The times., 1901-03-10

writing that which he thinks the ma
tion ought to aim to be But the ma
tipn is not made by its written con
| StitutiOn or lN its written laws. II is
made 10y its custom; ii is not made by
( what il resolves it viii do, It is made
/ hV what i'm point of fact IL does For
the nation like the individual, is built
I up 10y the processes Of life itself.
This might have been political heresy
at one time. as the other thing would
have been religious heresy. At present
it is an automatic truth.
Most OF the books Of the Bible are dis
cussed in this work very much as if
they were plays of Shakespeare. Per
baps, with the vanishing Of the concep-
tion that this book is exalted above every
other book in the world by an essential
difference in its nature men have come
to look more and more. for the ethical
1 meaning in the works Of all great men.
At any rate, Lyman Abbotts analysis Of
! Job, Esther, Ruth, and Isaiah is not so
very different from Hamilton Mabie's
! analysis of Shakespeares dramas and
it is as far superior to the old dogmatic
! commentary as Mr.. Mabie's work is su-
perior to Donnellys cryptogram. If, as
| Ruskln asserted, the important thing is
| to be able to say, Thus Milton thought, "
not Thus ! thought in misreading Mil
! ton, it is surely as important to try to
| find out what Isaiah thought and felt,
| instead of what Barnes. and Bushnell,
and various other non-oriental COM
mentators biased by theological the
| ories, thought that he thought and felt
| We find DR.. Abbott discussing the book Of
! Jonah under the head of "Satirical Ro-
| nance" which is certainly more con-
! sonant with common sense than to sup
/ pose it literal historical fact written by
| A &c mo-
proof that the Creator intended anybody
to believe that the story was not a satir-
| lcal romance. Perhaps as good an ex-
! ample of the general attitude Of the au-
thor as any is TO be found in his comment
on the Book of Ecclesiastes. He says. in
part: =
l DO not know and cannot easily i'm
aglne what he makes out of the Book
OF Ecclesiastes who believes that
every sentence in the Bible is equally
authoritative with every other SEN
tence- Be not righteous overmuch'
is that dfVinely inspired sentence?
vanity Of YanitieS. all IS yanitv' Is
that divine Interpretation Of life?
The truth of Ecclesiastes is
the truth of human experience. larger
and deeper than the truth Of any text
Let the seIf-Seeker try how he may to
get satisfaction out of life, he is sure
20 fan. That is the lesson OF Ecclesi-
asteS-and lesson the more eloquent
X
perfence. Try to get satisfaction out
OF thingsi warehouses ten twelve
fourteen stories high; railroads bind
ing together the borders Of a conti-
nent; great palaces; hundred thousand
dollar ballsi What is the end? Van
tty Of vanities, all is vanity We are
as children who build their houses on
the sand. and the tide comes in and
sweeps them away. Try to get salts
faction out of philosophy We do not
need God, nor consciences, nor
churches, nor religion; these are for
women and children. We will have
q public school system, great uni
versities, knowledge. culture What
came of that experiment? The end is
the same. Cultivate the brain and
leave the heart to be atrophied; culti-
Vate the intellect and leave the con-
science TO die; teach men how to be
shreWd, but not how TO be honest, just,
true, pure, and the end of that Mr.
Huxley thus describes: 'Undoubted-
~ your gutter child may be converted
by mere intellectual drill into the
subtiest Of all the beasts Of the field
but we know what has become Of the
original of that description. and there
IS no need to increase the number Of
those who initiate him successfully
without being aided by the rates
What then? If there be no satisfac-
ton in pleasure. in wisdom. in ambi-
uOn. in the golden mean, where can it
be found2 In duty. In doing right
here, nor for reward hereafter not for
happiness on earth. not for crowns in
heaven, not for immortality Of fame
not for Immortality Of personal exist
ence; but because duty is duty and
right is right and God is God. This
seems to me the meaning Of the pro-
toundly enigmatical Book of EccIesias-
tes."
In the concluding chapter may be found
this passage:
according to one conception Of the
Old Testament, thirty or forty men
unique IL character, and separated
from all their fellOw-men by their eE-
traord.nary gifts or their extraordi-
nary privileges, from some high and
unscalable mountain top hand down to
US message, as the angel Gabriel was
supposed to have handed down to
Mohammed the message of God writ
ten upon sheets Of silk According to
the other conception, we see a great
people climbing the mountain toward
God We see them sometimes in the
light, sometimes struggling through
the mists and the darkness. at times
wandering 30 the right hand OF the
LETT, at times hating altogether or fall
ing back discouraged; now stumbling
ana falling, now getting upon their
feet again and pushing on: we hear the
voices OF their leaders rebuking. c0un-
selling, entreatiDE, commanding en-
couraging theIa: their -oices rebuke
counsel, entreat, command, encourage
us als15 and we dare To believe that
where this people have climbed We
too can climb. and that the Cod with
whom they have talked on the noun
tain top VIII talk to us also though
We. too, stumble ard turn aside ard
fail. and sometimes forget ourselves
and our God. These are the two con-
veptions OF she Bible IT is idle 70 ig-
more the radical difference between the
two I accept. frankly and uuresery-
edly, the second
It win be seen that most Of this book is
devoted to the Old Testament. that being
properly the literature Of the Hebrew
people. The view which Dr. Abbott takes
Of the life and teaching Of Christ is that
he was the example Of the perfect union
Of the divine with the human. fore
shadowed In certain prophetic passages in
Isaiah, as in Plato's writings not through
supernatural foresight but through natu-
raj and logical reasoning. Further than
this he does not go. This is possibly the
most natural, logical. and sensible book
on the Bible which has been written by
any orthodox clergyman. and there need
be no qualification to the adjectives. aside
from the comparison. 1t is throughout
sensible. natural and logical in reasoning
and tone. Boston: Houghton, Mimin *
CO. S2G0)
In the Philippines
''The Philippine Islands and Their Peo-
pie" by Dean g. Worcester. is ibe latest
Of the many books which have beap
written on this subject since the Battle
o. Manila. The author, as most peonIe
know. has spent considerable time in the
islands, and his book is largely descrip-