gone with men to the battle-field and to the prison; they have been the solace and stay of men when they were tried and perplexed; they have illuminated the pathway of many when it has led down into the "valley of the shadow"; they have cheered the despondent, spurred anew the spirits of the doubting, enlivened hearts that were drooping, and fanned anew the flame of immortality when it burned low in the human breast; and they have sounded a perpetual note of rejoicing before the Lord that is to this day the music of the sons and daughters of men in all the earth. If men shall ever come to the time when the Psalms no longer minister to their life, and no longer arbitrate in their affairs, they will have come to the time also when they are ready to "lead God to the edge of the Universe" and bow him respectfully out of human life.*

* A book has been recently published (1905) which contains a very remarkable study, from the historical standpoint, of the value of the Psalms in affairs. It is entitled The Psalms in Human Life, by Rowland E. Prothero. In a volume of 368 pages the author shows how the Psalms have permeated human thought and figured in the crises of life. "The Book of Psalms," he says, " contains the whole music of the heart of man, swept by the hand of his Maker. In it are gathered the lyrical burst of his tenderness, the moan of his penitence, the pathos of his sorrow, the triumph of his victory, the despair of his defeat, the firmness of his confidence, the rapture of his assured hope. In it is presented the anatomy of all parts of the human soul: in it, as Heine says, are collected sunrise and sunset, birth and death, promise and fulfilment-the whole drama of humanity '" (p. 1).

ΧΙ

FOUR PICTURES OF JESUS *

PROFESSOR AUSTIN PHELPS wrote "As I look back over my ministry, I realize that I preached so little about Christ." Few who have read the pages of this devout Christian minister and teacher would give consent to his lament. Nevertheless it is a striking testimony to the central value of the Person and Work of Christ in the preaching of the Gospel. Doubtless it will be an occasion for wonder, when we shall have gone on to share his glory, that we were not chiefly concerned in life with knowing and declaring the beauty of Immanuel.

The preeminent purpose of the Holy Scripture is to tell the story of redemption, and to set before the world the picture of the Redeemer. If this purpose seems at times to be obscured, as, for example, in the details of history in the Old Testament, it is in reality no more lost sight of than the purpose to build a bridge is lost sight of in the laying of the foundation under water. From the Protevangelium onward the figure of the world's Saviour

* Among many books devoted to the comparative study of the Gospels special reference is made to the following as being very helpful: Why Four Gospels? by D. S. Gregory, D. D. The Fourfold Story, by George F. Genung. The Characteristic Differences of the Four Gospels, by Andrew Jukes.

+ Genesis iii: 15.

is constantly moving out into the light of Revelation. It was the Old Testament Scripture of which he spake when he said, "They are they which testify of me." A lady relates an experience of her childhood. In the home there hung a mysterious picture of a tree. She had been told that something beside a tree could be seen in the picture; but she could not discover it. Suddenly one day she saw what she had been looking for—it was the face of Napoleon. Ever afterwards when she looked at the picture, she saw not the tree at all-only the face. One who knows the Book cannot but see the Face.

It is profoundly and sacredly true that the ultimate interpretation of the Book is found in the Person of Jesus Christ. It is equally true that its supreme fascination centres in the Son of Man. In the Old Testament one seems to be like a traveller in the deep woods. The shadows often lie dark upon the ground. At times the sky itself is lost. Yet there are many signs and markings that point in one direction. Many pathways run in and out where other feet have trod, and there is one clear way that seems to break irresistibly through all the tangle of the woods toward the light of day. Little by little the signs increase. The traveller's hope beats high. Something akin to spiritual excitement possesses him. The awe of an approaching event creeps upon him. Suddenly the way breaks out into an open space and the traveller is flooded by a great light. This is a faint description of the approach of a sensitive heart, through the types and prophecies and promises of the Old Testament, to the Christ of the New Testament. What joy of discovery! What

reward to the heart's deep desire!

vista in the darkness of life!

What an open

No book the world has ever known has left so deep an impression upon men as the New Testament; no book has so charmed the heart of mankind. Canon Farrar thought that if all the books in the world were about to be ablaze in a great fire he would wish to snatch the Bible away first of all. The world could ill afford to lose the picture of Jesus Christ.* An incident is related of a visit which Dean Stanley paid to the German student Ewald. They were seated together in the latter's study; a Greek Testament lay on the table before them. Suddenly, as they talked, Ewald caught the Testament impulsively from the table and exclaimed, "This little Book contains all the wisdom of the world." And this is true, not on account of its racial significance, not on account of the beauty of its rhetoric, not on account of its outlook upon life, but preeminently because it contains the picture of the Person of Jesus Christ, and the story of his earthly work. No figures can compute the value of the four Gospels as a literary vehicle for the life of Christ.

"Jesus Christ is the most powerful spiritual force that ever operated for good on and in humanity. He is to-day what he has been for centuries-an object of reverence and love to the good, the cause of remorse and change, penitence and hope to the bad; of moral strength to the morally weak, of inspiration to the despondent, consolation to the desolate, and cheer to the dying. He has created the typical virtues and moral ambitions of civilized man; has been to the benevolent a motive to beneficence, to the selfish a persuasion to self-forgetful obedience; and has become the living ideal that has steadied and raised, awed and guided youth, braced and ennobled manhood, mellowed and beautified age."-A. M. Fairbairn, Studies in the Life of Christ, p. 1.

Now it is to be observed that the Gospels represent the most fascinating form of biography. It may be I described as pictorial. That is, it is biography which presents the life in such a light as to make the subject realizable to the mind. The company of Greeks who came to Philip with the request-"Sir, we would see Jesus"-put in words both the purpose of the Incarnation and the desire which is at once awakened in the heart that has heard of him. God sent his Son into the world that the world might see him and know him. When the story of his life and death came to be written this same need must be remembered to help men to see Jesus. John, the Apostle, described his Gospel in this language— "These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." How well this end has been attained in the Gospels all attentive readers can testify. Nothing in the entire range of the literature of biography is so attractive as the fourfold story of Jesus, nor has any biography been read with such avidity. Studied in the light of those qualities which constitute real biography, it must be pronounced a magnificent success. The Gospels bring Jesus near to us. He is more than the mysterious Person who lived on the earth nineteen hundred years ago; he is the Christ of To-day, as well as the Christ of Yesterday. We follow with chastened imagination the vivid portrayal of his life. We witness not alone the climacteric effect of the great events and discourses of his life, but also the filling in of the picture with minor incidents and words. We see him in familiar social intercourse with his family of disciples. We hear his every-day