,five ,young ,men    ,messages of       
,yesterday for   the ,young ,men of     
,to-day    ,by  ,,charles ,,reynolds    
,,brown  ,dean of the ,school of        
,religion1 ,yale ,university     ,,new  
,,york ,,chicago ,,toronto  ,fleming ,h4
 ,revell ,company  ,,london ,,and       
,,edinburgh     ,copyright1 #aiag1 by   
,,fleming ,h4 ,,revell ,,company        
,new ,york3 #aeh ,fifth ,avenue         
,chicago3 #ag ,north ,wabash ,ave4      
,london3 #ba ,paternoster ,square       
,edinburgh3 #ge ,princes ,street     ,to
 the ,young ,men  of ,yale    ,whose    
friendship ,i have highly   valued and  
in whose future   ,i feel the warmest   
interest     ,preface  ,these addresses 
were given in the ,united ,church on the
 ,green1 ,new ,haven1 ,connecticut1 on  
the ,sunday evenings of ,lent4  ,the    
audiences were made up largely of men1  
many of them ,yale students4  ,i have   
brought the addresses together in this  
little book with the hope that they may 
have a certain value in their appeal to 

a wider audience of young men who in    
school and college1 in their homes and  
in business life1 are making those      
determinations which will decide the    
issue for them in those exacting years  
which are before us4  ,it has been given
 to us to live through one of the great 
crises of the world's history4  ,in     
these days the hearts of men are being  
tried as by fire4  ,if it is wood1 hay  
and stubble that we are putting into our
 personal moral structures1 into the    
purposes and methods which rule our     
industrial life and into our national   
temper and fiber1 then we may expect to 
see our work destroyed4  ,the only      
qualities which will stand the test are 
those qualities which are symbolized by 
gold1 silver and precious stones4  ,c4  
,r4 ,b4  ,yale ,university4             
,contents     ,i4  ,,the ,,young ,,man  
,,who ,,was ,a ,,favourite ,,son   ,,ii4
  ,,the ,,young ,,man ,,who ,,was ,,an  
,,athlete  ,,iii4  ,,the ,,young ,,man  
,,who ,,became ,,king   ,,iv4  ,,the    

,,young ,,man ,,who ,,was ,,born ,,to   
,,the ,,purple    ,v4  ,,the ,,young    
,,man ,,who ,,changed ,,the ,,history   
,,of ,,the ,,world     ,i  ,the ,young  
,man ,who ,was a ,favourite ,son  ,which
 would you say is the harder to bear1   
adversity or prosperity8  ,i am not     
sure4  ,if ,i were a betting man ,i     
would not know on which horse to put my 
money4  ,the ,bible says1 ,the          
destruction of the poor is their        
poverty4  ,the narrowness and the       
meagreness of their lives1 the lack of  
access to the highest interests seems to
 drive them oftentimes into the coarser 
forms of indulgence which are their     
undoing4  ,the ,bible also says1 ,it is 
easier for a camel to go through the eye
 of a needle than for a rich man to     
enter the ,kingdom of ,god4  ,the       
millionaire who strives to be thoroughly
 ,christian in all his attitudes and    
actions1 in the secret desires which    
rule his own soul and in the relations  
he sustains to his fellow men by reason 

of his wealth has a hard task4  ,in     
every great city you will find the sons 
of millionaires falling down or flinging
 themselves away in thoughtless         
dissipation where the sons of toil are  
standing up and making good4  ,here1 for
 example1 was a young man who was born  
on the sunny side of the street4  ,he   
was the son of a rich man1 and the      
favourite son4  ,he was handsome--,it   
came to pass that ,joseph was a goodly  
person and well favoured4  ,he was      
habitually well dressed--,his father    
gave him a coat of many colours1 which  
there in the ,orient marked him as a    
young man of style4  ,he had a vivid    
imagination and was a good talker4  ,he 
was a young man of parts and his story  
was so interesting to those early       
,hebrews that here in the ,book of      
,genesis thirteen full chapters are     
given to his personal history4  ,let me 
notice three points in his              
career--first1 his early unpopularity4  
,you do not have to know ,hebrew to     

understand why he was not as popular as 
,santa ,claus4  ,he was his father's    
favourite1 which is a heavy load for any
 child to bear4  ,he lived in a family  
where there were four sets of children4 
,his father had married two wives1      
,rachel who was handsome because he     
loved her1 and ,leah who was            
tender-eyed1 the ,scripture says1       
because she was the daughter of his     
employer at that time and it was good   
business4  ,there were also children who
 had been born to the two housemaids1   
according to the easy customs of that   
far-off time and place4  ,joseph was the
 son of ,rachel1 the favourite wife1 and
 her favourite son4  ,he wore the signs 
of this parental popularity in the gay  
coat of many colours4  ,it was almost   
inevitable that he should become vain   
and overbearing4  ,he was also a        
talebearer4  ,he looked down with       
unconcealed contempt upon his           
half-brothers who were the sons of the  
housemaids4  ,when ,joseph was with the 

sons of ,bilhah and ,zilpah he brought  
unto his father their evil report4  ,the
 tattler in the school and the squealer 
on the street come in1 justly perhaps1  
for the contempt of their fellows4  ,and
 whatever allowance may be made for     
exceptional situations1 the instinct    
which brands the talebearer as mean is  
mainly wholesome4  ,it was ,one who knew
 what was in man who said1 ,why         
beholdest thou the mote in thy brother's
 eye and considerest not the beam in    
thine own eye8  ,judge not that ye be   
not judged4  ,it is well for every man  
to sweep his own dooryard first before  
he begins to peddle stories as to the   
condition of his neighbour's dooryard4  
,this young man also had his full share 
of that conceit which thinks quite as   
highly of itself as it ought to think4  
,he had his daydreams1 and this was     
well4  ,i would not give a fig for the  
young fellow who does not see ahead of  
him masses of possible achievement in   
his particular line as high as the      

,sierras1 if not quite so solid4  ,but  
,joseph was soft and callow enough to   
tell his day-dreams to his fellows      
before he had done anything to indicate 
that those dreams might come true4  ,he 
told his brothers that he would be the  
tallest sheaf in the field and that they
 as lesser sheaves would come and make  
obeisance before him4  ,he went still   
further and included his elders and     
betters in that general bowing down4    
,he said1 ,behold the sun and moon and  
the eleven stars made obeisance to me4  
,he saw himself as the centre of the    
whole solar system and the rest of his  
family revolving about him as minor     
satellites4  ,this day-dream of the     
ambitious young man was too much even   
for his indulgent father4  ,and ,jacob  
rebuked him for his dream4  ,there you  
have all the necessary ingredients for a
 family explosion4 ,when any young man  
is a favourite son1 and a talebearer1   
and is filled to the eyes with          
self-conceit1 he has in him the sulphur1

 the saltpeter1 and the charcoal which  
enter into the composition of that sort 
of gunpowder which is liable to blow him
 up4  ,you do not wonder that his       
brothers hated him4  ,you are not       
surprised that when they saw him coming 
across the fields at ,dothan they said  
with a sneer1 ,behold1 the dreamer      
cometh6  ,we might naturally expect that
 they would conspire against him4  ,they
 proposed to see whether or not this    
conceited young tattler would become the
 tallest sheaf in the field and the     
centre of the whole solar system there  
in little ,canaan4  ,he had himself to  
thank for getting in wrong with his     
associates4  ,he was not showing the    
qualities which make for peace and joy  
and advancement4  ,but in the second    
place he was sent early in life to the  
school of adversity4  ,the place where  
he prepared was not much like ,the ,hill
 or ,hotchkiss2 it bore no resemblance  
whatever to ,andover or ,exeter4  ,he   
took all the grades in the commonest of 

all common schools4  ,he was under the  
tuition of struggle and difficulty4  ,he
 was a ,freshman1 then a ,sophomore1 a  
,junior and a ,senior in the ,university
 of ,experience1 where the college      
colours are always black and blue       
because the lessons are learned by hard 
knocks4  ,he learned obedience by the   
things that he suffered4  ,he had the   
conceit taken out of him by being       
knocked down4  ,he knew the meaning of  
the word discipline1 so that he could   
have spelled it and parsed it forward   
and backwards and crosswise4  ,he was   
tried in these three ways3 first1 by    
being sold as a slave boy into ,egypt4  
,his father sent him out to ,dothan to  
see how his brothers were faring with   
their flocks4  ,when they saw him coming
 across the plain they said1 ,behold the
 dreamer6  ,let us cast him into a pit  
and see what will become of his dreams4 
,his brothers seized him and threw him  
into a deep well1 where there was no    
water1 intending to let him die in that 

horrible way4  ,but when a company of   
,ishmaelites came along on their way to 
,egypt1 a happier thought struck those  
men4  ,judah1 who was always a thrifty  
soul1 said1 ,what profit is it if we    
slay our brother and conceal his blood8 
,there is no money in murder4  ,let us  
sell him to the ,ishmaelites4  ,here was
 the proverbial instinct1 an eye for the
 main chance1 already on its feet and   
doing business in the very childhood of 
that race1 which has enjoyed such marked
 success in commercial pursuits4  ,let  
us sell him and let not our hand be upon
 him1 for--here emerges ,mr4 ,pecksniff1
 who is much older than the time of     
,dickens--for he is our brother and our 
flesh4  ,his argument was plausible and 
the men drew ,joseph out of the pit and 
sold him to the ,ishmaelites who carried
 him down into ,egypt4  ,now the hands  
of the ten men were not stained with    
innocent blood and they were also twenty
 pieces of silver to the good4  ,how    
human and how modern were the mental    

processes of those crafty men6 ,the man 
who decides to coin his brother's life  
into money instead of killing him with  
an axe has chosen so much milder a form 
of wrong-doing that he feels almost     
virtuous4  ,let us not slay our         
brother--that has an atrocious sound4   
,it smacks of the doings of gunmen4     
,let not our hand be upon him for he is 
our flesh6  ,but let us sell him--this  
is so much more humane6  ,let us burn   
out his energy swiftly in the long hard 
hours of the steel mill to make our     
profits large4  ,when he is exhausted   
before his time we can scrap him1       
flinging him aside to make room for a   
fresh hand4  ,let us set the pace in the
 factory so sharp that the man in middle
 life cannot hold it--he will be        
compelled to drop out and tramp the     
streets in search of a job1 while some  
younger man takes up his work4  ,let us 
keep the wages of the working girl so   
near the danger line that unless she is 
splendidly fortified with moral stamina 

she may be tempted after she has sold   
her days to greed to add to her income  
by selling her nights to shame4  ,let   
not our hands be stained by the murder  
of our own flesh and blood--let us sell 
them in these more delicate and refined 
ways to increase the toll of profits6   
,the voice of ,judah is still heard in  
the land4  ,there on the plains of      
,dothan this favourite son fell into the
 hands of greed and was sold as a slave 
boy into the land of ,egypt4  ,he was   
also tested by the accusations of an    
evil-minded woman4  ,when the           
,ishmaelites disposed of him in ,egypt  
he was purchased by ,potiphar1 an       
officer in ,pharaoh's guard4  ,he was   
made a house servant4  ,he showed       
himself diligent and faithful and was   
advanced until he was the overseer of   
,potiphar's whole establishment4  ,he   
was a handsome young ,hebrew1 his       
complexion being much fairer than that  
of the dark-skinned ,egyptians4  ,he    
attracted the attention and won the     

admiration of ,potiphar's wife1 who was 
an evil-minded1 faithless creature4  ,as
 ,joseph went about the house in the    
discharge of his duties she approached  
him repeatedly with her solicitations to
 evil4  ,he did not look her in the eye1
 as ,billy ,sunday suggests in his brisk
 way1 and say1 ,nothing doing4  ,he said
 something infinitely better than       
that--,there is none greater in this    
house than ,i4  ,my master hath kept    
back nothing from me but thee4  ,how    
then can ,i do this great wickedness and
 sin against ,god4  ,he was not one of  
those men who do in ,rome as the ,romans
 do1 who do in ,new ,york as ,broadway  
does1 even though that may mean a less  
wholesome type of conduct than they are 
accustomed to put up in their home      
towns4 ,he was a man of principle       
wherever he was placed4  ,how can ,i sin
 against ,god6  ,heaven be praised for  
men of principle and for men who are not
 afraid6 ,a well-to-do ,harvard student 
in one of the dormitories was shaving   

one morning when a wretched woman of the
 street slipped into his room through   
the door which he had left ajar4  ,she  
shut the door and with her back against 
it said to him1 ,give me fifty dollars  
instantly or ,i will scream for help4   
,he looked around at her and said1 ,yell
 away--and went on with his shaving4    
,he knew that his own life was clean4   
,he had lived as a man of integrity and 
he felt that his statement would be     
taken anywhere against hers1 because it 
was worth one hundred cents on the      
dollar4  ,and she knew it--so she slunk 
out like a whipped cur4  ,if he had     
compromised with her or had given her a 
dollar1 he might have been in for       
endless trouble and disgrace4  ,but     
,joseph was not in ,cambridge--he was in
 ,egypt4  ,he was not a well-known      
,harvard student--he was only a slave   
boy there in the house of his master4   
,when this woman whom he had repulsed   
made her ugly1 lying accusation against 
him she was believed and he was thrown  

into prison4  ,what indeed has now      
become of his dreams6  ,he was a        
stranger in a strange land4  ,he was a  
slave who had been jailed on an ugly    
charge4 ,he must have felt that he was a
 long way from becoming the tallest     
sheaf in the field or the brightest star
 in the sky4  ,he was also tested by the
 ingratitude of those whom he had       
befriended4 ,while he was in jail he did
 not for one hour give up his hope of   
advancement4  ,he kept right on1        
attending the school of those           
instructors whose names are printed in  
the catalogue as ,professor ,adversity1 
,professor ,difficulty and ,doctor      
,discipline4  ,he found them most       
capable teachers4  ,they did not teach  
him much of that which is found in      
text-books1 but they were teaching him  
to be a man1 which after all is the main
 object of all education4  ,when ,joseph
 was knocked down he did not wait for   
some ,red ,cross nurse to come with     
first aid to the injured4  ,he got right

 up and was there on the mat ready for  
the next round4  ,and the young fellow  
with that sort of stuff in him learns1  
,i care not how soft1 callow and        
conceited he may have been in his prep4 
school days4  ,he was in prison1 but    
since nothing better offered he would   
show himself the best prisoner behind   
those bars4  ,he bore the false         
accusation of that lying woman without a
 word of recrimination lest he should   
injure the honour of his master1 who had
 befriended him when he was in his      
employ4  ,he spent his days not in      
laziness nor in vice1 not in repining   
and dejection4  ,he bore himself with   
such a thoughtful1 unselfish spirit that
 he won the favour of the warden and was
 made a kind of overseer among the      
prisoners of his ward4  ,he won the     
regard and confidence of his fellow     
prisoners by his sympathetic interest in
 their welfare4  ,when they were        
perplexed they came to him4  ,the butler
 and the baker from ,pharaoh's household

 were imprisoned for some fault1 and    
when they dreamed ,joseph interpreted to
 them their dreams in skillful fashion4 
,and when the butler was pardoned out a 
few days later1 according to ,joseph's  
prediction1 he promised to remember his 
friend when once more he stood in       
,pharaoh's presence4  ,but after the    
manner of many he forgot all about his  
fellow prisoner in the joy of his own   
release4  ,joseph still lingered in     
jail4  ,how sharper than a serpent's    
tooth it is to have a thankless friend6 
,there in the jail he drank to the dregs
 the cup of ingratitude4  ,but read on1 
read on6  ,the ,lord has not let ,his   
voice fall yet4  ,this is not a         
period--it is only a comma or semicolon4
  ,the mills of the gods grind slow1 but
 they grind2 and to every man who merits
 it a good grist comes at last4  ,read  
on6  ,there came a night when ,pharaoh  
dreamed4  ,the monarch saw seven fat    
cows come up out of the ,river ,nile1   
which was the source of all fertility   

there in the ,delta4  ,then he saw seven
 lean cows come up out of the river and 
they ate up the seven fat cows and yet  
remained as lean and hungry as they had 
been before4  ,in the morning ,pharaoh  
called for his wise men and his         
magicians1 but they could make nothing  
of it4  ,then the chief butler          
remembered his fault4  ,he remembered   
,joseph who had interpreted his own     
dream in yonder prison4  ,he told       
,pharaoh of that strange experience1 and
 the monarch promptly sent for this     
gifted young ,hebrew4  ,seest thou a man
 diligent in his business he shall stand
 before kings4  ,joseph had shown       
himself diligent in his business as a   
servant in the house of ,potiphar1 and  
as a prisoner he had made himself useful
 to the warden of the jail4  ,now he is 
summoned to stand before the ruler of   
all the land of ,egypt4  ,he is the same
 man in name as when he walked across   
the fields of ,dothan with his heart    
full of conceit1 but how much he has    

learned6 ,his coat of many colours has  
been replaced by the dull gray of the   
prison garb4  ,he has acquired new moods
 and new methods and a finer quality of 
manhood4  ,when ,pharaoh called upon him
 to interpret his strange dream1 ,joseph
 replied modestly1 ,it is not in me4    
,interpretations belong to ,god4  ,and  
,god shall give ,pharaoh an answer of   
peace4  ,it was in this mood of         
reverent1 expectant awe that he         
undertook the interpretation of the     
monarch's dream4  ,how character ripens 
in adversity6  ,wheat ripens best under 
smiling1 sunny skies1 but the rigorous  
winter of hardship and struggle is      
demanded for the maturing of those fine 
qualities of mind and heart which make  
up character at its best4  ,men have    
found by experience that it is          
impossible to produce apples of the     
choicest flavour where there is no      
frost4  ,i am quite sure that the best  
type of human excellence cannot be      
secured without frost4  ,he is testing  

me1 ,job said1 when all those troubles  
fell upon him2 ,he knows the way that ,i
 take and when ,he has tried me ,i shall
 come forth as gold4  ,here was a young 
man who in early life had been a spoiled
 child1 a conceited prig1 a talebearer  
among his fellows1 but in the hard      
school of adversity he had learned to   
labour and to wait4  ,he could now      
endure as seeing ,one who is invisible4 
,the law of gravitation never forgets   
anything1 never overlooks anything4  ,it
 matters not whether it is a pound of   
feathers or a ton of lead or a planet1  
the power of gravitation is right there 
attending to business4  ,if a man falls 
out of a fifth story window in ,new     
,york1 in ,constantinople1 or in        
,calcutta1 the law of gravitation is    
there and the man gets hurt4  ,the moral
 order never forgets anything1 never    
overlooks anything4  ,what men sow1 they
 reap1 though the harvest be long       
delayed4 ,if they sow to the flesh1     
sometime1 somewhere they go out with    

bruised hands and bleeding hearts to    
reap corruption4  ,when they sow to the 
spirit they will in the same inevitable 
way reap life eternal4  ,here at last   
the man of purpose and of faith is      
reaping the results of discipline       
bravely met and nobly borne4  ,this     
young man owed his ultimate success to  
the fact that he was a man of vision4   
,there is a certain fascination in the  
story of any life which rises from      
obscurity to eminence4  ,whether the    
path lies from the log cabin of a rail  
splitter to the ,white ,house1 from the 
lowly work of the lanyard to the head of
 victorious armies1 or from a pit on the
 plains of ,dothan to a palace on the   
banks of the ,nile1 there is something  
in the human heart which responds to the
 unfolding of such a life-story4  ,the  
,hebrews were happy in relating how men 
of their race had made their way up to  
places of honour at alien courts through
 the sheer force of their own personal  
ability4  ,here was ,joseph coming up   

out of the prison house to the right    
hand of ,pharaoh6  ,here was ,daniel    
preferred above the other presidents and
 princes at the court of ,darius6  ,here
 was ,benjamin ,disraeli belonging to a 
race formerly disfranchised in ,england 
becoming at last ,prime ,minister of    
,her ,most ,christian ,majesty ,queen   
,victoria6  ,let every man who looks    
down upon some lowly life beware lest he
 despise what ,god has blessed6  ,here  
was a young man who had vision6  ,he saw
 things4  ,he did not merely look1 as   
would some dog that bays the moon4      
,when he walked across the plains of    
,dothan his mind was not altogether upon
 wool and mutton--he was already        
dreaming of high achievement in his     
future years4  ,when he was thrown into 
the pit and sold into slavery his brain 
was busy with the stars4  ,when he faced
 temptation he saw it all with the eye  
of faith--how could he do this great    
wickedness and sin against ,god4  ,and  
when he was confronted with a problem   

confessedly too hard for him he lifted  
up his eyes to the hills from whence    
cometh help4 ,it is not in me4  ,the    
interpretation of life belongs to ,god4 
,he was only seventeen years old when he
 walked across the fields that day to   
the place where his brothers kept their 
flocks4  ,now he was thirty4  ,he had   
increased in stature1 in wisdom and in  
favour with ,god and man4  ,it had taken
 thirteen long years to add those cubits
 to his height1 but they had been well  
spent4  ,the ,almighty takes ,his time  
in working out ,his finer effects4  ,the
 spoiled child1 the censorious          
talebearer1 the callow1 conceited youth 
must be wrought upon by the beat and    
play of human life4  ,when any man has  
vision and faith there is a divinity    
which shapes his ends1 rough-hewn though
 they be by doting fathers and envious  
brothers1 by false accusers1 and by     
ungrateful companions4  ,when a man is  
faced right1 all things1 no matter what 
shape they bear1 will ultimately work   

together for his good4  ,a man in whom  
the spirit of ,god is--that was         
,pharaoh's verdict when ,joseph had     
skillfully interpreted his dream1       
indicating that the seven fat cows      
coming up out of the ,nile meant seven  
years of plenty in the land of ,egypt1  
and that the seven lean cows following  
them and devouring them meant seven     
years of famine1 which would tax the    
resources of ,pharaoh's empire in       
feeding the hungry people4  ,and when   
the monarch had listened to the wise    
words1 had sensed the humane spirit of  
this young ,hebrew1 and had seen the    
look of faith upon his face1 he felt    
that no other man would be so competent 
to become ,high ,commissioner of the    
,food ,supply there in the land of      
,egypt4  ,thus ,joseph was set in a     
place of authority at ,pharaoh's right  
hand4  ,his dreams are coming true6  ,he
 had framed his first anticipations out 
of sheaves4  ,then his mind began to be 
busy with the stars4  ,he was destined  

to have a part in preserving the life of
 his own ,hebrew race and a part in that
 moral movement which would outlast the 
stars themselves4  ,through all those   
long hard years which lay between the   
pit of ,dothan and the palace of        
,pharaoh1 he was sustained by that      
vision of things divine which shone     
perpetually in his sky4  ,a man in whom 
the spirit of ,god is--here is the      
ultimate reason for every splendid      
advance6  ,here is the ultimate reason  
why any man is able to rise from those  
lower levels where wool and mutton are  
the main considerations to those higher 
levels where he becomes a trusted       
implement in the hand of ,god for a     
service that will endure4  ,the young   
man was a man of faith4  ,he had faith  
in ,god4  ,he had faith in his fellows1 
as he showed when he generously forgave 
the brothers who had wronged him1 having
 them as ruler of ,egypt utterly in his 
power4  ,he had faith in himself because
 the spirit of ,god dwelt in his heart4 

,and it matters not whether it is ,egypt
 or ,connecticut1 the eighteenth century
 before ,christ or the twentieth century
 after ,christ1 it is by faith that men 
work righteousness and obtain promises1 
wax valiant in fight and beat back the  
armies of aliens4  ,in the long run the 
world belongs to the idealist4  ,the    
ultimate shaping of its life is in the  
hands of the men who walk the busy      
streets and dusty lanes with their feet 
on the ground but with their heads and  
their hearts among the stars4  ,the men 
of vision and faith sometimes lose a    
skirmish2 now and then they are defeated
 in a battle2 but when the war is fought
 through to a finish they are on the    
winning side4  ,here in this company    
there may be many a favourite son4  ,you
 are inexpressibly dear to the hearts of
 those parents4  ,their thoughts1 their 
prayers and their efforts are all       
reaching out for the best things for    
you4  ,they do not know and you do not  
know what hard tests may lie ahead4     

,you too may be sent for thirteen long  
years to the school of adversity1 but if
 the spirit of ,god is in your heart1 if
 you have faith1 a vital and personal   
faith in ,jesus ,christ1 if you have    
caught the vision of what life may be   
made to mean at its best1 then it lies  
within your power also to achieve4      
,,ii  ,the ,young ,man ,who ,was an     
,athlete  ,what a roomy place the ,bible
 is6  ,it is not filled up with model   
men and women4  ,it is not filled up    
with nice little boys and girls1 all    
neat and sweet1 good enough to be angels
 right off with no alterations4 ,it is  
peopled with imperfect1 blundering folk 
like ourselves4  ,some of these samples 
of human life are offered to us for our 
imitation1 and some by way of warning4  
,the wide variety exhibited shows how   
,god can use and bless the better       
elements in many a life where the wheat 
and the tares grow together until the   
harvest4  ,the divine purpose shows an  
amazing measure of hospitality4  ,the   

love of ,god is broader than the measure
 of man's mind4  ,we come for example to
 the eleventh chapter of ,hebrews4  ,it 
is the roll call of men of faith4  ,by  
faith ,abel offered unto ,god a more    
excellent sacrifice than ,cain4  ,by    
faith ,enoch was translated that he     
should not see death because he walked  
with ,god4  ,by faith ,noah built an ark
 for the saving of his house4  ,by faith
 ,abraham went out to found a nation in 
which all the nations of the earth      
should be blessed1 not knowing whither  
he went4  ,by faith ,moses chose rather 
to suffer affliction with the people of 
,god than to enjoy the pleasures of sin 
for a season4  ,and what shall ,i say   
more1 the author remarks in passing4    
,time would fail me to tell of all the  
men who by faith subdued kingdoms and   
wrought righteousness1 obtained promises
 and put to flight the armies of evil1  
,gideon and ,barak1 ,samson and         
,jephthah4  ,samson6  ,the very presence
 of his name in this catalogue of moral 

heroes all but takes away one's breath4 
,what does this big husky fellow1 this  
wild1 fun-loving chap have to do with   
the working out of the divine purpose   
for the race8  ,we are as much surprised
 as we would be if we had found ,jack   
,johnson undertaking to preach the      
,gospel1 or ,john ,l4 ,sullivan trying  
to be elected as a professor in         
,princeton ,theological ,seminary4      
,samson as a hero of the faith6  ,surely
 this is ,saul among the prophets4  ,we 
will be interested in studying the life 
of this young man who had the build and 
the mood of an athlete4  ,he had in his 
youth the strength and promise of a     
mighty man4  ,he caught a young lion and
 seizing it by its jaws ripped it apart 
as an ordinary man would have rent a    
kid4  ,he caught up the jaw-bone of an  
ass and slew heaps and heaps of his     
enemies in personal combat4  ,he carried
 off the gates of a city and hid them on
 the top of a hill as if he had been    
celebrating ,hallowe'en4  ,he would have

 been the making of any football team4  
,if he had furnished the forward thrust 
of a flying wedge it would have gone    
through any line that might have stood  
in its way4  ,it would not be easy to   
draw a hard and fast line here between  
the prose and the poetry of these       
narratives4  ,something of history and a
 great deal of folk-lore undoubtedly are
 blended in these stirring tales4       
,there are many passages in the earlier 
portions of the ,bible which have more  
value for the history of ideas than for 
the history of actual occurrence4  ,they
 are full of truth though they may not  
always conform to sober fact4  ,they are
 parables rather than records4  ,but we 
may be sure that this interesting young 
giant had something more than mere      
physical prowess4  ,he had in him some  
of the elements of genuine leadership   
else he would not have been regarded as 
a judge and a leader in ,israel1 raised 
up for a great work4  ,the people would 
never have woven these stories about his

 name nor enrolled him among the moral  
heroes of their race had he not         
possessed some of the elements of real  
strength4  ,he had in him the sense of  
power--it is a quality which all men    
covet and all women adore4  ,he had a   
keen sense of the joy of living4  ,we   
are glad that the element of humour was 
not left out of the ,bible4  ,it would  
not have been so human1 so complete1 so 
unmistakably the ,book of ,books had    
this been lacking4  ,i am sure that the 
,almighty has a sense of humour4  ,he   
must have or ,he never would have       
created pelicans and monkeys4  ,he that 
sitteth in the heavens shall laugh1 we  
read--and ,he must have laughed when ,he
 made these curious creatures4  ,he was 
willing to give this fun-loving ,samson 
a place on the roster of the ,army of   
the ,lord4  ,samson stands out on the   
pages of ,scripture as a big1 overgrown1
 rollicking boy looking upon life as one
 huge joke4  ,his major study was to    
turn the laugh on the dull-witted1      

slow-going ,philistines4  ,he tore the  
young lion and when a swarm of bees had 
made honey in the carcass ,samson made  
this riddle1--,out of the eater came    
forth meat1 and out of the strong came  
forth sweetness4  ,he propounded his    
riddle to the ,philistines and made them
 a bet that they could not guess it4    
,and when they wheedled the answer to   
the riddle out of ,samson's wife he     
retorted upon them in coarse fashion1   
,if ye had not plowed with my heifer1 ye
 would not have guessed my riddle4  ,he 
carried off the gates of the city of    
,gaza and hid them4  ,he caught foxes   
and tied firebrands to their tails and  
then turned them loose in the ripe wheat
 fields of the ,philistines1 roaring    
aloud over the havoc they made4  ,he    
slew his enemies with the jaw-bone of an
 ass and then made a clever pun 7which  
the ,hebrew reveals7 upon the name of   
his homely weapon4  ,he was the joker of
 the pack4  ,time and again in the days 
of his power he was able to take the    

trick4  ,when he came to die that       
element of grim humour was still in his 
heart4  ,he had lost his strength       
because he had slept for a night with   
his head in the lap of his enemy4  ,his 
foes had put out his eyes and had made  
him to grind as a slave in one of their 
mills4  ,now he was brought as a kind of
 paid jester to one of their feasts to  
make fun for the party4  ,there in the  
house of his foes1 holding fast to a    
door-post he prayed in grim fashion that
 his former strength might for a moment 
be renewed1 that he might be avenged    
upon his enemies for the loss of one of 
his two eyes4  ,he would leave the rest 
of the account to be settled later4     
,when he had them roaring with laughter 
at some of his sallies1 he pulled down  
the house upon their heads and killed   
them all1 perishing himself in the      
disaster4  ,he was full of humour and   
had a deep sense of the joy of living4  
,he was a strange mixture of good and   
evil4  ,here was a blend of weakness and

 of strength6  ,here was the baser metal
 mingled as an unworthy alloy with much 
that was fine gold4  ,samson got the    
laugh on the ,philistine men1 as        
,william ,r4 ,richards said once in     
,battell ,chapel1 but their sisters     
avenged themselves on him by making a   
slave1 a tool1 and a fool of him4  ,this
 old writer tells his story straight on 
without stopping to moralize4  ,but     
where can you find a better sermon on   
the need of personal purity8  ,of the   
two forms of sin which especially assail
 young men1 ,samson might guard us from 
one by way of example1 and from the     
other by way of warning4  ,touching no  
wine1 for he was a ,nazarite from his   
birth1 he excelled in strength4  ,but   
placing his head in the lap of a false  
woman whose name was ,delilah1 there    
came to him weakness1 blindness1 the    
prison house1 and the grave4  ,he       
refused the cup which cheers and also   
inebriates1 but he gave his heart and   
his strength to that alluring enemy of  

the divine purpose who ruined him4      
,where a young man is a physical        
weakling1 then if his mind is dull and  
his heart mean1 he is at least all of a 
piece4  ,he is consistent in his        
make-up4  ,where his body is strong as  
was the body of this young giant1       
revealing in every movement of it that  
joy and vigour which come with abundance
 of life1 then if his mental and moral  
life are weak and thin1 there is        
something tragic in that walking lie4   
,the outward man promises so much1 but  
the inward man is a wail of             
disappointment4  ,the ,philistines took 
him1 is the terse comment of the writer 
upon ,samson's unhappy career4  ,but his
 sins had already taken him captive4 ,he
 had become the bond servant of his own 
passions4  ,he was already a slave      
through his lack of self-control4  ,the 
wages of sin is death--if you doubt it  
read through to the end the story of any
 man who is headed wrong and keeps going
 in that direction4  ,you will find the 

word ,death written over against his    
name in five capital letters4  ,read the
 story of this young man who in his     
youth was so strong and sunny1 as his   
name in the original has it4  ,when you 
read on you presently find him dead in  
his eyes1 as he gropes his way about the
 prison house in the land of the        
,philistines4 ,he is dead in his muscles
 as he weakly turns the wheels of a     
mill1 which was the work commonly       
assigned to women in those rude tribes4 
,he is dead in reputation--the fool and 
the jester brought in to make sport at  
the table of his captors6  ,he is dead  
in his soul for he is unaware that the  
,lord has departed from him4  ,the wages
 of sin is death4 ,whether pay day comes
 the following ,saturday night or at the
 end of the year1 or in the final       
outcome1 in every case the sorry result 
will be the same4  ,we are compelled to 
say that ,samson's life was a tragedy   
because he failed at these three points4
  ,he never learned to take life        

seriously4 ,the joker is not the best   
card in the pack1 except by an arbitrary
 rule--and in all the better games at   
cards1 the joker is thrown out4 ,when   
all is said and done1 life is serious   
business4  ,the humour1 the amusement1  
the recreation are only the sauce on the
 table to give an added zest and        
relish--they are not the roast beef and 
potatoes4  ,you cannot live on them nor 
by them4  ,the man who laughs and laughs
 loudly and laughs at everything will   
have the laugh turned on him4  ,the very
 fact that he has never brought his life
 under the power of a serious1 definite1
 compelling purpose will cause him to be
 left far in the rear by those men who  
waken up early to the fact that the     
world is not to be taken as a joke4     
,there was a certain joy no doubt in    
carrying off the gates of ,gaza4  ,i can
 recall certain episodes on the evening 
of the thirty-first of ,october when the
 carrying off of the gates of some      
neighbour seemed to me to fill the cup  

of life to the brim4  ,there is a       
certain joy in getting a cow up into the
 pulpit of the ,college ,chapel or into 
the belfry of some church on a dark     
night--the young fellow who has never   
helped to solve that problem in physics 
has missed something4  ,there is a time 
to read the paper we call ,life1 and to 
see some man on the stage who can be as 
funny as ,william ,collier4  ,where all 
these are the diversions of a mind      
devoted to serious ends1 where they are 
only the by-product of human interest1  
they have a rightful place in our       
regime4  ,but their lines are soon      
spoken1 and the stage must be cleared   
for those who have something of more    
moment to tell4  ,how much do you really
 care8 the world is asking4  ,how ready 
are you to think intently upon something
 which has no more fun in it than a page
 of figures or an array of unyielding   
facts8  ,how far are you ready to bend  
all the best energies of body1 brain and
 heart to the gaining of some worthy    

end8  ,how completely have you set your 
heart upon that which is vital8  ,your  
answer to these questions will in large 
measure tell the story of your future   
achievement4  ,this young man failed    
because he had not acquired the habit of
 persistence4  ,his big deeds were all  
done in a hurry1 and they were soon     
over4  ,he carried off the gates of the 
city in ten minutes4  ,he tore the young
 lion apart in an instant4  ,he         
slaughtered the ,philistines with the   
jaw-bone of an ass in less time than ,i 
am taking in telling it4  ,he tied      
torches to the tails of the foxes and   
let them loose in the wheat fields in a 
careless half hour of thoughtless sport4
 ,you do not find the man binding up a  
lifetime of effort into a moral unit by 
an all-inclusive and dominant intention4
  ,he was never ready to work and to    
keep on working until achievement of a  
worthy sort should crown his effort4    
,you cannot drive a long nail in to the 
head by hammering around all over the   

board4  ,you must hit the nail on the   
head and keep on hitting it on the head 
until you have sent it home4  ,you      
cannot sink the shaft of a mine by      
digging all around over the             
mountainside4  ,you must dig in one     
place and keep on digging in one place  
persistently until you have sunk your   
shaft to the vein of ore4  ,you cannot  
build a life that is worthy to be the   
life of a child of ,god unless you gird 
yourself for that persistent effort     
which lies between you and the goal upon
 which you have set your heart4  ,it    
cannot be done in an hour1 or in a day1 
or in a year4  ,the hard task of        
presenting to ,him a life which will    
bear ,his own eye and win ,his approval 
will mortgage the best strength of all  
your best years4  ,you may have the body
 of an athlete4  ,you may have a mind   
with splendid capacity in it for real   
achievement4  ,you may have a heart     
which reacts as promptly as gunpowder   
when a spark of genuine aspiration is   

applied to it4  ,you may have all       
these--,i hope you have--but unless you 
have learned the high art of staying by1
 of holding on1 of keeping at it no     
matter what comes1 you are doomed to    
defeat4  ,how often you see a young man 
of generous impulse1 of kindly          
disposition1 like ,esau1 faltering and  
failing as the years come and go until  
at last he is little better than a      
vagabond upon the face of the earth4    
,how often you find a man of purpose and
 persistence1 like ,jacob1 with many an 
unfortunate trait in him1 with a heavy  
moral handicap to overcome1 finally     
winning out by the sheer force of his   
spiritual tenacity4  ,be thou faithful  
unto death1 the promise has it1 and ,i  
will give thee the crown of life4  ,the 
crown is held in reserve for those who  
persist clear through to the end4  ,this
 young man failed because he lacked the 
favour of ,god4  ,in the early stages of
 his career we read of a divine element 
in his life4 ,the woman bare a son and  

called his name ,samson1 and the ,lord  
blessed him4  ,and the spirit of the    
,lord came mightily upon him for those  
deeds of valour4  ,however we may       
interpret these expressions the fact is 
plain that so long as he kept his life  
clean and true he had the sense of      
divine reinforcement making him equal to
 the tasks which fell to his lot4 ,then 
there came a time when by his own       
actions he forfeited all this4 ,he      
became as weak as a rag in the face of  
temptation1 in the presence of duty1 in 
some great opportunity for valiant      
effort which opened before him4  ,and he
 did not realize how weak he was until  
he went down in defeat4  ,he wist not   
that the ,lord had departed from him4   
,the spirit of self-indulgence1 ,i care 
not whether it goes straight for the    
coarse sins of the flesh or moves in    
more refined ways towards the life of   
selfish ease and barren culture1 will   
take the iron out of a man's blood4  ,it
 will take the vim out of his muscles1  

the power to hold fast out of his will4 
,the man who saves his life for his own 
personal gratification will soon find   
that he has no life to save4  ,that     
which makes life life is gone4 ,it is   
the habit of self-control1 the spirit of
 self-surrender to the will of ,god1 the
 purpose of self-dedication to the      
highest ends in sight1 which puts power 
into the thrust of each man's effort4   
,the circular letter which ,lord        
,kitchener1 head of the ,war ,office1   
sent to every ,british soldier when the 
,english troops were ordered to the     
,continent reads like a classic3   ,you 
are ordered abroad as a soldier of the  
,king4  ,the honour of the ,british     
,army depends upon your individual      
conduct4  ,you have a task to perform   
which will need courage1 energy1 and    
patience4  ,be on your guard against    
excesses4  ,you will find temptation    
both in women and in wine4  ,resist both
 and do your duty bravely4  ,fear ,god4 
,honour the ,king4  7,signed7           

,,kitchener4   ,hang those great words  
up in your mind6  ,hang the picture of  
that strong1 stern1 brave man in your   
heart that you too may wear the cross of
 honour4  ,if it is good for men to be  
sober and clean in war time1 why not at 
all times8  ,have we not sore need of   
these same qualities in the more        
exacting pursuits of peace8  ,every man 
who is worthy of the name of man is set 
to guard some sacred interest1 though he
 carries neither gun nor sword4  ,here  
is the everlasting fight being waged    
three hundred and sixty-five days in the
 year--and it is waged year in and year 
out for there is no discharge in that   
war--against hunger and cold1 against   
disease and death1 against poverty and  
crime6  ,why not have men at their best 
in the mill and in the mine1 on the farm
 and in the factory1 in the             
counting-room and in the places of      
trade8  ,the armies which are sent forth
 to save1 to feed1 and to clothe men's  
lives1 no less than the armies of       

bloodshed have need of the same high    
discipline4  ,they1 too1 are crippled   
and broken1 they are driven back and    
hurled to defeat by those moral foes    
which march under the banner of         
self-indulgence4  ,here is an evil      
traffic which flaunts its wares in our  
faces in every city block where the     
forces of righteousness have not risen  
in strength to cast it out4  ,but we    
have fallen upon times when the economic
 forces are lining up solidly with the  
verdict of medical science and the power
 of religion in a relentless opposition 
to the use of alcohol as a beverage4    
,in these days the man who thinks more  
of his job than he does of his grog has 
the floor4  ,the wise railroad managers 
know full well that a tippler in the cab
 of an engine or at the flagman's post  
means sooner or later a frightful       
accident with loss of property and life4
  ,the owners of intricate and delicate 
machinery in the great factories know   
that placing in control men whose brains

 have been clogged and drugged with     
liquor is as foolish as throwing sand   
into the ball bearings4  ,safety ,first 
means ,sober ,first4  ,the taxpayers are
 becoming no less insistent--they have  
learned that the open saloon means added
 crime and poverty where they must foot 
the bills4  ,decent people have grown   
tired of cleaning up the muss and the   
dirt occasioned by the rum sellers4     
,the moral forces of the community      
recognize the fact that the liquor      
business allies itself openly with      
immoralities of every sort4  ,the people
 are saying in state after state1 in    
country after country1 ,time's up6  ,you
 have failed to show your right to be6  
,you will have to go4  ,the habit of    
indulgence in that which robs men of    
strength1 of intelligence1 of           
conscience1 finds every good man's hand 
against it4  ,we read in this strange   
story that ,samson's strength was in his
 hair4 ,when his locks were cut away by 
the fair and false hand of evil he was  

as weak as a woman4  ,how much of sober 
history and how much of poetic allegory 
there may be in these glowing statements
 it is not easy to say4  ,but the moral 
content of this record is clear4  ,when 
those slender and delicate lines of     
contact which1 as he believed according 
to his vow as a ,nazarite1 bound him in 
loyalty to the source of all strength1  
were broken1 then his splendid prowess  
was no more4  ,it is that little        
half-inch rim of the tree where the sap 
runs up to the sun that makes the tree  
alive or dead4  ,however you phrase it  
in the clearer light of this twentieth  
century of ours1 guard with all         
diligence those lines of communication  
between your own inner life and the life
 of ,god4  ,maintain within yourself    
that faith and hope and love which will 
bring to you your own full measure of   
strength and joy4  ,the dull1 sad       
picture of this defeated man is not     
wholly unrelieved by any brighter touch4
  ,when he was shorn of his strength1   

robbed of his honour1 stained in the    
quality of his manhood1 we read1        
,howbeit the hair of his head began to  
grow again after he was shorn4  ,it was 
only a gleam of hope1 but it was a      
gleam4  ,it was a far-off promise of    
that divine redemptive process which has
 become the basis of our trust4  ,his   
claim upon the divine favour and his    
hold upon the sources of strength were  
not utterly forfeited by his acts of    
evil-doing4  ,his hair began to grow    
again and a hope of moral recovery was  
begotten in his heart4  ,if we say we   
have no sin we deceive ourselves2 but if
 we confess our sins ,he is faithful and
 just to forgive us and to cleanse us   
from all unrighteousness4  ,let me close
 with this plain1 straight word of      
appeal as strong as ,i can make it6     
,you need ,god in your life4  ,you need 
,him not as a philosophical belief      
touching the origin and ground of all   
finite existence2 not as a mere dogma to
 be written at the head of your         

,confession of ,faith2 not as a name to 
be introduced into some liturgy which   
you may occasionally employ4  ,you need 
,god as a present1 personal and profound
 experience4  ,to know ,him is to live1 
and to live well4  ,it was ,phillips    
,brooks who said once to an audience of 
,harvard men1 ,here is the last great   
certainty1 be sure of ,god6  ,by simple1
 loving worship1 by continual obedience1
 by keeping yourself pure even as ,he is
 pure1 creep close to ,him1 keep close  
to ,him1 and in the end nothing can     
overthrow you4     ,,iii  ,the ,young   
,man ,who ,became ,king  ,in some wise  
way when the door of opportunity opens  
upon a trying situation there comes     
forth a man of sufficient size to       
perform the task4  ,when the time is    
ripe for the ,protestant ,reformation   
,martin ,luther is ready and walks in4  
,when the day arrives for ,napoleon     
,bonaparte to be sent to ,st4 ,helena   
and the peace of ,europe restored1 the  
,duke of ,wellington1 representing      

,british tenacity1 is ready4  ,when the 
hour has struck for ,american slavery to
 be destroyed by words and laws and     
grape-shot1 ,william ,lloyd ,garrison   
and ,abraham ,lincoln and ,ulysses ,s4  
,grant are ready4  ,back of every       
emergency ,god waits4  ,he has ,his     
great right hand full of men and when   
the fullness of time is come ,he brings 
upon the scene ,his own appointed man4  
,here in a very old book is the story of
 the greatest king that ,israel ever    
had6  ,the ,house of ,tudor in ,england1
 the ,house of ,hohenzollern in ,germany
 or the late ,house of the ,romanoffs in
 ,russia1 never had such a hold upon the
 popular imagination and affection as   
did the house and lineage of ,david upon
 the hearts of the ,hebrews4  ,the ,one 
who was to be born ,king of kings and   
,lord of lords to reign forever and ever
 was to come from the house and lineage 
of ,david4  ,but how was this country   
boy with rough hands and all the marks  
of toil upon him to become king8  ,he   

was no ,crown ,prince--,jonathan was the
 eldest son of the reigning monarch4    
,he was neither the eldest nor the      
favourite son of any man4  ,he was the  
youngest son of a farmer named ,jesse   
and because he seemed less promising    
than his older brothers he had been     
given the care of the sheep4  ,anybody  
with eyes in his head and feet to walk  
about can watch sheep4  ,the boy did not
 seem at first glance to have his foot  
on the ladder nor to possess the        
elements of royalty4  ,he became king   
because he had these five qualities3    
,first of all he showed fidelity in the 
ordinary duties of every-day life4      
,here is the summing up of his          
method--,and ,david behaved himself     
wisely in all his ways and the ,lord was
 with him4  ,if a bunch of sheep became 
his field of opportunity he would do his
 work in such fashion that no one could 
do it better4  ,he would lead them in   
green pastures and by still waters so   
that they should not want4  ,his rod and

 his staff would protect them4  ,he     
would learn the use of sling and stone  
so that he could sling1 as the record   
says1 at a hair's breadth and not miss4 
,if a wolf or a bear should attack his  
flock1 he would be able to drive them   
off4  ,the simple ordinary duties which 
belong to keeping sheep or to getting   
one's lessons at school1 to meeting     
one's obligations in some modest        
position in office or store1 or in doing
 one's best in a factory or on a farm1  
become a kind of dress rehearsal for the
 larger duties which lie ahead4  ,if a  
man knows his lines and can take his    
part effectively upon the narrower stage
 of action he is in line for promotion  
to a more important role4  ,you will    
find whole regiments of young fellows   
who drag along1 scamping their work and 
slighting those opportunities which are 
right at hand4  ,they are saving up     
their energies to do something          
splendidly effective week after next4   
,but week after next never comes to such

 men4  ,it is always to-day1 and to-day 
in their eyes seems ever small4  ,if    
those men were already on the           
quarterdeck as captains of great ocean  
liners2 if they were already bank       
presidents sitting in handsome offices  
of their own2 if they were already      
journalists of the first rank writing   
editorials for metropolitan dailies1    
they would do what their hands and their
 minds found to do with their might4    
,but in this day of small things they   
feel that fidelity and skill would be   
thrown away4  ,they have mixed up the   
words of the promise--they think it     
reads1 ,you have been unfaithful over a 
few things1 ,i will make thee ruler over
 everything4  ,when a man is going      
up-stairs he must put his foot first on 
the step which is at the bottom and then
 take the other steps in order4  ,the   
same rule holds in the great business of
 living a man's life and doing a man's  
work in the world4  ,the young man who  
was to become king showed courage and   

high resolve in the face of danger4     
,there came a day when the ,israelites  
and the ,philistines were lined up in   
battle array on the opposite sides of a 
valley4  ,the ,philistines had their    
champion fighter in the person of a huge
 fellow named ,goliath4  ,his armour    
weighed one hundred and fifty pounds4   
,his spear was like a weaver's beam4    
,he stood roaring out his defiance      
against the armies of ,israel1 ,choose  
you a man6  ,let him come down to me and
 fight4  ,if he kills me1 we will be    
your servants4  ,if ,i prevail against  
him then ye shall be our servants4      
,after the manner of the ,iliad he stood
 ready to let the issue of the campaign 
turn upon the result of a solitary      
combat between himself and any          
,israelite they might put up against    
him4  ,saul1 the king of ,israel1 had   
offered to enrich with great wealth the 
man who would fight that huge           
,philistine4  ,he had promised to give  
him the hand of his own daughter1 the   

fair young princess1 in marriage1 and to
 make his father's house forever free in
 ,israel4  ,but no ,israelite had dared 
to fight the terrible ,goliath4  ,then  
,david appeared upon the scene4  ,he had
 been sent down by his father with ten  
loaves of fresh bread1 with ten cheeses 
and a supply of parched corn for his    
brothers who were at the front4  ,he saw
 this huge ,goliath stalking up and down
 the picket lines between the armies4   
,he cried out in his resentment at the  
apparent cowardice of his own           
countrymen1 ,who is this uncircumcised  
,philistine that he should defy the     
armies of the living ,god6  ,david was  
informed that even the promise of high  
reward offered by the king had not      
induced an ,israelite to face the       
,philistine4  ,then spoke out the voice 
of faith from the heart of unstained    
youth6 ,let no man's heart fail because 
of him--thy servant will go and fight   
this ,philistine4  ,the king            
remonstrated with him4  ,he pointed out 

the folly of sending an untrained youth 
to meet the disciplined man of war4 ,but
 ,david insisted that his rough         
experiences with the lions and the bears
 which attacked his flock had furnished 
him the necessary training4  ,the king  
then offered him his own armour1 which  
would naturally be the best suit of     
armour in the camp1 that the stripling  
might in some measure be protected4     
,but after trying on this suit of mail  
,david put it aside4  ,i cannot go with 
these1 he said1 for ,i have not proved  
them4  ,he refused the conventional     
modes of defense1 relying upon those    
weapons which had been tested by        
experience4  ,he took his sling and five
 smooth stones from the brook and       
announced that he was ready for the     
combat4  ,it seemed a contest most      
unequal when the principals were put    
forth with the ,israelites and the      
,philistines ranged up on either side of
 the valley to watch the outcome4       
,goliath was enraged when he saw the boy

 they had sent against him4  ,am ,i a   
dog8 he said4  ,and then he cursed      
,david by all his gods and threatened to
 feed his flesh to the beasts of the    
field before an hour had passed4  ,like 
many a modern combatant ,goliath was    
mighty with his mouth4  ,his tongue was 
like a weaver's beam4  ,the young man   
was not disturbed4  ,his weapons were   
taken from the armoury of experience1   
and his courage came from the same      
reliable source4  ,the ,lord who        
delivered me out of the paws of the lion
 and the bear will deliver me from the  
hand of this ,philistine4  ,the moral   
triumphs of those early years when a boy
 keeps his life clean and strong become 
the earnest of the larger victories he  
is set to win in his mature manhood4    
,the growing boy who disdains to lie or 
to cheat1 to stain his life with dirt or
 to show himself a coward1 will know how
 to bear himself when the harder tests  
of middle life assail him4  ,the young  
man's religious faith contributed to his

 courage4  ,it was moral strength pitted
 against brute force4  ,it was the      
scornful self-confidence which trusted  
in a coat of brass and a huge spear     
measuring itself against the spirit of  
faith which became the source of a finer
 form of valour4  ,thou comest to me    
with sword and spear1 ,david cried1 as  
he saw his foe advancing4  ,i come to   
thee in the name of the ,lord of ,hosts 
whom thou hast defied4  ,his trust in   
,god kept his nerves steady so that he  
was still able in the presence of that  
roaring giant to sling stones at a      
hair's breadth and not miss4  ,his moral
 passion as he went forth to lift that  
reproach from the banner of his nation  
gave strength to his right arm4  ,the   
huge ,philistine came on1 brandishing   
his spear and roaring out his wrath4    
,david saw the unprotected spot below   
the visor of the man's helmet4  ,he took
 one of his five smooth stones and slung
 it with such force and precision as to 
strike ,goliath full in the forehead1   

knocking him senseless4  ,he then ran   
forward and took the huge sword of his  
enemy and cut off his head holding it   
aloft as a trophy of his courage4 ,when 
the ,philistines saw their champion fall
 they fled in terror and the ,israelites
 pursuing them won a notable victory4   
,how splendid is the quality of moral   
courage6  ,how kingly is the man who can
 face all manner of danger undaunted    
because he knows that his heart is right
 and his cause is just6  ,he deserves to
 be crowned4  ,the battle is the ,lord's
 in the last analysis and ,he saveth not
 alone with sword and spear4  ,there are
 sentiments and principles which become 
deep-rooted in a nation's life mightier 
by far than the heaviest battalions4    
,there are habits of thought and        
long-cherished convictions which        
constitute a more reliable form of      
defense than all the ramparts and       
battlements devised by strategists4  ,a 
nation of ,davids will in the final     
outcome outmatch any nation of ,goliaths

 with all their swords and spears4  ,and
 in one's personal life the clear       
conscience and the heart of faith will  
bring any man off from any field where  
he may be sent more than conqueror      
through ,him who loves us4  ,this young 
man showed also a fine capacity for     
friendship with men4 ,his soul was knit 
with the soul of ,jonathan and he loved 
him as he loved his own soul4  ,the fine
 friendship of a man for a man1 or the  
gracious affection which a woman feels  
for a woman who is indeed her friend1   
becomes a noble form of human           
relationship4  ,those ties where the    
charm and power of the sex-impulse has  
no place have in them a world of moral  
worth4  ,it is easy for any man to fall 
in love with some beautiful woman--it is
 as easy as rolling off a log1 and ever 
so much more delightful4  ,it is easy   
for any man to inhale the sweet incense 
which arises from the devotion of some  
affectionate woman's heart4  ,but where 
a man loves a man in an unsullied1      

unselfish friendship until his soul is  
knit with the soul of that man in an    
interlacing and interlocking of         
interest1 then you have that harder1    
rarer form of human relationship which  
is rich with promise4  ,the young chap  
who is never quite happy with his       
fellows1 who must always have some      
adoring young woman present in order to 
be content1 is not quite all there4  ,he
 is a softy4  ,he is lath and plaster   
where there should be quartered oak4    
,he has sentiment than principle2 he has
 less muscle and more fat than go to the
 make-up of a virile manhood4 ,the very 
absence of the glamour and mystery which
 enters into all attachments between    
those of opposite sex clears the air for
 the manifestation of some of those fine
 forms of fidelity and devotion which   
belong to friendship at its best4  ,here
 the friendship was the more notable    
when we recall how the two men were     
placed4  ,jonathan was the eldest son of
 the king1 the heir to the throne1 the  

natural successor of ,saul4  ,but ,david
 by his military prowess had come to be 
highly esteemed4  ,when he returned     
victorious from his wars against the    
enemies of ,israel the proud and happy  
women had sung in the streets1 ,saul has
 slain his thousands1 but ,david has    
slain his tens of thousands4  ,and      
,david had been privately anointed by   
,samuel the prophet as a worthy         
candidate for the throne of ,israel4    
,jonathan1 as the ,crown ,prince1 had   
the least to gain and the most to lose  
by protecting the life and ministering  
to the well-being of this friend who    
might one day aspire to the throne4  ,he
 made his affection a thing resplendent 
by its sheer unselfishness4  ,he saw    
that ,david might increase while he     
would decrease1 yet even so the sky of  
his affection was unclouded by a single 
touch of jealousy4  ,how great is that  
love which envieth not4  ,and ,david in 
turn made his own adequate response to  
this magnanimous interest4  ,he showed  

himself in his whole bearing a man      
worthy of the friendship of a prince of 
the blood4  ,heaven be praised for men  
who can find joy and satisfaction in the
 friendship of their fellows4  ,the     
young man who was destined to become    
king was generous to his enemies4  ,saul
 stood head and shoulders above his     
fellows1 physically speaking1 but in his
 mental and moral stature he was less   
than knee-high to the man who followed  
him upon the throne4  ,when he heard the
 women singing ,david's praises1 ,saul  
was very wroth--the saying displeased   
him and he eyed ,david from that day    
forward4  ,when the king saw the fine   
friendship between his own son ,jonathan
 and the rising ,david his heart became 
as bitter as gall4  ,thou son of a      
perverse1 rebellious woman1 he cried to 
the ,crown ,prince1 thou hast chosen    
this son of ,jesse to thine own         
confusion4  ,and when ,david increased  
year after year in stature1 in wisdom1  
and in favour with ,god and men1 ,saul  

tried repeatedly to kill him4  ,his soul
 cried out1 ,let me feed fat the ancient
 grudge ,i bear him4  ,it is not easy   
for any man1 especially a young man with
 hot1 red blood in his veins and the    
sense of injustice rankling in his      
heart1 to stand up in the face of hatred
 and malice and keep sweet about it4    
,love your enemies4  ,bless them who    
curse you4  ,do good to them that hate  
you4  ,pray for those who despitefully  
use you4  ,if you are struck upon the   
cheek take a second blow upon the other 
cheek rather than strike back in        
resentment4  ,if a man compels you      
unjustly to go a mile with him1 go two  
miles rather than seek to be avenged4   
,take the rules of action constantly    
from within1 from the best instincts of 
your own heart rather than have them    
furnished to you by the evil behaviour  
of wrong-doers4  ,allow no man's        
meanness to master you--allow rather    
your own nobility to overcome that evil 
with good4  ,how easy it is to say it1  

but to do it--aye1 there is the rub6    
,it is so divinely hard to put these    
fine principles into practice4  ,the    
soft answer may turn away wrath1 but the
 hot retort comes more readily to the   
lips4  ,the humane return of good for   
evil points the way of spiritual        
advance1 but the desire to pay every man
 back in his own coin with a tip thrown 
in for good measure is often more       
natural4  ,the more honour then to the  
man who has learned that greater is he  
that ruleth his own spirit than he that 
taketh a city4  ,when ,david had ,saul  
within his power he refused to strike4  
,there were months when the young man   
was hunted through the hills of ,judea  
by the hirelings of the wicked king1 as 
if he had been a mad dog4  ,there came a
 night when ,saul was sleeping in his   
barricade of wagons4  ,he had around him
 the three thousand soldiers whom he had
 led into the mountains in his mad      
effort to capture ,david4  ,the young   
man had been pursued until he had felt  

that there was only a step between him  
and death4  ,that very night1           
accompanied only by his armour-bearer1  
,david stole under cover of the darkness
 into ,saul's camp4  ,he presently stood
 in the tent of the sleeping giant4     
,here was his enemy lying helpless at   
his feet6  ,his armour-bearer1 knowing  
the history of that enmity1 whispered1  
,let me smite him with one blow to the  
earth6  ,i will not smite the second    
time4  ,one blow in the dark would      
suffice to end that murderous career4   
,and it ought to be remembered that this
 was in a day when an eye for an eye and
 a tooth for a tooth was the law of the 
land4  ,it was esteemed the law of ,god4
  ,the atmosphere was not one of        
forbearance--the popular heroes were men
 like ,samson and ,gideon1 women like   
,deborah and ,jael1 who did not hesitate
 to strike down their foes4 ,let me     
smite him1 came the whisper in the dark4
  ,one blow will suffice4  ,but peace   
hath her victories no less than war4    

,mercy has its trophies no less than    
force4  ,here was a man who would not   
avenge himself--he would give place unto
 wrath knowing that vengeance belongs to
 ,god4  ,he was ready to make the bold  
adventure of undertaking to overcome    
evil with good4  ,david would not strike
 his enemy even though that enemy had   
been in hot pursuit of him4  ,destroy   
him not1 he whispered to his            
companion-in-arms as he felt him        
clutching the sword which hung at his   
side4  ,david's greatest victory was not
 over ,goliath1 the ,philistine         
giant--it was over himself1 over that   
spirit of revenge which might so easily 
have ruled his heart in that dark1 hard 
hour4  ,he had in splendid measure the  
quality of mercy which the poet sings4  
,the quality of mercy is not strain'd1  
,it droppeth as the gentle rain from    
heaven   ,upon the place beneath4  ,it  
is twice blest2   ,it blesseth him that 
gives and him that takes4   ',tis       
mightiest in the mightiest3 it becomes  

,the throned monarch better than his    
crown2   ,we do pray for mercy1   ,and  
that same prayer doth teach us all to   
render   ,the deeds of mercy4   ,we are 
discovering those qualities which       
entitled this young man to be crowned as
 king4  ,finally1 he was a man of       
genuine piety4  ,we read in one place   
that he was a man after ,god's own      
heart4  ,the statement has been a puzzle
 to many an honest mind4  ,this man who 
in his later years dipped his hands in  
the blood of his foes and fell on one   
occasion into the grossest sin with an  
attractive woman1 this fellow a man     
after ,god's own heart6  ,he was not an 
angel4  ,as we go up and down through   
history we find men and not angels4  ,we
 find men with mud on their boots1 with 
blisters on their hands1 and with scars 
on their souls4  ,george ,washington    
owned slaves4  ,john ,calvin burned     
,servetus at the stake4  ,peter the     
,apostle denied his ,lord three times in
 a single night--he denied with an oath4

 ,if you are looking for moral          
perfection you will have to look        
somewhere else than on this earth4      
,david was a man after ,god's own heart1
 not because he never did wrong1 but    
because when he fell down he got up     
again4  ,he got up again faced towards  
,god and not away from ,him1 faced away 
from the evil which had thrown him down 
and not towards a further advance in    
wrong-doing4  ,the wise make of their   
moral failures ladders by which they    
climb towards ,heaven4  ,the foolish    
make of their moral failures graves     
wherein they bury all their highest     
hopes4  ,when ,oscar ,wilde was         
imprisoned in ,reading gaol for his own 
wretched wrongdoing he wrote that       
strangely human document1 ,de           
,profundis4  ,it was a message out of   
the depths4  ,in that book he used this 
striking sentence which ,i have never   
forgotten since the first time ,i read  
it1 ,the highest moment in a man's      
career may be the hour when he kneels in

 the dust and beats upon his breast and 
tells all the sins of his life4  ,god be
 merciful to me1 a sinner4  ,have mercy 
upon me1 ,o ,god4 ,against ,thee have ,i
 sinned4  ,wash me thoroughly from mine 
iniquity and cleanse me from my sin4    
,this is all that any honest man can say
 in the presence of his ,maker1 and when
 he does say it honestly he is on his   
way to the divine favour4  ,david was a 
man of faith and of prayer2 he was a man
 of deep1 sweet feeling and of spiritual
 longing4  ,in all his better moments   
when he was truly himself his heart     
hungered after righteousness and his    
soul was athirst for the living ,god4   
,a man of that moral mood and build is  
much more after ,god's own heart1 even  
though he may upon occasion be betrayed 
by the fervour of his nature into       
wrong-doing1 than is the coldly correct 
man who has never felt enough of        
warm-hearted devotion to anything to    
raise the spiritual temperature a single
 degree4  ,i do not know how many of    

these ,psalms came from the lips or the 
pen of ,david4  ,no one knows--not many 
in all probability4  ,but ,i know that  
these words represent experiences which 
were ,david's beyond a peradventure4    
,the ,lord is my rock and my fortress1  
my deliverer and my saviour4  ,in my    
distress ,i called upon ,him and ,he    
heard me4  ,he drew me out of many      
waters and ,he brought me forth into a  
large place4 ,surely goodness and mercy 
shall follow me all the days of my life 
and ,i shall dwell in the house of the  
,lord forever4  ,he came to the throne  
at the age of thirty1 and he reigned    
over ,israel for forty years4  ,his name
 was handed down in human history as    
that of the greatest king that ,israel  
ever had4  ,he never could have done it 
but for the fact that he had in his     
heart faith and hope and love towards   
,god and towards his fellow men4  ,he   
was a man of deep and genuine piety4    
,when ,william ,,iv of ,england passed  
away there was a young girl of sixteen  

named ,victoria who was spending the    
night in ,kensington ,palace4 ,word was 
suddenly brought to her that the ,king  
was dead and that she was ,queen of     
,england4  ,she immediately fell upon   
her knees imploring divine help and     
guidance in the discharge of the high   
duties which had been thrust upon her4  
,may it not be that this was one secret 
of her beneficent reign which lasted for
 more than sixty years8  ,the rulers who
 begin the ascent of their thrones upon 
their knees rise high because their eyes
 are upon that ,great ,white ,throne    
which is the final seat of all authority
 and of all blessing4  ,here then were  
the leading traits in that young man who
 became king6 ,in his early life when he
 was nothing but a shepherd boy he      
showed fidelity in the ordinary duties  
of every-day life4  ,he showed courage  
and high resolve in the presence of     
danger4  ,he had a fine capacity for    
joyous and enduring friendship with his 
brother men4  ,he was great-hearted and 

magnanimous to his foes1 even when he   
had them utterly in his power4  ,he was 
a man of simple1 genuine faith in the   
living ,god4  ,whether you are living in
 ,palestine or in ,connecticut1 in the  
tenth century before ,christ or in the  
twentieth century after1 are not these  
the qualities which are sure to be      
crowned8  ,are not these the traits     
which make any man kingly in his bearing
 and in the whole content of his inner  
life8  ,set your hearts upon those      
traits and make them your own6  ,fight  
the good fight6  ,keep your faith6      
,finish your course with honour and you 
will find at the end of it laid up for  
you a crown of righteousness1 which ,god
 gives to every man who serves ,him     
aright4     ,,iv  ,the ,young ,man ,who 
,was ,born to the ,purple  ,in the year 
that ,king ,uzziah died--it was more    
than a date1 it was an experience6  ,the
 king had been a wise and good ruler4   
,he had served his country well for     
fifty-two long years4  ,he showed an    

interest in the welfare of his          
people--,he loved husbandry and dug     
wells for them in the desert4  ,he      
caused vineyards to be planted on the   
slopes of ,carmel and he increased the  
herds of cattle which grazed in the     
lowlands4  ,he fortified his capital by 
building towers at the valley gate and  
at the turning of the wall in           
,jerusalem4  ,his reign was beneficent1 
but now he was dead1 and this           
warm-hearted young patriot felt that his
 heart was overwhelmed4  ,he and his    
fellow citizens must now plan for the   
future of their county without the      
guidance and inspiration of this great  
king4  ,but ,in the year that ,king     
,uzziah died1 ,i saw the ,lord4  ,there 
came something more than a personal     
experience of disappointment4  ,there   
came the emergence of a new and higher  
form of faith4  ,this young man saw the 
earthly majesty of this wise and good   
king go down in utter defeat4  ,in some 
strange way the king contracted leprosy4

  ,during all the closing years of his  
reign he suffered from the crawling     
inroads of that loathsome disease4  ,by 
the stern requirements of the ,jewish   
law he was banished from his own        
capital4  ,he was compelled to live     
outside the city and to reign by deputy4
  ,he finally died a lingering and      
horrible death4  ,and in that dread hour
 the young man saw the heavenly majesty 
of the ,king of kings resplendent and   
enduring4  ,in the year that ,king      
,uzziah died ,i saw the ,lord1 high and 
lifted up1 sitting upon ,his throne and 
,his glory filled the temple4  ,the     
spirit of hero-worship was passing over 
into religious faith4  ,let me study    
with you the effect of this crisis in   
the life of his nation upon this young  
man who was born to the purple4  ,he    
possessed all those advantages which go 
with wealth1 social position1 and       
education4  ,we have here no rough man  
of the hills like ,elijah1 the          
,tishbite1 rudely dressed and rude in   

speech4  ,we have here no man with the  
smell of the fields in his garments like
 ,amos1 the herdsman of ,tekoa4  ,isaiah
 belonged to the fortunate class4  ,he  
lived on ,fifth ,avenue4  ,he had an    
assured social position which gave him  
ready access to the court and to the    
presence of the king4  ,he was familiar 
with the customs and the costumes of    
fashionable society1 as we find in that 
chapter where he openly rebukes the     
showy extravagance of the idle rich4    
,he was well educated--he had that      
literary skill which comes only to those
 who are well trained4  ,in all the ,old
 ,testament you will find nothing finer 
than the sweep and finish of some of    
this young prophet's public utterances4 
,he was one to whom five talents had    
been given where other men were         
struggling along with one apiece4  ,he  
therefore owed to society what might be 
called the debt of privilege4  ,it is a 
fixed charge upon the lives of those who
 sit above the salt4  ,it has a right to

 insist upon full payment4  ,to whom    
much is given1 of him will much be      
required4  ,it is for every man to ask  
himself3 ,how much do ,i eat up in my   
generous mode of life8  ,how much in    
food and dress1 in housing and          
furnishing1 in motor cars and yachts1 in
 travel and in recreation8  ,how much do
 ,i consume in those provisions which ,i
 make for a wider culture through books1
 pictures1 music and the like8  ,what is
 your average intake of this world's    
good things8  ,that measure of          
consumption will indicate the measure of
 your responsibility4  ,if you are born 
to the purple and fare sumptuously in   
all these ways then the world has a     
right to demand that you shall render   
back in corresponding measure that      
useful service which is your plain duty4
  ,in that effective cartoon which      
,jesus drew of the ,rich ,man and       
,lazarus1 it was the unpaid debt of     
privilege which brought about the loss  
of a soul4  ,jesus showed the two men in

 this world1 one of them living in a    
palace1 clothed with purple and fine    
linen1 faring sumptuously every day2 the
 other in rags dying at the ,rich ,man's
 gate1 hungry and full of sores4  ,then 
,jesus showed the two men in the next   
world1 ,lazarus the beggar now in       
,abraham's bosom1 and the son of good   
fortune enduring torment4  ,there is no 
hint that the ,rich ,man had gained a   
penny of his wealth wrongfully2 no      
charge of lying or theft1 of murder or  
adultery is laid at his door4  ,he was  
damned not by the wicked things he had  
done1 but for the lack of that generous 
and humane service which he had left    
undone4  ,his sin was that of selfish   
indifference4  ,the way to perdition is 
paved with moral neglect4  ,the debt of 
privilege can no more be escaped than   
death or taxes4  ,to whom much is given1
 of him will much be required4  ,and a  
full sense of that responsibility was   
brought home to this well-endowed young 
man in the year the great king died4    

,the fortunate young man stood out in   
the open confessing his sense of moral  
need4  ,there in the place of worship in
 that high and serious mood which       
followed upon the death of the king1 he 
caught a fresh vision of ,god4  ,i saw  
the ,lord high and lifted up1 sitting   
upon ,his throne4  ,i saw ,him          
surrounded with the winged seraphs4     
,and one of them cried to another1      
,holy1 holy1 holy1 is the ,lord of      
hosts6  ,the whole earth is full of ,his
 glory4  ,the very sight of the         
unstained purity of ,him unto whom all  
hearts are open1 all desires known1 and 
from whom no secrets are hid1 brought   
this young man to his knees4  ,he knelt 
in the dust and beat upon his breast and
 told the sins of his life4  ,woe is me1
 ,i am undone4  ,i am a man of unclean  
lips4  ,i dwell in the midst of a people
 of unclean lips4 ,and mine eyes have   
seen the ,king1 the ,lord of hosts4     
,the man who has no sense of sin has    
little sense of any sort4  ,if we say we

 have no sin1 we deceive ourselves or   
else we lie4  ,where is the man who can 
stand up in the presence of those who   
know him and say1 ,every deed that ,i   
have done was done in honour and        
integrity4  ,every word that has fallen 
from my lips has been spoken in truth   
and in kindliness4  ,every desire which 
,i have harboured in my soul has been   
one upon which the eye of my ,maker     
might rest with approval4  ,can you say 
that8  ,i am frank to confess that ,i   
cannot4  ,i have done wrong4  ,i feel my
 need of the divine mercy4  ,i want     
forgiveness1 cleansing and renewal4     
,and every man who is honest enough to  
look himself in the face1 without       
flinching1 will be moved to make the    
same confession4  ,it is up out of those
 moments of contrition when men are     
humbled and broken before ,god that the 
spiritual impulses come which are to    
beat back the forces of evil and make   
this earth at last as fair as the sky4  
,i care not what the man's outward      

station may be--he may live on the      
,avenue or he may live in the slums2 he 
may be clothed in purple or he may be   
dressed in rags2 he wear a ,phi ,beta   
,kappa key or he may be so untaught that
 he has to make his mark when he signs a
 mortgage--in any event here is a prayer
 which will fit his lips--it fits every 
pair of lips3 ,god be merciful to me1 a 
sinner4  ,in that one brief sentence we 
have the four main terms of religious   
experience4  ,god1 the object of        
religion1 the ground of all finite      
existence1 the basis of all our hope6   
,me1 the human soul1 the subject of     
religion1 the field where the work of   
religion is to be wrought out6  ,sin1   
the obstacle to religion1 the source of 
all our moral failure1 the cause of our 
alienation from ,god6  ,and mercy1 the  
agent of religion1 the form of energy   
which accomplishes our recovery6 ,god be
 merciful to me1 a sinner4  ,this young 
man of good fortune stood up in the     
temple in the presence of his fellows   

making his open confession of moral     
need4  ,woe is me for ,i am undone4  ,i 
am a man of unclean lips4  ,in that very
 hour when this honest confession came  
from his lips his life was cleansed by  
the direct action of the divine spirit4 
,he saw one of the winged seraphs flying
 towards him through the open spaces of 
,heaven4  ,the angel took a live coal   
from the altar and laid it upon the lips
 of this young man4  ,he cried out as he
 did it1 saying1 ,thine iniquity is     
taken away4  ,thy sin is purged4        
,isaiah was no more a man of unclean    
lips--he could now speak with that ,lord
 whose name is ,holy as friend speaks   
with friend4  ,we have this profound    
moral experience dressed up in those    
grand1 ,oriental robes which were dear  
to the people of that region4  ,but when
 you strip away the silk1 the lace1 and 
the feathers of ,eastern imagery1 and   
get down to the bare1 warm truth1 this  
is what you find--a man whose sense of  
moral lack had prompted that open       

confession1 cleansed in that high hour  
by the direct action of the divine      
spirit upon his soul4  ,here is that    
which is basic and fundamental in all   
religious life6  ,i wonder if we have   
not been tempted in recent years to     
obscure this vital experience4  ,we have
 held those two big words1 ,heredity and
 ,environment1 so close to our eyes as  
to blind us1 oftentimes1 to the larger  
vision of that which is superhuman in   
earthly experience4  ,it is possible for
 the inner life of a man to be so       
wrought upon by the action of the spirit
 of ,god that the corrupt nature is     
cleansed1 the weak nature is made       
strong1 the selfish disposition is      
transformed into benign love4  ,it      
matters little how you go about it1 if  
you go with sincere faith4 ,you may seek
 for that renewal through the           
regenerating influence of the           
,sacraments dear to the heart of the    
,romanist and the ,high ,churchman4 ,if 
you find it there1 it will be because   

,christ is within the ,sacrament4  ,you 
may seek for it in those profound       
emotional reactions which come at the   
,methodist mourners' bench4  ,if you    
find it there1 it will be because the   
spirit of ,christ was operating through 
those feelings4  ,you may find it as you
 make an about face1 turning away from  
that which is evil and making ,christian
 duty your supreme choice in the quiet  
of your own room4  ,if you find it      
there1 it will be because ,christ was   
present in those movements of your inner
 life4  ,the woman was healed in the    
,gospel story by touching the hem of    
,christ's garment because ,christ was   
within that garment4  ,if any man will  
seek for moral renewal at the hands of  
,god he will find4  ,if he will knock at
 any one of these doors it will open4   
,here is the ,gospel as it stands       
recorded on the pages of the ,old       
,testament--,the spirit of the ,lord    
shall come upon thee and thou shall be  
turned into another man4  ,here is the  

same ,gospel as it stands recorded on   
the pages of the ,new ,testament--,if   
any man is in ,christ he is a new       
creature4  ,old things are passed away  
and all things are become new4  ,in the 
joy of moral renewal this well-born1    
well-reared1 well-trained young man gave
 himself in eager consecration to the   
highest he saw4  ,i heard the voice of  
the ,lord say1 ,whom shall ,i send8     
,who will go for us8  ,then said ,i1    
,here am ,i1 send me4  ,his nation1 now 
robbed of its great king by the hand of 
disease1 was facing a crisis4  ,the     
national church to which he belonged was
 steeped in formalism and insincerity4  
,the divine voice was uttering a        
heartfelt lament over the unfaithfulness
 of the chosen people4  ,israel doth not
 know6  ,my people do not think4  ,the  
whole head is sick and the whole heart  
is faint4  ,there was a loud cry for men
 of large build with wise heads and     
sound hearts to furnish moral           
leadership4  ,and in the face of that   

demand this son of good fortune did not 
allow the divine spirit to go out into  
the highways and hedges in order to     
compel some sort of man1 any sort of    
man1 to come in that the ranks might be 
filled4  ,he answered to his name with a
 clear-cut consecration of himself4     
,here am ,i1 send me4  ,when war comes  
to any country1 there are rich men who  
give money1 millions of it1 that the war
 chest may be full4  ,there are great   
manufacturers who promptly place their  
plants at the disposal of the government
 for the making of munitions4  ,there   
are ship owners who turn over their     
vessels to the ,navy that they may be   
sent to do business in the great waters 
of national defense4  ,there are wise   
men who think hard upon the problems of 
finance and statecraft that they may    
provide that counsel which is more      
precious than rubies4  ,all this is in  
the highest degree praiseworthy4  ,but  
the only men who give what ,lincoln     
called at ,gettysburg the last full     

measure of devotion are the men who give
 themselves4  ,these men do not go on   
horseback nor in automobiles4  ,they    
walk4  ,they eat the hardtack4  ,they   
sleep on the ground4  ,they dig the     
trenches and fight in them4  ,they march
 out at the word of command to be shot  
at4  ,they keep right on doing those    
plain things until the war is ended and 
victory achieved4  ,these are the men   
who awaken our warmest feeling of       
admiration and gratitude4  ,here am ,i1 
send me--nothing can take the place of  
that6  ,in that sterner war where there 
is no discharge1 in that age-long1      
world-wide fight against the evils of   
earth this same sound principle holds4  
,money is needed2 counsel is needed2    
organization and administrative ability 
are needed4  ,the bringing in of that   
kingdom which is not meat and drink1 nor
 shot and shell1 but righteousness and  
peace and joy in the divine spirit1     
requires all these fine forms of effort4
  ,but nothing can ever take the place  

of that personal consecration of each   
man's own soul to the service of the    
living ,god4  ,in that high hour when   
,isaiah saw the ,god of things as they  
are1 high and lifted up1 sitting on ,his
 throne1 he did not say1 ,here are any  
number of fine people1 send them4  ,here
 is a man who could perform the task    
better than ,i--send him4  ,he said what
 every man must say who means to stand  
right in the ,day of ,judgment1 ,here am
 ,i1 send me4  ,he was the son of good  
fortune1 and his life was bright and    
rich with many an advantage4  ,but this 
did not prompt him to claim any sort of 
exemption from the call for volunteers4 
,his vision of the awful difference     
between the earthly majesty of that king
 who sank so swiftly into a leper's     
grave and the heavenly majesty which    
rose above it sovereign and eternal1    
made him feel that nothing would suffice
 but the gift of himself4  ,what shall  
it profit a man1 this man1 that man1 any
 man1 to gain the largest measure of    

earthly success you may choose to name1 
if in the process he loses himself1 his 
real self1 his best self1 his enduring  
self8  ,what shall it profit a man if he
 gain the whole world1 but feels within 
himself a capacity for higher things    
unrealized8  ,in the great outcome      
nothing really matters save the devotion
 of the personal life to the highest    
ends4  ,in the year #ahdj near the city 
of ,louvain a child was born1 who came  
of good stuff4  ,he was educated for a  
business career1 and there in prosperous
 little ,belgium the outlook at that    
time for wealth1 for social position1   
and for a life of joy was very bright4  
,but at the age of eighteen this boy    
offered himself for the priesthood of   
the ,roman ,catholic ,church4  ,he      
joined the ,society of the ,sacred      
,heart4  ,he went out to the ,hawaiian  
,islands as a missionary and was        
ordained as a priest in the city of     
,honolulu4  ,he was at once impressed   
with the sad condition of the leper     

settlement on the island of ,molokai4   
,he resolved to give his life to those  
poor1 diseased1 horror-stricken people4 
,he knew that to live among them would  
mean banishment from his ordinary       
associations and the loss of all        
possible preferment in the church4  ,he 
knew that he might himself contract that
 terrible disease and suffer a          
lingering1 painful1 frightful death4    
,no matter1 he cried1 ,i am going4  ,and
 he went4  ,he not only preached to     
those lepers the ,gospel of the ,son of 
,god and ministered to them in spiritual
 things--his own labours and his appeals
 to the ,hawaiian government secured for
 them better dwellings1 an improved     
water supply1 and a more generous       
provisioning of the unhappy settlement4 
,for five years he worked alone1 but for
 the occasional assistance of a priest  
who came to the colony for a single day4
  ,he finally succumbed to the dread    
disease of leprosy and in his           
forty-ninth year died a martyr to humane

 devotion4  ,his name was ,father       
,damien1 and he shed fresh luster upon  
the ,christian ministry4  ,the young man
 who was born to the purple1 called now 
to be a prophet of ,god1 seized upon the
 vital elements of religion and uttered 
them with power4  ,what does it mean to 
be religious8 men were asking4  ,some of
 the dull1 blind priests of that day    
were saying1 ,it means sacrifice and    
burnt offering4  ,it means the careful  
and showy observance of the forms of    
worship4  ,israel did not know2 the     
people did not think4  ,then this young 
prophet gave them the word of ,god with 
an edge on it4 ,he showed them the folly
 of all those outward signs of devotion 
apart from the inward spirit of         
righteousness4  ,to what purpose is the 
multitude of your sacrifices8  ,who hath
 required this at your hands8 ,when you 
spread forth your hands ,i will hide my 
eyes4  ,when you make many prayers ,i   
will not hear4  ,your hands are full of 
blood4  ,wash you1 make you clean4  ,put

 away the evil of your doings4  ,cease  
to do evil1 learn to do well4  ,then    
though your sins be as scarlet1 they    
shall be white as snow4  ,salvation by  
righteousness--this is the message of   
the ,old ,testament1 ,matthew ,arnold   
used to say4  ,righteousness through    
,jesus ,christ1 this is the message of  
the ,new ,testament6  ,and this         
nineteenth century man of letters was   
but echoing the words which fell from   
the lips of those prophets in the eighth
 century before ,christ4  ,wherewith    
shall ,i come before the ,lord8 said    
,micah4  ,will the ,lord be pleased with
 a thousand rams or with ten thousand   
rivers of oil8  ,he hath showed thee1 ,o
 man1 what is good1 and what doth the   
,lord require of thee but to do justly  
and to love mercy and to walk humbly    
with thy ,god4  ,seek justice1 ,isaiah  
said2 relieve the oppressed1 judge the  
fatherless1 plead for the widow4  ,if ye
 be willing and obedient ye shall eat   
the good of the land4  ,if ye refuse and

 rebel ye shall be devoured4  ,this was 
the heart of his message4  ,it was the  
call of ,god to personal righteousness4 
,he represents the ,almighty as sitting 
upon the throne of the universe1        
summoning ,his people into friendly     
conference with ,him4  ,come now1 let us
 reason together1 saith the ,lord4      
,religion is not a thing of magic4      
,there is no sleight-of-hand or         
hocus-pocus in the benefits it seeks to 
confer4  ,religion is rational and      
moral4  ,it is a reasoned form of       
intercourse between an intelligent and  
moral being who is finite and the       
,intelligent and ,moral ,being who is   
,infinite4  ,its benefits are to be     
realized in that direct impress of the  
spirit of ,god upon the soul of the man 
who has made an intelligent and honest  
approach to his ,maker4  ,the young     
prophet saw his country threatened with 
disaster from both sides4  ,he saw upon 
the south the selfish and cruel designs 
of ,egypt4 ,he saw the encroachments of 

mighty ,assyria from the north4  ,he saw
 the madness of those ,israelites who   
thought they could combine wickedness   
and worship1 the observance of religious
 forms with lives of moral unconcern4   
,and in that hour the truths he lifted  
before them were ,the majesty and       
authority of ,god1 the everlasting      
obligation of personal righteousness1   
the certainty of the ultimate triumph of
 ,god's ,kingdom over the wrath of man4 
,these were the mighty truths by which  
he sought to inspire the hearts of men  
to do their duty1 come what might4      
,have we not great need at this very    
hour of just such men6  ,it has been    
given to you and to me to live through  
one of the great1 searching crises of   
human history4  ,the world has never    
seen a struggle so gigantic4  ,we have  
been patient for more than two years    
with a certain nation across the        
sea--patient clear up to the border of  
what has seemed to some of our          
neighbours like a lazy acquiescence in  

lawlessness4  ,we have seen that nation 
referring contemptuously to her own     
treaties as mere scraps of paper1 and   
then openly disregarding her solemn     
obligations4  ,we saw the outrage       
perpetrated upon ,belgium1 an outrage   
which men who know their histories      
better than ,i know mine are saying will
 go down as the greatest crime in the   
annals of the race4  ,we saw the        
drowning of hundreds of helpless women  
and children in the sinking of the      
,lusitania without warning and in flat  
defiance of international law4 ,we saw  
the judicial murder of women like ,edith
 ,cavell and of men like ,captain       
,fryatt4  ,we have seen the ,zeppelins  
engaged in the dastardly business of    
hurling down bombs upon unfortified     
towns for the killing of old women and  
little children--heretofore when decent 
nations have gone to war men have fought
 with men4  ,we have seen thousands of  
helpless ,armenians butchered by the    
,moslem allies of that so-called        

,christian power1--it is all but        
universally believed1 with its own      
connivance and under its direction4  ,we
 have witnessed a frightful record of   
brutality and outrage1 investigated and 
established by the competent testimony  
of such men as ,james ,bryce and        
,cardinal ,mercier4 ,we have seen the   
sinking of hospital ships loaded with   
wounded men and the sinking of relief   
ships carrying provisions to the        
famine-stricken children of ,belgium1 no
 matter what flag they flew1 or what    
cargo they bore4  ,we have had our own  
rights as a neutral trampled upon by    
that government with the arrogant       
assumption that her necessities knew no 
law4  ,and now to crown it all we have  
detected the official representatives of
 that country with protests of          
friendship upon their false lips        
actually plotting with ,mexico and      
seeking to extend that plot to ,japan   
with the unholy purpose of destroying   
the peace between this country and its  

neighbours4  ,the men of our country who
 have red blood in their veins and the  
sense of justice in their hearts are    
saying1 ,how long1 ,o ,lord1 how long6  
,war is a terrible thing and no honest  
man ever speaks lightly of war4 ,but    
there are things which are worse than   
war4  ,the loss of all capacity for     
moral indignation is worse4  ,the easy1 
lazy1 cowardly acquiescence in          
lawlessness and crime is worse4  ,the   
loss of the readiness to sacrifice one's
 very life1 if need be1 for those ends  
which are just and right1 is infinitely 
worse4  ,there are interests which are  
worth fighting for and1 if need be1 they
 are worth dying for4  ,the sanctity of 
womanhood and the safety of little      
children1 the security of those         
interests which are essential to human  
well-being and the protection of our    
homes1 the honour and integrity of our  
country1 and the maintenance of those   
majestic principles of righteousness    
which underlie all social advance--these

 ends are worth dying for4  ,if these   
high ends can be secured by persuasion  
and moral appeal1 well and good4  ,but  
if they cannot1 if their very existence 
is threatened by lawlessness and hate1  
then let men of sound mind and honest   
heart stand ready to do battle for the  
right4  ,in these hours of stress which 
have come upon our country1 we have need
 of men who possess the necessary moral 
courage to stand forth and meet the     
crisis4  ,there is a loud call          
everywhere for those who are prepared to
 face duty without flinching4  ,it is   
for every man to say touching his own   
measure of ability1 ,here am ,i1 send   
me4  ,if the cause of democracy is not  
to fail in those hard years which will  
come at the close of this war1 there is 
need not only of wise and honest        
leaders--there is need of ranks upon    
ranks of plain men who are ready to give
 their best strength to the service of  
that government which is of the people1 
for the people1 and by the people4      

,o beautiful1 my country1 ours once     
more1   ,what were our lives without    
thee2   ,what all our lives to save     
thee4   ,we reck not what we give thee1 
,we will not dare to doubt thee1   ,but 
ask whatever else and we will dare4     
,v  ,the ,young ,man ,who ,changed the  
,history of the ,world  ,why do you     
write it #aiag8  ,april #a1 #aiag1 that 
was the way you wrote it this afternoon 
in your letter to her4  ,there was a    
time when it was not so4  ,the ,hebrews 
were dating their calendars from what   
they supposed to have been the period of
 the creation4  ,the ,romans reckoned   
their time from the founding of the city
 on the seven hills4  ,the ,greeks      
reckoned their time from the first      
,olympic games4  ,but to-day if you meet
 a ,hebrew1 or an ,italian1 or a ,greek 
in any part of the world and ask him1   
,what year is it8 he will reply         
instantly1 ,nineteen seventeen4  ,it is 
just that long since a certain ,child   
was born in ,bethlehem of ,judea4  ,how 

strange it is1 when you come to think of
 it1 that the birth of a child in an    
out-of-the-way village in ,palestine    
should change the calendars of the      
world6  ,we find in this commonplace    
fact a prophecy of ,his radical         
transforming power in every department  
of life4  ,he was destined to take the  
moral government of the race upon ,his  
shoulder as none other ever has4  ,he   
was to alter the flow of the spiritual  
currents in human society and ultimately
 to change the history of the world4    
,he did it all while ,he was still a    
young man4  ,he was only thirty-three   
years old when they put ,him to death   
upon the ,cross4  ,he had used thirty of
 those thirty-three years in quiet      
preparation for the great tasks which   
were to come4  ,no wonder the three     
years of which we know so much were     
mighty when we think of the thirty years
 of preparation standing behind them6   
,ten years of training and discipline   
for one of public action6  ,ten days of 

study and devotion for one day of       
healing1 redemptive effort6  ,ten hours 
of silence and prayer before ,god for   
one hour of speech in the ears of men6  
,he did it all in ,his youth and when   
,he died at the age of thirty-three ,he 
did not look down and say1 ,i have      
failed because ,my life is cut off all  
too soon4  ,he looked up and said1 ,i   
have finished the work which ,thou      
gavest ,me to do4  ,how marvellous was  
the life of this young man who changed  
the history of the world6  ,if we could 
get away from the idea that ,he is a    
stained-glass window or a marble statue 
or a lovely story in a book which most  
men seldom read--if we could only  see  
,him as ,he was1 the ,word made flesh1  
real1 warm1 alive1 our hearts would     
leap4  ,he was born in the manger of a  
stable4  ,he grew up in a carpenter's   
home and in a carpenter's shop4  ,he    
never saw the inside of a college1 yet  
somehow ,he learned to think straight   
and to speak as never man spake4  ,he   

lived with the birds and the flowers1   
the trees1 the hills and the stars4  ,he
 thought deeply upon the interests and  
needs of men until ,he knew what was in 
man and needed not that any should tell 
,him--,he told them4  ,he looked up with
 pure eyes and a pure heart until ,he   
saw ,god4  ,therefore1 when ,he spoke   
,his word was with power2 and when ,he  
lived ,his life was with power2 and when
 ,he stretched forth ,his hand1 ,his    
touch had healing in it4  ,his mind was 
exceedingly broad4  ,he had never been  
outside the borders of ,his own little  
country1 which is about the size of the 
,state of ,new ,hampshire4  ,he had     
never seen the mighty cities in ,egypt  
to the south of ,him1 nor ,antioch in   
,syria to the north4  ,he had never     
looked upon ,athens nor upon ,rome4     
,the man who thinks ,broadway1 ,new     
,york1 is the center of the solar system
 would have called ,him provincial4     
,his feet knew nothing save the narrow  
streets of ,jerusalem and the still     

narrower lanes of ,galilee4  ,yet ,he   
moved about with a dream of world-wide  
empire in ,his head and the vision of a 
,kingdom ,everlasting in ,his heart4    
,i1 if ,i be lifted up1 will draw all   
men unto ,me4  ,when ,he sent forth ,his
 disciples to do the work ,he had taught
 them to do1 this is the way their      
commission read3 ,go into all the world4
  ,make disciples of all nations4       
,baptize everybody into ,my name and the
 name of the ,father4  ,he had          
courage--think of ,his standing there1 a
 young peasant in little ,palestine1    
talking about a world-wide empire over  
which ,he would rule by ,his own unseen 
spirit6  ,he found little in ,his       
environment to add strength to ,his     
hope4  ,he lived under a government     
which was tyrannical and corrupt4  ,the 
,jewish ,church to which ,he belonged   
was formal and lifeless4  ,he faced a   
society which was ruled by men like     
,herod1 and by women like the shameless 
wife of ,herod1 who cut off a poor man's

 head for telling her the truth about   
herself4  ,he saw the religious leaders 
of ,his day straining at gnats of       
difficulty in their formal worship and  
then swallowing camels of moral fault in
 their every-day conduct4  ,the         
situation might well have frightened the
 boldest heart4  ,it never frightened   
,him4  ,the spirit of the ,lord is upon 
,me1 ,he said at the beginning of ,his  
ministry1 because ,he hath anointed ,me 
to preach good tidings to the poor2 ,he 
hath sent ,me to bind up the            
broken-hearted1 to preach deliverance to
 the captive1 and to set at liberty them
 that are bruised4  ,and when ,he came  
to the close of ,his ministry1 ,he said1
 ,behold1 ,i make all things new1 a new 
heaven and a new earth1 wherein dwelleth
 righteousness4  ,he was undaunted4  ,he
 was an optimist4  ,by that ,i do not   
mean one of those silly1 short-sighted  
individuals who goes about saying1 ,look
 always on the bright side4  ,jesus     
looked at both sides4  ,he went about   

with ,his eyes open4  ,he saw           
everything4  ,he saw the struggle and   
the sorrow of human life and felt it as 
if it had been all ,his own4  ,he looked
 upon the tired1 sad1 sin-stained face  
of the race4  ,he knew it as ,he knew   
,his own face1 and ,he saw the heart of 
pain which had made it so4  ,he was no  
schoolboy shouting himself hoarse in a  
thoughtless enthusiasm which had never  
tested its strength against the graver  
difficulties of life4  ,he saw it all1  
felt it all1 understood it all1 yet ,he 
lived and died in a great1 sweet1 serene
 hope for the race4  ,you cannot find   
one hateful1 cynical or despairing word 
falling from ,his lips4  ,he stood once 
where the shadow of the ,cross was      
already drawing a black line across ,his
 path4  ,he had twelve disciples to whom
 for the past two years ,he had given   
the best part of ,his time1 ,his thought
 and ,his love4 ,one of them had already
 betrayed ,him1 bargaining away his poor
 measure of loyalty for thirty pieces of

 silver4  ,in the next hour another     
disciple would deny ,him three times    
over with an oath4  ,another would doubt
 ,him straight in the face of all those 
pledges of genuineness which they had   
received at first hand4  ,and when the  
hour of trial struck ,his disciples     
would all show themselves cowards and   
quitters4  ,even so1 this young man did 
not despair4  ,be of good cheer1 ,he    
cried4 ,i have overcome the world4  ,he 
was speaking in anticipation1 but ,he   
was so sure of it that ,he used the past
 tense as of a thing accomplished4  ,i  
have overcome the world4  ,he had       
kindled a fire which would never go out4
  ,he had lodged a bit of yeast in the  
heart of the race which would finally   
leaven the whole lump4  ,he had         
saturated a few men with ,his ideas and 
spirit1 and they would set in motion a  
process which one day would cause every 
knee to bow before ,him and every tongue
 to confess that ,he is ,lord4  ,he was 
to change the history of the world--how 

did ,he go about it8  ,in the first     
place ,he changed men's thoughts about  
,god4  ,men are influenced by their     
environment--they are transformed by the
 renewing of their minds4  ,they are    
moulded by the thoughts they think and  
the desires they cherish4  ,as a man    
thinketh in his heart touching the      
things that matter1 so he becomes4      
,this is true as regards all our        
prevailing habits of mind1 but the      
potency of right thought is to be found 
at its best when we come to a man's     
thought of ,god4  ,how shall we think   
about ultimate reality8  ,what is behind
 all these changing1 passing phenomena8 
,who is back of it all8  ,is anybody8   
,if so1 is he wise or blind8  ,is he    
good or evil or morally indifferent8    
,does he mean anything by it all1 or is 
he only an unreasoning1 purposeless     
force8  ,you cannot ask yourself or your
 fellows a more important question than 
this--,how shall we think about ,god8   
,men had been filling their minds with  

all sorts of wild and foolish guesses   
about ,god4  ,this young man placed upon
 the lips of the race and within its    
heart that great word ,father4  ,when ye
 pray say1 ',our ,father4'  ,begin with 
those words on your lips1 with that     
thought in your mind and with the filial
 spirit in your heart4  ,when you       
worship ,worship the ,father in spirit  
and in truth1 for the ,father seeketh   
such to worship ,him4  ,when you would  
turn away from the evil of your life    
say1 ,i will arise and go to my ,father4
  ,when you want assurance say1 ,no man 
can pluck me out of my ,father's hand4  
,when you come to die say1 ,father1 into
 ,thy hands ,i commend my spirit4       
,death is the act of a tired child      
falling back into the arms of his       
,father4  ,he showed us the ,father and 
it sufficed us4  ,this great truth was  
the heart of this young man's message to
 the race--,god is our ,father4  ,god   
combines the strength and the           
tenderness1 the authority and the       

devotion1 the responsible control and   
the capacity for self-sacrifice which   
belong to fatherhood at its best4 ,take 
the highest you have ever seen in       
fatherhood and raise it to the nth      
power1 and then trust that1 for that is 
,god4  ,how many of you believe that8   
,it is the easiest thing in the world to
 say1 ,i believe in ,god the ,father    
,almighty1 ,maker of ,heaven and earth1 
but do you really believe it8  ,are you 
striving to live it8  ,if ,god is your  
,father1 then you are ,his children1    
heirs of ,god1 joint heirs with ,jesus  
,christ6  ,your interests are ,his      
interests4  ,your life and ,his life1   
your destiny and ,his destiny1 are not  
things apart--they are all one4  ,in the
 light of that great overarching1       
underlying1 interpenetrating truth1     
there is no duty more commanding1 no    
privilege more resplendent than that of 
living daily and hourly in the filial   
spirit before ,him4 ,when a man really  
believes that1 he goes about saying by  

word and by deed1 ,i am not alone1 the  
,father is with me4  ,i come not to do  
my own will1 but the will of ,him who   
sent me4  ,i must be about my ,father's 
business4  ,when that great sublime     
truth is set within the heart of the    
race1 as it was set within the heart of 
this young man1 it changes the history  
of the world4  ,he also changed men's   
thoughts about goodness4  ,what does it 
mean to be good8  ,when may we call any 
man good8  ,there were men who felt that
 being good meant obeying the law1      
keeping the rules1 ordering one's life  
in accordance with the endless          
specifications outlined in the ,sacred  
,books4  ,if a man could get through the
 day without having gotten off the path 
for an inch1 then he might be esteemed  
good4  ,and the race groaned under the  
burdens which this system had bound upon
 the consciences of men4  ,it was all   
outward1 formal1 mechanical1 impossible4
  ,jesus set ,himself against that whole
 conception and method of goodness4     

,except your righteousness exceeds that1
 ,he said to the men of ,his day1 you   
will not in any wise enter the ,kingdom 
of ,heaven4  ,goodness must be inward1  
vital1 spontaneous4  ,a good tree brings
 forth good fruit4  ,it cannot          
otherwise4  ,it does it as naturally as 
a bird sings4 ,therefore1 make the tree 
good and let the fruit come as it       
will--it will be all right4  ,a good man
 out of the good treasure of his heart  
brings forth good deeds4  ,he does it   
spontaneously4  ,therefore1 make the    
heart right and let the man do as he    
pleases4  ,love ,god with an honest     
heart and love your neighbours as well  
as yourself1 and then do as you like4   
,love works no ill1 either ,godward or  
manward2 therefore1 love is the         
fulfilling of all law4  ,here is the    
great underlying principle of all       
righteousness to which all our ethical  
considerations must be adjusted4  ,as   
men rise from the practice of keeping   
outward rules into the more exacting but

 more joyous liberty of the spirit1 they
 become genuinely good4  ,in the third  
place ,jesus put within our reach a     
power which would change our hearts4    
,if you are made as ,i am1 and as ,i    
have found hundreds of other men1 you   
feel oftentimes that your life is weak  
and thin and mean4  ,you do not love    
,god with an honest heart and strive to 
be what ,he would have you4  ,you do not
 love your neighbours as you ought1 and 
give expression to that love in         
unselfish action4  ,you lag back when   
you ought to be forging ahead4  ,you lie
 down where you ought to climb4  ,you   
muddle along in a dull1 commonplace way 
when your aspirations and your high     
resolves should be mounting up with     
wings like eagles4  ,when you are       
frankly honest with yourself you say1 as
 ,i have said to myself1 and as ,paul   
said before us1 ,the good that ,i would 
,i do not1 and the evil that ,i would   
not1 that ,i do4  ,o wretched man that  
,i am1 who shall deliver me6  ,here was 

,one who knew that men are weak and thin
 and mean1 yet ,he believed that every  
one of them through faith in ,him could 
have a life strong and rich and fine1   
,he actually believed that men who have 
bumped their way clear down to the      
bottom of the moral stairs could climb  
up again4  ,he believed that the woman  
of the street1 whom the bigots of that  
day were ready to stone1 could go and   
sin no more1 her sins forgiven because  
she loved much4  ,the publicans and     
harlots would go into the ,kingdom--they
 would go in1 ,jesus said1 ahead of some
 of those respectable1 cold-hearted     
,pharisees who were scandalized at such 
talk4  ,he knew the capacity for moral  
renewal which lies in waiting in every  
heart1 and ,he knew ,his own power to   
call that capacity into effective       
action4  ,i am the door1 ,he said1 to   
newness of life4  ,by ,me if any man    
enter in1 he shall be saved4  ,he shall 
go in and out and find pasture4         
,security1 liberty1 sustenance1 they    

would all be his6  ,my mind goes back to
 a man in one of my former parishes4    
,he kept a little store1 but he         
neglected his business in order to get  
drunk4  ,the wolf was often at his door4
  ,he had a good wife and two lovely    
daughters1 but he had broken their      
hearts by his evil ways4  ,he would     
become so intoxicated that he would not 
know his own name nor the street he     
lived on4  ,when he was coming out of   
such debauches he would go about dirty1 
blear-eyed1 trembling1 asking every man 
he met to give him money to get another 
drink4  ,then there came a day when that
 man's heredity was not changed1 his    
environment was not changed1 but his    
heart was changed4  ,he put his faith in
 the ,lord ,jesus ,christ and was turned
 into another man4  ,he became at once  
sober1 reliable1 industrious1           
affectionate1 aspiring4 ,he put a smile 
on his wife's face which is there yet4  
,he began to take care of his store and 
of his family4  ,he became an honoured  

and useful citizen1 chosen to positions 
of trust by his fellow men4  ,he has now
 gone to his reward1 but if he hears    
what ,i am saying he would tell you that
 it is all true4  ,he would tell you    
also that he owed this change to the    
transforming power of the ,son of ,god1 
the ,saviour of men4  ,how the world    
changes and for the better6  ,when      
,jesus ,christ was here they said of    
,him1 ,he receiveth sinners and eateth  
with them4  ,they said it with a sneer4 
,when ,william ,booth1 the head of the  
,salvation ,army1 did the same thing    
they said of him1 ,he receiveth sinners1
 but they regarded it as the glory of   
his life4  ,the first century saw the   
,son of ,man scorned and spat upon for  
receiving sinners and eating with them4 
,the twentieth century saw ,william     
,booth received at court by ,king       
,edward ,,vii and honoured with a degree
 from ,oxford ,university for receiving 
sinners4  ,the world moves2 there is    
sunrise everywhere and the promise of a 

brighter day6  ,and this great change   
has been wrought by the ,one who brought
 upon the earth a finer form of         
spiritual energy to renew the hearts of 
men4  ,and finally this young man set in
 the sky of human aspiration a fixed    
star of hope4  ,you cannot change the   
world by scolding it4  ,you cannot      
change the world by petting it4  ,you   
must set before its eyes a vision of    
,god and in its heart a passion for     
goodness1 and in its will a form of     
strength that will not accept defeat1   
and in its sky a star of hope4          
,strong ,son of ,god1 ,immortal ,love   
,whom we that have not seen ,thy face   
,by faith and faith alone embrace       
,believing where we cannot prove4       
,jesus ,christ has done that for us     
all--,believing where we cannot prove6  
,he has taught us how to hope and to    
trust and in that sign to conquer4  ,he 
tasted the whole human situation for    
every man4  ,he was tempted in all      
points like as we are1 and tried by     

those ordeals which culminated on       
,calvary4  ,in this world1 ,he said1 ye 
shall have tribulation4 ,the word ,he   
used means literally pressure4  ,life is
 not all music and refreshments4  ,every
 honest life must be lived under        
pressure4  ,it is compelled to do its   
work under the steady weight of duty1   
obligation1 responsibility4  ,it is     
compelled to fight a good fight in order
 to keep its faith and finish its       
course4  ,in the end that is the making 
of any life4  ,steam does all its work  
under pressure4  ,turn it loose in the  
air to go where it will and it becomes  
useless4  ,in this world we must live   
under pressure4  ,but ,jesus bade men   
face it all undaunted and radiant4  ,he 
planted in their lives an eternal hope1 
,be of good cheer4  ,i have             
overcome--you can4  ,he knew that ,his  
own purposes were entirely right--,i do 
always those things that please the     
,father4  ,he knew that ,he was strongly
 entrenched in the love and confidence  

of those who knew ,him best4  ,he knew  
that the great moral order was on ,his  
side and that ,he could afford to wait  
for results4  ,in that high confidence  
,he moved ahead as serene as the sun    
shining in its strength4  ,be of good   
cheer1 ,he cried1 when ,he stood within 
a hundred yards of ,calvary4  ,his      
victory was not meant to be exceptional1
 it was meant to be representative4  ,it
 was to be shared and repeated by all   
those who walk in fellowship with ,him4 
,how much it means when a man is making 
his way through some dark forest or     
climbing some stiff mountainside to find
 the faintest sort of a trail4  ,other  
men have passed this way1 he cries1 and 
what men have done1 men can do again4   
,here is a trail of spiritual victory1  
reaching on and up through all manner of
 untoward situations6  ,his own patient1
 bleeding feet marked it out and        
thousands of ,his faithful followers    
have traversed it in their turn4  ,who  
can separate us from the love of        

,christ8  ,can tribulation or distress  
or persecution or famine1 or peril or   
sword8 ,nay1 in all these things we are 
more than conquerors through ,him who   
loved us4  ,for ,i am persuaded that    
neither life nor death nor angels1 nor  
principalities nor powers1 nor things   
present nor things to come1 nor height  
nor depth1 nor any other creature shall 
be able to separate us from the love of 
,god1 which is in ,christ ,jesus our    
,lord4  ,when the long1 hard1 dark days 
come it means everything to a man to    
know that there is that within him which
 cannot go down in final defeat4  ,his  
real life1 his best life1 his enduring  
life1 is hid with ,christ in ,god1 and  
that life will yet have its way4  ,the  
earth is another place when it is seen  
to have a sky above it4 ,this earthly   
life is another thing when it is seen to
 have a heaven above it and beyond it4  
,we are saved by hope1 by the hope of   
life abundant1 life enduring1 life      
eternal1 which shines on and on1 no     

matter how earth's clouds may come and  
go4  ,when all else seems to fail we    
look up and hear this young man say1    
,let not your heart be troubled4        
,believe in ,god1 believe also in ,me4  
,in ,my ,father's house are many        
mansions4  ,if it were not so ,i would  
have told you4  ,i go to prepare a place
 for you that where ,i am there ye may  
be4  ,be of good cheer1 ,i have overcome
 and by ,my grace you will4  ,here then 
is my case6  ,here is my own tribute of 
loyalty and affection for that young man
 who changed the history of the world4  
,he did it by changing men's thoughts   
about ,god--,to us there is but one     
,god1 the ,father4  ,he did it by       
changing men's conception of            
goodness--to be good is to be like ,him1
 simple1 genuine1 spontaneous1 in our   
love and practice of the right life4    
,he did it by changing the hearts of men
 from within--,if any man is in ,christ 
he is a new creature4  ,he did it by    
setting in our human sky a fixed star of

 hope to shine on until the day dawns   
and the shadows flee away4  ,in the face
 of it all how can any man of sense and 
conscience do less than follow ,him and 
act with ,him until ,his will is done on
 earth as it is done in ,heaven6    ,if 
,jesus ,christ is a man     ,and only a 
man1 ,i say   ,that of all mankind ,i   
cleave to ,him     ,and to ,him will ,i 
cleave alway4    ,if ,jesus ,christ be  
,god     ,and the only ,god1 ,i swear   
,i will follow ,him through ,heaven and 
,hell1     ,the earth1 the sea1 the air4
      ,printed in the ,united ,states of
 ,america     ,,biography ,,and         
,,reminiscences   ,,james ,m4 ,,ludlow1 
,p4,p41 ,litt4,d4  ,author of ,the      
,captain of the ,janizaries1 ,deborah1  
etc4   ,along the ,friendly ,way        
,reminiscences and ,impressions4        
,frontispiece1 #abmo1 cloth1 net  ,dr4  
,ludlow has observed keenly1 and thought
 wisely and deeply2 he has read         
extensively1 traveled widely1 and rubbed
 elbows and wits with men great and     

little of many nations and under varying
 conditions4  ,he is the full man of    
which the philosopher speaks4  ,and all 
these intellectual and spiritual riches 
garnered from many harvests he spreads  
before the reader in a style that is    
remarkable for its felicity of phrasing1
 the color of its varied imagery1 and   
its humor1 warmth1 and human sympathy4  
,,herbert ,h4 ,,gowen1 ,f4 ,r4 ,g4 ,s4  
,the ,napoleon of the ,pacific3         
,kamehameha the ,great  ,illustrated1   
#abmo1 cloth1 net  ,the history of the  
great chieftain who1 in the closing     
years of the eighteenth century1        
effected the union of the eight islands 
of the ,hawaiian ,archipelago and welded
 them into a kingdom4  ,both student and
 general reader will find ,,the         
,,napoleon ,,of ,,the ,,pacific a       
richly1 stored mine of deeply           
interesting information1 extremely      
difficult to come at in any other form4 
,,clara ,e4 ,,laughlin  ,foch the ,man  
,new ,revised and ,enlarged ,edition    

with ,additional ,illustrations4  ,net  
,w4 ,b4 ,mc,cormick in the ,n4 ,y4 ,sun 
says3 ,miss ,laughlin has let nothing   
escape her that will throw light on the 
development of his character4 ,a        
revelation of the man who at sixty-seven
 put the crowning touch to the complete 
defeat of ,germany's military           
pretensions4   ,,frederick ,,lynch1     
,p4,p4  ,the ,one ,great ,society  ,a   
,book of ,recollections4  #abmo1 cloth1 
net  ,records of some personal          
reminiscences and recollections of the  
author1 who1 as preacher1 editor and    
prominent member of one or two          
international organizations1 has met    
many of the world's prominent men in the
 fields of divinity1 philanthropy1      
literature and reform4    ,,the ,,new   
,,world ,,order   ,,prof4 ,a4 ,t4       
,,robertson1 ,p4,p41 ,,ll4,d4  ,the ,new
 ,citizenship  ,the ,christian ,facing a
 ,new ,world ,order4  ,net              
,characterized by the thoroughgoing1    
wide-reaching scholarship for which     

,professor ,robertson is internationally
 noted1 but also by his fine common     
sense1 felicity of diction and strength 
and beauty of style4  ,it is a book for 
busy laymen and book-reading women1 as  
well as for preachers4--,baptist ,world4
   ,,george ,,wood ,,anderson           
,problem--or ,opportunity8  ,which is it
 the ,church is ,now ,facing4  #abmo1   
cloth1 net  ,mr4 ,anderson1 an          
evangelist1 has seen service with the   
,american boys on the battle-front1 and 
impelled by his vivid experiences       
oversea1 addresses himself afresh to the
 problems and opportunities now facing  
the ,christian church4  ,a plea for a   
more devoted working and application of 
the program ,christ laid out for ,his   
followers1 to the clamant needs of      
humanity at large4   ,c4 ,b4 ,,williams1
 ,ph4,d41 ,p4,p4  ,citizens of ,two     
,worlds  #abmo1 cloth1 net  ,a volume of
 addresses growing out of the spirit of 
this new age of democracy and           
brotherhood1 which speaks to the hearts 

of struggling men and women who want to 
solve the age's economic and social     
problems by following the teachings of  
the ,nazarene4  ,sermons which show how 
to reach up to heaven for the dynamic   
and inspiration to reach down to earth  
and help its needy millions4--,christian
 ,work4   ,,william ,c4 ,,schaeffer1    
,p4,p4  ,the ,greater ,task  ,studies in
 ,social ,service4  ,cloth1 net  ,this  
author believes that the kingdom of ,god
 is coming2 that it has come2 that it   
will continue to come in ever greater   
and greater power and glory4  ,he writes
 with force and illumination1 and brings
 home with great effectiveness1 both to 
the individual and the ,church1 the     
sense of duty and the broad scope of    
obligation and opportunity in the       
present crisis4  ,a book of real        
leadership and merit4--,christian       
,guardian4