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the nature of the human soul itself. "We should rather point out to objectors that what is revealed is practical, and not speculative;-that what the Scriptures are concerned with is, not the philosophy of the Human Mind in itself, nor yet the philosophy of the Divine Nature in Itself, but (that which is properly religion), the relation and connection of the two Beings; -what God is to us, what He has done and will do for us-and what we are to be and to do, in regard to Him." The thought just quoted is attributed to Richard Whately, late Archbishop of Dublin, a man famous in his day as a rationalist and logician. (See Whately's Sermons, 3d ed., p. 56.)

If men would live worthy of the privileges of life, if they would live in obedience to the Law of Human Life, proclaimed by Moses, restored by Elias, and demonstrated in some measure by all the virtuous, and especially in the life of Jesus Christ, they would not be denied an apprehension of God in consciousness. "If thou wert pure and upright; surely now God would awake for thee, and thy soul would prosper, and be an habitation of righteousness" (Job 8:6). "Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (2 Cor. 6:16). Religion is represented in the fulfillment of the Law. Job did the best he could to live the true life, the spiritual life, the life that is attuned to conscience and reason. "He is a perfect and upright man, one who feareth God, and escheweth evil, and holdeth fast his integrity." But his comforters, it would seem, "say and do not"; they are inclined to discuss religion, rather than to live it: for it is written that, "God's wrath is kindled against them," but Job is accepted. "Him will I accept" (Job 42:7, 8).

"God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness is accepted" (Acts 10: 34, 35).

The Law of Human Life is before us; we must live worthy of it, if we would be accepted, and not treat it as a matter of speculation. "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not after their works: for they say and dò not" (Matt. 23:2, 3). For the reasons stated, it is submitted that the Scriptures constitute a Book of the highest conceivable importance.

"This is the Book of the Commandments of God and the Law that endureth forever: all they that keep it shall come to Life; but such as leave it shall die. Turn thee, O Jacob, and take hold of it: walk in the presence of the light thereof, that thou mayst be illumined. O Israel, happy are we: for things that are pleasing to God are made known unto us. Be of good cheer, my people, the memorial of Israel" (Baruch 4:1-5).

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We believe that it is the consensus of opinion among foremost scientists and philosophers in America and Europe that old forms of religious thought are discredited; in any event, it is the general belief that they are so far discredited "as to have lost the greater part of their efficacy for good, while they still have life enough in them to be a powerful obstacle to the growth of any better opinions." Mr. John Stuart Mill, whom we have quoted at some length in these remarks, affirms that when religious thought is in this condition all thinking and writing that does not tend to the evolution of some faith which philosophic minds can really believe "is of very little value beyond the moment." It therefore follows that if the theory of interpretation laid down

in the twelve chapters of this book does not result in promoting the belief that the Scriptures accord with reason, human experience, and the known truths of science, then it must be admitted that it is destitute of real merit; but on the other hand, if philosophic minds should be convinced that the method of interpretation set forth in this book is approximately sound in principle, it may be assumed that the labors of the author have resulted in a good and righteous purpose; and this, we are constrained to say, is our profoundest hope.

WASHINGTON, D. C.

January, 1916.

E. V. B.

THE

LAW OF HUMAN LIFE

CHAPTER I

THE ALLEGORY OF ADAM, EVE, AND THE SERPENT

PHILO JUDÆUS, a Jewish philosopher and Platonist, born about 20 B.C., was the author of elaborate commentaries on the Old Testament Scriptures. He did not believe in a literal interpretation of the Scriptures; but insisted that there is a marked identity between the teachings of Moses and those of Plato; in a word, that they taught the same fundamental truths concerning human nature. In the second chapter of Genesis, it is written that a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and that this river parted and became four rivers: the Pison (the flowing and enlarging stream), the stream that compasseth the whole land of gold, the gold of which is good; the second river, Gihon (the valley of grace, the breast), compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia (the land of heat and passion); and the third river goeth toward the east of Assyria. The name Assyria bears a marked resemblance to the Hebrew word, Assir,

that which should be restrained and held captive. The fourth river, Euphrates, is the river that makes fruitful.

Philo says that this story of the rivers is an allegory descriptive of the four generic virtues: Wisdom, Valor, Temperance, and Justice. Plato speaks of Reason as the golden virtue, the virtue of the head, and says that the virtue of reason is Wisdom. This we may call the flowing and enlarging stream, "the gold of this land is good": Valor, Plato calls the virtue of the heart; it is the seat of life, of emotion, and feeling in the valley of grace: Temperance is the virtue by which the sensuous and carnal appetites are restrained and conquered; it is the river "which goeth towards the east of Assyria; it "compasseth the whole land of heat and desire"; and Justice is the fruitful virtue, the all-inclusive virtue, since it represents the poise, the balance, and the perfection of the human soul; it is the great and fruitful river that goes forth to bless (Gen. 15:18). Philo would have us know that the Almighty River of Life and of Wisdom and of Righteousness that flows out of Eden, the Paradise of God, is that which works perfection in the soul of man. "If a man love righteousness, her labors are Virtues: for she teacheth Wisdom, Courage, Temperance, and Justice: which are such things, as men can have nothing more profitable in their lives" (Wisd. of Sol. 8:7). The first duty of man is the perfection of his soul, the vineyard of God, to the end that it may bear good fruit, and not a wild variety. "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes" (Isa. 5:4).

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