Though the story of the forbidden fruit is truly wonderful, yet it is no more wonderful than that which makes the serpent the symbol of temptation. The serpent does not chase its prey like some bellowing hound, but silently awaits the victim's coming. As the serpent lies coiled in the midst of your flowers, so temptation lurks in the heart of some pleasant situation. You may be looking with legitimate pleasure upon some beautiful thing that belongs to your neighbor, and, before you are aware of it, the serpent of covetousness has struck its fangs into you. If, however, the temptation is seen before you are bitten by it, like a serpent, it makes strange circuitous routes as if it were coming and going from every side. It stops to parley. And if it succeeds in entwining itself about you, it crushes you with every part of its sinuous length. In countries that are infested with serpents, the reptiles go everywhere; they even hang from the rafters of dwellings. Just so, temptation may appear anywhere to surprise or to charm you. If you are as good as the Master, temptations will assail you. If like Lincoln youshould climb from a hut to the White House, even there you will be confronted by serpents of monstrous size striving in every possible way to beguile you. He who advocates a walking and a talking snake, does so to the great detriment of God's word. We are in no danger from talking serpents; but we all are in great danger from serpent-like temptations.
This parable and fable of the garden is meant for our edification and safety. As an analysis of temptation, sin, and punishment, for all people and for all times, nothing can surpass this story of the garden. Seeing that it contains such vital thrilling truth, it is a great pity that it has fallen into almost universal neglect. The story has been killed by the credulity of its friends.
3. The Bible stories in general
I now call your attention to the interestingstoriesscattered all through the Bible. The story of the Flood is an example. In a very simple form these stories were told long before they appeared in the Scriptures. And, doubtless, there was a nucleus of truth in them or they never would have been started on their rounds. As they were repeated about the campfires to children and illiterate slaves for generation after generation, everything that failed to interest, naturally, was forgotten. This made them the most tried and interesting of stories. In nothing did the inspired writers show greater wisdom than in making wings of these interesting tales to bear theirspiritual messages afar. If the modern Church could learn the spiritual utility of a folk-story, the Bible would start on a new mission of service; and much of the Bible now neglected could be used with new power. Thevalueof the lessons thus heralded in no wise rests upon the historic accuracy of the stories. It is perfectly evident that the story of the Flood involves the same crude conception of the earth as that which we have already described as the ancient and unscientific conception. If we contend for the literalness of this story we shall make its invaluable lessons of no effect for many people. The Tower of Babel is a like case. As a parable, it is a most accurate description of the folly this generation is in great danger of committing. Germany really built her Tower of Babel, and is to-day suffering from a confusion of tongues.
4. The laws of Israel—moral and ceremonial
If we now turn to the laws of Israel, we shall find the same blending of the crude with the sublime. The ten commandments are the noblest possible prohibitions; and they are still needed for many people in the old prohibitive form. Yet Jesus takes even these and transforms them into spiritual affirmations. He shows righteousness to be an inner principle,—a state of heart. "On love hangs all the law and the prophets;" motive is the soul of conduct.
By carefully comparing the Old with the New Testament we see that the law, moral and ceremonial, was a strong movement in the direction of Christ; but that, from the morals of Abraham and Moses to the morals of Jesus, the way was long and steep. We also see that the journey often deviates from a straight line, and that the road at times is almost obliterated by the drifting sands. It is, therefore, evident that one cannot select just any verse of the Bible and say behold! the perfect word of God. When Jacob reports to his wives that he has been able to cheat the father out of his flocks because the God of his father has been with him, neither Jesus nor the Christian conscience of to-day believes it. In the Old Testament times God was giving His chosen people as much of His law as they could understand. Sometimes the divine truth flashed out with great brightness; at other times, it was much beclouded by ignorance and passion. However, all the light that shines so brightly in the life of Jesus, began shining, with varying degrees of luster, through the prophets and teachers of Israel. It is just because the Scriptures enable us to see thegrowthand thevicissitudesof God's advancing light in the souls of men that they are so valuable to us. For this reason we should study all the Scriptures more faithfully, and more intelligently.
The ceremonial law of Israel was their method of teaching reverence and purity. Though it strongly resembled the ceremonial law of their Semitic neighbors, yet it was a more useful method of worship for Israel, at that time, than if it had been farther removed fromthe customary worship of the day. When the Israelites fell into idolatry, they worshiped the other gods in much the same way that they worshiped Jehovah; and not essentially different from the manner in which the Canaanites worshiped their gods. But for enlightened peoples, this has long since ceased to be a useful method of worship. Slowly we are learning better methods; but we still have much to learn in the divine art of lifting men's souls to God.
5. The book of Job
Passing by a number of historical books we shall next make a brief study of Job.
I once had an interesting conversation with a middle-aged minister who, though uneducated, was a perfect gentleman. His mind was filled with an elaborate and ingenious scheme of religion falsely drawn from Job, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation. Tons of brain power had been consumed by those who developed the system. Yet a moderate amount of general information would have caused the entire system to fall in ashes. Ministers and Bible workers of this type still abound in astonishing numbers.
In the conversation just referred to, the minister was wildly quoting from Job. At one point I remarked, "But what you are now quoting is not true." "What," said he, "don't you believe the Bible?" "Yes," I replied, "but I do not believe that because, at the end ofthe book, God Himself says it is not true. Your motive is good, but it is a mistake to think that you can dive into the Scriptures at random like that, and find God's word."
We must remember that the book of Job is a dramatic poem, cast in the form of a dialogue. Whether or no suffering is a proof of guilt is the bone of contention between Job and his friends; and both positions cannot be true.
The author staged this dialogue on the Ash-Mound, outside the village. After the loss of property and children, Job, all covered with boils, takes a potsherd with which to scrape himself and sits down upon the Ash-Mound. When the news of his misfortune reaches his three friends, they proceed forthwith to visit him. As these old sheiks approach Job, and find him changed beyond recognition, they lift up their voices and weep. They also tear off their mantles and sprinkle dust upon their heads. Seeing that Job is in deep distress, they seat themselves near him and remain there seven solid days and nights without ever speaking a word. Finally, Job opens his mouth and curses the day of his birth, in one of the most pessimistic poems ever recited. Even the comforters can scarcely believe their ears, so shocked are they at Job's blasphemy. Still, they retain a measure of sympathy, for Eliphaz asks with great delicacy:
"If one assays to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved?But who can withhold himself from speaking?"
You remember, Job, how you instructed others when they were weak and afflicted. "Recall, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?" Now be a man, take your own medicine, repent of your sins, and God will return your prosperity. But Job only pours out his grief in fresh torrents. This causes Bildad to respond with alacrity:
"How long wilt thou speak these things?And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a mighty wind?"
Nevertheless, in spite of Bildad's lengthy rebuke, Job continues to pour out his complaint until Zophar can stand it no longer.
"Should not the multitude of words be answered? You are too full of talk for a righteous man. Your boasting will not silence us. For your mockery we shall make you ashamed." And when Zophar had finished his vehement reproach, Jobwasmad.
"No doubt but ye are the people,And wisdom shall die with you."
Thus the argument went back and forth with criminations and recriminations, until Job and his friends were exhausted.
While the discussion was raging, there came along a young theologian who, being attracted by the discussion, remained to hear it through. It turned out that the speeches of both Job and his friends were to him equallydisgusting. So he decided to wait and set them all right by his superior wisdom. Though this young man was filled with wrath at what he heard, yet he respectfully waited until the old men had finished. Then he reminded them that it was his respect for age that had kept him still until now. Having expressed his surprise at not finding wisdom associated with years, he takes thirty-three lines to tell them how smart he is; and assures them that they shall hear something worth while when he gets to speaking. Some years ago while reading this with my wife, I could scarcely wait until young Elihu got through boasting; I was thrilled with a desire to hear his new position. At last he began his argument. But, to my great surprise, I could see no difference between his position and that of Job's opponents; and as my wife could see no difference, I was convinced that there was none. Like Job's antagonists, he argued at great length and with much beauty that misfortune is a proof of guilt. Finally, however, he did add a suggestion. Misfortune is a warning not to sin more, lest you suffer more. Of course none of the older men deigned to answer this young upstart by so much as a word.
The argument from all sources now being in, it was time for the artist to prepare a fitting scene for the approach of the Almighty. Consequently, the storm clouds gather and begin to drop rain. The lightning suddenly flashes to the ends of the earth. The quick crash of thunder makes the heart quake. It is such a time as when old leviathan churns the deep into white foam.And at last out of the awful whirlwind God speaks: "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?"
Stand up, Job, and I will speak with you. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Have you walked in the recesses of the deep, have you seen the gates of death, does the morning come at your bidding, do you know the way of the lightning, do you cause the east wind to scatter over the earth? With all your wisdom, surely, you can answer. Job, "Canst thou bind the cluster of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" Can you thunder, Job? Can you send forth the lightning, can you draw out old leviathan with a fish hook? Gird up your loins like a man and answer me.
Very meekly Job replies, "Lord, I have heard of you before with the hearing of the ears, but now that I see you with my eyes, I abhor myself in dust and ashes." He frankly admits that he has spoken concerning things too wonderful for him. That Job has talked like a fool, God concedes. Yet He assures Job that in his main contention, he is right. Suffering is not a proof of guilt. Then turning to Job's miserable comforters, God informs them that He is angry because of all the falsehoods they have spoken. Go, therefore, and take seven bullocks and seven rams and offer a sacrifice, and my servant Job shall pray for you. And look sharp, "that I deal not with you after your folly; for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath."
After all this, how pitiful it was to see my old friend,the minister, building up a weird religion on hit-or-miss passages from Job.
We all know that the wicked must suffer sooner or later, but the lesson of Job is that the innocent may suffer also. From this beautiful dramatic poem we learn that when the cause of suffering lies too deep for our knowledge, we should trust the goodness of Him who is All-wise. The false belief, argued so vehemently by Job's comforters, still persisted in the days of Jesus; because they asked Him, "Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" And Jesus vindicated the position of Job by saying, "Neither did this man nor his parents sin." The greater pity is, that this false belief still persists to crush the hearts of many innocent sufferers. A saintly parishioner of mine once said to me while wringing her hands:
"Oh, what awful thing can I have done, that God has brought this affliction upon me?" I told her that she had done nothing, that she was a Dorcas among us, and that God loved her as we all did. And thus I comforted her from the teachings of Job, and from the words of Jesus. For three months, until she went home, she lay on a bed of pain in peace and trust.
The method of finding God's Word in the Scriptures illustrated.
1. The Psalms
For richness of spiritual content, for loftiness of expression, and for intimacy of communion with God, no other book in the world equals the Psalms. All devout souls have found the fullest expression of their inmost being in these inspired hymns. Like all true poetry the Psalms deal with the timeless. Eternal truths and deathless passions flow through these beautiful, rhythmic lines like a majestic river. The world is infinitely richer for the Psalms. And though they often reveal mistaken ideas in astronomy, yet religiously and poetically the Psalms contain the finest possible conceptions of the material universe. Even the imprecatory utterances are not wholly immoral, nor altogether contrary to the teachings of Jesus; for when they were deserved, He said things dreadfully severe. But when a Psalmist goes so far as to say of his enemy, "Neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children," or "Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock," he clearlymanifests an evil spirit; a spirit that is at once contrary to his own religion, and utterly condemned by Jesus. However, when we consider the ruthless exploitation to which Israel was so long exposed, it is most remarkable that the Psalms contain so little of this evil note. Whoever approaches the Psalms in the spirit of the Master will find them fat with spiritual meat.
Notwithstanding all, it is an indisputable fact that the best Christian hymns are superior to the poorest Hebrew Psalms. Take for example Dr. Gladden's hymn:
"O Master, let me walk with TheeIn lowly paths of service free;Tell me Thy secret, help me bearThe strain of toil, the fret of care."Help me the slow of heart to moveBy some clear, winning word of love;Teach me the wayward feet to stay,And guide them in the homeward way."Teach me Thy patience; still with TheeIn closer, dearer company,In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,In trust that triumphs over wrong,"In hope that sends a shining rayFar down the future's broadening way,In peace that only Thou canst give,With Thee, O Master, let me live."
Now, if any one should say that this hymn is inferior to the poorest Psalm, he would simply reveal a biasedmind. And yet, a hundred Dr. Gladdens could not have produced the book of Psalms. The Psalms were not made to order but, like his hymn, grew out of peculiar experiences. The Hebrew Psalms were lived out, and suffered out, through the life of a people that had looked with straining eyes from many a Mount Pisgah, and had lifted a pitiful cry from many a valley of Hinnom. Such experiences get to the heart of things; they offer the great prophetic opportunity for the noble souls through whom God determines the destiny of a people.
What oratorical genius couldinventa Gettysburg speech? The necessary conditions for such a pronouncement were four years of national anguish, a soil watered by the blood of her noblest sons, and a president bowed down with grief. Then, and only then, could a Mr. Lincoln rise in the midst of our hallowed dead and, all unconsciously, speak words immortal.
In the long ago, our western prairies lifted by mighty volcanic forces were shattered, and twisted, and left with great frowning peaks and deep yawning chasms. As a result, great pockets of gold were deposited in their bosom for the enrichment of the world. In like manner, Israel passed through great national upheavals that resulted in many a precious deposit. And among these deposits were the Psalms that have never ceased to enrich human experience.
What the earth's crust is to the student of nature's forces, that the Scriptures are to the student of spiritual forces.
2. The Prophets in general
If we now turn to the books of the prophets, we shall find a new type of Scripture. These spiritual giants were preëminently men of their own times, with a message for all times.
Before the first of the prophets now under consideration appeared, Israel had already passed through many centuries of deep and varied experience. First the Northern and then the Southern Kingdom became grossly idolatrous and wretchedly corrupt. Their ideals had degenerated into a mere cult, and their social institutions into a rigid system of oppression. Through dishonesty, oppression, and irreligion, the national life had so weakened that its destruction was imminent from inward decay and outward attack. Israel was clearly missing her destiny by forsaking God, oppressing the poor, and by trampling underfoot her most sacred ideals. She was inviting the judgments of God by truly meriting them.
Out of this deepening gloom, the lightning of God's wrath and the thunder of His purpose awakened certain sensitive souls to be prophets and seers in Israel. The realization of the nation's crime and danger transformed these prophets into the most fearless reformers the world had ever seen. As couriers with an important message from God, they went in hot haste to a rebellious and foolish people. Because of the real and immediate danger these preachers were exceedingly intense. To save the day, they strove valiantly. If they were to be successfulin their mission, both vision and oratorical gift were necessary qualifications. Their keen knowledge of Israel'spresentmade her future inevitable unless she repented of her sins. The prophets were not sent to proclaim any new religious truths in particular, but to be preachers and reformers of the highest order.
Now, how different all this is from what I used to think.
I once supposed that a prophecy was a pure miracle, a case in which God told the prophet, without any insight on the prophet's part, just what the future would be. It did not occur to me that the prophet had the slightest means of knowing the future which he predicted, except as God miraculously informed him. I also thought that God told the prophets what should be, so that, when it came to pass, it would prove the existence of God and the truth of revealed religion. To my understanding, prophecy was divine fortune-telling, designed to convince religious sceptics of a later day, rather than preaching, designed to save the sinners of that day. I did not realize that the predictions were concerning events inevitable, for the most part, to any one not blinded by sin or ignorance. Nor did I realize that most of their thrilling prophecies were made with the hope of bringing the people to repentance,—in which happy event the predictions would not come true.
A Hebrew prophet rarely used an if. That was understood. He always hoped that his predictions of evil would not come true, because of theemphaticmanner in which he declared they would. All orientals understoodthis, and it would greatly enhance the worth of Scriptures if we understood it equally well.
Too often, however, the evil prophecies did come to pass, because sinful Israel refused to hear. And for the same reason predictions of good often failed. Like true preachers and reformers, the prophets dealt largely in warnings and encouragements; hoping, thereby, to lead the people back to Him who loved them with an ever-lasting love.
"Do you think this war is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy?" Yes, this war and every other war is a fulfillment of Bible prophecies. Any prophecy that is true to fundamental principles, and true to human nature, goes right on being fulfilled over and over again. The dark prophecies recorded in the Scriptures will never cease being fulfilled until men no longer sin against God and one another. And when men cease sinning against God and their neighbors, the Bible prophecies ofgoodwill be repeatedly fulfilled throughout all the expanding growth of society. But the fanatical uses made of Bible prophecy in our day, by some well-meaning people, are enough to make angels weep.
The great prophets had their hearts wide open toward the God they adored, toward the nation they loved, and toward the times they feared. They were tremendously inspired of God, and regarded their lives of no account if only they could bring Israel back to God and save her from her enemies without, and her foes within. They were statesmen, seers, and lovers of God and men.Their souls burned with an unquenchable fire. They were the greatest preachers that the world has ever seen. To learn the historical setting is to enhance the value of their sermons many fold. And to study the prophet's method of impressing truth upon the oriental mind is a marvelous lesson in the art of persuasion. In their effort to save Israel, the prophets partly succeeded and partly failed. But their messages will live forever, and in this they succeeded beyond all precedent. They were firebrands to punish sin, and torches to enlighten the world.
Their messages were simple:
God is infinitely great and good. He loves you with a boundless passion, and pities you with an infinite compassion. But you have trampled on His mercies, you have spurned His approaches, you have jilted Him as a lover, and you show only contempt for His word. You tread down His poor, you rob widows and orphans, you take bribes, you pervert justice, you wallow in vice, you pamper yourselves with stolen delicacies, you mingle freely with the heathen, you copy their vices, you worship their vile gods, and make the land a stench. As a result, Israel languisheth: her poor cry for bread, her young men fall into the vices of their fathers, law and order are forgotten, and a loathsome decay is eating the very heart out of the nation.
Your enemies are quick to see your nakedness and your weakness. Already, they are planning to move against you. And Jehovah is so weary and discouragedwith you that He has about decided to use your mighty enemies as a scourge. He loves you so much that He must save you, at least a remnant of you, even if He has to use your cruel enemies to bring you back to your senses. Anyone who looks can see what is about to happen. If he listens he can hear the tramping of horses' feet and the rumbling of chariot wheels.
In true oriental imagery, these majestic prophets appealed to Israel's fear and pride and honor. There was no human passion overlooked, and no fundamental fact forgotten. They scolded, and wooed. They promised abundant good, or abundant evil. Their fund ofillustrationswas inexhaustible and, for the most part, exceedingly effective with the people of their day; and many of their illustrations are still unsurpassed for beauty and power. Nevertheless, they sometimes allowed their imagination to run riot while devising, or adapting imagery that would attract the attention, and arouse the hopes and the fears of their hearers. A notable instance is that of the captive Ezekiel, when he tries to portray the glory and majesty of Jehovah by means of a monstrous flying machine.
While Ezekiel's motive was good, his method was crude. He pictured a great cloud flashing fire as it rolled out of the north with a stormy wind. In the fiery cloud were living creatures, and each one had four faces and four wings. They also had calves' feet that sparkled like brass. Besides having human hands under their wings these strange objects had a man's face, a lion's face,an eagle's face, and the face of an ox. Their general appearance was that of burning coals and flaming torches. Connected, somehow, with the cloud and these monstrous creatures were wheels resembling precious stones, and wheels within wheels. And the rims of the wheels were covered with eyes. The movement of this startling apparition was direct, and very terrible; the noise of its wings was like great waters and the voice of the Almighty. Above this flying wonder was a canopy, and above the canopy a throne, from whence there proceeded a voice. Then he saw, as it were, glowing metal and the appearance of a rainbow. This appalling chariot of Jehovah, and the awful majesty of God, threw Ezekiel upon his face. Then Jehovah said unto Ezekiel, "Son of man, stand upon thy feet and I will speak with thee."
Now, we may be sure that the majesty of Jehovah is not less, but infinitely greater than this flying wonder. His glory, however, is decidedly different from this vision. Reverence and awe for the Almighty are sorely needed in every generation, and the effort to inspire them is a most worthy aim. There is no denying but this illustration is an awful picture; one that would thoroughly stupefy a child. But what should we think of a minister to-day who began his sermon with a similar description of the majesty and glory of God? However useful such imagery may have been to exiles in Babylonia more than two thousand years ago, it would be positively harmful to a modern congregation.
Though this vision of Ezekiel is crude and very extreme, even for an ancient prophet of Israel, yet we have people to-day who invest these wheels, and eyes, and heads with symbolic meanings to bolster up a monstrous religion that is contrary to pretty much everything that Jesus taught. Out of the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation, some well meaning but untaught souls can invent fifty-seven varieties of religion. But they can learn neither the lesson nor the danger of an undisciplined imagination.
3. Jonah
As I am simply giving a bird's-eye view of the Scriptures, and the method of approaching them, possibly a few words should be said concerning Jonah.
As a great missionary book for a people who were very unmissionary in spirit, Jonah is unique. It breathes the spirit of Christian missions in this twentieth century.
The friends of the Bible have unwittingly made this great book a jest and a byword by their wretched interpretation of it. Even as a little boy, I used to feel ashamed of certain portions of Jonah when read at family prayers. For, as I understood it, there was something about the story uncanny and unreal. I knew that some people scoffed at the fish story. But that did not trouble me because I believed in miracles, and was much pleased that God did not let poor Jonah drown. It was the unnaturalness of Jonah himself that troubled me. And when it came to his experience with the gourd, I almost lost faith. When Jonah felt so angry and sorry that hewanted to die because a worm bit the gourd, my common sense revolted completely. I meditated over this incident a long time, and finally concluded that no little boy was ever such a fool as that. I had felt faint in the hot sun many times myself and had seen chinch bugs eat up whole fields of wheat, and yet I did not want to die. That a big man, and prophet of God, could give way to such hysterical feelings over a withering gourd was more than I could believe. This incident was a much greater shock to my faith than the fish story. Though I felt very wicked for doubting the Bible, yet I was heartily glad that a certain sceptical neighbor was not present to hear it, for I knew he would make fun of such a story. What a pity it is that a little boy should be compelled to experience such feelings about the Bible at family prayers, when a little rational explanation would make this book charming to him beyond expression.
Though the book of Jonah is written in a curious oriental style that no man of to-day would wish to imitate, yet its spirit, purpose, and subject matter would be very difficult to surpass. As a parable, it is true to the general history of Israel and to the spirit of Christian missions. It contains the vision of a missionary statesman, and was meant to sting Israel to the quick for her bigotry and hardness of heart.
Very briefly stated, it is something like this:
The whining and almost contemptible prophet Jonah is Israel itself. Jonah is a caricature of Israel, and that is what made him seem unreal to me. Israel wanted theheathen killed, and not converted. And though she did not dare to disobey God outright, yet she gave God the slip at the first corner and embarked on the sea of politics. For a long time Israel had been as anxious to get into politics and form international relations as she had been determined not to be a missionary nation to her despised neighbors. So in this parable, Israel had not been long on the sea of politics when a great storm arose,—it is ever so. And, as usual in politics, someone is thrown overboard. The great fish that swallowed Jonah was Assyria. Therefore it is not strange that Israel offered a long and beautiful prayer in that kind of a fish's belly. Proud Israel, God's darling, in exile for her rebellion against Jehovah, could do no otherwise than offer up a prayer.
"Out of the belly of Sheol cried I,And thou heardest my voice.For thou didst cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas,And the flood was round about me;All thy waves and thy billows passed over me.And I said I am cast out before thine eyes;Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.The waters compassed me about, even to the soul;The weeds were wrapped about my head.
"And Jehovah spake unto the fish, (Assyria) and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." And Israel returned from captivity. Israel still showed an aversion for missionary work after her exile, but when God said "Go" a second time, Israel went. That is, she went inthe parable. It is clear, from the sarcasm of the story, that Jonah enjoyed his message when he began crying, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The parable reveals the faith of the author. He wished to convey the idea that the wicked heathen would repent more quickly than Israel if they had a herald to proclaim God's truth. Of course, a prophecy of destruction would not come true if the heathen repented. So God decided not to do what He said He would.
"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry." When Jonah, the typical Israelite, saw that his preaching had converted the heathen he was so mad that he wanted to die. I knew how kind-hearted you were toward repentant sinners, and that is the reason I tried to run off the first time. Now, God, just kill me; "for it is better for me to die than to live." Is this history? Yes, it is history in stinging sarcasm. How the Israelites must have writhed under such a portrayal of their faithless and godless hearts. But the author knew that it would take more than this to break their stubborn wills. So he proceeds with a few more sledge-hammer blows.
"And Jehovah said, Doest thou well to be angry?" Now this gave Jonah a little hope that God might kill his despised neighbors even if they had bitterly repented and turned to the Lord for forgiveness. Accordingly, Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side where he could see and gloat over the destruction of his converts, in case the Lord did intend to destroy them after all. In the meantime, Jonah made himself just as comfortableas possible by constructing a booth where he could sit in the shade. And our satirist causes God to add a little touch of comfort by causing a gourd "to come up over" His darling, "Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil case."
Now, the contemptible Jonah had no business being there in the sun; he should have been at home helping his wife, if he had nothing else to do. But better still, he should have been in Nineveh rejoicing with the converts who had been redeemed from destruction by his preaching.
Note the fine sarcasm of our author, "So Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd."
However, when the gourd was smitten by a worm, and the sultry wind blew, and the sun shone hot upon his head, our mean little Jonah again asked God to kill him. Now Jonah, "Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?" "Yes, I do well to be angry even unto death." Were ever such words of irony spoken! O Israel, you are smitten with grief because of your poor little gourds, but don't you think you might have a little pity for all those innocent people who were so untaught morally that they did not know their right hand from their left?
It would be well for us to remember that we, as well as ancient Israel, fret and fume over a lot of little nothings. Little griefs and little deprivations vex us sorely. But while our brothers and sisters over much of the earth go naked and starved and diseased, we feel no pity. We are very tender-hearted over little things, we are deeplymoved over some fictitious story; but for the appalling tragedies of dark continents and exploited peoples, our hearts are flint.
Obviously, Israel understood only too well the biting sarcasm and bitter irony of Jonah's ringing satire. If the author of this parable could know that a generation has since risen, with so little historical and literary acumen as to believe that Jonah is literal history, I think his body would turn over in its grave. If he knew that he had set people to wrangling over the question of whether a fish could swallow a man, instead of sending them out as missionaries to all the Ninevehs of the earth, he would feel sorry that he ever wrote the book.
When intelligently understood, there is no other literature extant that makes such a strong moral and religious appeal for social justice and political righteousness as the prophets. The writings of the great prophets of Israel constitute a practicalsociology, founded on the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man; a sociology so enriched by a wealth of historical materials as to make it a treasure-house for all workers in social betterment.
To save the ordinary Bible reader from confusion, I have purposely avoided all questions of origin and composite character, along with many other interesting and useful facts concerning the Scriptures. This simple approach to the Scriptures is for the purpose of helping the average person to find the soul of the Bible. For it isthe soul of the Bible, and not its incidental features, that enriches the soul of the reader.
4. The New Testament in general
In the New, as well as in the Old Testament, the letter kills while the spirit makes alive.
As the historical and literary methods of study have imparted a new beauty and a new significance to the messages of the Old Testament, the same methods will, in like manner, affect the messages of the New Testament.
The personal Christ is thesoulof the New Testament. In Jesus, righteousness is more than a decalogue or a catalogue to be followed; it is a character to be possessed. In Jesus, God is more than a Divinity to be obeyed; the Infinite Will is an indwelling Spirit,—the soul of man's soul. While the Old Testament never recognizes God as dwelling in man, the New Testament takes the God of Israel and the righteousness of Israel and places them in human life; not as a theory, but as personal experience. This is the old righteousness and the old religion made new.
When we say that Jesus is the soul of the New Testament, we have no reference to perplexing questions about how He came or how He went. We mean that the God-filled Jesus is the soul of all the New Testament teachings. The pure, strong Son of God is the lodestone of the Gospels and the Epistles. It is He that draws honest soulsinto divine fellowship with the Father and His family. To see the character of Jesus in its most lovely aspects, and to feel His love that heals and transforms, is to receive the very best that the New Testament has to give.
The perplexing questions of psychology, of tradition, of manuscripts, and of miracles are interesting enough for those who are equipped to study them; but all these are much less than the one essential thing. To know Him, and to feel the power that He can exercise over all that are attached to Him in love and service, is life eternal. Granting that the miracles are true, yet it is infinitely more difficult to be certain of the truth of a miracle than it is to be certain of the truth of the Christian religion. The Christian religion may be tested at first hand. We can taste and see that the Lord is good. By keeping company with Jesus, and walking in His foot-steps, we are able to decide for ourselves whether we care for Him and His way of living. Though one were in utter doubt concerning everything else, if he saw in Jesus something so much to be desired that he was willing to forsake all and follow Him, he would find himself in loving fellowship with the Father. "Whosoever will, let him come." And, "Whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." Though in doubt about every question of scholarship, the one who personally tests the life and teachings of Jesus from day to day is able to answer, "One thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see." To find one's self sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, after living amongthe tombs as one mad for wealth or pleasure or popularity, is the last word in religion.
Having thus blazed the straight path to God, let me urge it upon my readers that they take up the broader and deeper study of the New Testament literature as they have opportunity. For, in so doing they will broaden and deepen their lives, and better fit themselves to live in society as those who helpfully and intelligently serve.
But some may say, "How are we to know that our religion is true unless we have some ancient, miraculous proof!"
My answer is that in nothing does God so much delight, as in making Himself known to those who intelligently receive Him in pure hearts. When God ishere, even if it were possible, we do not need to prove His existence; we simply need to get acquainted with Him. Miracles may have been necessary in times past; if so, they served their purpose when they were needed. Since it is harder to verify an ancient miracle than it is to verify the presence of God in our own hearts, we cling to the greater certainty without being too dogmatic concerning the wonders reported in a primitive age. If one believes in miracles, no one can prove that he is wrong. If he is so constituted that he cannot believe in them, God will not turn him away if he follows the Master with his whole heart. If any one desires a richer assurance of God and His forgiveness, let him be a more intelligent and a better Christian; let him make a larger investment of himself in the service of God. I havenothing to say against miracles; but I should like to testify that it has been possible to lead many to Christ by getting them to become His disciples first, and then letting them have plenty of time to settle the question of miracles as best they were able.
Though I bring an indictment against myself, I must say, what we most need is a ministry with Apostolic faith and fervor. We need St. Pauls and St. Johns. We need leaders who can make God real and sin hateful.
5. The book of Revelation
Seeing that so many good Christians are perplexed by the apocalypses, we shall close this chapter with a brief study of the book of Revelation.
The mystery that once shrouded the book of Revelation is gone. As Professor Porter says, "The historical method has, it is not too much to say, broken the seals. To the historical student these apocalypses have become, in their general character and chief messages, among the best instead of quite the least understood books of the canon. And their importance has grown with their understanding."
The book of Revelation throws more light on the past than on the future. It has to do largely with a crisis in the early Christian Church, and not with the end of the world and the "constitution of the unseen universe."
The probable date of the book is about ninety-threeA. D.The great Christian leaders were gone, theheathen elements were entering the Church with their traditions and rites, and the Roman government was setting up emperor worship to strengthen the loyalty of diverse populations. The mandate that all should enter the temples of the emperor and worship him as divine was particularly hard on Jews and Christians who refused to worship any but the one true God. The persecutions that followed a refusal to worship the emperor, with all the other devitalizing influences mentioned, threatened the very existence of the Christian Church.
It was to meet this crisis that the book of Revelation was written. And this accounts for the poetical and visionary style adopted by the author. Strong language was needed; something that would quicken the imagination and revive the fainting hearts of those who were growing cold and indifferent. Dynamite was needed. No gentle utterance would suffice. The writer realizes the awful conflict that is about to ensue between the gentle Lamb and His humble followers on the one side, and the great dragon, Rome, and his vile cohorts on the other. Somehow, the Christians must be convinced that the Lamb will finally triumph over the beast, or all is lost. After the sweet, simple letters of admonition and praise to the Churches, in which he pictures Christ among the candlesticks, the task of reassuring the persecuted followers of Jesus must somehow be achieved. So he goes to his task as a fireman goes to the work of saving a building that is on fire. Ordinary means will utterly fail. He first looks to the heavens, and then to the moststriking imagery of the Old Testament, and never refuses a striking figure from any source that promises to serve his purpose. He gathers from far and near anything that will startle and encourage. As the winds drive the clouds until their blackness terrifies, so he gives free rein to his own imagination while marshaling his material. He commands the heavenly trumpeters, and brings forth appalling horsemen riding in the heavens. He sees one-third of the sun, moon, and stars, smitten after the blast of a heavenly trumpet. He sees an angel open a pit from which belches forth smoke that darkens the whole heavens. Out of the smoke come forth locusts that look like horses prepared for war. They have golden crowns on their heads, and men's faces, and women's hair, and lion's teeth, and breastplates of iron. Their wings sound like chariots and many horses rushing to war. And they have scorpions' tails with stings, to sting the men that have not the seal of God on their foreheads. He assures the poor sufferers that sealed mysteries, and distresses, and woes await them; but that Christ shall be able to solve all mysteries, and that he will command all powers in heaven and earth to fight on their side until the old dragon, whose earthly embodiment is Rome, shall be cast into the sulphurous pit and sealed. Finally, in the most beautiful and poetical fashion he declares that the battle shall be won, the clash of arms and the blare of trumpets shall cease, heaven and earth shall be cleared of their fierce combatants, and in that happy and peaceful hour the reward of the faithful shall appear. Heaven shall descend on a new earth that is redeemed. The Lamb and His bride, the faithful Church, shall again be united. And this new heaven on earth shall be inexpressibly beautiful; the architecture shall be symmetrical, and richly adorned. The gates of the city shall be pearls, and the streets gold. The city shall not, as the old Jerusalem, be built of common stone; even the foundations shall be adorned with jasper, and sapphire, and chalcedony, and emerald, and sardonyx, and sardius, and chrysolite, and beryl, and topaz, and chrysoprase, the jacinth, and amethyst. There shall be a river, and trees bearing fruit for food and leaves for healing. All these things the writer assures them shall soon come to pass. In the great day of victory throngs of people shall be there, arrayed in white; all, both the living and the dead, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, shall be present. They shall be invited to the marriage of the Lamb, and to the wonderful feast that will follow.
We are justified in believing that this poetical and highly imaginative portrayal of the conflict was very effective with the humble, illiterate, and sorely persecuted people who constituted the Christian Church at that time. They revived from their coldness, they turned their backs upon the insidious temptations and allurements of the heathen world, and went in armies to the martyr's death. Rome was conquered, but not in the way the author expected. Rome was conquered by being made Christian, at least nominally and politically. The histories thatrecord the conflict between the Christians and Rome are not less blood-curdling than the book of Revelation. The conflict was frightful, only it was in terms of blood, and fire, and dungeon. If the ingenious and infernal methods of torture, invented by Rome, present a picture difficult to read, what must the reality have been to bear? We should never cease to thank God that these humble Christians were nerved for the conflict. The modern world owes these martyrs a debt of gratitude as high as the heavens and as deep as the seas. When we consider the people, the times, and the crisis, the book of Revelation was a means well suited to a noble end. Who can look upon such a scene, and witness such heroism, and read such desperate utterances rising out of the conflict as are recorded by the author of Revelation without wishing to be a better man, and a more loyal follower of the one who still stands among the candlesticks,—His Churches. Sabatier has wisely said, "Apocalypses do not reveal to us the secrets of the divine providence, but do reveal the optimistic believing nature of the soul."
During the recent war, many portions of our country were burnt over with the fanaticism that has sprung from a false and unhistorical interpretation of Revelation and other apocalyptic writings.
The following extract from Professor Porter's book, "Daniel and Revelation," is of special interest:
"The more theoretical or theological messages of the apocalypses it is evidently impossible for us to accept in any literal way as a message for our day. That whichthey claimed to do, namely, to unveil the heavenly world and the future age, they really did not do. We cannot accept their descriptions of heaven, of God's throne, or of the angels, their names and functions, as a revelation of hidden realities. They are at most figurative and imaginative representations or symbols of faith in God and a spiritual realm. We are interested in these things only, on the one side, for the imperishable faith and hope behind them, and on the other for their place in the history of human speculation and fancy.... Although we cannot receive their theoretical message, yet their practical message for their own time is a true message for all like times, and in a measure for all times alike. Religious faith in times of a dominating, aggressive, or insinuating worldliness needs to maintain itself by the assurance of the real dominion of the unseen world over the world of sense, and by the hope of some approaching manifestation of God, some open demonstration of the rule of justice and goodness. The apocalyptical temper is needed when religion is assailed and in danger; and in all times the religious life needs to maintain its purity and strength by some sort of protest against the world, some defiance of ruling ideals and customs, some faith in realities above those of sense, and in truths contrary to appearances. The greater apocalypses were inspired by a living faith in the ideal and an eager expectation of its coming into reality; and faith in ideals which the world contradicts is too rare and precious a thing to be despised because its form is strange."