine judgment4  ,often there is    
attributed to him the quality of a      
jealous ,oriental despot4  ,the justice 
he enforces is often injustice and      
savagery4  ,take the story of the       
,gibeonites4  ,a three years' famine in 
,israel was explained by ,yahveh's      
oracle as a retribution for the breach  
of faith by ,saul1 many years before1   
with the ,gibeonites1 whom he had       
persecuted in defiance of ancient       
compact4  ,david thereupon invited the  
,gibeonites to name the requital which  
would appease them1 and they asked for  
the death of seven sons of ,saul4  ,so  
,david delivered the seven innocent men 
into their hands1 and they hanged them  
before the ,lord4  ,the ,zeus of ,homer 
is offensive to religious feeling       
because he fully shares the sensuality  
which we account one of the great       
defects of humanity4  ,from that blemish
 the ,hebrew idea of ,god is always     
free4  ,the hostility between ,yahveh   
and the heathen gods has its deep       

ethical significance in the struggle of 
chastity against licentiousness1 to     
which the religious sanction brings     
reinforcement4  ,but the ,hebrew ,god   
has a savage and vindictive quality1    
which only slowly and partially         
disappears4  ,originally1 it is         
probable1 the ,god of the sun and fire1 
beneficent to illumine1 malevolent to   
burn1 he remains always in some degree a
 ,god of wrath4  ,it was by one of the  
strange growths of the advancing popular
 thought that ,david1 the valiant1      
passionate soldier-king1 came to be     
conceived of as the writer of the book  
of ,psalms4  ,historically a            
misconception1 it yet lent a continuity 
and ideal unity to the nation's         
self-interpretation4  ,the book of      
,psalms1 says ,dean ,stanley1 is the    
selected hymns of the ,jewish people1   
for a period as long as from ,chaucer to
 ,tennyson4  ,the service-book of the   
,second ,temple is ,kuenen's            
description4  ,beyond any other single  

book1 it shows us the heart of ,judaism 
in its ripest1 most characteristic      
development4  ,its language has become  
saturated with the associations of many 
centuries4  ,in these intense1 direct1  
and fervid utterances we can see the    
form and lineaments of a faith which was
 the ancestor of our own1 yet is not the
 same4  ,the religion of the ,psalms has
 different phases4  ,we have here the   
experiences of many souls1 with a       
certain kinship1 yet with wide          
differences4  ,in many of these hymns   
one recognizes the religion in which    
,jesus was cradled4  ,imagination and   
feeling have full scope4  ,the constant 
idea is of ,yahveh1 ruler of the world  
and its inhabitants1 the judge of the   
wicked and friend of the good4  ,mark   
the perfect man and behold the upright1 
for the end of that man is peace4  ,how 
excellent is thy loving-kindness1 ,o    
,god6 therefore the children of men put 
their trust under the shadow of thy     
wings4  ,thy righteousness is like the  

great mountains2 thy judgments as a     
great deep4  ,the ,lord redeemeth the   
soul of his servants1 and none of them  
that trust in him shall be desolate4    
,oh1 taste and see that the ,lord is    
good2 blessed is the man that trusteth  
in him4  ,the depth and passion of the  
struggle against sin is shown in the    
fifty-first ,psalm4  ,have mercy upon   
me1 ,o ,god1 according to thy           
loving-kindness2 according unto the     
multitude of thy tender mercies1 blot   
out my transgressions4  ,against thee1  
thee only1 have ,i sinned4  ,wash me1   
and ,i shall be whiter than snow4  ,make
 me to hear joy and gladness4  ,create  
in me a clean heart1 ,o ,god1 and renew 
a right spirit within me4  ,thou        
desirest not sacrifice1 else would ,i   
give it4  ,the sacrifices of ,god are a 
broken spirit2 a broken and a contrite  
heart1 ,o ,god1 thou wilt not despise4  
,this passion against sin--this cry for 
inward purity--is the root of the       
religion of ,jesus1 the blessedness of  

the pure in heart2 the warfare of ,paul1
 the spirit against the flesh4  ,in     
other psalms1 again1 is a poignant cry  
for help and deliverance4  ,it is the   
expostulation of the soul with ,fate1   
the cry to a ,power who should be a     
friend1 but hides his face4  ,there1 is 
a pathetic sense of man's frailty and   
mortality4  ,hear my prayer1 ,o ,lord1  
and give ear unto my cry2 hold not thy  
peace at my tears1 for ,i am a stranger 
with thee and a sojourner1 as all my    
fathers were4  ,o spare me1 that ,i may 
recover strength1 before ,i go hence1   
and be no more4  ,praise for ,god's     
greatness and awe for his eternity are  
joined with the sad sense of man's      
mortality4  ,wilt thou show wonders to  
the dead8 ,shall the dead arise and     
praise thee8  ,shall thy lovingkindness 
be declared in the grave8 or thy        
faithfulness in destruction8  ,shall thy
 wonders be known in the dark8 and thy  
righteousness in the land of            
forgetfulness8  ,very often again the   

burden is the cry of the weak against   
the oppressor4 ,man1 wronged by his     
fellow1 cries to ,god1 and can imagine  
no deliverance save by the ruin of his  
enemies4  ,the cursing is tremendous4   
,o daughter of ,babylon1 happy shall he 
be that taketh thy little ones and      
dasheth them against the stones6  ,at   
this point is the widest ethical        
difference between them of old time and 
our own religion4  ,in them1 abhorrence 
of sin was not yet distinguished from   
hatred of the sinner1 and the foes of   
the ,psalmist or his nation were always 
identified with the foes of ,god4 ,to   
hate thine enemy seemed as righteous as 
to love thy friend4  ,in a sense we may 
say the ,psalms are a cry to which      
,jesus is the answer3 ,lord1 save me1   
and destroy my enemies6  ,love your     
enemies1 and in loving you are saved4   
,in the book of ,psalms there blends and
 alternates with the old theory of      
reward and punishment a later           
idea1--that goodness carries its own    

blessing with it1--that better than oil 
and wine1 flocks and herds1 health and  
friends1 is the peace of well-doing1 the
 joy of gratitude1 yes1 even the        
passionate contrition in which the soul 
revolts from its own sin and finds again
 the sweetness of the upward effort and 
a response to that effort like heaven's 
own smile4  ,not1 goodness brings       
blessings1 but goodness is blessed2 not1
 the wicked shall perish1 but wickedness
 is perdition2 this is the deep         
undertone of the best of the ,psalms4   
,among these hymns are some which are   
filled with a noble delight in the works
 of nature1--a fresh1 glad pleasure in  
the whole spectacle of creation1 from   
sun and stars1 sea and mountains1 to the
 goats among the hills1 and the conies  
of the rock4  ,there is frank           
satisfaction in the bread which         
strengtheneth man's heart and the wine  
that makes him glad4 ,and all this free 
human joy in the activities and         
splendors of nature never so much as    

approaches the perilous slope towards   
sensuality4  ,it is everywhere          
sublimated by the all-pervading         
recognition of a holy and beneficent    
,god4  ,what may be said of the ,psalms 
generally is this3 they express the most
 vivid and various play of human        
emotions1--sorrow1 wrath1 repentance1   
joy1 dread1 hope1--always exercised as  
in the presence of an ,almighty being1  
holy1 righteous1 and the friend of      
righteous men4  ,in this is their       
abiding power1--this close reflection of
 the fluctuations in every sensitive    
heart under the play of life's          
experiences1--encompassed with an       
atmosphere of noble seriousness1 and    
outreaching toward a higher ,power4     
,in the story of the ,jewish mind1 the  
book of ,job stands by itself4  ,it is  
not so much a stage in the progressive  
development of a faith1 as a powerful   
and unanswered challenge to the current 
assertions of that faith4  ,the         
characteristic idea of ,judaism was that

 ,god rules the world in the interest of
 the good man4  ,not so1 says ,job1 the 
facts are against it4  ,hear the        
complaint of a good man to whom life has
 brought trouble and sorrow1 without    
remedy and without hope6  ,so stood     
first the bold arraignment1 the earliest
 voice of truly religious skepticism4   
,job is skeptical1 not from any want of 
goodness1--he has been strenuously good2
 even now in all his darkness1 my       
righteousness ,i hold fast and will not 
let it go3 my heart shall not reproach  
me so long as ,i live4  ,his goodness is
 of no narrow sort2 justice1 protection 
of the oppressed1 help to the suffering1
 these have been his delight2 from      
wantonness of sense he has kept himself 
pure2 not even against wrong-doers and  
enemies has his hate gone out2 he has   
not rejoiced at the destruction of them 
that hated me1 or lifted up myself when 
evil found him2 neither have ,i suffered
 my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to  
his soul4  ,yet1 after a life of this   

sort1 he finds himself bereft1          
impoverished1 tormented4 ,where is the  
righteousness of ,god8  ,he turns to his
 friends for sympathy4 ,have pity upon  
me1 have pity upon me1 ,o ye my friends2
 for the hand of ,god hath touched me4  
,his friends for reply justify ,god by  
blaming ,job4 ,doubtless you deserve it 
all3 you must have done all manner of   
wrong1 and been a hypocrite to boot6    
,that is all the comfort they give him4 
,dreary and desolate he stands1 no good 
in the present1 no hope in the future4  
,i cry unto thee1 and thou dost not hear
 me3 ,i stand up1 and thou regardest me 
not4  ,thou art become cruel to me2 with
 thy strong hand thou opposest thyself  
against me4  ,i know that thou wilt     
bring me to death1 and to the house     
appointed for all living4  ,upon that   
gloom the curtain falls4  ,the words of 
,job are ended4  ,the later chapters of 
the book seem added by successive hands4
  ,they introduce a fresh speaker1 to   
help out the argument for ,god4  ,they  

make the ,almighty speak in his own     
behalf4  ,his answer is simply an appeal
 to the wonders of physical nature4     
,look1 vain man1 at my works2 consider  
the war-horse1 the behemoth1 the        
leviathan2 how can your petty mind judge
 the creator of these8  ,this strikes a 
note which is still heard in the music  
of to-day1 the awe and reverence before 
the grandeur of nature which can        
sometimes soothe the restlessness of man
 and hush his anxieties1 as the harp of 
,david brought peace to the moody ,saul4
  ,yet such thoughts do not suffice for 
the man whose personal suffering is     
keen4  ,they silence rather than answer 
the question which presses upon ,job4   
,the story must be otherwise helped out1
 so some kindly champion of orthodoxy   
put in a fairy-story climax1--,job got  
well of his boils1 had more sheep and   
oxen than ever1 had other children born 
to him4  ,and so the difficulty is      
happily solved6  ,but the earlier and   
deeper words remain1 with their         

unanswerable challenge to the           
comfortable creed that ,god will always 
make the good man happy4  ,the book     
stands1 the expression of a typical1 a  
mournful but sublime attitude of the    
human mind4  ,it is a facing of truth   
when truth looks darkest1 rather than to
 take refuge in comfortable             
make-believe4 ,and it shows man falling 
back on his innermost stronghold of all4
  ,if ,god himself fail me1--if the     
power of the universe be cruel or       
indifferent1--yet my righteousness ,i   
hold fast1 and will not let it go2 my   
heart shall not reproach me so long as  
,i live4   ,the habitual weapon of the  
,prophets is denunciation4  ,they pour  
out on their opponents a wrath which is 
the hotter because it involves a moral  
condemnation1 and the heavier because it
 claims the sanction of ,deity4 ,among  
their exemplars are ,samuel deposing    
,saul1 and scaring him from the tomb1   
and ,elijah slaying the priests of      
,baal4  ,of the written prophecies the  

characteristic word is ,woe unto you6   
,they are the prototypes of ,jesus      
assailing the ,pharisees and driving out
 the money-changers2 of the book of     
,revelation2 of ,tertullian proclaiming 
the torments of the damned2 of the      
mediaeval ban on the heretic2 of        
,puritan and ,catholic hurling anathemas
 at each other2 of ,carlyle1 of         
,garrison4  ,but in the greatest of the 
prophets the threat is almost hidden by 
the promise1 and instead of cursing     
there is benediction4  ,whoever would   
get at the heart of the ,old ,testament1
 and understand the spell which the     
religion first of ,judaism and then of  
,christianity has cast upon the world   
for thousands of years1 should ponder   
the book of ,isaiah4  ,it blends the    
work of two authors1 but their spirit is
 closely akin4  ,in each case the       
prophet is full of a conviction so      
intense that he propounds it with       
perfect confidence as the word of ,god4 
,by the boldest personification1 he     

speaks continually in the name of ,god4 
,this was the characteristic method of  
,hebrew prophecy4  ,the prophetic books 
all stand as for the most part the      
direct word of ,god4  ,this way of      
thought and speech was possible only to 
men in an early stage of intellectual   
development and under the highest       
pressure of conviction and emotion4     
,the traditional repute of these ,jewish
 prophets and the record of their words 
were accepted by both ,jews and         
,christians4  ,their writings were taken
 as the authoritative voice of ,god4    
,the same credit came to be extended to 
all the ancient books of the ,jewish    
religion1--psalms1 histories1           
genealogies1 ritual1 and all4  ,but it  
is mainly the prophecies to which this  
character originally belonged4  ,the    
,psalms are1 with few exceptions1 purely
 human in their standpoint4  ,in them1  
it is avowedly a man who mourns1        
rejoices1 repents1 prays1 curses1 or    
gives thanks4  ,but in the prophecies   

,god himself is presented as the        
speaker4  ,in both the earlier and later
 ,isaiah1 ,god appears as speaking to   
men in extreme need1 in words of        
incomparable comfort1 inspiration1 and  
hope4 ,to whatever special exigency of  
,israel they were first addressed1 the  
language1 stripped of all local         
references1 comes home to the universal 
human heart in its deepest experiences4 
,to the divine favor this teaching sets 
only one condition3 ,cease to do evil1  
learn to do well4 ,seek judgment1       
relieve the oppressed1 judge the        
fatherless1 plead for the widow4  ,if ye
 be willing and obedient4  ,say ye to   
the righteous that it shall be well with
 them1 for they shall eat the fruit of  
their doings4  ,woe unto the wicked2 it 
shall be ill with him1 for the reward of
 his hands shall be given him4  ,on the 
one simple condition of turning from    
moral evil to good1 the blessings of the
 inner life are promised in every tone  
of assurance1 consolation1 promise4     

,though your sins be as scarlet1 they   
shall be as white as snow2 though they  
be red like crimson1 they shall be as   
wool4  ,comfort ye1 comfort ye my       
people1 saith your ,god4  ,speak ye     
comfortably to ,jerusalem1 and cry unto 
her that her warfare is accomplished1   
that her iniquity is pardoned4  ,he     
shall feed his flock like a shepherd2 he
 shall gather the lambs with his arm and
 carry them in his bosom1 and shall     
gently lead those that are with young4  
,sing1 ,o heavens1 and be joyful1 ,o    
earth1 and break forth into singing1 ,o 
mountains1 for the ,lord hath comforted 
his people1 and will have mercy upon his
 afflicted4  ,the most triumphant word  
in the ,new ,testament1 and its         
tenderest word1 both are drawn from one 
verse in the elder ,isaiah3 ,he will    
swallow up death in victory1 and the    
,lord ,god will wipe away tears from off
 all faces4  ,the distinctive word and  
thought of ,jesus toward ,god is first  
found in the later ,isaiah1--our        

,father4  ,doubtless thou art our       
father1 though ,abraham be ignorant of  
us1 and ,israel acknowledge us not2     
thou1 ,o ,lord1 art our father1 our     
redeemer2 thy name is from everlasting4 
,the word recurs1 together with an image
 which by a later than ,jesus was made  
the symbol of an arbitrary divine       
despotism1 but which ,isaiah first      
employed to blend the idea of omnipotent
 power with closest affection3 ,o ,lord1
 thou art our father2 we are the clay   
and thou the potter2 and we are all the 
work of thy hand4  ,a similitude is used
 even gentler than a father's care3 ,as 
one whom his mother comforteth1 so will 
,i comfort you4  ,can a woman forget her
 sucking child1 that she should not have
 compassion on the son of her womb8     
,yea1 they may forget1 yet will ,i not  
forget thee4  ,by the later ,isaiah is  
shown the figure of an innocent         
sufferer1 whose sorrows are to issue in 
the widest blessing4  ,this sufferer has
 been interpreted sometimes as typifying

 the few heroic souls among the people  
of ,israel1 sometimes as a prophet in   
,isaiah's day1 last and most fondly as  
,christ4  ,whomever the prophet had in  
mind1 the idea goes home to the heart2  
somehow1 undeserved sorrow borne        
blamelessly1 bravely1 even gladly1 since
 for love's sake1 is to have a celestial
 fruitage4 ,despised and rejected of    
men1 a man of sorrows and acquainted    
with grief2 he hath borne our griefs and
 carried our sorrows1--and at last he   
shall see of the travail of his soul1   
and be satisfied4  ,then the strain     
breaks into an exultant tenderness1     
weaving into one chord the deepest      
griefs and consolations of woman1 the   
sublimities of nature1 all the passion  
and all the peace of the heart4  ,sing1 
,o barren1 thou that didst not bear2    
break forth into singing and cry aloud1 
thou that didst not travail with child1 
for more are the children of the        
desolate than the children of the       
married wife1 saith the ,lord4  ,fear   

not1 for thou shalt not be ashamed4     
,for thy ,maker is thy husband1 the     
,lord of hosts is his name1 and thy     
redeemer the ,holy ,one of ,israel4     
,for a small moment have ,i forsaken    
thee1 but with great mercies will ,i    
gather thee4  ,in a little wrath ,i hid 
my face from thee for a moment1 but with
 everlasting kindness will ,i have mercy
 on thee1 saith the ,lord thy ,redeemer4
  ,the mountains shall depart and the   
hills be removed1 but my kindness shall 
not depart from thee1 neither shall the 
covenant of my peace be removed1 saith  
the ,lord that hath mercy on thee4  ,o  
thou afflicted1 tossed with tempest1 and
 not comforted6  ,i will lay thy stones 
with fair colors1 and lay thy           
foundations with sapphires2 and all thy 
children shall be taught of the ,lord1  
and great shall be the peace of thy     
children4  ,to such words men and women 
in all times have clung1 and always will
 cling4  ,for1 so first spoke a voice in
 some soul which in the heart of the    

storm had found peace4  ,he called it   
the voice of ,god4  ,what better name   
can we give it8   ,in the prophecies and
 the psalms we have seen the            
high-wrought poetry of ,israel's        
religion4  ,for the requirements of     
daily life there needs a more prosaic1  
definite1 and minute guidance4  ,this   
the ,jew found in the body of usages and
 precepts which gradually grew up under 
the care of the priesthood4  ,the       
prescriptive sanction of habit attached 
to these observances was at certain     
memorable epochs exchanged for a belief 
in the direct communication of the code 
from heaven4  ,one such occasion was the
 finding of the book of the ,law by the 
high priest1 and its presentation and   
enforcement on king and people which is 
recorded in #b ,kings xxii4 and xxiii4  
,the strong indications are that this   
was the book known to us as             
,deuteronomy1 and that instead of the   
rediscovery of a forgotten book there   
was in truth a new book set forth1      

claiming the authority of ,moses1 and   
enlarging and enriching the traditional 
observances according to the most       
advanced ideas of the time4  ,a similar 
occasion1 at a later period1 is         
described at length in the books of     
,ezra and ,nehemiah4  ,the new          
legislation there imposed in the name of
 ,moses and the fathers--or rather of   
,yahveh himself1 as he spoke to the men 
of old--was probably in substance the   
regulations contained in ,exodus1       
,leviticus1 and ,numbers4  ,by our      
standards of judgment1 these acts were  
pious forgeries4  ,the mental conditions
 under which they were done1 the        
psychologic state which prompted them1  
the ethical standards which sanctioned  
them1 are matter for curious study4  ,it
 would be crude to class them as the    
deliberate and inexcusable crimes which 
they would be in our day4  ,the claim of
 a divine authority for human           
beliefs--the idea that what is morally  
beneficial may be asserted as           

historically true--has worked in many   
strange forms4  ,we see it here in its  
early phase1 among a people in whom1 as 
in mankind at large1 the virtue and     
obligation of truthfulness was a late   
and slow discovery4  ,the same          
instinct--to claim for what we wish to  
believe a sanction of infallible        
revelation--works in subtle forms       
to-day4  ,as to the contents of the ,law
 which thus gradually took form1 a      
distinction may easily be traced even by
 the cursory reader4  ,the earlier code1
 ,deuteronomy1 is full of a generous and
 lofty temper4  ,it is one of the most  
impressive documents of the ,jewish     
scriptures4  ,here is that which ,jesus 
named as the first and great            
commandment3 ,thou shalt love the ,lord 
thy ,god with all thy heart1 and with   
all thy soul1 and with all thy might4   
,the teaching of the book is primarily  
the worship of ,yahveh1--a holy1 loving1
 and judging ,god1--who rewards his     
people with blessings or punishes them  

with disasters4  ,promises and threats  
are equally distinct and vivid3 never   
were blessing and cursing more emphatic4
  ,the morality enjoined is charitable  
and pure4  ,with an equal insistence is 
enjoined a certain method and form of   
worship1 including sacrifices at the    
temple1 three yearly feasts1 the        
observance of the ,sabbath1 the due     
maintenance of the priesthood1 and the  
utter rejection of all other gods4      
,when we turn to the other books of the 
,law1 we come into an atmosphere less   
exalted1 and with a multiplicity of     
ceremonial details4  ,there is endless  
regulation as to varieties of sacrifice1
 cleansing from technical uncleanness1  
and the like4  ,interwoven with these1  
as if on an equal footing1 are special  
applications of morality--inculcations  
of chastity1 justice1 and good          
neighborhood4  ,the principles of the   
,ten ,words--themselves an inheritance  
from a very early day--are applied in   
many particulars4  ,occasionally is a   

lofty sentiment1 a clear advance4 ,thus 
we find in ,leviticus the second        
commandment of ,jesus1 ,thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself4  ,the general  
increase in rigidity of ceremonial in   
these books is to be read along with the
 stern decrees of ,ezra as to separation
 from family and friendly relations with
 non-,jewish neighbors4  ,it was1 in a  
word1 a ,puritan reformation4  ,there   
was just the same combination of        
heightened moral conviction with urgency
 upon matters of form and detail1 and   
hostility to all outside of one special 
church1 which belonged to the ,puritan4 
,but the ,jewish reformer1 unlike the   
,english1 enlarged instead of           
simplifying his ritual4  ,it is this    
interblending of outward observance with
 moral and spiritual quality which      
stumbles the modern reader at every     
page4  ,it was a confusion which needed 
the spiritual genius of ,jesus to       
dissolve1 and the leadership of ,paul to
 definitely renounce4  ,by the side of  

the ceremonial element in the ,law there
 ripened gradually an expansion of its  
moral precepts4  ,the sacred books were 
expounded by the ,scribes4  ,the        
preacher in the synagogue came to touch 
the people's heart often more closely   
and delicately than the priest with his 
bloody sacrifices and his imposing      
liturgies4  ,spontaneity1 inspiration1  
prophetic power1 was no longer present1 
but in the guise of comment and         
interpretation there grew up a gentler1 
humaner morality4  ,the moral value of  
labor and industry came into            
recognition4  ,there were teachers like 
,hillel and ,gamaliel in whom devout    
piety and homely practice went hand in  
hand4  ,in the ethics of ,judaism--under
 all these various forms of the ,law and
 the ,prophets--the distinctive note1   
compared with the ethics of ,greece and 
,rome1 was chastity4  ,the ideal ,greece
 represented wisdom and beauty2 the     
ideal ,rome was valor and self-control2 
the ideal ,israel was the subjugation of

 sense to spirit1 the approach of man to
 ,god by purity of life4  ,the twofold  
service of ,judaism was to impress this 
special note of chastity on human       
virtue1 and to give to virtue the wings 
of a great hope4  ,the flowering of that
 hope was in ,christianity2 the         
preparation for it comes now before us4 
,under the rule of ,alexander's         
successors the ,jewish system1 with its 
mixture of ethics and ritual1 came in   
collision with the ideas and practice of
 degenerate ,greek                      
culture1--pleasure-loving1              
nature-worshiping1 sensual1 with        
gymnastics and aesthetics1 tolerant and 
tyrannical4  ,the two systems were      
hostile alike in their virtues and      
vices4  ,the ,greek ruler put down with 
a strong hand the religious and         
patriotic scruples of his ,jewish       
subject4  ,the ,jew bore persecution    
with the tough endurance of his race1   
then rose in revolt with the fierce     
courage and religious fervor of his     

race4  ,he won his last victory in the  
field of arms4  ,brief was the          
independence1 soon followed by          
inglorious servitude2 but its sufferings
 and triumphs had fused the nation once 
more into invincible devotion to the    
,law of their ,god1 and had rooted in   
their hearts a principle of hope which  
in varying forms and growing power was  
to change the aspect of human life4  ,it
 seems natural to man to ascribe some   
impressive origin1 some dramatic birth1 
to the beliefs that are dearest to him4 
,but if we trace back through ,christian
 and ,jewish lineage the idea of        
immortality1 we are quite unable to     
discover the time or place of its       
beginning4  ,the early ,jew thought of  
death much as did the early ,greek1--as 
the extinction of all that was precious 
in life1 and the transition to a shadowy
 and forlorn existence in the realm of  
shades4  ,the ,hades of ,homer seems    
much to resemble the ,sheol of the ,old 
,testament1 though more vividly         

conceived4  ,the strong1 ruddy1         
passionate life of the ,hebrew found as 
little to cheer it in the outlook beyond
 death as did the energetic1 graceful1  
joyful life of the ,greek4  ,ancient    
,egypt had1 at least for the initiate1 a
 noble teaching of retribution hereafter
 to crown the mortal career with fit    
consummation of joy or woe4  ,ancient   
,persia had in its own form a like      
doctrine4  ,the ,hebrews in their       
servile period caught not a scintilla of
 the ,egyptian faith4  ,in their exile  
it is probable that they did get some   
unrecorded influence from their ,persian
 neighbors4 ,unmistakably1 their        
emigrants to ,alexandria1 meeting there 
the nobler form of ,greek culture while 
the ,palestinian ,jews encountered its  
baser side1 caught some inspiration from
 the philosophy which followed1 though  
afar off1 the noble visions of ,plato4  
,whether ,persia or ,greece was more    
directly the source of the new hope     
which crept almost unperceived into the 

stern bosom of ,judaism is not certain4 
,but the first clear voice of that hope 
comes from the time of the martyrs4  ,in
 the second book of the ,maccabees is   
told--probably by an ,alexandrian       
,jew--the story of the men and women who
 faced a dreadful death rather than     
disobey the ,law of their ,god4  ,in    
that last extremity--that confrontal of 
the soul by the bitterest choice1 and   
its acceptance of death rather than     
wrong-doing--comes the sudden voice of a
 hope triumphant over the tyrant4 ,thou 
like a fury takest us out of this       
present life1 but the ,king of the world
 shall raise us up1 who have died for   
his laws1 unto everlasting life4  ,so in
 succession bear testimony the seven    
sons of one mother1 herself the bravest 
of them all4  ,she exhorted every one of
 them in her own language1 filled with  
courageous spirit2 and stirring up her  
womanish thoughts with a manly courage1 
she said unto them3 ',i cannot tell how 
ye came into my womb3 for ,i neither    

gave you breath nor life1 neither was it
 ,i that formed the members of every one
 of you4  ,but doubtless the ,creator of
 the world who formed the generations of
 man1 and found out the beginning of all
 things1 will also of his due mercy give
 you breath and life again1 as ye now   
regard not your own selves for his laws'
 sake4 ,fear not this tormentor1 but1   
being worthy of thy brethren1 take thy  
death1 that ,i may receive thee again in
 mercy with thy brethren4'  ,just as the
 death of ,socrates inspired in ,plato  
the out-reaching hope of a hereafter1 so
 these ,jewish martyrdoms quickened the 
doubtful guess1 the dim conjecture1 into
 fervid conviction4  ,from this period  
dates the settled ,jewish belief in     
immortality4  ,the form which that      
belief assumed is seen in the book of   
,daniel4  ,that book was a creation of  
this period1 inspired by its sufferings1
 aspirations1 and hopes4  ,the writer1  
assuming the name and authority of a    
traditional hero1--by that easy         

confusion of the ideal and the          
historical which we have seen           
before1--blends with stories of         
unconquerable fidelity and divine       
deliverance his own interpretation of   
the world's recent history and probable 
future4  ,it is an early essay in what  
we call the philosophy of history1 the  
first recorded conception of a          
world-drama4 ,median1 ,persian1 ,greek1 
and ,roman monarchies move their        
appointed course and pass away4  ,god's 
plan is working itself out1 and the     
culmination is yet to come4  ,in vision 
the prophet beholds it3 the ,ancient of 
days1 with garment white as snow and    
hair like pure wool1 upon a throne like 
fiery flame1 with wheels as burning     
fire4  ,thousands of thousands minister 
before him3 the judgment is set and the 
books are opened4  ,one like the ,son of
 ,man comes with the clouds of heaven1  
and there is given to him dominion and  
glory and a kingdom which shall not pass
 away4  ,in his kingdom shall be        

gathered the saints of the ,most ,high4 
,many of them that sleep in the dust of 
the earth shall awake1 some to          
ever-lasting life and some to shame and 
everlasting contempt4  ,this was the    
figure in which the ,jewish imagination 
clothed the ,jewish hope4  ,the national
 and the individual future blent in one 
anticipation4 ,the dead were to sleep in
 the dust until the day when the divine 
kingdom was established1 and then were  
to rise again to life1 and according to 
their deserts were to share the endless 
glory or shame4  ,so philosophy makes   
its essay at the destiny of mankind4    
,so imagination fashions its pictures4  
,and back of philosophy and imagination 
we trace the elemental and highest      
forces of the soul4  ,it is martyrdom   
and motherhood that inspire the immortal
 hope4  ,man faces the worst that can   
befall him--drinks the hemlock or       
suffers the torture--rather than be     
false to duty4  ,the mother broods over 
the life mysteriously sprung from her   

own1 and given back by her as a sacred  
trust to the service of the right and to
 an unseen keeping4  ,and to martyr and 
mother comes the voice1 ,all shall be   
well with thee and thine4               
,christianity1 inheriting from ,judaism 
the belief in immortality1 gave it a    
more central place1 and a more appealing
 force4  ,of the older religion1 the    
special characteristic--compared with   
the ,greek and ,roman world--was the    
impressing upon a whole people of a law 
of conduct1 in which with a multitude of
 external ceremonies were bound up the  
fundamental principles of justice1      
benevolence1 and chastity1 enforced by  
the authority of a personal and         
righteous ,god4  ,we see the educational
 effect upon the religious ,hebrew of   
this clearly personal ,god4  ,it        
constantly lifted him out of the        
littleness of self-consciousness1       
setting before his imagination the      
loftiest object4  ,it gave definiteness 
and impressiveness to his best ideals4  

,and1 further1 this anthropomorphism1 as
 we name it now1 was but the primitive  
expression of the principle which is    
central in all forms of religious faith1
 that man and the universe are in some  
deepest sense at one1 and that man's    
closest approach to the secret of the   
universe lies through his own noblest   
development4  ,that is one way of saying
 what the ,jew felt when his imagination
 gave to the sternest command and the   
highest promise the sanction1 ,thus     
saith the ,lord4   ,the ,hebrew religion
 was wrought out under constant pressure
 of disaster4 ,it was the religion of a 
proud1 brave people1 who were constantly
 held in subjection to foreign          
conquerors4  ,hence came a quality of   
intense hostility to these tyrannical   
foes1 and also a constant appeal to the 
,divine ,power which seemed often to    
conceal itself4  ,hence--and from that  
sorrowful lot of the individual which   
often matches this national             
tragedy--hence comes the passionate1    

pleading1 poignant quality through which
 the ,old ,testament has always spoken  
to the struggling and suffering1--with  
gleams of hope1 the more intense from   
the clouds through which they shine4    
,the note of the ,new ,testament is     
exultant4  ,there is keen sense of      
present evil1 endurance1 struggle2 but  
there is a deeper sense of a great      
deliverance already begun and to be     
perfected in the future4  ,the heart of 
this new energy1 joy1 and hope is love  
for a human yet celestial friend4  ,this
 love was awakened by a personality of  
extraordinary nobility and              
attractiveness4  ,the personal affection
 inspired imagination and ideality to   
their highest flights4  ,its original   
object became invested with superhuman  
traits and elevated to a deity4  ,to    
trace with certainty and minuteness the 
historic lineaments of the real man is  
not altogether possible2 but the        
essential truth concerning him is       
sufficiently plain4  ,the biographies   

which we possess of ,jesus were written 
from thirty to a hundred years after his
 death4  ,in these records memory and   
imagination are intimately blended4  ,on
 the one hand1 the power and loftiness  
of his character and words stamped      
certain traits unmistakably and         
indelibly on the minds of his followers4
  ,but on the other hand1 he was so     
suggestive and inspiring--there were    
among his disciples natures so          
susceptible1 responsive1 yet untrained1 
and their community was soon fused in   
such a contagion of passionate feeling  
unchecked by reason--that the seeds of  
his words and acts fruited in a rich    
growth of imagination1 which blent      
closely with the historic reality4  ,and
 with the central inspiration of his    
life there mixed in his followers ideas 
more or less foreign to him1 so that the
 result in the ,gospels is a composite  
which often defies certainty of         
analysis4  ,if we read with open mind   
the ,gospel narratives1 the foremost1   

vivid impression we get is of a         
personage using superhuman power over   
natural forces for the benefit of       
mankind4  ,as he is described1 ,jesus is
 before all a worker of beneficent      
miracles4  ,he is a teacher1 too1 and an
 unexampled one4  ,but he enforces his  
teaching by means utterly transcending  
the credentials of other teachers4  ,he 
is a tender human friend1 but he        
expresses his friendship by services    
such as no other friend can render4  ,he
 allays tempests by a word4  ,he creates
 bread and wine at will4  ,he heals the 
fevered1 the lunatic1 the blind4  ,he   
raises the dead4  ,in a word1 he        
constantly exercises superhuman power4  
,it is this1 not less than the          
excellence of his teaching1 which has   
distinguished him in the eyes of his    
worshipers4  ,what is the wisest word   
about immortality worth--what do we care
 for what ,socrates or ,plato said--when
 here is one who raised ,lazarus from   
the dead and rose himself8 ,what need   

for any argument or assurance about     
,providence1 when here is one through   
whom the very order of nature is set    
aside at the impulse of beneficent love8
  ,but the growing difficulty in really 
believing the miracles and the growing  
preference for the purely human elements
 of the story have led in our time to a 
different conception4  ,the secret of   
,jesus was the idea and reality of a    
pure and ardent life4 ,his genius lay in
 showing the possibilities of the human 
spirit1 in its interior harmony and its 
relations with the world about it4      
,love your enemies1--in that word he    
reached the hardest and highest         
achievement of conduct4  ,the pure in   
heart shall see ,god1--with that he put 
in the hands of the humblest man the key
 of the heavenly vision4  ,the ,hebrew  
idea was righteousness1 in the sense of 
chastity1 justice1 and piety4  ,jesus   
sublimated this1--in him chastity       
becomes purity2 in place of justice     
dawns brotherhood2 and piety changes    

from personal homage to a love embracing
 earth and heaven4  ,jesus taught in    
parables4  ,a story--an outward1        
objective fact1 something which the     
imagination can body forth--often       
facilitates the impartation to another  
mind of a spiritual experience4  ,the   
soul has no adequate language of its    
own1--it must borrow from the senses and
 the imagination4  ,the central idea of 
,jesus is expressed in the saying1 ,no  
man knoweth the ,son but the ,father1   
neither knoweth any man the ,father save
 the ,son4 ,that is1 man is a mystery   
except to his ,maker2 he does not even  
understand himself4  ,and               
correspondingly1 ,no man knoweth the    
,father save the ,son3 only the obedient
 and loving heart recognizes the        
,divinity4 ,god is not known by the     
intellect3 he is felt through the moral 
nature4 ,peace1 assurance1 sense of     
inmost reality1 comes through steadfast 
goodness4  ,jesus impressed this idea by
 the figure of father and son4  ,what   

symbol could he have used more          
intelligible8 more universally coming   
home8  ,like all statements of highest  
truth1 all symbols1 it was imperfect2 it
 did not furnish an adequate explanation
 of the workings of the universe4 ,but1 
under the homeliest figure1 under the   
guise of the nearest human relation1 it 
expressed the greatest truth of the     
inner life4  ,further1 ,jesus threw his 
emphasis where men need it thrown1--not 
on abstract ideas1 but on action4  ,his 
teaching was always as to conduct4      
,purity1 forgiveness1 rightness of heart
 were his themes4  ,above all1 he lived 
what he taught4  ,he left the memory of 
a life which to his followers seemed    
faultless4  ,and ever since1 those who  
felt their own inadequacy have laid     
closest hold on his success1 his        
victory1 as somehow the pledge of       
theirs4   ,jesus was a ,jew1 but in him 
there was born into the world a higher  
principle than ,judaism4  ,the historic 
lineage is not to be too much insisted  

on4  ,when he said1 ,love your enemies1 
,forgive that ye may be forgiven1 he    
brought into the traditional religion a 
revolutionary idea4 ,judaism was largely
 a religion of wrath4  ,jesus planted a 
religion of love4  ,the tender plant was
 soon half choked by the old coarse     
growth1 and for many centuries the      
religion named after ,christ had a vein 
of hate as fierce as the old ,judaism4  
,but blending with it1 and struggling   
always for ascendency1 was the religion 
of love1 symbolized by the cradle of    
,bethlehem and the cross of ,calvary4   
,of the ,judaic traits in ,jesus1       
conspicuous was the prophetic feeling   
and tone4  ,he was possessed with an    
absolute fullness of conviction1 and    
spoke in a tone of blended ardor and    
certitude4  ,he taught as one having    
authority4  ,he rarely gave reasons4    
,if in his words we find appeal to      
precedent or argument1 it is really as  
little more than illustration or picture
 to clothe his own intuition4  ,his     

followers believed his words1 either    
because of some conscious witness in    
their breasts1 or because their love and
 reverence for him won for his          
assertions an unquestioning acceptance4 
,from ,judaism he took the familiar idea
 of one all-powerful and holy ,god2 a   
moral ideal which was chiefly           
distinguished from that of the          
,greek-,roman world by its greater      
emphasis on chastity2 and also the      
belief in a constant divine             
interposition in human affairs1 which   
soon was to culminate in the            
establishment of a divine kingdom on    
earth4  ,jesus woke in his followers an 
ardor for goodness1 a tenderness for    
their fellow men1 and a supreme devotion
 to himself4  ,his words went straight  
to the springs of character4  ,he       
brushed aside religious ceremonial as of
 no importance4  ,he sent the searching 
light of purity into the recesses of the
 heart4  ,he made love the law of life  
and the key of the universe4 ,he        

interpreted love1 as a principle of     
human conduct1 by illustrations the most
 homely1 real1 and tender4  ,love is no 
mere delicious emotion3 it is giving our
 bread to the hungry1 ourselves to the  
needy4  ,it is not a mere felicity of   
kindred spirits1--love them that hate   
you1 pray for them that despitefully use
 you6  ,jesus was the greatest of poets4
  ,to every fact1 to every idea1 he gave
 its most beautiful and spiritual       
interpretation4  ,when he speaks of     
,god1 his speech is the pure poetry of  
the soul4  ,yahveh becomes to him the   
,all-father4  ,his providence is over   
the lilies and the sparrows4  ,his rain 
and sunshine are shed on the unjust as  
on the just4  ,his inmost nature is set 
forth by the human father meeting his   
returning prodigal a great way off4     
,his very life is shared with his       
children4  ,it wells up in ,jesus       
himself3 the light in his eyes1 the     
tenderness in his tones1 the yearning in
 his heart1--it is my ,father ye know in

 me6  ,how does that ,divine ,power     
appear in the procedure of the universe8
  ,what real providence is there for the
 slain sparrow8  ,what is the actual    
destiny of those human lives which show 
only frustration and failure8 ,jesus    
does not answer these questions4  ,it   
does not appear that he tried to answer 
them4  ,his words are filled with a     
glad1 unquestioning trust4 ,he is not   
the philosopher seeking to measure life4
  ,he is the lover living it1 the poet  
delighting in it4  ,the secret of ,jesus
 lay in his sense of the kingdom of ,god
 within him1--of obedience1 peace1 and  
joy1 which was in itself sufficient4    
,simply to communicate and impart that  
was to spread the ,kingdom among men4   
,a teacher like ,john the               
,baptist--possessed by the idea of      
righteousness1 and of the world's       
deficiency1 but without tranquillity in 
his own heart--could look only for a    
divine interposition1 a catastrophe4    
,john is a sort of ,carlyle4  ,but      

,jesus1 hearing him1 and brooding the   
deeper truth1 goes about proclaiming a  
present heaven4  ,the marks of this     
inner state defined themselves against  
the conditions of life he saw about him4
  ,thus1 he shows his estimate of wealth
 in the story of the young ruler4 ,sell 
all that thou hast and give to the poor6
  ,toward the other prize which men most
 seek1 reputation1 his feeling is       
expressed to the two brethren asking    
chief places3 ,he that will be chief    
among you1 let him be your servant4  ,as
 to learning1 intellectual attainment1  
his characteristic word is1 ,thou hast  
hid these things from the wise and      
prudent1 and hast revealed them unto    
babes4  ,be as little children4  ,the   
prevalent forms of religious observance 
he quietly acquiesced in1 except where  
they barred the free play of human      
charity4  ,then he set the form aside1  
as being only the servant of the spirit4
  ,the ,sabbath was made for man1 not   
man for the ,sabbath4  ,such was his    

attitude toward wealth1 honor1          
intellectual wisdom1 ceremonial4        
,toward the outcasts1 the publican and  
harlots1 his attitude was of pure       
compassion4  ,toward the ,pharisees it  
was denunciatory4  ,wealth of ceremony  
and poverty of spirit1 self-complacency 
mixed with scorn for others and with    
hostility to new light and love1 roused 
in him a wrath which broke in           
lightning-flashes4  ,woe unto you6      
whited sepulchres full of dead men's    
bones1 children of hell6  ,in the ethics
 of ,jesus chastity has a high place1   
yet he has few words about it4  ,his is 
an exalted and ardent goodness1 of which
 purity is an almost silent element4    
,his effect is like that of a noble     
woman1 whose presence is felt as an     
atmosphere4  ,when he speaks1 his words 
set the highest mark1--,be pure in      
heart4  ,we may contrast the scene      
between ,jesus and ,mary ,magdalene with
 that between ,socrates and the         
courtesan ,theodota4  ,the philosopher  

is proof against allurement1 and gives  
kindly advice1 which clearly will have  
no effect2 ,jesus1 without conscious    
effort1 wakes a passion of repentance   
which transforms the life4  ,so again we
 may compare the check which ,epictetus 
prescribes against undue tenderness1    
,say while you kiss your child1 he is   
mortal1 with the habitual attitude of   
,jesus toward children1--taking them in 
his arms1 and saying1 ,of such is the   
kingdom of heaven4  ,it is in such      
scenes as these--in his relations       
especially with women and with          
children--that we best see the genius of
 the heart1 the newness which came into 
the world with ,jesus4  ,while dwelling 
in an inner realm of joy1 he had the    
keenest sense of the sin and sorrow in  
men's lives4  ,he was filled with       
compassion for the multitude1 as sheep  
having no shepherd4  ,their epilepsies1 
leprosies1--the hardness of heart1 the  
insensibility to the higher life1--these
 moved him with a great pity4  ,scarcely

 save in little children did he see the 
heart-free joy1 the natural freedom and 
happiness1 which was his own4  ,the     
hard-heartedness of the rich1 the scorn 
of the self-righteous for the outcasts1 
moved his indignation4 ,thus the holy   
happiness of his own life was mingled   
with a profound sense of the trouble of 
other lives4  ,his reading of the       
trouble was very simple3 there were but 
two forces in the world1 moral good and 
evil1 ,god and ,satan1 and ,god was     
shortly to give an absolute triumph to  
the good4  ,among the chief impressions 
he made was that of commanding power4   
,he must have been full of healthy and  
majestic manhood4  ,women and children  
were attracted to him1 as the weak are  
attracted by the strong4  ,in the storm 
on the lake1 his spirit so rose above   
the elemental rage--as if upborne with  
delight by the sublime scene--that his  
companions forgot their fears1 and in   
the remembrance it appeared to them that
 the sea and wind grew calm at his word4

  ,his strength seemed to impart itself 
to the weak1 his health to the sick4    
,the stories of marvel which richly     
embroider the whole story are partly the
 halos of imagination investing a       
personality which commanded1 charmed1   
inspired4  ,sometimes evil was          
considered the work of wicked           
spirits1--so especially in cases of     
lunacy4  ,over some such cases ,jesus   
had a peculiar power4  ,he even imparted
 this power to some of the disciples1   
who caught his inspiration4  ,the       
disciples1 and probably ,jesus1 believed
 that this power extended to other      
sicknesses4  ,of the uniformity of      
nature there is no recognition in the   
,new ,testament4  ,man's power over     
events is believed to be measured by his
 spiritual nearness to ,god4  ,if ye    
have faith as a grain of mustard seed1  
ye can cast mountains into the sea4     
,when the soul exchanges its solitary   
communing for the actual world1 it needs
 to see manifested there the divinity it

 has felt4  ,jesus found this           
manifestation partly in his power       
through faith to do mighty works1 partly
 in the expectation of the near coming  
of the ,kingdom4  ,these in one sense   
typify the forms in which the religious 
soul always and everywhere finds the    
divine presence4  ,man himself masters  
the forces of nature1 and as he does so 
has the consciousness of some higher    
power working through him4  ,and he     
looks for a better future for himself   
and for mankind4  ,but the peculiarity  
of ,jesus--looked at from a modern      
standpoint--was that he combined the    
most ardent1 pure1 and tender feeling   
and conduct with a simple belief that in
 the course of events only moral and    
spiritual forces are to be reckoned     
with2 that man has power over nature in 
proportion to the purity and intensity  
of his trust in ,god2 and that the whole
 order of society is to be speedily     
transformed by a divine interposition4  
,these ideas were inwrought in ,jesus1  

and blended with his ardor of goodness1 
his tenderness1 his sense of a mission  
to seek and save the lost4  ,in his     
teaching1 ,god feeds and clothes his    
children as he feeds the birds and      
clothes the grass4  ,there is no need   
that they should be anxious about their 
physical wants4  ,their troubles will be
 banished if they will pray in faith4   
,disease1 lunacy1 all devilish evil1    
will vanish before the presence of the  
trusting child of ,god4  ,all the       
injustice and wrong of the world are    
speedily to vanish through the direct   
intervention of ,god4  ,it is the old   
anthropomorphic idea of ,god--the idea  
of the ,prophet and ,psalmist1 wholly   
untouched by the questioning of ,job2   
become tender1 through the mellowing    
growth of centuries2 sublimated in a    
heart of exquisite goodness and         
tenderness2 and mixed with a visionary  
interpretation of the world4  ,what the 
ruling power of the universe will do he 
infers from the most attractive human   

analogy4  ,if even an unjust human judge
 yields to the importunity of a         
petitioner1 much more will the divine   
judge listen to the cry of the wronged  
and suffering4  ,if a human father gives
 bread to his children when they ask1   
much more will the divine father4  ,we  
are to remember that ,jesus shared the  
inheritance1 the education1 and the     
beliefs of the ,galilean peasantry of   
his time4  ,the force in him which      
winnowed the ideas of his people1       
selecting and sublimating the higher    
elements1 was an exceptional moral and  
spiritual insight4  ,this insight guided
 him far upward in truths of conduct and
 of emotional life4 ,but it could not   
suffice to disclose those broad facts as
 to the procedure of the phenomena of   
nature which we call science4  ,to the  
,jew of the ,new ,testament period1--to 
,paul as much as to the fishermen of    
,galilee1--the world was directly       
administered by a personal being who    
habitually set aside for his own        

purposes the ordinary course of events4 
,the higher minds of the ,greek-,roman  
world had reached a different           
conception4  ,thinkers like ,aristotle  
had assumed the constancy of nature as  
the basis of their teaching1 poets like 
,lucretius had proclaimed it4 ,but the  
great mass of the ,greek-,roman world   
still believed1 as the entire ,jewish   
people believed1 in the habitual        
intervention of some divine personality4
  ,what distinguished and dignified the 
,jewish belief was that it attributed   
all such interventions to a single deity
 who embodied the highest moral         
perfection1 instead of to a mixed       
multitude representing evil as well as  
good impulses4  ,all ,jewish history was
 written on this hypothesis4  ,the only 
records of the past which ,jesus knew   
were the ,old ,testament and its        
,apocrypha1 in which each crisis of the 
nation or the individual displayed the  
decisive interference of the heavenly   
power4 ,the occurrences which we name   

miracles were hardly distinguished by   
the ,jew as generically different from  
ordinary occurrences2 they were only    
more marked and special instances of    
,god's working4  ,that a man especially 
beloved of ,god for his goodness should 
be given power to heal the blind and the
 lunatic seemed as natural as it was    
that his loving compassion should win   
the outcast and his fiery rebuke appall 
the hypocrite4  ,it seems clear that    
,jesus1 not less than his disciples1    
regarded his power over physical ills as
 just as truly an incident of his       
character and mission as was the power  
to inspire conduct and reclaim the      
erring4 ,what differentiated him from   
them was that he held the physical      
marvels of far less relative account    
than they did4  ,obscure as the detailed
 narratives must remain to us1 it seems 
unmistakable that he habitually         
discouraged all publicity and prominence
 for his works of healing4  ,his        
spiritual genius showed him that the    

stimulation of curiosity and expectation
 in this direction diverted men from the
 principal business of life1 and the    
essential purport of his message1--to   
love1 obey1 and trust4  ,the point at   
which the idea of divine intervention   
most seriously affected his work seems  
to have been in his growing expectation 
of a speedy consummation which should in
 a day establish on earth the kingdom of
 truth and righteousness4  ,his earlier 
teachings include striking utterances   
upon the gradual development of         
character in man1 the slow ripening of  
society1 as in the parables of the      
leaven and the sower4 ,here he was on   
the firm ground of his own observation  
and consciousness4 ,but as the problem  
of his own mission pressed for an       
explicit solution2 as the lofty passion 
of the idealist1 the yearning tenderness
 of the lover of men1 were thwarted and 
baffled by the prodigious inertia of    
humanity1--so he was thrown back more   
and more on that promise of some swift  

catastrophic judgment and triumph which 
was the closing word of ancient         
prophecy1 and which seemed to answer the
 cry of his soul4  ,the later chapters  
of the synoptic ,gospels are intensely  
colored with this anticipation of a     
divine judgment close at hand4  ,the    
promise1 the threat1 the tremendous     
imagery1 were dear to the heart of the  
early church4  ,they fed the imagination
 of the mediaeval church4  ,but that    
modern ,christianity which finds in     
,christ the source and embodiment of all
 its own refined and exalted conceptions
 is inclined to look away from all this 
millennial prophecy2 to weaken or ignore
 its significance1 or to attribute it to
 the misconception of the disciples4    
,this modern ,christianity fastens its  
attention on those teachings of purely  
spiritual and universal truth in which  
,jesus indeed spoke as never other man  
spoke4 ,this exclusive insistence on the
 ethical and spiritual element may      
suffice for those to whom ,christ is an 

ideal or a divinity4  ,but if we are to 
study the historical development of our 
religion1 and not merely its present    
form1 it seems necessary to recognize   
this belief in the ,judgment and ,advent
 as a very important factor in the      
story4  ,unless we attribute to his     
disciples and biographers a             
misunderstanding almost inconceivable1  
he identified himself with the ,son of  
,man whom the prophecy of ,daniel and   
the popular belief expected to set up a 
divine kingdom on earth4  ,the whole    
story in the later chapters of the      
,gospels is pervaded by this idea4  ,the
 powerful imagery of a ,day of          
,judgment1 the splendid promises and    
lurid threatenings1 the specific        
incidents of teaching and event1 the    
overstrained eagerness1--which will not 
suffer a son to wait to bury his father1
 or allow a fig-tree to refuse          
miraculous fruit1--all agree in the     
presentation of ,jesus as absorbed with 
this tremendous expectation4  ,that he  

was on the whole so little unsteadied by
 this anticipation seems due to his     
profound1 sympathetic sense of the sad  
and sorrowful elements which somehow    
mingle with human destiny4  ,he was not 
thinking chiefly of himself1--not even  
though he was to be ,god's vicegerent4  
,what filled his heart1 was the destiny 
of men4  ,he wept over ,jerusalem1--he  
mourned for those who would go away into
 darkness4  ,the realities of human     
experience1 widened by sympathy1 came   
close home to him4  ,it seems plain--so 
far as anything can be plain in the     
details of the story--that as his       
mission went on his temper of a pure    
spiritual idealism changed into a       
controversy with the leaders of the     
established religion4  ,he went to      
,jerusalem1 foreseeing that the         
controversy would there take an acute   
form1 with the gravest issues4  ,at     
times the presage rose of his own defeat
 and death4  ,suppose that were to      
happen8 ,still--so spoke his victorious 

faith--,god's cause would triumph4  ,and
 it would triumph speedily and visibly4 
,so he heartened his followers for any  
event4  ,be prepared--you who are to me 
brothers and sisters and mother--be     
prepared even for my death4  ,all the   
same1 my truth will vindicate itself1   
,god will triumph1 you shall be saved6  
,jerusalem1 it is plain1 struck him much
 as ,rome did ,luther4  ,gorgeous       
buildings1 splendid ceremonies1 august  
authorities1 and along with it a mass of
 greed1 formality1 worldliness4  ,a     
solemn sense comes over him that this   
cannot endure4  ,the disciples          
childishly marvel at the splendid       
,temple1 but its gorgeousness strikes   
him as earthly1 sensuous1 perishable1   
and he says1 ,there shall not one stone 
be left upon another4  ,his indignation 
rises and seeks expression in some      
outward act which shall blaze upon the  
dull multitude the sense of their sinful
 state4  ,he goes into the courts of the
 ,temple1 drives out the money-changers 

and merchants1 overthrows their tables1 
scatters all the apparatus of trade4    
,this is the turning-point in his       
career2 he has given an effective handle
 against him to the formalists and      
bigots who already hated him1 and they  
speedily bring about his ruin4  ,the    
life of ,jesus culminates in the scenes 
of the last night4  ,at the supper1 sure
 now of his impending fate1 his willing 
self-devotion expresses himself in that 
poetry of humble objects which was      
characteristic of him1 and with         
passionate intensity4  ,this bread is my
 body4  ,this wine is my blood4  ,i give
 myself for you4  ,the scene in         
,gethsemane shows the dismay and recoil 
of the hour when his ardent faith met   
full the stern actuality4  ,god was not 
to interfere1 defeat and death were     
before him4  ,all was hidden1 save a    
fate which rose upon his imagination in 
dark terror4  ,o my ,father1 if it be   
possible1 let this cup pass from me6    
,then comes the victory of absolute     

self-surrender1 ,not my will1 but thine1
 be done4   ,the birth-hour of the      
religion of ,jesus was that in which he 
began to declare forgiveness to the     
outcast and good tidings to the poor4   
,but the birth-hour of ,christianity1 as
 the worship of ,jesus1 was that in     
which ,mary ,magdalene saw her master as
 risen and eternally living4  ,the      
impulse which caught up and gave wings  
to his work just when it seemed crushed 
came from the heart of ,mary4  ,in a    
spiritual sense the mother of           
,christianity was a woman who had been a
 sinner1 and was forgiven because she   
loved much4  ,the faith that sent the   
disciples forth to conquer the world was
 the faith that their ,lord was not dead
 but living1 not a memory but a         
perpetual presence4  ,that conviction   
first flashed into the heart of ,mary4  
,it was born of a love stronger than    
death1 the love of a rescued soul for   
its savior4  ,it sprang up in a mind    
simple as a child's1 incapable of       

distinguishing between what it felt and 
what it saw1 between its own yearning or
 instinct and the actualities of the    
outward world4  ,it took bodily form    
under a glow of exaltation that knew not
 itself1 whether in the body or out of  
the body4  ,it crystallized instantly   
into a story of outward fact4  ,it      
communicated itself by sympathetic      
intensity to other loving and credulous 
hearts4  ,they too saw the heavenly     
vision4  ,its acceptance as a reality   
became the corner-stone of the new      
society4  ,about it grew up1 in ever    
increasing fullness and definiteness of 
outline1 a whole supernal world of      
celestial personalities4  ,but the      
initial fact was the heart's            
conviction--,jesus lives6  ,our friend  
and master is not in the grave1 nor in  
the cold underworld2 he is the child of 
the living ,god1 and he draws us toward 
him in that divine and eternal life4    
,to get some partial comprehension of   
how the belief in ,jesus' resurrection  

took possession of the disciples' minds1
 we are to remember that during the last
 months of their master's life he was in
 a state of tense1 high-wrought         
expectation1 which communicated itself  
to them4 ,something wonderful was just  
about to happen4  ,there was to be a    
sudden and amazing manifestation of     
divine power1 by which the kingdom of   
,god was to triumph and thenceforth to  
reign4  ,but the way to this            
consummation might lead through the     
valley of the shadow of death4  ,in the 
soul of ,jesus a sublime hope and a dark
 presage alternated and mingled4  ,it is
 not to be supposed that he held a      
definite and unchanging conception4     
,cloud-shadows and sunbursts played by  
turns across him1 with the intensity    
natural to a soul of vast emotions4     
,constant through it all was the fixed  
purpose to be true to his mission1 and  
with victorious recurrence came his     
confidence in the divine issue4  ,his   
sympathetic disciples were vaguely1     

profoundly stirred by this elemental    
struggle and victory4  ,they too became 
intensely expectant of some great       
catastrophe and triumph4  ,after the    
first shock of the ,master's death1 all 
this emotion surged up in them afresh1  
with their love heightened as death     
always heightens love1 with the fresh   
and vivid memories of their leader      
sweeping them on in the current of his  
purpose and hope and faith4  ,his words 
were true1--he must1 he will1 conquer   
and reign4  ,if he has gone to the      
underworld1 he will live again4         
,will1--nay1 is he not here with us now8
  ,is he not more real to our thought   
and love than ever before8  ,and first  
in one mind1 then in another1 the       
conviction flashes into bodily image4   
,mary has seen the ,master6  ,peter has 
seen him6  ,and for a little time--for  
forty days--the electric air seems often
 to body forth that luminous shape4     
,the story1 as it grew with years1 took 
on one detail after another1 became     

definite and coherent1 was accepted as  
the charter and foundation of the little
 society4  ,to rightly understand the   
faith of the disciples in the risen     
,christ1 we must look below the stories 
of sense-appearance in which that faith 
clothed itself4  ,what they essentially 
felt--what distinguished their faith    
from a mere opinion or dogma--was not a 
mere expectation1 ,the dead will rise2  
not a mere fact of history1 ,some one   
did rise2 it was the conviction and     
consciousness1 ,our friend is living4   
,it was an experience--including and    
transcending memory and hope--of present
 love1 present communion1 present life4 
,sight and speech lent their forms to   
clothe the ineffable experience of ,mary
 and the disciples4  ,for us1 the story 
of outward events--the visible form1 the
 eating of bread and fish1 the          
conversations1 the floating up into the 
clouds--all this fades away as a mirage4
  ,the reality below this symbol--the   
sense of the human friend's continued   

and higher life--this abides and renews 
itself2 not as an isolated historic     
fact1 but as an instance and counterpart
 of the message which in every age comes
 to the bereaved heart--of a love       
greater than loss1 a life in which death
 is swallowed up4  ,the religion of the 
followers of ,jesus became a centring of
 every affection1 obligation1 and hope1 
in him4  ,for the first few years all   
this was merged in the eager expectation
 of his return4  ,while this lasted in  
its fullness1 even memory was far less  
to them than hope4  ,they did not       
attempt any complete records of his     
earthly life1--what need of that1 when  
the life was so soon to be resumed8     
,the bride on the eve of her marriage is
 not reading her old love-letters1--she 
is looking to the morrow4  ,that first  
eager flush had already passed when the 
earliest gospels were written4  ,by that
 time hope had begun to prop its        
wavering confidence1 by looks turned    
back even to a remote past4  ,hence the 

constant appeals to the supposed        
predictions of the ,old ,testament2     
hence even the imagining of special     
events in the life of ,jesus to fulfill 
those predictions4  ,the ,old ,testament
 as conceived by the writers of the ,new
 is fantastically unlike the original   
writings4  ,the ,evangelists found      
,messianic prophecies everywhere4  ,the 
writers of the ,epistles1 ,paul and the 
rest1 dealt with ceremonies and         
histories as a quarry out of which to   
hew whatever allegory or argument suited
 their purpose4  ,in ,luke's ,gospel we 
first see fully displayed the idea of   
,christ which took possession of the    
common mind1 and has largely held it    
ever since1--a personal ,savior1--a     
gracious1 merciful1 all-powerful        
deliverer4 ,it is a gospel of the       
imagination and the heart--inspired by  
the actual ,jesus1 but half-created by  
ardent1 adoring imagination4  ,this     
conception grew up side by side with    
,paul's4  ,it is far closer to the      

popular mind and heart than ,paul's     
idea1--his was philosophic and          
metaphysic2 this is pictorial4  ,paul   
has been studied by theologians1 but the
 ,gospels have given the ,christ of the 
common people4  ,the early church was   
divided into two parties1 of which one  
was led by ,paul1 who stood for the free
 inclusion of all who would accept      
,jesus as the ,messiah1 and would impose
 no further requirement of ceremony or  
dogma1 trusting all to the guidance of  
the ,spirit--the ,spirit of which the   
sufficient fruit and evidence was love1 
joy1 peace1 long-suffering1 gentleness1 
goodness1 faith1 meekness1 temperance4  
,the other party1 led by disciples who  
had known and followed ,jesus himself1  
maintained that the entire ,jewish law  
was still in force1 and treated ,paul as
 a dangerous heretic4  ,to narrate the  
struggle and the final reconcilement is 
beyond the purpose of this book1 but we 
must pause a moment on the figure of    
,paul4  ,it marks the extraordinary     

force and vividness of ,paul's          
character1 that in a few pages of       
letters1 in which the autobiography is  
only brief and incidental1 he has so    
displayed himself that few historical   
characters are more familiar4  ,we see  
him1--deep-hearted1 vehement1 irascible1
 tender1 self-assertive2 intensely bent 
on the higher life2 thwarted in that    
aspiration by unruly passion1--lust of  
the flesh and pride of the spirit2      
stumbling1 stammering1 conquering2 a    
nature full of internal conflict1       
brought into harmony by one sublime     
spiritual affection2 thenceforth        
throwing its whole energy into the      
diffusion of a like harmony throughout  
this world of troubled conflict4  ,we   
see a mind guided in its deepest        
workings by the realities of personal   
experience1 but wholly untrained in     
logic1 unversed in accurate knowledge2  
acquainted with history only through the
 ,old ,testament2 ignorant of the       
philosophy of ,greece2 taught by        

intimate association with many men and  
women in their deepest personal         
experiences2 familiar by travel and     
observation with the broad life of the  
time1 and judging it from a lofty       
ethical standpoint2 wholly credulous as 
to miracle2 wholly confident in its own 
theories--theories gendered in the      
strangest wedding of fact and fancy2    
using constantly the form of argument1  
which often is pure fantasy2 illumined  
by gleams of spiritual insight1 which   
sometimes broaden into pure radiance2   
striving always to express the conscious
 fact of a great freedom of the soul    
which binds it fast to all duty2 aiming 
at a human society dominated wholly and 
solely by the same spiritual principle2 
but often clothing both the personal and
 social ideal in forms of thought which 
have become obsolete1 so that for us    
to-day his truth has to be stated in    
other language1 and broadened by other  
truths4  ,where ,paul has always touched
 men closest is in the earnestness and  

difficulty of his struggle for the good 
life1 and in the sense of a celestial   
aid1--he calls it the love of           
,christ1--which somehow brings habitual 
victory in the conflict1 and sheds peace
 in its pauses1 and gives assurance of  
ultimate triumph and perfect fruition4  
,the main theme for which ,paul contends
 in most of his epistles was vital to   
the life of the early church1--that its 
members were not to be held to          
observance of the ,jewish ritual4  ,in  
support of that theme1 ,paul develops   
his philosophy of the universe4  ,the   
main lines of that philosophy are       
essentially these3 that when ,god had   
created man1 man's sin incurred the     
penalty of death2 that ,god chose the   
,jews as his peculiar people1 and gave  
them the code of laws contained in the  
books of ,moses2 that the law was too   
difficult for weak human nature to      
perfectly obey1 so that death still     
reigned on earth1 with dire penalty     
impending in the afterworld2 that ,god  

then had recourse to another plan4  ,he 
sent his ,son into the world1 who became
 a man1 taking on him that fleshly      
nature which is the occasion and the    
symbol of human transgression1 but which
 he wore in perfect holiness4  ,god then
 caused this fleshly nature of ,jesus to
 die upon the cross1 while the spiritual
 nature outlived the perishing body1    
appeared in radiant form to men1 and    
returned to the eternal realm4  ,by this
 visible sign ,god made proclamation to 
mankind1 ,die unto sin by forsaking sin1
 and ,i will give you holiness which    
issues in eternal life4 ,the death and  
resurrection of my son1 ,jesus ,christ1 
are the token and promise of my free    
gift1 which only asks your acceptance4  
,accept it1 by turning from sin1 and you
 shall receive the sense of             
companionship with ,christ1 and the     
consciousness of a divine power working 
in you and in the world4  ,of set laws  
you have no longer need2 rites and      
ceremonies were but the type of the     

reality which now is freely given to    
you4  ,your sole obligation is to love2 
your fidelity to that shall constantly  
merge in the sense of joyful freedom2   
the imperfect attainment of earth shall 
issue into the eternal felicity of      
heaven4  ,in such language we try to    
restate ,paul's philosophy4  ,thus1 or  
somewhat thus1 he thought4  ,just how he
 thought we can never be sure1 nor does 
it matter4  ,the mould of his belief was
 so different from ours that all which  
closely concerns us is to discern if we 
can what was the kernel of genuine      
experience1 the permanent reality and   
truth1 which vivified this world-scheme4
  ,in ,paul before his conversion we see
 the man who struggles to conform to a  
standard of conduct so high1 exacting1  
and minute1 that it touches every       
particular of life1 and who yet is beset
 by a constant sense of failure and     
disappointment4  ,from this slough of   
despond he is lifted--how8  ,by the     
sense of a love which extends to him    

from the unseen world4  ,it takes form  
to him as the personal love of one who  
has lived1 has died1 and in some        
inexpressible way still lives4  ,this   
friendship in the unseen world is the   
sufficient1 the absolute pledge of a    
,god who loves and saves4  ,no matter   
what be the theory about it1 of         
incarnation or atonement1 here is the   
reality as it comes home3 the man       
,jesus1 highest1 noblest1 dearest1 makes
 himself real and present to me1 though 
long ago he died and was laid in the    
grave4  ,this one fact carries answer   
enough for all the craving of heart and 
soul4  ,that ,i shall at last triumph   
over all besetting evils1 that the ruler
 of the universe is my friend1 that     
earth is the vestibule of heaven1--all  
this ,i can joyfully believe when once  
,i have the sense of that single human  
friend still befriending me in the      
unseen world4  ,this was what the risen 
,christ meant to the early church4      
,this was the common belief that bound  

its two parties1 the ,jewish and the    
,pauline ,christians1 at last into one4 
,this was what gave the full meaning to 
all the stories of ,jesus told over and 
over and at last written down4  ,this   
was what fired the common heart of      
mankind as not the wisdom of ,plato nor 
the nobility of ,epictetus had touched  
it4  ,paul's experience is the more     
remarkable because he had never even    
seen ,jesus in the flesh4  ,he had borne
 in a sense a personal relation to him1 
in the fact that he had hated and       
persecuted his followers4  ,the         
conviction that he had been in the wrong
 came to him with a tremendous revulsion
 of feeling4  ,the poignancy of remorse 
was followed by an exquisite sense of   
forgiveness1 which shed its depth and   
tenderness on his whole after-life4  ,in
 him we first see the power of the      
personality of ,jesus to touch those who
 never had seen him4  ,at such points we
 feel how shallow is the plummet-line   
with which our so-called psychology     

measures the soul it deals with4  ,the  
influence1 the presence1 the living     
love1 of one who has died1--how         
paradoxical1 how unintelligible1 to our 
human science2 how significant to our   
human experience6  ,what concerns us    
historically as to ,paul is that he was 
the conspicuous agent in transforming   
this sentiment into a moral force4  ,the
 belief that ,jesus was risen had great 
emotional power1 but that emotion might 
easily waste itself1 might even         
undermine the solid foundations of      
character4 ,paul held the belief in its 
literal form1 but it had for him a      
further significance1 as the symbol and 
type of the soul's experience in its    
every-day walk4  ,the death we are most 
concerned about is the extinction of    
evil act and desire4  ,life--the only   
life worth thinking of1 here or         
hereafter--is lofty1 pure1 and tender   
life4  ,die to sin1 live to holiness1   
and present or future is safe with ,god4
  ,paul's theology is in one sense a    

passage in a long chapter of            
pseudo-science4  ,it is one of a series 
of attempts to explain the universe from
 a starting-point of fable4  ,these have
 been the accompaniment--sometimes as   
help1 sometimes as obstacle--of a       
spiritual life far deeper than the      
stammering language they found4  ,and it
 is to be noted that ,paul himself when 
at his best rises above his theology or 
forgets it4  ,the words of his which    
have lodged deepest in the world's heart
 are the vital precepts of conduct1 and 
the utterances of love and hope4  ,in   
one matchless passage1 he celebrates    
charity--simple human love--as the one  
sufficient1 supreme1 and eternal good4  
,some misconceptions in his philosophy  
became the fruitful seeds of mischievous
 harvests4  ,one such seed was the      
ambiguous sense of faith--the confusing 
of intellectual credence with moral     
fidelity4 ,this misconception--which    
underlies much of the ,new              
,testament--was an almost inevitable    

incident of a religion generated as this
 was4 ,christianity based itself1 in its
 own theory1 on the bodily resurrection 
of ,jesus from the dead4  ,this was     
offered as a basis for the whole appeal 
which the church made to the world4     
,thus ,belief--or ,credulity--usurped   
the place among the virtues which of    
right belongs to ,truth4  ,another      
misconception lay in the use of flesh1  
the antithesis of spirit1 as the name of
 the evil principle4  ,paul indeed uses 
the flesh in no restricted sense of     
merely sensual sin4  ,with him it       
equally includes all other forms of     
wrong1 like malevolence and pride and   
self-seeking4  ,but the nomenclature and
 the way of thought which it reflected  
put a stigma on the whole physical      
nature of man4  ,in that stigma lay the 
germ of asceticism1 hostility to        
marriage1 depreciation of some vital    
elements of man's nature4  ,paul's      
conception of the church never was fully
 realized4  ,he expected to see the     

whole body of believers filled with a   
holy spirit1 a divine-human inspiration1
 which should of itself guide them into 
all truth and duty4  ,outward law or    
doctrine there needed none1 beyond the  
acceptance of ,christ as ,god's son who 
had lived and died and risen4 ,accept   
that1 and the divine spirit would be    
given you4  ,no need then of            
circumcision or sacrifice1 of ,sabbath  
or fast1 of written code or human ruler4
  ,the saint is free from all law but   
that of love2 the company of saints     
needs no control or guidance but that4  
,the beautiful ideal shattered itself   
against a stubborn fact4  ,love of      
,christ did not guide his followers into
 all truth1 or into harmony with each   
other4  ,paul's life was half spent in a
 bitter contest with men who loved      
,christ as well as he did4  ,his        
epistles are full of the struggle with  
that great party of ,christ's followers 
who called him a heretic and sought to  
win away his converts4  ,suppose any one

 had asked him3 ,you say the spirit of  
,christ will guide his followers into   
all truth1--why does it not guide these 
,christian ,jews and you into so much of
 truth as will make you friends instead 
of foes8  ,paul was hoping too much4    
,the new impulse in the world--sublime1 
beautiful1 full of power and            
promise--was by no means sufficient to  
lead the world straight and sure to     
harmonious perfection4  ,there was no   
such gift of the spirit as to supersede 
all search1 all struggle1 all human     
leadership and human groping4  ,that    
hope was almost as exaggerated as the   
expectation--with which in ,paul's mind 
it mingled--of ,christ's bodily return4 
,the road to be traveled by mankind was 
still long and arduous4   ,any complete 
history of the early church must deal   
largely with the stubborn and bitter    
contest between the ,jewish and ,pauline
 parties1--the champions of the law and 
the champions of liberty4  ,that contest
 gave its stamp to the epistles of      

,paul1 and was indeed their most        
frequent occasion4  ,at a later time the
 attempt to harmonize the two parties   
seems to have given birth to the book of
 ,acts1 in which history mixes with     
fiction4  ,but we are here concerned    
only with such features of the history  
as made the most vital and permanent    
contributions to religion1 and for this 
purpose we need only specify the        
,epistle to the ,ephesians4  ,this      
epistle opens the heart of the early    
church4  ,it assumes to be written by   
,paul1 but there are some indications   
that this name was borrowed by the real 
author4  ,this assumption of a great    
name1 so common in this age1 as in the  
books of ,daniel1 ,wisdom of ,solomon1  
,enoch1 and others1 marks a timidity1 a 
deference to authority of the past4     
,only the greatest1 like ,jesus and     
,paul1 dared to speak in their own name4
  ,primarily the epistle is a plea for  
unity between ,jewish and ,gentile      
,christians1--broadening into an appeal 

for unity between all classes and       
individuals1 an appeal for purity and   
holiness1 in the name of ,christ the    
head4  ,occasional sentences and phrases
 will sufficiently show its tenor and   
spirit4  ,that ,christ may dwell in your
 hearts by faith1 that ye1 being rooted 
and grounded in love1 may be able to    
comprehend with all saints what is the  
breadth and length and depth and height1
 and to know the love of ,christ1 which 
passeth knowledge1 that ye might be     
filled with all the fullness of ,god4   
,there is one body and one spirit1 even 
as ye are called in one hope of your    
calling2 one ,lord1 one faith1 one      
baptism1 one ,god and ,father of all who
 is above all and through all and in you
 all4  ,endeavoring to keep the unity of
 the spirit in the bond of peace4  ,each
 has his appointed place1 some as       
apostles1 some as prophets1 some for    
humbler service1--for the building up of
 the body of ,christ1 till we all come  
into the unity of the faith and of the  

knowledge of the ,son of ,god unto a    
perfect man1 unto the measure of the    
stature of the fullness of ,christ4     
,putting away lying1 speak every man    
truth with his neighbor1 for we are     
members one of another4  ,let him that  
stole steal no more1 but rather let him 
labor1 working with his hands the thing 
which is good1 that he may have to give 
to him that needeth4  ,the note of      
purity is far higher than in ,stoic or  
,platonist4  ,uncleanness is spurned    
with the horror which pure love and     
holiness inspire4  ,fornication1 and all
 uncleanness or covetousness1 let it not
 be once named among you1 as becometh   
saints4  ,neither filthiness1 nor       
foolish talking1 nor jesting1 which are 
not becoming1 but rather giving of      
thanks4  ,for this ye know1 that no     
whoremonger nor unclean person nor      
covetous man1 who is an idolater1 hath  
any inheritance in the kingdom of       
,christ and of ,god4  ,let no man       
deceive you with vain words1 for because

 of these things cometh the wrath of    
,god upon the children of disobedience4 
,be not drunk with wine1 wherein is     
excess1 but be filled with the spirit4  
,there is a tender exhortation to       
husband and wife1 based on the likeness 
of their union to ,christ and his       
church4  ,there is a special word to    
children1 servants1 masters4  ,the      
sweetness is matched by the strength4   
,finally1 my brethren1 be strong in the 
,lord1 and in the power of his might4   
,the epistle is full of the spirit of a 
present heaven4  ,there is scarcely any 
thought of the future1 no reference to  
the second coming1 no dwelling on the   
hereafter4  ,it is all-sufficient1      
all-uniting love1--,christ1 a spiritual 
presence1 as the head--,god the ,father 
of all4  ,the love of ,christ is a pure 
spiritual passion4  ,there is no        
theorizing about him1 not even much     
personal distinctness1--only the        
consciousness as of some celestial      
personality4  ,the seen and unseen      

worlds seem to blend in a common        
atmosphere4  ,even as an ideal1 this    
transcends the philosophy of ,epictetus1
 and outshines the vision of ,plato4    
,as one of the charter documents of a   
society which had come into an actual   
existence1--as the aim toward which     
thousands of men and women were         
struggling1 however imperfectly1--it    
marks the coming of a new life into the 
world4   ,the ,pauline idea of ,christ  
is shown as it worked itself out in the 
brain and heart of ,paul himself4  ,in  
the ,fourth ,gospel we have1 not the    
experience of an individual1 but an     
idealized portrait of the ,master4  ,the
 germ may have lain in some genuine     
tradition of his words1 as they were    
caught and treasured by some disciple   
more susceptible than the rest to the   
mystical and contemplative element in   
,jesus4  ,these words1 handed down      
through congenial spirits1 and deeply   
brooded2 these ideas caught by minds    
schooled in the blending of ,hebraic    

with ,platonic thought1--minds          
accustomed to rely on the contemplative 
imagination as the discloser of absolute
 truth2 the waning of the hope of       
,messiah's return in the clouds2 the    
growth in its place of a personal and   
interior communion with the divine      
beauty and glory as imaged in ,jesus2 a 
temper almost indifferent to outward    
event1 too full of present emotion to   
strain anxiously toward a future1 yet   
confident of a transcendent future in   
due season2 an assumption that in this  
belief lay the sole good and hope of    
humanity1 and that the rejection of this
 was an impulse of the evil principle   
warring against ,god2 the               
crystallization of these memories1      
hopes1 and beliefs into a dramatic      
portraiture of acts and words           
appropriate to ,christ as so conceived2 
a temper in which a portraiture so      
inspired was identified with actual and 
absolute truth--some such genesis we may
 suppose for the ,gospel which bears the

 name of ,john4  ,the writer shows no   
such close contact with the actual      
struggle of life as vivifies the other  
biographies of ,jesus and the           
impassioned pleadings of ,paul4  ,he is 
a pure and lofty soul1 but he writes as 
if in seclusion from the world4  ,his   
favorite words are abstract and general4
  ,the parable and precept of the early 
gospels give place to polemic and       
metaphysic disquisition4  ,the          
,christian communities for which he     
writes have left behind them the sharp  
antagonisms of the first generation1 and
 have drawn together into a harmonious  
society1 strong in their mutual         
affection1 their inspiring faith1 and   
their rule of life1 and facing together 
the cruelty of the persecutor and the   
scorn of the philosopher4 ,to this      
writer1 all who are outside of the      
,christian fold and the ,christian      
belief seem leagued together by the     
power of evil4  ,the secret of their    
perversity and the seal of their doom is

 unbelief4  ,let them accept the ,christ
 he portrays1 and good shall supplant   
evil in their hearts4  ,the ground of   
the acceptance is to be simply the      
self-evident beauty and therefore the   
self-evident truth of the ,christ here  
set forth4  ,and so we have a portrayal 
of ,christ which at many points         
profoundly appeals to the heart1 yet    
which constantly dissipates into a      
metaphysical mythology2 together with   
the admonition that only a full belief  
can save the soul and the world from    
ruin4  ,the ethical and emotional       
elements of the new religion have       
thoroughly fused with the elements of   
dogma and exclusiveness4  ,a kind of    
self-exaltation is by this writer       
imputed to ,jesus1 which is as much less
 attractive than his attitude in the    
,synoptics as it is less genuine4  ,all 
that ever came before me are thieves and
 robbers--this is the word of an        
idolatrous worshiper2 far different from
 him whose only sense of superiority was

 expressed in a longing to impart his   
own treasure3 ,come unto me all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden1 and ,i will  
give you rest4  ,but the writer rises to
 a lofty plane where he conceives the   
parting words of ,jesus to his friends4 
,here he is on the ground of what we    
know did in some wise really happen--a  
last interview between the ,master and  
his disciples1 when clouds of defeat and
 death lowered close before him1 and his
 words deepened in their hearts the     
devotion which animated all their       
after-lives4  ,that parting scene1      
preserved elsewhere in delineations     
brief and impressive1 was now expanded  
by the brooding1 creative thought of    
some one in closest sympathy with the   
occasion and with the vital impulse it  
had given4  ,literal and historical     
fidelity the description may lack1 but  
it is in close accord with the realities
 of experience4  ,the tender assurances1
 the prophecies beyond hope1 which the  
,master is here supposed to speak1 had  

indeed been fulfilled4  ,the loss of his
 earthly presence had been more than    
made good to those in whose lives he had
 been felt as a saving power4  ,the     
,comforter had truly come4  ,the mutual 
love of the disciples1 and their loyalty
 to the ,master as they understood him1 
had planted a new social force in the   
world1 and was working slowly to        
transform the world4  ,thoughts which   
had been the possession of philosophers 
in the schools were become working      
forces in the lives of common men and   
women and children4  ,that deliverance  
from the fear of death which thinkers   
had vainly sought had been won even by  
the poor and lowly4  ,all this and more 
was set forth as in a psalm or prophecy1
 in the parting words ascribed to       
,christ4  ,peace ,i leave with you1 my  
peace ,i give unto you1 not as the world
 giveth give ,i unto you4  ,ye shall see
 me again1 and your hearts shall        
rejoice1 and your joy no man taketh from
 you4   ,the predominant notes of the   

,new ,testament are tenderness and      
ardor1 but inwrought with these is a    
vein of terror and sometimes of fierce  
wrath4 ,it is like the denunciation in  
the ,old ,testament1 to which the vision
 of a future world has added a more     
lurid hue4  ,asia's rancor has not      
disappeared1 even in the presence of    
,bethlehem's heart4  ,among the words   
attributed to ,jesus are the threat of  
that perdition where the worm dieth not 
and the fire is not quenched4  ,to him  
is ascribed 7whether truly or not7 the  
story of ,dives in hell1 and father     
,abraham in whose bosom ,lazarus is     
reposing denies even his prayer for a   
drop of water to cool his tongue4  ,here
 is the germ of all the horrors of the  
mediaeval imagination4  ,the germs bore 
an early fruitage in that book which    
bears the name of ,revelation4  ,it     
mirrors the passions which spring up    
amid the heats of faction and of        
persecution4  ,fell hatred fills its    
pages for the persecutor and for the    

heretic4  ,the few gleams of ,paradise  
for the saved are pale in comparison    
with the ghastly terrors4  ,it is the   
first full outbreak of that disease of  
the imagination1 bred of disease of the 
heart1 which was to be the curse of     
,christianity4   ,we have dwelt upon the
 central facts and ideas in which       
,christianity took its rise4  ,we shall 
pass with a few brief glances over a    
tract of many centuries4  ,our special  
concern in this work is with the        
birth-periods of the vital and lasting  
principles of man's higher life4  ,one  
such phase was the ,greek-,roman        
philosophy of which the best outcome was
 ,stoicism4 ,another critical era was   
the birth of ,christianity from its     
immediate lineage of ,judaism4  ,the    
next great epoch is the marriage of     
rational knowledge with the spiritual   
life--which is the story of these last  
centuries1 in mid-action of which we are
 standing4  ,viewing man's higher life  
upon its intellectual side1 the common  

characteristic of the period between the
 time of the ,apostles and our immediate
 forefathers is the prevalence of what  
may be called the ,christian mythology4 
,in other words1 the moral rules and    
spiritual ideals were almost            
inextricably bound up with and based    
upon the conception of a supernatural   
world1 certainly and definitely known1  
and disclosed to mankind through a      
series of revelations which centred in  
the incarnation of ,god in the man      
,jesus ,christ4  ,upon this basis was   
reared a vast intellectual and          
imaginative structure--embodied in many 
creeds1 pictured in visions of ,dante   
and ,milton and ,bunyan1 enforced by    
multitudinous appeals to emotion and    
reason1 to love1 hope1 and terror4  ,it 
is the dissolving of this elaborate     
supernaturalism1 and the growth of a    
different conception of the spiritual   
life1 which is now going on before our  
eyes4  ,to measure the essential        
significance of the change1 we need not 

linger long upon the successive steps by
 which the mythology expanded and       
solidified itself4  ,we have seen its   
germs in the story of ,judaism1 of      
,jesus and his immediate successors4    
,the method and nature of its growth may
 be briefly indicated4  ,we are         
following only a single thread in the   
vast web of history4  ,all the threads  
work in together1 but we must be well   
content if we can trace the general line
 of one or two4  ,it is the history of  
the moral ideas which have most directly
 and closely influenced the life of men1
 that we are trying to pursue4  ,there  
was a wonderful embodiment and          
outshining of such ideas in the life and
 teaching of ,jesus of ,nazareth4  ,the 
truth he taught and lived was in some   
ways made more applicable and           
transmissible by his followers1 and in  
some ways lowered4  ,there grew up the  
society of the ,christian church4       
,gradually it took its place among the  
important forces of the ,roman empire4  

,it won at last the nominal allegiance  
of the civilized world4  ,aiding or     
thwarting it1 coloring and changing it1 
were a thousand                         
influences1--side-currents from other   
religions and philosophies1 social      
changes1 ,roman law and tradition1 the  
new life of the barbarians2 old         
ingrained habits of blood and brain2 the
 constant push of primal                
instincts--hunger and sex2 tides of war 
and trade and industry2 slavery and     
serfdom2 strong human personalities1    
swaying a little the tide that bore     
them2 all the myriad forces that are    
always at work in history4  ,one can    
scarcely pass by a leap of thought from 
the age of ,paul to the age of ,dante   
without an instant's glance at the      
intervening tract4  ,there are the early
 ,christian communities1 bound together 
by tender ties of brotherhood2 storms of
 persecution fanning high the flame of  
courage and faith2 a new purity and     
sweetness of domestic life spreading    

itself like the coming of the dawn4     
,there are wild vagaries of the mind1   
taking shape in fantastic heresies4     
,there is the degeneracy of a faith held
 in pureness and peril into a popular   
and fashionable religion4  ,there are   
enthroned monsters like ,nero and       
,commodus2 ,christian emperors1 like    
,constantine1 ambitious1 crafty1 and    
blood-guilty2 and noble heathen emperors
 like ,trajan and ,aurelius4  ,there is 
the peace of the ,empire in its best    
days1 with some wide diffusion of       
prosperity and content4  ,there are     
incursions of barbarians--the strange1  
little-known life of nomadic            
tribes--with pristine virtues of valor  
and chastity1 half-pictured1            
half-imagined1 by ,tacitus4  ,there is  
conquest1 rapine1 subjugation1          
suffering4  ,there are ages in which    
violence is master1 and in the          
disordered struggle of the violent among
 themselves the weak are trampled under 
foot4  ,there are scenes of humble      

happiness and content1 the toiler in the
 fields1 the family about the           
hearth-stone1 which scarcely are seen by
 the chronicler busy with kings and     
popes4  ,there are superstitions and    
mummeries2 wild fears of spectres and   
devils2 sentimental piety handed with   
cruelty and debauchery4  ,there are     
inward struggles1 sorrows1 achievements2
 rapturous glimpses1 tender             
consolations2 the ministry of faithful  
priests2 the comforting of women and the
 purifying of men by the thought of the 
,virgin ,mother and the saints4  ,there 
are civilizers in state and             
church1--,alfred1 ,charlemagne1         
,hildebrand4  ,there is the emergence of
 a social and ecclesiastical order2 the 
ranking of kings1 barons1 and vassals2  
of priests1 bishops1 and popes2 the     
establishment of laws and charters2 the 
growth of liturgies and cathedrals4     
,the contrast is great between the      
simplicity of a high moral ideal1 like  
that of ,jesus or ,paul1 which claims1  

and with such show of reason and right1 
the whole allegiance of man1 and the    
vast complexity of good and evil in     
which the ideal works only as one       
obscure and partial element4 ,how       
simple1 how clear1 how sweetly inviting 
sounds the call1--how strange and       
discordant the response6  ,that         
inconsistency was explained by the      
church fathers1 like ,augustine1 as due 
to the inherent badness of human nature4
  ,that universal badness flowed from   
one sin of the common ancestor4  ,that  
sin was induced by the machinations of  
,satan1 arch-enemy of ,god1 and         
practically dividing the rule of the    
universe with him4  ,a logical and      
symmetrical explanation in its day1 but 
it no longer explains4  ,neither does it
 explain1 but it may profit1 if the     
wondering inquirer turns his thoughts   
for a moment on his personal history4   
,he has had his hours of clear vision   
and high resolve1--why have they borne  
such poor fruit in his actual life8     

,his own riddle is one with the riddle  
of history4  ,again we may say1 with no 
pretense of probing the mystery in its  
depths1 but as gaining a touch of       
side-light1 it is plain that what we    
look at as the strictly moral forces of 
mankind--the clear thinking1 the        
definite purpose1 the pure              
aspiration--must be reckoned with as    
only a part of the volume of force that 
carries along the individual and the    
race4  ,other elements of that force are
 the physical needs2 the push and play  
of passions ingrained in human nature2  
the inherited bias2 the strength of     
habits formed before childhood had begun
 to reflect1--the thousand forces which 
blend with reason and choice to make up 
our destiny4  ,man's noblest aim is to  
make reason and purpose the rulers in   
his little republic1 but at the best    
those rulers must deal with a set of    
very vigorous and often mutinous        
subjects4  ,let us not at least wonder1 
though for the moment we sigh1 that     

neither did the kingdom of ,god at once 
establish itself on earth1 as ,jesus    
hoped1 nor did the ,spirit guide mankind
 by a brief and sure path into full     
felicity and holiness1 as ,paul hoped4  
,the disappointment is a blank          
contradiction only for those who assume 
a superhuman revelation in ,scripture or
 in church1 and then have to reconcile  
this infallibility with that most       
fallible groping by which alone mankind 
gets along4  ,unembarrassed at least by 
that difficulty1 let us note one natural
 cause of the imperfect progress of     
,christianity1 namely1 the substitution 
of fancy for clear and sound knowledge  
of nature and man1 which was inwrought  
from the beginning in its creed4  ,we   
may recall the piercing question of     
,socrates1 ,can virtue be taught8 ,can  
the best life be so clearly shown and so
 skillfully inculcated1 that it may be  
transmitted from man to man and from    
generation to generation as surely and  
safely as the knowledge of a mechanical 

art or a physical science8  ,socrates   
owned that he knew of no such way to    
teach virtue1--that while ,pericles     
could teach his son to be a good        
horseman1 he could not so guide him but 
that he became a bad man1--and ,socrates
 himself found no sure way to guide men 
into the heroic path he walked himself4 
,now ,christianity offered a sort of    
knowledge as the proper training to     
produce virtue4  ,its knowledge included
 certain genuine and precious elements1 
such as the essential blessedness of    
purity and love2 the trust and peace    
which flow from duty done2 the hope     
which springs from the grave of a holy  
man2--ideas not new in substance1 but   
wonderfully vivified and vitalized4     
,but along with this genuine knowledge1 
,christianity blended in ever-growing   
volume a pseudo-knowledge4  ,it had a   
professed explanation of the nature of  
,deity1 the nature of humanity1 and     
their mutual relation1 which was so     
unreal that when applied to the conduct 

of human life its fruit was often as    
ashes and the east wind4  ,to sum up the
 method by which ,christianity wrought3 
its vital ideas of character were       
infolded in a triple crust of           
,authority1 ,ceremony1 ,dogma4 ,its     
ideas could scarcely have been          
propagated except under some such       
incrustation4  ,pure gold must be mixed 
with alloy before it can be worked4     
,the new society would have quickly     
dissolved into chaos if it had not had  
established laws and usages and         
discipline and rulers4  ,the craving of 
the average man for definite symbols    
fastened eagerly on the cleansing water 
of baptism and the bread and wine of the
 love-feast4  ,the thoughtful mind must 
needs seek to assign to the ,master his 
true place and relation as between ,god 
and man4  ,here were the germs of       
hierarchy1 ceremonial1 and dogma4       
,internal order1 self-protection against
 persecuting emperors and then against  
barbarian invaders1 led to a gradual    

strengthening and perfecting of the     
organization4  ,the craving for         
intellectual consistency and symmetry   
urged on the elaboration of the creed4  
,that development of the ,christian     
creed1--in one view1 how natural and    
inevitable a process2 yet what enormous 
waste of intellect1 what diversion from 
sound inquiry6  ,the original hypothesis
 being pure fancy1 all the ingenious    
deductions are mere excursions into     
cloudland4  ,we need not follow in any  
detail these speculations4  ,a certain  
purity and loftiness marks their early  
stages1 in which the ,greek theologians 
were occupied in blending a sort of     
,platonic theory of deity with the      
historic fact of a noble human          
personality4  ,with the emergence of the
 church from persecution to power1 we   
see that the intellectual degeneracy has
 set in along with the moral4  ,the     
first great council1 that of ,nicaea1   
occupied itself in settling by a        
majority of votes whether ,christ was of

 like substance with the ,father or of  
the same substance with the ,father4    
,the assertion of his full equality was 
in due time followed by a similar       
definition of the personality and       
equality of the ,holy ,spirit1 with the 
full doctrine of the ,trinity2 the      
double nature of ,christ2 the rank of   
the ,virgin ,mary4  ,the authoritative  
interpretation of human nature had its  
source in the personal experience and   
later theorizing of ,augustine4         
,himself emergent after long struggles  
from the tyranny of evil desire1 by a   
transcendent experience in which he saw 
the hand of ,god1--he in effect         
generalized from this to the inherent   
and utter depravity of all mankind1 and 
its entire dependence on a divine grace 
which might with equal justice be given 
or withheld4  ,the lurid hell which had 
always shared with a radiant heaven the 
imagination of the church took from     
,augustine a grimmer horror3 in the     
fearful thought of men1 its foundations 

were now deep sunk in eternal justice1  
man being himself from birth a wretch so
 abominable that hell was his natural   
destiny1 save as mercy might by         
inscrutable selection deliver some      
portion of mankind4  ,later ages brought
 their own problems4  ,what was the     
nature of the atonement1--a compact     
between ,god and the ,devil1 by which   
,christ was made a ransom for man1 the  
,devil being unexpectedly cheated of his
 pay8  ,or was ,christ's death simply   
the transfer of a debt on the books of  
divine justice8  ,the sacraments1 again1
 what was their precise nature8  ,and so
 the scheme was worked out in all its   
details4  ,the triune ,god1 ,father1    
,son1 and ,spirit2 a hierarchy of       
angels2 the creation of man1 his        
seduction by a revolted and fallen      
angel1 and the exposure of his entire   
posterity to the just retribution of    
everlasting misery2 an arrangement      
between the persons of the ,trinity by  
which the incarnation and death of the  

,son became a ransom for mankind2 the   
establishment by ,christ of a visible   
church1 divinely guided to reveal to men
 the truth1 and impart to them the      
divine grace2 the offer of salvation    
upon condition of faith1 repentance1 and
 obedience2 sacraments which were       
channels of divine grace2 an endless    
heaven of bliss for the submissive and  
obedient1 an endless hell of torment for
 the negligent or rebellious1--this was 
the universe as it existed to the belief
 and imagination of the ,christian world
 for many centuries4  ,thus             
,christianity1 instead of following a   
true inquiry into the facts of the moral
 life1--in place of cultivating that    
sound knowledge of man in which         
,socrates led the way1 or that knowledge
 of the natural world in which          
,aristotle and the ,greek physicists had
 wrought1--instead of such study1 the   
church based its ideals1 its appeals1   
its helps1 on a purely fanciful         
interpretation of the universe4  ,its   

refined and ingenious speculations were 
wasted upon a fantasy4  ,this want of   
sound knowledge has for us here a       
twofold significance4  ,it points to one
 cause of the imperfect success of the  
ideals of ,jesus and of ,paul4  ,and by 
its defect it points us forward to a    
fulfillment1 when at a later age ,virtue
 and ,knowledge should be wed4   ,but we
 need to distinguish and to reverence   
the deep utterances of the human heart  
which spoke with stammering tongue in   
these crude symbols4  ,the ,catholic    
church was a second ,roman empire in its
 extent and power1 and with an          
inspiration loftier than that of the    
empire4  ,for1 judged by what was most  
essential to it1 the ,catholic          
church--human to the core1 human in its 
errors and sins1 human in its upward    
striving--was1 at its best1 a society   
for disciplining men in the higher life4
  ,and that creed which sounds so       
strange to our ears1 we may best        
translate thus3 ,eternity bids you to   

goodness4  ,however much there was of   
error1 of misapplied force1 of moral    
injury1 there was a vast1 multiform1    
mighty culture of men in chastity1 in   
charity1 in the victories and the joys  
of the spirit4  ,the church set the     
,virgin ,mother as a heavenly consoler1 
and showed as the divinest thing a man  
who died for love of men4  ,before the  
imagination of the oppressor1 the       
robber1 the licentious1 it set a flaming
 sword of retribution4  ,to the poor1   
the sorrowful1 the broken-hearted1 it   
offered the blessed assurance1 ,this    
world and the next are ,god's4  ,it     
opened to them a communion in thought   
and feeling with holy and blessed souls 
in the invisible realm4  ,life was hard 
and troublous2 priests and bishops      
sometimes made the trouble worse2 but   
there was the sense of a heavenly rule  
over all1 the struggle toward a heavenly
 attainment4  ,the whole moral appeal of
 the church rested on the               
superterrestrial world which it asserted

 and pictured4  ,it was a world whose   
existence was vouched solely by an      
inward assent of the mind4  ,for outward
 government1 there were bishops and     
popes1 kings and magistrates4  ,but all 
moral authority1 all incitement to      
holiness1 all spiritual joy and hope1   
rested on this unseen world as accepted 
by the mind4  ,disbelieve1 and all was  
lost6  ,and so1 of necessity1 belief was
 the fundamental1 the essential thing4  
,obey the church1 believe the           
creed1--that was the supreme double     
requirement4   ,that imaginations when  
believed as these were believed         
exercised a mighty power is beyond      
question4  ,that the power was in a     
degree for good is also clear4  ,but the
 vast dislocation between the supposed  
and the real worlds involved enormous   
failure and waste4  ,on the one hand1   
the whole tremendous imagery of the     
supernal world simply slipped off       
altogether from a great proportion of   
the men and women whose time and thought

 were absorbed in the toils and sorrows 
and pleasures of the world about them4  
,to make a future heaven and hell take  
any hold of them at all1 the church had 
to translate its mysteries and          
sublimities into a very material and    
crude ceremonial4  ,it brought in       
penalties of a substantial              
sort1--penance and excommunication1 the 
rack and the stake4  ,it constantly     
appealed to fear4  ,and after all1 there
 remained always an enormous amount of  
stolid and mostly silent indifference   
and unbelief4  ,the priest said these   
things were so1--the priests all said   
so1--and the priest was backed by the   
bishop1 and the bishop by the ,pope4    
,well1 perhaps they knew--and perhaps   
they did n't4 ,the chance that they were
 right made it worth while to go to     
church on ,sunday1 and to confession    
sometimes2 to have one's children       
baptized2 to avoid giving offense to the
 clergy2 and to make sure of their good 
offices when one came to die4  ,but the 

belief in their heaven and hell was not 
strong enough to very much expel the    
greed1 sloth1 lust1 avarice1 pride to   
which men were prone4  ,that same silent
 practical unbelief has been equally    
prevalent under all the forms of        
,protestant supernaturalism4  ,part of  
it1 no doubt1 may be referred to the    
difficulty with which human nature      
responds to any appeal to look much     
beyond the immediate present4  ,but in  
great part too it springs from a        
suspicion of unreality in that          
supernatural world which the preacher so
 fluently and fervently declares4  ,it  
may be said that in a more ignorant and 
credulous age the mass of men did       
believe unquestioningly in the teachings
 of the church4  ,but what hardly admits
 of debate is the misconception which   
the mediaeval church's doctrine involved
 as to some of the cardinal facts of    
life4  ,this religion dealt with such   
primary facts of real life as the human 
body and its laws1 the passion of sex1  

productive industry1 the organization of
 society1--in short1 with all the       
impulses1 instincts1 and powers of      
man1--through a cloud of                
misapprehension4  ,the central          
misconception was the idea that this    
life is only significant as the         
antechamber to another4  ,hence its     
occupations1 responsibilities1 joys1 and
 troubles are of little account except  
as they are directly related to the     
other life4  ,this naturally bred a     
false attitude toward many of the       
subjects which both actually and of     
right do largely engage the attention of
 men4  ,the body was regarded as not the
 servant but the enemy of the spirit4   
,the highest state was celibacy1 and    
marriage was a concession to human      
weakness4  ,study of nature was an      
unprofitable pursuit4  ,the charter of  
divine truth was the ,bible1 and its    
interpreter was the church4  ,since this
 world was only the scene of a brief    
discipline1 and was itself to pass away1

 it was idle to spend much study on it4 
,speculative thought was profitable only
 so long as it was a mere elucidation of
 the dogmas of the church4  ,as soon as 
those dogmas were even remotely         
questioned1 the thinker's soul was in   
peril4  ,in repressing heretical        
suggestions by the sternest measures1   
the church was discharging a plain duty4
  ,earthly pleasure was dangerous1 but  
in suffering lay medicinal virtue4 ,one 
mark of the saint was self-inflicted    
pain4  ,the highest symbol of religion  
was the cross1 emblem of torture and    
death4  ,the belief in a hell of endless
 suffering was the parent of a monstrous
 and ghastly brood of imaginations4     
,how far the dread thus inspired acted  
as a wholesome deterrent we can only    
guess4  ,too well we know the torture it
 wrought in sensitive and apprehensive  
natures1 the pangs of fear which mothers
 suffered1 the sense of a curse         
overhanging a part of mankind1 which    
even in our own day darkens many a life1

 and which in a more unquestioning age  
rested like a pall on countless hearts4 
,such were among the beliefs1 the       
consistent and logical beliefs1 of the  
mediaeval churchmen4  ,thus the moral   
mischiefs which infested society had    
their roots partly in that conception of
 religion which in other directions bore
 noble fruit4   ,dante shows the        
culmination of the ,catholic idea2 he   
shows emerging from it a new            
idealization of human relations2 and he 
stands as one of the master-spirits of  
humanity1 to whom all after-ages listen 
reverently4  ,there is in ,dante a      
boundless terror and a boundless hope4  
,compared with the antique world there  
is a new tenderness and a new remorse4  
,hell1 ,purgatory1 ,heaven are the      
projections of man's fear1 his          
purification1 his hope4  ,dante shows   
the vision which had grown up and       
possessed the belief of men--a terror   
matched with a glory and tenderness4    
,but in ,dante is a force beyond this   

theologic belief--the spiritual love of 
a man and woman4  ,it is personal1      
intense1 pure1 sacramental4  ,thirteen  
hundred years of ,christianity had      
inwrought a new purity4  ,out of        
chivalry1 half-barbaric1 had grown a new
 sentiment toward woman4  ,if was truly 
a new life4  ,through ,dante's early    
story1--the vestibule by which we are   
led to the ,divina ,commedia1--through  
this ,vita ,nuova1 there runs a         
poignancy which has almost more of pain 
than pleasure4  ,under an earthly symbol
 it is the vision of the ideal--the     
unattainable--the passion of the soul   
for what lies beyond its full grasp4    
,in form ,dante reproduces the ,catholic
 theology4  ,in reality he lives by the 
ideal relation with ,beatrice4  ,for him
 the true ,purgatory is his             
self-reproach in her presence4  ,the    
boundless joy of reunion after a        
lifelong separation is checked on the   
threshold1 that the intense light of    
that moment may illumine the soul's past

 unworthiness1 and touch it with a      
remorse deeper than all the horrors of  
hell could awaken4  ,the anguish        
purifies1 and wins the boon of a ,lethe 
in which the past wrong is absolutely   
forgotten4  ,then comes the full        
fruition1 and the mated souls traverse a
 ,paradise which still is dearest to    
,dante as he watches its reflection in  
the eyes of ,beatrice4  ,yet1 what does 
,dante show as the actuality of the     
world after thirteen centuries of       
,christianity8  ,he shows evil existing 
in its worst forms and in wide extent4  
,the horrors of the ,inferno are the    
retribution which seemed to ,dante      
appropriate for the crimes going on     
about him4  ,the sin whose punishment he
 depicts is not a figment of the        
theologians1 an imaginary participation 
in ,adam's trespass1 or the mere human  
shadows against a dazzling ideal of     
purity4  ,in the men of his own time and
 in his own community he saw flagrant   
wrong of every sort1--lust1 cruelty1    

treachery4  ,the physical hell he       
imagines in another world is the        
counterpart of the moral hell he sees   
about him in this world4  ,in his       
,inferno1 ,hate and ,horror hold high   
carnival4  ,much of it is to the modern 
reader like a frightful nightmare of the
 imagination4   ,in the progress of the 
centuries1 along with the growth of     
ethical and spiritual ideals has been   
the movement of coarser forces--often   
seeming to destroy the ethical1 yet     
giving power for the upward movement4   
,in the reconstruction of ,european     
society1 the first power was that of    
military force4  ,out of this grew      
feudalism1--a kind of order1 with its   
own code of duties2 and chivalry1 with  
an atmosphere of noble sentiment running
 into fantasy4  ,next came the powers of
 wealth and of knowledge4  ,wealth grew 
first by the association of             
craftsmen1--the guilds1 the free cities4
  ,then commerce spread1 as in the trade
 of ,italy and the ,low ,countries with 

the ,east4  ,a succession of discoveries
 and inventions in the physical world   
advanced society4  ,gunpowder helped to 
overthrow feudalism4  ,printing made the
 ,reformation possible4  ,the           
,copernican theory had its practical    
result in the stimulation of discovery  
and commerce2 its intellectual issue in 
the weakening of the church's cosmogony1
 and a discredit of the church's claim  
to real knowledge4  ,the growing wealth 
of the middle class gave freedom to     
,england1--the merchants and cities were
 the strength of the ,puritan and       
,parliamentary party4  ,a series of     
inventions has within the last century  
multiplied wealth--the use of canals1   
textile machinery1 steam1 electricity4  
,this has created a new class of rich4  
,it has improved the condition of the   
laboring man1 not enough to satisfy him1
 but enough to strengthen him to demand 
more4  ,thus1 military force giving     
strength2 its organization as feudalism1
 giving the chivalric virtues and       

training an upper class2 commerce1      
discovery1 invention1 raising first the 
middle class and then the lower1--these 
forces1 not on the surface ethical1 have
 cooperated to realize the ideal4       
,luther led a revolt which in its issue 
freed half ,europe from the ,roman      
court4  ,he made the quarrel on a moral 
question4  ,no man1 he said1 could sell 
a license from ,god to commit sin4  ,if 
the ,pope said otherwise1 the ,pope was 
a liar and no vicegerent of ,god4  ,so  
he put in the forefront of the revolting
 forces a moral idea4  ,he showed that  
the spiritual life1 with all its        
aspirations1 struggles1 and victories1  
was open to man without help from ,pope 
or priesthood4  ,he gave the ,german    
people the ,bible in their own tongue4  
,he taught by word and example that     
marriage was the rightful accompaniment 
of a life consecrated to ,god4  ,he had 
many of the limitations of the peasant  
and the priest4  ,he was wholly         
inadequate to any comprehensive         

conception of the higher life of        
humanity4  ,his ideal of character was  
based on a mystical experience1 under   
the forms of an antiquated theology4    
,he was narrow2 he confounded the       
friends with the foes of progress2 he   
had no clear understanding of the social
 and political needs of the time2 he was
 full of superstition1 and saw the      
,devil present in every mischief2 he was
 often violent and wrathful4  ,but he   
had a great and tender heart2 he had the
 soldierly temper which prompted him to 
strike when more sensitive and          
reflective men held back2 and he won the
 leadership of the new age when against 
all the pomp and power of ,emperor and  
,pope he planted himself on the truth as
 he saw the truth3 ,here ,i stand2 ,i   
cannot do otherwise2 ,god help me6      
,copernicus died in #aedc--two years    
before ,luther4  ,for thirty-six        
years--all through the ,reformation     
struggle--he was quietly working out his
 theory4  ,the book containing it he did

 not venture to publish1 till under     
,paul ,,iii4 there was a lull in the    
storm4  ,he was a loyal ,catholic1 but  
his teaching was sure to conflict with  
the church4  ,he kept alive just long   
enough to see his book come from the    
printers--dying at the age of seventy4  
,tycho ,brahe1 ,kepler1 and ,galileo    
came later4   ,the ,protestants in the  
name of religion defied and set aside   
the ,catholic church4  ,they were       
impelled to do it because they saw that 
the church1 claiming infallibility1 was 
practically fallible and faulty in its  
morals1 as in the matter of the         
indulgences4  ,they found courage to do 
it1 because men like ,luther learned by 
experience that the sense of pardoned   
sin1 of a divine communion1 of peace and
 joy1 of which the church had claimed   
the exclusive possession1 were possible 
to them wholly without the church's     
intervention4  ,that was one side of the
 revolt3 the other side was that the    
civil society1 as in ,england1 had grown

 strong enough1 and the monarchical and 
national temper bold enough1 to be      
impatient of any foreign control4  ,but 
the ,protestant reformers in an         
intellectual sense simply remoulded a   
little the old creed1 detaching so much 
only as was inextricably blended with   
the authority of the ,roman priesthood4 
,theirs was in no sense an              
intellectually creative movement4       
,politically and socially it had great  
effects4  ,intellectually it did hardly 
more than to set the door open4 ,even   
this it did unconsciously and           
unwillingly4  ,the early ,protestants   
found themselves face to face with      
elemental forces of human nature1--with 
misery1 sin1 and greed1 with passions   
stimulated by the sense that authority  
was weakening4  ,they saw no other      
resource1 their own minds prompted no   
other thought1 their spiritual          
experience brought no other suggestion1 
than to continue the old appeal to the  
supernatural world4  ,the creed of      

,calvin is harsher than the creed of    
,rome2 its spiritual world no less      
definitely conceived and authoritatively
 taught2 its insistence on belief no    
less absolute4  ,the traditional        
,protestant orthodoxy is only the       
,catholic theology a little shrunken and
 dwindled4 ,its appeal to the reason is 
hardly stronger1 and its appeal to the  
imagination is less strong4   ,but for  
more than three hundred years the whole 
conception of a supernatural universe   
has been growing weaker and weaker in   
its hold on the minds of men4           
,shakspere paints the most various1     
active1 and passionate world of         
humanity1--a humanity brilliant with    
virtues1 dark with crimes1 rich in      
tenderness1 humor1 loveliness1 awe1 yet 
almost unaffected by any consideration  
of the supernatural world4  ,on         
,hamlet's brooding there breaks no ray  
from ,christian revelation4  ,no hope of
 a hereafter soothes ,lear as he bends  
over dead ,cordelia4  ,macbeth1         

hesitating on the verge of crime1 throws
 out of the scale any dread of future   
retribution1--assure him only of success
 here1 and    ,we 'd jump the life to   
come4   ,it is impossible to pass the   
exhaustless ,shakspere without some     
further word of inadequate comment4     
,apparently no one in his day guessed   
that among the jostling throng of       
soldiers1 statesmen1 and philosophers   
this obscure playwright was the         
intellectual king4  ,but ,time has more 
than redressed the wrong1 for now he is 
not only reverenced as a sovereign but  
sometimes worshiped as an oracle4  ,the 
prime secret of his power1 compared with
 the men before him and about him1 is   
his return to reality4 ,it is the actual
 world1 the actual men and women in it1 
that he portrays1 and not the puppets or
 shadows of a made-up world4  ,it is a  
change of standpoint such as ,bacon made
 when he recalled philosophy from       
abstract speculation to the study of    
concrete facts1 and calmly told men that

 their past achievements were as nothing
 compared to the truth they were to     
attain with the new weapons4  ,shakspere
 has no thought of mankind's advance1 no
 method or system to offer1 but as seer 
and artist he beholds and portrays the  
universe about him4  ,we get some idea  
of what the change means when we compare
 the humanity which he depicts with the 
account of mankind given by a logical   
theologian like ,calvin2 the simple1    
sharp division between saints and       
sinners1 against the mixed1             
particolored1 genuinely human people who
 touch our tears and laughter on the    
dramatist's page4  ,or again1 contrast  
his world with ,dante's1 where the      
profoundest imagination and sensibility 
project themselves into a               
phantasmagoria4  ,in the change to      
,shakspere we are tempted to say that we
 have lost heaven and escaped hell1 but 
have taken fresh hold on earthly life   
and found in it unmeasured richness and 
significance4  ,in reading ,shakspere we

 are never confused or weakened as      
between virtue and vice4  ,in simply    
showing us this life as it is acted out 
by all kinds of people1 he shows        
perpetually the beauty of courage1      
truth1 tenderness1 purity1 and the      
ugliness of their opposites4  ,measure  
him at the most critical point1         
chastity4  ,his plays have plenty of    
coarseness2 they have touches1 though   
very rarely1 of voluptuous description2 
but they always leave us with the sense 
that purity is noble and impurity is    
evil4  ,it is striking to note the tone 
in this respect of his successive       
productions4 ,his youthful poem1 ,venus 
and ,adonis1 is touched with the disease
 which had blighted the literature and  
the life of southern ,europe1--the      
infection of the imagination by         
sensuality1 a sort of intellectual      
putrescence4  ,in the frank daylight of 
the early dramas this nightmare has     
disappeared1 yet in the generally clean 
atmosphere there occurs sometimes a     

touch of depraved ,italian manners1 as  
in ,all's ,well that ,ends ,well1 the   
deliberate seduction attempted by       
,bertram1 bringing little discredit and 
no punishment4  ,later in the great     
plays the note of chastity is always    
clear and firm4  ,in his women1 purity  
is nobly depicted2 in his men there     
appears no such attainment1 but often a 
passionate abhorrence of vice4  ,in only
 one play1 ,antony and ,cleopatra1 it   
might superficially appear that there is
 a glorification of lawless love2 but in
 the action of the story their          
lawlessness ruins ,antony's and         
,cleopatra's fortunes2 then1 with the   
imminence of death1 their passion1      
escaping from the thralldom of flesh1   
soars into a sublimation that redeems   
,antony's error and half transforms     
,cleopatra4  ,in ,shakspere's world the 
supernatural sanctions have almost      
disappeared1 but the moral law is still 
supreme4  ,yet in some ways it is a very
 unsatisfying world4  ,in its deeper    

aspects woe predominates over joy4 ,all 
phases of suffering and anguish find    
their language here2 but of rapture     
there are only transient glimpses1 of   
great and abiding happiness there is    
almost none1 and there is scarcely a    
suggestion of the peace that passeth    
understanding4  ,we sometimes feel the  
sharpest pressure of the problems to    
which ,christianity had addressed       
itself1 unlightened by any solution4    
,there is the echo of ,paul's cry1 ,o   
wretched man that ,i am1 who shall      
deliver me from this body of death6--as 
in the king at prayer1 in ,hamlet2 but  
nowhere is ,paul's note of triumphant   
deliverance4  ,we see men overwhelmed by
 temptation1 as ,macbeth and ,angelo2 we
 nowhere see men rising over conquered  
temptation to higher manhood4  ,man in  
,shakspere is generally the creature of 
,fate4  ,man's confrontal by the mystery
 of existence is the real theme of      
,hamlet4 ,the true unity of that drama  
is not in the action nor in the         

characters2 it is the underlying and    
unanswered problem1--man1 in his finest 
sensibilities and noblest aspirations1  
beset by a world of trouble1 of         
confusion1 of unfathomable mystery4     
,the ghost from the other world is a    
mere piece of stage scenery2 to the real
 sentiment belongs the frank paganism of
 ,hamlet as he holds the skull1--this is
 the end of ,yorick1 and that anything  
of ,yorick may still live except these  
mouldering bones does not even occur to 
,hamlet as a question4  ,yet when he is 
tempted to take refuge in suicide1 the  
possibility of something after death is 
sufficient to deter him4  ,the thought  
suggests no hope1 only a vague          
restraining fear4  ,but to the guilty   
king there is a terrible reality in the 
divine law which he has broken2 he      
struggles to reconcile himself with     
heaven1 but his will seems paralyzed to 
retrace the path of wrong-doing4  ,the  
incapable will1 the baffled intellect1  
cast a gloom over the whole drama4  ,it 

is not only a clew to man's relation    
with the unseen and eternal that we miss
 in ,shakspere4  ,he fails to show one  
trait which belongs to human nature as  
truly as ,hotspur's courage or          
,falstaff's drollery4  ,he nowhere      
depicts a life controlled by a moral    
ideal1 deliberately chosen and          
resolutely pursued4  ,his world is rich 
in passion1 but deficient in clear and  
high purpose and soldierly resolve4     
,the metal of mastery is lacking4 ,he   
shows us life as a wonderful spectacle1 
but he does not directly aid us to live 
our own life4  ,his amazing treasury of 
wisdom seldom lends a phrase that       
flashes comfort into our sorrow1 hope   
into our dejection1 or strength to our  
wavering will4  ,yet when this has been 
said1 it remains true that ,shakspere's 
atmosphere is wholesome and even        
invigorating4  ,we are helped in our    
higher life by many influences besides  
direct moral teaching4  ,one takes a    
twenty-mile tramp over moor and         

mountain1 and no word of admonition or  
guidance comes from rock or tree1 but he
 comes back stronger and serener4  ,so  
from an hour among ,shakspere's people  
one may well emerge with a fuller1      
happier being4  ,it is the inscrutable  
power of real life truly seen1 even     
though seen but in part4  ,the wish is  
as inevitable as it is hopeless that we 
might know the personality of           
,shakspere1 the medium through which the
 light passing was thus colored4  ,we   
get but rare and slight glimpses2 the   
boyhood in the sweet ,avon country2 the 
stumble on the threshold of manhood in  
his marriage2 the plunge into roaring   
,london2 the theatrical surroundings2   
the great encompassing drama of         
,elizabeth's ,england2 the slow winning 
of a competence2 the quiet years at the 
end1 a burgess of ,stratford town4      
,there is a rich1 tantalizing disclosure
 of a phase of the inner life in the    
,sonnets2 what they seem to convey is a 
passion delicate and profound1 striving 

to sublimate and satisfy itself1 but    
baffled by unworthiness in the object1  
and perhaps by some unworthiness in the 
lover4  ,more distinct is the outward   
closing scene2 the retirement to the    
native country town1 the modest         
prosperity1 the business-like making of 
the will4  ,prosaic enough it sounds1   
yet in substance it has this            
significance1 that this great genius and
 passionate soul bore himself among the 
materialities1 where so many make       
shipwreck1 with a practical sense and   
steadiness which brought him to the     
haven at least of a comfortable and     
honorable age4  ,so much ,shakspere     
certainly had in himself1--this homely  
yet vital self-command4  ,with this is  
to be taken that he had also that       
intellectual mastery of himself of which
 the highest proof is the creation of   
great works of art4  ,self-control1     
prudential and intellectual1 was one    
element of ,shakspere1 one secret of his
 sanity and strength4  ,one loves to see

 in ,the ,tempest the crowning utterance
 of his maturity4 ,how wise1 how noble  
it is1 and the wisdom and nobility set  
forth in what exquisite play of fancy   
and wealth of humor6  ,as in ,hamlet we 
seem to see ,shakspere in his mid-life  
storm and stress1 so in ,prospero we    
think we recognize the ideal of his     
ripeness4  ,there is the wise man torn  
from books and reverie1 and rudely      
thrust upon treachery and the stormy    
sea2 there is control gained over airy  
powers and ethereal beauties2 struggle  
with bestial evil2 forgiveness of the   
wrong-doer2 happiness in the happiness  
of his child1 and willing surrender of  
her to her lover2 the admonition that   
love perfect itself by the mastery of   
passion4  ,so wise1 so beneficent1 so   
lofty is ,shakspere's latest creation4  
,a shadow flits across1 in the thought  
of mortal transiency3--            ,we  
are such stuff   ,as dreams are made of1
 and our little life   ,is rounded by a 
sleep4   ,yet instantly ,prospero marks 

this as the utterance of a disturbed    
moment3 ,bear with my weakness1 my old  
brain is troubled2 the coming encounter 
with ,caliban has shaken him4  ,most    
,shaksperean1 too1 is this3 alternating 
impulses of trust and doubt2 now a sense
 of being led by ,providence divine2 an 
instinct of a divinity that shapes our  
ends2 and again1 the mood that sees     
beyond the present scene only blankness 
and the end4  ,those elements which in  
,shakspere are absent or dim1--the      
belief in a divine rule and celestial   
destiny1 and a high and fixed moral     
purpose1--these appear in full strength 
in men of ,shakspere's time1 the men of 
religion2 but in their minds            
inextricably blent with a scheme of the 
universe which it is plain was to       
,shakspere as unreal as the mythology of
 the ,greeks1 and which he treats in    
much the same way1 merely borrowing it  
for a dramatic purpose4  ,the men of    
religion had no such consummate         
expression in literature as ,shakspere1 

though they had their ,taylor and       
,herbert and ,milton2 but to appreciate 
them we must look at them in action1 and
 we may take the ,puritan as their type4
  ,but first let us note that in        
,catholicism as early as in             
,protestantism appeared the sharp rift  
between intellect and belief4           
,montaigne1 a man of the world1 is      
outwardly a conformist1 but a real      
skeptic4  ,a nominal ,catholic1 he      
corresponds to ,shakspere1 a nominal    
,protestant4  ,montaigne reveals the    
world of one personality as1 frankly as 
,shakspere pictures a world of humanity1
 and in each the purely religious       
element is almost totally absent4       
,shakspere shows the widest reach of the
 mind apart from a definite religious   
purpose or a strong religious faith4    
,in contrast with him is the ,puritan   
effort to apprehend and follow a divine 
rule and achieve a divine destiny4  ,the
 typical ,puritan addressed himself to  
man's foes1--all griefs and sufferings  

culminating in ,death2 all wrong-doing1 
as ,sin2 and the retribution and woe    
hereafter1 as ,hell4  ,to escape from   
these was his supreme object1 and to win
 what he as firmly believed             
in--,holiness1 ,life1 and ,heaven4  ,the
 creed was accepted as the form of this 
truth1 but the earnest men sought to    
know its truths experimentally1--to take
 home the full sense of them4  ,this was
 found in the consciousness of man's    
supreme need2 and1 responding to that1 a
 divine command1 an invitation1 and a   
threat4  ,the result of this was to set 
man upon a struggle so intense that it  
was indeed a warfare1--first1 against   
his own lusts1 then against the evils in
 the world around him4  ,these evils    
were to him embodied--in the ,pope1 the 
head of a false religion1 the oppressor 
of ,god's people2 in the imitation and  
approach to ,popery in the church of    
,england2 in all false belief and error1
 all wrong-doers1 and ,satan himself4   
,the ,puritan believed that the         

sublimest possibility was open to man1  
and purposed at every cost to achieve   
it4  ,man's chief end is to glorify ,god
 and enjoy him forever4  ,there was also
 the most dreadful possibility to be    
shunned4  ,all earthly pleasure he held 
in suspicion1 as a bait of the great    
adversary of souls4  ,the belief of     
serious men in the seventeenth century  
was that theology was the guide to      
heaven4  ,they believed this as modern  
men believe that science is the guide to
 human life4  ,hence1 an infinite       
diversity of sects1 and hence the       
attempts to enforce each by authority4  
,the ,bible fed the deeper substratum of
 the ,puritan life4  ,it touched and    
fired the imagination of the common     
people4  ,the dominant idea on which the
 ,english ,puritan laid hold was the    
,old ,testament idea of ,god's chosen   
people1--separate from the rest of the  
world1 given a code of written laws1 led
 by a divinely appointed priesthood and 
prophets1 disciplined by a constant     

intervention of rewards and punishments4
  ,this conception they transferred to  
the faithful of their own time2 and     
against them was ,antichrist1 in the    
,roman church1 to which the ,english    
prelates seemed traitorously to incline4
  ,they proposed to purify and maintain 
the church in ,england1 or1 failing     
there1 to transplant it to ,america4    
,the typical ,puritan character1 as most
 fully worked out in ,scotland and ,new 
,england1 was a mixture of intense      
idealism and sternest practicality4 ,the
 idealism aimed to control every action 
of life1 and to base itself on the      
ultimate reality4  ,it renounced the aid
 of art and embodied imagination2 it    
renounced human authority2 it had no aid
 from material beauty1 none from        
knowledge of nature4  ,this religion had
 an appalling side4  ,foremost among its
 teachings was man's depravity and the  
terrible wrath of ,god4  ,the worst     
cruelty of the ,iroquois was mercy      
compared to ,god's dealing with sinners4

  ,this was an inheritance from an older
 religion4  ,but the condition of       
salvation in the ,catholic church--and  
in all high church religion--was        
practically obedience to the church4    
,but the ,puritan required a conscious  
change of heart1 which to many was      
impossible4  ,the utmost pains were     
taken that the most laborious           
right-doing should count for nothing1   
unless accompanied by this mystic       
experience4  ,catholicism put man under 
guardianship through the hierarchy1 the 
confessional1 the whole church system4  
,calvinism threw him on his own         
resources1--set him face to face with   
,god4  ,it1 too1 set a church to help   
him1 but even the minister of the church
 exhorted him to make his own peace with
 ,god4  ,this responsibility weighted   
men heavily1 and made them sombre4  ,it 
crushed the feeble1 but made strong men 
stronger4  ,the first half of the       
seventeenth century was full of         
religious enthusiasms1 which carried    

high expectations4  ,milton looked for a
 wonderful advance in truth4  ,the      
,puritan sought to build a church simple
 in forms1 austere in morals and        
manners1 exacting personal holiness of  
its members1 and subjecting the ungodly 
to a rule of the saints4  ,charles the  
,first and ,archbishop ,laud believed in
 a religious monarchy2 that the king    
should be chief in church and state2    
that beauty of ritual should go along   
with the encouragement of festivity and 
joyousness2 and that the ultimate aim   
was a reunited ,christendom4  ,the wave 
passed1 and these expectations had      
failed4  ,but the force of the ,puritan 
movement had accomplished certain       
things4  ,it had turned the tide of the 
,english civil war1 it had leavened the 
more serious portion of the nation1 and 
it had planted the ,new ,england        
colonies4  ,in ,england the ,puritan    
zeal gave force to overthrow despotism1 
but it then plunged the nation into     
chaos2 it could not rule or harmonize   

the composite forces of national life2  
constitutional monarchy was established 
at last under ,william of ,orange1 by   
men of less fervent and lofty temper    
than the ,puritans1 but better          
conversant with the wants and           
possibilities of the actual world4      
,milton was a man of heroic mould4  ,he 
governed himself by a deliberate and    
lofty moral purpose4  ,the thirst for   
moral perfection inspired and ruled his 
life4  ,he was far from the narrowness  
of the typical ,puritan4 ,he was open on
 all sides to the noblest influences4   
,the heroic antique temper1 the beauty  
and richness of the ,greek1 the         
religious seriousness of the ,puritan1  
the ,english love of freedom1 all met in
 him4  ,he was at heart a poet and      
scholar1 but he threw himself into the  
active life of his time4  ,yet his      
genius was cramped by his theology4  ,he
 could not fuse the conflicting elements
 of thought1--just as the heroes of the 
,revolution1 ,pym and ,hampden and      

,cromwell and ,falkland1 could not blend
 the elements of ,english political     
society4  ,he is like his own lion      
struggling to get free4  ,his epic is a 
story of disaster4  ,his deity is       
undivine4  ,there is more that touches  
sympathy and admiration in his ,satan   
than in his ,jehovah or ,adam4  ,the    
best thing he gives us is his own noble 
personality1 imbuing the majestic rhythm
 with a kind of moral power4  ,servant  
and friend of ,cromwell1 sacrificing all
 scholarly delight to his country's     
need1 champion of freedom1 worshiper of 
truth1 building in neglected solitude   
his epic1--his works are less than      
,shakspere's1 but he is greater than the
 imaginary ,hamlet1 ,othello1 or        
,brutus4  ,cromwell is in action the    
counterpart of ,milton in thought1--a   
heroic nature struggling with           
irreconcilable elements4  ,each is      
confronted by a situation as difficult  
as ,hamlet's2 but though they cannot    
fully master it1 they deal with it like 

men4  ,here is the true advantage of the
 men of religion over ,shakspere and his
 creations1--here is the greater world  
than ,shakspere saw1--men grappling with
 their fate and in the struggle working 
out heroic lives4   ,the finest type of 
the ,new ,england colonists is seen in  
the ,winthrops1 father and son4  ,when  
the migration is determined on1 the son 
writes3 ,for myself1 ,i have seen so    
much of the variety of the world that ,i
 esteem no more of the diversities of   
countries than as so many inns1 whereof 
the traveler that hath lodged in the    
best or the worst findeth no difference 
when he cometh to his journey's end2 and
 ,i shall call that my country where ,i 
may most glorify ,god and enjoy the     
presence of my dearest friends4         
,therefore herein ,i submit myself to   
,god's will and yours1 and1 with your   
leave1 do dedicate myself 7laying by all
 desire of other employments whatsoever7
 to the service of ,god and the company 
herein1 with the whole endeavors both of

 body and mind4  ,the elder ,winthrop is
 shown to us in the ,journal or         
chronicle of the ,massachusetts colony1 
a sombre record of seemingly petty      
events2 in his religious diary of an    
earlier period2 and in his domestic     
letters1 which are full of manly        
strength and sweetness4  ,he combined   
some of the chief elements of           
greatness1--loftiness of aim2 a         
character disinterested1 patient1       
modest1 brave2 deep religious           
experience2 and personal tenderness4    
,to a man like ,winthrop1 the heart of  
his creed was that man's true aim is    
moral perfection and a living relation  
with a ,divine ,lover4  ,the sense of a 
,divine ,presence--inspiring1 ruling1   
gladdening--is what his religion means  
to him4  ,in this quiet country         
gentleman1 portrayed in his private     
diary1 is an intense play of feeling and
 imagination1 concentrated on the       
attainment of a personal and social     
ideal4  ,all this introspective fervor  

merged into a public enterprise1--the   
transplanting of a church and colony to 
,massachusetts ,bay4  ,the last half of 
his life was spent in the most          
assiduous1 minute1 exacting labors4 ,the
 self-watchful diary gives place to a   
public chronicle1 prosaic as a ship's   
log-book--and1 like the log-book1 the   
shorthand record of adventures1         
heroisms1 and sublimities4  ,in the     
,puritan of ,winthrop's type the flame  
of spiritual emotion was harnessed and  
made to serve4  ,the drudgery of        
founding ,new ,england was done by men  
whose hearts were touched with          
fire1--men such as ,lowell sings of3--  
,who1 dowered with every gift of        
passion1   ,in that fierce flame can    
forge and fashion   ,of self and sin the
 anchor strong2   ,can thence compel the
 driving force   ,of daily life's       
mechanic course4   ,winthrop set out    
with a great ideal--shown with          
statesmanlike breadth in the            
,considerations1 and with apostolic     

fervor in the ,model of ,christian      
,charity4  ,his conception was cramped  
into conformity with the far narrower   
views of the ministers who were the     
leaders in the colony4 ,yet it was his  
ideal and his personality which gave    
most to success4  ,the letters between  
,winthrop and his wife are an example of
 human love perfected by a higher love4 
,he writes to her3 ,neither can the sea 
drown thy husband1 nor enemies destroy1 
nor any adversity deprive thee of thy   
husband4  ,shakspere has no note like   
that4  ,margaret writes from her country
 home to her husband in ,london3 ,my    
good husband1 cheer up thy heart in the 
expectation of ,god's goodness to us1   
and let nothing dismay or discourage    
thee2 if the ,lord be with us1 who can  
be against us8  ,my grief is the fear of
 staying behind thee1 but ,i must leave 
all to the good providence of ,god4     
,she was obliged to stay behind in      
,england1 awaiting the birth of a child4
  ,on the eve of sailing he writes her3 

,i purpose1 if ,god will1 to be with    
thee upon ,thursday come sen'night1 and 
then ,i must take my leave of thee for a
 summer's day and a winter's day4 ,the  
,lord our good ,god will 7,i hope7 send 
us a happy meeting again in his good    
time4  ,amen6  ,being now ready to send 
away my letters1 ,i received thine2 the 
reading of it has dissolved my head into
 tears4  ,can write no more4  ,if ,i    
live1 ,i will see thee ere ,i go4  ,i   
shall part from thee with sorrow enough2
 be comfortable1 my most sweet wife1 our
 ,god will be with thee4  ,farewell4  ,a
 few months later1 across the pages of  
the ,journal1 full of the cares and     
anxieties of the struggling colony1     
shines a ray of pure joy4 ,margaret has 
come6  ,and the whole community rejoices
 and makes cheer1 with homely and hearty
 feasting1 for the happiness of their   
good governor4  ,the actual conditions  
nourished homely virtues1--industry1    
thrift1 self-reliance1 family affection1
 civic responsibility4  ,the greatness  

of early ,new ,england is partly        
measured by the fact that there were    
comparatively no dregs1 no mass of      
ignorance and vice4  ,it was not the    
individuals who rise into sight at this 
distance who were superior to the       
prominent men of ,england or            
,france1--it was the lower stratum which
 was above that elsewhere4  ,two prime  
causes worked to this elevation1--the   
spiritual estimate of man and the       
economic conditions which offered       
independence to every one on the        
condition work and save4  ,the social   
and political conditions were largely   
shaped by these underlying facts4  ,the 
wrestle for a livelihood under stern    
material conditions was a prime factor  
in the making of ,new ,england4         
,whatever the creed might say1 in       
practice ,work was the equal partner of 
,faith in building manhood and the      
state4  ,the soil was to their bodies   
what ,calvinism was to their            
souls1--yielding nourishment1 but only  

through a hard struggle4  ,its sterility
 drove them to the sea for a livelihood2
 they became fishermen2 then1 carrying  
their fish and lumber abroad1 they grew 
into commerce4 ,they traded along the   
coast1 to the ,west ,indies1 to ,europe1
 and so into their little province came 
the winds of the larger world4  ,they   
learned the sailor's virtues1--his      
courage1 his mingled awe and mastery of 
elemental forces1 his sense of lands    
beyond the horizon4  ,well might        
,winthrop name the first ship he        
launched ,the ,blessing of the ,bay4    
,the austere land had small room for    
slaves1 dependent and incapable4  ,one  
of the first large companies included   
some scores of bondmen2 they landed to  
face a fierce and hungry winter1 and    
straightway the bondmen were set        
free1--as slaves they would be an       
incumbrance2 as freemen they could get  
their own living4  ,the thrifty         
colonists of a later generation did a   
driving business in ,african slaves for 

their southern neighbors1 but they had  
small use for them at home4  ,winthrop's
 constant effort1 as shown in his       
,journal1 is for reason and right4  ,it 
is the arguments for and against any    
course that he elaborates4  ,scarce a   
word of their sufferings or of his own  
feelings--but to know and do the right  
was all-important4  ,the greatness of   
his own ideal is shown when he draws    
with a free hand1 in the ,conclusions or
 the ,model4  ,in the ,journal1 he is   
laboring toward this under the iron     
conditions of actualities4  ,he and his 
associates had to be strong-willed and  
stern2 they were warring against        
tremendous difficulties--more tremendous
 to them because interpreted as the work
 of ,satan1 while even their ,god was an
 awful being4  ,superstition throws a   
dark shadow over the chronicle4  ,even  
,winthrop was deeply infected by it4    
,disasters small and great were         
interpreted1 on the ,old ,testament     
idea1 as divine judgments4  ,a boy seven

 years old fell through the ice and was 
drowned while his parents were at       
lecture1 and his sister was drowned in  
trying to save him4  ,the parents had no
 more sons1 and confessed they had been 
too indulgent towards him1 and had set  
their hearts overmuch on him4  ,a man   
working on a milldam kept on for an hour
 after nightfall on ,saturday to finish 
it1 and next day his child fell into a  
well and was drowned4  ,the father      
confessed it as a judgment of ,god for  
his ,sabbath-breaking4  ,there is not   
unfrequent mention of some woman driven 
by religious brooding to frenzy1        
sometimes to murder4  ,the awful        
possibilities of hell for herself and   
her children wrought the mother-heart to
 madness4  ,the religious guides of the 
people used unsparingly the appeal to   
fear4  ,the belief in witchcraft1 which 
long had scourged ,europe1 broke out in 
a panic of fear and cruelty4  ,it was a 
tragic culmination of the worst         
elements1--superstition1 malignity1     

ministerial tyranny4  ,then came the    
reaction1 and with it a triumph of the  
wiser sense1 the cooler temper1 the     
layman's moderation1 which thenceforth  
were to guide the commonwealth on a     
humbler but safer road4  ,in a dramatic 
sense the turning-point of the          
story--and the revelation of the saving 
power at the heart of this grim         
people--was when1 after the witchcraft  
frenzy had subsided1 ,samuel ,sewall1   
the chief justice of the colony1 rose in
 his place in the meeting-house and     
humbly confessed before ,god and man    
that he had erred and shed innocent     
blood4  ,in the more prosaic temper of  
the next stage1 a sturdy manhood        
sometimes flashes into poetry4  ,so     
,john ,wise1 a minister but the leader  
of the popular party in church          
government1 strikes the high note of    
courage3 ,if men are trusted with duty1 
they must trust that1 and not events4   
,if men are placed at the helm to steer 
in all weather that blows1 they must not

 be afraid of the waves or a wet coat4  
,in personal religion there was from the
 outset the intense struggle for an     
inward peace and joy1 with tears and    
groanings1--the victory sometimes found1
 sometimes missed4  ,there was a        
resolute facing of what was held as     
truth4  ,the ministers and laymen       
battled with the problems of the        
infinite4  ,the issue after two         
centuries was an open break from        
,calvinism in ,channing1 and the glad   
vision of ,emerson4  ,a feature in the  
story is the ,new ,englander's relation 
with ,nature as he found her1--first    
like a terrible power of destruction1 by
 cold and hunger2 this he conquers by   
endurance4  ,then for generations he    
wrings a hard livelihood out of her4    
,then by his wits he makes her serve him
 more completely4  ,at last her beauty  
is disclosed to him1--a beauty which has
 its roots in the very struggles he has 
had1 and the contrasts they afford1--no 
child of the tropics loves ,nature as he

 does4  ,so of the sea3 first he dares  
it as explorer and voyager2 then he     
makes it his feeding-ground--catches the
 cod and chases the whale2 in his ships 
he does battle against pirate and public
 foe2 he makes the deep the highway of  
his commerce2 and at last he feels its  
grandeur1 into which enters the         
reminiscence of all his combats4        
,elements which ,puritanism had         
renounced came in later from other      
sources4 ,the fresh contact with truth  
and reality was given by ,franklin4     
,the free joy of religion1 its          
aggressive love1 came in ,methodism4    
,beautiful ritual returned in           
,episcopacy4  ,the frank enjoyment of   
life developed in the ,south1           
transmitted from the country life of the
 ,english squire and mellowed on        
,american soil4  ,at the outset of the  
story of ,america stands the ,puritan1  
his heart set on subduing the infernal  
element and winning the celestial2      
regarding this life as a stern warfare1 

but the possible pathway to an infinite 
happiness beyond2 fierce to beat down   
the emissaries of evil1--heretic1 witch1
 or devil2 yet tender at inmost heart1  
and valiant for the truth as he sees it4
  ,after a century1 behold the          
,yankee1--the shrewd1 toilful1 thrifty  
occupant of the homely earth2 one side  
of his brain speculating on the         
eternities1 and the other side devising 
wealth1 comfort1 personal and social    
good4  ,and to-day1 successor of        
,puritan and ,yankee1 ,cavalier and     
,quaker1 stands the ,american1 composite
 of a thousand elements1 with a destiny 
which seems to hover between heights and
 abysses1 but amid all whose            
vicissitudes and faults we still see    
faith and courage and manly purpose     
working toward a kingdom of ,god on     
earth and in heaven4   ,the ,protestant 
way of salvation was through            
experimental religion4 ,this meant the  
appropriation as a personal experience  
of the truths of human guilt and divine 

mercy4  ,a man must not only believe but
 intensely feel that he was wholly      
guilty before ,god and in danger of     
everlasting damnation4  ,he must then   
have a vivid appreciation that ,christ  
out of pure love had died for him1 and  
that on this ground alone ,god offered  
him pardon and salvation4  ,this offer  
he must consciously accept1 with        
emotions of profound remorse for his    
wrong-doing1 gratitude for his          
deliverance1 and absolute dependence    
upon divine grace for help against      
future sin and for final reception to an
 endless heaven4  ,to attain this       
experience was the aim and goal of the  
religious man1 under all the more       
strenuous forms of ,protestantism4      
,until it was reached1 all good actions1
 all fair traits of character1 were     
worthless4 ,without it there was no     
escape from the unquenchable fire4  ,if 
it came as a genuine experience1 it was 
the passage from death unto life4  ,but 
as there was great possibility of       

self-deception in the matter1 the mind  
was constantly thrown back on           
self-examination1 and in sensitive      
natures there was often an alternation  
of terrors and transports4  ,this       
experience of saving faith1 of          
experimental religion1 must be          
translated for us into very different   
language and symbols from those which   
our ancestors used before we can have   
any sympathy with it4 ,perhaps the      
truest account of the matter for us is  
something like this3 the ,christian     
theology was a system of myths1 which   
had grown out of facts of human         
experience4  ,the initial fact was a    
good man whose love went out to bad men1
 and woke in them a sense of their own  
wrong along with a new joy and hope4    
,from this centre the influence spread  
in widening circles1 and was gradually  
transformed in the expression1--mixed   
too with earlier notions1 with          
crudities1 with sophistications1--until 
,justice and ,love and ,punishment and  

,forgiveness were personified and       
dramatized and a whole cloud-world of   
fancy built up4  ,already in the age of 
the ,reformation the human intellect was
 sapping the foundations of the         
structure4  ,but the religious          
imagination was still intensely         
susceptible1 and when the moral sense   
was sharply awakened by the reformers   
both within and without the ,catholic   
church1 it fell back on the imagination 
as its familiar ally1 and clothed with  
new life the ancient forms4  ,the       
,catholic turned with fresh ardor to    
mass and miracle and holy church4  ,the 
,protestant fell back on a more personal
 and inward experience2 he conceived    
that in each heart and mind the whole   
drama from ,eden to ,calvary and on to  
the ,judgment ,day must be realized and 
appropriated as the working principle of
 life4  ,to the mystical1 the           
sentimental1 the self-confident1 it was 
a welcome and uplifting exercise4  ,to  
the timid and self-distrustful it was a 

terrible ordeal4  ,to the intellectual  
it was a perpetual challenge to         
skepticism4  ,even ,bunyan puts as his  
first and worst temptation1 to question 
the being of ,god and the truth of his  
gospel4  ,to the prosaic and practical  
minds it made the whole business of     
religion a dim and far-away affair4     
,experimental religion was the core of  
,protestantism for more than three      
centuries4  ,it was blended with other  
elements in a series of great movements4
  ,in ,puritanism it united with an     
ascetic and militant temper1 a          
metaphysical theology1 a stern rule of  
life1 and a conception of the nation as 
under a divine law like that of ancient 
,israel4  ,then came ,quakerism1 a      
religion of the quiet1 illumined heart1 
and the peaceful life4  ,next1          
,methodism1 a wave of aggressive love1  
seeking to save others where ,puritanism
 had been self-saving1 appealing less to
 the head and more to the heart4        
,following this1 in ,england1 came      

,evangelicalism1 a revival of           
self-conscious experience1 but flowing  
out now not only as in ,methodism into a
 crusade to save souls1 but into labors 
for criminals1 for slaves1 for the poor1
 under such leaders as ,howard and      
,wilberforce and ,shaftesbury4  ,these  
phases are from ,english and ,american  
history4  ,they might largely be        
paralleled elsewhere4  ,and along with  
them1 it is to be remembered1 went      
always not only a party imbued with the 
,catholic or high church idea1 but also 
a moderate party1 holding a more broadly
 and simply religious view4   ,perhaps  
the most effective type of ,christianity
 has been the simple acceptance of the  
familiar laws of goodness1 having in the
 ,bible their express sanction1 with a  
great promise and an awful warning for  
the future1 and the embodiment of       
holiness1 love1 and help1 in ,christ4   
,this has been the religion of a        
multitude of faithful souls1 manly men  
and womanly women1 who did not concern  

themselves with any elaborate theology1 
but went along their daily way1 strong  
in obedience to duty1 trustful in a     
divine guidance1 and with serene hope   
for what may come after death4  ,their  
souls have been nurtured on whatever was
 most vital and most tender in the words
 of ,scripture and the services of the  
church1 and whatever was unintelligible 
or innutritions they have quietly passed
 by4  ,this is the essential religion of
 humanity1 made definite and vivid by   
accepted symbols and rules1 and made    
warm by the sense of fellowship with a  
great company4   ,recurring to the      
successive phases of religious thought1 
the next development of ,protestantism1 
while in a sense world-wide1 may be most
 clearly seen in ,america4  ,by         
,jonathan ,edwards there was begun the  
application of a rationalizing process  
to the theology of ,calvin and to       
experimental religion4  ,in ,edwards    
almost the only result was a more lurid 
and tremendous affirmation of the old   

dogma and the old requirement4  ,but the
 ,new ,england mind1 speculative1       
practical1 and intense1 worked rapidly  
on4  ,in ,channing and his associates   
came the renunciation of ,depravity1    
,atonement1 and the ,trinity4  ,in the  
next generation1 ,unitarianism expressed
 itself through ,theodore ,parker as    
simple theism4  ,a little later than the
 ,unitarian movement1 the old ,orthodoxy
 itself became transformed into a new   
,orthodoxy4  ,the foremost interpreters 
of the transformation were ,bushnell and
 ,beecher2 ,bushnell translating the    
,atonement into terms of purely natural 
goodness1--not as a transaction1 but an 
expression2 and ,beecher finding in     
,christ simply the truth that ,love is  
sovereign of the universe4  ,to         
,bushnell and ,beecher the historical   
,christ remained in a unique sense an   
incarnation of ,god4  ,by later voices  
of the new ,orthodoxy--for example1     
,phillips ,brooks--he is spoken of      
rather as the one actual instance of    

perfect humanity1 and in this sense a   
manifestation of ,god and the spiritual 
leader of mankind4   ,but for three     
centuries men have been studying the    
facts of existence from an entirely     
different side from that whence the     
church takes its outlook4  ,they have   
been finding out all kinds of curious   
facts1 totally unconnected with any     
supernatural sphere4  ,first1 they made 
such discoveries as that the world is   
not flat1 but round2 not stationary1 but
 doubly revolving4  ,and so they went   
on4  ,the stars1 the plants1 the        
animals1 the human body1 yielded all    
manner of curious knowledge4  ,new      
powers came into men's hands through    
this knowledge2 new avenues to happiness
 were opened4  ,facts wove themselves   
together in wider and wider             
combinations4  ,orderly procedure was   
found where there had seemed such       
confusion as only capricious spirits    
could occasion4  ,it is learned1 too1   
that even as the individual man has     

grown up from babyhood1 so the race of  
man has grown up from the beast4  ,the  
globe itself has grown from a simple    
origin into infinite diversity and      
complexity4  ,there has been a          
universal1 orderly growth1--what we name
 ,evolution4  ,and it is learned that   
all mental phenomena1 so far as we can  
explore them1 stand in some close       
relation to a physical basis in the     
brain1 and to a train of physical       
antecedents4  ,and now the men who have 
come up by the path of this knowledge   
stand face to face with the men who have
 been climbing in the path whose        
signboards are such as ,duty1 ,worship1 
,aspiration2 and the question arises1   
,do our paths lie henceforth together1  
or do they separate1 and is the one     
party losing its travel8   ,perhaps the 
best example of the union of the two    
pursuits in one man is given by         
,benjamin ,franklin4  ,franklin worked  
out1 through a very genuine1 homely1 and
 personal experience1 the conviction    

that moral perfection is the only true  
aim4 ,he reached this conviction while  
still a young man1 and in the main tenor
 of his life he was faithful to it4  ,he
 made no vaunt of his religion1 founded 
no sect1 gave his words and deeds       
chiefly to practical affairs2 and       
perhaps few guessed1 until at the close 
of his life he told his own story with  
consummate charm1 that the secret motive
 and mainspring of his life had been the
 same that animates the saints and      
saviors1--the thirst for moral          
perfection4  ,the motive and method had 
been hidden1 but the result had long    
been clear to the eyes of the whole     
world4  ,franklin's character was       
reverenced alike in the court of ,france
 and the farmhouses of ,pennsylvania and
 ,new ,england4  ,to the ,old ,world he 
seemed the heroic and coming man of the 
,new ,world1 side by side with          
,washington4  ,the ,virginian embodied  
the highest traditional virtues of the  
race1 self-mastery1 patience1           

magnanimity1 devotion to the common     
good2 the ,pennsylvanian1 if less called
 on for the heroic forms of antique     
virtue1 added to its substance new      
traits of wisdom1 progress1 and         
happiness1--signs of a better age to be4
  ,moral perfection was ,franklin's     
secret and ruling principle4  ,but his  
life was conspicuously engaged in the   
fields of science and of statesmanship4 
,he was a leader in exploring the       
material world1 skillful to trace its   
secrets1 fertile to apply them to human 
use4  ,he was a pioneer and founder of  
the new nation1 projecting its union    
before others had desired or dreamed of 
it2 sharing in its first hazardous      
fortunes2 winning by his personal weight
 and wisdom the foreign alliance which  
turned the scale of victory2 laying with
 the other master shipwrights the keel  
and ribs of the new ,constitution4      
,moral perfection for himself1 and1 as  
the outcome to the world1 not a new     
church or a theology or a missionary    

enterprise1 but a winning of the forces 
of nature to the service of man1 and a  
shaping of the social organism for the  
benefit of all4  ,that is the           
originality of ,franklin1--that he      
carries the old moral purpose into the  
new fields of science and of social     
ordering4  ,his desire for moral        
perfection and his confidence that the  
universe is ordered rightly are not     
dependent on any visionary scheme of    
heaven and hell2 they rest not on any   
doubtful argument2 they bring sanction  
from no transport mixed of soul and     
sense4  ,he walks firm on the solid     
earth4  ,he has found for himself that  
goodness is the only thing that         
satisfies4 ,that this is an ordered     
universe comes home to him with every   
step of his study of actuality4  ,what  
need of a supernatural religion to a man
 who finds religion in his own nature   
and in the nature of the world8  ,such  
confidence and such purpose are as old  
as ,socrates4  ,but come1 now1 let us go

 where ,socrates did not go2 let us put 
the ideas of ,jesus and ,paul to some   
further application2 let us use our     
freedom from pope and tyrant for some   
solid good6  ,and so he goes on1        
cheerfully and delightedly1 to question 
the thunder-cloud and make acquaintance 
with its wild steeds1--presently some   
one will put them in harness4  ,he is   
always inventing4  ,now it is a stove1  
now it is a fire-brigade1--a public     
library1--a post-office1--a ,federal    
,union6  ,and be his invention smaller  
or greater1 he takes out no patent1 but 
tenders it freely into the common stock4
   ,the prophets introducing this age   
are ,carlyle and ,emerson4  ,carlyle    
sees the disease--he convinces of sin4  
,emerson sees the solution4  ,carlyle   
reflects in his own troubled nature the 
disorder he portrays4  ,he is physically
 unsound2 his dyspepsia exaggerates to  
him the evils of the world4  ,emerson's 
disciplined and noble character mirrors 
the present and eternal order1 and      

forecasts its triumph4  ,carlyle and    
,emerson give two different phases of   
life as experienced4 ,carlyle gives the 
experience of good and evil1--the       
tremendous sanctions of right against   
wrong1 wisdom against folly4  ,he is not
 triumphant1 but he is not hopeless4    
,work1 and despair not is to him the    
marching music of the ,teutonic race4   
,emerson1 from the height of personal   
victory1 sees all as harmonious4  ,one  
shows the struggle up the mountain path1
 the other the view from the summit4    
,carlyle's gospel is summed up in ,work1
 and despair not4  ,work was his own    
addition to ,goethe's line4  ,do the    
duty that lies nearest thee2 action1 as 
the escape from the puzzles of the      
intellect and the griefs of the heart1  
is his special message4  ,emerson is a  
precursor of the day when ,no man shall 
say to his neighbors1 ,know ye the      
,lord1 for all shall know him1 from the 
least unto the greatest4  ,he is the    
first of the prophets to rise above     

anxiety as to the success of his        
mission4  ,he lives his life1 says his  
word1 sheds his light--concerned to be  
faithful1 but wholly unanxious as to    
personal success4  ,as the tribes of    
ancient ,israel stood arrayed1 the one  
half on ,mount ,ebal1 the other on      
,mount ,gerizim1--the one to pronounce  
the blessing1 the other to utter the    
curse1--so ,emerson is like an embodied 
promise and ,carlyle a perpetual        
warning4  ,in ,emerson we see the hero  
triumphant and serene4  ,carlyle shows  
him at close grips with the devil4      
,pain1 danger1 difficulty1 steady       
slaving toil1 shall in no wise be       
shirked by any brightest mortal that    
will approve himself loyal to his       
mission in this world2 nay1 precisely   
the higher he is the deeper will be the 
disagreeableness1 and the detestability 
to flesh and blood1 of the tasks laid on
 him2 and the heavier1 too1 and more    
tragic1 his penalties if he neglect     
them4   ,the background for ,emerson is 

the life of early ,new ,england4  ,the  
secret of ,new ,england's greatness was 
the combination from the first of the   
profoundest interest in man's spiritual 
destiny with the closest grip on homely 
facts4  ,in ,calvinism1 and in          
,christianity1 the universe was at      
eternal war within itself2 this was     
man's projection upon the world of his  
own moral conflict4  ,emerson sees the  
universe as a harmony4  ,many influences
 have contributed to this idea2 it      
becomes distinct and vivid in a man     
whose own life is a moral harmony4      
,himself truly a cosmos1 he recognizes  
the answering tokens of the greater     
cosmos4  ,the religious sentiment had   
become so inwoven with institutions1    
creeds1 usages1 conventionalisms1--each 
man believing because his neighbors do1 
or his father did1--that it was         
necessary to take a new observation4    
,what says the heart of man at its      
highest8  ,for this ,emerson is singled 
out2 for him an ancestry is trained     

through generations2 he is drawn apart  
from the church1 set aside from         
government and all institutional work2  
practical functions are denied him2 he  
is made an eye1--an organ of pure       
vision4  ,to him ,god is not afar off   
but in himself4  ,the heart in its own  
purity1 tenderness1 and strength        
recognizes the ,divine ,presence4  ,the 
soul gives itself1 alone1 original1 and 
pure1 to the ,lonely1 ,original1 and    
,pure1 who1 on that condition1 gladly   
inhabits1 leads1 and speaks through it4 
,the order of physical nature is the    
symbol and the instrument of a moral    
order4  ,the beauty and sublimity of    
nature are the manifestation through    
sense of the ,divine ,reality4  ,so high
 a revelation can come at first only to 
souls which in their greatness are      
isolated1 as the highest mountain peaks 
stand alone in the earliest sunbeams4   
,it is for a later time to fit such     
truth to all the conditions of human    
life1 to fully assimilate it with older 

lessons1 to weave it into the warp and  
woof of society4  ,it is ,emerson1 child
 of the ,puritan and disciple of the new
 knowledge1 in whom joy is most         
abiding--its roots are in faithful      
living1 brave and high thinking1 the    
spirit of love1 oneness with nature and 
humanity4  ,emerson dwells in an ideal  
yet real world4  ,he cannot give the    
password that will certainly admit2     
inheritance and temperament must        
contribute to that4  ,but he sees that  
one principle is the rightful sovereign 
in his inner world and in the           
universe1--allegiance to highest known  
law4  ,it is a sublimation of the idea  
familiar to the religious mind1 but he  
gives it a new and larger               
interpretation2 for1 in place of the    
written ,word1 beyond the social and    
civic obligation1 greater than the      
accepted moralities1 superseding the    
ecclesiastical virtues1 wider than the  
overworked altruism of ,christianity1 is
 the complete ideal of ,man1 from his   

roughest force to his finest perception4
  ,talk about duty had become wearisome4
  ,thou shalt not preach6 says ,emerson4
  ,so he discourses as the observer of  
man and nature1 and bids men to look at 
realities4  ,his imitators were beguiled
 into a theoretical exposition of the   
universe4  ,a sense of thinness and     
unreality accompanies much of their     
talk1 because it is not1 like           
,emerson's1 in constant touch with      
active duty and fresh observation4  ,his
 ideal includes worship1 but to this he 
brings above all the quality of         
sincerity4  ,he will not observe a      
sacrament which has lost its            
significance to him4  ,he will not use  
language of a personal ,god which is not
 natural to him1 nor affirm a certainty 
as to immortality when his conviction is
 not always clear4  ,but he has the     
profoundest sense and the simplest      
expression of that reality which we call
 the presence of ,god in man4  ,in him  
it is not involved with miracle or      

metaphysic2 it is a personal experience1
 the source of humility1 energy1 and    
peace4  ,i recognize the distinction of 
the outer and inner self2 the double    
consciousness that within this erring1  
passionate1 mortal self sits a supreme1 
calm1 immortal mind1 whose powers ,i do 
not know1 but it is stronger than ,i2 it
 is wiser than ,i2 it never approved me 
in any wrong2 ,i seek counsel of it in  
my doubts2 ,i repair to it in my        
dangers2 ,i pray to it in my            
undertakings4  ,it seems to me the face 
which the ,creator uncovers to his      
child4  ,emerson represents thought in  
its highest form--perception1 vision4   
,the world interpreted by such vision   
supplies motive1 support1 and rapture4  
,he is essentially and above all a poet1
 and to whoever can follow him he opens 
a celestial world in which the homeliest
 earthly fact is irradiated by          
indwelling divinity4  ,emerson's escape 
from evil is by rising to such a height 
of contemplation that evil is seen as   

only an element of good4  ,he sits like 
an astronomer1 viewing the procession of
 the worlds in their sublime harmony4   
,for most men1 the jar and dust of daily
 life largely shut out that glorious    
view4  ,they catch hope and strength    
from the voice of the seer upon his     
heights4  ,but they need other help2    
they need some one by their side2 they  
need the love of a stronger brother1 who
 takes their hand4  ,this men found in  
,jesus the friend of sinners1 who went  
about doing good2 they idealized it as  
,christ--a divinity who took upon him   
the form of a servant4  ,the higher     
stooping to the lower is still the      
world's salvation4   ,in teaching1      
,emerson generalized for all men from   
his own experience4  ,he said1 ,be      
yourself6  ,follow the law of your own  
nature4  ,trust the all-moving ,spirit4 
,be above convention and rule1 above    
vulgarities and insipidities4  ,give way
 to the ,god within you6  ,literally    
obeyed1 it was insufficient advice for  

most men1 for it ignored what ,emerson's
 modesty forbade him to recognize1--the 
vast difference between his own nature  
and bent and that of most men4  ,when   
ordinary men and women tried to imitate 
him the result was sometimes a          
lamentable failure4  ,but he was genuine
 and lofty always4  ,he failed in no    
homely duty4  ,the great trial and      
discipline to him was the alternation in
 himself of the commonplace with the    
high4  ,in individuals he was forever   
disappointed1 always looking for heroes1
 saints1 and saviors1 and seldom finding
 them4  ,his own work bore little       
visible fruit2 his own teaching fell for
 a long time on scornful ears4  ,this   
perpetual disappointment he took with   
perpetual constancy1 always serene under
 disappointment1 gracious to the dull1  
indifferent to fame1 careless of his own
 obscurity4 ,the typical man of letters 
has his own besetting sins1--neglect of 
homely duties1 self-consciousness1      
vanity1--from all of which ,emerson was 

free4  ,the faults we allege against his
 philosophy--its scanty recognition of  
sin and sorrow--were the natural        
incidents of his character and work4    
,they do not debase1 though they        
sometimes limit1 his influence for good2
 his is always the speech of an angel2  
it strengthens1 uplifts1 gladdens us4   
,there are other angels to whom we must 
listen1--others1 perhaps1 who speak more
 nearly the speech of our own           
experience1--but his music always chords
 with theirs4  ,in ,emerson1 a soul     
inheriting centuries of ,catholic and   
,puritan training1 until obedience was  
its instinct and purity its native      
atmosphere1--a soul endowed with        
genius1--spread its wings and flew with 
the suddenness and joy of a young bird's
 first flight4  ,he saw good everywhere1
 beauty everywhere1 and was glad with   
the gladness of a seer and savior4  ,he 
is one of those of whom he speaks1 as   
belonging to a better world which is yet
 to come1 and who touch us with a sense 

of a heaven on which we are just        
beginning to enter4  ,though he         
professes an idealist philosophy1 and   
that way of thinking can be traced in   
all his writings1 he never makes of it a
 creed or dogma4 ,his children are      
welcome to worship in the church which  
has lost its attraction for him4  ,the  
skeptic may freely question             
immortality1--nay1 ,emerson himself     
sometimes feels uncertainty4  ,the      
personal ,god1 and man's personal       
immortality1 which the idealist is wont 
to affirm as definite certainties1      
,emerson will not explicitly avow or    
define4  ,universal good1 beauty1       
order1--these he sees1 feels1 is sure   
of4  ,what form belongs to them1 let    
each imagine as best he can4  ,so free1 
so generous1 so simply true is he that  
not only men of an idealist way of      
thinking1 but all strong and high souls 
own impulse from him1--the scientist1   
the positivist1 the churchman4  ,his    
distinctive note is not self-abnegation1

 but it is the note which with that     
makes a perfect harmony4  ,joy in ,god  
and self-sacrificing love are the two   
wings of the angelic life4  ,long have  
the preachers taught                    
self-sacrifice1--now let one child of   
,god sing the joy of ,god6   ,the latest
 chapter in the story of the higher life
 is the conception of man and the world 
which has grown up under the influence  
of modern science4  ,the most original  
and effective expression of this        
philosophy is given by ,herbert         
,spencer4  ,what new light does the     
evolutionary philosophy throw on man's  
chief problem1 the right conduct of his 
own life8  ,first1 it defines with      
clearness two great forces which bear on
 the individual life1 as ,heredity and  
,environment4  ,next1 it defines the    
ideal to be sought1 by reaffirming in   
substance the familiar conception of    
human morality1 showing its sanctions on
 purely natural grounds1 and giving new 
applications and extensions of its      

principles4  ,and finally1 compared with
 the traditional theology1 it leads to a
 new conception of the relation between 
man and the higher power1 and           
necessitates1 what ,spencer does not    
supply1 a new expression of the         
religious life4  ,the discovery of      
,darwin1 supplying the final link to the
 growing proofs of the evolutionary     
development of man1 opened an amazing   
panorama of the past history of the     
planet's inhabitants4  ,the predecessors
 and successors of ,darwin added to the 
panorama one after another scene of     
wonder4  ,the standpoint of thought     
seemed wholly changed1 and a            
readjustment necessary which threatened 
overthrow to all the old creeds and     
standards4  ,spencer1 who has been the  
most successful in generalizing the new 
knowledge1 comes back to the inquiry1   
,by what law shall man guide his own    
conduct8  ,his answer is substantially a
 reaffirmation of the principles which  
good men have acknowledged for many     

ages4  ,whatever else is changed1 it    
remains true that justice1 fidelity1    
chastity1 honor1 regard for others1 are 
man's safest guides and his lawful      
rulers4 ,altruism is only a new word for
 the golden rule4  ,but the advance of  
society has brought wider and finer     
applications3 the claim of the whole    
community comes closer home2 the        
principles which have been recognized   
within the church and the neighborhood  
must be carried on to reshape           
institutions1 industries1 the whole     
social organism4  ,the moral idea is    
thus reaffirmed and extended1 but how   
can man attain that ideal8  ,by using   
his free will1 said the ,stoic4  ,by the
 grace of ,god obtained through prayer1 
said the ,christian4  ,is man then free1
 or is he the passive creature of a     
greater power1 and of what nature is    
that power8  ,now1 where theologians    
have sought to define the ,deity1 and to
 conceive his government of his         
creatures in terms of a personal        

affection and will1 scientists1         
contenting themselves with observation  
of facts1 have shown that each man is   
what he is and does what he does partly 
because of what his parents and remoter 
ancestors were and did before him1 and  
partly because of the forces of climate1
 institutions1 education1 companionship1
 event1 which surround him from his     
birth to his grave4  ,heredity and      
,environment1 these are          the    
hands   ,that reach through ,nature1    
moulding ,man4   ,it looks at first as  
if the old dispute between free will and
 necessity were settled at last1 and man
 were indeed a creature of inscrutable  
fate4 ,yet1 in the very act of          
acknowledging certain ideals of         
character as desirable1 we become       
conscious of an impulse and initial     
effort--call it automatic or call it    
voluntary--toward attaining those       
ideals4  ,as a matter of practice1 we   
speedily recognize that both ,heredity  
and ,environment are in a degree under  

human control4  ,if they are deities1   
they are accessible to prayers1 the     
prayers which are watchfulness and      
obedience4  ,man is always at work to   
better the environment of himself and   
his fellows4  ,as he sees more clearly  
that his true good is character and the 
noble self1 he shapes his environment   
more intelligently and resolutely to    
that end4  ,as to heredity1 while the   
individual is powerless over his own    
lot1 he is in a degree potential over   
those who are to succeed him4  ,the     
conception of duty is enlarged by the   
obligations of marriage and parenthood1 
in a wise selection and thoughtful care 
for the future offspring4  ,heredity and
 ,environment1 then1 are partly the     
servants of man4  ,yet largely they are 
his lords and masters4  ,in a degree1   
but only in a degree1 do we make        
ourselves what we are4  ,and while the  
degree of that self-determining power   
can never be known1 we learn to be      
charitable toward others and exacting   

toward ourselves4  ,the new philosophy  
has its chief bearing on conduct1 not in
 abstract conceptions about fate1 free  
will1 and responsibility1 but in the    
stimulus it gives to find new tools and 
weapons of moral achievement4 ,how shall
 we make men good8  ,no longer by the   
mere appeal to reason2 no longer mainly 
by promise of heaven and threat of hell4
  ,still appealing to reason1 to hope   
and fear1 to imagination1 we must go on 
to put about men all stimulating        
influences1 all guiding appliances4  ,we
 must begin in the formative stage4     
,the hope of the future is in the child2
 we must educate the child by putting   
him in true touch with                  
realities1--realities of form1 color1   
and number2 of plant and animal life2 of
 play and pleasure2 of imagination2 of  
sympathetic companionship2 of a         
miniature society2 of a firm yet gentle 
government4  ,the education must go on  
through youth1 and must introduce him to
 industry not as drudgery but as fine   

achievement4  ,so of every phase of     
humanity4  ,the criminal is to be met   
not with mere penalty but with remedial 
treatment4  ,in the sordid quarter must 
be planted a settlement which shall     
radiate true neighborhood4  ,the state  
must be so ordered as best to promote   
the material good and the essential     
manhood of its citizens4  ,the church   
must serve some distinct purpose--of    
ethical guidance1 of emotional uplift1  
of social service--in                   
character-building4  ,such are the      
forces to which we now are turning4     
,where ancient philosophy appealed      
through the lecturer at his desk1 where 
,christianity sent its missionary to    
proclaim a faith1 or set its priest to  
celebrate mass1 or its minister to      
preach a sermon1--in place of these     
partial resources we now realize that   
every normal activity of humanity is to 
serve in building up man1 and that the  
true church of ,god is organized human  
society4  ,the church of ,god1--but has 

man a ,god8  ,there is1 says ,spencer1  
some inscrutable power from which all   
this vast procedure springs2 its nature 
we know not and cannot know4  ,the      
thought of it moves us to wonder and    
awe1--and this is the legitimate        
satisfaction of the religious sense4    
,and here it is that his philosophy     
utterly fails to satisfy4  ,yet it marks
 the passing away of the attempt to     
interpret ,deity in terms of exact      
knowledge4  ,whatever form religion may 
hereafter wear1 the old precision of    
statement must be abandoned2 the        
intellect must be more humble4  ,and    
further1 the ,spencerian view is wholly 
different from atheism4  ,it leaves the 
door open4  ,it recognizes that some    
supreme reality exists beyond and above 
man4  ,that reality is not intelligible 
to the intellect which analyzes and     
generalizes4  ,but may it not be        
approachable through another side of    
man's nature1--accessible through gates 
like those by which one human spirit    

recognizes another human spirit8  ,the  
evolutionary philosophy1 in an enlarged 
construction1 raised no barrier against 
the access to divinity through the      
noblest exercise of humanity4  ,live the
 personal life toward the highest       
ideals1 with the faithfulest            
endeavor1--and peace1 trust1 hope1      
spring up in the soul4  ,so does man    
find access to the supreme power2 so    
does he find himself encompassed and    
upborne by it2 so is he drawn into      
closest union with his fellow-creatures 
and with the divine source of all4  ,it 
is the old answer and the new2 it is    
figured in the ,hebrew's assurance that 
the ,lord loveth the righteous2 it gives
 strength and courage to ,epictetus2 it 
inspires the confidence of ,jesus1 the  
loving and holy soul finding its        
heavenly ,father2 it speaks with glad   
voice in ,emerson1--contenting himself  
with obedience1 man becomes divine4     
,the essential truth is old1 but in our 
day it is being disencumbered of the    

husk of myth and dogma which obscured   
it2 while by the growth of new powers   
and finer sensibilities in man his      
access to highest reality becomes more  
intimate4  ,as the evolutionary         
philosophy has already reaffirmed1      
clarified1 and enriched the moral life1 
so1 blending with the clearest          
interpretation of man's deepest         
experience1 it is to reaffirm1 purify1  
and deepen the religious life4   ,one   
disciple of ,spencer has applied herself
 with great genius and art to creative  
fiction4  ,george ,eliot is a thorough  
,spencerian1 and she is constantly1     
effectively1 almost with                
over-insistence1 a moralist4  ,life may 
be ruined by self-indulgence1--that is  
her perpetual theme4  ,of wide range and
 variety1 she is powerful above all in  
picturing the appeal of temptation1 the 
gradual surrender1 the fatal            
consequence4  ,shakspere does not show  
the inner springs of the fall of        
,macbeth or ,angelo so clearly as she   

shows the catastrophe of ,arthur        
,donnithorne1 of ,tito ,melema1 of      
,gwendolen ,harleth4  ,readers from whom
 the threat of hell would fall off as an
 old wife's tale1 feel the dark power of
 reality in the mischief which dogs each
 of her wrong-doers4  ,more scantly1 and
 with growing infrequence1 there are    
scenes of a natural gospel of redemption
 and salvation1--,hetty reached in her  
misery by the ,christian love of ,dinah1
 ,silas ,marner won back to happiness by
 the little child1 ,gwendolen saved from
 her selfishness through dire disaster  
and a strong man's help4  ,the          
prevailing atmosphere of ,george        
,eliot's later books is sad1 and the    
sadness deepens as they go on4  ,a      
labored1 over-strenuous tone increases2 
the style loses in simplicity and is    
overburdened with reflection4  ,the note
 of struggle is everywhere present1 and 
shuts out repose1 freedom1 joy4  ,the   
sensitive reader can hardly escape an   
undertone of suggestion1--yes1 life must

 be made the best of1 but it seems      
scarcely worth the cost4  ,is it the    
entire absence of any outlook beyond    
this life which makes the gloom of the  
later works8  ,yet this seems only      
partially to explain4  ,one seeks       
inevitably the clew to the writing in   
the life4 ,george ,eliot's story as a   
woman is an open one4  ,she took as her 
life companion a man who was legally    
united to another woman4  ,her          
justification apparently was that they  
were suited to each other1 and that with
 the support of this mutual tie they    
could best do their work4 ,stated in    
plain terms1 the moral question involved
 seems hardly to admit of any debate4   
,there is no more vital point in social 
morality than the relation of the sexes1
 and ,george ,eliot's own teaching      
reverts most often to this topic1 and   
always with its emphasis on restraint4  
,her actual course assumed that the     
established and accepted law of society 
may be set aside by a man and woman upon

 their own judgment that their need of  
each other is paramount to the social   
law4  ,a position more contradictory to 
her avowed principles could hardly be   
stated4  ,it was no new claim of        
immunity2 it had been professed and     
preached1 especially on the ,continent1 
with results patent to all1 of the      
subversion of social foundations2 it    
marks the especial danger-point of a    
time of swiftly changing standards4  ,it
 is impossible not to feel that her     
course was a precedent and example in   
flat contradiction of the teaching she  
so assiduously gave4  ,doubtless she    
persuaded herself she was right1 but    
such persuasion must have involved1 the 
most dangerous sophistication which     
besets man in his groping struggle1--a  
claim by a leader for exemption from the
 common obligation on the plea that his 
welfare 7that is1 his comfort7 is       
especially necessary for the good of    
mankind4  ,as one reads ,george ,eliot's
 pages with her own story in mind1 the  

shadows are heavy4  ,in the over-active1
 restless reflections1 one feels the    
working of a mind incessantly exercised 
by its own self-defense4  ,the          
suggestion comes to us of a nature which
 has lavished all its energies on       
thinking1 and lacked strength for       
living1 and so has failed of that vision
 which comes not from thought but from  
life4  ,the cramping horizon1 the low   
sky1 the earthly limit within which love
 saddens and hope dies1--all seem to    
bespeak that loss of truest touch with  
the universe which comes when one is not
 true in act to the law he acknowledges4
  ,the sense of a tragedy in herself1   
more pathetic than any she has depicted1
 touches us with awe1 with tenderness1  
with compunctious thought of our own    
failures4  ,we are purified by terror   
and by pity4   ,the largest wisdom and  
the finest insight of our age are       
blended in ,tennyson's ,in ,memoriam4   
,written half a century ago1 its truth  
not less than its beauty stands unshaken

 by the later thought and knowledge4    
,antedating the work of ,darwin and     
,spencer1 it accepts the principles of  
,evolution4  ,its atmosphere is wholly  
modern4  ,it is pervaded by the         
sentiment of ,christian faith1 but it   
does not lean for support on dogma or   
miracle4  ,the difficulties it          
encounters are neither the terror in the
 old view of the hereafter nor the      
problems incident to the supernatural   
theology4  ,the poet stands before the  
amazing spectacle of nature as seen by  
science1 beholding along with its       
prodigal beauty its appalling           
destruction and its unswerving march4   
,it is no longer hell1 but extinction1  
which seems to threaten man4  ,the      
intellectual problem of the universe is 
faced1 but the medium through which it  
is seen is the experience of a human    
heart filled by a sacred love and then  
struck by bereavement4  ,it is the old1 
typical1 deepest experience of          
man1--love confronted by death4  ,the   

poem moves like a symphony1 weaving     
together requiem1 cradle-song1          
battle-march1 and psalm1 to a           
consummation of tender and majestic     
peace4 ,as the recurrent theme which    
governs the whole may be taken this3--- 
,how pure at heart and sound in head1   
,with what divine affection bold1       
,should be the man whose thoughts would 
hold   ,an hour's communion with the    
dead4  ,these are the                   
conditions1--fidelity1 sanity1 divinely 
bold affections2 this is the fruition1  
the sense of a mystic communion with the
 unseen friend4  ,one passage gives the 
reconciliation between the evolutionary 
view of the universe and a divine       
possibility for the individual4  ,the   
evolutionary process of nature is       
regarded as the type of the development 
of the soul3---    ,contemplate all this
 work of ,time1     ,the giant laboring 
in his youth2     ,nor dream of human   
love and truth1   ,as dying ,nature's   
earth and lime2    ,but trust that those

 we call the dead     ,are breathers of 
an ampler day     ,for ever nobler ends4
  ,they say1   ,the solid earth whereon 
we tread    ,in tracts of fluent heat   
began1     ,and grew to seeming-random  
forms1     ,the seeming prey of cyclic  
storms1   ,till at the last arose the   
man2    ,who throve and branched from   
clime to clime1     ,the herald of a    
higher race1     ,and of himself in     
higher place1   ,if so he type this work
 of time    ,within himself1 from more  
to more2     ,or1 crowned with          
attributes of woe     ,like glories1    
move his course1 and show   ,that life  
is not as idle ore1    ,but iron dug    
from central gloom1     ,and heated hot 
with burning fears1     ,and dipt in    
baths of hissing tears1   ,and battered 
with the shocks of doom    ,to shape and
 use4  ,arise and fly     ,the reeling  
,faun1 the sensual feast2     ,move     
upward1 working out the beast1   ,and   
let the ape and tiger die4   ,thus do   
the moral purpose and the immortal hope 

define themselves in the terms of the   
new philosophy4  ,how are they related  
to the terms of the old religion8  ,the 
poet's attitude toward the historic     
,christ is wholly reverent4  ,incidents 
of the gospel story are vivified by a   
creative imagination4  ,but ,christ is  
no longer an isolated historic fact2 he 
is the symbol of all divine influence   
and celestial presence1--the ,christ    
that is to be4  ,the resurrection story 
is reverently touched1 but it is not    
upon this as a proof or argument that   
the poet dwells in regaining his lost   
friend under a higher relation4  ,that  
experience is to him personal1 at first 
hand4  ,his comfort is not solely that  
in some future heaven he shall rejoin   
his ,arthur4  ,the beloved one comes to 
him now in moments of highest           
consciousness2 associated profoundly1   
mysteriously1 vitally1 with the fairest 
aspects of nature1 with the loftiest    
purposes of the will1 with the most     
sympathetic regard of all fellow        

creatures4  ,in the experience which is 
supremely voiced in ,in ,memoriam1 but  
which is also recorded in many an       
utterance which the attentive ear may   
discern1 we recognize this3 that the    
sense of the risen ,christ which        
inspired his disciples and founded the  
church was in truth an instance--clad in
 imaginative1 pictorial form--of what   
proves to be an abiding law of human    
nature--the vivid realization of the    
continued and higher existence of a     
noble and beloved life4  ,we may believe
 that in the progress of the race this  
faculty is being developed4  ,in its    
first emergence it was confused by crude
 misinterpretations4  ,a single instance
 of it was for two thousand years       
construed as a unique event1 the        
reversal of ordinary procedure1 and the 
basis of a supernatural religion4  ,now 
at last we correlate it with other      
experiences1 and interpret it as a part 
of the universal order4  ,tennyson      
expresses that present heaven which is  

sometimes revealed to the soul3--       
,strange friend1 past1 present1 and to  
be2     ,loved deeplier1 darklier       
understood2     ,behold1 ,i dream a     
dream of good1   ,and mingle all the    
world with thee4    ,thy voice is on the
 rolling air2     ,i hear thee where the
 waters run2     ,thou standest in the  
rising sun1   ,and in the setting thou  
art fair4    ,what art thou1 then8  ,i  
cannot guess2     ,but though ,i seem in
 star and flower     ,to feel thee some 
diffusive power1   ,i do not therefore  
love thee less3    ,my love involves the
 love before2     ,my love is vaster    
passion now2     ,though mixed with ,god
 and ,nature thou1   ,i seem to love    
thee more and more4    ,far off thou    
art1 but ever nigh2     ,i have thee    
still1 and ,i rejoice2     ,i prosper1  
circled with thy voice2   ,i shall not  
lose thee though ,i die4   ,two men     
beyond all others in ,america have      
interpreted the higher life4 ,emerson   
revealed it through the medium of       

thought1 beauty1 and joy4 ,lincoln      
showed it in action1 sympathy1 and      
suffering4  ,lincoln had the deepest    
cravings of love1 of ambition1 and of   
religion4 ,his love brought him first to
 bereavement which shook his reason1    
then to the daily tragedy of an unhappy 
marriage4  ,his ambition--he said when  
he entered his contest with             
,douglas--had proved a failure1 a flat  
failure4 ,in his crude youth he exulted 
in the rejection of ,christianity2 then 
he felt the pressure of life's problems1
 and was powerless before them4  ,he    
could believe only what was proved1--all
 beyond was a sad mystery4  ,he bore    
himself for many years with honesty1    
kindness1 humor1 sadness1 and infinite  
patience4  ,he did not for a while rise 
to the perception of the highest truth  
in politics1 but he was faithful to what
 he did see4  ,he lived in closest      
contact with ordinary men and knew them 
thoroughly4  ,his training was as a     
lawyer and a politician4  ,this brought 

him in touch with the every-day         
actuality and all its hard and mean     
facts4  ,he was disciplined in that     
attempt to reach justice under a code of
 laws which is the practical            
administration of society1 distinct from
 the idealist's vision of perfection4   
,the time came when in the new birth of 
politics he rose to the perception of a 
great moral principle1--the nation's    
duty toward slavery4  ,at the same time1
 his ambition again saw its opportunity4
  ,he had a strong man's love of power1 
but he deliberately subordinated his    
personal success to his convictions when
 he risked and lost the fight with      
,douglas for the senatorship by the     
house-divided-against-itself speech4    
,in the anxious interval between his    
election and inauguration1 he went      
through1 as he said long afterward1 a   
process of crystallization1--a religious
 consecration4  ,he made no talk about  
it1 but all his words and acts          
thenceforth show a selfless1 devoted    

temper4  ,he bore incalculable burdens  
and perplexities for the sake of the    
people4 ,he met the vast complication of
 forces which mix in politics and       
war--the selfishness1 hatred1 meanness1 
triviality1 along with the higher       
elements--with the rarest union of      
shrewdness1 flexibility1 and            
steadfastness4  ,his humor saved him    
from being crushed4  ,the atmosphere he 
lived in permitted no illusions4        
,politics1 said he1 is the art of       
combining individual meannesses for the 
general good4  ,he came to the sense of 
a divine purpose in which he had a part4
  ,he grew in charity1 in sympathy1 in  
wisdom4  ,his private griefs1 such as   
the death of his boy1 deepened his      
nature4  ,he bore burdens beyond        
,hamlet's1--a temperament prone to      
melancholy1 the death of the woman he   
loved1 a wife who was little comfort1 an
 ambition which long found no fruition  
and no adequate field1 a baffled gaze   
into life's mystery2 then the           

responsibility of a nation in its       
supreme crisis1 and the sense of the    
nation's woe4  ,through it all he held  
fast the clew of moral fidelity4  ,a    
lover of peace1 he was forced to be     
captain in a terrible war4  ,you know   
me1 ,voorhees1 he said to an old friend2
 ,i can't bear to cut off the head of a 
chicken1 and here ,i stand among rivers 
of blood6  ,under overwhelming          
perplexities and responsibilities1 amid 
a ceaseless drain on his sympathies1 he 
learned and practiced a higher fidelity 
and deeper trust4  ,at the outset was   
the process of crystallization2 at the  
end came malice toward none1 charity for
 all1 fidelity to the right as ,god     
gives us to see the right4  ,at last the
 sunrise of the nation's new day shone  
full upon him4  ,then suddenly1         
painlessly1 he passed into the mystery  
beyond4  ,he was loved by his people as 
they never loved any other man4  ,the   
world prizes its happy souls1 but it    
takes to its inmost heart him who is    

faithful in darkness4    #a ,jowett's   
translation4  #b ,i have followed       
,george ,long's translation of          
,epictetus4  #c ,in the language of     
,renan3 ,by this word supernatural ,i   
always mean the special supernatural    
act1 miracle1 or the divine intervention
 for a particular end2 not the general  
supernatural force1 the hidden ,soul of 
the ,universe1 the ideal1 source1 and   
final cause of all movements in the     
system of things4     ,,iv  ,,glimpses  
,the virtue of truth-seeking is a modern
 growth4  ,the love of speculative      
truth1 indeed1 shines far back in       
antiquity1 in individuals or in little  
companies4  ,but the truth-seeking      
quality has had its special training    
through the pursuits of physical        
science4  ,the achievements of three    
centuries in this direction have been   
made under the constant necessity of    
attention to reality1 at whatever cost  
to prepossession or desire4             
,watchfulness1 patience1 self-correction

 are the requisites4  ,there is the     
discipline of what ,huxley calls the    
perpetual tragedy of science1--the      
slaying of a beautiful theory by an ugly
 fact4  ,this courage1 patience1        
humility of the intellect1 long         
exercised on secondary problems1 wrought
 into habitual and accepted traits of   
the explorer1 are called on at last to  
face the direst ordeal4  ,the human mind
 confronts the question1 ,are my dearest
 faith and love and hope based on       
reality8  ,to face that question1 and   
face it through2 to yield to no         
despondency1 however dark the answer2 to
 hold sometimes the best attainable     
answer1 whether of affirmation or       
denial1 as only provisional1 and wait   
for further light1 whether it come now  
or in a remote future1 whether it come  
to him or to some other1--this measures 
the greatness of the human spirit4  ,it 
is in this respect that our moral       
standards1 compared with those of       
,christendom for eighteen hundred years1

 have in a sense undergone not merely a 
development but reversal4  ,in that     
passage upon charity in which the genius
 of early ,christianity wings its       
highest flight1 one note alone wakes no 
response in us4  ,charity beareth all   
things1 hopeth all things1 endureth all 
things4  ,amen6  ,but at believeth all  
things we draw back4  ,for us1 the word 
must read proveth all things4  ,so long 
as moral obligation was based solely on 
the sanction of a supernatural world2 so
 long as the condemnation of murder and 
theft and adultery was supposed to rest 
on the fact that ,god gave two tables of
 stone to ,moses2 so long as brotherhood
 and hope and trust ascribed their      
charter to an incarnate ,deity1--so long
 a belief in the charter and its history
 seemed the first requirement1 the      
necessary condition of morality4  ,but  
to the modern mind the first and great  
commandment is to see things as they    
are4  ,the foundation of our morality1  
our happiness if we are to be happy1 our

 trust and worship if we are to have a  
trust and worship1--in any event1 our   
rule of life1 our guide and law1--must  
be1 follow the truth4  ,no sect         
monopolizes that principle4  ,it was    
orthodox old ,nathaniel ,taylor who used
 to bid his students1 ,go with the      
truth1 if it takes you over ,niagara6   
,the question presents itself to man3   
,is the ,power that rules the universe  
friendly to me8  ,it certainly does not 
offer the kind of friendship which man  
instinctively asks4  ,it does not give  
the friendship which saves from pain1   
which insures ease1 pleasure1 unchecked 
delight4  ,not an indulgent mother1     
certainly4  ,the starting-point for     
getting the question truly answered must
 be a practical acceptance of the       
highest rule and ideal known to man4    
,accepting that and following it1 he    
rises higher and higher4  ,he feels     
himself in some inward accord with the  
moving forces of the universe4 ,the     
prime requisite is for him to obey1 to  

do the right1 be the heavens kindly or  
hostile or indifferent4  ,just so1 long 
before man knew anything of the general 
laws of nature1 he planted and reaped1  
struggled for food and clothing1 took   
care for himself1--he must do long      
before he comprehends4  ,so he must work
 righteousness and love1 ,god or no     
,god4  ,and in the summoning voice      
within him1 the play upon him of powers 
forever urging him to choose the        
right1--powers to which he grows more   
and more sensitive as his effort is     
earnest1--in this he comes to recognize 
some reality which has to him more      
significance and impressiveness than any
 other thing in the world4  ,the working
 principle of the modern mind is that   
the universe is orderly4  ,everything   
has its place and meaning4  ,man        
discerns in his personal life this much 
of clear meaning1 that he is to strive  
toward the noblest ideal4  ,as he       
accepts that1 the conviction comes home 
to him that in the highest sense the    

universe is friendly1 for it is         
attracting1 urging1 compelling him to   
the realization of his highest dreams4  
,the highest intellect is always serene4
  ,shakspere and ,emerson stand at the  
summit of human thought and vision2     
unlike as they are1 both view the       
spectacle of life with an intense       
interest1 and a great though sober      
cheer4  ,if we analyze the elements     
which ,shakspere portrays1 we might     
incline to judge that the sadness       
outweighs the joy4  ,but the impression 
left by his pages is somehow not sad4   
,some deeper spirit underlies and       
penetrates4  ,back of ,lear's           
heartbreak1 ,hamlet's bewilderment1     
,othello's despair1 we feel some        
presence which upholds our courage4  ,it
 is the mind of the writer1 so lofty and
 wise that it is not daunted by all the 
terrors it beholds1 and which conveys to
 us its own calm4   ,in a like mood1 we 
may often look for ourselves on the     
drama of real life1 profoundly stirred  

by its comedies and tragedies1 but not  
overwhelmed1--least overwhelmed when our
 sight is clearest4  ,the sense of      
assurance--not of mere safety from      
special harm1 but the uplift of some    
unspeakable divine reality--comes in    
presence of the grandest scenes of      
nature1--mountain or ocean or sunset4   
,they supply an external image1         
answering to some faculty in the soul4  
,and when through failure of sense or   
spirit the vision is obscured1 the soul 
becomes conscious in itself of that to  
which mountain and ocean are but        
servants1--the reserve power to endure  
and to conquer which springs to life at 
the stern challenge4  ,the deepest      
assurance comes not as an intellectual  
view nor as an impression from the      
sublimities of nature4  ,it is the      
outcome of the severest conflicts and   
the heaviest trials4  ,we cannot explain
 the process1 but we see in others or   
feel in ourselves this3 that out of the 
hardest struggle in which we have held  

our ground comes the deepest peace4     
,what serenity is to the intellectual   
life1 that to the moral life is this    
peace which passeth understanding1 this 
blending of gladness and love4  ,it is  
not a passive condition1 but of the     
highest potential energy1--the parent of
 all great achievements and patient     
fidelities4   ,the soul learns to draw  
courage1 trust1 joy1 and hope from its  
resolute encounter with realities1      
without leaning on any explanation4  ,it
 is the onlooker only who despairs4     
,literature1 so much the work of        
on-lookers1 exaggerates the depression4 
,men of action1 toilers1 helpers1       
fathers1 mothers1 saints1--these do not 
despair4  ,the world as a whole1 and the
 best part of the world1 lives a life of
 action1 feeling1 exercise of every     
faculty1--which generates courage1      
strength1 tenderness4  ,under all the   
confusion and wrong1 there are still the
 deep springs of that same experience1  
that peace of ,god which always fed the 

highest life4  ,there is an experience  
sometimes felt of perfect assurance1    
peace1 and joy4  ,it is love which      
casteth out fear1--the sense of being   
,god's child2 it is communion with the  
,highest4  ,this is the heart of        
religion4  ,it is known to babes and    
sucklings1 unknown to many otherwise    
very learned people4  ,it speaks with an
 absolute authority the message of love 
and peace1 of joy and hope4  ,the mind  
is wont to clothe this message in some  
crude form1 which serves to convey it to
 others1 but is like the alloy which    
makes the pure gold workable1 yet       
debases it4  ,this gladness of the      
spirit was the gospel of ,jesus4  ,he   
had it as no one ever had it before4    
,his followers caught it4  ,they        
debased1 necessarily1 but they spread   
it4  ,they worshiped it in him1 made him
 their leader1 master1 and finally their
 ,god4  ,they loved him as a present    
reality1 while they treasured the record
 of his human words4 ,in such           

exaltation1 like the intoxication of a  
heavenly wine1 the untrained mind is    
creative in its ecstasy2 hence the      
beautifully conceived and easily        
believed stories of announcing angels1  
miracles of healing1 bodily             
resurrection4  ,then came a long        
development of dogma and church1--much  
of obscuration1 much of degeneracy4     
,through it all survived the truths that
 love is supreme1 and that the law of   
life is goodness sublimed to holiness4  
,the revivals of religions have been the
 rediscovery of the glad truth1 freed   
each time from some accompanying error4 
,the discovery of ,luther was that the  
soul's life in ,god was possible outside
 of the ,catholic church4  ,others had  
found this1 too1 but he made it a       
militant truth1 and successfully        
revolted4  ,calvinism was partly a      
reversion2 its emphasis on sovereignty  
was tyrannical1 but it trained the mind 
in exact and intense thought4  ,fox1    
after long searchings amid sects and    

parties1 made the new discovery         
again1--,god's spirit given directly1   
freely to man6  ,hence a sort of        
intoxication in the early ,quaker1      
sobering to a sweet religion4  ,always1 
in the various churches1--,roman1       
,english1 ,genevan1 ,lutheran1--was     
something of the divine fire1 though    
often hidden and choked4  ,in the       
,wesleys1 the saving and seeking love of
 ,christ was the form the revival took2 
and with this went free grace1 as       
against fatalism which crushed the will4
  ,edwards had something of the         
love-element1 but it was fettered by his
 ,calvinism4  ,his main service was to  
stimulate religious thought1 which1 from
 a ,calvinistic basis1 worked out       
through ,hopkins to ,channing4  ,the    
revival in ,liberal ,orthodoxy is       
essentially a recognition of the true   
character of ,jesus1 and an idealization
 and enthronement of this as the        
sovereign ideal1 with a clinging as yet 
to the supernatural basis1 which        

inevitably grows weaker4  ,meanwhile1   
new ways into the ,infinite have been   
opened1--through nature1 as by          
,wordsworth2 through humanity by        
,emerson4  ,science has swept away the  
whole supernatural machinery with which 
this inner life of the soul has been    
connected in men's minds4  ,it finds    
everywhere order1 growth1 a present     
rooted in the past and flowering into   
the future4  ,opening immense vistas for
 the race1 it sometimes seems to shrivel
 the individual to a transient atom4    
,but still there wells up in the heart  
of man the mysterious1 profound1        
irresistible gladness in its ,divine    
source1--the love that casts out fear4  
,we may look at it soberly1 assign it   
place1 limit it in a way2 it can no     
longer give us a cosmogony1 but         
unimpaired is its message1 ,obey and    
rejoice6  ,we correlate its impulse with
 the sense of moral obligation and the  
code of ethics which has grown up in the
 world's sober experience4  ,we learn to

 cultivate the religious sense more     
wisely than of old4  ,we make bodily    
health its minister4  ,we administer and
 reorganize civil society1 instead of   
confining ourselves to the church4  ,we 
open our hearts to the revelation of    
nature and humanity4 ,and we wait       
patiently the slow coming of the        
,kingdom2 the slow growth of religion in
 our own character2 the slow upbuilding 
of human societies4  ,side by side with 
this slow process lies always the       
present heaven into which at times the  
soul enters and finds perfect peace1--a 
peace which embraces past1 present1 and 
future1 time and eternity4  ,we study   
and practice obedience1 diligence1      
patience2 and at unforeseen moments1    
under shocks or in highest tranquillity1
 comes the divine revelation4  ,the     
belief that the perfect life had        
actually been lived by ,christ was a    
help to men whose aspiration felt itself
 unsuccessful1--the very height of the  
aspiration deepening the sense of       

failure4  ,the mind fastened on an      
actual and perfect goodness outside of  
itself4  ,the ,stoic ideal kept a man   
self-watchful1 giving him no higher     
personality to look up to4  ,there was  
in ,christianity the feeling that the   
perfect life has been lived1 and this   
somehow may help to save me4  ,this was 
the core of the ,atonement4  ,all       
theories of it--ransom1 substitution1   
and the like--were intellectual         
explanations of the fact of experience4 
,forgiveness is the soul's delighted    
sense that its sin is not mortal4 ,it   
comes only after sin has been felt as a 
burden4  ,conscious of wrong-doing1 man 
feels helpless and even                 
accursed1--imagines or credits stories  
of a fall1 of measureless guilt1 and an 
endless hell4  ,what gives poignancy to 
these ideas is the real sense of        
wrong-doing1 which projects a monstrous 
and exaggerated shadow4  ,the sense of  
duty1 constantly worked1 breeds in      
sensitive souls the despair of an       

unattainable perfection4  ,the outward  
ceremonial does not help or enrich1--the
 moral and spiritual ideal tantalizes by
 its impossibility4  ,this happens even 
to the strenuously righteous4  ,in the  
gross wrong-doer1 especially if he falls
 under the ban of society1 there is     
wrought a despair which probably        
expresses itself in a hardened          
recklessness4  ,among these lost sheep  
came ,jesus as a friend4  ,his love     
divined the deeper soul within          
them1--its yearning for the good it had 
perhaps ceased even to struggle         
for1--its untouched possibilities4  ,he 
said1 ,be of good cheer6  ,thy sins be  
forgiven thee6  ,go in peace6  ,at his  
word and touch1 a new life sprang up in 
them1--a new force lifted humanity in   
its lowest depths4  ,to this new sense  
of life out of death ,jesus gave the    
name of ,your ,father's love4  ,he      
typified it in the parable of the       
,prodigal ,son4 ,and as the appropriate 
attitude for this recovered sinner1 he  

set1 not merely a glad and thankful     
acceptance of the gift1 but the passing 
of it on to others4  ,he bound          
inseparably the receiving and the       
giving4 ,forgive us our debts1 as we    
forgive our debtors4  ,just the         
experience of the pardoned miser or     
harlot came to ,paul when he saw that in
 his pride and willfulness he had been  
persecuting the holy and innocent1 yet  
felt himself reached and loved and      
restored by that same innocent and holy 
soul4  ,the experience was constantly   
repeated in the early church4  ,it was  
the most striking of all those genuine  
miracles--the wonders of spiritual      
creation and growth--which were the     
wealth of the ,christian society4  ,at  
the most dark and depressing hour of    
that society2 when in gaining dominion  
it had lowered its purity1 and before   
the barbarian invasion the whole social 
fabric shook1--that same miracle of a   
divine love1 realized as a saving and   
transforming force1 was wrought in the  

great personality of ,augustine1 and    
inspired through him anew the life of   
the church4  ,the intellectual vestment 
of this experience--the form under which
 the crude thought of these men gave it 
body and substance--was the ,incarnation
 and the ,atonement4  ,those doctrines  
have lasted through all changes1 even   
until this day1 because of the pearl of 
truth cased in their rough shells4      
,when now we try to express that truth  
in its simplicity--finding always a     
great difficulty in putting in          
articulate words the deep things of the 
spirit--we say that the man who sees and
 sorrows for and seeks to escape from   
his wrong deed or habit may come into   
the consciousness that he will          
escape1--may feel with a profound       
assurance that he is upborne by some    
power of good which will save him and   
bless him4  ,he is recoverable2 he is   
lovable2 he is loved1 and shall be      
saved4  ,and the way in which that      
consciousness is awakened is oftenest by

 the contact of some soul which the     
sinner reverences as better than        
himself1 which knows his guilt and loves
 him in spite of it1 and declares to him
 that he shall live and recover4  ,the  
minister of forgiveness may be a mother 
or a wife2 it may be the sincere priest 
speaking to the sincere penitent2 it may
 be ,christ or ,madonna2 it may be the  
unnamed ,power whose token is the       
sunset1 or the rainbow1 or the voice    
within the heart4   ,the especial       
limitation of ,christianity at its birth
 was the expectation of the speedy      
ending of the existing order4  ,hence an
 indifference to such subjects1         
belonging to permanent human society1 as
 industry1 government1 knowledge1 the   
control of the forces of nature4  ,as to
 all these1 the limitations of          
,christianity hindered its progress2 as 
to each1 the natural and secular world  
exercised an influence unconfessed or   
striven against2 as to each1 the        
perception was reached that it must be  

recognized by religion1 until in our day
 the ,here and ,now takes the foreground
 in place of the ,hereafter4  ,the      
personal life in its present relations1 
the human society under earthly         
conditions1--these give to us the main  
field and problem4  ,the hereafter of   
the individual gives background and     
atmosphere4   ,for holy living and dying
 we put simply holy living4  ,to give   
fullness and perfection to each day1    
each act1 is all and is enough4 ,the    
thought of death should not swerve or   
alter a particle4  ,when the last hour  
of life comes1 what retrospect shall we 
wish8  ,only to have filled life with   
the best4   ,the religious emotion will 
often and freely personify1 and must do 
so4 ,the highest feeling takes on a     
quality of love1 and love goes to a     
personal object4  ,it is sometimes as   
toward one divine friend and ,god1      
sometimes toward the one beloved human  
being1 sometimes the ,christ1 sometimes 
a universe of living and loving beings4 

,these are distinctions of form rather  
than of substance1 the expression by    
different minds of the same reality4    
,to the modern mind1 the distinct       
personification of deity is less natural
 than formerly4  ,the very vastness of  
the ,infinite1 as we conceive it1       
precludes this definite personalizing of
 it as a habitual mode of thought or    
basis of conduct4  ,yet under lofty and 
high-wrought emotion1 the yearning of   
the soul toward the ,supreme ,power     
often breaks spontaneously into the     
language of personality4  ,in the       
exquisite sense of deliverance from     
sharp trouble1--when the trouble itself 
seems more than justified by the        
heightened gladness1 as in ,titian's    
,assumption the face of the ,virgin     
,mother shines in the welcome of that   
heaven to which the way has led through 
all earthly and motherly sorrow1--in    
such emergence1 the heart utters again  
the very words of the ,psalmist3 ,i love
 the ,lord1 because he hath heard my    

voice and my supplications4 ,the sorrows
 of death compassed me1 and the pains of
 hell gat hold upon me2 ,i found trouble
 and sorrow4  ,then called ,i upon the  
name of the ,lord1 ,o ,lord1 ,i beseech 
thee1 deliver my soul6  ,gracious is the
 ,lord and righteous2 yea1 our ,god is  
merciful4  ,return unto thy rest1 ,o my 
soul1 for the ,lord hath dealt          
bountifully with me4  ,for thou hast    
delivered my soul from death1 mine eyes 
from tears1 and my feet from falling4   
,if we would weigh and measure the value
 of mankind1 we have no scales or       
measures4  ,as much is to be said for   
the badness of men as for their         
goodness4  ,still more impossible is it 
to trace their individual responsibility
 for what they are4  ,but the           
determination of the value of mankind1  
even the lowest1 is by a different      
process from that of the speculative    
intellect4  ,are men worthy of love8    
,love them1 and you shall know6  ,the   
attitude of love vindicates itself4  ,no

 one who has heartily given himself to  
the service of others turns back saying1
 ,they are not worth it4  ,encompassing 
light creates in the developing creature
 an eye4  ,so encompassing love--human  
love--draws out response in its object1 
makes it lovable4   ,one class of truths
 are certain for all and at all times4  
,these are such as3 the excellence and  
authority of the highest moral ideal2   
the obligations of purity1 truth1 and   
honesty2 love as the true attitude2     
receptivity toward knowledge1 beauty1   
and humor4  ,there are other perceptions
 which vary greatly in their frequency  
and vividness4  ,they are impulses of   
reassurance1 joy1 hope1 victory4  ,they 
surpass all other sources of strength   
and comfort4  ,they cannot1 in their    
clearness and fullness1 be transferred  
or expressed2 they cannot even1 by the  
mind experiencing them1 be resolved into
 intellectual propositions4  ,they are  
not peculiar to what we usually call    
religion4  ,the experience of love      

between man and woman opens a new world4
  ,so does music2 so do all the finer   
forms of happiness4  ,all these1 when   
they come1 are felt as gifts1--as       
revelations4  ,they are not within our  
direct and immediate command4  ,what    
relation do they bear to the life which 
is within our command1--to our          
deliberate1 purposeful1 self-ordered    
life8  ,first1 in that life we cultivate
 the two traits which fit us for the    
vision1 though they do not command      
it1--sensitiveness and self-control4    
,so no man or woman can foresee whether 
the love of wedlock shall come to them1 
but each can render himself worthy of   
love1 and no high experience of love is 
possible except to one trained long     
beforehand in purity and unselfishness4 
,next1 these higher moods1 when they    
come1 should be accepted as giving law  
to the unillumined hours4  ,they do not 
change1 but they intensify1 the aim at  
rightness of life1 and they add to it   
the spirit of courage1 of trust1 of joy4

   ,the hope of immortality--the        
assurance of some good beyond1 which we 
express by immortality--is born from a  
sense of the value of life4 ,life is    
felt to be precious as it is consecrated
 by the moral struggle in ourselves1 and
 as it is viewed in others with         
sympathy4  ,we give our moral effort and
 our sympathy1 and these are encountered
 by the tremendous play of human joys   
and sorrows1 and the result is a sense  
of life as intensely significant4  ,the 
feeling of communion with ,christ1 with 
angels and saints1--its natural basis is
 the reverence and love for great souls4
  ,as such reverence and love is deep1  
and as death removes the objects1 the   
sense of a continued communion arises   
spontaneously4  ,no form of our         
consciousness is more vivid and profound
 than this4  ,it has a background of    
mystery1--mystery scarcely deeper or    
other than that which envelops the      
earthly love4  ,what do ,i love in the  
friend whom here ,i see8  ,is it the    

individuality1 or that higher power of  
which it transmits a ray8  ,the sense of
 this blending of the human and divine  
does not weaken or perplex our affection
 for the friend we see2 it intensifies  
and sublimates it4  ,so1 in the sense of
 communion with the unseen friend1 it   
disturbs us not that we cannot say how  
much is there of the remembered         
personality1 how much of the one eternal
 deity4  ,the essence of what we loved  
and love is sure and undying4   ,the    
creature succeeds as its functions and  
organs become fitted to its environment4
  ,man succeeds as he fits himself to a 
moral environment4 ,to the undeveloped  
man the world is full of forces which   
are hostile or indifferent to his right 
action2 a thousand things distract him  
from doing right2 he is like a creature 
in a watery world with half-developed   
fins4  ,but as a man becomes morally    
developed he finds moral opportunity    
everywhere1--finds occasion for service1
 for admiration1 gratitude1 reverence1  

hope4  ,this moral development includes 
the whole man3 he needs a good body2 he 
needs much that only inheritance can    
supply4  ,his own effort is one factor1 
not the sum of factors4  ,we must be    
patient with ourselves1--accept our     
inevitable imperfections as part of the 
grand plan1 and find a joy in what is   
above and beyond ourselves4   ,man first
 solves the problem of his own          
life1--finds the key in devotion to the 
highest ideal of character1--finds the  
answer in moral growth following his    
effort1 forgiveness meeting his         
repentance1 human love answering his    
love1 beauty meeting his desire1 truth  
opening to his search1 a support and    
assurance found in emergency4  ,then1   
and only then1 he can rightly study the 
world4  ,for he must first have the     
standard of values in human life2 he    
must have1 too1 the utter devotion to   
truth4  ,studying the universe1 he      
learns that man has come into being     
through the processes of material       

law1--that the aeons of astronomy and   
geology have been working toward his    
production4  ,he finds that man develops
 into moral man1 with the power of      
choice and of love2 develops into a     
being loyal and sensitive to duty and to
 his kind4  ,this type of man tends to  
become the universal type4  ,human      
goodness tends to spread itself4  ,there
 is a society1 living from age to age1  
of those devoted to the good of man3    
this sentiment grows purer1 more        
enlightened1 more enthusiastic2 it is   
the heart of all reforms1 all social    
progress2 no equal power opposes it4    
,it is combated by selfishness1 greed1  
ignorance1 violence1 but these forces   
have no spiritual cohesion among        
themselves1 no inner unity2 they are    
destined to fall before the advance of  
the higher spirit4  ,hand in hand with  
this advancing goodness goes advancing  
knowledge1 growing sense of beauty1     
greater powers of happiness4  ,we see   
thus a power working for good through   

man1 making him its instrument1         
absorbing him into itself4  ,the        
movement is continuous1 from the        
star-mist to the saint4  ,this is one   
element in the sum of things4  ,it is   
the element that man knows best4  ,the  
lives of the gnat and the tiger he      
scarcely more than guesses at4  ,other  
possible existences than his own there  
may be1 even within this mundane sphere1
 of which he knows nothing4  ,of        
humanity he knows something1 and he sees
 that it is moved toward the goal of    
perfection4  ,the power which thus moves
 it he inevitably identifies with that  
which he has found urging himself toward
 goodness1 touching him in his best     
estate with a sense of harmony1 and     
sustaining him in all emergencies4 ,to  
this ,power of ,good he devotes himself 
and trusts himself4  ,his supreme prayer
 is1 ,thy kingdom come1 thy will be     
done4  ,he seeks to be used by this     
power for its own ends2 better than any 
wish he can frame must be the end to    

which it works4  ,the final product of  
the world-forces1 the flower of the     
universe1 the child of ,god1 is man1 in 
his fidelity1 tenderness1 yearning4  ,to
 him belong the saint's aspiration1 the 
poet's vision1 the mother's love4 ,and  
this highest type1 by all its finest    
faculties1 reaches toward a hereafter4  
,the ruling power turns often a harsh   
face upon its creatures4  ,there is     
unbounded suffering4  ,there is the     
perpetual destruction of the individual4
  ,even the moral growth meets obstacles
 often insurmountable2 inheritance      
limits2 circumstances betray2 we see    
sudden falls and slow deterioration2    
whole races wane4  ,but we see that evil
 is somehow a stepping-stone to all our 
good4 ,heroism1 piety1 tenderness1 have 
been born out of pain4  ,the expectation
 of a hereafter gives hope that no      
individual moral germ is lost4  ,and we 
see that the crowning victory of life is
 the persistence of man's good against  
the evil2 as in the mother whose love   

the prodigal cannot exhaust2 in the     
,siberian exile who will not despair2 in
 ,jesus when before the cross he prays1 
,thy will be done4  ,this is faith1 this
 is the soul's supreme act1--the        
allegiance to good1 the trust in good1  
in face of the very worst4  ,man1 in    
that depth feels lifted by a power      
transcending himself4  ,so1 when the    
beloved is taken by death1 the heart1 in
 face of that loss1 loves on2 feels its 
love greater than that which has        
befallen2 says1 ,o ,death1 where is thy 
sting6  ,o grave1 where is thy victory6 
,the best living unites us closely and  
mysteriously with some greater whole of 
which we are a part4  ,the three great  
faculties are knowledge1 conduct1 love4 
,knowledge finds always new objects1 new
 connections1 a more perfect and        
wonderful whole4  ,right conduct brings 
a sense of being in true relations1--of 
fulfilling some high destiny4  ,love    
blends the individual with the          
universal2 its successive steps are the 

highest form of human education4        
,christianity was a feminine religion in
 its virtues1 as purity and tenderness2 
and also in its attitude of pure        
dependence1 submission1 petition4  ,the 
masculine elements have not been duly   
recognized as religious1 even when      
having a great place in the actual      
working of things1--self-reliance1      
physical hardihood1 civic virtue1 the   
pursuit of truth4   ,in her subject     
state1 woman has learned piety4  ,she   
brings that as she emerges into her free
 state1 her gift to man1 as his to her  
is strength and self-reliance4   ,the   
moral power of the dogmatic systems has 
been very limited4  ,they pretended to  
all knowledge and all power1 but they   
have only gone a little way to sweeten  
and purify human life4  ,the enthusiasm 
of humanity advances society farther in 
a decade than the old religion did in a 
century4   ,we are taught by scientists 
the extreme slowness with which races   
have improved4  ,but do we know how fast

 races or families can improve if       
brought in contact with the most helpful
 influences of other races or families8 
,has that experiment ever been fairly   
tried8  ,do not results with hardened   
convicts1 with ,indian and negro pupils1
 suggest that there may be an immense   
acceleration of moral progress8         
,different classes of minds require     
different religions4  ,a multitude      
require the pictorial faith and the     
absolute authority of the ,catholic     
church4  ,a great many require the      
divine-human figure of ,christ4  ,a     
certain class of minds will be          
pantheistic4  ,to some the wonders of   
the physical world will be the most     
impressive revelation4  ,natures strong 
in spiritual insight will be            
transcendentalists4  ,those in whom     
personal affection is profound will have
 the gospel of ,in ,memoriam and ,lucy  
,smith4  ,active1 serviceable1          
unimaginative men will often be content 
with a cheerful agnosticism4  ,some1    

after pushing their inquiry to the      
farthest1 and keeping it united with    
right living1 will rest in devout and   
contented uncertainty4   ,the advance of
 knowledge has been the great fact of   
the world's intellectual life for the   
past century4  ,the increase by this    
means of material good2 the upward push 
of the people1 strengthened by knowledge
 and by prosperity won through          
knowledge2 the widening and deepening of
 human sympathy1--these are the great   
social facts4  ,the imminent situation  
is that knowledge has destroyed the old 
religious basis1 and is only just       
beginning to construct a new religious  
cultus4  ,socially1 the common people   
seem on the point of a great advance1   
while the too eager push for material   
good brings temporarily a moral injury4 
,among the constructive forces are3 a   
knowledge of man and the world which    
enables us to build on broader          
foundations than ,jesus or ,st4         
,francis2 a vivified sense of humanity  

which gives the emotional force which is
 always the strongest dynamic factor2   
and a new sense of natural beauty which 
feeds the religious life and imparts    
peace4  ,the immediate future is        
uncertain1--the barbarian invasion and  
the religious wars may have a parallel  
in another period of disasters4  ,but   
the large onward movement is clear1 and 
the personal ideal was never at once so 
reasonable and so ardent as now4        
,though storms should rise high1 faith  
and hope may hold fast1 remembering that
        all the past of ,time reveals   
,a bridal dawn of thunder-peals         
,wherever ,thought hath wedded ,fact4   
,democracy is just a continuation of the
 upward push which out of the mollusk   
has made man4  ,altruism is not the only
 nor the primary upward force4  ,before 
it and along with it goes the           
individual's struggle for his own       
betterment1--the outreach1 first1 of    
hunger and sex2 then toward finer forms 
of pleasure2 then of moral aspiration4  

,democracy1 socialism are an effort for 
common betterment2 the egoistic merges  
with the altruistic impulse4  ,the mind 
must be held open to the free winds of  
knowledge4  ,if they can shake the      
foundations1 let them4  ,and just as    
one's personal courage must often       
tremble before personal risks1 so there 
must sometimes be intellectual tremors4 
,if in the ardent temper and sweet      
spirit of the ,new ,testament we try to 
discriminate as to what phases of human 
conduct receive the chief stress1 we    
find the strongest emphasis is on       
brotherly love and chastity4  ,the      
ethical service of the ,christian church
 has been greatest in the direction of  
these two qualities4  ,what it has done 
for purity is beyond our power to       
measure4  ,and it is just at that point 
that even yet the struggle of humanity  
to emerge from the bestial condition    
seems most difficult and doubtful4      
,some writer has remarked that          
,christianity apparently introduced no  

really new virtue into human society1   
with the exception of male chastity4    
,shakspere in one sonnet gives          
tremendous expression to the evil of    
lust1 with this conclusion3--    ,this  
all the world doth know2 yet none know  
well   ,to shun the heaven1 that leadeth
 to this hell4   ,christianity1 in a way
 of its own1 opened a gate out of that  
hell4  ,the gate was the power of a pure
 spiritual affection4  ,paul describes1 
in language that strikes home to-day1   
the war of flesh and spirit4  ,for him1 
its conclusion is3 ,o wretched man that 
,i am6  ,who shall deliver me from the  
body of this death8  ,i thank ,god      
through ,jesus ,christ our ,lord6  ,at  
the crisis there rises in his spirit the
 consciousness1 vivid as a personal     
presence1 of that great1 pure1 loving   
soul2 and temptation falls dead4        
,augustine relates more fully a like    
experience4 ,the turning-point of his   
life comes when1 still bound after long 
struggles by a sinful tie1 there comes  

to him the message1 ,put ye on the ,lord
 ,jesus ,christ1 and make not provision 
for the flesh to fulfill the lusts      
thereof4  ,the church has not confined  
itself to a single form of influence4   
,it has invested the command to purity  
with the sanction of a divine behest2   
has used threats and penalties2 has     
employed asceticism1 often with most    
disastrous results2 has appealed        
variously to the spiritual imagination  
with legend and story4  ,the fresh blood
 of the ,northern peoples has come in to
 renforce the spent and struggling      
morality of the ,south4  ,a romantic    
conception of love has blended nature's 
two great forces--sense and             
spirit--instead of setting them in      
opposition1 and has invested wedlock    
with its true sanctity1 in place of the 
false exaltation of celibacy4  ,and1    
under various influences1 the relation  
of the sexes has upon the whole been so 
far heightened that we see this at the  
end of two thousand years1--that        

marriage1 which ,paul himself looked    
upon as a kind of necessary evil1 is    
recognized as the best guardian and     
teacher of purity4  ,the connection     
between the two most strongly marked    
phases of ,christian morality--between  
love and purity--is not an arbitrary or 
accidental one4  ,it is an ideal        
affection that best masters the sensuous
 nature4 ,in the words of ,ecce ,homo1  
,no heart is pure that is not           
passionate2 no virtue is safe that is   
not enthusiastic4   ,the modern attitude
 has two broad differences from early   
,christianity4 ,man addresses all his   
energy to understanding and controlling 
the forces of nature1 instead of        
regarding them as alien or hostile and  
his own salvation as a matter of        
supernatural relation4   ,and his       
relation with the ,infinite and the     
,hereafter is far more various1 subtle1 
intimate4   ,epictetus gives the heaven 
of the conscience1 ,jesus of the heart1 
,emerson of the intellect4  ,man's      

problems now are to find the physical   
and the social heaven1--to rightly      
correlate the spirit with the body and  
the earth1 and to more perfectly        
organize society4   ,the modern man1    
instead of appealing to ,jehovah or     
,christ1 grasps the powers of nature and
 of life as they are put into his own   
hands4 ,walter ,scott writes in his     
journal1 in a sharp exigency3 ,god      
help--no1 ,god bless--man must help     
himself4   ,love ,god and man2 what     
higher rule can there be8 we are asked4 
,but the actual work of the modern man  
is widely different from what ,jesus or 
,paul perceived4  ,to understand natural
 forces and ally himself with them2 to  
rightly order that vastly complex       
organism1 the state2 to frankly enjoy   
the pleasures of the healthy body2 to   
discern the beauty of the surrounding   
world2 to reproduce beauty in art2 to   
relish the humor of the world1--these   
are aims which would have sounded       
strange to ,paul1 to ,jesus1 or to      

,epictetus4  ,to seek the best1 not for 
ourselves alone but for others1 even at 
cost to ourselves2 to control our lower 
natures by our higher natures2 to feel a
 relation with the ,supreme1--these were
 the aims and inspirations of the       
earlier ,christianity2 and they remain1 
but with enlarged and new application4  
,science has not penetrated to the inner
 secret of life1 which is best reached  
by other approaches4  ,but it has       
enormously affected all thinking by the 
discovery of ,evolution4  ,the          
recognition of growth--a gradual1 causal
 process--in mankind's whole advance1   
alters the entire face of history and   
prophecy4  ,just as it eliminates       
supernaturalism from the past1 so it    
guides present progress and inspires    
while it moderates anticipation of the  
future4   ,there grows the sense of some
 unfathomable unity4  ,creator and      
creature are not sharply separated1 as  
by the theologians3 they are even more  
closely united than the father and son  

of ,jesus4  ,so1 too1 the unity of      
humanity--of all souls--until the idea  
of personal immortality blends with some
 dimly conceived but greater reality4   
,it is impossible to portray under a    
single image the ideal of to-day1       
because many ideals coexist4  ,there is 
infinite difference of moral            
development1 as many characters as there
 are men2 the variety of the spiritual  
world is like that of the material      
world1 and the diversity gives richness 
and charm4  ,and the forward movement of
 the ages is immeasurably complex4  ,yet
 certain broad movements are traceable4 
,do right and fear nothing1 was the word
 of ,stoicism4  ,god is holy2 be ye     
holy1 was the word of ,hebraism1 growing
 clearer1 stamping itself by            
institutions and inheritance4  ,god is  
love2 love ye1 was the word of          
,christianity4  ,the life of ,jesus was 
the symbol of that idea1 and gave       
impulse and law to the new society4  ,it
 was in keeping with the ,stoic doctrine

 of ,providence1 but it came through the
 imagination to the heart1 more powerful
 than the calm utterance of reason4     
,the ,christian sense of sin was the    
intense force to rouse the ancient world
 from its easy-going content4  ,it was  
necessary that purity should become a   
passion4  ,the dogma of depravity was   
the intellectual exaggeration of this4  
,a ,god who died to save men from sin   
and hell was its natural counterpart4   
,when the church had worked under the   
control of these ideas for fifteen      
hundred years1 there woke again in      
mankind the sense of joy1 beauty1       
knowledge1 as good in themselves and    
,god-given4  ,humanity was only half    
ripe for this truth1 and again the      
austere impulse reasserted itself in    
,calvinism1 in ,puritanism1 in the      
,jesuits4  ,but knowledge1 joy1         
naturalness1 went on growing2 they have 
changed the conception of religion      
itself1 turning it to the sense of a    
present as well as a future fruition4   

,the sense of human suffering comes in  
our day to full realization4  ,the best 
impulse of the time throws itself       
against that1 as formerly against sin4  
,just as the evil of sin was overstated 
and became an exaggeration and terror1  
so the sense of human suffering is often
 overstretched and becomes pessimism4   
,but1 essentially1 a fresh and powerful 
enthusiasm assails the evils of mankind4
  ,it aims to educate and elevate the   
whole being1--to save men4  ,it has in  
science a new instrument4  ,the old hope
 of some speedy millennium is gone4  ,we
 see that the general advance must be   
slow4  ,but we also see that the        
imperfect condition is not so terrible  
as it was once supposed3 it does not    
incur hell2 it does not imply total     
depravity2 it may even serve as         
stepping-stone to higher things4  ,all  
the higher phases of man's nature point 
together4  ,the highest thought says1   
,all is well2 the deepest feeling1 ,god 
is love2 the human affection realizes   

its immortality2 the seeing eye finds   
universal beauty2 the profoundest       
yearning enfolds the promise1 ,i shall  
be satisfied4   ,we may follow the story
 by another thread4  ,a human society   
inspired and bound together by the      
highest traits1 consciously ensphered in
 a divine power and inspired by         
it1--this is the ideal which has been   
reached toward and grown toward through 
all the ages4  ,its primitive germ was  
,israel's hope of a splendid national   
future4  ,in ,jesus this expanded into  
the ,kingdom of ,god among men1--that   
is1 the perfect reign of goodness1 love1
 and the human-divine relation of son   
and father4  ,he looked for its         
realization by miracle1 and when that   
failed said1 ,thy will be done1 and     
died1 trusting all to the ,father4  ,his
 followers1 at first under the dream of 
his second coming1 settled into a       
society bound together by common rules  
and ideals4  ,the ,catholic church was  
born and grew4  ,mixed with all human   

elements of imperfection1 it advanced a 
long way toward the goal1 then divided  
its sway with new energies4  ,in the    
political and social life of ,europe1   
and especially of ,england1 there slowly
 grew up a population fit for           
self-government in place of government  
by the few4  ,thomas ,more foresaw      
prophetically a community which should  
realize the loftiest vision1 and whose  
bond should be human and social1 not    
theologic4  ,the ,puritan tried to      
enforce the will of ,god1 as he         
understood it1 by authority1--to build a
 commonwealth on ,hebrew lines4  ,he    
failed1 in ,england and ,america1 but   
stamped his character on both peoples4  
,then came the essay of the ,quaker     
toward a reign of peace4  ,next1 the    
,wesleyan movement1 quickening the      
,english heart and conscience1 and      
sending the wave which did in a degree  
for the ,west of ,america what          
,puritanism and ,quakerism did for the  
,east4  ,then the uprising in           

,france1--the passionate aspiration for 
liberty1 equality1 fraternity1--at war  
with ,christianity1 instead of at one   
with it like ,english freedom1 and      
working great and mixed results4  ,we   
see the ,american republic1 founded by a
 blending of hard common sense1         
experience1 devotion1 and widening      
purpose1 and best typified in           
,washington4  ,in ,lincoln the problem  
of the ,american commonwealth--to       
maintain unity1 yet purify itself--and  
the problem of a human life are both    
solved by the old virtues1 honesty1     
self-rule1 self-devotion4  ,the present 
movement of the world is toward a nobler
 social order4  ,it is to lift the      
common man upward1 on material good as a
 stepping-stone1 toward the height of   
the saint and seer4  ,this is the better
 soul of democracy1 the noble element in
 politics1 the reformation in the       
churches1 the bond of sympathy with     
,christ4  ,along with this goes a new   
personal ideal1 exemplified in          

,emerson1--accepting the present world  
as the symbol and instrument of a       
celestial destiny4  ,contenting himself 
with obedience1 man becomes divine4     
,in the ,gospel history1 the figures of 
the woman and the child take a high     
place4  ,in ,jesus himself the feminine 
element blent with the masculine4       
,medieval religion and art found their  
best symbol in the figure of the mother 
clasping her babe4  ,our modern time is 
giving freedom to woman and recognizing 
her equality with man1 and we are       
learning that the secret of the world's 
advance lies in the right training of   
children under natural law4  ,so the    
sentiment which grows up in the natural 
relations of life is elevated by        
religion1 then developed and perfected  
by freedom and by science4   ,for us the
 practical problem is the cultivation of
 the religious nature along with the    
other elements of a complete manhood4   
,we are not obliged by intellectual     
process to create a religious sentiment 

in ourselves4  ,we inherit that         
sentiment4  ,it is like the sense of    
purity or of beauty1--beyond            
demonstration1 except the demonstration 
of experience4  ,we need only to supply 
the right conditions for its education  
and application4  ,the belief that the  
spiritual life was dependent on certain 
institutions and beliefs was the key to 
the ecclesiastical tyranny of the past4 
,we have virtually escaped that tyranny4
  ,now1 in the atmosphere of freedom1 we
 cultivate the spiritual life1 and it   
proves deeper and fairer than ever      
before4     ,v  ,,daily ,,bread  ,when  
,charles ,lyell addressed himself to the
 problems of geology1 he found that his 
predecessors in the study had accounted 
for all the stupendous phenomena whose  
story is written in the earth's crust1  
on the supposition of vast catastrophic 
disturbances in the remote past1 because
 they held that these effects were too  
prodigious to have been wrought by the  
ordinary slow processes of nature with  

which we are familiar4  ,lyell took up  
the question by the near and homely end4
  ,he patiently watched the workings of 
heat and cold1 sunshine and rain and    
frost1 summer and winter1 in the fields 
about his own house4  ,he learned there 
what these familiar forces are capable  
of1 in what directions they operate1 and
 in them he found the clew to the story 
of the past aeons4  ,right about his    
doorstep were the magicians that had    
done it all4  ,that illustrates the     
process of discovery in the spiritual   
universe4  ,we are not to soar up into  
infinity to find ,god4  ,the only air   
that will support our wings is that     
which encircles closely this familiar   
planet4 ,let us look for a divine       
significance in homely things4  ,here is
 ,goodness4  ,it is right about us1 in  
people whom we know and meet every day1 
plainly visible to eyes that know how to
 see it4  ,here are all its forms4      
,innocence1--the very image of it looks 
upon you from many a child's face4      

,courage1 firmness1 self-control1--you  
may read them in the lines of many a    
manly countenance4  ,purity1--who has   
not felt its hallowing regard fall upon 
him from the eyes of maid and matron8   
,pity1 tenderness1 sympathy1--these     
angels move about us in human forms1 and
 he that hath eyes to see them sees4    
,fineness of character must be          
recognized by sympathetic observation4  
,there must be the watchful             
attentiveness1 like that of the sculptor
 studying his subject1 the hunter       
tracking his prey4  ,and there must be  
in the observer himself some quality    
akin to that he would detect4  ,only the
 good see goodness1 only the lover sees 
love4  ,a mother would convey to her    
little daughter some full sense of the  
motherly feeling that yearns within her1
 but how can it be done8  ,in just one  
way3 let that daughter grow up and have 
children of her own1 then she will know 
how her mother felt4  ,would we know    
something of the ,divine ,mother-heart8 

,we must first get in ourselves         
something of the mother-feeling4  ,every
 one that loveth knoweth ,god and is    
born of ,god4  ,perhaps there has been  
given to us some human friend1--parent  
or comrade1 husband or wife1--in whom as
 nowhere else we see the beauty of the  
soul4 ,best1 divinest gift of life is   
such a friend as that1--a friend who    
fills toward us a place like that to    
which our poet so nobly aspires3--      
,you shall not love me for what daily   
spends1   ,you shall not know me on the 
noisy street1   ,where ,i1 as others1   
follow petty ends2   ,nor when in fair  
saloons we chance to meet2   ,nor when  
,i 'm jaded1 sick1 anxious1 or mean2    
,but love me then and only1 when you    
know   ,me for the channel of the rivers
 of ,god1   ,from deep1 ideal1 fontal   
heavens that flow4   ,sometimes the     
friend whose goodness so touches us as  
with the very presence of ,god is one   
whom we have never seen4  ,to millions  
of hearts that place has been filled by 

,christ4  ,these lines of               
,emerson--heroic idealist that he       
was--ask to be loved only when he is at 
his highest1 and so is felt as a        
revelation of something higher than     
himself4  ,but our best                 
friends--comrade1 mother1 or wife--love 
the ideal soul in us1 and love us no    
less when we are jaded1 sick1 anxious1  
or mean1 covering with exquisite pity   
our infirmities1 and by their nobility  
lifting us out of our baseness4  ,and in
 that affection which embraces our best 
and our worst1 those human friends are  
the symbols--yes1 and are part of the   
reality--of the ,divine love4  ,and what
 is all beauty1 all grandeur1 but the   
manifestation1 through the eye to the   
soul1 of the one ,supreme ,being8  ,the 
mountains1 the sea1 the sunset1 touch us
 with more than pleasure3 they stir in  
us some awe1 some mystic delight1 some  
profound recognition of sacred reality4 
,how can we better frame the wonder in  
speech than by saying1 ,just as my      

friend's face manifests to me my friend1
 so ,nature is as the very face of the  
living ,god8  ,in the processes of human
 life1--the life we live and the life we
 see1--there is discernible a           
significance which grows more           
impressive1 more solemn1 more inspiring1
 just as we learn to read it            
intelligently4 ,what a wonderful drama  
is this play of human lives1--this      
perpetual tragedy and comedy1 of which  
some slight and faint transcript finds  
expression in the pages of poet and     
novelist6  ,we needs must continually   
see and feel something of it1 but we are
 apt to miss its best significance4     
,what fastens our attention most in our 
experience1 or in what we               
sympathetically watch in others1 is the 
element of enjoyment or suffering4      
,pain and pleasure are so very1 very    
real6  ,we ache1 and we are sorry for   
another's ache2 we are joyous1 and glad 
in another's joy4 ,and there it often   
stops with us4  ,but all the while      

something is working under the pain and 
pleasure4  ,character is being made or  
marred4  ,yonder man bleeds1 and you    
sigh for him1--ah6 but a hero is being  
moulded there4 ,and here one thrives and
 prospers1 expands and radiates1--but a 
spiritual bankruptcy is approaching4    
,when we look closely and deeply at the 
world about us1--whether at this ordered
 world of nature1 moving steadily in its
 unbroken and majestic course1 or at the
 external aspect of grandeur and        
loveliness1 or at the drama in which all
 men are actors1 as it is disclosed to  
insight and sympathy1 or at the inner   
world of each one's personal            
experience1--do we not find ourselves in
 the perpetual presence of ,goodness1   
,order1 ,beauty1 ,love8  ,are not these 
the very presence of ,deity8  ,but1 you 
say1 there is also confusion to be      
seen1--what does that signify8  ,just so
 fast as human intelligence advances1 it
 finds that what seemed disorder is     
really governed by strictest order4     

,you say1 ,we see ugliness as well as   
beauty1--what does that mean8  ,ugliness
 serves its purpose in aiding by        
repulsion to train the sense of beauty4 
,beauty1 and man's delight in it1 is the
 end2 ugliness1 and our repulsion from  
it1 is but an incident and means4  ,you 
say1 ,we see wickedness1--what of that8 
,may we not hope that wickedness1 in the
 broad survey of mankind's upward       
progress1 is the stumbling of a child   
over its alphabet8  ,the instinct that  
the shadow is the servant of the light1 
that seeming disorder1 ugliness1 sin are
 but veiled instruments of good1--this  
seems one of the truths which flash upon
 mankind in gleams1 and which as the    
race rises actually into nobler life    
tend to become clear and steadfast      
conviction4   ,it is the vastness of the
 ,divinity that overwhelms us4  ,suppose
 a man1 simple-hearted and imaginative1 
who1 in a distant country1 has read of  
,america1 and has fashioned her in his  
thoughts as a heroic female figure1--a  

kind of goddess4  ,he has taken as      
literal reality such poetic descriptions
 as those in ,lowell's ,commemoration   
,ode and ,emerson's ,boston ,hymn1--    
,lo6 ,i uncover the land   ,which ,i hid
 of old time in the ,west1   ,as a      
sculptor uncovers the statue   ,when he 
has wrought his best4  ,and he comes to 
you and says1 ,show me ,america6  ,and  
you show him a little of this country1  
its mountains and lakes and rivers1 its 
shops and farms and people4  ,he is     
interested and gratified4  ,yet this is 
not what he expected2 and he says1 ,but 
show me ,america1--that radiant1 heroic 
form1 that goddess to charm the eyes and
 the heart4  ,and you tell him3 ,but    
,america is too great to be taken in so1
 at a glance4  ,you have just begun to  
see it4  ,you have seen ,new ,england's 
hill-farms1 but you have not seen the   
prairies of the ,west4  ,you have seen  
the ,penobscot and ,kennebec1 the       
,connecticut and ,hudson2 but you have  
yet to see the ,mississippi and         

,niagara4  ,i have taken you to         
,katahdin and ,monadnock and ,mount     
,washington1 but you have yet to behold 
the ,alleghanies and the ,rockies and   
,tacoma4  ,our people you have just     
begun to see3 our armies of free        
toilers1 our happy households1 our      
strong men and lovely women1--these you 
are only beginning to know4 ,and he     
says1 perhaps3 ,but all this is so      
diffuse1 so various1 so difficult to    
comprehend6  ,i had fancied ,america as 
some one beautiful1 some one to love4   
,how can one love such a scattered1     
immense1 diversified thing as this you  
describe to me8  ,well1 you tell him3   
,you may not understand it yet awhile2  
but this country which you say is not a 
thing to love was in peril of its life a
 few years ago1 and it was so loved that
 men by hundreds of thousands left home1
 and risked life and all for it1 and    
their mothers and wives and sisters sent
 them forth4  ,that is how ,america can 
be loved6  ,in some such fashion as this

 do we grope after a ,god whom we can   
comprehend at a glance2 and1 lo6 his    
presence fills the universe4  ,say not1 
,who shall ascend into heaven to bring  
him down1 or who shall descend into hell
 to bring him up8 for he is nigh thee1  
before thy eyes and in thy heart4   ,the
 chief revelation we need is the        
education of our own perceptive powers4 
,sir ,john ,lubbock has pointed out1 in 
a very striking passage1 that the       
material world may convey itself through
 other senses than the five which we    
possess1 that there may be innumerable  
other senses1 and that some of these may
 perhaps be already developed in other  
creatures than man4  ,such a suggestion 
stirs our curiosity and desire2 but how 
few of us have learned to rightly use   
the five senses we have6  ,and of the   
moral perceptions we have but a most    
rudimentary development4  ,we are       
unconscious of most of the world we live
 in1 unconscious even of what many of   
our fellow-men discern4  ,did you ever  

happen to be in the presence of a       
sunset1 flooding the heavens with glory1
 with a companion who showed no sign of 
perceiving the splendor8  ,ah6 perhaps  
he was blinded to it by some secret     
grief or care1 some trouble which you   
might have discovered in him and        
comforted1 had your sympathy been as    
acute as your sense of beauty4  ,but did
 his blindness1 whatever its cause1     
suggest to you that you perhaps were at 
that moment in the presence of sublime  
realities1 to which your consciousness  
was closed as his was to the sunset8    
,to recognize consciously the spiritual 
elements in the universe belongs partly 
to a right cultivation of character1 and
 partly it is due to natural endowment1 
to an intellectual faculty4  ,it is not1
 after all1 of so much account that we  
see the divine in life as that we have  
it in ourselves4  ,in this one sentence1
 ,blessed are the pure in heart1 for    
they shall see ,god1 ,jesus puts        
spiritual vision as the result of a     

moral quality4  ,but it is the moral    
quality itself on which1 in one form and
 another1 his blessing is constantly    
pronounced4  ,so1 if you say1 ,i cannot 
see1--,god is in no sense visible to me1
 yet there remain still most precious   
gifts1 if you will take them4  ,blessed 
are the gentle1 the peacemakers1 the    
merciful1 they that do hunger and thirst
 after righteousness2 blessed are the   
sympathetic1 the stout-hearted1 the     
open-eyed1 the open-handed2 plain and   
simple and sure are these benedictions4 
,the presence of ,divinity which it is  
most essential that we recognize is the 
choice perpetually presented to us      
between a higher and a lower course of  
action4  ,whether one has the joyful1   
uplifting vision is of small consequence
 in comparison with whether he steadily 
chooses and follows the right4   ,no one
 can be reasoned or persuaded into any  
living faith in ,god or immortality1 any
 more than reason and persuasion can    
draw from the cold ,april furrow the    

field of waving wheat4  ,the faith grows
 in the individual and in the race1     
under that culture to which the higher  
powers subject us1--a culture in which  
the elements are experience and         
fidelity1 thought and action1 love and  
loss1 aspiration and achievement4  ,love
 and ,loss1 the sweetest angel and the  
sternest one1 join their hands to give  
us that gift of the immortal hope4  ,if 
one asks1 ,how shall ,i gain faith in   
,god and hope of immortality8 what      
better answer can we give him than this3
 ,be faithful1 live1 and love6 ,work and
 love press their treasures on you with 
full hands4  ,open your eyes to the     
glory of the universe4  ,watch the      
world's new life quickening in bud and  
bird-song4  ,get into sympathetic       
current with the hearts around you4  ,be
 sincere2 be a man4  ,keep open-minded  
to all knowledge1 and keep humble in the
 sense of your ignorance4  ,seek the    
company that ennobles1 the scenes that  
ennoble1 the books that ennoble4  ,in   

your darkest hour1 set yourself to      
brighten another's life4  ,be patient4  
,if an oak-tree takes a century to get  
its growth1 shall a man expect to win   
his crown in a day8  ,find what word of 
prayer you can sincerely say1 and say it
 with your heart4  ,look at the moral   
meanings of things4  ,learn to feel     
through your own littleness that higher 
power out of which comes all the good in
 you4  ,join yourself to men wherever   
you can find them in that noblest       
attitude1 true worship of a living ,god4
  ,know that to mankind are set two     
teachers of immortality1 and see to it  
that you so faithfully learn of ,love   
that ,sorrow when she comes shall       
perfect the lesson4   ,love in its      
simplest and most common forms is often 
strangely wise4  ,many a mother learns  
from the light of her baby's eyes more  
than all wisdom of books can teach4     
,when the little1 unconscious thing is  
taken from her arms1 there is given to  
her sometimes a feeling1 ,my baby is    

mine forever2 a feeling in whose        
presence we stand in reverent1 tender   
awe4 ,it is not every experience of     
bereavement which brings with it this   
uplift of comfort4  ,but to the noble   
love of a noble object there comes the  
sense of something in the beloved that  
outlasts death4  ,to the noble love1 for
 most of our affection has a selfish    
strain in it2 the clinging to another   
for what of present enjoyment he yields 
to us brings small illumination or      
assurance4  ,but as self loses itself in
 another's life1 there comes to us the  
deep instinct of something over which   
death has no power4  ,above all1 when we
 unselfishly love one in whom dwells    
moral nobility1--when it is a great and 
vital and holy nature to which we join  
ourselves1--there comes to us a profound
 and pregnant sense of its immortality4 
,it is when death's stroke has fallen   
that that sense rises into full1        
triumphant bloom4  ,no wonder the       
disciples felt that their ,master lived6

  ,theirs was the experience that in    
substance repeats itself whenever from  
among those who love it a noble soul    
goes home4  ,it was because ,jesus was  
supremely noble1 and they had loved him 
with consummate affection1 that their   
experience was so intense and vivid4    
,its true significance lay in this1 that
 it was not supernatural but natural4   
,it is standing the pyramid on its apex 
to deduce all human goodness from the   
goodness of ,jesus1 and to argue a      
universal immortality solely from his   
rising4  ,let us place the pyramid      
four-square in the universal truth of   
human nature4  ,let us ground our       
religion upon the moral fidelity1 the   
human love1 the spiritual aspiration1   
and the sober regard for fact1 in which 
all loyal souls can agree4  ,then at its
 summit we shall get that character of  
which ,jesus is the type1 a character in
 which self-sacrifice and joy divinely  
blend1 and which in its passage from    
earth imparts the irresistible assurance

 of a higher life beyond4  ,this morning
 the sun rose upon earth and trees      
encased in blazing jewelry of ice4      
,fast1 fast the beauty melted and was   
gone1--and in its place1 behold the     
brown earth touched with living green   
and teeming with promise2 the trees'    
strong limbs tipped with swelling buds2 
and over all the tender1 brooding sky of
 spring4  ,even so1 the pageant of the  
miracle-story dissolves1 to give place  
to the natural consciousness of eternal 
beauty and eternal life4  ,a group of   
,americans meet in a foreign city1 and  
they talk fondly of home1 and to each of
 them home has its special meaning4     
,one says3 ,i remember the green        
hill-pastures and the great elms and the
 white farmhouses2 ,i know just how the 
autumn woods are looking1 and the       
stocked corn1 and the pumpkins ripening 
in the sun2 and ,i am homesick for a    
sight of it all4  ,another says3 ,it is 
the nation that ,i think of4  ,to me    
,america seems the home of the poor man1

 the common man4  ,she is working out   
great and difficult questions in        
government and society1 and ,i have     
strong faith that the outcome of it all 
is going to be a great good to the      
world4  ,i long to take part once more  
in that national life2 and over here    
among strangers ,i want at least to ,le 
no discredit to the dear old country1   
and if possible to pick up some bit of  
knowledge or experience that ,i can add 
to the common stock when ,i get home4   
,a third man says3 ,yes1 that's all     
true2 but ,i don't often think of it in 
so big a way as that4  ,i want to see my
 old neighbors4  ,and in these foreign  
,sundays ,i get hungry for the old      
church ,i've been to ever since ,i was a
 boy1 and the prayers1 and the old      
tunes4  ,another1 perhaps1 is silent2   
but to his heart all the while are      
present the faces of his wife and       
children4  ,as they end their talk and  
go out together1 up the harbor comes a  
gallant ship1 and at her peak float the 

stars and stripes2 and at the sight     
through each heart runs a common thrill 
of love and devotion4  ,one man's       
thought of home is the broader1 and     
another's is the tenderer2 but ,america 
is home to them all4  ,so into each     
loyal soul there shines a ray from the  
divine ,sun and ,soul of the universe4  
,each1 according to his individual      
capacity1 receives of the fullness of   
,him that filleth all in all4  ,to some 
minds the beauty of nature brings a deep
 and inspiring sense of divinity4  ,as  
one who has this sensibility looks on   
the hills and woods flushing in the     
tender radiance of autumn1 there comes  
to him perhaps no articulate and        
conscious thought4  ,he may not name the
 name of ,god1 or think it4  ,but the   
soul is uplifted4  ,there flows in upon 
it some high serenity1 some mysterious  
sense of ineffable good4  ,if from such 
a scene one returns to life's activities
 in braver1 truer1 and gentler mood1    
there has been to him a divine          

revelation4  ,some men are of a         
metaphysical turn of mind1 and not only 
their thoughts but all their emotional  
experience1 all that directs their      
purpose and animates their feeling1 is  
cast in the mould of highly abstract    
ideas4 ,they express themselves in      
phrases which to most people seem cold  
or meaningless1--an empty substitute for
 the warmth of religious life4  ,but to 
the thinker himself these phrases stand 
for profound realities4  ,it may be that
 words which have to other ears the     
dryness of a mathematical formula are to
 him the expression of moral purpose and
 sacred trust4 ,such an one may say3 ,i 
do not recognize a personal ,god1 ,i do 
not know that ,i shall have any personal
 immortality2 but ,i believe in the     
moral order of the universe and seek to 
conform to it4  ,i fearlessly trust my  
destiny here and hereafter4  ,perhaps on
 most of his hearers the words fall     
coldly2 but if they see that the        
speaker's life bears fruit of goodness  

and heroism and service1 they may be    
sure that1 though in a language strange 
to them1 ,god has spoken to his soul4   
,there are a great many people1 and some
 of the very best of people1 who never  
get any vivid or distinct apprehension  
of realities above the sphere of their  
personal activity4  ,often they conform 
to the usages and the language of a     
religious faith in which they have been 
educated1 and1 very likely1 feel some   
self-reproach that they know so little  
of the spiritual experiences which      
others speak of4  ,there are men1 too1  
who frankly say1 ,i don't know much     
about ,god2 ,i can't get hold of what   
folks call religion2 but ,i try to do my
 work honestly1 and ,i want to help     
other people just as much as ,i can4    
,some of the most genuine religion in   
the world exists in people who are      
almost unconscious that they have any   
religion4  ,the simple desire to do     
right1 and the constant readiness to    
lend a hand1--that is the revelation    

which such souls receive4  ,another very
 large class--a class which once        
included most of the distinctively      
religious world--crave and find the     
warmth of a personal relation with      
,christ as the only satisfying thing4   
,it is one of the great and wonderful   
facts of human history1 this personal   
devotion of unnumbered souls throughout 
the ages to ,jesus4  ,in its intensest  
form it is affection to a living        
personality4  ,any attempt to explain it
 as an appreciation of beneficent       
influences of which ,jesus was the      
historical originator1 or as the        
reproduction of a temper and purpose    
resembling that which was in ,jesus1    
fails to satisfy those in whom love to  
,christ is the ruling sentiment4  ,it is
 a person1 and a living person1 that    
they love4  ,one may decline to accept  
the theories which are wont to accompany
 the sentiment2 one may not believe that
 ,jesus was ,god1 nor that personal love
 for him can be required as an essential

 part of religion2 and1 at the same     
time1 one may believe that when a noble 
soul passes from earth1 it rises into   
yet nobler existence1 and may be truly  
apprehended and profoundly loved by     
those who are here4  ,certainly we see  
this3 that to many men and women the    
strongest and holiest sentiment of life 
is affection for a personal embodiment  
of goodness and love1 who once walked in
 ,galilee and ,jerusalem1 existing now  
in the invisible realm1 sympathizing    
with all human aspiration1 pitiful to   
all human weakness and sorrow1 inspiring
 to all effort and hope and trust4      
,that sentiment is surely a blessed     
revelation to those in whom it          
exists1--the warm and living symbol of  
an eternal reality4  ,to many1 the      
disclosure of ,god is made in some way  
especially personal to themselves4      
,very often some human friend is the    
best manifestation and assurance of     
divinity4  ,our faith leans on the faith
 of the best and most loving person we  

have known4  ,sometimes the heart's     
natural language is ,my father's ,god1  
my mother's ,god4  ,with some1 the life 
beyond death first becomes real to      
consciousness when the heart's treasure 
has been taken there4  ,sometimes1 in   
looking upon one's own life1 one becomes
 deeply conscious of the higher guidance
 that has led it4  ,there are hours in  
which past sorrows shine out as heavenly
 messengers of good4  ,there dawns upon 
us a sense of the blessedness that life 
has held2 all its highest experiences   
become instinct with the suggestion of a
 celestial meaning that we as yet but   
half apprehend4  ,we escape for the     
moment from the thralldom of self2      
personal happiness merges in something  
higher2 we are glad and still in the    
sense of a divine ,will working in us   
and in all things4  ,in such hours the  
soul says1 ,my ,god4  ,there is infinite
 variety of personal experience2 so many
 kinds of voices in the world1 and none 
of them without signification4  ,one man

 has been deep in drunkenness and       
debauchery1 he has grown reckless and   
hopeless2 but through some friendly     
voice there reaches him an impulse to a 
new and successful effort2 there comes  
in upon him the sense of a divine love2 
a mighty forgiving and restoring force  
seems to seize him and draw him back to 
life4  ,in his religion thereafter there
 may be the glowing emotion of one who  
has been forgiven much and loves much4  
,another man walks always in steady     
allegiance to conscience and right1 and 
never has any rapturous emotions2 is not
 he1 too1 the child of ,god8 ,we dislike
 the prodigal's elder brother for his   
jealousy2 but his father's word to him1 
despite that touch of unworthiness1 was3
 ,son1 thou art ever with me1 and all   
that ,i have is thine4  ,one whose life 
flows with smooth current may find the  
significance of religion in duty rather 
than in trust4  ,to such a one ,god may 
appear as an ideal1 inspiring conduct1  
but not as a power1 controlling events4 

,but upon him1 it may be1 there breaks  
some great emergency of life and death2 
the heart cries out like a child waking 
frightened in the night1 and there      
answers it1 from some depth far below   
its fear1 a voice that says ,peace6  ,in
 that hour the soul finds its father4   
,thereafter passing doubts and fears can
 but ruffle the surface for a moment4   
,in our northern winter1 how perfectly  
the trees blend with the scene about    
them6  ,they seem wholly a part of      
winter's grand but lifeless world1 and  
with what beauty do they crown that     
world1--the columnar trunks1 the mighty 
grip of the roots upon the firm earth1  
the arching sweep of stalwart boughs1   
the delicate tracery against the sky6   
,they answer to the season's mood1      
bending in patient grace beneath a load 
of snow1 casing themselves in jewels1 or
 springing up again in slender strength2
 silent1 except when the deep voice of  
the wind speaks through them4  ,their   
shadows soften the sunlight glittering  

on the snow1 or weave a black fretwork  
when the cold moon shines4  ,yet vital  
in their hearts the trees hold summer's 
secret4  ,a little while1 and they will 
be clothed in the leafy glory of ,june4 
,the robin and catbird and oriole will  
sing hidden among their branches4  ,of  
that summer season the trees will be the
 delight and crown1 that now stand like 
true children of winter4  ,they stand   
now so strong and true because of that  
hidden life within them which summer    
will fully disclose4  ,it is because it 
is alive that the trunk bends to the    
storm but does not break1 and the twigs 
hold up their load of snow4  ,so1 there 
are lives that so fit themselves to this
 world in which they stand that they    
become its finest part4  ,their sympathy
 finds out the secret needs and         
possibilities of those about them4      
,their insight discerns the work which  
society most needs1 and their fidelity  
accomplishes that part of the work which
 falls to them4  ,their natures stand   

open to all the glad influences of      
earth2 their hearts rejoice with them   
that do rejoice1 and weep with them that
 weep4  ,they make full proof of those  
experiences in which fortitude and      
silent endurance are the only resource4 
,sometimes they are happy1 and sometimes
 they are sad2 but always other people  
are happier because of them4  ,they are 
the children of a better country4  ,for 
them the soul's full summer waits4      
,knowing them1 we do indeed know        
something of ,god and the eternal life4 
,there is freedom to be achieved from   
the pettiness of our lives4  ,they      
never1 perhaps1 look so pitiful as when 
they seem made up altogether of little1 
necessary details4  ,our planting and   
reaping1 building and buying1 all the   
half-mechanical operations that absorb  
our thought and time1 seem sometimes    
little better than the bustle of a      
colony of ants4 ,when we look down upon 
it all from the height of some quiet1   
meditative hour1 are we not at times    

oppressed with a sense of its triviality
 and worthlessness8  ,trivial and       
worthless it is1 except as amidst it all
 we are working out something higher4   
,but to a man whose heart is set on     
noble ends2 one whose great aim is1 not 
to get his bread and butter1 but to be a
 man2 one who wants1 not just to make a 
profit out of his neighbors1 but to     
serve them and help them1 these details 
are no more trivial or degrading than   
the rough dress and homely tools of a   
sculptor are unworthy of the marble     
beauty that is growing under his hands4 
,the high purpose consecrates and       
transfigures all1 the want of purpose   
degrades all4  ,i have stood in         
,switzerland upon the ,gorner ,grat1    
looking upon the grandest scene in      
,europe4  ,on every side a circle of    
towering heights look down2 against the 
sky rise dazzling snowy summits1        
celestially pure1 celestially tender2   
the ,matterhorn frowns in awful majesty2
 vast ice-rivers sweep down toward the  

valley in solemn1 silent march4  ,if    
there be upon earth a spot that of      
itself has power to hush the soul with  
noblest emotion1 it should be that4     
,yet there ,i have seen a company of    
travelers spend their half-hour in      
senseless gabble and banter and the     
laughter of fools4  ,amid the squalid   
surroundings of a ,new ,york            
tenement-house1 ,i have seen a poor     
,irish woman living with such fortitude 
and faith and generosity that it was a  
comfort and inspiration to meet her4    
,that brave soul ennobled its mean      
surroundings with a glory which not the 
,alps and the sky could flash in upon a 
heart made blind and dull by ignoble    
thoughts4   ,if there dwells in us the  
spirit of life we shall be freed from   
the bondage of doubt4  ,on how many     
earnest and aspiring lives does doubt   
throw its chill shadow6  ,the world is  
crossing the flood that divides the old 
form of faith from the new4  ,the rising
 water strikes cold to many a heart4    

,here and there the waves sweep men off 
from all moral footing4  ,i know not    
that for the resolute and thoughtful    
there is any escape from some suffering 
in the transition4  ,could we be always 
sure that it is only a                  
transition1--could we know always that a
 better country lies waiting us1--all   
might be easily borne4  ,the suffering  
we may not decline2 but safety1 utter   
safety1 we may keep through all4  ,life 
is always possible to us4  ,fidelity1   
purity1 self-sacrifice1--these may      
always be ours4  ,are we baffled in our 
search for a divine plan in the         
universe8  ,let us look nearer home2 can
 we not find the clew to a divine plan  
in our own lives8  ,yes1 there need     
never fail to us an immediate token of  
divinity4  ,there is always1 at the     
lowest1 a duty to be done4 ,there is    
always1 at the very lowest1 a burden to 
be bravely borne4  ,there is always some
 one to be helped4  ,do we say1 ,but    
this does not comfort me1 does not      

reassure me8  ,then let it guide me6    
,it is not essential that ,i should be  
always in the sunshine4  ,it is only    
essential that in sunshine or in        
darkness my steering should be true4    
,and ,i am never without a compass while
 ,i see that there is for me a higher   
and a lower1 a right and a wrong1 to    
choose between4   ,does any sense of    
bondage weigh you down8                 
,disappointment1 it may be1--failure1   
life's fair promise blighted4  ,it may  
be the bitter slavery of evil habit4    
,it may be a dull and apathetic way of  
life1 stirred with a vague yearning     
toward higher possibilities4  ,it may be
 the darkness of a lost faith4  ,it may 
be a bereavement that has emptied life4 
,whatever it be1 the angel of           
deliverance stands beside you4  ,he is  
perhaps in very humble garb1 unsuspected
 of you4  ,some lowly duty awaits you4  
,some saddened life1 unnoticed by your  
side1 asks you to cheer it4  ,whatever  
opportunity of duty or of service lies  

in the path before you is ,god's own    
messenger4  ,meet it like the messenger 
of a king6  ,so meet every duty1 every  
opportunity4  ,find them1 make them1 for
 yourself4  ,live no longer in solitude 
but in brotherhood4  ,so shall the very 
spirit of ,god dwell in you2 so in his  
service shall you find perfect freedom4 
,the end of ,february is near1 and not a
 hint or whisper of spring does ,nature 
give us yet4  ,we are wont to have      
earlier than this a few days at least   
that seem to start the sap in the trees 
and the blood in the veins1 when the    
first bluebird is heard1 and we get one 
swift1 delicious glimpse of the good    
time coming4  ,but this year the cold   
only takes a sharper clutch4  ,at its   
average1 our northern winter has a      
fierce and almost merciless persistence4
  ,those first days of spring are hardly
 more than the taste of freedom with    
which the cat tantalizes the mouse4  ,it
 is this lingering close of winter that 
is hard to bear4  ,the supplies begin to

 give out4  ,the wood-pile that stood so
 high when the first snow came is       
getting lowered to very near the ground4
  ,the poor man's little hoard1 that was
 to bridge him over till the season of  
good work1 is perilously shrunken4      
,vitality1 too1 begins to run low4  ,the
 body pines for the out-door life from  
which it has too long been shut off4    
,winter is a hard-fisted churl who does 
n't give just measure4  ,he drives off  
the mellow and jolly ,autumn before its 
mid-month ,october is fairly gone4  ,he 
bullies ,spring so that the poor1       
gentle-hearted thing has to get almost  
under the wing of ,summer before she    
dares take possession of the remnant of 
her own4  ,the great robber gets almost 
half the year4  ,the very bears1 curled 
up for their long nap1 must in these    
days wake sometimes with an uneasy      
shiver and wonder whether their stock of
 fat will hold out4  ,this last and     
worst onset of winter may stand for     
those experiences that come as the      

sharpest test of the stuff that is in   
men4  ,the pressure of adversity goes on
 and on1 until we say it has reached the
 last point of endurance1 and then      
another turn is given to the screw6     
,for three long days the battle has     
raged around the heights of ,gettysburg1
 and each side seems to have done its   
utmost1 when the word is given for      
,pickett's division in solid column to  
throw itself straight against ,cemetery 
,hill1 that becomes a volcano to meet   
it4  ,those are the times that mark men 
for the rest of their lives as heroes4  
,yet there are finer heroisms than this4
  ,the very splendor of such an hour1   
with a nation's fate at stake and the   
world looking on1 is enough to find out 
and kindle any spark of manhood in a    
man4  ,with no such inspiration as that1
 there are in every community men and   
women who are battling with poverty and 
adversity and all kinds of trouble with 
a finer courage than that of the        
battlefield4 ,they cover an anxious     

heart with a cheerful face1 for the sake
 of husband or wife or children who are 
watching the face4  ,no winter is long  
enough1 no lifetime is long enough1 to  
tire out their fortitude and patience   
and love4  ,there are resources in human
 nature that never are known until      
things are at their hardest4  ,so at    
winter's worst--come it in one form or  
another--man summons up his courage1 and
 though the winter be longer and sharper
 than he had thought--though poverty    
pinches him or trouble weighs upon      
him--he sets himself stoutly to bear it4
  ,alone and unhelped he seems1         
perhaps1--the march of the seasons and  
the vast order of the universe taking no
 account of him2 yet manfully he will   
face whatever comes4  ,whatever comes8  
,it is the summer that is coming6  ,as  
certain as to-day's snow and cold1 the  
season of all beauty and warmth and     
delight is on its way6  ,the            
apple-blossoms1 the wild-flowers1 the   
budding of every twig1 the greenness of 

the pastures1 the rejoicing life of     
animals and birds and insects1 the sweet
 airs of ,may1 the sunshine of          
,june1--these1 and all varied loveliness
 beyond imagination's reach or heart's  
desire1 lie just before us4  ,so for    
every soul that patiently endures an    
unimagined summer waits4  ,our patient  
endurance seems to us now a great       
matter1 and indeed if we have it not we 
are little worth2 but when the more     
genial season comes--when there fully   
reveals itself to us that high meaning  
of our lives and that divine destiny of 
which now we catch but a glimpse--we    
shall say1 not ,how well we endured the 
winter1 but ,how glorious is ,god's     
summer6  ,take the case of a man who1   
having engaged in the active business of
 life1 feeling himself amply capable of 
it and longing for it1 finds himself by 
force of circumstances kept out of work4
  ,perhaps he has his living to earn1   
perhaps he has a wife and children to   
support1 and he can get nothing to do4  

,well1 that is about as hard a place as 
a man can be called to stand in4        
,idleness in itself is hard4  ,it is a  
burden even to those who have wealth and
 all the luxuries and amusements that   
can be devised to while away their      
leisure4  ,it is the very nature of a   
man who is good for anything to do4     
,idleness is as unnatural and trying to 
the mind as sickness is to the body4    
,but to see those you love in need1 to  
see them threatened with suffering1 to  
know that you could amply provide for   
them if you had a chance1 and not to    
find a chance1--what is so hard as that8
  ,it is so hard1 my friend1 that1 if   
you can bear it and not be conquered by 
it1 you are a hero4  ,if under that load
 you can keep your patience and your    
temper and your courage1 you have won a 
victory such as makes life worth living4
  ,just as in battle it is the post of  
danger that is most honorable1 so always
 the hard place is the place of honor4  
,but1 you say perhaps1 ,i don't care    

about being a hero2 ,i want to see my   
wife and children taken care of4  ,that 
is the best of all reasons for keeping  
up heart4  ,when a good wife sees her   
husband unfortunate and out of work1    
what is it that she most dreads8  ,not  
that they will starve1--starvation      
seldom happens in this country4  ,not   
that they will be poor1 though of that  
she may be somewhat afraid4  ,her       
greatest fear is lest her husband should
 get discouraged and down-hearted2      
should take to drink1 perhaps2 at any   
rate1 should become so despondent and   
embittered that the light shall go out  
of their lives and their children's4    
,now it is his business not to let that 
happen4  ,it is his part to keep up for 
her sake a resolute heart and a cheerful
 face4  ,and if she is a true woman1 how
 gladly will she do the same for him6   
,out of just such circumstances there   
come two opposite results1 according as 
people meet them4  ,there comes failure 
of effort and resolution1 then          

despondency1 then recklessness1         
drunkenness perhaps1 and at last ruin1  
the break-up of character1 the          
destruction of the children's prospects1
 or sometimes suicide4  ,when a man1    
under pressure of such trouble1 really  
gives up1 even for an hour1 the effort  
to be brave and make the best of things1
 he takes a step on a road at the end of
 which is suicide4  ,that is the        
consummate act of cowardice2 that is the
 last logical result of refusing to face
 and conquer our troubles4  ,heaven have
 mercy on the man who seeks in death a  
refuge1 and so multiplies the suffering 
of those he leaves behind6  ,and at the 
point where begins the wretched road of 
despondency1 which if followed out leads
 to this or some other ruin1 there      
branches another road--manly endurance  
of the worst1 courage which is strong   
because it is loving1--a road which     
leads to heights beyond our sight4 ,to  
bear trouble together1 and for each     
other's sake to rise above it1--what    

knits hearts together like that8  ,take1
 again1 the case of a man who is by     
circumstances shut off from work that he
 could do and longs to do for the large 
benefit of mankind1--the man who has a  
gift of teaching and is not allowed to  
teach1 or who has the statesman's       
quality and finds no place in public    
affairs1 or who1 with any large         
executive and beneficent faculty1 finds 
himself denied all opportunity of       
exercising it4  ,for a faculty to be    
repressed is hard just in proportion as 
its quality is noble4  ,a caged canary  
is hardly a painful sight1 but a caged  
eagle stirs one with regret4  ,and the  
world has such need of all noble talent2
 such exigent and hungry need of the    
true teacher1 statesman1 seer1--of the  
word of inspiration and the act of      
leadership6  ,how shall one who feels in
 him the power and sees the need2 who   
grasps in his hand the keen sickle1 yet 
is held back1 while before his eyes the 
fields are white with the harvest which 

threatens1 unreaped1 to perish1--how    
shall he reconcile himself to his lot8  
,how escape the thought that he and all 
mankind are but playthings in the grasp 
of cruel and ironic fate8  ,what1 then1 
does the world most need of us8  ,is it 
wisdom1 or statesmanship1 or executive  
power8  ,these things it greatly needs4 
,but most of all it needs character4    
,most of all it needs that quality of   
personality which is moulded by the     
interplay of loyal will with the        
shifting course of outward event4  ,for 
our wisest thoughts the world can very  
well wait1 or do without them           
altogether2 almost certainly some one   
else has thought them and said them4    
,our executive power to be added to the 
world's work1--it is but a fly's        
strength contributed to a steam-engine4 
,one thing the universe asks of us1     
which no one else can give1--ourselves2 
our highest and fullest self4  ,it is   
not what we do externally1 but what we  
are1 that measures our worth4  ,the real

 and lasting value of a word or an act  
depends largely on the weight of        
character behind it4  ,and in character 
no higher effect is wrought out than    
that which comes through endurance and  
heroic passivity4  ,to stand long before
 closed doors of opportunity and keep   
serene2 to see work waiting1 see others 
working1 and in patience and            
self-control to bide one's time1--that  
is more than to do any work2 it is to be
 a man4  ,the time comes when manhood   
finds itself to be power4  ,a brook goes
 singing on its way1 marking its course 
through forest and field with a track of
 beauty and freshened life4  ,men throw 
a dam across its path1 and through many 
a long day its course is stopped and its
 waters silently accumulate4  ,and the  
brook says1 ,alas for my lost freedom   
and service6  ,alas for the rush and    
sparkle and joy of my cascades6  ,alas  
for the parched meadows1 the unwatered  
ferns and mosses6 ,but the day comes    
when with a cataract leap it crosses its

 barrier2 meadow and mosses and ferns   
revive2 and now the stored power of the 
stream is turning great mills and       
grinding bread for men4  ,washington    
rode as a subordinate in ,braddock's    
army2 ignorance commanded and knowledge 
looked on powerless until the mischief  
was done4  ,twenty years of quiet       
follow2 great events are impending1     
eloquent men are rousing and leading2   
what is there for this silent           
,virginian8 till suddenly he finds      
himself the chief commander4  ,then     
comes waiting to which all before was   
easy2 holding away from the stronger    
enemy1 holding steady under the         
impatience and the doubts of friends2   
for one bold stroke1 a year of waiting  
and watching2 till1 at last1 victory6   
,and not to ,washington victorious at   
,yorktown do we turn for inspiration so 
much as to ,washington in the dead of   
winter at ,valley ,forge4  ,there are a 
great many women whose capacities and   
desires seem much beyond their          

opportunities4  ,this is especially true
 of our ,new ,england1 who stimulates   
the brains of her children1 and consigns
 many of her daughters to a secluded    
life with small scope for action4       
,there are many women who1 being        
unmarried1 or being married and         
childless1 or left by the flight of the 
young birds to brood an empty nest1 have
 not the full natural outlet of a       
woman's activities and affections1 and  
suffer consciously or unconsciously from
 a partial emptiness and idleness of    
what is best in them4  ,the burden upon 
such lives is that of isolation4        
,isolation may be in the midst of a     
crowd as well as in solitude2 it is when
 the heart is not filled that we are    
truly alone4  ,and this real solitude1  
this isolation of the affections from   
their proper objects1 is something so   
bad1 so against the law of our nature1  
that1 broadly speaking1 it is a matter  
not so much for endurance as for speedy 
getting rid of4  ,do you feel yourself  

alone and empty-hearted8  ,then you have
 necessity indeed for fortitude and     
brave endurance1 but above all and      
before all you are to get out of your   
solitude4  ,you cannot command for      
yourself the love you would gladly      
receive2 it is not in our power to do   
that2 but that noble love which is not  
asking but giving1--that you can always 
have4  ,wherever your life touches      
another life1 there you have            
opportunity4  ,the finest1 the most     
delicate1 the most irresistible force   
lies in the mutual touch of human lives4
  ,to mix with men and women in the     
ordinary forms of social intercourse    
becomes a sacred function when one      
carries into it the true spirit4  ,to   
give a close1 sympathetic attention to  
every human being we touch2 to try to   
get some sense of how he feels1 what he 
is1 what he needs2 to make in some      
degree his interest our own1--that      
disposition and habit would deliver any 
one of us from isolation or emptiness4  

,there is but one sight more beautiful  
than the mother of a family ministering 
happiness and sunshine to them all2 and 
that is a woman who1 having no family of
 her own1 finds her life in giving cheer
 and comfort to all whom she reaches1   
and makes a home atmosphere wherever she
 goes4  ,though she have not the joy of 
wife and mother1 she has that which is  
most sacred in wifehood and motherhood4 
,she shares the blessedness of that     
highest life the earth has seen1 of him 
who1 having no home nor where to lay his
 head1 brought into other homes a new   
happiness1 and who spoke the            
transforming word1 ,it is more blessed  
to give than to receive4  ,take1 again1 
the case of an invalid1 who is for a    
long period shut out by illness or      
weakness from all ordinary activities4  
,there are many such to whom pain and   
physical endurance are less trying than 
the feeling of being excluded from use  
and service1 and having their moral life
 stunted or disordered by this stoppage 

of the natural play of the faculties4   
,there are kinds of illness1 especially 
those of the nervous system1 which seem 
to invade the seat of the will and soul 
itself1 to irritate the temper and sap  
the resolve and foster a self-centring  
egotism1 by a power that is literally   
irresistible4  ,before such experiences 
as this one thought rises3 it is part of
 mankind's business to lessen1 and so   
far as possible to extirpate1 these     
maladies4  ,the individual sufferer must
 meet as best he can the conditions     
thrust upon him1 but to prevent such    
conditions from arising is the lesson   
for the rest of us4  ,we are only       
beginning to appreciate how largely the 
salvation of mankind must be worked out 
through physical means4  ,the           
pestilences1 the transmitted diseases1  
the insanities1 the nervous disorders1  
bred of violated law1--all these and the
 like curses1 which not merely destroy  
human life but degrade it1 are to be    
fought and extirpated4  ,we must secure 

for soul-life some fair room and chance 
as against these pests and tyrants4     
,here lies the noblest work of science2 
here1 in prevention rather than in cure1
 lies the best field of that unsurpassed
 profession1 the physician's4  ,and1    
too1 in this preventive work each man   
must learn to be his own physician1 and 
minister to himself4  ,but what1        
meantime1 is our disabled and secluded  
invalid to do8  ,he is like a man set to
 fight a battle with one arm tied behind
 him4  ,others may pity1 but for him his
 disablement must be a motive to greater
 exertion2 he must supply by courage and
 skill the place of the lacking         
strength4  ,it is what man can do under 
limitations and disabilities that shows 
his high-water mark of achievement4     
,any one can be cheerful in perfect     
health1 but to be cheerful under        
weakness and pain1--that is worth trying
 for6  ,to be considerate and unselfish1
 when one is at ease and has all he     
wants1 does not cost much2 but to take  

thought for others and to spare them1   
and to be sympathetic with their joys   
and troubles1 when pain forces you to be
 self-conscious1 and long endurance     
tempts you to become                    
self-centred1--well1 if you can do that1
 you are good for something4  ,if you   
can do that1 have no fear that you are  
useless4  ,such fruit is rare enough to 
be precious4  ,the lessons taught from  
many a sick-bed of bravery and          
gentleness and love1--we get no other   
teaching so good as that4  ,there is    
many a family where it is the one who   
can do the least who does the           
most1--where it is the invalid's room   
from which goes out the strongest       
influence of patience and sweet courage 
and that divine quality which transforms
 trouble4  ,in one sick-room in a       
foreign land1 for years a home-loving   
woman has been an exile2 a woman of     
active and eager disposition1 with      
large1 executive capacity and ripe      
experience1 shut up almost to idleness2 

a woman of large benevolence1 who had   
entered on work of peculiar excellence  
and attractiveness1 cut off from all    
such activities4  ,this1 with frequent  
pain1 with fluctuation of hope and      
discouragement as to the future2 and yet
 there is about her an atmosphere as    
serene as the ,alpine heights that look 
down upon her1 as cheerful as the sunny 
,alpine pastures with their tinkle of   
sheep-bell and hum of mountain bee4     
,her constant thought goes out to       
distant friends and brings them near2   
her close attention follows the march of
 the world's great interests1 the       
fortunes of ,england and ,russia and    
,america1 the course of freedom and     
reform2 a sense of nature's beauty1     
trained to fineness through years of    
enforced quietude1 brings exquisite     
ministrations2 she shares the lives of  
the little circle of friends about her2 
heart and mind are at rest in the peace 
of ,god4  ,patience has had her perfect 
work4   ,up1 friend6 leave your law     

case1 your sermon1 your accounts1 and   
come out for an hour into this delicious
 ,march day1 bracing as winter and sweet
 as spring4  ,the new life of the year  
is stirring in the trees whose tops     
begin to redden1 and in the brown       
pastures where watchful eyes can already
 see the green4  ,the joy of the season 
is singing in a million bluebirds' and  
robins' throats2 the cocks crow gayly2  
the caw of the big black crow flapping  
overhead with ragged wing has a cheery  
tone4  ,all living creatures feel the   
tingle and throb of the great tide of   
life that sweeps in with the returning  
sun4  ,see yonder two dogs1 how they    
frolic1 how they crouch and wheel and   
charge and roll each other over and     
pretend to bite4  ,pure mongrels1 both  
of them1 and as happy as if they were   
the most aristocratic of ,irish setters6
  ,see near by the tree full of flowers 
that has lasted the winter through4     
,that is a tulip-tree1 holding up its   
thousand delicate ghostly cups4  ,its   

grand trunk rises straight and unbroken 
full thirty feet1 then branches in      
symmetry1 and holds up as if to catch   
the sunshine and the rain its fairy     
goblets4  ,and here is an oak that has  
not yet let go its grip on last year's  
dead leaves4  ,how sharply the snow     
rattled on them1 as if clashing on the  
iron which naturalists say the sturdy   
tree holds in its blood6  ,who ever sees
 these last oak leaves fall8  ,and who  
knows where this dry1 dead grass        
vanishes when the green blades fill all 
its room8  ,look at the horse-chestnut2 
already its buds are shiny4  ,it must   
wait a good while before their          
little hands unfold1   ,softer 'n a     
baby's be at three days old4   ,sharp   
whistles the wind to-day1 but it is the 
breath of life that it breathes into us4
  ,it comes down from yonder hills where
 the snow is shining yet4  ,grandly on  
the horizon lies ,mount ,tom1 like a    
crouching lion1 guardian over the fair  
valley4  ,where the mountain line       

breaks1 between him and his twin        
sentinel1 ,holyoke1 we know that the    
broad ,connecticut sweeps past          
,hockanum4  ,the glorious river1--what  
an unfailing joy it is to the eye as it 
curves and winds on its leisurely1      
steadfast course to the sea6  ,here at  
our feet is another river1 a little     
brook flowing in clear stream over the  
roadside sand1 born of the last         
snow-drift and living till the sun      
drinks it up4  ,and beside it are half a
 dozen happy boys1 paddling with their  
bare feet1 making mud dams1 scraping new
 channels and short cuts for the stream4
  ,how black is the still water of this 
pond1 smooth as a steel mirror6 what    
perfect pictures it gives back of its   
woody and snow-touched banks6  ,the     
woods above are solemn as that grandest 
work of man1 an ,old ,world cathedral1  
and free as only the ,lord's own works  
are free1 with the music of the wind in 
the great pine-tops2 the gracious1      
infinite sky revealing itself through   

their tracery2 the columnar trunks      
swaying now like a ship's masts4  ,how  
at evening the setting sun glows through
 their black shafts2 how ethereal the   
light that then fills the spaces of the 
wood2 how the stars look down through   
the branches in the living stillness of 
the night6  ,a few steps1 and below us  
in the hollow we see the city1 all its  
commonplaceness charmed away1 the vulgar
 noises of the streets blended in a soft
 murmur4  ,not one human life moves in  
those streets1 commonplace and vulgar   
though it may seem1 but has its own     
charm and beauty1 if we could find the  
right view-point1 or if our sight went  
deep enough4  ,across a plowed field    
darts in swift zigzag a gleam of blue2  
then1 perched on a fence-rail1 sends a  
thrilling song4  ,the bluebird is the   
true voice of early spring1 as is the   
bobolink of later spring4 ,bobolinks and
 apple-blossoms come together in the    
prodigal time of ,may4 ,our ,northern   
spring is the most arrant of            

coquettes1--the most delicious in       
allurement1 the swiftest in retreat4    
,one day she seems to pour her whole    
heart out to us1 and we think she is    
ours once and for all2 next day she     
pelts us with sleet2 buffets1 freezes   
us2 she--nay1 she is gone1 and we never 
shall see her again2 it is the sourest  
shrew in the whole sisterhood of the    
year that has come in her stead6  ,but  
the true lover thinks not so4  ,he knows
 her woman's heart1--coying it a little1
 holding back her treasure till she sees
 if her worshiper be faithful1 to pour  
it out all unstinted at the last1 when  
,may's perfect bridal day shall usher in
 the full and fruitful marriage blessing
 of the year4  ,on this ,june morning1  
place yourself here1 under the shade of 
this noble1 wide-spreading apple-tree on
 a garden lawn4  ,last night the earth  
was washed by showers1 and a            
thunder-storm cleared the air4  ,this   
morning a fresh northwest wind breaks   
the clouds1 and opens pure1 sweet depths

 of sky4  ,around us the flowers of     
early summer are blooming4  ,over the   
grass trip the young birds1             
mottle-breasted robins and bluebirds2   
the trees ring with frequent song2 from 
the barnyard comes cheery cackle and    
cluck1 and the chickens stray forth to  
investigate the secrets and riches of   
the world4  ,a catbird pours out an     
opera in which he takes all the parts in
 succession1 and the voice of the wind  
rises and falls in mysterious1 delicious
 cadence4  ,oil and wine3 the oil poured
 on the wounds to soothe and heal1 the  
wine drunk to revive and hearten with   
cordial life4  ,the ,hebrew symbolism   
has its roots in strong material soil3  
its imagery is vigorous and ruddy1--wine
 of gladness1 oil of joy1 wine that     
maketh glad the heart of man1 and oil to
 make his face to shine1 and bread which
 strengtheneth man's heart4  ,a modern  
psalmist might add1 and coffee which    
uplifts his spirit1 and tobacco which   
soothes his cares4  ,jesus chose1 as the

 two symbols by which he would be       
remembered1 bread and wine4  ,bread     
stands for nourishment and substantial  
support1 wine for exhilaration and joy4 
,when his disciples were full of the    
sorrow of approaching parting1 he showed
 them that the loss was only in         
semblance3 the reality was to be a      
higher energy1 a purer joy1--bread to   
eat1 wine to drink1--not death1 but     
life4  ,the sorrow attendant on death   
and loss is to be esteemed but the pangs
 that usher in life4  ,a woman when she 
is in travail hath sorrow1 because her  
hour is come2 but as soon as she is     
delivered of the child1 she remembereth 
no more the anguish1 for joy that a man 
is born into the world4  ,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       
broken-hearted1 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  ,what a  
key-note is that1--how jubilant1 tender1
 strong6  ,as the earth revolving passes
 alternately into light and shadow1 so  
human life in its divine appointment    
moves by turns through sorrow and       
through joy4  ,each has its service for 
the soul1 as for the earth has day and  
night each its ministry and message4    
,of pain come hardihood and strength and
 sympathy4  ,what a sapless1 fibreless  
thing is a man untrained by endurance   
and untaught by suffering6  ,how flaccid
 in muscle1 how narrow in intelligence1 
how shallow in affection6  ,yet1 as to  
an all-beholding eye the sun pours light
 through all the planetary spaces1 and  
the night1 which to us on the world's   
darkened side seems all-enfolding1 is in
 truth but a shadowy fleck in the vast  
sun-steeped sphere3 so1 of the soul's   
universe1 the native1 all-pervasive     
element is conscious good4  ,gladness is
 man's proper atmosphere4  ,it is by the
 impulse of his deepest nature that he  

seeks joy1 it is by the force of        
spiritual gravitation that he is drawn  
to it4  ,but two hard lessons await him4
  ,one is1 that to reach that goal he   
must trust himself to a higher ,power1  
his own effort and purpose being to obey
 that ,power4 ,the other is1 that the   
goal is not for one alone1 but for all2 
and he can reach it only as he shares   
the common lot1 making himself partner  
in the vicissitudes of his comrades1    
rejoicing with them that rejoice and    
weeping with them that weep4  ,on our   
long voyage the stars by which we steer 
must be ,duty and ,love4  ,the stars    
guide us1 the winds and currents bear   
us1 to the port of perfect good4  ,the  
instinct of our journey's end we call   
,hope2 the instinct by which we cleave  
to our true course1 even when wholly    
doubtful of its end1 and though false   
lights beckon us alluringly1--that      
instinct we call ,faith4  ,open your    
eyes upon the world on such a morning as
 this4  ,forget your own cares long     

enough to really see1 but for a moment1 
yonder spray of roses waving in the     
breeze4  ,watch the play of light and   
shade in the flickering leaves overhead4
  ,listen to the chorus of voices from  
bird1 insect1 and wind4  ,the wine of   
gladness6  ,nature pours it in a        
sparkling flood1 unceasing by day and   
night1 for every one who will drink4    
,nature pours the wine of gladness1 but 
only from the mingling of human hearts  
comes the oil of tenderness4  ,from     
sorrow it gets its sacred fragrance1    
from mutual service it draws its healing
 power1 from the bitterness of parting  
it wins the sweetness of an             
inexpressible hope4  ,it was under the  
stroke of a great bereavement1 the death
 of his child1 that ,emerson1 in the    
,threnody1 gave utterance to highest    
consolation soaring out of sorrow's     
darkness4  ,it was under the shadow of  
that loss that he heard the voice1--    
,saying1 ,what is excellent1   ,as ,god 
lives1 is permanent2   ,hearts are dust1

 hearts' loves remain1   ,heart's love  
will meet thee again4   ,it is the same 
voice that speaks through all the ages4 
,it speaks through ,isaiah1 to give     
beauty for ashes1 the oil of joy for    
mourning1 the garment of praise for the 
spirit of heaviness4  ,it speaks in     
,paul1 when in one sentence he gives the
 relation with ,god and his fellows into
 which man may come when out of darkness
 is born light4  ,blessed be ,god1 even 
the ,father of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1
 the ,father of mercies1 and the ,god of
 all comfort2 who comforteth us in all  
our tribulation1 that we may be able to 
comfort them which are in any trouble by
 the comfort wherewith we ourselves are 
comforted of ,god4  ,where1 asks the    
stricken heart1 shall ,i find the ,god  
of comfort8  ,o heart1 only ,god himself
 shall answer you6  ,but know this1 that
 the very end and purpose of grief is   
that it shall be comforted4  ,comfort8  
,the word has no meaning except to those
 who have mourned2 was never stamped    

with its sacred significance except by  
those who had been through the deep     
waters of grief4  ,as one whom his      
mother comforteth1 so will ,i comfort   
you4  ,a man child1 a woman child1 ,he  
trains you to fullness of stature1 to   
greatness of experience1 to capacity for
 noble joy1 for heart-sufficing love4   
,to greatness and to joy he calls us1   
and draws us slowly by the changing     
years4  ,the cross is the symbol of a   
passing experience4  ,the end1 the      
attainment1 is figured to us by that    
face of ,nature which is the face of    
,god1 with the strength of the          
mountains1 the gladness of the sunlight1
 the freedom of the sky1 the infinitude 
of the ocean4   ,the ripe days of early 
autumn open their best joys only to the 
sturdy walker1 who turns his back on the
 streets to seek the country roads1 and 
leaves the roads behind him to explore  
the forest nooks1 the ravines1 and the  
sheltered meadows1 hidden deftly away   
from the incurious traveler1 and keeping

 a wild sweetness for him who finds them
 out for himself4  ,if one is in good   
tune1 he may get the finest flavor of   
such a walk by taking it alone1 or with 
only rarely perfect companionship4  ,the
 ideal companion is one who can fully   
enjoy1 who will help you to glimpses    
through another pair of eyes1 and who   
will never obtrude inopportunely between
 yourself and nature4  ,if a            
satisfactory human comrade be not at    
hand1 one may find these qualities in no
 ordinary degree in--a good dog4 ,but   
then to appreciate them one must be a   
true dog-lover1 a gift which is1 alas6  
denied to some otherwise exemplary and  
worthy people4  ,what does the dog think
 of it all8  ,he has his own keen       
pleasures4  ,his nose is an organ of    
intelligence and enjoyment which his    
master does not possess4  ,he explores  
woodchuck holes2 he tracks real or      
imaginary squirrels2 one barks and      
scolds at him from a high limb1 and     
throws him into a delicious fever of    

excitement4  ,as ,fox said the greatest 
pleasure in life was to win at cards1   
and the next greatest to lose at cards1 
so apparently the dog finds even an     
unsuccessful chase to be the second best
 joy he knows4  ,look at him1 tense and 
motionless with excitement1 as he       
watches the noisy chatterer overhead6   
,no doubt the squirrel will brag to all 
his acquaintances of how he openly      
defied and triumphed over his huge      
enemy4  ,a chestnut bough swings low1   
and with hospitable hand proffers a     
half-open burr1 out of which shine the  
glossy brown nuts4  ,sweet is the taste 
of the nuts4  ,sweet is the crisp red   
apple into which we bite1 and with just 
a hint of the flavor of stolen fruit4   
,what audacious pen will try to         
reproduce or even dryly catalogue the   
glories poured out for eye and ear1 for 
heart and brain1 upon a bright and cool 
,september day8  ,the deep-glowing      
sumacs1 the asters purple and white     
mixed with flaming goldenrod1 in a      

splendid audacity of color such as only 
,one artist dare venture on2 the        
occasional dash of scarlet upon a maple1
 a first wave of the great tide that is 
sweeping up to cover the whole north    
country2 the masses of yet unbroken     
green left neither dimmed nor dusty by  
the generous1 moist summer2 the oaks    
that will long hold their green flag in 
unchanging tint1 as if no surrender were
 written on it1 and then1 last of all   
the trees1 change to a hue of matchless 
depth and richness1 like the life-blood 
of a noble heart that shows its full    
intensity only just before death's      
translation falls upon it2 the separate 
tint of each leaf and vine1 good after  
its kind2 the soft whiteness of the     
everlastings in the hill-pastures2 the  
reaped buckwheat fields heaped with     
their sheaves1 stubble and sheaves alike
 drenched in a fine wine of color2 the  
solemn interior of the woods1 with the  
late sunlight touching the shafts of the
 pines2 the partridge-berry and the     

white mushroom growing beneath1 as in a 
cathedral one sees bright-faced children
 kneeling to say their prayers at the   
foot of the solemn pillars2 the masses  
of light and of shadow--one cannot say  
which is the tenderer--lying on the cool
 meadows as evening draws on2 the voice 
of unseen waters1 the voice of the wind 
in the pines4  ,and so1 with song1 with 
autumn colors1 with sunset lights1 the  
,mother calls her children home4