,,the ,,mendenhall ,,lectures1 ,,third  
,,series ,,delivered ,,at ,,depauw      
,,university   ,,understanding ,,the    
,,scriptures  ,,by  ,,francis ,j4       
,mc,c,o,n,n,e,l,l  ,bishop of the       
,methodist ,episcopal ,church           
,,contents        ,,foreword    ,i4     
,,preliminary   ,,ii4 ,,the ,,book ,,of 
,,life  ,,iii4 ,,the ,,book ,,of        
,,humanity   ,,iv4 ,,the ,,book ,,of    
,,god    ,v4 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,christ 
,,vi4 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,the ,,cross   
,,foreword  ,the ,mendenhall ,lectures1 
founded by ,rev4 ,marmaduke ,h4         
,mendenhall1 ,d4,d41 of the ,north      
,indiana ,conference of the ,methodist  
,episcopal ,church1 are delivered       
annually in ,de ,pauw ,university to the
 public without any charge for          
admission4 ,the object of the donor was 
to found a perpetual lectureship on the 
evidences of the ,divine ,origin of     
,christianity and the inspiration and   
authority of the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,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            
scholarship1 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  ,lectures         
previously published3 #aiac1 ,the ,bible
 and ,life1 ,edwin ,holt ,hughes2 #aiad1
 ,the ,literary ,primacy of the ,bible1 
,george ,peck ,eckman4  ,,george ,r4    
,,grose1  ,president ,de ,pauw          
,university4     ,,chapter ,i           
,,preliminary  ,the problem as to the   
understanding of the ,scriptures is with
 some no problem at all4 ,all we have to
 do is to take the narratives at their  
face meaning4 ,the ,book is written in  
plain ,english1 and all that is         
necessary for its comprehension is a    
knowledge of what the words mean4 ,if we

 have any doubts1 we can consult the    
dictionary4 ,the plain man ought to have
 no difficulty in understanding the     
,bible4  ,nobody can deny the clearness 
of the ,english of the ,scriptures4     
,nevertheless1 the plain man does have  
trouble4 ,how far would the ordinary    
intelligence have to read from the first
 chapter of ,genesis before finding     
itself in difficulties8 ,there are      
accounts of events utterly unlike       
anything which we see happening in the  
life around us1 events which seem to us 
to contradict the course of nature's    
procedure4 ,there are points of view    
foreign to our way of looking at things4
 ,more than that1 there seem to be      
actual contradictions between various   
portions of the books4 ,and1 above all1 
the way of life marked out in the ,book 
seems to lead off toward mystery4 ,to   
save our lives we have to lose them4    
,all the precepts of common sense seem  
set at defiance by some passages of the 
,book4 ,how can we explain the hold of  

such a book on the world's life8  ,when 
once the problem of the understanding of
 the ,scriptures is raised1 various     
solutions are offered1 all of which     
contribute a measure of help1 but most  
of which do not greatly get us ahead4   
,for example1 we are told that the ,book
 is translated literature1 and that if  
we could get back to the original       
narratives in the original languages1 we
 would find our perplexities vanishing4 
,there is no question that a knowledge  
of ,greek and ,hebrew does aid us in an 
understanding of the ,scriptures1 but   
this aid commonly extends only to the   
meaning of particular words4 ,one who   
knows enough of ,greek or ,hebrew to    
enter sympathetically into the life of  
which those languages were the          
expression is prepared to sense the     
scriptural atmosphere better than one   
who has not such equipment4 ,very few   
,scripture readers1 however1 are thus   
qualified to understand ,greek and      
,hebrew4 ,very few ministers of the     

gospel are so trained as to be able to  
pass upon shades of meaning of ,greek or
 ,hebrew words against the judgment of  
those who teach these languages in the  
schools4 ,with graduation from          
theological school most ministers put   
,hebrew to one side2 and many pay no    
further attention to ,greek4 ,even a    
trained biblical student is very careful
 not to question the authority of the   
professional linguistic experts4 ,apart 
from sidelights upon the meaning of this
 or that passage1 there is very little  
that the biblical student can get from  
,greek or ,hebrew which is not available
 in important translations4 ,we cannot  
solve the greater difficulties in       
biblical study by carrying our          
investigations back to the study of the 
original languages as such4 ,the fact is
 that emphasis upon the importance of   
mastery of ,greek and ,hebrew for an    
insight into scriptural meanings rests  
largely upon a theory of literal        
inspiration of the biblical narratives4 

,it requires only a cursory reading to  
see that the narratives in ,english     
cannot claim to be strictly inerrant1 so
 that the upholder of inerrancy is      
driven to the position that the         
inerrancy is in the documents as        
originally written4 ,no doctrine of     
inerrancy1 however1 can explain away the
 puzzles which confront us1 for example1
 in the accounts of the creation as     
given us in the early chapters of       
,genesis1 or throw light upon the       
possibility of a soul's passing from    
moral death to life4  ,great help is    
promised us by those who maintain that  
the modern methods of critical biblical 
study give us the key to scriptural     
meanings4 ,there is no doubt that many  
doors have been opened by critical      
methods4 ,now that the flurries of      
misunderstanding which attended the     
first application of such methods to    
biblical study have passed on1 we see   
that some solid results have been       
gained4 ,in so far as our difficulties  

arise from questions of authorship and  
date of writing1 the critical methods   
have brought much relief4 ,even very    
orthodox biblicists no longer insist    
that it is necessary to oppose the      
teaching that the first five books of   
the ,bible were written at different    
times and by different men4 ,in fact1   
there is no reason to quarrel with the  
theory that many parts of these books   
are not merely anonymous1 but are       
documents produced by the united effort 
of narrators and correlators reaching   
through generations--the narratives     
often being transmitted orally from     
fathers to sons4 ,there is no reason for
 longer arguing against the claim that  
the book of ,isaiah as it stands in our 
,scriptures is composed of documents    
written at widely separated periods4 ,it
 is permissible even from the standpoint
 of orthodoxy to assign a late date to  
the book of ,daniel4 ,no harm is wrought
 when we insist that the book of ,mark  
must have priority in date among the    

,gospels1 and that ,matthew and ,luke   
are built in part from ,mark as a       
foundation4 ,it is not dangerous to face
 the facts which cause the prolonged    
debate over the authorship of the fourth
 ,gospel4 ,it is not heresy to teach    
that the dates of the epistles must be  
rearranged through the findings of      
modern scholarship4 ,there is not only  
no danger in a hospitable attitude      
toward modern scholarship1 but many     
difficulties disappear through adjusting
 ourselves to present-day methods4 ,if  
contradictions appear in a document     
hitherto considered a unit1 the         
contradictions are at least measurably  
done away with when the document is seen
 to be a composite report from the      
points of view of different authors4    
,the critical method has been of immense
 value in enforcing upon us that the    
scriptural books were written each with 
a distinctive intention1 apart from the 
purpose to represent the facts in the   
method of a newspaper reporter or of a  

scientific investigator4 ,in a sense    
many of the more important scriptural   
documents were of the nature of         
pamphlets or tracts for the times in    
which they were written4 ,the author was
 combating a heresy1 or supplementing a 
previous statement which seemed to him  
to be inadequate1 or seeking to adjust a
 religious conception to enlarging      
demands4 ,the biblical writers are      
commentators on or interpreters of the  
truth which they conceive to be         
essential4  ,making most generous       
allowances1 however1 for the advantages 
of the critical methods1 we must use    
them with considerable care4 ,results   
like those suggested above seem to be   
well established1 but there is always   
possibility of the critic's becoming a  
mere specialist with the purely         
technical point of view4 ,suppose the   
critic holds so to the passion for      
analysis that for him analysis becomes  
everything4 ,we may then have a single  
verse cut into three or four pieces1    

each assigned to a different author1 the
 authors separated by long periods4     
,even if the older narratives are       
composite1 the process of welding or    
compression was so thorough that        
detailed analyses are now out of the    
question4 ,apart from its broader       
contentions1 the method of the critical 
school must be used tentatively and     
without dogmatism4 ,moreover1 we must   
always remember that the critical       
student comes to his task with          
assumptions which are oftentimes more   
potent with him from his very blindness 
to their existence4 ,assumption in      
scientific investigation is inevitable4 
,suppose a critic to be markedly under  
the influence of some evolutionary      
hypothesis4 ,suppose him to believe that
 the formula which makes progress a     
movement from the simple to the complex 
can be traced in detail in the advance  
of society4 ,he is prepared to believe  
that in practically every case the      
simple has preceded the complex4 ,he    

will forthwith untangle the biblical    
narrative to get at the ideal           
evolutionary arrangement1 ignoring the  
truth that except in the most general   
fashion progress cannot thus be traced4 
,in the actual life of societies the    
progress1 especially of ideas1 is often 
from the complex to the simple4 ,many   
evolutionists maintain that movement is 
now forward1 now backward1 now diagonal1
 and now by a short cut2 but if the     
evolutionary critic sticks closely to   
his preconceived formula about progress 
as always from the simple to the        
complex1 he can lead us astray4 ,again1 
almost all great prophetic announcements
 are ahead of their time4 ,they seem out
 of place at the date of their first    
utterance--interruptions1 interjections 
hard to fit into an orderly historic    
scheme4 ,or suppose the critic to be a  
student of the scientific school which  
will not allow for the play of any      
forces excepting as they openly reveal  
themselves1 the school that will not    

allow for backgrounds of thought or for 
atmospheres which surround conceptions4 
,such a student is very apt to maintain1
 for example1 that ,paul knew only so   
much of the life of ,jesus as he        
mentions in the epistles4 ,such a       
student cannot assume that ,paul ever   
took anything for granted4 ,we can see  
at once that a method so professedly    
exact as this may be dangerously out of 
touch with the human processes of the   
life of individuals and of societies4   
,or suppose still further that the      
biblical student holds a set of         
scientific assumptions which are        
extremely naturalistic2 that is to say1 
suppose that he assumes that nothing has
 ever happened which in any way departs 
from the natural order4 ,we have only to
 remind ourselves that the natural order
 of a particular time is the order as   
that time conceives it2 but it is       
manifestly hazardous to limit events in 
the world of matter to the scientific   
conceptions of any one day4 ,to take a  

single illustration1 the radical student
 of the life of ,jesus of a generation  
ago cast out forthwith from the ,gospel 
accounts everything which suggested the 
miraculous4 ,the conceptions of the     
order of nature which obtained a        
generation ago did not allow even for   
works of healing of the sort recorded in
 the ,gospels4 ,at the present time     
radical biblical criticism makes        
considerable allowance for such works4  
,discovery of the power of mental       
suggestion and of the influence of mind 
over body has opened the door to the    
return of some of the wonders wrought by
 ,jesus to a place among historic facts4
 ,this does not mean that the radical   
student is any more friendly to miracles
 than before4 ,we are not here raising  
the question of miracles as such1 but we
 do insist that an assumption as to what
 the natural order may or may not allow 
can be fraught with peril in the hands  
of critical students of the ,scriptures4
 ,we say again that while1 in general1  

the larger contentions of the biblical  
school can be looked upon as established
 beyond reasonable doubt2 and while1 in 
general1 the methods of the school are  
productive of good1 yet1 because of the 
part that assumption plays in the       
fashioning of all critical tools1 the   
assumptions must be scrutinized with all
 possible care4 ,a good practical rule  
is to read widely from the critics1 to  
accept what they generally agree upon1  
to hold very loosely anything that seems
 striking or brilliant4 ,this is a field
 in which originality must be           
discounted4 ,there is so little check   
upon the imagination4  ,it is but a step
 from the consideration of the critical 
methods in biblical study to that of the
 historical methods in the broader      
sense4 ,many students who are out of    
patience with the more narrowly critical
 processes maintain that the broader    
historical methods are of vast value in 
biblical discussion4 ,here1 again1 we   
must admit the large measure of justice 

in the claim4 ,we can see at once that  
the same reservations must be made as in
 the case of the critical methods4 ,the 
assumptions play a determining part4 ,if
 we are on our guard against any tricks 
that assumptions may play1 we can       
eagerly expect the historical methods to
 aid us greatly4  ,we have come to see  
that any revelation to be really a      
revelation must speak in the language of
 a particular time4 ,but speaking in the
 language of a particular time implies  
at the outset very decided limitations4 
,the prophets who arise to proclaim any 
kind of truth must clothe their ideas in
 the thought terms of a particular day  
and can accomplish their aims only as   
they succeed in leading the spiritual   
life of their day onward and upward4    
,such a prophet will accommodate himself
 to the mental and moral and religious  
limitations of the time in which he     
speaks4 ,only thus can he get a start4  
,it is inevitable1 then1 that along with
 the higher truth of his message there  

will appear the marks of the limitations
 of the mold in which the message is    
cast4 ,the prophet must take what       
materials he finds at hand1 and with    
these materials direct the people to    
something higher and better4            
,furthermore1 in the successive stages  
through which the idea grows we must    
expect to find it affected by all the   
important factors which in any degree   
determine its unfolding4 ,the first     
stage in understanding the ,scriptures  
is to learn what a writer intended to   
say1 what he meant for the people of his
 day4 ,to do this we must rely upon the 
methods which we use in any historical  
investigation4 ,the ,christian student  
of the ,scriptures believes that the    
,bible contains eternal truths for all  
time1 truths which are above time in    
their spiritual values4 ,even so1       
however1 the truth must first be written
 for a particular time and that time the
 period in which the prophet lived4     
,when the ,christian speaks of the      

,scriptures as containing a revelation  
for all time1 he refers to their        
essential spiritual value4 ,the best way
 to make that essential spiritual value 
effective for the after times is to sink
 it deep into the consciousness of a    
particular time4 ,this gives it         
leverage1 or focus for the outworking of
 its forces4 ,no matter how limited the 
conceptions in which the spiritual      
richness first took form1 those         
conceptions can be understood by the    
students who look back through the ages1
 while the spiritual value itself shines
 out with perennial freshness4          
,paradoxical as it may sound1 the truths
 which are of most value for all time   
are those which first get themselves    
most thoroughly into the thought and    
feeling of some one particular time4    
,let us look at the opening chapters of 
,genesis for illustration4 ,the         
historical student points out to us that
 the science of the first chapters of   
,genesis is not peculiar to the ,hebrew 

people1 that substantially similar views
 of the stages through which creation   
moved are to be found in the literatures
 of surrounding peoples4 ,a well-known  
type of student would therefore seek at 
one stroke to bring the first chapters  
of ,genesis down to the level of the    
scriptures of the neighbors of the      
,hebrews4 ,he would then discount all   
these narratives alike by reference to  
modern astronomy1 geology1 and biology4 
,but the difference between the ,hebrew 
account and the other accounts lies in  
this1 that in the ,hebrew statement the 
science of a particular time is made the
 vehicle of eternally superb moral and  
spiritual conceptions concerning man and
 concerning man's relation to the ,power
 that brought him into being4 ,the worth
 of these conceptions even in that early
 statement few of us would be inclined  
to question4 ,assuming that any man or  
set of men became in the old days alive 
to the value of such religious ideas1   
how could they speak them forth except  

in the language of their own day8 ,they 
had to speak in their own tongue1 and   
speaking in that tongue they had to use 
the thought terms expressed by that     
tongue4 ,they accepted the science of   
their day as true1 and they utilized    
that science for the sake of bodying    
forth the moral and spiritual insights  
to which they had attained4 ,the        
inadequacy of early ,hebrew science and 
its likeness to ,babylonian and         
,chaldean science do not invalidate the 
worth of the spiritual conceptions of   
,genesis4 ,this ought to be apparent    
even to the proverbial wayfaring man4   
,the loftiest spiritual utterances are  
often clad in the poorest scientific    
draperies4 ,who would dare deny the     
worth of the great moral insights of    
,dante8 ,and who1 on the other hand1    
would insist upon the lasting value of  
the science in which his deep           
penetrations are uttered8 ,and so with  
,milton4 ,dr4 ,w4 ,f4 ,warren has shown 
the nature of the material universe as  

pictured in ,milton's ,paradise ,lost4  
,in passing from heaven to hell one     
would descend from an upper to a lower  
region of a sphere1 passing through     
openings at the centers of other        
concentric spheres on the way down4     
,nothing more foreign to modern science 
can be imagined2 yet we do not cast     
aside ,paradise ,lost because of the    
crudity of its view of the physical     
system4  ,assuming that the biblical    
prophets were to have any effect        
whatever1 in what language could they   
speak except that of their own time8    
,their position was very similar to that
 of the modern preacher who uses        
present-day ideas of the physical       
universe as instruments to proclaim     
moral and spiritual values4 ,nobody can 
claim that modern scientific theories   
are ultimate1 and nobody can deny1 on   
the other hand1 that vast good is done  
in the utilization of these conceptions 
for high religious purposes4  ,a        
minister once sought in a sermon on the 

marvels of man's constitution to enforce
 his conceptions by speaking of the     
instantaneousness with which a message  
flashed to the brain through the nervous
 system is heeded and acted upon4 ,he   
said that the touch of red-hot iron upon
 a finger-tip makes a disturbance which 
is instantly reported to the brain for  
action4 ,a scientific hearer was        
infinitely disgusted4 ,he said that all 
such disturbances are acted upon in the 
spinal cord4 ,he could see no value1    
therefore1 even in the main point of the
 minister's sermon because of the       
minister's mistaken conception of       
nervous processes4 ,i suppose very few  
of us know whether this scientific      
objection was well taken or not4 ,very  
few of us1 however1 would reject the    
entire sermon because of an erroneous   
illustration2 and yet sometimes all the 
essentials of the ,scriptures are       
discounted because of flaws no more     
consequential than that suggested in    
this illustration4 ,the ,scriptures aim 

to declare a certain idea of ,god1 a    
certain idea of man1 and a certain idea 
of the relations between ,god and man4  
,those ideas are clothed in the garments
 of successive ages4 ,the change in the 
fashions and adequacy of the garments   
does not make worthless the living truth
 which the garments clothe4 ,jesus      
himself lived deeply in his own time and
 spoke his own language and worked      
through the thought terms which were    
part of the life of his time4 ,some     
biblical readers have been greatly      
disturbed in recent years by the        
discovery of the part which so-called   
apocalyptic thought-forms play in the   
teaching of ,jesus4 ,the fact is that   
these conceptions were the commonest    
element in all later ,jewish thinking4  
,jesus could not have lived when he did 
without making apocalyptic terms the    
vehicle for his doctrines4 ,we have come
 to see that the manner of the coming of
 the kingdom of ,jesus is not so        
important as the character of that      

kingdom4  ,not only must a prophet speak
 in the language of a definite time1 but
 he must speak to men as he finds them4 
,this being so1 we must expect that     
revelations will in a sense be          
accommodated to the apprehension of the 
day of their utterance4 ,the minds of   
men are in constant movement4 ,if the   
prophet were to have before him minds   
altogether at a standstill1 he might    
well despair of accomplishing great     
results by his message4 ,he would be    
forced to think of the intelligence of  
this day as a sort of vessel which he   
could fill with so much and no more4    
,but whether the prophets have through  
the ages had any theoretic understanding
 of human intelligence as an organism or
 not1 they have acted upon the          
assumption that they were dealing with  
such organisms4 ,so they have conceived 
of their truth as a seed cast into the  
ground1 passing through successive      
stages4 ,jesus himself spoke of the     
kingdom of ,god as moving out of the    

stage of the blade into that of the ear 
and finally into that of the full corn  
in the ear4 ,this illustration is our   
warrant for insisting that in the       
enforcing of truth all manner of factors
 come into play and that the truth      
passes through successive epochs1 some  
of which may seem to later believers    
very unpromising and unworthy4 ,the test
 of the worth of an idea is not so much 
any opinion as to the unseemliness of   
the stages through which it has passed  
as it is the value of the idea when once
 it has come to ripeness4 ,the test of  
the grain is its final value for food4  
,the scriptural truths are to be judged 
by no other test than that of their     
worth for life4  ,in the light of the   
teaching of ,jesus himself there is no  
reason why we should shrink from stating
 that the revelation of biblical truth  
is influenced by even the moral         
limitations of men4 ,jesus said that an 
important revelation to man was halted  
at an imperfect stage because of the    

hardness of men's hearts4 ,the ,mosaic  
law of divorce was looked upon by ,jesus
 as inadequate4 ,the law represented the
 best that could be done with hardened  
hearts4 ,the author of the ,practice of 
,christianity1 a book published         
anonymously some years ago1 has shown   
conclusively how the hardness of men's  
hearts limits any sort of moral and     
spiritual revelation4 ,it will be       
remembered that ,william ,james in      
discussing the openness of minds to     
truth divided men into the tough-minded 
and the tender-minded4 ,james was not   
thinking of moral distinctions3 he was  
merely emphasizing the fact that        
tough-minded men require a different    
order of intellectual approach than do  
the tender-minded4 ,if we put into      
tough-mindedness the element of moral   
hardness and unresponsiveness which the 
prophet must meet1 we can see how such  
an element would condition and limit the
 prophet4  ,again1 ,jesus said to his   
disciples that he had many things to say

 to them1 but that they could not bear  
them at the time at which he spoke4     
,some revelations must wait for moral   
strength on the part of the people to   
whom they are to come4 ,suppose1 for    
example1 in this year of our ,lord      
#aiag1 some scientist should discover a 
method of touching off explosives from a
 great distance by wireless telegraphy  
without the need of a specially prepared
 receiver at the end where the explosion
 is desired4 ,suppose it were possible  
for him simply to press a button and    
blow up all the ships of the ,british   
,navy1 or all the stores of munitions in
 ,germany4 ,what would be the first duty
 of such an inventor8 ,very likely it   
would be his immediate duty to keep the 
secret closely locked in his own mind4  
,if such a discovery were made known to 
,european combatants in their present   
temper1 it is a question what would be  
left on earth at the end of the next    
twenty-four hours4 ,with ,european minds
 in their present moral and spiritual   

plight it would not be safe to trust    
them with any such revelation4 ,and this
 illustration has significance for more 
than the physical order of revelation4  
,there are principles for individual and
 social conduct that may well be put    
into effect one hundred years from now4 
,men are not now morally fit to receive 
some revelations4 ,all of which means   
that any revealing movement is a        
progressive movement in that it depends 
upon not merely the utterances of the   
revealing mind1 but upon the response of
 the receiving mind4 ,in the play back  
and forth between giver and receiver all
 sorts of factors come into power4 ,the 
study of the interplay of these factors 
is entirely worthy as an object of      
,christian research4 ,we may well be    
thankful for any advance thus far made  
in such study and we may look for       
greater advances in the future4 ,for    
example1 the historic students thus far 
have put in most of their effort laying 
stress upon similarities between the    

biblical conceptions and the conceptions
 of the peoples outside the current of  
biblical revelation4 ,the work has been 
of great value4 ,nevertheless it would  
seem to be about time for larger        
emphasis on the differences between the 
biblical revelations and the conceptions
 outside4  ,still when all is said the  
mastery of historical methods of study  
is but preliminary to the real          
understanding of the ,scriptures4 ,if we
 come close to the revealing movement   
itself1 we find that before we get far  
into the stream there must be           
sympathetic responsiveness to biblical  
teaching4 ,the difficulties in          
understanding the ,scriptures are1 as of
 old1 not so much of the intellect as   
they are of conscience and will--the    
difficulties1 in a word1 that arise from
 the hardness of men's hearts4          
,,chapter ,,ii  ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,life
  ,the approaches to an understanding of
 the ,scriptures which we suggested in  
the first chapter are those which have  

to do merely with intellectual          
investigation4 ,any student with normal 
intelligence can appreciate the methods 
and results of the critical scrutiny of 
the biblical documents1 but will require
 something more for an adequate mastery 
of the scriptural revelations4 ,there is
 need of sympathetic realization that   
the ,book itself did not in any large   
degree come out of the exercise of the  
merely intellectual faculties4 ,in the  
scriptural revelation we are dealing    
with a current of life which flowed for 
centuries through the minds of masses of
 people4 ,to be sure of insight into the
 meanings of this revelation there must 
be an approach to the ,bible as a ,book 
of ,life in the sense that its teachings
 came out of life and that they were    
perennially used to play back into life4
 ,its hold on life to-day can be        
explained only by the fact that it was  
thus born out of life1 and has its chief
 significance for the experiences of    
actual life4  ,even the most superficial

 perusal of the ,scriptures shows that  
they came of practical contact with men 
and things4 ,there is comparatively     
little in the entire content of our     
,sacred ,book to suggest the            
speculations of abstract philosophy4    
,the writers deal with the concrete4    
,they tell of men and of peoples who had
 to face facts and who achieved         
comprehensions and convictions through  
grappling with facts4 ,there is about   
the ,scriptures what some one has called
 a sort of out-of-doors-ness4 ,there is 
very little hint of withdrawal from the 
push and pressure of daily living4 ,if  
the prophets ever withdrew to solitude1 
they did not retire to closets1 but     
rather to deserts or to mountains4 ,we  
must not allow our modern familiarity   
with bookmaking as an affair of library 
research and tranquil meditation in     
seclusion to mislead us into thinking   
that the ,christian ,bible was wrought  
out in similar fashion4 ,the ,book is   
full of the tingle and even the roar of 

the life out of which it was born4      
,jesus gathered up in a single sentence 
the process by which the scriptural     
revelation can be apprehended by man    
when he said1 ,he that doeth the will   
shall know of the truth4 ,the entire    
scriptural unfolding is one vast        
commentary on this utterance of ,jesus4 
,it is impossible for us in this series 
of studies to attempt any detailed      
survey of the revealing movement of     
which our ,scriptures are the outcome4  
,it is important1 however1 that we      
should see clearly that the revelation  
came to those who opened themselves to  
the light in an obedient spirit4 ,while 
it is not in accord with our modern     
knowledge of psychology to assort and   
divide human activities too sharply1 it 
is nevertheless permissible to insist   
that the biblical revelation was in a   
sense primarily to the will4 ,as        
,frederick ,w4 ,robertson used to say1  
obedience is the organ of spiritual     
knowledge4 ,the first men to whom       

illuminations came evidently received   
these gifts out of some purity of       
intention and moral excellence4 ,these  
early leaders gathered others around    
them and set them on the path of        
determined striving toward a definite   
goal4 ,as the idea of the seer or the   
prophet found general acceptance it     
gradually hardened into law1 law meant  
for scrupulous observance4 ,if a singer 
felt stirred to write a psalm1 he voiced
 his experiences or his aspirations in  
the midst of a throbbing world4 ,if a   
statesman drew a wide survey of ,god's  
dealings with the nations of the earth1 
he did so at some mighty crisis in      
,israel's relations to ,egypt or        
,assyria or ,babylon4 ,when we reach    
,new ,testament times we find that even 
the ,gospels seem to have been books    
struck out of immediate practical       
urgencies rather than composed          
tranquilly with a scholar's interest    
merely in doing a fine piece of         
professional work4 ,the early           

,christians were anxious to hold the    
believers to the strait and narrow way4 
,to do this they repeated often the     
words of the ,lord ,jesus4 ,when1       
however1 the older members of the first 
circles began to fall away1 the words   
were written down1 not because some     
scholar felt moved thus to improve his  
leisure1 but because it was absolutely  
necessary to preserve the words4        
,moreover1 conflicts were arising       
between the growing church and the      
forces of the world round about4 ,some  
scriptures were written to supply       
instruments with which to carry on the  
warfare4 ,always the fundamental aim was
 to keep the people acting according to 
the teachings which lay at the heart of 
the ,christian system4 ,the object of   
the biblical revelation was from the    
beginning just what it is to-day in the 
hands of ,christian believers--the      
object of using the ,scriptures as an   
instrument for practicing the ,christian
 spirit into all the phases of life4    

,we would by no means deny that there   
are imposing philosophies or1 rather1   
hints toward such philosophies1 in the  
,scriptures1 but we insist that these   
did not come out of a purely            
philosophizing temper4 ,they came as men
 tried to put into some form or order   
the understandings at which they had    
arrived as they wrestled with the tough 
facts of a world which they were trying 
to subject to the rule of their         
religion4 ,as we have said in the       
previous chapter1 the ,scriptures bear  
scars of all such conflicts4 ,the       
revelation was knocked into its shape in
 the rough-and-tumble of an attempt to  
convert the world4 ,and this is not to  
claim for the ,bible any difference in  
method of creation from that which      
obtains in the shaping of any vitally   
effective piece of literature4 ,the     
world-shaking conceptions have always   
been won in profound experience4 ,this  
chapter is not written with the         
principles of the modern school of      

pragmatism as a guide1 and yet          
pragmatism can be so stated as to phrase
 an essentially ,christian doctrine that
 spiritual ideas result from spiritual  
practices and are of worth as they prove
 themselves aids in further experience4 
,take some of the expressions of ,paul4 
,the fundamental fact in ,paul's        
experience was his vision on the        
,damascus road and his determination to 
be obedient to that vision4 ,to make his
 own view of the ,christian religion    
attractive to those whom he was trying  
to win1 it became necessary for him to  
speak in terms of the ,judaism of his   
time4 ,in fact1 he could not have spoken
 in any other terms1 though some of his 
reasonings seem to us to be remote from 
actual life4 ,but when he left argument 
and came back to experience he was most 
effective4 ,his terribly compelling     
utterances are those which were born of 
driving necessity4 ,the theology started
 with the vision and unfolded in        
obedience to the vision1 ,what wilt thou

 have me to do8 ,everywhere upon ,paul's
 epistles there are the marks of        
practical compulsion4 ,a letter was     
dispatched to convince stubborn ,jews in
 ,galatia or to persuade questioning    
,gentiles in ,rome4 ,some of the        
profoundest phrasings of ,pauline belief
 were uttered first as appeals for      
generous collections to starving saints4
  ,the example of ,paul as a receiver   
and giver of spiritual light is very    
significant4 ,even if we should make the
 largest allowances to the biblical     
critics who would cut down the number of
 epistles known to be genuinely         
,pauline1 we would have enough left to  
make on our minds the impression of     
enormous personal activity4 ,one passage
 does1 indeed1 tell us of a period of   
months of withdrawal for reflection in  
,arabia4 ,for the most part1 however1   
,paul's life was spent in ceaselessly   
going to and fro throughout the ,roman  
empire2 even in the days of imprisonment
 he seems to have been burdened with the

 administration of churches4 ,it was out
 of such multifarious activities that   
the theology of ,paul was born1 and     
therein lies its value4 ,no             
interpretation is likely to bring the   
separate deliverances into anything like
 formal1 logical consistency4 ,very     
likely ,paul was of a markedly logical  
frame of mind1 but he did not attempt to
 rid his message of contradictions in   
detail4 ,the unity and consistency are  
found in the fundamental life purpose to
 get men to accept ,jesus ,christ as the
 ,chosen of ,god4 ,if ,paul had ever    
heard that much of his theology might be
 out-dated with the passage of the      
years1 he would probably have responded 
that he was perfectly willing that the  
instrument should be cast aside if it   
had served its spiritual purpose of     
bringing men to obedience to the law of 
,god4  ,it is not intended to make this 
a book of sermons or exhortations4 ,we  
must say1 however1 that in a series of  
studies on how to understand the        

,scriptures stress must be laid upon the
 maxim that the ,scriptures can be      
understood only by those who seek to    
recognize and obey the spirit of life   
breathing from the ,scriptures4 ,nothing
 could be more hopeless than to attempt 
to get to the heart of ,christian truth 
without attempting to build that truth  
into life4 ,the formal reasonings of the
 theologian are no doubt of value1 but  
they throw little light upon the        
essentials of ,christianity except as   
they deal with data which have been     
supplied by ,christian experience4 ,it  
would1 indeed1 be well for any study of 
the ,bible to begin with a recognition  
of the part played by distinctly        
scholarly research4 ,we cannot go far1  
however1 until we recognize that        
sympathy with ,christian truth is       
necessary before we can come upon vital 
knowledge4 ,and this1 after all1 is but 
the way we learn to understand any piece
 of life-literature4 ,a vast amount of  
material is at hand in the form of      

commentaries upon the work of           
,shakespeare4 ,we know much about the   
circumstances under which the plays of  
,shakespeare were written2 we know      
somewhat of the sources from which      
,shakespeare drew his historical        
materials2 we are familiar with the     
chronology of the plays2 but all this is
 knowledge about ,shakespeare4 ,to know 
,shakespeare there must be something of 
a deliberate attempt to surrender       
sympathetically to the ,shakespearean   
point of view4 ,we get inside of any    
classic work of literature only by this 
spirit of surrender4 ,the aim of        
,shakespeare is simply to picture life  
as he sees it1 but even to appreciate   
the picture men must enter into sympathy
 with the painter4 ,the ,scriptures aim 
not merely to paint life1 but to quicken
 and reproduce life4 ,how much more1    
then1 is needed a surrender of the will 
before there can be adequate            
appreciation of the ,scriptures8 ,if the
 ,scriptures are the results primarily  

of will-activities1 how can they finally
 be mastered except by minds quickened  
by doing the will revealed in the       
,scriptures8 ,the book of ,christianity 
must be interpreted by the disciples of 
,christianity4 ,judged merely by bookish
 standards1 there is no satisfactory    
explanation of the power of the ,bible4 
,but lift the whole problem out of the  
realm of books as such6 ,the glimpses   
into any high truth that are worth      
while--how do they come8 ,they come out 
of experience4 ,even when they are      
repeated from one mind to another they  
become the property of that second mind 
only as they reproduce themselves in    
experience4 ,otherwise the whole        
transaction is of words1 words1 words4  
,the ,scriptures have to do with deeds1 
not words4  ,all this is offensive to   
the dogmatic reasoner4 ,for him the     
intellect as such is the organ of       
religious truth4 ,he insists on speaking
 of the ,scriptures in formally         
theological terms4 ,that the ,scripture 

writers employed theological terms there
 can be no doubt1 but they did not speak
 as systematic theologians4 ,and always 
they brought their theology to the test 
of actual life4 ,the writer of these    
lines once knew a student who had read  
enough of psychology to enable him to   
reason himself into a belief that he was
 the only person in existence2 that is  
to say1 he declared that he himself was 
the only one of whose existence he was  
infallibly certain4 ,does not all       
knowledge of an external world come as a
 report through a sensation aroused by  
stimulus8 ,if the appropriate stimulus  
could be kept up an external world might
 fall away and ,i would still think it  
was there4 ,the bell might ring at the  
door and might be nobody there4 ,and so 
on and on1 through steps familiar enough
 to the student of philosophy4 ,when a  
friend made a quick appeal to life with 
the question3 ,if you are the only one  
alive1 why do you bring your troubles to
 me8 the amateur philosopher came to    

earth with a sense of jar4 ,but the jar 
is no greater than that when we pass    
from the plane of dogmatic theology to  
that of reading the ,scriptures for     
their own sake4 ,the old scholastics    
said that in ,god there are three       
substances1 one essence1 and two        
processions4 ,how does this sound as    
compared with the statement of ,jesus   
that he and his ,father are one1 and    
that he would send the ,comforter8 ,this
 is not to decry theology2 but is       
nevertheless to discriminate between    
theology and scripture4  ,some one will 
object1 however1 that the scriptural    
truths take their start in large part   
from the visions of mystics--of men who 
brood long and patiently until they     
behold realities not otherwise          
discernible4 ,some students will urge   
upon us that such mystic revelations are
 granted peculiarly to the mystic       
temperament as such1 and they often come
 regardless of the quality of life that 
the seers themselves may be living4     

,there have1 indeed1 been in all ages of
 the world temperaments of supernormal  
or abnormal responsiveness to influences
 which seem to make little or no        
impression upon the ordinary mind4 ,in  
all periods natures of this type have   
been looked upon as organs of religious 
revelation4 ,so valuable have abnormal  
experiences seemed that all manner of   
expedients have been utilized to beget  
unusual mental states4 ,a certain tribe 
of ,indians1 for example1 in the        
southwest of our country are accustomed 
at set times to send their religious    
leaders into the desert to find and     
partake of a peculiar plant which has an
 opiate or narcotic effect4 ,in the     
belief of the ,indians this plant opens 
the door to visions4 ,the visions1 as   
reported by those who have recovered    
from the influence of the narcotic1 are 
not of any considerable value4 ,similar 
attempts have been made by hypnotic     
experimenters among other peoples1 the  
hypnosis sometimes being self-induced4  

,from some ,old ,testament passages     
especially we may well believe that this
 sort of extraordinary mental condition 
was sought for in the so-called schools 
of the prophets in the olden days of    
,israel4 ,the astonishing peculiarity   
about the ,scriptures1 however1 is not  
that there is so much reliance on this  
trance experience as that there is so   
little4 ,the ,hebrew ,scriptures were   
the expression of a people living in the
 midst of heathen surroundings2 and     
heathenism always has laid stress upon  
the virtue of these abnormal            
experiences4 ,granting all allowances   
for mental states induced by eating an  
opiate1 or by whirling like the dervish1
 or by fasting like the ,hindu1 the fact
 remains that in the main1 the visions  
of the writers of our ,scriptures came  
out of attempts to realize in conduct   
the moral will of ,god4 ,when we think  
of the surroundings even of the early   
church2 when we reflect upon the force  
of suggestion for uncritical minds2 when

 we consider the sway of superstition at
 all periods during the ,hebrew         
revealing movement1 the wonder is that  
the ,scriptures lay such stress as they 
do upon the type of vision which arises 
from faithfulness in doing the revealed 
will4  ,if we may characterize          
scriptural mysticism1 it seems very much
 akin to mental abilities which we meet 
frequently in our ordinary intercourse4 
,take1 for example1 the prescience of a 
skilled business man4 ,nothing is more  
inadequate than the rules for success   
laid down by many a man who has himself 
succeeded in business4 ,mastery of his  
rules will not help another to win      
business success4 ,the reason is that   
there comes out of prolonged business   
practice a keen sense of what is likely 
to happen in the industrial or financial
 world4 ,the sharpened wits foresee     
without being able to assign reasons or 
grounds for the prophecies4 ,so it is   
with intellects trained to any superior 
skill4 ,the ,duke of ,wellington once   

remarked that he had spent all his life 
wondering what was on the other side of 
the hills in front of him1 yet the ,duke
 himself came to marvelous skill in     
guessing what was on the other side4    
,there is also a variety of scientific  
mysticism1 if such an expression may be 
permitted4 ,the man long trained to the 
reading of scientific processes develops
 a quick insight which runs far ahead of
 reason or proof4 ,the transcendent     
scientific discoveries have been        
glimpsed or1 rather1 sensed before they 
so reported themselves that they could  
be seized by formal proof4 ,now it is a 
far cry from business men1 generals1 and
 scientists to the mysticism of the     
,scriptures1 but when we see the        
emphasis which the ,scriptures place    
upon constancy in keeping the law and in
 acting according to divine             
commandments1 we cannot help feeling    
that biblical mysticism was and is an   
awareness developed as the life becomes 
practiced to the doing of religious     

duty4 ,think too of the emphasis placed 
in the ,scriptures upon the consecration
 of the whole life to the truth as      
cleansing the heart from evil4 ,all this
 makes for a power to seize truth beyond
 that possible to formal and systematic 
reason4 ,mysticism of this sort is the  
very height of spiritual power4 ,the    
,master's word3 ,blessed are the pure in
 heart1 for they shall see ,god1 does   
not refer to merely negative virtue4 ,it
 means also the power of soul           
accumulated in the positive doing of    
good4 ,it means entrance into the life  
of quick spiritual awareness through the
 adjustment of the whole nature to the  
single moral purpose4  ,in all promise  
of revelation the ,scriptures insist    
upon the importance of keeping upon the 
basis of solid obedience4 ,the finer the
 instrument is to be1 the more massive  
must be the foundation4 ,professor      
,hocking1 of ,harvard ,university1 has  
used a remarkable illustration to       
enforce this very conception4 ,the      

scientific instrument1 he says1 which   
must be kept freest from distracting    
influences so that it may make the      
finest registries must rest upon a      
foundation broad and deep4 ,so the soul 
that is to catch the finest stirrings of
 the divine must rest upon the solidest 
stones of hard work for the moral       
purposes of the scriptural ,kingdom4    
,still some one will insist that the    
,bible is a book built around great     
crises in human experience2 that it is a
 record of these crises2 that the people
 in whose history the crises occurred   
were a peculiar people1 apparently      
arbitrarily chosen as a medium for      
religious world-instruction2 that the   
crises cast sudden bursts of intense    
light upon the meaning of human life1   
but that they themselves are far apart  
from ordinary experience4 ,here1 again1 
we must insist that the scriptural      
stress is always upon obedience to what 
is conceived of as revealed truth4 ,we  
have already said that ,jesus regarded  

revelation as organic4 ,in everything   
organic we find instances of quick      
crisis following long and slow periods  
of growth4 ,the crisis or the climax of 
the sudden flowering-out would never be 
possible were it not for the antecedent 
growth4 ,the ,hebrew nation1 developed  
through workaday righteousness1         
manifested wonderful power in sudden    
crises4 ,the inner forces of moral      
purpose which at times seemed hidden or 
dead because of the riot of wickedness  
suddenly blossomed forth in mighty      
bursts of prophecy2 but the             
all-essential was the long-continued    
practice of righteousness which made    
possible the sudden crisis2 and this is 
in keeping with the teachings of most   
commonplace human experience4 ,the daily
 struggle prepares for the sharp1 quick 
strain or for the swift unfolding of a  
new moral purpose4 ,there is nothing    
more arbitrary in the crises in the     
scriptural movement than in the ordinary
 ongoings of our lives4 ,the student who

 has long been wrestling with a problem 
finds the solution instantaneously      
bursting upon him in the midst of       
untoward circumstances4 ,the most       
insignificant trifle may finally turn   
the lock which opens to the glorious    
revelation after prolonged brooding4    
,the daily practice may make men ready  
for the shock which leaps upon them     
altogether unexpected4  ,we summarize by
 saying that the essentials of biblical 
truth came in progressive revelations to
 men who were putting forth their       
energies to live up to the largest      
ideals they could reach2 and that they  
sought these larger ideals for use in   
their lives4 ,it must be understood in  
all that we have said about acting the  
revelation out into life that we do not 
mean merely the more matter-of-fact     
activities4 ,it should be noticed that  
whenever men speak of will-activities   
they are apt to give the impression that
 they mean some putting forth of bodily 
energy4 ,the will to do scriptural      

righteousness did not manifest itself   
merely in outside actions4 ,it          
manifested itself just as thoroughly in 
bearings and attitudes of the inner     
spirit2 and the appeal was always to the
 will to hold itself fast in the        
direction of the highest life1 whatever 
the form of the activity4  ,after this  
emphasis upon obedience as the organ of 
spiritual knowledge some one may ask    
what provision we are making for        
infallibility and for inspiration4 ,we  
can only say that we are dealing with a 
,book which has come out of concrete    
life1 and that in concrete life not much
 consideration is given to abstract     
infallibility4 ,in daily experience the 
righteous soul becomes increasingly sure
 of itself4 ,to return for the moment to
 ,paul1 we may think of the certainty   
with which he grasped the thought of the
 reward which would be his4 ,the time of
 his departure1 or1 of his unmooring1   
was at hand4 ,he was perfectly confident
 that he was to go on longer voyages of 

spiritual discovery and exploration4    
,can we say that this splendid outburst 
came from devotion to an abstract       
formula8 ,did it not1 rather1 spring    
from the sources of life within         
him-sources opened and developed by the 
experiences through which he passed8    
,the biblical heroes wrought and        
suffered through living confidence in   
the forces which were bearing them on   
and up4 ,they would have answered       
questions about abstract infallibility  
with emphatic avowals as to the firmness
 of their own belief4 ,in other words1  
they could have relied upon their life  
itself as its own best witness to       
itself4 ,they felt alive and ready to go
 whithersoever life might lead4  ,and so
 with inspiration4 ,it is the merest    
commonplace to repeat that the          
inspiration of the ,scriptures must show
 itself in their power to inspire those 
who partake of their life4 ,does a fresh
 moral and spiritual air blow through   
them8 ,is there in them anything that   

men can breathe8 ,anything upon which   
men can build themselves into moral     
strength8 ,this is the final test of    
inspiration4 ,physical breathing is in  
itself a mystery1 but we know when the  
air invigorates us4 ,abstract doctrine  
of inspiration apart from life and      
experience is a very stifling affair    
compared with inspiration conceived of  
as a breath of life4 ,the scriptural    
doctrine is that the man who does the   
will finds himself able to breathe more 
deeply of the truth of ,god2 and that   
the very breath itself will satisfy him1
 and by satisfying him convince him that
 it is the breath of life4  ,there is an
 old story of a student who decided to  
learn the meaning of a strange religion 
which was taught and practiced by       
priests in a far-away corner of ,india4 
,the student thought to disguise        
himself1 to go close to the doors of the
 temple and to listen there for what he 
might overhear of the principles taught 
by the priests4 ,one day he was detected

 and captured by the priests and made   
their slave4 ,he was set to work        
performing to the utmost the duties for 
which the temple called4 ,his response  
was at first rebellious4 ,in the long   
years that followed the spell of the    
strange religion was cast upon him4 ,he 
began to learn not as an outsider1 not  
as one merely studying writings and     
rituals1 but as one enthralled by the   
system itself4 ,in this old story1      
inadequate as it is1 we have a          
suggestion of the way in which the      
biblical revelation lays its spell upon 
man4 ,the outside study is1 indeed1     
worth much1 but the true understanding  
comes inside the temple to him who      
carries forward the work of the temple4 
,,chapter ,,iii  ,,the ,,book ,,of      
,,humanity  ,we have seen that the      
understanding of the ,scriptures        
presupposes at least a sympathy with the
 rule of life contained in the          
,scriptures1 and implies for its largest
 results a practical surrender to that  

rule of life4 ,he that doeth the will   
revealed in the ,scriptures cometh to a 
knowledge of the truth revealed in the  
,scriptures4 ,we must next note that an 
understanding of the ,bible cannot      
advance far until it realizes the       
emphasis on the human values set before 
us in the scriptural books4 ,we are to  
approach the distinctively religious    
teachings of the ,bible somewhat later4 
,it is now in order to call attention to
 the truth that the biblical movement is
 throughout the ages in the direction of
 increasing regard for the distinctively
 human4 ,the human ideal is not so much 
absolutely stated as imposed in laws1 in
 prophecies1 in the policies of         
statesmen1 in the types of ideal erected
 on high before the chosen people as    
worthy of supreme regard4 ,and the place
 of the human ideal in the ,bible helps 
determine the place of the ,bible in    
human life4 ,mankind makes much of the  
,book because the ,book makes much of   
mankind4  ,there is much obscurity about

 the beginnings of the laws of the      
,hebrews4 ,one characteristic of those  
laws1 however1 is evident from a very   
early date--the regard for human life as
 such and the aim to make human         
existence increasingly worth while4 ,it 
is a common quality of primitive        
religions that they are apt to lay      
stress on merely ceremonial cleansings1 
for example4 ,the ceremony is gone      
through for the sake of pleasing a      
deity4 ,there are abundant indications  
of this same purpose in the ceremonies  
of the early ,hebrews1 but there is even
 more abundant indication that the      
ceremonies were aimed at a good result  
for the worshiper himself4 ,it is       
impossible to read through the ,mosaic  
requirements concerning bodily          
cleanliness1 the sanitary arrangements  
of the camps1 the regulations for       
cooking the food1 and the instructions  
for dealing with disease without feeling
 that there is a wide difference between
 such requirements and merely formal    

ceremonials4 ,the ,mosaic sanitary law  
aimed at the good of the people4 ,it    
sought to make men clean and decent and 
human4 ,so it was also in many of the   
rules governing the daily work1 the     
regulations as to the use of land1 the  
prohibitions of usury1 the relations of 
servants and masters--all these had back
 of them the driving force of an        
enlarging human ideal4 ,the trend was   
away from everything unhuman and        
inhuman4 ,it is not necessary for us to 
remark upon the outbursts of the        
prophets against those who would put    
property interests above human          
interests4 ,it is a matter of           
commonplace that the call of the        
prophets was for larger devotion to a   
genuinely human ideal3 that the fires of
 their wrath burned most fiercely       
against old-time monopolists who joined 
land to land till there was no place1   
and against old-time corrupters of the  
law who sold the needy for a pair of    
shoes4  ,not only did the emphasis on   

the human ideal show in laws1 but in the
 training up of types of life which     
should in themselves embody and         
illustrate the conceptions of the       
biblical leaders4 ,at the heart of the  
,christian religion is incarnation1 or  
divine revelation through the human     
organism4 ,we are told that this        
incarnation came in the fullness of     
time4 ,the passage seems to refer not   
merely to the rounding out of historic  
periods1 but also to the fashioning of  
an ideal of human character1 and at     
least a partial realization of that     
ideal in ,hebrew heroes4 ,if the final  
ideal was to stand incarnate before men1
 there must be approximations to that   
ideal before the crowning incarnation   
could be appreciated4 ,we look upon the 
character of ,jesus as the complete     
embodiment of human excellencies4 ,such 
a revelation1 however1 would have been  
futile if there had not previously been 
glimpses of and anticipations of the    
ideal in the lives of those who were    

forerunners of ,jesus4 ,the ,scriptures 
teach1 or at least imply1 that the life 
of a good man is in itself a            
transcendent value4  ,and yet it is     
perfectly clear that while the          
,scriptures exalt the individual1 they  
do not mean to wall individuals off in  
impenetrable circles by themselves4 ,it 
is true that the individual is the end  
toward which the scriptural redemption  
and glorification aims1 but individuals 
find their own best selves not in       
isolation but in union with their       
fellows--a union of mutual cooperation  
and service1 a union so close that the  
persons thus related come to be looked  
upon as a veritable ,body of ,christ1   
making together by their impact upon the
 world the same sort of revelation that 
the living ,christ made in the days of  
his early life4 ,the ideals as to the   
supremacy of human values are realized1 
according to the ,scriptures1 not in any
 separateness of individual existence1  
but in a closeness of social            

interdependence4 ,so true is this that  
it is hardly possible to see how one can
 make much of the scriptural movement   
without immersing himself in the stream 
of human life with highest regard for   
the values of that life4  ,it has been  
insisted from the beginning that the    
,christian consciousness is the only    
adequate interpretation of the          
,scriptures4 ,by ,christian             
consciousness is meant not the          
consciousness of the body of believers  
who are together trying to serve        
,christ4 ,the interpretation of the     
individual becomes final only as it is  
accepted by the mass of the believers4  
,something of worth-while thought is    
conceived of as going out from the life 
of every believer4 ,the utterance of the
 seer is not conceived of as complete   
until even he who sits in the seat of   
the unlearned has said ,amen4 ,the      
pronouncements which do not evoke this  
wide human response fall by the wayside4
 ,for example1 how was the canon of the 

,new ,testament shaped8 ,was there a    
determination on the part of individual 
leaders that such and such books should 
be included in the volume of            
,scriptures8 ,very likely there was at  
the last such deliberate selection1 but 
before the final decision there must    
have been the practice of the           
congregations which amounted in the end 
to the choice or rejection of sacred    
books4 ,very likely the ,new ,testament 
,scriptures were collected by a process 
of trying out the reading of ,epistles  
and ,gospels and exhortations before the
 congregations4 ,as passages met or     
failed to meet the human needs1 there   
was call for the repeated reading of    
some works and no call for the rereading
 of others4 ,in use some documents      
proved their sacredness and other       
documents fell aside into disuse4       
,before the concluding deliberate choice
 was this selection in use by the       
believers themselves2 and the selection 
turned round the question as to whether 

or not the documents helped people4 ,if 
each member of the body of believers is 
entitled to interpret biblical          
literature1 interpretation becomes a    
composite and diversified activity4     
,there is little warrant in the         
,scriptures for the notion that the     
biblical revelation is to level men to  
any sort of sameness4 ,there are        
diversities of endowments and varieties 
of expression2 but the united judgment  
of the body of believers is the supreme 
authority in interpreting the scriptural
 revelation4 ,this is what we mean by   
saying that the church is to interpret  
the ,scriptures4 ,we mean that no matter
 how brilliant or interesting the       
utterances of any individual may be1    
they are not of great value until they  
have received in some fashion the       
sanction of the main mass of believers4 
,it is the function of the spokesmen of 
the church to gather up into distinct   
expression what may have been vaguely1  
but nevertheless really1 in the thought 

or half-thought of the people4          
,gladstone once said that it is the     
business of the orator to send back upon
 his audience in showers what comes up  
to him from the audience in mist or     
clouds2 so it is with the voice of a    
biblical truth through any medium of    
interpretation4 ,the spokesman          
compresses or condenses into speech what
 has been dimly in the consciousness of 
the people4 ,even in days less          
democratic than ours this was abundantly
 true4 ,it is the fashion to denounce   
some of the councils of the old church  
which shaped the creeds4 ,it is often   
said that these creedal councils were   
moved by considerations of low-grade    
expediency4 ,the councils1 however1 knew
 what the people were thinking of1 and  
managed to get the popular thought into 
expression measurably satisfactory to   
the people themselves4  ,in this        
doctrine of the church as interpreter of
 scriptural truth we can be sure that   
the emphasis will remain on the elements

 which make for enlarging human life if 
the church keeps true to the spirit of  
the ,bible itself4 ,the aspirations of  
humanity1 the longings of masses of men1
 find utterance in the great popular    
spiritual demands all the more          
effectively because such demands        
override and nullify the insistence of  
an individualistic point of view which  
might easily become selfish4 ,we have   
said that this democratic interpretation
 is final so long as it keeps itself in 
line with the biblical purpose4 ,there  
are some dangers1 however1 against which
 we must be on our guard4 ,first is the 
danger of identifying the church with   
those who actually belong to an         
organization4 ,when we think of the     
church we have in mind not merely formal
 organizations1 but all men who are     
really working in the spirit of the     
biblical ideals4 ,there are many persons
 who really act according to the        
biblical revelation without technically 
uniting with a church4 ,it may be that  

such persons do not accept the          
intellectual puttings of biblical       
doctrine1 but that they nevertheless    
live in the spirit of that doctrine4 ,it
 might be conceivably possible that a   
church organization would stand for an  
interpretation of truth which would be  
rejected by the general good sense of a 
larger community4 ,in such a case the   
larger community would be the           
interpreter4 ,another danger in an      
interpreting body is that of            
traditionalism4 ,the native conservatism
 of many minds stands against           
innovation4 ,if1 however1 the innovation
 is in the direction of enlarging human 
life1 it will in the end win its way4 ,a
 third danger is that of                
institutionalism1 where the organization
 as such becomes an end in itself       
without regard to the human interests   
involved4 ,the ,master's fiercest       
condemnations were for those who put any
 institution before the fulfillment of  
the human ideals4 ,in the parable of the

 good ,samaritan it is noteworthy that  
it was the priest and the ,levite who   
passed by on the other side4 ,it is hard
 to resist the feeling that the ,master 
implied that the priest and ,levite had 
been institutionalized into a lack of   
humanity4 ,making allowance now for all 
these dangers against which believers   
must guard1 the chances are that        
interpretation of a book so human as the
 ,scriptures is not final until it has  
received the real1 though not           
necessarily formal1 sanction of the body
 of believers4  ,so thoroughly does the 
biblical revelation turn around the     
supremacy of the distinctively human    
values that we must insist that anything
 which would run counter to these values
 is alien to the spirit of the          
revelation1 and1 therefore1 to          
comprehension of that revelation4 ,we do
 not wish to be extreme1 but it is hard 
to see how1 in our day1 for example1 any
 who fail to put human rights in the    
first place can really master the       

scriptural revelation4 ,we have spoken  
of the ,master's rebukes of any form of 
institutionalism which stands in the way
 of human rights4 ,institutions at best 
are instruments2 they exist merely for  
the purpose of bringing men to larger   
life2 but these institutions sometimes  
get petrified into custom and become    
glorified by long practice1 and even    
made sacred by adherents who look upon  
them as ends in themselves4 ,then there 
is no recourse except to break the      
institutions in the name of larger human
 life4 ,if we could put ourselves back  
in the times of ,jesus and feel         
something of the sacredness with which  
the ,jews regarded the ,sabbath1 we     
would know the tremendous force of the  
,master's daring when he declared that  
the ,sabbath was made for man and not   
man for the ,sabbath4 ,the ,master was  
also insistent upon the priority of     
human rights as over against property   
rights4 ,it is perfectly true that      
,jesus did not encourage any propaganda 

for social reform4 ,it is a mistake to  
try to read any form of modern          
,socialism into his teaching4 ,socialism
 is the theory of a particular time4    
,many of its outstanding features will  
no doubt one day be adopted2 and the    
world will then move forward toward     
something else4 ,very likely three      
centuries from the present date the     
well-advanced communities of the world  
will be living under systems which will 
make ,socialism itself look like the    
most hopeless and reactionary           
conservatism4 ,the scriptural           
revelation1 however1 has not to do with 
the details of any particular scheme4   
,it aims1 rather1 at the setting on high
 of the human ideal1 an ideal which     
will1 if given a chance1 work itself out
 into the concrete forms best suited to 
each age1 and which will not have       
exhausted its vitality when all that is 
good in the programs of our particular  
day shall have been incorporated into   
social practice4  ,but let us linger for

 a moment around the blighting effect of
 placing property rights in front of    
human rights4 ,if anyone at this        
juncture becomes nervous and insists    
that we are likely to introduce the     
new-fangled notions of the present day  
into a discussion where they are out of 
place1 let us remind such a one that the
 danger of putting the material before  
the spiritual has always been the chief 
stumbling stone in the path of the      
biblical revelation4 ,it may be too much
 to say with the old version that the   
love of money is the root of all evil1  
but the ,scriptures place the sin of    
greed in the forefront among the evils  
that block the revealing process4 ,jesus
 said1 ,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 ,with ,god a morally miraculous   
redemption is entirely possible2 but    
,jesus declares that there is no need of
 our trying to minimize the power of the
 present world to blind us to visions of

 the spiritual world4 ,for many forms of
 wrongdoing the ,master had a           
willingness to make allowances2 for the 
sin of placing material desires above   
human welfare he had unsparing          
condemnation4 ,in the day of ,jesus the 
world had an opportunity such as it     
never had before confronted to learn    
spiritual truth4 ,what manner of        
opposition was it which prevented that  
truth from running its full course8     
,largely the opposition of money        
interests4 ,the ,pharisees had need to  
keep alliance with the temporal powers4 
,it is not without significance that    
,jesus was betrayed for money4 ,it is   
not without significance too that       
,jesus's picture of the ,judgment ,scene
 concerns itself largely with the       
rewards for those who discharge the     
tasks of simple human kindness4 ,it     
means much to find ,jesus hinting at an 
unpardonable sin on the part of those   
who call deeds of human relief works of 
,beelzebub4 ,it is certainly food for   

reflection that the fiercest            
condemnations in his parables are for   
those who miss the human duties in their
 regard for the possessions of this     
world4 ,we repeat that we would not be  
extreme1 but when we see the disregard  
of human life in modern industrialism2  
when we behold the attempts of property 
interests to get control of all channels
 for the shaping of public opinion2 when
 we see rent1 interest1 and dividends   
more highly rated than men1 women1 and  
children1 we cannot help feeling that   
the deeper penetration into the         
,scriptures cannot arrive except through
 an emphasis upon fundamental human     
rights so mighty that all institutional 
creations of industrialism or           
ecclesiasticism shall be put into the   
secondary place and strictly kept there4
 ,this is not railing against wealth4   
,it is simply calling attention to the  
fact that the man who possesses the     
wealth-tool cannot be allowed to use it 
or even to brandish it in such fashion  

as to endanger the unfolding of human   
ideals4 ,it is only through the         
enforcing of these ideals that the      
,scriptures can be adequately           
apprehended4 ,until a social kingdom of 
,god comes on earth the light of        
revelation cannot shine in its full     
brightness4 ,any social preacher of     
larger human rights is working for the  
dawn of a new day of biblical           
understanding4  ,some one will ask1     
however1 why we single out one type of  
evil as especially thwarting the        
understanding of a biblical revelation4 
,why not speak of the evils of appetite 
and of envy and jealousy8 ,the answer is
 that such evils1 devastating as they   
are toward the spiritual faculties1 are 
so definitely personalized in           
individuals that their nature is quickly
 recognized4 ,the difference is that    
under present organization the evils of 
materialism are preeminently social4    
,there is everywhere the heartiest      
condemnation for the man who personally 

is conspicuously greedy4 ,a social evil 
can manifest itself in outstanding      
startlingness in a single person1 but   
the plain fact is that under modern     
industrial organization we are all      
caught in the same snare4 ,we are all   
tarred with the same stick4 ,great as is
 the improvement of our present system  
over anything that has preceded it1     
nevertheless the distribution of this   
world's goods is so unequal that we walk
 in the presence of injustice on every  
hand4 ,the poor man often does not      
receive the product of his own work4    
,large material prizes go to men who    
toil not4 ,now no one in particular is  
to blame for this social plight4 ,nobody
 has yet arisen to show us the way out4 
,we cannot act except as we all act     
together2 and it is doubtful even if one
 nation could act alone4 ,if1 however1  
we should all recognize the evils of the
 present system1 if we should condemn   
the wrongs of that system instead of    
trying to justify them1 we would be on  

much better spiritual ground1 for the   
attempts to justify the system lead to  
uneasy consciences1 and to the searing  
of those consciences1 and to the        
softening down of harsh truths1 and     
finally to an inability to see things as
 they are4 ,though we have come far     
along the path toward industrial        
justice1 there is still very much in the
 system under which we live that makes  
for an inability to understand some of  
the most elementary phrasings of        
,christian truth4 ,the only way out is  
to see the system as it is and to take  
such steps forward as can be taken now4 
,only thus can we keep our souls saved1 
and only thus also can we follow the    
flashes from above4  ,jesus preached the
 highest ideal for individual           
righteousness4 ,men are to strive to be 
perfect even as the ,father in heaven is
 perfect4 ,but the perfection is to show
 itself in social impartiality in the   
use of material opportunities4 ,god     
sendeth the rain to fall and the sun to 

shine on the evil and the good4 ,how    
many ,christians of the present day     
could be safely intrusted with the      
distribution of rainfall and sunshine8  
,those of us who dwell in lands that    
must be irrigated know that the type of 
,christianity that can be trusted to    
deal fairly with our irrigation system  
is somewhat unusual4  ,we take the      
injustices of the present social order  
too much as a matter of course4 ,we     
ought to see them as making against     
humanity1 and therefore against the     
scriptural revelation4 ,when these      
injustices culminate in a war like the  
present1 the only safety is thought that
 deals honestly with the inhumanity of  
the war4 ,granted that war in           
self-defense is justifiable1 we keep    
ourselves open to divine revelations    
only as we refuse to glorify the        
inhuman4 ,only that nation can succeed  
in war and remain open to revelation    
from above which recognizes the         
inhumanity of war and refuses to glorify

 it4  ,closely related to the blight of 
the spirit of this present world is the 
failure to perceive the need of         
missionary spirit for a full grasp of   
scriptural truth4 ,though the ,bible was
 given to a peculiar people1            
self-centered and exclusive1 it         
nevertheless abounds in suggestions that
 its content can be appreciated the full
 only by those whose sympathies run out 
to men at the very ends of the earth4   
,in the eyes of the ,scriptures a human 
being is a human being anywhere4 ,the   
differences between men are as nothing  
compared to the likenesses4 ,every      
revelation must begin somewhere and must
 attack its problems in proper sequence1
 one after the other2 but mere priority 
of approach does not mean that one      
problem is inherently more important    
than another4 ,leaders among the ,jews  
early tried to impress this upon the    
,jewish mind4 ,considered in its        
historical setting1 the book of ,jonah  
is one of the most spiritually daring   

books ever written4 ,jonah stands as a  
type of ,jew who would not admit        
anything of worth in human beings       
outside of ,judaism4 ,rather than carry 
the word of the ,lord to ,nineveh he    
would leave his country and go to       
,tarshish2 rather than turn back and    
resume the journey to ,nineveh1 he would
 consent to be cast overboard in a      
storm4 ,forced at last to deliver his   
message1 he announced it with the grim  
satisfaction of expecting to see        
,nineveh destroyed4 ,and the final text 
of the book is that ,jonah must learn   
not merely to proclaim his message to   
the ,ninevites1 but to proclaim his     
message with sympathy and genuine human 
interest4 ,the ,jews were a long time   
learning the lesson1 but not longer than
 other peoples have been4 ,just because 
of the human interest involved1 the     
missionary impulse is necessary to a    
spiritual seizure of the biblical       
revelation4  ,it is important that we   
keep the missionary motive on the right 

basis4 ,it is true that the ,scriptures 
will never be adequately appropriated   
until all kindreds and peoples and      
tongues bring their contributions4 ,some
 phases of the truth the ,oriental mind 
must seize before the ,occidental mind  
can be brought to appreciate them4 ,when
 the final revelation comes it will be  
adapted to the understanding of any     
kindred under heaven4 ,it is worth while
 to spread the ,christian revelation for
 the sake of the return which the       
,christianized peoples will one day     
bring to our studies of the truth4 ,but 
the better motive is deeper than        
this--the passion for human beings as   
human beings4 ,any human being is       
entitled to any truth which another     
human being can reveal to him4  ,the    
approach must be the human approach4 ,we
 must speedily get away from the        
,jonah-like conceptions of the biblical 
revelation as intended particularly for 
any one nation4 ,one great danger from  
the present war is the loss by the      

religious nations involved of the       
ordinary ,new ,testament point of view4 
,many of the fighting nations have      
lapsed back into the pre-,jonah era4    
,but the present war aside1 the thought 
of supreme truth as intended chiefly for
 a particular race or nation1 leads to a
 patronizing1 condescending bearing     
toward other peoples which thwarts the  
finer spiritual achievements4 ,the      
contacts between the so-called higher   
and so-called lower nations in military1
 diplomatic1 and commercial relations   
have thus far for the most part been    
abominable4 ,too often missionary effort
 itself has based itself on these same  
assumptions of racial superiority4 ,a   
people may indeed receive blessings from
 the ,scriptures in whatever spirit they
 are bestowed1 but damage is wrought in 
the souls of the bestowers by the       
attitude of superiority4 ,the only      
genuinely biblical approach is one of   
respect--respect for the peoples as     
peoples1 respect which will have regard 

for their growing independence in       
spiritual development1 respect which    
will not force upon them particularistic
 interpretations of the universal       
,scriptures4  ,now1 all of this may seem
 like a long distance from a treatment  
of understanding of the ,scriptures in  
the ordinary sense4 ,it would not have  
been worth while1 however1 to discuss   
this problem merely from the point of   
view of exegesis or professional        
commentary4 ,the essentials about the   
,scriptures are their relations to life1
 their views of human beings and        
teachings concerning the forces of the  
spiritual kingdom4 ,we shall proceed in 
the other chapters to speak of ,god1 of 
the revelation of ,god in ,christ1 and  
of the spirit of ,christ as revealed in 
his cross4 ,before we enter upon that   
study we must again remind ourselves    
that only life in harmony with the point
 of view of the ,scriptures and only an 
interest in the same human problems that
 engross the attention of spiritual     

writers can avail us for vital          
interpretation of the teachings         
concerning the ,divine1 or make         
intelligible to us the hold of the      
,scriptures on the life of the world4   
,the ,bible is conceived in a spirit of 
respect for men4 ,only those who enter  
into that same spirit can hope to make  
much of the biblical revelation4        
,,chapter ,,iv  ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,god 
,we have remarked upon some points of   
view from which the student must start  
in order to reach a sound understanding 
of the ,scriptures4 ,it is time for us  
to ask ourselves1 however1 as to the    
dominant notes of the ,scriptures which 
make the ,book so dynamic4 ,the purpose 
of this chapter is to show that the     
essentials of the ,book are1 after all1 
its teachings about ,god4 ,the ,bible is
 the ,book of ,god4 ,due chiefly to the 
ideas about ,god are its uniqueness and 
its force4  ,before advancing to the    
consideration of the ,bible as a book   
about ,god it will be well for us to    

glance for a moment at other grounds on 
which supremacy for the ,scriptures is  
sometimes claimed4 ,there are those who 
maintain that the value of the ,bible   
lies in the wealth of information which 
it gives us concerning the first days of
 the world's life4 ,the ,bible helps us 
to regard sympathetically the view of   
the universe by the ancient ,hebrews4   
,it is a repository of knowledge as to  
early science and philosophy4 ,now1 all 
this is true1 but relatively            
unimportant4 ,had it not been for the   
religious teachings of which the        
old-time view of the world was the      
vehicle1 that vehicle itself would long 
since have been forgotten4 ,only        
archaeologists are to-day greatly       
interested in ancient theories of the   
world as such4  ,there are1 again1 those
 who avow that the ,bible deserves all  
praise because of the literary          
excellence of its style4 ,there are1    
indeed1 sublime passages to be forever  
cherished as entitled by their very     

sublimity of expression to permanent    
place in the world's literature4 ,all   
this we most gladly admit4 ,oratory like
 that of the book of ,isaiah1 some of   
the sentences of the patriarchs1        
passages from the ,psalms or from the   
,sermon on the ,mount1 the parables1 the
 thirteenth chapter of ,paul's ,first   
,epistle to the ,corinthians1 are sure  
of permanency in literature no matter   
what may be anyone's opinion of their   
religious content4 ,nobility of         
conception is very apt to tend toward   
nobility of phrase4 ,the expression may 
be admired for its own apart from the   
substance2 but to say that the ,bible   
holds its throne as the ,book of books  
simply because of the superiority of its
 artistic form is woefully aside from   
the mark4 ,lamentable as it may be1     
masses of men do not rank artistic      
literary skill as highly as they ought4 
,while a lofty idea is not likely to    
make its full impression until wrought  
into lofty beauty by a master of style1 

the worth must nevertheless inhere in   
the substance rather than in the form if
 the statement is to make lasting effect
 upon the passing generations4          
,moreover1 it is very easy to           
overemphasize the literary excellence of
 the ,scriptures4 ,there are scores of  
passages which1 as we say1 go through   
one1 but this marvelous effectiveness is
 quite as likely to belodged in the idea
 itself and in the associations which   
that idea arouses as in the form of the 
passage4 ,in some instances the literary
 mold in the ,authorized ,version is    
such as to hinder rather than to help2  
so that the prophet who seeks to add to 
the force of the idea breaks the mold   
for literary recasting4  ,still another 
may declare that the ,scriptures are    
valuable because they abound in hints   
which make for practical success--shrewd
 moral maxims which aid all classes of  
men in avoiding pitfalls1 axioms for    
daily conduct which ought to be accepted
 by everybody1 even by those who care   

not for the religion of the ,bible4 ,all
 this1 again1 is true1 but hardly       
sufficient to explain the grip of the   
,bible on mankind4 ,so far as the more  
conventional morality goes1 men are     
likely to be ruled by the sentiment of  
the community in which they move4 ,they 
adapt themselves to the demands of the  
situation at a particular time rather   
than to a set of precepts4  ,still      
others maintain that the human ideal    
itself which we sketched in a previous  
chapter is the determining factor in    
giving the ,bible power4 ,the greatest  
study of mankind is man4 ,the erection  
of such an ideal as that of the         
,scriptures for man cannot fail to      
secure for the ,book mighty power       
through all the ages4 ,and yet it must  
be replied that if we take the ,bible   
merely as portraying a human ideal      
without reference to the idea of ,god   
involved in the same process of         
revelation1 we cut asunder two things   
which properly belong together4 ,we must

 not forget that in the history of      
,israel the prophets grasped at every   
new insight concerning human character  
as at the same time a new insight       
concerning the character of ,god4       
,attributing a profoundly moral trait to
 ,god made it of more consequence       
forthwith for man1 and thus the         
conceptions of man and ,god went along  
together reenforcing each the other4 ,to
 separate the ideal of ,god from the    
ideal of man leaves everything at loose 
ends for the human ideal4 ,it is true   
that there are individuals here and     
there of intense intelligence and of    
immense wealth of moral endowment who do
 not seem to require any ideal of ,god  
to sustain and strengthen their ideal of
 man2 but for the most of us the ideal  
of man cannot grow to any considerable  
size without growth of our notion as to 
the character of ,god4 ,what man is now 
depends somewhat on our thought of where
 man came from1 and what his place in   
the universe essentially is4 ,one of our

 deepest yearnings is to know whether   
our exalted belief about man has any    
validity before the larger ranges of the
 activity of the universe itself4 ,it is
 very common1 for example1 for those who
 go forth to social tasks with a passion
 for humanity to lose that passion if   
they do not keep alive a passion for    
,god4 ,disappointment with some phases  
of human nature itself and despair over 
the failures of men are apt to be so    
trying that the passion for humanity    
dies down unless familiarity with actual
 human life is reenforced by communion  
with an ideal which reaches up toward   
the ,divine4 ,we would ourselves insist 
that the loftiest human ideal in all    
literature is that of the ,scriptures1  
but we must insist also that this ideal 
lacks driving force if it does not keep 
back of it the biblical doctrine of     
,god4  ,from the very outset the ,hebrew
 ,scriptures deal with ,god4 ,in the    
beginning ,god1 at the end ,god1 and    
,god at every step of the journey from  

the beginning to the end4 ,there are    
other scriptures besides the ,hebrew    
,scriptures that deal with ,god1 but the
 kind of ,god set before us in the      
,hebrew revelation gives the ,bible its 
supreme merit4  ,since we often hear    
that there are other sources for the    
idea of ,god than the ,scriptures1 it   
may be well for us to appraise the      
contributions from some of those sources
 before we look at the kind of ,god     
drawn for us in the biblical writings4  
,after allowing as high excellence as is
 possible to the theologies obtained    
outside the ,scriptures1 the moral and  
spiritual superiority of the scriptural 
ideal shines forth unmistakably4  ,many 
a scientist tells us that we do not     
further need the biblical idea of ,god  
in view of the vast suggestions         
concerning the ,divine which science    
places before us4 ,the world in which we
 live has broadened immeasurably since  
the days of the ,hebrew prophets and    
seers4 ,the idea of ,god1 broadening to 

correspond1 has to expand so            
overwhelmingly that we ought no longer  
pay heed to the imaginations of the     
biblical writers4 ,large numbers of     
scientists to-day avow themselves devout
 theists4 ,materialism is decidedly out 
of fashion1 and agnosticism is less in  
vogue than a decade or two ago4 ,the    
reverent scientist affirms that he      
believes in a ,god whose omniscience    
keeps track of every particle of matter 
in a universe whose spaces are measured 
by billions of miles1 a ,god whose      
omnipresence implies the interlacing of 
forces whose sweep and fineness seen    
through the telescope and microscope    
astonish us4 ,moreover1 the modern      
doctrine of evolution shows us that the 
entire material system is moving on and 
up from lower to higher forms4 ,it doth 
not yet appear what we shall be1 but we 
shall clearly be something great and    
glorious4  ,now1 far be it from us to   
belittle the splendor of this scientific
 vision4 ,modern scientific searchers   

are1 indeed1 finding innumerable        
illustrations of the greatness of ,god4 
,there is every reason why the          
scientific investigator should rejoice  
in a calling which enables him to think 
,god's thoughts after him2 but when a   
scientist will have it that his belief  
in ,god arises only from his technical  
investigations1 we must declare our     
suspicion that he is employing his      
findings to confirm a faith already     
held1 though that faith may be part of  
his unconscious spiritual possessions4  
,many times the scientist is determined 
that the scientific discoveries shall   
look in theistic directions just to     
satisfy the imperious though unconscious
 demands of his own soul4 ,some         
scientists are theists just because they
 are bound to be so1 for the close      
contemplation of the entire situation in
 the material realm does not make for   
any adequate theistic verdict4 ,it is   
hard indeed to believe that the nice    
adjustments of matter and force occur   

without the governance of a supervising 
intelligence4 ,there are too many facts 
which suggest skill to make it easy to  
believe that the natural world is just  
the outcome of a fortuitous concourse of
 atoms4 ,science itself very likely     
establishes a presumption in favor of a 
governing mind1 but the deeper question 
is as to the character of that mind4 ,is
 it a moral mind8 ,at this point the    
hopeful evolutionist will break out that
 the progress is so definitely from     
lower to higher that no one ought to    
doubt the benevolence of the ,power     
moving upward through all things4       
,evolution is1 indeed1 full of promises 
to one who already trusts in the        
goodness of ,god2 but the progress from 
lower to higher is not always           
unmistakable4 ,often the survival of the
 fittest is just a survival of those    
fittest to survive1 and not the survival
 of those who ought to survive4 ,there  
are too many things which survive which 
ought to be killed off4 ,simple good can

 give way to complex evil without at all
 violating the requirements of the      
evolutionistic formula4 ,but even if we 
concede all that the scientist claims   
for his conception of ,god2 if we grant 
that terms like omnipresence and        
omniscience and progress clothe         
themselves with new force in the        
,copernican and ,newtonian and          
,darwinian terminology1 we must         
nevertheless insist that none of this   
rises to the moral height of the        
biblical teaching4 ,nor are we willing  
to admit that the biblical doctrine is  
to be discounted because it grew up amid
 small theories of the material         
universe4 ,the old ,hebrew views of the 
physical system1 outdated as they are   
now1 are nevertheless full of sublimity 
on their own account4 ,but even if they 
were infinitesimal as compared with the 
vast stretches of modern scientific     
measurements1 the moral grandeur of the 
idea of ,god of which they were the     
framework stands forth unmistakably4 ,we

 must not permit the quantitative       
bigness of modern scientific notions to 
obscure the qualitative fineness of the 
biblical ideal of ,god4 ,modern         
philosophy comes also and announces that
 it has a better ,god than that of the  
,scriptures4 ,the most imposing modern  
philosophical systems are those which   
proclaim some form of idealism4 ,the    
gist of the idealistic argument always  
is that the world itself is nothing     
apart from thought2 that                
thought-relationships rule in and       
through all things2 that there are no   
things-in-themselves2 that there can be 
no hard-and-fast stuff standing apart   
from ,god4 ,things must come within the 
range of thought or go out of existence4
 ,there is no alternative4 ,now1 thought
 implies a thinker1 and this implication
 carries us at once to ,god4 ,here1     
again1 we have no desire to question the
 cogency of the argument4 ,we are ready 
to admit that this is the strongest     
theistic argument that has thus far been

 built4 ,to be sure1 there are some     
questions that inevitably suggest       
themselves3 ,what is the thinker8 ,is it
 impersonal thought1 as some have       
maintained8 ,is it just the sum of all  
forms of consciousness--our             
consciousnesses being organs or phases  
of the ,supreme ,consciousness8 ,or is  
the thinker strictly personal1 carrying 
on a thought-world by the power of his  
will and calling into existence finite  
thinkers in his own image8 ,assuming    
that the world is the expression of the 
thought of a ,personal ,thinker who acts
 in the forces of nature and creates men
 in his own image1 the further question 
arises as to the character of that      
,thinker4 ,while returning the heartiest
 thanks to the idealist for his         
argument--full as it is of aid for the  
,christian system--we have to protest   
that the argument does not lift us to   
the full height of the ideal of ,god    
inculcated in the ,scriptures4 ,and if  
this is true of the majestic systems of 

idealism1 how much more is it true of   
the other and less convincing systems   
which are just now having their day6 ,we
 have already spoken of pragmatism as   
possessing validity as a method1 but    
pragmatism can hardly cherish pretension
 of being itself a system of religious  
philosophy4  ,some very strenuous       
searchers after divine treasures have   
professed to discover value in various  
non-,christian religions4 ,they have    
patiently studied the great ,indian     
world-views1 for example1 which are     
admittedly the most important religious 
creations outside of ,christianity4     
,these students come back to us with    
fragments of doctrines1 gems of ethical 
wisdom1 traces of sublimity from the    
,indian sacred books4 ,it would be      
foolhardy not to receive any genuine    
treasures1 no matter what the mine from 
which they have been quarried4 ,we are  
all eager to admit the immeasurable     
possibilities of the ,oriental type of  
thinking for the development of         

,christianity1 but ,oriental systems    
thus far have been chiefly significant  
as indicating what stupendous religious 
powers can do when they are off the     
track4 ,the ,indian systems of religion 
have run loose in ,india4 ,as a result1 
nowhere in the world has religion been  
taken more seriously and more sincerely 
than by the ,indian peoples4 ,it is     
simply impossible to bring the charge   
against the ,indian races that they have
 not made the most of their religion4   
,the final indictment to be passed upon 
the ,indian systems is that while the   
,indian peoples have made the most of   
those systems1 the systems have made    
least of the ,indian peoples2 and this  
because of the defects in the conception
 of the ,divine itself4 ,it is doubtful 
whether the ,indian could call his      
highest gods personal4 ,if he declares  
them personal1 he can hardly make them  
moral in the full sense2 that is to say1
 in the sense of exerting their force on
 the world in favor of justice and      

righteousness and love4  ,now1 it is    
just in the quality of moral force that 
the ,god of the ,scriptures shows his   
superiority4 ,the entire revealing      
process can be looked upon as one long  
story of the moralization of the idea of
 ,god4 ,let it be granted that the      
biblical idea was at the beginning      
marked by the nave and the crude4       
,personally1 we have never been able to 
see the pertinency of the reasonings    
which make the ,hebrew ,jehovah as      
imperfect as some students would have us
 believe4 ,nevertheless1 for the sake of
 the argument we will admit limitations 
in the early ,hebrew conception of ,god4
 ,even with such concession1 however1   
the outstanding characteristics of that 
,god were from the beginning moral4     
,suppose that ,jehovah was at the       
beginning just a tribal ,deity4 ,the    
difference between ,jehovah and other   
tribal deities was that the commandments
 which were conceived of as coming from 
him looked in the direction of          

increasing moral life for the people1   
and these moral demands upon the chosen 
people were conceived of as arising out 
of the nature of ,jehovah himself4 ,to  
be sure1 the early narratives employ    
expressions like the jealousy of ,god1  
but even a slightly sympathetic reading 
of the ,scriptures indicates that the   
jealousy was directed against whatever  
would harm human life4 ,in the mighty   
pictures of the patriarchs the heroes   
speak to their ,god as if the same moral
 obligations rested upon ,god as upon   
themselves4 ,there is nothing finer in  
the ,old ,testament than ,abraham's     
challenge1 ,shall not the ,judge of all 
the earth do right8  ,we are not        
specially interested in the growth of   
the ideas as to the power of ,god1      
though we repeat that it is difficult   
for us to believe that the early        
,hebrews thought of their ,deity as so  
narrowly limited in power as some modern
 students seek to prove4 ,the conception
 of the might of ,jehovah grew through  

the centuries and followed upon the     
extension of the knowledge of the       
,hebrews about the world in which they  
lived4 ,if tomorrow morning some        
revolutionary astronomical discovery    
should convince us that the solar system
 is much vaster than we have ever       
imagined1 the theist would1 of course1  
extend the thought of the sway of ,god  
to all that solar system4 ,if there were
 some method of becoming aware that the 
bodies of the entire astronomical system
 are millions of times more numerous    
than scientists ever have dreamed1 the  
theist would1 of course1 maintain that  
the righteous purpose of his ,god       
reaches to all of these bodies4 ,the    
growth of the ,hebrew idea was somewhat 
parallel to this4 ,even when the ,hebrew
 thought of the outside peoples as      
having gods of their own2 he believed   
that as soon as his ,god came into      
conflict with the other gods1 he would  
shatter them with his might4 ,by the    
time the first chapters of ,genesis were

 written the ,hebrew conceived of ,god  
as creator of all things1 and thereafter
 the growth of the belief in the power  
of ,god kept pace with the enlarging    
view of the world4  ,we repeat that we  
are not much concerned with the growth  
of the idea of the power of ,god4 ,we   
are1 however1 interested in the manifest
 teaching or direct implication of the  
,scriptures that from the beginning the 
,hebrews thought of ,god as under       
obligation to use his power for moral   
ends4 ,what the moral ends were depended
 upon the growth of the moral ideal4 ,at
 the very beginning it was believed that
 since ,god had chosen the people of    
,israel to be his people1 he must fight 
their battles for them4 ,it is from this
 point of view that we must deal with   
the early idea of ,god as a ,god of     
battles4 ,god was wielding his force for
 a moral purpose4 ,moreover1 if ,god had
 chosen a people to be the channel      
through which he was to reveal himself  
to the world1 he must be very patient   

with that people4 ,how sublime is the   
,old ,testament belief in the patience  
of ,god toward ,israel6 ,to use the     
phrase of our later days1 ,god          
accommodated himself to the progress    
which the people could make4 ,when the  
prophets called upon the people to walk 
with ,god1 they implied a willingness on
 ,god's part to walk with the people4   
,if they must lengthen their stride1 he 
must shorten his2 he must bear with them
 in their inadequate notions2 he must   
judge their efforts by the direction in 
which they were tending rather than by  
any achievement in itself4  ,it is from 
the point of view of their growing      
apprehension of ,god as moral that we   
can best understand the ferocity of the 
,israelite toward the so-called heathen 
peoples4 ,the boasting of the           
,israelites over the slaughter of       
outsiders must be understood from the   
faith in the moral destiny which the    
prophets conceived the ,god of ,israel  
to hold in store for his people4 ,the   

reason assigned for cruelties and       
warfares upon heathen peoples was the   
abominations practiced by those peoples4
 ,of course it is possible for a student
 obsessed with the modern doctrine of   
the economic determinism of history to  
say that we have in the story of the    
,hebrew development just the play of    
economic forces with moral aims assigned
 as their formal justification4         
,assuming that the narratives of the    
conquest of ,canaan are true1 what the  
,hebrews desired--these economists tell 
us--was the milk and the honey4 ,they   
made their so-called advance in         
obedience to ,god an excuse for taking  
possession of the milk and the honey4   
,now1 he would be blind indeed who would
 deny that economic values do play their
 part in wars of conquest2 he would be  
foolish who would deny that wars always 
do justify themselves by appealing to   
lofty religious motives1 but            
nevertheless the impact of the ,hebrew  
history upon the life of the world has  

been a moral impact1 due to the belief  
of the ,hebrews that they were          
instruments in the hands of a moral     
,god4 ,if we could behold the           
abominations in heathenism upon which   
the old prophets looked1 we would       
sympathize quite readily with an impulse
 which might seem to call for outright  
destruction4 ,a friend of mine1 a man of
 the most sensitive ,christian feeling1 
once stood on the banks of the ,ganges  
and watched people by the hundreds and  
thousands going through religious       
ceremonials1 some of which were defiling
 and others silly4 ,in the midst of the 
reeking vileness of one scene in        
particular he said that he felt for the 
moment an impulse like that of the old  
prophets to cry out for the destruction 
of the entire mass4 ,the situation      
seemed so dreadful and so hopeless6 ,all
 this passed in an instant to the       
loftier feeling of compassion1 but the  
stirring of the more primitive impulse  
was really moral in its foundation4 ,in 

any case1 the old ,hebrew notion was of 
a ,god who would put a growing moral    
ideal in the first place4  ,it is not   
necessary for us to attempt to trace the
 steps of the growth of the moral ideal 
for ,god4 ,as we have said1 that ideal  
kept pace with the growth of the ideal  
for man4 ,we must call attention1       
however1 to the fact that the growth of 
the ideal was in the direction of       
increasing emphasis upon the            
responsibilities that go with power4    
,the ,hebrew may not have definitely    
phrased the responsibility1 but he      
nevertheless shows his increasing       
realization of the obligations resting  
upon ,god4 ,when we reach the later     
prophets we discern that his moral      
obligation upon ,god himself becomes    
more and more a determining factor4     
,there appear glimpses of belief that   
,god must not only fight for his people1
 but that he must suffer in their       
sufferings4 ,it is of little consequence
 for our present purpose whether the    

suffering servant of ,jehovah of the    
later ,israelitish ,scriptures is a     
group of persons or an individual4 ,the 
implication is that the suffering is a  
revelation of ,jehovah himself4         
,moreover1 there appears a widening     
stream of emphasis on the tenderness of 
,god's care for his people4 ,the ,hebrew
 writers comparatively early broke away 
from the thought of ,god as merely      
philanthropically inclined toward       
,israel4 ,they did not think of him as  
bestowing gifts which were without cost 
to himself4 ,they show him as deeply    
involved in the life of the nation and  
as caring for his people with an        
infinite compassion4 ,this enlarging    
revelation was made clear to the people 
through the utterances of prophets1 the 
decrees of lawgivers1 the songs of      
psalmists1 the interpretations of       
historians1 and the warnings of         
statesmen4 ,slowly and surely1 moreover1
 the people attained grasp on the       
doctrine that the greatest revelation of

 ,god is the revelation in human        
character itself4 ,they began to look   
forward to the coming of one who would  
in himself embody the noblest and best  
in the divine life1 who would gather up 
in himself all the ideals and purposes  
toward which the law and the prophets   
had looked4 ,new ,testament revelation  
as such we leave to the later chapters1 
but we have come far enough1 we think1  
to warrant us in saying that only he can
 understand the ,scriptures who sees    
that the chief fact about the           
,scriptures is the emphasis on the moral
 nature of ,god4 ,other ,scriptures     
besides that of the ,hebrews--we might  
say scientific1 philosophical1          
extra-,christian ,scriptures--have stood
 for the existence of ,god2 but none    
have stood for the existence of such a  
,god as the ,god of the ,bible4 ,the    
salient feature of the ,bible is its    
thought of ,god4     ,,chapter ,v  ,,the
 ,,book ,,of ,,christ  ,it is of course 
the merest commonplace to say that the  

revelation of ,god in the ,scriptures   
comes to its climax in ,christ4 ,the    
revelation in ,christ gathers up all    
that is loftiest in the utterances of   
the ,old ,testament and gives it        
embodiment in a human life4 ,it is      
legitimate to declare that there is     
little either in the teaching of ,christ
 or in his character that is not at     
least foreshadowed in the ,old          
,testament4 ,the uniqueness of the      
,christ revelation consists in the      
manner in which the separate streams of 
truth of the law and the prophets and   
the seers and the poets are merged      
together in the ,christ teaching1 and in
 the fine balance with which the ideal  
characteristics seen from afar by the   
saints of the older day were realized in
 the living ,christ4 ,we might justly   
say that a devout reader of the ,old    
,testament could find rich elements of  
the ,christ revelation even if he should
 never see a page of the ,new           
,testament4 ,the virtue of the ,new     

,testament1 however1 is that all the    
elements revealed throughout the course 
of the historic periods of ,israel's    
career are bound together in the life   
and character of ,christ4 ,it is no mere
 epigram to say that if the greatest    
fact about the ,scriptures is ,god1 the 
greatest fact about ,god is ,christ4    
,any thorough study of the ,scriptures  
must revolve around ,christ as its      
center4 ,if the ,scriptures mean        
anything1 they mean that in ,christ we  
see ,god4 ,of course it is open to the  
skeptic to reply that in all this the   
,scriptures are completely mistaken2 but
 he cannot maintain that this is not    
what the ,scriptures mean4 ,the ,book   
comes to its climax with an honest      
conviction that ,christ is the          
consummate revelation of ,god4 ,the day 
when men could charge any sort of       
manipulation of the material by         
,scripture writers for unworthy         
doctrinal purposes is past4 ,we have in 
another connection said that each of the

 ,new ,testament books was1 indeed1     
written with a definite aim1 but this   
does not mean that facts and teachings  
were twisted out of their legitimate    
significance4 ,that ,christ is the      
supreme gift of ,god to men is so       
thoroughly built into the biblical      
revelation that there is no digging that
 idea out without wrecking the entire   
revelation itself4 ,to maintain anything
 else would be to do violence to the    
entire scriptural teaching4 ,the burden 
of the entire ,new ,testament is that   
,god is like ,christ4  ,this may seem to
 some to be a reversal of present-day   
approach to the study of the ,christ4   
,we may appear to be attacking the      
problem from the divine angle rather    
than from the human4 ,why not ask what  
,christ was rather than what ,god is8   
,it is indeed far from our purpose to   
minimize the rich significance of the   
humanity of ,jesus1 but we are trying   
now to get the scriptural focus4 ,we do 
not believe that we can secure that     

focus by looking upon the character of  
,christ as a merely human ideal4 ,the   
might of the scriptural emphasis is that
 ,christ is the revelation of ,god4 ,we 
are well aware that ordinary theological
 debate has centered on the question as 
to the extent to which ,christ is like  
,god4 ,the ,bible is colored with the   
belief that ,god is like ,christ4 ,this 
may seem at first glimpse to be a very  
fine discrimination1 but the importance 
of that discrimination appears when we  
reflect that mankind is more eager to   
learn the character of ,god than to     
learn how far a man can climb toward    
divinity4 ,in all such discussions as   
this we proceed at peril of being       
misunderstood1 but we must repeatedly   
affirm that important as is the problem 
as to the human ideal set forth in      
,christ1 the divine ideal set forth in  
him is more significant as explaining   
the hold of the ,bible on men4 ,is it   
not sufficient for us to behold a lofty 
human ideal in the portrait of ,christ  

without such emphasis on this ideal as  
also a revelation of the divine         
character8 ,the answer depends upon what
 we are most interested in4 ,if we care 
most for a perfect and symmetrical human
 life1 we reply that we find that       
perfection and symmetry in ,christ4 ,in 
our second chapter we laid such stress  
upon the importance of the enlarging    
human ideal that we have committed      
ourselves to the importance of the      
,christ ideal as a revelation of the    
possibilities of human life4 ,but if we 
take that ideal in itself without any   
reference to the character of ,god1 how 
much enlargement does it bring us8 ,as  
members of the human race we can indeed 
be proud that a human being has climbed 
to such moral stature as did ,jesus1 but
 what promise does that give that any   
other human being can attain to his     
stature8 ,as a member of the human race 
,i can be profoundly thankful for a     
philosopher like ,kant4 ,i can1 indeed1 
dedicate myself to the study of the     

,kantian philosophy with some hope of   
mastering it4 ,i can seek to reproduce  
in my life all the conditions that      
surrounded the life of the great        
metaphysician1 but ,i cannot hope to    
make myself a ,kant4 ,strive as ,i may1 
such transformation is out of the       
question4 ,i may attain great merit by  
my struggle1 but ,i cannot make myself a
 ,kant4 ,the more intensely ,i might    
struggle1 the more convinced ,i would   
become of the futility of my quest1 and 
the genius of the philosopher might     
tower up at the end as itself a grim    
mockery of my ambition4 ,so it is with  
the ,christ if he is not a revelation of
 the ,god life at the same time that he 
is an idealization of the human life4   
,viewed as a revelation of ,god's       
character the ,christ life is the hope  
of all the ages4 ,viewed only as a      
masterpiece of human life it might well 
be the despair of mankind4  ,of course  
there are those who believe that it is  
impossible for ,christ to be a          

revelation of the human without also    
being a revelation of the ,divine4 ,we  
have no desire to quarrel with this     
position1 though we find it more        
optimistic than convincing4 ,incredible 
as it may seem at first thought1 the    
universe might theoretically be regarded
 as a system ruled over by a ,deity who 
had brought forth a character like that 
of ,christ just for the sake of seeing  
what he could achieve in the way of a   
masterpiece1 without being himself      
fundamentally involved in               
self-revelation4 ,christ might          
conceivably be a sort of poetic dream of
 the ,almighty rather than a laying bare
 of the ,almighty's own life4 ,we find  
that human authors by an effort of great
 imagination fashion creations in a     
sense completely different from         
themselves4 ,it might be theoretically  
urged that the character of ,christ is  
different from the character of ,god4   
,if this seems very far-fetched1 let us 
remind ourselves then that there are    

those in the present world who conceive 
of ,christ as the very highest peak of  
human existence and yet deny that he has
 any sort of significance as a          
revelation of the forces back of the    
world4 ,such thinkers maintain that     
,christ is the best the race has to     
show1 and yet affirm that the race is   
but an insignificant item in the total  
massiveness of the universe4 ,the ,bible
 establishes the faith of men against   
skepticism like this by making the      
,christ-ideal for ,god himself so       
attractive and appealing4  ,there are   
those who proclaim that we do not need  
any revelations of ,god to make then    
human ideal fully significant--the human
 ideal stands by itself4 ,some such     
thinkers go consistently the full length
 of saying that they are willing to keep
 their eyes open to the hopelessness of 
the universe4 ,they can see nothing     
beyond this life but total oblivion4    
,nevertheless1 with their eyes open they
 will fight on manfully to the end and  

take the final leap into the dark       
without flinching4 ,they are very apt to
 add that their philosophy is the only  
unselfish one2 that the desire of men   
for any sort of help from conceptions   
about the ,divine is selfishness where  
it is not sentimentalism4 ,it is fair to
 say that such doctrines seldom meet    
large response4 ,the reason is not that 
men selfishly seek out a ,god for the   
sake of material reward that may come to
 them1 but that they seek him for the   
sake of finding a resting place for     
their minds and souls1 for the sake of  
cherishing an end which seems in itself 
worth while1 for the sake of laying hold
 on a universe in which they can feel at
 home4 ,if this is selfishness1 then the
 activities of the human soul in its    
highest ranges are selfish4 ,if it is   
selfish to long for a universe in which 
the heart can trust1 it is selfish also 
to enjoy the self-satisfaction with     
which some of these thinkers profess to 
be ready to take their leap into the    

night4 ,as we scan the history of       
,christianity since the day of the      
,founder we are impressed that religious
 organizations as such which arise      
within ,christianity tend to survive in 
proportion as they make central the     
significance of ,christ as the revealer 
of the character of ,god4 ,we would not 
for a moment underestimate the          
importance of those groups of           
,christians who take ,christ merely as a
 prophet who lived the noblest life and 
exalted his truth by the noblest death4 
,many such believers manifest the very  
purest devotion to ,christ4 ,they are   
his disciples4 ,but the historic fact is
 that organizations founded on such     
doctrines alone do not win sweeping     
triumphs4 ,on their own statement the   
most they hope to do is to spread the   
leaven of their doctrine into the       
thinking of other groups of ,christians4
 ,their service in this respect is not  
to be disparaged1 for at all times the  
more orthodox opinion of ,christ1 so    

called1 needs the leavening of emphasis 
on the humanity of ,christ4 ,but after  
all these allowances it is just to      
affirm that theology which sees only the
 human in ,christ does not come to vast 
power1 and that clearly because the     
world is chiefly interested in the      
question with which the entire biblical 
revealing movement deals1 namely1 what  
is the nature of ,god8 ,with that       
question answered we can best understand
 the nature of man and the possibility  
of communion between man and ,god4  ,we 
may be permitted to pick up the thread  
of the argument in the last chapter and 
ask again what moral purposes rule the  
forces of this world4 ,it must indeed be
 an odd type of mind that does not at   
least occasionally ask what this world  
is for1 and what all this cosmic        
commotion is about4 ,it is well for all 
of us to do the best we can without     
asking too many hard questions1 but the 
queries will at times come up and with  
the normal human being they are not     

likely easily to down4 ,we are in the   
midst of powers which defy our          
intellects4 ,we do not go far in the    
attempt to read the secrets of nature   
around us without discovering that all  
we can hope to spell out is the stages  
by which things come to pass1 and the   
mechanisms by which they fit themselves 
together4 ,why they come to pass is     
beyond us1 except in a most limited     
sense4 ,the purposes for which events   
occur in this world are not             
self-evidently clear4 ,explanations of  
purposes only make matters worse2 and at
 any moment this problem of the mystery 
of the universe may take personal       
significance in the form of a blow upon 
the individual which seems to mock all  
hope of anything worth while in human   
life4 ,there is nothing more futile than
 the attempts even of ministers to      
divine the meanings of afflictions or of
 those inequalities of lot which attend 
the natural order4 ,the preachers can   
encourage us to make the most of a bad  

lot1 but their guesses as to why these  
things are ordinarily add to our        
burdens4 ,no1 the mind of itself just by
 contemplation of the things as they are
 cannot find much light4 ,this enigma   
has always been before the philosophers 
in the form of the question as to       
physical suffering4 ,a number of        
plausible answers have been made as to  
the reasons for pain in the present     
order4 ,leibnitz said that even the     
,almighty creating the finite world had 
to adjust himself to some limitations   
for the good of the whole2 that if some 
forces are to run in one direction1     
there must be mutual concession and     
compromise in the adjustment of manifold
 other activities2 and that all this    
involves at least apparent stress and   
injustice at particular points4 ,this   
sounds well enough1 but why the         
afflictions of the individual who       
happens to be one of the particular     
points should be just what they are is a
 mystery4 ,the upshot is that the       

ordinary man--the plain man1 as we call 
him--must either give up the whole      
problem by seeking to forget it1 or must
 rebel against it1 or he must find      
relief in a ,god whom he can trust      
without being able to fathom his plans4 
,the tragedy of physical affliction is  
light as compared to the tragedies which
 arise in any conscience which seeks to 
take moral duties seriously4 ,to be     
sure1 we live at present in a rather    
complacent age so far as the struggles  
of conscience are concerned4 ,the advice
 of the world is to do the best we can  
and let the rest go4 ,we are not to take
 ourselves too seriously4 ,but the long 
moral advances of the race have come    
through those who have taken the voices 
of conscience seriously4 ,now1 what can 
a sensitive conscience make of moral    
duty8 ,assume that we have before us the
 exalted ,christ ideal1 and accept this 
as the guide of our lives--assume that  
we even have hope of some day attaining 
to that ideal--the distracting question 

is bound to jump at us3 ,are we doing   
enough8 ,have we sacrificed enough for  
those in worse plight than ourselves8   
,and what about our past mistakes8      
,shall we go back and try to undo these8
 ,at the very best that might be like   
unraveling through the night what we    
have spun through the day4 ,it will not 
do to dismiss this as unhealthiness or  
morbidness of mind4 ,william ,james has 
shown pretty conclusively that the      
so-called normal or healthy-minded moral
 life is apt to be shallow4 ,the great  
moral tragedy of the race is the        
distance between the ideal and any      
possible attainment4 ,we can console    
ourselves by saying that noble          
discontent is the glory of man2 but that
 does not get us far4 ,there is only one
 way out1 and that is to trust that we  
are dealing with a ,christlike ,god1    
that his attitude toward us is the      
attitude of ,jesus toward men4 ,it is   
impossible to feel that in discipleship 
with ,jesus men were complacent about   

their own moral perfections on the one  
hand1 or harassed with self-reproaches  
on the other4 ,they were advancing      
toward the realization of an ideal in   
companionship with ,one who not only in 
himself realized the human ideal1 but   
who taught them that all the forces of  
the world would work together with them 
in their climb toward perfection1 and   
that ,god would be patient with their   
blunders4  ,the question as to the      
character of ,god becomes more vital the
 longer we reflect4 ,the growing        
conscience of our time demands that two 
conceptions be kept together--that of   
power and that of moral responsibility4 
,we cannot hold a person responsible    
unless he has power2 we cannot give a   
person power unless he is willing to act
 under responsibility4 ,this realization
 is fast modifying all our relations to 
politics1 to finance1 to industry1 even 
to private duties4 ,we are swiftly      
moving toward the day when society will 
insist that any measure of power which  

has an outreach beyond the circle of the
 holder's personal affairs shall be     
acquiesced in by society only on        
condition that the holder of that power 
be willing definitely to assume         
responsibility to society4 ,what we     
demand of men we demand also of ,god1   
and we have the scriptural warrant for  
believing that these human demands are  
themselves hints concerning the nature  
of ,god4 ,now1 no one doubts the power  
of ,god4 ,all scientific and philosophic
 trends are toward the centralization of
 power in some unitary source4 ,all our 
study of nature and of society convinces
 us that there is a unity of power      
somewhere4 ,if this be true1 there must 
be raised with increasing persistence   
the question as to whether the          
,world-,power is acting under a sense of
 moral responsibility4 ,there were days 
when this problem was not raised as it  
is now4 ,men assumed for centuries that 
the king could do no wrong2 that he     
could order his people about in the most

 arbitrary fashion4 ,in our own time we 
have seen advocacy of the doctrine that 
the man of wealth is a law unto himself 
in the handling of the power that comes 
with wealth4 ,such mistakes never were  
really a part of the biblical idea4 ,in 
shaping the threefold notion of priest  
and prophet and king to make the people 
familiar with the functions of ,god-sent
 leadership the strokes of emphasis     
always fell on the responsibility of the
 prophet to proclaim his message at     
whatever cost to himself1 of the priest 
to keep in mind the sacredness of his   
office1 and of the king to rule in      
righteousness4 ,these demands were      
inevitably carried up to ,god3 and in   
,christ the supreme effort is made to   
convince us that we can trust in the    
,god of ,christ1 though we may not be   
able to understand him4 ,this is not the
 place for an attempt at determining the
 essentials of the ,christ career4 ,some
 features of that life1 however1 as     
illustrating responsibility in the use  

of power can be hinted at here4 ,take   
the story of the temptation4 ,we are not
 concerned now with the historic form in
 which the temptation occurred4 ,after  
the historians have made all the changes
 in the drapery of the story they       
choose1 the fact remains that the       
temptation narrative deals with the     
essential problems of any leader        
confronted with a task like that of     
,christ4 ,the ,messianic consciousness  
was a consciousness of power4 ,how      
should the power be used8 ,should it be 
used to minister to human needs like    
those of hunger8 ,that would promise a  
quick solution of a sort4 ,the peoples  
would eagerly rally around the new      
deliverer4 ,should there be an attempt  
to utilize the political machinery of   
the time8 ,there could be no doubt of   
the effectiveness of this plan4 ,should 
the exalted lofty spiritual state of the
 ,master be relied upon to carry him    
through spectacular displays of         
extraordinary might that would capture  

the popular mind8 ,each of these        
suggestions presented its advantages4   
,each might have been rightfully        
followed by some one with less power    
than ,jesus had2 but for him any one of 
them would have involved a misuse of    
power1 and hence he cast them all aside4
  ,the miracles reported of ,christ have
 this for their peculiarity1 that they  
show a power conceived of as divine used
 for a righteous purpose4 ,it is        
significant that practically all the    
miracles described are those of healing 
or of relief4 ,the kind of miracle that 
an irresponsible leader would have      
wrought is suggested by the advice of   
,james and ,john to ,jesus to call down 
fire on an inhospitable ,samaritan      
village4 ,the reported reply of ,jesus1 
,ye know not what spirit you are of1 is 
the final comment on such use of power4 
,now1 after we have made the most of the
 miracles recorded of ,jesus1 after we  
have made them seem just as             
extraordinary in themselves as possible1

 their most extraordinary feature is    
this use to which the power was put2 and
 on the other hand1 if we strip the     
miracles of everything that suggests    
breach of natural law and make them just
 revelations of super-normal control    
over nature through laws like those     
whose existence and significance we are 
beginning to glimpse to-day1 still we   
cannot empty these narratives of their  
significance as revealing a morally     
responsible use of force4 ,let us be    
just as orthodox as we can1 the purpose 
of the use of the forces is the supreme 
miracle2 let us be just as destructively
 radical as we please1 we cannot        
eliminate from the ,scriptures this     
impression of ,christ as one who used   
power with a sense of responsibility4   
,this revelation is one which the ages  
have always desired4  ,we must be       
careful to keep in mind the connection  
of the ,christ life with what came      
before it and what has proceeded from   
it4 ,here we have the advantage which   

comes of regarding the ,bible as the    
result of a process running through the 
centuries4 ,if the ,bible were not a    
library1 but only a single book1 written
 at a particular time1 we might well be 
attracted by the nobility of its        
teachings1 but might despair of ever    
making the teachings effective4 ,there  
is no proving in syllogistic fashion    
that ,jesus was what he claimed to be1  
or that he was what his disciples       
thought of him as being2 but when we see
 a massive revealing movement centering 
on the idea of ,god as revealed in      
,christ1 when we see the acceptance of  
the spirit of ,christ opening the path  
to communion with the ,divine1 and when 
we find increasing hosts of persons     
finding larger life in that approach to 
the ,divine1 we begin to discern the    
vast significance of the scriptural     
doctrine that in ,christ we have the    
revelation of the ,christlike ,god4  ,in
 this discussion we have been careful to
 avoid the terms of formal and creedal  

orthodoxy4 ,this is not because the     
present writer is out of sympathy with  
these terms1 but because he is trying to
 keep to the main impression produced by
 the ,new ,testament4 ,the fundamental  
scriptural fact is that in ,jesus the   
early believers saw ,god2 they came to  
rest in ,god as revealed in ,christ4    
,this is true of the picture of ,christ 
in the earliest ,new ,testament         
writings4 ,modern scholarship has not   
been able to find any documents of a    
time when the disciples did not think of
 ,jesus as the revealer of ,god4 ,if the
 disciples had not thought of ,jesus    
thus1 they would have found little      
reason to write of him4 ,now the        
scriptural authors employ various terms 
to declare the unique intimacy of       
,christ with ,god4 ,in these expositions
 ,jewish and ,greek and even ,roman     
thought terms play their part4 ,passages
 like the opening sentences of the      
fourth ,gospel1 or like the great       
chapter in the ,philippians1 are always 

profoundly satisfying and suggestive in 
their interpretation of the fundamental 
fact1 but that fundamental fact itself  
is the all-essential--that in ,christ   
the ,new ,testament writers thought of  
themselves as having seen ,god1 and as  
having gazed into the very depths of the
 spirit of the ,father in heaven4       
,believing as we do1 moreover1 in the   
helpfulness of the creedal statements of
 the church1 we must nevertheless avow  
that such statements are secondary to   
the impression made upon the biblical   
writers by actual contact with the      
,christ4 ,we must not lose sight of the 
primacy of that impression as we study  
our ,scriptures4 ,we must not limit the 
glory of the impression itself by the   
limitations of some of the explanations 
which we undertake4 ,much harm has been 
done the understanding the ,scriptures  
by speaking as if some of our creedal   
statements concerning ,christ are       
themselves ,scriptures6 ,the scriptural 
,christ is greater than any creedal     

characterization of ,christ thus far    
undertaken4  ,of recent years an attempt
 has been made to prove that no such    
person as ,jesus ever existed4 ,the     
attempt has proved futile1 but it has   
had a significance altogether different 
from what the propounders of the theory 
intended4 ,the original aim was to show 
the contradictions of the testimony     
concerning ,jesus and the inadequacies  
of the testimony to his existence as an 
historical ,person4 ,the result has been
 to show that the real significance of  
the ,christ life is not to be found in  
any particular utterance1 or in any     
specific deed1 but in the total impact  
that he made upon the consciousness of  
man as suggesting the immediate presence
 of the ,divine4 ,the quality of the    
,christ life satisfies us in the inner  
depths as bearing witness to the quality
 of the ,god life4 ,we have no sympathy 
with the views of the critics just      
mentioned2 but we must say that no      
matter how the thought of ,god in       

,christ got abroad1 no matter how       
mistaken our thought of the historical  
facts at the beginning of the ,christian
 era1 the belief in the ,christlike ,god
 nevertheless did get abroad4 ,there is 
no effacing that conception from the    
,new ,testament4 ,no matter what        
detailed changes in the narrative itself
 radical criticism may think itself     
capable of making1 the door was opened  
wide enough in the ,christ for the      
divine light to stream through4 ,we said
 in the last chapter that the most      
important feature of the biblical       
revelation is ,god himself4 ,we must now
 say that the supreme fact about ,god is
 ,christ4     ,,chapter ,,vi  ,,the     
,,book ,,of ,,the ,,cross  ,if the      
central feature of the ,scriptures is   
their idea of ,god1 and if the climax of
 the biblical revelation is ,christ1 the
 greatest fact about ,christ from the   
point of view of the ,bible is his      
cross4 ,we say fact advisedly1 for we   
are not dealing with the theories that  

have sprung up to interpret the meaning 
of the cross4 ,we are trying to deal    
solely with the direct impressions which
 seem to have been made upon the        
scriptural writers as to the place of   
the cross in the revealing movement4    
,we said in the last chapter that the   
,scriptures reach their climax in the   
doctrine that ,god is in ,christ4 ,the  
cross of ,christ carries to most        
effective revelation the ,christlike    
character of ,god4 ,while we are not    
treating now the various creedal dogmas 
as to the person of ,christ1 we must not
 forget that those dogmas have essayed  
as part of their task the bringing of   
,god close to men4 ,the truth embodied  
in the text that the ,lamb was slain    
from the foundation of the world is     
essential to knowing the ,scriptures4   
,we have seen that even as a warrior    
,jehovah was thought of as willing to   
bear his part of the burdens of the     
chosen people4 ,we have seen growing the
 idea that ,jehovah was under moral     

obligation to carry through the         
uplifting work which he had begun4 ,we  
have seen prophets attain to glimpses of
 the meaning of suffering for the divine
 life1 and we have beheld the           
culmination in the suffering of ,christ4
 ,in those perplexing phrases of the    
creeds like1 ,very ,god of very ,god1   
the aim of the church has been perfectly
 clear--to guard the scriptural idea    
that ,god was so truly in ,christ that  
the sufferings of ,christ were the      
sufferings of ,god4 ,even when least    
intelligible the pain of men becomes    
more easily borne if men can believe    
that in some real sense their pain is   
also the pain of ,god4 ,that ,god is    
,christlike in capacity to suffer is in 
itself a revelation of no small         
consequence4  ,in the cross of ,christ  
we see exalted with surpassing power the
 belief that ,god acts out of           
righteousness in his relation to the    
universe and to men4 ,it must needs be  
that ,christ suffer4 ,the writers seem  

unable to escape the conviction that    
they are beholding the working of       
divinely inevitable moral necessities4  
,these moral obligations are not to be  
conceived of as external to ,god or     
imposed on him from outside of himself4 
,in the ,scriptures they seem1 rather1  
to be expressions of his own nature4    
,when the writers of theories about the 
cross lay stress on those profound      
obligations of ,god toward moral law    
which must be discharged in the work of 
redemption1 the ,scriptural basis       
underneath such theories is the         
implication that ,god1 by the very fact 
of what he is1 must act righteously4    
,his power is not his own in such sense 
that he can act from arbitrary or       
self-centered motives4 ,the ,judge of   
all the earth must do right1 at whatever
 cost to himself4 ,the ,scriptures keep 
close to the thought of ,god as a       
supremely powerful ,being under supreme 
responsibility in the use of his power4 
,if we can believe the ,scripture that  

in ,christ we see ,god1 and that the    
bearing1 of ,christ during his suffering
 reveals really and uniquely the bearing
 of ,god himself1 we have a revelation  
of the grasp with which moral           
responsibility holds the ,almighty      
against even any momentary slip into    
arbitrariness4 ,sometimes we hear the   
sufferings of ,christ preached as a     
pattern of nonresistance for men4 ,it is
 permissible thus to interpret the cross
 within limitations2 but this is not the
 essential aspect of the cross1 as      
explaining its hold on men4 ,the        
all-important doctrine as to the use of 
power is hinted at in the ,master's word
 that he had but to call for legions of 
angels if he so chose4 ,under most      
extreme provocation the forces of the   
,almighty held to their appointed task4 
,if the ,almighty had been conceived of 
as a ,despot or an ,egotist1 he would   
have been expected to resort at once to 
revengeful violence in the presence of  
such insults as those of the persecutors

 of the ,son of ,god4 ,the ,source of   
all activity can hardly be conceived of 
as passive2 but the passivity of the    
,christ of the cross suggests that no   
outrage by men can divert the almighty  
power from its moral purpose4 ,this is  
really a gathering together and lifting 
on high of the doctrine of the ,sermon  
on the ,mount1 that ,god maketh the sun 
to shine upon the just and the unjust1  
and causeth his rain to fall on the evil
 and the good4 ,that is to say1 while   
the ,bible thinks of the cross as laying
 bare the ,almighty's reaction against  
evil1 it also thinks of that cross as   
showing a ,god who will not be disturbed
 by any merely personal considerations4 
,we behold the ,almighty's use of power 
for the advance of a moral kingdom4 ,the
 ,almighty is set before us as exerting 
all his power for the relief of men4    
,the cross makes the profoundest        
revelation of the moral fixedness and   
self-control of ,god so long as we hold 
to the scriptural representation4 ,it is

 to be regretted that many theological  
theories break away from the ,scripture 
basis and build upon assumptions which  
are artificial1 not to say unmoral3 or1 
rather1 in their striving after system  
they get away from the atmosphere of    
moral suggestiveness with which the     
,gospels and ,epistles surround the     
cross4 ,that ,god will do his part in   
the redemption of men is set before us  
in the cross4 ,that part can be nothing 
short of making men yearn to be like    
,christ and of aiding them in their     
struggle for the ,christlike character4 
,it will be remembered that in the last 
chapter we called attention to the      
hopelessness of the ,christian ideal    
viewed as an ideal in itself without a  
dynamic to help men to realize the      
ideal4 ,if ,christ is only to reveal to 
us the character toward which men are to
 strive1 we are in despair4 ,that one   
man has reached such perfection is in   
itself no promise that other men may    
reach that perfection4 ,moreover1 the   

excellence of ,christ is not only a     
moral excellence2 or if it is moral     
excellence1 that excellence involves a  
balance of intellectual attributes which
 is for us practically out of reach4    
,now1 ,christ is the ideal1 but the     
ideal is one toward which we not only   
labor in our own strength1 but one whose
 attainment by us is an object of       
solicitude for ,god himself4 ,and so we 
see in the cross a patience which will  
bear with men to the utmost1 and which  
will reenforce them as they press toward
 the goal4 ,the glory of ,christianity  
is largely hi the paradox that it sets  
before men an unattainable ideal and    
then commands them to attain the ideal4 
,if the cross is nothing but a          
revelation of an ideal for men1 this    
paradox is insoluble and intolerable4   
,in the scriptural light of the cross1  
however1 we catch the glory not of an   
abstract ideal1 but of a ,father's love 
for his children--not of the commands of
 conscience in the abstract1 but of the 

desires of a personal ,friend who will  
lift men as they stumble and fall4 ,the 
ground for this patience seems as we    
read to be in the very nature of ,god   
himself4 ,god has brought men into this 
world without consulting them1 he has   
dowered them with the terrific boon of  
freedom1 he has set them in hard places2
 but he has done this out of a moral and
 loving purpose4 ,he therefore makes    
more allowances for men than exacting   
men ever can make for themselves4 ,he   
puts at the service of men so much of   
his power as they can appropriate by    
their moral effort4 ,the ,christ of the 
cross is taught as the truth about      
,god--the ,god who is at once the       
supremely real and the supremely ideal  
places his powers at the service of men 
who would make their ,christ-ideal      
progressively real in themselves4  ,the 
power of the ,bible over men centers    
around the teaching that the cross not  
only reveals ,god as morally bound to   
redeem men1 but that it also shows us   

the divine aim in redemption4 ,men are  
to be redeemed by seeking for           
forgiveness in the name of the moral    
life set on high by the cross1 but the  
repentant soul is to show its sincerity 
by devotion to the task and spirit of   
cross-bearing4 ,the aim of the cross is 
to bring men together into a fellowship 
of the cross1 in a fellowship of        
suffering for the sake of the moral     
triumph to be won at the end4 ,we are   
accustomed to think of suffering as     
implying the possibility of joy4 ,the   
man who can feel keen sorrow can feel   
keen joy2 they who have the power to    
weep have also the power to laugh4 ,in  
the final kingdom the weeping shall be  
turned into joy4 ,but1 according to the 
,scriptures1 it is not necessary for the
 disciples to wait until the            
consummation before entering into the   
joy of their ,lord4 ,there is an        
entrance to the divine mind through     
bearing the cross4 ,those who desired to
 learn of ,christ as true disciples were

 expected to take up the cross and carry
 it daily4 ,the ,master also declared   
that the disciples were to think of     
themselves as blessed when they endured 
persecution for righteousness' sake1 for
 men had persecuted the prophets in all 
ages4 ,the implication is that knowledge
 of and sympathy with the prophets came 
out of cross-bearing like that of the   
prophets4 ,to use a simple illustration3
 a student of the careers of the leaders
 of any reform might gather a mass of   
information about the reformers in an   
outside kind of fashion1 as by the study
 of books1 or by visits to the scenes of
 their struggles4 ,such a student1      
however1 could not master the inner     
spirit of a reformer's life until he    
himself had battled for some cause at   
risk to himself4 ,so the man who seeks  
to bear the cross of ,christ is on the  
path to sympathetic inner knowledge of  
the spirit of ,christ4 ,in our second   
chapter we called attention to the truth
 that approach to knowledge of ,god is  

through the doing of the will of ,god4  
,doing of the will1 according to ,jesus1
 means much more than just a round of   
good deeds4 ,it means carrying the      
burdens which are inevitable in         
cross-bearing4 ,there is good reason for
 believing that the very highest step in
 spiritual learning is taken only       
through the willingness to bear the     
cross4 ,in our modern educational       
systems we lay varying degrees of stress
 upon the importance of different       
methods of acquiring knowledge4 ,there  
is at the bottom of the scale the method
 of mastering the instruction of the    
teacher by attention and reflection4    
,there is1 next1 the method of learning 
through one's own experiment--through   
using microscope or telescope or        
textbook for oneself4 ,there are1       
further1 the social aids to the         
quickening of the mind as groups of     
students study and discuss together4    
,but the deepest knowledge comes as the 
student feels his sympathy and feeling  

involved4 ,if he must pay himself out   
for the acquisition of the truth1 or if 
he must defend his conclusions at great 
cost to himself1 this experience which  
involves the feeling involves also the  
sharpening of the intellect4 ,the eyes  
of the soul are opened to the subtler   
intuitions4 ,thus it is in the          
revelations of the divine purpose in the
 ,scriptures4 ,it is hard to make out   
how anybody can hope to master a        
revelation of a cross-bearing ,god      
without himself being a cross-bearer4   
,in the ,new ,testament narratives of   
,passion ,week the ,master is reported  
as winning his surest convictions of the
 presence of ,god and of the victory of 
his truth at the very instant when he   
entered into the extreme depths of      
suffering4 ,in the after days it was    
when the saints faced stoning that they 
saw the heavens opening2 it was the     
apostle who had suffered hardships      
almost too numerous to mention who got  
the most positive conviction of the     

reward which awaited him4 ,in the school
 of ,christ the very heaviest stress    
must fall upon the indispensability of  
cross-bearing as a means to             
understanding4  ,not only does the      
biblical revelation see in the cross of 
,christ the culminating manifestation of
 the character of ,god1 and of the      
purpose of ,god in redemption1 but it   
also shows to us the divine method in   
helping men4 ,we have spoken of those   
who dwell upon the ,master's            
nonresistance as a model of passivity in
 the presence of evil4 ,the example of  
,christ when thus treated is in danger  
of being misinterpreted4 ,the ,christ of
 the cross was passive so far as        
physical force was concerned2 but he was
 never more intensely active in the     
higher ranges of his faculties--in      
self-control and in alertness to the    
finer whisperings of the spirit4 ,the   
,christ's non-resistance to the physical
 might of evil is not to be interpreted 
as acquiescence on the part of the      

,divine toward the ravages of evil1 but1
 rather1 as the divine method of        
thwarting evil by allowing it to reveal 
itself4 ,no amount of preaching about   
the nature of evil can equal in         
eloquence the self-revelations of that  
nature as it works itself out into      
expression4 ,while in a degree the      
self-revelation of evil put forth       
against ,christ was unique1 yet we must 
remember that the sins which put ,christ
 to death are just those commonest in   
all time4 ,judas was disappointed4 ,he  
carried spite no more tenaciously than  
the ordinary heart is capable of        
treasuring it4 ,caiaphas desired simply 
to hold his own position and preserve   
the peace of his nation4 ,very likely   
the type of opinion in the midst of     
which ,caiaphas moved would have        
pronounced that he rendered a           
disagreeable1 but nevertheless necessary
 patriotic service in his condemnation  
of ,christ4 ,pilate too meant well1 but 
was afraid of the crowd4 ,his friends   

may have commended his administrative   
wisdom in allowing the people to have   
their own way4 ,it was the play of just 
such ordinary forces of sin against an  
extraordinary holiness that made it     
impossible for the mightiest revelation 
ever vouchsafed to man to work through  
the earthly activity of ,jesus for more 
than a few months4 ,the ,scripture does 
not have much to do with abstract sins2 
with concrete sins of men as we actually
 find them1 it has much to do4  ,the    
,scriptures make it very clear that     
there is something which satisfies ,god 
himself in the work of redemption4 ,god 
acts out of moral obligation1 out of    
self-respect1 out of love4 ,but he acts 
always in respect for men as free moral 
beings4 ,the cross appeals to the free  
spirit of men to behold the nature of   
evil1 and to flee from that evil toward 
their redeeming ,god4 ,if the redemption
 is to be a moral redemption1 the last  
detail of the method must be moral4 ,the
 power of the ,almighty must not be used

 to break down freedom of men4 ,it would
 be theoretically possible for an       
almighty power to bring to bear such    
pressures upon human wills as to crush  
them1 but the strongest representation  
of the power of ,god in the ,new        
,testament does not go to the length of 
hinting at interference with the freedom
 of men4 ,men are to be saved as free   
men or not at all4 ,we might conceivably
 imagine the ,almighty as granting such 
indubitable vision of the material      
rewards of righteousness and the        
material loss of unrighteousness as     
would irresistibly draw masses of a     
certain grade of men into the ,kingdom  
without a morally free consent to       
righteousness4 ,or we might conceive of 
the ,almighty as so weighing this or    
that factor of environment as to        
diminish almost to the vanishing point  
the free choice of men4 ,this kind of   
compulsion would not be moral4 ,the only
 compulsions of the cross are those of a
 moral ,god splendidly attractive on his

 own account4  ,it will have occurred to
 some readers by this time that we have 
said very little about the love of ,god 
in our discussion of the ,scriptures1   
whereas that love is the outstanding    
feature of the biblical revelation4 ,our
 reply is that we have been trying to be
 true to the impression made by the     
,scriptures as to the kind of love which
 we must think of as expressing the     
deepest fact in ,god's life4 ,we would  
not in the least minimize the truth that
 love is the last word of the scriptural
 revelation2 but in our modern life we  
are apt to get away from the quality of 
the love revealed in the ,bible4 ,the   
love of the cross is built upon the     
righteousness which runs through the    
,sacred ,book from the beginning to the 
end4 ,a god of indifferent moral quality
 might love4 ,the old ,greek gods had   
favorites upon whom they lavished their 
affections4 ,a god might be conceived of
 as an amiable and well-wishing father1 
foolishly indulgent toward his children4

 ,the love of the ,new ,testament1      
however1 is the love of a ,father who   
dares to appeal to the children to make 
heroic response2 and who shows his own  
love for them in the lengths to which he
 will go for them4 ,moral love will go  
the full length of heroic               
self-sacrifice4 ,we cannot help         
believing that it is the quality of     
,god's love1 rather than the mere fact  
of that love1 which is the explanation  
of the power of the biblical teaching4  
,a friend of mine many years ago wrote a
 book which he called ,the ,hero ,god4  
,the publishers objected to the title   
because they saw in it a touch of       
sensationalism4 ,no title1 however1     
could have more adequately set forth the
 biblical ,god4 ,god is the hero of the 
,bible4 ,his heroism appears in growing 
revelation from the beginning4 ,it shows
 itself superbly in his willingness to  
bear the burdens of mankind and in the  
appeals which he makes for response from
 men4 ,the picture is of a ,god who     

dares to believe in men and who dares to
 call on them for the extremes of       
self-sacrificing devotion1 not to       
himself as an arbitrary ,person1 but to 
himself as the center of the moral life 
which is above all other life worth     
while4 ,it is open to anyone to object  
that this biblical picture does not     
necessarily hold good for ,god2 but it  
is hardly possible to object that the   
picture is not biblical4 ,the picture   
stands in its own right and makes its   
own appeal4 ,the only way to test it in 
life is to yield to its appeal4  ,if we 
are asked to account for the power of   
the ,bible1 we are at a loss for any one
 single statement4 ,the most compendious
 reply is the magnetism of the love of  
,god as revealed in ,christ4 ,this is so
 broad1 however1 that it may not make a 
direct and vivid impression4 ,we may    
say1 then1 that one element of the      
magnetism of the biblical revelation is 
the magnetism of the appeal to the      
heroic4 ,whatever else the ,bible may or

 may not be1 it is not a book of soft   
and easy things4 ,breaths of the most   
rigorous life blow across every page4   
,it is made for man in that it calls men
 to the service of the highest and best4
 ,the religious systems which make the  
fewest and least demands upon their     
followers most speedily fall away2 those
 that call for the utmost are most      
likely to meet the enthusiastic         
response4 ,there is a frank honesty     
about the biblical appeal which holds a 
charm for all men in whom there are any 
sparks of real manhood4 ,the severities 
of the ,christian life are nowhere      
disguised4 ,men are never lured on by   
false pretenses4 ,the path is the path  
of cross-bearing1 and the reward is the 
comradeship between ,god and man as they
 together work toward the highest goal1 
a comradeship which of itself brings    
relief to men burdened with the mystery 
of the universe and agonized by remorse 
over sin4  ,this essay is quite as      
significant for what it has not said as 

for what it has said4 ,in our omissions 
we have tried to keep clear the main    
outlines of scriptural revelation4 ,we  
have sought to hold fast to principles  
rather than to discuss details4 ,we have
 done this because we have believed that
 there is more value for religious      
understanding in pointing out the       
loftier biblical peaks which give the   
direction of the whole range than in    
tracing out pathways through detailed   
passages4 ,moreover1 we have been afraid
 to employ many theoretical terms lest  
we blur the quick moral impressions made
 by the ,scripture phrasings4 ,for      
example1 it may be objected that our    
treatment of the character of ,god is   
altogether inadequate4 ,we have not thus
 far said a word about the ,trinity1 for
 example1 or about atonement4 ,the      
reason is that we believe that any      
theories about ,god must base themselves
 upon the moral suggestions of the      
,scriptures2 and our business is with   
these rather than with the theories4    

,the received revelation concerning ,god
 would warrant us in fashioning any     
theory as to the richness of his inner  
constitution which might even measurably
 satisfy our minds4 ,the scriptural     
atmosphere as to the moral life in ,god 
must1 however1 be kept in the chief     
place in all of our theological         
theories4 ,atonement must be interpreted
 chiefly in terms of ethical steadiness 
if it is to build on a biblical         
foundation4 ,but the instant we use     
formal terms like ,trinity and atonement
 we have taken at least one step away   
from the ,scriptures4 ,again1 we have   
said nothing about ,divine ,providence4 
,the ,bible is full of instances of     
providences1 but here also we have      
preferred to let the fundamental moral  
character of the biblical ,god speak for
 itself4 ,we may have our own belief    
that there is no scriptural warrant for 
that separation which obtains in much   
theology between the processes of ,god  
and the processes of nature4 ,we may    

admit that the ,hebrew had no very      
systematically framed theory of the     
processes of nature1 but he deemed ,god 
to be in such close touch with nature as
 easily to control its forces for a good
 end4 ,in two accounts of the crossing  
of the ,red ,sea by the ,israelites we  
have an apparent contradiction which is 
at bottom not a contradiction4 ,in one  
account ,god seems to cause the waters  
to wall up on both sides of the         
,israelites in defiance of the laws of  
nature4 ,in another ,god accomplishes   
the drying of the path through the      
blowing of a strong east wind4 ,the     
,hebrew would not have troubled himself 
much with the apparent contradiction1   
for he would have conceived of ,god as  
the chief factor in either event1 and of
 his purpose as having the right of way4
 ,there is thus no great value in       
discussing specific instances as long as
 the care of ,god for his children is   
the animating purpose of the entire     
biblical content4 ,so with answers to   

prayer--the ,god who is willing to go   
for men to the lengths revealed in the  
cross will surely answer any prayer     
worth answering4 ,the essential is to   
lift prayer up into harmony with the    
entire revealing and redeeming movement1
 and to conceive of it as a fitting of  
the whole life into the purposes of a   
moral ,god4 ,certain general            
requirements would always have to be    
met4 ,prayer would have really to deal  
with what is best for the individual1   
best for those around him1 and most in  
harmony with the character of ,god      
himself4 ,so1 again1 with the progress  
of the kingdom of ,god on earth--the    
,god of whose nature the cross is the   
final revelation can be trusted to do   
the best possible for the ,kingdom here 
and now4 ,much debate about the second  
coming of ,christ misses the great moral
 principles which are the heart of the  
,christian revelation and loses itself  
in the incidental forms in which those  
principles were declared4 ,the best     

preparation for the coming of the       
kingdom of ,christ is absorption in the 
principles of ,christ and in the spirit 
of ,christ4 ,to get away from these in  
our search for external and material    
conditions which are the mere vehicle of
 the biblical thought is not only to    
pursue a will-o'-the-wisp1 but to injure
 true spiritual progress4 ,jesus has    
given us the spiritual principles which 
must control the destiny of any society 
here and now4 ,in the light of the      
,christ-faith revealed in the cross we  
must not despair of the redemption of   
men by the city-full and by the         
nation-full1 for the greatest confidence
 ever placed in men is the implied trust
 of the cross of ,christ4 ,the ,almighty
 at the beginning paid an immense       
tribute to the human race when he flung 
it out into the gale of this existence4 
,in the light of the cross we cannot    
believe that ,he expected the race to   
sink4 ,in the cross the ,christ who     
revealed ,god's own mind showed the     

length he was willing to go in          
confidence that men would finally turn  
to him with all the powers of their     
lives4 ,to throw up our hands and say   
that the world is getting worse and we  
can do nothing without a speedy physical
 return of the ,christ is to overlook   
the spiritual forces of the cross4  ,we 
have said nothing about immortality4    
,what the ,scriptures themselves say is 
largely incidental4 ,the ,master did not
 allow himself to be drawn into any     
extended conversation about the details 
of a future life1 but he did give us the
 ,god of the cross4 ,in the presence of 
that cross we can profess the utmost    
confidence in the eternal life of the   
sons of ,god1 while at the same time    
acknowledging the utmost ignorance as to
 any of the material conditions of the  
future life4 ,it is commonly assumed    
that the resurrection of ,christ proves 
that we shall likewise rise1 but the    
rising of ,christ does not of itself    
prove that others shall rise4 ,the      

cross1 however--showing the extent to   
which the ,divine is willing to go for  
men--is the ground of our hope4 ,god    
will not leave his loved ones to see    
corruption4 ,in a word1 the cross of    
,christ gathers up all the biblical     
truth4 ,it is a revelation of ,god's own
 character1 of his hope for men1 of the 
methods by which he seeks to win men1   
and of the ground of our faith in a     
right outcome for men and for society4  
,we may be permitted to summarize by    
saying that scientific and historical   
biblical study is a preparation for the 
knowledge of the ,scriptures2 that it is
 exceedingly important that the student 
approach with the correct preliminary   
point of view4 ,the revelation of the   
inner significance1 however1 does not   
dawn until there is recognition of the  
need of obedience to the principles laid
 down in the ,scriptures4 ,and this     
obedience must be broad enough to       
include zeal for the uplift of our      
fellow men in all phases of their lives4

 ,out of righteous living the devoted   
life1 we believe1 will see that the     
greatest fact of the ,bible is ,god2    
that the greatest fact of ,god is       
,christ2 that the greatest fact of      
,christ is the cross4