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JESUS CHRIST,, 
 
 IN HUMAN 
 EXPERIENCE 
 
 By 
 
 MEADE E. DUTT 
 
 CINCINNATI 
 
 The Standard Publishing Company 
 
Copyright, 1916 
 The Standard Publishing Company 
 
 
This volume is affectionately 
 inscribed to 
 
 MY WIFE 
 
 who for twelve years has been 
 my companion, counselor and 
 
 critic. 
 
 The Author 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Introductory Note 7 
 
 Introduction 9 
 
 I Wisdom's Search 11 
 
 II Herod : Hatred Gone Mad . 24 
 
 III Mary: Poetic Motherhood. 35 
 
 IV Zacharias: The Fruitage 
 
 OF Patience 45 
 
 V John the Baptist: The De- 
 nial OF Self 57 
 
 VI NicoDEMUs: Aristocrat. ... 72 
 
 VII A Soul's Awakening 86 
 
 VIII The NoBLEiMAN: Drawn or 
 
 Driven 98 
 
 IX The Border of His Gar- 
 ment 112 
 
 X The Tragedy of Opportu- 
 nity 123 
 
 5 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XI Bartim^us : Light Through 
 
 Darkness 135 
 
 XII Jesus and the Tax Collec- 
 tor 146 
 
 XIII Martha: The Tyranny of 
 
 Things 158 
 
 XIV The Soul OF a Samaritan . . 170 
 
 XV Pontius Pilate : The Sin of 
 
 Compromise 182 ^ 
 
 XVI Simon of Cyrene: Compul- 
 sory Service 193 
 
 XVII Barabbas: Vicarious Suf- 
 fering 207 
 
 XVIII Joseph: The Unexpected 
 
 Man 222 
 
 XIX Mary: The Slandered Mag- 
 dalene .. .• 234 
 
 XX Disposing of Troublesome 
 
 Facts 246 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 TN the preparation of this volume I have 
 not consulted the trinity — Exegesis, 
 Homiletics and Logic — and it is probable 
 that there have been grave crimes com- 
 mitted against each of them. I have taken 
 a few — not all — of the New Testament 
 characters other than the Apostles, and have 
 striven to point out a few of the places 
 where Jesus Christ touched their experi- 
 ences, believing that human nature remains 
 constant throughout the centuries, and that 
 what was helpful to mankind two thousand 
 years ago will be helpful to him to-day. 
 
 It has not been my purpose to make these 
 studies expository as such. If any are in 
 search of grammatical niceties or models of 
 exegesis, they are referred to the critical 
 and explanatory commentaries, and such 
 other works as deal with the constructive 
 speech of the New Testament. I have set 
 forth with the deliberate Intention of for- 
 getting the hard-and-fast rules of homiletics. 
 Far be It from me to pull the petals from 
 
 T 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 the rose. I prefer to admire It as a whole 
 — to preserve its delicate color and enjoy 
 its subtle odor, recording some of my im- 
 pressions as I have sat by it, without the 
 microscopic glass of the exegete and the 
 text critic. If these chapters have some 
 humble part in helping men to a better 
 knowledge of our common Lord and Mas- 
 ter, I shall be satisfied. 
 
 The Author. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ' I ^HE most important question known to 
 "■* the modern mind is the place of Christ 
 In human life. Its story is a spiritual 
 romance. St. Paul called it *'the mystery 
 which hath been hid for ages and genera- 
 tions," but said also, ''Now it hath been 
 manifested to his saints, to whom God was 
 well pleased to make known what is the 
 riches of the glory of this mystery among 
 the Gentiles, which Is Christ in you the 
 hope of glory." 
 
 We can Imagine nothing higher than 
 this. It Is man's main chance in the uni- 
 verse. The coming of Christ transfigures 
 personality. His "love makes great the 
 great and small." The presence of these 
 transfigured personalities In the world puri- 
 fies society and throws over humanity, as 
 light hovers about flowers, the golden glow 
 of the eternal. It Is the secret of the 
 Church and the hidden life which makes the 
 human race grow toward the morning. 
 
 This book Is an exposition in concrete 
 
 9 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 examples of these fascinating ideas. It 
 tells how Christ's personality influences and 
 develops human personality; how he illu- 
 mines all the questions of this serious and 
 perplexing world, and how as men receive 
 him they become invested with the moral 
 omnipotence which gives victory over inner 
 weakness and adverse environment, and 
 elevates the soul to spiritual greatness. 
 
 It is a book of doctrines and devotions, 
 of ethics and ideals, which will at once 
 satisfy the weaver of dreams and the doer 
 of deeds. Those who read well its spark- 
 ling pages will learn what it is to be a 
 Christian, and find the way to the life which 
 lies perpetually under the enchantment of 
 the Christ experience. B. A. Abbott. 
 Union Avenue Christian Church, St. 
 Louis, Mo. 
 
 10 
 
I 
 
 WISDOM^S SEARCH 
 (Matt. 2: 1, 2.) 
 
 T T NDER the dreamy skies of starlit 
 ^ India, Persia and Arabia, the sons of 
 men spun the first threads of the higher wis- 
 dom, and gradually wove them Into the 
 fabric of human thought — subtle philos- 
 ophy, mysticism, and, strangest of all relig- 
 ious phenomena, prophecy. Deep in the 
 heart of the ancient Orient the order of 
 the Magi developed. They did not lust 
 for world-extensive empire, nor had they 
 an ear for the clash of the sword. The 
 Phalanx and the Solid Square were not 
 their inventions. Their wonder-book was 
 the clear blue vault of the Eastern sky, and 
 its pages they scanned with eager eyes for 
 some token of the eternal God. 
 
 ^ It may be that the hopes of Israel had 
 filtered through the East; that some burn- 
 ing coal from Isaiah's altar had fallen in 
 their midst, some Paul among the Areopa-^ 
 11 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 gites, a captive, a traveler, yet withal a 
 generous soul who had unfolded to them 
 the expectations of Israel. It may be that 
 the wild sons of Ishmael possessed some of 
 that religious genius which characterized 
 their Hebrew cousins. At any rate, in the 
 heart of Asia men were feeling after God, 
 hoping they might find him. And when 
 that strange, new star suddenly blazed in 
 the heavens, their hunger for a more com- 
 plete knowledge of God was intensified, and 
 they were led out, by the inner power of 
 the irresistible, toward the land of Jacob; 
 yet, -like the great Abraham, they jour- 
 neyed not knowing whither they went, but 
 confidently expecting a splendid consumma- 
 tion of their pilgrimage. 
 
 I 
 
 Man is a restless creature. There is a 
 spark of eternal fire in his breast which is 
 never satisfied. It is constantly urging him 
 into strange places — pointing out difficult 
 roads — creating in his mind fancies which 
 taunt him with their interrogations. If we 
 are normal, we are all Columbuses; the 
 pull of the horizon is tremendous; few can 
 resist the challenge of mystery. We ven- 
 
 12 
 
WISDOM'S SEARCH 
 
 ture mightily if there is the barest possi- 
 bility of adding the smallest jot to our 
 treasures. We are born hungry — hungry 
 to know; and this is the hunger that drives 
 us out to follow the star because it promises 
 something. 
 
 And in this man reveals the divine 
 within him. How else can we explain 
 God's creative acts? Why the universe, 
 the earth, and man? Why did not God 
 retain them as an idea simply, reposing in 
 his mind? Earth was not needed either 
 for throne or footstool, and man himself 
 supplies nothing essential to the nature of 
 God. But there is a side of the divine 
 nature which can be satisfied only in the 
 expenditure of creative energy. It expressed 
 itself primarily in the formation of matter; 
 secondly, in intelligence, . and, lastly, in 
 redemption. These are worthy of the mind 
 of God, and in them we believe he takes 
 profound delight. 
 
 As man is the offspring of God, it Is 
 but natural that he should undertake crea- 
 tive feats of greater or less magnitude ; and 
 thus he does — in the physical, mental and 
 spiritual realms. The continent he has 
 belted together with steel, our shelves re- 
 
 13 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 veal the expenditure of his intellect, and 
 the Bible and history have shown the 
 created spiritual life in thousands of indi- 
 vidual hearts. Men are transforming ab- 
 stract theological ideas into concrete re- 
 demptive reahties, but it is a creative 
 process. 
 
 There were a myriad stars in those 
 Oriental skies — they varied in magnitude 
 and brilliancy — but none of them thrilled 
 the Wise-men until the star of Bethlehem 
 appeared. It was an invitation — it called 
 for action; it excited the spirit of explora- 
 tion; it was a challenge. Had not the 
 East — aye, the whole world — ^been waiting 
 for the doors of God to open; and was 
 not this his token? But to whom it might 
 lead — or where — they little knew; but they 
 followed on. 
 
 We miss many a glorious thing because 
 our eyes are downward. Stars appear in 
 the heavens, not in the muck-bank nor in 
 the ledger column. There are swamps of 
 unbelief and bogs of fad in our society, and 
 over them hangs many an elusive will-o'- 
 the-wisp, but, when pursued, they lead no- 
 where. The tragedy is that many have 
 taken these elusive lights for stars to 
 
 14 
 
WISDOM'S SEARCH 
 
 guide, and when they should be on the 
 solid earth they are left floundering in the 
 darkness and mire — alone. 
 
 It was the star of Bethlehem that 
 thrilled the slow, plodding East into action. 
 It led those men on a long, difficult journey, 
 among strange and hostile people, through 
 innumerable perils by the way; but always 
 the eager question was on their lips: 
 *'Where is He?" So ask the multitude in 
 their weariness, earnestly, and often pathet- 
 ically: "Where is He?" Above all things 
 else, the Church of our Lord must reveal 
 him to those whose lives are barren. 
 
 Life can not be complete without some 
 satisfying knowledge of its source, mission 
 and destiny. We do not exist as castles in 
 the air, without foundation; the life of the 
 soul rests in the infinite God. In him only 
 can we explain the intricate mysteries of 
 human existence — its passions, affections, 
 longings, hopes and fears. In touching 
 Jesus Christ the soul touches God; it is not 
 galvanized, but vitalized; it is quickened by 
 a new spirit; it becomes a **new creation." 
 Its life is not measured by duration, but by 
 hearts touched, souls enriched, burdens 
 lifted, gospel applied. Since the coming of 
 
 15 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 Christ men have learned to turn thought 
 back upon Spirit, and have discovered some- 
 thing of the wisdom of redemption. We 
 have learned by bitter experience that the 
 body is mortal, but what we expend upon 
 the soul is treasure for eternity. The life 
 of the soul, therefore, spells fruitage and 
 reproduction, and the soul that has these 
 has arrived at the manger; it has learned 
 the secret of the Lord. 
 
 II 
 
 It is singular that Jesus gave to the 
 world no carefully prepared statement of 
 his doctrines; he prepared no formula, no 
 syllogism, no philosophical dissertation. 
 This is all the more remarkable when we 
 know that the fulfillment of his mission 
 depended on men's understanding of him. 
 All that the world knows of his teaching 
 is what a few men gathered out of their 
 memories after he had left them. But in 
 those brief chapters is revealed "the wisdom 
 of God and the power of God." They are 
 "seed," they are "dynamite" — "seed" In the 
 heart growing into new life, "dynamite" In 
 society tearing up the false and unjust 
 standards and loosening up the stony hearts 
 
 16 
 
WISDOM'S SEARCH 
 
 of men for the seed of the Kingdom. "If 
 a man thirst, let him come to me and 
 drink f' "I am the bread of lifef^ "I am 
 the good shepherd." Men never heard 
 such teaching before. Not only were the 
 sons of Abraham hungry for the bread 
 which did not perish, but the dwellers of 
 Mesopotamia and the uttermost parts as 
 well. Christ meets the most commonplace 
 hungers in the hearts of men. 
 
 After all, does the wisdom of this world 
 answer the questions which most trouble 
 and perplex the heart of man? Is the 
 multitude hungry for a perfectly scientific 
 and philosophical definition of "time" and 
 "space"? Is the plowman interested in the 
 development of the single cell into the com- 
 plex organism of the human body? No; 
 he is listening for the voice which speaks 
 of lightened loads. That the sun shines 
 and the showers fall are facts sufficient for 
 him. The wisdom of Jesus is not in ab- 
 stract discussions, but in concrete realities. 
 "Whether he is a sinner, I know not: but 
 one thing I know, that, whereas I was 
 blind, I now see." That was worth ten 
 thousand technical lectures on cataracts and 
 paralysis of the optic nerve. This is the 
 
 2 IT 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 superiority of the wisdom of action over 
 the wisdom of theory. 
 
 Human wisdom left to itself is likely 
 to feel its limitations most keenly — even to 
 chafe under any restraint. Note the effect 
 these limitations had on some of the poetic 
 geniuses : 
 
 "Still thou art blest compared wi* me! 
 The present only touches thee ; 
 But, och ! I backward cast my e'e 
 
 On prospects drear ! 
 An' forward, though I canna' see, 
 
 I guess an' fear." 
 
 "We look before and after, 
 
 And pine for what is not; 
 Our sincerest laughter 
 
 With some pain is fraught; 
 Our sweetest songs are those that tell 
 
 The saddest thought." 
 
 They have no message for the weary 
 heart. Not so with Jesus; he does not 
 "guess an' fear.*' He is never clearer or 
 more authoritative than when he stands at 
 the border. He speaks of "my Father's 
 house" with a familiarity born out of long 
 and intimate acquaintance. He speaks of 
 the glory he had with the Father before 
 the world was, a relation so inherent that 
 it is sacrilege to question it. He stood at 
 
 18 
 
WISDOM'S SEARCH 
 
 the grave of Lazarus and calmly declared: 
 *'I am the resurrection and the life." Auda- 
 ciously he announced: *'I am the door: no 
 man cometh unto the Father, but by me.'* 
 In such he is insistent. And who can ques- 
 tion his right? He is the revelation of the 
 Father. He is the Mediator between a 
 holy God and a sinful man; divine, knowing 
 the nature of God; human, knowing the 
 frailty of the flesh. "Tempted in all points 
 like as we are, yet without sin." 
 
 The spontaneous question on the lips 
 of all those who heard Jesus was: "Whence 
 hath this man this wisdom?" That he 
 possessed it could not be gainsaid even by 
 his enemies. When a son has complete 
 knowledge of his father's plans, he takes 
 delight in handling every transaction care- 
 fully and discreetly, because it is his father's 
 business. Jesus had complete knowledge of 
 his Father's plans, hence the wisdom and 
 authority with which he spoke and acted. 
 When men tried to force him into a corner 
 they found themselves impaled on the horns 
 of their own dilemma. 
 
 Christ did not write his wisdom in 
 musty books to be forgotten; he gave it 
 the perennial life of the lily, the grass and 
 
 19 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 the sparrow. He gave it freshness from 
 Genneseret, and strength from the hills of 
 Judah; from the winds he gave it dominion, 
 and from the sky, clearness. He gave it 
 power from the tempests of Galilee, and 
 persuasion from the springtime. He gave 
 it light from the sun, depth from eternity, 
 and life from himself, 
 
 III 
 
 Our mortal spirits hover between the 
 states of joy and sorrow, and our whole 
 human experience is colored by them. Into 
 these experiences the Christ projects himself 
 wearing a number of titles which signify 
 his various offices, but the most singular 
 appellation is "Man of sorrows." He wept 
 at the grave of his friend Lazarus. He 
 gave the multitude a hard saying about 
 eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and 
 many of his disciples thereupon turned back 
 and walked no more with him. He looked 
 upon Jerusalem through patriotic tears, see- 
 ing a bank raised against her and a pagan 
 army pounding at her walls. While he was 
 breaking the bread and passing the cup, 
 Judas was selling him; In the garden his 
 disciples slept, and at the cross they all 
 
 20 
 
WISDOM'S SEARCH 
 
 forsook him and fled. Sorrow was his 
 portion, and he tasted death foi: every man. 
 Sorrow is part of mortal experience, 
 the fruit of the tree, and as long as we are 
 In the body we may expect it. But note 
 the wisdom of Jesus how he would fortify 
 us against loss: "Lay not up for yourselves 
 treasures on earth, but In heaven." "Set 
 your affections on things above, not on 
 things earthly," counseled the apostle who 
 probably knew best the heart of the Mas- 
 ter. Woven through the somber garment 
 of human sorrow Is the golden thread: "We 
 shall be like him when he shall appear" In 
 glory. Sorrow teaches that the mission of 
 life is not found In serving self, but in 
 serving others. Sorrow prepares the soul 
 for God. 
 
 "O cross that llftest up my head, 
 I dare not ask to fly from thee; 
 I lay in dust life's glory dead, 
 And from the ground there blossoms red 
 Life that shall endless be." 
 
 But the joys of this world are by no 
 means confined to anticipation. Jesus was 
 interested In the social life of the people, 
 else how can we explain his presence at the 
 wedding in Cana? Did he sit In their 
 
 21 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 midst a pale, dyspeptic saint, radiating 
 gloom over their festivities? If Jesus was 
 entirely a Man of sorrows, then the angels 
 should have sung a ^'Miserere'' instead of 
 a *'Te Deum.'^ Jesus taught men to get 
 at a pleasure deeper and more satisfying 
 than the convivialities of the dining-room. 
 Seek reconciliation with the man who has 
 wronged you, love your enemies, pray for 
 your persecutors, preach the gospel to the 
 whole creation. This is the Christian's 
 joy — a joy made full when the sheaves are 
 gathered, the joy of the husbandman at 
 the vintage, the joy of the shepherd that 
 brings back the sheep that was lost, the 
 father's joy when he clasps to his heart 
 the prodigal boy. It is the joy of saving 
 men; and no other joy is worth while, and 
 no other joy is abiding. 
 
 There was joy in Samaria because Philip 
 preached Christ unto them; the Ethiopian 
 went on his way rejoicing because he had 
 found Jesus Christ; the household of Cor- 
 nelius magnified God, and the disciples of 
 Iconium were filled with joy at Paul's 
 preaching. Why all this joy? Because the 
 wisdom of Jesus Christ touches all phases 
 of human need. Human experience has 
 
 22 
 
WISDOM'S SEARCH 
 
 been enriched and glorified by the paradox 
 of Christianity, a stumbling-block to the 
 Jew and foolishness to the Greek, but to 
 us that are saved it is the power of God. 
 *'We speak wisdom, however, among them 
 that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom not of 
 this world, nor of the rulers of this world, 
 who are coming to nought: but we speak 
 God's wisdom in a mystery, even the wis- 
 dom that hath been hidden, which God fore- 
 ordained before the worlds unto our glory: 
 which none of the rulers of this world hath 
 known: for had they known it, they would 
 not have crucified the Lord of glory." 
 
 Holy Son of God, thou didst come forth 
 from the Father; thou didst humble thyself 
 to be born of a virgin. Thou didst draw to 
 thy manger the sages of the East, and, when 
 their eyes beheld thee, their hearts rejoiced; 
 they poured their treasures before thee. 
 Such as we have. Lord Jesus, we bring to 
 thee. Thou hast made our darkness light, 
 our discords harmony, and our weakness 
 strength. Give us perseverance to follow 
 the star into the heavenly Bethlehem, where 
 we shall behold thee, not in infant weakness 
 in a manger, but in eternal glory on thy 
 throne. 
 
 23 
 
II 
 
 HEROD: HATRED GONE MAD 
 
 (Matt. 2:3,4, 7, 8, 16.) 
 
 TI/'ICKEDNESS always fights back; it 
 *^ advances under the cover of night 
 with wool-shod feet and answers with a club 
 what it can not with argument. Unable to 
 locate the exact infant to whom the prophet 
 referred, Herod ordered a wholesale slaugh- 
 ter, hoping thus to catch this young Prince, 
 "born King of the Jews." Christ means 
 different things to different men: while the 
 Wise-men "rejoiced with exceeding great 
 joy," Herod was troubled, and "all Jerusalem 
 with him." Herod's conscience was not dead, 
 neither was he unmindful of his past-— "a 
 reign almost unparalleled for reckless cruelty 
 and bloodshed." The misdeeds of his life 
 came up more vividly than the ghosts of the 
 dead, but he was 
 
 "in blood 
 Steeped so far, that, should I wade no more, 
 Returning were as tedious as to go o'er." 
 24 
 
HEROD: HATRED GONE MAD 
 
 I 
 
 It would be a mistake to say that Herod 
 was not religious — at times. When wicked 
 men scent trouble they straightway become 
 pious. Herod did not hesitate to mask 
 himself in the garb of a saint when it was 
 necessary. He knew that somewhere in his 
 own dominions was a child whom the 
 travelers from beyond the desert had 
 saluted as **King of the Jews" — ominous 
 words! But where this young King was, 
 or how strong his following, Herod knew 
 not. He knew the Jews openly hoped for 
 a Messiah who would break the Roman 
 yoke; perhaps this was he. So it were 
 better for the Idumean to dissemble until 
 he knew his ground. If this young Prince 
 reached maturity, who could stand against 
 him? Therefore, find the nest and harrow 
 it. 
 
 It IS one thing to secure a throne; it Is 
 quite something else to hold it. Not every 
 soldier is an Alfred the Great or a George 
 Washington. Statesmanship and mlHtary 
 prowess do not always reside in the same 
 heart. Herod possessed both — and more. 
 He had the, military genius of Sclpio and 
 
 25 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 the aestheticism of Pericles, the strategy of 
 Trajan and the devilishness of de Medici; 
 he purred Hke a kitten, but he struck like 
 a lion. Opposition only fed his fury, but 
 he held his cyclonic temper in leash until 
 the right moment; then he made terrible 
 history. A few human monsters have 
 walked across the pages of Time — Nero, 
 Caligula, Borgia, Herod. Yet withal Herod 
 had a conscience, and it was at work. 
 
 "My conscience hath a thousand tongues, 
 And every tongue brings in a several tale. 
 And every tale condemns me for a villain. 
 Perjury, perjury in the high'st degree ; 
 Murder, stern murder, in the direst degree. 
 Throng the bar, crying all, 'Guilty! Guilty!' 
 I shall despair. There is no creature loves me; 
 And if I die, no soul will pity me; 
 Nay, wherefore should they, since that I myself 
 Find in myself no pity to myself? 
 Methought the souls of all that I had murdered 
 Came to my tent and every one did threat 
 To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard." 
 
 In the extension of the Kingdom of God 
 Jesus pronounced a blessing on those who 
 made their homes secondary to the work 
 of the Church, which is the work of hu- 
 manity. Men can not give their lives to 
 the gospel ministry and expect to become 
 rich In this world's goods; but he who 
 
 26 
 
HEROD: HATRED GONE MAD 
 
 forsakes them "for my sake and the king- 
 dom's shall have them a thousand-fold even 
 in this life." True, the title may not be 
 in his name, but they are his to enjoy, never- 
 theless; what more is to be desired? But 
 to Herod there was but one person — him- 
 self. He was above home, religion and 
 country. For himself he did not hesitate 
 to sacrifice any or all of these. Herod the 
 Great! If he expected success in his search 
 for the newly born King, then, under the 
 guise of holiness and piety and. deep relig- 
 ious zeal, he would seek those who were 
 expecting Him. O scribe, the king com- 
 mands: "Where Is the Christ to be born?'* 
 It Is an easy thing In all ages to command 
 interpretation of Scripture — or buy It. 
 There are plenty of Balaams who are will- 
 ing to curse Israel for a price. Men who 
 are murdering babies with soothing syrups 
 and child labor should first call together 
 the "chief priests and scribes." Executives 
 who use state offices for personal aggran- 
 dizement should first "see what the scrip- 
 tures say." If men He, steal and murder, 
 let them at least do it orthodoxly; see 
 "what Is written through the prophet." 
 There are plenty of Itching palms which 
 
 27 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 will interpret smoothly even for the saloon- 
 ist and the white-slaver. When the devil 
 and all Jerusalem, are troubled, let them 
 dangle a fat salary or a bishopric before 
 the ^'priests and scribes," and any interpre- 
 tation will be forthcoming. Men have seen 
 wonderful things in the Scriptures when 
 they looked at the sacred writings through 
 the promise of much gold — sins remitted, 
 purgatory depopulated; aye, infallibility 
 itself ! 
 
 II 
 
 Having secured information from the 
 "priests and scribes," Herod turned to the 
 Wise-men who had actually seen the star 
 and who had made the long journey in 
 search of the young Child. In this he still 
 retains his "piety." To these Wise-men 
 who came from a far-off kingdom he not 
 only granted a private audience, but he sent 
 for them and received them "privily." No 
 imperial garments on his person, no jeweled 
 crown, no throne, no pomp and splendor of 
 state about him; simply a man talking to 
 men. The only way to get confidences was 
 to invite them, to seem to place himself 
 in the same mental and spiritual attitude 
 
 28 
 
HEROD: HATRED GONE MAD 
 
 as they. We can almost hear the pious 
 cant flowing from his lips; how anxiously 
 he was waiting for the Messiah, and how 
 he longed to worship him! Would they 
 not feel obligated to a king who had treated 
 them thus, and they from a strange and 
 distant land? 
 
 They were without credentials or influ- 
 ence, yet they had on their lips a mystic 
 name, '*the King of the Jews,'* and there 
 was magic in that name. It ^'troubled 
 Herod" and "all Jerusalem." It drew the 
 sages from the distant Orient; it opened 
 the starry skies for the heavenly choir, and 
 their song was: ''Glory to God in* the high- 
 est, and on earth peace, good will among 
 men." That name is open sesame to palace 
 and hut alike; it is common ground, for of 
 what and whom did the king and the Wise- 
 men talk if not of Jesus? And they dis- 
 cussed him with earnest care. Here both 
 extremes of human experience touched the 
 Christ — passionate devotion and diabolical 
 hatred. The one saw in him hope, the 
 other a menace — a menace to a bloody and 
 selfish throne, hope for the world of suffer- 
 ing men. 
 
 Herod intended to use them as tools: 
 
 29 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 *'Go and search exactly for the young 
 child; and when you have found him, bring 
 me word." Exact information! Herod 
 was a scientist. He gave these unknown 
 men a special commission; he made them 
 ministers extraordinary. Was it not a great 
 honor to be thus designated? But what 
 were they to get? The empty honor; 
 nothing more. When the devil would use 
 men he gives them the semblance of power. 
 Many the man who has been given an 
 office that his good name might be used in 
 furthering rascality and double-dealing. He 
 accepted the station honestly intending to 
 be square and do his duty, but he awakened 
 to find his hands tied. Wickedness must 
 have the face and garb of respectability, 
 hence it often seizes upon men of unblem- 
 ished character and untarnished name and 
 makes tools of them. Learn to analyze 
 motives; remember Herod. Sudden con- 
 version on the part of gamblers, grafters, 
 boodlers, liars and professional office- 
 holders may always be regarded with sus- 
 picion. When "all Jerusalem" came to 
 John for baptism, he demanded "fruits 
 meet for repentance"; and we are justified 
 in putting all such on probation. A high- 
 
 30 
 
HEROD! HATRED GONE MAD 
 
 sounding title, when reduced to its lowest 
 terms, may be very empty of meaning. It 
 may be little more than artistic flattery, a 
 ruse to discover the cradle of the new-born 
 King. 
 
 *'That I also may come and worship 
 him." A slip here would reveal his motives. 
 When he deals with pious men, he is 
 pious; that is diplomacy. In his excessive 
 *'piety" he longs to worship Him, as the 
 wolf worships the lamb. Never did the 
 treachery of this monster stand out more 
 vividly than when he sat in the company 
 of these sages whose pure purposes had 
 been so frankly spoken, and announced his 
 great desire to "worship" the Babe of 
 Bethlehem. If villain had not lost much 
 of its strength by long association with the 
 English language, we would thus stigmatize 
 him; if impostor burned and blistered the 
 tongue, we might venture to speak it of 
 Herod; if we could pull fiend directly out of 
 the netherworld, sputtering w^ith sulphur, 
 we would brand him with it; If devil were 
 not an ecclesiastical term, we would confer 
 the title upon this Idumean king, for his 
 whole portrait Is "palled in the dunnest 
 smoke of hell." 
 
 31 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 III 
 
 "There is a destiny which shapes our ends, 
 Rough hew them as we may." 
 
 No man makes much headway fighting 
 against the Lord and Right. He did not 
 send his Son into the world to fall a prey 
 to this black monster before his work was 
 accomplished. These Wise-men were also 
 godly men; they returned to their own 
 country by another way. With divine In- 
 sight they penetrated Herod's murderous 
 scheme and refused to be participants in 
 It; they were *Vise men." 
 
 Herod fitly represents the negative ele- 
 ment in society. It Is at its worst when In 
 contact with the best. The virtues of 
 Christ and Christianity make no appeal to 
 it; Instead, they arouse the sleeping devil 
 within it. It was the "Herods" who con- 
 ducted those awful persecutions before Con- 
 stantine; they were at work mightily during 
 the Inquisition and the Reformation. 
 Herod still lives In modern society In our 
 unchristian business order, commercialized 
 vice and the liquor traffic; In the exhausting 
 drafts upon society by cigarettes, fast 
 living and the devillshness of men who are 
 
 32 
 
HEROD; HATRED GONE MAD 
 
 the perverts of our civilization. We are 
 already getting a race of undersized men 
 and nervous women. He is ^'exceeding 
 wroth," and when he spares not his own, 
 how can we expect him to spare the 
 innocents ? 
 
 "A voice was heard in Ramah, 
 Weeping and great mourning, 
 Rachel weeping for her children; 
 And she would not be comforted, because they are not." 
 
 All this to destroy the Christ. Yet it 
 is true his doctrines set men at variance; 
 they break homes; they bring on persecu- 
 tions. Shall we therefore refrain from 
 preaching them? Shall we interpret 
 smoothly and tread softly? No; ancient 
 Israel needed the fiery preaching of its 
 Isaiah and its Amos, and Jerusalem needed 
 the cyclonic attack of John the Baptist. It 
 was because Jesus laid bare the shams and 
 hypocrisy of men that they hated him. 
 Peter and John defied the Sanhedrin; Paul 
 ^'reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and 
 judgment to come" before procurators and 
 kings with such vividness and power that 
 they were *'terrified." Offenses must come, 
 but woe to that man by whom they come. 
 
 Lord, give us the wisdom of the Wise- 
 
 C S3 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 men who returned to their country by an- 
 other way. Forbid that we should be 
 puffed up by the flattery of base men, 
 though kings. Give us courage that we 
 falter not, that we may seek thy glory, 
 being pure and undefiled. May our lives 
 be spent in upholding the right, protecting 
 the innocent, in propagating the truth, and 
 In bringing peace and goodwill to all man- 
 kind. 
 
 34 
 
Ill 
 
 MARY: POETIC MOTHERHOOD 
 
 (Luke 1:27-29, 39-55.) 
 
 TT may be true that the wealth of nations 
 is in its manhood, but every man who 
 has lifted the world a notch higher has a 
 long line of splendid ancestry culminating 
 in some Cornelia, some Hannah, some 
 Nancy Hanks. Out of the unknown Pales- 
 tinian town of Nazareth came a young 
 woman with such rare graces, such remark- 
 able talents and such extraordinary ability 
 that, of all earth's mothers, she is easily 
 the queen. To Joseph, in that simple Gali- 
 lean home, the angel announced: "She shall 
 bear a son, and thou shalt call his name 
 JESUS." The Saviour of the world! 
 Obscure? Yes, if by poverty is meant 
 obscurity. Mary and Joseph have fre- 
 quently been called peasants, but they really 
 had the blood of kings in their veins; they 
 were of the royal line of David. Mary 
 was a kinswoman of Elisabeth, who was of 
 35 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 the family of Aaron — priestly. If ever a 
 woman belonged to the aristocracy, it was 
 Mary; not to the "Four Hundred," which 
 too often means wealth without character. 
 She had the highest wealth — womanhood. 
 
 Singularly enough, many of the world's 
 greatest characters have come from homes 
 which knew the meaning of poverty; Spen- 
 ser, Johnson and Goldsmith all fought the 
 hard battles against want. The homes of 
 Lincoln, Grant and Garfield knew nothing 
 of luxury and little of comfort. But the 
 lack of worldly goods did not Impoverish 
 the latent ability of the stock. 
 
 In addition to being devout, Mary was 
 possessed of a remarkable poetic tempera- 
 ment, together with a rare ability to "keep" 
 and "ponder." 
 
 Great revelations are made to open 
 hearts, because beaten ground is closed 
 ground; the seed can not get hold. Mary 
 was a devout woman long before the angel 
 came saying: "Hail, thou that art highly 
 favored, the Lord is with thee." God's 
 highest honor is motherhood. 
 
 Are we not in danger of losing — have 
 
 36 
 
MARY; POETIC MOTHERHOOD 
 
 we not already in some measure lost — the 
 spirit of devotion which characterized those 
 great mothers in Israel? Many of our 
 twentieth-century mothers are in danger of 
 having their minds closed to the "things" 
 which "troubled" the heart of Mary. In 
 some circles (and too frequently these cir- 
 cles overlap the church circles) it is of 
 more import to know frocks and fancy 
 dances than the genesis of character and 
 true womanhood. If the Redeemer were 
 to be born in this good year of our Lord, 
 would the "Annunciation" be made to the 
 average young woman of twenty? It is 
 the riilcj and not the exception, of which 
 I speak. Hearts must be made ready 
 before the angels will visit them. 
 
 Devotion is a matter of growth; it is 
 not to be applied like a coat of paint, 
 neither, like boards and shingles, nailed on. 
 It can not be acquired in an evening's study. 
 If a man is not devout on Wednesday, he 
 will not be on Sunday. Devotion is the 
 silver thread on which are strung the 
 twenty-four hours of the day. The soul 
 grows "into the measure of the fulness of 
 the stature of Christ." Devotion is not 
 in pallid cheeks and upturned eye; neither 
 
 37 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 is it in pious cant or intonated prayer. It 
 is stirring the depths of the soul; it is the 
 peaceful consciousness that somewhere down 
 in the depths the heart is anchored to the 
 Rock of Ages. 
 
 Mary was a devoted woman, and with- 
 out devotion no woman can become a true 
 mother. She can not do her duty by her 
 offspring unless she has that beautiful con- 
 fidence which Mary sets forth so magnifi- 
 cently in her song. Mothers are the leaders 
 of the world; they put themselves literally 
 into their children — hopes, fears, passions. 
 It is not irreverent to say that Mary was 
 responsible for the human nature of our 
 Lord; she imparted to him the strength of 
 her splendid womanhood. In common with 
 all patriotic Jews, she was looking for the 
 "consolation of Israel"; she was living in 
 the hope of a larger and more glorious 
 nation; she thought big thoughts. She 
 loved with all the fervency of an Oriental, 
 and yet the same maternal fire burns in the 
 heart of every true woman. Pray God 
 that American motherhood be more intro- 
 spective; that their children become God's 
 tilled land, God's husbandry. 
 
 38 
 
MARY: POETIC MOTHERHOOD 
 
 II 
 
 A "poet" Is a performer, a maker, a 
 doer. Rhymed prose is not poetry. Poetry 
 eludes definition as life eludes discovery. 
 It appears in the delicate lines of Tennyson 
 and the rugged lines of Browning. When 
 we read at twilight the weird rhythm and 
 dirge-like sequences of Poe, we are con- 
 scious of the magnetic spell of his genius. 
 The stately iambics of John Milton are 
 like the blowing of a full-toned organ tuned 
 to a great symphony. Again, the Shake- 
 spearean blank verse introduces another 
 quality which is quite as real as the metric 
 strength of Longfellow. Yet In one thing 
 all agree: To produce real poetry, the soul 
 must be on fire. Great poems like Tenny- 
 son's "Gleam" and Browning's "Apt Vog- 
 ler" are inspirations, the crystallizations of 
 great experiences. Poets are seers; they 
 are prophets. 
 
 "Poets are the trumpets which sing to battle ; 
 Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." 
 
 Whoever said, "Let me write the songs 
 of a nation and I care not who writes its 
 laws," understood the philosophy of nation- 
 al development. Burns did a wonderful 
 
 39 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 thing for Scotland when he rewrote her 
 songs. 
 
 But Mary's song has neither meter nor 
 rhyme; the trochee, dactyl or the iambus 
 is not there. It is not possessed of the 
 measured syllable, but it has a majestic 
 rhythm of which the reader is at once con- 
 scious. The glcry of God reflects from 
 it; the spirit of the Crusades inspires it; 
 the trumpets of revolution ring through it; 
 the shout of the conqueror echoes in it. It 
 is the Magna Charta of the oppressed; it 
 Is the cry from the mountain-top proclaim- 
 ing the dawn of the Kingdom, when those of 
 low degree shall be exalted and the hungry 
 filled with good things. It is the prophetic 
 vision of the end of the tyrant, the down- 
 fall of the proud and the coming of the 
 brotherhood of all mankind. If any man 
 thinks of the mother of our Lord as a 
 bloodless saint who spent her hours count- 
 ing a rosary and mumbling meaningless 
 prayers, let him study these nine verses of 
 her song; here is fire, revolution, onslaught, 
 victory ! 
 
 Motherhood Is always poetic. True, 
 not every woman Is possessed of Mary's 
 temperament; yet does not every mother 
 
 40 
 
MARY: POETIC MOTHERHOOD 
 
 feel the poetic thrill when her babe lies 
 on her breast for the first time? Does she 
 not dream when she looks into the face 
 of her infant son? In that faint cry she 
 hears the strong voice of command; in the 
 little arm that helplessly waves in the air 
 she sees a strong arm which will battle for 
 the right. In her own way she dreams out 
 his future, not once counting herself, save 
 as she contributes to his success, and no 
 mother sees her son a failure. Every emo- 
 tion that plays through his heart is reacted 
 in hers. She has no life but his; for her 
 It Is sufficient that she Is his mother. Here 
 Is rhythm that surpasses Pope or Byron or 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Motherhood Is a wonderful experience. 
 What does it mean? The Wise-men 
 poured out their treasures and departed; 
 the song of the angels died away, and the 
 shepherds returned to their flocks, and yet 
 no word escaped the lips of Mary. "She 
 kept these sayings, pondering them In her 
 heart.'' It was no time for curious dis- 
 cussion, but rather for profound meditation. 
 
 Those three months Mary and Ellsa- 
 
 41 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 beth were alone in the hill-country of Judah 
 were days of holy preparation for the 
 greatest event in the life of a woman. 
 Prenatal influence? The barren Elisabeth 
 gave the world John the Baptist, and the 
 Virgin Mary gave the earth its Redeemer. 
 It is no light thing to send a soul voyaging 
 toward eternity, hence every mother owes 
 it to her unborn child to be prayerful and 
 meditative, to hear the best, read the best, 
 think the best. Such motherhood can not 
 be a misfortune. Did Mary lament the 
 coming of her child? Not if her song 
 reflects her heart. 
 
 The women who bless mankind are not 
 the ones who read what they never wrote, 
 or pass out a page of Goethe or Bergson 
 as their own, but rather the ones who take 
 their highest function seriously, who believe 
 it to be a greater privilege to rear strong 
 children than to tinker with the municipal 
 machinery. The women of America have 
 done some splendid things for the men, but 
 some have done so at tremendous cost. 
 The call is for women who **keep" and 
 "ponder"; it is their sons who stir the 
 world. Elisabeth was of priestly lineage; 
 she proved it by her son. Mary was of 
 
 42 
 
MARY: POETIC MOTHERHOOD 
 
 royal blood; she proved it by her offspring. 
 Let the crown of honor be given to the 
 women who rear strong-bodied, healthy- 
 minded children. It is in the mother's 
 heart that Jesus Christ touches human 
 experience most profoundly. 
 
 It is a wonderful thing to be a mother: 
 to feel thQ strange coming of life ; to know 
 that brain and muscle are somehow, by 
 God's alchemy, being organized into a 
 human soul, with thoughts, feelings and 
 love; to know that beneath her heart may 
 be the music of the world, the destiny of 
 the nation, the voice of an evangel; strength 
 growing out of weakness, light flashing 
 from darkness; to know that God is in 
 partnership with her, giving mind and life 
 while she gives blood and nourishment; 
 and so the silent, creative process goes on 
 until men say: "A child hath been born." 
 Oh, it is a wonderful thing to be a mother! 
 
 Blessed Father, we thank thee for the 
 dignity thou gavest man when thy Son was 
 "born of a woman," and for the splendid 
 example of true motherhood Mary of 
 Nazareth has given the world. We are 
 deeply grateful for the tender hands that 
 ministered to us when we were helpless 
 
 43 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 babes; we can not repay them for that 
 love that passeth male understanding, for 
 the hours of anxiety, for that journey down 
 to the gates of death — for us. God bless 
 the mothers of the world who to-day watch 
 by the cradles of their infant children. In 
 this splendid mother-love is reflected the 
 
 ". . . love that wilt not let me go, 
 I yield my weary soul to Thee; 
 I give Thee back the life I owe. 
 That in thine ocean depths its flow 
 May richer, fuller be." 
 
 44 
 
IV 
 
 ZACHARIAS: THE FRUITAGE OF 
 PATIENCE 
 
 (Luke i: 5-25, 57-80.) 
 
 "Q ELIGION is the common instinct of 
 '*' the race. There is no tribe, however 
 degenerate, without it; there is no nation, 
 however civiHzed, that does not possess it. 
 Christianity is a religion of revelation, of 
 purpose. The Spirit of God inspired it; 
 white-haired men figure in it, God-crowned 
 men. Luke introduces his readers to such 
 a man, "a certain priest named Zacharias." 
 He is one of those rare spirits whose lives 
 have enriched the world. What a wealth 
 of men there are in unknown places ! For 
 every crisis God has a man ready. Zach- 
 arias was "righteous before God, walking 
 in all the commandments of the Lord 
 blameless." What a soul shines here! 
 
 I 
 
 This aged priest, like Abraham, repre- 
 sents the fruitage of patience. There were 
 45 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 many of the priests who lived in Jericho 
 when not serving at the Temple, but there 
 were a few who scattered out over the 
 country adjacent to Jerusalem. Among 
 these few was Zacharias, who lived to the 
 south of Jerusalem among its "rounded 
 hills" and "broad valleys." Such a place 
 suited him far better than the crowded life 
 of Jericho, for he was a man of medita- 
 tion. The hills spoke to him of the spiritual 
 promises to Abraham, and in their silent 
 valleys his prophetic eye caught the silvery 
 sheen of the advancing hosts of the army of 
 the Lord. What could the city possess for 
 a man like Zacharias, whose soul ungirded 
 itself in nature's temple — a soul that saw 
 in every blade of grass a poem; in the gray 
 faces of the limestone rocks, oratorios, and 
 to whose ears the gurgle of the springs and 
 the ripple of the stream were music? 
 
 Possibly he had never missed making 
 the regular visit to Jerusalem when the 
 "course of Abijah" ministered In the holy 
 service. Long and faithfully he had at- 
 tended his sacred duty; years had laid their 
 burden upon his venerable shoulders; his 
 head and beard had blossomed white, 
 emblematic of his pure and devoted heart. 
 
 46 
 
THE FRUITAGE OF PATIENCE 
 
 But withal there was a great sadness 
 in his life; he had no child. Winter and 
 summer, springtime and autumn, had passed 
 over his simple home possibly forty times, 
 yet its quiet had never been broken by a 
 baby's cry. In the Genesis record there is 
 much of Abraham's importunate pleading 
 for a son; in fact, Jehovah had made the 
 promise contingent upon an heir; but there is 
 nothing in the record that reveals the inner 
 longings of this faithful priest — no rebellion 
 in his heart, no complaint on his lips; he 
 had learned to serve and wait. "For many 
 years this must have been the burden of 
 Zacharias' prayer; the burden of reproach 
 which Elisabeth seemed to carry with her. 
 They waited together these many years, till 
 the evening of life, and the flower of hope 
 had closed its fragrant cup; and still the 
 two sat together in the twilight, content to 
 wait in loneliness, till the night would close 
 around them." 
 
 The word of the child is "now." "To- 
 morrow" is an eternity. If you say, "My 
 child, you can not go until this afternoon," 
 the sobbing answer is, "I want to go now.** 
 And we are all children; we want the ful- 
 fillment of our desires now^ forgetting that 
 
 47 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 when "patience has her perfect work" she 
 performs a ripening service for the soul 
 like the kiss of the autumn sun upon the 
 apple's cheek. All young Christians, 
 whether young in experience or in years, are 
 likely to be green and crude, and, if every 
 desire were instantly gratified, would always 
 remain so. It is the peaceful waiting in 
 the hill-country that glorifies life; it is that 
 faithful waiting for to-morrow that burns 
 out the dross. Under its refining touch 
 Imperfections fade away, haste disappears, 
 the glow of Christ's spirit transfigures the 
 soul, and the face shines with the glory of 
 the Lord. 
 
 No man ever accomplished much in this 
 world unless he loved his job, and no job 
 is worth having unless It can be loved. The 
 office of priest was the highest office In 
 Israel; the high priest was higher than the 
 king. The priestly office began when the 
 nation began, and continued as long as 
 Israel had national life. Ever since he had 
 been of legal age, Zacharlas had performed 
 some function of the priestly office. It was 
 a part of his duties; It was a part of him. 
 Says Dr. Edershelm : -"Only once In a life- 
 time might a priest enjoy the privilege of 
 
 48 
 
THE FRUITAGE OF PATIENCE 
 
 offering incense, and then only by lot. 
 Henceforth he was called rich, and must 
 leave his brethren the hope of the distinc- 
 tion that had been granted to him.'^ During 
 all those years of faithful service Zacharias 
 had never been honored with the office of 
 incensing. 
 
 But the honor finally came — came when 
 he did not expect it. After he had spread 
 the incense over the glowing coals, he 
 stepped back to bow in worship, when he 
 beheld, on the right side of the altar, an 
 angelic figure. As angels appeared either 
 to bless or to punish, the heart of the 
 priest was troubled lest he had committed 
 an act of blasphemy. Also, he knew that 
 the people were waiting on the outside for 
 his blessing and benediction. Small wonder 
 fear fell upon him. 
 
 What a vision is here! Upon this very 
 spot twenty-five hundred years before, on 
 an altar of rough stones, Abraham, the 
 father of the race, had laid his son as a 
 sacrifice, but when he did so he saw the 
 day of Christ and rejoiced. When men 
 stand at the altar the present dissolves, the 
 messengers of the Lord appear, and the 
 worshiper enjoys the blessing of Heaven. 
 
 4 49 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 Why does Christian work move slowly? 
 Because of stony hearts. We are so far 
 from the altar that no incense kindles, no 
 angel appears, and there are no troubled 
 hearts like Zacharias and Elisabeth. "Draw 
 nigh unto me, and I will draw nigh unto 
 you,'* was Jehovah's plea with Israel. 
 There is a profound pathos in Christ's 
 pleading: *'0 Jerusalem, . . . how oft 
 would I . . . , but ye would not!" *'Come 
 unto me, ye weary and burdened, and rest." 
 Men will never find much in their 
 Christian service until they are willing to 
 go to the inner sanctuary, spread the in- 
 cense, and spend time in watching it kindle. 
 Then our hearts will reach up to God, and 
 human experience will be transformed by 
 his messengers. The presence of this an- 
 gelic messenger troubled this aged priest. 
 In the days of Eli it is said: "There was 
 no open vision." The tragedy of this 
 century is that men are in danger of losing 
 their power to see the things of God. Such 
 a condition ought to trouble them and drive 
 them into the incense-chamber. Lack of 
 vision wrought anarchy in Israel; will it do 
 less for us? 
 
 50 
 
THE FRUITAGE OF PATIENCE 
 
 II 
 
 No great movement is possible without 
 sponsors. There would never have been 
 a Reformation without Luther, Calvin and 
 Huss. There would never have been an 
 American Revolution without Washington, 
 Jefferson and Henry. When a great need 
 obtains, great minds have to meet it; where 
 a great wrong exists, great minds have to 
 redress it. There would never have been 
 a Christian Church without the great men 
 who came before John and Jesus, than 
 whom there were none greater than 
 Zacharias. 
 
 Great men, like great movements, must 
 have great parents. That was a simple 
 home in southern Palestine. It had none 
 of the luxuries of Jerusalem, Capernaum or 
 Antioch, but it was a priesfs home in 
 which presided one of the daughters of 
 Aaron; the father and mother "righteous 
 before God . . . and blameless." Clean 
 living and high thinking; simplicity of home 
 and godliness of life; peaceful hills and 
 green pastures; reverence for God and his 
 word — these are some of the elements which 
 produce great men. Here was where John 
 
 51 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 the Baptist was born. From this sturdy 
 parentage he inherited his strength of mind 
 and body, strength that made him easily 
 the greatest preacher since the days of 
 Elijah. Knowing his parentage, we are not 
 surprised at his fearlessness when he called 
 the sensual, ease-loving, hypocritical aristoc- 
 racy of Jerusalem a "generation of vipers," 
 or when he was bold enough to rebuke the 
 licentious Antipas for his adulterous mar- 
 riage and "for all the evil things which 
 Herod had done." Could a son of such 
 parentage do otherwise? When he preached 
 with such fire and abandon In the Jordan 
 valley, It was the blood of generations of 
 priests crying against the shameful cor- 
 ruptions of that age — every age. He was 
 fulfilling the angel's prophecy to Zacharlas: 
 "He shall go before his face In the spirit 
 and power of Elijah ... to make ready 
 for the Lord a people prepared for him." 
 God uses men who are prepared. There 
 were about fifty priests on duty every day, 
 but, out of all the twenty-four courses, 
 Zacharlas Is the only one mentioned. Some 
 men go about the Christian ministry most 
 perfunctorily. With them It Is a business, 
 a duty, a living. Their hearts never kindle 
 
 52 
 
THE FRUITAGE OF PATIENCE 
 
 and they never see the angel at the altar. 
 Is not the sermon worthy of "terrible toil," 
 of "agonizing in the study," before it is 
 offered to the people? The unpardonable 
 sin of much of the modern preaching is 
 bringing two grains of wheat m the two 
 bushels of chaff. Will God honor such 
 service? Will men have respect thereto? 
 The Kingdom must have men who are 
 cumulative, who stand foursquare ; men who 
 are Boanerges ("sons of thunder") ; men 
 who can use their power against wrong. 
 Christ's Kingdom must have men of iron 
 and hickory, men of self-control and con- 
 centration. Thank God there are such men, 
 thousands of them. 
 
 In the construction of concrete-work, 
 there is a period when the mass is soft and 
 pliable and a baby's finger makes an Impres- 
 sion. It will take any form, any mold. 
 But It soon hardens and resists the heavy 
 blows of the hammer. Opportunities are 
 the molding fingers which shape our des- 
 tiny; they are given for a purpose, for 
 some day — In an Instant It may be — great 
 burdens and tremendous stress will be 
 placed upon us and action demanded. When 
 that crucial and decisive hour comes, will 
 
 53 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 we have a product, or simply a hardened 
 mass of worthless material? What did our 
 Master mean by the parable of the talents, 
 if not something of this kind? Use what 
 the Lord has given you against the day of 
 reckoning. Men will never become great 
 servants by proxy. Serve In your humble 
 place, but serve so well that when the Lord 
 comes he will find you ready. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Turn for a moment to the hymn of this 
 aged priest. Here, again, is the character- 
 istic poetry of the bards of Israel, without 
 meter, without rhyme, yet filled with pas- 
 sion. Zacharias was lifted out of his present 
 and exulted in the redemption of his people. 
 His tongue, long dumb, broke forth with: 
 "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel." 
 For a millennium the descendants of Jacob 
 had been waiting for the "oath which he 
 sware unto Abraham our father that we 
 . . . should serve him without fear," and 
 now the time was ripe, and the fruitage was 
 about to fall. "The first evidence of his 
 dumbness was that his tongue refused to 
 speak the benediction to the people; the 
 first evidence of his restored power was 
 
 54 
 
THE FRUITAGE OF PATIENCE 
 
 that he spoke the benediction of God in a 
 rapturous burst of praise and thanksgiving.*' 
 It is as if he stood before a splendid 
 harp and laid his hands gently on its simple 
 chords; then, coupling a poet's imagination 
 and inspiration with the wizardry of an 
 artist's fingers, he mounts upward, wire 
 singing to wire, chord answering chord, 
 until the whole gamut thrills and vibratea 
 with the hallelujah in his rejoicing heart 
 The most sublime heights of the soul are 
 his, likewise the resounding depths o{ 
 boundless love ; until at last man and instru- 
 ment are one and cry out in one triumphant 
 hosanna : 
 
 "Because of the tender mercy of our God, 
 Whereby the dayspring from on high shall visit us, 
 To shine upon them that sit in darkness and in the 
 
 shadow of death; 
 To guide our feet in the way of peace." 
 
 O thou God of Zacharias, when the 
 fulfillment of our cherished hopes seems 
 impossible, and the "darkness that is 
 deeper'* gathers round our whitened heads, 
 grant us the grace of this aged priest, 
 who did not murmur, who never grew blind 
 to the opening flowers, nor deaf to the 
 song of the lark. We are grateful for the 
 
 55 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 men whom thou dost prepare in thine own 
 way, men whom thou dost bring forth to 
 meet the crises when others have fled. Thou 
 dost preserve among us the aristocracy of 
 heaven, men of great spirit and abounding 
 life, priestly men, with hearts of prophets. 
 Thus our faith in God is freshened and 
 preserved. 
 
 56 
 
JOHN THE BAPTIST: THE DENIAL OF 
 SELF 
 
 (Luke 3 : 1-20.) 
 
 JOHN the Baptist! What a thrill in that 
 •^ name! Every man in his order — the 
 prophets, John, and the apostles. John 
 stood just outside the Christian era, and 
 without his work there would have been a 
 decided limp in the purposes of Jehovah. 
 It is almost daring to attempt a description 
 of his character, or even an analysis of the 
 things that made him great. The fact is 
 that John was overwhelmed in the Spirit 
 of God; It filled him, possessed him, and he 
 forgot everything save that the Kingdom of 
 God was at hand, that its glory already 
 flushed the cast. 
 
 Although we are separated from John 
 by twenty centuries, there is a subtle mag- 
 netism about his character which, like 
 Shasta or the Matterhorn, compels atten- 
 tion. He stands in time with a glory that 
 57 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 is peculiarly his. There are other peaks 
 that rise as high, and each has its own 
 grandeur — Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Paul. If 
 they were stars, we would exclaim: What 
 a constellation! If rivers: What a system I 
 If worlds: What a universe! 
 
 But how could John be otherwise with 
 such parentage? Do not kings beget 
 princes? He did not "happen"; the blood 
 *of fifteen centuries of priests ran in his 
 veins, and there were none greater or more 
 consecrated than the faithful Zacharias, of 
 Abijah's course. For a millennium and a 
 half his fathers had handled the holy things 
 of Israel. They saw the Tabernacle built 
 before Mt. Sinai, and their eyes beheld the 
 cloud, symbolic of Jehovah's presence, over- 
 shadow it. A great company of them were 
 present when the glory of the Lord filled 
 the Temple on Mt. Moriah, and it was 
 their hands that carried the ark into the 
 sanctuary and placed it in position; their 
 voices lifted the grand and holy chant that 
 rang through the Temple courts and clois- 
 ters on that greatest day of Israel's history. 
 They were among the captives who returned 
 to repair and rebuild the Temple under 
 Zerubbabel. For fifteen hundred years 
 
 68 
 
THE DENIAL OF SELF 
 
 they had voiced the liturgy of the Temple 
 service. From the day Moses applied to 
 Aaron's right ear, thumb and toe the blood 
 of consecration, until Zacharias saw the 
 angel on the right side of the altar, no feet 
 but theirs had trod the Holy Place. Is it 
 anything unusual that such an illustrious line 
 should flower in such a character as John 
 the Baptist? 
 
 I 
 
 Christianity is practically the only re- 
 ligion propagated by preaching. There were 
 some great preachers during the Jewish age, 
 they had no large place in its extension. The 
 priest officiated at the altar, not in the pulpit. 
 One or two of the great Oriental religions in 
 these modern times have attempted the Chris- 
 tian method of propagation, with indifferent 
 success. But John was nothing if not a 
 preacher, and yet his camel's-hair clothing 
 and wild-honey diet can not be imagined 
 in "cultured" surroundings. He was a 
 priestly ascetic, and it was hot for him 
 
 "To walk the studious cloister*s pale, 
 And love the high embowed roof, 
 With antique pillars massy-proof, 
 And storied windows richly dight 
 Casting a dim religious light." 
 59 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 On the contrary, he fits into the out-of-doors, 
 the same as the Master who followed him. 
 He drew the multitudes iiito the wilderness 
 where the scarred faces of the hills, to- 
 gether with the rocks and chasms, made a 
 lit setting for the rugged message he had 
 to deliver. Many went thither in search 
 of the novel and the exciting, but, instead 
 of a thrill, they were met by a rapier-thrust 
 so keen that even the king trembled. 
 
 But it was not the wild scenery along 
 the Jordan, nor yet the multitude that 
 streamed out of Jerusalem to hear him, of 
 which I am thinking; neither Is it the great 
 uninhabited stretches, the rocks and the 
 scanty vegetation; but I am thinking of the 
 world of men who are In an Intellectual 
 and spiritual wilderness, men who can not 
 get their bearings. Ask a simple question 
 about "life," *'soul," "duty," "Immortality," 
 and you are not long In discovering that 
 they believe black Is white; they babble like 
 children, and there Is a pathos In their con- 
 fident Ignorance. Men get down to basic 
 things In law and medicine because they 
 are compelled to, or be rejected. They 
 reduce their calling to a science, and work 
 by approved formulae. But in matters of 
 
 60 
 
THE DENIAL OF SELF 
 
 greatest import they skim the surface with 
 a shallow mediocrity that is at once amus- 
 ing and pathetic. Strangely enough, those 
 who are the most ignorant of the teachings 
 of Jesus and of philosophical Christianity 
 are the most dogmatic in their beliefs, for 
 it is they who apply the epithets ''narrow" 
 and "bigot" most freely. Pope's line, 
 slightly changed, might apply: "A little 
 religion is a dangerous thing." 
 
 John found Israel in the wilderness, 
 spiritually. True, they were religious, if 
 tithing mint-beds is being religious. But is 
 there any spirit in that? John had other 
 ideas. He called the aristocrats a "genera- 
 tion of vipers," and Jesus, a few months 
 later, called them "whited sepulchres." As 
 vipers they hissed at John, and as sepulchres 
 they frequently exposed the moral rottenness 
 within. 
 
 Our century has plenty of religion, if 
 counting beads and making faces at a 
 painted devil is religion. If religion con- 
 sists in folding manicured hands over fat 
 bellies and sleeping through the sermon, we 
 are religious. But if religion means lighten- 
 ing the loads of the poor; if it consists in 
 making the rich sinner (or saint) pay just 
 
 61 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 and equal taxes; if religion means checking 
 and destroying the liquor traffic and saving 
 our boys and girls; if it means making 
 graft and bribery unpopular and unsafe; if 
 it means the application of the Golden 
 Rule, and giving every man a square deal 
 — why, then, we are not so very religious 
 after all, and we are still in the wilderness. 
 
 We have possessed such remarkable 
 eyesight that we have penetrated the depths 
 of eternity to come, and have located 
 every bush, brook and flower in the heaven 
 of heavens, sometimes going so far as to 
 stake out our claim. By anticipation we 
 have lain under the shade of the trees of 
 heaven when we should have been at work 
 on earth; we have been so intent on splash- 
 ing about in the river of life and walking 
 on the streets of gold that we have failed 
 to see the pinched faces of the children 
 that pass our doors daily, nor have we 
 heard their cry for bread. It is a great 
 comfort to be ready for heaven and wait- 
 ing for the summons, but we may miss the 
 angels unless we have a care. 
 
 When Scipio conquered the Cartha- 
 ginians the Romans called him "Af ricanus" ; 
 Attila was called "The Scourge of God," 
 
 62 
 
THE DENIAL OF SELF 
 
 and Bismarck, *'The Iron Duke." But the 
 very unique title given John is "A Voice." 
 A voice is without dimensions, either in 
 quality or quantity; it refuses to yield to 
 the tape-line or the quart-measure. It is 
 true that musicians speak of the voice as 
 if it had extensity, but their terms are 
 purely arbitrary. They speak of the color 
 of the tone; they say a voice is heavy or 
 light, white or dark, round or thin. John 
 may or may not have had a musical voice, 
 but it is certain his voice carried power 
 and conviction; it carried accusation to 
 those who were living careless, indifferent 
 lives; the voice of the wilderness preacher 
 stung them until they saw their wickedness, 
 and no class was exempt. The scribe and 
 the Pharisee, with all their pride of ances- 
 try, were there, yet John's words pierced 
 their hearts like the shafts from a bow. At 
 the other extreme of the social ladder were 
 the publicans, the most cordially hated 
 class in all Palestine, yet they came to him 
 for advice. 
 
 But the most striking company in all 
 that Jordan multitude was the soldiery of 
 Rome. John showed his ability as a 
 preacher when he awakened both extremes 
 
 63 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 of the Jewish people, yet we are not so 
 much amazed at it because they had a com- 
 mon ancestry, a common religion and a 
 common hope. When he penetrated the 
 shell of their indifference he found there a 
 Jewish soul; but what must have been the 
 force of his words, the magnetism of his 
 voice and the strength of his gospel that 
 brought the soldiers to him, asking: "And 
 what shall we do?" They were the repre- 
 sentatives of the ruling power, a world- 
 wide power, a power that looked upon the 
 Jew as a narrow bigot and a religious 
 fanatic. But that "voice in the wilderness" 
 cast a spell upon all that heard it. 
 
 "Make ready." This is a constructive 
 term and looks forward. In a splendid 
 sense it is one of the great keywords of 
 the Scriptures; it represents the heart of 
 the teaching of Jesus, for did he not come 
 to prepare men? The figure of the con- 
 struction of the highway for the visiting 
 monarch is too well known to be discussed; 
 but there is the vision of the heart In 
 which there are the hills of pride and 
 selfishness, hearts cut through with sloughs 
 of low desires, hearts from which rise the 
 fetid odors of passion gone mad. Make 
 
 64 
 
THE DENIAL OF SELF 
 
 ready the highway, cut down the hills, 
 exalt the valleys; thy King cometh! 
 
 II 
 
 Absinthe, opium and alcohol have their 
 peculiar power over the user, but none is 
 more subtle, more dangerous, than popu- 
 larity. What will a man not give to obtain 
 it? For it men attempt what they are not, 
 and end in disgrace. John met the same 
 temptation. Later Israel had one character 
 around which its national life revolved; he 
 became a fixed part of their national con- 
 sciousness — the Messiah. From the very 
 beginning that idea gradually unfolded it- 
 self. The sorrows of the captivity gave 
 It greater impulse; hence the prophets of 
 the decline and servitude sang vigorously 
 of a Deliverer who moved under such 
 majestic titles as "Mighty God," "Prince 
 of Peace." And when the Roman crushed 
 his iron heel down upon the already sorely 
 afflicted Jew, his desire for the immediate 
 manifestation of his Messiah increased a 
 hundred-fold. 
 
 So It Is not strange that the Jewish 
 leaders sent a deputation to John asking 
 who he was, for they hoped that he might 
 
 5 65 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 be their Deliverer. It was an opportunity 
 for John to gain favor at once. Could he 
 not command these stones to be made loaves 
 and eat the sweet bread of popularity? 
 But John was not that kind of a man; he 
 knew such favor at best could be but short- 
 lived. So "he confessed, and denied not.'* 
 
 The Jews had an idea, also, that Elijah 
 was to revisit them. He had wrought 
 wonders among their fathers and had been 
 taken from the earth in a chariot of fire. 
 Elijah and John had so much in common 
 that the people throughout Jerusalem and 
 Judea said: "Elijah hath returned." That 
 was also an easy road to popularity — 
 "Elijah's double." But John was too big 
 for that. 
 
 Centuries had passed since the voice 
 of a prophet had been heard in Israel, and 
 they were expecting one to appear. If 
 John were not the Messiah nor Elijah, then 
 certainly he was "that prophet." If he 
 pretended to be the Messiah, that subter- 
 fuge would soon be shattered; if he posed 
 as the reincarnated Elijah, he might be 
 unmasked; but is there any human way in 
 which they could have proved that he was 
 not "that prophet"? Under that guise he 
 
 66 
 
THE DENIAL OF SELF 
 
 would have been safe. But John was not 
 in the world to gain the acclaim of a fickle 
 populace. To-day they shout "Hosanna!"; 
 to-morrow, "Crucify!" He was simply the 
 ''voice in the wilderness." 
 
 There was an artist who painted a 
 magnificent picture of "The Last Supper," 
 but he made the cup in the hand of Christ 
 so beautiful that men admired it rather 
 than the face of Jesus above it. Seeing his 
 mistake, the artist drew his brush through 
 the cup, saying he would have nothing 
 detract from the glory of his Lord and 
 Master. So John sought to eliminate every 
 element of his personality, reducing himself 
 to nothing but "a voice in the wilderness." 
 What a lesson for our self-seeking age, an 
 age when men are studying every trick and 
 art of self-exaltation. "Whosoever hum- 
 bleth himself shall be exalted." 
 
 On human grounds John's action can not 
 be accounted for. A man in search of 
 self-advancement would have chosen one 
 of the three alternatives: Messiah, Elijah 
 or prophet. Two were comparatively safe; 
 one carried some hazard, but history 
 abounds in examples of men who have 
 played their lives against more desperate 
 
 67 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 odds than that. Sometimes they won; 
 more often they lost. If John had been 
 moved by an ordinary ambition, he would 
 have taken the chance. But he was con- 
 scious of a great mission; he was to speak 
 the prologue of the great drama. He 
 knew somewhere among the millions of 
 Israel was One mightier, and that he 
 would appear in due season. Hence John 
 had no time for horn-blowing and feather- 
 preening; he was the messenger of Jehovah. 
 Hard hearts must be broken, hills leveled, 
 valleys exalted; the crooked ways straight- 
 ened; the King was at the door. 
 
 There is the call to every heart, but 
 the noise of the world frequently drowns 
 it; yet as we answer we soar to the skies, 
 as we neglect we grovel. Was John poor? 
 Perhaps. But what poverty of understand- 
 ing we betray when we use our physical 
 eyes to measure spiritual values. They 
 were made for color and form, but the 
 infra-red and the ultra-violet quite escape. 
 Our ears were made for harmony, but 
 neither eye nor ear can catch the color and 
 concord of things spiritual; it is only by 
 that sixth sense — faith — that they are dis- 
 cerned. John dwelt in that higher atmos- 
 
 68 
 
THE DENIAL OF SELF 
 
 phere, caring nothing of what others 
 thought of him; he knew his own valuation. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Curiosity did not get the better of that 
 wilderness preacher. He had no time to 
 spend in idle search for Jesus; it was of 
 more consequence to be ready when he 
 met him. John knew his day was short; 
 therefore he crowded a tremendous amount 
 of work into it. In those six months he 
 burned enough energy to supply an ordi- 
 nary mortal a decade. There was an 
 intensity about his preaching that startled 
 even the ease-loving, sensual Herod, and 
 aroused the tigress in his wife. John's 
 career was cut short in the midst of his 
 usefulness, and he was thrust into prison; 
 but not until he had baptized the young 
 Galilean whose work began when John's 
 closed. 
 
 Was John's life a failure? All that 
 we know of it is contained in a very frag- 
 mentary account covering about six months. 
 There is no record that he ever preached 
 in Jerusalem, or that he ever saw the city. 
 After a brief half-year in the wilderness 
 he was seized and executed. Thus does 
 
 69 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 the world treat its heroes. It is said that 
 Abraham can be traced through Palestine 
 by his altars; so the progress of justice, 
 liberty and righteousness can be tracked 
 across the centuries by the stake, the cross, 
 the rack and the arena. But such are the 
 lives that illuminate succeeding ages; they 
 hearten the multitudes that bear the world 
 onward toward God's ideal. We need 
 and must have the men who do not care 
 for rank or title or lineage; yet they must 
 be men of humility who gladly say of the 
 Lord: "He must increase, but I must de- 
 crease; I am unworthy to unloose the 
 thong of his sandal." 
 
 O God, there are so many wonderful 
 things in this revelation of thyself to us 
 that our souls are bewildered. Thy Holy 
 Spirit hath breathed its power upon these 
 great men, and they have burned them- 
 selves out before the dull, uncomprehending 
 eyes of this world; yet to every question 
 they have answered: *'Look for One 
 greater." 
 
 Forbid that we should become puffed 
 up over the petty honors men would place 
 on our shoulders, but aid us to keep our 
 station in life humbly and without osten- 
 
 70 
 
THE DENIAL OF SELF 
 
 tation, believing that at the great marriage- 
 feast of the Lamb thou wilt say to those 
 who have toiled: "Come up higher." Life 
 can not be called a failure when it is used 
 ever so humbly to glorify the name of thy 
 holy Son, whose power shall never wane, 
 and whose Kingdom shall never end. 
 
 n 
 
VI 
 
 NICODEMUS: ARISTOCRAT 
 
 (John 3:1-5-) 
 
 T^HERE have been a great many un- 
 -*■ complimentary things said about 
 Nicodemus. Aside from Mary Magdalene, 
 he has been the most slandered character 
 in the New Testament. He has been 
 accused of dodging into the "side entrance"; 
 he has been consigned to Hades simply 
 because he talked with Jesus after dark. 
 Men ought not to pass judgment until they 
 have the facts, and facts they do not have 
 in this case; simply the statement: "He 
 came to Jesus by night." Christ "knew 
 what was in man," and, if Nicodemus had 
 been a coward, Christ would not have 
 passed it by without comment. Here is 
 rather a great heart in search of truth. 
 He was a man of intellect as well as spirit, 
 and in these Jesus touched his experience 
 and opened up to him the possibilities of a 
 re-born life. 
 
 72 
 
NICODEMUS: ARISTOCRAT 
 
 The enemies of Jesus have said a great 
 many harsh and unkind things about him, 
 but they have never accused him of cow- 
 ardice. He always met them squarely, and 
 often to their extreme discomfort. At the 
 first Passover after the beginning of his 
 ministry, he faced what was, to him, a very 
 aggravating condition — a portion of the 
 Temple had been converted into a merchan- 
 dising department. If the space were not 
 actually needed to accommodate the throngs 
 of Israel, at least It should have been with- 
 out the lowing of bulls, the bleating of 
 sheep and the shouts of the money-changers. 
 Jesus did not stop to remonstrate or argue; 
 he perfectly understood that type of his 
 countrymen. They had to be driven, for 
 there was no argument that outweighed the 
 half-shekel. There was doubtless much 
 muttering about "precedent," "license," 
 "rights," and there may have been covert 
 threats of violence, but they dared not 
 resist his authority; they went! 
 
 Abuses burn In the hearts of good men, 
 yet few have both the courage and the 
 ability to redress great wrongs. NIcodemus 
 
 73 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 had seen the "signs" Jesus had done in 
 those early days; he had seen the holy 
 flash in the keen eye of the young Galilean 
 as he drove the cattle from the sacred 
 enclosure; he had heard the blistering com- 
 mand: "Take these things hence; make not 
 my Father's house a house of merchandise." 
 During those first few weeks Jesus had 
 stirred up more sentiment, favorable and 
 otherwise, than Jerusalem had known since 
 the days of the prophets. 
 
 It is refreshing to find a man who cuts 
 directly across precedents of centuries stand- 
 ing, a man with a personality strong enough 
 to rip through our hidebound social customs 
 and overturn our doll-houses. We so easily 
 fossilize — ossify. It is a wholesome thing 
 for society to gasp — gasp twice — as Jeru- 
 salem did when Jesus began his Temple 
 reform. 
 
 Thoughtful men find In Jesus a fact to 
 be reckoned with. By this is not meant 
 simply the historical fact of Jesus. That 
 there was such a man living at the time, 
 and in the place the Scriptures designate, is 
 universally admitted. During the three 
 years of his earthly ministry Jesus Christ 
 created a universe of which he is the center. 
 
 74 
 
NICODEMUS: ARISTOCRAT 
 
 After his departure, four men in different 
 places gathered out of their memories such 
 of his teaching as they recalled. Later, 
 other men, by the inspiration of the Holy 
 Spirit, added to what had already been 
 written. These writings are gathered into 
 one volume, and Jesus is the subject. The 
 New Testament can not be imagined with- 
 out him, so thoroughly does he pervade it 
 and his Spirit saturate it. It is this "whole'* 
 that demands explanation, as every thinking 
 man will admit. 
 
 The keen eye of Nicodemus saw at once 
 that Jesus was unlike any man of that 
 age, unlike any man that had ever thrilled 
 Israel since Moses or Samuel or the proph- 
 ets, and he was frank enough to admit it 
 in his first sentence: "We know thou art a 
 teacher come from God." Men have borne 
 the same testimony throughout the cen- 
 turies since; they could not do otherwise 
 and leave Jesus a shred of respectability. 
 He was what he claimed to be, or else he 
 was the rawest counterfeit. 
 
 If a man has never seen the ocean, you 
 can not Impress him very much by tell- 
 ing him of it, no matter what your com- 
 mand of language or your power of 
 
 75 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 description. But some morning lead him 
 out on a high promontory overlooking that 
 wild waste of waters; let him see the great 
 combers which pound the rocks with the 
 boom of thunder; let him catch a whiff of 
 the brine, and watch the wind-whipped 
 spray, and hear the wild cry of the sea-gulls 
 speeding over the foam-crested waves; let 
 him gaze right and left, and turn his glass 
 to the sky-line, where there is nothing but 
 riotous, seething waves, fighting, hissing, 
 smashing — then he will begin to awaken to 
 the grandeur of the sea. Likewise, lan- 
 guage fails to convey the meaning when 
 a description of Christ is attempted; he 
 must be seen by the soul to be appreciated. 
 But some are so busy fishing in a gallon 
 bucket that they never think of the sea. 
 The question, *'What think ye of Christ?" 
 must be answered. Jesus is here ; his system 
 is here ; he claims to be the Son of God, and 
 his system claims to be the way of life. 
 Every man who digs an inch below the 
 surface will investigate very carefully before 
 passing final judgment. But investigation 
 means work; hence, our beliefs are as 
 they are, not necessarily because they are 
 true, but because they are "orthodox"! 
 
 76 
 
NICODEMUS: ARISTOCRAT 
 
 Xruth has always gone the way of the 
 cross and the stake before men would 
 accept it. 
 
 These signs demand explanation. Nico- 
 demus was not an ignorant, unlettered man; 
 he was a "man of the Pharisees," a "ruler 
 of the Jews." Jesus had at his command 
 certain phenomena which the thoughtful 
 Nicodemus termed "signs." The Greek 
 term means "miracles by which God authen- 
 ticates men sent by him, or by which men 
 prove the cause they are representing is 
 God's." The question, then, is: Was 
 Nicodemus intellectually qualified to pass 
 sound judgment on the works of Jesus? 
 If so, then why discredit him and accept 
 Josephus or Tacitus or Pliny? Does simply 
 the fact that they were writers entitle them 
 to more consideration? If a United States 
 Senator has never written a volume, his 
 testimony is just as valuable in court as the 
 testimony of another who has a dozen 
 volumes to his credit. Nicodemus was a 
 member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish 
 Senate. His testimony is thus: "No man 
 can do the things you are doing without the 
 intervention of divine power." The San- 
 hedrin was a religious court, and a member 
 
 77 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 of it ought to be able to pass sound judg- 
 ment on religious phenomena, as Munster- 
 berg, or Titchener, or Baldwin, is qualified 
 to pass upon things psychological. 
 
 It is quite the modern custom to dis- 
 miss these "signs" by saying that that was 
 an age when men knew little or nothing of 
 the simplest scientific laws. He who uses 
 that statement so glibly might learn some- 
 thing to his advantage were he to consult 
 any volume of history dealing with that 
 age. Every college and university has a 
 Greek and Latin course — languages that 
 reached perfection centuries before the 
 Christian era. Twenty-five hundred years 
 hence, will the Hterature of the twentieth 
 century be the model in the institutions of 
 learning? We pat ourselves on the back 
 as the only people who ever knew anything. 
 Should we maintain that attitude consistent- 
 ly, we will have to cast aside a great many 
 things other than the miracles of Jesus. It 
 is easier and far less difficult to accept the 
 statements of the Gospel writers at their 
 face value. Explanations involve in a hope- 
 less web of contradictions from which there 
 is no escape. The Scriptures call Jesus 
 the Son of God. Admit that fact, and 
 
 78 
 
NICODEMUS: ARISTOCRAT 
 
 what hinders the miracles? But to admit 
 that he is the Son of God is to admit sin — 
 and guilt — and condemnation. 
 
 Nicodemus reasoned correctly; there is 
 but one conclusion: "No man can do these 
 signs except God be with him." Christ 
 said: ''I and the Father are one." If God 
 created all things at the beginning, could 
 he not change the form of an infinitesimal 
 portion of them when he was on earth? 
 The difficulty is that men fail to identify 
 Christ as God; they try to crowd him into 
 a teacup; they "pooh-pooh" at what they 
 can not understand, yet they can not under- 
 stand the function of their own minds. 
 
 "He who through vast immensity can pierce, 
 See worlds on worlds compose one universe; 
 Observe how system into system runs, 
 What other planets circle other suns; 
 What varied beings people every star — 
 May tell why God has made us as we are." 
 
 II 
 
 Men miss Jesus because of his sim- 
 plicity. Naaman nearly missed health be- 
 cause he was expecting complicated treat- 
 ment from the prophet. Dip in Jordan — is 
 that all? "I thought he would come out, 
 and stand, and call on the name of his 
 
 79 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 God, and wave his hand over the place." 
 But doing a simple thing saved him. 
 
 The Jews expected their Messiah to be 
 helmet-crowned and saber-girded; they ex- 
 pected him to wear a coat of mail and speak 
 with the trumpet of brass; they expected 
 legions to spring up when he smote the 
 earth; they expected him to be accompanied 
 by the rattle of chariots and the staccato 
 of hoofs. Power and deliverance were the 
 two words he must personify. But they 
 were doomed to disappointment. Instead 
 of a burnished helm, he wore a crown of 
 thorns; instead of a saber, they thrust a 
 reed into his hands; instead of riding on a 
 wide-nostriled stallion, he came meek and 
 lowly, sitting upon an ass; instead of a coat 
 of mail, a seamless tunic; instead of the 
 sharp, ringing command that brought thou- 
 sands to their feet, he calmly announced: 
 "My kingdom is not of this world." 
 
 Men have always looked for a Messiah 
 that fitted their conceptions — intellectual, 
 social, philosophical — rather than the one 
 who said: *'I am meek and lowly In heart." 
 Ever since the first century the scholastic 
 world has had Jesus under the microscope. 
 Every jot and tittle of his teaching has 
 
 80 
 
NICODEMUS: ARISTOCRAT 
 
 been split and quarter-sawed by men who 
 are wise above what has been written. They 
 have made the Master teach what he never 
 intended to teach, and say things adverse 
 and foreign to his mission. They discover 
 — or think they discover — in his teaching 
 germs of this or that school of thought. 
 There is depth to his doctrine, but it is not 
 the kind that robs a man of his common 
 sense, for Jesus was pre-eminently practical, 
 and this is where many miss him. Said he 
 to the sinful woman: "Sin no more." The 
 parable of the good Samaritan forever 
 settles the question of "neighbor." Zac- 
 chsEus saw the meaning of the Christ when 
 he said: "The half of my goods I give to 
 the poor; and where I have been extortion- 
 ate, I restore fourfold." And yet Christ 
 is the teacher of the sublimest philosophy 
 of all: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as 
 thyself." 
 
 Nicodemus made the mistake commonly 
 made by men to-day; he tried to explain 
 the new birth on intellectual grounds. When 
 men face the supernatural, the inexplicable, 
 their query, tinged with the hopelessness of 
 doubt, is: "How can these things be?" 
 
 6 81 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 Nicodemus stumbled at the idea of the new 
 birth, and, in seeking to explain it on natural 
 grounds, made it both grotesque and impos- 
 sible, as well as missing the greatness and 
 beauty of the idea Jesus had just expressed. 
 When men seek to explain Christianity as 
 a purely intellectual phenomenon, by that 
 very act they show they have not grasped 
 either the intent or the content of the 
 Saviour's mission. 
 
 Our bodies live and move and have their 
 being in a world subject to physical laws, 
 but there is another world in which the 
 spirit of man lives and moves, a world 
 over which the physical has no control and 
 into which it can not enter. The laws of 
 the one have no more influence In the other 
 than chemistry has In the domain of psy- 
 chology. Earthly things, earthly laws; 
 spiritual things, spiritual laws. If men 
 insist on looking at spiritual things from 
 an earthly viewpoint, they must of neces- 
 sity ask: "How can these things be?" We 
 can not explain heavenly things by earthly 
 standards. 
 
 Here Jesus turned the attention of this 
 scholarly Jew to one of the great facts In 
 
 82 
 
NICODEMUS: ARISTOCRAT 
 
 their national history, for at one time they 
 had been saved from extinction by an 
 uplifted brazen serpent. Not that there 
 was any virtue in that brass replica of the 
 reptile that had wrought such damage in 
 Israel, but its image prefigured the great 
 Cure that would some day be uplifted in 
 Jerusalem, not only for Israel's hurt, but 
 for all nations. Somehow, looking upon 
 that curious emblem, the poison lost its 
 effect upon the sufferer, and somehow it 
 has pleased God to heal the world through 
 his Son. The deadly virus of sin has 
 poisoned every fiber of the soul, just as 
 the burning poison from the serpent's fang 
 swept through the bodies of the fathers 
 of Israel, Looking at the brazen serpent, 
 their bodies were healed. Christ heals that 
 which is more difficult — the soul, which has 
 no corporeal existence, yet which is as real 
 as time and space. 
 
 In this connection may arise the ques- 
 tion of the atonement, a thing repudiated 
 by many as incompatible with divine love. 
 We are informed that the idea of God 
 laying the sins of the world on the shoul- 
 ders of an innocent person is repugnant to 
 our fundamental ideas of justice and right. 
 
 83 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 And so it is. But this probably arises from 
 the fact that such persons overlook the 
 fact that Jesus Christ is God. If a physi- 
 cian, seeking to discover the remedy for 
 leprosy, gives himself to a leper colony, 
 and in due time contracts the disease and 
 dies, there is nothing in it incompatible with 
 our ideas of right and justice; on the con- 
 trary, we applaud the heroism that led 
 him to die for his fellow-men. His life was 
 his own and he had the right to use it as 
 he saw best. Jesus Christ is God, and, 
 looking upon the race of men, concluded 
 that by giving his life he could bring them 
 back to the Father and to himself. His 
 life was his own, and he had the right to 
 use It as he saw fit. There is nothing re- 
 pugnant about that; rather, we applaud the 
 heroism that would lead even a God to die, 
 If necessary, to save the race. Hence Jesus 
 Christ allowed himself to be lifted up on 
 the cross for the salvation of men. He said 
 no man could take his life from him; he 
 had power to lay it down and he had power 
 to take it up. 
 
 This Is a heavenly thing and can not 
 be understood from an earthly standpoint. 
 To the Jew It was a stumbling-block; to 
 
 84 
 
NICODEMUS: ARISTOCRAT 
 
 the Greek, foolishness; but to us that are 
 saved it is the power of God. 
 
 O God, here is one of those rare souls 
 to whom the Christ makes his powerful 
 appeal. We pray that our judgment may 
 always be tempered with wisdom, and that 
 we, as Nicodemus, may go in search of 
 those deeper mysteries of Christian experi- 
 ence. We thank thee for the vitalizing 
 Holy Spirit, by whose instrumentality we 
 are "born again"; who creates within us 
 that sublime confidence, and constrains our 
 hearts to say: "We know thou art a teacher 
 sent from God." Let thy Spirit teach us 
 that the things of the flesh profit nothing, 
 but that he that is "born anew" shall pos- 
 sess the life that cometh from thee — life 
 everlasting. 
 
 85 
 
VII 
 
 A SOUL'S AWAKENING 
 
 (John 4: 1-42.) 
 
 T^ HIS conversation unfolded truth as 
 •■■ well as beauty, enthralling, stimu- 
 lating, kindling. The present mission of 
 the woman at the well was absorbed in 
 another infinitely more important. Jesus 
 was no idle talker, neither did he remain 
 silent when a representative of the tradi- 
 tional enemy of his country was near. Here 
 were hidden possibilities, though hardened 
 by a false life. Contact with Jesus broke 
 the crust, and she was soon thrilling with a 
 new life. She came a hostile, indifferent 
 sinner; she left a blazing evangel, crying: 
 "Come, see a man!" 
 
 John had the touch of a literary artist. 
 Lights and shadows are set opposite in 
 startling effect. His third chapter deals 
 with an aristocrat, a Pharisee. Purple and 
 fine linen are so close that they can almost 
 be touched; there is the perfectly modulated 
 
 86 
 
A SOUL'S AWAKENING 
 
 voice of the man who never allowed him- 
 self to become excited, nor caught off guard; 
 there is the courtly dignity of "the ruler 
 of the Jews"; there is the studied poise and 
 accent of the scholar — and there is Jesus. 
 But when the fourth chapter opens, the 
 other extreme of society is opposite the 
 Master. A woman of the Samaritans, an 
 outcast, a drawer of water. 
 
 We are quick to catch the viewpoint of 
 those in our own class, but it is difficult to 
 see the outer rim where the down-and-outs 
 are. They have been battered beyond the 
 pale of decency, and when we meet them 
 we wag our heads philosophically, saying: 
 "It takes all kinds to make a world." Pos- 
 sibly; but is it not equally true that the 
 world makes all kinds, among whom are 
 the Jean Valjeans on the outer bounds? 
 The contemptuous slur slung at Jesus was: 
 "He receiveth publicans and sinners, and 
 eateth with them." That damned him with 
 the fat-brained aristocracy. They wanted 
 him on their own little pedestal, where 
 they could wine him and dine him and lion- 
 ize him, while the great, hungry multitude 
 
 87 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 peered through the grating. But when 
 they thought they had him all to themselves, 
 he called Levi the publican to be one of 
 his chosen circle; he said to the sinful 
 woman who bathed his feet with penitent 
 tears: "Thy sins are forgiven.'' 
 
 To-day nearly all the goods on the 
 market bear a trademark. If it does not 
 bear "our brand," it is notoriously counter- 
 feit and its manufacturers the worst frauds 
 out of jail. Men have tried to "trade- 
 mark" Jesus; they have tried to make him 
 "Papist," or "Anglican," or "Calvinist"; 
 but Jesus bears no man's brand. His com- 
 mand is: "Follow meJ^ His gospel is for 
 the' world. If he never did anything else 
 than show the solidarity of the race, its 
 interdependence, his mission was a success. 
 
 The woman of Samaria stands as a type 
 of social outlaws; a class into whose lives 
 ■ — their real lives — the world seldom gets 
 a glimpse. Occasionally they meet a per- 
 sonality who has a genius for friendship, 
 whose subtle influence draws from them the 
 story of an unequal struggle and unfair 
 advantages. Jesus discovered to the world 
 that no man's heart is wholly bad. It is 
 as a harp; sin may rust and corrode and 
 
 88 
 
A SOUL'S AWAKENING 
 
 even snap some of the strings, so that it 
 may no longer produce Its full-toned har- 
 mony. But there are always enough strings 
 left which, when struck by a sympathetic 
 hand, will vibrate to the praise of God. 
 Men want to be righteous, but an inflexible 
 social law often forces them beyond their 
 depth. Conscience stiffens and the heart 
 hardens, but the hunger for God Is never 
 appeased until the soul rests securely In 
 him. 
 
 There Is a pathos In this narrative. 
 The Jews and the Samaritans were geo- 
 graphical neighbors, and more — they were 
 bound by the ties of blood, yet their hatred 
 of each other has passed into a proverb; 
 even the sick and helpless received no at- 
 tention from the other faction. The foun- 
 tain of human sympathy had dried up com- 
 pletely. But this Incident shows that hatred 
 is superficial, and that there are great possi- 
 bilities even in the most degraded; that there 
 is a latent reservoir In every heart, no mat- 
 ter how tightly locked by sin. 
 
 Literally, the twentieth century needs 
 voice culture as well as heart culture. We 
 speak In soft words to our equals and 
 superiors, but It Is easy to mix Iron and 
 
 89 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 wormwood when addressing the under 
 tenth. If we will learn to put some of the 
 softness of May instead of the iciness of 
 December into our conversation, we may 
 unseal many a frozen heart and let the Lord 
 Jesus in. Just such men have blessed the 
 world, plucked, as they were, brands from 
 the burning. There was Levi the publican; 
 and Saul was consenting unto Stephen's 
 death, and he voted against the Christians 
 when they came before the Sanhedrin for 
 trial. The modern church has its myriad 
 examples. The great sinners usually make 
 great Christians. 
 
 II 
 
 It IS an artistic thing to make a friend 
 out of a man who, even before he has met 
 you. Is your avowed enemy. Here is 
 where Jesus showed his genius, and it is 
 interesting to note how he did it. The fact 
 that he, a Jew, should speak to her, a 
 Samaritaness, took her by surprise so com- 
 pletely that she clean forgot the ancient 
 quarrel between the two nations. Aston- 
 ished, she asks: *TIow is it that thou, 
 being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am 
 a woman of Samaria?" 
 
 90 
 
A SOUL'S AWAKENING 
 
 "How Is It?" Is not this the question 
 of all thoughtful men? After examining 
 the mission of Jesus — his eternal and un- 
 dying love for men who cared not for 
 themselves nor their Creator — their medi- 
 tative query, tinged with surprise, has 
 always been: "How Is It?" How Is It 
 that heaven bended to earth and gave its 
 King to bless an alien race who mocked 
 him, thorn-crowned him, spat upon him, 
 scourged him, crucified him? How Is It 
 that he said: "Father, forgive them; they 
 know not what they do"? Was not the 
 whole life of our Lord a series of most 
 remarkable surprises, beginning with his 
 birth until the time when he was taken up? 
 It Is the exemplification of the most amaz- 
 ing grace that ever fell on the stony heart 
 of man. When his murderers nailed him 
 to the cross he excused their dastardly deed 
 on the grounds of Ignorance. Surprise? 
 It has brought ten thousand men to a 
 sudden stop more quickly than the burning 
 bush before Moses. Our hands are all the 
 same color — red, the evidence of guilt — 
 yet his voice pleads gently: "Wash you, 
 and make you clean.'* 
 
 Before she had time to recover, Jesus 
 
 91 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 followed with another striking sentence: 
 *'If thou but knewest." It suggested that 
 she was missing something worth while, 
 and, if she possessed it, all necessity of 
 coming to the well would be obviated. And 
 who would not make Inquiry? Jesus had 
 spoken of something that concerned her, 
 and his sentence Implied that he had power 
 to transmit to her that blessing. 
 
 "If thou knewest'* — ignorance. Like 
 sheep without a shepherd men go their way, 
 the way that promises pleasure. There has 
 been an enormous growth in the amusement 
 business since the perfection of the motion 
 picture. Amusement parks, cheap theaters, 
 automobiles, Sunday excursions and such 
 have crowded the spiritual out of men's 
 lives, and when death and calamity visit 
 them they have nothing upon which to lean. 
 Every pastor called to the bedside of the 
 dying witnesses over and over again the 
 hurried preparations for death, and Is sick 
 at heart. No thought of God until the 
 tongue begins to stiffen and the eye to set. 
 They have never known the gift of God. 
 And the pathos of It all Is that the friends 
 who stood at that bedside and saw it all 
 win continue to go about the streets — away 
 
 92 
 
A SOUL'S AWAKENING 
 
 from God. *'Turn ye! turn ye! why will 
 ye die?" 
 
 There has been a great deal spoken and 
 written about the church in this century. 
 Some of it comes from those whose knowl- 
 edge of the church is decidedly limited, to 
 say the least. A series of such articles 
 recently appeared in a certain popular 
 weekly. The author showed that his 
 knowledge of church business — his subject 
 — was about as extensive as mine is of 
 Choctaw. Had he visited a few live 
 churches he might have found material for 
 a real article. Men who view the church 
 from the streets, literally and figuratively, 
 should not seek to be her instructor. She 
 is not an entertainer, not a promoter of 
 athletics, not a literary society. On the 
 contrary, she was given a spiritual message 
 and commissioned to a spiritual task. If 
 the community in which she is situated has 
 no healthful recreation, then let her see to 
 it that it is furnished; ordinarily there are 
 other agencies, but she ought to be able 
 to establish a censorship and say what the 
 children shall and shall not see. There 
 are other things aside from nudity that 
 should be taken out of the motion picture. 
 
 93 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 There Is too much killing, too many strained 
 and unnatural scenes. 
 
 The church, first and last, ministers to 
 the souls of men. "But," we are Informed, 
 "they will not come to the churches." Here 
 Is where the church should manifest her 
 power. Is It too much to ask that all 
 places of amusement be closed on the Lord's 
 Day? 
 
 There are some good Christians who 
 expect the preacher to be so magnetic In 
 presence, so fertile in plans and so strong 
 in ability that he will compel the people to 
 come to the house of the Lord. The 
 secret of the failure to win is that the 
 churches are not playing ball back of their 
 preachers. Give any preacher the proper 
 support and he will count on the score- 
 board. The world is missing Christianity 
 because of an Inactive church. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Of all the rich Imagery of the Holy 
 Scriptures there Is none quite so vivid and 
 restful as the water pictures. The first 
 Psalm likens the righteous man to a tree 
 planted by rivers of water. The Hebrew 
 shepherd led his flocks beside the still 
 
 94 
 
A SOUL'S AWAKENING 
 
 waters, the waters of rest. By the waters 
 of Babylon the Hebrew captives sat down 
 and wept. Palestine was not a well-watered 
 country; it had its wet seasons and dry. 
 The water was conserved in cisterns pre- 
 pared for that purpose; living water was 
 a luxury. Naturally, few subjects could 
 be more interesting to a Palestinian. It is 
 not strange, therefore, that Jesus should 
 apply to himself the title "water of life," 
 for what figure could more aptly describe 
 what he was to the race? 
 
 In the Middle Western portion of the 
 United States are those wide stretches of 
 semi-desert. About the only vegetation 
 they support is cactus and soapweed, and 
 there is no animal life save the horned 
 toad and a wandering jack-rabbit. But at 
 intervals there are streams of water of 
 varying volume. The Government has 
 sought out sites and is building dams to 
 conserve the water supply. Then, as it is 
 needed, it Is turned out over those arid 
 wastes, and then the flowers spring up 
 and wide stretches of green fields and trees 
 — life In abundance. "Living water." And 
 who has not seen hundreds of lives barren 
 of any righteousness suddenly become en- 
 
 95 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 riched by an unknown and hidden source 
 of strength? They have found this "water 
 of life." "It shall be within him a well of 
 water springing up unto eternal life." The 
 Holy Spirit imparts it; man is connected 
 with God; God is within him. It is a 
 spring leaping up in rich abundance and 
 going forth to the noblest fulfillment. It 
 was this spring of water leaping with life 
 in the heart of Paul that overflowed on 
 Asia Minor and the Greek and Italian Pen- 
 insulas, leaving that growth of sturdy green 
 along their shores. It was this water 
 springing up in the hearts of the Reformers 
 that blessed Germany, England and Scot- 
 land with a new civilization, and it came 
 with its fresh and vigorous tide to American 
 shores. It is the water of life in the hearts 
 of a multitude of men and women that 
 preserves our nation from the forces of 
 destruction, because there is still a class who 
 are exerting all their strength to rob the 
 Church of her rights and power, and are 
 using every subterfuge to nullify her influ- 
 ence. Eternal life is not attained in some 
 far-off future period, but is an immediate 
 result — God-given. The soul in which liv- 
 ing water flows has eternal life. 
 
 96 
 
A SOUL'S AWAKENING 
 
 O God, talk with us by the well-curb of 
 life, that we may open the channels through 
 our waste and arid hearts and send the 
 sweetening floods surging over them. Bid 
 the desert blossom and the thirsty land 
 to become a pool, reflecting in its crystal 
 depths the trees and rushes on its banks, 
 where the children of men may rest and 
 gain strength. And from the richness of 
 that abundant supply send the healing tide 
 forward among them, that we may be one 
 of those streams in the desert that make 
 life's weary ones rejoice. 
 
 97 
 
VIII 
 
 THE NOBLEMAN: DRAWN OR DRIVEN 
 
 (John 4:46-54.) 
 
 'l^HE home country! Instantly the 
 '■' mind flashes back across the years 
 and hovers over a spot the memory of 
 which is as dear as life and as precious as 
 love. That spot may be in the British 
 Isles, or on the vine-clad hills of France, 
 or on the sunny plains of Italy. More 
 likely it is in America; but, wherever it is, 
 its memory is your dearest possession. 
 
 I recall a long, straight road, the ditch 
 by its side, the golden images playing over 
 the pebbles in its shallow depths. I remem- 
 ber the tall, graceful elms, the smooth- 
 trunked beeches, the sturdy oak and the 
 rough hickory which stood in the woods 
 hard by. After a quarter of a century I 
 can still hear the notes of the thrush and 
 the bobolink as they made melody in the 
 cool shadows of the forest. There still 
 lingers the odor of Mayflowers, of bursting 
 
 98 
 
THE NOBLEMAN: DRAWN OR DRIVEN 
 
 buds, of damp moss; the orchard, the 
 meadow, the fresh breeze. I can see the 
 tiger-HlIes and the raspberry-bushes that 
 grew along the fences. I remember the 
 dim, grass-grown path, and how I followed 
 it until it was lost in the woodland. I can 
 still hear the faint tinkle of the cowbells, 
 and am conscious of the growing darkness 
 and the fear that rises in a boy's heart when 
 the cows are not yet home ! I can hear the 
 schoolbell ring — a peculiar note which I 
 have never discovered in any other bell. 
 I remember the day my mother took me in 
 her arms and gave me her blessing, and 
 we said "Good-by." The memory of it 
 all lingers like incense in a holy place. 
 
 We can not return to the scenes of the 
 past, save over that dim, enchanted path- 
 way of recollection. If in body we go back 
 to those scenes, they are all so sadly 
 changed; the stranger is everywhere. We 
 greet him under the name of the chum of 
 boyhood; we fished together, romped to- 
 gether, tramped the woods together, but 
 he IS a stranger now. We have grown 
 away from them; the years have made their 
 unalterable changes. There Is one sweet 
 thought: we are growing toward our 
 
 99 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 Father's house, the soul's everlasting home. 
 Jesus had returned to his childhood 
 home ; he had come back to Galilee. 
 
 I 
 
 It Is remarkable how quickly a man's 
 viewpoint changes. Self-centered, pleasure- 
 bent, business-enthralled, until calamity or 
 illness threaten, then how quickly he sees 
 something else. 
 
 "There was a certain king's officer" — 
 probably an underling of Herod Antipas. 
 The Herodian family was famous through- 
 out the world as rulers, and any one who 
 held an office under their regime was also 
 possessed with a certain distinction and 
 dignity. Clothed In the official uniform and 
 bearing the Insignia of his office, he was 
 one of the dignitaries of that famous 
 dynasty. 
 
 But Sickness regards not the gold-laced 
 uniform, nor the marble-tiled floors, nor 
 the silken draperies of the rich. He slides 
 past the granite pillars and through the 
 golden doorway of the wealthy as easily 
 as through the broken panes of the poor. 
 He as boldly accosts the aristocrat as the 
 beggar at his gate. He blows his breath 
 
 100 
 
THE NOBLEMAN: DRAWN OR DRIVEN 
 
 alike into the face of the prince and the 
 child of the pauper. He is no respecter 
 of persons. "Dignity" struts the street 
 and men fawn before him and kiss their 
 hands to him, but Disease hath neither ear 
 to hear, nor eye to see, nor heart, to regard, 
 nor conscience to accuse. 
 
 What pathos in the appeal: "Come 
 down ere my son die." Are you a father 
 and have you a son? Do you not catch 
 the terrible tug and strain in those last 
 four words: "Ere my son die"? "My son;" 
 a father's hopes were languishing with 
 fever. He was not concerned in the least 
 about the dignity of his position; one great 
 desire possessed him. 
 
 Capernaum was on the shores of Gal- 
 ilee. It was the chief city of northern 
 Palestine, the center of government and 
 therefore of importance. Cities of size 
 get the habit of looking rather condescend- 
 ingly upon the humbler towns and villages. 
 Capernaum was the city; Nazareth was 
 the town. Galileans, as a whole, did not 
 bear a very good reputation. They were 
 crude and uncultured; the classic Hebrew 
 abode not in them. Instead, they spoke a 
 rough, coarse dialect, and they were in 
 
 101 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 contact with the Gentiles. They were to 
 the Jews what the Boeotians were to the 
 Athenians. True, Capernaum was in Gal- 
 ilee, but Capernaum was a city! The 
 ^'king's officer" was from Capernaum, and 
 Jesus was from Nazareth. Had not Na- 
 thanael already voiced the popular opinion: 
 *'Can any good thing come out of Naza- 
 reth?"? How strong, therefore, must have 
 been the prejudice of this influential Hero- 
 dian officer against seeking aid of this 
 itinerant Galilean preacher. 
 
 If Jesus came in personal contact with 
 men to-day, many might call him a "sensa- 
 tionalist," an "incendiary," or maybe "an- 
 archist." Theologians would call his teach- 
 ing unsafe, heterodox, and accuse him of 
 heresy. They would brand his miracles as 
 tricks of an impostor. How do we know? 
 Because that is the way the "leaders" have 
 always treated the benefactors of the race. 
 One generation crucifies; the next canonizes. 
 It is easy to hold such prejudices so long 
 as health and prosperity continue; neither 
 is it difficult to poke fun and sneer at the 
 beliefs of others. Those mockers at Pente- 
 cost who said, "These men are full of new 
 wine,** were not the first and certainly not 
 
 102 
 
THE NOBLEMAN: DRAWN OR DRIVEN 
 
 the last to jeer at a faith which was to 
 them impossible. 
 
 But alas for our prejudice I It too 
 often bars the door and shuts us away from 
 the chambers of blessing, yet none of us 
 are entirely free from it. Those loudest 
 in their protestations of *'breadth" and 
 ^'liberality of view" are usually the most 
 intolerant. Prejudice is a fiend from the 
 netherworld. He bears a subtle poison 
 not intended primarily for the ear and 
 tongue, but for the sight, and through it 
 he affects the whole sensibilities. He "sets 
 on fire the wheel of nature," until the ear 
 hears falsely and the tongue speaks perverse 
 things. One drop of it in the eye and the 
 ocean is no longer green, but red. Under 
 its devilish alchemy the crystalline white- 
 ness of truth fades into the dunnest gray; 
 the straight becomes crooked, and the most 
 sincere righteousness tinctured with sinister 
 motives. 
 
 But a great need has a wonderfully 
 neutralizing power upon it. When the 
 certain death of his son stared him In the 
 face this nobleman forgot his dignified office, 
 forgot his prejudices, forgot that Jesus was 
 a Galilean, a Nazarene, forgot what men 
 
 103 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 might say. What cared he for public com- 
 ment if his son were only saved? He 
 probably knew of the miracle at Cana, and 
 there may have reached him some tidings 
 of the signs done in Jerusalem, hence he 
 reasoned: "Cannot this man who changed 
 the water into wine, and who cleansed the 
 temple, make my son whole?" "Come down 
 ere my son die." 
 
 Calamity does another thing; It punc- 
 tures pride. Calamity and self-esteem can 
 not ride in the same vehicle. This man 
 said nothing to Jesus about being a king^s 
 officer. There was no letter of introduc- 
 tion, no formality, no red tape; he went 
 straight to the point; he cared for nothing 
 else. And, after all, our social standing, 
 our R. G. Dun rating, the amount of stocks 
 and bonds we own, or the amount of money 
 we are able to borrow on our signature, 
 does not count very much with the Lord. 
 In his hands are all the corners of the 
 earth; all men appear before him on the 
 same level. Jesus Christ died for our sins 
 because we needed him; let us, therefore, 
 be humble and come to him for his blessing 
 and help. 
 
 104 
 
THE NOBLEMAN: DRAWN OR DRIVEN 
 
 II 
 
 He came to Jesus as the last resort; he 
 waited until the "child was at the point of 
 death." He probably tried the physicians 
 in Capernaum, the best of them; but the 
 child grew worse, and death was rapidly 
 approaching. He sought Jesus as the last 
 resort. 
 
 For two thousand years human nature 
 has run along in the same old groove. Men 
 wring the last drop of sweetness out of 
 every pleasure; they pursue their commer- 
 cial activities until nothing remains but the 
 dried pods of threescore and ten selfish 
 years; they ride on the Icarian wings of 
 fame until the last feather falls, and then 
 they turn to Jesus because "the child is at 
 the point of death." He who sells for a 
 mess of earth's pottage the service due to 
 Christ and his fellow-men is worse than 
 the "meanest man" the newspapers have 
 yet discovered. 
 
 When one reads of that early company 
 of enthusiastic believers in Jesus Christ, 
 and how they started out to proclaim life 
 through his name, he will stop and dream 
 of the glorious history the Church might 
 
 105 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 have had if she had kept the primitive faith. 
 What a thrilling volume Church history 
 would have been, were it simply the record 
 of the expanding Kingdom instead of the 
 quarrels between bishops and emperors. 
 One does not read very far until he is 
 aware that "Satan came also." Division 
 has robbed the Church of her strength, 
 and, instead of pages that glow with the 
 Spirit's power, there is the shameless record 
 of strife and hatred. It is to the shame 
 of the Church that she has not Christian- 
 ized the world during these twenty cen- 
 turies. "My son lieth at the point of 
 death;" the world is sick. Ten thousand 
 remedies have been applied, but the spiritual 
 pulse flutters, the tongue is coated, the 
 breath is foul. She has not poured in the 
 oil and wine, nor has she bound up the 
 wounds of humanity whom sin has assaulted 
 and robbed and left to die. And she never 
 will until she reunites her severed body, 
 gathers her children under one banner, and 
 moves as a solid army. At present she is 
 using too much of her strength to run her 
 machinery, instead of converting the world 
 to Christ. Wise men are seeing this and 
 are pleading for a united Church, that the 
 
 106 
 
' THE NOBLEMAN: DRAWN OR DRIVEN 
 
 Church may save herself in order that she 
 may save the world. The Church is there- 
 fore coming to Christ as the last resort. She 
 has been to Rome and Constantinople; she 
 has been to Wittenberg and Geneva; let us 
 hope that she is on her final and triumphant 
 journey to Jerusalem. Pray God we soon 
 arrive ! 
 
 There are many men to whom the pos- 
 session of authority is more intoxicating 
 than absinthe. It puffs them up in their 
 own estimation until they think they are 
 the flywheel of all creation, and, were they 
 to withdraw, the universe would perish and 
 *'leave not a wrack behind.'* Jesus was 
 the only being that ever trod this earth 
 In whom all power dwelt. We are help- 
 less, finite beings, and can not change one 
 hair from black to white. God Is all In 
 all, and when misfortune and calamity over- 
 take us we realize how small we are and 
 how great Is our dependence upon him. 
 
 It Is a sad commentary upon human 
 intelligence that men have to be driven to 
 Christ by the rod of affliction — men who 
 boast of their superior understanding. Like 
 the little bird In the story who balanced 
 himself on the edge of the nest day after 
 
 107 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 day and boastfully declared what he would 
 do, until one luckless day he overbalanced 
 and the cat seized him. Before he was 
 rescued he had a broken wing, and when 
 the other nestlings flew he was left behind. 
 
 "But man, proud man, 
 Drest in a little brief authority, 
 Most ignorant of what he's most assured, 
 His glassy essence, like an angry ape. 
 Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven 
 As makes the angels weep." 
 
 Ill 
 
 ^'Except ye see signs and wonders, ye 
 will not believe." Archbishop Trench con- 
 cludes that this petitioner was driven to 
 Jesus by the constraint of an outward need 
 rather than drawn by the inner necessities 
 and desires of his soul. 
 
 Driven to Jesus! It may be that men 
 get some good out of an enforced service, 
 but certainly it is not an ideal relationship. 
 Every pastor is forced to the conclusion 
 that a great many men and women become 
 Christians in much the same spirit as they 
 take out fire insurance; they seem to think 
 church membership is an assurance against 
 loss. Hence they pay the smallest premium 
 rate — no more. The fear of punishment 
 
 108 
 
THE NOBLEMAN; DRAWN OR DRIVEN 
 
 is the whip behind that drives them to 
 Christ; they serve through fear, the basest 
 of all motives. Were it removed, they 
 would have little use for Christ or the 
 Church. We may well question whether 
 that is Christianity at all. Certainly it has 
 none of the essential elements of the Mas- 
 ter's teaching. The man who works for 
 his country with a ball and chain attached 
 to his leg and an armed guard over him 
 can not be called a patriot, nor Is he a Chris- 
 tian who serves through fear. 
 
 But there is that other motive. If fear 
 of punishment drives some, there are others 
 that are drawn to God through love. The 
 two motives are at opposite poles. We 
 will never have a strong Church so long 
 as men serve God to keep out of hell-fire. 
 Such a Church is a band of time-servers. 
 The theology of the Middle Ages smoked 
 with fire and sputtered with brimstone; it 
 rang with the cries of the damned. The 
 thunderbolts of the Almighty were aimed 
 at the man who dared wear buttons on his 
 waistcoat Instead of hooks and eyes ! People 
 sat in their churches and shivered at the 
 terror of the Lord. He was the greatest 
 preacher whose language was the hottest. 
 
 109 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 They invented a devil as large as the 
 
 Colossus of Rhodes, and made him 
 
 "Skelp and scaud poor dogs like me 
 And hear us squeel !'* 
 
 There is a hell; it begins on earth, as 
 does eternal life. Take the drug away 
 from the drug fiend and you will witness 
 tortures of the damned more vivid and 
 awful than Dante ever dreamed of putting 
 on paper, or Dore on canvas. Place such 
 a man before the throne of God and he 
 would still be in hell. 
 
 The joy of being a Christian is feeling 
 that mystic and holy power of the love of 
 Christ drawing us to him. He died for 
 the world, for the freedom of men; died 
 to give them life. We love him because 
 he first loved us. Jesus never said either 
 in words or in substance, "Come unto me 
 or I will destroy you," but he did say: 
 *'Come unto me, all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
 
 Those Samaritans, whose land Jesus 
 had just quitted, believed on him because 
 of his words; they did not require a sign. 
 True greatness of heart was theirs. Chris- 
 tianity is an attractive force; Jesus is a 
 magnetic personality. Let the Church hold 
 
 110 
 
THE NOBLEMAN: DRAWN OR DRIVEN 
 
 out the stronger motive and not attempt to 
 drive men into the Kingdom of love. 
 
 O eternal God, we thank thee for the 
 tenderness of Jesus; that human relation- 
 ships made a powerful appeal to him. He 
 was never more himself than when standing 
 by the open tomb of his friend, or by the 
 side of the dead, or in the presence of the 
 suffering. He has always been the Balm 
 for our sorrows, and our Comforter when 
 in distress. Let us, therefore, learn his two 
 great words ''love" and "rest." We pray 
 that we shall not think too dearly of our 
 earthly relationships nor mourn too deeply 
 when they are broken, but, rather, that 
 back of the physical eye and the human 
 heart should be that mighty confidence in 
 God and his blessed Son, whose salvation is 
 unto the everlasting ages, where human re- 
 lationships shall not only be renewed, but 
 intensified and glorified. 
 
 Ill 
 
IX 
 
 THE BORDER OF HIS GARMENT 
 
 (Mark 5 ••25-34-) 
 
 T^ RAGEDY! Can you place your hand 
 anywhere on the social body and not 
 be conscious of its convulsive sob? Trag- 
 edy is death's living self. It may dwell 
 across the hall from your apartment, on 
 the adjoining farm, in your own home. The 
 poor, misshapen bodies that drag them- 
 selves about the streets, the still more mis- 
 shapen intellects with scarce a semblance 
 of mentality, the dead love in living bodies, 
 the blasted hopes — all, all are tragedies; 
 and what home is free from them? Every 
 acquaintance is a paradox; you know him, 
 and yet you are as ignorant of him as if 
 the diameter of the earth were between you. 
 You know well his comedies, because laugh- 
 ter will out; but not his tragedies, because 
 sorrow is that ominous bird of night which 
 seeks the silent chambers of the soul. Does 
 your heart hold a tragedy? 
 
 112 
 
THE BORDER OF HIS GARMENT 
 
 Was this woman unfortunate? Yes. 
 Are you sure? What would you give to 
 know Christ as she knew him — twelve 
 years? Had it not been for that long- 
 standing infirmity, she would never have 
 had thrice mention in the sacred narrative; 
 nor would she have known the Lord. '*Mis- 
 fortune" may be God's way of spelling 
 "blessing." 
 
 She was '^healed of her plague." This 
 was the greatest moment in the life of this 
 woman. She had suffered much; she enjoys 
 much. The ravages of the disease were 
 stayed and she was a new creature physi- 
 cally. 
 
 And this is what Christ does spiritually 
 for his followers; he heals them; he makes 
 of them new creatures, which is a greater 
 work than healing the body. To think 
 that he takes these palsied souls, these sin- 
 soaked and corroded hearts which have 
 scarcely strength enough to reach out their 
 hands and touch him; to think that he not 
 only stops the ravages of sin, but that he 
 renews our souls and makes them whole 
 again — is past human comprehension. He 
 
 8 113 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 brings us at last before him perfect in soul 
 and spirit, and this is more wonderful than 
 to be whole in body. There are in every 
 congregation scores of individuals who 
 know this power and who walk among their 
 fellows as splendid examples of men who 
 have been healed of their plague. 
 
 But has not the social body suffered 
 many things of many physicians? And is 
 it in a way to be healed? Its afflictions 
 are legion. It has bruises which need bind- 
 ing up, ulcers that need cleansing, abscesses 
 that need the surgeon's lance. Society has 
 yet to touch the border of Christ's gar- 
 ment. The Will is weak and the multitude 
 dense. But what is the Will in society, that 
 Will that thrusts men toward the Christ? 
 Can it be other than the Church? Is there 
 any other institution that is seeking to 
 create an impulse toward the Christ? As 
 part of the social body, this is the Church's 
 mission and therefore her duty, and, if she 
 fails to do it, she is in danger of being 
 "spued out of his mouth." This century 
 is placing the severest tests upon the Church 
 that she has ever faced. She can not quiet 
 the struggles of society by medieval potions, 
 by Old World forms and ceremonies. She 
 
 114 
 
THE BORDER OF HIS GARMENT 
 
 must not attempt to restrain this mighty, 
 pent-up force. It must find expression. 
 
 The last thing this century needs, and 
 the last thing it will accept, is an ecclesias- 
 ticism. This is a bogey to frighten the 
 innocent. This age wants to be healed of 
 its plague — plague of narrowness and big- 
 otry, plague of Catholic and Protestant 
 priestcraft, plague of division, plague of 
 churchianity. It refuses to be bound by 
 any such. It insists on a religion that feeds 
 the hunger in men's souls. Rosaries and 
 crucifixes may have had a place in the ages 
 before the Renaissance, but this century 
 demands, above all things else, freedom. 
 If the Church refuses to give it, men will 
 take it. It is theirs by right. Any organ- 
 ization or institution that restricts mental 
 and spiritual freedom is something quite 
 different from the Christianity of Jesus. 
 He binds upon them no fetters, or with- 
 holds from them no truth, but leads the 
 way to its sublime heights. 
 
 II 
 
 There is no superstitious significance to 
 be attached to the person of Jesus. Ten 
 thousand people thronged him, yet none felt 
 
 115 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 the electric current flash out of his body save 
 this unfortunate woman. When in any age, 
 particularly ours, the battered and bruised, 
 the heart-broken and the sorrowing, touch 
 the Christ, his power is exerted in their 
 behalf; for Jesus walks among the crowds 
 of men to-day; they are all about him. 
 Though men throng him, they get nothing 
 from him because they come without pur- 
 pose. They do not "ask," hence they do 
 not "receive." To them Jesus Is nothing 
 more than a cunning trickster, an interesting 
 teacher, a superenthusiastic reformer; they 
 fail to sound in any way the depths of the 
 mighty purpose that thrust him forth from 
 the bosom of the Father. They are cynical; 
 they call for a sign. Blind fools ! would 
 they know a sign were one given them? 
 Are there not signs In abundance all about 
 us? In every blade of grass that struggles 
 upward, In every leaf that flutters In the 
 summer breeze, in every glistening star. In 
 every beating heart; but, having eyes, they 
 see not; minds, yet they do not comprehend. 
 The Master taught that there Is a class 
 like unto grunting swine; before them cast 
 no pearls. 
 
 So of all this multitude that surged 
 
 116 
 
THE BORDER OF HIS GARMENT 
 
 about Him none save this woman were 
 blessed. There was the big tradesman 
 from Capernaum who rubbed shoulders 
 with Jesus as they walked; there was the 
 priest and the Levite, the scribe and the 
 Pharisee, who brushed his garments, yet no 
 power went forth from him. But when 
 this woman, who knew her only chance of 
 health was passing, touched one of the 
 tassels of his garment, soundness came to 
 her immediately. 
 
 I have thought that the poor and lowly 
 come into more vital contact with Jesus 
 Christ than those in more comfortable cir- 
 cumstances. Wealth enjoys the glow of its 
 own fireside, the comfort of its own dwell- 
 ing; it enjoys a smug satisfaction in all that 
 it possesses. The scholar digs into the 
 musty lore of the past and is never so happy 
 as when, lens in hand, he is scrutinizing a 
 faded manuscript, searching for missing jots 
 and tittles; but he is in grave danger of 
 becoming absorbed in the mechanics of 
 religion rather than catching the spirit of 
 Christ. But the man of humble position is 
 not interested in the grammatical construc- 
 tion of the text; it is sufficient for him as 
 it is, and by his flickering lamp in his 
 
 117 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 meagerly furnished room he touches, with- 
 out barrier, the border of His garment and 
 is renewed in heart and soul. 
 
 That this woman was healed is a won- 
 derful thing, but it is even more wonderful 
 that Jesus knew that "power proceeding 
 from him had gone forth." How close 
 Christ stands to the heart-throbs of human- 
 ity, and how thoroughly he enters into its 
 experiences. He loves individuals for their 
 own sakes, and through them he would 
 leaven the whole mass. Because we can 
 not fathom the mysteries and solve the 
 riddles of existence is no reason why we 
 should doubt, or spend much time in asking 
 *'Why?" He who says, "My Father 
 knows," and leaves the hard places to be 
 explained on the other side of the grave, 
 will avoid a great many dark hours and 
 will be infinitely happier than he who re- 
 fuses to cross the river because he does 
 not understand the action of the gasoline 
 motor. 
 
 Ill 
 
 There is something about the very 
 name of Jesus that calls to the heart of the 
 sufferer. It is like sweet balm to his 
 
 118 
 
THE BORDER OF HIS GARMENT 
 
 bruises and soothing oil to his wounds. 
 Jesus! To know him brings luster to the 
 eye and hope to the breast. Oh, why do 
 men insist on looking at him through the 
 dust and mists and cobwebs of twenty long 
 centuries, when his magnificent personality 
 is among us as fresh and vigorous as that 
 morning he stood by the Sea of Galilee 
 and said: "Children, have ye any meat?"? 
 He is nearer than breathing, nearer than 
 hands and feet. Our knowledge of him 
 must be something more than the dry facts 
 the printed page conveys. If we will open 
 the door, he will come in and dwell with 
 us, bringing that wholesome light from 
 which the demons flee and in which the 
 messengers of God delight. 
 
 Who can not catch the last mighty tug 
 of her will as she summoned her body to 
 one final effort? Out of the embers of her 
 dying self the new Phoenix struggled itself 
 free, and hope blossomed red when the 
 Saviour of the world drew near. By sheer 
 force of will she drove her weakened body 
 into the thoughtless throng at the risk of 
 being trampled under their feet, for she 
 had not the strength to battle against them, 
 but death was preferable to the miserable 
 
 119 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 existence which had been hers. The rebuffs, 
 the taunts, the remonstrances and even the 
 insults of the multitude were nothing to 
 her, for she had that sublime confidence in 
 Him who was its central figure that he 
 would not rebuke her, and that he somehow 
 would help her. 
 
 And herein is revealed the mighty 
 pathos of the Incurable. Men clutch at 
 life with such tenacity, and when disease 
 begins its progress they fight it most bitterly. 
 What remedies they seek! What physi- 
 cians they employ! What beliefs they 
 espouse! They want physical soundness; 
 they want to be rid of the blight. Mark 
 gives the old, old picture so familiar to 
 every pastor and Christian worker. Note 
 his words: *'She had suffered many things 
 of many physicians, and had spent all that 
 she had, and was nothing bettered, but 
 rather grew worse." That unceasing round 
 which the sufferer makes to the allopath, 
 the homeopath, the osteopath, until she 
 "had spent all that she had.'' The prodigal 
 son spent all his substance in the pursuit 
 of pleasure; this woman spent hers in 
 search of health. 
 
 Did you ever know any one who did 
 
 120 
 
THE BORDER OF HIS GARMENT 
 
 not have a remedy for any disease, or who 
 did not know the very physician "you ought 
 to see"? Any one will tell you exactly 
 what to do, and the invalid does it! He 
 goes from "regulars" to "quacks," from 
 "quacks" to "patent medicines," and from 
 "patent medicines" to the grave. It is 
 pathetic, this search for a remedy. 
 
 But there is something more pathetic. 
 Men are driven into a panic when their 
 bodies are attacked, but they are not in the 
 least alarmed when sin Is consuming their 
 souls. If they are tubercular, they will 
 mortgage their homes, sacrifice their prop- 
 erty and flee to the Southwest; but they 
 will be absent from the house of God 
 months at a time, they will neglect the 
 reading of their Bibles, they will allow the 
 most trivial things to keep them from 
 doing their Christian duties, and yet not be 
 In the least uneasy about It. They will 
 spend all their "living" upon their sick 
 bodies, but not a dollar, not an hour, upon 
 their sick souls. This was the condition 
 that wrenched these pathetic words from 
 the lips of Jesus: "Ye will not come to me 
 that ye may have life." 
 
 O God, our souls are famished and our 
 
 121 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 Spiritual vitality low. Urge our wills into 
 activity that we may touch thy blessed Son 
 ■ — even the fringes of his garment. The 
 weary years have dragged themselves past 
 and we have spent our energy, our living, 
 upon other things and are nothing bene- 
 fited. In thee all power dwelleth. Baptize 
 with thy radiant Spirit our poor, corroded 
 souls, that we may be whole again and 
 glorify thy holy name. 
 
 122 
 
THE TRAGEDY OF OPPORTUNITY 
 
 (Mark lo: 17-22.) 
 
 TF there was a tragedy in the life of that 
 woman who for twelve years had been 
 so greatly afflicted, what is this which Mark 
 here records? It is a terrible thing when 
 the body is unable to perform its functions 
 — when a healthy mind is compelled to 
 sojourn in a tabernacle wholly inadequate 
 for the burdens placed upon it. But it is 
 a great deal more serious when the body 
 is strong and the mind lacks the necessary 
 power to grasp a great opportunity and 
 move into the promised land. There is 
 the old story of the man who trapped mon- 
 keys by boring a hole In a small cask 
 which he filled partially full of sugar. The 
 hole was large enough for the monkey to 
 slip his hand through, but he could not 
 withdraw it after he had tightened on a 
 handful of sugar, and he was too greedy 
 to let go. So with men: they get their 
 
 123 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 hands full of earthly things, the seemingly 
 sweet things, and when a greater oppor- 
 tunity comes they can not grasp it without 
 first letting go, and this they find very 
 difficult to do. 
 
 It has been urged by some that it Is 
 an easy thing to follow Jesus Christ. The 
 great Master never said so, nor did any 
 of his disciples. On the contrary, he taught 
 precisely the opposite: that his followers 
 would make foes of their own households; 
 that they would be called to leave homes, 
 houses and lands; that a man must deny 
 himself and take up his cross daily. There 
 are many who think they are following 
 Christ when they are simply in the rabble 
 that throngs him. When he gives them 
 a hard saying they depart, for, like Demas, 
 they love the present world. Christ taught 
 that his way is strait and narrow, and 
 this young man was honest enough not to 
 attempt what he felt he could not perform. 
 
 How refreshing is youth! It has yet 
 to feel the cold rock that bars its progress, 
 or crushes the life out of those upon whom 
 It chances to fall; It has not yet seen the 
 
 124 
 
THE TRAGEDY OF OPPORTUNITY 
 
 smile of the sophisticated nor heard the 
 retort of the cynical; neither has it met 
 that despicable person who accepts* respon- 
 sibihty and refuses to perform its functions. 
 Youth sees only a clear sky; youth has 
 superlative confidence in its own ability; 
 youth has never even heard that there may 
 be lions in the way. Would God we might 
 always be youthful ! But a few years 
 among the crafty sons of Belial teach even 
 a righteous man not only not to spread his 
 pearls before swine, but to proceed before 
 swine as if he had no pearls. 
 
 Mark lifts the curtain on one of those 
 quiet mornings in the life of Jesus as he 
 went out into the public highway. He had 
 scarcely reached the gate when this enthu- 
 siastic young man came running unto him. 
 He had doubtless heard Jesus teach upon 
 many occasions, and, after pondering it in 
 his clean young mind, felt that Christ's 
 appeal was irresistible. He wanted to have 
 within him that life of which Jesus talked. 
 
 This is what any young man will find 
 If he will get away from the current notions 
 men have of the Man of Galilee. If he 
 will study what Jesus really said. Instead 
 of getting his Ideas from the enemies of 
 
 125 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 Christianity, or even what a large number 
 of preachers have to say about Jesus, he 
 will find his enthusiasm rapidly welling up. 
 Get the sincere milk of the Word before 
 it is put through any patent process ! 
 
 If he did not see the divine Christ, cer- 
 tainly he saw the human Jesus and had 
 respect unto him as a great Teacher; he 
 kneeled unto him. What are the questions 
 young men are usually asking? Modernize 
 this incident, and what would be the natural 
 thing to expect from the lips of this young 
 man? The major part of our educational 
 institutions are teaching their students to 
 be efficient money-makers. It is only in the 
 last few years that these institutions have 
 given any attention to the altruistic, the 
 philanthropic. Sociology is one of the very 
 latest sciences to find a place in the curric- 
 ulum, and even yet it is an elective in nearly 
 all colleges. They insist on trigonometry, 
 calculus and the like, but they do not insist 
 upon their graduates knowing something 
 of their duty to the great world In which 
 they are to live and from which they are to 
 gain their living. It may be that after the 
 men get out and come In contact with the 
 sores, physical and mental, of men, they 
 
 126 
 
THE TRAGEDY OF OPPORTUNITY 
 
 will be led to attempt something in their 
 behalf. But how many college-trained men 
 have done this? Their training is at fault. 
 It would be far better to work out the 
 equation of Smith plus Jones than the 
 square of a -plus b! 
 
 It was not advice on how to become a 
 more successful business man, or how to get 
 the maximum pleasure out of life, that 
 interested this young man. He asked about 
 "eternal life," a very unusual question, but 
 he was an unusual young man. There was 
 light in his face and expectancy in his query, 
 and it is easily understood why, when Jesus 
 looked upon him, He loved him. 
 
 II 
 
 This young man had fulfilled his re- 
 ligious duty and, measured by the common 
 standards, he was a religious man. Jesus 
 enumerated six of the commandments, and 
 the young man immediately replied that 
 he had observed them from youth. Will 
 you find one more punctual in his religious 
 duties than he? The Church and the 
 majority of its clergy see In this the sum 
 total of religion. But these things are only 
 the threads which compose the basis of the 
 
 127 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 social fabric. The world does not want, 
 nor does it need, more formal religion; it 
 has too much already! The Greek word 
 for religion is a heathen term and means 
 primarily "fear of the gods." The EngHsh 
 word is a Latin derivative and means "bind- 
 ing." So far as we know, Jesus never used 
 the term "religion." He did not teach men 
 to be "bound"; he taught them to be "free." 
 He did not teach "religion"; he taught 
 "expression." He directed life; he did 
 not suppress or constrict it. 
 
 I have an idea that Jesus mentioned 
 these commandments as a test to see how 
 far this young man had thought into the 
 problem which was the genesis of his ques- 
 tion. "Young man, here is the religion of 
 your fathers; is not that sufficient?" But 
 he craved the opportunity of expression; he 
 did not want to feel the negative walling 
 him in at every turn; he craved life. For 
 over fifteen hundred years Judaism had 
 not changed either in form or in spirit, 
 save as circumstances made it necessary 
 (as, for example, by the introduction of 
 synagogue worship) ; it was practically the 
 same in the time of Jesus as in the days 
 of Moses. Small wonder it is that Christ 
 
 128 
 
THE TRAGEDY OF OPPORTUNITY 
 
 urged the futility of pouring new wine into 
 old bottles. Christianity does not consist 
 in keeping days, observing forms and fol- 
 lowing rules. The "rules" of the Church 
 are not always the "rules" of Jesus. 
 
 Men do not get much pleasure out of 
 doing don'ts. Red-blooded men want some- 
 thing that expresses manhood. No young 
 man ever asks a football coach: "What 
 shall I not do?" Youth is not built that 
 way; it wants a chance to express itself. 
 
 But every pastor knows that the major- 
 ity of his people are satisfied if they are 
 not doing anything bad. The whole basis of 
 their life is wrong (satisfied in idleness), 
 and, if they think they are God's children, 
 they were never further from the truth. 
 This Is the popular conception of religion, 
 but it Is not the meaning of Christianity. 
 The price Is too great, and, even though 
 the opportunity Is before them, they can 
 not enter the door; some from unbelief, 
 more from sheer laziness! 
 
 When the Master stood In the presence 
 of the afflicted woman he was In the pres- 
 ence of enforced Idleness, but here he Is 
 In the presence of physical beauty and per- 
 fection. This young man had not the 
 
 9 129 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 calloused palm of the toiler, nor yet the 
 coarse garb of the laborer. On the con- 
 trary, he had wealth and social distinction; 
 he was one of the very few of that class 
 who came to Jesus during his earthly min- 
 istry. It is no wonder our Lord saw in 
 him possible material for an apostle. 
 
 The very condition into which he had 
 been born carried with it tremendous oppor- 
 tunity. He had wealth and it must be 
 used wisely; he had youth, a life to spend; 
 he had social prestige, and that gave him 
 entrance Into the lives of other fine young 
 men; he was devout, and there was a 
 splendid pathway before him. Success was 
 his simply for the asking. He "ran" to 
 Jesus; but "he went away sorrowful." His 
 countenance fell, the light faded out of 
 his eager eyes, and his heart was sad- 
 dened, for Jesus proposed a thing that has 
 turned thousands from him. Men's religion 
 has been a selfish thing to be enjoyed with 
 a friend or two, like a fine meal in a cosy 
 alcove of a high-class restaurant. "Young 
 man, are you serious in your question; do 
 you really desire eternal life? Then, note 
 the condition." 
 
 130 
 
THE TRAGEDY OF OPPORTUNITY 
 
 III 
 
 And this is what the world has over- 
 looked: "His duty to society." But why 
 talk of society? Is not that one of the 
 hackneyed subjects? Perhaps, but "disease" 
 is a hackneyed subject also. Jesus did not 
 give him a parcel of generalizations which 
 mouthed well, but meant nothing, neither 
 did he moralize and lament over the con- 
 dition of the poor, nor did he pay high- 
 sounding compliments to this young man 
 because he had property. But he said: If 
 you are In earnest, there is one thing for you 
 to do: sell what you have, give it to the 
 poor, and follow me. He had asked to 
 do something that he might have eternal 
 life, and Jesus named the cost; but look 
 what he was invited to do ! Again let me 
 ask: "Is It easy to follow Christ?" It Is far 
 easier to be religious; hence the majority 
 prefer to be religious rather than Christian. 
 Christianity and religion are not necessarily 
 synonymous terms. A man may burn a 
 candle now and then, sprinkle a quart or 
 two of holy water, make long prayers, 
 insist upon the traditional Interpretation of 
 certain texts, say "Amen" with much unction 
 
 131 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 and fervor, and pass as religious; but being 
 a Christian is not in pious looks. It is 
 giving a cup of cold water in the name of 
 a disciple. A man can not be a Christian 
 and let his neighbor alone. 
 
 I take it that Jesus had no intention 
 of pronouncing against wealth, but rather 
 against anything that hinders a man from 
 doing his duty to his fellow-man. This 
 incident is only typical; a man may allow 
 his occupation to keep him from his duty 
 to society. But note the thing Jesus pro- 
 posed: "Sell what you have." If he were 
 literally to follow Jesus, he could not be 
 encumbered with property interests; his 
 attention must not be divided. If he were 
 In Galilee, he could not have his mind in 
 Jerusalem. He could not occupy a place 
 among Christ's followers unless he were 
 willing to surrender all. 
 
 It is interesting to note how Christ pro- 
 posed that the young man dispose of his 
 wealth. Some have said: "Deed it to me." 
 And so have the religious fakers of all 
 ages urged their followers to give their 
 property into their hands, but Jesus asks 
 nothing for himself. "Give it to the poor." 
 This was a staggering blow. It were bad 
 
 132 
 
THE TRAGEDY OF OPPORTUNITY 
 
 enough to convert it all into cash, but to 
 give it to the poor! Why not give it to 
 his relatives? Why not build a public 
 library in his city, or buy a public park 
 and call it by his name? That would per- 
 petuate his memory as a philanthropist. 
 It was beginning to be clear to him that 
 "following Jesus" had a much deeper 
 significance than he had dreamed. Eternal 
 life ! He longed for it, yet the lure of the 
 temporal was greater than he could over- 
 come. But who had more need of assistance 
 than the poor in those days of unorganized 
 philanthropy? Did he not have an oppor- 
 tunity to begin to practice at once what 
 was the very core of the teaching of Jesus? 
 '*Come, follow me." Having divested 
 himself of all distracting things and having 
 shown that he was in sympathy with the 
 mission of Jesus, he would be ready for 
 the company of that most remarkable group 
 of men the world has ever known, but "he 
 went away"; he could not pay the price. 
 The words of Jesus in another place apply 
 here: "Behold, I set before you a door 
 opened." He was not big enough to enter, 
 and that is the tragedy of it. "What 
 might have been!" "Come, follow me;" 
 
 133 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 but the allurements of this earthly life were 
 too strong; he could not break them; "he 
 went away." 
 
 Good Teacher, we have heard thy voice 
 and have been moved toward thee and the 
 eternal life which thou olferest. There is 
 the charm of thy holy presence which has 
 drawn us with eager steps, and reverently 
 we kneel to thee. But the distracting things, 
 the entangling things, are so bound about 
 us that when we would be free from them 
 they bind us the more closely. Call thou 
 to our consciences and bid our spirits awake, 
 that we may not be held by temporal things; 
 when eternal realities call us. Teach us 
 that thy religion is expression — loving God 
 and serving men and seeing thee in every- 
 thing. 
 
 134 
 
XI 
 
 BARTIMEUS: LIGHT THROUGH DARK- 
 
 NESS 
 
 (Mark lo: 46-52.) 
 
 When I consider how my light is spent 
 Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide ; 
 And that one talent which is death to hide, 
 Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent 
 
 To serve therewith my Maker, and present 
 My true account, lest he returning chide; 
 Doth God exact day-labour, light denied, 
 I fondly ask? But Patience, to prevent 
 
 That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need 
 Either man's work or his own gifts ; who best 
 Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best : his state 
 
 Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed. 
 And post o'er land and ocean without rest; 
 They also serve who only stand and wait. 
 
 — Milton. 
 
 "DLIND! Can you imagine it? And 
 blind In an age when there were no 
 institutions to care for those dwelling In 
 darkness. Note the pathos Mark puts into 
 the sentence: "Bartlmaeus, a blind beggar, 
 was sitting by the wayside." The beggar 
 
 135 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 in possession of all his faculties does not 
 cause us serious discomfort, but the appeal 
 of the sightless ones goes to the heart. Be 
 it said to the credit of our country that it 
 has provided handsomely for these unfor- 
 tunates. It educates and cares for them. 
 But for Bartimasus there was nothing but 
 long days of waiting, listening to tramping 
 feet, catching snatches of news from passing 
 caravans, clamoring for a few farthings to 
 sustain his useless life. 
 
 It is not strange, therefore, that his 
 appeal brought Jesus to a standstill. Did 
 any one ever enjoy light more than he? 
 He is the world's ideal poet; form, color 
 and beauty thrilled him. There was magic 
 in the silvery sheen of Galilee; the green- 
 carpeted hills drew him often to their 
 expansive breasts after the roar of the day 
 had died into the silence of the night. 
 Under the quiet skies, with only the stars 
 for companions, Jesus spent many hours in 
 meditation and prayer. 
 
 He heard the cry of men as they wan- 
 dered in the darkness; it came to his heart 
 far more pathetically and a hundred-fold 
 more appealingly than the Importunities of 
 Bartimaeus by the Jericho gate. 
 
 136 
 
LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS 
 
 Once more *'a great multitude." The 
 greatest season in the Jewish calendar was 
 on — the Passover. Jerusalem awoke from 
 a city sleeping on the hills of Zion and 
 Moriah into a living organism, and, draw- 
 ing in its breath, brought within its walls, 
 from every quarter of the globe, the sons 
 of Abraham, and every Jew felt the pull. 
 
 There is a melancholy interest attached 
 to the events of this narrative. Christ had 
 visited Galilee for the last time, and the 
 Peraean ministry was closed. Jerusalem 
 was before him, not as it had been so many 
 times in the past, but now as the place 
 where he was to fulfill his mission in the 
 world. 
 
 On his way down from Galilee Jesus 
 had gone over into Peraea, crossing the 
 Jordan again at Jericho. Outside the city 
 a blind beggar heard the tread of feet and, 
 with characteristic alertness, knew some one 
 extraordinary was passing. "And when he 
 heard it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began 
 to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of 
 David, have mercy on me." How thor- 
 oughly the knowledge of Jesus had perme- 
 
 137 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 ated Palestine. Not only did the rulers 
 know him, but also the beggars by the way- 
 side. And from the importunate pleadings 
 of Bartimaeus it would seem that they 
 understood him better than the aristocrats. 
 They had heard of what Jesus had been 
 doing, and they believed he could do the 
 same for them if he were but to pass their 
 way. 
 
 Bartimaeus addressed Jesus as "the son 
 of David"; that meant "Messiah." The 
 strange thing is that the beggar should per- 
 ceive in him the Christ, while those who 
 had been with him should "rebuke him 
 that he should hold his peace." Eyes had 
 they, but they saw not. They were willing 
 to enjoy the charm of his presence and the 
 loaves from his hands, yet when even a 
 beggar called him the Messiah their lips 
 straightway voiced a rebuke. But that is 
 typical of the multitude; they enjoy the 
 benefits of Christian civilization — liberty, 
 freedom of speech and all such — yet when 
 these things are ascribed to the Man of 
 Galilee, then: "Hold your peace." And 
 why? Why not give Jesus the open honor? 
 Is it not his? Fatal folly! Willful blind- 
 ness ! Have we gained our peaceful homes, 
 
 138 
 
LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS 
 
 our noble institutions, our great literature, 
 in our own strength? Jesus is written in 
 it and over it and through it, so large that 
 the blind by the Jericho highway recognize 
 him, yet the high priest from Jerusalem 
 expurgates his blessed name from every- 
 thing. Would you? Do you? 
 
 The demand for silence only stirred the 
 blind to more strenuous appeals: "He cried 
 out the more a great deal." Again and 
 again, clamorously, loudly, insistently, as 
 you would have done, he cried: "Thou son 
 of David, have mercy on me." 
 
 A great need is never silenced by 
 rebuke. 
 
 There is something wrong with our 
 industrial relationships when there are 
 "blind men" by the "wayside," for every 
 man has the right to "eyesight." There is 
 something wrong with that system or that 
 institution which thrusts out from itself such 
 amazing heaps of human wreckage. In- 
 stead of demands for silence, let there be 
 a thousand tongues to plead against this 
 deep damnation. When men see their 
 brothers reduced to wayside beggary, then 
 they should begin to question the holdings 
 in their own hands. 
 
 139 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 *'Call ye him," said Jesus. "Ye"— 
 who? Those with Him; his disciples, 
 probably. Look at those three words. 
 How mighty the Christian world became — 
 In doctrine. What ponderous volumes stand 
 on our shelves — volumes on "Institutes," 
 "Introductions," "Systems," "Plans of Sal- 
 vation." Their covers are written over 
 with "Lord, Lord," but their pages are 
 full of bondage. Christian men have fought 
 with barbaric fury for the mark which 
 decided whether a letter was Omicron or 
 Theta, but where have they fought for a 
 chance to call Bartimaeus to Jesus, even 
 though he be by the wayside begging? A 
 mark has been more than a man, a dot 
 more than duty. 
 
 Tell me, ye who haggle over baptisms, 
 ceremonies and interpretations, what It 
 means to "have mercy and not sacrifice." 
 Shall we save men or rescue dogma? Our 
 disputes are so loud and our anger so hot 
 that we can not hear Bartimaeus, who In his 
 darkness cries: "Have mercy." I am not 
 so much concerned about doctrines any 
 more. If a man believes that Jesus Christ 
 Is the Son of God, that should be sufficient. 
 Why starve to emaciation on watered doc- 
 
 140 
 
LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS 
 
 trines and pale-blue milk? Should I meet 
 another casting out demons in His name, 
 far be it from me to forbid him, lest he be 
 a more consistent disciple than I. 
 
 II 
 
 Every man has a chief desire which 
 shapes his destiny. Even the most casual 
 reader recognizes at once that Bartimaeus 
 was not asking for gold. And, strangely 
 enough, neither he nor Jesus had said any- 
 thing about sight restoration. But never 
 had his cry been so earnest, so importunate; 
 a crisis had come. 
 
 Are you daring enough to take a pencil 
 and write out your chief desires? No, no; 
 not for other eyes — just for your own. 
 And when you have done so, dare you spend 
 an hour in thought with that sheet before 
 you? Where do your chief desires center? 
 In the physical, mental or spiritual? Are 
 you quite sure of the motive which, like a 
 throbbing engine somewhere down in the 
 mysterious depths, is thrusting you for- 
 ward? Men are likely to build largely 
 upon the physical because it is tangible, and 
 least upon the spiritual. That order should 
 be reversed, because the spiritual is the 
 
 141 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 greatest of all. There is too much at 
 stake to "guess and fear." 
 
 Bartimaeus desired to be loosed from 
 the seat of beggary by the roadside; he 
 wanted to be loosed from the life of noth- 
 ingness which he had been compelled to live 
 all these years; he wanted a place among 
 men; he wanted to care for himself. 
 
 There is a certain class of people in 
 every city who seem to enjoy their hand- 
 to-mouth existence. This were serious 
 enough were they the only ones concerned, 
 but they marry and children come to share 
 their miserable existence. Why is poverty? 
 If a man prefers it, then there is something 
 wrong with him and he needs attention; if 
 society forces it upon him, then society is 
 at serious fault and needs readjustment. 
 We have little trouble in explaining the 
 poverty of India and China, but we are blind 
 to the thousands of America who are under- 
 nourished and poorly housed. Famine and 
 flood do not enter into our poverty problem, 
 neither do undeveloped resources, though 
 exploited natural resources may have a 
 very great deal to do with it. Concentra- 
 tion of population enters Into it. May 
 God bless the "back to the soil" movements. 
 
 142 
 
LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS 
 
 It is there the race will recover its sight. 
 We can not live and work in buildings 
 raised to the wth story and expect to be 
 keen of vision. Men must have the wide 
 expanse of fields and the unsmoked sky, 
 for they were made for the open. When 
 they descend into the dim canyons whose 
 walls are the twenty-five stories of the 
 modern city buildings, they may expect to be- 
 come like cellar plants — colorless and puny. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Jesus said something about eyes that 
 see not; perhaps he meant us. We pride 
 ourselves on our keenness of vision, when 
 perhaps we should be heeding the warning 
 and advice given to the Laodicean church: 
 *'I counsel thee to buy of me . . . eyesalve 
 to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.'' 
 We have no trouble in seeing heresy in the 
 other fellow, but "thou that abhorrest Idols, 
 dost thou commit sacrilege?" 
 
 We sit by the wayside and listen to the 
 voices of Jewish pilgrims going to Jeru- 
 salem to worship as they have done for a 
 thousand years; they are our kind of pil- 
 grims. But one day a different sound Is 
 detected above the murmur of the multl- 
 
 143 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 tude; a stranger is there. His beasts are 
 not Palestinian asses, but horses and camels, 
 and his servants speak another tongue. 
 Immediately: "Who is he?" "What right?" 
 "What business has he in Jerusalem?" 
 "Treason I" 
 
 May not a man reach Jerusalem on a 
 horse's back as well as striding an ass, 
 though that be the favorite beast of the 
 orthodox? Must he come in by the Jericho 
 gate? May God deal gently with the men 
 who have the courage to get out of the 
 beaten path; they are more wholesome for 
 the thinking world than a "wilderness of 
 monkeys." Every great man, including the 
 Master himself, has been out of the beaten 
 path. 
 
 "Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy 
 upon me." Men see in Christ everything 
 else save Messiahship. They admire his 
 parables and delight in his poetic temper- 
 ament, but fail to grasp the true import of 
 his mission. When as Messiah he touches 
 our experiences, all our darkness flees away 
 and light floods our souls. 
 
 Jesus, thou from Nazareth, by life's 
 wayside we wait for the tread of thy holy 
 feet. So long the night has been upon our 
 
 144 
 
LIGHT THROUGH DARKNESS 
 
 souls, so deep the darkness that has en- 
 compassed us. A thousand feet and the 
 murmur of innumerable voices have gone 
 by us, and rumors from all the earth have 
 come to our ears; but when thou comest, 
 the hush of thy divine presence falleth upon 
 all the throng. "O son of David, have 
 mercy on us!" We would see — see thee 
 and the great Father of all; we would see 
 men as our brethren, and we would see our 
 pathway, for it is the way thy blessed feet 
 have trod. 
 
 10 145 
 
XII 
 
 JESUS AND THE TAX COLLECTOR 
 
 (Luke 19: i-io.) 
 
 'T^HE Romans farmed out their taxes, 
 '"■ that is, they sold the revenue privi- 
 leges to certain men for a consideration, 
 and everything collected over that amount 
 went to the publican. That system led to 
 much extortion and was exceedingly un- 
 popular with the masses. For a Jew to 
 become a publican meant disfranchisement 
 and social ostracism. But to some the call 
 of the shekel was stronger than blood and 
 country; it was bankable, while social stand- 
 ing bore no interest! 
 
 Throughout the Gospels there are two 
 words which usually travel together — "pub- 
 licans" and "sinners.'' When the Pharisees 
 wished to speak particularly contemptuously 
 of Jesus they accused him of friendship 
 with publicans and sinners; "this man re- 
 ceiveth sinners and eateth with them." In 
 turn Jesus said: "The publicans and the 
 
 146 
 
JESUS AND THE TAX COLLECTOR 
 
 harlots go into the kingdom of God before 
 you." Possibly Jesus enjoyed their com- 
 pany because they were human; certainly 
 there was no hypocrisy or artificiality about 
 them. If the inside of the cup and platter 
 were smeared and soiled, the outside made 
 no apologies; they were the same all the way 
 through, and this could not be said of the 
 accusers of Christ. The Pharisee with his 
 pions veneer, the lawyer with his technicali- 
 ties, the scribe with his jots and tittles — all 
 laid their burdens upon the people. They 
 were wolves in sheep's clothing, devourers 
 of widows' houses, extortioners. Jesus had 
 penetrated their sham, and they knew it; 
 hence they hated him. He preferred sin- 
 cerity, even among the publicans and harlots, 
 rather than the hypocrisy of the spiritual 
 leaders ( ?) of Israel. To him religion was 
 to be carried into the real-estate business, into 
 the collector's office; it was not to be left In 
 the chief seats of the synagogue. 
 
 Luke shows most delightfully in this 
 incident how Jesus touches the experience 
 of the average business man, and how that 
 man responds. 
 
 147 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 The Gospel narrators do not lead their 
 readers through the dreary deserts of 
 abstraction, but rather through the habita- 
 tions of men, where things are happening. 
 They take us to the marriage of the king's 
 son and to the grave of Lazarus; from the 
 stormy waves of GaHlee to the quiet well 
 In Samaria; from the peaceful hills of the 
 north to the crowded courts of the Temple 
 In the Holy City. Real characters walk 
 through their paragraphs, and every page 
 thrills with life — from the sparrow to the 
 king. Some sections may seem dark and 
 difficult, but these are the deep wells which 
 are never dipped dry; they are the chal- 
 lenges to men to lengthen their ropes and 
 enlarge their buckets, for somewhere down 
 in the unsounded depths is the copious flow 
 of living water. 
 
 Zacchaeus was no ordinary man. If it 
 is true that familiarity breeds contempt, 
 then possibly we have mistaken the names 
 on the sacred page for the individuals them- 
 selves. We speak of Moses and Isaiah and 
 Paul and Zacchaeus and Pontius Pilate as 
 if they had been our schoolmates. We 
 
 148 
 
JESUS AND THE TAX COLLECTOR 
 
 know their names far better than we know 
 them. Many of the names on the Gospel 
 pages stand for great leaders. We speak 
 of Zacchaeus as if he collected cheap insur- 
 ance among the colored people. He was 
 no petty official; he was the "chief publi- 
 can," and to hold that position meant that 
 he must have ability. You will note that 
 the most serious complaint that is lodged 
 against him was the business he was in; 
 ''he was a publican." But he was capable 
 of grasping very quickly the meaning of 
 things spiritual. 
 
 Zacchaeus had been doing business ac- 
 cording to the accepted standards of his 
 time. If he had done anything wrong 
 (and he expressed himself as ignorant of 
 it) , then the system under which he worked 
 was at fault, and not he. A fairly careful 
 study of the Gospel narratives will fail to 
 reveal where the leaders of Israel ever 
 lodged formal complaint with the Latin 
 Government for the system which was cor- 
 rupting the lives of many of Israel's choicest 
 men. Israel simply ostracized the publican 
 and was silent as to the system. And we — 
 we demand the "scalp" of a grafting patrol- 
 man, and let his chief go free. We "get" 
 
 149 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 the petty politician, but send his "boss" to 
 Congress ! Our efforts at reform are usually 
 backwards; we snip off a few twigs instead 
 of digging up the roots. We pass a pri- 
 vate drinking-cup law, but wink at the 
 social rottenness which makes the cup nec- 
 essary. The average reformer is like a 
 geyser — four hundred feet up in the air 
 and scalding hot, or four hundred feet out 
 of sight and doing nothing. Some preachers 
 and a number of their members want an 
 evangelist to hold a meeting that v/ill scorch 
 the town. When that is done, some one 
 afterwards has to handle the burnt logs ! 
 The steady pull seldom suffers from relapse. 
 Our age calls for intelligent analyses and 
 equally intelligent action in treating the 
 hurt. Neither freezing nor blistering will 
 heal. The Pharisees had tried both on 
 Zacchasus; they froze him out of society 
 and blistered him with their epithets. Men 
 want to be healed, not excoriated. 
 
 This is the second time in our study that 
 a rich man has stood in the presence of 
 Jesus. Whereas the rich young ruler boast- 
 ed that he had kept the commandments, 
 Zacchasus was a silent onlooker; the former 
 ran to Jesus, the latter ran on before, seek- 
 
 150 
 
JESUS AND THE TAX COLLECTOR 
 
 ing a place where he might see Jesus; the 
 rich young ruler went away sorrowful, but 
 to Zacchseus Jesus said: "To-day is salva- 
 tion come to this house." Riches neither 
 made nor unmade Zacchasus. The basis 
 of his splendid character was there before 
 he had collected a denarius, and the accu- 
 mulation of gold had not corroded it. 
 
 Why should a rich publican be an out- 
 cast? Who had separated him from the 
 commonwealth of Israel and denied him 
 fellowship with the Jewish church? This 
 same Pharisaical sect which sets itself up 
 as judge in our modern society, both in and 
 out of the Church. They hand the rich 
 young ruler a palm, but give Zacchaeus a 
 scourge; they give the one a fish, the other 
 a scorpion. 
 
 II 
 
 The rich young ruler had no hesitancy 
 in running to Jesus with his question, but 
 Zacchaeus was not so bold; the best he 
 hoped for was simply a glimpse of Jesus. 
 Who can tell the longings In the hearts of 
 the social outcasts — longings to see the 
 Christ? Occasionally one makes his way 
 back from the *'far country," telling not only 
 
 151 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 of his own hungers, but of the tremendous 
 famine in that land. Men want to see 
 Jesus, but they are in their own sight as 
 grasshoppers. So felt Moses and Gideon 
 and Paul. Yet a man must empty himself 
 of all self-sufficiency if he would be used of 
 the Holy Spirit. If any man will be wise, 
 he must first become a fool. 
 
 And how many have failed to see Jesus 
 because of the crowd! Who has not 
 watched, to his soul's consternation and 
 terror, the marshaling of the black army 
 of Doubt, and who has not felt Its assaults 
 upon his soul? 
 
 "Our doubts are traitors, 
 And make us lose the good we oft might win 
 By fearing to attempt." 
 
 Is It Doubt and a company of grave sins, 
 some of them tall and gray-haired, signify- 
 ing age; others fair and rotund, signifying 
 vigor and health — do these shut out your 
 view of the Lord? Run away from the 
 crowd; get where It can not obstruct your 
 view. Look for Jesus and you will see 
 him, and he will see you. 
 
 Men usually get what they want. If they 
 are willing to pay the price. Zacchasus had 
 grown wealthy, and God knows he had 
 
 152 
 
JESUS AND THE TAX COLLECTOR 
 
 paid for it. When he came near the 
 rulers of the nation, they gathered their 
 robes about them and turned their backs 
 to him, and one would imagine that Zac- 
 chaeus saw that they "paid the rent"! 
 When he appeared among any class of men, 
 they snarled "Publican," and withdrew from 
 him. Truly, he was "a man without a 
 country." And he was neither the first nor 
 the last to buy the pile of gold at such cost. 
 But if he was to see Jesus he would 
 have to humble himself. Imagine a man 
 of wealth and dignity climbing a tree like 
 a small boy to view a parade! But Zac- 
 chaeus was so sincere in his desire that he 
 cared nothing about his pride; he did the 
 undignified thing; he climbed a tree. It 
 is not an infrequent thing to meet people 
 who would like to "see Jesus" if it were 
 not for making a public profession of their 
 faith, or submitting to the ordinance of 
 Christian baptism. Pride immediately 
 swells up mountain high, and they get no 
 glimpse of the face of the Nazareth 
 Prophet. 
 
 Occasionally some modern scientist gives 
 the world a volume of wonderful psycho- 
 
 153 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 logical experiences which he has verified 
 and catalogued. But, after all, emotional 
 experiences are quite beyond description. 
 Words lack color; phrases are void of 
 flexibility, and sentences often fail to con- 
 vey anything more than the thought. But 
 what must have been the sudden leap of 
 Zacchaeus' heart as he sat in that tree, hun- 
 gry for a friend and not daring to express 
 that hunger, when Jesus stopped and said: 
 "Zacchasus, to-day I must abide at thy 
 house." This was something thoroughly 
 new in all his vast number of experiences. 
 Men may have assaulted him, sworn at him, 
 thrown javelins at him, lied about him, 
 threatened him, but who before had ever 
 honored him? And in this there could be 
 no mistake; Christ was standing looking at 
 him and calling his name. 
 
 It was Christ's democracy that called 
 down upon him the curses of the aristocrats. 
 If Jesus had sat within the silken draperies 
 of the homes of the Pharisees and discussed 
 whether a man should wear false teeth on 
 the Sabbath because that involved bearing 
 a burden, he would have been immensely 
 popular with them; he would have been 
 their kind. But the class distinctions men 
 
 154 
 
JESUS AND THE TAX COLLECTOR 
 
 had made never occurred to him, save as 
 men needed help. It made little difference 
 whether the hands of the wounded man 
 by the wayside were soft or calloused, or 
 whether his face was delicately lined or 
 begrimed with soot; he had a tremendous 
 Interest In everything human. And when 
 the Church follows his example she will 
 find the attitude toward her very much 
 changed. 
 
 But there Is a dash of wormwood In 
 the pleasant potion. There Is that accursed 
 undercurrent which is always present wher- 
 ever good Is. No matter what Jesus did, 
 there were those warped and twisted sons of 
 Belial who carped at him. "He Is gone In 
 to lodge with a man that Is a sinner;" and 
 that class, unfortunately, never has a funeral. 
 Lying, dissembling hypocrites — thorns In the 
 side of spiritual Israel. There have been 
 more churches killed or crippled by the 
 carplngs of long-tongued women than by 
 the direct action of the devil himself! 
 Murmurers are the murderers of the 
 
 Lord's work. 
 
 IV 
 
 Jesus changed the world for Zacchaeus. 
 Before, he saw men as representing so much 
 
 155 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 taxable property; now he beheld them as 
 brothers. His first thought was what he 
 had in his own hands. Come! see how a 
 publican serves his God! "The half of 
 my goods I give to the poor." Jesus 
 Christ touched his experience, and touched 
 It hard enough to reach his bank account. 
 When a man begins immediately to talk 
 about using his money for the good of 
 society, who doubts his conversion? Where 
 was the Pharisee who was able to stand by 
 the side of Zacchaeus now? We read of 
 his prayers, his fringes and his phylacteries, 
 but seldom of his charity. 
 
 So great was Zacchaeus' joy that he 
 did not stop here; he announced a fourfold 
 restoration to any man of whom he had 
 exacted anything wrongfully. If Zacchaeus 
 had lived to-day, men would accuse him of 
 being religiously beside himself. Zacchaeus 
 had a rare mania! 
 
 Give a pastor men like this publican and 
 he will build a church that will startle the 
 world, because they take Jesus and his mis- 
 sion seriously. "To-day is salvation come to 
 this house." How could it be otherwise? 
 At one leap Zacchaeus reached greater 
 heights than all the years of prayer mum- 
 
 156 
 
JESUS AND THE TAX COLLECTOR 
 
 bling and mint-bed tithing had secured for 
 the rulers of Israel. He was so far above 
 them that a Yerkes telescope would not 
 have discovered the mountain upon whose 
 summit he sat. When men get a view of 
 Jesus they become "new creatures." 
 
 Thou, who didst walk the Jericho high- 
 way midst the blind and the outcasts, walk 
 thou also among us. Forbid that our social 
 position or our possessions, or lack of them, 
 should color our attitude toward our fellow- 
 men, or either darken or distort our vision 
 of thee. Give us that quickness of con- 
 science that, when thou appearest, saying, 
 *'Make haste, for to-day I must abide with 
 thee," we shall leap to thy side, not count- 
 ing houses and lands too much, or even 
 human relationships too sacred, to be set 
 aside that thou mayest have place in our 
 dwelling. 
 
 157 
 
XIII 
 MARTHA: THE TYRANNY OF THINGS 
 
 (Luke 10 : 38-42.) 
 
 '^ I ^ HINGS — many things, things heaped 
 up, pressed down, shaken together, 
 running over; Important things, mediocre 
 things, frivolous things, hurtful things — 
 life Is made up of them. "Things" Is 
 usually an Impersonal term and covers 
 everything from tweedledee to transcenden- 
 talism. Some are legitimate and helpful; 
 others are base and harmful. The most 
 of them carry labels without regard to 
 contents. Choice of the right thing de- 
 pends upon the cultivated eye, or, perhaps 
 what IS still more subtle, the spiritualized 
 instincts of the heart. 
 
 Two conditions of life are symbolized 
 by "the many things" and the "one thing." 
 If men are devotees of the former, they 
 are loath to express It In the cold words of 
 the theorem; In fact, most of them will 
 likely deny knowledge of anything which 
 
 158 
 
MARTHA: THE TYRANNY OF THINGS 
 
 crystallizes in any such doctrine. Never- 
 theless, they are a great majority. A man 
 may be at the same time president of a 
 bank, director of a paper-mill, promoter 
 of a land sales company, but because he 
 has his name on a dozen different letter- 
 heads is no cause for concluding that he is 
 the most useful man in the city. He is 
 bound up in things, and the doing of things 
 often shuts men away from doing the one 
 thing which exceeds, both in size and 
 importance, everything else. 
 
 I 
 
 Custom binds upon us many foolish 
 as well as useless things. We follow it, not 
 because we want to, but because we are 
 under its tyrannical sway and dare not do 
 otherwise. Many are slaves to the degree 
 of broken health and ruined homes. 
 
 Martha was evidently possessed of the 
 Idea that the best way to entertain Jesus 
 was to give him a good dinner, and on this 
 she expended her energy. The pots and 
 pans in her pantry held such sway over her 
 that she could not — dared not — break away 
 from them even though the Son of God 
 was In her parlor. One can scarcely con- 
 
 159 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 ceive how she so misjudged the Master, 
 for certainly, to him, a man's life did not 
 consist in the abundance of the things he 
 ate nor in the effect produced on the palate. 
 Jesus was no Epicurean, although he en- 
 joyed the nice things of life. He came 
 "eating and drinking," but these were sim- 
 ply incidents. He enjoyed the fellowship 
 more than the food. But Martha, like so 
 many women, thought the ends of life were 
 fully met when a good dinner was steaming 
 on the table. Is there a guest announced 
 for the home? Then, the grocer is asked 
 for his choicest, the best cloth is laundered, 
 the silver and glass-ware polished, and 
 Martha extends herself on the flavoring I 
 But if her guest judges her by her house- 
 wifely attainments only, then he is unworthy 
 of a place at her table. Our Marthas 
 work themselves almost into nervous col- 
 lapse stirring the surfaces and incidentals 
 of life, but they fail to get a glimmer of 
 the greater Kingdom of peace which the 
 Marys get while sitting at the feet of the 
 Lord. To Martha, Mary was a shirker, 
 and she was so exercised about it that, 
 unladylike, she showed her temper in the 
 presence of her guest. Martha's crimson 
 
 160 
 
MARTHA: THE TYRANNY OF THINGS 
 
 face and heated words still come bursting 
 from many kitchens even to-day. 
 
 It is serious enough that Martha was 
 bound by such ideas, but it is even more 
 serious that she sought to compel another 
 to accept her conception of service. She 
 insisted that her sister should worship at 
 the shrine of the same god, Custom, and 
 she was so insistent that she came to Jesus 
 exclaiming impetuously: "Lord, dost thou 
 not care?" 
 
 And our good women have their rounds 
 of parties, clubs and dinners, and, when 
 another comes among them, they insist that 
 she shall be subject to the same tyranny 
 they enjoy (?); and if she refuses, she is 
 ostracized. There is the sad undercurrent 
 skillfully hidden in the exchange of their 
 shallow ideas, beneath the tawdry display 
 of fashion's nonsense. Sometimes we catch 
 a word of it when two dames get together 
 at the "reception," but every husband knows 
 of the worry, the wonderings, the care-over- 
 nothings, the tired bodies and aching hearts 
 and damaged tempers that return. And 
 what have the dear creatures gained? 
 Nothing but unrest. They do these things 
 because Custom so orders. 
 
 11 161 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 "She has gone to take a much-needed 
 rest;" so the editor of the society column 
 writes. When a business or professional 
 man takes a vacation he usually leaves 
 something behind to show for his burned-up 
 energy, but when Martha takes a vacation 
 she leaves little or nothing behind, save 
 other Marthas plotting her social downfall. 
 
 The twentieth century is a wonderful 
 era; it is like living with Jack and his bean- 
 stalk, or Aladdin and his lamp. But with 
 all our scientific discoveries we have not 
 yet learned the art of being natural; neither 
 will we allow our neighbor to be natural. 
 We approach him with our artificiality, and 
 he, wishing to show that he is "wise," 
 comes back with his. So we live our lives, 
 not as we want to, nor with a view of per- 
 sonal development or enjoyment, but in an 
 unreal atmosphere. The lesser has some- 
 how enlarged its uncanny mouth and 
 stretched its slimy maw until it has finally 
 covered the greater. 
 
 II 
 
 This "tyranny of things" (thanks to 
 Rev. Richard Roberts for the phrase) grew 
 as Insidiously as temporal power, and is 
 
 162 
 
MARTHA: THE TYRANNY OF THINGS 
 
 quite as despotic. We awoke one morning 
 to find it here, and it refuses to be driven 
 away. Were it simply a hobo knocking 
 timidly at our back door, we might not 
 have any great concern about it. But in- 
 stead of a battered hat it wears an iron 
 crown, and it takes possession of our 
 homes just as certainly as it did Martha's 
 kitchen. 
 
 To dwell at length upon the claims 
 modern business makes upon our manhood 
 and its tremendous draughts upon their 
 energies would be to spread out facts al- 
 ready too well known. Take with this the 
 demands of modern society upon our wives 
 and mothers, and it will be seen at once 
 that what gets together within the walls 
 of the home at night is but the fag-ends of 
 individuals who have given their strength 
 to something other than that which should 
 be the most delightful and sacred of all — 
 home. When the grind of business wears 
 the vitality out of men, and women have 
 their nerves rubbed raw by the artificialities 
 of society, it is small wonder that the home 
 does not go just right. Instead of creating 
 and fostering, they have turned it into a 
 dormitory and a lunchery. Men and women 
 
 163 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 owe something more to their companions 
 than the grouches of business and the snob- 
 bery of society, and if these make of us 
 grouches and snobs, then both should be 
 either readjusted or abandoned. Home 
 can not be made by carefully swept carpets 
 and properly served meals; neither does a 
 table covered by the latest books and peri- 
 odicals compensate for the loss of comrade- 
 ship one has the right to feel within his 
 own walls. The "home spirit" is not a 
 sudden creation; it is a matter of growth, 
 and the passing of time, instead of con- 
 stricting and chilling it, should deepen and 
 spiritualize it. When Martha's dinner had 
 been served and her company had departed, 
 what had she gained? Aside from the din- 
 ner she had contributed nothing, and had 
 received less. She had chilled the spirit of 
 the home rather than enriched it. 
 
 Caring for the home is not an end. 
 This does not mean that it should be neg- 
 lected. Dirt and disorder are not con- 
 ducive to the development of the home 
 spirit. But it means that our women should 
 care for their homes, not that they may 
 be the best housekeepers, but that they may 
 be home-makers. She who sweeps and 
 
 164 
 
MARTHA: THE TYRANNY OF THINGS 
 
 dusts simply because It is a part of her 
 housework is still a Martha in the kitchen, 
 but if she sees in the polished surfaces a 
 reflection of the Edenic home, and if her 
 heart beats in anticipation of the blessed 
 companionship which is theirs when "he" 
 returns at night, then even the tune that 
 she hums will somehow distill itself into 
 the very air and linger like sweet savor, 
 blessing and enriching the occupants of that 
 home. 
 
 Pity the healthy woman who rebels at 
 keeping her house in order; likewise pity 
 the one who spends her life and energy in 
 chasing the elusive speck on the parlor 
 chair. Both are in bondage to the tyrant. 
 "Is not the life more than food, and the 
 body than raiment?" It is not a question 
 of whether the furniture Is free from dust, 
 but whether the sons and daughters when 
 they go forth Into life will take the rec- 
 ollection of a parlor faultlessly arranged, or 
 the blessed memory of a mother who chose 
 the better part. Will those sons and daugh- 
 ters seek to re-create in their homes the 
 splendid atmosphere in which their char- 
 acters were developed, or will home have 
 meant to them — nothing? Only God knows 
 
 165 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 how many men are steadied in the storm 
 by the memory of an old home and the; 
 splendid ideals it stood for. 
 
 Ill 
 
 "Things" deal with superficialities. A 
 modern writer very skillfully and interest- 
 ingly enumerates a large number of the 
 improvements which we have at our finger- 
 tips, and then sagely inquires if the race 
 is any happier than when it was in ignorance 
 of them. After all, has modern science 
 and invention contributed anything to the 
 happiness of the race? Be not too hasty 
 in your reply. We are getting no Gray's 
 "Elegies," because we can not take the seven 
 years to grow them; our Shakespeares and 
 Tennysons are long since dead, and, what 
 is still worse, we are not very much con- 
 cerned about it. Superficiality is written in 
 large letters over the most of the modern 
 productions. There is more money in rag- 
 time music (?) than in sonatas! Thank 
 God for the few men who refuse to prosti- 
 tute their art. There is an animal content- 
 ment of which the rational being should 
 never be guilty. Mary's contentment was 
 In food for the soul. 
 
 166 
 
MARTHA: THE TYRANNY OF THINGS'^ 
 
 It is the trivialities of life that swamp 
 the spirit; it beats its wings against the bars 
 of conventionality; it sickens and dies in 
 its cramped quarters because its owner 
 worships things. And the upshot of it all 
 is, we are a worn-out race. Worry has 
 drawn his lines across our foreheads, 
 around our eyes and down from the corners 
 of our mouths. Where we are not bald 
 we are gray; and to what purpose? Be- 
 cause we are slaves of things — things that 
 get us nothing and that benefit no one else. 
 We are bubble-chasers rather than gold- 
 miners. We have tried to fatten our souls 
 on froth rather than getting down into 
 the substance. 
 
 IV 
 
 In speaking of the "one thing,'' I am to 
 some, possibly many, as one that dreams. 
 I speak in an unknown tongue, and there is 
 none to interpret. "Mary hath chosen the 
 good part which shall not be taken from 
 her." We can not gain spiritual culture by 
 proxy. And our complex civilization is 
 making It Increasingly difficult for men to 
 gain It first-handed. We herd In cities by 
 the hundred thousand; we shoot ourselves 
 
 167 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 through holes in the ground or travel by- 
 lightning express; and where is the oppor- 
 tunity for meditation? Can this awful 
 tyranny of things be broken? Possibly not. 
 But what, then, is to become of our friend- 
 ships and fellowships? Are these great 
 instincts to be dwarfed or killed outright? 
 Mary left the kitchen at the sore displeas- 
 ure of her sister: we may have to do like- 
 wise. It is more Important to cultivate a 
 great friendship than to earn a salary of 
 ten thousand dollars; it is more important 
 to have the fellowship, not only of one's own 
 family, but with other spirits who are 
 kindred, than to own the best business block 
 in the city. When "things" bring trouble 
 and anxiety, then we need to break away 
 from their tyranny and seek our friends — 
 and the great Friend. 
 
 O thou great Teacher, we have been 
 the slaves of things so long; custom has 
 begotten within us artificiality and unnatu- 
 ralness. We have become superficial and 
 interested only in the things of the body 
 which have held us so long In their tyran- 
 nous grasp. Help us now to break their 
 chains. We pray that we may give our 
 souls greater attention, and that the one 
 
 168 
 
MARTHA: THE TYRANNY OF THINGS 
 
 thing — the better part — may no longer be 
 neglected, but that we may quietly and 
 reverently sit at thy feet, which is life's 
 better, richer part. 
 
 169 
 
XIV 
 THE SOUL OF A SAMARITAN 
 
 (Luke 17: 11-19.) 
 
 ^IXTHAT splendid literary artists were the 
 ^ Gospel narrators ! With a few bold 
 strokes they bring the whole scene before 
 the reader's imagination with a vividness 
 almost startling. In the choice words that 
 kindle, as well as words that convey exact- 
 ness of meaning, these simple narratives 
 stand without parallel in the literary world. 
 Seldom are their phrases awkward, and still 
 more seldom are they ambiguous. No rule 
 of the writer's art is neglected. Rid the 
 King James Version of the terms which a 
 growing tongue has made obsolete during 
 the last three hundred years, and it is still 
 the most monumental work of the Anglo- 
 Saxon. And yet It is but a translation. 
 
 Luke states that Jesus was on his way to 
 Jerusalem, for the Passover season was 
 approaching. It was a solemn convocation 
 for every pious Jew. Its bitter herbs re- 
 
 170 
 
THE SOUL OF A SAMARITAN 
 
 called both the scourges and the burdens 
 which the Egyptian taskmasters laid upon 
 the backs of the Israelitish fathers in the 
 centuries long ago. In the roasted flesh was 
 the memory of the sacrificed lamb and the 
 bloody door-posts which turned aside the 
 angel of death. And what history Israel 
 had made since the hand of Jehovah had 
 led them out of that river empire ! Some of 
 it was glorious, ringing with power and 
 shimmering with splendor, but much of It 
 must be read sitting in the ash-pit; for 
 through it Is the tread of the Invading 
 Egyptian, the flaunting of the banners of 
 Assyria, the sheen of the spears of Baby- 
 lonia and the Insolence of Rome. And over 
 and through It all Is the baleful shadow of 
 that monstrous worship which was for the 
 most part the cause of all their sorrow — 
 Baal. 
 
 Gone were Moses and Joshua and the 
 stirring campaigns they led; gone David's 
 power and Solomon's splendor; gone the 
 Temple and Its chanting priests; gone the 
 strength of Israel's army; gone Its glory. 
 There Is a genuine pathos In their clinging 
 to such Institutions as the Roman authority 
 would permit. Pitiable husk of a proud 
 
 171 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 nation! And, what was still worse, occupy- 
 ing the very middle section of the land of 
 Abraham was the mongrel race of Samaria, 
 hating Israel so bitterly that passage 
 through the land was frequently denied. 
 Did the prophet speak an untruth when he 
 said: "Israel hath received double for all 
 her sins"? But at this time there seems to 
 have been a lull in the hostihties of the two 
 nations, and Jesus "was passing along the 
 borders," when there came to his ears the 
 old cry, "Have mercy!" from ten loath- 
 some, hideous creatures, despised and driven 
 out by their fellow-men. 
 
 I 
 
 The Western world — thank God! — 
 knows very little of the awfulness of leprosy, 
 that living death of the Orient. We ought 
 to pray God to guide the skilled eyes and 
 intellects of our great physicians to the dis- 
 covery of the remedy for that awful scourge 
 of the East, old as the race, attacking both 
 rich and poor. 
 
 But this "alien" was isolated. "It is 
 not good for man to be alone" was Jeho- 
 vah's statement as lonely Adam wandered 
 about among the flowers of paradise. 
 
 172 
 
THE SOUL OF A SAMARITAN 
 
 There is no man so complete in himself 
 that he does not need the companionship 
 and association of others. True, some 
 dam up every outflowing stream and barri- 
 cade against every incoming influence and 
 live to themselves; but love unexpressed 
 and held within their breasts becomes rancid 
 and bitter, and even the face grows hard 
 and devilish. When the bright spot ap- 
 peared on this man's flesh he was driven 
 away from his home forever, and his only 
 companions were those whose bodies were 
 afflicted like unto his. Occasionally a well 
 man came within crying distance, as had 
 Jesus, but even then they were "standing 
 afar off." 
 
 And I have thought of the aloofness 
 of men from each other, and how we 
 (whether compelled to or not) regard 
 each other with suspicion. Instead of sup- 
 posing, as does the law, that every man is 
 innocent until proven guilty, we regard 
 every man as a rascal until he is tested. 
 We hold ourselves **afar off," and we see 
 to it that the other fellow keeps himself 
 "afar off" also. This man was one of a 
 small coterie, but not from choice; he was 
 not enjoying their fellowship. The incidents; 
 
 173 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 of this narrative show that he was a far 
 more noble and generous soul than those 
 with him. He was the Paul among the 
 prisoners, the Jean Valjean among the 
 criminals, the Ben Hur among the galley- 
 slaves. This forced isolation cut deep into 
 his sensitive soul, and in addition to the 
 disease eating towards his vitals, of which 
 he was conscious all the time, there was 
 that sadder realization- — he had no friend. 
 When you pass a battered face on the 
 street, did it ever occur to you that beneath 
 It was a heart equally bruised? What 
 possibilities of friendship and fellowship 
 have been crushed and blasted In that 
 heart! Had he enjoyed the early and 
 latter rain Instead of the parching winds 
 and autumn frosts, he might have put the 
 best of us to shame with his greatness of 
 soul. But now he Is "afar off," on the 
 same level with others — cynical, sullen, de- 
 feated — the last drop of faith In humanity, 
 or In himself, wrung from his heart — a 
 heart that might have beaten as sympa- 
 thetically as John's. It Is not a time for 
 God-thanking that we are not as other 
 men, but rather a time to be asking If our 
 hands have held the Iron sword that has 
 
 174 
 
THE SOUL OF A SAMARITAN 
 
 pierced a brother's soul. Possibly / have 
 contributed to his ^'leprosy." 
 
 Life consists in doing things, and he 
 is not a man who is content in idleness. 
 Neither were we intended to drive our 
 mental and physical machinery beyond ca- 
 pacity, using, day after day, the last drop 
 of energy. If there was anything the 
 Master taught without mentioning it, it 
 was the conservation of strength, the quiet 
 seasons with friends, the hours of medita- 
 tion to which every person Is entitled, and 
 without which every one is certain to 
 suffer spiritual as well as intellectual 
 necrosis. If there Is one doctrine to be 
 emphasized. It Is the gospel of relaxation; 
 we are too tense. 
 
 But, whether the muscles be physical or 
 mental, they must not be allowed to grow 
 flaccid and useless through inactivity. We 
 must not fear to attempt the greatest tasks 
 nor refuse to offer our backs to the heaviest 
 burdens. What shall be said of the man 
 whose soul should be on fire, whose heart 
 should be bursting with a mighty desire 
 for God, and yet Is alien to his purposes 
 and negative to his Kingdom? Everywhere 
 are great, stalwart minds, lives being burned 
 
 175 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 up, wasted In the accumulation of the things 
 that can not abide. Those lives should be 
 used for Christ. Men and women lean 
 upon him for eternal salvation, and yet 
 stand "afar off" when the call to service 
 comes. There is too much "alien" within 
 us and not enough Christian patriotism. 
 
 II 
 
 There was a distance between the leper 
 and his fellow-men that could not be 
 bridged; the chasm was there. The analogy 
 between leprosy and sin has been drawn 
 so many times that I shall not attempt it 
 here. But I am thinking of another great 
 company who "stand afar off." It may be 
 true that their eyes, literally, are not on 
 us; that their hands are not outstretched 
 in our direction; that their ears are not 
 listening for our words, or their hearts 
 beating for our gospel; they "are dead in 
 trespasses and sins." These are they from 
 whom our great city churches are retreat- 
 ing, the polyglot masses who live between 
 the business blocks of the city and the resi- 
 dential boulevards, "little Bohemias, Aus- 
 trlas, Russlas." And over a great number 
 of these even the Roman Church has lost 
 
 176 
 
THE SOUL OF A SAMARITAN 
 
 its power. Our American population has 
 preserved its respectability by building great 
 churches approachig in splendor the medieval 
 cathedrals, both in size and beauty; but 
 the distance between the church on the 
 avenue and the * 'little Italy" is more than 
 ocean wide. If the American churches can 
 not Christianize the incoming alien, how 
 can we expect the outgoing missionary with 
 his meager equipment to Christianize the 
 heathen world? We expect our missionaries 
 to do for millions what our millions do not 
 do for thousands. The average city Chris- 
 tian is farther from Russia on Blank Street 
 than Russia in Warsaw. We thrill at the 
 prospect of carrying the Protestant gospel 
 into Poland, but we do not have the faintest 
 heart flutter at the splendid opportunity of 
 opening a Bible school among the foreigners 
 in our own city. We "stand afar off" and 
 the alien "stands afar off," and how can 
 God bridge the distance? He may do it, 
 but we can be certain that this end of the 
 span will not rest in our cold hearts. If 
 there is from us no outgoing sympathy to 
 these men by the wayside, then there will 
 be no incoming blessing to our hearts. 
 
 Men have gone on long pilgrimages to 
 
 12 177 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 get the rude songs of the American Indians; 
 they have endured great privations to record 
 the folk-songs of the children of the desert; 
 and they have sought, even at the peril of 
 their lives, the weird music of the Congo. 
 But where is the man who has attempted 
 the analysis of the pathos, the sob, in this 
 alien cry: "Jesus, Master, have mercy!"? 
 No one save he who has had it wrung 
 from his own lips In bitterness, and who 
 has felt as well the insurge of divine grace, 
 knows the music of: "God so loved the 
 world that he gave." 
 
 It is not the cry of one that fears the 
 lash, not the cry of the cringing coward, 
 but It Is the cry of a great soul sinking for 
 the last time. Men for whom the Master 
 died, poor and weak though they may be, 
 yet they are the children of the Lord. What 
 practice we need In showing mercy! We 
 are such an abrupt folk; we thrust out our 
 card stating briskly that "we have come 
 to show mercy" — professional mercy- 
 showers! Or we do what Is still more 
 unfeeling — delegate our mercy-showing to 
 associations and committees, because that 
 rids us of the bother. The greatest needs 
 in this world are not met by checks on the 
 
 178 
 
THE SOUL OF A SAMARITAN 
 
 bank; men are not seeking money; they 
 are seeking friends, 
 
 III 
 
 The ten went to show themselves to the 
 priest, and as they went they were healed. 
 Wonderful transformation! But nine for- 
 got their Benefactor. Only this ^'stranger" 
 returned to Jesus. If to him life's water 
 had been Marah, he has now reached the 
 springs of Elim; if he had descended into 
 the abyss of pain, he is now with Jesus on 
 the mountain-top of joy. Need we search 
 further for the elements of greatness? Did 
 Jesus ever touch human experience more 
 vitally? Gratefulness is one of the very 
 first essentials in spiritual development. 
 
 Only the tithe returned after the won- 
 derful cleansing. Men come to the altars 
 of the Lord in our century beating their 
 breasts abjectly, crying: "Mercy! Mercy!" 
 Yet the majority of them depart never 
 thinking of him whose divine compassion 
 has loosed them from the pangs of death. 
 How long since you cried to him for spir- 
 itual health, and have you done as did the 
 nine? Turn back to-day and praise him. 
 
 There is an interesting parallel here: 
 
 179 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 "They lifted up their voices, saying, . . . 
 mercy," and he glorified God *'with a loud 
 voiced He glorified God with the same 
 vigor that he implored mercy. In asking 
 for mercy he was seeking impression; in 
 glorifying God he was seeking expression. 
 It would seem that men exhaust their 
 strength in asking, for they are usually 
 silent in thanksgiving. Christians go about 
 in silence when they should be glorifying 
 God with a loud voice, and the loudest 
 voice is not necessarily vocal. The most 
 effective preaching is not the harangue of 
 an air-sawing, red-faced pulpiteer; it is 
 rather the consecrated servants of God who 
 in a prayerful and businesslike manner set 
 about the fulfillment of our Lord^s last 
 commandment to preach the gospel to every 
 creature. 
 
 We expect that there will be manifest 
 gratitude, and we are prepared for the 
 loud voice of thanksgiving, and we are 
 not surprised when he falls on his face 
 before the Master. The narrative flows 
 along naturally and smoothly until, with a 
 severe jerk, Luke brings the reader up 
 with: "And he was a Samaritan." Every 
 emphasis Is placed on ^^he^ The nine, 
 
 180 
 
THE SOUL OF A SAMARITAN 
 
 who evidently were Jews and from whom 
 gratitude and praise would be expected, 
 were not there; but the one who showed 
 such profound gratefulness was a Samar- 
 itan. What depths of heart Jesus stirred 
 in the most unexpected places. Samaria 
 was a sterile field and, by the Jews, to be 
 avoided, but Jesus, by chance it would 
 seem, revealed two very rare jewels — the 
 woman at the well, and this leper — and 
 what might be said of the good Samaritan 
 of the parable? There are Samaritans 
 all about you; be slow to condemn. Pray 
 God that you are not found among the 
 nine. 
 
 Jesus, thou blessed Master, behold us 
 marked and scarred by sin, some of our 
 faculties impaired, some ruined; have thou 
 mercy upon us. As at thy word the cur- 
 rents of life throbbed through the bodies 
 of those men on the borders of despised 
 Samaria, so at thy command may our 
 spirits answer to the Holy Spirit whom thou 
 didst send into the world. Give us loud 
 voices to glorify thee, and hearts that will 
 not forget, and a faith that makes us 
 whole. 
 
 181 
 
XV 
 
 PONTIUS PILATE: THE SIN OF COM- 
 PROMISE 
 
 (Luke 23: 13-25.) 
 
 pOSSIBLY Pontius Pilate has had more 
 sermonic mention than all the apostles 
 save Peter, John and Paul. Men have not 
 hesitated to place him in the same company 
 with Judas; they have found it exceedingly 
 difficult to deal fairly with him because of 
 the part he took in the execution of our 
 Lord. However, let us attempt a dispas- 
 sionate study of this most tragic event in 
 the life of the procurator. 
 
 Even a cursory reading of these brief 
 New Testament accounts will reveal a very 
 complex situation, as well as some of the 
 terrible influences which beat against the 
 Roman judge. . To a limited degree the 
 reader is conscious of the fanatical spirit 
 and the intolerant bigotry of that Oriental 
 mob which surged about the procurator's 
 hall of judgment. He is conscious, too, 
 
 182 
 
THE SIN OF COMPROMISE 
 
 that back of that rabble was a group of 
 devilishly cunning priests industriously feed- 
 ing the mob spirit in the name of religion 
 and patriotism, and it was by the mob 
 these priests knew they could obtain their 
 insane desire — the death of the Prophet. 
 
 And yet we find it practically impossible 
 to project ourselves back over the centuries 
 and understand the position in which Pilate 
 found himself that most memorable Friday 
 morning in the history of the Hebrew race. 
 For days the Jewish pilgrims by the thou- 
 sand had been pouring into the Holy City. 
 Unless the governor had a considerable 
 body of troops at call, a mob was a very 
 nasty thing to handle at any time, much less 
 at the present, when Its number might very 
 quickly run into thousands. It might de- 
 velop Into a general resurrection costing the 
 Roman Government great trouble and ex- 
 pense, and Pilate was responsible to the 
 Emperor. 
 
 Pilate's personal and official history, 
 together with what he might have done, 
 does not concern this discussion. Any one 
 interested In the former Is referred to the 
 encyclopedia, and If In the latter, to the 
 speculations of his own Imagination. We 
 
 183 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 have the record of what he did, and that 
 is what concerns us. 
 
 I 
 
 If any have the idea that Pilate was 
 an incompetent, let them consult the records 
 of his official life. He had a long term 
 of service under Tiberius Caesar. The very- 
 fact that he was assigned to what was 
 perhaps the most difficult province in the 
 Roman Empire shows that he was by no 
 means a man of ordinary ability. Where 
 was there a people with a richer history, 
 with more ancient traditions; a people more 
 fanatically religious, or who possessed a 
 more bitter contempt for their national 
 neighbors, than Israel? Clearly, then, he 
 who represented the Roman Government 
 among such a nation must possess both tact 
 and judgment. 
 
 Yet with all his ability Pilate was simply 
 a man, and this his critics seem to forget. 
 If a man's position requires that he take 
 the initiative in great questions, that he 
 pass final judgment on important points, 
 that he administer government, there is 
 with all this the possibility of mistake. If 
 the issues with which he deals are so im- 
 
 184 
 
THE SIN OF COMPROMISE 
 
 portant, then the mistakes he makes will 
 be correspondingly serious. At best the 
 mind of man is fallible. 
 
 Little did Pilate suppose that his fame 
 throughout all generations would rest upon 
 some two or three hours' association with 
 an obscure Galilean. Yet had it not been 
 for this incident, what would the twentieth- 
 century world know of him? Does it know 
 his predecessors? We have to ransack his- 
 tory to find even their names. In the process 
 of the development of God's purpose Pilate 
 played his part, not as a weakling, but as a 
 typical Roman official. 
 
 If you can, look through Pilate's eyes, 
 feel with his heart. If the Jew hated the 
 Roman, then the Roman had an equally 
 profound contempt for the son of Israel. 
 They were to the procurator nothing save 
 a means by which to gather a fortune, and 
 that quickly. This accomplished, he in- 
 tended to return to the city by the Tiber 
 and enjoy life as a Roman patrician. 
 
 But on this Friday morning of the 
 Passover week, before the morning sun- 
 light had scarcely touched the spires and 
 domes of the Holy City, members of the 
 Sanhedrin, headed by the chief priests, to- 
 
 185 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 gather with such others as were interested 
 and curious, brought a prisoner before the 
 governor with the demand that he pass 
 immediate sentence — the death penalty. 
 Pilate's first words were what would be 
 expected from any upright official: *'What 
 accusation bring ye against this man?'' 
 Their reply, "If he were not an evil-doer 
 we should not have delivered him over to 
 you," was so indefinite that the judge sought 
 further evidence. They had no charge save 
 that they hated the Christ, but they thought 
 because they — the Sanhedrin — demanded 
 Christ's death, Pilate would ratify their 
 decision without further examination. But 
 the Roman was a better official than they 
 supposed! As they had no definite charge, 
 he questioned the prisoner, with the result 
 that Pilate, pagan that he was, understood 
 that Christ had done nothing worthy of 
 death, and so announced: "I find no fault 
 in him." Could better official conduct be 
 expected? 
 
 Every man is either in the mob accusing 
 Jesus, or In the Praetorlum declaring: "I 
 find no fault In him." Men rail at him; 
 they pervert and distort his teaching; they 
 accuse him falsely; yet when their motives 
 
 186 
 
THE SIN OF COMPROMISE 
 
 are laid bare, it is found that the prince of 
 darkness dwells in their hearts. Satan found 
 nothing in the Christ, though he tried him 
 by temptation and death. 
 
 II 
 
 Here the governor should have stopped. 
 Thus far he would have been safe, with 
 no blot against him and nothing to explain. 
 Had he shown the same iron purpose he 
 did an hour or two later when he cut the 
 priests off sharply with, *'What I have 
 written I have written," the story would 
 have been very different. But he wanted 
 to throw a sop to the Jewish hierarchy, so 
 he said: *'I will therefore chastise him and 
 let him go." If, as he had just announced, 
 he found no fault in him, then where in the 
 name of justice had he the right to "chas- 
 tise him"? He suggested a compromise, 
 and the keen-eyed devils of Jewry saw it. 
 If the governor were willing to chastise an 
 innocent man, he could be forced further 
 if their clamor were loud enough. When 
 a man compromises on the right, his self- 
 respect bids him adieu, and this was the 
 beginning of Pilate's real trouble. Then 
 he went still further in the compromise in 
 
 187 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 setting the two prisoners before the mob and 
 giving them their choice. The priests had 
 ''fixed" the multitude, and their hoarse cry 
 at once answered: "Away with this man; 
 crucify him!" 
 
 There has never been a more awful 
 hour in the history of the race; never have 
 more horrible and blasphemous screams 
 issued from the throats of men than those 
 that came from the mouths of this fiendish 
 mob stirred up by the spiritual ( ?) leaders 
 of Israel. This was the ominous roar of the 
 oncoming storm; each moment it increased 
 in fury despite the efforts of Pilate to calm 
 it. Jesus spoke to the stormy waves of 
 Galilee and they obeyed, but the Roman 
 procurator could neither speak nor threaten 
 this storm into submission. If ever hell 
 turned itself inside out and spued its venom 
 over the earth, it was at this tragic hour. 
 See the miter of the high priest as with 
 stately tread he moved before the multi- 
 tude; see the company of lesser priests, the 
 ragged rabble, the troubled Roman judge, 
 and see the silent, majestic Christ; hear the 
 pandemonium and the blasphemous shrieks. 
 Lear and Macbeth and Othello are cheap 
 and colorless in comparison. Three times 
 
 188 
 
THE SIN OF COMPROMISE 
 
 the governor raises the question, and three 
 times his voice is drowned in the insane 
 roar of the tempest. In the midst of all 
 that hissing, seething, boiling mass stands 
 Jesus, the calmest of all. He had prayed 
 It through the night before in the garden 
 of Gethsemane. Even now across the cen- 
 turies, in the ebb of the tempest, we can 
 catch the first words of the governor's ques- 
 tion, "Why, what evil — ?" and then comes 
 the mad surge, stronger and fiercer each 
 time: *'Crucify him, crucify him! Away 
 with him! Give us BarabbasI" God pity 
 the Roman! He was trying, but with 
 miserable success. Reason with that mob? 
 Reason with a Dakota blizzard? Reason 
 with a wounded grizzly? Reason with the 
 tropical sun? Pilate was but a man; con- 
 demn him not too severely. 
 
 Ill 
 
 When Pilate proposed the compromise 
 he set the wedge, and the enemies of Jesus 
 hammered it most vigorously, and there 
 could be no doubt as to the result. "Their 
 voices prevailed." Our axiom, the truth 
 of which Is seriously questioned, is: "The 
 voice of the people is the voice of God." 
 
 189 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 But In this case the voice of the people Is 
 none other than the echo of hell. Do you 
 say that this mob was not representative 
 of Israel? But the chief priests were 
 leading it! It may be possible that the 
 good people were still in their homes, and, 
 again, it may be true that they were not ! 
 
 When the people think out a question 
 and act sanely and dispassionately, then 
 there may be some truth in the axiom. But 
 the occasions when men do that are patheti- 
 cally few. We are a ^'touch-and-go" race. 
 If a skillful orator makes an address that 
 pleases us, up go our hats and In go our 
 votes, and that passes as "the voice of 
 God." Yet this is the voice that spells out 
 defeat. Democracy gives men liberty of 
 speech and act, but, unfortunately. It can 
 not give them brains! Scarcely seven days 
 before, this very mob were casting their 
 garments and strewing palm branches be- 
 fore Jesus as he entered the city, crying: 
 "Hosanna! Blessed is he that cometh In 
 the name of the Lord." And now they 
 are yelling themselves hoarse for his de- 
 struction; and yet *'the people have spoken." 
 So? These are the voices that prevail In 
 our cities. In jury verdicts, In municipal 
 
 190 
 
THE SIN OF COMPROMISE 
 
 elections; and they always mean defeat. 
 
 Matthew says a "tumult was arising," 
 and Mark says Pilate "wished to content 
 the multitude." But now all opportunity 
 for retreat was gone forever; the kitten 
 had suddenly become a tiger. Spectacularly 
 the governor washed his hands before them, 
 but what cared they for his dramatics so 
 long as they had Jesus in their power? 
 There was but one right course and of that 
 Pilate was well aware, else why so reluctant 
 to proceed with the trial? 
 
 The last line is the saddest of all, "But 
 Jesus he delivered up to their will;" that 
 is, he threw the lamb into the hyena's den. 
 
 In touching the procurator's experience 
 Jesus showed him pitifully weak, wavering 
 between the straight course and compromise, 
 and that upon a question of life and death, 
 and finally falling into a pit his enemies 
 had digged for him. It shows him con- 
 demning the innocent and bidding the guilty 
 go free; it reveals him the assassin of inno- 
 cence and virtue and proffering the olive 
 branch to treason and murder. Such official 
 acts as his are the cause of mobs, anarchy, 
 communism and revolution. Sifted down, 
 Pilate was the cause of the crucifixion of 
 
 191 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 Jesus; he wavered, and that was like oil 
 on the flames. 
 
 When the Christ touches your experi- 
 ence what will he find — amazing weakness, 
 or splendid strength? No matter how 
 great our ability may be, or how important 
 the position we hold, there must be such 
 strength of heart that compromise is 
 impossible. 
 
 O blessed Christ, thou standest in our 
 judgment-hall with closed lips, but with 
 open eyes and heart, watching our struggles. 
 The shrieks of the assassins of virtue and 
 innocence are hissing from the throats of 
 the rabble. They are seeking to kill thee 
 in our modern life and to rob the suffering 
 sons of men of thy holy influence forever. 
 Help us not to waver in this tumult, nor 
 be frightened into suggesting compromise. 
 Give us the strength to drive them from 
 the judgment-seat, that thou mayest have 
 the glory and honor which are thine. 
 
 192 
 
XVI 
 
 SIMON OF CYRENE: COMPULSORY 
 SERVICE 
 
 (Matt. 27:32.) 
 
 "LTAMLET, prince of Denmark," never 
 had any bodily existence, yet he Is by 
 far the greatest character In the literary 
 world. Neither Napoleon, whose military 
 genius thrilled all Europe, nor yet Wash- 
 ington, whose statesmanship created the 
 new empire of the Western Hemisphere, 
 has commanded half the serious attention 
 given this creature of Shakespeare's imagina- 
 tion, whose existence is confined to some 
 130 pages written more than three hundred 
 years ago. Think ''Tragedy" and you think 
 *'Hamlet." 
 
 But for real tragedy the story told in 
 the closing chapters of the Gospels is at 
 the same time the most amazing as well as 
 the most heart-gripping known in the annals 
 of men. Beside it "Hamlet" is an idle 
 tale. Neither history nor the imagination 
 
 13 193 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 has ever approximated these terrible scenes. 
 From Gethsemane's garden to Joseph's tomb 
 there is that stately, yet sublimely awful, 
 procession of calamitous events. In this 
 drama there is no "drunken porter," as in 
 "Macbeth," or no "fool," as in "Lear"; 
 there is no relaxation, for the stage is set 
 and the atmosphere grows each moment 
 more tense and stifling. Portentous clouds 
 boil up on the horizon and are caught and 
 whirled and torn by the oncoming tempest. 
 There is the angry quiver of the lightning 
 and the muffled growl of the thunder in the 
 darkening heavens, and then the storm 
 breaks in crashing fury. In its ebb and 
 flow one hears the shrill crowing of the 
 cock and the sob of the broken-hearted dis- 
 ciple; he catches something of the coarse 
 buffoonery of the soldiers and the despair- 
 ing wail of the traitor; the splash of the 
 stupefying liquid dropping back into the 
 vessel, and, most terrible of all, the sharp 
 staccato of the hammer on the spikes. 
 
 Do you ask to see hell at work? Then, 
 do not follow the imagination of Milton or 
 Dante, but follow the Christ to the cross. In 
 the barracks the cohort of Roman soldiers 
 gather; they remove the garments of Jesus 
 
 194 
 
COMPULSORY SERVICE 
 
 and throw about his shoulders an old scarlet 
 and blue military cloak. They plait a 
 crown of thorns and press it down upon 
 his head; they smite him with reeds and 
 the palms of their hands; they spit upon 
 him. Mockingly they kneel and raise high 
 their ribald shouts: "Hail, king of the 
 Jews!" Tiring of their horseplay, they 
 reclothe Jesus and lead him forth to be 
 crucified. As the procession passed out of 
 the gate of the city, Jesus fell beneath the 
 weight of the cross. Seeing it was physi- 
 cally impossible for him to carry it farther, 
 the officer in charge laid hold on Simon 
 of Cyrene and compelled him to "bear the 
 cross after Jesus." 
 
 I 
 
 "Seek, and ye shall find," said Jesus; 
 but we often find what we are not seeking 
 because we are strongly human and are In 
 search of those things the possession of 
 which we think will give us pleasure. 
 Trouble-hunting Is a melancholy pastime, 
 and he who engages In It Is afflicted with 
 a very unfortunate mania. Man by nature 
 chooses the sunshine. And In his choice of 
 a business or a profession he selects the 
 
 195 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 one that promises the maximum of satis- 
 faction and the minimum of discomfort. 
 Yet hard work is no barrier to enjoyment; 
 in fact, we are the happiest when we work 
 the hardest, providing the task is to our 
 liking. Who has not heard of the long 
 hours Mr. Edison spends in his laboratory, 
 working on some important invention — in- 
 credible hours without sleep or even food? 
 It is the thing a man is compelled to do that 
 makes him fret and that ages him prema- 
 turely. 
 
 Were I seeking an earthly paradise I 
 would betake myself to the South Sea 
 Islands, where Nature's arms are always 
 open, where the soft sea breeze kisses the 
 rose and the magnolia, where food is hang- 
 ing from every branch and the only shelter 
 needed is the shadow of the palm. By the 
 blue waves of an eternally summer sea, 
 under a bluer sky, I would "quaff this kind 
 nepenthe" and dream, but never work, 
 because Nature supplies my every need. 
 
 Yet with all this splendid prodigality, 
 the South Sea Islands have not produced 
 any great men. It takes a condition quite 
 the reverse from bright skies and tropical 
 landscapes to develop art and inventioHo 
 
 196 
 
COMPULSORY SERVICE 
 
 It is significant that, practically without 
 exception, all the great civilizations have 
 been developed in the temperate zone, 
 where men have been compelled to meet 
 daily the rough changes of climate — burn- 
 ing heat, bitter cold, raging tempest. From 
 these they had to have protection and shel- 
 ter, hence the philosophy of clothes and 
 the evolution of the home with its conve- 
 niences and decorations. Climate is a very 
 compelling force among men. 
 
 What is true of our external relation- 
 ships is also true of our character develop- 
 ment. The easy path does not make great 
 Christians any more than the salubrious 
 climate of the South Sea Islands makes 
 great men. Here is the example of Jesus: 
 it is the way of blood, of torture, of death. 
 He had a goal before him, but to reach it 
 he had to pass through Pilate's judgment- 
 hall and up the steep ascent of Calvary. In 
 our Christian development we may expect 
 grim faces at the doorway summoning us 
 to the distasteful, perhaps the repugnant, and 
 pointing to the seemingly impossible, and 
 thither we must go. 
 
 Attempt such? And why not? If the 
 surroundings are hostile, then they should 
 
 197 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 be a stirring challenge to meet them. It is 
 said that Beethoven "loved to let the winds 
 and the storms beat upon his bare head, and 
 see the dazzling play of the lightning." 
 There was something about the riotous fury 
 of the tempest that called to his genius. So 
 I believe great resistance is called forth by 
 the presence of great issues, the decision of 
 which means destiny. 
 
 II 
 
 Simon was probably a merchant from 
 the North African province of Cyrene and 
 had come to Jerusalem for business and 
 religion, making his business visit at the 
 time of the Passover. He little suspected 
 that an ignoble service would be thrust upon 
 him, yet a service which would forever 
 glorify his name. In this act the reader 
 gets a glimpse of the insolence of Rome. 
 Simon was a peaceful citizen from a far- 
 away province, intent on his own business 
 and apparently going in the opposite direc- 
 tion. Instead of taking one of that yelling 
 rabble which had so clamorously demanded 
 the execution of Christ, and laying the 
 beams of the cross upon him, the rough 
 hand of authority was laid upon one who 
 
 198 
 
COMPULSORY SERVICE 
 
 was not only not connected with the tragedy, 
 but who was Ignorant of the whole proce- 
 dure, for *'he was coming in from the 
 country." 
 
 Jesus was suffering as one of the most 
 Ignominious criminals of the empire, and 
 to be ''compelled" (note the word) to walk 
 after him and bear the instrument of tor- 
 ture Implied that Simon was of the same 
 class, or was, at least. In sympathy with 
 Christ's teaching and work. 
 
 But may there not have been a reason 
 why Simon was drafted Into service? Men 
 will stop to look at almost any kind of a 
 procession, and Simon was human. There 
 Is also a latent reservoir of pity In the heart 
 of every man, unless cruelty has dried It up. 
 When the Cyrenian saw the weakened 
 Christ sway and fall beneath the weight of 
 the cross, saw the pallid face and the 
 dark hair matted with dust and blood, 
 could he do other than stop? What would 
 you have done? Is It Improbable that an 
 unconscious cry escaped his lips, and this 
 was what called the soldiers' attention to 
 him? "Pity Him? then bear his burden." 
 
 Can any man look upon this portrait 
 of the suffering Christ and not be profound- 
 
 199 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE^ 
 
 ly stirred? No matter how hard may be 
 his heart, there is something tremendously 
 gripping about this narrative, and he comes 
 back to it again and again. 
 
 It is true that this sad story holds the 
 attention and arouses the sympathetic emo- 
 tions, but, if that is all, then Hugo and 
 Dickens do as much. The strength of it 
 is not in its literary finish, nor yet in its 
 remarkable simplicity; it is rather in the 
 sublime facts it portrays and the marvelous 
 results it secures; it makes of men new 
 creatures. When I read "Quo Vadis" or 
 *'Ben Hur" I am interested for the time, 
 but I can lay the volume aside and the 
 impression soon passes, but not so with 
 this. There is something so compelling 
 about it that it takes hold of every red 
 corpuscle and clutches every muscular fiber; 
 and, more than that, it filters down into that 
 mysterious alembic, the mind, where Reason 
 and Will sit as hooded judges, and there 
 preaches its solemn truth. Flee from it? 
 Perhaps; but you will return and say with 
 Thomas: *'My Lord and my God." 
 
 It revolutionized Paul's life. It sent 
 him journeying across miasmic plains and 
 through robber-infested hills; it sent him 
 
 200 
 
COMPULSORY SERVICE 
 
 over rough seas and on weary pilgrimages. 
 Like his illustrious Jewish sire, he "went 
 out not knowing whither he went" and not 
 knowing what was before him, save bonds 
 and afflictions in every city; the dungeon 
 yawned for him and the arena awaited. Yet 
 when the executioner's ax was raised above 
 him he shouted triumphantly: "I have fought 
 a good fight; there is laid up for me the 
 crown." Paul was compelled to go with 
 Jesus; he could not do otherwise and be 
 true to himself. And ten thousand others 
 have followed in his train because they 
 could not resist his passionate appeal, his 
 matchless heroism, his splendidly rounded 
 character and his enthusiastic teaching, as 
 well as his magnanimous invitation and 
 wonderful promises. He is the delight of 
 the righteous and the despair of the wicked. 
 He has changed the despotisms of earth 
 into great, liberty-breathing democracies, and 
 has taught men to love their neighbors as 
 themselves. 
 
 Ill 
 
 When we make a historical study of the 
 events In the life of our Lord, particularly 
 those in the last two or three days prior to 
 
 201 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 the crucifixion, there are many places where 
 we would have been glad to have stepped 
 in and helped him. If those who were 
 with him could have seen him as we see 
 him through the experiences of twenty cen- 
 turies, with all the blessed influence he has 
 exerted upon mankind, as well as the hope 
 and comfort he has been to the world, they, 
 too, might have treated him very differently. 
 But human nature is one of the few things 
 that remain constant, and, were the condi- 
 tions reversed and we placed back two 
 thousand years, we might be found among 
 the rabble. By the grace of God we are 
 what we are. 
 
 For centuries the Messianic hope 
 throbbed In the hearts of all patriotic 
 Jews. Occasionally the spirit of prophecy 
 stirred the breast of a vine-dresser or a 
 herdsman, and he broke the silence with 
 thrilling recitals of His mission and mag- 
 nificent descriptions of His character, 
 couched in wonderful imagery and breath- 
 ing with poetic power. But when the 
 Messiah actually stood before their eyes, 
 he possessed no form or beauty that they 
 desired him; he was despised and rejected, 
 this Man of sorrows. If they had *'known 
 
 202 
 
COMPULSORY SERVICE 
 
 him," the high priest might not have incited 
 the worthless rabble to cry: *'Crucify!" 
 Simon would have gladly borne the cross, 
 and Judas would not have sold him for 
 eighteen dollars because he "esteemed him 
 not," nor would his disciples have forsaken 
 him; in short, the crucifixion would not have 
 taken place. 
 
 There are few things sadder than to be 
 willfully and persistently misunderstood. It 
 would seem that Jesus was never quite able 
 to get his purposes "over," as the drama- 
 tists would say. His brothers and sisters 
 misunderstood him; his disciples were "slow 
 of heart"; the leading men of his people 
 accused him of having a devil. How 
 lonely was the Son of God; none but the 
 Father understood him. 
 
 And as late in the history of Christianity 
 as this, men are still trying to make Jesus 
 say perverse things. We owe it to Christ 
 as a matter of common justice to study his 
 claims most carefully before we criticize 
 adversely. Men continue to say harsh and 
 unkind things about the Church and all it 
 is supposed to represent, when, in fact, 
 they have never given the subject an hour's 
 honest attention. This is the class that 
 
 203 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 crucified Jesus, that clamored for the death 
 of Paul, that was the tool in the hands of 
 cunning and infamous churchmen during 
 the Inquisition to crush men who dared 
 think, that fought (vainly, thank God!) 
 the Reformation. These are the ones who 
 think the caricatures of Puck and Judge 
 represent real types of the Christian min- 
 istry! Neither the Church nor its ministry 
 is above criticism (in fact, it is invited) ; 
 but it makes a difference whether it is a 
 sage or an ass that speaks. * Let the critic 
 be constructive. 
 
 Let us also apply this principle of criti- 
 cism to individuals as well. It is easy to 
 attribute a man's acts to base motives and 
 to charge him with teaching a pernicious 
 doctrine. But he who does so would do 
 well to remember the word of Jesus: "With 
 what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged." 
 Simon bore the burden of Jesus, but 
 \ Jesus was bearing a greater burden for 
 1^ ^ Simon. It is that awful burden that presses 
 Hi every man to the earth, the burden of sin. 
 I I "iSiw'' has been sandpapered and puttied and 
 painted and whitewashed and called soft 
 names so long that our modern world is in 
 danger of thinking the old serpent is tooth- 
 
 204 
 
COMPULSORY SERVICE 
 
 less and harmless; that It is only a bogey 
 from the Middle Ages to frighten the inno- 
 cent. Before that conclusion is accepted 
 as final, note these words carefully: "Then 
 the soldiers of the governor took Jesus 
 into the Prastorium, and gathered unto him 
 the whole band. And they stripped him, 
 and put on him a scarlet robe. And they 
 platted a crown of thorns and put it upon 
 his head, and a reed in his right hand; and 
 they kneeled down before him, and mocked 
 him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And 
 they spat upon him, and took the reed and 
 smote him on the head. And when they 
 had mocked him, they took off from him 
 the robe, and put on his garments, and led 
 him away to crucify him." This is the 
 picture of sin carried to its logical conclu- 
 sion. There is nothing too sacred for Its 
 villainy, nothing too holy to escape the 
 cross. 
 
 From the highest heights to the deepest 
 depths the Master came, and on his blood- 
 stained vesture is written: "King of kings 
 and Lord of lords." He "saw the travail 
 of his soul and was satisfied." This Is holy 
 ground; tread lightly. Here the Son of 
 God struggled alone, his human friends 
 
 205 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 fleeing and the face of his Father veiled, 
 but eternal life was born. 
 
 O righteous Son of God, we would hide 
 our faces from the agony thou didst endure 
 for us. We have seen the cruelty, the 
 mockery, the base indignity which devilish 
 men heaped upon thee. We have walked 
 by thy side as thou didst tread the Via 
 Dolorosa, And when thou didst fall be- 
 neath the cross, we saw another made to 
 bear its ignominious load. So thou didst 
 bear our transgressions. 
 
 Yet the things which thy blessed hands 
 have touched have been strangely glorified 
 — the thorny crown, the rough garments, 
 the forced service of the Cyrenian. The 
 myrtle blossoms at the foot of the cross, 
 and the rose and the ivy, have twined about 
 its rough, ignoble beams, but thou art here, 
 nearer than hands and feet, nearer than 
 breathing. Thy holy life and blessed 
 example compel us; lead thou us on. 
 
 206 
 
XVII 
 
 BARABBAS: VICARIOUS SUFFERING 
 
 (Matt. 27: 15-18.) 
 
 TJTE is the best musical composer who is 
 "■• the most skillful in working up his 
 climaxes. To produce the effect he has 
 in mind he calls upon the skill of his orches- 
 tra, the vocal and histrionic ability of his 
 singers and the chorus arrangement. The 
 score is carefully planned and the phrasing 
 critically studied; every ascending step in 
 the "ladder" is calculated with splendid 
 judgment. The power and timbre of each 
 instrument is weighed and the genius of the 
 artists challenged. All these things, supple- 
 mented by the tricks of stagecraft, enable 
 the composer to thrust the climax of his 
 production before the eyes and upon the 
 ears of his audience. 
 
 In this tragedy the movement is con- 
 stantly towards a tremendous finale, and 
 the nearer It approaches the more increased 
 is the tempo, the more rapid is the action, 
 
 207 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 the more intense the atmosphere; until, 
 with a wild plunge and furious shriek, the 
 clangor of the final crescendo surges over 
 the beholder. And then it cuts off suddenly 
 — as suddenly as the conductor's baton cuts 
 off the thunder of his musicians — and there 
 is naught but a groan, a woman's sob, a 
 councilor's quiet request; then — night 
 
 In the midst of this wild demonstration 
 the Roman governor introduced another 
 face, one the Jews knew very well. It 
 belonged to a man who was guilty of sedi- 
 tion, and, more, he had violated the funda- 
 mental commandment against taking life. 
 He was one of those peculiar degenerates 
 whose race is by no means extinct, possess- 
 ing the shrewd cunning of a fox, the ability 
 of leadership, together with a disregard for 
 life and a scorn for government which made 
 him at once dangerous to both state and 
 municipality. He was reactionary and 
 anarchistic and murderous. With him at 
 large, society was in danger, and this they 
 knew; hence, Barabbas had been appre- 
 hended and imprisoned. Base passions and 
 primal Instincts had run riot through his 
 body, brutalizing his Intellect and strangling 
 his affections. His face was coarse and 
 
 208 
 
BAR ABB AS: VICARIOUS SUFFERING 
 
 sensual; his heart hard and devilish; a cold, 
 crafty glint in his eye and a cynical sneer 
 on his lips. It would have been difficult 
 to have found a more dangerous degenerate 
 than he. 
 
 Over against him the procurator set 
 Jesus, the embodiment of purity, of holy 
 purpose, of lofty vision. The clear-cut 
 features of the Nazarene — his eyes, his 
 nose, his chin — showed at once that he was 
 both poet and prophet. ^'Whom will ye," 
 questioned the Roman, "that I release unto 
 you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called 
 Christ?" Could there be any choice? Cer- 
 tainly not, so he thought. One look at that 
 brutalized face, and they would shrink back 
 at the suggestion of releasing such as he 
 among the innocent and unprotected; not 
 the traitor and murderer, surely! But the 
 answer came quickly, so hoarse and positive 
 that it fairly made the walls tremble: 
 "Barabbas!" Jesus he delivered up; Barab- 
 bas he released. 
 
 Each of the Gospel writers draws the 
 picture in a very graphic sentence — the 
 innocent suffering in the place of the guilty. 
 And this is where Christ most vitally 
 touches human experience. 
 
 14 209 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 The Bible is by no means the only place 
 where we are brought face to face with the 
 ugly fact of sin and guilt. As the historian 
 writes down the record of events, he may 
 not, and usually does not, inform the reader 
 that much of the narrative is the record of 
 the effects of sin. But he who reads 
 philosophically is sure to see back of the 
 film of words the cause, and he is cognizant 
 also of a spirit more malignant and a dozen 
 times more diabolical than the Mephisto- 
 pheles of Goethe's "Faust." Practically 
 without exception the wars of the world 
 have been caused by the unholy desire of 
 oppression, to gain territory, to suppress 
 liberty. Many the fertile valley overrun 
 by the soldiery of a stronger people; many 
 the home destroyed by the brutal troops 
 of an alien power who had no right there 
 save as might makes right; many the wide 
 plain ravaged and left smoking and deso- 
 late by the warriors of a hostile nation. 
 Assyria was not the first to sweep out of 
 her strongholds and assail a weaker people, 
 nor was Israel the last to have her capital 
 city besieged and burned. 
 
 210 
 
BAR ABB AS: VICARIOUS SUFFERING 
 
 The history of the Middle Ages is a 
 remarkable story of lust, intrigue and 
 bloodshed. One can not read the chron- 
 icler's narrative of those awful days without 
 feeling something of their blight. He can 
 not breathe well until he comes out into 
 the Renaissance where men begin once more 
 to assert their inherent right of freedom of 
 thought. And, what was worst of all, the 
 horrid phantasm was induced and fed by 
 the Church, whose chosen instruments were 
 the stake, the rack and the screw. Red was, 
 and continues to be, its color. 
 
 But there is another side that tells the 
 story more powerfully than the page of 
 history; it is the individual conscience. Con- 
 science is a wonderful thing; it Is the finger 
 of God within. The Psalmist states it 
 thus graphically: 
 
 "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? 
 Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 
 If I ascend into heaven, thou art there : 
 If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. 
 If I take the wings of the morning, 
 And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 
 Even there shall thy hand lead me, 
 And thy right hand shall hold me." 
 
 Conscience and guilt can not live to- 
 gether; If one persists, the other dies, and 
 
 211 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 guilt always follows transgression. Adam 
 and Eve hid themselves; Cain lied; Peter 
 wept; Judas hanged himself. No matter 
 whether the individual be Jew or Gentile, 
 Oriental or Occidental, male or female, 
 Laplander or Samoan, guilt is his common 
 property. Hence the object of all religious 
 worship, from the crudest shrine of the 
 Congoese to the most magnificent cathedral 
 altar of enlightened man, is to rid the con- 
 science of the smart of guilt. The sin of 
 Adam is perfectly psychological from begin- 
 ning to end, and what transpired in Adam's 
 case is exactly what happens in the case of 
 every individual, and the result is invariable 
 — guilt and expulsion. Sin is a process, and 
 the conclusion is persistently and unchang- 
 ingly death. 
 
 It is not strange, therefore, that the 
 very first glimmerings of divine revelation 
 should be concerned with the psychology 
 of this great trouble in the human family. 
 It makes little difference whether the Gen- 
 esis narrative Is parable, the result of 
 composite authorship or genuine history; 
 the critical problem does not change the 
 psychology of the story. Whoever wrote 
 It knew the working of the human mind, 
 
 212 
 
BARABBAS: VICARIOUS SUFFERING 
 
 and this is what we are interested in just 
 here. "How am I to be rid of guilt?" is 
 what concerns John Smith, U. S. A., the 
 same as the Adam of Genesis 3. And this 
 is the problem to which the Bible addresses 
 itself. 
 
 Nor has it been a Biblical problem 
 alone. There were two methods of ap- 
 proaching it before the coming of Christ. 
 The first was by the Jewish law, which had 
 for its intent the perfection of men on the 
 plane of justice. If a man did right under 
 all circumstances and was infallible in his 
 judgment, then there was no quarrel be- 
 tween him and God; there was no sting of 
 sin, no smart of conscience. The Jews 
 worked on this problem for fifteen hundred 
 years under the most favorable circum- 
 stances. In territory they were separated 
 from their neighbors by a western sea, by 
 southern and eastern desert, and by north- 
 ern mountains. They were possessed of a 
 divinely given law and, at various periods 
 in their history, had brilliant prophetic 
 leadership. Of course they were ignorant 
 of the intent of their national life, laws 
 and institutions, but that does not change 
 the fact If perfection could have been 
 
 213 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 developed under such conditions, they ought 
 to have made some progress during that 
 millennium and a half. But Paul, the most 
 scholarly of the Christian Jews, argues that 
 the law was "a yoke which neither our 
 fathers nor we were able to bear." 
 
 In our own generation, when men are 
 asking if they can not be saved by their own 
 goodness, let them remember that Israel 
 had fifteen hundred years of experience In 
 that very thing, but that sin was too great 
 a handicap to be overcome. During these 
 years they passed through periods of bril- 
 liant prosperity as well as appalling national 
 disaster, and the land was swept clean of 
 its inhabitants. But neither prosperity nor 
 calamity, nor yet the combination, succeeded 
 in calling forth that perfection which was 
 necessary above all else to meet God on 
 the standard of merit. 
 
 But there remains the second side. 
 While Israel was at work on his problem, 
 the Greek was at work on his, and I use 
 the Greek as typical of the Gentile world. 
 It was not his task to make conscience per- 
 fect by law, but rather by philosophy and 
 culture. If the Jew had been given a 
 territory particularly adapted to the work- 
 
 214 
 
BAR ABB AS: VICARIOUS SUFFERING 
 
 ing out of his problem, so had the Greek. 
 The blue waters of the ^Egean and Ionian 
 Seas caressed the shores of that historic 
 peninsula, contributing much to its salubri- 
 ous climate, which was neither the burning 
 heat of the tropics nor the bitter cold of 
 the Arctic, but rather the golden mean. 
 Hill and valley and plain mingled in splen- 
 did profusion. Greece, too, was separated 
 from her neighbors, yet in the great trade 
 routes of the world. In her ideal location 
 she gave herself up to the solution of her 
 problem, not knowing the importance of it, 
 or that she was making a demonstration 
 that must stand as typical throughout all 
 time. Her Phidias in sculpture and her 
 Pericles in architecture are at once the 
 despair and inspiration of the modern 
 artistic world. The Homerian "Iliad" is 
 the pattern epic of them all, and the Greek 
 drama with its carefully wrought strophe 
 and measured chorus is an artistic produc- 
 tion peculiar to itself; while in philosophy 
 Socrates and Plato still wear the crown 
 of honor. 
 
 Yet it was often the temples whose 
 lines were the most harmonious and whose 
 symmetry was the most perfect which shel- 
 
 215 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 tered the most hideous and degrading forms 
 of worship. The wisest philosopher might 
 be at the same time the most reprobate. 
 Strangely enough, culture and corruption 
 increased in approximately the same ratio, 
 until the latter undermined the former, and 
 the whole dazzling fabric crashed to ruin 
 irreparable. 
 
 These two great nations carried on this 
 work side by side; the Jew in his bigoted 
 narrowness spitting at the Greek, and the 
 Greek in his supposedly superior wisdom 
 making faces at his Jewish brother, neither 
 guessing that they were working on two 
 sides of the same problem. There Is, 
 therefore, a splendid significance about the 
 apostolic statement: "In the fulness of time 
 God sent his Son." Had he come a thou- 
 sand years earlier, men would have been 
 justified In turning toward either one of 
 these great fields just discussed. But when 
 at last the Christ did come, Peter's question 
 was In point: "Lord, to whom can we go? 
 thou hast the words of eternal life." Men 
 had already demonstrated under the most 
 favorable conditions that law or culture, 
 or both, were Impossible as means of sal- 
 vation. They could not cleanse the con- 
 
 216 
 
BARABBAS: VICARIOUS SUFFERING 
 
 science of guilt. It remained now for the 
 "grace of God to be shed abroad in our 
 hearts through Jesus Christ our Lord," that 
 men might be new creatures walking in the 
 fullness of life. 
 
 II 
 
 This Introduces the doctrine of vicarious 
 suffering, which, with some, is unpopular. 
 But he who rejects it is referred to the 
 other two just discussed. The doctrine is 
 common to practically all races, ancient and 
 modern. According to the Greek myth, 
 King Minos laid a yearly tribute of seven 
 youths and seven virgins upon the Athe- 
 nians. These were to feed the Minotaur, a 
 bull-headed, man-bodied monster of Crete. 
 Thus, according to the myth, fourteen young 
 people died every year to save Athens. 
 This represents the doctrine of substitution. 
 Under the Jewish regime, animals suffered, 
 but the blood of bulls and goats could not 
 take away sin. The human conscience 
 somehow conceived the idea that by sacri- 
 ficing an innocent human victim guilt would 
 thereby be removed. Hence the Egyptians 
 gave a virgin to the Nile; Moab and India 
 gave their babies, the one to the heated 
 
 217 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 image of Moloch and the other to the 
 Ganges; and the Incas of ancient Peru 
 gave a young man, prepared by certain 
 ceremonies, to the sun. 
 
 Modern centuries have modified the 
 doctrine somewhat, yet it is still with us. 
 The mother suffers for her child; the father 
 substitutes his body in labor for the family. 
 Our nation exists because of the substitu- 
 tionary offerings of 1776 and 1861. The 
 Magna Charta and the Declaration of 
 Independence are two great monuments 
 erected, not only to human progress, but 
 to the splendid memory of the men who 
 suffered, not only for themselves, but for 
 all who came after them. 
 
 The greatest emblem, however, of vica- 
 rious suffering is the cross of Jesus Christ. 
 Somehow, in a manner in which we may 
 never be able to explain, the cross is con- 
 nected with our salvation. "Behold," said 
 John the Baptist at the river of Jordan, 
 "the Lamb of God that taketh away the 
 sin of the world." "Christ died for our 
 sins," said Paul; and the statement of 
 Peter is: "Who his own self bare our sins 
 in his body upon the tree, that we, having 
 died unto sins, might live unto righteous- 
 
 218 
 
BARABBAS: VICARIOUS SUFFERING 
 
 ness; by whose stripes ye were healed." This 
 is possibly the most sublime tenet of the 
 Christian faith. Its height is quite beyond 
 the flight of mortal spirit. God so loved 
 that he gave; Jesus so loved that he died 
 that all might have life abundantly through 
 his name. 
 
 Sin and guilt are much deeper than law 
 and culture. The latter are in the major 
 external; the former can be reached only 
 by divine ministration. Hence Jesus Christ, 
 acting on his own initiative, made the cross 
 not only the world's altar of expiation, but 
 also the doorway into everlasting life. It 
 was of his own volition; he was not com- 
 pelled, save as love is compelling. It should 
 be sufficient that he is "the way"; and men 
 need not miss the relief of conscience and 
 the blessing of everlasting life because they 
 can not understand to its fullness the doc- 
 trine of vicarious suffering. The patient 
 may know nothing of the technique of 
 surgery; it is sufficient for him that he 
 recovers his health. Jesus Christ is the 
 great Physician, and by what instrumen- 
 tality he makes us whole again need not 
 give us undue concern; through him we 
 have everlasting life. 
 
 219 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 III 
 
 Jesus announced, "I am come to preach 
 liberty to the captives," and his is the 
 greatest message men ever heard. Forget 
 for a moment, if you can, your hope of 
 everlasting life, and ten thousand torment- 
 ing demons rise out of the abyss. There 
 is nothing in the whole round of nature, of 
 law or philosophy, that is able to quiet the 
 fears of the soul. It is small wonder that 
 before the coming of Christ men were 
 driven to the awful extremity of sacrificing 
 their own flesh and blood in the hope of 
 obtaining relief of conscience. But when 
 Christ enters, light floods the soul and 
 confidence takes up her abode within. Hon- 
 est men dare anything for him, and, rather 
 than surrender their faith, will go to the 
 stake. 
 
 The keyword of Christ's influence upon 
 the heart is "peace." His "Fear not" has 
 echoed across the centuries, and his "Come 
 unto me" is the sweetest invitation the 
 weary sons of men have ever heard. 
 
 O thou blessed Saviour of mankind, we 
 adore thee because thou didst lift the bur- 
 den of guilt from our weary shoulders and 
 
BARABBAS: VICARIOUS SUFFERING 
 
 didst bear it thyself. It hath been rolled 
 away, we know not where, but our souls 
 rejoice that it hath departed and that liberty 
 hath come in its stead. The crimson stains 
 of sin have somehow, in the alchemy of 
 divine redemptionj faded into the snowy 
 whiteness of wool, and in thee we stand 
 clean again. It is not in our own merit, 
 nor in the power of human wisdom, nor 
 yet in any attained perfection, but in the 
 foolishness of the cross, that we are made 
 perfect. Thou didst die for us. Lord and 
 Master, and we would follow thee through 
 the door which thou didst open for all 
 mankind. 
 
 221 
 
XVIII 
 JOSEPH: THE UNEXPECTED MAN 
 
 (Mark 15:42-46; Luke 23:50-53.) 
 
 F^ID you ever try to imagine the silence 
 of a battlefield the first night after 
 the troops had been withdrawn? All around 
 are the grewsome reminders of the conflict 
 — the broken artillery, the splintered debris, 
 the fragments of shell, the battered messen- 
 gers of death, the scattered arms, the bodies 
 of the slain — all baptized with the pale 
 light of the moon, ghastly and melancholy. 
 It is the silence of the tomb ; it is the bivouac 
 of the dead. 
 
 As one reads this narrative of the trial 
 and execution of our Lord, coming at 
 length to this paragraph, he has something 
 of the awe of spirit I imagine one might 
 have felt had he stood on the field of 
 Gettysburgh the night following the last day 
 of that terrible conflict, or on the field of 
 Waterloo when the soft moon shone on the 
 thousand silent forms that had fallen ere 
 222 
 
JOSEPH: THE UNEXPECTED MAN 
 
 the spell of Napoleon's genius was broken 
 by England's Iron Duke. 
 
 This narrative states that the Passover 
 Sabbath was at hand. The infuriated mob 
 had spent its passion and, like swine, had 
 returned to its feeding-place; the green 
 poison, seething in the hearts of the priests, 
 was setthng back to normal; but, even so, 
 their hatred had by no means burned itself 
 out. The malefactor was dead, the guard 
 at the cross withdrawn. Even Jesus' ac- 
 quaintances and the women who had fol- 
 lowed him from Galilee "stood afar off." 
 The silence is the more intense because of 
 the clangor which went before. 
 
 One is hardly prepared for the man 
 who emerges from this tumult. It was not 
 Peter, though he may have wept his sad 
 bosom empty by this time; neither was it 
 John, though he may have taken Mary to 
 his own home hours before; neither was it 
 any of the twelve who might be expected 
 to see that Christ's body was decently 
 interred. It might have been thrown in the 
 Vale of Hinnom, so far as they were con- 
 cerned. It remained for an unknown man 
 to come forward and give the dead Christ 
 a resting-place in his own new tomb. By 
 
 223 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 a strange coincidence the earthly life of 
 Jesus opens with a Joseph watching by the 
 manger, and it was the hands of another 
 Joseph that wrapped the clean linen about 
 his pierced body and performed the last 
 tokens of respect and love. 
 
 The picture is this: Three crosses on a 
 hill near to Jerusalem. The red rays of 
 the evening sun fell upon the bit of rugged 
 landscape where the Son of God hung 
 dead. Two members of the Jewish council 
 — Joseph and Nicodemus — had watched 
 that day's events with more than ordinary 
 interest, interest which deepened into con- 
 viction. When the divine Sufferer bowed 
 his head, Joseph went boldly to Pilate and 
 asked for the body. Hastily, though ten- 
 derly, they conveyed it to the new tomb, and 
 prepared it for burial. 
 
 Looking at the events with which each 
 of the Gospel writers closes his narrative, 
 a man might conclude that society was 
 wholly corrupt. But an unknown and an 
 unexpected man came forward at this crisis, 
 revealing to us a splendid soul. There are 
 not a few in our age who look upon society 
 
 224 
 
JOSEPH: THE UNEXPECTED MAN 
 
 as decadent, if not In the last stages of cor- 
 ruption. These few are possessed of the 
 conceit that they are all that stand between 
 the world and destruction. Even so good a 
 man as Elijah gave utterance to a declara- 
 tion which is wholly unlike the heroic 
 spirit that burned in his breast normally: 
 "I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the 
 God of hosts; for the children of Israel 
 have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down 
 thine altars, and slain thy prophets with 
 the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and 
 they seek my life, to take it away!* It Is 
 hardly like Elijah to think that he was the 
 only one that was true to the faith of his 
 fathers. Not a few Christians have fallen 
 Into the same morbid spirit of self-congrat- 
 ulation. They insist that men be "ortho- 
 dox" by the rule of one, and they the one, 
 and when the rule Is disregarded, the col- 
 lapse of faith Is Inevitable ! It Is not a 
 healthful attitude of the mind that con- 
 ceives Itself to be the peg that keeps all 
 humanity from sliding Into Hades. God 
 has other hands than ours pulling at the 
 levers of the universe, and he has other 
 backs that bear burdens for him, men and 
 women who are as diligent and as faithful 
 
 15 225 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 in their places as are we, and possibly with 
 less ostentation. There was the ''good man 
 of the house' ' where Jesus and the twelve 
 had kept the Passover but a few hours 
 before, and here are two more men, honor- 
 able, influential, high-principled, who come 
 forward and take charge after the "ortho- 
 dox" had forsaken and fled. 
 
 Again, we are likely to estimate the 
 effect of the gospel upon our community 
 by its visible results; say, the number of con- 
 verts, church-members. But that may 
 mean nothing, for, if the work of Jesus 
 on the eve of his crucifixion had been thus 
 estimated, it would have been included in 
 twelve men and a handful of women, and 
 a few hours later even the twelve forsook 
 him. But the influence of Jesus did not 
 stop with these twelve erratic souls. As 
 quietly as the sun's rays it had slipped into 
 other hearts, hearts less impulsive than 
 Peter's, and possibly less demonstrative 
 than John's. There were at least two who 
 had come under the influence of Christ's 
 magnetic presence. These had had the 
 courage to stand for him in the Sanhedrin, 
 and as the opposition grew more flagrant 
 in its disregard for right and justice, and 
 
 226 
 
JOSEPH: THE UNEXPECTED MAN 
 
 as the physical suffering of the Christ grew 
 more acute, their faith in him increased 
 accordingly, and finally mounted to the 
 point where they stepped out in calm dignity 
 and took charge. In the most unexpected 
 place the teaching of Jesus had blossomed 
 into fragrance and beauty — in the Sanhe- 
 drin. 
 
 Preaching Jesus is the most fascinating 
 business in the world. Every imaginable 
 condition is before the gospel herald — 
 beaten ground, shallowness, thorns, and 
 good and honest hearts. In hope he scat- 
 ters the seed, and with sorrow notes the 
 coming of the fowls, the choking thorns 
 and the withering plant that tried to grow 
 out of the shallow earth. There is joy 
 over the productivity of the good and 
 honest heart — a hundred-fold. He is not 
 responsible how they hear, but what they 
 hear; nor for the soil, but for the seed. 
 *'In the morning sow thy seed, and In the 
 evening withhold not thine hand." 
 
 II 
 
 John says that Joseph was a secret 
 disciple for fear of the Jews. It Is difficult 
 to determine how much stress we may place 
 
 227 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 on *'dlsclple/' though we may suppose it 
 was considerably more than a passing inter- 
 est in Jesus and his teaching. Men do the 
 most of their "plunging" before they are 
 thirty-five years of age. Wealth, legislation 
 and religion are the most conservative 
 trinity in human experience; distressingly so 
 at times ! Joseph was Influenced by each 
 member of it. Not many people in middle 
 life are changing their church relationships, 
 especially those of wealth and position; 
 Joseph was no exception. To him Jesus 
 was a teacher of attractive power, a hater 
 of shams, a rebuker of hypocrisy, a lover 
 of truth, a helper of the needy. Joseph 
 was a man of family, of business, and a 
 member of the Jewish council. There had 
 been no particular reason, up to this time, 
 why he should Invite the hostility of his 
 compatriots, and this certainly Implied no 
 disrespect for Jesus. Joseph was on the 
 other side of the crucifixion and the resur- 
 rection, yet there Is no reason to conclude 
 that he had stultified his conscience, for 
 quite the reverse seems to be true. No 
 man of his type enjoys trouble, and his 
 conservative nature kept him out of It. It 
 may be better to be a "secret" disciple and 
 
JOSEPH: THE UNEXPECTED MAN 
 
 do as he did than to be an "open" disciple 
 and do as the twelve did; in fact, the twelve 
 do not gain very much in comparison with 
 Joseph and Nicodemus up to this time. 
 
 Mythology has it that Minerva sprang 
 fully grown and fully armed from the brain 
 of Zeus, but the Christ consciousness is not 
 formed thus quickly in a man's mind. To 
 the Galatians Paul wrote: "I am again in 
 travail until Christ be formed in youJ^ It is 
 a spiritual process, and with some a long 
 and difficult one, yet not impossible. It 
 takes time to grasp the profound signifi- 
 cance of the Saviourhood of our Lord; it 
 is one thing to know him historically; it is 
 quite something else to be the temple of 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Up to this time there was no reason 
 for haste, and Joseph moved slowly. He 
 framed his premises carefully and drew his 
 conclusions deliberately, yet there is no 
 doubt that Christ was forming within. But 
 these closing hours were forcing conclu- 
 sions on questions long held open. The 
 expiring Christ demanded explanations, and 
 there could be but one. Joseph's horizon 
 was receding, his foundations shifting, his 
 ancient faith near a collapse. In common 
 
 229 
 
y 
 
 JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 with the aged Zacharias and a few others 
 of that interesting third of a century, he sat 
 in the pale glow of the Christian dawn 
 "looking for the kingdom.'^ But he was 
 at a loss to know how this dying Galilean 
 was to fit into the traditional Jewish scheme. 
 He knew the Messianic pattern; he was 
 sure there could be no mistake, and yet 
 here was Jesus so much grander and more 
 sublime than the historic conception, even 
 though dying on the cross. Perhaps, after 
 all, the Jewish fathers had made the 
 Messiah fit their longings rather than 
 grasping the full force of the divine con- 
 ception. They clung to the shell of proph- 
 ecy, but the Spirit broke through and 
 escaped. So Joseph made no effort to 
 harmonize the two views; he took Jesus 
 as he was. 
 
 Men ought not to feel compelled to 
 harmonize every apparent contradiction be- 
 tween faith and science, or within faith 
 itself. Nor should these difficulties stand 
 between us and Jesus Christ. I can not 
 tell how light and heat pass through the 
 ninety-one million miles of space between 
 me and the sun, but that should not hinder 
 me from enjoying the warmth and beauty 
 
 230 
 
JOSEPH: THE UNEXPECTED MAN 
 
 of the sunlight. Nor does the fact that 
 I can not explain the phenomenon of hear- 
 ing prevent me from enjoying harmony 
 of sound and social intercourse with my 
 friends. Now, when we step into the 
 domain of revelation it is well to remember 
 that this is the Lord's doing; we are touch- 
 ing the Divine Mind, the Infinite Intelli- 
 gence; hence there are many things past 
 human understanding. But because we can 
 not understand and explain the mysteries 
 of redemption Is no reason why we can not 
 enjoy the blessing of It and its full-orbed 
 glory. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Joseph answered the call. Certainly 
 there Is no shrinking back here. His fine 
 soul blazed out and he stood positively for 
 the Lord. It takes courage to stand with 
 the minority, especially when the majority 
 is composed of such powerful and blood- 
 thirsty villains as these murderers of Christ. 
 But note the man: he went boldly to Pilate, 
 he took the body of Jesus and laid it in his 
 own sepulchre. The Sanhedrin knew it was 
 Joseph's sepulchre, for they placed a guard 
 to watch. Against that dark background 
 
 231 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 the splendid manhood of Joseph stands out 
 in wonderful relief. 
 
 The persecution of the innocent always 
 has the opposite effect from that intended. 
 The Church made rapid growth in the 
 first centuries although base men persecuted 
 it, but, instead of exterminating It, they 
 called multitudes to Its membership. The 
 heart of man is natively set against unfair- 
 ness. Instead of heaping Ignominy upon 
 Jesus, even the very Instrument of torture 
 has become the most honored symbol among 
 men. 
 
 Self-protection may be among the first 
 laws of nature; but when a great principle 
 is at stake, when the fundamentals are 
 assailed, men very quickly forget the per- 
 sonal side. Self and selfish interests, even 
 home and its tender associations, drop out 
 of sight. It is a characteristic of manhood; 
 perhaps It may be called a moral virtue. 
 In any event, it is one of the inherent marks 
 which man bears In common with his God; 
 it Is one of the lines in the Father's face 
 which appears in the spiritual visage of the 
 twice-born child. If a man can stand un- 
 moved in the presence of a great wrong, 
 there is something radically at fault with 
 
 232 
 
JOSEPH; THE UNEXPECTED MAN 
 
 his eyes; either he has not yet seen God, 
 or else he is incapable of moral discrimina- 
 tion. To get the correct view, a man must 
 look at everything — everything — through 
 God. If he reverses it, his view will be 
 colored and crooked, dark and diminished. 
 Joseph was ^'looking for the kingdom," for 
 Christ had touched his experience. In 
 this moment of grave stress the councilor 
 stepped out unexpectedly, revealing the 
 strength of a Christ-filled soul. 
 
 Blessed Christ, human eyes have looked 
 at the death of the Son of God upon 
 the cross when he hung helpless and for- 
 saken beneath the crimson rays of a dying 
 day. Thou didst enter the house of the 
 strong man, bind him and set the captives 
 free. We believe thou didst fight the battle 
 and win the victory — for us. 
 
 We thank thee for the two good men 
 who ministered unto thee in death when 
 those whom thou didst love were panic- 
 stricken; we thank thee for the "unknown" 
 men who take up the work from which we 
 in our cowardice often flee. As the hush 
 of death surrounds that new tomb, may we 
 watch with the weeping women, knowing 
 there shall be a glorious dawn. 
 
 233 
 
XIX 
 
 MARY: THE SLANDERED MAGDALENE 
 
 (John 20: I, 2, 11-18.) 
 
 TOSEPH and Mary stand at the begin- 
 ^ ning of the earthly life of Jesus, and 
 another Joseph and Mary stand at its 
 close. It was Mary of Nazareth who 
 first looked into the eyes of the infant 
 Christ; it was Mary of Magdala who first 
 looked into the eyes of the risen Lord. In 
 the days of his flesh this splendid woman 
 had become his faithful and devoted fol- 
 lower. Out of her substance (and she 
 seems to have been a wealthy woman) she 
 had ministered to him and his work. She 
 was present at his death and burial. On 
 the morning of the first day of the week, 
 she was back to his tomb "while it was yet 
 dark." Yet, for all her splendid devotion 
 to the Lord, the Christian world has most 
 basely slandered her; they have made her 
 one and the same with the sinful woman 
 who anointed the feet of Jesus in the house 
 
 234 
 
^ MARY: THE SLANDERED MAGDALENE " 
 
 of Simon the Pharisee, and "Magdalene" 
 has become a synonym of "harlot.'* Chiv- 
 alry, if nothing else, demands that Christian 
 manhood come to her defense and rescue 
 her good name from the blight of immo- 
 rality. Biblical literature has no character 
 more noble, or more worthy to stand by the 
 side of Hannah, Elisabeth, or any of the 
 great women of Israel, or the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 There is real pathos in the aimless 
 wanderings of those friends of Jesus. "I 
 will smite the shepherd and scatter the 
 sheep;" and there was never a more pur- 
 poseless group than they that Passover 
 Sabbath. Like the needle that feels the 
 pull of the magnetic pole, yet is unable to 
 remain constant because of disturbing and 
 intermittent currents, so these friends of 
 Jesus could not find themselves. That great 
 magnetic pole to whom they would gladly 
 have been true still held a degree of power 
 over them, but other influences, for the 
 moment terrifically potent, beat against 
 them. Was it all over? That was their 
 conviction — almost. He of whom they 
 had hoped so much had come to an igno- 
 
 235 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 minious end in a malefactor's tomb; but 
 the imprint of his presence was still too 
 vivid to be forgotten. So there were ques- 
 tionings about him, even impulses to return 
 to their former occupations; they went their 
 way. But Mary thought only of the tomb 
 and the body it contained, and hither she 
 came to weep. 
 
 Blessed tears I Drop by drop they bear 
 away the agony of the heart, spilling it on 
 the breast of kind old mother earth, to 
 come forth, not in thorns and bitter herbs, 
 but in blossoms and fragrance. So, in the 
 keen sorrow that filled her heart, Mary 
 left her couch before the dawn to pour out 
 her tears at the tomb of Him whose words 
 and presence had been her meat and drink. 
 But the stone was rolled away. Without mak- 
 ing further examination, she ran to Peter 
 and John. They rushed to the sepulchre 
 and then went home, but not so with Mary; 
 she returned to the grave, which, though 
 robbed of its precious body, was sacred to 
 her because of Him whose form it had so 
 recently contained. 
 
 What a human touch is here! She was 
 standing outside weeping, "and as she wept 
 she stooped down and looked into the 
 
MARY: THE SLANDERED MAGDALENE 
 
 tomb." Did you ever see a mother sit 
 and weep over her departed child, and 
 then did you note her as she stole away to 
 weep by the side of the little cradle which 
 had so lately held the form of her baby? 
 She gets consolation in beholding the things 
 which ministered to the comfort of her 
 little one. So Mary stooped to look once 
 again at the place where the Lord had 
 lain. 
 
 When she stooped to look into that 
 vault she expected to see nothing more than 
 the dimly lighted recess, with the linen 
 cloths lying as Peter and John had dropped 
 them after their hasty examination, yet she 
 wanted to view it again. What a revelation 
 came with the second look! Instead of the 
 gloom, two radiant forms! — "angels,'* says 
 John. And I have thought that we might 
 find something worth while if we would 
 only take the second look. Affliction comes 
 with a shock, often as sudden and as blind- 
 ing as a flash of lightning. For a moment 
 a man may lose his bearings, his sense of 
 direction, and not infrequently do some lose 
 their faith entirely and become hard and 
 bitter and cynical. The test of a soldier is 
 not how he acts when on parade, but rather 
 
 237 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 how he Stands the strain of the battle. 
 Death is the natural and inexorable law, 
 and unto it every animate thing is subject. 
 Disasters may come to us as they have to 
 men ever since the beginning. The solemn, 
 stately, and sometimes awful, tread of nat- 
 ural law knows no exemptions, has no favor- 
 ites. Blessed is he who does not allow his 
 heart to harden, but, hke Mary, comes back 
 to the tomb and looks in. The second view 
 was not a dark, dismal cleft, but a glorious 
 vision of two shining presences. And if 
 you will go back to that tomb in which you 
 have buried your dearest possession — child, 
 companion, parent, ambition, what not; that 
 tomb from which you once turned away with 
 resentment and rebeUion; go back after the 
 smoke of the disaster has vanished; go back 
 after the flowers have blossomed on the 
 little mound; go back after the tears are 
 dry and the eye sees single — you may be- 
 hold a vision that will rejoice your soul. 
 HumiHty is a grace we need to cultivate. 
 
 II 
 
 Even the presence of the angels and 
 their assurances failed to awaken Mary's 
 consciousness to the splendid fact that Jesus 
 
 238 
 
MARY: THE SLANDERED MAGDALENE 
 
 was alive. She was among the habiliments 
 of death, and even angels could not impress 
 her otherwise. But as she turned herself 
 from the door of the tomb, she beheld a 
 man standing near whose question was: 
 *'Why weepest thou?" To this she replied: 
 "If thou hast borne him hence, tell me 
 where thou hast laid him, and I will take 
 him away." There is a class of intelli- 
 gences, other than undertakers, who seem to 
 take a great deal of morbid pleasure in 
 living among the dead. For them coffins 
 and shrouds have a hypnotic fascination. 
 I do not take it that Mary had any such 
 motive in asking for the body of Jesus; she 
 was anxious that it should have a decent 
 final resting-place. 
 
 It was not intended that our minds 
 should dwell upon death, for it is not a 
 wholesome subject. The New Testament 
 has little to say about the death of the 
 body, but it has much to say about the life 
 of the soul. It bases its appeal, not upon 
 the avoidance of death, but upon the en- 
 trance into life. If the soul is constantly 
 laboring to escape death. It will as constantly 
 feel Its blight, its terror. Its melancholy re- 
 straint; but when the soul works for life and 
 
 239 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 contemplates it, it is at once sown with ten 
 thousand seeds bursting with inspiration, 
 seeds that proclaim the springtime where the 
 season is always in the ascendant and the 
 night never comes. 
 
 There is a tendency in our day to place 
 Jesus on a par with other great teachers 
 of morals — or, possibly, a little above. His 
 teachings in the main are accepted, but the 
 cardinal fact of his life — that is, his resur- 
 rection — is rejected, or explained in such 
 a manner as to mean nothing. // Chris- 
 tianity does not have a risen Christ, then 
 it has no Christ; if it does not have a risen 
 Christ, then it has no message for the 
 world, Jesus taught nothing essentially new 
 in morals; certainly not, unless interpreted 
 in the light of the resurrection. When a 
 person seeks to make converts to Chris- 
 tianity by glossing over this fact, or by 
 explaining it other than do the New Testa- 
 ment writers, he is giving his cause away, 
 and would do as much towards binding up 
 the broken hearts of men were he to teach 
 the precepts of Buddha or the maxims of 
 Confucius or the wisdom of the Vedas. 
 Without the resurrection there is no Chris- 
 tianity; a dead Christ is no Christ "If 
 
 240 
 
MARY: THE SLANDERED MAGDALENE 
 
 Christ hath not been raised, your faith is 
 vain; ye are yet in your sins;" and the cen- 
 turies have yet to produce a valid reason 
 for rejecting the Apostle's conclusion. 
 
 Ill 
 
 All through his ministry Jesus had 
 taught his resurrection in unmistakable 
 terms, but not until Mary heard her name 
 spoken by his blessed lips did the meaning 
 of all that teaching reach her understand- 
 ing. The best she had in her heart was 
 to make his body secure from vandals and 
 weep over the memories of the past. Any 
 one who makes their sorrow an occasion for 
 dropping out of active Christian service 
 would do well to take a second look at the 
 tomb. Memory will always hold its sacred 
 treasures, but they must never be allowed 
 to vitiate our Christian lives. 
 
 Whereas Mary would have given the 
 dead Christ a vine-grown tomb with roses 
 blossoming about it and a well-beaten path 
 from her door to that sacred spot, Jesus 
 gave her, not a dead memory for her flow- 
 ing tears, but rather he came to her as a 
 living reality, a glorious Divine Presence, 
 the same Lord she had known and loved 
 
 16 241 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 SO well. And he always does better for 
 us than we are able to ask or think. The 
 sacred spot of China is where the honored 
 dust of Confucius rests, but Christianity's 
 Christ is living, and his promise is; "I am 
 with you always, even to the end." The 
 glory of our holy religion is not in strict 
 dogmas and splendid doctrines, nor espe- 
 cially in its truth and precept and promise, 
 but rather in the unique fact that the Holy 
 Spirit dwells in every true Christian heart, 
 and that above all is the living and eternal 
 Christ. 
 
 Mary came to the tomb with a crushed 
 spirit, but one word from Jesus swept her 
 grief away forever. This has always been 
 a pre-eminent characteristic of our Lord. 
 Wherever he went through Palestine flowers 
 of gladness blossomed — by the bier of the 
 widow's son, at the grave of Lazarus, in 
 the nobleman's house. And when Chris- 
 tianity began to be defined and have an 
 influence on the world beyond Judea, the 
 effect of Jesus upon the heart was always 
 the same. Men brought him their bruised 
 spirits, their crooked and misspent lives, 
 their sin-enslaved bodies; despair, like the 
 "ominous bird of night,'* sat at the portal 
 
 242 
 
MARY: THE SLANDERED MAGDALENE 
 
 of their hearts, but Jesus took their burdens 
 and bitterness away and joy came instead. 
 Begin at the Jordan with the first life he 
 touched, follow him through the ages — 
 Paul, Augustine, St. Francis, Luther — to 
 the latest convert, and the result is unvary- 
 ing, unspeakable joy. 
 
 IV 
 
 We can not know the ecstasy in Mary's 
 word, "Rabboni!" when she saw Jesus 
 actually standing before her, but we may 
 be sure It was worth the long hours of 
 mental agony and all that deep darkness, to 
 come at last into such glorious light and 
 hear again that familiar greeting, "Mary!" 
 It was Jesus as she had never seen him 
 before. She stood near, watching the coun- 
 cilors as they wrapped his body in the 
 sweet spices, but to her then Jesus was a 
 man, a dead man; now he stood before 
 her, not only as a living man, but as the 
 living God. 
 
 We experience something of Mary's joy 
 when we open our hearts to him. We may 
 spend half our lifetime reading of him and 
 acquiring facts about his life; we may 
 travel In the land he made sacred by his 
 
 243 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 presence, and we may be able to repeat 
 many of his choice sayings, and all that; 
 but there is a very vital sense in which a 
 man can never know Jesus until he opens 
 the door and gives him the freedom of the 
 house. Then he will begin to appreciate 
 something of Magdalene's joy when she 
 beheld the risen Lord two thousand years 
 ago, and his soul will rejoice in the happi- 
 ness of its new-found Friend. When one 
 passes through this experience he may doubt 
 many things, but he will never doubt the 
 presence of the living Christ. 
 
 "I have seen the Lord." With these 
 words Mary makes her exit from the sacred 
 pages, but could there be a more sublime 
 testimony? When men look at us they have 
 the right to expect that we bear unusual 
 testimony because we have made an unusual 
 profession. We have said that we believe 
 that Jesus Christ is the risen Son of God 
 and that the Holy Spirit dwells in the heart 
 of the believer. It Is a wonderful con- 
 ception, yet when we attempt to speak in 
 the strong voice of a Christ-dominated man- 
 hood we lisp and stutter and the world 
 Indulgently smiles. Perhaps It Is justified 
 in concluding that our vision is nothing 
 
 244 
 
MARY: THE SLANDERED MAGDALENE 
 
 Other than the disordered images floating 
 out of a heat-oppressed brain. When men 
 and women who claim to have the miracle 
 of grace wrought in their hearts put Jesus 
 and his work in the very last place, or even 
 on the extra list, they can not expect the 
 sinner to be very much impressed when they 
 tell how much Jesus means to them. 
 
 *'I have seen the Lord." After years of 
 wandering, Sir Launfal beheld him In the 
 beggar; I will see him as I walk among the 
 Chrlstless ones; I will see him looking 
 through the dark eyes of a soul rescued from 
 heathenism ; I will see his hand uplifted where 
 men are weary. Only as we forget our- 
 selves will we get a glimpse of his face, 
 
 O thou holy Christ of God, we believe 
 thou didst stand before this good woman 
 two thousand years ago. We pray for a 
 faith that will not forsake thee even when 
 the light of God seems darkness. Give 
 us the grace to wait by the side of our 
 dark, unexplalnable difficulties, for in a 
 tomb the angels appeared. And as we 
 move among our fellows, we pray that there 
 may be the unmistakable evidence of the 
 abiding Spirit within our hearts that men 
 may know that we have seen the Lord. 
 
 245 
 
XX 
 
 DISPOSING OF TROUBLESOME FACTS 
 
 (Matt. 28: 11-15.) 
 
 "1X7" HEN men attempt to dam up the 
 ^^ streams of God's purpose they usual- 
 ly find themselves floundering in the rising 
 tide. Facts are always troublesome things 
 — to the evil-doer. It is the immutable law 
 that facts and acts must be in perfect align- 
 ment. This little coterie of Jewish priests 
 and elders were so industriously working 
 to obscure the divinity of Jesus that they 
 forgot the swing of the Almighty was not 
 bounded by Jericho and Joppa, but that 
 he walks the waveless skies and sits among 
 the myriad stars. Said David: 
 
 "He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh: 
 The Lord will have them in derision." 
 
 Never did men fight more recklessly 
 against the stately march of the Lord God, 
 or call more desperately upon the powers 
 of darkness for assistance; but Caesar's seal 
 
 246 
 
DISPOSING OF TROUBLESOME FACTS 
 
 was nothing; Caesar's guard, less. If there 
 were ever a complete demonstration of the 
 doctrine of total depravity, it was here, for 
 here hell burned through. Defeat some- 
 times throws men into panic, but here is 
 no panic. When men sit down as calmly as 
 these and plan to meet a great crisis, they 
 certainly are not terror-stricken. The vil- 
 lainy of Judas opened in his heart that 
 awful stream of remorse whose scalding 
 torrent deluged his withered and lonely 
 soul; but here is a group of men across 
 whose hearts the scorching winds of malice 
 and hatred had swept with such consuming 
 rage that even the possibility of remorse 
 was burned up and nothing remained but 
 the acrid and bitter residuum which Mat- 
 thew expresses in these few words. With 
 them it was not a question of knowing the 
 facts; rather, how to raise dust enough to 
 obscure them. 
 
 The world of Christian fact is the world 
 of God. This is not to affirm that the 
 Christian world is all of God's world. But 
 if the Scriptures are entitled to any credit, 
 we must admit that the center of God's 
 
 247 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 moral universe, so far as we are concerned, 
 is not far from Joseph's tomb. If we are 
 to judge the Divine Mind by revelation, 
 then we are justified in concluding that these 
 years of Jesus among men were concerned 
 in laying the true foundations of the Chris- 
 tian faith, and it is not irreverent to say 
 that in this God extended himself in man's 
 behalf. The world in which Jesus lived 
 and moved was peculiar to the Divine 
 Mind, and the facts of Christianity are 
 peculiar to a revealed religion. But it was 
 intended in all this that these great facts 
 should form the postulate, the major 
 premise of our faith. 
 
 We can not give a scientific demonstra- 
 tion of Christianity. It can not be heated 
 in the crucible, nor can we grow cultures 
 of it In the test-tube; it refuses to yield its 
 secrets to the microscope, and it does not 
 furnish even a beginning-point for the dis- 
 sector's scalpel; it can neither be weighed 
 nor measured, nor has it temperature or 
 dimensions. But It has, nevertheless. Its 
 Important data, and out of this data we 
 get what we have been pleased to term the 
 facts of Christianity. The size and weight 
 of the superstructure prove that the foun- 
 
 248 
 
DISPOSING OF TROUBLESOME FACTS 
 
 dation is solid, but Christianity belongs 
 almost entirely to the spiritual, which is the 
 world of God — so far as we know it. 
 
 The human mind is in search of those 
 things which will stand the test. It does 
 not concern itself long with the ephemeral 
 and evanescent fancies of the dreamer. "If 
 there is solid rock where and what is 
 it?" is its earnest query. If we are to 
 have peace of mind, we must know 
 something of the fundamentals. If faith 
 rests on dogma, ignorance or superstition, 
 or all three, then it can neither be free 
 nor healthy. It must strike its roots into 
 something unshaken and unshakable. We 
 do not hesitate to put the facts of Chris- 
 tianity into the crucible, because we have 
 the utmost faith in their ability to stand 
 the test. If you have noticed the New 
 Testament narrative, there has been no 
 favor shown, there has been none asked. 
 Jesus Christ accepted the very worst that 
 human depravity could devise, and after, 
 under hellish pressure, they had exhausted 
 their villainy, he came out of the depths 
 like a wonderful lily — white and marvelous. 
 Is it strange that men have been impressed 
 by such facts? 
 
 249 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUIvIAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 Scientists are continually revising their 
 conclusions because they are constantly mak- 
 ing new discoveries. The same is true of 
 religionists — some religionists ! No man 
 dare affirm the theology of a hundred years 
 ago any more than he dare affirm the 
 science of a century back. It was once 
 heresy to read the record of God in the 
 rocks and to affirm that the earth was 
 round. Science and dogma have always 
 had trouble, and always will, because 
 science is always young and always has a 
 "nose for news.'^ Dogma is always old 
 and rheumatic, with an inherent nature to 
 fossilize. But dogma is not religion, and 
 in true religion science finds her long-lost 
 twin. In both there are a few things which 
 are unchangeable. For religion the tomb 
 of Joseph will never lose its profound 
 significance; and from this sacred spot our 
 Christian faith begins its pilgrimages because 
 it is the demonstration of that one surpass- 
 ing fact which lies back of all else: "God 
 is love." 
 
 II 
 
 There are some facts which are un- 
 pleasant and distasteful to some people, but 
 
 250 
 
DISPOSING OF TROUBLESOME FACTS 
 
 honest men are always anxious to get the 
 exact truth. This explains every chemical, 
 biological and psychological laboratory in 
 the land. Progress is marked only by 
 knowledge of the secrets of the things we 
 handle every day. Everything has its place 
 in the universe, else we would have a multi- 
 verse — confusion and disorder. It may be 
 that the *'known" will have to be readjusted 
 in the light of fresh discoveries. The Coper- 
 nican theory upset the older Ptolemaic, but 
 it did the world no harm. Columbus did 
 not prove the Bible untrue when he reached 
 the east by sailing west, but he upset the 
 old dogma of a flat earth. The real harm 
 comes in the spirit that reaches its hand 
 for the throat of the investigator, which 
 anathematizes science and its paraphernalia 
 as devices of the devil. This is the spirit 
 of the Inquisition, of the Dark Ages, of 
 intolerance; it is the spirit that crucified 
 our Lord. 
 
 Those degenerate priests found them- 
 selves In an unusual position that Sunday 
 morning. That the soldiers' story was 
 true was not questioned; there Is no hint 
 of denial or of Incredulity; they accepted 
 It as true beyond doubt. But they knew 
 
 251 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 that it would be Impossible to keep these 
 facts quiet; the disciples of Jesus would 
 soon be telling it, the soldiers would be 
 telling it. If the two told the same story, 
 so much the worse for the priests. There 
 was but one thing left — put another story 
 in the mouths of the soldiers; hence *'they 
 gave much money unto them." The "truth" 
 is an expensive luxury! But this method 
 seldom fails of results. The lUinois State 
 Legislature recently revealed the shameful 
 depravity of its members. One man in 
 Chicago is credited with saying that he 
 could take $50,000 and pass any bill he 
 chose. The Jewish council did not make 
 this discovery nor did they obtain a per- 
 petual copyright on the scheme. It is as 
 old as the race, yet as young as to-day. It 
 is one way men have of "explaining the 
 facts." 
 
 But a bribe usually necessitates a He, 
 and lies are social creatures and move in 
 large companies. This "lie" which these 
 Jewish "religionists" put Into the mouths 
 of the soldiers had three parts: (i) His 
 disciples came by night; (2) they stole 
 the body; (3) while we slept. The facts 
 are that the disciples never understood the 
 
 252 
 
• DISPOSING OF TROUBLESOME FACTS 
 
 teaching of Jesus concerning the resurrec- 
 tion, hence they had no idea of trying to 
 propagate his doctrines after his death; for 
 what was to be gained? All through 
 Christ's ministry their idea was a restored 
 temporal kingdom, and when Christ died 
 their hope died. The statement that a com- 
 pany of disciplined Roman soldiers slept 
 while on duty is absurd, especially as the 
 penalty was death. And that eleven un- 
 armed, discouraged disciples should have the 
 presumption even to attempt to steal the 
 body from these armed Roman soldiers is 
 the climax of nonsense. But for money the 
 soldiers were willing to incriminate them- 
 selves. 
 
 Hence the chief priests promised to 
 "fix it" with the Roman judge if it ever 
 came to a hearing before him. These are 
 the means by which base men proposed to 
 meet the facts of the resurrection: bribery, 
 lying, buying the judge. And they are all 
 too common crimes in American public life. 
 But facts are not thus driven out of exist- 
 ence. They may be bludgeoned into the 
 earth, but, like the blood of Hyacinthus, 
 will blossom into rare and beautiful flowers. 
 Truth claims the wide sweep of eternity as 
 
 253 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 her inherent possession, and into her own 
 she will eventually come,. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Here is an interesting study in effects. 
 Take the priests and elders: The irony of 
 it is that they were the religious leaders of 
 Israel. Out of those twisted and atrophied 
 things they called hearts dripped the dis- 
 tilled venom of hatred which seared and 
 blistered everything it touched, but its worst 
 effect was upon themselves. They deliber- 
 ately counseled to thwart the purpose of 
 God by keeping men in ignorance of the 
 resurrection, or, at least, by casting every 
 possible doubt upon the fact. They knew 
 Christ had risen, and that it could be only 
 by divine power. "Come down," said they 
 at the cross, "and we will believe;" but 
 here Jesus had done a more marvelous 
 thing, and instead of belief they plunged 
 into deeper depravity. 
 
 They were Israel's spiritual interpreters. 
 What a ghastly mockery of the splendid 
 system of Moses, and how far removed 
 from the wonderful spirit of Isaiah ! There 
 Is something terrible about the acts of these 
 men. One experiences something of the 
 
 254 
 
DISPOSING OF TROUBLESOME FACTS 
 
 feeling when he wanders with Dante 
 through the inferno, or when he listens 
 with Milton to the shouts that "tore hell's 
 concave." Samson pulled the Philistine 
 temple down upon himself and the revelers, 
 but these men were doing a thousand times 
 worse; they were pulling destruction down 
 on the last remnant of the nation which the 
 faith of Abraham had rejoiced to see. Yet 
 out of the crash and dust of the falling 
 structure came the facts of the Son of God 
 — unharmed. They fit into the human 
 conscience perfectly, and to reject them is 
 to strangle the soul. 
 
 It Is Interesting to conjecture what must 
 have passed in the minds of the soldiers. 
 They were In contact with the representa- 
 tives of the *^one true religion," which of 
 all religions was the most narrow and 
 intolerant. But what had the Jews' religion 
 made of them? Rather, what had they 
 made of their religion? Even those pagan 
 soldiers had enough moral sense to know 
 that they were beside themselves with 
 hatred. How did this brand of religion, 
 which permitted bribery, lying and per- 
 verted justice. Impress the soldiers? "What 
 you are speaks so loud that I can not hear 
 
 255 
 
JESUS CHRIST IN HUMAN EXPERIENCE 
 
 what you say." It is what a man does when 
 not thinking of his church affiHation, what 
 he does when following his natural impulses 
 and inclinations, that gives his fellows their 
 estimate of the worth of his religion and 
 his moral character. Those Jews had done 
 an injury to the moral nature of those soldiers 
 which was irreparable. 
 
 All this villainy hurled against the new 
 faith had precisely the opposite effect from 
 that intended. Never was testimony more 
 universally discredited than theirs. The 
 very first proclamation of the mission of 
 Jesus and his invitation unto men turned 
 Jerusalem upside down. The impact of the 
 new faith upon Judaism was terrific, because 
 it had the indisputable proof of the risen 
 Christ. 
 
 O God, we thank thee that in the Chris- 
 tian universe there is one sublime fact upon 
 which we postulate our faith and from 
 which we make our journeys. The vicious 
 assaults of men have only added to Its 
 glory; they have been the storms which 
 have cleared the atmosphere and have 
 aided the growth of the sturdy oak. Thou 
 art our shield and defense, and thou hast 
 made the wrath of men to praise thee. 
 
 256 
 
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