Arizona republican., 1922-05-21

! bellions of his nation: the great in
| functions to righteousness and justice
! and mercy. to generosity anu falr
| dealing, to the use of honest weights
| and measures, to cleanliness OF diet
1 and person. the laws and ordinances
| relating to marriage and divorce,
/ tithes. and other matters: the impre-
/ cations against those who remove
neighbor's landmarks, or nislead the
| blind, or make light of parents, or
| commit incest, or take life for pay
| More than once. as il in evidence OF
! authenticity. he would have heard
| the refrain, which is the keynote of
Jewish history; Hear. 0 Israel:
| Jehovah our God Is one Jehovah;
| and. diately--following these
words. as they stand in our sixth
| chapter. there comes the passage
| that, perhaps more than any other.
| moved the responsive listener to rend
! his garments. "Thou shalt love Je-
hovah thy God with all thine heart,
| and with all thy soul, and with all
| thy might" for this, as the Master
| told the Phairisee, is the first and
| greatest commandment; and Josiah
! knew we'll that this was the word OF
| the Lord which his fathers had not
| faithfully kept
Whereupon the young King did
| what he could. He humbled himself;
| he consulted the prophecies; and
| then he gathered the elders and all
| the inhabitants, great and small, In
| Guiding the priests, and he read the
| whole of the newt found book of the
| law to them; and king and people
solemly enacted these statues and
| covenanted to keep them. In the thir-
| teen years of Josah's reign. after tnis
| great assembly. Jerusalem must nave
been pretty nearly an ideal place 10
live in. All the denominations were
| taken away and abuses ceased. Ihe
king, If he observed the letter or tne
law. did not multiply his horses. or
his wives, or his silver and gold. he
had a copy of the law before him
when or duty. He kept the law him.
self, and his heart was not lifted up
above his brethren. Twice in the
period there might have been gem
eral release of debts; and no one
would have had the evil thought or
hardening his heart just before the
year of relase on the ground that II
was at hand. The income tax. in
other words, would not be made TO
take the place of volutary gifts. Be-
fore the eyes of the people We're
clearly set lift and good on the one
hand, and,on the other, death and
evil. that they might know and
choose the former and might thereby
live and prosper and multiply.
This discovery and acceptance OF
the law of the Lord have been re-
peated many times under varying
circumstances. The World may be
lost in various ways and in varying
degrees Its discovery or rediscovery
probably cannot again be as dramatic
as when HillSiah found the roll, or
when, through translations in to the
vulgar tongue. after the Middle Ages.
the European nations came again
into contact with the Scriptures.
Scholarship has its part to play in
translation and in that diligent COM
parison and revision of which the
Authorized Version set such an ex-
cellent example: and even a more
important part in that study and in
depreciation of the ancient civiliza-
tions, Jewish and non-Jewish. which
will throw light on the sources of
our Bible and in the study of our
present social conditions TO which
its teachings must be applied.
Scholarship cannot. however. un-
aided find the Bible and place 1t
where 1t belongs in the life of the
nation. This involves also the choice
OF the individual citizens of the
| nation. We have no king to do on
our behalf that which is right in the
sight of the Lord. We are ourselves
responsible for deciding between life
and good on the one hand and death
and evil on the other. The Bible Is
| the appointed instrument for guiding
| that decision, those daily decisions
which. as nation and as individuals
70 Wa 1aca tho Pihln
when we get out of relation with its
great central idea. We find it again
when we study it with discriminating
| intelligence and with reverence: with
| a mind open to reproof and instruc-
ton: with an unfeigned desire for
| the truth it reveals.
The Bible enters most fully and
most benefically in the life of the
nation that knows it best. 1t is not
by making 1t fetish that we
come to know it best; but by read
ing 1t, studying it, learning its les
son, discussing its difficulties, hear
ing it expounded by those who are
familiar with the languages in which
1t was originally written or who have
most deeply pondered its meaning as
it is presented in our own. The Bible
contains the truth needed for per-
contains. by the same token, beauti-
full poetry simple and noble prose.
Its narratives, ordinances, parallels.
allegories, prophecies, confessions,
psalms, and exhortations have been
springs of living waters which have
flowed through all the fields of our
literature. our laws. our music, our
national emotions and ideas. Prayer
books and hymnals are only the
Bible in other forms. Penal codes
reflect the Old Testament concep-
tions even more than the Sermon on
the Mount Neither modern Euro
pean nor American history can be
understood without reference to the
influence of the King James Version
and the other translations. to say
nothing of the Hebrew Bible in
ancient Israel and Judea or the
Aramaic Greek. and Latin Scriptures