ONLY a few hundred years ago humanity was sunken in the black, hopeless despair of the Dark Ages. With their minds shackled by the chains of ignorance, their consciences the playthings of priests, and their fears the revenue of corrupt popes, unnumbered millions longed for the light and liberty of which they dreamed but for which they dared not hope, and for which they were too ignorant or too weak to fight. They dreamed of happiness, and lived in a nightmare.
Then came the bright morning stars of the Reformation, shining through the ten long, black centuries of gloomy night. Then burst upon the world in all its imperishable glory the radiating splendor of the Reformation sun. Then was born Freedom, the favored child of Light, the noblest child of Time.
Freedom of Thought
is a priceless possession, bought with humanity’s blood; but freedom of thought, like freedom of action, may be, and often is, abused. The great pendulum of humanity swings down through the ages from one extreme to the other. Five hundred years ago people were blind because the darkness was so gross; while to-day the world is going blind because the light is so intense. Five hundred years ago the minds of men were bound hard and fast, not daring even to doubt the power of faithless and debauched priests to send them, for a consideration, to the unending bliss of heaven, or to banish them, for motives of trivial hate or personal greed, to the increasing torments of an endless hell; but to-day men are rioting in the unrestrained license of impious and presumptuous thinking, and, freed from their ancient intellectual bondage, they now not only deny the power of God, but with their man-made laws called Evolution would penetrate the heavens to bind even the Almighty.
Higher Criticism is the most favored of the numerous progeny of Evolution. Its claims are the widest, its teachings the most pleasing to the natural man, and its precepts apparently the most luminous, but its results are the most disastrous of them all.
Every One Knows the Accumulating Debt
that humanity owes to the Reformation. Then a movement that knocks at the door of our hearts, seeking entrance in the name of the Reformation, should, if imbued with the Reformation spirit, receive our heartiest welcome and active support. But if it uses the mantle of the Reformers as a disguise by which the more effectually to undo their noble work, it should be exposed as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Higher Criticism arrogates to itself the sole right to explain the Reformation and interpret the Bible. “The reverent Critics are the lineal descendants of the Reformers.”—McFayden, “Old Testament Criticism and the Christian Church,” page 191.
Having seen in previous articles some of the fruits of the labors of “reverent Critics,” it comes to us as a startling thought that all their virtual skepticism is claimed by them to be in reality genuine Protestantism, and that all who do not believe as they do are disloyal to the principles of Protestantism. Yet this is a commonplace in Higher Critical teaching.
One Higher Critic defines Protestantism as “the spirit that is ever ready to challenge all that obscures the truth, whether that be the teaching and traditions of an ancient church, the solemn decisions of ecclesiastical councils, the authoritative decrees of popes, or even the traditions which in its own name have been established.”—Id., page 174.
This principle is not only true, but could hardly be better stated. But when the same writer and others of the Higher Critical movement use it as justification for teaching that
The Bible Itself
is mainly an ancient tradition, and hence according to the Reformation formula should be largely discounted, if not entirely discredited, it is an obvious and flagrant abuse of the holy and immortal principle. Thus while Higher Criticism claims to be the reincarnation of the spirit of the Reformation, it would effectually destroy the very authority upon which the principles of Protestantism are based and by which alone they can be carried out.
True, Protestantism is a critical movement. But it is critical only so far as it uses the Bible as a standard, and tests all things by a “Thus saith the Lord.” But Higher Criticism is critical in a very different manner. It uses reason as its standard. It spends its force and lavishes its genius in criticizing and destroying the Book which caused the rise of Protestantism and made it possible for us to have freedom of thought at all.
That the Higher Critics do not hold to the Reformation principle of
“The Bible and the Bible Only”
as the seat of authority, but substitute another which they try to palm off on the gullible and the unwary, is made clear by the following recent Higher Critical pronouncement:
“It should be sufficient for us to hold fast tenaciously—aggressively if occasion requires—to the root principle of the Reformation that REASON is the candle of the Lord, and that BY REASON we are to prove all things and to hold fast to that which after proof is found good.”—W. F. Cobb, “Theology Old and New,” page 29.
Inspiration, however, lays down an entirely different rule for testing the truth: “If they speak not according to THIS WORD, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20. Why is it that man will resort to any alternative rather than use God’s way? “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” Eccl. 7:29. And one of the most disastrous of all man’s inventions has been his substitution of reason for Revelation, of his own fitful sparks for God’s glorious sun of Truth.
The Reformation was a rediscovery of the Bible, and hence of God. But Higher Criticism, in its exaltation of reason, would destroy our divine Chart, and push us adrift without a Captain, to beat helplessly upon the huge reefs of infidelity. The danger and harm of this lie in the fact that this work is done by hundreds of ministers who are doing it in the name of Protestantism.
But Higher Critics forget or ignore the7fact that Higher Criticism, so far from being the product of Protestantism, was on the contrary fathered by Catholic priests, and
Was Born under the Roof of Catholicism
but is being matured in the welcome home of apostate Protestantism, which Harnack, one of the world's greatest church historians, calls "the mere double of Catholicism."
They also forget or ignore the fact that the Reformation was a movement away from the dogmatism of tradition toward the Bible as the sole authority; while Higher Criticism is a movement away from the Bible toward the dogmatism of science, philosophy, and Evolution. Higher Criticism has only exchanged the traditions of the church for the traditions of reason. It has merely exchanged the slavery of ignorance and credulity for the equally intolerable slavery of learning and presumption, and has led the people as far from the Bible as did the priests of the Dark Ages. Now, as then, the leaders of this spiritual apostasy are the high priests of the religion they are betraying. This movement is by a recent Higher Critic euphemistically called "progressive orthodoxy."—Browne, "Studies in Christianity," page 5.
The public is deceived by the book monuments built to the heroes of the Reformation by Higher Critics who, while forsaking the spirit that produced it and subverting the principles by which it was carried forward to triumph, often over the graves of its martyred adherents, blandly pose as the spiritual descendants of Wyclif, Huss, Calvin, and Luther. The Reformation leaders would be the last to appreciate such homage and the first to denounce it.
So far, indeed, is Higher Criticism from perpetuating the work of Protestantism, that
It is a Reversal of the Same
and if continued unchecked will eventually undo the noble work of these intrepid pioneers of truth and liberty.
Instead of standing upon the two distinguishing principles of Protestantism, "justification by faith alone, and the exclusive authority of the Scriptures" (Fisher, "History of the Reformation," page 459), the Critics proclaim, as evidence of their "progressive orthodoxy," that "ALL RELIGIONS are now recognized as ESSENTIALLY DIVINE. They represent the different angles at which man looks at God. . . . The credentials of the DIVINE ORIGIN OF EVERY RELIGION are to be found in the hearts and lives of those who believe them."—Universal Review, December, 1888.
Higher Critics put forth such astounding statements in their desire to be considered "liberal thinkers," forgetting that thereby they are proving themselves very illogical thinkers; for as every schoolboy knows, many of the religions, especially of ancient times, were founded upon the grossest immorality. It is an absolute impossibility for Christianity and such debauched religions to emanate from the same source.
Thus Nothing Is More Opposed
to the genius of Protestantism that Higher Criticism; for this New Theology, instead of seeing that Christianity is the only divine religion and all others the counterfeits of Satan, is so "progressively orthodox" that it includes all religions, no matter how corrupt or how contradictory, in its broad mantle of faith. Instead of believing that "the Word of our God shall stand forever" (Isa. 40:8), Higher Critics think that the word of any god will stand forever. And instead of believing that "Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17), they loudly proclaim that any one's word is as likely to be truth. If this be a "higher development of Protestantism," then what would agnosticism, skepticism, and infidelity be?
As a matter of fact, under the deadening influence of the Higher Critical religious dissecting knife, Protestantism has ceased to protest. In its enervated apathy it is linking arms with Romanism, and is currying favor with unbelieving science and skeptical philosophy. It is adopting the teachings of Spiritism, and is looking favorably upon Christian Science. Indeed, Protestantism is becoming like the Pantheon of Rome, in which any god could find a welcome home. It is no wonder that St. John, in looking down the ages to the present, said the church would "become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Rev. 18:2.
When will professed Protestants see their encroaching danger? When will the clarion message of the Reformation, "The Bible and the Bible only" as the text-book of faith and the guide of life, be again proclaimed from the pulpits of Christendom? Let the glorious principles that freed humanity from the mental and moral degradation of the Dark Ages, be once more heralded to the world by Protestants, and the stealthy but mighty tide of Romanism that is rolling over the land would be swept back as if by magic, Spiritism would lose its charm along with its power, Christian Science would be relegated to oblivion, and infidelity would no longer rear its hideous form behind the sacred pulpit.
The Word of God, or of Man Which Shall We Believe?
By Leslie Littell
IF men would only believe God, there would be only one doctrine in the world; for God has stated every truth in simple and plain language so that none need be deceived.
God says, "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Luke 16:17.
Man says, "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail except the fourth commandment."
God says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." 1 John 5:3.
Man says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments except the fourth commandment."
God says, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God." Rev. 14:12.
Man says, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God except the fourth commandment."
God says, "Blessed are they that do His commandments." Rev. 22:14
Man says, "Blessed are they that do His commandments except the fourth commandment."
God says, "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Ex. 20:10.
Man says, "But the first day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God."
God calls the seventh day "the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," "the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord," and "My holy day." Ex. 20:10; 31:15; Isa. 58:13.
Man calls the seventh day "the Sabbath of the Jews," "that old Jewish Sabbath," and "just a common work day."
God worked on the first Sunday, or first day of the first week in the history of the world, and commanded us to work on that day. Gen. 1:3-5; Ex. 20:9, 11.
Man rests on Sunday, or the first day of the week, and commands us to rest on that day.
God calls the first day of the week a "working day." Eze. 46:1.
Man calls it the Christian sabbath, "man's holy rest day."
God says, "Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. . . . Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." Mark 7:7-9.
Man says, "You worship God in vain, for you reject the commandments of men, that you may keep the commandments of God."
Believe and obey God, and there will be no trouble about which day is the Sabbath; for God says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."
LESLIE LITTELL.
Bound to Be True
I AM not bound to win, but I am bound to be true.—Abraham Lincoln.
What Is the Soul?
By John William Lowe
No individual in the world is exactly like any other person in this world, because no two human beings in this world are exactly alike mentally and physically. Therefore, every individual in this world has an individuality peculiarly his own. This being so, there are as many individualities as there are individuals. Each individual — his mental and physical make-up, which differs from all others in some respect — constitutes a soul.
The soul is the individual — not an invisible something that is separate and distinct from the visible person. A careful study of the Bible relative to the soul — comparing scripture with scripture — will abundantly substantiate the above claims. The popular belief that the soul is something separate and distinct from the visible body, is a delusive, man-made theory, and not in the least degree warranted by Bible teaching or scientific research.
J. W. LOWE.
— ★★ —
"Out of Babylon to Zion"
By Prof. Lucas A. Reed
XIV. The Vision of the Horsemen
THE first words of Zechariah's prophecy were given in the eighth month. The vision of the horsemen appeared to him in the eleventh month. Only three months, and God speaks a second time.
The prophet beholds a man riding upon a red horse that stood among the myrtle-trees. There are four of these horses and riders in all.
“I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.”
The questions at once arise: Who are these horsemen? What is the meaning of the vision? What is the significance of the horses and their riders that stand in the myrtle-hedged valley?
The main features of the vision are very clear. We are told that the horses and horsemen are those whom God sends forth into the earth. They are the angel scouts that watch the interests of God's kingdom throughout the earth. “These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.”
Why these angelic messengers are represented in the form of horsemen we may not be able to explain fully, yet certain considerations are evident. The horseman was the swiftest moving intelligent messenger known at that time. Therefore the celerity of the angelic messenger is no doubt typified. And again the horseman was the form of the most indomitable warriors of the period. The cavalry were at once the swiftest moving, the most difficult to battle with, the most valiant in appearance, of all the warrior troops.
And so the prophet is shown the swift moving, unseen messengers of the kingdom of God, the invincible cavalry of the Lord of Hosts. When Joshua was about to conquer the promised land, he was likewise reminded of the invisible army that would really fight the battles and give the substantial victories for the people of God. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, in this world; it is to him who has behind him, all unseen by mortal eyes, the invincible hosts of the Great King.
The man upon the horse in the myrtle-fringed bottom is later called the “Angel of Jehovah that stood among the myrtle-trees.” And the Angel of Jehovah is the one throughout all the Old Testament whom we find to be the Christ.
He appeared to Joshua as Captain of the Lord's host. Joshua did obeisance to Him as to God, and He commanded Joshua to remove his sandals, for the divine presence made even the ground upon which he stood holy. Josh. 5:14, 15.
This was the Angel that God sent before His people to lead them into the promised land. “Mine Angel,” God calls Him. “Beware of Him, and obey His voice, provoke Him not; for He will not pardon your transgressions: for My name is in Him.” Ex. 23:21. He had God's name. This could be true of none but Christ. And the whole matter is placed beyond the slightest opportunity of cavil by the declaration of Paul, “They drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them [margin]: and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. 10:4.
This Man, the Angel of Jehovah, “stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom.”
The time when the prophet had his vision was in the early spring, about the middle of March, when the woods were odorous with the bursting balsamic buds of the trees. Christ stood among the myrtle-trees; not the stately cedars nor the triumphant palms, but the lowly yet fragrant myrtles that were in the bottom.
We see at once that the myrtle signifies God's people at this time. They were lowly. The cedars and the palms of earth on the heights overshadowed and hid them. But down in the bottom of affliction and humiliation tho they were, and humble perhaps as the myrtle, Christ was among them. He stands amidst His people, identifies Himself with them, with their oppression and humiliation, and consoles and encourages them by His presence.
To the Angel of Jehovah that explained the angelic scouting of all the earth was reported, “Behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” Here is the full account:
“And they answered the Angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.”
“Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of Hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which Thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?”
“Then the Angel of Jehovah”—the great Mediator—makes this plea: “How long wilt Thou not have mercy?”
What a contrast the times presented! Everywhere throughout the world peace and prosperity; in every city of every nation a picture of wealth, of opulence, of busy activity, save here at Jerusalem, the chosen hill of God, the specially favored spot of heaven—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah lay waste, as they had lain waste under the blight of God for practically seventy years.
Truly, if any spot should be radiant, this is the spot. But the city lies without walls, the temple is in ruins, the houses are broken down, the service of God is marred by the vast devastation.
Yet there is no mystery about it. The displeasure of God against His people and the temple and cities is due to the sins and idolatries of His chosen. This was all made plain in the preceding message of the prophet, “The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.” Verse 2.
But our great Mediator takes up the plea, How long wilt Thou not have mercy where Thou hast had indignation these seventy years? And the answer comes, that there is to be a new order of things.
“And the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.” Verse 13.
Let us get anew the situation in mind as it was at that moment. The people of God had been compelled by force and power to cease to build the temple. For a number of months the labor had stopped. The ruined stones of the temple lay there in all their vast desolation. God's people, disheartened, waiting, wondering, halted in a work given them of God. Balked by the mandate of a heathen prince, scoffed at, reviled, and triumphed over by their enemies the Samaritans, the people of God had wavered in their purpose, and had said: It is a mistake. Something is wrong in the reckoning. “The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.” Hag. 1:2.
But God speaks with encouragement. The people of God could see only the rocks and stones of a ruined city about them, and read only the command of Pseudo-Smerdis, the Persian usurper. But God could see beyond the present and the word of mortal prince to the rebuilt, glorified city of the coming days.
By an analogous vision to John in the first chapter of Revelation, He appears as one like the Son of Man “in the midst of the seven candlesticks.” The seven candlesticks are the seven churches (verse 20), and the seven churches betoken the church of Christ through all the sevenfold Gospel age. A candlestick was a fit token of the church to whom was given the privilege to hold forth the marvelous Gospel light. It was to be like a city set on a hill, not to be hid, holding forth the Word of life.
And just as appropriately the myrtle signified God's people in the days of the prophet Zechariah. The children of God had come to one of the darkest periods in all their national history, if we view it with mortal eye. They were down in the bottom of humiliation, the vale of sorrow. But the more you crush the leaves of the myrtle, the sweeter it sends forth its perfume. Even in this dark hour the light of faith would shine; even under the pressure of earthly might, God's people would yield the sweet odor of the holy life.
Christ stood amidst the myrtle that was in the bottom. Then as now His presence gives security, hope, and peace. “Lo, I am with you alway,” He says. No path of human experience but He is with us to lead us and to keep us. He is the Shepherd who leads His sheep; we shall not want. Even tho we pass down through the dark valley, we will fear no evil, for He is with us. His rod and His staff will comfort us.
Jeremiah's Covenant and Chronology
sinned so greatly that it seemed as tho at times their case was hopeless; as impossible to change as the Ethiopian's skin or the leopard's spots; and yet the prophet pleads God's name, and pleads it in such a way that it would show to every soul who should read the record afterward how much was pledged in the Gospel of forgiveness. Take for instance the expression in the twenty-first verse of chapter fourteen: "Do not abhor us, for Thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of Thy glory: remember, break not Thy covenant with us." In other words, if God should forsake the people who sought Him it would disgrace the throne of His glory, it would break His covenant. But this is not in harmony with His character, for He is "pleased with them that hope in His mercy."
The reader of Jeremiah will notice that the chapters are not always chronologically arranged; he will see, for instance, that some pertaining to Zedekiah's reign come previous to others written in the days of Jehoiakim. Some have supposed that in the gathering of the manuscript together by Ezra and others they were transposed in some way in the ancient scrolls. If the reader would like to carry through Jeremiah in chronological order, we give the following suggestions from Boothroyd: Up to chapter 20 the chapters are in fairly chronological order. Following 20 to 46 the order is as follows: 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 35, 36, 45, 24, 29, 30, 31, 27, 28, 21, 34, 37, 32, 33, 38, 39:15-18; 39:1-14; 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, etc.
The seventy years' captivity is noted, dating not from the captivity of Judah, but from the events given in chapters 25 and 27, when Nebuchadnezzar started on his great campaign and swept in all the kingdoms in that vicinity under his power. Jeremiah knew that God's revelation to him was true, and therefore he sent yokes and messages to the rulers of all these different countries through their regular ambassadors at Jerusalem, warning them of the coming conqueror, and telling them that they should serve the king of Babylon seventy years, which ended in 536.
Magnitude of Creation
By Dr. R. W. Hamilton
What are the few worlds which sweep with us about the same source of life and light? Massive, ponderous in themselves; some of them immensely larger than our own, running wider revolutions, and drawing after them brighter trains. But even this one solar family, recognizing and claiming members in the outskirts of space,—it is as nothing to what the eye can command, nothing to the VISIBLE. What constellations are thrown over the firmament in all the profusion of beauty and magnificence! And when the unaided sense has roamed to its utmost ken, and gazed to its utmost strength, it may call the instruments of science to its assistance; and it shall look out on ampler territories, and take hold of larger notices. Now we leave our nook. We speak in no terms of exaggeration when we describe what we see as BEDS and FLOORS and CLOUDS of stars. As we pierce the awful altitudes, we ascend to new wonders. Apertures constantly open, and we are just suffered a glimpse into them. Heaven spreads above heaven; new arrangements stand revealed; and celestial bodies, in shapes hitherto undeveloped, flame as at the portal of the eternal throne to guard its access and proclaim its terribleness. Yet, even there, are proofs that discovery has not closed its researches; still avenue verges from avenue, and height rises into height. And, after all, this is but the outer court of "His high and holy place." —Dr. R. W. Hamilton.
Our Bible Reading
Conscience
1. "Conscience comes from "con," together, and "science," to know, to know together with oneself.
2. To how many is given conscience?
"Commending ourselves to every man's conscience." 2 Cor. 4:2.
3. What is the office of conscience?
"Being convicted by their own conscience." John 8:9.
"Their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." Rom. 2:15.
4. Conscience is not always good and true.
"Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience." Heb. 10:22.
5. By what is conscience affected?
"To the pure all things are pure; but to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled." Titus 1:15.
6. If the evil conscience is cherished, what will result?
"Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron." 1 Tim. 4:2.
7. By what should conscience be constantly adjusted?
"By their fruits ye shall know them." Matt. 7:20.
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. 8:20.
8. What is the object of the law?
"Now the end [object] of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned." 1 Tim. 1:5.
9. What alone can make a good conscience?
"How much more shall the blood of Christ . . . purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." Heb. 9:14.
10. How should we regard conscience?
"Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having thrust from them made shipwreck concerning the faith." 1 Tim. 1:19.
11. How should we ever serve God?
"Whom I serve . . . with pure conscience." 2 Tim. 1:3.
12. How will the man of good conscience regard all proper human laws?
"Ye must needs be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake." Rom. 13:5.
"Having a good conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ." 1 Peter 3:16.
13. What will a good conscience always witness?
"My conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit." Rom. 9:1.
"If ye love Me, keep My commandments." John 14:15.
What a Sneer Means
By S. S. Times
No child sneers. Growing boys and girls sometimes say cutting things, and the child whom bad parental training has turned into a little pseudo-adult perhaps may sneer, just as he comments on the political situation; but the true child as such does not sneer. The generosity and trustfulness of a child's judgment are incompatible with the contemptuous spirit. Sneering is an artificial growth, a something which, like atheism, is not natural but forced. Its presence indicates the passing of the simplicities of childhood; and it equally indicates that maturity has not yet come.
For no old people sneer—that is, no mature people. If one have an aged friend who slips into speech of bitter scorn, he so far and for the moment disappoints one; he has lapsed into the crudity of an earlier age. Mellowness means the death of scorn.
There is something about the spirit of a sneer which is an advertisement of immaturity. We may be quite sure that some young people whom we have known as masters of the art of the abbreviated and staccato expression of contempt—young people who can compress an adverse verdict into an expressive sniff—are blissfully unconscious how they advertise the very thing their sneer is designed to conceal—the fact that they are not yet grown up.
The truth is, the sneer is the confession of weakness. The scornful man is in an attitude of self-defense, usually against either superior knowledge (everybody knows how quick people are to despise what they do not understand), or in the presence of superior strength, or he is fending off remorse and shame; the cynicism and scornful censoriousness of the impenitent is, of course, a byword among the students of human nature.
In the presence of evil our Lord was sometimes very angry; and, as when evil men put stumbling-blocks in the path of little children, His wrath was Titanic, electric, shattering. But He despised none; the spirit of scorn was not in Him. For He looked at men not with the narrow gaze of a vindictive and explosive self-love, but as from the ramparts of heaven. And the detachment of His judgment of men armed Him against their contempt and pride; He was "dumb to their scorn, and turned upon their laughter only the dominance of earnest eyes." May His gentleness make us great, His magnanimity save us from pettiness, and His reverence for the work of God control our judgments, making us ashamed of crude contempt, and crushing the rising of the spirit of scorn in our unchastened hearts.—S. S. Times.
