, 1926-02-24

Lord God is upon me. because tn,
Lord hath amounted me to preact
good tidings to the meek; He haiti
me to bind up the brokenhearted
to the captives, and the openins
of the prison to them that are
bound.
We are accustomed to associate
and blend this lofty prophetic ut
terance with the thought of its full.
illment in the Savior of mankind,
Let us, however. consider it in the
light of its original meaning and
application. 1t refers to the Ser
want of Jehovah" This term, as
used in the book of lisa. refers
to a little group in Isreal, its saw
ing remnant. 1t means to those men
of the nation, who, in the midst of
all its vicissitudes, remained true
to its highest mission. They were
the thoughtful few Of the nation
who steadfastly kept their minds
and hearts upon abiding truths, and
who, in the midst of the shadows,
kept their eyes fixed upon the guild
ing of Israel's ideals. They repre-
scented the culture of Israel.
In its prophetic blending of the
human and the divine, the Bible
throughout is meadiatorial in its
estimate of humanity. 1t is ever
giving to us a wonderful success
sion of pictures of God, of the hui
man race, and of the great leaders
of the race standing between God
and mankind, revealing the Infin-
lite to the finite, the divine to the
human, and ever bringing them
closer together. The philosophy
of the Bible solves the question of
individual and social life. 1t is
showing that the Individual
fulfills his personality as he gives
to the social order of hui
mainly.
Two books appeared simultan-
eously a few years ago. The one is
Beyond Good and EVIL Civ
ing us the philosophy Of Friedrich
Nietzsche. The other is entitled
1.-THE Christian Ministry and the So
cial Order"
These two books illustrate a con-
The philosophy of Nietzsche
is that of an excessive individual
ism. 1t is the bald confession of
the ruthless law of the survival of
the fittest. He tells us that it is
all nonsence to talk of giving our
for the sake of others. He
insists that we must yield to the
evitable law of selection.
The other book gives a different
1t does not deny the
necessity for self-culture, but it goes
on to insist on the use of self-cul-
ture by the means of self-giving.
1t is a plea to all who seek educa-
draw themselves from the life of
the world, but to give themselves,
heart and soul, to the realization of
to the uplifting of the
social order into a great brother
hood of mankind, in which the
will remember the weak.
Broadly speaking the n book is
the few at the expense of the many;
the other is an exhortation for the
use of the culture of the few for
the sake Of the many.
There is a true and a false Gull
ture. The great prophets were the
of a true culture. La
ter IN. the Scribes and the Phara-
sees who took their places were the
representatives of a false culture.
When Jesus came to perform his
great mission, He found the cul-
ture Of his day largely unusable.
He had to build His great kingdom
of heaven with a few publicans and
fisherman.
The greatest obstacle that Jesus
encountered was the counterfeit cul-
ture of his time. which even point
ed to him with scorn, and said,
"this man cannot be a prophet,
otherwise he would have known
that this woman was a sinful wo-
man and he would not have let her
touch him" And history records
the same thing over and over
again. The stone which the build
ers rejected has become the head of
the
AS at that time, SO now, it too
often happens that those who by
reason of opportunity and educa-
ton are best prepared to contribute
to the helpful uplift of their fellows
are the least inclined to do it. Take
for instance the college or univer-
sity in a populous city. How little
influence 1t usually has Upon the
life of that city. 1t is clustered
as a rule and keeps its treasures to
itself. Proportionately few college
graduates become really effective as
great moral leaders. Take our col