Evening star., 1926-03-30
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
THE MAN NOBODY KNOWS. Bruce
Barton The Bobbs- Merrill Co.
THE HIDDEN YEARS. John Ok
enham. Longmans. Green h Co.
/. G.. NJ.


| THE HIDDEN YEARS. John Ok
enham. Longmans. Green d Co.
BY way Of these two books Bruce
Barton and John Oxenham have set
! the present day deep In their DEBT.
| Through different paths of approach
through different modes OF projection.
they arrive at the same point. Both
give the effect Of restoring TO Jesus OF
Nazareth the human Qualities OF
which He has been almost wholly de
prived through religions exclusive de-
| votion to the soul and spirit. THESE
A, studies are intended to restore the
original natural balance broken by
such one sided consideration. PreOccu-
pied with the future life. religion with
In these 1000 intervening years has
| gradually lost the amazing si9nin'
canoe of Jesus the man, meeting such
! daily affairs az other men had TO meet
and in a spirit which in this day, as
well as in that one, would be Of in
| estima hle Ilomant--f only the man
hood Of Jesus had not been quite lost
! In His Chrlsthood. Coming out from
| these two readings, one cannot resist
\ the thought that Jesus would have
| been magnificent and beneficent par
! taker in the greatly eXpa nded life of
the present. an incompa rable teacher
of the hard lessons of today-if only
the humanity Of the man had not
been so greatly obscured and sup
dressed.
! Bruce Barton almost at once takes
away from us the picture that early
and medieval art has made of Christ
the frail man. undermuscled. with
a soft face, a woman's face save
Y he rA hut h0f az
look as though the problems of living
were so grievous that death would be
3 welcome release" He sends us back
to the facts - the Bible facts - in
correction Of this portrait. And we
find IL to be true beyond question
that Jesus was an outdoor man.
working man, carpenter digging
house foundations out OF the rocky
! hillsldes. Telling trees in the forest
and sha ping the hard wood with
tools. Early In the morning, with
aX over His shoulder. He would set
out into the woods, coming home at
night with the rough.hewn beam. A
| man tanned by sun and wind,
toughened to hard muscles by train
Ing work. One who. later, on His
great mission tramped the country
| side. sleeping. out of doors. eating plain
and sea nty food. Responding to this
hardy life. the red blood lea ped in His
veins and health went out from
Him to the suffering folks of Galilee
and hundreds were healed. by
strength from an overfowing foun.
tain of strength"
And so Mr.. Barton goes on in q
spirited portrayal Of human character
istics of Jesus. And We 1nd-not
the sscetic that tradition and custom
| ad hIIf
sociabe man instead. the friendly
compa nion. the full partaker of life
in that simple time and place. Yet,
when occa sion comes, Jesus Is
promptly sagacious and wise. ready
to meet the moment with power and
divina ton. And oddly enough. or so
1t seems to us stepped in strained
notions of reverence. He proves to be
a mar of business acumen. OF method
In his action, of attack at the right
point--in short man in whom the
modern sense of business was as ripe
as that day and circumstance re-
auired. In A word. Jesus, rightly
understood is OF no special day, but
of all DAYS in their various dema nds.
Yet with il all He was the Master.
An enduring Christ. as much a part
Of this time as He was of that so
long ago.
"On a barren hill beyond the city
walls they nailed His perfect body to
the cross. Two robbers were cruel
fed with Him. 1t was over. Surely
the victory of His enemies was com
plete. He could do no more miracles
now. And the voice of one of the
robbers whispered. painfully. Jesus,
remember me when Thou comest into
Thy kingdom
Read that. Oh men. and bow your
heads, You have let yourselves
picture Him as weak. as man of
sorrows. uninspiring, glad to die.
There have been leaders who could
call forth enthusiasm when their
fortunes ran high. But He, when His
enemies had done their worst. so bore
Himself that crucif1ed felon looked
into His diving eyes and saluted Him
as king"
"rhe Hidden Years" Ia the story
the completely beautiful story-of a
lad who. with his boy friend Azor and
i'the little dog Tobias. raced the val
leys and climbed the hills of Galilee.
The hilltop gained. they would throw
themselves down in the sunshine. the
two boys. while Tobias nosed the
clumped grass for unwary beetle and
' Dug. ana the Two ldthcu tHe lVil :
talk of boyhood-the future. far
places. strange happenings. So friend
ly were they, not only with each
other. but with everything around
chem. that little birds would come
a-hopping 10 pick the crumbs from
their MONDAY luncheon. A beautiful
friendliness, this. that included the
sun and the clouds. the trees and the
| grass. and all the little things that
ran or crawled or flew. But this Is
nothing so strange. All boys are
much like that. And this fact brings
up one Of the fine points of the whole
lovely story No great differences are
set up between this lad and other
boys the world over. Yes. this is the
boy Jesus. who with AZor and the
dog Tobias, who in playtime and
workt time leads the life of any aver
age boy. Only now and then does a
subtle touch of difference delicately
forecast the great days that are to
come.
The story is the story of growing
friendships, of the coming OF John.
of the daily pursuits of the family of
Jesus, of the grief Of separations. of
the JOYS OF reunion-of all the com
mon phases of family and neighbor-
hood life. Here, to be sure. the back
ground is that OF the Orient. the Gus
toms are of the East. the immediate
setting that of Galilee.
A setting that broadens to include
the great mission of Jesus as teach
er and preacher and healer. A story
that deepens with the sense Of tpag
edy, this in large part the readers owr
knowledge of what is to come. For. SC
masterfully is this drama conceived
that the whole story seems to flow on
of it's own accord without stress and
strain on the part of the author. And
as this tragedy approaches-and ar
rives--the reader becomes certain that
nowhere, at any time, has he read a
more pitiful, q more heart. breaking