,,books ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author      
,,thanksgiving ,,sermons     #abmo1 net1
 #a4jj    ,,letters ,,on ,,evangelism   
#afmo1 cloth1 #be cents2                
paper1 #ae cents            ,the        
,mendenhall ,lectures1 ,first ,series   
,delivered at ,de,pauw ,university      
,,the ,,bible ,,and ,,life        ,,by  
,,edwin ,,holt ,,hughes    ,bishop of   
the ,methodist ,episcopal ,church       
,,the ,,methodist ,,book ,,concern      
,,new ,,york      ,,cincinnati          
,copyright1 #aiae1 by    ,,edwin ,,holt 
,,hughes      ,first ,edition printed   
,february1 #aiae    ,reprinted ,june1   
#aiae          ,,to ,,charles ,,raisbeck
 ,,magee          ,,contents            
,,chapter                               
,,page            ,,introduction        
#i            ,,foreword                
#aa            ,,biographical ,,note    
#ac            ,,the ,,human ,,outline  
#ai         ,i4 ,,the ,,bible ,,and     
,,life            #ba        ,,ii4 ,,the
 ,,bible ,,and ,,man             #di    

,,iii4 ,,the ,,bible ,,and ,,home       
#gf        ,,iv4 ,,the ,,bible ,,and    
,,education      #ajb         ,v4 ,,the 
,,bible ,,and ,,work           #abe     
,,vi4 ,,the ,,bible ,,and ,,wealth      
#aea       ,,vii4 ,,the ,,bible ,,and   
,,sorrow         #ahe      ,,viii4 ,,the
 ,,bible ,,and ,,practice       #bac    
,,introduction      ,by the courteous   
invitation of the ,president1 ,faculty1 
and ,trustees of  ,de,pauw ,university1 
the writer had the privilege of         
delivering the first  series of lectures
 under the foundation as endowed by his 
friend1 the ,rev4  ,marmaduke ,h4       
,mendenhall4 ,the following comments are
 the only introductory  words that need 
be given4    ,the terms of the lectures 
were kept strictly within the radius of 
real  life4 ,the author does not claim  
to be a biblical scholar in any         
technical  sense4 ,nor did he deem that 
the primary need of the students whom he
  addressed would be met by a discussion
 of theories of inspiration or of  dates

 and authorships4 ,college students have
 a passion for reality1 and  the most   
convincing apologetic for them is the   
argument from actual  living4    ,under 
the instruction of the founder the      
lectures are to be placed in  permanent 
form for the students of the ,university
 and for the wider  public4 ,the        
lecturer having been rewarded by the    
close attention of  hundreds of youthful
 hearers1 the writer will have a still  
greater reward  if those who heard the  
words as spoken in ,meharry ,hall are   
joined by the  larger company who will  
listen for the voice of the ,spirit in  
these pages4    ,,edwin ,,holt ,,hughes4
          ,,the ,,mendenhall ,,lectures 
,,foreword      ,the late ,reverend     
,marmaduke ,h4 ,mendenhall1 ,d4,d41 of  
the ,north ,indiana  ,conference of the 
,methodist ,episcopal ,church1 donated  
to ,de,pauw ,university  the sum of ten 
thousand dollars1 the purpose and       
conditions of which gift  are set forth 
in his bequest as follows3    ,the      

object of this gift is to found a       
perpetual lectureship on the  evidences 
of the ,divine ,origin of ,christianity1
 to be known as the  ,mendenhall        
,foundation4 ,the income from this fund 
shall be used for the  support of an    
,annual ,lectureship1 the design of     
which shall be the  exhibition of the   
proofs1 from all sources1 of the ,divine
 ,origin1  ,inspiration1 and ,authority 
of the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,the course of
 lectures  shall be delivered annually  
before the ,university and the public   
without  any charge for admission4      
,the lecturers shall be chosen by an    
electing body consisting of the         
,president of the ,university1 the five 
senior members of the ,faculty of the   
,college of ,liberal ,arts1 and the     
,president of the ,board of ,trustees1  
subject to the approval of the ,board of
 ,bishops of the ,methodist  ,episcopal 
,church4 ,the lecturers must be persons 
of high and wide repute1  of broad and  
varied scholarship1 who firmly adhere to

 the evangelical  system of ,christian  
faith4 ,the selection of lecturers may  
be made from the  world of ,christian   
scholarship without regard to           
denominational divisions4  ,each course 
of lectures is to be published in book  
form by an eminent  publishing house and
 sold at cost to the ,faculty and       
students of the  ,university4           
,,george ,r4 ,,grose1      ,president of
 ,de,pauw ,university4                  
,,biographical ,,note      ,inasmuch as 
future lecturers on the ,mendenhall     
,foundation may not have had  the       
privilege of personal acquaintance with 
the founder1 it is doubtless  good that 
this first volume may record the        
outlines of his life and  character4    
,marmaduke ,h4 ,mendenhall was born at  
,guilford1 ,north ,carolina1  ,may #ac1 
#ahcf4 ,he died at ,union ,city1        
,indiana1 ,october #i1 #aije4 ,he was   
the  son of ,himelius and ,priscilla    
,mendenhall1 who1 when their son was    
about  one year old1 came northward and 

settled near ,peru1 ,indiana4 ,doctor   
,mendenhall did not suggest in manner or
 bearing that he was ,southern born4    
,had one chosen to judge of his         
birthplace by the man himself1 one would
  have said that he was a typical son of
 ,new ,england4 ,his deeper self was    
typified by his personal appearance4 ,he
 was tall1 stately1 dignified1  serious1
 earnest4    ,he joined the ,north      
,indiana ,conference of the ,methodist  
,episcopal ,church  in #ahef4 ,those    
days were still pioneer1 and he entered 
gladly into the  sacrificial ministry of
 that period4 ,it is a singular         
coincidence that he  was doubtless the  
first minister of his faith to begin    
work near ,union  ,city1 where he closed
 his earthly labors4 ,it was his        
privilege1 also1 to  build the first    
,methodist ,episcopal church in the city
 where he died4 ,the  history of his    
ministry shows that he served all       
classes of  charges--country1 city1     
village1 county seat4 ,several times the

 record is  dotted with the word        
,mission1 which would indicate that he  
frequently  followed the apostolic      
fashion of building strictly on his own 
foundations4 ,he came to a place of     
leadership in his own ,conference4 ,to  
the day of his death he was an          
influential factor in all its plans and 
programs4 ,though he had been           
technically superannuated for sixteen   
years  prior to his death1 his mind kept
 its full vigor1 and his word kept its  
full weight4 ,twice he was elected a    
reserve delegate to the ,general        
,conference1 while in #ahhj he was      
chosen as one of the regular delegates4 
,from the beginning of his ministry ,dr4
 ,mendenhall showed the signs of a      
remarkable mind1 and at the end of his  
ministry he was still manifesting a     
keen interest in current questions and  
in theological problems4 ,his  library  
to the last was freshened by the        
purchase of new books4 ,when he  turned 
his many volumes over to ,gammon        

,theological ,seminary that  institution
 did not receive hundreds of antiquated 
volumes1 but rather a  collection       
brought down to date and selected by a  
master judgment4 ,the  intellectual1    
though suffused at times by a proper and
 restrained emotion1  was his noticeable
 characteristic4 ,he was given to       
thorough analysis4 ,he  was markedly    
painstaking4 ,records that he made of   
the conduct of his  public services     
indicate that the final details were all
 regarded1 and  that hymns and          
,scripture lessons were chosen with a   
view to their bearing  on the           
instruction of the day4    ,being a     
vigorous personality1 he held his views 
with strength4 ,he was  keenly loyal to 
his convictions1 whether these related  
to methods of work  or to statements of 
doctrine4 ,in his advocacy or in his    
antagonism he was  always frank and     
open4 ,his opponent could see him       
standing out in plain  view1 with no    
effort to protect himself by secrecy4   

,men could never doubt  his sincerity1  
however much they might question the    
correctness of his  positions4 ,he knew 
no sinuous paths4 ,he was as direct as  
sunlight1 and he  traveled in straight  
lines4    ,in all his spheres of work   
,dr4 ,mendenhall made deep and lasting  
impressions4 ,highly intellectual as he 
was1 he was still an excellent          
administrator4 ,his business            
qualifications were signal4 ,every      
matter  committed to him was cared for  
with scrupulous nicety4 ,he left no     
loose  ends to any of his work4         
,although his salaries were never large1
 as  salaries are counted to-day1 he    
secured a comfortable property1 and this
  in spite of the fact that throughout  
his lifetime he was a generous          
contributor to good causes4    ,he      
served as a trustee of ,de ,pauw        
,university longer than other member of 
his ,conference had served1 up to the   
time of his death4 ,from #ahgh to #ahhg 
he served in this capacity1 while in    

#ahif he was reelected and was an       
active worker on the board up to the end
 of his life4 ,he aided in pushing  the 
institution through its crisis4 ,the    
files of this writer disclose a  careful
 and helpful correspondence upon matters
 vital to the welfare of  the           
,university4 ,in the sessions of the    
board he was always urbane and          
conciliatory4 ,he crowned the work of   
his life by leaving to the ,university  
all of his estate4 ,upon the increase of
 the estate to a certain figure1  the   
income was to be used in founding a     
lectureship on ,revealed ,religion1     
especially as related to the ,holy      
,bible4    ,although the writer was an  
intimate friend of ,dr4 ,mendenhall1 he 
cannot  remember any statements made to 
him which would indicate the founder's  
views of inspiration or of the other    
questions that have made the  biblical  
problem of the last two decades4 ,but   
his library showed that he  was fully   
aware of the modern discussions4        

,perhaps he felt that a  lectureship1   
broadly founded and practically         
directed1 would be of special  service  
to the church in a time of transition4  
,the writer entertains the  conviction  
that1 even though ,dr4 ,mendenhall might
 not agree fully with all  that is found
 in the following pages1 he would still 
appreciate the effort  to bring the     
,bible within its divine purpose as a   
,book of ,life4    ,the home of the     
founder revealed him as a model of      
courtesy and  kindliness4 ,friends who  
saw him by his own fireside noted the   
benignity  that matched his dignity1 the
 tenderness that equaled his            
seriousness4  ,those who came into the  
nearer circle of his life regarded him  
most  highly4 ,to the wife who survives 
him he was in all ways a helper1 gentle 
in demeanor and loyally careful in the  
administration of her interests4 ,as    
the writer reviews the drift of these   
first lectures delivered under this     
foundation1 he is persuaded that the    

founder's relation to ,himself1 to his  
,home1 to his ,work1 to his ,wealth1 to 
his ,pleasure and ,sorrow1 and          
particularly to the cause of ,education1
 is not misrepresented herein4 ,the     
,bible was his ,book1 and its ideals    
were achieved in his living4 ,it is the 
sincere wish that these pages may       
accomplish somewhat the main purpose of 
the founder's heart in making the divine
 ,book a brighter lamp for the  guidance
 of youth4          ,,the ,,human       
,,outline      ,it may be well to give  
in human form the outline which will be 
followed in  these pages4 ,the story is 
the story of millions of men on as many 
days4    ,a man awoke one morning to the
 consciousness of himself4 ,looking     
about he  saw the familiar sights of his
 own home1 and soon he heard the voices 
of  his wife and children4 ,ere long the
 little people were on their way to     
school4 ,the man proceeded to his work1 
while his wife took up her domestic     
duties4 ,he returned in the evening with

 the proceeds of his day's labor  added 
to his stock of goods4 ,he partook of   
the evening meal and then  indulged in  
the pleasure of the children's hour4 ,he
 later called upon a  friend who had met
 with sorrow and in the trouble of his  
friend he found a  fresh reminder of his
 own affliction4 ,he retired in due     
season to his  slumber and went forth   
the next morning to make the like round 
of the day4    ,this is a piece of      
constant biography4 ,it could be        
duplicated by reference  to many a      
personal journal and diary4 ,if we      
analyze the description1 we  shall find 
that the man was driven to take a       
relation to ,himself1 to ,home1  to     
,education1 to ,work1 to ,wealth1 to    
,pleasure and ,sorrow4    ,the aim of   
this book is to state somewhat the      
bearing that the ,bible has  upon these 
great departments of our human living4  
,the apologetic tests the  ,book under  
the terms of this human outline4        
,,chapter ,i    ,,the ,,bible ,,and     

,,life      ,the ,bible is a book of    
power4 ,the man who would deny this     
statement would  impugn his own         
intelligence4 ,it is to-day the ,book of
 the strongest  nations4 ,if the        
strongest nations selected it for their 
inspiration and  guidance1 that fact is 
significant4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the
 ,bible has  trained the strongest      
nations1 that fact is more significant4 
,in either  case power is lodged in the 
,holy ,scriptures4 ,the miracle is this3
 ,that a  very ancient ,book rules a    
very modern world4    ,various          
explanations are given4 ,some men say   
that the ,bible is powerful  because it 
has been promoted by a powerful         
organization4 ,but this  explanation    
needs explaining4 ,how did the ,bible   
secure the aid of this  organization8   
,why did not the organization take the  
,dialogues of ,plato and  become the    
evangel of ,socrates' splendid wisdom8  
,why did it elect one  particular       
volume8 ,and what would have been the   

effect on its own life if  it had chosen
 some other book8 ,would the writings of
 ,marcus ,aurelius or of  ,seneca1 with 
their high moral grade and their marked 
religious insight1  have served the holy
 purpose as effectively8 ,when we       
attempt to substitute  some other book  
in the ,bible's place1 our hesitancy    
quickly passes on to  positive refusal4 
,the ,christian ,church1 with any other 
volume as its  textbook1 is simply      
inconceivable4    ,other men will say   
that the power of the ,bible has come   
from its girding  by a doctrine of      
authority4 ,this explanation must       
likewise be explained4  ,could a ,book  
without inherent authority be long      
maintained among  intelligent peoples on
 the basis of artificial authority8 ,why
 is the ,bible  the best seller and the 
greatest worker in those lands where it 
has been  set free to yield its own     
message8 ,what is the peculiar quality  
in the  ,book that has saved any theory 
of its authority from appearing absurd8 

,the  ,bible showed its power long      
before men adopted any theory of its    
power4  ,doubtless the claim of         
authority has increased the influence of
 the ,book  over certain types of minds4
 ,still it may be confidently asserted  
that the  claim of authority has        
depended far more on the power of the   
,bible than  the power of the ,bible has
 depended on the claim of authority4    
,the effect  should not be allowed to   
pass itself off as the main cause4      
,nor does the power of the ,bible depend
 upon mere bulk4 ,shakespeare wrote     
enough to make several ,bibles4 ,so did 
,scott4 ,so did ,dickens4 ,so did       
,parkman4 ,if the ,bible is a moral and 
spiritual ,encyclopedia1 its material   
has been strangely condensed4 ,it is a  
brief ,book1 yet out of its small       
compass men gather texts for fifty years
 of preaching and at the close of  their
 life's task feel that the pages are    
still exhaustless4 ,the ,bible has      
inspired literature far beyond its own  

bulk4 ,it is a small library of  books  
gathered from many authors1 but it has  
filled great libraries with             
commentaries and sermons and            
discussions4 ,its brevities have        
provoked  measureless pages of writing4 
,the world is big1 yet it is measurably 
ruled  by a small ,book4    ,it would   
seem likewise that a ,book written so   
long ago would fail of the  element of  
timeliness4 ,that an old volume should  
keep its place in a new  century is in  
itself an anomaly4 ,the last of the     
,bible was penned hundreds  of years    
since4 ,accepting the most radical views
 as to dates1 its youngest  book was    
produced quite more than a millennium   
and a half ago4 ,meanwhile  the world   
has been making amazing progress4 ,we   
boast of our achievements  in           
transportation and communication4 ,all  
ancient things seem to be  outgrown1    
save only the ,bible4 ,the books that   
were written as  contemporaries of parts
 of the great ,book have either slipped 

into  oblivion or are known to-day only 
by the intellectually elect4 ,the       
classics are studied by a small circle  
of scholars4 ,the average man knows     
nothing of ,virgil1 or ,cicero1 or      
,homer1 by any direct contact with the  
works of those authors4 ,but the ,bible1
 which is out of date by the  calendar1 
is not out of date by its own meaning4  
,it is singularly  contemporaneous4 ,its
 different portions were called forth by
 passing  events and the ,book itself is
 clearly touched by its own times4 ,for 
all  that1 eternity appears to have     
lodged itself in its                    
contemporaneousness4  ,the twentieth    
century1 eager and thrilling as it is1  
accepts a ,guide ,book  from the distant
 years4 ,roman ,law and ,greek ,art are 
filtered to the new  age through modern 
channels4 ,the ,bible itself comes to us
 more simple and  more powerful than any
 modern interpretations of its messages4
 ,there is a  sense in which it declines
 to apply to itself its own figure of   

speech  about the new wine in the old   
bottles4    ,the ,bible defies          
geographical distance as well as        
calendar distance4 ,for  the most part  
its record relates to what happened in a
 small and remote  section of the earth4
 ,it reaches its climax in an obscure   
province which  was smaller than many a 
modern county4 ,the customs of which it 
tells are  mostly gone4 ,sandals and    
tents and camels and parchments are     
curiosities  in the new lands and new   
times4 ,much of the setting of biblical 
events is  wholly unknown to our day1   
and so must be reproduced for our       
children in  pictures and for our adults
 in descriptions4 ,an ,oriental ,book is
 the chief  literature of an ,occidental
 world4    ,in spite of its small size1 
its great age1 its cramped geography1   
its  vivid ,orientalism1 the ,bible     
keeps its mastery4 ,what is the         
explanation8    ,it must be that the    
,bible appeals to something fundamental 
in life itself4  ,the final test of     

inspiration must1 of course1 be found in
 what the ,bible  does for life4 ,a book
 that is not inspiring cannot be proved 
to be  inspired4 ,it cannot give what it
 does not have and it must surely have  
received what it gives4 ,it would be a  
mistake1 however1 to confuse formal     
truthfulness with inspiring vitality4   
,the description of a street scene1     
dealing with the passing relations of   
pedestrians1 wagons1 trees1 birds1      
houses2 the lengths and widths of       
sidewalks and streets2 the figures of   
population2 the social status of the    
various groups--all this may be told    
with exact and mathematical             
truthfulness4 ,it may be correct and    
still not  be inspired or inspiring4 ,on
 the other hand1 the parable of the     
prodigal  son is a story which in its   
precise detail may represent something  
that  never occurred4 ,but it has       
impressed the world as both inspired and
  inspiring4 ,its words haunt and pierce
 and coax and subdue men4 ,this         

indicates that a story given for a      
spiritual purpose shows more essential  
truthfulness than does a description    
given for formal exactness4 ,the  reason
 is that the parable appeals to         
something fundamental in life  itself4  
,the son and the father are ever with   
us4 ,god and his children are  the      
everlasting facts4 ,the story is more   
true than is the description4  ,this    
contrast represents the biblical trend4 
,the ,book penetrates through  the husk 
to the kernel1 through superficial facts
 to deepest truths1  through passing    
events to eternal meanings4 ,it is the  
,book of ,life4    ,what gives the      
,bible this appeal8 ,whence did it      
secure its vital quality8  ,the only    
reply is that the appeal to life must be
 born of life itself4  ,sometimes a     
bizarre explanation is given of the     
source of a religious  volume1 the      
assumption being that a human origin    
denies a divine origin4  ,the more men  
have to do with its production1 the less

 may we presume that  ,god has touched  
the work4 ,a curious illustration of    
this viewpoint is  found in the claim   
for the ,book of ,mormon4 ,the story is 
as follows3 ,a  heavenly visitant       
appeared to ,joseph ,smith and told him 
that in a certain  place he would find  
the miracle book4 ,smith obeyed the     
directions and  found in the place named
 a box of stone4 ,in this box was a     
volume half a  foot in thickness4 ,it   
was written on thin plates of gold1 and 
these plates  were bound together by    
gold rings4 ,the writing was in a       
strange language1  but with the book was
 found a pair of miraculous eyeglasses  
which  conferred the ability to read the
 pages4 ,in other words the ,book of    
,mormon  was not born of human life     
under the guidance of the divine life4  
,it was  the product of a straight      
miracle1 and the power to decipher its  
meaning  came only by miracle4 ,such a  
theory of the origin is easy to         
understand1  even though it may be      

difficult to believe4 ,it represents the
 extreme form  of that faith which      
minimizes the partnership of man with   
,god in the  making of all genuine      
gospels of life4    ,the incarnation was
 ,man and ,god together4 ,the church is 
being fashioned by  man and ,god        
together2 the ,spirit and the ,bride are
 colleagues4 ,worship is  possible only 
when man and ,god are together in       
fellowship4 ,if the ,bible  came by any 
method other than the coworking of man  
and ,god1 its production  would stand   
for a departure from the usual divine   
method4 ,the power of the  ,bible1      
however1 grows out of the fact that it  
is not an abnormal book1  fantastically 
given to men4 ,there is a humorous story
 of an old woman who  was discovered in 
diligent study of the ,hebrew alphabet4 
,asked why at her  age she was beginning
 to learn so difficult a tongue1 she    
made reply that  when she died she      
desired to address the ,almighty in his 
own language6  ,there have been theories

 of the ,bible that are scarcely        
caricatured by  this tale4 ,if there    
have been doctrines of the ,book that   
made it the  product of a lonely man1   
there have likewise been doctrines that 
made it  the product of a lonely ,god4  
,neither doctrine is correct4 ,the      
,bible grew  out of human life that had 
been touched and glorified by the divine
  presence and power4 ,because it grew  
out of life it makes its appeal to its  
native element in life itself4 ,it      
simply claims its own4    ,a review of  
the different parts of the ,bible will  
show how true this  statement is4       
,practically every book is localized and
 personalized4  ,something that happened
 among men called forth the writing4    
,the names of  the books in the         
,pentateuch show this fact4 ,genesis    
treats of the origins  of the earth and 
of man1 and is an answer to the         
inevitable question that  springs in the
 human mind4 ,exodus treats of the going
 forth of the ,hebrew  people from their

 ,egyptian bondage4 ,leviticus is a     
description and  discussion of the      
,levitical rules4 ,deuteronomy is a     
second giving of the  ,law and an       
enlargement of its sphere as well as an 
enforcement of its  precepts4 ,the ,ten 
,commandments make a human document     
because their sole  aim is to ennoble   
and protect human life4    ,it is so    
with the historical books4 ,they are the
 records of actual human  living4 ,their
 pages are sprinkled with the names of  
real men and women4  ,joshua1 the       
,judges1 ,ruth1 ,samuel1 the ,kings are 
all there1 eager  participants in       
earth's affairs under the sense of ,god4
 ,these books are  not theoretical      
dissertations on life by a dreamer in   
his closet2 they are  rather the general
 descriptions of life itself as it moved
 along a period  of seven or eight      
centuries4 ,they give us the salient and
 meaningful  happenings among ,god's    
chosen people4 ,they tell the story of a
 crude race  as it is being led forward 

to the heights4 ,the pages record       
limitations  and faults simply because  
they tell us of actual life4 ,the sins  
of the  ,bible's premier heroes are     
written down with entire frankness4 ,the
 human  touch is everywhere4 ,we shall  
not read the historical books long ere  
we  find that they1 too1 are human      
documents4 ,but these human documents1  
covered with the names of men and women1
 are likewise covered with the          
ever-recurring name of ,jehovah4 ,in the
 record one discovers man and ,god4     
,in the prophetical books the like fact 
is apparent4 ,the prophets were men  of 
flesh and blood4 ,they rushed into the  
prophetic work from the ordinary        
occupations of ancient life4 ,from the  
fields they came1 and from the          
vineyards4 ,perhaps one came from a     
royal palace4 ,surely not more than one 
of them came from the altar of the      
priesthood4 ,they were men who knew the 
shame and glory of contemporary life4   
,they did not hesitate to touch the     

politics of their day4 ,they decried    
kings4 ,they denounced landlords4 ,they 
made frontal attacks on all forms of    
wickedness4 ,their appeal was for       
reality4 ,they declared that ,god hated 
all pretense4 ,new moons and feasts  and
 fasts that did not grow out of devout  
hearts they declared to be an  insult   
and an abomination before a righteous   
,god4 ,they talked from life to  life4  
,they came in response to some human    
demand in their times4 ,they were  not  
theorists1 discussing academic problems 
of conduct4 ,they were blazing  moral   
realists4 ,we do not need to detail the 
list of those forthtellers of  the ,word
 of ,god4 ,even the book of ,jonah is   
full of life4 ,parable1  allegory1      
history--its descriptions are based in  
life and its appeal is to  life4 ,in its
 moral lesson for the individual1 and in
 its missionary lesson  for a narrow    
race1 it offers enough duty to keep life
 busy for a million  years4 ,if men     
would heed its lessons for life and     

cease their petty  debates about the    
anatomy of whales1 the ,book would meet 
them with vital  urgings4 ,the one point
 now is that the prophetical writings   
grew out of  life4 ,they did not come   
encased in stone boxes1 written on gold 
leaves1 to  be read and understood only 
by miraculous spectacles4 ,they came    
from real  living1 and they claim their 
own wherever real men are living to-day4
    ,we need not follow the same idea   
into the later books of the ,old        
,testament4 ,the ,proverbs were gathered
 from the streets of life4              
,ecclesiastes is the pronouncement of   
life vainly satiated4 ,even the         
,psalms1 classed as devotional books1   
were usually evoked by some actual      
happening4 ,the king goes out to war2 a 
psalm is penned4 ,the ark is moved  from
 one place to another2 a psalm is       
written4 ,a man is jaded and            
discouraged2 a psalm is written to      
recover him to a consciousness of the   
care of ,jehovah4 ,a monarch falls into 

grievous sin2 a psalm is written to     
express his penitence4 ,a study of any  
,commentary on the ,psalms will show  us
 that nearly all of these devotional    
utterances were prompted by some  human 
experiences4 ,they are the shoutings and
 sobbings of living men4 ,the  book of  
,psalms is not the liturgy of           
academicians4 ,its processionals and    
its recessionals show actual men and    
women in the real march of life4    ,in 
the ,new ,testament this same law of    
life rules4 ,jesus comes before the     
,gospels4 ,without the ,life there could
 not have been the record of the  ,life4
 ,in any worthy ,bible life must always 
come first4 ,this phase will be  treated
 later4 ,now it must be emphasized that 
the entire ,new ,testament  sprang from 
a ,life that was lived among men4 ,the  
,word must become flesh  before it could
 become literary record4 ,grace and     
truth walked the earth  ere they were   
traced on pages4 ,here again the ,bible 
comes from life in  order that it may   

return to life again4    ,the statement 
concerning the ,new ,testament will     
admit of more detail4 ,the  ,gospels    
grew immediately out of the disciples'  
life with the ,lord4 ,the  ,acts grew   
out of the life of the disciples in     
their daily contact with  that ancient  
world4 ,the ,epistles all came from some
 urgency of life4 ,while  there were    
minor reasons for writing each of them  
there was still a main  purpose that    
dictated the writing in every case4 ,the
 ,epistles to the  ,thessalonians seek  
to produce a right attitude toward the  
doctrine of the  ,lord's return4 ,the   
,epistle to the ,romans is a discussion 
of the doctrine  of justification by    
faith and the relations of that doctrine
 to ,judaism4  ,that to the ,galatians  
is both a personal defense of ,paul's   
questioned  apostleship and a           
declaration of freedom from bondage to  
the law4 ,the  ,philippians grew out of 
an experience of human kindness1 being  
an  expression of gratitude for help in 

trouble and sympathy in sorrow4 ,the    
,ephesians is a composite of moods--the 
victories of grace1 the hope of the     
heavenlies1 the expectation of ascension
 with the glorified ,christ1 the  nature
 and aim of the true church4 ,colossians
 expresses the universal  ,lordship of  
,christ and tears down every theory that
 denies the reality of  the incarnation 
and the utter preeminence of ,jesus4    
,even those ,epistles that are personal 
in their character deal with  universal 
life4 ,philemon reappeared in the       
contests concerning slavery  both in    
,england and ,america and scattered the 
arguments of ,christian  democracy4 ,the
 bondage of men could not well live with
 the tender  brotherhood that breathes  
in the letter which ,onesimus carried   
back with  him to his former master4    
,titus and ,timothy are the pastoral    
advices sent  by the aged apostle to his
 younger sons in the faith1 while one of
 the  ,epistles is the hopeful farewell 
to earth and a glad trust toward the    

,eternal ,city4 ,revelation may be      
filled with strange imagery and may be  
shaken by the tremors of a perilous age2
 but men who know real life will  say   
that the ,beast and the ,lamb are not   
merely wild figures of speech4 ,the     
writer of the ,apocalypse knew the      
world1 and he knew the churches in its  
various cities4    ,thus it seems       
literally true that all the ,new        
,testament was penned for the  aid of   
life4 ,when life went wrong1 warning    
came4 ,when life went aright1           
encouragement came4 ,when life was      
mistaken1 correction came4 ,whether the 
need was for doctrine1 for reproof1 or  
for instruction in righteousness1  ,god 
met the need by the message that he gave
 to his servants4 ,the ,book is  not a  
series of infallible abstractions2 it is
 rather a vital ,guide ,book  won from  
the experience of life's ways4 ,the     
,bible is not a ready-made  product     
dropped down from heaven2 it is rather a
 ,library made by men in  many ages in  

partnership with the ,god who lives with
 men in all ages4 ,in  the best and     
truest fashion it makes record of the   
life of ,god in the  souls of responsive
 men4 ,because it came from life it     
inevitably seeks  life4 ,it was born of 
,god among men4 ,therefore1 it lives    
among men with  ,god4    ,we may carry  
the relation of life to the ,bible quite
 beyond this point4  ,the ,bible not    
only grew from life1 but it came back to
 life for its  testing4 ,even as there  
have been theories of the making of the 
,book that  ignored the element of human
 living1 so have there been theories of 
the  canon of ,scripture that ignored   
the element of human testing4 ,years ago
 a  renowned teacher said to his pupils1
 ,never go deliberately to work to  make
 a book4 ,the only volumes worth while  
are those that grow out of your  deepest
 life4 ,the advice was good4 ,in a way  
it suggests the manner of the  ,bible's 
making4 ,there is no evidence whatsoever
 that any writer of its  pages ever     

thought that his work would become part 
of a ,bible4 ,no man ever  said1 ,i will
 now write a book of the ,holy          
,scripture4 ,nor did any group  of men  
assign departments to each other1       
saying1 ,we will prepare a divine       
,book4 ,the ,bible came in no such      
mechanical way4 ,written because of     
life's  needs1 as seen in the light of  
,god1 it was tested and collected by    
life's  needs1 as seen in that same     
light4 ,it was once strikingly said that
 the  words of ,jesus were vascular2 if 
you cut them they would bleed4 ,one     
shrinks from the metaphor4 ,yet it      
presents a truth about the whole ,bible4
  ,a ,book written by life and selected 
by life has naturally a message for     
life4    ,how did the books of the      
,bible secure their place in the canon8 
,the  romancer offers his tradition here
 again4 ,we find a very fantastic legend
  coming down from medieval times to    
this effect3 ,in the church at ,nica one
  day a great mass of religious writing 

lay in an indiscriminate heap  beneath  
the altar4 ,a miracle gave an answer to 
the question as to what  books should   
secure permanent places in the ,holy    
,book4 ,the ,first  ,ecumenical         
,conference was in session4 ,the year   
was #cbe ,a4 ,d4 ,while man  wondered   
and questioned1 ,god settled the issue4 
,suddenly the genuine books  were lifted
 from the mass of volumes and1 without  
visible power1 lay on  the sacred table4
 ,the writings miraculously declared    
uncanonical remained  beneath the altar4
 ,this theory of selection corresponds  
to the theory of  dictation4 ,we have in
 both cases an active ,god and a passive
 man4 ,while it  would be unfair to say 
that this medieval legend has any modern
 following1  it is true that certain    
theories of the selection of the canon  
resemble it  in that they discount the  
human factor4 ,even as ,god and men     
worked  together in the writing of the  
books1 so ,god and men worked together  
in  the binding of the books into their 

volume of fellowship4 ,life that        
confessed ,god and tried to do his will 
chose the books and decreed that  they  
should dwell in unity4    ,as there has 
been a tendency to overstate the miracle
 feature in the  selection of the canon1
 so has there been a tendency to        
overstate the part  played by the       
authoritative councils of the church4   
,the assumption has  been that          
arbitrariness was the chief feature of  
the whole process4  ,certain men met in 
conference1 debated the merits of the   
several books1  and finally settled by  
vote what particular writings should    
have their  place in the ,bible of the  
church4 ,now while something of this    
kind did  occur1 it is far from the     
truth to affirm that the councils lacked
 a  representative capacity4 ,the vote  
may have been recorded by theologians1  
but the vote had previously been        
determined by the ,christian democracy4 
,abraham ,lincoln wrote the             
,emancipation ,proclamation4 ,his       

predecessors were  the people4 ,in a    
dignified sense ,lincoln was their      
clerk1 expressing their  will after many
 years of agitation4 ,the wisdom of the 
,great ,commoner was  shown not only by 
the personal conviction that he put into
 the document1  but also by his keen    
appreciation of the will of the         
multitude4 ,though the  parchment of    
liberty was proclaimed by one man1 it is
 a fact that it was  dictated by many   
men4 ,something parallel to this        
occurred in the selection  of the       
material of the ,bible4 ,councils played
 their part2 their part1  however1 was  
the part of agents4    ,this was true of
 the ,old ,testament4 ,many persons may 
still have the vision  of ,jewish       
officials with long robes and sober     
faces deciding the ancient  canon4      
,indeed1 there was for long a tradition 
that ,ezra founded a kind of  ,imperial 
,synagogue which continued for not less 
than two hundred years  and which in    
that period finished the collection and 

authorization of the  ,old ,testament4  
,this synagogue had various presidents1 
including ,nehemiah4  ,no such          
organization for the selection of the   
,scriptures existed4 ,accurate  ancient 
history gives no trace of its work4 ,the
 work of testing the  writings was slow4
 ,the arbiter was life4 ,life had       
determined the writing4  ,life must now 
determine the authority4    ,we can     
catch an interesting glimpse into this  
process by studying for a  moment the   
story about ,josiah1 the young king4    
,hilkiah1 the priest1 finds  the book of
 the law4 ,shaphan carries the book to  
the king and reads to him  from the     
ancient lore4 ,the book quickens the    
royal conscience4 ,god and the  earthly 
ancestors of ,josiah speak to him from  
the pages4 ,he is made to  feel how far 
he and his people have gone from the    
will of ,jehovah4 ,he  rends his        
clothes4 ,he sends for the human voices 
of the ,most ,high4 ,huldah1  the       
prophetess1 is the chief instructor4    

,the people are called back to  their   
allegiance4 ,the land is purged4 ,a     
manuscript has done all this4 ,it       
inspired the king and his people until  
abominations fled from ,israel4 ,the    
land continued in obedience until the   
archers sent ,king ,josiah to his       
sepulcher4 ,that portion of the law that
 had been read to the king by  ,shaphan 
and had then been delivered to the      
people proved its inspiring  quality in 
its effects on life4 ,on that day a     
portion of the ,old ,testament  canon   
was selected4    ,doubtless this        
incident is somewhat typical of a       
procedure that was more  or less        
constant4 ,the imperial synagogue was   
the ,jewish people4 ,the debate  that   
settled issues was the debate of        
experience4 ,life was electing its  own 
books4 ,words that touched the          
conscience into an impression of ,god   
and  then worked their way outward to   
the blessing of the multitude were      
gaining for themselves the popular vote4

 ,candidates for the canon were         
rejected4 ,other candidates were held in
 long suspicion4 ,ecclesiastes1         
,proverbs1 ,esther1 ,solomon's          
,song--all these served a long probation
 ere  they proved themselves worthy of  
their place4 ,the ancient world1 like   
the  modern world1 was not willing to   
surrender ,proverbs1 with their homely  
wisdom2 ,esther1 with its lesson of     
loyalty to race and kindred2 ,solomon's 
,song1 with its refusal to listen to the
 blandishments of royal  lasciviousness 
luring to the betrayal of a true and    
humble lover2 or even  ,ecclesiastes1   
with its pessimism uncured until the    
writer once more finds  ,god4    ,after 
books secured their place in the        
authorized list of the ,jews1 they  had 
still to contest to keep their place4   
,as late as the first century of  the   
,christian era1 debate was frequent4    
,life was slow to render its  decision4 
,there was no hasty authority4 ,the     
final judgment was rendered by  the     

experience of a race4 ,when ,eck        
reminded ,martin ,luther that the church
  had decided what books should go into 
the canon and that ,luther must  accept 
a quotation from ,second ,maccabees as  
authoritative1 the great  ,reformer made
 reply1 ,the church cannot give more    
authority or force to a  book than it   
has in itself4 ,a council cannot make   
that be ,scripture which  in its own    
nature is not ,scripture4 ,so it came to
 pass that in due season  the freed     
religious consciousness of the church   
took certain apocryphal  books from the 
,old ,testament canon4 ,that            
consciousness seemed to feel a          
difference in spiritual power between   
the ,apocrypha and the other portions   
of the ,old ,testament4 ,life was still 
coming to the polls in order that it1   
far more than any stately council1      
should elect the true ,word of ,god4    
,this same process of selection went on 
in relation to the ,new ,testament4     
,the early ,christians started with no  

,new ,testament whatsoever4 ,their      
,bible  was the ,old ,testament4 ,we do 
not find any warrant for saying that    
they  expected to make additions to the 
,bible4 ,jesus came first4 ,then the    
,gospels and ,epistles came as natural  
consequences4 ,the early ,christians1   
as we shall later see1 had received the 
very purpose and climax of  ,revelation1
 because they had received ,christ4 ,but
 the ,gospels and ,epistles  which grew 
up out of life had in their turn to be  
tested by life4  ,believers began by    
reading these as if they were           
suggestive2 after the  writings had     
wrought their full impression upon the  
minds of the  believers1 they began to  
consider them inspired and holy4 ,this  
decision  did not come abstractly1 nor  
did it come quickly4 ,gradually the     
sense of  the value of certain writings 
grew upon the early church4 ,almost two 
centuries of the ,christian era passed  
ere the collection so commended  itself 
to believing hearts as to be given      

definite form4 ,as in the case of  the  
,old ,testament1 so in the case of the  
,new1 life declined to be hurried  into 
a decision4 ,the books must prove their 
authority in the experience of  the     
people4 ,the ,christian republic was    
engaged in the task of choosing its     
,bible from life4    ,we find1 too1 that
 certain books appeared as claimants for
 permanent  authority that did not win  
their case4 ,the ancient manuscripts    
were passed  from church to church and  
were read to the people4 ,the task of   
sifting  went surely forward4 ,directly 
lists of books that peculiarly commended
  themselves to the ,christians began to
 appear4 ,in the first two centuries    
such leaders as ,irenus1 ,clement1 and  
,tertullian present their lists which   
show some of our present books omitted1 
some other books included1 and  still   
other books declared as good but        
inferior4 ,the ,christian  consciousness
 had not yet reached a confident        
verdict4 ,but a review of the  period   

shows the ,christian leaders verging    
toward unanimity4 ,slowly some  books   
were eliminated2 and slowly other books 
asserted their right to be  included4   
,by the beginning of the fifth century  
the canon had been  practically         
determined4 ,the great ,augustine1 with 
his immediate  predecessors and his     
close successors1 reveals the well-nigh 
unanimous  conclusion to which the      
church had come4 ,it may well be noted  
that the  voting booth stood open for   
almost four hundred years4 ,the         
,councils of  ,hippo and ,carthage were 
simply the servants of the people4 ,the 
books that  had sprung from life had    
received the testing of life4    ,it    
must be allowed that here1 as in the    
case of the ,old ,testament canon1  some
 books had to re-prove their right to   
the place of authority4 ,the  ,council  
of ,trent may have settled the matter   
for all ,roman ,catholics1 but  it did  
not irretrievably close the canon for   
,protestants4 ,it is well known  that   

,luther himself wished to remove several
 books from the list1 and that  he      
called the ,epistle of ,james strawlike4
 ,luther's reason was a  polemical one4 
,he felt that the vivid practicalness of
 ,james conflicted  with the principle  
of justification by faith alone4 ,it is 
only a stronger  evidence of the demands
 of life in the selection of the final  
canon that  even the powerful influence 
of ,luther could not prevail4 ,the      
church well  knew that the ,epistle of  
,james would be a good antidote for any 
lazy  mysticism4 ,life voted against    
,luther in this instance1 and life won4 
,zwingli wanted to exclude the ,book of 
,revelation from the canon4 ,the        
,christian republic felt that beneath   
all the weird imagery of the            
,apocalypse ,god was speaking by his    
servant to the churches of all time4    
,life voted against ,zwingli in this    
instance1 and life won4 ,when life was  
given its freedom the most influential  
voices of authority could not  prevail  

against its verdicts4 ,this completes   
the circle4 ,the ,bible was  written by 
life1 and the ,bible was selected by    
life4    ,perhaps it is well to note    
that when any portion of the ,scripture 
has been  taken away from the purpose of
 life1 it has lost its note of          
authority2  when it has been brought    
back to that purpose of life1 it has    
regained  that note4 ,the ,song of      
,solomon illustrates this point4 ,it had
 slight hold  on the life of the world  
as long as it was used as a complex     
allegory or  symbol relating to ,christ 
and the church4 ,all labored attempts to
 so  construe the book did the book     
itself injury4 ,but when the ,song was  
permitted to recover its own relation to
 life1 it recovered its own power4  ,the
 lesson of the book1 rightly used1 may  
save many young women from  selling     
themselves to lascivious luxury and may 
give them strength against  tempting    
allurements away from loyal love4       
,however old the world may  become1 it  

will always need that lesson4 ,in some  
way the ,song came from  life2 and when 
it is tested by life1 it regains its    
relation to life4  ,released from the   
strain of an allegorical interpretation1
 it proves  itself a servant of one of  
life's holiest causes4    ,we come now  
to the primary consideration4 ,the      
,bible grew from life4 ,the  ,bible was 
tested by life4 ,the ,bible climaxes in 
,life4 ,jesus said that the  ,scriptures
 testified of him4 ,it is even so4 ,in  
the ,sargent pictures in the  ,boston   
,public ,library the prophets are       
represented as pointing forward to  him4
 ,we may even more surely represent the 
writers of the ,gospels and  ,epistles  
as pointing backward to him4 ,the ,bible
 is to be judged by its  goal2 and the  
goal is ,christ4 ,other sacred books1   
such as the ,koran1 were  written by one
 person2 the ,bible was written by many 
persons for one  ,person4 ,jesus himself
 insisted on this4 ,he claimed to       
surpass the old  revelations4 ,with all 

his reverence for the ,old ,testament1  
he still put  himself above it by words 
like these3 ,ye have heard that it hath 
been  said by them of olden time1 ,but  
,i say unto you4 ,this is as much as to 
affirm that he was the end of a         
progressive revelation4 ,a skeptic once 
said that the whole ,bible turns upon   
,jesus4 ,the skeptic was right4 ,one of 
the ,gospels gives a word that may      
safely be applied to the whole trend of 
the ,bible1 ,these things are written1  
that ye might believe that ,christ is   
the ,son of ,god1 and that believing ye 
might have life through his name4  ,the 
very purpose is declared to be that men 
may be brought to faith in  ,christ4    
,it would be too much to say that all   
revelation ceased with the closing of   
the canon4 ,lowell's claim that the     
,bible of the race is written slowly1   
that each race adds its texts of hope   
and despair1 of joy and moan1 and  that 
the prophets still sit at the feet of   
,god1 cannot be denied4 ,but we  may    

confidently assert that revelation came 
to its culmination and crown  in ,jesus 
,christ4 ,when once the essential things
 concerning him had found  place in a   
,book1 the ,bible found its             
consummation4 ,thus do we see that the  
books that were written by life1 and    
then were tested by life1 came to  their
 climax in ,life4 ,the only way to      
secure a book better than the ,bible  is
 to secure a person better than ,jesus4 
,the best men entertain no such  vain   
expectation because they know that      
nothing can be more perfect than        
,perfection4    ,we have set forth these
 three main reasons for the unique      
influence that  the ,bible exercises    
over life4 ,some are fond of saying that
 the ,bible is  merely one of many      
sacred books4 ,those who have read the  
bibles of other  races will not be      
misled by the statement4 ,max ,mller    
writes that the  ,sacred ,books of the  
,east by the side of much that is fresh1
 natural1  simple1 beautiful1 and true1 

contain much that is not only unmeaning1
  artificial1 and silly1 but even       
hideous and repellent4 ,of the          
,brahmanas  he affirms that they deserve
 to be studied as the physician studies 
the  twaddle of idiots and the ravings  
of madmen4 ,the ,koran sets forth a very
  fine morality1 but it was written by  
one man and really presents a legal     
religion4 ,moreover it offers no perfect
 example4 ,the author of the ,koran     
himself claimed to receive revelations  
that opened a path to immorality4  ,one 
voice declared the authority of the     
book1 and an obedient people  accepted  
this verdict4 ,the ,koran was not       
written by a wide range of life1        
expressing ,god's dealing with many     
persons under diverse conditions4 ,it   
was not tested for its authority by the 
free conscience of a people4  ,mohammed 
wrote and adopted his own canon4 ,the   
,christian's ,bible1 written  by life1  
tested by life1 and culminating in      
,life1 has come back to life  with      

transforming power4    ,the insistence  
of these chapters is that1 when the     
,holy ,scriptures are  given a free     
opportunity to do their work with life1 
they prove their own  inspiration4      
,after all1 there can be no other proof4
 ,the ,bible is what it  is1 no matter  
what theory men may adopt as to its     
formation4 ,it creates  its own         
evidences4 ,the argument for its        
inspiration is the life that it         
inspires4 ,if the ,book gives power and 
purity to all departments of life1  the 
,book defends itself against attack and 
makes its own conquests4 ,does  the     
,bible rightly exalt man8 ,does it      
sanctify the home8 ,does it promote     
education8 ,does it glorify work8 ,does 
it save wealth from greed1 pleasure     
from excess1 sorrow from despair8 ,these
 questions reach the center of the      
problem4    ,we can go but one step     
beyond them1 and that step is most      
significant4 ,do  we find in the ,bible 
not only a way to be followed1 and a    

goal of truth to  be gained1 but a ,life
 that will help lives along the way     
toward the goal8  ,does the ,book really
 reveal the way1 the truth1 and the     
life8 ,the answer  must again be found  
in life4 ,the evidences of dynamic are  
in the realms  of human experience4     
,more and more the students of the ,holy
 ,scriptures1  who seek the pages with a
 religious purpose1 will find that all  
the  departments of human living wait on
 ,jesus for their meaning and come to   
him for their power4 ,he is the         
,saviour4 ,he lifts men out of their    
sins1 up  into a trembling and glorious 
idealism1 and still up into a passion   
for  efficient goodness4 ,the supreme   
apology for the ,bible will ever be     
found  in men who have been so          
instructed1 reproved1 and corrected1    
that they may  be named as perfect men  
of ,god1 thoroughly furnished unto every
 good work4  ,given its full right1 the 
,book that was born of life1 tried of   
life1  glorified of ,life1 will find its

 own best witnesses in redeemed lives4  
,,chapter ,,ii    ,,the ,,bible ,,and   
,,man      ,the natural outline of a    
human life which has suggested the      
method of  these lectures represents a  
man as awaking each morning to the      
consciousness of himself4 ,every man    
lives perforce in his own company4 ,he  
walks with himself on every road of     
life4 ,he sits with himself in its      
resting places4 ,he lies down with      
himself in its slumbers4 ,he is his own 
friend1 and his own enemy4 ,omar ,khayym
 declares that he is his own heaven  and
 his own hell4 ,there is a story of a   
farmer who said that when he  climbed to
 the roof of his barn and looked about1 
he always found that he  himself was the
 center of the world4 ,the roof of the  
sky at all points was  equally distant  
from him2 the walls of the world made by
 the dipping  horizon showed the same   
length of radius from himself6 ,the     
story has its  serious1 as well as its  
amusing side4 ,every man is the personal

 center of  a world which gets its      
meaning from his own heart4 ,it is no   
wonder that  the old ,greek motto was   
,know thyself4    ,yet the knowledge of 
self is not easy knowledge4 ,the fact   
that no man has  ever seen his own face1
 save by reflection in some mirror1 is a
 parable4  ,the very eyes that see      
cannot see themselves4 ,they are so near
 that they  are hidden4 ,the moral      
literature of the race always emphasizes
 the  difficulty of self-revelation4    
,its cry is1 ,who can understand his    
errors8  ,cleanse thou me from secret   
faults4 ,it has a yet deeper desire3    
that it  may know more of its own       
essential nature4 ,each man longs for a 
revelation  of ,god2 and each man longs 
for a revelation of himself4 ,the       
present  emphasis is that the ,bible is 
the medium of this human revelation4    
,we do not go far in the reading of its 
pages without discovering that the  word
 thou looms large in its spiritual      
grammar4 ,those curious persons  who    

often bring their arithmetic to the     
,bible could doubtless tell how  many   
times thou and thee and thy and thine   
are found in its  chapters4 ,in the ,ten
 ,commandments and in the ,new          
,commandment thou is the  recurring     
word4 ,personal address is prominent    
everywhere4 ,indeed1 the  whole ,book is
 a kind of prophet coming into the court
 of each soul and  saying1 ,thou art the
 man4 ,sometimes the approach is an     
accusation1  sometimes an approbation2  
in any case the note is intensely       
individual4 ,in  the ,new ,commandment  
the self is made the standard by which  
the relation  to the neighbor is to be  
tested4 ,the implication would seem to  
be that the  man who does not love      
himself lacks the law by which his love 
for other  men may be made efficient4   
,polonius was not far from the biblical 
idea  when he said3                     
,to thine own self be true1    ,and it  
must follow1 as the night the day1      
,thou canst not then be false to any    

man4    ,in daily parlance it is often  
said4 ,put yourself in his place3 but   
the  value of that transfer of self is  
small if you do not know what the self  
is after you give it the new place6 ,the
 revelation of self is likewise the     
revelation of other men4 ,we know our   
neighbors only as we know ourselves4    
,presuming1 therefore1 that we send a   
man to the ,scriptures to find the      
doctrine of his own nature1 what will be
 his discovery8 ,the question is  not a 
new one1 and its answer has sometimes   
been touched by prejudice4  ,many have  
contended that in its effort to magnify 
,god1 the ,bible is guilty  of          
belittling man4 ,fragments of ,scripture
 might be presented to support  this    
criticism4 ,we must1 however1 insist    
that the biblical teaching is to  be    
determined by its main current rather   
than by its eddies4 ,the ,book does     
present ,god as high and lifted up1     
while man lies with his lips in the     
dust4 ,it does make ,god a ,king1 while 

it proclaims man a subject4 ,it does    
stress divine sovereignty1 while        
insisting on human obedience and        
reverence4 ,it does call for humility on
 the part of man4 ,we may well admit    
that it is possible to overdo the call  
to humility4 ,that good mood may  easily
 pass over into a false mood4           
,occasionally men1 in an effort to be   
humble1 speak untruth concerning their  
own souls4 ,it is just here that the    
worm-of-the-dust theory gets its chance4
 ,that phrase was a biblical one1  used 
by a character in his moment of         
self-abasement4 ,yet the ,concordance   
will prove that this lowly estimate of  
man is by no means the staple of        
teaching1 as well as that much of the   
cheap preaching of human nature is a    
radical departure from the doctrine of  
the ,book4 ,it is always good to keep   
clear the distinction between vanity and
 self-respect1 so that if a man  may not
 have the right to look down on his     
neighbors he may still have the  right  

to look up to himself4 ,humility must   
ever be based on truth1 and             
self-respect can have no other          
foundation4 ,the two moods are not      
contradictory4 ,the one comes from the  
recognition of the nature of ,god1 in   
the utter and unspeakable perfection of 
his attributes2 the other comes  from   
the recognition of the nature of man as 
being himself a partaker of  that divine
 nature4 ,in reality the two moods grow 
out of the same truth4    ,a still      
deeper objection is sometimes offered   
against the scriptural  theory of human 
nature4 ,it is charged that the doctrine
 of the ,fall1  together with the       
constant emphasis of man's exceeding    
sinfulness1  deprives man of special    
dignity4 ,without doubt the theory of   
the ,fall has  sometimes been presented 
in such a manner as to cancel all human 
claims to  greatness4 ,whenever a       
religious teacher carries his doctrine  
of the ,fall  to unjust lengths1 we must
 all be tempted to declare that we can  

readily  prove an alibi6 ,and if he     
shall employ that doctrine as a vast    
slur on  humanity1 we shall insist that 
the length of the fall must be the      
length  of the possible rise6 ,in       
harmony with this idea a great preacher 
has given  the world a sermon on ,the   
,dignity of ,humanity as ,evidenced by  
its ,ruins4  ,much of the glory of the  
,coliseum at ,rome has departed1 but    
even its ruins  are a testimony to its  
greatness4 ,seeing its gaunt grandeur in
 the  sunlight1 or viewing its          
impressive shadows in the moonlight1 the
 tourist  gets the shock of its glory4  
,the simple truth is that a doctrine of 
the  ,fall is possible only when you    
start with human greatness4 ,god made   
one  creature strong enough to resist   
,himself--one creature with sufficient  
self-determination to make mutiny in the
 world4 ,we would not torture the       
doctrine of the ,fall into a mere       
compliment for humanity2 but we would   
insist that the possibility of a ,fall  

implies a height to fall from1 and  that
 responsibility for a ,fall implies a   
nature great enough and free  enough to 
make far-reaching choices4 ,the evidence
 of the dignity is still  found among   
the ruins4    ,we must always supplement
 any doctrine of the ,fall with a       
doctrine of  human responsibility4 ,the 
,bible is most explicit in this         
insistence4 ,its  pages are crowded with
 the moral imperative for man4 ,the     
thorn and the  brier are on the earth2  
but they are not blamed1 because they   
wait for the  era of the good people4   
,the whole creation groaneth and        
travaileth  together in pain2 but the   
creation is not blamed1 because it waits
 for the  revealing of the sons of ,god4
 ,the lion and the lamb do not lie down 
together2 but they are not blamed1      
because they wait for the age of peace  
that can issue only from the hearts of  
men4 ,the coin rolls into dust and      
shadow and is lost2 we do not blame the 
coin4 ,the sheep wanders into  desert   

and darkness and is lost2 we do not     
blame the sheep4 ,the son goes  off into
 the swine field and is lost2 and we do 
blame the son4 ,the coin  and the sheep 
have no communings with self1 no sense  
of guilt1 no road of  repentant return2 
but the son has all these4 ,the ,bible  
does utter its  vigorous charge against 
man's sin2 it is the ever-open court    
room into  which the human conscience is
 summoned for judgment4 ,the ,book does 
not  treat man as a machine whose cogs  
and wheels are moved only by outside    
force2 nor does it treat him as a       
manikin1 jerked hither and yon by       
irresponsible sensations2 it rather     
dignifies him with personal             
responsibility4 ,the ,fall does not     
prevent climbing1 if only man will take 
advantage of those gracious powers that 
are offered for his help4 ,emerson  saw 
the meaning of this when he wrote his   
tribute to mankind based on its  ability
 to respond to the moral order3      ,so
 nigh is grandeur to our dust1      ,so 

near is ,god to man1    ,when ,duty     
whispers low1 ,thou must1      ,the     
youth replies1 ,i can6    ,words like   
ought and should and must have gone     
forth from the ,bible  and have fairly  
penetrated the moral consciousness of   
the race4 ,no other  book so honors     
human nature with a sublime call to     
responsibility4    ,we now leave these  
general considerations and take up the  
several portions  of the ,scriptures    
with a view to ascertaining their       
contributions to a  doctrine of man4    
,the foundation of that doctrine is seen
 in the account of  the creation4       
,whether that account be poem1 parable1 
allegory1 or history1  its meaning for  
this special point is the same4 ,the    
climax of the creation  is man4 ,god is 
represented as changing chaos into      
cosmos1 separating  waters and land1    
fixing sun and moon in their places1    
bringing verdure to  the surface of the 
earth1 assigning birds and beasts and   
fishes to their  spheres1 and then as   

giving to man a wide rulership4 ,god    
made man to have  dominion--that is the 
biblical word2 and the ages have been   
telling how  true that word is4 ,the    
,bible theory and the facts of life join
 in a  coronation of man4    ,the       
account of the creation goes deeper than
 this in its estimate of  mankind4 ,its 
conferring of power on man is explained 
by its conferring a  nature on man4 ,man
 is made in the divine image4 ,the ,word
 was not content  with one statement of 
that fact2 it must needs give it double 
emphasis4  ,so ,god created man in his  
own image--that would seem simple and   
strong  enough4 ,but the statement is   
strengthened by repetition1 ,in the     
image of  ,god created he him4 ,these   
twice-repeated words are the real       
charter of  man's greatness4 ,the       
atheist must admit that man has the     
dominion1 but the  believer holds that  
man has the dominion because he has the 
birthright4  ,man is not only ,god's    
submonarch1 he is ,god's image4    ,it  

is interesting and convincing to note   
how soon that primary truth about  man's
 nature began to work4 ,in the          
persecution under ,diocletian the       
precious parchments of the ,bible had   
been secretly carried from house to     
house4 ,the charge that a ,christian had
 given up the sacred ,book in order  to 
save himself from death was one of the  
most serious that could be  presented4  
,many martyrdoms occurred because men   
preferred the ,bible above  their own   
lives4 ,though circulated under such    
difficulty1 and though made  into       
readable parchments at such expense of  
labor and money1 the ,bible was  slowly 
impressing its doctrine of man upon the 
stubborn period4 ,we are  often smitten 
with horror as we read stories which    
show how lightly human  life was        
regarded by the ,romans4 ,those dreadful
 scenes in the arena1 where  thumbs so  
often declined to turn down as a sign of
 mercy1 are dire  mysteries to men who  
have gotten the biblical standpoint4 ,we

 are distant  from that heartless mood  
because we are near to the ,bible4 ,the 
,book and  the gladiator could not live 
together in peace4 ,the ,book at once   
began to  call men from the tiers of    
bloody pleasure4 ,with the conversion of
  ,constantine1 superficial as it may   
have been1 the change began4 ,the       
emperor ordered many splendid copies of 
the ,bible for the churches of his      
capital4 ,he himself came under the     
spell of its human doctrine4 ,zealous   
,christian teachers may sometimes       
overstate the influence which the ,bible
  exercised over later ,roman law4      
,still there are some undoubted         
evidences  of that influence4           
,constantine made a law forbidding that 
a criminal  should be branded on the    
face1 and he gave as his reason for the 
law that  the image of ,god should not  
be marred6 ,this leaves us in no doubt  
as to  what had inspired the            
legislation4 ,it was the simple         
beginning of a  program that has not yet

 come to its consummation4 ,the biblical
 idea of  man routed one form of        
slavery1 and it will yet rout all other 
forms4 ,when  men come to believe that  
man is made in the divine image all good
  movements for the betterment of life  
are set in the way to victory4    ,the  
legal portions of the ,bible give us the
 like lesson1 even though the  approach 
to the lesson is different4 ,here we    
discover that humanity is  worthy enough
 to call for conservation and           
protection4 ,the legislation  reaches to
 hygienic and sanitary details of minute
 character4 ,the whole  effort is to    
build a protecting fence about men4 ,the
 ,ten ,commandments1  studied in this   
light1 become a very human document4    
,their harsh and  negative quality is   
softened into gentleness4 ,they guard   
the goods of  man--his property1 his    
wife and children1 his body1 his good   
name4 ,it  would be possible to regard  
the ,decalogue as a series of           
prohibitions in  which the word not     

occurs with forbidding frequency4 ,in   
this case the  appropriate accompaniment
 is thunder and lightning1 and the      
appropriate  scroll for the writing is  
stone4 ,this viewpoint is one sided and 
unfair4  ,the ,ten ,commandments are    
prohibitions only because they are      
protections4  ,they have been through   
many ages the kindly sentinels of       
society4 ,they  have taken the side of  
,god1 of his dumb creatures1 and of men 
and women  and little children4         
,considered in any just way1 the legal  
portions of the  ,bible are a tribute   
not merely to divine authority1 but to  
human worth4    ,the prophetical books  
add their lesson1 and from a still      
different angle4  ,they are filled with 
protests against man's conduct1 with    
wrath against  his insincerities1 and   
with predictions of his coming woe4 ,the
 mouths of  the prophets were not filled
 with compliments4 ,those stern men were
 not  the flatterers of their own       
generations4 ,their sayings could be so 

elected  as to make a degrading estimate
 of men4 ,but here again we must get the
  full meaning of the message4 ,in their
 last analysis the prophecies are a     
marked tribute to potential man4 ,beyond
 the disturbed present they see the     
peaceful future4 ,beyond the clash of   
swords and the swish of spears they  see
 the mild and productive era of the     
plowshare and the pruning hook4  ,beyond
 the unreal altars they see the incense 
of true worship arising to  ,god4 ,the  
prophets were1 in the best sense1       
optimists1 and they were  optimists     
because they believed that all men would
 some day yield to the  ,lord4 ,they    
beheld the whole earth filled with      
righteousness4 ,they saw the  stone cut 
loose from the mountain and filling the 
wide world4 ,the healing  river was to  
flow to all peoples4 ,jerusalem was to  
be the universal joy4  ,the day would   
dawn when it would be unnecessary to say
 to any man1 ,know  thou the ,lord4 ,the
 most dismal of the prophets foretold   

the perfect day4  ,but all this means   
that the prophets foretold the perfect  
man and the  perfect race4 ,to proclaim 
that humanity1 under the guidance of    
,god1 is so  capable is to dignify human
 life beyond measure4    ,nor are we    
lacking among the prophets an individual
 example of the power  of self-respect4 
,nehemiah may not be the premier among  
his fellows1 but he  talks with a royal 
self-consciousness4 ,when messengers    
come1 desiring  that he shall go down   
into the plain for a parley with        
,sanballat1 he  declines by saying1 ,i  
am doing a great work1 so that ,i cannot
 come down4  ,again he is told that the 
enemy is coming1 and he is counseled to 
go into  the temple and cling to the    
altar for protection4 ,once more        
self-respect  comes to the rescue2 the  
reply is1 ,should such a man as ,i flee8
 and who  is there1 that1 being as ,i   
am1 would go into the temple to save his
 life8  ,i will not go in4 ,here the    
potential man1 foretold by the prophet1 

was  the actual man4 ,he had reached    
such a high doctrine of his own nature  
that  the doctrine itself became the    
prevention of triviality and of         
cowardice4  ,the rebuilded walls of     
,jerusalem arose from that spirit4      
,those walls were  likewise an          
expression of the prophet's faith in the
 future of his people4  ,the prophetic  
confidence in man was second only to the
 prophetic  confidence in ,god4 ,this   
form of tribute to humanity is          
preeminent in the  books of the         
prophets4    ,in the devotional part of 
the ,bible we should not naturally      
expect that  tribute would turn manward4
 ,the tendency is seen in those sections
 of  prophecy where the prophet himself 
has close dealings with ,god4 ,when the 
greatest of the prophets sees the       
ineffable ,one and hears the awful      
trisagion of the seraphim1 the prime    
confession is that his own lips are     
unclean and that he dwells in the midst 
of a people of unclean lips4  ,inasmuch 

as the ,psalms are in large measure a   
liturgy of worship1 their  emphasis is  
on the greatness of ,jehovah4 ,yet      
sometimes the emphasis turns  toward    
man4 ,the most striking illustration    
occurs in the eighth psalm4 ,the  writer
 there utters the feeling that we have  
all shared4 ,the limitless  expanse of  
the heavens1 the shining of moon and    
stars in the far heights1  the          
workmanship of the ,lord in the vast    
universe--all this makes the  psalmist  
feel that he is a mere speck in the     
scheme4 ,tried by those  celestial      
measurements1 he drops into             
insignificance4 ,he is rescued from     
self-contempt only by a return to the   
message of ,genesis4 ,his despairing    
cry issues in a shout of personal       
triumph4 ,when ,i consider thy heavens1 
the work of thy fingers1 the moon and   
the stars1 which thou hast ordained2    
,what is man1 that thou art mindful of  
him8 and the son of man1 that thou      
visitest him8 ,if materialism should    

conquer the ,bible there is but one     
answer4 ,the psalmist is saved by the   
,scripture1 ,thou hast made him a       
little lower than ,god1 and hast crowned
 him with glory and honor4 ,it is  no   
marvel that the first translators       
lowered the tribute and substituted  the
 angels for ,god4 ,the reverence that so
 often used a sign for the  divine name 
trembled on the verge of such a human   
tribute4 ,still that  tribute was a     
return to the doctrine that ,god had    
made man in his own  image and had given
 him dominion over the works of his     
hand4 ,in addition  to all this1 the    
,psalms are girded with the             
consciousness that man can  enter into  
the august presence of the ,lord4 ,the  
mutual element in worship  is an        
exaltation of man4 ,the greatness of    
,jacob is greater when he meets  with   
the heavenly visitant by the ,jabbok    
brook4 ,he becomes a prince4 ,in  the   
devotional books man claims his princely
 heritage4 ,he treads the  courts of the

 infinite ,king4    ,moving forward into
 the ,new ,testament1 we find that the  
doctrine of man  gathers more           
impressiveness4 ,jesus never cast any   
doubt upon the supreme  place of man in 
the program of ,god4 ,he put his        
harshest blame upon those  who wickedly 
misled the children of the ,father4 ,he 
himself was chided  because he sought   
the lowliest and the worst among men and
 women4 ,he ate  with the publican and  
gave his choicest lesson to the harlot4 
,he was  willing to exchange his social 
reputation for the privilege of         
associating  with the humblest people4  
,for a woman with a dark past he        
delocalized  worship4 ,from another he  
accepted the offering of grateful tears 
and put  her conduct in contrast with   
that of the lordly ,pharisee4 ,he was   
the  ,prophet for the soul as such4 ,he 
was the ,priest who mediated gladly     
between the least one and the greatest  
,one4 ,we search his words in vain  for 
anything that put contempt on man as    

man4    ,when he compared men to the    
rest of creation it was always to human 
advantage4 ,he told of the care of the  
shepherd for the sheep1 and then he     
asked1 ,how much is a man better than a 
sheep8 ,he declared that ,god noted  the
 fall of sparrows1 though they brought  
small price in the market place1  and   
then1 speaking to ordinary men and      
women1 nearly all of them ignorant  and 
more than half of them slaves1 he said1 
,are ye not much better than  they8 ,nor
 were these sayings really              
interrogative2 they were exclamatory4   
,jesus knew that every normal man would 
feel the answer in his own soul4  ,the  
worth of man was1 in the teaching of    
,jesus1 beyond debate4    ,he moved1    
also1 from inanimate things to the      
assertion of man's worth4 ,the  lilies  
and grasses were in the care of ,god and
 waited on him for their  vesture4 ,will
 he not much more clothe you1 ,o ye of  
little faith8 ,he made  the worth of man
 the warrant of the care of ,god4 ,at   

last he put man on one  side of the     
scale and the whole world on the other  
side1 and he affirmed  that man         
outweighed the world4 ,men may barter   
themselves for half a  township2 but    
,jesus declared that it would be a      
disastrous bargain1 if a  man should    
accept the world in exchange for        
himself4 ,what shall it profit  a man1  
if he gain the world and lose himself8  
,or what will a man give in  exchange   
for himself8 ,this is the final answer  
to any paltry teaching  about the worth 
of man4    ,when choice had to be made  
between man's interests and sacred laws 
and  ordinances1 ,jesus gave preference 
to man4 ,the shewbread was consecrated1 
but he approved the taking of it to     
satisfy human hunger4 ,the ,sabbath day 
was holy1 but the ,sabbath was made for 
man and not man for the ,sabbath2 so    
the plucked ears of corn were a         
testimonial to men4    ,the attitude of 
,jesus toward childhood is tender       
evidence of his thought  of humanity4   

,the child has not yet won any          
achievement1 save the loving  assertion 
of its own dependency4 ,the child in the
 midst represented  humanity in its     
freshest and most natural form4 ,it is  
said that some  ancient religionists    
were accustomed to debate whether or not
 a child had  a soul4 ,jesus would have 
scorned such a debate4 ,he made the     
child the  model of the kingdom4 ,human 
life unspoiled was lifted up as an      
example4 ,to  offend a little one was   
worse than being sunk by a millstone    
into the  sea4 ,a cup of cold water     
given to a child would win a special    
reward4 ,the  angels of the children    
behold ever the face of the ,father4    
,thus the child1  in all the teaching of
 ,jesus1 was made the creditor of the   
race4    ,jesus carried this doctrine of
 man on to the uttermost issue4 ,we have
  never yet secured the full meaning of 
that inasmuch in the account of  the    
final judgment4 ,the ,lord lives beyond 
the need of man's overt aid4 ,but  human

 beings are his representatives4 ,the   
righteous had so far overlooked  this   
fact1 that they were forgetful of any   
ministry to him2 and what had  been the 
unconscious glory of the righteous was  
the unconscious tragedy of  the wicked4 
,the judgment day will be filled with   
human tests4 ,he who has  not acted as  
if human beings stood for ,god cannot   
meet the final  standards4 ,jesus's     
picture of the judgment is a statement  
of divine  authority2 and it is an      
appraisement of human worth4    ,thus do
 we see that from whatever side we come 
to the teaching of ,christ1  we find an 
exalted doctrine of man4 ,the           
incarnation itself is a  contribution to
 that doctrine4 ,if we call it the human
 life of ,god it  was a life lived for  
the sake of man4 ,the ,word became flesh
 and dwelt  among men1 full of grace and
 truth1 because men needed the message  
of  that ,word4 ,the whole life of      
,jesus was lived for man4 ,he himself   
said1  ,for their sakes ,i sanctify     

myself4 ,all those sacrificial phrases  
that  describe the purpose of his coming
 add glory to human life4 ,the joy that 
was set before him was the goal of a    
redeemed humanity4 ,his living for men  
was simply his teaching about men1 made 
over into concrete terms4 ,in the       
,parable of the ,good ,shepherd he gives
 the revelation of his own attitude     
toward men4 ,one soul1 brought back into
 right relations with ,god1 makes  joy  
in heaven4 ,it is the ,eternal ,one who 
is represented as saying1  ,rejoice with
 me4 ,men may deny the doctrine of the  
only begotten ,son1 but  they can       
scarcely deny that that doctrine leads  
on to a wondrous doctrine  of human     
worth4    ,the ,cross1 viewed in one    
light1 becomes the very climax of the   
doctrine of  man4 ,theologians have     
often laid their stress upon some single
 purpose of  the divine sacrifice4 ,one 
has said that the ,cross appeases the   
anger of  ,god2 another that the ,cross 
maintains the majesty of the law2       

another that  the ,cross is a moral     
influence wooing and winning the heart  
of man to ,god2  another that the ,cross
 is the expression of the ,father's     
sorrow with the  sins and sorrows of his
 children4 ,but we may surely take one  
meaning of  the ,cross to be the divine 
estimate of man4 ,god's sense of values 
must be  preserved4 ,he did not send his
 ,son to die for worms of the dust4     
,that idea  may fit an extreme mood of  
spiritual abasement4 ,we may grant all  
possible  condescension in the atoning  
act of ,god1 but we cannot grant a      
condescension that dedicates infinite   
worth to finite worthlessness4 ,jesus   
died for men just because men were far  
more than worms of the dust4 ,if we  are
 to keep that theory of atonement that  
has long held the heart of the  church1 
we are driven to affirm that the ,cross 
gives us a divine estimate  of mankind4 
,no man ever appreciates the worth of   
himself until he gets the  appraisal of 
,calvary4 ,the dying of ,jesus is not   

out of harmony with his  teaching and   
his living4 ,the whole program is like  
the garment taken from  him on the day  
of crucifixion2 it is woven throughout  
without seam4 ,men  may decry a doctrine
 of substitution1 but they cannot say   
that such a  doctrine is a slight       
tribute to human worth4 ,in such a      
doctrine thorns and  nails and spears   
and all the drama of the ,cross are made
 into tributes to  the soul of man4     
,this carries us on to the biblical     
teaching of man's permanent worth4 ,the 
doctrine of immortality makes its       
incalculable addition to the doctrine of
  man4 ,there is a story1 for which the 
writer cannot vouch1 that ,thomas       
,carlyle in a mood of pessimism one day 
wrote this peevish estimate of man3     
,what is man8 ,a foolish baby6          
,vainly strives and fumes and frets6    
,demanding all1 deserving nothing1      
,one small grave is all he gets6        
,language like this is certainly no     
contribution to the literature of       

self-respect4 ,the story proceeds to    
relate that ,carlyle's wife found this  
poetic depreciation lying on the table1 
and that she wrote the following        
confession and correction3      ,and    
man8 ,o hate not1 nor despise      ,the 
fairest1 lordliest work of ,god6        
,think not he made thee good and wise   
,only to sleep beneath the sod6         
,doubtless the tale is apocryphal4 ,in  
any case the latter estimate is far     
nearer to the biblical conception1 and  
it is altogether worthy of a  woman's   
moral instinct4 ,if man is to live      
forever1 as the climax of  ,revelation  
insists1 it is quite impossible for him 
to think too much of  himself1 unless he
 indulges in comparison of himself with 
others4 ,an  argument for immortality   
does not fall within the scope of this  
lecture2  but the bearing of            
immortality1 as declared in the ,holy   
,scriptures1 on the  view that men must 
take of human nature1 touches our       
purpose in a radical  way4 ,a deathless 

person must respect himself4 ,a         
deathless person must  command the      
respect of a world--and of ,god4 ,the   
doctrine of immortality  adds an        
infinite measure to the doctrine of     
human worth4    ,even the biblical      
representation of heaven secures a      
relation to this  subject4 ,the abode   
for immortal life1 as well as immortal  
life itself1 may  be turned into a human
 estimate4 ,the book of ,revelation     
declares that the  nations shall bring  
their glory and honor into the ,eternal 
,city4 ,this  can only mean that men    
shall make some contribution to the     
eternal life4  ,what they are and what  
they have done shall fill heaven with   
added value4  ,the cities of earth shall
 transport treasures to the ,heavenly   
,city4 ,here1  again1 we come upon a    
reason based on the divine sense of     
values4 ,god will  not provide an       
,eternal ,home that is any better than  
the ,eternal ,beings for  whom he makes 
it ready4 ,the gem is to be better than 

the setting4 ,in a  certain sense1      
therefore1 jasper walls and pearl gates 
and gold streets1  as seen in the       
descriptions of heaven1 are tributes to 
human souls4 ,the  ,bible tells us that 
greater than the house is he that built 
it1 and the  ,bible would tell us1 also1
 that the occupant of the house is      
greater than  the house4 ,god will      
provide no everlasting dwelling that is 
better than  the everlasting dwellers4  
,heaven is made for man1 and not man for
 heaven4  ,the many mansions are        
tributes to the people that shall live  
in the  ,father's house4 ,the           
,scriptures are reserved in their       
revealings of the  other land2 but their
 descriptions of celestial glories may  
be united with  those other portions of 
the ,bible that dignify the human spirit
 and may be  taken as standing for the  
divine valuation of the essential selves
 of men4    ,this review of the teaching
 of the several sections of the ,bible  
has  confessedly sought for the words   

and ideas that exalt the doctrine of    
man4  ,allowing all possible discounts1 
and admitting all possible offsets1 the 
residuum of instruction tending to      
glorify human nature is significant4 ,we
  need not wonder that some thoughtful  
men have affirmed that the chief        
characteristic of ,christianity is the  
value that it places on man4 ,if we  do 
not accept this statement1 we can still 
declare that the ,bible is the  supreme 
,book when judged by its emphasis on    
human values4    ,nor can there be any  
doubt of the need of this emphasis in   
our own age4 ,as  men crowd more and    
more into the great centers of          
population1 the tendency  will be to    
hold men cheaply4 ,in former times man  
was often highly valued  because of his 
rarity4 ,on the far ,eastern plains a   
new face1 not being  often seen1 was    
regarded with curious interest4 ,thus   
,abraham stood in the  door of his tent 
in the heat of the day and welcomed the 
stranger1 because  the stranger was an  

event4 ,but in the modern city the      
stranger is no  longer an event2 he is  
only an episode1 or perhaps an incident4
 ,we pass  him on the dense street1 and 
we do not notice him at all4 ,there are 
so  many of him that1 unless we are     
heedful1 we shall come to regard him    
lightly just because he is hidden by the
 crowd4 ,when factories grow so  huge   
that men are known1 not by their names1 
but by their numbers1 only  the         
scriptural emphasis upon men as such can
 save human beings from being  deemed   
hands rather than souls4 ,if the sin of 
the countryside is an  excessive social 
interest that makes for gossip1 the sin 
of the city is a  social carelessness   
that makes for indifference4 ,the       
various problems of  our social life    
wait for their solution upon the        
,christian doctrine of  man4 ,when that 
doctrine has done its full service1 race
 problems1 labor  problems1 liquor      
problems1 and all their dreadful        
accompaniments will  issue into a       

righteous and intelligent peace4 ,an    
immortal son of ,god1  knowing himself1 
cannot be unjust to another immortal son
 of ,god1 when  once he knows his       
,brother4    ,this hints at the personal
 bearing of the doctrine4 ,as men grow  
in moral  and spiritual experience1 they
 find themselves using more and more the
  test of self-respect4 ,knowing that   
the reaction of certain behaviors makes 
them feel that a fragment of the soul   
has slipped away from them1 so that     
they have the sense of smallness1 they  
guard their natures lest legitimate     
pride should be destroyed4 ,andrews     
,norton once wrote to his son1 ,charles 
,eliot ,norton1 who was about to go     
abroad for an important service1 telling
  the young man that his family and     
friends recognized that he had special  
powers for doing large and worthy       
things4 ,then he added that this ought  
not to make one vain4 ,on the contrary1 
their true tendency is to produce  that 
deep sense of responsibility--of what we

 owe to ,god1 to our friends1  and to   
our fellowmen--which is wholly          
inconsistent with presumption or        
vanity4 ,it was a wise father who wrote 
thus to his son4 ,if the ,christian     
doctrine of man be true1 no man can     
think too much of himself4 ,there is a  
type of saving pride4 ,clough stated it 
in his well-known lines3      ,then     
welcome1 ,pride6 and ,i shall find      
,in thee a power to lift the mind       
,this low and groveling joy above--     
',tis but the proud can truly love4     
,the pride that comes from the          
consciousness of the divine image has   
power  to restrain from sins and        
trivialities1 and it has power likewise 
to  constrain toward holiness of        
character and largeness of service4 ,one
 who  has come to believe that he is    
made in the divine image1 that he is one
 of  the divinely appointed rulers of   
the world1 that the great laws are      
designed for his protection1 that the   
alluring prophecies of the future  are  

declarations of his coming power1 that  
his worship is the symbol of  his       
partnership with the ,most ,high1 that  
the incarnation is in his  interest1    
that the ,infinite ,teacher brought him 
matchless tributes1 that  the ,cross of 
,calvary is an expression of his own    
valuation1 that immortal  life is his   
destiny1 and that a glorious heaven is  
the fitting place for  his final        
dwelling--such a one has gained all the 
preventions and all the  inspirations of
 the ,christian doctrine of             
self-respect4 ,sins and  trivialities   
cannot flourish when one thinks so much 
of oneself2 great  affections and       
lasting consecrations seem natural to   
one so highly  endowed4 ,the conception 
that makes for the dignity of self makes
 also for  the consideration of others4 
,he who entertains this view begins to  
,find man's veritable stature out1      
,erect1 sublime1 the measure of a man1  
,and that's the measure of an angel1    
,says the apostle4    ,to such a one    

life becomes solemn and beautiful4 ,he  
is now the son of ,god4  ,while he knows
 not yet what he shall be1 he sees the  
vision of the ,elder  ,brother and so   
purifies himself even as he is pure4    
,the world needs the  gospel of the ,son
 of ,god in order that it may learn the 
gospel of the sons  of ,god4            
,,chapter ,,iii    ,,the ,,bible ,,and  
,,home      ,the significance of the    
home is seen in the fact that every     
human being is  a son or a daughter4    
,this ordinary statement at once insists
 on becoming  extraordinary4 ,it is     
difficult to think what life would have 
been1 or even  how it could have been1  
if children had been pushed upon the    
earth from  some mysterious void and had
 been nurtured without the providential 
agency  of fathers and mothers4 ,so much
 do we realize the importance of the    
home  that where it is impossible to    
maintain one1 owing to the death1 or    
inability1 or worthlessness of parents1 
we still make provision for an          

institution that shall provide as many  
domestic features as can be won for  the
 orphaned4 ,this we call an ,orphans'   
,home4 ,it is significant that the      
sociological tendency of the period     
drifts away from even this  institution4
 ,the effort now is to bring the        
childless and the parentless  together4 
,goldsmith said that the nakedness of   
the indigent world might be  clothed    
with the trimmings of the vain4 ,there  
are those who affirm that1  if the      
parentless and the childless could be   
brought into the company of  homes1 the 
,orphan ,asylum would be no longer      
needed4    ,our imaginations may make an
 easy test4 ,let an authoritative edict 
go  forth that after the approaching    
midnight the home would be banished1 and
  that each community must adjust itself
 to some other form of social life4     
,what would such an edict mean8 ,the    
homes from which students have come are 
no more responsible for them4 ,they     
constitute no longer the bases of       

supplies on which they can draw1 nor the
 alluring hearthstones to which  they   
can return4 ,the workman turns no more  
his eager feet toward the  lights of his
 cottage4 ,the prince finds his palace  
removed and all its  splendor ceases to 
invite him4 ,little children are herded 
into impersonal  surroundings and become
 public rather than domestic charges4   
,the scene of  disaster could be        
described without merciful stint4 ,these
 suggestions are  enough to show that   
society could scarcely escape chaos if  
the home were  to be destroyed4 ,how    
much do the words father1 mother1       
brother1 sister1  wife1 husband1 son1   
daughter mean8 ,empty out their closer  
significance1  and you vacate much of   
life's meaning4    ,nor is this the     
narrow word of an ecclesiastic or       
theologian4 ,drummond in  ,the ,ascent  
of ,man claims that the evolution of a  
father and mother was  the final effort 
of nature4 ,john ,fiske1 as scientist   
and historian1 points  out the          

helplessness of infant life as binding  
parents into unity that  grows out of   
responsibility4 ,soon after its birth   
the wee animal runs and  leaps1 while   
the wee bird does not wait long ere it  
flies from limb to  limb2 but the human 
babe in the ancient forest lies helpless
 in its log  cradle for many months4    
,both ,drummond and ,fiske agree that by
 this program  the ,god of nature was   
introducing patience1 devotion1 and     
sacrifice into  the world and was making
 ready for the kingdom of heaven4 ,it is
 plain that  ,drummond does not state it
 too strongly when he says that the goal
 of the  whole plant and animal life    
seems to have been the creation of a    
family  which the very naturalist had to
 call ,mammals1 or ,mothers4    ,this   
represents somewhat the divine history  
of the home4 ,the prophecy of  the home 
likewise does some convincing work4 ,the
 truth is that the home as  an          
institution plants itself squarely in   
the path of some modern social          

theories4 ,some of those theories have  
begun by boldly demanding that the  home
 be abolished because it has been made a
 buttress of private life and  property4
 ,not only has this suggestion been met 
with a horror that in  itself expresses 
the instinctive conviction of the       
sacredness of the home1  but it has been
 met with the insistence that the       
prophets should name  their substitute  
for the hearthstone4 ,this insistence   
has received nothing  more than hazy and
 vague replies4 ,the prophet stammers   
out some dark  saying about something   
better or about the home as having      
fulfilled its  mission in the evolution 
of society2 and by the very helplessness
 of his  speech he really becomes an    
advocate of closer domestic relations6  
,it is  interesting to note how these   
reformers seek to find a good path back 
from  their social desert6 ,they soon   
declare that the new regime must keep   
the  home intact1 and that only sporadic
 and irresponsible voices from their    

camp are lifted against the home's      
sanctity6 ,the antihome prophet always  
has a hard task4 ,he collides with one  
of the granite convictions of  humanity4
 ,if he would save the rest of his      
theory he must save the home  from the  
proposed destruction4 ,god has set the  
solitary in families4 ,men  look in vain
 for a better setting for the jewel of  
life4 ,from all their  seeking they come
 back in due season to the truth that1  
imperfect as the  home may often be1 it 
is still rooted and grounded in outer   
life and in  inner instinct1 and that it
 is futile to try to make better what   
,god has  made best4    ,all this will  
serve for emphasizing the importance of 
the home1 though  much more might be    
added4 ,when the man awakes in the      
morning1 becomes  aware of himself1 and 
then hears the voices of his wife and   
children1 he  is immediately related to 
one of the fundamental institutions of  
society4  ,if the ,bible be1 as we have 
claimed1 preeminently the ,book of      

,life1 it  must relate itself vitally to
 the home4 ,our inquiry1 therefore1 is1 
,what  bearing does the ,book have upon 
the home8 ,the answer must necessarily  
be  sketchy and incomplete2 but we can  
soon gather an answer that will         
establish the biblical drift of         
teaching4    ,the ,bible begins with an 
impressive lesson of monogamy4 ,in the  
,eden life  one man and one woman join  
hands as partners in joy and work4 ,let 
the  account be poetry1 allegory1       
parable1 the lesson is the same4 ,in    
that  intimate communion with ,god that 
found him in the garden in the cool of  
the day1 bigamy and polygamy are not    
represented as being at home4 ,even  the
 ,fall is not described as quickly      
dropping man low enough to reach the    
dreadful level of promiscuity or of any 
of the approaches to so-called  free    
love4 ,it required time ere that        
downward journey could be made4         
,humanity in its innocence is not       
described as starting from the dens of  

polygamy4    ,but in season the ,bible  
gives us some disconcerting facts4      
,bigamy and  polygamy confront us in the
 lives of some worthies4 ,let it be     
allowed that  sometimes the motive is   
the perpetuation of the home itself4    
,provision is  sought against the curse 
of barrenness4 ,let it be allowed1 also1
 that the  ,bible does not represent    
bigamy as working well4 ,it brought     
discord into  ,abraham's tent4 ,the     
peevish wife drives her own wretched    
substitute from  the door1 until the    
desolate ,hagar stands in her loneliness
 and repeats  the comforting ritual of  
the seeing ,god4 ,the son of bigamy goes
 off into  his wild life1 with his hand 
against every man and every man's hand  
against him4 ,the admirable thing about 
the second patriarch is his  devotion to
 one woman4 ,neutral and characterless  
as ,isaac seems to be1 he  still won a  
mention in the marriage service of the  
ages by his  faithfulness to ,rebecca   
alone4 ,upon the third patriarch bigamy 

was forced  by a cruel deception4 ,in   
truth a review of the ,old ,testament   
will show  that any departure from the  
unity of the home made for trouble4 ,it 
filled  the moving tabernacles of the   
patriarchs with quarrels4 ,it led ,david
 on to  murder4 ,it drenched ,solomon in
 debauchery4 ,it degraded the successive
  kings until it destroyed their power  
and ruined the nation4 ,its  inevitable 
end was the loss of the land and the    
sadness of captivity4    ,the ,old      
,testament records polygamy1 but it does
 not applaud polygamy4 ,when  once a    
polygamist stood in the halls of        
,congress and defended his right to  a  
seat by quoting the examples of the     
patriarchs1 his plea did not avail4     
,not only was the conviction of the     
nineteenth century against his          
contention1 but the mood of the very    
,book from which he quoted was his      
enemy4 ,so far as we can judge1 monogamy
 was the general rule among the  ,jewish
 people4 ,the exemplars of bigamy and   

polygamy were mainly those  whose       
position enabled them to flaunt the     
public sentiment of their day4  ,the    
history of ,old ,testament polygamy is  
so sorrowful that the ,hebrew  people   
have reacted from it into a stanch      
defense for the monogamic home4  ,the   
seduction of ,tamar1 the murder of      
,amnon1 the unfilial licentiousness  of 
,absalom1 the sordid road of impurity   
trod by the later monarchs of  ,israel1 
and the despair of the ,babylonish      
captivity1 make a piercing case  against
 polygamy4 ,on the other hand1 the      
unwavering faithfulness of the  maid in 
the ,song of ,solomon1 the patience of  
,hosea with his prodigal wife1  the     
idyllic story of ,ruth1 all these became
 persuasive pleas for a home  wherein   
one man and one woman should live       
together in loyal love even  until      
death4 ,when ,jesus came to give his    
message contemporaneous polygamy  had   
all but ceased in ,palestine4 ,but easy 
divorce1 sometimes called  consecutive  

polygamy1 had become prevalent4 ,the    
world was waiting for  the voice of     
authority1 and it heard that voice when 
,christ began to  teach4    ,the        
teaching of ,jesus in reference to      
marriage is unmistakable4 ,it may       
impress many as severe2 it cannot       
impress any as doubtful4 ,if we accept  
him as the ,supreme ,teacher we receive 
a decision given with no equivocal      
terms4 ,it is often said that the method
 of the ,lord was to offer general      
principles and to leave his followers to
 carry out these principles in the      
spirit of loving discipleship4 ,thus he 
declined to give detailed rules for  the
 observance of the ,sabbath1 explicit   
instructions for the division of        
estates1 definite laws for prayer and   
worship and almsgiving4 ,yet when he    
discussed marriage he gave both general 
principles and specific rules4 ,if  this
 was not the only case where he became  
sponsor for a rule it was  surely the   
most emphatic case4 ,he seemed to feel  

that concerning marriage  and the home  
he must give a mass of distinct         
precepts4 ,it was as if he  deemed the  
home so sacred and its enemies so subtle
 and powerful as to  make necessary some
 particular instruction4    ,perhaps we 
shall not err in saying that ,jesus     
found in his time urgent  reasons for   
specific and strong teaching about      
marriage4 ,the ,jews1 who  went to a    
mechanical extreme in their observance  
of the ,sabbath law1 had  gone to an    
opposite extreme in their attitude      
toward the law of the home4  ,in this   
regard the period was worse than our    
own1 but it was not unlike  our own4    
,the domestic conscience of the ,jews   
had been more or less  weakened4 ,mere  
trifles were made excuses for the       
breaking up of home4  ,doubtless the    
influence of the ,romans was making     
itself felt among the  ,hebrews4        
,professor ,sheldon quotes ,dorner as   
showing the reckless ease of  divorce   
among leading ,romans4 ,one man divorced

 his wife because she went  unveiled on 
the street2 another because she spoke   
familiarly to a  freedwoman2 another    
because she went to a play without his  
knowledge4 ,even  ,cicero1 proclaimed a 
very noble ,roman1 divorced his first   
wife that he  might marry a wealthier   
woman1 and his second wife because she  
did not  seem to be sufficiently        
afflicted over the death of his         
daughter6 ,in  fine1 says ,professor    
,sheldon1 it was not altogether         
hyperbole when  ,seneca spoke of noble  
women as reckoning their years by their 
successive  husbands rather than by the 
,consuls 7,history of the ,early        
,church1 pages  #bi1 #cj74    ,the      
records of this same period among the   
,romans will rout the claim that  easy  
divorce tends to purity4 ,faithlessness 
to marriage vows was not  seriously     
regarded1 and there were instances of   
so-called noble women  registering as   
public prostitutes in order that they   
might thus avoid the  penalties of the  

laws6 ,easy divorce seemed to be        
accompanied by easy  virtue1 as if1     
indeed1 both evils grew naturally out of
 the same soil4 ,the  ,roman fashions   
were having their influence on the      
,jews4 ,the sacred law was  searched and
 was explained away with evil subtlety  
in order that men might  be religiously 
released from the marriage bond4        
,evidently1 then1 the times demanded    
that ,jesus should save the marriage    
law from looseness4 ,the ease of divorce
 was not unlike that in our own  land   
to-day4 ,if the teaching of ,jesus was  
needed then it is needed now in  order  
that marriage may recover its binding   
solemnity4 ,on general  principles we   
must all rejoice that ,jesus did not    
give a dubious word on  this sacred     
matter4 ,it may be doubted whether any  
man who did not have the  cause of his  
own pleasure to serve and who was not   
willing to subordinate  a social law to 
the superficial joy of his own life1    
would be willing to  modify the         

,saviour's teaching4 ,certainly that    
teaching has long been the  firm bulwark
 of the married life4 ,had ,jesus spoken
 with doubt1 or had he  given sanction  
to easy divorce1 what would the results 
have been8 ,our  homes would have been  
builded upon the sands of freakish      
impulses and of  hasty tempers4 ,but    
,jesus's word puts rock into the        
domestic foundation4  ,when it was given
 it was met by all of the objections    
which it still  evokes4 ,some said that 
the teaching was extreme in its         
severity1 quite  outdoing the law of    
,moses in its demands4 ,others said that
 rather than to  submit to a bond so    
unbreakable1 it would be better not to  
marry at all4  ,still ,jesus did not    
lower his teaching4 ,god was the author 
of marriage2  man must not assume to be 
its destroyer4 ,god takes two persons   
and makes  them one flesh2 man must not 
cut that vital bond4    ,plainly1 then1 
,jesus felt that marriage established a 
family relationship  which was to       

resemble other family relationships in  
its indissolubleness4  ,how can a man   
get rid of his brother1 or his sister1  
or his father or  mother1 when ,god has 
decreed a relation in the flesh that    
cannot be  severed8 ,one may live apart 
from brother or sister1 or father or    
mother1  as a matter of convenience or  
peace2 but how can one destroy the      
relationship8 ,in spite of angry        
decrees1 is not the brother still a     
brother1 and do not father and mother   
remain father and mother in  defiance of
 all unfilial pronouncements of divorce8
 ,in ,jesus's view the  second family   
relationship was as indissoluble as the 
first4 ,if one were  to argue from a    
certain standpoint it might be easy to  
claim that it must  be even more        
indissoluble4 ,a man does not choose his
 first home4 ,it  represents a necessity
 against which he may not strive4 ,but  
he does choose  his second home1 and it 
represents a union for which he is      
himself  distinctly responsible4 ,why   

should a man be allowed to divorce      
himself  from the home which is founded 
by his liberty while still being        
inexorably  bound to the home which was 
founded without his choice8 ,jesus      
taught that  the very constitution of   
society1 as resting on the word of ,god1
 demanded  that the second home be as   
sacredly unbreakable as the first4 ,the 
one  flesh must not be severed in either
 case4    ,hence it comes about that1   
while the law of ,jesus does not allow  
divorce1  unless for the one reason     
mentioned later1 it does not forbid     
separation4  ,the sin does not consist  
in putting away the wife when conditions
 are  unbearable2 it does consist in    
marrying another4 ,he does not insist   
that  the quarrelsome shall live amid   
their brawls2 but he does insist that   
they  shall not go into another         
experiment that degrades a sacred       
covenant4 ,we  do not long listen to the
 specious arguments for easy divorce1   
with the  privilege of remarriage1      

without discovering that these arguments
 affirm  either that personal purity is 
impossible or that personal convenience 
and  pleasure are the primary demands of
 life4 ,jesus did not so teach4 ,dr4    
,peabody1 in his matchless discussion of
 ,jesus's teaching about the family1    
well says3 ,the family is1 to ,jesus1   
not a temporary arrangement at the      
mercy of uncontrolled temper or shifting
 desire2 it is ordained for that  very  
discipline in forbearance and restraint 
which are precisely what many  people   
would avoid1 and the easy rupture of its
 union blights these  virtues in their  
bud4 ,why should one concern himself in 
marriage to be  considerate and         
forgiving1 if it is easier to be        
divorced than it is to be  good8 7,jesus
 ,christ and the ,social ,question1 p4  
#aei47 ,that these words  touch the evil
 heart of many modern divorces there can
 be no doubt4 ,the  emphatic teaching of
 ,jesus was that marriage should not be 
regarded as a  breakable agreement of   

convenience1 but rather as an           
indissoluble pledge  of permanent union4
    ,whether ,jesus allowed any         
exception to this law remains a         
debatable matter  among the scholars4   
,some contend that the save for         
fornication clause is  an interpolation1
 and that the teaching of ,jesus        
admitted no divorce  whatsoever4 ,others
 contend that the gospel writers who    
omit this clause  regarded the one      
reason for divorce as so certain that it
 was not deemed  necessary to mention   
its legitimacy4 ,it may be claimed with 
a show of  reason that the regarding of 
adultery as an exceptional sin against  
the  married life stands for something  
instinctive in human nature4            
,notwithstanding all statements that    
desertion and abuse and drunkenness  may
 be so aggravated as to constitute      
offenses worse than fornication1  normal
 men and women continue to assign a     
lonely infamy to the sin of  carnal     
unfaithfulness4 ,if ,jesus did use the  

exceptional clause there is  not wanting
 evidence that his word is confirmed by 
an all but universal  feeling4 ,many    
races have been disposed to decree that 
the sin of adultery  is the one iniquity
 sharp and incisive enough to sever the 
one flesh4  ,perhaps it is safe to      
affirm that the great majority of good  
men and women  do not shrink from the   
exception as being unworthy of ,jesus's 
teaching4  ,but1 the exception being    
granted1 that teaching is clear and     
uncompromising4 ,when that teaching     
becomes the law of the world divorce    
courts will be largely emptied and the  
marriage vows will be assumed with  less
 haste and with more solemnity4    ,the 
,new ,testament is thus seen to be the  
headquarters of that conception  of     
marriage that alone gives a firm        
foundation to the home4 ,it is          
impossible to conceive what would have  
been the dismal statistics of  divorce1 
if ,jesus had made the marriage bond of 
slender strength4 ,truly  the situation 

is bad enough as it is4 ,often the      
causes for divorce are  trivial2        
sometimes they are deliberately arranged
 by the separating  parties6 and        
occasionally the much-married comedian  
is hailed on the stage  with a joking   
tolerance4 ,but when more than ninety   
per cent of the  marriages of the land  
stand the tests of time and are kept in 
fidelity  until the one flesh is severed
 by death1 it is evident that some      
strong  force still guards the home from
 desecration4    ,we need not inquire   
what that force is2 it is the ,word of  
,christ4 ,among  those who follow him   
least1 he has made divorce bad form2    
among those  who follow him somewhat1 he
 has made it doubtful morals2 while     
among those  who accept him as ,lord and
 ,master1 he has made it sacrilege and  
blasphemy4  ,the devotees of pleasure   
and convenience and lust may well       
quarrel with  the decree of ,christ4    
,the devotees of compromise may seek to 
refine and  discount his explicit law4  

,yet all those who see in the home the  
very  center and heart of a properly    
organized society1 as well as the very  
ordination of the ,lord ,god ,almighty1 
will not cease to be grateful that      
,christ spoke so unmistakably concerning
 its solemn sanction4 ,he fixed  forever
 the difference between the civil       
marriage and the ,christian  marriage4  
,he filled the marriage service with    
religious terms4 ,the sight  of ,god1   
instituted of ,god1 mystical union1 holy
 estate1 ,cana of  ,galilee1 reverently1
 discreetly1 and in the fear of ,god1   
,god's  ordinance1 forsaking all other1 
so long as ye both shall live1 for      
better1 for worse1 for richer1 for      
poorer1 in sickness and in health1  the 
name of the ,father1 and of the ,son1   
and of the ,holy ,ghost1 ,god hath      
joined together1 in holy love until     
their lives' end--all these words  are  
,christ's words1 his ,spirit confirmed  
them in the service of his  church4     
,that service may well close with the   

prayer which declares that  his is the  
kingdom1 and the power1 and the glory1  
forever4    ,more and more careful      
students of both sociology and          
,christianity will see  that no safe    
conception of marriage can be found save
 in the words of the  ,lord4 ,the civil 
contract idea is full of peril4 ,the    
case of ,percy ,bysshe  ,shelley1 the   
,english poet1 is in evidence4 ,the     
illustration may be  extreme1 but it    
will the better show the sure goal of   
that theory of  marriage that forgets   
,god4 ,shelley1 for a time at least1 was
 an outright  atheist4 ,bowing ,god out 
of the universe1 he could not           
consistently leave  ,god in his theory  
of marriage4 ,his college thesis was an 
argument for  atheism4 ,given sufficient
 provocation and motive1 ,shelley was   
sure to  reach the limit of a godless   
idea of marriage4 ,it seems almost      
impossible  for men with a literary     
mania to see social or moral fault in   
their  heroes1 and their tendency often 

is to absolve writers of genius from the
  usual laws4 ,shelley married the      
daughter of a retired innkeeper4 ,in two
  years he separated from his wife and  
two children4 ,three years later the    
wife drowned herself1 meeting           
voluntarily a fate which ,shelley was to
 meet  involuntarily4 ,an apologist for 
,shelley says1 ,the refinements of      
intellectual sympathy which poets       
desiderate in their spouses ,shelley    
failed to find in his wife1 but for a   
time he lived with her not  unhappily2  
nor to the last had he any fault to     
allege against her1 except  such        
negative ones as might be implied in his
 meeting a woman he liked  better4 ,the 
more we study this language the more    
does its superficiality  impress us4    
,let it be said that ,shelley was young 
and heedless when he  first married2 let
 it be said1 also1 that he was in       
general strangely  lovable and warmly   
philanthropic2 and let it be said1 even1
 that he was in  his lifetime execrated 

beyond his deserts4 ,but it would not be
 so easy to  palliate his conduct if    
one's own daughter had drowned herself  
to end her  sorrow1 or if one's own     
daughter had traveled with him1         
unmarried1 over  ,france and            
,switzerland6 ,somehow literary         
admiration plays tricks on moral        
natures4 ,doubtless the judgment of     
,shelley on the basis of his boyish poem
  ,queen ,mab was unfair1 even as its   
surreptitious publication without his   
consent was unfair4 ,none the less one  
may trace a connection between his      
college production in defense of atheism
 and his later domestic conduct4  ,no   
marriage has a sure foundation apart    
from a religious sanction4 ,the  more we
 consider the possibilities suggested by
 this confessedly extreme  illustration1
 the more will we cling to the strict   
theory of ,jesus as  against the limping
 logic of any loose sociologist4    ,we 
have thus seen that the foundation of   
the home comes to the ,bible1 and       

particularly to the goal of the ,bible's
 revelation in ,christ1 for its         
solidity4 ,other foundations are        
fashioned of yielding sand4 ,the        
marriage  ceremony might well be        
modified in some minor regards2 but the 
word of  ,christ will insist that the   
ceremony shall represent no flimsy      
contract4  ,while he rules the          
pronouncement will be1 ,god hath joined 
together2 and  the human response will  
remain1 till death us do part4    ,the  
relation of ,jesus to the home goes     
farther than his word about  marriage1  
deep and far-reaching as that is4 ,his  
life emphasized the  sacredness of the  
family relation4 ,he went back from the 
scene in the  ,temple to be subject unto
 his parents4 ,he wrought his first     
miracle on  the occasion of a marriage4 
,many of his miracles of mercy were     
performed  in answer to a family plea4  
,he heard the cry of a mother when he   
healed  the daughter of the             
,syrophoenician woman1 and again when he

 raised up the  son of the widow of     
,nain4 ,he heard the cry of a father    
when he cast out  the evil spirit and   
restored a stricken son1 clothed and in 
his right  mind4 ,he heard the cry of   
sisters when he stood weeping at the    
grave of  ,lazarus4 ,the domestic plea  
quickly reached his heart and summoned  
his aid4  ,it was so even in the        
personal sense4 ,in the agony of the    
crucifixion he  did not fail to commend 
his mother to the care of his best-to-do
 disciple1  and to cause the writing of 
that simple statement1 ,from that day   
that  disciple took her into his own    
home4    ,indeed1 through all the life  
of ,jesus he glorified the family1      
unless the  family stood in the way of  
his truth or work4 ,emerson said once1  
,i will  hate my father and my mother   
when my genius calls me4 ,we all know   
where  ,emerson got those words2 they   
were not written on his own authority4  
,jesus  made our human ancestry subject 
to our divine ancestry4 ,above the      

earthly  parents he saw the heavenly    
,father4 ,the ,god who ordained the home
 was  above the home4 ,but ,jesus would 
allow no other exception4 ,he himself   
lived  by that supreme law4 ,he was     
homeless in obedience to his own divine 
mission4 ,there is a peculiar           
illustration of this1 hidden somewhat by
 our  awkward distribution of the ,bible
 into chapters and verses4 ,the seventh 
chapter of ,john ends with the words1   
,they went every man to his own  house4 
,it is not difficult for us to reproduce
 the scene1 even with its  ,oriental    
touches4 ,the discussion of the day is  
over4 ,the hearers did what  men and    
women have been doing ever since--they  
turned to the twinkling  lights of their
 homes4 ,soon the crowds had disappeared
 and the various  persons had joined    
themselves to their family groups4 ,the 
homeless ,one was  left alone4 ,the     
first verse of the eighth chapter of    
,john says1 ,jesus  went unto the mount 
of ,olives4 ,it was just an instance of 

his tragedy1  ,the foxes have holes1 and
 the birds of the air have nests2 but   
the ,son of  man hath not where to lay  
his head4 ,the homelessness of ,jesus   
was  vicarious4 ,sometimes still he     
calls his own into the same             
vicariousness4  ,he separates sons and  
daughters from their fathers and mothers
 and sends  them afar to preach his     
kingdom4 ,wherever those homeless ones  
may go1 the  meaning of home takes on a 
new and sacred meaning4 ,they carry with
 them  the ,word and ,spirit of him who1
 being weary1 invited the weary ones to 
come to him for rest2 being thirsty1    
invited the thirsty ones to drink of    
the water of life2 being poor1 invited  
the poor to come to him for riches2     
being dead1 invited the dying ones to   
look to him for eternal life2 and1      
being homeless1 still commands the world
 to look to him for the spirit of  home4
 ,even though he himself went down into 
the darkness of the ,mount of  ,olives1 
ever since his day the people that have 

heard and heeded his word  have found   
the lights of home more inviting and the
 mission of the home  more divine4      
,there is yet another consideration     
which must be noted ere we receive the  
full message of ,jesus about the home4  
,the teaching of ,jesus concerning ,god 
was almost wholly based on a figure of  
speech derived from the home4 ,in  the  
,old ,testament ,god is mentioned under 
the title of fatherhood but seven       
times4 ,five times he is spoken of as   
the father of the ,jewish people2  twice
 he is spoken of as the father of       
individual men4 ,only once in the  sweep
 of the ancient ,scriptures is there    
found a prayer addressed to ,god  as    
,father4 ,god was the ,king of kings1   
and the ,lord of hosts2 he was  ,creator
 and ,lawgiver4 ,but in the knowledge of
 the people he was not yet  ,father4    
,the world waited long ere men found an 
,elder ,brother who could  break the    
spell of their orphanhood and reveal to 
them a ,father4 ,when  ,jesus desired to

 tell men what ,god was like he went to 
their homes and  found therein the form 
of his teaching4 ,he sprinkled the ,new 
,testament  with the domestic name of   
,god4 ,two hundred and sixty-five times 
,god is  spoken of under the title of   
,fatherhood4 ,the sacredness of the home
  relation could not receive holier     
emphasis4    ,thus the homes which are  
founded by the ,lord become revelations 
of the  ,lord4 ,domestic relations are  
teachers of theology4 ,well may we speak
 of a  ,family ,bible6 ,there is such a 
,bible4 ,the illustration of theology is
 the  family illustration4 ,some day we 
shall recover that theology1 and we     
shall  place the theologies that have   
superseded it in their secondary place4 
,jesus was the final ,teacher of        
theology1 and we must give him the      
primacy4  ,under his teaching every true
 home is a symbol of the divine         
household2  every true parent is a      
limited representative of ,god2 every   
true son is an  example of the filial   

spirit that is religion4 ,the path of   
prayer starts  with the word ,father4   
,the doctrine of providential care is   
explained by  the word ,father4 ,the    
call to obedience refers to the will of 
the ,father4  ,the deeper tragedy of sin
 comes from the fact that the offense is
 against  the ,father4 ,conversion is a 
return to the ,father4    ,taking1 then1
 the direct teaching of ,jesus with     
reference to marriage as  the founding  
of the home1 taking his life in its     
merciful relation to the  home1 and     
taking his teaching about ,god as based 
on the home1 we are  justified in saying
 that ,jesus was the ,prophet and       
,saviour of the ,family4  ,the vision   
that he gave of the other life took on  
that form again4 ,he  declared that he  
was preparing a place for his own1 and  
he called that  place the ,father's     
house4 ,he was likewise preparing a home
 this side of  the many mansions4 ,a    
,carpenter he was4 ,he has builded many 
sanctuaries1  some for worship1 and some

 for the mercy that we show to the sick1
 and  aged1 and destitute4 ,but the     
,carpenter of ,nazareth is the builder  
of the  true home4 ,his word lays its   
foundations1 raises its walls1 places   
its  capstone1 and furnishes its        
atmosphere of peace and love4 ,the home 
that is  placed on any other word cannot
 stand the shock of the tempest4 ,it is 
based on sand2 and when the winds and   
rains and storms of passion come1  the  
home will fall1 and great will be the   
fall thereof4 ,the world needs  to-day  
the lesson of ,jesus about the home2 and
 it needs1 also1 the spirit  of ,jesus  
in the home4 ,when men and women yield  
to that spirit1  extravagance will be   
checked1 forbearance will be increased1 
love will be  promoted1 peace will be   
established4 ,husband and wife will not 
then plead  that ,jesus's strict decree 
concerning marriage may be annulled4    
,earthly  homes will be like vestibules 
of the ,father's ,house4    ,there      
remains for brief discussion the        

relation of the ,epistles of the ,new   
,testament to the home life of the      
people4 ,the tendency here has been to  
give undue emphasis to certain phases of
 ,paul's teaching4 ,some reformers1     
especially some radical feminists1 have 
spoken of the great apostle's  teaching 
with scant respect4 ,the command to     
wives to obey their husbands  has been  
kept apart from the command to husbands 
to love their wives even  as ,christ    
loved the church4 ,christ loved the     
church so that he gave his  life for it2
 and when husbands love their wives to  
that sublime extent1  obedience is no   
longer demanded for tyranny4 ,all       
technical matters aside1  it will be    
seen that the apostolic treatment of the
 domestic relations1  touching the      
relative duties of husbands and wives1  
parents and children1  and masters and  
servants1 shows a marked balance4 ,when 
each party keeps  his portion of the    
precepts1 and is strictly minded to     
fulfill precisely  his part of the      

apostolic contract1 debates about       
primacy and authority  find their       
gracious solution in mutual love4       
,unless we should wish to make  undue   
account of ,saint ,paul's doctrine of   
the husband's primacy1 we cannot  say   
that his attitude toward womankind was  
marked by anything other than  utmost   
respect4 ,just what his own domestic    
experiences were is a question  of      
age-long doubt4 ,if we study his actual 
references to women we shall  find a    
series of compliments too deep to serve 
as the expression of a  superficial     
gallantry and too genuine to allow the  
author to be classed as  a hater of the 
mothers and sisters and wives of the    
race4 ,near the end of  his life ,paul  
caught the vision of his ,master4       
,beyond his wanderings he  saw a        
destination2 above his imprisonments he 
saw a freedom2 after his  shipwrecks he 
saw a haven2 and the destination and    
freedom and haven were  all expressed in
 the words at home4 ,at home1 at home   

with the ,lord1  this was ,paul's       
conception of the waiting heaven4 ,he1  
too1 exalted the  home by making it the 
forefigure of heaven4    ,we have now   
presented enough to justify the         
statement that the ,bible is  the stanch
 friend of the home4 ,as long as men and
 women read and obey the  ,book1 and    
love and follow the ,lord of the ,book1 
their feet will turn  reverently        
homeward as to the place of ,god's      
appointing1 as to the school  of ,god's 
own discipline1 as to the place of      
,god's own joy1 and as to the  anteroom 
of ,god's own heaven4          ,,chapter
 ,,iv    ,,the ,,bible ,,and ,,education
      ,the man whose program of daily   
life suggests the outline of these      
chapters  awakes in the morning to the  
consciousness of himself4 ,he is soon   
aware of  the presence of his family and
 catches the sense of home4 ,directly   
the  children are made ready for school 
and join that romping procession that   
moves each day at the joint command of  

parents and teachers4 ,in the normal    
,christian community this fact of       
school-going is all but universal4 ,in  
such a community the illiterate person  
is so exceptional as to be a  curiosity2
 he is marked by separateness if not by 
distinction4 ,all of us  have marched to
 school2 all of us have had teachers4   
,the fact is still more significant4    
,school-going is not merely a general   
experience2 it is a long experience4 ,it
 controls about one fourth of life4     
,indeed1 if we figure the average span  
of life1 the school claims more than    
one fourth of the individual career4    
,many persons continue formal school    
work into the third decade1 while many  
give a score and a half of years  in    
making educational preparation for the  
remaining twoscore years of the         
allotment4    ,beyond this1 the whole   
educational scheme involves countless   
millions of  dollars4 ,our bookkeeping  
is scarcely rapid enough to keep up with
 the  finances of the system4 ,in our   

own country it really seems as if       
education  had become a primary passion4
 ,our school buildings yearly become    
more  imposing and more costly4 ,our    
college endowments annually leap to more
  generous figures4 ,our largest        
philanthropies seek the privilege of    
enlarging educational opportunity4 ,it  
thus requires no long observation to    
convince any thoughtful man that our    
educational program1 involving every    
young life in the nation and ideally    
every young life on the planet1 is of   
incalculable meaning4 ,each morning an  
army of many millions1 ranging from  wee
 kindergartners up to adult             
postgraduates1 moves to the schoolroom  
door4 ,the whole scene is as impressive 
as it is human4 ,the question  naturally
 comes1 ,what started that procession8  
,what inspiration keeps it  moving      
through the years8 ,is there one ,book  
that leads in some forceful  way to the 
study of many books8 ,does the ,bible   
have any sure relation  either to the   

enthusiasm or to the efficiency of our  
educational life8 ,if  our friend of the
 day's program could discover the       
intricate influences  that unite in     
sending his children to the school1     
would he find that any  large credit    
must be assigned to the ,book8    ,the  
aim now is not to show the place that   
the ,bible has had in the  curriculum of
 the world's education2 nor yet is it to
 show the direct  effect that the ,bible
 has had upon the world's instruction4  
,the ,bible has  been the supreme       
text-book1 even as it has been the      
supreme force1 in the  schools of nearly
 two millenniums4 ,these facts have been
 well set forth in  many treatises4 ,the
 purpose now is simpler and more        
meaningful3 to trace  to its main       
sources the influence which the great   
,book has had upon the  intellectual    
life of the race4    ,we are met at the 
outset by the singular fact that the    
,bible has little to  say specifically  
concerning education4 ,nowhere in its   

pages do we read the  command1 ,thou    
shalt found schools4 ,the literalist who
 started out to  find a biblical order  
for education1 as such1 would come back 
from an  unrewarded search4 ,but we have
 long ago discovered that the silence of
 the  ,bible does not constitute a      
commandment4 ,there are some things that
 are  stronger than detailed orders4 ,an
 outer law that has fought an inner     
sanction has usually fared badly in     
history4 ,on the other hand1 the inner  
sanction1 unenforced by any objective   
form of obligation1 has won some  big   
victories4 ,an explicit command to act  
as an immortal is not so  powerful as   
the implicit conviction that we are     
immortal4 ,it is safe to  declare that  
the implications of ,scripture are often
 as deep and  influential as its        
explications4 ,if1 then1 the flowers of 
knowledge bloom  not by command in the  
fields of the ,bible1 may we still find 
there the  seeds out of which such      
flowers inevitably grow8 ,if the school 

building is  not definitely prescribed1 
as was the ,temple of ,solomon1 does the
 ,book  yield in a deeper sense the wood
 and stone and mortar by which the      
building must surely rise8 ,answers to  
these figurative questions will go  far 
toward determining the relation of the  
,bible to education4 ,the  contention   
now is that the ,bible has been the     
fountain whence streams of  intellectual
 life have flowed1 and that1 minor      
influences being freely  admitted1 these
 streams may be traced to the           
,scripture's implicit doctrine  of human
 responsibility4    ,in discussing the  
bearing of the ,bible on learning much  
has been made of  the example of the    
,bible's mightiest characters4 ,this    
fact is striking1  and it lends itself  
to popular treatment4 ,the average man  
takes a truth  more readily when it is  
offered to him in a human setting4      
,hence it may be  granted that the      
spirit of the ,book in its influence on 
education has  been supplemented by its 

concrete examples4 ,in the patriarchal  
era the  majestic figure is that of     
,abraham4 ,whatever the critics may say 
about the  historicity of his person1   
they can hardly doubt the historicity of
 the  intellectual process by which some
 ,father of the ,multitude must have    
reached the creed of the divine unity   
and spirituality4 ,we could not  expect1
 of course1 to find organized education 
in the primitive days of  religious     
history4 ,but1 after all1 education is  
relative4 ,an eminent  ,american        
graduated from ,harvard in #ahcf when he
 was sixteen years of age4  ,in this day
 his sixteen years and his completed    
course of study would  barely admit him 
to the ,freshman class4 ,so ,abraham's  
education must be  graded by the        
standard of his dim and far day4        
,tradition represents him as  reaching  
the central doctrine of the ,jewish1    
,mohammedan1 and ,christian  faith by a 
method of reasoning4 ,you may say of his
 physical journey that  he went out1 not

 knowing whither he went1 but you cannot
 say that of his  intellectual journey4 
,while his feet pressed an unknown way1 
his mind and  heart traveled straight   
toward the discovered ,god4 ,if the best
 educated  man of a period is he who    
sees most deeply and clearly into its   
essential  truths and problems1 then the
 ,father of the ,faithful1 whoever he   
was  and whenever he came1 was the      
supreme scholar of his generation4      
,as the life of the chosen people       
reaches more definite form1 the place of
  education is more plainly seen4       
,doubtless most men would agree that    
,moses  was the arch figure of the ,old 
,testament4 ,he is represented1 both by 
the  ,scripture and by the tradition    
given among the ,jewish historians1 as  
having the best mental furnishing of his
 day4 ,the book of the ,acts says of    
him that he was learned in all the      
wisdom of the ,egyptians4 ,clemens      
,alexandrinus records that ,moses had   
the finest teachers in ,egypt1 and that 

the choicest scholars were imported from
 ,greece and ,assyria to instruct  the  
adopted prince in the arts and sciences 
of their respective countries4  ,perhaps
 we must allow something for the        
idealizing habit here2 but it is        
significant that both sacred and secular
 history unite in declaring that  the   
,lawgiver was learned4    ,in the era of
 ,prophecy we find the same development1
 only it is more  speedy4 ,elijah may   
have been the crude and forceful son of 
mountain and  rock1 but his successor is
 the product of one of the numerous     
schools of  the prophets4 ,although     
intellectual training might be presumed 
to have  little to do with the stern    
function of ,old ,testament prophesying1
 the  school arrived quickly and began  
the training of the young men4          
,criticism has not attacked the view    
that the book of ,isaiah bears marks of 
high culture4 ,if that book had two     
authors1 the ancient world is entitled  
to the credit of a second scholar4 ,when

 the radical is done with the story  of 
,daniel we have left at least the       
schoolroom in which the youthful        
prophet gained his superior wisdom4 ,it 
would appear that the examples of  the  
worthies of the ,old ,testament give    
slight encouragement to the idea  that  
any type of selection or any mood of    
afflatus may not be supplemented  by    
trained intellect in the kingdom of     
,god4    ,we need not halt long with the
 like lesson from the ,new ,testament4  
,much  has been made of the fact that   
the twelve apostles were uneducated men4
  ,doubtless we often do their          
intellectual life scant justice4        
,desiring to  score in an argument1 we  
give it out as an evidence of the       
divinity of the  faith that it conquered
 in spite of the disciples' lack of     
education4 ,the  truth is that the ,new 
,testament does not warrant the         
application to the  apostles of such    
words as illiterate4 ,some of them wrote
 books that have  moved the ages4 ,but1 

whatever the fact be here1 he would be  
wild indeed  who would find in ignorance
 any explanation of the gospel's        
victory4 ,let  us remember1 moreover1   
that1 when the unlettered ,twelve were  
cramping  the universal faith into a    
local religion1 the corrector of their  
blunder  was the lettered ,paul4 ,in his
 statement of experience he was ever    
ready  to say that he had sat at the    
feet of ,gamaliel1 the greatest ,jewish 
teacher of the day4 ,after ,christ ,paul
 is the colossal figure of the ,new     
,testament2 and there are those who     
would confidently declare him the       
greatest man who has walked the earth   
since ,calvary4 ,for a review of his    
education1 let anyone read a standard   
,life of the ,apostle4 ,we thus gather  
the one result from both the ,old and   
the ,new ,testament4 ,moses was the     
mightiest personality of the one1 and   
,paul was the mightiest human           
personality of the other2 and both were 
highly educated4 ,the signal  examples  

of the ,bible range themselves on the   
side of education4    ,as in all things 
else1 so in the relation of the ,bible  
to the intellectual  life we reach the  
climax only when we come to ,christ4    
,here1 too1 we find  in the life of     
,christ that same element of paradox    
that we often find in  his words4 ,that 
saving was losing1 giving was getting1  
and dying was  living were apparently   
contradictory statements that real life 
proved to  be true4 ,where words seemed 
to fight each other1 the deeper facts   
were  found to live in peace4 ,so ,jesus
 in his personal influence was ever     
reaching goals of which the paths did   
not give promise4 ,this is seen         
peculiarly in his relation to the       
intellectual life4 ,he left no          
manuscripts4 ,the only time he is       
represented as writing was when he wrote
  the sentence of the sinning woman on  
the forgetful sands of the earth4 ,yet  
he who wrote no books has filled the    
world with books4 ,something in him     

quickly evoked ,gospels and ,epistles   
which were forerunners of a marvelous   
literature4 ,even this moment thousands 
of pens are being moved by him4 ,he     
wrote no books1 and still he writes     
books evermore4    ,it was so with his  
relation to the schools4 ,men tell us   
that the  incarnation imposed a         
limitation on intellect--that it        
involved a kenosis1  an emptying of     
knowledge even as of power4 ,be that as 
it may1 our human  explanations do not  
easily reach the mystery of his         
influence on the  schools of the world4 
,did the boy ,jesus go to school in     
,nazareth8 ,was his  mother his only    
earthly teacher8 ,did his neighbors     
speak literal truth in  the question1   
,whence hath this man wisdom1 having    
never learned8 ,the  silent years give  
no answer to the questions4 ,but this we
 do know3 ,he who  went to school       
slightly or not at all has sent a world 
to school4 ,he who  founded no immediate
 institution of learning has dotted the 

planet with  colleges4 ,his schoolroom  
was itinerant and unroofed4 ,it moved   
quickly from  town to city1 from capital
 to desert1 from mountain to seashore4  
,we have  dignified it with a great     
name4 ,the school of ,jesus1 whose plant
 and  endowment and faculty all centered
 in one life1 is named the ,college of  
,apostles4    ,he said to them1 ,go1    
teach4 ,they went and they taught4 ,they
 were not  deliberate founders of       
schools4 ,but the heart of ,jesus       
contained schools1  and they1 having    
gotten their hearts from him1 carried   
schools with them4  ,when the gospel    
reached ,england and ,germany1 education
 reached those  countries and began to  
thrive4 ,the vast majority of the first 
one hundred  colleges founded in        
,america were builded by the followers  
of the ,great  ,teacher4    ,now1 this  
unique relation of ,jesus to the        
educational life of men is not          
accidental4 ,subtle as are the laws     
which determine it1 those laws work     

effectively4 ,they are elusive1 but once
 in a while we glimpse their ways  and  
meanings4 ,the ,new ,testament seems to 
feel their presence4 ,it calls  ,christ 
a ,teacher4 ,forty-three times it uses  
his name in connection with  the word   
teach in its various forms4 ,the world  
gets the same impression4  ,it persists 
in calling ,jesus the ,greatest         
,teacher4 ,it must note the  schoolroom 
phrases with which the account of his   
life is filled4 ,the  prologue of his   
wonderful message on the ,mount         
illustrates this4 ,and  seeing the      
multitudes1 he went up into a mountain3 
and when he was set1  his disciples came
 unto him2 and he opened his mouth1 and 
taught them4  ,the posture of ,jesus was
 that of the teacher4 ,his audience was 
made up of  disciples1 that is1 of      
pupils4 ,he taught them4 ,all this might
 be  called a superficial play upon mere
 words4 ,but we may go further and      
discover that the method of ,jesus was  
the method of the teacher4 ,he put  his 

effort into other lives in order that   
these lives might1 within their  various
 limitations1 duplicate his own4 ,his   
work was largely devoted to  the        
preparation of a select few4 ,often he  
left hundreds and thousands that  he    
might be alone with ,twelve4 ,he poured 
himself into his disciples1 his         
scholars4 ,he thus did what every true  
teacher must do3 ,he committed the      
cause of his life to those whom he      
schooled into faith and character and   
power4    ,nor did the teaching method  
halt here4 ,the good teacher makes the  
things  of the earth serve as approaches
 to the highest developments4 ,this     
,jesus  did supremely4 ,long before men 
made nature study an educational fad1   
,jesus made it an ethical and spiritual 
service4 ,he pressed flowers1  mustard  
seeds1 grapes1 wine1 thistles1 corn1    
figs1 into the lessons of  his roving   
school4 ,he made nature study so        
effective that along a path of  lilies  
men walked to ,god4 ,when it was        

necessary to individualize in order  to 
come to this high result1 ,jesus took up
 that burden of teaching4 ,his  school1 
like all other schools since its day1   
enrolled a son of thunder4  ,it took the
 love that suffered long to make ,john1 
the son of thunder and  lightning and   
vaulting ambition1 into the son of      
tender love4 ,it took the  patience that
 knows no failure to change the shifting
 sand of ,simon's  nature into the rock 
of ,peter's character4 ,all these       
considerations will  convince us that we
 may go to ,christ with the pedagogical1
 as well as with  the religious motive4 
,we do not wonder that a man should have
 crept to him  in the darkness and      
should have said1 ,we know that thou art
 a teacher4    ,there is yet another    
side of the subject that calls for      
emphasis4 ,the  ,bible and ,jesus give  
the ideal of the intellectual life1 an  
omniscient  ,god4 ,the ,god who is      
perfect in character is often lifted    
before us4 ,we  hear the voice saying1  

,be ye holy2 for ,i the ,lord your ,god 
am holy4 ,yet  we interpret the call    
narrowly4 ,christ has come to us with   
the call to  purity4 ,to the attentive  
he comes just as truly with the call to 
knowledge4 ,he has given us a gospel for
 the body1 and that gospel teaches  that
 drunkards and other defilers of the    
human temple of ,god cannot  inherit his
 kingdom4 ,he has given us a gospel for 
the spirit1 and that  gospel commands   
that the inmost realm of life be given  
to his sway4 ,he has  likewise given us 
a gospel of the mind1 and that gospel   
cannot be omitted  from the fullness of 
the blessing of ,christ4 ,the ,god      
revealed in ,christ  knows all things4  
,he counts the hairs of our heads4 ,he  
marks the petals of  the flowers4 ,he   
notes the fall of the sparrows4 ,he is  
all-knowing and  all-wise4    ,even     
though the ideal be a staggering one1 we
 are still told to be like  ,god4 ,some 
day we shall appreciate more the duty   
that speaks to us in  ,jesus's          

revelation of an omniscient ,god4 ,as   
yet we hardly dare press to  its full   
meaning the call implied in that        
revelation4 ,we have said that  the man 
who neglects and stunts and poisons his 
body is a sinner4 ,we have  said that   
the man who dwarfs and represses his    
spirit is a sinner4 ,are we  ready to   
say that the man who gives his mind no  
chance1 the man who fails  to move on to
 the ideal of an omniscient ,god1 is    
likewise a sinner8 ,is  ,god's perfect  
spirit a goal for his children1 and is  
,god's perfect mind  removed from our   
vision of duty8 ,if we are to start on  
the endless march  that leads to the    
purity of ,god1 are we freed from the   
obligation of  starting on the endless  
march that leads to his knowledge8 ,we  
may shrink  from the conclusion that is 
here involved2 and our shrinking may be 
only  an added evidence that we have    
omitted one element from the divine     
ideal4    ,just here we are struck with 
the consciousness that we shall need    

some  great dynamic1 if we are ever to  
start toward this unspeakable goal4     
,evidently we have not reached the last 
thing in ,christ's relation to          
education4 ,confucius was a great       
teacher1 but his system has not produced
  schools4 ,mohammed was a great        
teacher1 but his system has left his    
followers wallowing in ignorance4       
,though ,mohammedanism has proclaimed an
  omniscient ,god1 somehow that beacon  
on the infinite height has not coaxed   
the ,turk on to its shining4            
,mohammedanism has offered the ideal1   
but it  has lacked the power4 ,on the   
contrary the system of ,jesus seems to  
have  had a genius for diffusing        
education4 ,it has been a vast normal   
school4  ,the purer and freer and more  
spiritual its form1 the mightier has it 
been  as an educational force4 ,if we   
list the nations of the earth in classes
  with reference to literacy and        
illiteracy1 we shall find that the      
farther  the nations are from the       

,bible1 the more dense is their         
ignorance4 ,we  shall find1 too1 that   
where the people are the freest in their
 relation  to the ,bible1 there the     
ignorance is least4 ,plainly the ,bible 
with its  crowning revelation in ,christ
 does furnish something of a dynamic    
toward  education4 ,the school has been 
the inevitable companion of the church4 
,this is because the church1 in addition
 to giving a list of inspiring          
examples1 and in addition to lifting up 
the uttermost ideal1 has also           
emphasized an obligation under the      
leadership of the ever-present ,spirit4 
,it remains to show the nature of the   
obligation which the ,spirit has        
enforced with reference to knowledge4   
,perhaps this can be done more  clearly 
by taking the attitude of the           
,scriptures toward slavery as           
illustrating their attitude toward      
ignorance4    ,when ,jesus faced his    
audiences he looked upon men who were in
 bondage as  well as upon men who were  

in ignorance4 ,it is frequently said    
that ,christ  did not attack slavery4   
,in the days before the war the biblical
  literalist1 who believed in freedom1  
had a hard time with his ,bible4 ,he    
found that the ,bible did not condemn   
slavery1 but that the ,bible did give   
concerning it certain regulations4 ,the 
pro-slavery orators made good use  of   
the letter to ,philemon4 ,the people who
 believed in human liberty1 and  who    
likewise believed in a mechanical and   
verbal theory of biblical  inspiration1 
passed through intellectual agony in the
 period of  anti-slavery agitation4 ,if 
human bondage was the sum of all        
villainies1  why did not ,jesus condemn 
it with unsparing invective8 ,why did   
not the  apostles enter upon an         
immediate crusade for its downfall8     
,the answer is that ,christ in the      
deepest way did condemn slavery1 and    
that  the apostles in the realest way   
did begin their crusade4 ,they gathered 
no  visible army1 and they enforced no  

written statute1 but ,christ stated and 
his followers promulgated a conception  
of humanity that prophesied the  melting
 of all chains4 ,usually the claim is   
that the ,golden ,rule was the  primary 
foe of slavery1 but the ,golden ,rule is
 of little force1 apart from  that      
doctrine of human personality that      
pervades the ,new ,testament4 ,give     
that doctrine power1 and it would refuse
 to live in the same world with         
slavery4 ,that doctrine1 under a        
,captain1 was a delivering army4 ,that  
doctrine1 under a ,king1 was an         
,emancipation ,proclamation4 ,the       
,golden ,rule  had been given in        
negative form by ,confucius1 and it went
 to sleep in his  maxims4 ,that rule had
 been uttered negatively by ,plato1 but 
it nestled  quietly in his poetry4      
,hillel approached the positive         
statement of the  rule1 but he does not 
get credit for being its author4 ,the   
glory of a  truth lies with the one who 
gives it power4 ,jesus made the ,golden 

,rule  leap to its feet4 ,he turned it  
into a most effective traveler4 ,it     
praised  ,god on its wide journeys4 ,it 
began to work wonders4    ,that work was
 slow1 but it was both sure and         
thorough4 ,the ,rule had power  behind  
its saying4 ,at length the ,spirit      
carried that gracious weapon over  the  
seas and laid it in the hearts of       
,clarkson and ,wilberforce4 ,soon the   
,english flag floated over freemen      
everywhere4 ,again the ,spirit carried  
the  doctrine over other seas and lodged
 it in the hearts of ,lovejoy1          
,phillips1  and ,garrison4 ,directly    
four million sable faces were glowing   
with the  light of liberty4 ,jesus had  
said1 ,if the ,son therefore shall make 
you  free1 ye shall be free indeed4 ,the
 word had essentially a spiritual       
meaning1 but it was worked out1 also1 in
 a splendid literalness4 ,the ,son  made
 men free1 not primarily by the force of
 law1 nor yet primarily by the  violence
 of armies1 but rather by the conquest  

of disposition4 ,the honor  of the      
victory is with the ,bible theory of    
humanity1 made strong with the  power of
 ,christ4    ,now what the truth of the 
,bible did in tearing down slavery1 it  
is  continually doing in routing        
ignorance4 ,the connection is subtle1   
but it  is vitally real4 ,the doctrine  
of personal responsibility is           
atmospheric in  the ,bible4 ,it is      
equally comprehensive4 ,men are held    
responsible for  their bodies4          
,drunkenness1 adultery1 and all forms of
 sensuality are  condemned4 ,this is at 
the bottom of life4 ,but at the top of  
life firmer  stress is placed4 ,the     
spirit of man is made a field of        
reckoning4 ,the  divine dominion over   
motive is strongly asserted4 ,and that  
comprehensive  responsibility claims the
 mind4 ,the first great commandment of  
the new  dispensation is that we must   
love ,god with all the strength1 with   
all the  soul1 with all the mind4 ,men  
may differ about the precise meaning of 

the mind's love for the ,lord1 but the  
,christian sense of duty has asserted   
it in strange fashions4 ,from vast      
revivals young men and women have gone  
forward intellectually and have sought  
the higher education4 ,conversion  has  
set free their intellects and has made  
them feel the duty of  intellectual     
development4 ,the pressure of the       
,christian ideal has been on  them4     
,they have answered the call of the ,god
 who is infinitely good1 and  they must 
now answer the call of the ,god who is  
infinitely wise4 ,an  elusive           
intellectual law is written sure and    
large in the code of the  ,great        
,kingdom4 ,it is as certainly a         
commandment of ,god as if it had been   
thundered among the crags and lightnings
 of a new ,sinai4    ,the conviction of 
the church at this point has not always 
come to  definition2 nor has it always  
risen even to consciousness4 ,for all   
that1  it has risen to practical life   
and has struggled always for outward    

expression4 ,feeling that the empire of 
,god is over all of life1 man must      
submit his mind to the divine rule4     
,hence it follows that the man who is   
intellectually lazy1 as well as the man 
who is intellectually dishonest1  is a  
sinner4 ,this statement may shock those 
who have a surplus of caution1  but     
these may reassure themselves with the  
conviction that any theory may  be      
fearlessly accepted1 if it brings us    
face to face with ,god at any point  of 
our total life4 ,the failure to follow  
this biblical idea has brought a        
penalty always4 ,no denomination that   
has fought or slurred education has  led
 a large and victorious life2 on the    
contrary it has invariably become  one  
of the fading and dwindling forces of   
,god's work4 ,the ,god of wisdom is     
evermore against the promoters of       
ignorance4 ,so do we find that1 by the  
examples of its greatest characters1 by 
the life of its ,greatest ,teacher  and 
its ruling ,lord1 by the vision of its  

supreme ideal1 by the assertion  of its 
inclusive theory of consecration1 and by
 the divine dynamic which  it brings to 
bear upon the mind1 the ,bible has      
become the steadfast friend  of proper  
education4 ,it has opened the doors of  
countless schools and has  bidden the   
children of men to enter the portals of 
learning with the  assurance that all   
truth is of ,god4    ,the ,bible renders
 education the service of inspiration1  
and it renders it  the service of proper
 restraint4 ,when any one faculty of    
human life  becomes a monarch it always 
makes for trouble4 ,zeal without        
knowledge  tends to breakage2 knowledge 
without zeal tends to waste4 ,the ,bible
 does  not make intellect all4 ,man has 
mind1 and he must use that4 ,man has    
sensibility1 and he must use that4 ,man 
has will1 and he must use that4 ,man    
must get the truth out of his integral  
self rather than out of his  fractional 
self4 ,the man who does not use his     
heart and will in the  gaining of truth 

is just as faithless as is the man who  
will not use his  mind4 ,without        
attempting to use psychological terms   
with exactness1 we may  say that ,jesus 
brought in the reign of the practical   
intellect1 which gets  truth from all   
there is of man4 ,even as truth comes   
not from the naked  will of ,god1 nor   
yet out of his cold thought1 but rather 
out of the full  nature of the          
,infinite1 so truth finds man1 not at   
some one point of his  being1 but in the
 glowing center of his whole life4      
,we may assert1 also1 that the ,bible   
saves education from frigidity4         
,tennyson speaks of the freezing        
reason's colder part4 ,we all know the  
meaning of the phrase4 ,jesus put into  
the search for truth the mood of        
humility4 ,the method of learning was   
obedience4 ,obedience is the organ of   
intellectual vision as well as of       
spiritual vision4 ,the method of ,jesus 
was not merely for the spiritual life1  
as men speak in their fragmentary  way2 

it was a universal method4 ,it takes    
humility to make the beginnings  of a   
scholar1 and weariness and shame of     
ignorance1 and faith in an  intellectual
 empire1 and a high trust that the mind 
is made for truth1 and  the truth for   
mind4 ,ere we have done1 we have a huge 
creed wrapped up in  our intellectual   
processes4 ,but the creed has been saved
 from its cold  pride4 ,the ,bible says 
in one of its marginal readings1        
,knowledge puffeth  up2 love buildeth   
up4 ,knowledge alone may be swollen with
 pride1 and the  higher demand of the   
,bible would save from that disaster4   
,this gives us  the clue to more than   
one biblical sentence4 ,there is a      
science falsely  so called4 ,there is a 
sense in which not many wise after the  
flesh are  called4 ,these implied       
warnings are not the cries of prejudice4
 ,they stand  for the effort to touch   
learning with humility1 which alone can 
save it  from being distant and icy4    
,the good ,book rescues education from a

 selfish inaction4 ,there was a  living 
and serving element in ,jesus's relation
 to the intellectual life4  ,he did not 
deal in barren metaphysics or in        
helpless abstractions4 ,his  truth went 
to work4 ,he fastened it to life's      
burdens1 and they were  lifted4 ,he     
dropped it amid life's problems1 and    
they were solved4 ,he cast  it against  
life's temptations1 and they were       
defeated4 ,he attached it to  life's    
duties1 and they were fulfilled4 ,he    
sought those truths with which  men had 
to dwell4 ,he never attempted to set    
forth the essential mystery of  things4 
,he was no dealer in an intellectual    
cure-all4 ,he spoke with  authority and 
yet with reverent limitation4 ,there was
 a great reserve in  his explanations4  
,yet in the realm where men must live   
their present  lives1 ,jesus gave enough
 truth to keep men busy all their days4 
,here again  comes in the question of   
dynamic4 ,men sometimes prate about     
their love of  truth4 ,the intellectual 

life1 like the religious life1 may be   
guilty of  cant4 ,it takes more than an 
open mind to get the truth2 it takes a  
working  mind4 ,truth does not come to  
the passive man by way of transfer4 ,one
  teaching of the parable of the virgins
 is that1 while the coarser goods of    
life may be transferred1 the finer goods
 of life must be won by spiritual       
effort4 ,it takes dynamic to secure a   
real intellect4 ,perception may see a   
truth1 but only inward power can use the
 truth4 ,jesus conferred that  power4   
,he gave us the truth in the doctrine   
about ,god4 ,he gave us the way  in the 
spirit of obedience4 ,he gave us the    
life in the willingness to make  the    
truth the servant of the world for the  
sake of ,christ4    ,this leads us to   
the biblical idea of consecrated        
intellect4 ,as we have  often failed to 
indicate the sin of needless ignorance1 
so have we failed  to point out the sin 
of an unconsecrated mind4 ,all truth can
 be dedicated  to ,christ4 ,his great   

call to-day is for more men with the    
highest culture  placed under the thrall
 of his grace and under the guiding     
power of the  ,spirit whom he           
sends--more ,luthers from ,wittenberg1  
more ,wesleys from  ,oxford1 more ,pauls
 from ,gamaliel's school2 more men from 
all our modern  seats of learning who   
will know that gifts of learning can be 
placed at  the service of the ,king and 
that all science and philosophy and     
literature  may be placed at the foot of
 the ,cross4 ,in the coming day of the  
,christian  intellect      ,mind and    
heart1 according well    ,may make one  
music as before1    ,but vaster4        
,,chapter ,v    ,,the ,,bible ,,and     
,,work      ,the frank purpose of the   
present lecture is to discuss the       
relation of the  ,bible to the moral and
 spiritual aspects of work4 ,the aim is 
not a study  in economics4 ,without     
doubt the ,bible stands for justice2 and
 without  doubt1 also1 the intent of the
 ,bible is to make just men4 ,but the   

great  ,book does not give an infallible
 table of wages2 neither does it offer  
any  sure rules whereby we can determine
 the working value of any particular    
individual4 ,it declares that the       
laborer is worthy of his hire1 and it   
leaves the details to be wrought out by 
men whom it summons to the spirit  of   
justice and love4 ,interested as we may 
be in the economic problems of  our day1
 we must still rejoice that the ,bible  
does not surrender its work  of         
inspiration in an effort at mechanical  
guidance4 ,the wage scale must          
necessarily vary with the conditions of 
living2 and1 therefore1 a textbook  of  
money wages would have made a cumbersome
 volume with most of its pages  as      
lifeless as the ,book of the ,dead4 ,the
 very suggestion ends in                
ridiculousness4 ,the effort of the      
,bible is not to give directions for    
working machines1 but to give motives to
 working men4 ,it is not a  taskmaster1 
but a task-inspirer4    ,true toil of   

whatever sort is in need of inspiration4
 ,it must go by system  and by schedule1
 and the element of monotony makes      
itself felt4 ,the man  leaves his home  
six mornings of the week and takes up   
his accustomed task4  ,the bell calls   
him to work at an appointed hour1 and it
 dismisses him by  the demand of the    
clock4 ,the husband goes to the store or
 office or  factory to do the same      
things again and ever again1 while the  
wife goes  about the household duties   
that have engrossed her on thousands of 
previous days4 ,one of the victories of 
life is to be a worker and not to  be a 
drudge4 ,we have all known people who   
have not won that victory4 ,their  work 
is a grim necessity4 ,it is not         
acquainted with poetry or with music4   
,when the idealist speaks of the man who
 sings at his toil1 they sneer at  his  
sentimentalism or they doubt his        
sincerity4 ,work is a ceaseless grind2  
it is a dreary round2 it is a hard      
compulsion4 ,the poet who wields a pen  

may tell the man who wields a pick that 
work is joy and refreshment and         
liberty1 but the sour toiler will regard
 his teacher as a condescending         
comforter4 ,the complaint of many people
 is not simply that they must make      
bricks without straw1 but that they must
 make bricks at all4 ,in their          
vocabulary pleasure contrasts with labor
 because labor itself is pain4  ,they   
are weary in their work and weary of    
their work4 ,the only ideal for  this   
sort of laborer is that he may labor so 
successfully as to be able  some day to 
get on without labor4 ,this man is the  
drudge4    ,oddly enough1 he has had his
 theological partners4 ,there have been 
,bible  students who have held that all 
work is a penalty of the ,fall4 ,they   
say  that when ,god said to ,adam1 ,in  
the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat    
bread1 he entered toil among the        
punishments of life4 ,undoubtedly sin   
adds to the hardship of work1 especially
 if the sin be the sin of a wrong       

attitude4 ,thorns and thistles do       
prosper more around the broken gate of  
the sluggard4 ,the earnest expectation  
of a groaning and travailing  creation  
does wait for the revealing of the sons 
of ,god4 ,discontent puts  its evil     
reflex on the muscles4 ,the rebellious  
worker is ever the tired  worker4 ,but  
even the literal story of ,eden does not
 give the ideal of  worklessness4 ,adam 
had been placed in the garden to dress  
it and to keep  it4 ,wherever ,god      
places the man1 he places the task for  
the man4 ,any  other conception of life 
is unworthy and utterly irreligious4 ,a 
silly  theology that puts a premium on  
idleness is not born of the ,god that   
worketh hitherto4 ,still the view that  
work is a curse persists even  after the
 theory that encouraged the view has    
gone to the discard4 ,the  sanctified   
escape the fret of work1 but they do not
 escape its fact4 ,the  ,perfect ,life1 
as we shall later see1 was the life of a
 ,worker4    ,admitting1 as we all must1

 that work is sometimes tragic because  
it lacks  its proper outer reward1 we   
may still contend that often its deepest
  tragedy is a wrong attitude of spirit4
 ,doubtless much of this comes from     
maladjustment4 ,some idealists believe  
that if every man were given his own    
task1 every man would be happy at that  
task4 ,kipling so states it in the      
,l',envoi of ,the ,seven ,seas4 ,he sees
 the good time when there shall be  an  
adjustment between man and his task4    
,the lower motives for work shall  all  
be done away1 and the one satisfying    
motive shall abide4      ,and only the  
,master shall praise us1 and only the   
,master shall blame1    ,and no one     
shall work for money1 and no one shall  
work for fame1    ,but each for the joy 
of the working1 and each in his separate
 star1    ,shall draw the thing as he   
sees it1 for the ,god of things as they 
are4    ,ideal as this is1 it gets a    
response from us all4 ,besides there are
 some  foretokens of this age of joyful 

toil4 ,usually these are seen most      
clearly  in work that has a relation to 
beauty4 ,the woman works cheerfully at  
her  fine embroidery1 and she works just
 as cheerfully over the flowers in her  
garden4 ,with men the form of toil that 
stands for genuine achievement  often   
becomes not only a pleasure but a       
veritable passion4 ,where a  spiritual  
motive allures1 work frequently becomes 
the gladness of life4  ,agassiz declined
 to accept the remunerative call to     
lecture by saying1 ,i  am only a        
teacher4 ,i cannot afford to make money4
 ,wesley poured back into  his work all 
the results of his work and died a poor 
man whereas he might  have become rich4 
,in ,america college professors have    
been known to save  their meager        
salaries in order that they might return
 their slight estates  to endow more    
fully the institutions for which they   
labored4 ,they received  from their work
 so that they could give back to their  
work4    ,the more we study cases of    

this fine sort1 the more will we be     
impressed  that the workers labored     
under the biblical sense of life4 ,the  
men just  mentioned were all profound   
believers in ,god1 and they lived their 
lives  as under his eye4 ,hence they saw
 their portion of work as a part of the 
infinite whole that makes for the       
kingdom of ,god4 ,there is a story of a 
workingman who1 standing on the street  
opposite the ,cathedral of ,cologne1    
was overheard saying1 ,didn't we do a   
fine job over there8 ,turning about1    
the listener saw a rough hand pointing  
at the wonderful cathedral4 ,what  did  
you do8 he asked the man4 ,the reply    
was1 ,i mixed the mortar for  several   
years4 ,the tale was told by the        
thoughtless as being humorous4 ,it  is1 
however1 serious and beautiful4 ,that   
workman had gotten the vision of        
himself as a partner in a plan that     
covered centuries of grand toil4 ,he    
was a helper of ,god in the fashioning  
of his temple4 ,in reality he had       

joined the company of ,hiram and of     
,solomon4 ,now all honest work must have
  a direction that is both long and     
high4 ,it reaches down into the years of
  men4 ,it reaches upward into the heart
 of ,god4 ,precisely this idealism is   
needed in order that toil may be        
redeemed from its drudgery4 ,george     
,eliot  gives us a striking illustration
 of it in her tribute to ,stradivari1   
the  maker of violins4 ,this immortal   
mechanic is said to have had a reverence
  for his labor4 ,he felt that1 whereas 
,god gave men skill to play1 ,god       
depended on ,stradivari to furnish the  
instruments4 ,he was the partner of  the
 ,most ,high4 ,god had chosen           
,stradivari as a helper4 ,hence he could
 say1                              ,god 
be praised1    ,antonio ,stradivari has 
an eye    ,that winces at false work and
 loves the true1    ,with hand and arm  
that play upon the tool    ,as willingly
 as any singing bird    ,sets him to    
sing his morning roundelay1    ,because 

he likes to sing and likes the song4    
,we may not all have this attitude      
toward our work1 but we are all         
idealists enough to wish that we felt   
just that way4 ,the singing workman  is 
not altogether a figment of the         
imagination2 neither is his spirit      
impossible in the day that now is4 ,the 
men who regard work as a blessing1  and 
not as a penalty and a curse1 are found 
in many trades and  professions4 ,they  
are the forerunners of the ,eden life4  
,certainly the main  teaching of the    
,bible1 that labor is designed to aid in
 the bringing in of  the kingdom of     
,god1 must give to the honest laborers  
in every realm an  exalted joy4    ,this
 primary consideration is joined by the 
human examples of the ,bible4  ,we find 
in its pages a procession of workers1   
and from this procession ,god  selects  
many of his chosen leaders4 ,moses was  
tending his flock on the  hillside when 
the voice of the ,lord summoned him to  
his manifold  leadership4 ,saul was     

seeking his father's cattle when he     
found the kingdom  of which he was to be
 king4 ,david was busy in the sheepfold 
when the  prophet called him to his work
 as warrior and monarch4 ,ruth was      
gleaning  in the fields1 in her pathetic
 effort to care for her widowed         
mother-in-law and herself1 when she     
found her way into happiness and into   
the ancestry of our ,lord4 ,gideon was  
beating out wheat in the wine press     
when he was drafted for the campaign    
that was to break the power of the      
,midianites4 ,elisha was plowing with   
twelve yoke of oxen when the mantle of  
,elijah was cast over his shoulders4    
,nehemiah was serving as cupbearer to   
the king when he evoked from ,artaxerxes
 the permission to return and  rebuild  
the walls of his beloved city4 ,amos was
 among the herdsmen of  ,tekoa when the 
word of ,god took him captive and sent  
him to his prophetic  career4 ,these are
 the instances in the ,old ,testament   
where mention is made  of the form of   

toil from which ,god called men to some 
spiritual service4  ,without doubt the  
full record would show that other signal
 servants  received their commissions   
while they were faithfully performing   
their  duties on threshing floors1 out  
in the fields1 and within               
counting-rooms4    ,the ,new ,testament 
is less specific in its descriptions1   
but it often gives  us the like hint4   
,matthew was at the seat of custom when 
he was invited  into the fellowship of  
the disciples that he might tell men of 
the eternal  exchange4 ,james and ,john 
were engaged in their occupation as     
fishermen  when they heard the voice on 
the shore and pulled their boat over the
 blue  waves that they might become     
fishers of men4 ,the shepherds were in  
faithful watch over their flocks by     
night when they heard the evangel of    
song and were startled by the message of
 peace4 ,the illustrations make us  feel
 that the favorite meeting place of ,god
 with man is the meeting place  of man  

with his work4 ,a motto says that the   
best reward of good work is  more good  
work to do4 ,the providence of ,god     
upholds the motto4 ,the ,bible  shows a 
preference for the workers as against   
the shirks4 ,it puts the  premium on    
industry1 whether the type of toil be   
manual or spiritual4    ,here1 as in all
 other themes of real life1 we come to  
,christ for our  highest teaching and   
our best example4 ,we have noted        
elsewhere that he  made the home the    
illustration of our relations with ,god2
 and we now note  that he made the      
common work of earth the illustration of
 our  responsibility for service to     
,god4 ,this he did so often and so      
urgently  that we are driven to feel    
that work was not only the form of      
illustration  but also the form of      
service itself4 ,how many parables did  
he gain from  the ways of toil8 ,he     
would say1 ,the kingdom of heaven is    
like unto--1  and straightway his       
hearers' minds were sent to the places  

where men  wrought for their daily      
bread4 ,in most places the blanks can be
 supplied  by some form of employment4  
,the kingdom of heaven is like unto-- a 
merchant and his pearls2 a sower and his
 field2 a woman and her leaven2 a       
fisherman and his net2 a husbandman and 
his vineyard2 a merchant traveler  and  
the intrusted talents4 ,where his words 
were used as deft and quick             
illustrations rather than as lengthy and
 formal parables1 he gathered his       
material from the realms of toil4 ,the  
builder and the house2 the shepherd  and
 the sheep2 the axman and the tree2 the 
tailor and the cloth2 the  housewife and
 the coin2 the rich man and his steward2
 the woman and her  grinding2 the man   
and his plowing2 the watchman and his   
vigil2 the  husbandman and the vine2 all
 these entered into his speech as       
showing what  ,god would expect of men4 
,here we have almost a cyclopedia of    
labors4  ,inasmuch as ,jesus commended  
the qualities shown in these various    

phases of  service1 we are allowed to   
think that he regarded the legitimate   
occupations of everyday life as both    
representing and fulfilling the  kingdom
 of ,god4 ,nor will reverent thought be 
satisfied with any less  comprehensive  
view4 ,there would be a dread of living 
if we were made to  feel that the work  
which we must do1 both to meet our own  
sense of  self-respect and to provide   
for the needs of ourselves and our      
beloved1  was either in opposition to   
the grace of ,god or stood for neutral  
territory between the realms of good and
 evil4 ,the teaching of ,jesus saves  us
 from that practical atheism4 ,he allows
 every honest man to take the           
oft-repeated phrase1 ,the kingdom of    
heaven is like unto--1 and to  complete 
a portion of its meaning from his own   
form of labor4 ,if a man is  engaged in 
any task that makes sacrilege and       
blasphemy when it is used to  fill out  
the sentence1 then let that man look    
well to his own heart and  life4 ,every 

man's work should serve as a parable of 
,christ4    ,but ,jesus was not simply  
the doctrinaire of toil2 he was its     
exemplar4 ,the  emphasis here is usually
 placed upon the fact that ,christ was a
 carpenter4  ,he transformed crude      
materials into useful tools4 ,an        
overdone stress on  this point is itself
 a confession that manual toil needs an 
apologist6 ,the  significant thing is   
that such a stress is wholly absent from
 the speech  and attitude of ,jesus4    
,with him carpentry seems to have been a
 natural  part of life4 ,he never refers
 to it as something that he had         
outgrown4 ,his  backward look toward the
 occupation of his youth betrays no     
condescension1  like to that            
occasionally seen in so-called self-made
 men6 ,after he had  left the           
carpenter's bench he said1 ,i work4     
,when he saw the night  closing down    
about him1 the brevity of the working   
day became an incentive  to more work1  
and he said1 ,i must work4 ,even in the 

agony we can catch  the exultation of   
the cry1 ,i have finished the work which
 thou gavest me  to do4 ,it was his meat
 to finish his work4 ,jesus did the     
appointed task  for each period of his  
life4 ,then he passed on to the task of 
the next  period without the least hint 
that the varying tasks were not joined  
in  the harmony of the divine purpose4  
,the work of his life was like his      
garment2 it was all of one piece4 ,from 
the building of the ,nazareth  cottage  
on to the building of the many mansions1
 there is no  consciousness of          
contradiction4 ,with ,jesus the working 
life was a unity4    ,and at the risk of
 being mechanical in the use of bungling
 divisions we  may declare that ,jesus  
entered into all the large divisions of 
toil4 ,the  note of universality is seen
 here as it is seen elsewhere4 ,we have 
been  told that the three forms of      
temptation that ,jesus encountered on   
mountain  top and temple pinnacle       
exhaust all the types4 ,it has been     

said1 too1 that  the thankfulness of    
,jesus is directed toward all the       
channels by which the  good of life can 
flow in upon us4 ,this same             
characteristic of universality  appears 
in the work of ,christ4 ,as a carpenter 
he worked upon material  things4 ,as a  
healer he worked upon the bodies of men4
 ,as a teacher he  worked upon the minds
 of men4 ,as a preacher he worked upon  
the souls of  men4 ,all the workers of  
the world can be brought into one of    
these  divisions1 and so all true       
workers can enter into partnership with 
,jesus4  ,we call him the ,carpenter1   
the ,great ,physician1 the ,greatest    
,teacher1 the  ,world's ,saviour6 ,the  
manual toilers claim him4 ,the doctors  
claim him4 ,the  teachers claim him4    
,the evangelists claim him4 ,he is at   
home in the shop1  in the hospital1 in  
the schoolroom1 and in the temple4 ,all 
the classes of  toilers can appeal to   
the sanction of his example4    ,still  
we must again assert that these clumsy  

divisions were not emphasized  by ,jesus
 himself4 ,there has been an age-long   
debate1 ofttimes degenerating  into a   
wrangle1 as to the relative hardships of
 the different forms of  labor4 ,men who
 cling to their occupations will still  
declare that those  occupations have    
trials beyond all others4 ,into this    
debate ,jesus did not  enter4 ,he never 
set one form of toil against another by 
entering into any  comparisons or       
contrasts4 ,as he experienced all the   
general forms of  labor1 so did he honor
 all forms4 ,in his view they were all  
good and all  cooperative4 ,on the      
surface they may seem to be rivals1 but 
in the center  they are actual partners 
in the divine program4 ,hence ,jesus    
passed from  one realm of work to       
another with little sense of transition4
 ,carpenter1  ,healer1 ,teacher1        
,preacher1 he was ever the servant of   
the ,kingdom4  ,faithfulness1 honor1    
industry1 efficiency1 patience--in      
short1 all the  virtues were possible in

 any good way of work4 ,the life of     
,jesus unites  all our types of labor in
 a divine purpose and rebukes that      
quarrelsome  spirit which so often sets 
the manual laborers and the mental and  
moral  laborers in opposition4 ,the hand
 cannot say to the head1 ,i have no need
  of thee1 nor can the head utter the   
like speech of egotism and              
self-sufficiency4 ,the workers are all  
one body1 and every one members of      
another4    ,so do we find ,jesus       
putting himself with willing sacrifice  
into his  varying tasks4 ,he had said to
 his parents in ,jerusalem1 ,wist ye not
 that  ,i must be amid my ,father's     
matters8 and then he went into what men 
call  the silent years4 ,but they were  
not wholly silent4 ,the attentive can   
hear  the sound of the hammer4 ,the     
point is that in passing from the       
,jerusalem  temple to the ,nazareth shop
 ,jesus did not depart from his         
,father's  business4 ,we may all resent 
the particular descriptions of the      

quality of  his work as a carpenter2 and
 we may be quite content in our faith   
that  all his work was done faithfully  
and well4 ,holman ,hunt's ,shadow of the
  ,cross relates ,jesus's work in the   
shop to his sacrificial character4 ,at  
the end of a weary day the ,nazareth    
,carpenter extends his arms to relieve  
his weariness4 ,the sunshine coming     
through the window casts his shadow on  
the wall in the form of a ,cross4 ,his  
mother glancing in through another      
window sees the ,cross foreshadowed     
there and gets her glimpse of the sword 
that should enter her own heart4 ,nor   
did ,jesus escape hardship and          
exhaustion when he became a healer and  
teacher of the people4 ,the crowds      
thronged him wherever he went4 ,the     
hillside became like an open-air        
hospital4 ,the multitudes hung upon his 
words of instruction4 ,some have  said  
that one reason why he commanded men who
 were healed or who were told  the      
deeper secret of his nature that they   

should tell no man1 was that  he might  
avoid the greater press of the throngs4 
,be that as it may1 we are  surely      
justified in saying that he gave himself
 lavishly to the work of  each period4  
,in each section of his life his action 
said1 ,i must work4    ,it would be     
easy1 however1 to overstate ,jesus's    
relation to work4 ,he did  not labor all
 the time4 ,knowing how to toil he knew 
likewise how to rest4  ,men may plead   
the example of ,satan against a vacation
 season1 but they  cannot plead the     
example of ,christ6 ,he rested after he 
had worked and in  order that he might  
work again4 ,when the crowd became      
importunate and the  drain upon his     
power had become severe1 he sought the  
desert and in its  quiet restored       
himself for the new labors4 ,he bade his
 weary disciples to  come apart to the  
spot of respite4 ,he was the exemplar of
 proper rest even  as he was the        
exemplar of proper work4 ,industrious   
men often need one  lesson even as lazy 

men need the other4 ,there are persons  
who are greedy  of toil4 ,they are as   
avaricious for it as the miser is for   
gold4 ,they are  what ,carlyle would    
call terrible toilers4 ,they die before 
their time  because they work after     
their time4 ,jesus knew this danger4 ,he
 wished to  guard against it by keeping 
the ,sabbath for man4 ,he wanted to save
 the  resting place between the weeks   
because he wanted to save man to his    
best  self and work4 ,he prescribed the 
working day and the shop1 and he        
prescribed the resting day and the      
desert4    ,we need not be surprised1   
then1 to find that the new day puts the 
emphasis  on the sanctification of      
common work4 ,professor ,peabody gives  
the contrast  between two well-known    
poems as illustrating a change that has 
come over  the personal side of the     
social question4 ,a generation since    
,lowell gave  us his ,vision of ,sir    
,launfal4 ,the hero of this poem1 after 
traveling in  many lands1 finally finds 

the holy grail in the cup which he had  
filled  for a way-side beggar1 while the
 more personal presence of ,jesus is    
discovered in the beggar himself to whom
 the searcher has given alms4 ,the      
characteristic of the new day is seen in
 ,van ,dyke's ,the ,toiling of  ,felix4 
,the hero of this later poem1 after     
seeking the direct vision of  his ,lord 
in caves and deserts of idle            
contemplation1 at last secures the      
coveted revelation as he enters gladly  
into a life of toil and  particularly as
 he flings himself into the swollen     
river to rescue a  fellow laborer4      
,felix finds that there is a holy       
literalness in the words  which he found
 on the piece of papyrus as a recovered 
gospel of ,christ3      ,lift the stone1
 and thou shalt find me2    ,cleave the 
wood1 and there am ,i4    ,the ranks of 
labor are the dusty regiments of ,god4  
,the ,lord1 being a  worker1 is mindful 
of his own3      ,born within the       
,bethlehem manger where the cattle round

 me stood1    ,trained a carpenter of   
,nazareth1 ,i have toiled and found it  
good4    ,the good work of the world is 
the work of ,christ4 ,there is really no
  contrast between sacred and secular2  
the actual contrast is between the      
sacred and the wicked4      ,they who   
tread the path of labor1 follow where   
,christ's feet have trod1    ,they who  
work without complaining1 do the holy   
will of ,god4             99       99   
99       99       99      ,this is the  
,gospel of labor--ring it1 ye bells of  
the kirk1    ,the ,lord of ,love came   
down from above to live with the men who
 work4    ,the inevitable drift of this 
emphasis on the working experience of   
,jesus  has swept admiration away from  
the monastic life4 ,the religious are   
not  those who shun the world of toil in
 order that they may gain the world of  
personal peace and salvation4 ,the      
modern saint is not a ,simon the        
,stylite4  ,saint ,francis of ,assisi   
projects himself into the admiration of 

the  twentieth century because he was a 
worker rather than a recluse4 ,the      
attitude toward monasticism among the   
healthier and more energetic peoples    
goes further than this3 there is a      
feeling that in the last analysis the   
religious hermit is spiritually selfish4
 ,that is deemed a poor kind of         
religion which forsakes a world in order
 to save one's soul4 ,the argument  that
 the recluses may render the world the  
service of constant prayer does  not    
appeal to those who know that work is   
itself a form of prayer2 and  that in   
,jesus prayer and work lived together in
 harmony4 ,a better  understanding of   
the religion of ,christ demands that its
 followers shall  be socially efficient4
 ,if ,jesus is to be the world's        
example1 more and  more men and women   
will find in their legitimate toil one  
of the  sacraments of life4    ,already 
we have come to feel that the ,bible    
doctrine of work1 especially  as that   
doctrine is incarnated in ,christ1 lays 

stress upon the man as well  as upon his
 task4 ,it asks1 ,what is the man doing 
with his work8 ,it also  asks1 ,what is 
the work doing with the man8 ,the       
reflexes of activity  often become a    
topic of teaching4 ,paul said that the  
man reaps the harvest  of his own       
sowing4 ,jesus said1 ,with what measure 
ye mete1 it shall be  measured to you   
again4 ,this is much as if he had said  
that in the upper  realms of living     
action and reaction are equal and in    
opposite directions4  ,he told his      
disciples that1 if they pronounced the  
benediction of peace  upon a house unfit
 or unwilling to receive it1 the        
benediction should  return to them      
again4 ,the meaning is that no work done
 with the right  spirit can really fail4
 ,the poets give this idea currency4    
,george ,herbert  declares that a       
servant with the proper clause in his   
creed makes  drudgery divine3      ,who 
sweeps a room as to thy law    ,makes   
that and the action fine4    ,he had    

already implied that such a servant made
 himself fine4 ,mrs4  ,browning         
emphasizes the need of a serious purpose
 in work when she uses  her picturesque 
description3      ,i would rather dance 
at fairs on tight rope    ,till the     
babies dropped their gingerbread for    
joy1    ,than shift the types for       
tolerable verse1 intolerable    ,to men 
who act and suffer4 ,better far         
,pursue a frivolous trade by serious    
means    ,than a sublime art            
frivolously4    ,it is better far       
because our seriousness comes back to   
dwell with us2  and our frivolousness   
does the same4 ,many of the parables get
 their  meaning from this certainty of  
reaction4 ,the good shepherd is good    
because  he does his work well1 and the 
return of his work makes him better     
still4  ,just as physical work reacts on
 the muscles1 so that sometimes men     
exercise without any outward object in  
view1 even so does the moral spirit  of 
work come back to dwell with the man and

 to make his last estate either  better 
or worse4 ,our bodies are built into    
strength by a series of  reactions1 and 
our spirits evermore receive their own  
with usury4    ,this idea1 as we have   
observed in another connection1 has     
wrought some  marked changes in the     
social program4 ,it has largely         
superseded  almsgiving by workgiving4   
,scientific charity seeks to remove the 
causes of  poverty1 knowing that this is
 the sure way to remove poverty itself4 
,the  conviction is that a day's work   
with a day's pay is far better for the  
man  than a day's pay without the day's 
work4 ,in the latter case the man loses 
both independence and self-respect1     
while in the former case he keeps both  
of these and gains in addition the      
rebound of faithful labor4 ,the tramp1  
or the man with the heart of a tramp1   
always fails4 ,outwitting others1 he    
outwits himself more truly4 ,he plays   
tricks on his own soul4 ,the weakness   
of his life settles back into his       

spirit4 ,he drags with him always his   
evasions and neglects4 ,scamping his    
toil1 he scamps his own soul4 ,all      
shoddy material gets built into his own 
being4 ,he erects a dishonest house  for
 another1 but with it he erects an evil 
structure in which he himself  must     
live4 ,so it is that a man's work may be
 his blessing1 or it may be  his        
vengeance4    ,while this idea has its  
terrible side1 it has also its side of  
glory and  comfort4 ,it provides amply  
for the failure of the faithful4        
,goldsmith says  that ,good counsel     
rejected returns to enrich the giver's  
bosom1 just as  ,jesus says the declined
 benediction of peace comes back to the 
true  disciple4 ,it follows that for the
 good workman there is no real failure4 
,the house that he has builded may go up
 in smoke and flame1 but the  industry  
and honor that fashioned its walls and  
fashioned themselves in  the making of  
the walls cannot be destroyed4 ,the     
fortune that he has  gathered may take  

wings and fly away1 but the deeper      
treasures that have  been garnered by   
fair-dealing in the marketplace abide in
 the deposit of  the heart4 ,jesus said1
 ,your hearts shall rejoice1 and your   
joy no man  taketh from you4 ,we see    
here that there are possessions that    
human power  cannot remove4 ,they have  
been woven into the self4 ,the treasure 
house is  too deep for the touch of man4
 ,a minor poet tells us3      ,i've     
found some wisdom in my quest           
,that's richly worth retailing2    ,i've
 found that when one does his best      
,there's little harm in failing4    ,he 
corrects this mild statement in his     
concluding verse4 ,he wanted riches1    
but he was rich without them2 he wanted 
to sound the depths with his            
philosophy1 but his ship sailed on      
anyhow2 he wanted fame2 but he          
discovered the secret of greatness      
without it2 and so he adds the lines    
which declare that the failing of the   
faithful not only does little  harm1 but

 even that it furnishes its own         
enrichment of the real life3      ,i may
 not reach what ,i pursue1      ,yet    
will ,i keep pursuing2    ,nothing is   
vain that ,i can do2      ,for          
soul-growth comes from doing4    ,david 
does well that it is in his heart to    
build the ,lord's house1 even  though   
the honor be passed on to another4 ,the 
good purpose helps to make  the good    
man2 and the good purpose that expresses
 itself in work is sure  of the inner   
reward4 ,this conception may be twisted 
into a soft gospel for  the inefficient2
 but the evident purpose of the ,bible  
is to offer it as a  comforting gospel  
for the faithful4    ,it would be easy  
to follow the guidance of the           
,concordance as it notes the  word work 
in the ,epistles4 ,all of the           
conceptions that have thus far  been    
treated reappear in the apostolic       
writings4 ,the symbol of everyday  work 
is constantly lifted to the highest4 ,we
 do not need to see ,paul  bending over 

the sailcloth and thrusting his needle  
into the canvas ere we  know that he is 
a worker4 ,his whole life was one of    
toil4 ,he was not  slothful in his      
apostolic business2 and the fervor of   
his spirit would  have been a good      
example to the ancient mechanic or      
merchant4 ,he saw good  men as his      
colaborers with ,god4 ,he saw the men   
that he helped to make good  as a       
husbandry that he was cultivating for   
the ,lord1 as a building that he  was   
fashioning for ,christ's sake4 ,the cure
 for thieving was work4 ,he that  stole 
was to steal no more1 but was to work   
with his hands the thing that  was good2
 and the benevolent motive was to impel 
to work that the former  thief might    
have something to give to the needy4 ,it
 was of the hard toil  of servants that 
,paul said1 ,whatsoever good thing any  
man doeth1 the same  shall he receive of
 the ,lord4 ,it is the idea of reaction 
again2 ,god  suffers no faithful worker 
to lose his reward4 ,the apostolic rule 

is very  thoroughgoing in dealing with  
laziness4 ,if any will not work1 neither
  shall he eat4 ,this rule may be an    
offense to the idle rich1 but it        
appeals to the sense of justice4        
,perhaps some day society will be       
skillful  enough to starve its tramps   
and shirks until they flee to toil as to
 a  refuge4    ,it is peculiar that the 
end of the ,bible should have been      
misconceived1  even as the beginning1 in
 its teaching concerning work4 ,we have 
discussed  the heresy that declares that
 work is a penalty of sin4 ,there is    
another  heresy which pictures heaven as
 a place of everlasting idleness4 ,if we
  select certain of the descriptions of 
,revelation1 it is easy to see how  the 
error arose4 ,yet in each of the weird  
pictures of the eternal city  there is  
one sentence at least that hints at     
heavenly service4 ,for  energetic souls 
no other conception will be satisfying4 
,surely inactivity  is not the goal of a
 redeemed race4 ,shortly before his     

death ,mark ,twain  published in a      
magazine a satire on the usual idea of  
heaven4 ,introduced  in a dream to the  
city of our hope1 he was told by an     
attending angel to  take his seat on a  
cloud and to occupy himself by wearing a
 crown and  holding a harp4 ,soon       
becoming weary of this do-nothing life1 
he came down  to the golden streets4 ,he
 was asked to keep for a time the crowns
 and  harps of the passers-by1 and he   
noted that the way was strewn with these
  rejected ornaments6 ,some good people 
may have been offended by the satire2   
and some whose life has been filled with
 weariness will insist that heaven  must
 offer rest4 ,so indeed it must4 ,one   
suggestive passage says concerning  the 
souls of those that were slain for the  
testimony of ,christ that they  should  
rest yet for a little season4 ,those    
that have come out of great  tribulation
 are given service as a reward of their 
tribulation4 ,therefore  are they before
 the throne of ,god and serve him day   

and night in his  temple4 ,in the later 
description the land of rest is seen as 
a land of  work1 and his servants shall 
serve him4 ,the race does not look back 
to a  workless ,eden2 neither does it   
look forward to a workless heaven4      
,kipling  puts it well for either here  
or there3      ,we shall rest1 and1     
faith1 we shall need it1      ,lie down 
for an eon or two1    ,till the ,master 
of all good workmen      ,shall set us  
to work anew4    ,the ideal of the      
,bible is service1 and that ideal is not
 rejected when  life comes to its       
crowning4    ,one of the great hymns of 
the church gives to the worshipers in a 
sanctuary the ,bible's ,gospel of ,work3
      ,yet these are not the only walls 
,wherein thou mayst be sought2    ,on   
homeliest work thy blessing falls       
,in truth and patience wrought4         
,thine is the loom1 the forge1 the mart1
      ,the wealth of land and sea2      
,the worlds of science and of art1      
,revealed and ruled by thee4      ,then 

let us prove our heavenly birth      ,in
 all we do and know1    ,and claim the  
kingdom of the earth      ,for thee1 and
 not thy foe4      ,work shall be       
prayer1 if all be wrought      ,as thou 
wouldst have it done2    ,and prayer1 by
 thee inspired and taught2      ,itself 
with work be one4    ,the biblical ideal
 for earth sends men forth to their     
daily tasks1 while  the biblical ideal  
for heaven breaks its reserve           
sufficiently to show us a  ,city wherein
 the saints at rest are likewise the    
saints at work4          ,,chapter ,,vi 
,,the ,,bible ,,and ,,wealth      ,the  
word wealth as used in this discussion  
does not mean simply great  riches2 it  
rather means those outer and visible    
means which have a certain  purchasing  
power and which gain their value from   
that fact4 ,the word is  relative at    
best4 ,a wealthy man of fifty years ago 
would by many be deemed  a poor man now2
 while1 in the individual estimate1 one 
man's poverty would  be another man's   

riches4 ,we have all discovered1 too1   
that persons may be  tested by their    
attitude toward little as well as by    
their attitude toward  much4 ,the man   
who breaks down in his use of a thousand
 dollars is not  likely to recover his  
conscience in his use of a million      
dollars4 ,there is  high authority for  
the belief that he that is faithful in a
 few things can  be trusted with        
rulership over many things4 ,this       
principle will apply to  riches quite as
 well as to cities4 ,we must necessarily
 take at large  discount the vigorous   
attack that is made on great wealth by  
the man who  is narrow and selfish in   
his use of moderate wealth4 ,one ray of 
light  falling into a dark dungeon will 
test a man's attitude toward light2 and 
so the real personal attitude toward one
 coin may become the revelation of  a   
human heart4    ,all of us must live    
within the realm of material endeavor4  
,six days of the  week are given by the 
average man in an effort to win worldly 

goods4 ,if1  as is generally supposed1  
,jesus went back from the temple scene  
in  ,jerusalem when he was twelve years 
of age and worked in the village        
carpenter shop until he was thirty1 he  
spent eighteen years in a  remunerative 
employment ere he entered upon the three
 years of public  ministry4 ,it is a    
mechanical conception again2 but it is  
interesting to  observe that the        
proportion of his years spent in his    
trade is the same  six sevenths of the  
time that most men must spend in the    
effort to gain  the necessaries or      
luxuries of life4 ,one has only to stand
 on the streets  of the city in the     
early morning and see the throngs as    
they move to their  places of work to   
appreciate how large a part the wage    
motive plays in  actual living4 ,each   
day many millions of men and women go   
down to the  various marts in order that
 in the evening time they may come back 
from  the struggle with increased gains4
 ,if the ,bible takes an attitude toward

  the spirit that dominates work it must
 also take an attitude toward the       
spirit that dominates the object of     
work4 ,it would be small use to have    
men made right toward toil if they were 
to be twisted in their relation to  the 
proceeds of toil4 ,we should expect1    
then1 that the ,bible would give  some  
explicit teaching to individual men     
concerning the right attitude  toward   
wealth2 and when we turn to the ,holy   
,book this expectation is fully  met4   
,beyond this1 the social consequences of
 wealth are manifold and important4  ,to
 see this point clearly exemplified in a
 wide field1 we have but to  study the  
history of the wars waged by our own    
nation4 ,at some point every  one of    
these great struggles has been caused by
 a false relation to  wealth4 ,just     
where we locate that false relation will
 depend somewhat upon  our prejudices2  
but the dilemma in each case is such    
that we are driven to  locate it        
somewhere4 ,the ,french and ,indian ,war

 was a military debate as to  whether   
the ,english or the ,french should      
gather the furs in the region of  the   
,upper ,ohio and should secure the      
profits in the world's markets4 ,in  the
 settlement of that issue many lives    
were sacrificed4 ,the ,war for          
,independence was caused by taxes--not1 
as many people suppose1 by a tax on  tea
 alone1 but by a long series of taxes   
covering many years4 ,if the  ,english  
had a right to levy the tax and if the  
tax was just1 then the  colonists were  
greedy4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the     
,americans refused to pay  an unjust    
tax1 inspired in their rebellion by a   
lofty spirit of liberty1  then the      
,english were the greedy party4 ,the    
,war of #ahab was caused by the  seizure
 of our vessels on the ,french coast and
 related to freedom of  commerce4 ,the  
dilemma is the same as before4 ,some one
 was at fault in that  commercial war4  
,a wrong attitude toward property caused
 the long-drawn-out  struggle4    ,our  

later wars show the same form of        
contest4 ,historians declare that the   
war with ,mexico was occasioned by the  
desire to extend slavery territory2  by 
the nation's lust for the enlargement of
 her borders2 and by certain  debts owed
 to citizens of the ,united ,states by  
citizens of ,mexico4 ,all of  these     
motives touch somewhere on gold4 ,the   
,civil ,war grew from the same  root of 
all evil4 ,northern men aided in        
bringing ,african slaves to this  land  
in order to turn forced labor into      
money1 while ,southern men  continued   
,african slavery because it was deemed  
necessary for the  production of cotton4
 ,the cry ,cotton is king was not always
 spoken above  a whisper1 but as a      
slogan it caused some fierce struggling4
 ,boston  merchants helped to mob       
,garrison4 ,the sentiment of ,england   
flowed against  the ,north because it   
was thought that the abolishing of      
slavery would  demoralize the markets of
 the world4 ,the hooting crowds that    

,beecher faced  in ,england were        
unconsciously influenced to their       
hostile attitude by a  commercial       
argument4 ,the whole struggle was       
broadened and heightened until  words   
like liberty and unity put a moral      
passion into the fray4 ,but1  while the 
nature of the government and the        
question of human rights were  to be    
settled1 the primary occasion of the    
contest was commercial4    ,nor was the 
war with ,spain any exception to this   
rule4 ,if we absolve the  ,united       
,states from any motive of greed in our 
claim that the struggle was  purely     
humanitarian in its character1 we must  
still grant that the heavy  taxes       
assessed against her ,western colonies  
by the ,spanish government led  to the  
series of revolutions that occasioned   
our interference4 ,thus do we  find that
 somewhere in the heart of each war     
there was the lurking passion  for gold4
 ,when we make up the mournful lists of 
the many thousands whose  lives have    

gone out in these contests1 we can debit
 them against the  spirit of greed4     
,milton in ,paradise ,lost represents   
that the rebellion in  heaven was caused
 by the like lust1 and that ,satan's    
eyes were ever bent  in anxious desire  
toward the very gold of the streets6    
,milton's  imagination concerning heaven
 stands for the historical fact about   
earth4  ,the demon of greed is usually  
the demon of war4    ,the great problems
 of current national life all trench    
upon the same  influence4 ,if money be  
not the principal in each of them it    
comes in as an  important confederate4  
,the tariff problem1 the currency       
problem1 the canal  tolls problem1 the  
trust problem--all these are quickly    
classified by  their names4 ,the        
cleavage between ,american political    
parties for the last  fifty years has   
been made by a wedge of gold4 ,tariff1  
or coinage1 or  trusts--these have been 
the large words of political speech4 ,in
 the  problems that have a more apparent

 moral bearing the same commercial      
element appears4 ,the ,labor ,problem is
 with us quite as acutely as it was     
with the ,romans when long ago the      
plebeians left the city and camped on   
the hillsides1 leaving the patricians to
 do their own manual toil4 ,whether  the
 employer gives too little or the       
employee asks too much in any given     
struggle1 the demon of greed plays his  
part again4 ,in the ,temperance         
,problem the case is even clearer4      
,distillers and brewers and saloonists  
do  not enter their trade because they  
thereby add either to their social      
standing or to their moral peace4 ,we   
cannot eliminate from the problem the   
factor of the human appetite that craves
 a stimulant2 at the same time we  know 
that the motive for the business itself 
comes from the lure of gold4  ,that     
gleam invites many men into a path      
which1 as they themselves know  well1   
cannot lead to any large political      
preferment or to any great  personal    

admirations4    ,the problem of social  
purity is1 of course1 related to another
 human  passion4 ,but there has crept   
into the vocabulary of the people a     
suggestive phrase1 commercialized vice4 
,there is the general feeling  that1 if 
the element of monetary profit could be 
taken from the loathsome  trade1 the    
problem would be much nearer its        
solution4 ,hence we have our  ,red      
,light ,abatement ,laws by which we seek
 to make it dangerous for men to  rent  
their property for the traffic in       
virtue4 ,on the legal side the  present 
efforts at the solution of the problem  
all strive to fix a set of  conditions1 
making commercially unprofitable the    
house of her whose feet  take hold on   
death4 ,if1 as is earnestly contended by
 some1 low wages tend  to furnish the   
recruits for the pitiable ranks of the  
trade in bodies1 we  have another       
commercial factor in the campaign4      
,explain it as we may1 it  is still true
 that money makes the unholy alliances4 

,it is no marvel that  the ,bible has   
sent down to all the centuries its      
phrase1 the mammon of  unrighteousness4 
,of course1 many will overstate the case
 of ,american greed4 ,the ,almighty     
,dollar is not our ,god4 ,our passing   
celebrities may be mere millionaires1   
but our permanent heroes were quite more
 than traders4 ,if we have seemed  more 
commercial than other peoples it has    
been because a new continent  gave such 
sweeping opportunities for wealth4 ,some
 one has said that it is  an evidence of
 the degeneracy of our period that the  
word worth1 which  once had a noble and 
inner significance1 is now controlled by
 the market4  ,the fact that the word   
has gone downhill is taken to mean that 
the people  who use it so have gone     
downhill too6 ,but these verbal         
arguments are not  reliable4 ,while the 
word worth has dropped somewhat from its
 old glory1  the word talent1 which once
 had merely a monetary significance1 has
  mounted to a higher meaning4 ,the one 

word is just as good a witness as the   
other4 ,the truth is that we meet to-day
 the world-old problem4 ,the  evidence  
of this lies in the fact that the ,bible
 dealt with the problem in  emphatic    
fashion4 ,it lists for us the victims of
 greed3 ,lot1 ,gehazi1  ,ananias and    
,sapphira1 ,simon ,magus1 the young     
ruler1 ,judas4 ,we shall find  in its   
pages some general principles by which  
it seeks to warn wealth away  from      
pitfalls and to send it forth to        
service4    ,the first of these         
principles is that ,god is the only and 
absolute ,owner4  ,our human conceit    
makes for us another theory1 and our    
legal codes write  out that theory in   
complicated formulas4 ,we have our clear
 titles and  our quitclaim deeds4       
,formal records at a courthouse tell men
 that we  own houses and lands1 while   
formal certificates assert our right to 
so  many shares of stock or so much     
value in bonds4 ,the ,bible confronts   
our  complacency with its plea for the  

ownership of ,another4 ,god has the only
  clear titles6 ,god has never put his  
signature to a quitclaim deed6 ,the     
courthouse record is a temporary        
convenience2 the higher record gives the
  eternal fact4 ,the silver and the gold
 are ,god's4 ,the cattle on a  thousand 
hills are ,god's4 ,the earth is the     
,lord's1 and the fullness  thereof2 the 
world1 and they that dwell therein4     
,there is here not merely  the assertion
 of a property ownership1 but an        
assertion of the ownership  of the very 
men who think that they own the         
property6 ,the sea and the land  are the
 possessions of ,god4 ,so spiritual a   
prelude as that to the ,gospel  of ,john
 claims a divine dominion1 while many   
words could be quoted from  both        
,testaments which make ,god the one     
august ,possessor4 ,the history of  all 
our materials leads us back to ,god     
alone4 ,he fashioned the wood in  the   
forests4 ,he stored the coal and iron in
 the hills4 ,he packed the  fertility in

 the soil4 ,when we look for the source 
of the medium of  exchange we must go   
back of men to ,god himself4 ,we pursue 
the gold coin to  the bank1 and then to 
the mint1 and then to the mine1 only to 
hear the  silent proclamation of the    
gold itself that it is of ,god4 ,when   
congregations sing3      ,all things    
come of thee1 ,o ,god1    ,and of thine 
own have we given thee1    it is not an 
instance of poetic license in reverence2
 it is sober fact  expressed in worship4
    ,the claim of the ,bible for the    
divine ownership is still more          
comprehensive4 ,all property is his2 all
 men are his4 ,there is1 too1 a bent  of
 human power which ,god confers4 ,we are
 in the habit of speaking of  gifted    
men4 ,the meaning of the word in its    
usual connection must be that  ,god     
gives certain powers to men--to one the 
power of poetry1 to another  the power  
of moving speech1 and to another the    
power of scientific and  inventive      
insight4 ,now there is a suggestive     

verse in ,deuteronomy which  declares   
that it is the ,lord ,god that giveth   
thee power to get this  wealth4 ,the    
thee is collective and refers to the    
people2 but the rule  applies as well to
 the individual4 ,there is no reason for
 supposing that  poetic genius or       
oratorical genius or inventive genius is
 a gift1 while  financial genius is an  
achievement4 ,yet there are probably no 
men who are  more inclined to call      
themselves self-made than are the men   
who pass  from poverty into vast wealth4
 ,their complacency would be diminished1
 and  their humility would be increased1
 if they perceived that all property    
belongs to ,god1 that they themselves   
belong to ,god1 and that their power  to
 get this wealth comes from ,god4 ,we   
find1 then1 that the first sweeping     
principle which the ,scriptures give    
concerning wealth is that ,god is its   
inclusive and ceaseless owner4    ,the  
second principle follows as a matter of 
course4 ,god being the absolute  owner1 

man is a trustee1 a lessee1 a borrower4 
,when the man in the ,new  ,testament   
asked1 ,is it not lawful for me to do   
what ,i will with mine  own8 he may not 
have reached a worthy definition either 
of lawful or of  mine own4 ,he may have 
deemed a loan a final gift1 a lease a   
purchase1 a  possession a creation1 a   
stewardship an ownership4 ,it is just   
this error  that more than any other    
leads to the abuse of wealth4 ,we treat 
it as  personal property1 and the       
personal looks selfward rather than     
,godward4 ,this was the blunder of the  
foolish rich man4 ,his ground brought   
forth plentifully4 ,his crops could not 
be crowded into his granaries4 ,he      
resolved to tear down his barns and to  
build greater4 ,he told his soul to     
eat1 drink1 and be merry1 for that it   
had much goods laid up for many  years4 
,then came the sentence of eviction4 ,in
 a moment the man discovered  that he   
was a tenant and not an owner4 ,whose   
shall those things be which  thou hast  

provided8 ,this is the question that    
every man of means must  ask4 ,wills are
 never shrewd enough to secure the      
property for the dead4  ,jesus said that
 the man who acted on the idea that     
wealth was his own was  a fool4 ,he     
missed the primary point of the divine  
ownership1 and he  missed the secondary 
point of the human trusteeship4 ,all his
 work was  based on impossibilities2 and
 surely this is the supreme foolishness4
    ,this lesson is impressed upon men  
when they return to their former places 
of residence after an absence of many   
years4 ,they recall who owned  yonder   
house1 yonder farm1 yonder lot1 yonder  
block4 ,the old owners are  gone1 and   
the new owners have come4 ,changes of   
apparent ownership have  been entered in
 the civil records2 but these in their  
turn will be  changed4 ,the procession  
of trustees moves down through the      
millenniums2  above the trusteeships is 
one changeless ,owner4 ,we brought      
nothing into  this world1 and it is     

certain we can carry nothing out--this  
is the  surest of edicts4 ,it is said   
that one of the wealthiest of men in our
  nation called his wife to his bedside 
just before he passed away and asked    
her to sing to him1 ,come1 ye sinners1  
poor and needy4 ,the man knew that  in a
 few moments he would be stripped of    
every earthly possession4 ,it was  a    
pungent reply made when one man asked   
another how much a certain rich  man had
 left--,all he had6 was the response4   
,even so4 ,whenever any person  shall   
make a stout claim for his ownership of 
property1 it is a wholesome  lesson if  
he be asked to postpone the discussion  
for a hundred years6    ,the law of     
giving is compulsory4 ,we may defer     
surrender1 but we cannot  avoid         
surrender4 ,the hand may grasp for      
fourscore years1 but its final act  will
 be to let go of every earthly object4  
,the loan must be returned4  ,the       
trusteeship must be dissolved4 ,the     
lease must be transferred4 ,the  account

 must be rendered4 ,directly all that   
remains of the gold is the  reflex of   
gold4 ,we may decide when to give1 to   
what to give1 in what  spirit to give2  
but we may not decide whether we shall  
give4 ,there is  lasting truth in the   
much-quoted epitaph3 ,what ,i spent ,i  
had4 ,what ,i  saved ,i left behind4    
,what ,i gave away ,i took with me4 ,in 
this respect the  whole problem of life 
is the problem of a faithful            
stewardship4 ,this is  the teaching of  
what we may call the commercial         
parables4 ,we are  responsible for the  
use of our talents and pounds to an     
authority higher  than our own4 ,the    
trustees pass away4 ,the ,owner abideth 
forever4    ,the third biblical         
principle declares that this stewardship
 is attended by  grave temptations4 ,for
 a hasty reading the ,new ,testament    
judgment will  seem like a reversal of  
the ,old ,testament judgment4 ,the      
ancient record  often traces a relation 
between piety and prosperity4 ,jacob's  

proposal at  ,bethel reads like a       
bargain struck in the market place4 ,the
 book of ,job  was meant to correct this
 error and to drive from the world those
 needless  suspicions that would be     
directed against the sick and the poor4 
,in the  vigorous debate with his       
friends the patriarch declines to plead 
guilty to  the charge that his bodily   
ills and property losses are the results
 of his  sins4 ,but although the        
commercial value of piety may often be  
found among  ,old ,testament motives1   
still there is a constant offset4 ,the  
period of  plenty is described as       
accompanied by a leanness of soul4 ,the 
deeper  insight of the psalmist saw the 
end of the man who made not ,god his    
strength1 but trusted in the abundance  
of his riches4 ,then there stood  before
 him the perplexing sight of prosperous 
wickedness1 the bad man  spreading      
himself as the green bay tree and having
 everything that heart  could wish4     
,slowly the artificial nexus that had   

been fashioned between  piety and       
prosperity and wickedness and misfortune
 was broken1 and men  began to seek for 
the different types of reward in their  
own fields4 ,more  stress was laid upon 
the methods by which wealth was gained1 
and more upon  its charitable uses4 ,the
 prophets came to thunder against a     
false outer  prosperity and to give     
their advance hints of the wealth of the
 kingdom of  ,god4    ,in its warnings  
the ,new ,testament is still more       
emphatic4 ,the word  riches becomes most
 often a symbol of the higher wealth of 
spirit4 ,it is  made over into deeper   
meaning4 ,besides1 the early ,christian 
leaders saw  the enticing dangers of    
wealth4 ,visits to ,ephesus or ,corinth 
or ,rome made  them see how multitudes  
could be caught in the snare of riches1 
while  examples among the ,jews gave    
them the same lesson with a personal    
emphasis4 ,there were likewise some     
concrete illustrations of a most        
forbidding kind4 ,judas betrayed ,jesus 

for thirty pieces of silver4 ,the  lust 
of the treasury had betrayed him ere he 
betrayed his ,lord4 ,the first          
persecution of the ,christian ,church   
was caused by greed4 ,it is written1    
,and when her masters saw that the hope 
of their gains was gone1 they  caught   
,paul and ,silas1 and drew them into the
 market place unto the  rulers4 ,soon   
the two missionaries are beaten with    
rods and are taken to  the inner prison4
 ,the second persecution of the church  
was caused by the  same spirit of greed4
 ,demetrius1 the silversmith1 makes his 
appeal to his  fellow-craftsmen3 ,sirs1 
ye know that by this craft we have our  
wealth4  ,moreover ye see and hear1 that
 not alone at ,ephesus1 but almost      
throughout  all ,asia1 this ,paul hath  
persuaded and turned away much people1  
saying  that they be no gods1 which are 
made with hands3 ,so that 444 this our  
craft is in danger to be set at naught4 
,as is the custom of men with the       
commercial heart1 he lifted the issue to

 a specious height and made his  plea   
for ,diana of the ,ephesians6    ,with  
the memory of ,christ's betrayal and of 
the first two persecutions of  their    
brethren fresh in their memories1 it is 
no marvel that the ,new  ,testament     
writers began to stress the perils of   
greed4 ,the work of ,luke as  a         
physician had doubtless given him an    
intense sympathy with the poor1 and  his
 ,gospel records eagerly our ,lord's    
warnings to the rich4 ,james in his     
,epistle fairly bristles with           
indictments against the rich4 ,he asks3 
,do  not rich men oppress you1 and draw 
you before the judgment seats8 ,do not  
they blaspheme that worthy name by the  
which ye are called8 ,when he wrote     
thus did he have visions of ,ephesus and
 ,philippi8 ,later he breaks into       
violence1 ,go to now1 ye rich men1 weep 
and howl for your miseries that  shall  
come upon you4 ,your riches are         
corrupted1 and your garments are        
moth-eaten4 ,your gold and silver is    

cankered2 and the rust of them shall  be
 a witness against you1 and shall eat   
your flesh as it were fire4 ,the  later 
verses indicate that he saw their       
injustice to the poor laborers and      
heard the cries which these poor had    
sent into the ears of the ,lord of      
,sabaoth4 ,severe as the indictment is1 
we can see how it was prompted by       
memory as well as by scenes of recent   
greed4 ,moreover1 we have all known     
modern cases to which the language would
 apply4 ,if the ,bible is to be         
complete1 it must give room to such     
indignant words as these4    ,the       
records would show that ,paul included  
among his friends men and women  of     
worldly means2 still his words of       
chiding and warning are not withheld4   
,he writes of a cloak of covetousness4  
,he had seen men don that cloak--by     
their paltry excuses for withholding    
gifts2 by their effort to make an       
intent for the future stifle a present  
cry for help2 by a deft transfer of     

income to principal which must not be   
disturbed2 by the plea that  luxuries   
were necessities2 by a recital of past  
generosities2 by setting  one good cause
 against another4 ,all these modern     
cloaks ,paul doubtless  found in the    
wardrobes of long ago4 ,he carries the  
charge against  covetousness on until he
 identifies it with heathenism4 ,he     
writes of the  covetousness which is    
idolatry1 and in yet another place he   
speaks of  the covetous man who is an   
idolater1 as if he wished to make the   
charge  personal4 ,idolatry is the      
worship of something less than ,god4    
,when1  therefore1 any man bows down to 
idols of silver and gold erected in     
banks  rather than by temple altars1 he 
joins the ranks of the idolatrous4 ,he  
may  be even worse than those idolaters 
who strive to reach beyond their        
hideous images if haply they may feel   
after ,god and find him4 ,these words   
of ,paul are urgent warnings that       
covetousness may destroy personal       

genuineness and may defeat spiritual    
worship4 ,greed may shut us away from   
both man and ,god4    ,but the apostle's
 strongest word is given in his counsel 
to ,timothy1 a  young man whose ideals  
he would seek to mold4 ,we can imagine  
the  impression the advice made upon the
 susceptible youth when he read ,paul's 
letter in rich and worldly ,ephesus4    
,they that will be rich fall into       
temptation and a snare1 and into many   
foolish and hurtful lusts1 which  drown 
men in destruction and perdition4 ,for  
the love of money is the root  of all   
evil3 which while some coveted after1   
they have erred from the  faith1 and    
pierced themselves through with many    
sorrows4 ,it is a modern  account again4
 ,the twentieth century has already     
given thousands of  illustrations of the
 same apostasy4 ,as for the wide        
statement that the  love of money is the
 root of all evil1 we have but to review
 these pages  to find the commentary4   
,every item in the catalogue of crimes  

finds a  partner in greed4              
,intemperance1 lust1 war1 thieving1     
murder1 betrayal1  persecution1         
untruthfulness--all these grow from the 
root of greed4 ,no  heedless joking     
about the root can vacate the language  
or permit the  love of money to declare 
its innocence4    ,in addition to these 
positive statements sprinkled throughout
 the ,book1  there is a negative        
testimony that may well be given a      
hearing4 ,if we were  to search the     
pages for warnings against poverty we   
would find that the  search was         
difficult and that it met with slight   
returns4 ,the prayer of  ,agur in the   
book of ,proverbs is1 perhaps1 the only 
assured instance4 ,he  pleads3 ,give me 
neither poverty nor riches2 feed me with
 the food that is  needful for me3 ,lest
 ,i be full1 and deny thee1 and say1    
,who is ,jehovah8 or  lest ,i be poor1  
and steal1 and use profanely the name of
 my ,god4 ,there  is here a recognition 
of the peril of discontent in poverty1  

as well as of  the peril of dishonesty1 
and the peril of a blasphemous          
indictment against  ,god4 ,we may take  
the warning at its full value4 ,some    
people of every age  will need its plain
 speaking4 ,but what shall we say of the
 biblical idea  of the peril of wealth1 
when its chapters yield many scores of  
warnings as  contrasted with this lonely
 warning about poverty8 ,it would seem  
permissible to paraphrase a ,bible      
comparison of persons and to say that   
poverty has slain its thousands but     
wealth its tens of thousands6 ,even     
this comparison falls short1 if we      
measure it by the biblical proportion   
of teaching4 ,the silence of the ,bible 
gives us here a significant lesson4     
,we now approach the supreme authority  
in the teaching and example of  ,jesus4 
,the elective method here will give a   
man the result he most wishes4  ,the    
boisterous agitator can make choice of  
passages that will serve his  harsh     
purpose1 while the defender of his own  

unconsecrated surplus may  quote us     
passages that give him great comfort4   
,the one will tell us of  ,jesus's words
 to the young ruler2 of his command     
against laying up  treasures on earth2  
and of a hard-and-fast interpretation of
 the parable  of ,dives and ,lazarus4   
,the other will tell us of the praise   
bestowed on  successful traders2 of the 
inclusion of the wealthy among ,christ's
 friends  and disciples2 and of the law 
of the larger returns for the larger    
powers  and larger industry so plainly  
enunciated in the parables of the       
talents  and the pounds4 ,the           
fragmentary method leads here to        
confusion and to the  wildest           
partisanship4 ,the teaching of ,jesus   
must be taken in its  completeness4     
,that teaching must1 also1 be judged by 
the attitude of ,jesus toward men4  ,the
 well-to-do were in his band of         
disciples4 ,the father of ,john and     
,james  had servants2 and when ,jesus   
died on the ,cross ,john had evidently a

  comfortable home to which the mother  
of ,jesus was taken4 ,nicodemus was     
rich4 ,yet in his conversation with him 
,christ is not represented as making  a 
demand that the ruler of the ,jews      
should give up his wealth4 ,the demand  
was far more comprehensive4 ,zaccheus   
was rich4 ,but in the table             
conversation with the publican there is 
no call to voluntary poverty4  ,joseph  
of ,arimathea was rich4 ,still he       
appears to have been numbered with  the 
disciples and to have had the honor of  
providing the sepulcher for the  body of
 ,christ4 ,all this would make it       
certain that some of our ,lord's        
teaching was directed toward an         
individual danger and so was not meant  
for a universal application4 ,the fact  
that ,peter said to ,simon ,magus1 ,thy 
money perish with thee1 does not warrant
 us in repeating the same words  to     
every man who possesses some wealth4    
,the rebuke was evoked by a  personal   
and peculiar attitude4 ,if the teaching 

of ,jesus1 as he dealt with  rich men1  
varied in a marked degree1 it is only   
reasonable to suppose that  he was      
fitting his message to the individual   
subject4 ,the fallacy of the  universal 
has not yet departed from our treatment 
of the words of ,christ4    ,but even   
when we take the whole of ,jesus's      
teaching rather than any  fraction      
thereof1 and after we have given full   
consideration to the  personal element  
in his method1 there is still a sobering
 remainder with  which we must deal4    
,the attempt to make the parable of     
,dives and ,lazarus a  straight contrast
 between the final fate of a rich man   
and that of a poor  man cannot succeed4 
,lazarus was not sent to heaven because 
he was poor4 ,he  was not given a place 
in ,abraham's bosom on the ground of his
 poverty of  circumstances1 but on the  
ground of his wealth of character4 ,any 
other  conclusion is abhorrent to the   
moral sense4 ,should poverty admit to   
heaven1 some of the most unmitigated    

rascals are sure to meet the  conditions
 of entrance4 ,nor was ,dives sent to   
hell because he was rich4  ,the contrast
 in earthly conditions of which ,abraham
 reminds him cannot  fairly be taken to 
mean that the reward of poverty is      
heaven and the  penalty of wealth is    
hell4 ,the meaning is that earthly      
plenty and earthly  want cannot prevent 
the rounding out of ,god's purposes4    
,condition will  inevitably come to     
correspond with real character4 ,should 
any rich man be  minded to plead with   
himself that his wealth was1 in itself1 
any evidence  that its owner was        
entitled to special privileges in the   
next world  corresponding to his special
 privileges in this world1 this parable 
would  meet him with its needed         
corrective4    ,the command1 ,lay not up
 for yourselves treasures upon earth1   
where moth  and rust doth corrupt1 and  
where thieves break through and steal1  
has  been taken by many as a literal    
command4 ,usually1 however1 those who so

  take it are ready to substitute a     
theory which would ask the community to 
break the literal demand by laying up   
treasures for us4 ,we must read to  the 
end of the passage4 ,jesus's concern is 
about the heart4 ,he wishes to          
establish the direction of the treasure 
because he knows that in this way  the  
direction of the heart will be          
established4 ,if money is hoarded with a
  selfish purpose1 the heart goes to    
selfishness4 ,if money is given for a   
holy cause1 the heart goes into the     
cause4 ,on the other hand1 if money is  
saved in order that the provident parent
 may give his child a better  fitness   
for life1 the parental heart is invested
 in the child4 ,if money is  not hoarded
 at all1 but is given for an evil cause1
 the heart takes that  same evil        
direction4 ,the emphasis of ,jesus is   
spiritual again4 ,the money  does       
something with the heart1 and the motive
 of either saving or giving  determines 
the heart action4 ,it is the law of     

action and reaction at  work in another 
realm4 ,men say that the way to a man's 
purse is through  his heart2 and men say
 well4 ,jesus1 while accepting the      
statement that  there can be no true    
benevolence that does not come from the 
heart1 still  says that often the way to
 a man's heart is through his purse4 ,it
 is one  of those practical rules whose 
working we have seen many times4 ,we    
persuade a man to send his money into a 
hospital1 a college1 a library1  and his
 heart follows his money4 ,the terrible 
thing that ,jesus saw in  selfish       
hoarding was just that2 and the glorious
 thing that he saw in  generous giving  
was just that4 ,the good and the evil of
 earthly treasure  is that it fixes the 
journeys of the heart2 it makes a       
spiritual  geography4    ,there is      
another word of ,jesus about the        
deceitfulness of riches4 ,the  phrase   
piques us into a search for its meaning4
 ,there is no evidence that  ,christ    
meant that riches deceived us by flying 

away4 ,the tricks which they  play upon 
men are far more subtle than sudden     
departure4 ,jesus meant that  riches    
remained with men and still carried on  
the deceiving work4 ,we have  all seen  
enough of life to know some of the      
deceptions4 ,one friend began  his      
business career with the idea that he   
would be content with a hundred         
thousand2 he is now utterly restless    
with his million4 ,another friend gave  
to worthy causes a far larger proportion
 of his meager income in the day  of    
struggle than he now gives of his       
plethoric income in the day of          
prosperity4 ,still another friend in the
 old days was simple and humble in  all 
his attitudes toward life1 while in the 
new days of wealth he has  become proud 
in spirit and complex in his living4 ,we
 have all seen men  whose souls lessened
 as their riches greatened4 ,all these  
are  illustrations of ,jesus's teaching 
about the deceitfulness of riches4 ,the 
tragic thing is that the men who are the

 victims of the deceitfulness are  not  
aware of the sad inner effects4 ,men do 
not know that they are stingy2  they are
 only prudent and economical6 ,so runs  
the miserable deceit4 ,it  requires a   
moment of marked self-revelation to     
enable these men to  classify themselves
 with truth4 ,over the ,bank of ,england
 men read the  words1 ,the ,earth is the
 ,lord's4 ,this describes the source of 
wealth4  ,over many financial           
institutions it might be good to put    
another motto as  a reminder of a       
possible effect of wealth1 ,the         
,deceitfulness of ,riches4    ,we now   
face the utterance of ,christ with      
reference to a double mastery  over     
life4 ,he asserts that no man can serve 
two masters1 without love  for the one  
and hatred for the other4 ,when he seeks
 for the power that is  most likely to  
contest with ,god for the allegiance of 
man he selects  ,mammon4 ,hence he      
states the dilemma without modification1
 ,ye cannot serve  ,god and ,mammon4 ,he

 did not select ,pleasure as the        
opponent of ,god1 nor  ,ambition1 nor   
,impurity1 nor ,dishonesty4 ,he saw     
clearly that ,mammon had the  greatest  
power to draw men into life-long        
service4 ,other sins might be           
occasional contestants1 but the sin of  
greed was the constant foe seeking  to  
cleave the loyalty of men4 ,jesus did   
not say that we could not serve  ,god   
with ,mammon4 ,elsewhere he says the    
very opposite of that4 ,but he did  say 
unequivocally1 ,ye cannot serve ,god and
 ,mammon4 ,perhaps these six  words1    
more nearly than any other1 give us the 
heart of ,jesus's teaching  about       
wealth4 ,they state in simple and direct
 form the alternatives for  many lives4 
,we can serve ,god with ,mammon4 ,we can
 serve ,god or ,mammon4  ,we cannot     
serve ,god and ,mammon4 ,what ,christ   
states as an impossibility  many men try
 to accomplish4 ,we see the vain efforts
 daily--men putting  their greatest     
diligence into the market place as an   

end1 with an  occasional tribute to the 
temple4 ,this is the most frequent form 
of the  double life4 ,it is the poor    
compromise of a half-hearted or         
tenth-hearted service4 ,jesus said that 
,god or ,mammon must win the whole  man4
 ,the ,god and the god cannot dwell in  
the same heart4 ,jesus here  thrusts us 
back to the original biblical principle3
 ,god is the ,absolute  ,owner4 ,he will
 not share his rule4 ,he will not       
partition his empire4  ,mammon must     
yield to ,god4 ,thus ,jesus enters all  
markets and counting rooms  and banks   
with his demand for undivided hearts and
 undivided lives4    ,there is another  
saying of ,jesus which is more          
frequently quoted1 both  because it is  
in itself so radical and because it is  
accompanied by a  vigorous figure of    
speech4 ,besides these two attractions1 
the words have  an appealing setting in 
a human life4 ,the young ruler comes to 
,jesus with  his eager question4 ,he    
stands before the ,lord as a fine type  

of promising  manhood--fresh1 alert1    
clean1 and even reverent4 ,he is able to
 say1  without rebuke1 that from his    
youth up he has kept the commandments   
and  that his life has moved on a high  
grade of morals4 ,the record tells us   
that ,jesus1 looking upon him1 loved    
him4 ,but in this instance1 instead  of 
meeting the young man's question with   
the demand for a new birth1 as  ,jesus  
did with ,nicodemus1 or with the        
acceptance of hospitality1 as ,jesus    
did with ,zaccheus1 ,jesus asked that he
 sell all his goods and give to the     
poor1 and that then he should follow the
 ,lord in his homeless life4 ,often  the
 comment omits this last demand4 ,it may
 be that it is the more  important      
demand1 and that it is the reason for   
the minor requirement4  ,other disciples
 had left all in order to follow ,jesus2
 and this man was  now asked to do      
likewise4 ,evidently the teaching here  
has the individual  quality4 ,christ    
knew that the young man had set his     

heart on his riches1  and that the only 
way to a true discipleship was through  
utter surrender4    ,we cannot read the 
story without feeling a measure of      
sympathy for the  young ruler2 and we   
may confess that we ourselves would     
scarcely have been  equal to the severe 
test4 ,the situation1 however1 can be   
estimated in  another way--not by our   
imagination1 but by our admiration4     
,certain men in  ,christian history have
 done exactly what ,jesus asked this    
young man to do4  ,john ,wesley did it2 
making much money1 he continued to live 
on his  allowance of twenty-eight pounds
 a year and gave the rest to a needy    
world4 ,when he was an old man he wrote 
to the assessor that his taxable        
property consisted of two silver spoons 
at ,bristol6 ,saint ,francis of  ,assisi
 gave up all his earthly possessions4   
,at the altar of the church he          
deliberately took poverty as his bride4 
,the heroes of complete  renunciation   
have been many2 and the world's verdict 

has not been that  they were fanatics4  
,they heard the call of ,god that they  
should surrender  all and give to the   
various kinds of poor2 they heeded the  
command1 and  they won their fame by    
their surrender4 ,we can make a more    
direct test  than this4 ,if this young  
man had heeded ,christ's word1 and had  
given all  that he had to the poor1 and 
had followed the ,lord--what would have 
been  the result8 ,would he have won the
 world's admiration by his              
self-renunciation8 ,would he now be     
known only by the virtually anonymous   
title of a certain ruler8 ,we can see   
that he was offered a wonderful         
opportunity4 ,he would have been        
enrolled among the saints of the early  
church1 if he had risen to the higher   
choice4 ,an ,english writer has  pointed
 out that the young man was not angered 
by the word of ,christ2 he  was         
saddened4 ,he went away sorrowful1 and  
his sorrow was for himself4  ,he went   
back to his riches and was lost to the  

sight of the world4 ,he is  now known   
even anonymously only because he had a  
brief conversation with  ,one who had   
not where to lay his head4    ,jesus saw
 the young man's retreating figure and  
then spoke his own  sorrowful           
exclamation1 ,how hardly shall they that
 have riches enter  into the kingdom of 
,god6 ,the account in the ,gospel of    
,mark indicates that  the disciples were
 amazed by the saying1 just as the men  
of the world  have wondered ever since4 
,seeing this amazement1 ,jesus added1   
,children1  how hard is it for them that
 trust in riches to enter into the      
kingdom of  ,god6 ,it is easier for a   
camel to go through the eye of a needle1
 than for  a rich man to enter into the 
kingdom of ,god4 ,it was a startling    
figure of  speech--an hyperbole1 as the 
later conversation with the disciples   
would  show1 unless1 indeed1 the saying 
refers to a certain gate of the city    
through which only the unburdened camel 
could enter4 ,this figure of speech  has

 held the attention of the world for    
centuries4 ,strangely enough1 the       
nineteenth century had a peculiar       
illustration of an accommodated meaning 
of the word needle4 ,we cannot help     
wondering what the people of many       
generations hence would think if they   
were to read in ancient history that  in
 the latter part of the nineteenth      
century a certain millionaire paid  more
 than one hundred thousand dollars for  
bringing ,cleopatra's needle  to        
,america4 ,superficial as the suggestion
 is1 it illustrates the manner in  which
 a figure of speech could easily be     
pulled off into a path of false         
literalism4    ,but if we take the view 
that the expression was either a vivid  
hyperbole  or the description of a local
 gate1 the warning still abides in      
strength4  ,it is hard for a rich man to
 enter into the kingdom of ,god4 ,it is 
sometimes very hard for him to remain   
there when his entrance into the        
kingdom preceded his entrance into      

wealth4 ,experienced pastors will tell  
us that not many wealthy are called4    
,yet ,jesus distinctly declared that    
the rich could enter into the ,kingdom4 
,the disciples1 astonished out of       
measure1 said1 ,who1 then1 can be saved8
 ,jesus replied1 ,with men it is        
impossible1 but not with ,god3 for with 
,god all things are possible4 ,it is    
not right that the man who clamors      
against the rich should omit this       
assurance from the teaching4 ,jesus says
 that a rich man can be brought  into   
the ,kingdom4 ,he offers this as one of 
the evidences of the divine             
omnipotence--that the power of ,god can 
break through the complacency1 the      
self-content1 the tangle of materialism1
 and can win men from the  idolatry of  
gold to the love and worship of ,god4   
,this message of ,jesus to the young    
ruler1 and through him to the world1 is 
not always welcome to the ears of the   
rich4 ,the religious teacher may be     
tempted to discount its meaning and to  

relieve in some way the severity of  the
 words4 ,yet an age of growing wealth   
needs this lesson1 and needs it  with an
 increased emphasis4 ,the trend of the  
,bible serves as a commentary  on the   
same lesson4 ,if the ,bible is to serve 
as the book of guidance1 then  we are   
justified in saying that the path of    
material wealth is the path of          
spiritual peril4    ,if we halted our   
lesson here1 we should be guilty of a   
partial use of the  ,bible4 ,the fourth 
principle of the great ,book is that the
 stewardship of  wealth offers glorious 
opportunities4 ,it offers the           
opportunity of aiding  the poor4 ,john  
wrote1 ,whoso hath this world's good1   
and seeth his brother  have need1 and   
shutteth up his bowels of compassion    
from him1 how dwelleth  the love of ,god
 in him8 ,it offers the opportunity of  
caring for the  unfortunate1 as         
illustrated in the parable of the good  
,samaritan4 ,when  ,jesus uttered this  
parable1 he laid the foundations of many

 hospitals4 ,it  offers the opportunity 
of paying personal tributes of          
affection1 as  exemplified in the       
offering to the ,lord of the precious   
ointment4 ,it  offers the opportunity of
 furnishing honest employment as a field
 of  personal fidelity1 as taught in the
 parables of the talents and the        
pounds4 ,it offers the opportunity of   
projecting our influence to the ends  of
 the world1 as taught by those who aided
 ,paul on his missionary journeys  and  
by those who sent gifts whereby the     
gospel should be promoted in all  the   
earth4 ,but the ,bible does not give any
 set of rules for the use of  wealth4   
,it asserts the primacy of ,god4 ,it    
commands the spirit of love4 ,it        
stresses the probationary character of  
possessions4 ,it declares in the  word  
of ,christ that any man makes a         
disastrous bargain who gains the whole  
world and in the transaction loses      
himself4    ,finally ,jesus relates our 
use of money to the eternal issues4 ,he 

does this  in a very simple and direct  
way1 and in the form of an imperative4  
,in the  more skilled translation of the
 ,revised ,version we read1 ,make to    
yourselves friends by means of the      
mammon of unrighteousness1 that when it 
shall fail1 they may receive you into   
the eternal tabernacles4 ,it appears    
here that worldly possessions may be    
either the mammon of  unrighteousness or
 the maker of everlasting friendships4  
,by the right use  of gold and silver   
men can people the gates of heaven with 
welcomers4 ,it  shall fail1 says        
,christ1 referring to wealth4 ,they may 
receive you1 he  says1 referring to     
those human lives that are our only     
permanent  investments4 ,the final      
emphasis of ,jesus in giving the very   
crown of the  ,bible teaching concerning
 wealth1 great or small1 is that his    
followers  shall so use the coin stamped
 with the image of some earthly ,csar as
 to  produce in men and women and       
children the image of the heavenly      

,lord4 ,the  lower commerce is to serve 
the higher commerce4 ,faneuil ,hall may 
keep its  market place1 but it must be  
subordinated to that upper room wherein 
men  learn the lessons of truth and     
liberty and righteousness4 ,the ,age of 
,gold  can help to make the ,golden     
,age4 ,the problem of wealth will not be
 solved  until all men hold their riches
 as willing trustees of ,him who himself
 was  rich and who for our sakes became 
poor1 that we through his poverty might 
be rich4          ,,chapter ,,vii       
,,the ,,bible ,,and ,,sorrow      ,one  
who is jealous for the reputation of the
 ,bible as a complete ,book of  life    
must sometimes feel that undue emphasis 
has been placed upon its  messages for  
the sorrowing4 ,if the jealousy does not
 entertain just this  feeling1 it has   
the resembling fear--that the biblical  
message for sorrow  has been emphasized 
until it has hidden the message for     
gladness4 ,as a  necessary prelude to a 
discussion of the ,bible's relation to  

the sorrow of  the world1 we shall treat
 its meaning for the world's gladness4  
,we are  willing to use the word        
pleasure in this connection1 though     
pleasure is  classed as representing a  
mood less deep than the mood of joy4    
,some of us  can recall the surprise we 
experienced in reading ,lubbock's ,the  
,pleasures  of ,life4 ,one chapter dealt
 with ,the ,pleasure of ,duty4 ,this    
title caused  us no wonder4 ,but the    
next chapter astonished us with the     
heading1 ,the  ,duty of ,pleasure4 ,we  
quickly found ourselves asking whether  
there was  such a duty4 ,is it an       
obligation laid on men and women to seek
 for a  proportion of pleasure8 ,are the
 light joys of life to be classed with  
our  duties8 ,lubbock answered these    
questions in the affirmative4 ,what     
reply  does the ,bible give8            
,certainly we can say in the beginning  
that1 if we take a review of its  pages1
 the ,bible does not impress us as being
 a mournful book4 ,this is  significant 

when we note the fact that its pages    
were all written by  mature and serious 
persons4 ,even more1 the pages were     
written with  reference to some of the  
most serious and sacred elements and    
events in  life4 ,vast solemnities      
evoked many sections of the ,bible4 ,we 
should expect  that the seriousness of  
the authors and the critical importance 
of the  events would touch the ,book and
 would dominate its spirit4 ,it is even 
so4  ,our worthier thought would not    
have it otherwise4 ,if the ,bible had   
been  simply the inspiration and guide  
for the world's playgrounds1 it would   
have lost the most of its soul4    ,for 
a volume whose materials were jokes and 
whose primary purpose was  laughter     
might have a legitimate mission1 but it 
would have difficulty in  being rated as
 redemptive literature4 ,the real       
humorist is doubtless one  of ,god's    
agents in lifting the troubles of       
mankind2 but ,providence sees to  it    
that humorists are not so plentiful as  

to destroy our sense of  proportion4    
,each generation is granted a small     
group of men who set the  world aglee   
and become the distributors of smiles   
and laughter4 ,the  appreciation of     
humor1 also1 is placed in the nature of 
each normal  person2 but the continual  
demand for humor becomes a plague4 ,men 
know  instinctively that for the        
greatest things it will not suffice4    
,there is a  story to the effect that   
one of the most renowned ,americans was 
not  allowed to write the ,declaration  
of ,independence because it was feared  
that he might work a joke into the      
historic document4 ,true or false1 the  
story stands for a fact--that humor is a
 secondary form of service and  that the
 big crises insist that humor shall stay
 in its own realm4    ,none the less the
 ,bible is not a stranger to the play   
element4 ,as we march  through its life 
we see smiles and hear laughter4        
,children are there in  their careless  
gladness4 ,young men and maidens are    

there in their innocent  pleasures4     
,games are there with their delight of  
striving4 ,parties are  there with their
 gayety and music4 ,we pass through     
pages of darkness only  to emerge into  
pages of sunshine4 ,we sit down at      
,marah and find the  brackish and bitter
 waters and hear the murmuring of the   
,israelites4 ,but  the next day we come 
to ,elim1 with its twelve pure and      
gushing wells and  its threescore and   
ten palm trees4 ,this transition is what
 we would  anticipate in a ,book of real
 life1 and it is what fits the ,bible to
 be the  guide of total life4 ,a joyless
 book could not control a joyful world2 
neither could a sorrowless book control 
a sorrowful world4 ,the ,bible must     
have a message for both types of        
experience4    ,there is a theological  
reason for this twofold message4 ,we    
have been told  by our religious        
teachers that ,christ1 being tempted1   
can succor those  that are tempted4 ,the
 ,man of ,sorrows can save the people of

 sorrows4 ,the  ,high ,priest is touched
 with the feeling of our infirmities4   
,the ,captain of  our salvation was made
 perfect through suffering4 ,he learned 
obedience  through the things he        
suffered4 ,the world is made acquainted 
with the  sorrowing ,saviour of the     
sorrowing world4 ,still we have been    
slow to apply  our theology to the other
 side of life4 ,the forged letter of    
,publius  ,lentulus stated that ,jesus  
had often been seen to weep1 but never  
to  smile6 ,the mischief of such a      
misconception is apparent4 ,it provides 
for a  mutilated theology4 ,it gives the
 world a fractional ,christ4 ,it leaves 
the  hour of gladness without its       
,exemplar4 ,it gives comfort for a      
funeral1 but  no companionship for a    
feast4 ,in the average life the realm of
 joy is  larger than the realm of       
sorrow4 ,few people would declare that  
with them  sadness had exceeded         
gladness4 ,the world needs to-day the   
,saviour of the  joyful1 even as it     

needs the ,saviour of the sorrowful4    
,joy that refuses to  be curbed needs   
saving power just as does sorrow that   
refuses to be  comforted4 ,we need not  
enter into any needless comparison and  
try to state  which has the more need4  
,it is sufficient to affirm that a      
complete ,bible  must take account of   
pleasures and joys1 if these are to be  
counted among  the divinely appointed   
experiences of life4    ,we do not long 
study the ,bible without becoming aware 
of its law of  proportion4 ,it gives the
 word in season1 and it gives the word  
in measure4  ,hence its aim is to       
cultivate proportion in human lives4    
,its ideal is the  ideal of a holy ,god1
 that is1 of ,one with a perfect balance
 of the  infinite nature4 ,its ideal for
 man must1 therefore1 be that man shall 
gain  for himself that balance in the   
human realm that ,god has in his divine 
realm4 ,for this reason the ,bible is a 
curber of excesses1 a restorer of       
proportions4 ,it gives here its largest 

lesson for pleasure4 ,recognizing  its  
legitimacy1 it recognizes its limits as 
well4 ,as an example from both          
,testaments we may give a statement of  
conduct that receives rebuke from       
,moses and from ,paul4 ,it is recorded  
in ,exodus that1 after their riotings   
with the golden calf1 the ,israelites   
proceeded to engage in riotings of      
pleasure4 ,the ancient account puts it1 
,the people sat down to eat and to      
drink1 and rose up to play4 ,saint ,paul
 quotes it in ,first ,corinthians in    
precisely its original form4 ,in the    
early account the rebuke of the ,lord   
awaits the people4 ,in the later account
 the apostle makes the conduct the      
natural accompaniment of idolatry1 as if
 indeed the worship of an image  would  
issue into the idolatry of the table and
 the playground4 ,now eating  and       
drinking are not only good2 they are    
necessary4 ,play is not only good2  it  
is necessary4 ,the ,bible declares that 
food and water are the gifts of  ,god1  

and it makes them symbols of ,god's     
deeper benevolence4 ,nor does the       
,bible ever condemn play4 ,on the       
contrary1 it represents the streets of  
the  ,holy ,city as filled with playing 
children4 ,the trouble1 then1 must have 
been in the lack of proportion as well  
as in the lack of a good motive4  ,the  
people sat down to eat and drink1 and   
they rose up to play4 ,this is to  say  
that the two constant movements of life 
were monopolized by appetite  and sport4
 ,the ,israelites ate to play1 and they 
played to eat4 ,two things  intended to 
be legitimate portions of life became   
its illegitimate  entirety4 ,designed to
 be preludes1 eating and drinking and   
playing became  the whole program4 ,life
 consisted in the satisfaction of two   
ranges of  desire4 ,the demand of ,moses
 and ,paul was not that eating and      
drinking and  playing should be         
abolished1 but that they should be      
pushed back into  their just proportions
 as worthy departments of living4 ,the  

glutton of  food and the glutton of play
 are both condemned by the ,bible4      
,there are those who say that one of the
 crying evils of our own day is  that   
the people are appetite-mad and         
pleasure-mad4 ,probably some men in     
every age have brought this charge      
against their time2 and the charge is   
true as applied to some persons in each 
period4 ,for such the ,bible has its    
repeated warning4 ,they who are lovers  
of pleasure more than of ,god fall      
under condemnation4 ,mankind has never  
long admired the eaters and players  of 
history4 ,if it remembers ,beau ,brummel
 and ,beau ,nash at all1 it enrolls     
them in its lists of ridicule4 ,an      
epitaph which recorded that ,he ate much
  of the time and played the rest of the
 time1 would not serve to enroll a  man 
among the earth's heroes6 ,the ,bible   
and humanity are against the  unbalanced
 devotees of the table and the parlor   
and the field of sports4    ,but the    
,bible and humanity unite again in their

 estimate of the other  extreme4 ,the   
mere ascetic secures curiosity rather   
than admiration4 ,he  has not learned   
how to follow ,him who often went to    
feasts and who sat  down with his       
friends at the supper which they gave   
him at ,bethany4 ,it is  said of him    
that he was anointed with the oil of joy
 above his fellows4  ,jesus entered into
 the normal joys of life4 ,he came      
eating and drinking1  until his enemies 
seized upon his conduct and exaggerated 
it into a charge  against him4 ,he was  
present at weddings where joy reigned   
supreme4 ,in all  his teaching and by   
all his example he never proved himself 
an enemy to  the normal pleasures of    
life4 ,this particular emphasis is      
occasionally  needed4 ,it may not have  
as large a mission as has the warning   
against  overdone appetite and play2 but
 it has its message to that smaller     
circle  of the deceived who would drive 
joy from the world in the name of       
,christ4  ,one of the hymns declares3   

,the brightest things below the sky     
,yield but a flattering light2    ,we   
should suspect some danger nigh         
,where we possess delight4    ,there is 
something morbid in this conception4    
,the invitation to the  religious life  
becomes gruesome4 ,the sister of ,pascal
 cared for him  through a long and      
serious illness4 ,pascal came to love   
her so much that  he feared that his    
affection was wicked4 ,in a gloomy hour 
he wrote in his  diary these words1     
,lord1 forgive me for loving my dear    
sister so much6  ,afterward his abnormal
 conscience worked again1 and ,pascal   
actually erased  the word dear4 ,for    
such moods the ,bible has a lesson4 ,god
 giveth us  richly all things to enjoy4 
,we would think it small glory for      
ourselves  if our children should push  
our gifts away from their little hands  
with  the idea that those selected gifts
 were perilous4 ,god fills the world    
with  possibilities of pleasure4 ,food  
and drink are not negative and          

tasteless4  ,the paths of earth are not 
flowerless4 ,voices are not without     
music4  ,companionship is not lifeless4 
,the ,bible is the foe of wicked        
pleasure4  ,the ,bible is the foe of    
excessive pleasure4 ,the ,bible is the  
friend of  legitimate and proportionate 
pleasure4    ,but while pleasure needs  
to be guarded and curbed1 it is not     
either a  burden to be lifted or a pain 
to be endured4 ,sorrow is both4         
,therefore  sorrow demands some positive
 services from the ,bible4 ,we may be   
impatient  with those doleful folks who 
speak of this world as a vale of tears  
or as  a wilderness of woe6 ,we may be  
inclined to quote the lines3      ,i    
think we are too ready with complaint   
,in this fair world of ,god's4    ,on   
the other hand1 it is well to remember  
that the young1 especially1 see  life   
almost exclusively from the standpoint  
of hope and courage4 ,the  minister of  
the gospel begins to feel1 when he      
reaches the age of forty1  that he has  

not given enough comfort to his people4 
,as he identifies  himself closely with 
their lives he finds that most homes    
carry some  secret sorrow and that most 
men and women have their own personal   
tragedies4 ,you will recall the myth    
about the boatman whose duty it was to  
carry over the ,styx the souls who      
departed from earth4 ,he noticed that   
these souls mourned much and took the   
voyage unwillingly4 ,he thought that  it
 must be a very beautiful and joyful    
land that laid such hold on their       
hearts4 ,so he secured leave of absence 
from his post of duty and made an       
excursion into the world4 ,he discovered
 that for every birth there must        
eventually be a death2 that every home  
that was made must in due season be     
broken2 that men and women were troubled
 and maimed and sick4 ,on all sides  he 
saw the evidences of sorrow4 ,he went   
back to his ferry greatly  wondering why
 people should be sad because they left 
a sad world4 ,this  mythical picture is 

overdrawn1 but it has its suggestion of 
truth4 ,earth  does have its manifold   
sorrows4 ,if all the burdens and pains  
and problems  and anguishes of a single 
day could focus their influence upon any
 single  life1 the result would be      
either a broken heart or an insane mind4
    ,the ,bible does not make light of  
sorrows4 ,its heroes have their         
troubles4  ,call the roll of its sons   
and daughters and you will find that at 
some  time each one of them was a child 
of grief4 ,the ,book does not assign    
burden and pain and sorrow to the class 
of unrealities4 ,neither does it  assign
 them to the class of negations4 ,in the
 ,bible sorrow is real and  sorrow is   
positive4 ,when ,rachel weeps for her   
children1 the scene is real4  ,when     
,david goes into the room in the tower  
over the gate and utters his  pitiful   
lament over ,absalom1 the ,book does not
 describe his anguish as an  illusion4  
,paul's hunger and thirst1 and stripes  
and shipwrecks1 and perils  and         

imprisonments were not the vain froth of
 a mortal mind4 ,jesus's cross1  and the
 thorns and the nails and the spear1 and
 the tauntings of the  passers-by1 and  
the thirst1 and the darkened face of the
 ,father were not  swept into the void  
by reciting a formula about the ,all4   
,jesus gave a  promise to his disciples1
 ,in the world ye shall have            
tribulation4 ,he  kept that promise4    
,they walked the ways of martyrdom4     
,their spirits won  victories over their
 flesh4 ,yet there is no hint that their
 persecutions  and deaths were the      
fictions of error or the dreams of a    
night that did  not exist4 ,the ,bible1 
being real1 ministers to sorrow that is 
real4    ,the ,book1 too1 touches on all
 the phases of comfort that we may      
gather  from the surface of life1 only  
it does not make them either a full     
gospel  of consolation or a large part  
of that gospel4 ,sometimes a word of    
,scripture will suggest the method of   
comparison implied in the statement1    

,it might be worse4 ,paul does this with
 one quick word4 ,our light  affliction1
 he puts it4 ,we have lost one hand2 we 
might have lost two6 ,we  have lost one 
eye2 we might have lost both6 ,we have  
been sick one week2 it  might have been 
a year6 ,sometimes this method carries  
us off into rather  graceless           
comparisons of ourselves with other     
people as if1 indeed1 we  were divine   
favorites4 ,can a man prove more divine 
providence for himself  by assuming that
 there is less for another person8 ,this
 road of comparison  leads to           
phariseeism unless we watch carefully   
against a despicable  by-path4 ,tennyson
 in his ,in ,memoriam1 which is a poem  
of comfort1 shows  much impatience with 
this false form of consolation3         
,one writes1 that other friends remain1 
,that loss is common to the race2       
,and common is the commonplace1    ,and 
vacant chaff well meant for grain4      
,that loss is common would not make     
,my own less bitter1 rather more2       

,too common6 ,never morning wore    ,to 
evening but some heart did break4       
,this method of comparison is           
inadequate4 ,whether the word light     
makes  our imagination furnish the      
details of the worse affliction1 or     
whether it  contrasts our sorrows with  
the greater sorrows of others1 it does  
not do  enough for our smitten hearts4  
,nor are we fully satisfied with the    
plea that sorrow is but for a moment    
and that we can be thankful for its     
brevity4 ,there is comfort here1 to be  
sure1 but it has no final quality4 ,paul
 knew that1 and so he gave the idea  an 
incidental part of a sentence1 and then 
went on to the deeper  consolation4 ,one
 poet puts it3                          
,since the scope    ,must widen early1  
is it well to droop    ,for a few days  
consumed in loss and taint8    ,o       
pusillanimous heart6 be comforted2      
,and like a cheerful traveler1 take the 
road1    ,singing beside the hedge4     
,what if the bread    ,be bitter in     

thine inn1 and thou unshod    ,to meet  
the flints8 ,at least it may be said1   
,because the way is short1 ,i thank     
thee1 ,god4    ,the truth is that there 
is real comfort in all this only when   
pain's  brevity contributes something to
 the good of the years and even to      
eternity4 ,thus the ,bible does not give
 much space to the slight comforts  of  
either comparison or brevity4 ,these    
have their function1 but they are  the  
small helpers of the larger             
consolations4    ,the ,bible likewise   
gives as one of the comforts of sorrow  
that sorrow  prepares us to console     
others' sorrows4 ,saint ,paul uses this 
in his  message to the ,corinthians3    
,blessed be ,god1 even the ,father of   
our ,lord  ,jesus ,christ1 the ,father  
of mercies1 and the ,god of all comfort2
 who  comforteth us in all our          
tribulations1 that we may be able to    
comfort them  which are in any trouble1 
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves   
are  comforted of ,god4 ,here we are    

pushed back to the deepest sources of   
comfort4 ,god comforts the sorrowful in 
order that other sorrowful ones may     
have comfort4 ,the consolers are        
delegated by the great ,consoler4 ,it   
requires this reach clear back to the   
heart of ,god to rescue this  suggestion
 from the superficial4 ,one man has     
sorrow4 ,he consoles others  who have   
sorrow4 ,then you have two sorrows in   
your problem4 ,in this way  you would   
keep playing off sorrow against sorrow1 
without any fundamental  explanation of 
any sorrow4 ,the question is1 ,why any  
sorrow at all8 ,if one  of the          
by-products of sorrow is the power to   
comfort the sorrowing1 we  must still   
find some main product that will put the
 two sorrows together  in a meaning of  
good4 ,the ,god of comfort must preside 
over both sorrows  ere either sorrow    
shall yield its contribution to the     
sufferer4 ,paul saw  this1 and so he    
related our power to comfort others to  
the fact that we  had gotten our comfort

 from the ,father of all consolation4   
,it is thus clear that the ,scriptures  
give place to all the minor elements  in
 the ministry of sorrow4 ,its           
comparative lightness1 its sure brevity1
  and its tuition for sympathy have     
their part in the ,bible curriculum4    
,the  ,scriptures also move onward to   
the vision of a ,god who cares4 ,like as
 a  father pitieth--this is the message 
even of the ,old ,testament4 ,it gives  
an answer to that piercing cry3         
,what can it mean8 ,is it aught to ,him 
,that the nights are long and the sun is
 dim8    ,can he be touched by the      
griefs ,i bear    ,which sadden the     
heart and whiten the hair8    ,around   
his throne are eternal calms1    ,and   
glad1 strong music of happy psalms1     
,and bliss unruled by any strife6       
,how can he care for my little life8    
,the answer of the ,bible is the vision 
of the pitying ,god4 ,our earthly       
friends have helped us in our sorrows by
 simply caring4 ,they have come to  us  

in the shadows1 and their words and     
faces have told us that they cared4  ,it
 is a strange feature of human          
psychology that just this gives us      
comfort4 ,our friends do not solve the  
problem for us4 ,they do not remove  the
 cause of our pain4 ,but they feel with 
us1 and this is aid4 ,every  sympathizer
 seems to lift a bit of the weight from 
our own hearts4 ,when  the ,bible gives 
us the revelation of ,one who pitieth   
like as a father  pitieth1 it brings    
,god into that circle of helpfulness4   
,the lesson goes farther and deeper than
 this4 ,though we have not here used    
the words technically1 the soul's       
dictionary draws a distinction between  
pity and sympathy4 ,the pitier may never
 have walked the way that allows  him to
 understand our grief2 the sympathizer  
comes to us from some  experience that  
permits him to remember those that are  
in bonds as bound  with them4 ,we cannot
 read the ,bible long ere we discover   
that there is in  ,god the capability of

 joy and sorrow4 ,the passages are      
abundant that  justify this statement4  
,god can be pleased4 ,god can be        
grieved4 ,if men and  women have been   
made in his image1 and if we find in    
them the capability  of pain and sorrow1
 we are driven to the conclusion that   
something  corresponding thereto must be
 in the divine nature4 ,the father in   
the  parable of the prodigal son1       
sitting lonely and mournful in his home1
  represents ,god4 ,the father in that  
same parable meeting his son in the     
roadway and giving him glad welcome1 and
 calling to his neighbors1  ,rejoice    
with me1 likewise represents ,god4 ,the 
truth seems to be that the  farther up  
we go in the grade of being1 the more   
capability of pain and of  pleasure do  
we find4 ,the polyp can neither suffer  
much nor enjoy much4 ,the  oyster can   
enjoy more and suffer more4 ,the bird   
has its note of joy and  its note of    
pain4 ,human beings have exquisite      
powers of enjoyment and  equally        

exquisite powers of suffering4 ,we may  
well believe that when we  reach the    
perfect being of ,god both of these     
capabilities come to their  highest4    
,this is the meaning of that verse3     
,can it be1 ,o ,christ ,eternal1        
,that the wisest suffer most8    ,that  
the mark of rank in nature    ,is       
capacity for pain8    ,that the anguish 
of the singer    ,makes the sweetness of
 the strain8    ,we are allowed to      
believe1 then1 that the pity of ,god    
passes over into  sympathy4 ,we are     
visited in our sorrows not by a ,god    
whose mood toward us  is abstract1 but  
whose own infinite heart knows grief4   
,the human life of  ,god is a phrase    
that has been used to describe the      
incarnation4 ,that  phrase enters into  
our problem here4 ,if ,jesus shows us   
what ,god is like1  then the ,christ who
 wept over ,jerusalem brings us one     
revelation of the  divine life4 ,the    
pitying ,god becomes the sympathizing   
,god4    ,the biblical lesson of comfort

 does not halt even here4 ,it is given a
  closer and more personal quality4 ,a  
pitier and sympathizer may be very      
distant1 and his aid may reach us over  
the abysses4 ,if the ,bible gives us    
the vision of a pitying father1 it gives
 us also the vision of the ,god who     
comforteth even as a mother comforteth4 
,in the various kinds of trouble  men   
become aware of reserve forces in their 
nature4 ,they endure what they  thought 
they could not endure4 ,in crisis times 
the muscles secure extra  strength1 the 
mind secures extra alertness1 and the   
spirit secures extra  power either to do
 or to bear4 ,these reserves must be of 
,god's giving1  whether they lie ready  
in the nature always1 or are special    
gifts sent  direct to help us in the    
troublous hours4 ,there is1 however1 a  
still more  personal interpretation that
 the ,bible offers for these            
experiences4 ,they  are the special     
visits of ,god to the afflicted4 ,if the
 creed of the divine  sympathy gets its 

meaning from the human life of ,god as  
seen in the  incarnation of ,christ1    
this part of the creed gets its meaning 
from the  doctrine of the ,holy ,spirit4
 ,it is true that the ,greek word which 
is  translated ,comforter might be given
 other meanings such as ,adviser or     
,helper4 ,but this does not change the  
point for the present discussion4 ,an   
,adviser in sorrow is a ,comforter1 and 
a ,helper in sorrow is a ,comforter4    
,it is significant that the             
consciousness of the church followed the
  translators eagerly and adopted the   
word ,comforter as if it met some need  
of life and as if it answered to some   
deep experience of life4 ,we may not  go
 into a labored discussion of the       
doctrine of the ,trinity4 ,we may affirm
  that a humanity that sorrows is glad  
for a doctrine of the ,godhead that     
magnifies the office of consolation4    
,the comforting quality in ,barnabas    
led the early disciples to change his   
name from ,joses to ,barnabas because   

he was a son of consolation4 ,they      
rejoiced in their human comforter4 ,the 
church has ever found satisfaction in   
the revelation of a divine  ,comforter4 
,in this revelation it sees the pitying 
,god and the sympathizing  ,god become  
the ,comforting ,god4    ,related to    
this is the scriptural idea that ,god   
conquers our sorrow not by  removing it 
but by making us equal to its burden4   
,the clearest concrete  illustration of 
this is seen in ,paul's words about his 
thorn in the  flesh4 ,his               
thrice-repeated prayer was that the     
thorn might be removed2  his answer was 
that1 while the difficulty would not be 
taken away1 he  would be given grace    
sufficient for his trial4 ,paul's       
experience has  impressed men as being  
typical of the inner kind of divine aid4
 ,the sorrow  may be of many kinds2 but 
the powers of resistance are            
strengthened by the  grace of ,god and  
the sorrows are borne in a brave and    
patient spirit4  ,although the idea be  

trite1 it claims a place in the         
discussion1 as indeed  it was worthy of 
a place in the ritual of comfort4 ,we   
are not dealing with  any mere law of   
reaction4 ,it was not the thorn that was
 making ,paul  strong2 it was ,god who  
was making ,paul strong to endure the   
thorn4 ,he  himself describes the       
transaction as if it had involved a     
direct gift of  the divine grace1 as it 
had involved a direct message from the  
divine  heart4    ,yet great as are all 
these types of biblical consolation1 we 
all feel that  we have not reached the  
conclusion of the matter4 ,comparison is
 not  enough4 ,brevity does not explain 
why sorrow should be just brief4 ,pity  
does not tell us why we should need to  
be pitied4 ,direct spiritual  reserves  
do not fully justify the hard experience
 that calls for them4  ,direct and      
personal comfort does not solve the     
problem since no one would  seek trouble
 in order to have the visits of a       
comforting friend4 ,the  gaining of     

inner strength comes nearer to a        
positive warrant for the  sorrows of    
life2 yet it does not quite reach the   
satisfying conception4  ,all these      
things are parts of the program1 but    
they are not its  conclusion4 ,the tale 
of life's sorrow is not all told by     
their recital4  ,the full story we      
cannot understand now2 still we may be  
able to glimpse  its meaning4 ,in the   
epic of ,job there are traces of the    
revelation4 ,the  patriarch gathers a   
harvest out of his troubles4 ,they never
 reach the  uttermost extreme4 ,they do 
not last forever4 ,they bring him pity1 
however  crude2 sympathy1 however       
bungling2 comforters1 however mistaken2 
reserve  forces1 however tardy2 inner   
strength1 however won4 ,but his sorrows 
do  more than this2 they are represented
 in the last chapter as having been     
made the servant of ,job4 ,the richer   
and stronger man returns to the richer  
and stronger life4 ,the testings have   
been turned into gains4    ,this deeper 

lesson of comfort is often given to us  
in the ,bible by means  of a very       
positive verb4 ,our afflictions work for
 us4 ,all things work  together for us4 
,as men are sent to the fields1 and as  
the forces of  nature are sent along the
 wires1 so sorrows are sent to become   
our  servants4 ,this service is not     
inevitable2 it is conditioned on the    
attitude of the sorrowing life2 but it  
is a very real service when the         
conditions are met4 ,our afflictions    
work for us--when we get the  spiritual 
vision so that we can receive the things
 that are eternal4 ,all  things work    
together for good for us--when we       
fulfill the innermost  requirement of   
loving ,god4 ,the condition in both     
cases is located within  the spiritual  
life4 ,this condition being met1 the    
promise of the ,bible is  that sorrow is
 made our efficient servant4 ,paul in   
his famous verse of  consolation states 
the case with marked confidence4 ,the   
afflictions work  for us until they     

produce a far more exceeding and eternal
 weight of  glory4 ,language could      
scarcely be stronger4 ,nor were the     
words used by  one who lolled in the    
high places of ease and delight and     
shouted down his  abstract comforts to  
the strugglers in the vale4 ,the        
assurance to the  sorrowing comes from  
their comrade4 ,his experiences ranged  
all the way  from the petty hardships of
 a wandering life on to the ,appian ,way
 and the  block of death4 ,it was the   
sure faith of the apostle that all his  
sorrows  had been made to work for him4 
,he was not their victim2 he was their  
master and their beneficiary4    ,the   
persons who have seen much of the       
world's better living will not deny     
this conception4 ,le ,gallienne in his  
booklet1 ,if ,i ,were ,god1 admits that 
suffering does often work toward the    
making of character and becomes a  real 
servant4 ,his skepticism does not lie at
 this point4 ,his inquiry is  whether a 
just and good ,god could not have found 

some easier way1 some  servant for which
 we would not have to render such a     
painful cost4 ,this1  of course1 is that
 old method of debate that flees for    
refuge to some  imaginary world and     
conceives of people who do not exist4   
,our task is with  the people now on    
earth1 and with them we must deal in our
 efforts at  consolation4 ,some of them 
we have seen driven to bitterness of    
spirit by  their sorrow4 ,they          
themselves made sorrow an evil servant  
which filled the  garden of life with   
noxious weeds1 shut the windows of hope 
in the home of  life1 put the poison of 
despair into the water of life1 and     
spread the  clouds of gloom over all the
 sky of life4 ,others we have seen      
mellowed and  sweetened by the          
servantship of sorrow4 ,all our visits  
to them showed  clearly that sorrow was 
doing gracious service4 ,the weight of  
glory was  more and more apparent4 ,the 
good produced by the all things gave    
increasing evidence that the servant was

 doing his work4 ,when any close        
observer of life writes down his lists  
of saints he will always find that  he  
has been compelled to canonize many who1
 like their ,master1 have been  made    
perfect through suffering4    ,the      
quotation of these words about ,christ  
reminds us that the world turns  to him 
as to the last resort for the sorrowing4
 ,here1 as in all other  studies1 we    
find the climax in him4 ,as he entered  
into all forms of work1  so did he enter
 into all forms of sorrow4 ,is it       
homelessness8 ,is it  privation8 ,is it 
misunderstanding8 ,is it anxiety for    
others8 ,is it  anticipated suffering8  
,is it evil accusation8 ,is it ridicule8
 ,is it shame8  ,is it mockery8 ,is it  
torture8 ,is it utter disgrace8 ,is it  
abandonment8 ,is  it denial8 ,is it     
betrayal8 ,is it death8 ,all these he   
knew4 ,if the wisest  and holiest suffer
 most1 he knew all these sorrows at     
their deepest4 ,none  could really join 
with him in chanting the real ,de       

,profundis4 ,he trod the  winepress     
alone1 and of the people there was none 
with him4 ,the world that  left him     
alone in his sorrow does not wish him to
 leave it alone in its  sorrow4 ,it     
seeks him then4 ,it hears him as he     
promises1 not immunity from  suffering1 
but the experience of overcoming in     
suffering3 ,be of good  cheer3 ,i have  
overcome the world4 ,he put a deeply    
personal quality into  his assurance1 ,i
 will not leave you comfortless2 ,i will
 come to you4 ,i  am with you always1   
even unto the end of the ons4 ,so runs  
the promise4  ,it is no wonder that the 
troubled flee to him4 ,the ,man of      
,sorrows draws  the men of sorrows4 ,his
 benediction of peace is not formal4    
,with the  authority and with the       
reserves of comfort at his command1 he  
still says1  ,let not your heart be     
troubled4    ,to the usual messages of  
consolation he now adds the eternal     
reason1 ,in  my ,father's house are many
 mansions3 if it were not so1 ,i would  

have told  you4 ,i go to prepare a place
 for you4 ,well did ,carlyle say that if
 ,jesus  were only man1 he had no right 
to utter these words4 ,but ,jesus said  
much  more4 ,he would prepare the place4
 ,he would come again4 ,he would receive
  them into his company4 ,if some       
doubter shall ask about the way1 his    
reply  shall be the same as of old1 ,i  
am the way4 ,through him alone we come  
to  the ,father4 ,full trust in him     
removes all bitter tears3 and the       
remainder  of tears he does not rebuke4 
,he inspires the visions wherein we see 
those  who have come up out of great    
tribulation hungering no more1 nor      
thirsting  any more1 nor smitten by the 
sun or any heat2 but fed by the ,lamb   
and led  by him amid fountains of living
 waters1 while ,god wipes away all tears
  from their eyes4    ,this doctrine of 
heaven as a consolation for sorrow is   
not born of  selfishness1 as is often   
charged4 ,the rankest of infidels said1 
,in the  night of death1 hope sees a    

star1 and listening love can hear the   
rustle  of a wing4 ,not listening       
selfishness1 but listening love6 ,the   
love  that we bear to our own and to all
 mankind seeks this vision and finds it 
waiting in the divine plan4 ,is it      
selfish to desire that for ourselves    
which will injure none others8 ,is it   
selfish to long for that which will     
meet the longings of the whole world8   
,verily some critics discover strange   
dictionaries when they define words in  
reference to the holy faith4 ,but  all  
the while the afflicted seek the face of
 ,christ4 ,troubles look unto  him and  
are lightened4 ,the poor man cries and  
the ,lord still delivers him  out of his
 troubles4 ,our ,bibles and our ,hymnals
 personalize the haven for  us4 ,he is  
the ,rock of ,ages4 ,his bosom is the   
,refuge4 ,to him we go when  shadows    
darkly gather4 ,a present help is he4   
,the last low whispers of our  dead are 
burdened with his name4 ,the suffering  
world states its comfort in  terms of   

,christ himself4    ,for the final      
sorrow of death he offers the full      
consolation4 ,the tragedy  of separation
 remains4 ,our indictment against death 
is that of ,tennyson3      ,he puts our 
lives so far apart1    ,we cannot hear  
each other speak4    ,the more worthy of
 immortality our beloved seems to be1   
the keener is the  pang of parting4     
,lowell felt it so ,after the ,burial3  
,immortal6 ,i feel it and know it1      
,who doubts it of such as she8    ,but  
that is the pang's very secret--        
,immortal away from me4    ,the ,bible  
has no rebuke for the sorrow of         
separation4 ,but it does have the       
healing hope of eternal reunion4 ,jesus 
said3 ,i am the resurrection1 and  the  
life3 he that believeth on me1 though he
 were dead1 yet shall he live3  and     
whosoever liveth and believeth in me    
shall never die4 ,these words1  fully   
believed1 still our fear1 confirm our   
hope1 and comfort our final  sorrow4    
,to all the burdened1 ,jesus says1 ,come

 unto me1 and ,i will give you rest4    
,to all the joyless he says1 ,i will see
 you again1 and your heart shall        
rejoice1 and your joy no man taketh from
 you4 ,to all the lonely and  mourning  
he comes with the message1 ,let not your
 heart be troubled3 ye  believe in ,god1
 believe also in me4 ,the world may have
 difficulty in  securing that belief2   
but the world knows well that this      
belief alone is  the defeat of sorrow4  
,in their best and most desperate and   
most hopeful  hours men flee to the     
,bible as to the only tent in which     
their anguish can  be soothed4 ,within  
that tabernacle walks the form of the   
,fourth4 ,when  they turn from him1 they
 must return with the question1 ,lord1  
to whom  shall we go8 ,thou hast the    
words of eternal life4 ,the eternal life
 that  he gives is the only consolation 
for our passing sorrows4                
,,chapter ,,viii    ,,the ,,bible ,,and 
,,practice      ,when men separate the  
,bible from devotion and practice they  

are guilty of  the final heresy in      
relation to the ,book of ,life4 ,the    
previous pages have  shown that the     
,bible has a real message for actual    
living4 ,while the  larger departments  
have been treated1 it is still true that
 the message of  the ,scriptures for    
other sections of life is vital and     
fundamental4  ,whatever we may say about
 the message of the ,bible in regard to 
chemistry1  or biology1 or geology2     
whatever we may say about its           
inspiration for the  literature of the  
world2 and whatever we may say about its
 accuracy in  matters of ancient history
 and geography--the ,book holds a lonely
 primacy  as the ,book of ,duty4 ,the   
scientist may not get from it a full    
revelation2  the littrateur may be      
tempted to omit certain portions from   
his choice  selections2 the historian   
may not find in it a full or            
chronological list  of events2 but the  
man with a moral and spiritual passion1 
the man bent on  finding his duty that  

he may do it faithfully1 will discover  
ample  material in its pages4 ,indeed1  
he will have a sense of surplus4 ,the   
ideals  of the ,book will be so far     
beyond his performance as to give him   
the  feeling of a gentle rebuke4 ,as a  
,book of moral science1 moral           
literature1  moral history1 the ,bible  
has no competitors4 ,as a revelation of 
the heart  of ,god1 of the heart of man1
 and of the way in which the heart of   
,god and  the heart of man are brought  
into loving harmony1 the ,bible is      
supreme4    ,the great difficulty in the
 use of the ,bible has come from        
wrenching it  from this main purpose4   
,confusion is sure to arise whenever any
 volume is  employed apart from its     
primary intent4 ,if one wishes to learn 
mathematics1 and his foolish teacher    
shall give him a book of music1 the     
result is not edifying4 ,the pages of   
the book may be properly numbered1  and 
the scales of music may be denoted by   
the correct fractions2 but  mathematics 

represents a thoroughly subordinate     
purpose1 and the volume  does not lead  
easily on to ,calculus4 ,the result is  
even more confusing if  the arithmetic  
be handed to a pupil who wishes to study
 versification4 ,the  multiplication    
table may look like verses when seen at 
some distance2  still the arithmetic's  
main intent is not the teaching of      
poetry4 ,the  illustrations of possible 
confusion could be taken from all       
fields4 ,the  common sense of the race  
saves it from the blunder of misapplying
 the  most of its books4 ,the ,bible1   
however1 has been subjected to          
misapplication because the theory of its
 infallibility has often been made  to  
cover a wide1 not to say a universal1   
range4 ,the student who goes to  the    
,bible with a purpose that is mainly    
historical1 or scientific1 or           
geographical1 or genealogical1 or       
mathematical1 or even poetical and      
literary1 may not find all his wishes   
gratified4 ,but the student who seeks   

its pages under a profound sense of ,god
 and with an equally profound will  to  
do ,god's will is certain to find       
material for all his moral and          
spiritual ambitions4    ,consequently   
when the religious attitude toward the  
,bible is changed into  a professional  
or critical or debating attitude1 the   
,book is deflected  from its intent4    
,doubtless we must have in the realm of 
scholarship some  men who give          
themselves to a technical discussion of 
the ,bible4 ,these men  may be charged  
with the duty of recovering portions of 
the ,book to  reality2 and they may have
 an important1 but secondary1 relation  
to its  primary purpose4 ,nevertheless  
their attitude is not the final one4 ,it
  would be useless to deny that the last
 generation has witnessed a changed     
attitude toward the ,holy ,scriptures4  
,one result has been that two camps     
have been formed1 and that doughty      
champions of a view have sallied forth  
from each camp to do warfare4 ,the      

missiles have been verbal4 ,sometimes   
they have been abusive4 ,each champion  
has believed himself a ,david and his   
opponent a ,goliath4 ,the unprejudiced  
observer of the conflict has had        
difficulty in deciding which champion   
has been most guilty of a wrong  spirit4
 ,the conservative has called the       
progressive various names1  infidel1    
atheist1 destroyer1 betrayer1 a         
successor of ,judas in spirit and  of   
,celsus in method6 ,the progressive has 
responded in kind and has named  the    
conservative a reactionary1 an          
intellectual coward1 a defender of a    
discredited theory1 a foe of liberty1   
and a traitor to the truth4 ,the        
conservative has often become a         
spiritual ,pharisee and has ruled the   
progressive out of court on the ground  
that the progressive lacked piety1      
while the progressive has often become  
an intellectual ,pharisee and has  ruled
 the conservative out of court on the   
ground that the conservative  lacked    

scholarship4 ,there have1 of course1    
been conspicuous instances of  breadth  
and catholicity on both sides1 but      
occasionally the spirit of the  contest 
has not tended to exalt the mood of the 
contestants or to glorify  the divine   
,book4    ,the results of such a spirit 
could easily be predicted3 they cannot  
make  for edification4 ,if we list on   
one side the radical conservatives and  
on  the other side the radical          
progressives1 we shall discover an      
evangelical  helplessness in both lists4
 ,in each case a conception of the      
,bible  supplants the purpose of the    
,bible4 ,the champion defends a doctrine
 more  than he promotes a life4 ,the    
apologist overcomes the preacher4 ,the  
theorist destroys the evangelist4 ,all  
this is not a denial that the           
speculative emphasis has its place4 ,the
 defender of the faith will always  have
 his place4 ,usually he must work in the
 background1 in some point of  scholarly
 retreat4 ,the pastor and preacher who  

goes into a community with  the idea    
that his main mission is to promote a   
special view of inspiration  is doomed  
to failure1 while he who goes into a    
community with the idea  that his main  
mission is to preach the salvation of   
the ,bible as it  climaxes in ,christ   
cannot fail utterly4 ,there are         
conservatives and  progressives whose   
ministry is pitiably weak1 and there are
 progressives  and conservatives whose  
ministry is grandly strong4 ,the        
difference comes  from the point of     
emphasis4 ,if a man is more anxious to  
prove that ,moses  was the sole author  
of the ,pentateuch than he is to prove  
that ,jesus is  the sole author of      
salvation1 his ministry will answer to  
his own  emphasis4 ,if a man is more    
anxious to prove that there were two    
,isaiahs  than he is to show that there 
is one only name given among men whereby
 we  may be saved1 his ministry will be 
no more important than is his           
contention4 ,the primary purpose of the 

,bible is not the revelation of the     
single authorship of one of its sections
 or the dual authorship of one of  its  
books2 its primary purpose is to declare
 that ,one is our ,master1 even         
,christ4    ,it must be plain that1 as  
the divine revelation of the ,bible     
culminates in  a ,life1 so the human    
intent of the ,bible can culminate only 
in lives4 ,the  purpose of the ,bible is
 met in ,practice4 ,if we adopt the     
military figure  of life1 the ,bible is 
a weapon given to men for moral warfare4
 ,sometimes  in its own pages the ,word 
of ,god is presented under the figure of
 a ,sword4  ,the writers could not have 
had in mind the ,scriptures as we have  
them now2  but the principle applies to 
every revelation by which ,god seeks to 
bring  men to the understanding and     
doing of his own will4 ,when ,isaiah    
felt  divine messages burning in his    
heart he said1 ,he hath made my mouth   
like  a sharp sword4 ,the writer of     
,hebrews took the same nervous metaphor 

and  wrote1 ,the word of ,god is quick1 
and powerful1 and sharper than any      
two-edged sword1 piercing even to the   
dividing asunder of soul and spirit1    
and of the joints and marrow4 ,paul in  
his description of the ,christian  armor
 speaks of ,the sword of the ,spirit1   
which is the word of ,god4 ,it  may not 
be amiss1 then1 to take this highly     
authorized figure of speech  and to     
employ it once again--not claiming1 of  
course1 that our particular             
applications were in the thought of the 
first users4 ,the point is that  under  
the ancient military system the sword   
had its main intent1 and that  it never 
did its real work as long as it was     
divorced from that intent4  ,there were 
wrong uses of the sword1 and there were 
secondary uses of the  sword2 and there 
was but one primary use of the sword4   
,we can conceive of an actual sword as  
being used in different ways by         
different people4 ,a robber seizes it1  
defends himself against just arrest1    

and slashes the representatives of a    
righteous law4 ,evidently the sword  was
 not made for that purpose4 ,the        
sportsman takes the sword1 tests its    
handle1 polishes its blade1 tries its   
resiliency1 purchases a manual of  arms1
 secures the best teacher1 drills       
himself in its use4 ,on holidays he     
wears a flashy uniform1 marches through 
the streets1 waves the glittering  thing
 over his head1 and so makes it an      
instrument of personal flourish4  ,this 
use is not evil1 but it does not stand  
for the weapon's first intent4  ,a third
 man1 with a more serious mien1 secures 
the sword4 ,he is enlisted  in the      
militia1 and the time may come when it  
will be necessary for him to  go into   
real war4 ,he tests its handle and      
polishes its blade2 he studies  the     
manual of arms2 he seeks the best       
masters2 he practices its use  through  
many months4 ,when the time of war      
actually comes this man draws  the sword
 from its scabbard and goes out to do   

service in his country's  cause4 ,the   
primary purpose of the sword is met only
 in this earnest use4    ,the three men 
may represent three classes in their    
attitudes toward the  ,bible4 ,the      
,bible is often used for defense in     
immoralities4 ,it is often  used as a   
means of that cheap skill that comes    
near to personal display4  ,it is often 
used for spiritual defense and warfare4 
,the robber's use is  evil4 ,the        
parader's use is secondary4 ,the        
warrior's use is primary4    ,many      
illustrations of the immoral use of the 
,bible could be given4 ,in the  story of
 the temptation of ,jesus the devil is  
pictured as a user of the  ,scriptures1 
and he has not been without his         
followers in an unholy use of  a holy   
record4 ,the ,bible covers a wide range 
of thought and experience4 ,it  tells of
 all manner of sins4 ,it deals with all 
classes of characters4 ,it  presents the
 lives of bad men who were sometimes    
good1 and of good men who  were         

occasionally bad1 and of other men who  
were quite steadily bad or  good4 ,thus 
the ,bible gives us all sorts of        
examples4 ,the record1  distorted and   
misapplied1 may be made to justify the  
baldest of sins4 ,in  matters of        
questionable morality men are ever ready
 to appeal to the  divine ,book1 and    
even for actions condemned by all       
enlightened moral  judgment the ,bible  
is sometimes summoned as an advocate4   
,there is scarcely  a sin which has not 
had a passage of ,scripture presented as
 its excuse4  ,men have justified rash  
murder on the ground that ,moses killed 
the cruel  ,egyptian taskmaster4 ,as was
 shown in a previous chapter the        
practices of  the patriarchs have been  
quoted1 even in the halls of ,congress1 
as a  warrant for bigamy and polygamy4  
,men in the midst of unreasoning anger  
have condoned their madness by reciting 
the words1 ,be ye angry1 and sin  not4  
,jesus himself named to the ,jews a     
sacrilegious misuse of a ,bible  phrase 

by which heartless children excused     
themselves from filial duties4          
,illustrations might be given touching  
almost every phase of personal life4    
,even as in old days the wicked         
sometimes fled to a city of refuge1 so  
now  do men caught in an evil mood hide 
themselves behind a biblical rampart4   
,in larger social matters this use of   
the ,bible has been fully as striking4  
,human slavery felt secure within a     
scriptural fortress4 ,wilberforce and   
,clarkson in ,england1 and ,garrison and
 ,phillips in ,america were compelled   
to reply to biblical arguments4 ,charles
 ,sumner1 at a meeting in               
,massachusetts1 spent an entire evening 
in replying to a pro-slavery  discussion
 based on ,paul's letter to ,philemon1  
arriving duly at the  conviction that   
the only logical and religious result of
 the apostle's  words to ,philemon would
 be the freeing of slaves in the name of
 ,christian  brotherhood4 ,so pieces of 
,mosaic legislation and scraps of       

,pauline  regulation were used to       
conceal the ,golden ,rule and the law of
 fraternity4  ,it is easy to observe    
here1 too1 that as men advance in       
ethical life this  use of the ,bible    
ceases4 ,doubtless in twenty years no   
one has heard the  ,bible quoted in     
behalf of slavery4 ,yet the biblical    
argument would serve  quite as well for 
reinstating slavery as it did for       
continuing slavery4  ,the argument dies 
not only because the moral consciousness
 of man lives1  but also because the    
moral judgment of man perceives that the
 general  principles of the ,bible are  
utterly opposed to human slavery4 ,the  
man who  proposed to bring the bondage  
of men back into the social life of the 
world by means of the biblical argument 
would be deemed as much an  anachronism 
as his method of debate4    ,this same  
evil use of the ,bible proceeds to-day  
among the opponents of the  temperance  
reform4 ,our debate with the saloonist  
or brewer or wine maker  never goes far 

ere we are told of biblical examples of 
drinking1 as well  as that ,christ      
turned water into wine in his first     
miracle at ,cana of  ,galilee4 ,saloon  
keepers have framed and have placed upon
 the walls of  their alluring palaces   
,paul's advice to ,timothy1 ,take a     
little wine for  thy stomach's sake1 and
 thine often infirmities4 ,they do not  
quote the  verdict that wine is a       
mocker1 with a bite like that of a      
serpent and a  sting like that of an    
adder--the cause of woes and sorrows and
 redness of  eyes2 nor the pronouncement
 that no drunkard can inherit the       
,kingdom2 nor  the condemnation laid    
upon him that putteth the bottle to his 
neighbor's  lips4 ,nor do they put      
forward the inevitable drift of ,paul's 
law of  charity which commands men to do
 naught that will make their brothers to
  offend4 ,nor yet do they heed the sure
 drift of the ,bible's teaching as it   
comes to its crown in ,christ himself4  
,the man who would claim that ,jesus    

would approve the modern traffic in     
intoxicating liquors would convict      
himself of amazing perversity and       
ignorance4 ,there are increasing        
evidences that the ,master of life is   
now finding an effective use for his    
whip of cords and that there is         
beginning a retreat greater than that of
  the ancient thieves and dove sellers4 
,the time will come when men will       
marvel that an attempt was ever made to 
use the ,bible as a foundation for  the 
trade in alcoholics4    ,in ,scott's    
,ivanhoe there is given an example of   
this misuse of the ,bible1  as well as  
an example of its effective rebuke4     
,rebecca the ,jewess is  beautiful in   
person1 as she is in character4 ,brian  
de ,bois-,guilbert is a  member of the  
,order of the ,holy ,temple4 ,he is a   
dashing1 handsome1  hypocritical        
crusader1 both a military and a moral   
adventurer4 ,he turns  his lewd eye     
toward ,rebecca4 ,she stands by an open 
window1 ready to throw  herself to death

 upon the rocks far beneath rather than 
to submit herself  to his wickedness4   
,to justify his black intention         
,guilbert mentions the  conduct of      
,david and ,solomon1 and then says to   
the tempted one1 ,the  protectors of    
,solomon's ,temple may claim license by 
the example of  ,solomon4 ,the beautiful
 woman makes a worthy retort1 one that  
deserves  frequent repetition3 ,if thou 
readest the ,scriptures and the lives of
 the  saints only to justify thine own  
license and profligacy1 thy crime is    
like  that of him who extracts poison   
from the most helpful herbs4 ,no honest 
person can believe in ,guilbert's use of
 the ,bible2 nor can any honest  person 
escape the truth of ,rebecca's reply4   
,the murderer's1 the  bigamist's1 the   
slaveholder's1 the rum-seller's1 the    
sensualist's method  of employing the   
,bible is the final blasphemy against   
the ,holy ,word4 ,the  robbers of life  
simply steal the sword of the ,spirit in
 order that they  may use it in the     

service of hell4 ,wolves in sheep's     
clothing and devils  clad in the livery 
of heaven are apt figures of speech for 
the description  of this perversity4    
,the ,bible itself speaks of those who  
wrest the  ,scriptures to their own     
destruction6    ,the second use of the  
sword moves into the realm of the       
legitimate1 but  not into the realm of  
the final4 ,expert swordsmanship is no  
crime1 even as  it is not the highest   
morality4 ,the ,bible has long been one 
of the  favorite fields of the critical 
scholar4 ,very often the search has been
  for technical truth rather than for   
vital truth4 ,heated discussions have   
related to questions of dates and       
authorship4 ,these questions are not to 
be ruled out as useless4 ,sometimes     
technical truth gives the vital truth   
of the ,bible a setting that makes it   
more forceful and persuasive4 ,it was   
inevitable that both the higher critics 
and their opponents would  sometimes go 
to great extremes--the critics to an    

idolatry of intellect1  their opponents 
to an idolatry of literalness4 ,we must 
all have been  impressed that at times  
when the spiritual battle has been      
intense the  warriors have stepped aside
 from the main conflict in order that   
they  might discuss how and when and by 
whom the ,sword and its parts were      
fashioned6    ,we may change the figure 
of speech for a moment and modify for   
the present  purpose a borrowed         
illustration4 ,a man finds a casket     
buried deeply in his  yard4 ,the vessel 
appears to have been constructed a long 
time ago4 ,it  bears upon its sides     
characters that are difficult of        
translation4 ,there  is even doubt as to
 the nature of the metal4 ,the man      
summons the other  members of the       
family4 ,they open the vessel and       
discover that it is filled  with gold4  
,at once a warm dispute begins over     
several questions4 ,who made  the       
casket8 ,when was it made8 ,how many    
persons took part in its fashioning  and

 its filling8 ,from what precise mintage
 did the coins come8 ,what is the       
meaning of the peculiar hieroglyphics   
found upon its sides8 ,are all the      
coins of equal value8 ,whose images are 
stamped upon them8 ,the debaters  become
 excited over these mooted matters4 ,at 
last one sensible member of  the family 
suggests that it is apparent that by    
right of finding this  particular       
household owns the casket2 that the     
needs of the members are  many2 that the
 gold1 even though the coinage be       
ancient1 can be turned to  modern use2  
that the questions which they are       
debating can be settled only  by        
metallurgists and historians and        
philologists1 if they are to be  settled
 at all2 and that1 pending the          
settlement of incidental issues1 the    
wants of the family may be richly met by
 appropriating the contents of the      
casket6 ,the illustration scarcely needs
 any interpretation4 ,it surely does    
represent the attitude which the devout 

and obedient heart may take in  this    
period toward the ,holy ,book4 ,the     
ancient casket that we call the  ,bible 
is full of treasures4 ,this much lies   
beyond doubt or debate4 ,while  the     
learned philologists and historians and 
exegetes surround the casket  and try to
 ascertain the dates of its parts1 the  
names of its authors1 the  meaning of   
its obscurities1 the family of ,god may 
continue to draw on its  exhaustless    
treasures4 ,nor are there wanting signs 
that more and more our  age is adjusting
 itself to this reverent and practical  
use of the ,word of  ,god1 and that     
,professor ,dobschtz rightly contends in
 his new volume that  the ,bible is     
again becoming the ,book of ,devotion4  
,there is likewise what we might well   
call the lowest criticism--the  spirit  
that uses the ,bible as a volume of     
puzzles rather than as a volume  of     
directions4 ,many a man has spent more  
time in speculating about where  ,cain  
got his wife than he has in trying to   

find out how to make his own  wife      
happy4 ,many a man has spent more time  
in trying to find out about  the ,witch 
of ,endor as an excuse for his          
consulting some vulgar  fortune-teller  
of modern time than he has spent in     
trying to learn the  will and secure the
 guidance of the good and wise ,god4    
,many a man has  spent more time in     
discussing ,melchizedek1 who had neither
 ancestors nor  descendants1 than he has
 spent in trying to learn from the      
,bible how he  himself may honor his    
forbears and may train his own children 
in  righteousness4 ,many a man has been 
so piqued by curiosity about the exact  
nature of ,saint ,paul's thorn in the   
flesh as to forget the teaching that    
the grace of ,god can make us equal to  
any burden and torment of life4 ,the    
men of this type will not allow the     
,bible the use of hyperbole4 ,when it   
suits their contentious mood they become
 strict literalists4 ,even though  they 
themselves may declare that it is       

raining pitchforks or that the  waves   
are dashing mountain high1 they will    
insist that ,christ's words  about the  
two coats and the two cloaks and the two
 miles are not the  strong urging of    
much forbearance and generosity1 but the
 counsel of  literal folly4 ,meanwhile  
the certainties and duties of the ,bible
 outnumber  its riddles and its         
curiosities many-fold4 ,the importunate 
call to holy  practice ceases not4 ,from
 each of a thousand passages of the     
,good ,book  there issues a patient     
rebuke for the curiosity monger1 ,what  
is that to  thee8 ,follow thou me4      
,this leads us to the third use of the  
sword as seen in our illustration4  ,the
 gallant soldier took the weapon and    
used it in harmony with its  intent4 ,so
 the ,bible should be employed          
preeminently as a means of  spiritual   
defense and warfare4 ,the ,scriptures   
are profitable1 not for  immoral        
justification1 not for mere criticism   
however exact and searching1  not for   

the solving of superficial riddles1 but 
for doctrine1 for  reproof1 for         
instruction in righteousness3 that the  
man of ,god may be  perfect1 thoroughly 
furnished unto all good works4 ,to go to
 the ,bible  with the motive revealed in
 these great words is to recover the    
,bible to  its divine purpose as the    
book of human practice4 ,such a motive  
lifts the  volume above any mere        
literary or historical aspects4 ,there  
is1 for  example1 the oft-quoted story  
about ,benjamin ,franklin's experience  
at the  ,court of ,france4 ,he was      
passing an evening with a company of    
cultured  ladies and gentlemen4 ,the    
conversation turned to the subject of   
,oriental  life4 ,franklin read aloud to
 the company the book of ,ruth4 ,struck 
by the  beautiful simplicity and spirit 
of the narrative1 his hearers expressed 
their delight and desired to know in    
what book the charming pastoral could   
be found6 ,it is safe to say that these 
men and women needed the lesson of      

fidelity in the book of ,ruth far more  
than they needed the sense of its       
literary merit4    ,we must always      
return to the idea that the key to the  
,bible is the deeply  religious instinct
 and motive4 ,nothing else will really  
open its pages4  ,nor does the ,bible   
herein wholly differ from other         
literature4 ,there are  men and women so
 thoroughly cultivated on the so-called 
practical side of  their natures that it
 would be punishment for them to read   
,whittier1 or  ,longfellow1 or ,lowell1 
or ,tennyson for a full hour4 ,the      
demands of  business or social life have
 killed the poetic impulse4 ,so many    
persons  may crush from their natures   
the religious instinct and then wonder  
why  the ,bible does not appeal to them6
 ,the truth seems to be that a person   
gets from the ,bible about what he      
seeks4 ,it takes divinely opened eyes to
  see the wondrous things in the law4   
,the psalmist1 therefore1 prayed that   
the change might come over himself      

rather than over the parchment4 ,the way
  to illumine the sacred page was to    
illumine him4 ,the ,book may lie in a   
great light1 but what can the ,book do  
for a man with closed eyes8 ,seneca     
tells of an idiot child in his home who1
 becoming blind1 insisted always  that  
the room was dark6 ,herein is another   
parable4    ,it is only this disposition
 of the seeing eye and the obedient hand
 that  can bring the ,bible to us in its
 main purpose4 ,having this disposition 
we  shall not suffer ourselves to be    
lured into interesting byways4 ,we shall
  have a lamp for our feet and a light  
for our path4 ,our spiritual purpose    
will defeat all needless criticism and  
all needless dissection4 ,having  this  
purpose1 we will turn to the early      
chapters of ,genesis4 ,instead of       
debating whether in a literal garden    
,adam and ,eve were tempted by a        
literal serpent to the eating of literal
 fruit1 and were driven through a       
literal gate1 while a literal angel with

 a literal flame running along a        
literal blade guarded against           
reentrance1 we shall be moved by the    
thought  that we have lifted ourselves  
in puny rebellion against ,god1 and that
 we  have gone forth from our place of  
innocence1 and that the third chapter of
  ,genesis recounts the essential       
history of our souls4 ,having this      
religious  purpose1 we shall read the   
story of ,job with a view to securing   
its  spiritual lesson4 ,we shall not    
permit any critical arguer to confine us
 to  the question of the historicity of 
,job himself4 ,we shall rather lay hold 
of the teaching of that marvelous book1 
with its colossal debate1 and we  shall 
see that1 whether the book be a history 
or a parable or an allegory1  it drives 
crushing suspicion from the world by    
teaching that suffering is  not always  
the result of sin1 and brings cheerful  
trust into the world by  teaching that  
afflictions bravely endured must have   
their reward4 ,the man  who back in that

 dim and far age got hold of the        
teaching of the book of  ,job must have 
somehow caught the inspiration of ,god  
himself4 ,the common  ground in all     
these mooted portions of ,scripture is  
really a large and  wealthy place2 but  
only a common spiritual purpose will    
ever bring  conservatives and           
progressives together in the knowledge  
and peace of ,god4    ,one almost       
hesitates to discuss the book of ,jonah 
in this connection  because petty       
debates have robbed it of much of its   
deeper meaning4 ,the  nature of the book
 doubtless lies beyond earthly          
settlement4 ,whether we  declare that   
,jonah's journey was as historical as   
those of ,saint ,paul1 or  that it was  
as parabolic as the journey of the      
prodigal son1 we can find  no sure end  
of the debate4 ,but all the while the   
teaching of the book  waits for our     
obedience4 ,the individual lesson seems 
to be that whenever a  man turns his    
ship from the ,nineveh of duty toward   

the ,tarshish of  pleasure he will      
directly come to rough and perilous     
seas4 ,in other words1  the man who     
flees from his ,god-assigned work sooner
 or later gets into  trouble4 ,the      
missionary lesson is just as plain4     
,back yonder in a time of  racial       
narrowness1 some one caught the         
inspiration from ,god and declared  that
 the ,lord of all the earth cared for   
all the people of the earth4 ,the       
infinite love traveled beyond all our   
little boundaries4 ,the personal  lesson
 and the missionary lesson of the book  
of ,jonah are sufficient to  keep       
individuals and churches busy for a     
thousand years to come4 ,the  spirit    
with which we approach the book of      
,jonah will decide whether we  shall    
become petty debaters1 or men and women 
with dutiful purpose and  missionary    
zeal4    ,the conclusion is that when we
 seek the ,bible with the motive of holy
  practice we never meet with           
disappointment4 ,the religious purpose  

saves  the ,book for us and saves us by 
the ,book4 ,this purpose will likewise  
bring  us face to face with the ,hero of
 the ,divine ,word4 ,other sacred       
literatures  may offer us high moral    
precepts1 and they may occasionally give
 us  glimpses of spiritual ideals4 ,but 
one ,book alone gives us ,christ4 ,one  
,book  alone reveals the ,redeemer4 ,the
 climax of practice to which the        
,scriptures  call us is the following of
 ,christ4 ,in all our studies in these  
chapters  we have found that the supreme
 lessons centered in his teaching and in
 his  example4 ,the ,man1 the ,home1 the
 ,school1 the ,workshop1 the ,market    
,place1  the ,playground1 and the       
,hospital all wait upon him for their   
guidance and  their warning4 ,but ,jesus
 is more than the way and the truth2 he 
is the  ,life4 ,he is more than the     
,exemplar of ,practice2 he is the       
,helper in  ,practice4 ,he walks the    
pages of the ,bible even as he walked   
the ancient  paths1 and his disciples   

may still say1 ,behold the ,lamb of     
,god1 which  taketh away the sin of the 
world4 ,other sacred books may offer    
revelations of morality2 the ,bible     
offers the revelation of a ,saviour4    
,the  ,bible is not its own goal4 ,jesus
 is the end of its revelation4 ,the     
devout  in all ages have been ready to  
use the heart of the verse of a familiar
  hymn3      ,beyond the sacred page1   
,i seek thee1 ,lord2    ,my spirit pants
 for thee1      ,thou living ,word4     
,if men seek the ,exemplar who will give
 them a goal for their practice1  they  
find such an ,exemplar in the ,christ of
 the ,bible4 ,if they seek the          
,inspirer who will give them a longing  
for the perfect practice1 they will     
find that ,inspirer in the ,christ of   
the ,bible4 ,if men seek the ,saviour   
who  will help them on to the perfect   
practice1 they will find that ,helper in
  the ,christ of the ,bible4    ,indeed1
 it may be said to be characteristic of 
the ,bible that it not only  offers the 

perfect program1 but that it offers the 
perfect help4 ,this was  true even of   
the ,old ,testament4 ,jehovah was the   
strength of life4 ,his  power was as    
immediate as his presence4 ,he was a    
present help in time of  trouble4 ,he   
was a present ,guide in time of         
perplexity4 ,the ,christian  revelation 
seems to bring that consciousness of    
divine help nearer to men1  and to make 
it more real4 ,hence the ,christian     
faith goes over all the  world seeking  
to win men to ,god and his              
righteousness4 ,everywhere it  proclaims
 a redeeming ,god4 ,an ideal without a  
,saviour may become a  despair--a       
tormenting impossibility1 the lure of   
the final falsehood4 ,the  ,bible gives 
the ideal and then it adds1 ,it is ,god 
which worketh in you  both to will and  
to do of his good pleasure4 ,the ,bible 
warns against  temptation1 and then it  
tells of ,one who was himself tempted in
 all points  like as we are1 yet without
 sin1 of ,one who is able to succor them

 that  are tempted4 ,the religion of the
 dead code becomes the religion of the  
living ,person4 ,the ,ideal becomes     
,example1 and both ,ideal and ,example  
are  found in a ,saviour4    ,with all  
this in our purpose1 as well as in our  
creed1 we come to the  ,bible in full   
harmony with its primary intent4 ,we    
find now that for every  moral and      
spiritual emergency the ,book has its   
message4 ,if it were  necessary we could
 list these emergencies and show the    
word that the  ,bible has for each of   
them4 ,here is an illustration that     
serves as well as  a thousand for making
 the main point4 ,the ,gideons have been
 placing the  ,bibles in the hotels of  
,america4 ,travelers seldom go to their 
rooms  without seeing upon the table a  
copy of the ,book4 ,the organization    
that  has done this good work often     
receives accounts1 anonymous or         
otherwise1  of the help given by the    
,bibles that its work has supplied4     
,here is a  letter received from a young

 woman3        ,perhaps a word will help
 you to realize that the little ,good   
,book on      the table in a lonely     
hotel room helps some4 ,last night1     
after      fighting the fight that any  
young woman with any appearance fights1 
,i      found myself in ,chicago at this
 hotel4 ,i had papers1 magazines1 books1
      and other reading matter1 but for 
a joke--yes1 joke--,i picked up the     
,bible4 ,it fell open at the seventieth 
psalm4 ,can you imagine the             
impression it made on me8 ,i read it    
again and again4 ,needless to say1      
it helped and ,i feel better1 happier1  
and not so much alone4    ,picture the  
full circumstances1 and we may feel that
 the help went deeper  and wrought more 
than this letter indicates4 ,if this    
young woman was at  the beginning of    
that dreadful path of death that invites
 careless  travelers1 how much must     
these ancient words1 so graciously      
modern1 have  meant to her8 ,make haste1
 ,o ,god1 to deliver me2 make haste to  

help me1 ,o  ,lord4 ,let them be ashamed
 and confounded that seek after my soul3
 let them  be turned backward1 and put  
to confusion1 that desire my hurt4 ,let 
them be  turned back for a reward of    
their shame that say1 ,aha1 ,aha4 ,let  
all those  that seek thee rejoice and be
 glad in thee3 and let such as love thy 
salvation say continually1 ,let ,god be 
magnified4 ,but ,i am poor and needy2   
make haste unto me1 ,o ,god3 thou art my
 help and my deliverer2 ,o ,lord1 make  
no tarrying4 ,any study of the          
authorship or date of this seventieth   
psalm1 or any theorizing as to the      
identity of ,the chief musician1 or     
even any discussion of the particular   
circumstances under which the words     
were originally written would not have  
solved the life problem of a young      
woman coaxed on toward carelessness4    
,the psalm was penned to make ,god      
real1 and his help real4 ,doubtless it  
performed that office long ago2 and     
surely it performs that office now      

whenever a needy heart supplicates the  
good ,god by means of the ancient       
prayer4 ,thy word have ,i hid in my     
heart1  that ,i might not sin against   
thee--this was the psalmist's statement 
as  to the reason for carrying portions 
of the ancient revelation with him on   
all his journeys4 ,wherewithal shall a  
young man cleanse his way8 ,by  taking  
heed thereto according to thy word--this
 was the use of ,god's  ,word prescribed
 for all time4 ,the writer of the one   
hundred and nineteenth  psalm did not   
have our ,bible1 but when he wrote these
 two verses he had  within him the      
purpose of our ,bible4 ,he brought the  
ancient law within its  primary intent1 
and he gave the principle by which all  
later ,scripture  should be employed4   
,the ,bible is to be placed in the heart
 as a defense  against sin4 ,the ,bible 
is intended to cleanse the ways of life4
 ,the ,bible  is given to lead us to    
,him who is himself the ,perfect ,life  
and who offers  the ,divine ,grace4     

,all this means that the best apologetic
 for the ,bible is the earnest and      
honest use of the ,bible4 ,we may well  
use the apostle's fine phrase and say   
that those persons who follow the ideals
 of the ,bible under the  inspiration of
 the ,saviour of the ,bible are living  
epistles known and  read of all men4    
,they are the modern evidences for the  
ancient ,book1 the  human and divine    
proofs of the human and divine ,book4   
,the ,bible does not  fail the soul that
 searches its pages for the paths of    
truth and  righteousness4 ,the prayer of
 the ritual is that we may read1 mark1  
learn1  and inwardly digest1 that by    
patience and comfort of thy ,holy ,word 
we may  embrace and ever hold fast the  
blessed hope of everlasting life4 ,in   
everything that bears on making men     
worthy subjects of everlasting life  the
 ,bible is the sure guide4 ,all sincere 
souls that come to its chapters  with   
this primary and spiritual intent will  
find their due reward4 ,they  may stand 

before the open ,book confident that the
 voice of ,god will speak  through the  
written ,word and determined that they  
themselves shall ever be  in the        
attitude of eager listeners1 saying1    
,speak1 ,lord2 for thy servants  hear4