The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-01-12
 DIR. ARTHUR c. McGIFFERT.
Lectures in Marquand Chapel on 9Th,
 Gift of Interpretation

Lectures in Marquand Chapel on "The
 Gift of Interpretation"
 At Marquand chapel last evening pr. Arthur Cushman McGiffert of Union Theological seminary lectured before a large audience of professors, students and their friends under the auspices of the Leonard Bacon Debating club. The lecture was characterized by the cele- brated authors scholarly yet practical style. His subject was "The Gift of h. depreciation. Dr. McGiffert said in part:
 T shall not take interpretation, in the narrow sense, as one of the gifts emu merated by Paul, but in broader way, as the interpretation of life. To thus interpret life the preacher must know his message. A mere formal statement will be only formal and conventional to the aearer for a mans vocabulary is no larger than his life.
 s'The minister must know his people. He must understand them to interpret his message fittingly to them. The highest form of interpretation is that of the man who comes with a message direct from the lips of God.
 .'In studying the Bible, church history and dogmatic theology the student is Interpreting life. The great thing for the minister to interpret is not words, phrases or forms, but life. As the astronomer knows the heavens and the geologist the earth, so the preacher must know life. There is great signif- canoe in this placing importance upon the Interpretation of life We now study the Bible not as lifeless code or as an abstraction, but as the product of living forces. History is not simply a collection of facts, but it is the inter- pretation of these facts. Many preach CTS know only fictious theology, tic- tious Bible fictious life. When these become real, a part of the mans life, he is able to interpret them. Tragedies of sorrow and despair are brought to the minister to be interpreted, and he alone can do this well who has dipped beneath the surface and seen the life of man rooted in the life of God Harder vet to interpret are the frivolous life and the life without ambition. There are also those with lofty aspirations and visions who demand a meaning to their life.
 "The preachers work is more difficult than it would be if he had to merely in- terpret what is near at hand. He must recall to his peoples minds visions once seen and forgotten, while for some too d11ll to see the vision he must see the vision for them and interpret it to them. ITO do all this the preacher cannot deal with isolated facts and conditions, but must deal with them as parts of a great whole. He must feel the push of the eternity behind and the pull of an eter- nity before. No isolated fact has any meaning in itself. The individual has significance only as a member of the race.
 .sWhen the whole life is thus under stood, sorrow or joy will need no inter- nretation. In this thought of the unity of the race and the unity of events there js that which lifts mans life above the sordid and the low. Men may not re- spond to warning-they may be unaf- fected by the small considerations of nersonal punishment or reward but no life can realize it's connection with a mighty whole and not feel an uplift which shall ennoble it."